Odyssey to the Greek Isles - 7 to 16 May 2022

[Citrons]

2 hours ago, cloud_nine said:

Considering you are vegans, I'm surprised that you don't know what foods contain/are animal-based. I'm a vegetarian and make it my business to know everything that has meat, fish, insects etc in, and if I don't know, I ask or avoid it altogether. For example, I often avoid mousse-based desserts as it is likely they would contain gelatine. If there is a soup on the menu that I am interested in, I ask what broth it is made with (chicken, vegetable etc). I don't automatically assume that something is safe for me to eat just by the way it looks. I am very sorry that your mother inadvertently ate snails, but this really is not Royal's fault. They were not trying to be sneaky, they were just calling it by it's proper name. Escargot is what it's called. It's like someone from the States coming to the U.K and eating black pudding without checking what it really is.

Escargot is not the proper name for an English speaking cruise. Snails is the correct name in English - Escargots is the French name which is not the proper name for an English speaking cruise. (Spanish was the 2nd language of the cruise).

 

I disagree with the black pudding statement as i have been on conferences in Ireland and Americans ordered black pudding and ate some - then they asked me what it was and they looked horrified and i agree that black pudding should be explained it is pigs blood on the menu to international visitors.

 

My brother and myself are vegan. My mam is not but she only eats chicken and no other meat/fish. That is why when she was eating the snails i went up to the WJ counter to double check what she was eating.

 

There was "vegan/vegetarian" items in the official stand but also there was vegan/vegetarian items at the "favourites" stand as well in the WJ which looked vegetarian or vegan friendly - but who knows because they did not have a "V" next to the label which I am surprised. I think they need to improve the labels with simple "V", gluten free etc in the WJ since they mix these food items like vegetables and gluten free stuff on the other counters - not just in the vegan or gluten free counters.

 

As for the desserts it is exactly why i only ate the vegan desserts on the cruise.

 

However the point is that the Snails should have been labeled the proper name snails on the WJ labels since its an English speaking cruise.

Edited May 19, 2022 by Citrons

[bonsai3s]

21 hours ago, FionaMG said:

 

Sorry, I missed this post.  

You may have already seen it by now but, if not, check out @bonsai3s's information in post #57 for details about getting off the ship in Santorini.

The testing to board in Civi was the only special requirement for us, as we are both up-to-date on vaccinations.

 

Just sailed away from Santorini.

 

At approximately 7:00am, Captain Pierre sadly announced that tenders to Santorini were cancelled...due to high winds and rough seas.

 

Many passengers were disappointed...a few were angry...some decided to drink early...most gravitated to the tropical temperatures of the Solarium.

 

At approximately 10:30am, we were in the Schooner Bar, standing room only, when many decided to play Trivia...when Captain Pierre cheerfully announced that tenders will begin immediately.

 

The Schooner Bar erupted in elation, claps, and wild cheers. No one cared about trivia...just about everyone left.

 

Ana, CD, announced that all those with ship sponsored tours were to meet in the Royal Theater...others were instructed to get tender tickets at 270...soon tender numbers were called.

 

* Original sail-away was 6:00pm...it was moved to 9:00pm. 

 

Another truly spectacular day in Santorini.

 

*** FionaMG...thank you for allowing me to share our experience...heart.

 

[zebra]

3 hours ago, Citrons said:

Escargot is not the proper name for an English speaking cruise. Snails is the correct name in English - Escargots is the French name which is not the proper name for an English speaking cruise. (Spanish was the 2nd language of the cruise).

 

I disagree with the black pudding statement as i have been on conferences in Ireland and Americans ordered black pudding and ate some - then they asked me what it was and they looked horrified and i agree that black pudding should be explained it is pigs blood on the menu to international visitors.

 

My brother and myself are vegan. My mam is not but she only eats chicken and no other meat/fish. That is why when she was eating the snails i went up to the WJ counter to double check what she was eating.

