Thoughts on Recent Odyssey Cruise

[rncruiser]

I was on the 8 night holiday cruise on Odyssey, traveling with my husband and our 2 adult children. This was our first cruise post-Covid and our first cruise on this class of ship. 
We all agreed that we do not like the Quantum class and probably will not cruise on this class again. We much prefer the Oasis class ships with their greater variety of entertainment and venues. We definitely missed Central Park. 

The entertainment was definitely not to our liking. We all thought the book felt like it was created by AI and there was little to no human input. The Effectors was also not to our liking. The Showgirls show was ok, more like the usual Royal Caribbean productions we are accustomed to. 
We were very disappointed with the singer in the Schooner Lounge, who had no personality. 
The comedian was just not funny in either his regular show or his adults only show. 
We did enjoy the performer in the Crown and Anchor Pub, as well as the group that played dance music in Boleros and the Music Hall. The orchestra played in both Boleros and the Music Hall as well, but they were just too loud for either venue. The juggler was okay, but we have seen better. One night there was a singer who lost his voice during the first show so the second show was cancelled. 
 

Our cabin attendant was wonderful and having service only once a day was not an issue for us at all. We basically leave the cabin in the morning and do not return until late afternoon. It just does not get messy enough to need it cleaned again after dinner. 

 

Dining was much better than expected given the reviews I have read. We felt most of our meals in the MDR were delicious, with the exception of UK night, which was a disappointment. 
We are all big eaters and agreed that portions were actually too large, though it certainly didn’t stop us from eating. 
On lobster night we easily got around paying for a second lobster tail since only myself and my daughter like lobster. We just had my husband and son order lobster in addition to the entree that actually intended to eat. 
We had MTD and the earliest time I was able to schedule was 7:15. We preferred a 6:45 time so every night we just showed up at that time and then were seated. Our servers, Rajesh and Marvin were wonderful and if they were over worked, did not show it. 
Our favorite eating venue, other than the MDR was the Solarium Bistro. There is not much of a selection for lunch, but it was adequate and the food was good. My kids preferred the Windjammer for the larger selection but of course it is a mob scene. 
We only had breakfast in the MDR once because it just takes too long. We did not go there for brunch because of the smaller choices for breakfast and the very few choices for lunch, as well as the closing time of 12 noon. I always liked lunch in the MDR because of the delicious selections. Not having this available was a definite disappointment. 
 

We used room service very morning to get coffee and fruit, which we enjoy on our balcony before going to breakfast. My husband prefers ice coffee so every morning I wrote in for two glasses of ice. The first morning we received the ice but no fruit platters. Starting the second day we received the fruit. However, on day two we received two glasses of water, no ice. On day three we received both water and ice. Finally on day four they got it right and we received two glasses of ice. 

We spent much of our days in the Solarium, which I had mixed feelings about. I definitely liked the pools better than on Oasis class, though Voyager class pools remain my favorite. I liked that the Solarium was air conditioned but at the same time would have liked to feel a bit of the Caribbean heat. 
The main pools took quite a bit of adjusting to. I did AquaAerobics most sea days and had to get into the pool 15 minutes early to be ready. 
 

My daughter and I did the North Star on a sea day. It was just ok. I don’t think I would do it again, but if I did, it would definitely be the free version. 
 

We are Diamond members and made good use of the lounge. There were about 500 Diamonds and above on our sailing and most did not use the lounge. It was never crowded. I was surprised to learn that they had food there throughout much of the day. I have only used the lounge during happy hour and once or twice for breakfast on previous cruises. My daughter went in to get espresso every day and reported that there were sandwiches like those in the Cafe Promenade during the day. This is the first I have heard of this. I am not sure if this has always been the case, if it is something new fleet wide, or if it was only because it was a holiday sailing. 
 

Overall this was not our favorite cruise, mostly due to the poor entertainment. However, I did not see a difference in service either in the MDR or from our cabin attendant, as others have reported. 

 

 

 

[rncruiser]

I forgot to mention the ports. We went to Curaçao, Aruba and Labadee. 
We did a free walking tour of Curacao thanks to fellow cruiser HarryFat. Our tour guide was very knowledgeable and I would definitely recommend this tour. The only thing that stopped us from fully enjoying this tour was the heat. I knew it would be hot In Curacao but I expected more of a breeze. I was in Aruba in June and did not feel the heat at all. My husband and son left the tour early because they could not take the heat. 
 

We are not beach or water sport people so Aruba really had nothing for us, which we knew in advance. We walked around the downtown area but not for long, again due to the extreme heat. 
 

