Odyssey- so torn!

[vacationlover_mn]

So, I love trying the newest ships, when they depart from a warm port.  I was so excited to see that Odyssey leaves from Florida!  But, wow, the price for a balcony is SO high!!!!  I am so torn- pay a ton for this nice new ship in 2021 (with an awesome itinerary that we’ve never done), or pay almost half the price for an older ship and worse itinerary....  also, i hate to repeat a ship, so a lot of ships are off my list...  I also want a balcony (yes, we’ve had ocean views before, but I wake up insanely early, and love sitting out on the balcony with a coffee and book while the DH sleeps).  

 

Anyone- tell me that Quantum class is worth the super high price?  🙂

[John&LaLa]

1 minute ago, vacationlover_mn said:

So, I love trying the newest ships, when they depart from a warm port.  I was so excited to see that Odyssey leaves from Florida!  But, wow, the price for a balcony is SO high!!!!  I am so torn- pay a ton for this nice new ship in 2021 (with an awesome itinerary that we’ve never done), or pay almost half the price for an older ship and worse itinerary....  also, i hate to repeat a ship, so a lot of ships are off my list...  I also want a balcony (yes, we’ve had ocean views before, but I wake up insanely early, and love sitting out on the balcony with a coffee and book while the DH sleeps).  

 

Anyone- tell me that Quantum class is worth the super high price?  🙂

 

Because you will regret not doing it.

 

[Clarea]

No, it's not worth the high price.  But if you are one and done with each ship, I don't see that you have left yourself a choice.

[FLACRUISER99]

I say go for it you will not regret it.

[njkruzer]

Quantum class is really nice.

[BettyCruiser]

Doesn't your TA have groups space? The groups rates through my TA are less than those on the web site. I also chose a 6 night sailing to help keeps costs down a bit. But considering it's a brand new ship I don't think it's too bad paying the same for a 6 night sailing on the brand new Odyssey as I'm paying for an 8 night sailing on an older ship. 

[brookmill18]

I would not want to do Quantum class from Florida.  I do not really like this class (have been on Anthem 3x) but I think the one thing going in its favor is the indoor space for colder itineraries.  The outdoor space felt much more crowded and I really missed the pool set up as well as the Boardwalk/Central Park areas on Oasis Class.  The Promenade area at night also felt so crowded.  The Solarium felt a lot smaller and was crazy crowded all three times we went.  I'd do Anthem again if it had a unique itinerary because we are within driving distance of the port, but I didn't love the ship and would not want to do it on an itinerary where you'd want to be outside most of the time.  Now, if you're someone who doesn't like the heat and the sun, there are lots of places to be inside and see the ocean, so I guess it just depends on what you like on a warm weather cruise.

[maggieq]

2 minutes ago, brookmill18 said:

I would not want to do Quantum class from Florida.  I do not really like this class (have been on Anthem 3x) but I think the one thing going in its favor is the indoor space for colder itineraries.  The outdoor space felt much more crowded and I really missed the pool set up as well as the Boardwalk/Central Park areas on Oasis Class.  The Promenade area at night also felt so crowded.  The Solarium felt a lot smaller and was crazy crowded all three times we went.  I'd do Anthem again if it had a unique itinerary because we are within driving distance of the port, but I didn't love the ship and would not want to do it on an itinerary where you'd want to be outside most of the time.  Now, if you're someone who doesn't like the heat and the sun, there are lots of places to be inside and see the ocean, so I guess it just depends on what you like on a warm weather cruise.

I agree. We were on the quantum ta, anthem New England / Canada cruise and most recently the 9 night Caribbean cruise.   Beautiful ship but our least favorite for a cruise in good weather 

[kruzerci]

I don’t know why you would want to pay premium prices for a cold-weather designed ship from Florida to the Caribbean when you have Oasis and Freedom class options. 

 

You have to take reviews with a grain of salt, but Quantum class ships have received consistently lower marks than other classes for half a decade. Why combine that with an itinerary that doesn’t best suit them?

[deliver42]

It depends on what's more important, the itinerary or the price. There are great RCCL ships leaving out of Fl, but the Odyssey is different, and their itineraries are different.

[OfTheSeasCruiser]

We love Quantum Class, new ships, and if its a great itinerary, I think we'd go for it. 

[Artemus]

When does The Iliad come out ❓

[lovescats5]

We had a chance to sail Panama on the Bliss when it first came out, then changed to Anthem for the New England/Canada and loved the Anthem, way more than the Oasis class, but have never forgotten not sailing on a new ship.  So when the chance to book a Grand Loft on Odyssey we jumped on it.  Since that cruise is going places we have not been yet it was an easy decision.  I know you will make the decision you feel is right but I also think you might regret not taking the chance to sail on a new ship.

[skatepunk]

3 hours ago, vacationlover_mn said:

So, I love trying the newest ships, when they depart from a warm port.  I was so excited to see that Odyssey leaves from Florida!  But, wow, the price for a balcony is SO high!!!!  I am so torn- pay a ton for this nice new ship in 2021 (with an awesome itinerary that we’ve never done), or pay almost half the price for an older ship and worse itinerary....  also, i hate to repeat a ship, so a lot of ships are off my list...  I also want a balcony (yes, we’ve had ocean views before, but I wake up insanely early, and love sitting out on the balcony with a coffee and book while the DH sleeps).  

