Cruiser Formerly Known As Cheapo Dad's Trip Report on Odyssey of the Seas Sailing to A Minus B Plus C Plus H Islands

[Coralc]

Thankfully, at least the wind is finally dying down. Sorry about your awning. But better to have it happen on a weekend when you are home. We haven't had any damage or power outages. There are a lot of trees down. We had to set the garbage bin upright a couple of times so it can be picked up tomorrow. ☺️

[harryfat1]

44 minutes ago, Coralc said:

Thankfully, at least the wind is finally dying down. Sorry about your awning. But better to have it happen on a weekend when you are home. We haven't had any damage or power outages. There are a lot of trees down. We had to set the garbage bin upright a couple of times so it can be picked up tomorrow. ☺️

 

Yeah, it seems almost weird not to have the wind howling in the background.

 

Hopefully, we have seen the worst of it from this storm in our area but I don't believe our friends down south are done yet

[harryfat1]

Anyway, lunch today is at Chops.  This marks a momentous occasion as we have never opted for specialty dining on the previous cruises.

 

As I posted previously, I decided to try Chops because of our anniversary and it was a Christmas cruise. As all of us are RCCL shareholders in our accounts, we have onboard credit (OBC) with the cruise line on every cruise and since I have already prepaid the tips (more on that later), one way to spend the OBC is to spend it on specialty dining.

 

Of course, getting it at $18/pp for lunch during the BF sale helps to close the deal.  CFKACD wouldn’t be paying $99.99 for Chops holiday dinner regardless of the occasion.

[harryfat1]

I made a reservation at 1 PM for today as a special Christmas lunch.  The restaurant is split into 2 parts and this section is pretty empty but our section was pretty full with lots of people already eating their meal by the time we sat down.

 

 

 

Waited for 10 minutes and the waiter never showed up to present us with a menu so we just took pictures of ourselves.  Actually, we didn't even know who was our waiter as he never introduced himself for the first ten minutes.

 

Now I see why the app recommends we allocate 2 hours for the meal as everything was at a much slower pace compared to MDR.  Some people might like that to linger but I don’t have the patience to just sit and not do much.

[harryfat1]

Finally, the waiter showed up and we were presented with the lunch menu.  No surprises here as we had already checked out the menu online before I even reserved the lunch.

 

 

[harryfat1]

If we had come that night (5 hours later), the price would have jumped from $18 to $99.99 as it was the special Holiday dinner pricing (and not part of any dining package). 

 

Sure, they will have a more fancy meal compared to ours with some champagne but chances are the meat could be from the same cow between lunch and dinner so call me cheap, but I wouldn’t pay the hefty premium for the Holiday dinner.  Lunch is good enough for me.

 

The bread is much more interesting than the basic ones at MDR at night time.

 

 

Looks like a yam

 

[harryfat1]

Appetizers/Starters:

 

Mushroom soup

 

 

Beef Carpaccio

 

 

Jumbo-sized shrimp cocktail

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 5 by harryfat1

[harryfat1]

Here's us in our festive Christmas clothes as all of us have some sort of Santa theme outfit:

 

My younger son has a Santa shirt while the older son has a Yoda Christmas t-shirt. My wife has a pink Santa hat and I have a Santa shirt and a Mickey Mouse Santa hat (harder to see the Mickey ears in this picture but trust me, I have Mickey ears on my Santa hat).

 

[harryfat1]

Main Course:

 

 

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

Desserts:

 

 

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

CNN reporting 800,000 without power in the state

 

https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/04/us/california-atmospheric-river-flooding/index.html

 

 

Edited February 5 by harryfat1

[perfect match]

5 hours ago, harryfat1 said:

I just checked the compass I uploaded for day 3.  Brunch is 8:30 to 12:30 that day.

To me 8:30 AM is NOT brunch. The whole point of brunch in the world of this night owl is that I don’t have to get up that early to get breakfast food! As for the 12:30 ending time, well that’s about the time I’d be wanting to show up for brunch! 
 

