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As always…your cruise enjoyment is my cruise entertainment! Thanks for taking us along! Looking at your signature…two things jump out at me. One…Utopia is your destination for the next few years. Two…this is your anniversary month so Happy Anniversary!

By the way, Kev…I am on that cruise bringing Odyssey back from Rome to Bayonne! It’s my first time on a Quantum ship so I will enjoy exploring it especially the final 5 days crossing the Atlantic.

Your cruise is still a while away so the cruise planner can add options as time goes on. Keep in mind that Black Friday will be here well before your cruise and that is when you might find the best deals.

The fee is only for booking extra time experience. You can still do both complimentary but there are certain hours for that.

While on any Oasis class ship…my go to lunch is Park Cafe. Honestly the fresh made salad that you choose your toppings is just the best. Along with maybe a soup or slice of roast beef…yum. I am going to miss that on my next cruise!

I, too, have often ordered on e dinner but asked to switch out one item for another listed on a different entree. I have never ordered a burger from the kids menu but just might do that during my 14 nighter coming up in October! I have gotten the chicken fingers and they are very good! . The kids fruit cup was also one of my recent choices as an app and I loved it! Creativity seems to be what might be my new norm in the MDR to help with the boredom!

My discount offer for Diamond and Above for my Transatlantic in October has been at $43.99/day for about a month now. Crazy

Please please please tell me what works for you! My last 2 cruises were brutal for swollen ankles! I did not actually see my ankle bones until a full day being home! I drank water like it was going out of style yet my swelling never ceased. Thanks for any advice!

Here’s to you @asquared17 . CUP CLIPS! Thanks Mike for the mention

Quoting an often heard adage…A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words…your post has provided so much story telling for all of us! Thank you for bringing us along. If I ever get to cruise around the Mediterranean…this one is definitely the itinerary I would choose!

Is that weather info on the Royal app while cruising or did you find it somewhere else? I love that it lists every stop along the way…something I would like to have on Odyssey!

Oh don’t be jealous…I am sure you and Christine have many years left to enjoy all the special cruises. I am sure you two will get it all done…just don’t wait too long. We were very late to start our cruising and believe me I can already feel such a difference in activity levels as both my husband and I approach 70 (next year). True for me and most definitely true for my husband since his recent health diagnosis. It’s now or never for us! BTW I truly enjoyed reading your entire Allure blog and all the pictures are amazing! Thanks for bringing me back to my 2006 Italy trip with one of my best friends (hubbies stayed home so this one for me is truly special to have my husband experience his heritage!).

lol I have been scouring the YouTube channels to find helpful info on packing for not only a 14 night cruise but also a week’s vacation BEFORE the cruise! Anyone interested in helping me out with this? Please? Maybe even some B2B2B cruisers? I need all the help I can get especially with instructing my niece (she is 33 and NEVER wears the same thing twice…and matches shoes to every outfit) how to bring just one suitcase that SHE can lift and walk with! When I mentioned capsule wardrobe packing she almost had a heart attack! I am NOT kidding!

Trying yet again to see if there are any current bloggers (besides @Bob Burd and @bhee) here sailing across the ocean with us on this cruise? I for one am getting pretty excited about this journey. My husband…not so much but I keep praying he will get to that point and find some good things about our trip. There is nine of us cruising and 3 more joining us for just the Italy land trip before the cruise…and they are also meeting us in LaSpezia to join us for a Pisa/Florence all day tour which I booked through our TA at MEI. It’s family and close friends doing this vacation with us. My original post for this Roll Call is dated August 2024 so the info has changed and solidified since then. In addition to the named cruisers back then we have another couple (close friends) added on plus our friends Rich/ Rhonda have their son joining along! That makes the nine! Our son…our son-in-law…our nephew are the 3 joining us for our precruise vacation. We are all flying into Venice and spending 3 days there (booked the Venice Maggiore Consiglio hotel) and we then will somehow manage to travel to Rome via train! I’m already emphasizing the need to pack as compactly as possible since no one other than myself has traversed over cobblestones and hitched a train ride with suitcases in tow! Once in Rome we have 3 nights booked at the LaGriffe hotel (I stayed there in 2006! It’s in the perfect location to all the sites and the train station) before heading to Civitavecchia port on the 22nd. Our 3 “land guests” will travel to LaSpezia sometime that day, stay overnight and meet us at the port as soon as we dock! They will do the tour with us and somehow manage to head back to the LaGriffe for their final night before flying home. And we will continue on our way! Sorry for this lengthy text….can you tell I am getting super excited ?

