REVIEW: Planes, Trains, Automobiles & A New Cruise Ship: Our European "Odyssey" Without Our Kids

[wallyj]

2 hours ago, Sea Dog said:

Interesting about the size I would of thought it would seem larger too.

 

Do me a favor please. I would be really interested in knowing two things. One, do you see any food shortages or smaller portions being served due to supply issues. Also two how are the bars stocked? What are their bourbon and whiskey selections like? A lot of the other ships seem to have a lot of shortages. I'm curious is a ship out of Europe having have the same problems of ships cruising out of the states.

 

Thanks for your detailed review.

Hi @RCCL Fan, enjoying your review and looking forward to future installments.

 

@Sea Dog, from reading your post, do you realize OP is not on the ship currently and has been home and is now just releasing review, piece by piece. Your question, do you see…infers present tense opposed to ‘did you see’…, so asking question that might require poster to check location are not realistic unless poster happened to notice such things like the available bourbon and whiskeys.

[Sea Dog]

42 minutes ago, wallyj said:

Hi @RCCL Fan, enjoying your review and looking forward to future installments.

 

@Sea Dog, from reading your post, do you realize OP is not on the ship currently and has been home and is now just releasing review, piece by piece. Your question, do you see…infers present tense opposed to ‘did you see’…, so asking question that might require poster to check location are not realistic unless poster happened to notice such things like the available bourbon and whiskeys.

Yes I know this is a “as if.”  I meant to imply to post his impressions as in his experience of the cruise. Obviously his impressions on the first day will be different than the last day. He is excellent in being able to do that.

[kernow]

Enjoying your review as always. 

 

I agree that Quantum class feel similar to Solstice class, they are not really my favourite either (Radiance class is). I feel like the aft portion of the ship, with Jamie's Vintages, 270 etc feels disconnected from the rest of the ship. Not much outdoor space either although I do like the Solarium. It looks like Odyssey has the large dining room though which Anthem and Ovation don't.

[SE fla]

Enjoying your trip. I have the family going on the odyssey for thanksgiving. 

[little britain]

@RCCL Fan - enjoying the review; but I preferred Odyssey over Wonder! Definitely didn’t think she was “small”.  
And if you think there is no flow, and a disconnect then please don’t go on Edge class which has a terrible design, no centre, no soul,  no vibe and the smallest narrowest corridor complete with obstacles to get to the aft!!!  

Edited August 1, 2022 by little britain

[jimbri]

Great review and photos!

[sgmn]

 

17 hours ago, RCCL Fan said:

All that being said there were mixed reviews about basically every single hotel near FCO airport.  If we were going back tomorrow I still don't know where we would stay.  

 

 but meh, I wanted my Viking Crown back.

 

 

Just after 1pm  we got notice the rooms were ready  and headed down to check them out.  OMG, I loved our room, just LOVED it.  I'm thinking even more than the two bedroom suite we had on Allure, and Owners suite on Enchantment. 

 

The space was fantastic, the decor was beautiful, and then lets address the bathrooms.... yes that's plural. 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txySvm6cZ1A

 

 

Here's a link to a youtube video I made reviewing the room.  Check it out.   Best Junior Suite I've ever been in. 

 

 

We stayed at The Hilton FCO Airport. Its about fifteen minutes walk from the terminal along covered walkways. Has a good bar and grest breakfast, also an indoor pool and can highly recommend. 

I think we paid £125 for the room and about €12 for breakfast each.

Our original plan was to stay at a hotel in Civitavecchia which was only £75 but for various reasons we had to change our plans 

 

We booked our pick up for 0945 and he was early also. 

 

BTW your cabin looks fantastic and I also wish every ship had a Viking Crown 

 

Great review, really enjoying it, thanks for taking the time to do it.

Edited August 1, 2022 by sgmn

[Ocean Boy]

Enjoying this and anticipating the rest. I've been considering Odyssey and appreciate your thoughts.

