jeffmw
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jeffmw got a reaction from WAAAYTOOO in Icon of the Seas - December 21- December 28, 2024 (7 Night Western Caribbean & Perfect Day)
Well also be on. Family of 4 (kids 12 & 10) and we'll be with another family with kids 13 and 11.
We booked this WAYYY back in March 2023 and got an amazing deal before they realized how huge demand was going to be for Icon.
My friend called like six months ago to try to downgrade his room from and it was like $2,000 more.
So excited for this. We've been waiting forver!
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jeffmw got a reaction from Mycalpal in Noticeable cut backs on Allure
As far back as I can remember the WJ has closed at 9.
However, I have noticed in recent cruises that there are limited options for late-night eating, particularly on larger ships where there are more people who may want to grab a bite. It's pretty much Sorrento's or nothing. In walking around the ship in the late evening (10-midnight), I have wished for other options on a couple recent sailings. I feel like, trapped on a boat, providing another option would be nice.
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jeffmw got a reaction from Snotarni in Nassau cruise port installing free wifi
Next, have them install something to do.
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jeffmw got a reaction from Geezer Of The Seas in Nassau cruise port installing free wifi
Next, have them install something to do.
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jeffmw got a reaction from PeloAl in Picture ID for 18 month old and 7 year old
We've always used passports. No need to bring birth certificates along.
In general for cruising, while you don't necessarily need a passport to go on a cruise that starts and ends in the US, it's good to have one just in case if you're stopping anywhere out of the country.
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jeffmw got a reaction from CyclingVa in Icon Pool Closed
There has to be more to this story or some reason why Icon pools are more likely to be shut down. This is the second post about pools being closed on Icon for these "issues", but there's no way suddenly there's this much more pooping in the pool.
I've never even seen a pool closed on a Royal ship for poop or vomit (although I have seen it on Disney) and all we do is go on cruises during school breaks with thousands of kids. Of course I realize Icon is likely to have more kids and perhaps more first-time cruisers than other ships, but it's not such a higher percentage from Oasis ships during school vacation times that there'd suddenly be this massive uptick in incidents.
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jeffmw got a reaction from CrimsonCruiser in What the Duck
I don't think anyone rational has a problem with the entire practice, in principle. It's great for kids and a fun tradition overall. But moderation and common sense is the key here and we seem to be getting well beyond those measuring sticks.
You can have 100 people each hiding 5 ducks. And you can have 5 people each hiding 50 ducks. But you can't have 100 people each hiding 50 ducks.
The more passengers hiding more ducks, the more you have people looking for more creative places to hide them. I'm not sure how or where Royal would enforce this, but there just needs to be some limitations on 1) quantity brought onto the ship and 2) some areas that are off-limits.
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jeffmw got a reaction from Sharla in What the Duck
I don't think anyone rational has a problem with the entire practice, in principle. It's great for kids and a fun tradition overall. But moderation and common sense is the key here and we seem to be getting well beyond those measuring sticks.
You can have 100 people each hiding 5 ducks. And you can have 5 people each hiding 50 ducks. But you can't have 100 people each hiding 50 ducks.
The more passengers hiding more ducks, the more you have people looking for more creative places to hide them. I'm not sure how or where Royal would enforce this, but there just needs to be some limitations on 1) quantity brought onto the ship and 2) some areas that are off-limits.
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jeffmw got a reaction from PeloAl in What the Duck
It was great when everyone didn't know about it because a few people would bring ducks and, if you didn't know about the trend, it would be fun to find one.
Now it's reaching the point where it's becoming too big of a thing so there are hundreds of ducks on every ship. There are some real Scrooges out there who really hate it. I'm not one of them. I love the idea and it's fun for kids. But there's a fine line between a fun little treasure hunt and dozens of people bringing what can sometimes be hundreds of ducks and there being ducks everywhere. Now, there are ducks from previous cruises visible in inaccessible places.
