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]

Both my wife and I are big salmon fans.  For this cruise, they had them out daily. 

 

 

On the Navigator, they were hidden for 3 days of the cruise.  You had to ask a worker behind the counter and give him the magic password before he would plop some on your plate.  Maybe since the Odyssey sailing costs more as it was a Holiday cruise and they felt the need to put out the better stuff since the sailings cost more but the salmon was out daily. 

 

So if you like salmon like us and don't see it at the breakfast at Windjammer, but sure to ask for it in the area where they have the capers.

 

Another difference between the Odyssey versus the ghetto 4 night Navigator cruise was on the Odyssey, they had strawberry toppings for the pancakes/waffles on the Odyssey.  On the Navigator, it was syrup only.

 

 

 

 

View of the Caribbean Sea outside our seat.  Try to sit by the window to get a good view.

 

[Coralc]

16 minutes ago, harryfat1 said:

In our prior visits, I never recall seeing photographers at Columbus Cove at Labadee taking pictures of passengers but we saw one this time.  Don’t know if they have bigger staff on this Holiday sailing or if I just missed them in the past.

Columbus Cove at Labadee. 😄

[harryfat1]

After breakfast, we went back to the cabin and just chilled out for a while before going to the first event of the morning.  The welcome back cruiser event or as RCI calls it, top tier event.

 

We are not frequent cruisers and even when we do cruise, we don’t have a super strong loyalty to just one cruise line (as you can see from my cruise history below). So we aren’t very high on the RCI’s hierarchy of frequent cruisers.

 

Way back in the old days (10 years ago), we were invited to the return cruiser event as a lowly peasant + 1 (Gold level) when we were on the Allure. But after that, RCI stopped inviting the Gold tier folks like us to these events as I assume there were too many of us ghetto cruisers at these venues.

 

Had to dig deep into the 2014 Allure folders to get these "welcome back cruiser" events from the old days when even the lowly peasant +1 folks like yours truly got free drinks

 

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

6 minutes ago, Coralc said:

Columbus Cove at Labadee. 😄

Oh, cool.  I guess I must have missed the visits to the uncle in prison during my prior visits.

[harryfat1]

Fast forward to now as we have cruised with RCI the past few cruises to be bumped up to the Platinum level, the lowest tier that is invited to these events.

 

Have your sea pass out at the front as they do “card you” to make sure you are worthy to enter as this was the only free alcohol we were served on this sailing.  Other higher-tier folks get more perks but for us peasant + 2-level folks, this was it in terms of free alcohol.

 

See the ladies at the front entrance of 270?  They want to see your sea pass in case anyone tries to sneak in.

 

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

Speaking of free booze, here's a question for you veteran RCI cruisers, when did they stop the free booze on day 2's formal night when the captain used to welcome guests at the bridge of Royal Promenade and they were giving out free booze to anyone and everyone?

 

Since I was back at the Allure folder for the previous posts, I saw the free booze for the first formal night.  This was back in 2014

 

 

I didn't see any alcohol in my 2016 Freedom of the Seas folder so it must be between those 2 years that they stopped the practice of captain's welcome party on day 2?

 

[harryfat1]

 

 

At the event, the cruise director gave the breakdown of the number of passengers on this sailing. That’s when I learned we had 5,269 passengers or 125% of double occupancy.

 

Here's some music from the event

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 30 by harryfat1

[harryfat1]

Breakdown of repeat cruisers for our sailing:

 

 

Then the cruise director introduced the captain who made some comments and they honored the top 3 cruisers on this sailing with Mr. Paul at over 1,800 points getting this honor. Super impressive as I don’t even know in my lifetime if I can get to 80 points to make Diamond level let alone 1,800 points. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wonder if he knows what his home looks like…

 

 

[harryfat1]

At the top of 270 on deck 6 is the library.  Didn’t see anyone use it much the few times I walked by.  I saw more people playing board games at the tables than reading here

 

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

After the event, as we were on deck 6, I wanted to see how to go back to our cabin from deck 6 as I was still trying to understand why the deck plan showed an opening but couldn’t see it in person.  Then my sons and I finally figured out that the heavy double metal doors that looked like a “service door” reserved for the ship workers were the way that connected the corridor to the cabins.

