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Odyssey to the Greek Isles - 7 to 16 May 2022 - RECAP with pics. Feel free to ask questions.


FionaMG

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We (myself and DH Fernando) just got off Odyssey of the Seas on Monday. This was her first ever European cruise, following last year's cancellations. I thought I'd post a recap because I see there are lots of Odyssey Europe sailings in the roll call boards, so perhaps the information will be of use to some of you.

I've just sent Matt the compasses so they'll be available for you to have a look at as soon as he gets the chance to post them. 

I'll be doing this over the course of several days as I have to fit it in around work. 😭 Please feel free to ask questions, especially if you're due to sail on Odyssey soon, as there's still very little information out there about her European cruises. I'll be delighted to help if I possibly can.

I booked this cruise ages ago, at a time when nobody really was booking cruises so I got a great rate. I had thought that we would have been clearer of the dreaded C-word by the time of this sailing, but the continuing uncertainty, especially the requirement for a pre-boarding test, ruined all the pre-cruise anticipation and excitement; how can you get excited about a trip when a q-tip is calling the shots and could completely mess it up for you? But I'm really glad we got to do it. We had a great time. 😁

So, without further ado (as they say), this was our itinerary:

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Pre-cruise part one. Getting there:

We flew to Rome Fiumicino from our local airport (Faro) via Lisbon with TAP Air Portugal. For those of you coming from farther afield and who might not have the option of non-stop flights, TAP can be a good option because the prices tend to be fairly reasonable and Lisbon is a very easy airport to connect in. Also, if you have the time, they offer a free stopover option. Don't book a short connection though because their punctuality record is a long way south of stellar.

Departing Faro. The city where we live is hazily visible off in the distance at about 5 to 12 in the pic.

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Arriving in Lisbon (25th of April Bridge):

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And departing again from Lisbon:

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No pics of our arrival in Rome as it was dark by then.

I booked our airport transfer from Fiumicino to our hotel (Hotel Lancelot) with Fiumicino Taxi (https://www.fiumicinotaxi.info/). Not only were they the cheapest that I found but they also did not start charging the "night" fee until 10 pm, whereas most others started at 7 pm. This was important because our flight was scheduled to land at 7.30 pm.

The online booking process was fairly easy but on arrival we weren't able to locate our driver. However, a quick call to the mobile number provided solved the issue in a matter of minutes and we were soon on our way to the hotel. We did not have to pay for this service in advance as there is the option to pay cash to the driver. Given the still rather uncertain climate around Covid, this was a deal-breaker for us. We did not want the hassle of pre-paying and then potentially having to cancel and haggle to get our money back.

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Our pre-cruise hotel:

We stayed at the Hotel Lancelot (https://www.lancelothotel.com/). The reason for choosing this one was mainly its proximity to the Colosseum, which we (read "I" 😆) really wanted to visit. Someone had mentioned it in passing over on CC, so I did some research and thought it met our needs. It was reasonably priced (for Rome), had decent reviews and was literally a 3-minute walk from the Colosseum.

The owner was very responsive and helpful and the staff were lovely. The hotel does have a couple of rooms on the top floor (there is a minuscule lift) with a balcony and view of the Colosseum but they come at a premium and were not available on our dates anyway. It also has several family rooms that can sleep two adults and two kids.

Our room was a spacious corner room with a street view and a narrow wrap-around balcony. This being a traditional hotel, all the rooms are different.

Our room:

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The Colosseum is a 3-minute walk down this street:

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The social area that you go through to get into the dining room:

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There was a decent included continental breakfast (no hot items) and the hotel has a convivial dinner on some nights, at a reasonable price - €25 for three courses including wine and coffee. We arrived too late on the first night but enjoyed it on the second night. The tables are shared, like on board the ship, and we very much enjoyed chatting to our table mates, a mum and daughter, respectively from Pittsburgh and Seattle.

We were made to feel very welcome and would definitely recommend and consider staying here again.

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35 minutes ago, DDaley said:

I am excited to hear about the Greek ports and Kusadasi since I am visiting them on another cruise line this summer (and Chania/Souda post-cruise). 

What an amazing balcony you had in Rome! 

It was a great itinerary. I'll have details of what we did, along with pics, later on.

It was a very nice balcony but it was totally wasted on us as we were hardly in the room at all! That's why I don't book expensive rooms on board cruise ships either. 😆

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Our pre-cruise day in Rome.

Morning.

With only one full day in Rome before the cruise I wanted to ensure we made the most of it, while also getting in the visit to the Colosseum. 