I will offer this…expect pretty cool temps for at least the first few days until you have reached the warmer waters of the Bahamas and Caribbean. This will also be what to expect on your last few days heading back to NJ. Looks like this is an awesome cruise and wish I was booked! But I will be on the Transatlantic cruise from Rome to Bayonne this Fall bringing the Odyssey to its home port for the winter!

Oh and I just reminded myself that I do not believe there is a Solarium Bistro on Odyssey…or is there? Edit: took a look at a cruise compass for Odyssey and yes there is a Bistro. Just not sure if the food is same as on Oasis class! Well…can’t drive myself crazy at this point. I have to look at the positives in that we will be doing a bucket list big item and enjoying time together in far away places . And celebrating our 46th anniversary to boot!

Just read through this post. I, like so many of you, pretty much stick to the same menu items when in the MDR. Sad to admit it but I am really beginning to get bored with the MDR offerings. Uhhh, maybe it’s a little more than beginning! For me, there is not enough choices which causes me to have to order the same thing each cruise. Our last 2 cruises brought us a little reprieve because we reserved a few nights in the Solarium Bistro…I really love all the small appetizer plate choices near the salad. As far as dinner choices…my tried and true lamb chops! We also enjoyed our first ever Chef’s Table! Oh how awesome it was… We are not big Specialty dining fans, although last month we did try Playmakers for the first time. Anyway…with our TransAtlantic cruise coming up in October, I am already not looking forward to sooo many nights in the MDR!

lol Room Service

Yes I’ve been checking for same…hoping prices will be reasonable. I’ll be there again in May so definitely figure it will be operating smoothly by then.? I will certainly will looking for reviews from our early in the year cruisers!

We just completed our first cruise as Diamond. I had purchased a refreshment package because I did not want the coupons to be used for my lattes or fresh juices, etc. As long as I told the bartender/ waiter whether or not to use the coupon that worked well. Advice: Do Not Forget To Use Your Coupons! Funny story…it was 5 minutes to midnight with 4 coupons still to use! Peter and Rich went into the Pub next to Cafe Promenade to grab some Baileys shots (they had grabbed paper cups from Cafe Promenade) but the bartender was giving them a hard time because 2 of the coupons were on my card and I was sound asleep in the room! A quick $5 bill scored them the remaining coupon offerings with extra pours to boot! That Baileys tasted awesome the next day when I added it to my Caramel Frappuccino!

We just came back from our Symphony cruise. I really enjoyed the Solarium Bistro for dinner. It’s a much smaller space and you need to make reservations in the cruise planner (no cost) but I found the food offerings very filling and delicious. It’s Mediterranean based with lots of mini salad options, grilled veggies, pasta, lamb chops, salmon, etc. Desserts were delish as well.

Wondering if this has happened to anyone else? I decided to purchase an item in the cruise planner (a cup similar to a Stanley cup with handle) for $23.99 sale price. When I got onboard last week the cup was a different color and has no handle! I would not have purchased it had I known what was advertised is not what I was getting! I didn’t even bother going to guest services…maybe I should have…but I keep looking at it now that I am home and feel like I should have complained. No I’m not going to make a big deal out of it…it’s just that I’m curious. If this happened to anyone…what did you do?

I thought if someone NoShows then whatever was purchased for them in cruise planner would automatically be refunded as they are not onboard to use their purchases?

Strange because when you look at the port schedule there were no ships docked on the 12th! However that ship looks like an MSC to me just not sure which one?

Captain announced today the person airlifted off is doing well…thankfully!