 

There was "vegan/vegetarian" items in the official stand but also there was vegan/vegetarian items at the "favourites" stand as well in the WJ which looked vegetarian or vegan friendly - but who knows because they did not have a "V" next to the label which I am surprised. I think they need to improve the labels with simple "V", gluten free etc in the WJ since they mix these food items like vegetables and gluten free stuff on the other counters - not just in the vegan or gluten free counters.

 

As for the desserts it is exactly why i only ate the vegan desserts on the cruise.

 

However the point is that the Snails should have been labeled the proper name snails on the WJ labels since its an English speaking cruise.

And how should Croissants have been labelled?

 

[seapad]

On 5/9/2022 at 10:24 AM, FionaMG said:

The earliest slot was 11.30 am. I got it as soon as the times opened up but it's definitely worth checking back, as Biker said.

When were you able to check in? Ours are coming up in Oct, but not available to check in yet, so no idea on checkin time. 

[little britain]

4 hours ago, Citrons said:

Escargot is not the proper name for an English speaking cruise. Snails is the correct name in English - Escargots is the French name which is not the proper name for an English speaking cruise. (Spanish was the 2nd language of the cruise).

 

I disagree with the black pudding statement as i have been on conferences in Ireland and Americans ordered black pudding and ate some - then they asked me what it was and they looked horrified and i agree that black pudding should be explained it is pigs blood on the menu to international visitors.

 

My brother and myself are vegan. My mam is not but she only eats chicken and no other meat/fish. That is why when she was eating the snails i went up to the WJ counter to double check what she was eating.

 

There was "vegan/vegetarian" items in the official stand but also there was vegan/vegetarian items at the "favourites" stand as well in the WJ which looked vegetarian or vegan friendly - but who knows because they did not have a "V" next to the label which I am surprised. I think they need to improve the labels with simple "V", gluten free etc in the WJ since they mix these food items like vegetables and gluten free stuff on the other counters - not just in the vegan or gluten free counters.

 

As for the desserts it is exactly why i only ate the vegan desserts on the cruise.

 

However the point is that the Snails should have been labeled the proper name snails on the WJ labels since its an English speaking cruise.

Did you never ever read the menu in the MDR under the “classic” options…. Every single day I see 🐌…..
 

Edited May 19, 2022 by little britain

[FionaMG]

1 hour ago, bonsai3s said:

*** FionaMG...thank you for allowing me to share our experience...heart.

I'm so glad you were able to make it to Santorini again, despite the rocky start to the day. Out of all the places we visited it was DH's favourite. If we make it back again we will likely try an emulate your DIY excursion. 

I really appreciate your contributions to the thread as your adventures have been different to mine so our readers are getting more information. 😊 

[FionaMG]

32 minutes ago, seapad said:

When were you able to check in? Ours are coming up in Oct, but not available to check in yet, so no idea on checkin time. 

45 days out but the times weren't available until 2 days later.

[little britain]

@bonsai3s please can you advise how much surf vs surf/stream is to buy on board - it’s stupidly expensive in my planner - $20.22pd for Surf!! 

[FionaMG]

9 minutes ago, little britain said:

@bonsai3s please can you advise how much surf vs surf/stream is to buy on board - it’s stupidly expensive in my planner - $20.22pd for Surf!! 

$26.99 pd for surf & stream; $21.99 pd for surf.

Someone on another thread said there's a new "sale" due to start on the 24th. Maybe you'll see some downward movement then.

[FamilyCruiserUK]

Nice cruise write up and was good to travel along virtually with you. Just a quick one, do you know if its easy to make your own way to the beaches on the greek isles rather then taking the expensive rcl tours?

[FionaMG]

31 minutes ago, FamilyCruiserUK said:

Nice cruise write up and was good to travel along virtually with you. Just a quick one, do you know if its easy to make your own way to the beaches on the greek isles rather then taking the expensive rcl tours?