Having visited the Vatican on a previous trip, but never central Rome, and to avoid us simply wandering around aimlessly, I booked us on the "free" walking tour "Marvels of Rome" through Guru Walks: https://www.guruwalk.com/walks/37444-marvels-of-rome-walking-tour

This gave us a decent overview of the monuments in the centre of Rome. The guide was not the one originally indicated (Colin) but his replacement (Paulo) was excellent, very knowledgeable and passionate about his subject. The only issue I had with the tour was that the group was far too big, over 50 people, which prevented any meaningful interaction with the guide. However, for the cost of the €20 tip at the end, it was fine.

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The tour was followed by lunch in a side street off the Piazza Navona that the guide pointed out to us at the end of the tour, after recommending we avoided eating on the square itself.

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Pre-cruise day in Rome.

Afternoon.

After lunch we had the much-awaited (for me, DH was just about hanging on by this time 😆) visit to the Colosseum, which I booked through Walks of Italy: 

https://www.walksofitaly.com/rome-tours/colosseum-arena-floor-tour/

This tour also includes the Roman Forum and the Palatine Hill and the guide (Dario) reversed the order so that we visited these first. He said that, for most people, the highlight of the tour would be the Colosseum itself so he always preferred to leave that till last. I'm glad he did, because DH definitely perked up once we got inside the Colosseum.

Since this was a paying tour, the group was much smaller. The company guarantees there will be no more than 25 people per group and ours actually had 19.

Dario was excellent, very knowledgeable and personable and, of course, the smaller group size meant he was able to better engage with the members of the group.

One thing I really liked was how he made the effort to inform us about where and when to expect bathroom breaks.

I really enjoyed the tour, even though the weather decided to have a meltdown and start pouring with rain just as we were sitting in the arena floor. 

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You can see how wet it was in this last one. We had to shelter under a restaurant canopy on the way back to the hotel, even though it was really close by, because the rain was so heavy.

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Cruise day.

Getting to the ship.

I booked our transfers to the ship with Civitavecchia Shuttle Express (https://www.civitavecchiashuttleexpress.com/) at a cost of €65 for the two of us.

This was a shared shuttle. They say on their website that there could be up to 30 minutes waiting time, so with check-in time slot at the pier of 11.30-12.00, I booked the shuttle for 10 am. The day before, I received an email from them telling me the expected pick-up time would be 10.15 and on the morning the driver rang ahead to say he was running about 10 minutes late. So everything went smoothly and as expected. We were the last pick-up, so we headed straight to the port after we were picked up.

I don't know if it was because it was a Saturday, but the road into Civi was bumper to bumper; it took us ages to get from the entrance to the town to the ship and we arrived at the terminal just a few minutes before midday.

Checking in.

This was very fast. We were asked to show all our documents - passports, negative tests (which we had done the morning before at a pharmacy around the corner from the hotel for €20 each, walk-in with no appointment needed) and vax certificates. I did have to explain why mine had what appears to be 2 out of 1 doses (2/1), which is how the EU distinguishes peeps who have had the single dose JJ jab + a booster (I knew this would cause confusion which is why I didn't bother uploading it beforehand) and the check-in clerk also asked us for the approximate dates of all our jabs since the EU (for some unfathomable reason) only shows the date of the very last jab on the certificate. All in all it took about 10 minutes and we were on our way.

Once on board we headed to Two70 for a coffee while waiting for the rooms to open up, which they did a very short time afterwards (1 pm-ish, I think).

Our room #6622.

We had booked an obstructed balcony cabin that I chose on the basis of @twangster's preliminary predictions as to what would be the least obstructed ones. A few months before our cruise, when he was onboard himself, he very kindly took a 360º view for me of the cabin from the promenade deck below it. It's the one above the window to the right of where the two deck chairs are: 

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Once inside the room, I was able to confirm that the view is very unobstructed. You can see plenty of water. The cabin next to ours (6624) would have even less obstruction but that is a 3-berth cabin so was not available to us. I would say these are definitely rooms to look out for if you're planning on booking this category.

The seating area below us was rarely used so we were not inconvenienced by any noise. You just need to bear in mind that anybody down on deck 5 will be able to see you on your balcony so probably best not to do anything out there that you'd want to keep private! Also, on this ship, the smoking area of the promenade is on the port side, so this being a starboard side cabin there is no problem with being bothered by cigarette smoke.

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Having dumped our carry-ons we headed up to the windjammer for some lunch before it got busy. 

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I have to say, I found the layout of this WJ somewhat confusing and it was several days before I was able to negotiate it and more or less find the things I was looking for. It was fully self-serve but there were some ready-made plates that you could just pick up. I particularly liked the new salad bowls and had a garden salad pretty much every day at lunch. However, I thought the little deli plates were wasteful. All I wanted was a slice of ham and a slice of cheese but you couldn't get that, just the plates you can see in the pic below, which meant most of the food on the plate was simply left to go in the bin and that bothers me. I would have preferred them to have self-serve trays out like they used to pre-covid.

