Concord Slim

My wife, son and I had a surfside suite in Feb. and the storage was adequate for us but we're not huge packers. It certainly had much less than other suites we've stayed in, like the lofts on Oasis class, the Owners loft on Odyssey and Grand suites on Oasis/Quantum class. Watch some of the youtube vids as that should give you a good perspective. As for noise, there were a few days with activities going on down in surfside that is was pretty loud especially if you had the door open. If you closed the door it wasn't too bad and if you had the tv on it was fine. At night we never had any issues, by say 10-11 it was fairly quiet. Overall, they're not bad rooms but they're on the smaller side for a suite. My son liked his own little area but it was small as well. The bathroom shower was nice size but the rest was very small. I'm 6'1" and 170lbs and it was tight. When sitting to use the toilet it was very tight... We got a good price and like you enjoy the suite amenities. Suite deck and grove were awesome, but they're a hike which we didn't mind. The ship is laid out very well and easy to get around, much better than Oasis class IMO. We knew we wouldn't and we didn't spend a ton of time in the room so that certainly helped. We're going again in Dec. and have a Sunset suite... Let me know if you have any specific questions and I'll try to help.

Thanks! The aft suites are truly awesome with the views and we love the layout... Yes, there was cornhole in that dome thing in the back of the ship that used to have trampolines. They also set boards up in the seaplex several times.

On Oasis class ships the suite lounge and CK are in the same space and you can order drinks from 5-8(think those are the times) that will NOT count against your diamond vouchers. Drinks ordered in the crown/diamond lounge will count against your vouchers. You can also get water, pop, beer, seltzers, etc from the suite lounge from like 11-11 during the day for no charge...