I'm pretty sure it would be. @bonsai3s did everything DIY in the ports so I imagine just getting to a beach wouldn't be that difficult. The public buses appear to be really cheap and probably even a taxi would be cheaper than Royal's excursions.

[Citrons]

45 minutes ago, FamilyCruiserUK said:

Nice cruise write up and was good to travel along virtually with you. Just a quick one, do you know if its easy to make your own way to the beaches on the greek isles rather then taking the expensive rcl tours?

Yeah we did everything DIY and no RCL tours. Most sights were within 10mins walk or bus/tender organised to the main town. 

 

Rhodes, Mykonos, Chania and Kusadasi had beaches walking distance from the old towns.

[FionaMG]

Cruise day.

 

Getting to the ship.

 

I booked our transfers to the ship with Civitavecchia Shuttle Express (https://www.civitavecchiashuttleexpress.com/) at a cost of €65 for the two of us.

 

This was a shared shuttle. They say on their website that there could be up to 30 minutes waiting time, so with an 11.30 am check-in time at the pier, I booked the shuttle for 10 am. The day before I received an email from them telling me the expected pick-up time would be 10.15 and on the morning the driver rang ahead to say he was running about 10 minutes late. So everything went smoothly and as expected. We were the last pick-up, so we headed straight to the port.

 

I don't know if it was because it was a Saturday, but the road into Civi was bumper to bumper; it took us ages to get from the entrance to the town to the ship and we arrived at the terminal just a few minutes before midday.

 

Checking in.

 

This was very fast. We were asked to show all our documents - passports, negative tests and vax certificates. I did have to explain why mine had what appears to be 2 out of 1 doses (2/1), which is how the EU distinguishes peeps who have had the single dose JJ jab + a booster (I knew this would cause confusion which is why I didn't bother uploading it beforehand) and the check-in clerk also asked us for the approximate dates of all our jabs since the EU (for some unfathomable reason) only shows the date of the very last jab on the certificate. All in all it took about 10 minutes and we were on our way.

 

Once on board we headed to Two70 for a coffee while waiting for the rooms to open up, which they did a very short time afterwards (1 pm-ish, I think).

[FamilyCruiserUK]

55 minutes ago, Citrons said:

Yeah we did everything DIY and no RCL tours. Most sights were within 10mins walk or bus/tender organised to the main town. 

 

Rhodes, Mykonos, Chania and Kusadasi had beaches walking distance from the old towns.

Thanks for that. The little one is looking at the beaches, so will source our own travel from/to the ship 

[Citrons]

16 hours ago, little britain said:

Did you never ever read the menu in the MDR under the “classic” options…. Every single day I see 🐌…..
 

We did not eat in the Main Dining room. My mother got the snails without shells next to the vegan section in the windjammer on the Saturday 14th may on the formal night. Because i had seen that snails are served on the menu in the MDR (i was checking the menu for vegan options) - it is why i questioned what my elderly mother was eating and went up to the windjammer counter to check and found them. 

 

We did not eat in the Main dining room as the vegan stand had more choices in the windjammer (for me) and did MDR vegan options did not appeal as alot of the vegan dishes were served in the windjammer. 

 

They should have been more clearly labeled that they were snails. Other dishes had in brackets "contains pork" after them. Why highlight some ingredients for non pork eating passengers but then not clearly label gluten free/vegan/snails in the buffet next to them? 

 

Like after 2 days the vegan blueberry, mango, peach and chocolate/coconut cupcake were nice. But it be nice if they could also label with a "V" or "GF" the food for the likes of my elderly mother who had no reason to think snails would be served at a buffet and without their shells not far from the vegan section.

[gfkcruiser]

Fiona,

Been reading the review.  So nice meeting you and our dinners together. Overall I liked the cruise and ports but not so much the ship.  Food in Windjammer was abysmal to me.  Dining room and specialty restaurants were good. 
 

