Clover18

It had nothing to do with passenger counts. The ship was turned away at 4 ports due to Covid and they gave everyone onboard 50% of fare for that. We had two rooms. The experience was bad because the situation was exacerbated by sick crew members. One day we stopped and floated near another RCC ship for several hours while they offloaded crew members. Not a fun journey 

We agonized over using our FCC before December 31. Our experience on Odyssey last Christmas was so abysmal that we weren’t sure we wanted to sale on Royal again. However, we know that there are exceptions to every situation so we decided to book harmony over Thanksgiving. It was really too much money to sacrifice. Trusting that are next experience will be much better.

If you are in a suite or even a junior suite go directly to Coastal Kitchen and book your dinners for the week. We were in. Jr. On odyssey and ate thee every night because we booked as soon as we boarded. 

On 8/18/2021 at 5:33 PM, SpeedNoodles said:

I am looking for these for my January Odyssey sailing but I don't see them.  Could they all be sold out already?

Our TA reserved them for us when we booked back in April. You can’t just show up and get one. You have to reserve in advance on the planner or thru your TA. If you have reserved one, You then arrive at 9:00 at the check-in to select the one you want for the day. First come first served for choice of casita. 

22 minutes ago, USCG Teacher said:

Out of curiosity, how far are these from the pools?

There are two casitas on deck 14 next to the aft pool. One of these is perilously close to the smoking section and if that bothers you don’t pick that one. Then the rest are up on deck 15. Only two people can comfortably sit in the lounger at a time. The provide towels and four cans of water. You can safely leave your stuff there. 
 

If you purchased one for the day, you have to report to the lime and coconut bar, at 9 o’clock. Keep in mind that the Casitas are assigned on a first come basis, so you gonna want to get up there early if there’s a certain one you want. Biggest disappointment in these for us is that there’s absolutely no shade. You will be having a roof over your head but there’s no protection from the sun.

On 12/28/2021 at 11:43 PM, GrannyCharlie said:

I'm going to be watching the policy VERY closely. We're going on our very first sail Jan 31-Feb 4 on the Adventure, a dream trip my husband has promised me for the 30 years we've been married. Now I see there's another mask mandate. We're 3-shot vaccinated and such. I'm also someone who has panic attacks with the masks. I don't know why, we've worked on it for over a year and I haven't been able to stand one for more than 10 minutes. The stated policy of having areas where fully vaccinated didn't have to mask was one reason why we booked this ship/trip and got that booster just before Christmas. 

I'm hoping this will be a non-problem by then, I don't want to cancel this trip. I'm sitting here almost in tears at the very thought of having to give up this trip because of having to wear a stupid 5x7 piece of cloth.

Don’t expect to get an exemption from wearing a mask. I hate them a rip mine off my face as soon as I sit down at a table for a drink or am walking outside on the deck. But EVERYWHERE inside you need to wear one. 

Here’s a pro tip. Nobody cares what you wear to dinner. In coastal last night our 14 y/o wore a sweatshirt and spandex shorts. Little boy with dad and grandpa at next table was in tshirt and bathing suit bottoms and carrying half eaten ice cream cone. Dad was in tshirt and pants. They serve you no matter what you are wearing. 

50 minutes ago, Neesa said:

@Clover18 thank you so much for posting. I was thinking about you and hoping for the best for the second leg of your B2B. While I am sad to hear this ( I was really rooting for the port stops this time around) I understand it. I'm sure you are making the best of your time on board. I hope you are visiting the Next cruise desk like we did, the Wonder is sailing out of Port Canaveral you know! 

Being home now a few days you would not believe the phone calls and inquiry we are getting stunned we are okay and made the best out of our sailing. I agree the Captain did a great job of being transparent and letting us know what was going on, I enjoyed the free movies too. Jungle Book was hysterical! 

May I ask  does the ship feel as crowded as it did last week? I'm happy you stayed, while I had a lovely time making the absolute best of it I was ready to disembark. I wish for you an enjoyable rest of the sailing and a very happy & healthy New Year! 