Figured I'd do a quick review of our Odyssey cruise. Please let me know if you have any questions... On the cruise was my wife, 12 year old son, myself and my mother and father in law who stayed in a balcony room. My wife, son and I stayed in the Owners Loft Suite which is 1 of 5 star class cabins on Odyssey. We traveled down the night before and spent the night at the Marriot in Ft. Lauderdale and hit our usual spot with dinner at Coconuts, which is a must try if you've never eaten there. Unfortunately, my son dislocated and fractured his elbow at wrestling practice 3 nights before we were set to leave for the cruise. We were very nervous as the ortho doctor thought he'd need surgery which then would have led to us canceling the cruise, however we saw the specialist the next day and he said it was put back into place perfectly and there were no floating pieces of bone or anything so surgery wouldn't be required. My son was not able to use the bumper cars, sky diving tube, water slides, surf machine, etc. so that sucked but my wife and I still took advantage of everything so it is what it is, just glad we were all able to go... Embarking/Debarking: This was the first cruise after the transatlantic so boarding didn't start until 12noon but Monica our Genie told us to arrive at around 11:30 which we did, we were immediately escorted to the star class waiting area and waited maybe 10 minutes before boarding. Monica allowed us to include my mother and father in law so they boarded with us. Very seamless process. On the last day Monica met us at our room and escorted us off and we were off within minutes to catch our ride to the airport so very good experience on the front and back end... Room: Certainly one of the highlights of the cruise and why we booked star class. The room was incredible as it's an aft room with 3 balconies, one on the back and two on the side. The room had plenty of space and allowed us to have nice gatherings there for drinks, snacks, watching football, etc. The view from the loft and in bed is absolutely incredible. There were some fit and finish issues with the room which surprised me given the age of the ship. On day 3 the handle for the back balcony door came off when we tried to open it, maintenance came up within minutes but it took about an hour to fix. Wooden floor was pretty beat up, some stains in the carpet, and some spots on walls and ceilings. No biggie but figured I'd mention it. Overall, the room was incredible though especially the views. I have a ton of pictures so if anyone wants to see let me know and I'll post more... Food: Given we were star class we had the dining package and my in-law's purchased as well so we did not eat at the MDR at all. We did eat lunch once in 270 and it was fine. Just had a soup and sandwich. Giovani's was incredible and we ate there three times, the filet there is better than chops w/o a doubt. The service and food were great. I had the filet one night, chicken parm the one night and lasagna. Plenty of aps and the cannoli's for desert were very good. We ate at Chops twice and almost canceled the second night but Monica asked us to give them a chance to make up for the first night. The service was very very slow, the food was average at best and my filet was a little tough even after asking for medium-rare. The lobster were smothered in sauce which almost made them inedible. We all were very disappointed and we're honestly not picky eaters as this was the only bad meal the entire cruise. The second time I could tell they were determined to make up for it and it didn't disappoint. I had the rack of lamb and it was awesome and the rest had steak and all said it was very good and cooked perfectly. We all had lobster and they removed the sauce and they were very good. Overall, we were happy we went back and had a good meal but we'd have been fine with eating somewhere else. We ate at Teppanyaki twice and it was very good, typical hibachi so not much to say other than it was good. Chefs made it entertaining and we had good table mates but both times they were fairly quiet which is fine. My son really likes eating here and again the food is good so I'm fine with the experience as well. We ate lunch at Playmakers three times and there were others complaining about service but it was great for us and the wings, jalapeno poppers, burgers, nachos, etc were all very good. We ate there to watch football and just enjoy ourselves which we did. Lot of people hover waiting for tables since it's first come first serve. Monica had reserved our table and I could tell some weren't happy when we strolled up and got seated there and they weren't allowed to use the table. Overall, very good food and experience though. We also had sushi at Izumi three times and that was great. Awesome service and the sushi was very good. I had the rice, veggy and meat bowl once and it was very good as well. My wife, mother in law and I ate at Wonderland and really enjoyed it, quite the experience. I didn't like the deconstructed tomato or olives but enjoyed everything else. It was certainly worth trying as we haven't before on any of our cruises but glad we did, not sure we'll do it again. We enjoyed the liquid lobster so much and "O" the manager told us if we want anything off the menu just to ask so we were at Giovani's the next night and I was telling my father in law and son about it and asked the head waiter there if we could get it. They were kind enough to run down and grab it for us and "O" came down to personally serve it to us which was really cool, part of the benefit of star class I suppose... lol We ate breakfast in CC and lunch once and typical great CC service and food. We normally cruise sky class and just eat at CC but given the in-laws couldn't and we got free dining with the cruise we didn't eat here for dinner. Ship: We prefer Oasis class ships but have sailed Quantum and Ovation so we know this class fairly well. I'll say overall Odyssey is very nice and in good shape but it's only 2 years old so to be expected. Really like the addition of playmakers into the sports complex. 