I would recommend that passengers avoid cabin 9632.  Huge veranda but due to angled veranda facing front,  created a wind tunnel effect on sea days.  Almost no sun due to overhangs, I believe. Avoid these rooms on any floor if you like to spend time on veranda as we do. 
 

We tested negative at the Hilton Airport Hotel.  Those 15 minutes each waiting were nerve racking to me!   Then took train into Rome for a few hours!  Flew home on the 17th with no issues  
 

Regards,

Gail and Bob

[FionaMG]

1 hour ago, gfkcruiser said:

Fiona,

Been reading the review.  So nice meeting you and our dinners together. Overall I liked the cruise and ports but not so much the ship.  Food in Windjammer was abysmal to me.  Dining room and specialty restaurants were good. 
 

I would recommend that passengers avoid cabin 9632.  Huge veranda but due to angled veranda facing front,  created a wind tunnel effect on sea days.  Almost no sun due to overhangs, I believe. Avoid these rooms on any floor if you like to spend time on veranda as we do. 
 

We tested negative at the Hilton Airport Hotel.  Those 15 minutes each waiting were nerve racking to me!   Then took train into Rome for a few hours!  Flew home on the 17th with no issues  
 

Regards,

Gail and Bob

 

Gail, it was lovely meeting you and Bob and I'm very glad you made it home without any upsets.  Apparently a lot of US citizens either tested positive at the airport or missed their flights home because of the length of the queue for testing. Just as well you had your flight booked for the day after disembarkation; that was clearly a smart move.

 

[FionaMG]

So, having reached the point where I started this live Odyssey, let me wind it up with a few final comments.

 

The ship:

This was our first time sailing a Quantum class ship and while I liked the ship I would be bound to say it is definitely not my favourite class. I missed the open spaces like Central Park and the Boardwalk on Oasis class, as well as the wider promenades on Oasis and Voyager class. I felt that the Via (I think that's what it was called) was rather a waste of space as there wasn't really anything on it, and the Esplanade was too narrow. I didn't like the way the Diamond lounge was so hidden away that we had to go hunting for it. And I didn't like the lack of an internet cafe and a physical payment terminal at Guest Services, both of which caused us inconvenience. As a space, I thought Two70 was lovely, but it didn't do it for me as an entertainment venue because of the layout of the seating. The gym was fantastic but had a couple of what to me were design flaws: not enough open floor space for peeps wanting to do floor work outs; and no bathrooms! There was only a single bathroom on the landing outside, for everyone's use. That's not good. Folks doing a serious workout can be in the gym for an hour or two and they will be drinking fluids to keep hydrated. Proper bathroom facilities are a must.

 

Entertainment:

All in all, I thought the entertainment was good. For once, we managed to see all the shows because there were performances scheduled for later times after dinner (9.30 or 10.30). I liked the special effects in the Effectors even though the story line was weak and I enjoyed the headliners and the production shows. I wasn't impressed by The Book. I thought it started way too slowly (and DH agreed by falling asleep within the first five minutes) and while I enjoyed the aerial acrobatics, I thought the bazaar scene was messy.

 

The food:

Always subjective, I agree with @gfkcruiser that the food in the MDR was good. We ate there for dinner every night except the night which had the Duck Terrine on the menu, as we don't like that particular menu. We would have done Teppanyaki that night instead but did not want to book before the cruise, when we could have got it for $38 each, as we didn't know which night that particular menu would be up; and we did not want to book on board once we did know because the onboard price was an unjustifiably expensive $54.

Breakfasts and most lunches were in the Windjammer. I thought the food was just OK there and very lacking in variety. We ate dinner there on the "duck terrine" night, when supposedly the WJ had an Italian theme, and I was very disappointed at the lack of choices. I have seen much much better on other ships.