 

4 hours ago, harryfat1 said:

Nobody was in front of the Christmas tree anymore as it was Christmas afternoon already.  If the tree has feelings, I wonder if it feels sad/unwanted in everyone who loves you up to Christmas morning and then blah, nothing after the presents are opened

 

Looks to me like that would be a great time to go and take pictures by the Christmas tree 🎄. That way you wouldn’t have strangers  crashing your pictures and the Christmas tree 🎄 wouldn’t be left feeling sad, lonely and unloved. That sounds like a win-win situation to me. 😁

4 hours ago, harryfat1 said:

Oh, yeah, for those who like to sleep in the nude, close the curtains...

A friend of ours once chose to disregard that advice on one of his cruises. It was a decision he came to regret! 🤣

[perfect match]

Harry, glad you and your wife were able to get your awning down before if caused any serious damage and didn’t get hurt doing it. Here in Florida we always go out and secure or move indoors any loose items that might get blown away or cause damage. I did learn not to bring in any of my outdoor plants that are in pots though since they frequently come with little stowaways 🦎 🐸 that keep our cats 🐈‍⬛🐈‍⬛ amused until I come to their rescue. 
 

I hope that the worst of the weather is over in your area and that life will be back to normal soon. 

Edited February 5 by perfect match

[Badatz2]

5 hours ago, harryfat1 said:

 As all of us are RCCL shareholders in our accounts, we have onboard credit (OBC) with the cruise line on every cruise and since I have already prepaid the tips (more on that later), one way to spend the OBC is to spend it on specialty dining.

 

 

It is my understanding of the Terms and Conditions that there is only one Shareholder Benefit per cabin even if each passenger in the cabin is a shareholder.

Are you implying that there is multiple OBC?

[harryfat1]

12 hours ago, perfect match said:

To me 8:30 AM is NOT brunch. The whole point of brunch in the world of this night owl is that I don’t have to get up that early to get breakfast food! As for the 12:30 ending time, well that’s about the time I’d be wanting to show up for brunch! 
 

 

 

Looks to me like that would be a great time to go and take pictures by the Christmas tree 🎄. That way you wouldn’t have strangers  crashing your pictures and the Christmas tree 🎄 wouldn’t be left feeling sad, lonely and unloved. That sounds like a win-win situation to me. 😁

A friend of ours once chose to disregard that advice on one of his cruises. It was a decision he came to regret! 🤣

 

12 hours ago, perfect match said:

Harry, glad you and your wife were able to get your awning down before if caused any serious damage and didn’t get hurt doing it. Here in Florida we always go out and secure or move indoors any loose items that might get blown away or cause damage. I did learn not to bring in any of my outdoor plants that are in pots though since they frequently come with little stowaways 🦎 🐸 that keep our cats 🐈‍⬛🐈‍⬛ amused until I come to their rescue. 
 

I hope that the worst of the weather is over in your area and that life will be back to normal soon. 

The interesting thing about the Brunch menu (which I didn’t save from the app as I didn’t attend) is that they have the typical breakfast food items (pancakes/french toast/bacon) as well as your lunch items like burgers and fish on the same menu. 

 

So if you are the early riser in going there at 8:30 when they open, your stomach may not be in the mood for a burger or some sort of fish as you sip your morning coffee and drink your glass of orange juice.

 

Yeah, you would have the entire tree area to yourself.  No lines whatsoever.

 

Thanks for the thought.  The wind died down by late last night here in the Bay Area and today is clean-up and restoration time.  Southern California is still going through it today and maybe tomorrow as well.

 

My cousin in San Jose is still without power for almost 30 hours now.  I have read reports of up to a million people in the state without power in the state at the height of the storm as our local utility is overwhelmed.  I’m sure there will be some political backlash on their readiness for this as Californians are not used to big storms out here as on the east coast.

 

Mudslide is something probably foreign to Florida residences as most of Florida is pretty flat but many homes in CA are built along the hills/mountains and when it rains, mudslides from the mountain can cause severe damage.