270 is always a treat. Just miss Central Park that Oasis ships have... To me this ship is more suited for cold weather with more in door activities and such, we took Ovation to Alaska and again think it fits better for a cruise to a climate like that. Ship never seemed crowded and I believe it was 94% full or that is what we were told. Elevators were readily available but the new touchless buttons had us stopping at a lot of unintended decks. lol Lot of walking with our room at the back of the ship but no biggie. Suite lounge is nice and I thought had a better feel than the one on Ovation. Music Hall and other lounges are all very nice. We loved the whine bar and met there for a pre dinner drink every night and the staff there was awesome! Ports: We stopped at CoCo Cay which we always enjoy. My son and I had booked the water park($83 PP which I thought was good given some of the other rates I've seen) but with my son's injury we swapped it to my wife and her and I were first off the ship thanks to Monica and within an hour we did probably 15-20 runs and were good... Looks like they're adding another slide or two to the park as their was construction going on. Slides were fun for sure... We really liked the big raft one and the drop ones were pretty intense! We spent some time in the wave pool and then met up with the rest of the family and just chilled on the beach until mid day and then got back on the ship. We like this stop as it's just relaxing and will probably be the only stop we get off the ship on when we cruise Icon. In Aruba we shopped the town and hit one of the hotels and chilled there for an hour or so and then just explored, we'd been to Aruba before and didn't book an excursion so more just leisurely exploring... Was pretty much the only day we got rain that I can remember, it would pour for 10 minutes and then be sunny but that's the Caribbean for you. Was very hot and humid and we walked a ton which helped burn off some of the food! lol I really prefer Curaco over Aruba... Next day we hit Curaco and again didn't have anything booked so we just walked around and explored town and hit some local eateries, bars and even an awesome ice cream store where I had a very good pistachio milk shake. Did a lot of sight seeing, shopping and walking and again it was very hot at 89. Great port as I really like Curaco and it's to walk around and see stuff in town. Entertainment: Effectors was ok, certainly great visuals and effects but not the greatest show IMO. Book was very good but lacked a true plot that tied everything together but the effects and dancers were incredible. Showgirls was good and we enjoyed the singing and dancing, my inlays really liked this one. My favorite was the show in 270 were they cover the background on 270 and the Cruise Director walks you through everything. They played some awesome videos like a tribute to John Williams, my son and I are Star Wars geeks so that was really cool! The Oceanides video was pretty awesome as well... This is a much see show IMO and it wasn't very packed so I think many missed it. My wife and in-laws did the Tenors or whatever it was called but Wilhelm and I skipped it to watch football... lol Overall, good but not great entertainment... We're excited to see the shows on Icon especially the Wizard of Oz. Outside of 270 Oasis class ships offer so much more with the ice skating shows, Broadway shows, and diving shows... Just my opinion of course... Activities: We did the usual bumper cars which were fine and it's nice not having to wait in line. We used our free hour of the surf machine and it was literally just my wife and I, none of the other suites participated. We did use the full hour and I was pretty sore the next day... lol Nice perk for sure... We did the north star in CoCo Cay which was cool to get that perspective on the island. Wife did I-fly and enjoyed it, I didn't as I separated my shoulder as a kid and it bothered me when we did it on Ovation this past summer. Suite deck/area was nice and there were always chairs available even seemed that way outside the suite area. I did notice a lot of unbooked casitas or whatever they call them which I thought was interesting, must be a pricing issue. Hot tubs were nice and warm, never overcrowded and my wife was able to swim laps in the pool in the later afternoon. There weren't a ton of kids on the cruise given the time we went. Overall, we were pretty laid back and just chilled most of the time given my son's injury and traveling with my in-laws. Genie: Monica was great and is a very nice person, once in a while she seemed rushed but we're very low maintenance and really didn't even need a "Genie"... We are planners so we had everything laid out and she made all the reservations for us so that was nice. She met us before lunch and dinner everyday and chatted with us and made sure we got our table w/o any delay. She got us a bridge tour which we enjoyed and have done before, my son got to "drive" the ship in open waters, the captain was the best and Monica said she'd never seen him let anyone do that before, think he felt bad for him being in a sling. lol Neat experience... Monica got us prime seats for every show, and we didn't need to arrive super early since she had seats set aside, we let her pick what she felt were the best locations and such... Monica also arranged a cake and decorated our room for my mother in laws 78th birthday which was really cool and we did appreciate that! She also included them in everything with no additional cost don't think she broke any rules so to say but never an issue with getting them in with us and no extra costs on food or anything so that was nice... Overall, no issues with her service and again very nice lady but we are fine with sky class and using the concierge when needed. Overall, it was a great cruise and we loved the room and time with family. Can't wait to do Icon in Feb. in a sky class suite! Let me know if you have any questions or want to see any specific pictures as I have a ton... lol

