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]

Oh, I don't think I even have one picture of "PlayMakers".  This is probably the closest shot I have of one.

 

It's a sports bar where you can sit and watch sports events and drink and eat. All food costs extra, which was why CFKACD didn't venture inside.  It's part of the "Ultra" lineup that wasn't available in the original set of Quantum-class ships as RCI took out the video game-playing area and replaced it with this.

 

You can see there's a giant TV screen above the Sea Plex area and they were showing football games on Saturday/Sunday/Monday nights

 

 

Edited January 28 by harryfat1

[harryfat1]

The rear lights change to star shape and flash for few seconds after any violent collision

 

[harryfat1]

OK.  Finally our turn

 

 

 

 

I saw some people trying to video their ride while driving.  I wasn't that adventurous or crazy to try it as one good jolt from a collision, my phone could be flying across the floor.

 

You folks will just have to take my word for it that this was a fun activity

[harryfat1]

After the bumper car, it was time to head back to the cabin to shower and change for dinner.

 

As we got off the elevator on deck 6, we realized one very odd thing about deck 6 on the Oddssey (maybe this applies to all Quantum class ships?). 

 

Typically when you get on an elevator from the pool deck to your cabin, you don’t care if it’s a port or starbaord side elevator as you can just “walk across” to the other side of the ship.

 

However, this CAN NOT be done on deck 6 of the Odyssey in the Aft elevators.  Let me show you on the deck plan (I bet y’all are tired of seeing the deck 6 floor plan as I probably refer to the deck plan more than 99.9% of the reviewers out there).

 

Let me show you a “typical” elevator bank setup.  This is deck 7 Aft elevators.  Looks pretty normal, right?  If you get off from the starboard (right hand) set of elevators, just “walk across” to the port side (eft hand) if necessary to go to the side of the ship where your cabin is located.

 

See the openings I pointed out in the red arrows?

 

 

 

Now look at the deck 6 floor plan.  You notice that there’s a big block area that prevents you from walking from one side to the other.

 

 

We didn’t realize that so we got on the starboard elevator going down to deck 6 and then to our surprise, we couldn’t figure out a way to go from Starboard to the Port side.  WTH?

 

 

[harryfat1]

Sigh. Fine. Let’s do the old-school way and walk ALL THE WAY around.  See the red arrow? That’s what we had to walk. Whereas the regular way (purple arrow) is much faster.

 

 

 

I didn’t understand at the time why we couldn’t walk across but finally figured out later that the ship designers in order to make the walkway more open, they disconnected the path between port and the starboard side for deck 6 only.

 

Here’s the picture of the starboard side elevators.  Do you see how they couldn’t have the pathway if they insist on a 2-level “open space” concept if people from deck 5 walking down the pathway?

 

 

So if you have cabins on deck 6, be very careful about which set of elevators you get on when you come down from the pool deck above or the gangway below. After day 1, for the rest of the cruise, we always made sure we were on the port side elevators.

[luvtoride]

22 minutes ago, harryfat1 said:

  If you are too young/small, you can’t drive by yourself and need an adult.  Most cars I saw were single riders.

 

 

@harryfat1What was the “Too young/small” restrictions?  My almost 5 year old (and tall ) grandson was not allowed to do the bumper cars alone or with an adult.  He was very disappointed!  

[harryfat1]

Picture of the outside Promenade walkway on Deck 5. 

 

 

Don’t get me started on the old man's complaint about having wooden decks for the Promenade deck on the older classic ships is much better looking.  Astro Turf or whatever fake blue carpet down there is not good.

 

Pictures of the RCI lifeboat at 6:15 as I took these pictures while my wife was in the shower. A couple of lights on the horizon.

 

 

Speaking of the shower, here is what it looks like for the Odyssey.  An improvement over the old-school showers on the Voyager class ships with better doors.

 

But I'm not a big fan of the "all-in-one" shampoo/conditioner/body wash.  As you can see, there's only one dispenser inside the shower area.  That liquid is supposed to clean you from top to bottom, literally. 

 

If you are picky about your hair/body cleaning liquids, bring your own...

 

[harryfat1]

9 minutes ago, luvtoride said:

@harryfat1What was the “Too young/small” restrictions?  My almost 5 year old (and tall ) grandson was not allowed to do the bumper cars alone or with an adult.  He was very disappointed!  

Brian,

 

Here is the link from RCI on size restrictions:

 

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/aus/en/cruise-activities/bumper-cars?country=AUS

 

 

[harryfat1]

The week prior to our sailing, Mark @h20skibum was on the Symphony going pretty much the same route as the Odyssey.  We were comparing notes in that the Odyssey was in port for 4 extra hours in Aruba/Curacao than the Symphony and we wondered if it had to do with the speed the 2 ships were sailing.

 

So we took pictures of our ship's speed and compared notes to the extent we could.  He was doing his review live so he had real-time data whereas he’s getting my data now – one month later.

 

Anyway, here’s our speed on night one leaving Port Everglades.