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After lunch, we set off to explore the ship and took the opportunity to go up in the North Star. As you can see from the pic, it was a pretty grey day and the heavens opened while we were up there!

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The other ship in the pic is the Regal Princess.

I'm not going to bother posting a bunch of pics of the ship itself since there are lots of them out there and far better than mine but if anyone wants a pic of something specific let me know and I'll see if I have one.

Sailaway.

We left Civitavecchia 3 hours late, something to do with an issue regarding clearance, but I didn't catch the original announcement so I don't know if any more specific information was provided.

Dinner time.

We ate all our dinners except one in the MDR, which seemed very busy and chaotic on this first evening. We had my time dining with a table booked for 8 pm every night but it seemed like they improvised rather than having a table allocated in advance (later on, from night 4 onwards, we had the same table every night). However our server was very attentive to our needs.

An interesting development on the menu is the appearance of a nightly pie and a curry dish, which usually only show up on cruises with a large British contingent. 

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Wild mushroom soup

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Two Maryland style crab cakes as my mains just because I like them even though I've been told they're nothing like the real thing. 

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Royal chocolate cake for dessert. One of my favourites (As you can probably tell, I had already eaten the tip of it before I remembered to take a pic! Oops 🤭).

DH 's cheesecake and a shared scoop of vanilla ice cream in the background.  😋 

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The show in the theatre after dinner was a singer called Mike McLean. He had a decent crowd and gave an enjoyable show. I very much liked the fact that there were late shows (10.30 pm) on this sailing as we prefer to enjoy the show after our dinner. On ships where the shows are earlier we often miss them because they tend to clash with my gym time and DH's hot tub time.

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And apart from a quick visit to the very tight-fisted casino, where DH contributed $20 to Royal's coffers, that rounded off our first day on board.

 

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Day 2 was in Naples.

Here we are, parked alongside the Regal Princess.

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Naples from the ship:

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We had originally booked a walking tour for this port but the time was changed a few days before, making it unworkable and leaving us at a bit of a loose end.

With nothing better planned we got the city sightseeing hoho bus at 24 euros each, offering a historical route and a scenic route. The first takes 45 minutes and you could probably walk it faster; the traffic was insane!

The panoramic route was about an hour and was very pretty with views over the bay and Capri, although it was a bit hazy.

To be honest, I wouldn't really recommend this unless as a stop gap. Possibly I'm being unfair and haven't given it a chance, but the city itself seems very busy, noisy and dirty and there is a lot of construction work.

On a future visit, I would definitely consider going to Capri or along the Amalfi Coast (we've already been to Pompeii twice and would highly recommend that for anyone who hasn't been before. Even DH, who really isn't a fan of historical stuff, enjoyed and was fascinated by Pompeii).

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Back on board, I went to the gym before dinner. As I expected it was nice and quiet then and I got a good session in. What a great gym! Tons of equipment and all good stuff. Fitness freaks and serious athletes couldn't ask for better. And with this view from your treadmill, who wouldn't want to work out!

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There are though, what to my mind, are a couple of design flaws. Very little open floor space for folks wanting to do a floor workout; and only a single bathroom on the landing outside for use by everyone. Serious gym-goers will be working out for anywhere between an hour and two hours and will be drinking constantly to keep hydrated so proper bathroom facilities are a must. 😞

We didn't care for the MDR menu tonight; it's the one with the duck terrine. So we went to the WJ instead where supposedly it was Italian night. Maybe I just missed it but I really didn't see a whole lot of Italian food, just lasagna, polenta, meat balls, chicken parm and canoli. No tiramisu and overall a very poor selection of desserts, so I was a bit disappointed. I did not go hungry though and enjoyed a garden salad (I love that they do these in individual bowls) along with my lasagna and chicken parm. I wasn't impressed with the canoli as it was very dry but the red velvet from the non-Italian desserts was perfect.

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The evening was rounded off with an excellent comedy/juggling routine by Pete Matthews...

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Followed by another $20 contribution to the casino by DH.

At bedtime, our first towel animal of the cruise was waiting for us. Say "Hi" to Ellie the elephant! 🐘

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8 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

As many times as I’ve been to Naples (business) I have never taken the time to go to Capri.  I’m sure I will be sorry once I quit traveling for work.  The Amalfi coast is one of the most beautiful trips I have ever taken.  Not to be missed !

I would actually like to spend a few days in the area so that I could fit in both. And I have less of an excuse than you for not doing it as I can fly there in just a few hours... 