*We swabbed with our at home kits because we were curious & no one from this household tested positive, I felt more exposed at the Bank the other day. Please keep us updated, Best!  Denise

**UPDATE: while it was a very close call I canceled the crane at debark as I quite happily did not need it, but if I would have stayed on with @Clover18that would have been an all together different outcome LOL!

We may get go up to the next cruise desk to see if we can get on Oasis or Allure next winter. The ship is just as crowded this week as it was over Christmas. In some ways more so. Seems like more kids but I haven’t asked anyone official. 
 

Very sad that Daniel Marks has not been at schooner bar this week. Not sure if he is sick. We arrived to hear him last night as he was on the schedule but he did not show up. Bar staff did not know anything. He is not on the schedule on today’s cruise compass. 
 

Pretty sorry to miss St. Thomas. With all the other reports coming out we knew it wasn’t going to happen. I’m not sure where we’re going to dock at Puerto Plata. On the cruise mapper website it says our ship is headed towards Amber Cove, but that is a Carnival built pier and playground, so I’m not sure if they’re letting us actually dock there or if we’re stopping somewhere else.

will keep updates coming. 

Hello friends. Captain Per of the Odyssey Just announced this evening that we will not be stopping in St. Thomas or San Juan Due to Covid.

We will receive a one day cruise fare cabin credit/refund for missing St. Thomas. We are going to dock at Puerto Plata in the Dominican republic to replace San Juan. We will also “arrive early” in Nassau on Saturday. 

Many of us saw the writing on the wall, particularly those of us who were on odyssey last week and who experienced the cancellation of Curacao and Aruba.

this back to back was a long time planned for us, we booked in April 2021. But our only big disappointment was missing Aruba. We really wanted to swim in a warm ocean, and now that’s not going to happen. The waters in the Bahamas and the northern Caribbean are not that warm right now. But, that is part of the travail of travel. I think the captain of the odyssey of the seas is doing the best he can under the circumstances.

Happy new year to all of you lovely cruise critic people. Cheers!

32 minutes ago, Neesa said:

@Baked Alaska I would have canceled. There are too many people on this ship. As the day goes on people are getting ruder and grumpier. Visiting no ports. The most expensive boat ride ever.

Yup. You nailed it. Completely let down. 

51 minutes ago, MichaelU said:

Chucky that is Jennifer I believe. She was the best. She was always super polite to my wife and I. We always went there for our coffees. 270 cafe is the hidden gem I think on Odyssey. Great food there. 
 

Jennifer and Monica in 270 are both lovely and kind. 

36 minutes ago, Neesa said:

I don't see Aruba allowing us to disembark tomorrow. I wish they would just turn around and take us home, by way of Coco Cay that is! But seriously, most people are in good spirits it appears. One or two grumbles but if you booked this you kind of knew it would be "different" I still believe in my heart whether they saw Omicron coming or not they relaxed to soon and put $$$ over all. 100% capacity and how crowded this ship is should not have happened at this juncture.  They could have waited just until 2022 to start ramping up. Just because one can doesn't mean they should. 

The ship is definitely too crowded!!!

34 minutes ago, Neesa said:

I don't see Aruba allowing us to disembark tomorrow. I wish they would just turn around and take us home, by way of Coco Cay that is! But seriously, most people are in good spirits it appears. One or two grumbles but if you booked this you kind of knew it would be "different" I still believe in my heart whether they saw Omicron coming or not they relaxed to soon and put $$$ over all. 100% capacity and how crowded this ship is should not have happened at this juncture.  They could have waited just until 2022 to start ramping up. Just because one can doesn't mean they should. 

