Cruiser Formerly Known As Cheapo Dad's Trip Report on Odyssey of the Seas Sailing to A Minus B Plus C Plus H Islands

[harryfat1]

I just find it amusing that they need to put a sign that says “display only” at all the gingerbread house displays here at 270 as well as Windjammer and entrance to the MDR. I guess on the outside chance someone eats the glue from the display and then sues RCI for not telling people not to eat the display…

 

 

[harryfat1]

I don't have any pictures for the rest of the afternoon as I think we just stayed inside the cabin watching sports on TV and took an early shower as we had reservations for the big show, The Book, at 7 PM as I wanted to see the show on Christmas Day as part of the special day (The lunch at Chops was the other special event).

 

The show is for reservations only.  You need to book it ahead of time on the app.  You can't just walk in and grab a seat.

 

Ricky, the cruise director, made it a point to tell people to show up EARLY for “The Book” as the area is limited in space, and even with reservations, you may not get a good seat if you show up late.  Especially since they cancel out your reservations 15 minutes before the show so they can let the standby people come in.

[harryfat1]

On the way to the 270 theater, we saw this guy doing a video for the daily cruise news and he waived and said hi to me after he saw me taking a picture of him

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

OK.  We made it to 270 at 6:15 for the 7 PM show.  That’s 45 minutes early as that's just when they are open.

 

Oh, yes, have your set sail card out as they will check that you have a reservation for the show or else you will be at the standby line.

 

 

It's a personal preference to sit up close to be in the back to see the entire show without moving your head back and forth.

 

In theory, we could pick any seat but they had workers on deck 6 blocking off the prime middle section seats.  I assume those are for the suite people as they have a special section reserved for them.  As a CFKACD, I’m relegated to sitting on the side of the theater with my ghetto cruisers as we are not worthy to be seated in the prime section.

 

 

The ironic thing is that at 6:45, the workers that block the entrance leave as the center section then becomes a free-for-all as it’s no longer just suite seating. So if somehow you show up, try the seats on deck 6 in the middle as you might luck out if the suites people don’t show up.

 

 

 

Edited February 6 by harryfat1

[harryfat1]

Since we were way early in getting a seat on deck 6, we were taking a whole bunch of pictures and experimenting with selfies to amuse ourselves. No need to upload those pictures...🤪

 

6:30 and some of the seats downstairs are starting to fill up

 

 

 

10 minutes before showtime.  Looks pretty full by then

 

 

 

[oddly excitered]

Thank you Harry, for this detailed trip report, being on the east coast working night shift I look forward to your daily dose of entertainment during my long overnight!

Did you ever even get to the pool deck? we cruise on anthem out of jersey in the winter and are somewhat concerned with odyssey coming here next year with the lack of the indoor pool.

I was reading a comparison of the 2 ships earlier and it stated there are actually more pools on odyssey than anthem.

Does odyssey actually have what could be considered a "pool" in the solarium?

[rncruiser]

50 minutes ago, harryfat1 said:

Good thing your son didn't lose power for long and no major damage to his place.  My cousin in San Jose still hasn't gotten power back since he lost it at 9 AM on Sunday as their friends are lending them lanterns so they can have lights at night. 

 

Maybe the East Coast folks are used to these storms and are better prepared than us on the West Coast as we are not used to this.

 

 

As a native New Yorker I can say that no one is prepared when the weather is a crazy as it has been the past few years. 
A couple of years ago we had heavy rains in NYC. The sewers are not equipped to handle heavy deluges and about a dozen people who lived in basement apartments drowned in their homes. 
There has been severe damage to the NYC subway system such as during Super Storm Sandy. It took years for the damage to be repaired and for some subway stations to be reopened. 
 

[rncruiser]

5 minutes ago, oddly excitered said:

Thank you Harry, for this detailed trip report, being on the east coast working night shift I look forward to your daily dose of entertainment during my long overnight!

Did you ever even get to the pool deck? we cruise on anthem out of jersey in the winter and are somewhat concerned with odyssey coming here next year with the lack of the indoor pool.