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10 minutes ago, FionaMG said:

I would actually like to spend a few days in the area so that I could fit in both. And I have less of an excuse than you for not doing it as I can fly there in just a few hours... 

If you decide to do that, be sure and see Herculaneum (Ercolano).  IMO it is a better ruin of Vesuvius than Vesuvius.  It is much smaller and easier to see plus waaaay less strenuous.  I also think it is better preserved.  Don’t call it “Herculaneum” to the locals though !  They will say they’ve never heard of it !  Herculaneum is a Greek name and they will only respond if you refer to it as Ercolano ! ☺️😉

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When I look at your Rome pictures it reminds me of my time there, it was my first ever family vacation. We went in Oct and it was still hot and humid, every place we went was congested and most of our guided tours had between 40-60 people. I loved Capri and agree that even when we went in 2017, Naples was dirty and congested.

I am on Odyssey in Nov and I am loving your blog. We have 3 obstructed balconies booked on deck 6. I look forward to hearing about the rest

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Day 3 - At Sea.

The Top Tier event was scheduled for 10.15 am. I carefully put the invitation on the desk so I would remember to pick it up on the way out to breakfast, saving us the need to return to the room beforehand. Of course, I forgot it. And on the way back to get it, we discovered that Odyssey has, on deck 6, a similar situation to deck 7 on Oasis class ships, where if you choose the wrong lifts you can't get through to the other side... so we had to go up or down on floor to get to our room. 🙄

According to the Captain, the number of passengers on board was 4,860 (not sure if he got that right; our stateroom attendant had told us 4,500), of which 1,586 were from the US, 567 from the UK and 187 from Canada. Apparently, there about 60 different nationalities among the passengers. I think a large proportion of the US passengers had come across on the TA and stayed on since everyone we spoke to with a north-American accent said they had done precisely that.

Top tier numbers:

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There were three new pins on this cruise and the top cruisers had 4,348 points.

Although the sea was calm today there was a stiff and quite chilly breeze, which did not prevent lots of peeps gravitating to the pool area. We were not among them; still too cold for us. The pic below was taken from indoors!

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Since our port the next day would be Santorini, we received information in our cabin about the tendering operations:

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We mostly spent the rest of the day just wandering around the ship and watching, rather than partaking in, the more active pursuits, such as the flow rider and the sky diving simulator. Some of the instructors are from Portugal and they were thrilled to be able to chat with us.

Today was the first formal evening on this cruise:

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Pumpkin soup, which we both thought was a bit too highly seasoned for our liking:

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Roasted tenderloin with mushroom sauce. One of our favourites and which has never let us down:

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And the Royal Chocolate Cake (again, but this time I remembered to take a pic before attacking it! 😆)

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The MDR was still a madhouse. The staff were running around like cats on a hot tin roof and the service was quite slow. I guess it was probably busier because of being formal night; from here on in, it seemed to settle down and be much more organised.

Tonight's show was supposed to have been The Effectors but it was postponed until the next day due to a last-minute technical hitch. In order not to leave guests who had booked at a loose end, they quickly put together an improvised concert of numbers performed by the vocalists from The Effectors, which was appreciated and nicely done given how little time they to prepare it. Each vocalist did two numbers, followed by one final song that they all did together.

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Day 4 - Santorini

For our day in Santorini, we did a ship sponsored tour called Santorini and Village Oia but in Spanish as that happened to be the one showing in the cruise planner at the time I booked. The same tour in English did not show up until several months later and at almost twice the price, so if you have sufficient Spanish to do a tour in that language, it can definitely be worthwhile considering this an option.

It was a really early start as we were on the first excursion tender but things ran smoothly to begin with. Then the hiccups began...

First we had to wait for half a dozen people who somehow didn't make it on to the tender. Then there were two ladies who had tickets for the excursion in English but wanted it in Spanish because they didn't speak any English, so that had to be sorted with the provider. And then we were very very late leaving Oia because a man couldn't find his wife; we found out later that she had somehow mixed up the car parks and was waiting in completely the wrong place!

Anyway, apart from that it was actually a very nice little excursion that included an hour of free time in Oia:

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Followed by a stop at a winery for Greek nibbles (cheese, olives, tomatoes and bread sticks) with wine (we had orange juice!)

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and an absolutely magnificent panoramic view from the terrace.

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We were about an hour late getting back to the ship because of all the delays but still in plenty of time for lunch and a snooze in the sun to recover from the early start. Out of all our fantastic port stops, this was the one DH liked the best.