 

This picture was taken the next morning from the other side but you can see why we walked right past it on day 1.  There were no signs that said “THIS WAY TO 270” from deck 6.  If we didn’t open it from the other side coming from 270, I wouldn’t think of opening these doors if I were on deck 6 as they looked like service doors.

 

 

Do note these doors are HEAVY.  Coming from the other side, I have to push and lean my entire body to move it.  Then when it closes, the door closes at its own speed and slams with a very loud BANG sound.

 

So a note to the Travel Agents reading this part, do not book any of your clients at the back 5 cabins on deck 6 as they will have problems sleeping or getting woken up early with folks like me who figured out the shortcut and go in and out to 270 regularly from the back of deck 6

 

 

 

Especially if they are late sleepers or have hangovers - hearing the big door slam at 7 AM can't be good...

 

 

Edited January 30 by harryfat1

[Coralc]

1 hour ago, harryfat1 said:

At the top of 270 on deck 6 is the library.  Didn’t see anyone use it much the few times I walked by.  I saw more people playing board games at the tables than reading here

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm sorry. What do the colors mean? Is there a shelf color or some sort of other organization? Stickers? I don't quite understand. 

[harryfat1]

49 minutes ago, Coralc said:

 

I'm sorry. What do the colors mean? Is there a shelf color or some sort of other organization? Stickers? I don't quite understand. 

I think it's their version of the Dewey Decimal system that you see at the various public libraries where they classify non fiction books by 100/200/300/400 series and so on.

 

I think in the old days when they had a full time librarian, they have those color dots they would put at the bottom of the book facing the reader, like the Dewey system you see at the library but less sophisticated. 

 

They would just file all the books by color so that if someone wants a book on the ship, they can find it by the group color instead of looking at every shelf. 

 

But nowadays with no librarian on staff and hardly anyone reads the hard covered books at the ships, don't know if anyone is tagging the books.

 

Especially post covid, people are pretty sensitive on touching public books versus bringing their own or read their kindle instead 

[harryfat1]

Lots of people are visiting their crazy aunt in the basement this morning (aka shopping) with whatever sales they have out for the day.

 

 

At 11 something, we made our way to the port talk.  I typically avoid these but my wife wants the freebie charm they were passing out so we went with her as there wasn’t anything else on the schedule we wanted to do.

 

 

Way back on the Mariner of the Seas cruise eons ago, I won the port talk raffle in getting a couple’s massage.  It was ok.  Not something I would pay for out of my own pocket but we all like what we like.

 

 

We didn’t win anything this time.

 

Oh, speaking of visiting the crazy aunt in the basement (aka shopping), I noticed that the RCI is no longer promoting/partnering with everyone's "favorite store" - Diamonds International.  I remember in the old days DI was top of every RCI list but not this time.  They were never mentioned as RCI found a new jewelry company to partner up.

 

Since I know how everyone can't get enough of DI, I made sure I took a picture of the store while in port to share with everyone...🤪

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

Since we were visiting the crazy aunt (aka shopping and shop talk), we didn't want the uncle in prison to feel left out so we went to visit him as well (aka going to check out the pictures we took last night after dinner in front of MDR).

 

Yeah, I know, I have a dysfunctional family tree...

 

While the wife and the boys were checking out the pictures, I took a picture of the photo package prices:

 

 

As I mentioned, if you sign up for the package by the end of day 2, it's 20% off.  But obviously, if you buy it from home (especially at BF sale), the discount is even bigger.

 

So check out the price of the 100 photo package that I bought pre-cruise.  I got it 50% off the old price of $300 or $150.  Now the package costs $400 or $320 with a discount.

 

So the $150 is a bargain if you need that many pictures. But my 100 picture cost of $150 is cheaper than the 10 photo package without discount...

 

If your future cruise is after BF, by all means, wait for BF sales to get the discount.  Better than anything you would get after boarding...