I was reading a comparison of the 2 ships earlier and it stated there are actually more pools on odyssey than anthem.

Does odyssey actually have what could be considered a "pool" in the solarium?

No real pool in the Solarium on Odyssey. Just a series of 4 areas that range from about 1 inch to maybe 1 foot deep. Good for getting wet and relaxing but certainly not for swimming. 

[GlasgowCruiser01]

1 hour ago, harryfat1 said:

On the way to the 270 theater, we saw this guy doing a video for the daily cruise news and he waived and said hi to me after he saw me taking a picture of him

 

 

 

That was Tristan the Activities Manager. He was fantastic, should be Cruise Director one day. Was definitely a fun cruise with him & Ricky running the show.

Edited February 6 by GlasgowCruiser01

[JamesEM]

Following along, enjoying the commentary and photos.  On a previous cruise I was gifted one dinner at Chops and I was able to trade the dinner in for 2 lunches.  Worked out great, my wife and I were able to eat in a pay restaurant for free. 

[harryfat1]

2 hours ago, oddly excitered said:

Thank you Harry, for this detailed trip report, being on the east coast working night shift I look forward to your daily dose of entertainment during my long overnight!

Did you ever even get to the pool deck? we cruise on anthem out of jersey in the winter and are somewhat concerned with odyssey coming here next year with the lack of the indoor pool.

I was reading a comparison of the 2 ships earlier and it stated there are actually more pools on odyssey than anthem.

Does odyssey actually have what could be considered a "pool" in the solarium?

Thank you for your kind words. 

 

Although I’m not sure reading Financial statements on the 10Q and late-night working is a good combination.  The financial info is more of the “natural” sleeping pill and your boss may not understand why you have been yawning and rubbing your eyes the past week since we started talking about Finances of cruising. 🤪

 

We are not pool people so we didn’t go up there.  In my past reports, we typically only show up for the Belly Flop Contest but due to a scheduling conflict, we couldn’t attend this sailing contest.

 

As for Solarium, the pool area is less of a “pool” by definition and more of a hot tub size.  I can only find a couple of pictures during our 1-minute visit to the solarium for the entire cruise. 

 

Here is the 2-inch deep water for one “pool” area and the other one is probably 4 feet high.   

 

 

 

 

If RCI wants to call these areas “pools”, they can but not sure how much swimming you will get out of it versus the hot tub.

 

I suspect when the Odyssey sails from NJ in the winter, people will congregate on both ends of the ship.  Soalraoum in the front and 270 in the back, depending on what type of cruiser you are. 

 

The more water inlined you are, the more you will like the solarium.  Those of us who prefer a sofa/chair with a table to put down our drinks and snacks will prefer the 270.  The pool area will be mostly empty similar to an Alaska cruise with only kids swimming and people in the hot tubs.

 

The Royal Esplanade/Promenade will be busy as well for the shopping folks (aka visiting crazy aunt in the basement).

 

Here is a picture from the 2022 Alaska cruise on the Princess with everyone looking outward at the glaciers on the left side of the picture and an empty pool due to the cold but few people at the upper deck hot tubs

 

 

[harryfat1]

1 hour ago, GlasgowCruiser01 said:

That was Tristan the Activities Manager. He was fantastic, should be Cruise Director one day. Was definitely a fun cruise with him & Ricky running the show.

Good info.  Yeah, he seems very friendly and almost surprised that someone would take a picture of him filming his segment for the cruise TV.

[harryfat1]

23 minutes ago, JamesEM said:

Following along, enjoying the commentary and photos.  On a previous cruise I was gifted one dinner at Chops and I was able to trade the dinner in for 2 lunches.  Worked out great, my wife and I were able to eat in a pay restaurant for free. 

Hi Jim,

 

Thank you for continuing to read along.

 

I think we Finance people think the same in trading in one meal for 2. Being cheap, I did the math, and one lunch at Chops ($18) and one lunch at Giovanni's ($13) is better than one dinner meal anywhere else for a lower price and we get to experience two places instead of one.