One thing that was a bit annoying, however, was that the excursion description did not make it clear that we would have to return via the cable car, the cost of which was not included in the ticket price. The description made it sound like it was an option and that anyone who didn't want to use to the cable car would return to the tender drop-off on the bus. That is NOT the case and nobody on our bus was aware, precisely because of the poorly-worded description, so there were some rather upset people at the end. It was not until afterwards that we learned that none of the excursions return to the same place they drop off in the morning, where the buses are waiting, and that some, but not all, include the cable car tickets. Incidentally, the current cost of these is €6 pp each way.

Here are a couple more pics taken from our supposedly obstructed balcony:

This is the Regent Seven Seas Explorer arriving into Santorini first thing in the morning.

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And then this one was taken in the afternoon after we got back from the excursion. This was the one time I actually sat on the balcony and the sole purpose of sitting was to take a pic of the view from a sitting position!

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Tonight's dinner menu in the MDR:

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I'm afraid it's in Spanish; I didn't realise that the server had given us a bilingual menu (the other side is in English) until it was way too late to do anything about it. My bad. 🙄 It's the one with the garlic shrimp; you can see it in the app.

Anyway, we didn't really fancy any of the day's appetizers either on the main menu or the vegan menu so we just went with the artisan cheese plate:

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Followed by the garlic shrimp. Love them:

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And the Royal cheesecake. Just occurred to me that means we had cheese to start and cheese to finish.

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Normally when it's this menu, we would actually forego the appetizers and have the garlic shrimp as an appetizer, which I would follow with the lamb and DH with Steak Diane, but on this particular evening we were in a hurry because we were going to see The Effectors (postponed from the evening before) and the performance was at 9.30 pm, so we didn't want to be mucking about. We had our usual standing reservation in the My Time dining room of 8 pm but we went a bit early because of the earlier show time and were able to be seated immediately. From this point on, we would always be seated at the same table we were allocated this evening, and we enjoyed having our servers Gede and Jener looking after us, as they were very helpful and attentive.

So, with dinner done and dusted, we rushed off to see The Effectors. It was a very impressive show because of all the special effects, even though the story line was virtually non-existent. 

Just a couple of pics. If you want to get a better idea of the show, do a search for @twangster's fantastic photo report on it.

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And apart from DH's ritual loss of $20 in the casino, that rounded off day four.

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Day 5 - Kusadasi, Turkey

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Today, we went on a full day excursion to Ephesus, Didyma and Miletus with lunch. In other words, lots and lots of ruins.

We were supposed to do the tour precisely in that order, but it got changed around and this turned out for the better. Instead of being at Ephesus at its busiest time and not having lunch until around 3 pm, as scheduled, we actually did Didyma and Miletus first, followed by lunch, and then Ephesus, which made for a much more balanced and enjoyable day. We spoke to some peeps who had done it the "right" way round and they said they found it very long and tiring.

Really, the pictures say it all. It was all very impressive (if you're into that sort of thing. DH isn't really and he was all ruined out by the end of the day). I, on the other hand, despite not really being a history buff, quite enjoyed it. To me, it was a way better way to spend the day than wandering around shops.

We went first to Miletus, which included some time at the ancient theatre and at the museum. There were bathrooms available at both of these sites.

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We then continued to Didyma where we spent some time at the temple:

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There were no bathrooms here but the restaurants across the street will let you use theirs even without a purchase.

From here we went for lunch at a 5-star hotel called Pine Bay. It was a very impressive place and the lunch was fine. It was served buffet style with salads, main courses - chicken and donner kebab with rice, vegetables and pastries - and a dessert buffet with various traditional Turkish sweets, including baklava, which is one of my favourites:

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I did feel lunch was a bit rushed; we only had 45 minutes, but it was still better than going to Ephesus on empty tummies and not getting fed until afterwards.

So, Ephesus, the main attraction of the day. There are simply no words...

The goddess Nike:

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View from the top of the hill down towards the library. (Note that the entrance to the site is at the top of the hill and you walk downhill to the exit. You don't have to traipse back up the hill again.)

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A closer view:

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And a bit of detail:

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The amphitheatre:

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And the (former) public bathrooms!

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Apparently there would be musicians playing here to disguise the sound of the you-know-what plopping into the toilets. 😬

This was the last stop of the tour except for the carpet place just outside the port. These are pretty much included in every tour at this port, from what I have read, but never having been to one before we found it quite interesting and thought the carpets were beautiful even though we had no intention of buying anything. Now that we have seen it, on any future visit, we would just slip away back to the ship.

Walking back to the ship, we were surprised at how many shops there were, all selling what looked like pretty decent stuff.

The guide told us that this area had suffered terribly with the loss of cruise passengers due to the Syrian war and then Covid, so they are hoping and praying for a good summer season this year.

All in all I really liked this tour and thought it was reasonable value for money as cruise ship excursions go, but I purchased it during a sale (a real sale, for once) and it was selling at about 30 dollars more by the time the cruise planner closed.

