Odyssey to the Greek Isles - 7 to 16 May 2022

[FionaMG]

We just boarded Odyssey this morning in Civitavecchia. 

Covid tests yesterday morning at a pharmacy round the corner from our hotel. Cost was 20 euros each. The 10 minutes waiting to get the results back were horrible.

Boarding was a breeze. We had the first time slot and the cabins opened up not long after.

After a quick lunch in the windjammer we did the North Star and watched braver folks than us on the flow rider and ifly. The weather was not being terribly friendly. 

 

 

 

We left Civitavecchia 3 hours late, something to do with an issue regarding clearance.

 

The MDR seemed very busy. We had my timing with a table booked for 8 pm but it seemed like they improvised rather than having a table allocated in advance. However our server was very attentive to our needs.

An interesting development on the menu is the appearance of a nightly pie and a curry dish. Those usually only show up on cruises with a large British contingent. 

 

 

Wild mushroom soup

 

Two Maryland style crab cakes as my mains just because I like them even though I've been told they're nothing like the real thing. 

 

Royal chocolate cake for dessert. One of my favourites. DH 's cheesecake and a shared scoop of vanilla ice cream in the background.  😋 

 

The show in the theatre after dinner was a singer called Mike McLean. He had a decent crowd and gave an enjoyable show.

 

 

Tomorrow is Naples, from 8 am till 6 pm.

 

I'm just going to wind this post up by tagging a couple of folks who might be interested in following along.

 

My joint blog buddy from Navigator @Rogueperson because he always remembers to tag me for his live reviews.

 

And @BennyBrun because he's off to the Greek Isles in June and I might conceivably post something that would be of use to him.

 

I'm happy to try and answer questions if anyone has any.

 

[Jax129]

thanks, I was supposed to be doing the 9 day on the 16th but had to cancel 😞  maybe next year

[Jimbo]

Enjoy your cruise, will be following.

[OrlandoTrio]

Enjoy your cruise. Hope to see more posts. 

[Trixie21]

Enjoy your cruise FionaMG - as you know we had to cancel this one and rebooked for August , so I am following with great interest !!

Edited May 8, 2022 by Trixie21

[little britain]

@FionaMG - did you book the test at the pharmacy or just turn up? 
Which one did you use? I think Calmatta is closest to our hotel.

 

Pies and curries seem to be standard European fare these days!

 

What capacity onboard please?

I’m on her next month so following with interest!

LBx

Edited May 8, 2022 by little britain

[FionaMG]

7 hours ago, Jax129 said:

thanks, I was supposed to be doing the 9 day on the 16th but had to cancel 😞  maybe next year

Sorry to hear that. 🙁 Fingers crossed for you for next year. 🤞

[FionaMG]

7 hours ago, Jimbo said:

Enjoy your cruise, will be following.

Thanks. 😊

[FionaMG]

5 hours ago, OrlandoTrio said:

Enjoy your cruise. Hope to see more posts. 

Thanks. I'll try. 😊

[FionaMG]

2 hours ago, Trixie21 said:

Enjoy your cruise FionaMG - as you know we had to cancel this one and rebooked for August , so I am following with great interest !!

I do yes. I hope things are going well and August will make up for the disappointment of missing this one. 😊

[FionaMG]

58 minutes ago, little britain said:

@FionaMG - did you book the test at the pharmacy or just turn up? 
Which one did you use? I think Calmatta is closest to our hotel.

 

Pies and curries seem to be standard European fare these days!

 

What capacity onboard please?

I’m on her next month so following with interest!

LBx

No appointment needed. We literally just walked in and said we needed to do the tests. We stayed at the hotel lancelot near the Colosseum and the pharmacy literally round the corner. 

While we were out and about in Rome we also saw several other pharmacies offering walk-in testing.

 

Our cabin steward told us there were 2000 guests on the trans-Atlantic crossing but that there are 4500 on this one!

[FionaMG]

Day 2 compass.

I did not get a day 1 compass as it was not in the room on arrival and the queue at guest services was massive. 

I told our cabin steward we would like one every day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[FionaMG]

RoyalUp rejection emails came in at 2 am! 😄

[Biker19]

2 hours ago, FionaMG said:

RoyalUp rejection emails came in at 2 am! 😄

Right on time - 8PM Miami time on the day of sailing.

[FamilyCruiserUK]

At last great to see some cruises leaving from europe. Cant wait till aug and our brilliance greek cruise 

[Ky Bill]

We are booked on this cruise for June, 2023!  Sounds like a great ship and route.  Enjoy your cruise and keep posting photos.

Bill

[FionaMG]

Docked in Naples alongside the Regal Princess.

 

 

We had originally booked a walking tour for this port but the time was changed a few days before, making it unworkable and leaving us at a bit of a loose end.

 

With nothing better planned we got the city sightseeing hoho bus at 24 euros each, offering a historical route and a scenic route. The first takes 45 minutes and you could probably walk it faster; the traffic was insane!