[dani negreanu]

1 hour ago, little britain said:

@RCCL Fan - enjoying the review; but I preferred Odyssey over Wonder! Definitely didn’t think she was “small”.  
And if you think there is no flow, and a disconnect then please don’t go on Edge class which has a terrible design, no centre, no soul,  no vibe and the smallest narrowest corridor complete with obstacles to get to the aft!!!  

 

Apologizing in advance for going "off-topic" just a few seconds, but that's exactly what I thought about Beyond....

 

"Soulless. Too dark. Too much “real estate” taken by very high-end shops (Cartier, Bvlgari, Montblanc. Le maison du chocolat – always empty), and not enough connection with the sea. A dark mirrored corridor, which I’ve found down right creepy, fearing I’ll find myself stepping right into one of the mirrors."

 

@RCCL Fan -- always enjoying your reviews and following avidly. Thank you for taking the time to do this.

[wolfganghowell]

So looking forward to the rest.  thank you as always for sharing with us.

[karebare22]

Happy to read your review and impressions about Odyssey (and pre- /post-cruise tidbits), thank you for posting.  Sailing on her at the end of this month, but are doing the opposite -  starting the trip with 2 days in Venice before making our way to Rome. I’ve been on Anthem and Ovation, so I already know that I prefer Oasis or Voyager class as well, but I know we’ll have a great time anyways. Glad you didn’t have any major travel issues, it’s been a rough summer for many airlines.

[RCCL Fan]

Day 2 At Sea

 

 

I woke up this morning to my wife saying, "Get up, this is so beautiful, we're sailing by stuff." I headed to the balcony and yep  we were sailing right off shore or a city,  land on both sides.  I got on the apple maps on my phone and I got super excited. 

 

 

It was Sicily.

 

All I could think of was Sophia Petrilo....

 

 

Picture it Sicily  1922.

 

Man I was loving this balcony.   Every aft cabin I've had where there's no superstructure on the back of the ship is just a massive treat.  I always grab one when I can.

 

 

My usual day 2 activity needed to get underway...  send everything in my suitcase to the laundry to get steamed.  I do this every cruise, every day 2.   I'm diamond plus, so I have some decent experience with this. 

 

 

I know it's not the rules, but it has worked for me every single time.  I usually take a big old pile of clothed out of my bag, dump on the bed, put my name and cabin number on it and write press only on it. 

 

Every cabin steward I've ever had has gladly taken it this way.   Not today.  He insisted I fill out the form listing ever single piece of clothing, and place them in the bag, which kept tearing.  I needed multiple, multiple bags.    Let me say, I get this is the way it goes, I get that it's for our protection so nothing is lost, and it's the rules.   But man after 25 years of not doing it that way, I was surprised.  But I did as my cabin steward asked.

 

 

I headed up to the pool deck.... HOLY HOLY HOLY MOLY.  It felt like the entire ship was on the pool deck.  Sea Days are always busy up there but this was worse than I ever remember,  including my spring break 2013 cruise where half of independence of the seas was sold by a travel agent to college kids as a spring break luxury cruise.

 

It was packed.  Usually you can't find a seat because of the empty towels in the chair, this time you couldn't find one because there were people in the chairs  bottom deck and top.   Both were packed.  

 

We had no kids this trip so I said lets to the solarium surely we'll have better luck there.   Nope.  

 

 

I remembered then Odyssey is a stretched ship,  much like Enchantment and the Freedom class I find when they stretch ships it adds more staterooms but not much more space for those people to go.  Odyssey was full to the brim. 

 

 

We did find two stools at the lime and coconut and the girls sat there and we stood behind them and just kept drinking, and watched the belly flop.  It's always fun,  activities director did a good job with it. Although he kinda  screwed up the hold. tabulating the score thing......   he'd go around and say 2,3,2,2,2,2,2,1,4,not your middle finger sir....  but then not do the tally of 3.238934 until the end.  anyway who cares it was fun.

