JohnK6404

Yes, absolutely worth it at around $100 or so IMHO! We grabbed it on our last sailing on Oasis for $89 and had an amazing time. Even with reduced capacity back in early OCT, and the only ship in port that day, the Oasis Lagoon pool was packed. Only thing to consider is time of year. Recently, folks have pointed out that the water may be too cold to swim in and you would effectively be paying a fee for a little more space and a nice lunch. We have seen it as high as $199… not worth it to me, but it may be worth that price to someone else.

We’re on Odyssey right now (2/12-2/20). Only things to add is that you still need to book time slots for iFLY and the North Star whether paid (sea day) or complimentary (port day). We’re booked on both for complimentary slots. For our sailing at least, both Showgirl! and The Effectors are not on the entertainment schedule. Crew explained the original cast contracts had ended and the new cast is still rehearsing. They only have a “special preview” of The Effectors on the final evening of our sailing. I would expect both shows to return before your sailing. Also, if you are interested in Zone Zero (virtual reality room), book it right away on day 1! It did not appear right away on the Royal app when we boarded and when I found it the next morning it was fully reserved for the week! Have an amazing time!

Day 2: Nassau (cont.) We woke up early this morning in Nassau to the Carnival Conquest and the British Colonial Hilton off the starboard side… A busy day in Nassau as the Celebrity Reflection (starboard) and Celebrity Apex (port) followed us from Ft. Lauderdale… … and Indy (port) joined us as well! We decided not to get off the ship today and headed to the Windjammer for breakfast. After breakfast we headed to the solarium and used the hot tubs. The pool water was on the chilly side, so us lightweights didn’t last very long and went back to the hot tubs! We met this lady in the solarium… very friendly… The ladies had booked a massage in the spa, so I took the opportunity to explore the ship some more… OK… time to call it a night!

Odyssey… right now (2/12-2/20)… Just left Guest Services… they stated original/expected passenger count before set sail was 3,300. Actual count as of tonight is 2,724.

Day 2: Nassau I have a few minutes before we have to head down to dinner - once again in the MDR. Let’s start with today’s Cruise Compass: The Key letter we received at check-in yesterday, as well as, the Crown & Anchor (Platinum) onboard benefits/discounts: OK, off to dinner!

Day 1: Embarkation Day (Cont.) We had 6:30pm My Time reservations in the MDR. Tonight was Prime Rib night, but since we all had the Filet for lunch, we opted for the Herb-Crusted Salmon. We all had the Maryland Style Crab Cake… very tasty, but don’t expect the real deal with huge chunks of crab. I had the French Onion soup and the ladies had the Wild Mushroom soup. For dessert I had the Creme Brulee and the ladies had the Royal Cheesecake and the Apple Blossom A La Mode. Later that evening, we went to see the 10:15pm showing of The Book in Two70. Since we have the Key for this sailing, we were told to arrive 45 minutes before show time for the choice of seats. They formed 2 lines… one line for Pinnacle, Diamond Plus, suite guests, and folks with the Key. The other was for general admission (Diamond on down). We were actually first on line. The crew member recommended siting upstairs in the first row in the center of the venue. Good choice! The performers and production quality of this show was top notch, but we all felt it lacked something… continuity. Some of the other Royal-created productions we’ve seen in the past seemed confusing as well for the same reason. It’s seems like they create individual routines (chapters in The Book) and stitch them together hoping it will make sense. It is definitely worth seeing… form you own opinion as I have heard many people love it. That concluded the evening for my wife and our friend and they hit the sack. Here is a copy of the entertainment guide and Cruise Compass for Day 1:

Day 1: Embarkation Day (Cont.) During lunch we started reviewing the Royal app and the entertainment schedule. As mentioned in recent blogs, no reservations were required for any of the shows in the Royal Theater or Two70. The only show that required a reservation was The Book (Two70). What really annoyed us was that none of the major productions in the Royal Theater were on the entertainment schedule for this cruise. I spoke to a couple of crew members in Two70 and at Guest Services later that evening and they explained that the contracts of the original cast of both Showgirls! and The Effectors has ended and the new cast in in rehearsals still. They did not know know when these productions would be back on the regular schedule. I did notice there is some abbreviated “Special Preview” of The Effectors on the final evening of the cruise. I doubt we’ll be able to catch it. After we wandered around a bit and then headed to our cabin to unpack. Our carry-ons were in the cabin awaiting us. Here are some random shots we took before sail away. Elevator tower (aft) artwork… Two70… Solarium pool and one of the hot tubs… love the multi-tiered pools! Also love the two double hot tubs. Without a doubt, the tiered pool and double hot tubs on Odyssey/Quantum class are much nicer than those on Oasis class! Smaller, but nicer solarium IMHO for the water lovers. More pics to come. That playful cat! Aft main pool… Forward pool… generally less crowded so far… The Regal Princess, Celebrity Reflection, and Celebrity Apex were among the ships in port… We stayed on the glass walkway that wraps around the Sky Pad and extends over the ship… freaky if you have a fear of heights… Goodbye Ft. Lauderdale!