Hey. My auto finish said “will” But I agree we will not be able to disembark in Aruba tomorrow. Just thinking that is sad situation and next weeks back to back we will probably cancel because there’s no point in coming on if we’re not gonna be able to get off and explore the ports 

17 minutes ago, Neesa said:

@Clover18 so we have just been told 52 positive cases, 3 passengers and the rest crew. The crew is still upbeat but we have been restricted by the health authorities and we are not allowed off the ship in Curacao and most likely not allowed off tomorrow either. Now we are waiting to see if they will cut this sailing short. The pool deck and solarium are standing room only. Will update when we know. Captain is wonderful, very transparent. Our excursion from today has been refunded, no showgirls shows at all this sailing. 

We are staying positive because we are healthy and in the beautiful warm weather!

Going to look for more ducks!!

 

@Neesa we feel the same way. Disappointing but not surprising given the circumstances. I agree that we probably will be allowed to go into Aruba tomorrow. Someone I was talking with mentioned that maybe they will cut bait and head back to CocoCay for one final stop before we head back to Fort Lauderdale. But it’s hard to say at this point. Can’t Decide whether we want to stay aboard for the back to back next week. Keeping it positive!

30 minutes ago, Larry Muster said:

Hey, we are booked on the 12/26 sailing as well.  Our family is pretty vacation starved right now and our position is if the ship sails we will be on it - regardless of the restrictions.  Making that decision has helped put some of our anxiety at bay.  Our policy is to make the most of whatever we can get.  Assuming it was booked to 100% capacity I wonder what actual capacity will be when she sails.

What is the mood of your crew RFSDVM?  Are you also committed to going if she sails?
 

 

Frankly we have made contingency flight reservations for Sunday out of FLL. we have not canceled the second leg of our B2B yet but if things go downhill regarding the ships ability to visit ports we will probably cancel. We are not impressed with the ship overall and it’s really too crowded to even enjoy the solarium pool and hot tubs, even if there were NO port stops allowed next week. 
 

a few hours ago we were cool with staying on for the second week but now seriously considering our options. 

Yes we are on board Odyssey right now. We have been denied entry into Curacao because of 54 positive cases on board. Captain announcement came up 20 minutes ago. They will keep us informed when they hear from RCI headquarters what’s going to happen next. In the meantime we are docked at Curacao and awaiting further instruction. We will not be going ashore

1 hour ago, Wayland said:

Hello all! I’m going on Harmony next month. I went on Odyssey in August but there was only 450 people on board. I saw news the other day Symphony had 6000 people… so my question is, do you think the Key is worth the money? I want to make sure I have access to the shows, they’re my favorite part of the cruising experience.

Key is definitely worth the money if you are not in a suite. You get permission to enter the terminal as soon as you arrive no matter what time your “boarding time” is and they give you a special waiting area there. Then you are allowed to board right after the suite guests. You also get to go into shows early before regular guests. They also have discount on room service and other things For us it was totally worth it.

13 hours ago, Flopper said:

I’m really interested to see what’s happening on odyssey right now. Of Covid is running through the crew as some people have said I could see them shelving it for two weeks. Royal caribbean has already taken some sailings (mine on January 2nd) off of their website and TA sites today. 

We are currently being denied disembarkation, awaiting the Prime Minister‘s “press conference“ before they let us off. The captain said we need to wait about an hour until we hear more from the health authorities. It sounds like a great opportunity to pass the buck to the government of Curaçao rather than make the decision not to let us go ashore from the RCI team.

If they do let us ashore, it will probably be vaccinated passengers only. As much as the merchants in the city of Willemstad would like to see the increase of 5000 people buying their products, I’m sure the government doesn’t want to take the risk.

Fingers crossed that they will let us go ashore. The busses are out here waiting…

That’s a bummer. We were there Sunday on Odyssey and alongside Freedom. It was perfect weather. So sorry for you

Onboard Odyssey right now and we are being delayed in disembarkation until after the prime ministers press conference. It remains to be seen if they will let us go ashore. 

Solarium only has free hot tuns between 7:00 and 8:00 AM and that’s when you have to reserve your chair if you want to sit there all day.