Jkaczano

Tuesday was a well needed sea day. Sports staff was incredible which meant that there really was not much rest.

Monday was Piraeus/ Athens. Private tour booked through HP tours. Company was clear that they are NOT licensed tour guides so they couldn’t accompany us IN the sites. It was a great day. We were one of the first off the ship and driver got us to the Acropolis / Parthenon well before the group tours got there. We then saw some of the smaller sites like the Olympic Stadium, and changing of the guard, before spending the last hour/ 90 minutes at the Acropolis museum. Again, wonderful tour.

Ephesus

I definitely fell down on the job. We’re sitting at airport now so I’ll try to catch up. Sunday Kusadasi/ Ephesus. We booked a private tour through Ephesus Shuttle (4B biblical Galilee and terrace houses). Tour started with trip to House of the Virgin Mary, then went to Ephesus. Ephesus was amazing and the terrace houses were well worth the extra charge. We then went to St John’s Basilica, and toured a rug coop. The rug coop was really interesting to see but it was obvious they wanted to sell rugs which made 1 of my teens uncomfortable. Sounds like a bunch of cruise ship tours stopped there too so not sure it could be avoided. Overall it was a great tour.

Oops - forgot to mention the lifeboat drill this morning. They actually took down every lifeboat on starboard side and drove them around the harbor.

Once we were back on the ship from Santorini, we had some lunch and the kids and I headed to the flowrider for 3:30 when it opened. We rode until 7 when it closed with no one else showing up. Guess that’s one good thing about Santorini. after riding we had dinner at Coastal Kitchen - another filet night. Great food and great service. Then we watched the virtual orchestra in 270 (I slept through) and then royal 5 in main theater. Royal 5 is a show featuring 5 vocalists from the onboard shows. All had great voices and it was great to hear them singing songs of their choice highlighting their strengths. This morning, we had windjammer and then rode again advanced then mixed wave. After flowrider closed, DH and I headed into Old Town in Chania. RC was providing shuttles from port to right outside Old Town. We had very low expectations but had a wonderful time. You could tell that it wasn’t just tourists. Lots of non-souvenir stores with a bunch of restaurants. DH and I grabbed a spinach pie (we call it Spanikopita at home) and it was absolutely delicious. 3.50 euro. got back on the ship and had el loco fresh and rode again at 3:30. Definitely busier today. Our dinner reservations are at 9 tonight so just had a Sorentos snack to hold us over.

Pictures from Santorini

We woke up this morning, had Windjammers, and met in royal theater at 7:45 for our tour (Oia on your own, $59 per person). We boarded tender at ship which brought us directly to the commercial port where we boarded busses for Oia. Tour guide was knowledgeable and friendly but it was hard to hear him over the 2 small children sitting behind me on the bus screaming and kicking my seat. Once we arrived in Oia, we walked to the top of the hill as a group, then had about 75 minutes on our own before we had to be back in the bus. I thought we’d be waiting around forever for stragglers but we left only 5 minutes late. Bus drove to Fira and dropped us close to bus depot. Guide pointed out where cable car departed from and gave us all 1 way tickets. Tour itself was OK for a ship tour but the screaming children reminded me why I generally book privates. Unfortunately, I found Santorini to be disappointing. Even with only 1 ship in port, the streets were crowded and lined with souvenir shops, gelato stands, and restaurants. Can’t imagine what it would be like with 3 or 4 ships in port. Quite frankly, Santorini felt like nothing more than a tourist trap.

Woke up this morning at 7 and they had started posting tours for tomorrow. We ended up choosing Oia on our own because we had concerns about tender, cable car queue, and transport to Oia as private tours picked up at top of cable car. Just got a letter at our room tonight that we had priority tender through the key program so if I had it to do over again might have done something different. Hard to make last minute decisions though. Still haven’t found anything I want to do in Chania. rode Flowrider for 3 hours this morning, had lunch at Chops, napped for 2 hours, and rode for another 2 hours. Dinner again at Chops and then at 8 we went to get seats for 8:30 show but there were barely any left so we left and watched the Odyssey orchestra. Back in the room now. We are meeting for tour tomorrow at 7:45 so probably going to be early tonight.

I didn’t realize you were in Israel. Please stay safe. I haven’t heard of any blame or anger about leaving. Since everyone was on the ship (no one was allowed to get off except to do immigration and go to duty free), it was just a matter of the staff packing up once the decision was made. They just expedited that.

Best of tour was available for $300 per person. Since there’s 4 of us…

It’s been a trying day. We docked at Haifa around noon and immigration started around 1:30. We had immigration group 1, so we were off the ship and back with no lines or waiting. Passengers were not able to leave the port. plan was to move the ship at dusk and possibly allow people to leave at 8PM. Unfortunately around 4:15 the captain came on the intercom to tell us that due to the “geopolitical climate”, we were leaving port immediately. We later heard there were air strikes against Tel Aviv 40 miles away. DH and DS said that even the ships’ officers were grabbing stuff off the pier and running it back to the ship. We left right about 5, and I’ve never seen a ship move so fast as it was leaving harbor. the captain later came on and said we would be detouring to Santorini and Chania. After dinner we received a letter in our room with new itinerary and port times, as well as “compensation” to make up for this change. Quite frankly, I don’t think it’s sufficient given the premium we paid for this cruise over standard RC itineraries but it is what it is. It was also stated that new excursions would be posted within 2 hirs - it’s now been about 4 and no sign of them yet. We are about to walk to shore excursions desk. On a brighter note, at least sports staff has their act together as they’ve already called me to reschedule my private flowrider time…

Hi. Currently on Odyssey docked in Haifa. They are immediately setting sail and we’re heading to Santorini and Chania instead. Any suggestions for tours?