 

Our cabin:

#6622, an obstructed balcony that, as I mentioned in the review, was largely unobstructed. It was comfortable, with plenty of storage for the two of us. I did place RoyalUp bids for Grand Suites and upwards, but only just above minimum, and not at all for a JS simply because the upcharge for a bit more real estate and a chance at Coastal Kitchen were largely worthless to us. On our last sea day, for example, we were out of the cabin at 9 am and did not get back to it until after 3 pm. As DH commented, we've been away from the cabin for a full 6 hours; what's the point in paying extra for a bigger/better cabin, if we're not going to use it. We didn't sit on the balcony once; the only reason for booking it was that our Diamond discount brought the price down below the cost of an ocean view room.

 

The Staff:

In a word: fantastic. They went out of their way to provide excellent service and make sure we had a good time. And we did. I can't praise their efforts, in still very difficult circumstances, highly enough. During our cruise, they were beginning to be allowed some limited shore leave and hopefully that will continue and improve going forward.

 

Disembarkation:

The allocation of tags could have been improved. In the past, you would receive a form in your stateroom so you could say what time you needed to be off the ship. Not so on this cruise; the only assigned tags were for those who were taking Royal's transfers. Everyone else was assigned randomly (according to Guest Services), which is just plain stupid. This meant there were lots of guests in line to get their tags changed, us included.

 

Homeward bound:

Our flight home was not until 5.30 pm and I had originally planned on getting a transfer to the airport where we would store our bags and then go and visit the nearby Etruscan ruins. Except it hadn't clicked that our cruise ended on a Monday and the ruins are all closed on Mondays.

 

Consequently, I arranged with our pre-cruise hotel to return there and store our bags for a few hours before heading to the airport and, as such, booked a shared shuttle, again with Civitavecchia Shuttle Express, back to the hotel. While the shuttle met us as scheduled, we were the last drop off so it took us two hours, by which time I was second guessing myself and almost wishing we'd just headed straight to the airport. In the end, though I was glad we didn't. We had a pleasant wander around and went for lunch in the nearby Monti area of Rome, where the guide on our first walking tour had told us we would get sensible prices and decent quality. And he was right. 

Last lunch in Rome:

 

The return from the hotel to the airport was again with Fiumicino Taxis. The driver arrived about 10  minutes early, which worked fine for us, and the trip to the airport took just under 30 minutes.

 

All in all, this was a great trip. The itinerary was fabulous and I would happily do it again.

 

Thanks, everyone, for indulging me and following along on my live thread. For me, it's been a huge pleasure and I hope it's been useful and enjoyable for everyone reading it.

 

The next one will be on Anthem out of Southampton to the Canary Isles at the end of September. Hope to see you all again then. 

 

 

 

[UK_Cruiser99]

On 5/19/2022 at 2:43 PM, Citrons said:

There was an "official" covid quarantine area in the porthole cabin rooms on Deck 3 in the rooms next to the music hall/casino.

 

However on the Facebook group a few of the TA cruisers confirmed they tested positive for covid on the TA and left the Odyssey in Crete after completing quarantine in Balcony rooms on deck 6 and 7. Some people on our cruise in the facebook group complained that there was lots of brown room service dishes outside deck 6 and 7 rooms. They moved rooms as a result to another deck.

 

We saw many brown room service dishes outside the balcony rooms next to our room and thought they were quarantine covid rooms - it looks like the Odyssey indeed has covid quarantine people on deck 6 and 7 too in the balcony cabins.

 

Celebrity Beyond also had the same issue and the other Celebrity TA ships. 

 

I wasn't aware of this and I was on Deck 7!! I did notice a lot of brown trays but just put it down to people order room service.

 

This was the first time we had a cabin grade of 2D (which I thought was meant to be quite good?)  I think it was room (7194) it was obstructed with a life boat outside our balcony and the staff door opposite our room. Not a room I'd recommend to book.

 

Not sure if I have covid I have all the symptons but I've done two LFT's and they have come back negative.

 

The first few days I wore my mask everywhere but then noticed no-one else was and sort of told my self I don't need to wear it as much. I wore it mainly in the lifts and dinning areas. 

