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On a side note, our loft attendants have been making the most amazing towel animals that I have ever seen on any cruise.

If you haven’t already guessed from the earlier pics, dinner tonight was back at Chops. Great meal, but service was slow here again. Same deal as NYE, the restaurant wasn’t even half full, and our waiter was attentive, it just wasn’t moving quickly.

Star class FlowRider session was this morning from 9-10am. This was the best session ever! Because OY only has 5 SC rooms, even if every cabin showed up, there are not many to share that session with. However, this morning, only 1 other cabin showed up, and they only stayed for 15mins. Hubby pretty much had the entire FlowRider to himself for the entire time.

Moët and Lavender Martini…does it get any better than this?

@LandstromCruise Hubby said it cost $40 for the FlowRider in Taino Bay. The rest of the afternoon was chill again for me. I am loving this! Hubby and the girls returned around 4pm and then he was off to the FlowRider again. Kids went with him for a bit and then they left him too. Eventually, Hubby ran into @recogneyes and her Hubby, and she got this great pic of Hubby. Currently waiting for the rest of the family to get moving for dinner. @OCSC Mike, this is the time for Doritos

Now sitting in 270 for Captain’s Corner with both girls. Hubby is still at the FlowRider lol D17 just said to me, “I thought this was supposed to be an informative talk, people are just venting their complaints.”

Wow ! Those towel animals are incredible ! I’ve never seen anything like them. I guess we know how that attendant made it up to Star Class ! Beautiful.

I believe the proper pairing for a martini is Cool Ranch.

Somewhere off in the distance in this vicinity was Cape Horn. Land ahead of us. Looking back to the Drake Passage. Chilean Dolphins. We've reached the pilot station for Puerto Williams. New ETA to Puerto Williams is now 3:30pm. These fur seals seemed to be just goofing around with each other.

Finally opened up and I managed to get what I wanted.

After dinner we headed to the theatre to watch Showgirls. I knew nothing about this show ahead of time, but I loved it! This show felt classic to me and what really blew me away was the costume designs. I thought they were just gorgeous! Video clips on my story on IG.

Batman would agree with you on this. I have to admit, Doritos are not my fave but after reading @Lovetocruise2002's blog, i had a craving for exactly one Dorito last night. Of course we had none in the house, which made me YouTube how to make your own Doritos. It lead me to this. Batman and i about died laughing. Not died laughing, but we did find it wicked funny Bottom line, i went to the store today to pick up a bag, only to be chastised that it wasn't Cool Ranch.

We walked around the port area for about an hour or so, just to get the feel for what was around. This is our first time at this port and we did not venture past the Taino Bay port area. It’s nice here. Our impressions were that it is clean, and there are a variety of things to do. There’s a variety of local shops and places to eat. Free pool/swim up bar (much like the pool at Oasis lagoon), lazy River, lounge beach, and FlowRider like @AshleyDillo mentioned earlier. Hubby loves it here.

I received a second follow up call on my feedback; this one from a supervisor in the shoreside team. Much like the call from corporate the disembarkation process was the first thing she wanted to discuss. Both had me walk them through the old process vs the one we experienced last week. While she was interested in the rest of my feedback, I got the impression the disembarkation process was the primary reason for the call today. She said it would be escalated so time will tell what happens.

Final 360 camera selfies.

Noon update: We've come full circle or nearly so. My boarding pass for the charter flight back to Santiago was dropped off this morning. Window seat on the left side. My luggage is packed and I made it under the 23 kg weight limit.

For lunch we went to Playmakers. This was our first opportunity to eat here this cruise. While I really like the playmakers menu, I did not like today’s experience at all. First of all, I hate the location of Playmakers here. I know it makes sense, but because I already don’t like the Seaplex, having it here makes it feel like you are eating in a gym, and it smells like it too. Not very appealing or appetizing. Secondly, there are very few booths here. Only 2. Most are tables along the bar, or tables for 2. Both booths are right next to the the foosball table making it very annoying to eat with random people and children playing right next to you. Last, but not least, service here was awful! You all know that I don’t complain much, and I can overlook if they are busy. However, they were not busy today. It took a long time for them to initially take our drinks and food order after Sergii left us. Already not a good sign. The rest of the meal was also super slow, then our waiter went on break, replaced by two other different waiters. We couldn’t even get them to bring us the bill at the end of our 2+ hour meal. This was the first time ever that we have ever left the restaurant before getting the bill. But that is how annoyed I was. I told Hubby that if they really had an issue with us leaving, they could take it up with Sergii. Anyhow, food was good, the experience, not so much.