 

 

While sitting there, i couldn't help but notice how cloudy the hot tubs were,  I wanted in butthese see through tubs kept me wondering why the water was soooo milky.  No thanks. lol

 

Ate at the new mexican place by the pool... El Loco Fresh.  I tried this out on Wonder for the first time.  Man, I love this place.  It's so simple and tasty and feels like hot weather outdoor food.  I choose it over windjammer hands down.  I LOVE this new concept. 

 

We had fun up there and met lots of people which was great, we had a running  joke because there was this one guy on the cruise with his fiance who kept running into.  He was a little infatuated with me... a little touchy feely.  At first I thought it was just me but everyone else was noticing how he was very in my personal space and handsy.  (watch he's going to be on here) lol

 

But we kept joking about it, and they really were a nice couple.  It was good laughs.

 

 

After I couldn't take the crowds and standing at the bar much longer, I went down into the ship looking for something else to do.  I was really excited to try the bumper cars.  How cool to have that on the ship.  Well, the line was wrapped around the seaplex and down the hall...  to combat it, each ride was lasting like 60 seconds and that's it.    It wasn't worth it.  We got out of line and I went to explore the rest of the ship for something to do.

 

I didn't find much luck.  The ship was EMPTY  everyone truly was on the pool deck.  I really think the entertainment/activity staff needed to step up the offerings  indoors on the sea day to draw people inside the ship and away from the pool.   Everywhere I went was being unused, unless you counted the singers/dancers rehearsing in the theaters.   

 

 

I said, I'd walk the Esplanade and do some shopping, but there wasn't much to do.  Super high end stores were on the shopping hall.  fancy watches and jewelry, I mean I never seen anyone in any of these stores, but there always onboard.   The RCI logo shop didn't have many of the things I wanted  due to supply chain issues,  same thing on Wonder a few months ago.  Just generic stuff, few Odyssey specific, Inaugural season merchandise, and no ship models.  I wanted a baseball cap, but they were only being sold in a bundle with a t-shirt (not in big boy sizes) and were very pricey (I wanted to say $50+) which was too much when I just wanted the cap. 

 

 

Something else I noticed... where's the toiletries shop?  You know where you buy lotion and toothpaste and random stuff you forgot.   It wasn't there.  The logo shop and the alcohol/cigarette shop were kinda the only options other than the high end stuff. (There was one shelf of a few things in the alcohol shop) I later found toiletries had been moved to a vending machine down the hall.   Didn't like this change, but my wife said Wonder had done the same thing I hadn't noticed. 

 

 

Now you're probably getting the sense by now, I really didn't like this ship.  I kept complaining it had too many people and not enough stuff going on.   My wife said I was crazy.  She LOVED it,  she thought it was beautiful.    She pointed out that my idea of how many people should be on a ship has been skewed by the pandemic.   We did 3 cruises this year, including Adventure's sailing from Nassau with just 800 people onboard.   She's like "It's back to normal, this is how it normally is"    She may be right,  maybe I don't remember what a full ship is like?   Maybe I've been spoiled by sailing on half empty ships, and now I hate full ones.   I sure hope that's not the case, because man I don't want to dislike cruising. 

 

I will say this.... when we sailed on Wonder in April, we couldn't do much on the pool deck either because there were so many people.  Wonder was packed too.  BUT.... it didn't bother me as much.   I think there were so many activities, so much to do, so many options of stuff happening that it wasn't a big deal.   This ship was "activity light"  "places to go light"  and it just didn't work with the full crowds, not for me at least.

 

 

Only one thing to do.... Head back to the cabin.   It truly was my Oasis on this ship. I could sit in there all day.  I loved the views, the space.  I stretched out on the balcony and watched the sun start to set, this was heaven, this is way you cruise. 

 

 

We popped open some wine and cheese delivered to our room and I was so happy to be here. 

 

Again this time since we didn't have our kids, we did late dining.   This was formal night and our first night in the dining room since we had done chops the night before.

