JohnK6404

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).

Our friends that we're sailing with just got this confirmation on 2/1... They were originally in an interior stateroom (not a virtual balcony). Not bad! $230 for Ocean View balcony upgrade! Now they'll be directly below us (one deck) and a couple of cabins over. We'll be able to look over our balcony and see them, LOL!

Have an amazing time!

Also following, have an amazing time!

Hi @Tara182! I would start with this section that Matt created: https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/getting-started

I believe you must make the reservation once on the ship (not in Cruise Planner). We reserved through the Royal app once we got onboard.

I know when we went in early OCT, they supposedly had just recently reopened the room.

Exactly as @AshleyDillodescribed. It's like the Disney MagicBands if you are familiar with those.

Yes, it was $19.99 per person on Oasis when we sailed this past OCT. It was our first escape room and we had a lot of fun! We lucked out as one of the participants in our group had tried the room earlier in the cruise, but failed with that group. Naturally, we had a slight advantage! We just solved it with only 2:01 remaining on the clock. You are given 45 minutes to complete the mission. I won't spoil it and show you too much of the room, etc.!

Hi @ybscc! I believe you must book the Key for all passengers in your cabin (just like the deluxe beverage package), but my understanding now is that all Cruise Planner purchases made for the no-show passenger will be refunded back to the original form of payment. Also, any port fees & taxes for the no-show will be refunded (just not the cruise fare). Take a peek at this recent thread... I asked the same question (at the end) as one of our friends may not be able to make make our upcoming cruise and the other will be solo in a double occupancy cabin...

LOL! No such luck! $2,797/person... JS $3,702/person... JS w/ Large Balcony $5,166/person... GS w/ 1 BR ... up to $11,087/person for Owner's Loft

Not a cruise planner sale, but I love when they drop the price for effectively a guaranteed ocean view balcony cabin for less than half of what it costs to choose your own cabin! I was checking to see if my cabin was cheaper, but it's actually higher now.

Wow! I'm so jealous! As of this moment, we're stuck with Nassau for 2/12 sailing. Staying on the ship... just went there yet again last OCT. Have a great time!

Here are the charts from Celebrity's website... https://www.celebritycruises.com/captains-club/exclusive-offers/loyalty-reciprocity-program

Hi @dancernl! Have a great time! Will definitely follow as we've never sailed on Anthem!

Hi @DebK! Have you seen Matt's article and video yet... very helpful... https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/royal-caribbean-beverage-package-costs-info-tips

Strange, I used my HSA with no issues with Optum... We only needed the 3-pack (2 of us), but the 6-pack is definitely the better deal!

Sorry for the bump! ^^^^^ If our friends book the DBP and one of them is a no-show, do they get a refund for the DBP and any other Cruise Planner purchases? Thanks!

Same experience as with @PG Cruiser... It generally is accessible immediately after making the reservation, but not all of the options/categories (eg. Dining, Beverage, Shore Excursions, Onboard Activities) will be available to purchase right away. As an example, we had booked Harmony for JAN 2023. When we went into the Cruise Planner initially, only the CocoCay shore excursions were available to purchase at that time. No Dining, Internet, Beverage, etc. Ever since they redeployed Harmony and moved us to Wonder, now nothing is available to purchase. I guess they need to finish the swap and then they will open up the CP for us. Right now, this is the generic message you get.