I feel like, if it gets much bigger, Royal will have to do something to limit it. No idea how they would do it, but once ducks start being left everywhere and dropped into art installations and on top of elevators, etc., it goes beyond its original intention.
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jeffmw got a reaction from Baked Alaska in Icon Pools Closed
That's crazy. I've seen this happen on a Disney cruise but never on any Royal cruise I've been on. It is a huge pain when it happens.
Sometimes there are legitimate accidents with kids (or adults) who wouldn't usually have an issue, but it shouldn't happen with kids who aren't potty trained. I feel like there used to be more of an emphasis on making sure there were no swim diapers in the pools and everyone understood the rules, but they don't seem to get enforce it or talk about it as much. I assume they will startup again now if it's an ongoing issue.
I firmly believe Royal cruises, especially Icon, are meant for families and kids -- but this shouldn't happen.
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jeffmw got a reaction from CanHardlyWait in Icon Pools Closed
That's crazy. I've seen this happen on a Disney cruise but never on any Royal cruise I've been on. It is a huge pain when it happens.
Sometimes there are legitimate accidents with kids (or adults) who wouldn't usually have an issue, but it shouldn't happen with kids who aren't potty trained. I feel like there used to be more of an emphasis on making sure there were no swim diapers in the pools and everyone understood the rules, but they don't seem to get enforce it or talk about it as much. I assume they will startup again now if it's an ongoing issue.
I firmly believe Royal cruises, especially Icon, are meant for families and kids -- but this shouldn't happen.
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jeffmw got a reaction from PhillyLady in Icon class not independent Family friendly
I did think about this when I first saw the design. The objective was to split up the usual high-traffic areas to prevent anywhere from being too crowded -- which it does a great job of -- but for anyone with kids of split age groups, this does present an issue.
But... these ships are increasingly built to be like theme parks with distinctly different areas. And if you've ever been to Disney or any other type of theme park or water park with kids of different ages (where one wants to ride coasters while the other wants to meet Cinderella, or one wants to be in the kiddie pool while the other wants to go on slides), you know you either need to split up or compromise.
To me, it's not that different from any other Royal boat where there are things to do all over the ship. I often find myself going with one kid to karaoke while my wife takes the other to play sports. Then there are times when we say to one of them, "too bad, we're going to stay together and spend time as a family now." It's just a reality of being on a massive ship with a million things to do.
I've gone on cruises with just my family of 4, to groups as big as 5 families, all with kids of various ages. It's hard and perhaps even unrealistic to keep everyone together on a cruise when there's so much to do.
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jeffmw got a reaction from PRMLVM in Icon class not independent Family friendly
Icon is a theme park on the ocean. If having a quiet, serene area for just adults is a major factor in selecting your cruise, you're best off going on a different boat.
It's the old Ricky Gervais joke of going into a coffee shop and spotting a flyer for guitar lessons and getting pissed off and screaming "I don't want guitar lessons!!" Icon simply isn't for you. If you're on that ship and you're upset about kids making noise, that's not Royals fault. They've been telling you over and over that's what Icon is. Icon isn't for people who want a relaxing, adult vacation. There are entire cruise lines for that.
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jeffmw got a reaction from CruiseGus in Icon class not independent Family friendly
That's a fair point. Obviously there's less regular need to move between the adults-only area and the waterpark than the waterpark and the splash park.
But it seems to be a lot more complicated than that. For example, what then do you do with all the Boardwalk balcony rooms? That's a couple hundred rooms that would look out over the adults area. I don't think the adults looking to get away from children would enjoy having dozens of kids in rooms above them staring down and making noise, and you definitely can't make all those rooms adults only. So, my guess is putting the adults area there was an impossibility that would've demanded a redesign of the whole ship.
They spend years designing these things, so there's rhyme and reason to everything and logistical things we don't know about.
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jeffmw got a reaction from HeWhoWaits in 20-year old jumps overboard on Liberty
#1 - I don't think they're ever going to install nets. While these incidents make news, I don't think suicide rates are any higher on cruise ships than anywhere else (in fact, they're probably lower). It's not a cruise ship problem. It's a mental health problem.