So, last evening we stayed at the Fairfield Inn & Suites. Definitely a bare bones hotel with a good location. From our room we could see the Hard Rock Cafe Hotel & Casino in the distance. If you want a bed and a basic complimentary breakfast it will do nicely. Day 1: Embarkation Day For some strange reason, the first shuttle to the port left at 10:45am which was a little too close to our 11:00am check-in window. Instead, we just took an Uber which cost about the same for the the three of us (our friend’s husband was not able to join us this time). We arrived at the port a little before 10:30am. Checked the bags at the curb and headed to the terminal. Since we had the Key, they led us to another entrance just to the right of the main entrance where folks were lining up based on their check-in times. For some reason, they did not seem to care about our check-in window and just let us in! As we entered the terminal we could see people were still disembarking the ship. Our line was pretty short and the main line snaked around to our left. After a brief delay we went through security, completed the second checkpoint (check-in and negative Covid test verification, etc.), and then into the Key waiting area of the terminal right next to the suite folks. Only 15 minutes or so from entering the terminal to the boarding waiting area. Glad we did not have to wait for the 11:00am check-in and wait on that long, snaking line! There was another short delay which gave us the opportunity to start and complete most of the muster/safety drill. Suite folks lined up to board and we followed immediately behind them. I can say the Key was very helpful this time as we actually boarded the ship before our scheduled check-in window. We headed right to the MDR to check-in with the Key desk and drop off our carry-ons for delivery to our cabin. We then stayed for our embarkation day Chops Grille menu lunch. We were all pleasantly surprised how well it turned out in the MDR. Since we had the Key lunch actually in Chops back in 2019 on Allure, we did not know what to expect this time around. Everything was excellent! Excellent way to start the cruise! Heading to bed now before my wife kills me (it’s 1:16am)! I’ll wrap up embarkation day tomorrow! Goodnight!

Absolutely love Long Island/MacArthur (ISP) Airport. Literally 5-10 minutes from our home. We park in a resident parking lot. Small, clean, and modern airport. Quick and easy to get through security. Dread it when we need to go to LaGuardia, JFK or Newark. Lining up to board! Getting there!

Thank you! Looking for any excuse to post pics of them! LOL!

Soooo close! .... and YES! We all tested negative! Woo hoo! Time to finish packing... the dogs are probably not thrilled that they are heading to my sister's house tonight for the next 11 days! "Are you serious? Leaving us again!" - Jake "Enough of this cruising stuff!" - Bella

Hi @CruisnMike35! Have an amazing time!

Have a great time! B2B or S2S is on the wishlist!

I would think there would be some sort of interior balconies on Icon class since the ship is 200K tons... exactly sized between Quantum and Oasis classes. Also, the neighborhood design seems to be best for controlling flow and preventing too many bottlenecks.

It looks like the offspring of Odyssey and Wonder.

I'd say we're Royal to loyal. DCL is the only other line we've sailed to date (our first cruise), but they are a little expensive. We would try other lines like Celebrity, NCL, and DCL again, but not until we at least hit Diamond, LOL! We really like Royal for many reasons. They have a large, well maintained fleet. Offer varied itineraries including their own properties like CocoCay and Labadee! Generally, they offer the newest, biggest, and most innovative ships (we're currently in that bigger/better phase... Oasis class is our favorite!). We find excellent, consistent, and friendly service onboard... we've never been disappointed. Excellent Broadway quality entertainment and many activity options. Also, for us, they offer the best bang for the buck! We also love that feeling of comfort when you board a Royal ship due to familiarity with their shops, venues, and restaurants.

Thank you very much! We had the opportunity to sale on Oasis last OCT and had a great time! I’m sure you will too!

Yes, tons of Royal, NCL and DCL commercials. Every time a Royal commercial comes on, my wife and I rewind it and do a "dance" on the couch! LOL!

Amazing as always! Thank you so much for sharing!!!