 

18 knots at 6:50 PM

 

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

We got this flyer from RCI marketing in our cabin and my wife took a picture of it for the 25 years title as this was our 25^th anniversary

 

 

So we are all done showering and looking/smelling fresh.  Or as fresh as you can be since RCI cut back on providing only 1 cleaner that functions as shampoo/conditioner/body wash so our entire body smells the same from top to bottom. 

 

Good or bad thing, you think about that tonight as you think about the meaning of life and one cleaning solution for the whole body...

 

[harryfat1]

So off we went down to deck 4 to check out the stores now that the ship had sailed and they were allowed to open.

 

For those that have read my previous trip reports will know I have a special phrase for shopping while on a cruise.  Shopping is similar to “visit the uncle in prison” of shipboard photography as a regular cruise occurrence (even more than pictures) but shopping seldom shows up on trip reports here on CC. 

 

I find this to be similar to where you have a crazy aunt in the family who is being locked in the basement as the family is worried that if she gets out, she will hurt herself/others.  We all know she exists down there in the basement of grandparents house but we don’t talk about her at any of the family gatherings.

 

So for the rest of this trip report, when I said “Visit the crazy aunt in the basement”, I'm referring to people shopping during the cruise.  Many people do this.  I know we always buy something from our visits. Part of the Accounting people rather have a long-term asset (souvenir) than a short-term enjoyment (drinking at a bar).

[harryfat1]

Here are a few pictures of the gift shop on board. 

 

 

 

 

 

They were trying to drum up business on day 1 with a sales guy at the front telling everyone they were having a “Black Friday” sale where the “entire store” is 35% off. 

 

But when you start asking questions, they back off by saying many items are excluded from the 35% off sale.  

 

Time to queue up the Fleetwood Mac song:

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

Not sure if everyone is aware of this but RCI and Starbucks teamed up to produce special coffee mugs for each ship that has a Starbucks store.  We looked for one back on the Navigator in August but they didn’t have them yet. 

 

So, we made it a point to check out Starbucks on day 1 to see if they did and were happy to see that they do have it.  That became our first souvenir purchase on the cruise as we paid a visit to the crazy aunt in the basement.

 

 

 

[rncruiser]

Interesting that the cup has ice skates on it when there is no ice skating rink on Odyssey. More likely it is the same cup for each ship with the only difference being the name of the ship. 

[luvtoride]

42 minutes ago, harryfat1 said:

Brian,

 

Here is the link from RCI on size restrictions:

 

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/aus/en/cruise-activities/bumper-cars?country=AUS

 

 

I guess he was under 107cm, whatever that is equal to in inches. Very disappointing.  

[harryfat1]

5 minutes ago, luvtoride said:

I guess he was under 107cm, whatever that is equal to in inches. Very disappointing.  

42 inches

[GimmeOcean]

 

1 hour ago, rncruiser said:

Interesting that the cup has ice skates on it when there is no ice skating rink on Odyssey. More likely it is the same cup for each ship with the only difference being the name of the ship. 

 

 

They’re actually different for each ship - which makes the ice skates for Odyssey even weirder.

 

https://www.cruisecritic.com/news/royal-caribbean-will-roll-out-ship-themed-starbucks-mugs-this-fall

 

 

Edited January 28 by GimmeOcean

[harryfat1]

19 minutes ago, GimmeOcean said:

 

 

 

They’re actually different for each ship - which makes the ice skates for Odyssey even weirder.

 

https://www.cruisecritic.com/news/royal-caribbean-will-roll-out-ship-themed-starbucks-mugs-this-fall

 

 

Looking at the list, it looks like Odyssey is the only Quantum Class ship.

 

Whomever designed this must not have known that the Q class ships does not have ice skating rink.

 

However, I recall seeing pictures of roller skating on the original Quantum class ships but didn't recall seeing any being offered on our sailing from the phone app.

 

You would think someone at RCI Marketing should have reviewed these drawings. 

Edited January 28 by harryfat1

[harryfat1]

OK, some more photo uploads for the night as we wrap up day 1 of the cruise (many thought this day would never arrive).

 

+++++++++++
 

 

It was time for dinner at 8 PM for the late seating. 

 

We are huge fans of the set-time dinner.  I know it’s a matter of personal preferences as others prefer flexible dining time but for us, we like the idea of just walking into nightly and having a table reserved just for us.  Where else can you have this special treatment in a land-based restaurant? 

 

On top of that, a member of the family has a severe peanut allergy and it’s much easier to explain it once to a wait staff for the entire cruise and be done with it.. 

 

We tried the somewhat flexible dining on Princess Cruise a couple of years ago.  Didn’t like the concept of having to request the same waiter/table nightly and waiting in line. Not for us. Not a negotiable alternative if the ship has set time dining, we are choosing it.

 

[harryfat1]

Door opening on deck 4 at MDR for late seating at 8 PM.

 

 

Our table is in the back part of the oval upon entrance. This is the view my wife and younger son see as they are facing this way.  Whereas my older son and I are facing the dreaded wall.

 

 

I’m typically not a menu photographer as you can get this info online but I was in a festive mood that night so I took a picture of the menu.  This is the standard RCI day 1 menu as they call it the “Welcome aboard” dinner.