Tonight's MDR menu:

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Roasted pumpkin soup:

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Achari gosht. I really liked this. Taking advantage of the new curry additions to the menu for the first time.

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I'm afraid there is no pic of tonight's dessert. It was the warm cookie and by the time I remembered I was supposed to be taking a pic there were only a few crumbs left. I did briefly consider ordering a second one purely for the sake of the blog but I really was too stuffed. 🙄😆

Tonight's entertainment in the theatre was the Love & Marriage show which we always enjoy. It did not fail us and was as hilarious as ever. I was just a bit surprised at how many couples rushed to put their hands up to say how long they'd been married and then backed down from actually going on stage. In the end there were two Irish couples and one from Scotland, so it was the battle of the Celts.

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6 hours ago, FionaMG said:

Instead of being at Ephesus at its busiest time and not having lunch until around 3 pm, as scheduled, we actually did Didyma and Miletus first, followed by lunch, and then Ephesus, which made for a much more balanced and enjoyable day.

My cruise this summer includes a tour of Ephesus but doesn't dock in Kusadasi until 1pm, around what time is the rush hour you mentioned? Hoping we may miss it with our arrival that late. Looks like the only other ships in port that day are 2 of the smaller, tall-ship style cruises. 

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6 hours ago, DDaley said:

My cruise this summer includes a tour of Ephesus but doesn't dock in Kusadasi until 1pm, around what time is the rush hour you mentioned? Hoping we may miss it with our arrival that late. Looks like the only other ships in port that day are 2 of the smaller, tall-ship style cruises. 

It's in the morning, as most people and tours head there first, so arriving at that time you will likely miss the worst of it. Going in the summer, it can be very hot there so make sure to use plenty of sunscreen, take water (they may provide one small bottle), wear a hat and seriously consider taking an umbrella for some shade as you walk (others will look at you enviously for not having thought of it themselves).

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Day 6 - Mykonos

We did not book an excursion for Mykonos as we had been told that the best way to enjoy this port would be simply to wander the maze of little streets, so with this in mind we also stipulated this as our "shopping" stop.

In the past, this used to be a tender port that would often be missed due to the wind. However, there is a new port on the island now that means ships can dock and Odyssey was berthed at the new port. From there you get a water taxi across to the town. It costs €2 per person each way and takes about 10 minutes, although you may have to sit and wait for a while until it fills up. They go every 15 minutes.

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Everything you've heard about how nice Mykonos is is true. We had a great time meandering through the little streets and getting lost - which ultimately had the benefit of us accidentally finding the apparently famous windmills that we did not know existed! 😆

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We managed to get all our souvenirs and a few treats for ourselves as well so we had a great time.  We both really liked this port (DH especially liked the fact that there were no ruins involved!)

Back on board, after lunch, we headed for what became our go-to spot for catching some rays (of the sunshine variety, rather than the fishy ones). Right across from the suite sundeck, on deck 15, there are two spots, one on either side of the ship, that are sheltered on three sides by the structure, meaning you are largely protected from the wind. Depending on the position of the sun, there may be sunshine on both sides or just one and with the exception of the last sea day we were pretty much able to get a spot in the sun here every afternoon. Obviously you're not right in the middle of the action at the main pool but it was more important to us to be sheltered from the wind.

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Tonight's MDR menu:

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Artichoke and pea salad, which I really liked. It was very refreshing.

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Chicken chettinad. This was quite a hot curry, so would not be to everyone's liking.

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And the chocolate souffle, one of my all-time favourites but which sadly tends only to put in an appearance on longer itineraries. Yum. 😋 Incidentally, the pecan pie that is also featured on tonight's menu was available at lunchtime in the Windjammer, which saved me from having to have two desserts at dinner.

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The show tonight was the Wild Boys, an 80s tribute band. This was a very energetic show and by the end they had the audience standing up dancing and singing and clapping. However, anyone cruising on Odyssey in the next few months won't have the chance to see them as they were leaving the ship the next day, in Rhodes, and won't be back till sometime in August. 

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I just wish they could have turned the sound down a bit as it was uncomfortably loud. We saw quite a lot of people getting up and leaving during the show and I'm pretty sure that the over-loud volume was probably the reason. Other people we spoke to agreed. I did mention this on the post-cruise questionnaire but whether it will have any effect remains to be seen.

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39 minutes ago, ellcee said:

I'm loving this blog. My last big trip pre 2020 was Italy and it was the best vacation I've had. How hot is it? I'm supposed to go back with a friend and I told them I refused to go back in any type of summer weather. 

I want this exact cruise for next year!