Labadee has always been one of my favorite spots and continues to be. Even though we don’t really enjoy the beach, we do enjoy floating on the mats. The water was the perfect temperature and we spent several hours there. The only disappointment at Labadee was that they did not have ribs on the buffet. I don’t know if this is something new as I do not recall reading about the lack of ribs on these boards, though I don’t read every review, so may have missed it. Otherwise the food was good. 
My kids did the paint and sip, which they enjoyed. The pottery was larger than expected so be prepared with adequate luggage space if you choose to do this. Luckily our suitcases did have both extra space and extra weight available. 
 

I just realized I left out some other things as well. There were plenty of opportunities for photographs, but they did not seem as intrusive as in the past, which was nice. I also did not feel the Royal Esplanade was ever overcrowded, as has been my experience with the Royal Promenade on both Voyager and Oasis class ships. This was nice in our post Covid world. 

 

I think I have now covered it all, but will post again if I think of anything else. 
 

[pcur]

OP:  You actually say little about the ship itself.  I can understand your preferences regarding food and entertainment, but I've sailed on over a dozen RCCL ships since early 2022, and find the Anthem and the Odyssey wonderful to sail on.  The look and feel, and decor are quite lovely.  The Via is a beautiful area to walk through, IMO.  I like the different eating venues tucked away: 270 cafe on deck 5 for chai tea latte has no line as opposed to Starbucks in the Royal Esplanade.  El Loco Fresh and the Solarium Bistro, too, are nice stops for eating.

 

Entertainment is a very personal choice, so your opinion is the right one for you.  I have enjoyed several of the shows you mention in your post.

 

 

[pcur]

7 minutes ago, rncruiser said:

I forgot to mention the ports. We went to Curaçao, Aruba and Labadee. 
We did a free walking tour of Curacao thanks to fellow cruiser HarryFat. Our tour guide was very knowledgeable and I would definitely recommend this tour. The only thing that stopped us from fully enjoying this tour was the heat. I knew it would be hot In Curacao but I expected more of a breeze. I was in Aruba in June and did not feel the heat at all. My husband and son left the tour early because they could not take the heat. 
 

We are not beach or water sport people so Aruba really had nothing for us, which we knew in advance. We walked around the downtown area but not for long, again due to the extreme heat. 
 

Labadee has always been one of my favorite spots and continues to be. Even though we don’t really enjoy the beach, we do enjoy floating on the mats. The water was the perfect temperature and we spent several hours there. The only disappointment at Labadee was that they did not have ribs on the buffet. I don’t know if this is something new as I do not recall reading about the lack of ribs on these boards, though I don’t read every review, so may have missed it. Otherwise the food was good. 
My kids did the paint and sip, which they enjoyed. The pottery was larger than expected so be prepared with adequate luggage space if you choose to do this. Luckily our suitcases did have both extra space and extra weight available. 
 

I just realized I left out some other things as well. There were plenty of opportunities for photographs, but they did not seem as intrusive as in the past, which was nice. I also did not feel the Royal Esplanade was ever overcrowded, as has been my experience with the Royal Promenade on both Voyager and Oasis class ships. This was nice in our post Covid world. 

 

I think I have now covered it all, but will post again if I think of anything else. 
 

If you are in Aruba again, there is a free trolley that starts at the dock.  You'll see the tolley rails in the ground around the shopping huts.  It's a 45 minute hop on/off around the local area.  Very picturesque open air trolleys, too, that have been refurbished.

 

[rncruiser]

1 hour ago, pcur said:

If you are in Aruba again, there is a free trolley that starts at the dock.  You'll see the tolley rails in the ground around the shopping huts.  It's a 45 minute hop on/off around the local area.  Very picturesque open air trolleys, too, that have been refurbished.

 

Thanks for letting me know about the trolley. 
 

As to the ship, I have found other classes of ship to be much prettier and to have much more artwork. Maybe Odyssey is just reflecting the current trend of “less is more” or maybe it is Royal Caribbean using it as an excuse to have less artwork. 

[Tlbecker1]

Not my experience at all.  We really love the Odyssey and it is definitely one of our favorites.  The Windjammer on the Quantum class is also our favorite.

[pcur]

48 minutes ago, Tlbecker1 said:

Not my experience at all.  We really love the Odyssey and it is definitely one of our favorites.  The Windjammer on the Quantum class is also our favorite.

Yes, I found the more expanded Windjammer food stations to be better on the Odyssey and the Anthem.

[DaniDanielle]

The Anthem Windjammer is excellent.  Much better than Oasis.  

[Mikamarii]

We did the two odyssey cruises prior to yours. We throroughly enjoyed our time on the ship and quantam class is probably our favourite as weve also been on ovation. 

