harryfat1

Thanks for checking up on our travel plans. We might end up going earlier than originally anticipated as we are trying to get to NYC before the oppressive August heat sets in. So now I had to cancel the original hotel and flight that was booked for August and looking to book on a revised date. That’s been taking up more of my time that should be used for planning instead. That being said, we have an overall idea of what we like to do. Will be seeing major tourist sites like the Statue of Liberty, the 9/11 Memorial, Central Park, and so on. Doing what all other tourists will do. Most likely will be buying an I love NY shirt and a cheapo mini-replica of the Statue of Liberty when we visit the uncle in prison. The thing about planning is that when you are at home in perfect condition, you will want to do everything but when you get there, if it’s too hot or rainy or you are too tired, then you have to change/curtail the activities so we will unlikely end up doing everything from the plan. But at least there's a plan...

Hi, Thanks for the info. I will add this to the list of buildings to check out while we are in NYC. Per the link you provided, it says the lobby is closed to the general public and they no longer offer tours so we can only see what’s outside. I am old enough to remember going to the Woolworths stores when I was young. Doubtful the younger generations even heard of the name.

Thanks for the info on the hot pot restaurant. If you like hot pot, I saw one place in the Flushing Chinatown area accessible via the subway, it's called Xiang Hot Pot and BBQ and has decent reviews online: https://xianghotpot.com/ It's located inside the New World Mall in Flushing. Per Google Maps, we can get to Flushing in 35 minutes via the #7 train starting from Grand Central Terminal in Midtown. Not sure if we will go there as Hot Pot in the summer heat doesn't sound that appealing at the moment but there are many places to eat in Flushing Chinatown if we have time to venture out there. I'm really looking forward to the Halal food trucks as all reviews on YouTube/Google gave the Halal food rave reviews. I read Adel's Halal food truck is supposed to be very good and they are open until 4 AM on weekdays (crazy hours). We don't have anything like that on the West Coast so that's a must-eat for me

Hi Brian, These pictures were taken in the San Francisco area. Same restaurant as the one I shared back last month. I just thought I shared these pictures as it was a special dinner. Thanks for the offer for NYC Chinatown. I have been watching YouTube channels recently (now that I don't have my nightly trip report to write), I saw that there's a bigger Chinatown out in the Queens area called Flushing. That looks like it's more for the newer immigrants whereas Manhattan is the older crowd. Similar to LA and San Francisco where the older generation stayed in the traditional Chinatown but the newer folks moved out to the suburbs. Not sure if we will have time to make it to Flushings on this visit but just an FYI to anyone interested in wanting to experience other Chinese cuisines, they can head out there as well as Manhattan Chinatown.

Thanks for the encouragement. I don’t think people is that interested in what I do to drag this thread that far into next year. My life is pretty boring, but my wife’s family are more foodies so I can post occasional pictures if we have special events later on. At least the NYC info might be helpful for future readers sailing on the Odyssey out of NJ in the Fall/Winter season in case they are in town to see NYC pre/post cruise.

Mark, The name of the restaurant is Ming Yuan in Daly City. The address is 209 Southgate Avenue, Daly City. It’s about 20 minutes from SFO so you can go there after you arrive in the Bay Area. You saw this place back on post #730 onward in this trip report as it was the Chinese New Year Dim Sum place I mentioned previously. This is my in-law's favorite restaurant so we go there on special occasions. You can check out the pictures I took of the menu on post #732. Now it depends on when you are going there. If you go during lunch, you can have either the Dim Sum food in the #731 as we had on Chinese New Year or a regular lunch. So if you want to try the chicken feet on #734, lunchtime is the only time you can get that menu. The “regular” menu on post #732 is lunch and dinner for people who don’t want Dim Sum exclusively for lunch. Depending on the size of your party, if you have 10 or more, you can opt for the set dinner like the ones I just posted in #1358/1359. Here is a picture of the menu for the set dinner. It’s the $398 dinner (feeds 10 people). Since we had 13 people in the super max-sized table, we added a few extra items on top of the set dinner as that was only enough for 10. But assuming you don’t have that big of a group, you may not need the set dinner menu but you can order some of the items a la carte. Besides the “set dinner menu” for 10 people the “regular menu” and the lunch-only “dim sum” menu, they also have the “special seasonal” menu that changes periodically (I know, confusing as heck). This special menu can change seasonally, depending on what stuff is in season. Keep in mind this is served Chinese family style as they put the stuff in the middle and you share whatever. If you decide to go to this restaurant, the tip is to set the Google map to the Home Depot nearby as the parking at the restaurant is nearly impossible to find a spot right in front of a very busy street. There’s a lot more parking at the Home Depot parking and you can just walk one block to the restaurant. Home Depot, 303 Lake Merced Blvd, Daly City, CA 94015 The final suggestion is if you are parked at Home Depot, there’s a Chinese bakery next door called Sheng Kee. They have 11 stores in the Bay Area. You can drop in and pick up some Chinese pastries/cake after your meal to take back to your son’s place. 526 Westlake Center, Daly City, CA 94015 https://www.shengkee.com/collections/cakes This picture were taken inside the bakery over the weekend:

I wanted the pictures of the two lobster heads You know you are in a Chinese region when birthday cakes are in Chinese

Here's an addendum nobody asked for but I will share it anyway as we went to dinner for a family dinner the other night. These are the big set dinner banquet-style Chinese food you only find in the bigger cities so I thought I would upload few photos: Table for 13. Chinese only sits in round tables for dinner at restaurants for large groups

Haha, now I'm curious about what you say that got the people all riled up? Did you say "Only morons would sail on RCI?" or "You must be dumber than Biden/Trump (insert the political figure you dislike the most) to want to be on the Odyssey"? Barring any real personal attacks, I don't see why people would feel offended. Many people are too insecure in their liking. They want to read good reviews to validate that they made the right choice in selecting/selected the right ship/cruise line. Any negative comments from reviewers are deemed a personal attack on their selection. They don't have enough self-conviction to believe they made the right choice in selecting their cruise ship/line and will get upset at any negative comments. I have contributed to other boards like Disney and Edmunds car selections. People get very upset about any negative reviews on their favorite products as if the reviewers are criticizing their kids' bad piano recital. What these people don't realize is that a "bad review" can be a good thing such that if you are a good social media influencer and 100 people read your negative comments about the Odyssey/RCI and then they tell 100 friends and those people tell 100 friends, in no time, there will be a million people who know that the Odyssey is a bad ship/RCI is a bad cruise line. As such, people won't book future sailings on the Odyssey/RCI for the next few years. Then RCI will be forced to dramatically decrease the prices on all the cabins such that cheapo dads of the world can get an Owner's Suite for $100/night due to your "negative reviews". So that becomes a good thing. You just need to explain the economics of cruising to the "Morons"...🤪

Oh, yeah, I have this type of schedule as well. Here is the 8-day version in case anyone needs one

Hi, Thanks for reporting back. I'm glad you guys had a great vacation. Yeah, the 270 venue is very different than other RCI venues with comfortable seating as well as a great Aft view and close access to the cafe next door. I like the style of your bike, looks more like a sports car whereas ours looks more like an SUV. I agree that the experience at first glance is touristy as heck, but many people were doing it and it's a lot of family-together fun time. It's not something you'll want to do on every visit but something you will remember for a long time and that's what family vacation is all about.

Glad the scan page was useful. In case you need it, I just scanned page 4 from Days 3 to 7 (that’s all I have) into one PDF file so you (or others) can download it and maybe even print it to give you an idea of what might be on your cruise. The phone app was useless in providing the precise info for our sailing. I booked Giovanni’s for lunch based on the App saying the Belly Flop would be on Day 8 and after we got on board, we found out that got moved to Day 6 and by then they wouldn’t let us switch out the lunch so I wouldn’t trust the phone app that much. As for NYC, if you ask the average person to list the top 10 famous cities in the world, NYC would be on that list along with London, Paris, Rome, Tokyo, and others. There’s no shortage of things to do in the city as a tourist. Given our vacation style of wanting to see new sights, we are a better fit visiting the major cities rather than lounging around at the Solarium. My wife and I visited NYC just for a day many years ago. We saw the Statue of Liberty and actually went all the way up on the observation deck of the original Twin Towers so it’ll be a different feeling when we visit the 9/11 Memorial as we were actually inside the tower a few years before 9/11. Days 3 to 7 Scan.pdf

You already have your answer on the Royal Theater, but just want to add that the Effectors was on day 2 (first formal night) and Showgirls was on day 6 (second formal night) for our sailing in case you plan things around the shows. For the Odyssey, both shows were after dinner for us whereas back on the Navigator, their shows were before dinner so plan for that as well. I don’t have the cruise compass for day 2 as our less-than-stellar cabin attendant didn’t give us a copy but here’s a copy of the day 6 compass and you can see the Showgirls were at 8 and 10 PM. Expect the same schedule for Effectors. Especially for the Effectors, plan to show up at least 30 minutes before the show to get a good seat as it’s very good and popular. I rate it as a “Don’t Miss”. As for “The Book”, talk to the Internet staff after boarding on day 1 after lunch at the Esplanade to see if they can help you get a seat. I had read that RCI doesn’t release all of their show slots pre-cruise and you can book some on Day 1 so don’t give up on the Book. Worst comes to worst, go to a show at least 40 minutes early and do a stand-by line to wait as there will bound to be people not showing up on time, and then you can take their spot.

