wannabecruiseexpert

So when I talked to the concierge she said they were definitely wrong and we should have been able to sit there. Said the sign shouldn’t even be worded as concierge suites and then asked some questions about the person who told us we couldn’t (what she looked like) and said she’d make it right. She said she thinks it’s someone new who pretty much didn’t know what she was doing.
 
We had the ice show tonight (amazing by the way) and the same lady was there and came to us as we were walking up and took us to a front row. No embarrassment tonight so all is good.

So when I talked to the concierge she said they were definitely wrong and we should have been able to sit there. Said the sign shouldn’t even be worded as concierge suites and then asked some questions about the person who told us we couldn’t (what she looked like) and said she’d make it right. She said she thinks it’s someone new who pretty much didn’t know what she was doing.
 
We had the ice show tonight (amazing by the way) and the same lady was there and came to us as we were walking up and took us to a front row. No embarrassment tonight so all is good.

So when I talked to the concierge she said they were definitely wrong and we should have been able to sit there. Said the sign shouldn’t even be worded as concierge suites and then asked some questions about the person who told us we couldn’t (what she looked like) and said she’d make it right. She said she thinks it’s someone new who pretty much didn’t know what she was doing.
 
We had the ice show tonight (amazing by the way) and the same lady was there and came to us as we were walking up and took us to a front row. No embarrassment tonight so all is good.

I’ll ask our concierge in the morning when I see her again but I didn’t know if random crew would know what I was talking about. 

Agreed! Didn’t make sense to me either. I’m definitely going to bring it up to the concierge but I missed them this morning as we were in port but I’ll go see them at 5
Yes, reservations only until 15 minutes til then they can give your seats away. We did have reservations 

I always ask crew when I have a question if they don’t know, they can certainly get you to the right person that would know.  

Please post if you don't mind.  I would be interested in the answer.

Pictures from Wonderland!
IMG_0755.MOV    
 

I'm also on this sailing. I have bids in for both the UPS and the star loft so it doesn't seem like my odds are that great 😉

I'm also on this sailing. I have bids in for both the UPS and the star loft so it doesn't seem like my odds are that great 😉

Wow....it doesn't seem like almost 2 years ago I asked this question. We sail in 9 days so I'll finally get to experience deck 17!

Wow....it doesn't seem like almost 2 years ago I asked this question. We sail in 9 days so I'll finally get to experience deck 17!

I recently tried to get my boss to relocate our company to Florida. Unfortunately, I was unsuccessful. 

This is a lot to unpack here. Sounds like the making of a soap opera and I'm here for it 😂

I thought that Starbucks pastries weren't included, even for star class.  Is this the case on every ship?  If so, I hope they stock up on banana nut bread because that's my favorite! 

I live in South Carolina and had no clue Charleston is a stop for Royal. So glad you had a great time visiting here!!

I live in South Carolina and had no clue Charleston is a stop for Royal. So glad you had a great time visiting here!!

Wow. I am trying to sum up my thoughts from our first day and the easiest thing to say is just wow…
Yesterday was amazing. We got to the port around 10 and the star class porters were right on getting our bags tagged and loaded up. Check-in was smooth and took roughly one minute for all seven of us. We sat down in the suite lounge which in my honest opinion was a little bland for being the suite section but I guess Covid has a little to blame for that? The couches were very comfortable but that’s about it. Hossain met us and another family of his and walked us on board around 10:45ish. He has us waiting in the Royal Promenade while he took his first family to their rooms. We decided to have our first beverage on the rising tide bar. I had a lovely mimosa! 🙂 It was nice hearing the champagne bottle popping open. That was the sound that officially resonated vacation for me. 
 
After about ten minutes waiting on the rising tide bar, Hossain came and got us. He walked us to our room (2BR AT deck 9). McKenzie and I were the first in the room and wow, I knew we were in for a great time. The decor on Symthony is beautiful. We had birthday decorations in the room for DJ and I and Hossain gave us birthday cards. I could right a book on the room but I’ll save that for another time.
 