 

The food was fantastic and enjoyed every meal we had other than the UK night. 

 

Prior to the two odyssey cruise we did 4 nights on liberty. On liberty windjammer opened at 6 for dinner and was always packed. It was surprisngly difficult to find a table. On odyssey it opened at 530 for dinner  and it always seemed so quiet in there. We are generally early eaters so probably why we can avoid the rushes but liberty was an anomaly for us. 

[mets123]

I too prefer the Quantum class. We've been on the Anthem at least 12 times and already have 3 booked on the Odessey when she comes to Bayonne. The WJ just doesn't work on the Oasis class. There's no people flow and never enough tables. They got it right with the Quantum class.

[GimmeOcean]

I loved cruising on Anthem and am looking forward to Odyssey. We haven’t sailed on Oasis class yet, but want to at some point. But the mega ships have less appeal for me.

Edited January 3 by GimmeOcean

[Tatka]

I can understand OP.

We hated Anthem the first time around in 2016. It was so different … took some adjustment time. Over the next 10 times we fell in love so much with her it’s tough to let her go.

 

I am reading this review with an interest as in 2024 Odyssey will be sailing from NJ instead of Anthem and we are booked for 2 cruises. I’m 100% Solarium person on this class… and are worried a bit for Family pool situation as Anthem has one with a roof.. but on Odyssey no roof… so for Thanksgiving and January cruises it will be interesting.

 

Thank you for this review. 
We love AC islands for prettiness… but both especially Curaçao are amazing for snorkeling right off the beach.

[cruiseboy89130]

14 hours ago, rncruiser said:

One night there was a singer who lost his voice during the first show

Sure hope they found it!😉

[Ocean Boy]

12 hours ago, Tlbecker1 said:

Not my experience at all.  We really love the Odyssey and it is definitely one of our favorites.  The Windjammer on the Quantum class is also our favorite.

I never had any interest in Q class ships. For some reason they just did not appeal to me. I booked Odyssey last winter just because the date, price, and departure port worked for me. It turned out that I loved the ship. Q class does have some design quirks, I think O class does have better entertainment, but Odyssey provided a bit more relaxing cruise experience which I appreciated. I also think it haa the most functional WJ that I have been in. That is big for me as I'm a big WJ person. 

 

I liked Odyssey so much I'll be back aboard in a month.

[Cayman1]

We just got off Odyssey as well and absolutely loved it.

 

Our only complaint really was the entertainment. They had karaoke all over the place in several venues, which does not appeal to us personally, while many love it. I feel the Music Hall should have had more live music in the evening, instead of only late night. The Music Hall constantly had games, trivia style things and karaoke. And this was the mildest Schooners bar that I have ever seen. On all other ships, its loud and fun and packed. Not on this cruise.

 

Aside from that, this ship was clean, beautiful and amazing. Food was great and so was the service. It is our new favorite! Can't wait to sail on her again!

 

 

[Bellacruz54]

Thank you for your review!  We are double booked at the moment between the Odyssey for an 8 night Southern and the Wonder of the Seas for 7 nt Eastern- same week.  We love Oasis class ships, and I am afraid we might feel the same way as you did? We are not ones, at all, to find fault in any cruise and I am sure we will have a wonderful time on either! For us, cruising takes a lot of saving and sacrificing and I try to do my best when making a decision.  We are going Southern in the Fall as we have never been South before, but then the Odyssey became available at a great price for March so here I am reading reviews and trying to make an informed decision.   Honestly, leaning towards the Wonder. My mind might change several times by this evening when we need to pay for it!  

[HSDerm348]

Bellacruz54 - I would not worry too much about the Odyssey.  My favorite ships are the Oasis and the Odyssey and the Wonder.  When I am on the Odyssey I personally think it is very pretty and designed for social media pictures.  I love being able to be in the pool just outside the solarium and watch a movie - you can't do that on the Oasis ships except on the Wonder where they sort of added the screen back to the pool area.  The Wonder and Odyssey both have excellent WJ seating arrangements compared to prior ships.

 

The Odyssey, which I have done twice - both the 6N and the 8N - has significantly better food than the Oasis in my opinion and the service AND food I've had in specialty restaurants is some of the best I've had fleet-wide.  

 

What I miss on the Odyssey is Central Park and the ice skating rink (the ice show).  It does feel like there is less big entertainment on the Odyssey, so much so that I was concerned after our 6N that we would get bored on an 8N cruise on her.  We did not and are sailing it again next month!  

 

I would not do Odyssey every cruise but it is a wonderful rotation into my Oasis and smaller class ships!