Time is a ticking - eight days until we travel to Galveston. Hubby and I are leaving from Kentucky; daughter and granddaughter/hubby (told you I was old) are coming from SC; oldest son/wife from Indiana, and youngest son from Milwaukee. Pretty obvious that from all the States listed that our background is military. Kids really never had a home state. We are flying into Hobby airport, which if rumors hold true, is small - like blink your eye and miss it small. Staying at the Airport Marriott. Going to Mass at 8:30pm since we will not be able to attend on Sunday. Gotta make sure Jesus and I are fine before I’m on a ship out in the ocean. It’s a Mass all in Spanish. My only Spanish word I know is “taco”….should be an interesting hour. Galveston Shuttle and limo will pick us up the next morning in their van - big van I hope - 16 pieces of luggage. I’m really hoping that Star Class is clearly marked and there’s a strong porter waiting for us. What in the world do you “tip” a porter for 16 pieces of luggage? Our genie, MJ, sent our schedule for revisions. I deleted all the sea day lunches he had scheduled. We all wanted more flexibility during the day. Grease (seen it before) bit the dust. Told him our granddaughter just got married in a small wedding, and we would like to have a little post celebration in our room. The kids in their 30’s are being a bit silly. I’ve tried telling them there’s stuff that a genie just cannot do. They wanted the pickle ball court reserved for them, room service from different restaurants delivered at the same time, and a large table reserved at the night club. They just don’t understand “why not” when we spent thousands and thousands extra for star class. First, tried to explain that the “man in the boardwalk room” paid the thousands and thousands extra for star class, and if they kept voicing their “silly” wishes I would have the genie ONLY WhatsApp me. It’s been a bit quiet since. Next up: What to pack? It seems everyone will have a check-in suitcase and a carry-on. Thanks to @Lovetocruise2002 we are all afraid our check-in bag will not make it to the other end, so we are putting this and that into our carry on luggage!

We all went to support him this morning lol It is on their lunch menu, but we never eat at Chops for lunch. Hubby was really craving a burger for dinner last night so Sergii asked them to make the burger from the lunch menu. Then they made one with a double patty. I have no idea how Hubby even ate all that, but he did. Lucky for him. SC FlowRider sessions on OA class has never worked out for us. With so many more suites and tons of people from the ATS, Hubby usually ends up with 1-2 runs at best. Today was great. Another reason to do OY again

Same! Even in our other lofts and star class cruises, there has never been anything like these. On another side note, there are 5 star class suites on Odyssey. The lowest amount on any ship. They are all located on Deck 8. There are 2 pairs of loft attendants (so 4 of them). One pair handles the lofts on the port side, the other pair does the starboard side lofts. On top of that, these loft attendants also have the additional task of caring for at least 10 cabins down the hall near the lofts. Needless to say, in talking to some of them, they miss Deck 17/18 on Oasis class too

Day Eighteen - Drake Passage and Puerto Williams Position report: Balcony observations: The seas have settled considerably and most of the ship's motion is gone.

In the early evening the Captain hosted us in the main theater for some final words. As well as a parade of the crew.

I'll have to look up this vessel later. More notions of Shackelton swirling in my head. Right in front of me a whale did a full breach. It was magnificent. All I caught with my camera was the splash. This was less than two miles from Puerto Williams.

I loved this show. It ranked up there with Aqua 80's I felt.

After lunch, we headed to the casino to use our D+ free play. Hubby and I are $7.15 richer Spending the rest of the afternoon soaking up last moments in our room, and packing. Hubby “might” go back to the FlowRider one more time lol

With that we have arrived at Puerto Williams. The Silver Cloud at the pier. I assume the Captain has a very big credit card. Our fuel barge. Looks like the Cloud is doing crew laundry.

Here are some photos from the channel near Puerto Williams. We departed in darkness so we missed this on day one. It's very pretty. You can't park there.

Is that a burger on the dinner menu at Chops? I really liked Showgirls on Odyssey, I saw it on a small class and liked it as well.

My Icon sailing date is 1/27 (22 days to go) and no entertainment booking yet. I think Royal wants to remain unpredictable so you keep checking Cruise Planner and buy other things while on the site.

I'm sure there will be a Valentine's Day sale, St. Patrick's Day sale, Easter sale, so on and so on.