We then went to our mustard station to get that out of the way. Jake got a hot dog, then we all rode the carousel with McKenzie for the first time. She loved the vibrant colors of the animals. We then came back to the room, our luggage was waiting for us so we unpacked. At 12:30 we had a welcome lunch from Chops delivered to our balcony. I had the shrimp cocktail and filet mignon with asparagus. The filet was a bit over cooked but was still juicy and flavorful so I didn’t mind. 
 
After lunch we finished unpacking, explored a bit, ate Sorentos pizza, went to the spa for the raffle (lost), then came back to the room to get ready for dinner. We had Coastal Kitchen. I got the Smoked Salmon and Crispy Pork Belly for an appetizer and the Salmon for my Entree. I could see myself eating at Coastal every night. My only complaint was our service was a little spotty. We will definitely have to ask for speedier service moving forward because 2 hours sitting for dinner with an eight month old is not my definition of fun. Pre baby I may have liked that but not anymore. I had to leave before dessert was brought out because McKenzie was getting fussy and was ready for bed. 
 
My parents thankfully took night duty for McKenzie so us ‘kids’ could go out. We saw iSkate2.0 and I LOVED it. So much passion in some of the skaters and spunk. I would watch it again. After the ice show…. Well there’s not too much to remember after that because we all got drunk… off of lemon drops for me! 
 
This was a lot to unpack but it is nice looking back at our first day. I am currently the first one up and I am watching the beautiful blue waves on our balcony. Life is good. ❤️
 
 

This is a lot to unpack here. Sounds like the making of a soap opera and I'm here for it 😂

This is a lot to unpack here. Sounds like the making of a soap opera and I'm here for it 😂

Negative COVID tests have been acquired and we are on our way for an early spring break adventure!
Who: David (that's me), Ashley (my wife) and our two girls (10 and 7).
What: Odyssey of the freakin' Seas! Junior Suite, Room 9200
Where: Sailing from Fort Lauderdale and then it's on to CocoCay, Cozumel, Puerto Costa Maya
When: Feb 20-26
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I am super excited about this sailing! It's the first trip with just our immediate family. We had a great Star Class adventure with my parents last summer aboard the Allure, but otherwise our previous cruises have just been my wife and me.
Thanks to the new trend of multiple week long breaks in the spring, we jumped on this chance to get back on the water.
We originally booked a large ocean view room, but the prices kept going down and we bumped up to a balcony and finally snagged a RoyalUp to a junior suite this past week.
This is our first time on a Quantum class ship, and there is so much to do on Odyssey.
First, we have our travel day (today). It's a long way from Seattle to Florida, after all. We stayed in a hotel near the airport for our 6:25a flight (oof!). 
Everyone's a bit groggy after a 4:15 wakeup, but the girls are already starting to drift off as I type this up from the plane. We'll be in the air soon and I could not be more pumped!
Let's go!

Here are some photos of the cabin. There are 4 two bedroom grand suites on Liberty. All are aft - 2 on deck 8 and the other 2 are on deck 9. The balconies are slightly deeper on deck 9. 

Closet with the safe is in the entry hall. We use our over door shoe hanger here and magnetic hooks for masks as it's right by the door.



The smaller bedroom is directly across from the entry closet and the 2nd bath, which is standard size, is inside this room.



The master bedroom has a huge port hole and the master bath is the same size as in a junior suite.


The living room has a third closet and lots of drawer space. There are 2 pullmans in the second bedroom a d the couch pulls out, so this room sleeps 8. I wouldn't want to squeeze that many in here though.


Lots of room to spread out.  
I prefer the layout of the 2 bedrooms on Enchantment as the 2nd bathroom is in the hall, so anyone needing to access it doesn't disturb anyone who may be sleeping. There is also a window from the 2nd bedroom to the living room on Enchantment. On Liberty the 2nd bedroom feels a lot like what I imagine an interior old be like. The light that comes in from the living room on Enchantment helps quite a bit with that since you can get some "second hand" natural light.

I think I got it ...

I really enjoy reading these blogs of solo travelers. Looking forward to the rest of this one. Happy cruise day!

I really enjoy reading these blogs of solo travelers. Looking forward to the rest of this one. Happy cruise day!