#2 - Not to be morbid, but to be fair to our friends in the animal kingdom, my assumption is anyone jumping off a cruise ship in the middle of the ocean would probably drown. Sharks are out there, for sure, but they're not typically aggressively hunting humans.
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jeffmw reacted to ScottD in 20-year old jumps overboard on Liberty
I don't think they'll ever install nets. It's still a very small percentage of people going overboard. Yes, 1 is too many, but I don't think nets are the answer.
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jeffmw got a reaction from GatorCruiser in Currently on Icon and someone purchased the Royal Bling Cup
I constantly wonder this also when I see the prices for the largest suites on Royal ships. I love cruises, but if I had a $30k+ budget to spend on a week's vacation for my family of four, there's no way I'm going on a Royal Caribbean cruise. For that kind of money, you can go just about anywhere in the world, stay at a 5* hotel, and eat at Michelin star restaurants every night.
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jeffmw got a reaction from RWDW1204 in Odyssey / Quantum -- Royal's Dud?
Before I begin, let me say that Odyssey is a beautiful ship and -- more importantly -- the service and staff are excellent. Our cruise last week had the best service and easily the best food of any Royal ship I've been on. I can't stress this enough. After several cruises lamenting the quality of MDR service and food quality, and the freshness of food in the Windjammer, everything on this cruise was fantastic.
That aside, I've never before been disappointed by a ship on Royal -- and our group (all of us veteran cruisers) was continually underwhelmed by Odyssey's design. You wonder what happened during development of the Quantum Ultra ships that they totally missed the mark after killing it with the Oasis Class.
I've been on Wonder, Symphony, Freedom, and Mariner, and I felt even the Freedom & Mariner were superior in so many ways.
Quantum boats were developed after Oasis Class but they didn't include Central Park, Boardwalk (+ carousel & Abyss), Aqua Theater, or skating rink -- yet they basically added nothing to replace them. The elevators. OMG 🤣 The no-touch buttons are a disaster. Of the 50 elevator rides I took during the week, I think I can count on one hand the times I got in and there weren't at least 2 or 3 buttons hit with no one getting off. You couldn't get within 2 feet of the panel without accidentally hitting a button. It was a joke among every passenger on the ship. I get that it's a COVID thing, but Wonder doesn't have this issue. The SeaPlex is a cool room but the big mistake was removing the sports court and skating rink, etc., and thinking the SeaPlex could handle everything. The sports court on every ship I've ever been on is in constant use by kids playing soccer or basketball. But because of the lack of other venues, every time kids would go out to play, within 30 minutes they were kicking everyone off for bumper cars, laser tag, adult sports tournaments, pickleball lessons. It was crazy. You had a boat FULL of kids on spring break and every time they started having fun they'd shut the court down for an adult 3-on-3 basketball tournament and leave all the kids with nothing to do. No waterslides. I realize not everyone cares about waterslides, but at this point they've been an expectation on all ships and cruise lines for 15 years. It's odd that they felt waterslides were unimportant enough to build Quantum class with none and then do a total 180 and decide they're so important that Icon needed SIX. They seem to have sacrificed them for the North Star, which is gimmicky, limited to a small % of passengers, and a clear effort to replace something free with something that drives $$$. The 270 Theater that essentially replaces the skating rink and Aqua Theater is terribly underutilized. We were on the boat for 6 days and never had a reason to go there. In general, I had the overwhelming sense that the amazing job Royal has done with crowd control on other ship classes was totally missed here. I've never felt crowded on a ship, but Odyssey is full of overcrowded venues (SeaPlex and Esplanade, particularly) and they totally screwed up the Windjammer. Half the seating is way in the back far away from the buffets, and as a result the WJ always felt crowded. There are buffet stations in the back but they were never open, even during the busiest of breakfasts, etc. Again, staff, service, food, cleanliness -- all excellent. But Royal totally missed the boat, so to speak, on ship design here. If not for the food I'd go on Mariner 10x again before I'd go Quantum class.