 

Here are a few pictures from the news to show the mudslide damages:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

10 hours ago, Badatz2 said:

It is my understanding of the Terms and Conditions that there is only one Shareholder Benefit per cabin even if each passenger in the cabin is a shareholder.

Are you implying that there is multiple OBC?

No, I just meant we got OBC for the 2 cabins at $100/cabin with the boys being shareholders as well as my wife and I.  In the old days, when the boys weren’t old enough to officially register as guests in their own separate reservation, my wife and I would sign up for the 2 cabins separately with each kid and we would get our OBC that way.  Now they are old enough to have their own reservations and they are shareholders as well, they got the credit based on their account.

 

Speaking of shareholder OBC, I like how the shareholder OBC started showing up early in the account. In the past, they used to show up after we boarded the ship but this time, the OBC showed up early enough in my sailing account that I was able to offset the cost of specialty dining using my shareholder credit when I booked it a month before sailing during the BF sale.

 

But with the boys’ cabins were in their name, I can see their $100 credit as we have linked accounts for the sailing but I couldn’t offset the second specialty restaurant’s charges against their OBC from my side.  I think they would have had to log into their RCI account and reserve the dining under their name to utilize that credit.

 

At the end, it didn’t matter as once we boarded the ship, their OBC were combined on my set sail account and we bought enough things from the cruise to utilize their OBC. 

 

Maybe there’s a way to “reach over” to grab their OBC pre cruise as a family cruising together for dining booking but I couldn’t figure out how to do it online.

 

[Coralc]

3 hours ago, harryfat1 said:

My cousin in San Jose is still without power for almost 30 hours now.  I have read reports of up to a million people in the state without power in the state at the height of the storm as our local utility is overwhelmed.  I’m sure there will be some political backlash on their readiness for this as Californians are not used to big storms out here as on the east coast.

 

 

I hope there is some sort of penalty against the utility. Most of us are pretty ticked off at PG&E anyway. 

[h20skibum]

5 hours ago, harryfat1 said:

Here are a few pictures from the news to show the mudslide damages:

Those pictures look like the weather was pretty nasty.  Glad you got your awning down before it broke a window.  
 

Had a FaceTime call with my son last night.  Lots of rain and water running down the hills at their place.  They lost power after our call, but it was back on this morning.  No major damage for them.  He may have to have his yard guy come in to do cleanup.  I know my son can’t, because he just had surgery on his back this week. 
 

Hopefully you don’t have a lot to clean up. 

[harryfat1]

1 hour ago, Coralc said:

 

I hope there is some sort of penalty against the utility. Most of us are pretty ticked off at PG&E anyway. 

Yeah, especially since they just increased the rates.  My utility bill last month was almost $300 and I have seen some neighbors posting on the "Next Door" neighbors chat saying their bills are over $500.

 

I am sure there will be some sort of backlash against PG&E after this with around a million people without electricity. People are not going to be happy without power for a long period.

[harryfat1]

18 minutes ago, h20skibum said:

Those pictures look like the weather was pretty nasty.  Glad you got your awning down before it broke a window.  
 

Had a FaceTime call with my son last night.  Lots of rain and water running down the hills at their place.  They lost power after our call, but it was back on this morning.  No major damage for them.  He may have to have his yard guy come in to do cleanup.  I know my son can’t, because he just had surgery on his back this week. 
 

Hopefully you don’t have a lot to clean up. 

Good thing your son didn't lose power for long and no major damage to his place.  My cousin in San Jose still hasn't gotten power back since he lost it at 9 AM on Sunday as their friends are lending them lanterns so they can have lights at night. 

 

Maybe the East Coast folks are used to these storms and are better prepared than us on the West Coast as we are not used to this.

 

Yeah, our yard is a mess with branches all over and tables and plants being blown over but that's nothing compared to the mudslides you see in the news.