 

We were on the second floor.  near the window.   My wife was sad, as we're often in the center section on the first floor and she loves the views, but that's where early seating is.  We had a great table by the window and quite possibly the sweetest server ever.  She was on the ball and so kind and caring.   

 

 

Our friends loved the dining room food and service, I had an amazing fish that was cooked perfectly.  I have to say Food and Beverage was really a star on this ship. I know supply chain issues are a challenge for everyone, I didn't feel it on this ship.  Great portions, good food, and everything was very tasty!

 

We did notice meats on board were cooked to a different temperature than we're used to.  I always order steaks medium as does my wife, but these were more medium rare everywhere.  From chops to the dining room to giovanni's.  I had to order medium well, so get them to my liking.

 

After dinner we tried the effectors, the new show we heard so much about.

 

My friend Mark told me from jump he wasn't a show person,  I told him to come, check it out, he would be surprised.   I usually love the shows.  I couldn't do this one. It was very odd, it felt aimed to kids, and just wasn't for me.  I was gritting my teeth through it and I know Mark had to be, when my wife who is like the world's kindest person and supports everything good or bad, tapped me on the shoulder and said.  "If Mark wants to leave, I will do, this is awful"   We all exchanged glances and left. lol

 

I really hope that Royal brings back the Broadway shows,  this just didn't work for me. 

 

 

One thing we noticed tonight --- the wifi would disappear... like not even show up as an option. Happened a few times, during the week.  When it was there it worked great, just wasn't always there.

 

 

We decided to have a drink and call it a night.   After all   --  tomorrow we're going to be in Greece!!!!

 

 

[perfect match]

@RCCL Fan, thank you for the great video of our cabin this coming April! I’m really looking forward to sailing in it! 
 

I’ll be following along to see how the rest of your journey goes. We sail on Harmony in September so I’m not very focused on Odyssey yet, but I’m wondering about how we will feel about how she compares to the Oasis class ships we love so much. I do know that I’ll love that balcony being aft facing with no superstructure but where are the lounger(s) and regular height tables that I’m used to having on my JS balconies? I’m sure I’ll enjoy spending a lot of time out there regardless of the furniture.
 

 

[SE fla]

Nice you guys do a great review 👍

[soremekun]

@RCCL Fan I would like to know how (if) jetlag impacted your first few days of cruising.  When did you finally feel acclimated to the time change?  Any tips?

[Tom_n_Sara]

This is a great review. Thanks!

[FamilyCruiserUK]

Fantastic review thanks for taking the time to write it. We have been on the sister ship Anthem and we also found it compact and everything squished in. Have to say though i loved the Ifly and dau loved the bumper cars. However the rest of the ship dosnt do anything for me. We so far prefer the oasis class and independence. Hope you are enjoying your trip around europe. All tourists get ripped off in Paris sadly.

[LuCruise]

Am really enjoying your review.  Have followed your others as well.

Am sorry that you are not a fan of Odyssey.  Your stateroom view looks amazing though!  We have Odyssey booked next Dec and then Wonder the following March.  I know that Quantum class isn't for everyone.  Too bad too that they don't have more going on such that the pool decks were packed but not much else to do.  You mentioned you went to bumper cars but I assume you needed a reservation for that?

 

One thing to note...at least Odyssey had some basic toiletries.  We were on Anthem in March and found it strange that they had no toiletries at all....no section at all.   My daughter got burned as we were looking for aloe...nothing (and not even sunscreen if needed). 

 

Looking forward to hearing more.   

 

[Roybthered]

We are on Odyssey at the end of Sept and we are hoping that because of the port intensive days the pools will not be as busy and cannot wait. Having been on Anthem twice last year (with 1000 and 1500 pax) . I think a lot of people have been spoilt (if that is the correct word) due to cruises not being full due to the start up after the pandemic but I feel we need to start remembering that cruise lines are wanting to be as full as possible. Each ship will have its own pull on people weather it be the ship itself or the ports it visits. My favourite ship at the minute is Indy but might change my mind in October as we sail on Oasis out of NJ.

Happy Cruising.