Edited January 3 by HSDerm348

[Another_Critic]

I'm doing a 14 night Oasis TA in the spring and a 14 night Odyssey TA in the fall.  I've only sailed Oasis class once (Oasis), but have sailed Quantum class nine times (Quantum*1, Anthem*8).

[HSDerm348]

15 minutes ago, Another_Critic said:

I'm doing a 14 night Oasis TA in the spring and a 14 night Odyssey TA in the fall.  I've only sailed Oasis class once (Oasis), but have sailed Quantum class nine times (Quantum*1, Anthem*8).

I'll see you on the Oasis TA!

[Tree_skier]

8 hours ago, Ocean Boy said:

I never had any interest in Q class ships. For some reason they just did not appeal to me. I booked Odyssey last winter just because the date, price, and departure port worked for me. It turned out that I loved the ship. Q class does have some design quirks, I think O class does have better entertainment, but Odyssey provided a bit more relaxing cruise experience which I appreciated. I also think it haa the most functional WJ that I have been in. That is big for me as I'm a big WJ person. 

 

I liked Odyssey so much I'll be back aboard in a month.

My assessment is much the same as yours.  We loved our time on Odyssey.  The only thing I missed was an ice show.  That is always an entertainment highlight for us.

 

EDIT: That being said I do agree with the OP about "The Book" it was one of my least favorite shows I have ever seen on any Royal ship. The whole thing just seemed like a bad dream from eating to much pizza before bed. 🙂 

Edited January 3 by Tree_skier

[Ocean Boy]

1 hour ago, Tree_skier said:

My assessment is much the same as yours.  We loved our time on Odyssey.  The only thing I missed was an ice show.  That is always an entertainment highlight for us.

 

EDIT: That being said I do agree with the OP about "The Book" it was one of my least favorite shows I have ever seen on any Royal ship. The whole thing just seemed like a bad dream from eating to much pizza before bed. 🙂 

And I completely agree with that assessment of The Book. I doubt that I'll see it again unless I am really in a bind for something to do.

[jbrinkm]

On 1/2/2024 at 11:50 AM, pcur said:

If you are in Aruba again, there is a free trolley that starts at the dock.  You'll see the tolley rails in the ground around the shopping huts.  It's a 45 minute hop on/off around the local area.  Very picturesque open air trolleys, too, that have been refurbished.

 

@pcur Do you know how late these trolleys run? Do they go into the evening?

[Ocean Boy]

On 1/2/2024 at 11:50 AM, pcur said:

If you are in Aruba again, there is a free trolley that starts at the dock.  You'll see the tolley rails in the ground around the shopping huts.  It's a 45 minute hop on/off around the local area.  Very picturesque open air trolleys, too, that have been refurbished.

 

I knew nothing about this, thanks. I'll look for it in February.

[Merion_Mom]

5 hours ago, jbrinkm said:

 

@pcur Do you know how late these trolleys run? Do they go into the evening?

.001 seconds of google yielded this:

 

The trolley operates between the hours of 10 AM and 5 PM, it does not run on Sundays. We recommend visiting the information desk outside of the Cruise Ship Terminal for confirmation of the official trolley operating days and hours as they are apt to change depending on the season.

 

 

Streetcar / Trolley - VisitAruba.com

[Bellacruz54]

16 hours ago, HSDerm348 said:

Bellacruz54 - I would not worry too much about the Odyssey.  My favorite ships are the Oasis and the Odyssey and the Wonder.  When I am on the Odyssey I personally think it is very pretty and designed for social media pictures.  I love being able to be in the pool just outside the solarium and watch a movie - you can't do that on the Oasis ships except on the Wonder where they sort of added the screen back to the pool area.  The Wonder and Odyssey both have excellent WJ seating arrangements compared to prior ships.

 

The Odyssey, which I have done twice - both the 6N and the 8N - has significantly better food than the Oasis in my opinion and the service AND food I've had in specialty restaurants is some of the best I've had fleet-wide.  

 

What I miss on the Odyssey is Central Park and the ice skating rink (the ice show).  It does feel like there is less big entertainment on the Odyssey, so much so that I was concerned after our 6N that we would get bored on an 8N cruise on her.  We did not and are sailing it again next month!  

 

I would not do Odyssey every cruise but it is a wonderful rotation into my Oasis and smaller class ships!

Thank you for your reply and to all the others that took the time to share your thoughts! We finally decided on Wonder, but mainly because we are doing Oasis in Nov with the exact itinerary as the Odyssey. You sparked our curiosity and we will look to book Odyssey in 2025.  Then we will have your top 3 in a row.  🙂