Ahhhh.... she's home right now with Edge... 6 more days! https://www.portevergladeswebcam.com/

Hello everyone! OK, this is a first for me! Starting the “live” blog one week before we set sail! Odyssey will be our first experience on a Quantum/Quantum Ultra class ship. We had booked Anthem several years ago, since she’s in our backyard, but unfortunately had to cancel due to unexpected circumstances. We booked this cruise very early on back in May of 2020 for both the ship and the southern Caribbean itinerary. This will be our first visit to Aruba and Curacao, and we can’t wait! We’re a little bummed that Grand Cayman was swapped out for Nassau, but we’ll survive and will certainly make the best of it… any day on a cruise is a great day! We’re once again sailing with our good friends from Florida. They sailed with us on Allure back in May of 2019 and we had an amazing time. Unfortunately, it’s looking more and more likely that our friend’s husband will not be able to make this cruise and she will likely be flying solo in her cabin. Nice side note… our friend won her RoyalUp bid and was moved from an interior cabin to an Ocean View balcony cabin this past week! Winning bid for her was $230 ($115/person). Thankfully, she was relocated just one deck below us and just two cabins further aft on the same side of the ship! Plus since our cruise qualifies for the double C&A point promo, and she will likely be solo, she should be receiving 4x the usual points for this sailing (32 points)! My wife and I both contracted Covid during the first week of January right after the holidays. We’re both vaccinated and boosted. Thankfully, neither of us had serious symptoms. We both just had lingering/annoying symptoms that lasted about two weeks (sinus headache, minor fatigue, etc.). We’re both feeling great now and have both tested negative since. We're hoping we got Covid out of the way! Just praying the test that really counts comes back negative! We decided to skip the PCR test at CVS or at the local urgent care this time based on all the advice both from here on the forum and from family/friends in the medical field (due to testing positive last month). Also, we’re not in the mood (or have the luxury since we're flying down) to have to wait very long for the results of a PCR test under the circumstances! We decided to order the online proctored rapid antigen Covid tests from Optum and will give that a shot this time. A huge thank you to @Matt and @SpeedNoodles for posting the two excellent videos outlining the entire testing procedure including what not to do! Fingers crossed tightly! * Time for some trip details… Cruise Details: Odyssey of the Seas, 8-night, Southern Caribbean itinerary (Nassau, Curacao & Aruba) Out of Port Everglades, Ft. Lauderdale 2/12/22-2/20/22 Cabin Details & Cruise Planner Stuff: Ocean View balcony (Deck 10 Aft, Starboard side; Basically, below the climbing wall toward the cat sculpture) Purchased the Key ($19.99)… Yes we did again, LOL! I'll provide our feelings on value on this sailing. Selected My Time Dining Reservations made for Chef’s Table for Valentine’s Day Reservations made for Giovanni’s Italian Kitchen & Wine Bar Purchased the Deluxe Beverage Package Purchased “Snorkel with Stingrays and Shark Feeding” excursion in Curacao Purchased “Half Day Off Road Adventure” excursion in Aruba Miscellaneous Stuff: Flight on Southwest Airlines out of Islip/MacArthur Airport (ISP) on Long Island (NY) early on FRI (2/11/22) morning to Orlando (MCO). Our friends live outside Orlando and have rented a car. We’re driving directly from the airport to Ft. Lauderdale that same day together. (UPDATED) Staying FRI evening at the Fairfield Inn & Suites Ft. Lauderdale Airport-Cruise Port (our first time here): LINK Our current plan is to use the shuttle service from the hotel to the port on SAT morning. We booked the 11:00-11:30 boarding period so we could board with our friends (originally grabbed the 10:30 slot, but they did not complete check-in until the following morning and missed out). I think that’s it for the synopsis... now we just need to pack and pray! We will be taking our Covid tests on Thursday... *** Please let me know if you have any questions or would like me to post pictures of something you are interested in... I'll do my best to keep up!

Amazing! The Yoda Guy is definitely on our to do list the next time we make it there!

We don't do everything, but while we were on Allure and Oasis, folks were participating in all of the activities. I'm too chicken to do the Flowrider, but my wife has done it before. She won't do the zipline, but I plan to finally try it when we sail on Wonder. We both love the slides and Ultimate Abyss... on an on. I do believe it helps disperse the crowds a little bit as well. Royal aims to appeal to all audiences, especially families and folks that want to be active. There are many other lines that cut out most of these activities like Celebrity that appeal to those that have no interest. Like retail stores, I'm sure Royal does constant analysis of what gives them the best bang for the buck per valuable square foot, etc. When the Bionic Bar shine wears off, they'll replace it for sure. It looks like Royal is following in NCL's footsteps now that Wonder has the exclusive suite deck (8th neighborhood) like the "Haven". Conversely, other lines are apparently starting to copy Royal... MSC has designed a ship with interior balconies and a dry slide... NCL is adding dry slides as well. The exact reason why Royal keeps details of their new ships quiet until the last minute! MSC (World Europa)... NCL (Prima)...

We had 10:30 for 2/12/22 Odyssey (grabbed it as soon as check-in opened up after midnight), but switched to 11:00 so we can board with our traveling buddies who missed that check-in window.

Thanks, but no such luck for us. We booked our cabin very early on back on 4/20/20. It's currently about $400 more than we originally booked it for now. I've been watching it like a hawk and it has never dropped below that price from almost 2 years ago. It's definitely a deal for those that book a guaranteed ocean view balcony now, but not if you picked your room and want to keep that location (near our travel buddies).