Just my opinion 🤷♂️
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jeffmw got a reaction from PhillyLady in Royal Caribbean Pricing
There is zero question that Royal is very purposefully raising prices as part of a push to establish a 'new normal' that's more in line with other family vacation options.
There have been a lot of talking points being pushed by Royal for a while now about how cruise vacations cost significantly less than other vacations. They're making sure everyone is well aware of this so it's met with minimal pushback when they raise baseline pricing.
So now they've increased prices across the board and have been met with post-COVID increased demand, which only makes it easier to justify. They've also spent a TON on marketing lately. They're advertising the hell out of Icon, grabbing newcomers with the shiny new toy and then, for those with sticker shock, booking people into Oasis Class ships after they price out Icon.
The goal, I believe, is to reinvent the perception of the industry as a major player in the family vacation space, but to do it at a price point that's more in line with competitive options. All this marketing is a push to bring in new customers who don't have the comparison of the prior era when it was comparatively cheap. Meanwhile, people like us will likely stick around and pay more because they know from their data that cruisers are incredibly loyal to their preferred vacationing method.
We used to be a Disney family. We went to Disney World basically every year, but when Disney went berserk on pricing and turned it from financially manageable to only enjoyable at a luxury price, we switched over to Royal. I fear Royal is going a similar direction.
Carnival may continue to be the cheaper option, but I would anticipate they'll follow industry trends and increase pricing. Why charge 30% less when you can charge 15% less and still be the less expensive option?
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jeffmw got a reaction from JLMoran in Odyssey / Quantum -- Royal's Dud?
I respect everyone's opinions here. Most things in life are subjective.
I will say, however, the predominant nature of the responses 1) cite the fact that Quantum ships were developed for cold weather, and/or 2) appear to be written by people without young kids who are on cruises to have a mostly 'adult' experience. All of that is fine. It makes total sense for there to be cruise ships with more indoor options if they're going to be deployed outside of warmer climates. It also makes total sense for there to be cruises with more adult-driven experiences (although I'd argue the lack of Central Park and the Aqua Theater with no replacement is a bit underwhelming in that respect.)
However, for most of Odyssey's short history -- including this cruise I just went on -- it has been deployed in the Caribbean packed with families with young kids -- which is increasingly Royal's target demographic.
If I were taking a Celebrity Cruise in Alaska, Odyssey would be an amazing ship. But for a cruise full of kids needing things to do during two sea days, it underwhelmed. The SeaPlex continually kicking kids off the sport court to have adult sports competitions, giving the hundreds of kids no where to go on a ship built for cold weather, was particularly unideal. It was a Spring Break Caribbean cruise with no waterslides, no mini-golf, no sports court, no Boardwalk, no carousel, no Abyss, no ice rink, and no designated karaoke venue. It does, however, have a lot of specialty restaurants and a giant crane that you could pay to stand in and take pictures. To me, that wasn't an even trade.
I also didn't mention the massive footprints of the Music Hall and Boleros. There are huge back areas of these venues far from the entrance, which serve no purpose other than to provide huge spaces for people to drink. Again -- great for a Celebrity or Virgin ship catering to adult experiences. Not ideal for one catering to families.
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jeffmw got a reaction from JBC in Odyssey / Quantum -- Royal's Dud?
Before I begin, let me say that Odyssey is a beautiful ship and -- more importantly -- the service and staff are excellent. Our cruise last week had the best service and easily the best food of any Royal ship I've been on. I can't stress this enough. After several cruises lamenting the quality of MDR service and food quality, and the freshness of food in the Windjammer, everything on this cruise was fantastic.
That aside, I've never before been disappointed by a ship on Royal -- and our group (all of us veteran cruisers) was continually underwhelmed by Odyssey's design. You wonder what happened during development of the Quantum Ultra ships that they totally missed the mark after killing it with the Oasis Class.
I've been on Wonder, Symphony, Freedom, and Mariner, and I felt even the Freedom & Mariner were superior in so many ways.