[Coralc]

1 hour ago, harryfat1 said:

I think it's their version of the Dewey Decimal system that you see at the various public libraries where they classify non fiction books by 100/200/300/400 series and so on.

 

I think in the old days when they had a full time librarian, they have those color dots they would put at the bottom of the book facing the reader, like the Dewey system you see at the library but less sophisticated. 

 

They would just file all the books by color so that if someone wants a book on the ship, they can find it by the group color instead of looking at every shelf. 

 

But nowadays with no librarian on staff and hardly anyone reads the hard covered books at the ships, don't know if anyone is tagging the books.

 

Especially post covid, people are pretty sensitive on touching public books versus bringing their own or read their kindle instead 

Yes. That is like Dewey Decimal for Dummies. 😄 But if they aren't going to follow their color coding. It seems like they shouldn't really bother with the sign. I, like others have replaced most of my novels with eBooks on my Nook. But I have still packed up 4 boxes of very heavy reference books for our move. I think Bill just made one super heavy hand truck box with his. 

 

Off topic. But are you all geared up for the next "Atmospheric River" starting on Wednesday? ☺️

Edited January 30 by Coralc

[rncruiser]

2 hours ago, harryfat1 said:

 

Oh, speaking of visiting the crazy aunt in the basement (aka shopping), I noticed that the RCI is no longer promoting/partnering with everyone's "favorite store" - Diamonds International.  I remember in the old days DI was top of every RCI list but not this time.  They were never mentioned as RCI found a new jewelry company to partner up.

 

Since I know how everyone can't get enough of DI, I made sure I took a picture of the store while in port to share with everyone...🤪

 

 

 

Many years ago when our daughter was young, she wanted to go to DI to get the free charm. I think we were in Saint Maarten. We went to the store and she got her charm. I stopped to look at the necklaces, which of course is the point of their offering the freebie. I saw a lovely necklace. When I asked the price I was told  that it was $10,000. Now I had absolutely no intention of buying the necklace at that price or any other and decided to leave the store before they started to get pushy. As we headed out the salesman called to me”$6,000.”  I’m sure I could have gotten it for even less if I had actually wanted it. I wonder how many people pay full price for their jewelry. It’s not like Saint Maarten is known as a place for bargaining. I certainly can’t imagine going into Tiffany’s and getting a 40% price reduction as soon as I start to walk away. 
 

[KmomChicago]

On 1/24/2024 at 9:10 PM, harryfat1 said:

You are welcome.  The whole point of writing this trip report is to share my experience with future cruisers. Hopefully, you and others who will be sailing on the Odyssey or her sister ships will be on the lookout to book these time slots ASAP.

 

As you can see, I’m not the only person concerned with not being able to secure a slot.  The FOMO syndrome is strong with many as we all paid thousands of dollars for our cruises and we all want to reap the benefits as much as possible.

Yeah for our May cruise the pre-sold extended experience is selling fast. 

[KmomChicago]

On 1/25/2024 at 11:53 PM, Coralc said:

This always so much cracks me up Harry. 😄 My mom had some relatives down in Bakersfield. I was about 25 when we stayed down there and had a family dinner. This kind, elderly gentleman arrived and introduced himself as my Uncle Glenn, and of course went on to say that he hadn't seen me since I was about 3 years old. It seems to be that standard thing that distant relatives always say. 😄

 

After he left, I asked a different aunt where Glenn had been all these years?

She said, "Oh, he was in San Quentin, honey." 

I said, "You mean like the death row prison, up near where we live? Why?"

Aunt said, "He killed a BAD man." 

I am looking at my mom this whole time. <She shrugged> Because, of course, no one in our family would ever kill a good, regular person. LOL. 🙄 And apparently, he was a trustee at the farm/garden. I never knew. And we did not ever visit. 

 

I don't know. It was something that happened after the war. (WWII) Some military beef that carried over. He was mom's BIL's brother. It always makes me laugh when you say that.  ☺️☺️

@harryfat1 for me the uncle in prison now has a name. And not just any prison but a real doozy! Thanks @Coralc for Uncle Glenn in San Quentin, model prisoner, only kills guys who need killin’. 