[harryfat1]

Let's try to upload a few pictures of "The Book" before I call it a night.

 

++++++++++++++

 

Showtime at 7 PM.

 

As with the Effectors, skip the next several posts if you don’t want the spoiler info.  For those who want more, you can go to YouTube and watch the entire show from home as I have seen people upload videos of the entire show.

 

I will give you enough for the sound and feel of the show but not all the details.

 

The show is called “The Book”.  It’s composed of 7 chapters with each chapter around 6 minutes of song and dance as each segment is supposed to represent a chapter within the book.

 

Before sailing, I read some reviews on this show and some people didn’t like it because it lacked a cohesive storyline.  As much as you can criticize the Effectors for having too short/too simple of a story, at least each of their segments connects.  From my untrained non-artistic eyes, the Book is just 7 unconnected “chapters” of a mysterious book.

 

I don’t know what book that may be but it’s certainly not a fiction book with a central character(s) going from chapter to chapter. I couldn’t make any connections between the chapters.  If someone can/has read somewhere on the connection, please leave a comment.

 

If this was a real book, it would be like a reference book or an encyclopedia.

 

Those folks who read my Navigator report will know I’m a big fan of the Cirque Du Soliel franchise having watched their permanent shows in Orlando/Las Vegas as well as various traveling shows as I upload photos from attending the Corteo performance in SF in that report.

 

For me, the Book is similar to that type of vibe of a Cirque show whereby you have singers singing songs you never heard of and acrobats perform gymnastic stunts on the side with various weird costumes and backdrop props. Ok, there are 2 songs from the Book some people might know but unless your music knowledge is extremely diverse, it’s unlikely you will know most of the songs.

 

The Book checks all those boxes that make Cirque so great.  So if you are someone like me who likes the Cirque show basics, then you should find the Book enjoyable. For those who want a Broadway-type musical with a straightforward storyline and not the Cirque-type weird mystical vibe, you may not like the show. 

 

Like food, entertainment is subjective. Not everyone will be pleased with all the entertainment options.

[harryfat1]

 

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

 

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

 

Trying to just have one video as a stand-alone in case some people can't play it on their tablets

 

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

 

 

[harryfat1]

 

 

[GimmeOcean]

9 minutes ago, harryfat1 said:

 

 

 

 

I’m glad to see the aerialists performing, The Two270 show on Anthem (Spectra’s Cabaret) has omitted them recently.

[yogimax]

We're in an obstructed cabin on Anthem that is located in the same area of the ship as yours.

 

Some have complained of noise, especially at night, from the crew area below the cabin.  Did you have any problems with noise?

 

Thanks!  

[harryfat1]

10 hours ago, yogimax said:

We're in an obstructed cabin on Anthem that is located in the same area of the ship as yours.

 

Some have complained of noise, especially at night, from the crew area below the cabin.  Did you have any problems with noise?

 

Thanks!  

We didn’t have any noise problem but we don’t go to sleep until around midnight at which time I think they are mostly done.  The port side at the aft is right above Giovanni’s and Café 270 kitchen area. 

 

I think if you go to sleep early or want to sleep in late, that might bother you.  There could be some noise from Giovanni below that might keep you up late as they clean the kitchen for the night or Café 270 is cooking the burritos and sandwiches in the morning might wake people up.

 

Here's the deck plan for people to follow in case they are not sure what we are talking about.  The red arrow is right over the kitchen which could be the noise some cruisers have complained

 

 

 

I want to say I might have heard some noise below us on one of the nights/early morning but it wasn’t severe enough for me to remember it to want to include it as part of my trip report. But it could be the time of the day and people’s sensitivity to noise.

 

If you are at all concerned, maybe you can change your cabin location to the starboard side as those cabins are over the Next cruise and the art gallery and those areas have no traffic to speak of late at night or early in the morning.

 

[harryfat1]

A few more pictures and videos of "The Book" and we are done with the show.

 

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

 

 

[harryfat1]