 

 

Assuming most people are familiar with the RCI menu changeover in 2023.  Enough has been written about the downgrade in meal quality that I won’t add too much more on day 1 of the cruise.  I complained enough in my previous Navigator cruise that repeat readers won’t need to hear it again.

 

Just know that the Navaigor MDR dinner was disappointing enough that we didn’t mind skipping it once for this cruise and also added a couple of specialty lunches to supplement the overall dining experience.

[harryfat1]

 

 

 

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

Another advantage of having a set dinner seating is once they know you have an allergy, the dining staff will give you tomorrow's menu at the end of every meal so you can pre-order your meal for the next day and they will specially cook that meal with no nuts if the regular recipe calls for nuts.

 

This way, people can still enjoy the food if nuts are just a minor ingredient, they can remove it during the cooking process.  Obviously, if you want to order a peanut butter cookie without peanut butter, it kind of defeats the purpose.

 

Anyway, our dinner typically takes a little longer as during dessert time, the head waiter comes over with his cell phone and presents to us the menu options for the next day so the family member can pre-order for the next day.

 

They did this for us back on the Navigator and we all appreciate RCI for making an effort to accommodate people with allergies.

 

 

[harryfat1]

After dinner, we visited the uncle in prison (aka photo session) as they have the photo props set up in front of MDR nightly so that’s our routine.  Some people go to the bar to get a drink pre/post dinner.  We visit the uncle in prison.  Every family has their set of routines. 

 

That’s what makes Cruising so great in that we can all do our own thing but still share some common events like MDR and theater entertainment to feel we were on the same cruise.

 

Speaking of photos, now is a good time to talk photo package.

 

You can buy the photos one by one at the regular price of $25 each or if you are high enough in the crown and anchor tier, you can get one free.  We typically buy a 5 to 10 photo package.  For the Navigator cruise, that’s what we did.  If you buy it on the first 2 days of the cruise, you get 20% off.

 

However, for the Odyssey, we went for the whole kit and caboodle in the ultimate package of 100 pictures.  Yeah, yeah, I know, that; 's why my title for this cruise is CFKACD as I spent more than I normally would on this cruise. 

 

As I said in the introduction, it was our 25^th anniversary and originally we had the inlaws coming also and being the Holiday cruise on top of it, ordering a bigger package made sense at the time.

 

On top of that, we booked this cruise 16 months prior and RCI had a Black Friday sale back in 2022 (13 months before sailing).  Back then, the 100 pictures package was going for $300 and with 50% off on the Black Friday sale, it became $150. 

 

That’s $150 for 100 digital or hard copy 8 X10 photos or $1.50 per photo.  That’s dirt cheap compared to buying it individually. So I bought the big package as if I had to print 100 pictures on my own at CVS or Walgreens, it's going to cost more than $1.50 per photo.. 

 

In retrospect, we probably would be ok with the 50 photo package but I don’t think the incremental charge to go from 50 pictures to 100 picture package is that much higher, especially if you factor in the 50% BF discount.

 

Anyway, we opted for the hard copy for the package.  To get that, we had to visit the photo store after they opened on day 1 to request hard copies, or else the default is digital print.  RCI forces people to go to the photo studio on day 1 to request to get hard copies. 

 

You can not make the request online.  Explain that logic to me…

[harryfat1]

Ok, so we were done with visiting the uncle in prison (photos) as well as the crazy aunt in the basement (shopping), it was time to be entertained.

 

Walked over to the main theater for the 10 PM show.  The entrainment for the night is the comedian.  He was only so-so.  Not the best.

 

Comedy is subjective but somehow I want to say Carnival has been able to book better comedians during the times we sailed with them or just a matter of luck as time since these comedians rotate on and off every sailing and you never know who you will get.

 

After the show, it was time to go back to the cabin for the night.  In theory, they had a virtual fireworks show on display at 270 big screens at midnight but we didn’t want to stay up that late as it was a tiring day (albeit very exciting first day of the cruise).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

Back to the cabin to take another ship speed photo to compare notes with Mark.  At 11:53 at night, almost 7 hours after casting off, we were going 20 knots and about 70 (21 degrees Celsius) outside as we sailed past Florida. Not cold but not super warm either s you would expect from the Caribbean.  

 

 

 

Pretty windy outside at night looking outside of the very obstructed balcony view.  Other than the wind and the water below, it was very quiet.  Queue up the Gregorian monks as they help me close out the report for day 1.

 

 

 

 

Day 1 reporting is typically my longest reporting day as I get very excited to share the info on the new ship with the readers.  The rest of the trip report will be shorter, especially sea days.  Maybe port days will be somewhat lengthy as well as we got off the ship to explore.  

 

+++++++++++

As always, many thanks to those who are following along. I appreciate all the feedback daily.  The hardest part in writing these marathon trip reports is after a while it becomes boring when it’s just me retelling the days of our lives for 10 days of our vacation.

 

By having feedback and side conversations, it makes it more interesting nightly when I do my uploads so I appreciate and encourage all comments for the rest of the trip report