Quantum boats were developed after Oasis Class but they didn't include Central Park, Boardwalk (+ carousel & Abyss), Aqua Theater, or skating rink -- yet they basically added nothing to replace them. The elevators. OMG 🤣 The no-touch buttons are a disaster. Of the 50 elevator rides I took during the week, I think I can count on one hand the times I got in and there weren't at least 2 or 3 buttons hit with no one getting off. You couldn't get within 2 feet of the panel without accidentally hitting a button. It was a joke among every passenger on the ship. I get that it's a COVID thing, but Wonder doesn't have this issue. The SeaPlex is a cool room but the big mistake was removing the sports court and skating rink, etc., and thinking the SeaPlex could handle everything. The sports court on every ship I've ever been on is in constant use by kids playing soccer or basketball. But because of the lack of other venues, every time kids would go out to play, within 30 minutes they were kicking everyone off for bumper cars, laser tag, adult sports tournaments, pickleball lessons. It was crazy. You had a boat FULL of kids on spring break and every time they started having fun they'd shut the court down for an adult 3-on-3 basketball tournament and leave all the kids with nothing to do. No waterslides. I realize not everyone cares about waterslides, but at this point they've been an expectation on all ships and cruise lines for 15 years. It's odd that they felt waterslides were unimportant enough to build Quantum class with none and then do a total 180 and decide they're so important that Icon needed SIX. They seem to have sacrificed them for the North Star, which is gimmicky, limited to a small % of passengers, and a clear effort to replace something free with something that drives $$$. The 270 Theater that essentially replaces the skating rink and Aqua Theater is terribly underutilized. We were on the boat for 6 days and never had a reason to go there. In general, I had the overwhelming sense that the amazing job Royal has done with crowd control on other ship classes was totally missed here. I've never felt crowded on a ship, but Odyssey is full of overcrowded venues (SeaPlex and Esplanade, particularly) and they totally screwed up the Windjammer. Half the seating is way in the back far away from the buffets, and as a result the WJ always felt crowded. There are buffet stations in the back but they were never open, even during the busiest of breakfasts, etc. Again, staff, service, food, cleanliness -- all excellent. But Royal totally missed the boat, so to speak, on ship design here. If not for the food I'd go on Mariner 10x again before I'd go Quantum class.
Just my opinion 🤷♂️
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jeffmw got a reaction from dr martini in Odyssey / Quantum -- Royal's Dud?
I respect everyone's opinions here. Most things in life are subjective.
I will say, however, the predominant nature of the responses 1) cite the fact that Quantum ships were developed for cold weather, and/or 2) appear to be written by people without young kids who are on cruises to have a mostly 'adult' experience. All of that is fine. It makes total sense for there to be cruise ships with more indoor options if they're going to be deployed outside of warmer climates. It also makes total sense for there to be cruises with more adult-driven experiences (although I'd argue the lack of Central Park and the Aqua Theater with no replacement is a bit underwhelming in that respect.)
However, for most of Odyssey's short history -- including this cruise I just went on -- it has been deployed in the Caribbean packed with families with young kids -- which is increasingly Royal's target demographic.
If I were taking a Celebrity Cruise in Alaska, Odyssey would be an amazing ship. But for a cruise full of kids needing things to do during two sea days, it underwhelmed. The SeaPlex continually kicking kids off the sport court to have adult sports competitions, giving the hundreds of kids no where to go on a ship built for cold weather, was particularly unideal. It was a Spring Break Caribbean cruise with no waterslides, no mini-golf, no sports court, no Boardwalk, no carousel, no Abyss, no ice rink, and no designated karaoke venue. It does, however, have a lot of specialty restaurants and a giant crane that you could pay to stand in and take pictures. To me, that wasn't an even trade.
I also didn't mention the massive footprints of the Music Hall and Boleros. There are huge back areas of these venues far from the entrance, which serve no purpose other than to provide huge spaces for people to drink. Again -- great for a Celebrity or Virgin ship catering to adult experiences. Not ideal for one catering to families.
