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Happy New Year!!! Christine and I (John) wish you all the best in 2026! Hoping for a happy and healthy New Year with many amazing adventures and cruises in your future! Thankfully, we have an extended weekend off for the holiday so I figured this would be a good time to start the live blog! Exactly 14 days until embarkation day! Unfortunately, Kurt Russell will not be joining us for this sequel , but the same family (Christine’s uncle and fiancé) that have joined us 3 of the last 4 sailings will be onboard with us (Christine and John)! It’s been a long 8-month dry dock since our last amazing cruise and we can’t take it anymore! Recently, we’ve had relatively mild winters with little to no snowfall, but we’ve already had significant snowfall and now we’re dropping down to 11 degrees (F) with the wind chill overnight. I’ve heard recent reports of some snow while Odyssey has been in town (Cape Liberty)… we're praying for no precipitation and a smooth 90-minute drive to the port! This will be our fourth sailing out of Bayonne. This will be our second time on Odyssey and our first 11-night sailing. We previously sailed Odyssey back in FEB 2022 on the 8-night Southern Caribbean itinerary out of Port Everglades (Aruba, Curacao, etc.) and absolutely loved it. Side note: Christine wants to go back to Aruba sooo bad... Legend OTS looks nice for that 8-night, but it's too expensive now! We do love the extras nights! Usually, we’re sailing 7-night itineraries, but I love the extra nights on these longer itineraries! Every day seems like a bonus day! This itinerary will also include our first visits to 3 of the 4 ports (St. Lucia, Barbados, and St. Kitts & Nevis). St. Maarten is our only repeated port. * Time for some trip details… Cruise Details: Odyssey of the Seas, 11-night, Southern Caribbean itinerary (*** Update: Snowstorm turned this into a 12-night sailing! ***) Out of Cape Liberty (Bayonne, NJ) 1/15/26-1/27/26 Itinerary: Day 1 (1/15): Cape Liberty (Bayonne, NJ) Day 2 (1/16): * At Sea * Day 3 (1/17): * At Sea * Day 4 (1/18): * At Sea * Day 5 (1/19): Philipsburg, St. Maarten Day 6 (1/20): Castries, St. Lucia Day 7 (1/21): Bridgetown, Barbados Day 8 (1/22): Basseterre, St. Kitts & Nevis Day 9 (1/23): * At Sea * Day 10 (1/24): * At Sea * Day 11 (1/25): * At Sea * Day 12 (1/26): * At Sea * (BONUS DAY!) Day 13 (1/27): Cape Liberty (Bayonne, NJ) Cabin Details & General Plans/Stuff: Ocean View Large Balcony (1C) cabin (Deck 11, Midship, Port side)... just forward of aft elevator tower. Won RU bid - moved from GTY OV Obs. Balc. Selected Traditional Dining (5:00 PM) Purchased the Deluxe Beverage Package ** Purchased the Unlimited Dining Package Purchased Chef’s Table (upcharge w/ UDP) – love Odyssey’s Chops private room location! Purchased VOOM Surf+Stream Package Purchased a Casita (Sea Day) – Day 9 Purchased “An Ultimate Island Tour: Explorer Cruise and Island Tour” excursion in St. Maarten (all of us) Purchased “Stairway to the Pitons, Rum and Chocolate” excursion in St. Lucia (just Christine and I) Purchased “Barbados Highlights” excursion in Barbados (all of us) Purchased “St. Kitts Catamaran Sail & Nevis Beach Getaway” excursion in St. Kitts & Nevis (just Christine & I) Booked the only show available for pre-cruise booking (“The Book”)… forgot Odyssey does not open up all major entertainment in the Cruise Planner like Oasis and Icon class ships! ** We just hit Diamond last sailing (experienced the perks for the first time), but the $44.99 DBP was too good to pass up! Shhh … we have an "arrangement" with our traveling group (not Diamond yet) to further offset the expense! We would normally still purchase the Refreshment Package so this is a win-win! Miscellaneous Stuff: Driving to the cruise port this time (about 90 minutes from our home on Long Island). It’s sooo nice not to have to fly, book a hotel, spend money on food/entertainment, pay for a rental or Uber(s), etc! We booked the earliest boarding period available (10:30-11:00) for our sailing. We likely will arrive a little earlier (just in case) and sit in the parking garage if needed before our boarding window. We love to start our vacation and exploration of the ship ASAP! I think that's it for now... more in a bit on the RoyalUp from the GTY OV Balcony cabin we were assigned! Our first time bidding! Weather today in all of our ports... My geeky lock screen... always a reminder of what sailing is next up! *** As always, please let me know if you have any questions or would like me to post pictures of something you are interested in... I'll do my best to keep up throughout the sailing! I'm sure they'll ne many photo dumps throughout the sailing as I should have plenty of time with the 6 sea days!