Thank you for coming along. 😊

The weather was generally pleasantly warm, although there would often be a rather cool breeze early on in the day and in the evening. I usually took a light-weight cover-up out with me in the morning and by lunchtime it would be tied around my waist. We were a bit concerned we might find it a bit too cool but it was actually perfect weather for sightseeing. As you move into summer it would get much hotter and, in fact, the tour that we did in Kusadasi is not offered in July and August because it is simply too hot.

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15 hours ago, FionaMG said:

It's in the morning, as most people and tours head there first, so arriving at that time you will likely miss the worst of it. Going in the summer, it can be very hot there so make sure to use plenty of sunscreen, take water (they may provide one small bottle), wear a hat and seriously consider taking an umbrella for some shade as you walk (others will look at you enviously for not having thought of it themselves).

Oh thank you for the umbrella suggestion! I have an SPF one I usually bring with an arm clamp so any chair can be a shaded chair and I've added it to my list. We were already planning to each have a camel pack for the ruins, I drink around 150oz of water a day so I will need it in that heat!! 

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9 minutes ago, DDaley said:

Oh thank you for the umbrella suggestion! I have an SPF one I usually bring with an arm clamp so any chair can be a shaded chair and I've added it to my list. We were already planning to each have a camel pack for the ruins, I drink around 150oz of water a day so I will need it in that heat!! 

Perfect. Sounds like you're all set. I hope you enjoy it as much I did. 🥰 

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Day 7 - Rhodes

View of Rhodes town from our famously obstructed balcony:

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Strictly speaking, there is absolutely no need to do an excursion in Rhodes. As you can see from the pics, the ship parks right next door to the old town and you can walk there in a couple of minutes. However, having been to Rhodes once before and loved it, I was terrified that there might still be restrictions in place requiring us to be on a ship-sponsored excursion in order to get off. I would have been devastated to be ported in Rhodes and not be able to get off the ship. So, precisely with this in mind, my strategy was to book a cheap excursion to guarantee that our visit to Rhodes would not be limited to looking at it from our balcony.

We did a pleasant little half day excursion called Filerimos and Mediaeval Town that I booked during another more or less genuine sale when it was selling for $45 instead of the usual $49. It took us up to the monastery at Filerimos, high on a hill above the town. This is a popular place with locals as somewhere to spend the day away from the blistering heat in the town during the summer months.

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The views are amazing and you can see either side of the island depending on where you are. It's just a pity it was a bit hazy today as that meant we did not have such a clear view as we might otherwise have had.

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There is a large colony of very tame peacocks at the site who are very loud and love posing for pictures!

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After this we went back down into Rhodes town for a short guided walking tour. On our previous visit to Rhodes we had been with family members who are only ever interested in poking around the shops, so I enjoyed learning a little about the town and the buildings this time round.

The moat around the old town is another popular place with locals who come here to have picnics and enjoy family days out.

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Rhodes was actually the deal breaker for choosing this cruise over the one after ours, where the itinerary was essentially the same but had Athens instead of Rhodes. So, after a quick lunch back on the ship, we went back out again for another wander around the town. DH bought himself a Greek shirt. I wonder if he will ever wear it?

Tonight's MDR menu:

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Seafood cake. I liked this; it was nice and crispy and had lots of flavour but DH, on the other hand, thought it was too spicy.

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Chicken korma. This is not a very spicy curry and it was nice enough but nothing very special.

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And, the star of the show... Mississippi mud pie! I had never had this before and it was so, so good! I wished I had room for a second helping. 😋

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The show tonight was The Book in Two70. I have to say I have mixed feelings about it. I thought it was very slow to start (and DH agreed which he demonstrated by falling asleep) and while I liked the aerial acrobatics, I thought the bazaar scene was way too busy. I can't say I was a huge fan of the seats either, which I found to be not very comfortable and, again, the sound was too loud. Having seen the show once, I don't think I'd be in a hurry to go back.

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This was the night that DH actually managed to get some winnings out of the tight-fisted casino and came out with $40. Don't all cheer though, because the next night he would lose the lot in about 20 seconds flat! 🙄😆

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1 hour ago, Va4fam said:

Following along, thank you for sharing your trip and photos. 

Our cruise next week will take us to Mykonos and Santorini and your report was very helpful.

I'm delighted to have been of help. I hope you have a wonderful time on your cruise. 😊

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Day 8 Chania (Souda), Crete

We had another early start today, much to DH's disgruntlement.

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We were in Crete and I had booked us on an excursion to Kournas, Arkadi Monastery and Rethymno.