[RCCL Fan]

10 hours ago, perfect match said:

@RCCL Fan, thank you for the great video of our cabin this coming April! I’m really looking forward to sailing in it! 
 

I’ll be following along to see how the rest of your journey goes. We sail on Harmony in September so I’m not very focused on Odyssey yet, but I’m wondering about how we will feel about how she compares to the Oasis class ships we love so much. I do know that I’ll love that balcony being aft facing with no superstructure but where are the lounger(s) and regular height tables that I’m used to having on my JS balconies? I’m sure I’ll enjoy spending a lot of time out there regardless of the furniture.
 

 

 

No loungers...   however the two chairs that were out there were recliners.  You could adjust them and they would fold out and back kinda like a Lazy Boy. 

 

They're not as comfy as the loungers but they weren't bad.   There was a small cocktail table as well. 

 

You will love the cabin, it was amazing, my favorite part of the ship. 

[RCCL Fan]

5 hours ago, soremekun said:

@RCCL Fan I would like to know how (if) jetlag impacted your first few days of cruising.  When did you finally feel acclimated to the time change?  Any tips?

 

We left Texas on Wednesday and had three days in Paris before flying to Rome  and boarding Odyssey on Sunday.  So it didn't impact our cruise at all we were well adjusted by the time the cruise came around.

 

For some perspective....  the key is sleeping on the plane. 

 

Our flight left Dallas at 3pm and was set to arrive in Paris at 9am

 

All four of us had very different experiences.

 

My wife:  Ate dinner on the plane, stretched her lie flat bed out and knocked out.   When the flight attendants started serving breakfast the next morning, she woke up and kinda forgot she was on a plane.  She had slept 6 hours straight and didn't wake up once.     When we got to Paris she was fine, not the tiniest bit tired.  totally adjusted.

 

Me:  put on pajamas, slippers  had the air going, stretched out but tossed and turned in my little cube, woke up for turbulence over the Atlantic I maybe got 4 hours sleep.   I was mostly OK the next morning I got tired mid afternoon but took a 1 hour nap and was fine.

 

My friends:  did not sleep at all.  had loud teens sitting with them and crying babies nearby,  when the plane landed they were exhausted and grouchy and had a harder time adjusting took them a day or so.

 

All 4 of us on the same plane, all with different experiences. 

[RCCL Fan]

3 hours ago, LuCruise said:

Am really enjoying your review.  Have followed your others as well.

Am sorry that you are not a fan of Odyssey.  Your stateroom view looks amazing though!  We have Odyssey booked next Dec and then Wonder the following March.  I know that Quantum class isn't for everyone.  Too bad too that they don't have more going on such that the pool decks were packed but not much else to do.  You mentioned you went to bumper cars but I assume you needed a reservation for that?

 

One thing to note...at least Odyssey had some basic toiletries.  We were on Anthem in March and found it strange that they had no toiletries at all....no section at all.   My daughter got burned as we were looking for aloe...nothing (and not even sunscreen if needed). 

 

Looking forward to hearing more.   

 

 

didn't need a reservation for bumper cars,  it just was open limited times of they day and every time they opened it there was a line, a very long line.  The line moved but it moved because there rides were like less than a minute.   I didn't want to stand in a line that long to ride bumper cars for 45 seconds.   It was just kinda like Thanks but no thanks. 

[msuspartabigten]

On 8/1/2022 at 6:23 AM, SE fla said:

Enjoying your trip. I have the family going on the odyssey for thanksgiving. 

We're on this cruise too! It'll be our second time on Odyssey this year. 

[SE fla]

What are you thoughts on the odyssey? I have been on the Ovation in Asia and Symphony doing the transatlantic. I think I like any old ship. 

[RCCL Fan]

1 hour ago, SE fla said:

What are you thoughts on the odyssey? I have been on the Ovation in Asia and Symphony doing the transatlantic. I think I like any old ship. 

 

More than what I shared in the last two posts?   Tell me specifically what else you'd like to know.