The panoramic route was about an hour and was very pretty with views over the bay and Capri, although it was a bit hazy.

I wouldn't really recommend it unless as a stop gap. The city itself seems very busy, noisy and dirty and there is a lot of construction work.

[dani negreanu]

17 hours ago, FionaMG said:

The 10 minutes waiting to get the results back were horrible.

 

Thank you for taking the time from your vacation to write a review. Much appreciated, after all those long 2 years.

 

Leaving in 5 weeks also from Civvi. Planning on testing in Rome, 1 day before. On a Sunday to boot....

 

I imagine the waiting was horrible because you were eagerly hoping you'll test negative, or the whole experience of testing was horrible?

 

Wishing you a very enjoyable cruise !!🌷

[FionaMG]

2 hours ago, dani negreanu said:

 

Thank you for taking the time from your vacation to write a review. Much appreciated, after all those long 2 years.

 

Leaving in 5 weeks also from Civvi. Planning on testing in Rome, 1 day before. On a Sunday to boot....

 

I imagine the waiting was horrible because you were eagerly hoping you'll test negative, or the whole experience of testing was horrible?

 

Wishing you a very enjoyable cruise !!🌷

 

My pleasure. I thought it might be useful with this being the start of the European cruise season. I can't match some of our great live reviewers on here, but I will do my best.

 

Sunday testing might be a bit more complicated 😬. Fingers crossed you can make it work. 

It was the waiting for the results that was horrible as a positive test would have meant no cruise and mandatory quarantine somewhere in Rome instead.

[dani negreanu]

13 minutes ago, FionaMG said:

Sunday testing might be a bit more complicated

 

Thank you.

I've asked on Rome forum (TripAdvisor), and was graciously supplied by the local experts with 2 pharmacies open on Sundays, which perform the antigen tests, a few mins walk from our hotel. That is -- if they don't change again from 1 day to 2 days to 1 day 😕

 

Our cruises have similar stops in Santorini, Mykonos and Athens. Eagerly awaiting to see what you'll do in those ports 😁

 

[FionaMG]

I went to the gym before dinner. As I expected it was nice and quiet then and I got a good session in. What a great gym! Tons of equipment and all good stuff. Fitness freaks and serious athletes couldn't ask for better. 

 

We didn't care for the MDR menu tonight; it's the one with the duck terrine. So we went to the WJ instead where supposedly it was Italian night. Maybe I just missed it but I really didn't see a whole lot of Italian food, just lasagna, polenta, meat balls, chicken parm and canoli. No tiramisu and overall a very poor selection of desserts, so I was a bit disappointed. I did not go hungry though and enjoyed a garden salad (I love that they do these in individual bowls) along with my lasagna and chicken parm. I wasn't impressed with the canoli as it was very dry but the red velvet from the non-italian desserts was perfect.

 

 

 

The evening was rounded off with an excellent comedy/juggling routine by Pete Matthews.

 

 

 

Tomorrow is a sea day so we will have the chance to explore the ship a bit more. The top tier event is scheduled for 10.15 am but the clocks go forward an hour tonight so I'm not sure we'll make that.

 

Time for bed on this side of the pond. Ellie the elephant bids you all goodnight.

 

[MissDaisyofTexas]

Following! We are going on this cruise next May.

[Rogueperson]

I could have sworn I responded to this thread before I started following it.  I got the email reminder, but looks like my response didn't take.

 

What I said was that I've always wanted to take a Mediterranean cruise but i haven't gotten around to it yet.  I'm pretty sure I'm going to do something with the British Isles maybe in 2023, but I have a 14 day scheduled for Greenland, so that might be a little too much for 2023, but if not, then definitely 2024.

 

That being said, enjoy your cruise, i'll be following along.

[FionaMG]

Day 3 got off to a rocky start with a 20 minute wait for guest services because I thought I had purchased a day's internet for DH instead of activating his free day. They sent us to the Voom man who said, no, you're fine, there's no charge on your account. Why didn't I think to check that. 🙄

 

Also had to go to shore excursions because they didn't deliver the tickets for our excursion tomorrow in Santorini. Oh yes, that one, we've been having trouble printing the tickets for that one but I'll do you a handwritten one. Why didn't they do that straight away? 🙄

 

And I was just about to post the pics of the compass but realised three out of the four are sideways! 🙄 I'll redo them in a bit.

 

We're off to the top tier event in a bit but I have to go back to the room to get the invite because I left it on the desk so I wouldn't forget it and of course I forgot it! 🙄

It can only get better from here on! 😂😂😂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[FionaMG]

It can only get better from here on. 😂😂😂

 

Hah! Famous last words. We discovered that Odyssey has a blocked passage similar to the on deck 7 on Oasis class. If you arrive on deck 6 via the port side forward elevators, you can't get through to starboard, where our room is located. You have to up or down one floor to be able to cut through.