 

Took a couple of pictures of the metal bar from the awning that broke off.  This thing was banging against the glass in the wind and you can easily imagine it breaking through the window and shattering it and then the rain and water damage that will come in to mess up the carpet.  Here's the one time you are glad you are not out on vacation...

 

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

OK, back to the trip report as we were at Chops and just finished lunch

 

++++++++++

 

I’m not a foodie and I will eat many items at MDR or the buffet as I’m not that picky.  The rest of the family liked Chops.  As I posted previously, it’s a slippery slope to start dining at specialty dining as then you realize the gap in quality of the meat between Specialty dining and MDR.  At Chops, they serve you Filet Mignon which is way better quality than the steak as the nightly option at MDR.

 

In the old days when MDR had higher quality food, the gap between the two wasn’t large enough to consider an upgrade for us.  Now with the MDR quality on the decline, if someone wants a more upscale dining experience, they will need to consider Specialty dining as an option.

 

Would I go to Chops again?  I’m OK either way but I think my wife would want to go back in the future if we can snag more BF deals.

 

RCI sells some dining packages like “Chops plus one or two specialty restaurants” dinners if those interest you.  Especially if you get the package before sailing with their periodic sales as it’s likely to be cheaper to get the package than individual bookings.

 

For those on a tighter budget, look into going during lunch instead of dinner as the price is considerably less at lunch.  The lunch menu is more limited but it will give you a different dining experience than MDR.

 

At $18 for lunch (on BF deal), you get an 8-ounce Filet whereas for dinner, it’s 9 ounces.  So unless you prefer something else on the dinner menu, lunch should be sufficient for many people.

 

For the ultimate foodie, RCI sells you the “Ultimate specialty” dining where you forego the MDR all together and just dine at all specialty places daily. There are not enough of those restaurants on board for most ships if you have a longer voyage so it will likely repeat, which can be a good or bad thing.

 

[harryfat1]

The last picture of Chops before we walked out a little before 3 PM as the lunch took almost 1 hour and 45 minutes.  Maybe they are understaffed but service was very slow.  Like I said, no one even acknowledged us for the first 10 minutes after we sat down.

 

As I showed previously, the restaurant is not anywhere near full with many empty tables so it’s not like they are overwhelmed with the cruisers.

 

 

 

I had thought with specialty dining, the wait staff would be more attentive, but we got more attention from our MDR wait staff or even Solarium Bistro wait staff than at Chops.

 

At the end of the meal, he asked us to rate him high on the service he provided.  Which was the constant theme everywhere we dined on the ship as well as on the rest of RCI ship and on the  Princess cruise as a week.  The high-pressure sales pitch for high scores in the post-cruise survey is very noticeable now on every sailing. 

 

I assume I'm not the only person that has noticed this?

 

[harryfat1]

As Chops isn’t that far from the Bionic Bar, we sat there and watched the robots do more shake and bake (you have to be old to understand this reference)

 

 

[harryfat1]

At 3 PM, they had some jewelry talk and to entice people to show up, they promised a charm for the bracelet that the people can collect throughout the cruise.  My wife wanted to attend but we guys passed.

 

This is the part of life where my wife wished she had 2 daughters instead of 2 sons so they could go with her to these jewelry things.

 

Here are the pictures showing the long line of people attending the jewelry show and getting their charm. People lined up on the right

 

 

Same line, different perspective

 

 

My wife took this picture of the event as the workers tried to educate the cruisers on the basics of selecting a diamond

 

 

[harryfat1]

Meanwhile, the boys and I went back to the cabin to watch football and basketball games on TV as they had live sports feeds in the cabins showing various games. I dozed off a bit as the game wasn’t that interesting as all the food from lunch made me sleepy.

 

At 4 something, I woke up and walked to the back of 270 via the “secret door” shortcut and got a close look at the wake view.  Went to café 270 to get some coffee and some fruit.

 

 

Lots of people here at 270 just chilling for the afternoon so I’m not the only person who likes this place.