twangster

Boarding the ship was a breeze and I was quickly in Coastal Kitchen grabbing lunch and waiting for cabins to be ready. Bread first... Wedge salad. Waiting between courses I jumped on the ship wifi and got connected. So happy to see Odyssey uses O3b Voom which is a newer satellite technology. SES/O3b has some capacity issues at the moment while they wait for more satellites to launch so not all new ships can get on this service at the moment. While eating lunch I started making reservations on board. Grilled Chicken Sandwich. Key Lime Pie. So good to be back on board eating cruise food again! Odyssey has the chat feature available in the Royal app.

I'm taking a little bit of a different approach to this trip report since it's almost a month overdue. I've been busy.... cruising. It's such a great time to cruise so I'm making up for lost time by spending a lot of time on cruise ships which is slowing down my posting. @Matt was also on board for this cruise and he was posting reports from this cruise live so I didn't feel the need to run a simultaneous live blog while he was doing such a great job representing our cruise. Consequently I'm going to simplify this thread and keep it more about photos of Odyssey with less blabbing about my cruise. As I create this thread I am waiting in my hotel room for yet another cruise to start but if I don't get this going I may never will so without further delay here is Odyssey in pictures.

Prepare to be underwhelmed. May your Star experience be so much greater

Takes one to know one.

The longest I’ve waited is 10 days. Call them. Sometimes new cruises have their points added to new accounts for their first sailing even if you create an account before. C&A will figure it out. Call them.

I'm curious how they'll do route her down under. Suez? Panama?

She does. However Allure has more suites than Wonder. Until all the guest moves from Allure are complete they have blocked off all suites from new bookings. Once they confirm who is accepting their suite moves from Allure to Wonder they will open whatever is left to the general public.

So if I am doing the math properly... this is the Oct. 17 Allure sailing? If so, maybe I'll see you on board.

I don't think the CDC has updated the term "fully vaccinated" to reflect boosters. This was discussed on the national news today since "fully vaccinated" impacts a lot more than the cruise industry. Their statement was that the CDC has NOT updated the definition of fully vaccinated to mean you have a booster. Per the CDC website as of today: In general, people are considered fully vaccinated: ± 2 weeks after their second dose in a 2-dose series, such as the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines, or 2 weeks after a single-dose vaccine, such as Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen vaccine If you don’t meet these requirements, regardless of your age, you are NOT fully vaccinated. Keep taking all precautions until you are fully vaccinated.

It never hurts to ask at NextCruise.

This is quite common for solo cruisers. For as long as I’ve cruised solo there are often times the points don’t multiply automatically. It’s never been an issue to get it corrected.

Definitely no dedicated Sorrento's. That's Freedom class and newer. No Voyager class has had a dedicated Sorrento's installed.

I've stayed in one of the nearby side facing spacious ocean view with floor to ceiling windows. I liked it because the location is great, so close to the outer deck 12 area and these cabins are somewhat recent additions so they tend to feel newer. If you don't want to let the sun in, close the drapes all or most of the way while you are out. It was never a problem that I can think of.

Seattle has always struggled with loyalty priority because of how small the terminal is. I've yet to see Seattle call one group before another even pre-pandemic.

Ships tend to be boarding closer to terminal check in time these days so the need or concept of priority embarkation doesn't have the same connotation it did pre-pandemic. For Odyssey in Port Everglades suites/pinnacle do get their own entrance, security checkpoint and check in. Upstairs there is the same suites waiting area there always been at terminal 18. Suites were the first invited to board when boarding commenced. It was basically like it always has been but with 10% of the people in the terminal. It felt a little weird... like am I at the right terminal? That is Odyssey but where are the people? For debarking I followed the instructions. After breakfast in Coastal Kitchen I went back to my cabin to wait. A minute after getting back to my cabin the TV indicated my zone was being called. I left my cabin and never stopped walking until I reached my car. There were no queues to get off, no queues in the terminal and no wait for the facial recognition CBP kiosks. I can't imagine how priority debarking could have made it any better. It wasn't needed.

By default if you say nothing a NextCruise booking goes to the agent who booked you onto the cruise you are onboard when you visit NextCruise. You don't need to sign a waiver, but you do need to tell NextCruise not to assign it to your agent. Just remember to say something and it will become a direct booking.

It depends. £1000 / 14 points = ~£72 per point. What are the first 14 points costing you on a per point basis? If you predict cruising more in your future then it's definitely an opportunity to leapfrog that may not come around ever again. If £1000 will post to a credit card and accumulate interest it's probably a bad investment.

I don't think travel agents can access OBC to apply or remove it. They call Royal, Royal does the change in the system. The source of the original OBC can be a factor. OBC from NextCruise is treated differently from OBC granted when they charter a ship and different from OBC that was specific to a promo for booking a cruise.

If you have connecting cabins or a cabin location you really like and that's important to you I would not suggest trying to use RoyalUp.

There are international conventions that limit the time any seafarer can stay on a ship. Extensions have to respect these limits even if a crew member is willing to stay longer than legally permissible.

Adventure was mostly amped already. She was pretty much the start of the amplification movement and the success with her upgrades led to the official amplification program being sold to the board that some other ships received. In that sense Adventure was the trial amplification. She received water slides, new venues like Izumi, updates around the ship in other venues, new cabins, new mini golf, suite lounge, etc. She did not get a Playmakers and her pool deck did not get a complete makeover like on Navigator (but neither did Mariner with her amp). Really it comes down to Playmakers being absent and maybe The Bamboo Room. Not all ships got those so it's hard to know what Adventure was supposed to get in her "amp". Some of that was probably marketing so they could officially call her "amped". The point is Adventure has received a number of updates but it wasn't called an amplification at the time.

Not that I'm aware of. I think they are still waiting for the CDC to update the rules.

Mr. Sanchos historically didn't limit capacity so it could get crowded. In the past one would look to see how many Carnival ships were in port and decide to avoid Mr. Sanchos or not. Nachi Cocom did limit capacity so it was a more enjoyable experience for me. That was pre-pandemic though.

https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2021/09/13/nachi-cocom-cozumel-excursion-review https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2018/12/11/mr-sanchos-beach-club-all-inclusive-day-pass-review-cozumel-mexico

$224 / 8 = $28 per day. For Symphony with Hooked and Playmakers that's not bad for 2021. In 2018 maybe that went on sale but post-restart I'm not seeing UDP discounts like before.