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jeffmw got a reaction from dr martini in Odyssey / Quantum -- Royal's Dud?
Before I begin, let me say that Odyssey is a beautiful ship and -- more importantly -- the service and staff are excellent. Our cruise last week had the best service and easily the best food of any Royal ship I've been on. I can't stress this enough. After several cruises lamenting the quality of MDR service and food quality, and the freshness of food in the Windjammer, everything on this cruise was fantastic.
That aside, I've never before been disappointed by a ship on Royal -- and our group (all of us veteran cruisers) was continually underwhelmed by Odyssey's design. You wonder what happened during development of the Quantum Ultra ships that they totally missed the mark after killing it with the Oasis Class.
I've been on Wonder, Symphony, Freedom, and Mariner, and I felt even the Freedom & Mariner were superior in so many ways.
Quantum boats were developed after Oasis Class but they didn't include Central Park, Boardwalk (+ carousel & Abyss), Aqua Theater, or skating rink -- yet they basically added nothing to replace them. The elevators. OMG 🤣 The no-touch buttons are a disaster. Of the 50 elevator rides I took during the week, I think I can count on one hand the times I got in and there weren't at least 2 or 3 buttons hit with no one getting off. You couldn't get within 2 feet of the panel without accidentally hitting a button. It was a joke among every passenger on the ship. I get that it's a COVID thing, but Wonder doesn't have this issue. The SeaPlex is a cool room but the big mistake was removing the sports court and skating rink, etc., and thinking the SeaPlex could handle everything. The sports court on every ship I've ever been on is in constant use by kids playing soccer or basketball. But because of the lack of other venues, every time kids would go out to play, within 30 minutes they were kicking everyone off for bumper cars, laser tag, adult sports tournaments, pickleball lessons. It was crazy. You had a boat FULL of kids on spring break and every time they started having fun they'd shut the court down for an adult 3-on-3 basketball tournament and leave all the kids with nothing to do. No waterslides. I realize not everyone cares about waterslides, but at this point they've been an expectation on all ships and cruise lines for 15 years. It's odd that they felt waterslides were unimportant enough to build Quantum class with none and then do a total 180 and decide they're so important that Icon needed SIX. They seem to have sacrificed them for the North Star, which is gimmicky, limited to a small % of passengers, and a clear effort to replace something free with something that drives $$$. The 270 Theater that essentially replaces the skating rink and Aqua Theater is terribly underutilized. We were on the boat for 6 days and never had a reason to go there. In general, I had the overwhelming sense that the amazing job Royal has done with crowd control on other ship classes was totally missed here. I've never felt crowded on a ship, but Odyssey is full of overcrowded venues (SeaPlex and Esplanade, particularly) and they totally screwed up the Windjammer. Half the seating is way in the back far away from the buffets, and as a result the WJ always felt crowded. There are buffet stations in the back but they were never open, even during the busiest of breakfasts, etc. Again, staff, service, food, cleanliness -- all excellent. But Royal totally missed the boat, so to speak, on ship design here. If not for the food I'd go on Mariner 10x again before I'd go Quantum class.
Just my opinion 🤷♂️
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jeffmw got a reaction from PPPJJ-GCVAB in Odyssey / Quantum -- Royal's Dud?
I respect everyone's opinions here. Most things in life are subjective.
I will say, however, the predominant nature of the responses 1) cite the fact that Quantum ships were developed for cold weather, and/or 2) appear to be written by people without young kids who are on cruises to have a mostly 'adult' experience. All of that is fine. It makes total sense for there to be cruise ships with more indoor options if they're going to be deployed outside of warmer climates. It also makes total sense for there to be cruises with more adult-driven experiences (although I'd argue the lack of Central Park and the Aqua Theater with no replacement is a bit underwhelming in that respect.)
However, for most of Odyssey's short history -- including this cruise I just went on -- it has been deployed in the Caribbean packed with families with young kids -- which is increasingly Royal's target demographic.