If this is for 11/11/23 they're not starting until approximately 12noon because of the coast guard inspections after the transatlantic... Hopefully, they'll run on time and actually start at noon... No idea if they'll enforce the times... I'm sure your hotel would give you a late checkout or you can hang out there or at the port...

Booked suites for the 2/10/24 and 12/14/24 when bookings opened... Little pricey but nothing like now as the prices are more than 2.5x of what we paid, heck a JS is now around 1.5x of what we paid for a sky class suite... lol

Giovanni's italian kitchen on odyssey of the seas does...

Great choice! We're booked in the same room on the 9 day cruise out of NJ on 8/9/24. We really prefer aft views but like loft suites over aqua theatre rooms... We tried the CL that overlooked the sports deck on Harmony in March and my wife likes people watching but I prefer the serenity of the ocean, so we went that route. Have the OLS on Odyssey in Nov. so really excited for that! Enjoy your cruise!

I'd say the supply side of the equation is rising across the industry and if you look at RCL 2024 will bring a lot of additional capacity with Icon and Utopia... This should bring the price down but I think this is more based on the inflation across the US and globe but cruise fares have certainly outpaced other categories... It will take a recession to bring down prices IMO, especially as you say if people "will pay anything"... I'm experiencing the same as others... We have 4 cruises already locked in and prices are up on all of them, the two suites we have on Icon in Feb/Dec of 24 are up over 100% from what we paid the day bookings begun!!! I expected a run up given it's a new hyped ship but not that much... The CLS we booked on Symphony for August 24 is up 18% with a lot of supply still available... On our Odyssey booking in Nov. the GLS's cost quite a big more than what we paid for the OLS!

Unfortunately, no Hibachi on Ovation... We didn't do the dining package because of the limited offerings and they have Jamie's and we prefer Giovani's, on our cruise earlier this month. Luckily we had a suite and just ate meals at CK...

With the OLS being star class we'll have the drink package so how much and where we drink won't be an issue. The in-laws can use our vouchers, none of us are huge drinkers so 4 a day will probably be plenty most days for us... Yeah, knew we weren't scamming by sharing vouchers just wanted to make sure we still got them given the beverage package being included, was referring to using the package to get them drinks... We enjoyed the suite lounge on Ovation in August every night before dinner but we probably won't visit since the in-laws can't access, we'll just hit 270, Playmakers, or the Music Hall... They purchased the dining package so that we can all dine together but we'll miss CK as we really enjoyed the venue and food on Ovation and Harmony on our last two cruises... We'll use it in Feb. on Icon though!

Thanks for the replies and confirmation! We're a couple months out but looking forward to the OLS on Odyssey...

Staying in a Owners Loft Suite so we'll get the free beverage package but we're also diamonds so do my wife and I still get the 4 vouchers daily? I ask because my wife's parents are going as well and are staying in a balcony room and are NOT diamonds so can we let them use our diamond drinks to help save them a little on drinks? I know sharing is permitted with diamond vouchers but not sure we'll get them credited since we get free drinks anyway. Yes, I realize we could scam RCL and order for them and go back for ourselves but I'm not that kind of person so that's not an option. Also, they're purchasing the unlimited dining package and we want to dine together and will do our best to try and schedule ahead of time but if we can't get the reservation times we want will the Genie help get them in with us? We've stayed in suites several times but never in star class when someone else was traveling with us. My understanding is they have slots for star class guests so it's just a matter of them letting us use a larger table to accommodate more people. Thanks in advance for the help!

Ah yes very good point, didn't even think about that...

I've seeing bidding open up at varying times as well as when the upgrade occurs. For example, on our last cruise in April on Harmony we didn't get the upgrade until 2 days prior to sailing and I had bid for it about 30 days out, however for our Alaska cruise on Ovation 8/4 I received the upgrade yesterday, so 3+ weeks out and I bid for that about 80 days out. Funny thing is the room we got showed available for purchase yesterday morning and I contemplated just buying it but decided not to and then later in the afternoon I got the email stating I was upgraded and noticed it was that room, good thing as it saved me almost $7K! I was surprised as I figured Royal would take their chances at least for another week or so on letting someone purchase it vs giving it to us at a very nice discount. I haven't seen my old room open yet nor did I get the we're "oversold" email so not sure what they did with it... lol FWIW we went from a ocean view with large balcony to a grand suite with large balcony. Really wanted to sky loft suite and had bid much more for it but obviously none are open so I'll be happy with what we got! Haven't gotten the email yet for our 11/11 cruise on Odysey and we're now 120 days out...