 

Anyone- tell me that Quantum class is worth the super high price?  🙂

 

We did spectrum from Dubai to Singapore this year (not inaugural but sailing right after) and loved the ship which has started this cruise obsession we have gotten ( 2 other cruises booked in the next year) we were watching for odyssey’s inaugural but the price for 5 days is nuts compared to a 14 day on spectrum (just over $900 for a balcony and awesome ports) it was way too much so we booked a Baltic Sea cruise on Jewel instead. It is sad to see that the price was so much as we loved the quantum class ships but it just wasn’t worth it and Caribbean port don’t really interest us, looking forward to the Europe ports for odyssey when announced as if it is anything like spectrum it will be awesome.

 

 

[xpcdoojk]

53 minutes ago, Artemus said:

When does The Iliad come out ❓

 

Wasn’t the Illiad a precursor to the Odyssey?  I was think the Illiad was the story of the war for Troy and the Odyssey was the return of Odysseus from Troy after the war... when his lovely wife was being overwhelmed with suitors to take his place.

 

Just trying to justify taking those courses in college over 40 years ago....

 

jc 

[jptoz]

I wouldn't sail on a Quantium Class from a warm weather port .Build for Cooler climates. Not enough outdoor space on this class.

[ReneeFLL]

4 hours ago, vacationlover_mn said:

So, I love trying the newest ships, when they depart from a warm port.  I was so excited to see that Odyssey leaves from Florida!  But, wow, the price for a balcony is SO high!!!!  I am so torn- pay a ton for this nice new ship in 2021 (with an awesome itinerary that we’ve never done), or pay almost half the price for an older ship and worse itinerary....  also, i hate to repeat a ship, so a lot of ships are off my list...  I also want a balcony (yes, we’ve had ocean views before, but I wake up insanely early, and love sitting out on the balcony with a coffee and book while the DH sleeps).  

 

Anyone- tell me that Quantum class is worth the super high price?  🙂

Depending on how much you cruise you will be running out of ships at least with Royal. I say go for it since it's a new ship and a good itinerary and that's what you like. Me personally, I probably wouldn't do it just because it' a new ship. I don't mind sailing on the same ships or the same itineraries. The way I see it is the prices will eventually come down.

[vacationlover_mn]

11 hours ago, BettyCruiser said:

Doesn't your TA have groups space? The groups rates through my TA are less than those on the web site. I also chose a 6 night sailing to help keeps costs down a bit. But considering it's a brand new ship I don't think it's too bad paying the same for a 6 night sailing on the brand new Odyssey as I'm paying for an 8 night sailing on an older ship. 

Good point- we rarely use a TA, but maybe I should price using one...  maybe a local one and the one I keep forgetting to use at my nearby big box.

[vacationlover_mn]

8 hours ago, ReneeFLL said:

Depending on how much you cruise you will be running out of ships at least with Royal. I say go for it since it's a new ship and a good itinerary and that's what you like. Me personally, I probably wouldn't do it just because it' a new ship. I don't mind sailing on the same ships or the same itineraries. The way I see it is the prices will eventually come down.

I can’t wait to get to the point where we’ve done all the ships 🙂. However, since we usually do just one a year, we have several years left...

[LuCruise]

If you want to do the new ship , would you consider an interior?

[mugtech]

10 hours ago, xpcdoojk said:

 

Wasn’t the Illiad a precursor to the Odyssey?  I was think the Illiad was the story of the war for Troy and the Odyssey was the return of Odysseus from Troy after the war... when his lovely wife was being overwhelmed with suitors to take his place.

 

Just trying to justify taking those courses in college over 40 years ago....

 

jc 

Not seeing any great itineraries out of Florida.  Perhaps they could sail the Med to Troy and then take the long way home, sell all kinds of "I took the Odyssey home from Troy" trinkets.  Could include an official looking confirmation certificate like the ones distributed for crossing the Panama Canal.

[OACAggie]

YOLO! But I did love Anthem.

 

Maybe there will be a few tweaks that make it more "warm friendly"? The indoor pool does have a retractable roof design, just never used. Maybe the solarium gets a tweak in the roof system. Other than the SeaPlex, there is still a lot of outdoor space...Flowrider, iFly, possibly 2 open air pools.

[vacationlover_mn]

2 hours ago, LuCruise said:

If you want to do the new ship , would you consider an interior?

Probably not...  I often wake up at 4-5am, and can’t get back to sleep... so I love to go out and grab a coffee, then sit on the balcony and read until the DH wakes up at a normal time 🙂

[vacationlover_mn]

One thing I’m looking at now, is maybe just do another trip out of San Juan, on a ship we haven’t done.  Maybe Freedom?  We haven’t don’t the ABC cruise yet, and that sounds super fun 🙂. Airfare+Nice hotel+cruise end up being less for San Juan compared to Odyssey...

[brookmill18]

For warm weather itineraries, I would definitely do Freedom over the Quantum class.  I haven't been on Freedom class yet but am looking into it.  If you're someone who likes to be outside and by pools, really take a look at the deck plans for Quantum.  Unless they really change things for Odyssey, there just isn't as much outdoor space.  The Seaplex is huge and takes up a ton of outdoor space.  Same with the indoor pool--and again, unless things change with Odyssey, they do not use the retractable roofs.  But my mom loved Anthem in the Caribbean bc she felt like it was too hot on pool decks, so she'd hang out in Solarium for a bit, then go shower and change and spend the rest of the day in 270 reading and watching the ocean--so it just depends on what you like.