Written by Kim
We enjoyed our 14 nights to the Caribbean on Odyssey. We have sailed this class of ship many times but this was our first on Odyssey. The itinerary was good – 3 1/2 days at sea – 7 ports in a row – then 3 more days at sea.
Embarkation – we haven’t sailed out of Cape Liberty since 2022 and never remember getting to the port to be such a challenge. There was no traffic until we got on the road the port is on then we sat for about 45 minutes to go a mile. They didn’t have anyone directing drop offs so people were stopping as soon as they got to the curb so it was one or 2 cars unloading at a time rather than 20-25. Just stupid. We had Adrianna, our one year old granddaughter, with us because my daughter was dropping us off and she was not happy. She kept saying Go Pop Go! We arrived later than normal for our 2 pm all aboard but ended up not leaving until about 4:30 due to medical emergencies prior to departing. We needed a beer – give me that Fosters!
The Ship – the ship is beautiful and quite similar to others in the class with a few differences. There is no indoor pool other than the adults only solarium (or what we refer to as the “morgue pool”) which is a bit of a drawback sailing from NJ in cold months. It means at least your first and last day there’s no pool for any kids. Also, there are a few restaurant differences. Odyssey has El Loco Fresh (Mexican) & playmakers (sports bar) but others in the class have the Hot Dog place & fish & chips that Odyssey doesn’t have. Also, Odyssey has a 3 level dining room with open atrium but others have small separate dining rooms. The cabins are similar with lots of storage.
The Ports – this itinerary was unusual because the ship was doing a transatlantic after we got off to go to dry dock. We didn5 have any new port but several we like – St. Maarten, Antigua, St. Lucia, San Juan and 2 of my favorites, Barbados and St. Kitts. Martinique was the only por5 we didn’t get off the ship.
Entertainment – there was a good mix of entertainment with some comedy, a few singing acts (Las Vegas Tenors were best), an aerialist act, a magician, and a few production shows. Showgirls, the production show was a high energy singing and dancing show with fabulous costumes. The Book was in the high tech venue, 270, and was an eclectic collection of storytellling, singing, dancing and acrobats. We particularly like the Music Hall on these ships where they often have a rock tribute band. The house band, Thalia & the Groove, was very good. Live music is found all around the ship which we love. The orchestra was probably the best I ever heard on a ship. I also enjoy the aqua show and ice show but those venues aren’t available on this class of ship. Royal’s talent and entertainment is top notch,
Food – we had very mixed experience with food and service in both the main dining room and specialty restaurants. We rarely went to the Windjammer buffet because it was often crowded and a zoo. We ate breakfast most days in Solarium Bistro which is a hidden gem for breakfast – it’s a smaller less crowded buffet for breakfast. We bounced around to a few different tables in the main dining room both for bad table locations and bad wait service but ultimately landed on a good table and wait staff for the last few days. We went to Chops, the specialty steakhouse, twice. Food was good both times but service the first night was not good at all. We ate at Giovanni’s, the Italian specialty, and our service was horrible and some food was good other dishes not very good. We also went to Izumi which was fine. The menus have been reduced and service has declined significantly in the specialty restaurants yet Royal is pushing them hard. I think we will think hard before paying a big up charge for mediocre value. Royal needs to think about how their cuts in reduced personnel is impacting the cruise experience. It’s still good but not as special as it once was,
Casino – did we lose money? Yes – well that’s why they call it gambling. I did pretty good on slots but I’m a low roller. I think I broke even or was slightly up. I’m happy to hit for $80-$100 on my 80 cent bet so I can keep playing. Alex likes to play table games like Texas Hold ‘Em but the table minimums were $15 which was higher than he wanted to play especially when you bet 4 times with a good hand so he didn’t play. Many of the tables were empty most of the cruise due to high minimums. Alex played poker and did ok to slow the bleed of losing on slots. He plays more agressively than me (I’ll always be an accountant 😜). One nice thing about the casino is they only allowed smoking in the back corner so there were lots of non smoking areas and it wasn’t too smoky. We love Australian cruises because there is no smoking in the entire casino.
The friends – the real reason we took this cruise was to be with friends. We knew lots of people on this cruise and spent lots of time with our good friends, Patty & Tony and Dee & John. We drank, we laughed, we shared memories and stories and that’s what it’s all about. We missed some friends like Carol & Narce and Jeff & Robin who couldn’t join us but cherish the memories we make when cruising with friends. We enjoyed seeing some friends we don’t see often and look forward to cruising again. I enjoyed chatting with several Australians and sharing our adventures in their country.
We know we are very blessed to be able to travel and make memories with friends. For the next few months we will have visits with family at our house but we are thinking about our big trip in the fall. Not sure yet what we will do. Until then……