I already had plans to head to NJ this week, and when I saw the Symphony prices looking good, I couldn’t resist just booked it! WooHoo!

I was just checking to see if anyone had picked up a scooter rental in terminal at Bayonne and where the pick up was in the terminal. I called Scootaround to see if I could pick it up in terminal instead of the stateroom and the guy over the phone couldn’t really tell me where the pick up was (I don’t remember seeing a spot for it the last few times I’ve cruised out of Bayonne) but said it would be an extra $50. My mom has trouble walking long distances and last time she was stuck waiting in a chair on the sun deck for 2 hours until the room was ready. We got lucky that it was on the side of the ship we needed, but I’m just trying to make this as stress free as possible for her. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

So, I'm well aware that the potential of summer cruises leaving from Bayonne is very much up in the air, this could pertain to many people in the community whether or not we are cruising. Newark is shutting down runway 4R-22L from early July through October for repaving, refurbishment and upgrades. That is EWR's main runway and handles almost half of the traffic for the entire airport. There will be numerous flights cancelled going in, and you can probably count on significant delays and general unpleasantness for the flights that do remain on the schedule. Just a heads-up to think about when planning any summer/fall travel to the NY Metro area... https://simpleflying.com/newark-landing-runway-refurbishment/

When Oasis comes to 'the Big Apple' this year, we've booked a cruise on her. There were many reasons to book this one: check another ship of the bucket list, seeing all the amplifications, not port intensive itinerary (to be able to get to more enjoyment of/on the ship) but still goes to Perfect Day @ CoCo Cay (see those upgrades) , & most of all it's drive-able (from Western PA). This is our first cruise out of the Cape Liberty/Bayonne port area. So any help & direction would be greatly appreciated. We are considering: Where to stay the night before? Outside of going into NYC, things to do in the area? If we were to rent a car what companies are close to port? (thinking of two-one way rentals: get car @ home to get to port, and then port to home) Thanks as always to this great community of Cruisers, and hope to perhaps meet some of you aboard RC in the future.

I have been hearing lots of rumors and speculation about this, but wanted to know what you have heard. What are your opinions about which ship will prospectively replace Anthem of the Seas in Bayonne, NJ when she sails to the UK in 2020?

Instead of paying 1000 CAD for flight to Miami we've decided to pay a bit more for cruise on Anthem and drive to Port Liberty. Any suggestion on parking near the port ? Cruise port parking is $20/day but quick google search shows few cheaper options near Bayonee. Does anyone has any experience with off port parking and their shuttle services ?

I am reading a live blog that mentions the Captain took them by the Statue of Liberty and lower Manhattan and then turned around to head out to sea. I thought this was one of the neat experiences of sailing out of Bayonne but others mentioned that they couldn't believe the Captain did that- that it's not usually the case. Veteran Anthem travelers - what was your experience?

Hey, Me and my 11 piece group of family just returned back from out 9-night cruise onboard Liberty of the Seas, that left out of Cape Liberty on Thursday, July 30, 2015. I am an avid vlogger and if you have the time to watch, i'd love to share our experience with the RC Blog community. Check Out Part One: https://youtu.be/o4eSQ42vti8 Check Out Part Two: https://youtu.be/mAo7acPrXn4 Check Out Part Three: https://youtu.be/U0zdiKBR4xs Check Out Part Four: https://youtu.be/fVh-AVSVvGg Check Out Part Five: https://youtu.be/BofFjcNBTUQ Check Out Part Six: https://youtu.be/Fy0K4VMHnyk