I guess this just a lesson to learn from

Edited May 21, 2022 by UK_Cruiser99

[FionaMG]

26 minutes ago, UK_Cruiser99 said:

Not sure if I have covid I have all the symptons but I've done two LFT's and they have come back negative.

Hope you start feeling better soon. 

[bobmacliberty]

20 hours ago, FionaMG said:

So, having reached the point where I started this live Odyssey, let me wind it up with a few final comments.

 

The ship:

This was our first time sailing a Quantum class ship and while I liked the ship I would be bound to say it is definitely not my favourite class. I missed the open spaces like Central Park and the Boardwalk on Oasis class, as well as the wider promenades on Oasis and Voyager class. I felt that the Via (I think that's what it was called) was rather a waste of space as there wasn't really anything on it, and the Esplanade was too narrow. I didn't like the way the Diamond lounge was so hidden away that we had to go hunting for it. And I didn't like the lack of an internet cafe and a physical payment terminal at Guest Services, both of which caused us inconvenience. As a space, I thought Two70 was lovely, but it didn't do it for me as an entertainment venue because of the layout of the seating. The gym was fantastic but had a couple of what to me were design flaws: not enough open floor space for peeps wanting to do floor work outs; and no bathrooms! There was only a single bathroom on the landing outside, for everyone's use. That's not good. Folks doing a serious workout can be in the gym for an hour or two and they will be drinking fluids to keep hydrated. Proper bathroom facilities are a must.

 

Entertainment:

All in all, I thought the entertainment was good. For once, we managed to see all the shows because there were performances scheduled for later times after dinner (9.30 or 10.30). I liked the special effects in the Effectors even though the story line was weak and I enjoyed the headliners and the production shows. I wasn't impressed by The Book. I thought it started way too slowly (and DH agreed by falling asleep within the first five minutes) and while I enjoyed the aerial acrobatics, I thought the bazaar scene was messy.

 

The food:

Always subjective, I agree with @gfkcruiser that the food in the MDR was good. We ate there for dinner every night except the night which had the Duck Terrine on the menu, as we don't like that particular menu. We would have done Teppanyaki that night instead but did not want to book before the cruise, when we could have got it for $38 each, as we didn't know which night that particular menu would be up; and we did not want to book on board once we did know because the onboard price was an unjustifiably expensive $54.

Breakfasts and most lunches were in the Windjammer. I thought the food was just OK there and very lacking in variety. We ate dinner there on the "duck terrine" night, when supposedly the WJ had an Italian theme, and I was very disappointed at the lack of choices. I have seen much much better on other ships.

 

Our cabin:

#6622, an obstructed balcony that, as I mentioned in the review, was largely unobstructed. It was comfortable, with plenty of storage for the two of us. I did place RoyalUp bids for Grand Suites and upwards, but only just above minimum, and not at all for a JS simply because the upcharge for a bit more real estate and a chance at Coastal Kitchen were largely worthless to us. On our last sea day, for example, we were out of the cabin at 9 am and did not get back to it until after 3 pm. As DH commented, we've been away from the cabin for a full 6 hours; what's the point in paying extra for a bigger/better cabin, if we're not going to use it. We didn't sit on the balcony once; the only reason for booking it was that our Diamond discount brought the price down below the cost of an ocean view room.

 

The Staff:

In a word: fantastic. They went out of their way to provide excellent service and make sure we had a good time. And we did. I can't praise their efforts, in still very difficult circumstances, highly enough. During our cruise, they were beginning to be allowed some limited shore leave and hopefully that will continue and improve going forward.

 

Disembarkation:

The allocation of tags could have been improved. In the past, you would receive a form in your stateroom so you could say what time you needed to be off the ship. Not so on this cruise; the only assigned tags were for those who were taking Royal's transfers. Everyone else was assigned randomly (according to Guest Services), which is just plain stupid. This meant there were lots of guests in line to get their tags changed, us included.