If I were taking a Celebrity Cruise in Alaska, Odyssey would be an amazing ship. But for a cruise full of kids needing things to do during two sea days, it underwhelmed. The SeaPlex continually kicking kids off the sport court to have adult sports competitions, giving the hundreds of kids no where to go on a ship built for cold weather, was particularly unideal. It was a Spring Break Caribbean cruise with no waterslides, no mini-golf, no sports court, no Boardwalk, no carousel, no Abyss, no ice rink, and no designated karaoke venue. It does, however, have a lot of specialty restaurants and a giant crane that you could pay to stand in and take pictures. To me, that wasn't an even trade.
I also didn't mention the massive footprints of the Music Hall and Boleros. There are huge back areas of these venues far from the entrance, which serve no purpose other than to provide huge spaces for people to drink. Again -- great for a Celebrity or Virgin ship catering to adult experiences. Not ideal for one catering to families.
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jeffmw got a reaction from TessFromFlorida in Odyssey / Quantum -- Royal's Dud?
Before I begin, let me say that Odyssey is a beautiful ship and -- more importantly -- the service and staff are excellent. Our cruise last week had the best service and easily the best food of any Royal ship I've been on. I can't stress this enough. After several cruises lamenting the quality of MDR service and food quality, and the freshness of food in the Windjammer, everything on this cruise was fantastic.
That aside, I've never before been disappointed by a ship on Royal -- and our group (all of us veteran cruisers) was continually underwhelmed by Odyssey's design. You wonder what happened during development of the Quantum Ultra ships that they totally missed the mark after killing it with the Oasis Class.
I've been on Wonder, Symphony, Freedom, and Mariner, and I felt even the Freedom & Mariner were superior in so many ways.
Quantum boats were developed after Oasis Class but they didn't include Central Park, Boardwalk (+ carousel & Abyss), Aqua Theater, or skating rink -- yet they basically added nothing to replace them. The elevators. OMG 🤣 The no-touch buttons are a disaster. Of the 50 elevator rides I took during the week, I think I can count on one hand the times I got in and there weren't at least 2 or 3 buttons hit with no one getting off. You couldn't get within 2 feet of the panel without accidentally hitting a button. It was a joke among every passenger on the ship. I get that it's a COVID thing, but Wonder doesn't have this issue. The SeaPlex is a cool room but the big mistake was removing the sports court and skating rink, etc., and thinking the SeaPlex could handle everything. The sports court on every ship I've ever been on is in constant use by kids playing soccer or basketball. But because of the lack of other venues, every time kids would go out to play, within 30 minutes they were kicking everyone off for bumper cars, laser tag, adult sports tournaments, pickleball lessons. It was crazy. You had a boat FULL of kids on spring break and every time they started having fun they'd shut the court down for an adult 3-on-3 basketball tournament and leave all the kids with nothing to do. No waterslides. I realize not everyone cares about waterslides, but at this point they've been an expectation on all ships and cruise lines for 15 years. It's odd that they felt waterslides were unimportant enough to build Quantum class with none and then do a total 180 and decide they're so important that Icon needed SIX. They seem to have sacrificed them for the North Star, which is gimmicky, limited to a small % of passengers, and a clear effort to replace something free with something that drives $$$. The 270 Theater that essentially replaces the skating rink and Aqua Theater is terribly underutilized. We were on the boat for 6 days and never had a reason to go there. In general, I had the overwhelming sense that the amazing job Royal has done with crowd control on other ship classes was totally missed here. I've never felt crowded on a ship, but Odyssey is full of overcrowded venues (SeaPlex and Esplanade, particularly) and they totally screwed up the Windjammer. Half the seating is way in the back far away from the buffets, and as a result the WJ always felt crowded. There are buffet stations in the back but they were never open, even during the busiest of breakfasts, etc. Again, staff, service, food, cleanliness -- all excellent. But Royal totally missed the boat, so to speak, on ship design here. If not for the food I'd go on Mariner 10x again before I'd go Quantum class.
Just my opinion 🤷♂️