bsbcgirl

We did a bus tour in Aruba that I thought was too long (4 hrs). I was bored. 
I enjoyed our Curaçao excursion that was about a 2 hr tour and 2 hrs at Mambo beach. 
Dont remember names but both booked through Royal. We did Hideaway Beach on Cococay, and everyone but me did jet ski excursion. 

This was my 8th Royal Caribbean cruise, (first time on Quantum class)  first after Covid, and 10th cruise overall. (Emerald status on Royal).

Previous Royal cruising on: Enchantement, Navigator(twice), Adventurer, Freedom, Explorer, and Allure.

Cruised with husband, daughter, and son-in-law. We picked Odyssey because we had never done a Quantum class ship.

Had great weather the whole cruise (some clouds in Aruba and Curacao, but very warm)

Overall the ship is beautiful, immaculate, and we had a great time.

However, I would hesitate to choose this class of ship again, as we all agreed it was our least favorite. We did not care for the design of the two level contemporary style dining room and really missed the Royal Promenade. Two 70 is beautiful, but felt it was under used space. Took me longer than usual to find my way around.

Some good things:

Cabin (balcony deck 10-us and virtual interior-daughter): Perfect-plenty of storage. Our cabin attendant was great. Didn't mind once a day cleaning.

Checkin: Easiest ever.  Love the new muster setup.

Windjammer: One of the best- only crowded issues were embarkation lunch (as usual) and Cococay breakfast.

Cococay (since updated): I wish we had more than one day here. It is well organized and beautiful.

Sea day activities: Great and plentiful as usual.

Staff: Very friendly and hard working.

Giovanni's Kitchen: Splurge on this. You won't be disappointed. So good, that we booked a second dinner.

Some not so good things:

Entertainment: We personally felt that this was the worst entertainment we have seen (referring to main theater and Two 70) on any Royal ship. We always enjoyed the entertainment each night on all our previous cruises. I would blame my age (72) except my daughter (late 30's) and her husband felt the same.

Chair hog enforcement: Not great. Feeble attempts.

Elevators: Slower than normal

Bionic Bar: Causes a real traffic flow issue with lots of people just watching. Needs to be relocated in my opinion.

Chops: Food good, but service and length of time waiting for dinner unacceptable. They kept apologizing, but with a 7:15 reservation, we finally got our entrees shortly after 9:00 pm. (They comped 2 cocktails, but would have rather had better service)

MTD: This was a real issue. We had a reservation (booked online 8 months in advance) for either 7:15 or 7:30 each night there.

When we arrived at at the dining room- on time- there was (in the made reservation line) a long line of people that extended well into the casino.

All of the staff in charge of seating people seemed stressed and disorganized. The waiters serving us also seemed stressed and a bit disorganized. The head waiters were fine.  All tried their best to be friendly. Perhaps, like in many situations since Covid, Royal is under staffed. We had done MTD once before (on Explorer ) and had no issues. We all agreed that from now on we would choose traditional dining (second seating).

Special note: I must eat GF (Celiac) and would be happy to answer any questions regarding this separately.

We all came home happy, tired, and heavier. Again, remember that we had a great time and would cruise Royal again.

Happy cruising!

Agree, but having some ankle issues, I didn’t feel up to the walk.

We wanted to get a taxi from the port to Reflections after our excursion last week around 1:30 pm (our ship was in port till 10:30 pm). Two taxi drivers refused to take us there citing too much traffic in that direction (I think they wanted a longer ride) and insisted on Eagle Beach. Having stayed in Aruba before we just decided to go back on the ship.

Hope you have better luck.

Just had dinner at The Boatyard about 12 days ago and it was delicious. Be sure to make a reservation ahead of time.

We did not care for The Effectors or The Book.

Yes that’s the one. One of the 2 main elevators is not working. They let you use the service elevator. However on cruise boarding mornings, the elevator wait was quite lengthy. Plan for this.

Yes, they had it. Not sure how often.

Depends where you sit. Around the pool loud, on the beach fine (a little distance from pool)

Read some very negative reviews. Definitely a little dated and worn, but overall a good experience and quite clean. The shuttle ($8 pp) was well organized. Sign up ahead. Elevator situation a little problematic. Walking distance to The Boatyard which is a favorite of mine.

Would book elsewhere for a vacation, but absolutely fine for one night pre cruise

Ports: Cococay, Aruba, Curacao. Will post review in a few days. be happy to answer some questions in the meantime.

On my very recent Odyssey cruise, traditional dining was 5:00pm and 7:30 pm.

Wish I had known this when I booked way ahead. I would have chosen the 7:30 traditional.

Instead (thinking that late seating was 8:30) we made reservations at 7:15 in MTD.

It was a bit chaotic each night. No more, even if we have to eat at 8:30 pm.

The clothes that I saw at  dinner in the main dining room (recent Odyssey southern Caribbean cruise) was a mixture of smartly dressed, casual, and  extremely casual. The worst dressed individual I saw was a man in gym shorts, a muscle shirt, a cap, and sneakers.

Just off Odyssey. Crew member filling cones on both the ship and also on Cococay.

Also, for those of you that are gluten free, I put some plastic cups and spoons in my beach bag.

Yes, they made one for me in the Solarium. I don't think that they made it right there because it took a little while.

If you're not on a budget, the Marriot Harbor beach is near the port and beautiful

Anyone hear anything yet about their bid for this cruise?

Anyone know if this place has a changing room? Going here after an excursion and prefer not to have to wear a bathing suit under our clothes. Thanks.

Anyone know if this place has a changing room? Going here after an excursion and prefer not to have to wear a bathing suit under our clothes. Thanks.

Thanks

Thanks for your review. How gluten friendly is the Solarium for breakfast and lunch. I have Celiac.

Thanks for the great review.I am cruising on Odyssey this March and am gluten free (Celiac).

Will my dinner be delivered much later than everyone else? Were there problems that I should be aware of? Thanks.

This is in Ft Lauderdale (Port Everglades) off a 5 nt RC Indy cruise

How tricky will this be if I carry off my own luggage?

Only other nonstop is At 7:00 pm. Later flight at 1:30 pm has 2+hour in connecting airport. Thanks

I need one night precruise in April. Hilton Marina Tower room at $189 or Embassy Suites at $199.

Which would you choose and why? Thanks.