 

Also CFKACD we need to talk about the potential advantage of flexible dining time on Carnival Excel class ships - where you get one free dinner at Chibang and one free dinner at Cucina. Plus, it starts really early if you want to get the feasting over with and move along to the plentiful evening entertainment options. And with the app you can wait anywhere on the ship for your table so no more of this awful queue at the door. Just be ready to deploy immediately when the call comes as you have ten minutes to present yourselves. 
 

On Ovation in May for us we are doing fixed time because early seating is like an hour earlier than flex and we do like to prioritize the shows each night, plus we’re just early risers and as you mentioned the indigestion and sleep interference, having a little time to work off the big meal is better for us. Funny how on Carnival flex begins earlier than fixed and Royal is the opposite, 
 

I’m also hoping our sail date, 3rd week of May, will keep the ship right around 100% capacity or even lower before most of the little kids are done with school. We are now on the college schedule that ends a couple weeks earlier, dropping us down from high season into shoulder season. Somewhat cheaper for both the ship and airfare prices. We will be in inside cabins that don’t connect but are adjacent and in their own tiny 2 room hallway which has what I believe is its own locked security door giving the space a sort of low-end suite feel. 

[luvtoride]

11 hours ago, harryfat1 said:

At the top of 270 on deck 6 is the library.  Didn’t see anyone use it much the few times I walked by.  I saw more people playing board games at the tables than reading here

 

 

 

 

There's a library on the ship?  Damn, and I dragged my own books along on the cruise!  

[luvtoride]

4 hours ago, KmomChicago said:

@harryfat1 for me the uncle in prison now has a name. And not just any prison but a real doozy! Thanks @Coralc for Uncle Glenn in San Quentin, model prisoner, only kills guys who need killin’. 

 

Kmom, sounds like BARRY (Bill Hader character and show) to me!  LOL

[karebare22]

10 hours ago, harryfat1 said:

Since we were visiting the crazy aunt (aka shopping and shop talk), we didn't want the uncle in prison to feel left out so we went to visit him as well (aka going to check out the pictures we took last night after dinner in front of MDR).

 

Yeah, I know, I have a dysfunctional family tree...

 

While the wife and the boys were checking out the pictures, I took a picture of the photo package prices:

 

 

As I mentioned, if you sign up for the package by the end of day 2, it's 20% off.  But obviously, if you buy it from home (especially at BF sale), the discount is even bigger.

 

So check out the price of the 100 photo package that I bought pre-cruise.  I got it 50% off the old price of $300 or $150.  Now the package costs $400 or $320 with a discount.

 

So the $150 is a bargain if you need that many pictures. But my 100 picture cost of $150 is cheaper than the 10 photo package without discount...

 

If your future cruise is after BF, by all means, wait for BF sales to get the discount.  Better than anything you would get after boarding...

Not sure if Odyssey had this available, but for our Oasis cruise you could view (and order) all your photos right in the App. We found this really convenient! It was one of the tabs at the bottom. It also showed many, but not all, of the photos from linked cabins (plus a few extras of strangers 😂).
Note that the photos are watermarked, and it’s not possible to take a screenshot. 

Edited January 30 by karebare22
Added more info

[T-2]

I'm excited to see a few other photo enthusiasts on this thread and hoping I can interject a question. I always buy the 50 or 100 photo pkg as I am old school and love to make photo books and still carry a camera around rather than using my phone or the cloud. Have any of you noticed any nice backdrops that you haven't seen time and time again. We were super impressed when we sailed on the Wonder of the Seas at the sheer number of gorgeous new backdrops and the skill of the photographers. I have never had one done like the one at Labadee from Columbus Cove and love the ship in the background so this trip will venture down there as the memories of our family vacations mean everything. Glad you are having such an incredible time, our turn in 2 months :0) Thanks

[rncruiser]

1 hour ago, karebare22 said:

Not sure if Odyssey had this available, but for our Oasis cruise you could view (and order) all your photos right in the App. We found this really convenient! It was one of the tabs at the bottom. It also showed many, but not all, of the photos from linked cabins (plus a few extras of strangers 😂).
Note that the photos are watermarked, and it’s not possible to take a screenshot. 

