Starrynight0154

Really looking forward to this live blog. My wife and I will be on Odyssey in a junior suite for a 9 night Greek Isles cruise in September. This is a bucket list trip for us and we’re seeing the main sights at each port. It’s all planned but maybe you can provide clarity on one thing. I’m confused where the bus pickup location is in Civitavecchia to take passengers to the cruise terminal. It’s either Largo Della Pace or by Fort Michelangelo?

The “Island of Santorini and Village of Oia” RC excursion stops at Santos Winery. Beautiful view there but not a place where they produce wine, it’s a tasting.

I feel like that applies to almost anything read online. People focus on the negatives(food, or travel in general). Once you try it out yourself it’s actually a positive experience.

Will be on Odyssey for our 9 night bucket list trip(Greek Isles, Italy, Turkey) first day of fall this year. Booked a junior suite almost 1.5 years ago. Spending 5 nights in Rome before, and 7 nights in Florence after. Odyssey looks like a great ship, and I’m getting more excited everyday to try it out.

Website won’t allow me to cancel a massage, app has the same error message. There is definitely more glitches last few days.

Try the peanut butter tropic at Schooner Bar. I don’t know if it’s just me, but that is drink is sooo good.

Royal Caribbean rarely goes to Grand Turk it seems like.

On the cruise planner there’s an option for room decorations for birthdays. They typically have it decorated on day 1.

I’d feel safer in Labadee than any hospital, school, mall, festival in the U.S.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/royal-caribbean-cruise-ship-worker-allegedly-admits-filming-young-passengers-even-hiding-under-beds/ar-BB1jms8K

We stayed at Port Orleans Riverside Disney resort before our cruise recently. Beautiful landscaping and you get to take the boat to Disney Springs.

Living most of my life in Michigan I get that feeling of wanting to escape. Winter is so long, overcast, and cold!

Long Island kicked my ass on Wonder last week. First one I’ve had in years, afterwards I was sitting at Sorrento’s eating pizza and watching the 80’s party. Everything started spinning

I prefer rock cover bands. None were on Wonder recently. They did have a Whitney Houston tribute singer that was a major hit with the audience. People were waving their flashlights in the air on their phones, and singing along.

Black Friday sales are a hot mess. Takes forever to charge credit cards, and sometimes months to get refunds in my experience.

Some of the most popular drinks ordered are off the menu. Classics like the lava flow, mudslide, chocolate martini, mimosa, bloody mary, baileys banana colada.

Wise words, best to never cancel cruise planner purchases and rebook at lower prices just to save money, especially if cruise is paid in full. It can take 2-3 months for refunds, and risk cruise cancellation due to their IT system glitch. Not worth it. We like the soda package, and $8.99 is a decent price. On Wonder I was disappointed that ginger ale wasn’t available, in fact 1/4 of the flavors were unavailable in most freestyle machines. There’s always the option for canned soda at least.

I hope it’s available more often. If not, I’ll buy drinks a la carte.

Honestly I feel like the meat dishes are average, you can get them anywhere on land. WJ has vegetable tempura which is veggies fried and battered, it’s really good with the Indian sauces nearby. Fried plantains, and polenta. Stuffed peppers. Personally I like trying things I don’t do at home. Instead of putting ketchup on my fries I’ll put malt vinegar on them. Indian food is good so I eat that because I rarely have it on land.

Adult only heated pool is the main advantage @Hideaway. It’s large, and in February it felt good to be in warm water. The area around the DJ is loud, the decibel level quickly drops further you move away, in fact it’s quiet at the other end of Hideaway Beach. Food was disappointing considering this is an up charge experience. Not bad food, but just average. It was Sorrento’s style pizza, mozzarella sticks, salad, fruit, sandwiches, mini empanadas. Overall I enjoyed time here, mainly for the heated pool. Friendly crew onboard, best stateroom attendant we’ve had. Not sure how they tolerate the behavior of some passengers. Witnessed an interaction at guest services where a woman was leaning over the counter, screaming loudly for a manager “right now”. Everyone on the promenade stopped and turned around to see what was happening. Security came and surrounded her. Got our first onboard massage, it was a couples hot stone massage, and it was the best massage ever! I was prepared for the sales pitch at the end, and simply said no thank you. Food was good overall, Indian food was amazing as usual. Baked Alaska was the best desert. Italian night was my favorite. Solarium Bistro had fantastic Mediterranean food at dinner. I tried some vegetarian food during the cruise and didn’t understand why tofu onboard is served raw and uncooked. A few of the dishes have different names but are almost the same, a variation of eggplant and couscous. I assume they do this to cut costs. Best new drink is the peanut butter tropic at the schooner bar. The 10 drink deal was offered, and my wife and I decided we’ll do that from now on, instead of the drink package. Drink package isn’t worth it anymore at $1,388. 1st time using the chat feature in the app. It worked 95% of the time. We got all notifications when chat was working. Had a lot of fun and laughs on Wonder. Enjoyed 80’s party on the promenade, the crowd appeared more into it too than 70’s disco inferno. The positives definitely outweighed the minor negative aspects of the cruise.

Wonder, just got off the ship yesterday.

Baked Alaska and chocolate cherry tart in the MDR. Pistachio eclairs in the WJ.

I’m on Wonder tomorrow, it’s been a few months since my last cruise. Check in is complete. I don’t see the safety videos on the app like last time when I did it the night before embarking. Do they appear on day 1 now, or when you’re onboard?