Hi Brian, Thanks for the offer. Much appreciated. I don’t know my exact schedule yet as it’s somewhat dependent on my boys' school/internship schedule as well as my work schedule. If I have any questions, I will give you a buzz.

Yeah,it'll be good to visit the uncle in prison with the clan. The family uniform on boarding day picture will be priceless. I’m sure many of your readers will be looking forward to the return of Daryl. As for Disney, yeah, we did the virtual queue thing at Disneyland in 2021 for the Rise of the Resistance. Back then, you had to get to your phone app at 7 AM on the dot to fight for a spot. Here’s my watch time as I waited to try to log in just a few seconds before 7 AM and the screenshot of what the pass looks like after you get it. If you have a “smartwatch” that you can buy online for less than $20, you can synchronize your watch time to your phone time so you know for sure you are on time. Yeah, you must be 9+ on the anal scale to go to Disney parks. Back in 2018, they opened up the restaurant reservations 180 days before so you have to think about where/when you will be eating 6 months from now while you are on vacation. Takes anal planning to a new level. As for Disney restaurants, we liked Ohana the best. We were lucky enough to be seated right by the window to watch the fireworks Speaking of Disney, not sure if I ever mentioned that one top item on my bucket list is to see all the Disney parks in the world in the order they were built. We have obviously been to the ones in CA and FL and we went to the Tokyo Disneyland back in 2019. So the next one on the list is Disneyland in Paris. Then Disneyland in Hong Kong and finally will end up in Dinsyeland Shanghai. Here's Ohana in Disneyworld Fireworks as seen from our table

Wow, that’s rough to cancel on such short notice. Yeah, I don’t think Princess Cruises has as much experience as RCI in rolling out new ships and being on time. RCI had the Icon in Florida for a couple of weeks generating lots of media buzz for being the largest cruise ship before accepting passengers. Princess Cruises was either too aggressive in booking the inaugural cruise without much of a buffer for shipyard delays or the built job was incomplete. We were originally supposed to be on the 4th ever Sea Princess sailing back in our honeymoon 25 years ago as it was a brand new ship coming out that year but the shipyard had a delay on that shipbuilt and Princess canceled our honeymoon cruise a few months prior and we had to scramble to sail with Celebrity Cruises instead. So I know firsthand what it feels like to have Princess cancel a new cruise on you. It’s a good thing you are not sailing with them for a while for them to smooth a few things out.

I am looking at getting something in Midtown Manhattan. It’s very expensive during the peak summer period but I wanted to minimize the commute time to/from other areas. I want to stay inside the city so I can walk out of the hotel and see food carts and tons of people and hear the sound of police sirens at night from the hotel room to get the real feel of a big city. I am a huge fan of the TV show, Law and Order, and that show displays NYC like no other show and I want to feel that vibe for a week when I’m there - well, minus the killings from the show... YouTubers have recommended staying at Long Island and just taking the subway across so that might be an option as well. I need to wait for another month after my boys' school schedule comes out before I can finalize my bookings for hotel and airfare. The St. Patrick’s Cathedral in NYC is the one big church in Manhattan many people talked about. It’s just down the block from the Rockefeller Center. It’s not as grand as the mega-churches in Europe but it will give my kids a preview of what Europe will look like as my wife and I have been to Paris and seen Notre Dame many years ago.

Hi Pat, Thanks for the kind words. There’s an old Chinese saying, there’s no banquet in the world that never ends. This trip report has to end so I can spend the time and effort to plan for my future trips to NYC and the next cruise. Hopefully, as long as we are all in decent health, there will be more trip reports to share down the road - be it land or cruise vacations. We still have to go on a European cruise as well as go back on another Oasis-class ship somewhere in the future. Icon is too expensive for cheap folks like me for now.

Glad you found the info helpful on the Odyssey. Remember to reserve “The Book” beforehand and sign up for whatever rides you want right after boarding. Yeah, be sure to grab that early breakfast before getting off the ship since they should be opened at 6 AM. Have a wonderful cruise.