No clue. We didn't walk far enough to check it out. You are correct it reminds me of Costa Maya's port but it doesn't have the pushy vendors yet, nor the crowds.

My current situation now that Hubby and kids have left…that first sip feeling…

It was hot today! So after about an hour or so, the family decided that they did want to make use of the free pool and beach here. We decided to head back to the ship to grab lunch first, kids and Hubby want to drop of stuff and change, and now they have headed back out again to the beach/pool. I am back in my happy place, a nice, air conditioned ship.

Enough about whales! I've refrained from posting more whale pictures but rest assured there were many more sightings. The coastline appeared to be one very long glacial face birthing icebergs hourly. This recently calved growler was finding its equilibrium rolling before our eyes. So many interesting icebergs. The bridge team brought us closer for a better look.

This pair stuck close to each other. Earlier today Andrew presented an enrichment talk about Humpback whales. He mentioned that often when you see a pair of whales with one larger than the other staying close to each other it may be a mother with a calf. I'm not certain that is the case with these two but it makes for a nice story so I'm going with it.

As we left the channel the bay was littered with icebergs.

On both sides the glacial faces were fascinating. I spotted a diagram showing the ship's dimensions on a bridge wing. It had been updated with the retrofit of the Silver Wind.

I spotted a ship in the distance making the transit before us. Try as I might these photos are a pathetic attempt to illustrate the magnificence of Antarctica. Emily our geologist was present to talk about the volcanic origins of the mountains around us.

I love Cruise Mapper. The more I use it, the more I discover is available on the site. It helped me track Icon across the Atlantic, showed me what's in port in Nassau the same day I'll be there, gave me different itineraries at the touch of a button for various cruise lines, and so much more. Love it.

Simple things ... bring your wine and cork screw with you. Open the bottle in your room and pour. Carry your glass to dinner if you like. The only down side is when your glass is empty.

Glad you liked it! We wanted to see Showgirls, but unfortunately when we sailed Odyssey back in FEB 2022, they were still in that return to cruising mode. The production had not come back yet. I believe the cast was not ready, etc. Something new to look forward to the next time we sail Odyssey!

Red Velvet Cake! Yummy! Hubby told Chops that my birthday was coming up. Chops sent me a red velvet cake with a candle.

I’m pricing a Navigator cruise next year and see one price for Suite Guarantee ($735pp) then, if I choose to instead pick my own suite, there is a second guarantee option listed as Junior Suite Guarantee for $975pp, and finally the actual pick-my-JS price of $1045pp. Won’t the Suite Guarantee get me the same exact thing as the Junior Suite Guarantee? Why are they listed separately? JS sales for this sailing are slow as there are tons of cabins available so presumably the normal Suite Guarantee would also garner me a JS in the end. Thoughts? The Suite Guarantee is exactly $70 higher than picking my own OVB so it’s a no-brainer to bump up for double C&A points. Does the suite guarantee still get double C&A?

I stopped doing that after covid! Nope! I blame @WAAAYTOOO and @CGTLH for that. Those two were blogging star in the early days. Ok, I might be able to own that one lol I will own that one too lol

This is a panoramic stitch of ten photos. The texture and shading of the clouds will forever be burnt into my mind. This picture does a poor job representing the magic of the scene before us. A small Argentinian research station near where an Aurora Expeditions ship was putting out its kayakers. The end is near. The end of the Neumayer Channel that is. Then on queue right where we had been told to expect them, the whales began to appear.

Snow Patrol was performing on deck 9. (a lame reference to a Scottish rock band)

Our escort was a final opportunity to say goodbye to the penguins of Antarctica.

Around 3pm we seemed to be steering away from the center of the channel towards land. The entrance to the Neumayer Channel lay ahead. Some calving action on the port side. On both sides the sharp edges of glacier faces or those of glaciated snowfields suggested there had been recent action. It was quite remarkable. The Neumayer Channel.

As we sailed out of Wilhelmina Bay and entered the main channel a two masted schooner appeared through the haze. As the Amazone moved closer it occured to me how relatively small this vessel seemed when pictured among the icebergs. At 39m the Amazone is 5m shorter than the three masted Endeavour yet it was easy to imagine the likes of Shackleton, Scott, Byrd and dozens of other early Antarctic explorers plying these same waters in similar sized vessels oh so long ago.

North Star Sea day there is a charge. Port days complimentary. Fee is waived for Star Class.