Pictures from today

We had a wonderful day in Cyprus today. I had arranged a private 3-4 hour taxi with Itaxi Cyprus starting at 9:30. It is technically not a tour because they are NOT licensed tour guides and not allowed to enter sites with us (written descriptions and free maps were available in English at each site). The owner, Neophytas, was waiting right outside the terminal at 9:15 holding a sign with our name. Phytos gave us a brief history of Cyprus on our way to Kourion. We got to Kourion before the busses and avoided the crowds, then went to the Stadium, Sanctuary of Apollo, then did a drive by of Kolossi Castle. We didn’t go in (although Phytos offered) as I didn’t want to do all the stairs. The tour was amazing and we finished just about 4 hours after we started. Price 140 Euros plus admission costs (Phytos went to the admission counters with us to translate) and tip. I couldn’t recommend it higher. When we got back to the ship, we had lunch at Windjammer, then I went up to ride flowrider (worked on heel stalls and loaded from the top). On way back to the room, the captain came on and announced that due to the “geopolitical climate”, they were reconsidering port stops. Around 6:30, it was announced we are skipping Ashdod completely and will be docking in Haifa at noon tomorrow. I contacted our private tour company (Guided Tours Israel) and they came up with a game plan. Unfortunately our tour to Dead Sea / Masada has been cancelled but they are providing a full refund. Our other 2 tours are currently a go for Thursday and Friday. we are just finishing dinner at Chops - one of the best meals I’ve ever had. Will post photos from today soon. Need to have DH and DS airdrop them to me.

Fruit delivered from the key yesterday and mini desserts from loyalty today. Afternoon snacks felt just like being in star.

Oops. Forgot to add that we also sent out laundry. Thought some of you would appreciate the laundry bag picture (in previous post). Thanks to everyone’s advice on how to maximize the bag.

It’s been a busy couple of sea days. Up early yesterday to see amount Stromboli, breakfast at Windjammer, and some time on the flowrider. Lunch at Chops then I took a nap. Rushed up to our Northstar Key appointment, back on flowrider, then dinner at Giovanni’s. giovannis food was ok. Not enough to complain about but enough that I changed some reservations from there to Chops for later in the cruise. Went to see Tony Tillman and The book. Key seating in Royal Theater wasn’t worth it as better seats elsewhere but keys seating in 270 was very helpful. I fell asleep during both shows…. DH said Tony Tillman was energetic and entertaining. The book could probably best be equated to cirque de Soleil. After the shows, we used up our diamond vouchers (great bartender in Schooner), then went in search of vanilla ice cream. It was 10:40 so windjammer and sprinkles were both closed. So with 15 minutes left before they stopped serving food, we went to Playmakers (included with unlimited dining) DH and I ordered the ice cream…. Huge amount and very good. This morning was another early morning. Time moved forward last night by an hour, and Israel Immigration tickets were being distributed from 8 to 10 and Main Dining room 4. Since going through Israeli Immigration takes time, Royal has people disembark the ship by group numbers similar to tenders - anyone on Royal excursions and I’m sure full suites, don’t need tickets We got down there 6:15 and were 1st in line (so group 1) Line started getting long around 7 and they started giving out tickets at 7:30 The boys also did Clash for Crystal city lazer tag today they got there a little early so the did standby, then the reserved spot Then Chops punch then older DS did his key turn on IFly He enjoyed it so I booked a free spot for our day in Athens

Driver and guide were 2 separate people. The Vatican and colosseum are the 2 big stops with reservations so I think those are set but the time in the middle was supposed to be trevi fountain and Spanish steps according to their original plan. Our guide asked us what we had done so far in Rome and adjusted the middle. The beauty of private tours. They also offer semi-private but those itineraries are set in stone.

Private tour just the 4 of us. I prefer the flexibility of not sharing and spending just as much time as we want at each site. Tour included all admission, hotel pickup, drop off at Vatican, and transfers between sites through lunchtime. then the driver was done. Lunch was near colosseum, then we walked to Palentine hill/forum area. I think idea is once your tour is over mid afternoon, some people spend additional time there. We were planning by to but didn’t bc everyone was just done. We could have added a private driver for the day but cost for that was ridiculous. Taxi to hotel was only 13 euro.

We just had a wonderful dinner in Coastal Kitchen. It was probably one of the best filets we’ve had - and definitely better than Anthem and Harmony. I should have taken pictures but I forgot. Will try to remember day 7 when we go back. Some observations - for a 6:30 dining time, CK was not crowded. I’d go as far as saying it was half empty. The host (Jose) was extremely welcoming and seemed willing to book as many nights as we wanted, although we just requested tonight and day 7. Ship itself seems light this sailing. Rumor is that we’re at under 4000 passengers with 70 pinnacles. Haven’t seen many children but should have a better feel when teens go to teen club tonight.

We used livtours.com. I saw them recommended on the Italy forum of cruise critic. They specialize in small group and private tours. We booked about 9 months in advance because we read that they sell out. We’ll be using the company again in Naples to tour Pompeii

Mine were all showing as sold out as well but those are the paid reservations. As soon as you’re on shops’s Wi-Fi, you can book a free (included) time.

Comparing to Oasis class - The last and only other quantum I was on was Anthem out of Bayonne, New Jersey in March. With the cold weather, the ship felt crowded. Also, quantum has less “usable” restaurant selection - Wonderland is a 1 and done in my opinion. Ship only has 1 flowrider and March was spring break so it was always busy. Oasis class has a beautiful Central Park. Lastly, the star and higher class suites are all on the stern of the ship and there’s no crown area. Concierge lounge is also all the way in the stern and not easily accessible. for most people these things won’t make a difference.