The watermarks didn’t stop my son from taking a screenshot and posting on Facebook. He just told his friends there was no way he was paying $25 for a photo. It actually doesn’t look too bad. 

[harryfat1]

19 hours ago, Coralc said:

Yes. That is like Dewey Decimal for Dummies. 😄 But if they aren't going to follow their color coding. It seems like they shouldn't really bother with the sign. I, like others have replaced most of my novels with eBooks on my Nook. But I have still packed up 4 boxes of very heavy reference books for our move. I think Bill just made one super heavy hand truck box with his. 

 

Off topic. But are you all geared up for the next "Atmospheric River" starting on Wednesday? ☺️

I wonder if the sign is just a standard on all RCI ships even if they no longer stamp the books?

 

If whoever will be sailing on other RCI ships soon verify if that ship library has a similar sign there?

 

As for the rain, yeah, it looks like the biggest storm this season is headed this way by Wednesday at lunchtime.  This will make for a terrible commute home tomorrow night.

 

For those not sure what we are talking about – Patti and I are both from the Bay Area and we had severe drought the past few years until last year when many series of storms blew through CA and saved us from having water restrictions.  So far this year, the weather has been pretty mild some sporadic rain but a couple of big storms are coming our way riding the “Atmospheric River” – a jet stream that carries all the water to our doorsteps from Hawaii or sometimes people call it “Pineapple Express”.

 

Here in the west, we don’t get rain often so any major storm will cause a bunch of down trees and power lines and our roads get flooded easily as they didn’t design the drainage system assuming there would be much rain.  So if I don’t post anything tomorrow night, it’s because we have no electricity/Internet connection from the storm….

[harryfat1]

18 hours ago, rncruiser said:

Many years ago when our daughter was young, she wanted to go to DI to get the free charm. I think we were in Saint Maarten. We went to the store and she got her charm. I stopped to look at the necklaces, which of course is the point of their offering the freebie. I saw a lovely necklace. When I asked the price I was told  that it was $10,000. Now I had absolutely no intention of buying the necklace at that price or any other and decided to leave the store before they started to get pushy. As we headed out the salesman called to me”$6,000.”  I’m sure I could have gotten it for even less if I had actually wanted it. I wonder how many people pay full price for their jewelry. It’s not like Saint Maarten is known as a place for bargaining. I certainly can’t imagine going into Tiffany’s and getting a 40% price reduction as soon as I start to walk away. 
 

Yeah, St. Maarten is famous for jewelry and electronics shopping along the main road just off the cruise terminal. On every cruise I have been sailing there, the ships promote the jewelry like they are going out of business the next week – buy/buy/buy…

 

Diamonds International is everywhere.  They are even here in the US.  Saw them in Alaska with a huge store in Ketchikan and Juneau.  Maybe 20% of the stores along the main street in Juneau are probably jewelry stores.

 

The bus driver that took us to the Mendenhall Glacier said these jewelry store workers are transplants.  They show up by April just before the summer cruise season and leave town by October when the Alaska cruise season is over.  So, all the jewelry stores along the cruise ship docks are empty half of the year when cruise ships are not in town.

 

Jewelry stores all along the main street along the waterfront in Juneau awaiting all our upcoming Alaska cruise friends starting in April.  See my red arrows?

 

 

 

 

DI store in Jueau is next door to the Effy Jewelry store, which is now RCI’s new jewelry partner as RCI promotes the Effy guys to no end at the port talk.  Not once was DI ever mentioned.  DI must be partnering with another cruise line

 

 

An even bigger DI store in Ketchikan.  Can't miss this store with its colorful storefront and massive size on the corner right by where the cruisers disembark

 

 

 

Edited January 31 by harryfat1