Hi Nancy, Thanks for the compliments and providing all the feedback for this and the previous trip report. You have a couple of Oasis-class ships in your immediate horizon so have a wonderful time on both ships. Cirque shows seldom disappoint. The songs/costumes/acrobatics are always outstanding. Thanks for sharing. You guys got great seats. We got the cheaper seats in the back rows for Corteo.

Hi Jim, Thanks for following along in reading another installment. I guess I can come back to this thread after I have started the Carnival trip review next January and provide a link to the new trip report if anyone is interested in reading about a Carnival cruise. We haven’t sailed with Carnival in 10+ years so it’ll be some adjustments on how they do things differently compared to RCI. Not to mention it'll be a brand new class of ship for us as well as having an extended set of family/relatives (11 in total) so it's going to be exciting/hectic the same time.

Thank you for your kind words. NYC will be interesting. We may love or dislike the city but I don’t think we will be bored with all the stuff happening in the area. It'll be a question of what to leave out versus being bored with nothing to see or do.

Thanks for the kind words and for reading another installment. I haven’t thought about sharing the upcoming NYC trip pictures until now as I didn’t think cruisers on CC cared to read about a land vacation. But with Mark inquiring about it earlier and now you, maybe I will come back to this thread after the NYC trip and share some info afterward if anyone is interested in reading about it. Since the Odyssey is moving up to New Jersey for the Fall/Winter, some cruisers will spend some time in NYC pre and post-cruise. As such, perhaps my NYC info might be useful to someone if they are reading this report for the Odyssey info? I guess you can just “follow” this thread if you haven’t done so and when I upload the NYC info sometime in mid August, you will be notified and come back here and read about me complaining about the heat and humidity of the East Coast. I just did a quick search for cruise ships leaving the NY/NJ area during the week we will be in town and I see the Liberty of the Seas will be in NJ as well as various Carnival/MSC/NCL ships will be in NY so we might catch one of the cruise ships in port while we are there.

Mark, Thanks for the compliment. Very nice to be cruising with the whole family on the new Utopia ship. You might be visiting the uncle in prison on this cruise in order to get a photo of the whole gang boarding the ship. What happened with the Princess Cruise? Things didn’t go smoothly? Yeah, Disneyworld planning is different beast. With 4 theme parks miles apart, it takes a lot more effort to plan events than a cruise ship experience. We haven’t been to WDW since 2018 since not sure I’m the right person to provide advice as my info is outdated post pandemic. Here is my spreadsheet schedule from that viist so at least you have an idea on what we did (see screenshot below as well as Excel attachment). Back then, they had the Fastpass concept so I coded the Fastpass time slots but now they have a new ride queue system. We stayed on site using the meal plan so you wil see all the WDW resturants. If they have the meal plan discounts during your visit, it may be worth looking into. For overall general WDW info, All Ears is the authortaive web site that has just about everything WDW covered, up to the cost of menu at every location: https://allears.net/ Another good source of WDW info is Disney Tourist Blog as it as regular updates on upcoming sales: https://www.disneytouristblog.com/ If you are really anal about maximizing your stay to squeeze in as many rides as possible, consider subscribing to the Touring Plans site. For a $25/year subscription, you have access to their database on the rides such that you put in your start/end time at each park and select the rides/meal time and the software/App will generate a touring plan for you with etsaimtes on how much time you will spend in line for each ride based on the attendance level for that day. With the App, you can add or delet any ride during the day you are at the park and the software will autimastcialy recallcaute on where you should go next to either minimize walking or minimize wait time. They also have users of the App drop info when they are in line in the App so you can see what the real time wait time is. I have used them both for Disneyworld and Disneyland. Very useful for the super anal 9+ scale people. https://touringplans.com/ WDW 2018.5.2.xlsx

Last but not the least, thanks to everyone for slogging through 1,300 posts of this overly-long trip report. Every trip report is different as besides sailing on a new ship (we make it a point not to repeat the same ship), the audience participation is different with various contributions from everyone. I thank everyone who participated in the process of writing this trip report. I appreciate all the new and old friends who have read this report in its entirety. Especially the old friends that have grind through all the old reports and are still back for more. I still have the same old bad jokes but at least the pictures are different in each report. I think that’s all I have to say as I need to do more research for the upcoming vacations later this year since being a 9.2 anal person, I don’t “wing it” and will over plan each trip but such is life. I’ll be here to answer any follow-up questions relating to this cruise report so even if you are reading this much later on, just ask. Hope you all enjoy your next cruise adventure wherever it may take you. Cheers, Harry