 

Homeward bound:

Our flight home was not until 5.30 pm and I had originally planned on getting a transfer to the airport where we would store our bags and then go and visit the nearby Etruscan ruins. Except it hadn't clicked that our cruise ended on a Monday and the ruins are all closed on Mondays.

 

Consequently, I arranged with our pre-cruise hotel to return there and store our bags for a few hours before heading to the airport and, as such, booked a shared shuttle, again with Civitavecchia Shuttle Express, back to the hotel. While the shuttle met us as scheduled, we were the last drop off so it took us two hours, by which time I was second guessing myself and almost wishing we'd just headed straight to the airport. In the end, though I was glad we didn't. We had a pleasant wander around and went for lunch in the nearby Monti area of Rome, where the guide on our first walking tour had told us we would get sensible prices and decent quality. And he was right. 

Last lunch in Rome:

 

The return from the hotel to the airport was again with Fiumicino Taxis. The driver arrived about 10  minutes early, which worked fine for us, and the trip to the airport took just under 30 minutes.

 

All in all, this was a great trip. The itinerary was fabulous and I would happily do it again.

 

Thanks, everyone, for indulging me and following along on my live thread. For me, it's been a huge pleasure and I hope it's been useful and enjoyable for everyone reading it.

 

The next one will be on Anthem out of Southampton to the Canary Isles at the end of September. Hope to see you all again then. 

 

 

 

 

Great review!  Thanks so much for doing this (and for @bonsai3s's help).  We had a similar cruise cancelled in 2020 and I definitely want to reschedule.  We have our first Quantum class experience (Quantum, then Ovation 3 days later) in September so it's also very helpful to see/hear your experience on Odyssey.  Enjoy your upcoming Anthem cruise!!

[vickiw0318]

Interesting to read of so many testing positive for Covid.  The friend I traveled with is still in quarantine in Rome.   She is now testing negative on "over the counter" antigen tests, but the medical staff at her "Covid Hotel" is refusing to officially test her until seven days from her positive test.  We had separate cabins and hotel rooms.   So far, I have tested negative.

[FionaMG]

1 hour ago, bobmacliberty said:

 

Great review!  Thanks so much for doing this (and for @bonsai3s's help).  We had a similar cruise cancelled in 2020 and I definitely want to reschedule.  We have our first Quantum class experience (Quantum, then Ovation 3 days later) in September so it's also very helpful to see/hear your experience on Odyssey.  Enjoy your upcoming Anthem cruise!!

Thanks for coming along with us. The pleasure's been all mine and I'm delighted the review has been useful. 🥰 

I hope you have a great time on Quantum and Ovation.

[FionaMG]

23 minutes ago, vickiw0318 said:

Interesting to read of so many testing positive for Covid.  The friend I traveled with is still in quarantine in Rome.   She is now testing negative on "over the counter" antigen tests, but the medical staff at her "Covid Hotel" is refusing to officially test her until seven days from her positive test.  We had separate cabins and hotel rooms.   So far, I have tested negative.

Fingers crossed you stay negative and wishing your friend a speedy recovery.

[Nix19]

On 5/17/2022 at 8:41 PM, Citrons said:

Half of our group did this. We did the 20.30 flight as we thought they would miss the 11am flight. They left at 6.30am but we were up same time as them. They took the organised bus to the airport. Gets you to rome in 1 hour. They missed breakfast in the WJ. They took their bags themselves. However the bags are left in a huge hall in groups and you could easily grab your bag if you didnt take it. 

 

They made their 11am Aer Lingus Dublin flight no issues as they being irish and fully up to date in vaccine/booster did not need Covid test. Flight was full of Odyssey cruises. 

 

We had a long wait in the Hilton airport hotel drinking until the 20.30 flight. If it was just the 2 of us we would have planned a day trip to rome perhaps to kill time (seen rome before of course) 

 

Whereas the USA people missed their flights due to the covid test queue being 4 hours long at