Meeting time in the theatre was at 7 am and I mistakenly assumed that with there being early excursions the WJ would be open at 6 am, like it was in Santorini. Wrong! Saved by the Café Promenade. Moral of the story: always check opening times. 🙄😆

For those not taking an excursion, there was a shuttle provided to and from the port to the city of Chania at a cost of $6 per person for the round trip. Tickets could be purchased in the app or at the shore excursions desk. 

One of my reasons for purchasing an excursion here (apart from the obvious one of wanting to see a bit of the island) was that this was a short port day, with all-aboard at 2.30 pm and just as well, since our bus was the last one back, with the guide getting a phone call when we were a few minutes out to see where we were. And, in fact, we ended up being about 45 minutes late leaving as we waited for one couple who presumably missed the last shuttle and came screeching right up to the gangway in a taxi with a police escort! They were really lucky, as this was the last stop of the cruise. The next day was at sea and then back to Civi.

Anyway, excursion today to Arkadi Monastery, Rethymno and Lake Kournas was very nice, although I really don't know why they had us meet in the theatre at 7 when the ship wasn't even due to be cleared till 7.30. This was another one in Spanish, for the same reason as the one in Santorini.

Our first stop was at the monastery. After the guide showed us around we had some free time, which we put to good use by sampling some local yogurt with thyme honey at the café. It cost €4 for a huge plateful. I wish I had remembered to take a pic.

The monastery:

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An olive tree in the grounds. The arrow points to a hole made by a Turkish shell at some time in the past (can't remember what date).

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The next stop was in the town of Rethymno. Again, the guide showed us around a bit and then we had some more free time to wander.

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In the pic below, just faintly visible to the right of the lighthouse is a mountain with some snow on top. It's over 2000 metres high and the last of the snow doesn't melt until late June. Somehow, you just don't associate snow-capped mountains with the Greek Isles.

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Our final stop was at Lake Kournas where we got to sample a local speciality, a type of flatbread/pancake-type thing, made with cheese and spread with honey. It wasn't my favourite because I am not keen on sweet and savoury together, but I think I would have liked it more just with some butter.

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I enjoyed this excursion. I liked that we got to learn about each of the places we visited and then had a little bit of free time to explore them at will.

Tonight's MDR menu:

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We didn't fancy any of the starters on the main menu so we ordered the butternut squash soup from the vegan menu, which was very good. Unfortunately, by the time I remembered to take a pic all that was left of it was a drip on the tablecloth, but hey, it was essentially a bowl of orange-coloured soup so it's not too hard to imagine. My bad. 🙄😬

The lobster tails were very nice but also very small so our waiter brought us another one each. AND he took them out of the shells for us, which appears to be something of a dying tradition:

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The molten chocolate. I swear, I don't know why I keep ordering this cruise after cruise after cruise. It's never, ever molten. (Well with the exception of the one I had in Chops once). At least this one was mildly warm, a step up on the last time when it felt like it had come straight out of the fridge onto my plate.

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Tonight's show was Showgirl, a typical singing and dancing production show, enhanced with the use of technology and lighting effects. I liked it even though the story line was again tenuous.

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We went to guest services after the show to exchange our departure tags as the ones they'd given us were too late. I asked what happened to the forms they usually give out so people can say what time they need to be off the ship. Oh, we just assign times randomly now except for the people who've booked our transfers. Seriously?!?

I also asked where we could print our boarding passes for our flight home. Oh, we don't have computers and printers for guests' use any more because of COVID. What?!? They had them on Harmony back in September. Oh, well it's a corporate decision.

And I also needed to deal with the fact that my credit card company's security system is on steroids and declined the usual hold for my onboard account. It's an issue they have with electronic payments so I gave him the card and it turns out that they don't even have the physical payment terminals onboard any more. So of course when he tried to put it through without me inputting a pin of course it was declined again. Grrrr. Sometimes technology is just too sophisticated. Which means another wait in line tomorrow to try a different card or pay cash. Luckily we're not big spenders!

So I would have to say I was somewhat underwhelmed with this interaction and of course made a point of mentioning it on the post-cruise questionnaire.

And after all of that, we headed to the casino so that DH could lose last night's winnings. There was particular machine (tex mex oil magnate or some such thing) that seemed to be alternatively fairly generous and very tight-fisted. Tonight it took back all of the last night's winnings in about 20 seconds!

Edited by FionaMG
Sorry. Accidentally hit submit before I'd finished the post.
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Day 9 - At sea

This was our last day and, as usual, it seemed to come round so quickly. 😭

We started by heading to the Voom desk to get my free D day of internet activated. For those who might not be aware, if you buy an internet package, as I did, it effectively "hides" your free day and you have to go and see the Voom person for them to release it back to your account. While we were waiting in line, I spoke to an English crew member called Barrie who was working the line to see if he could help anyone out. I quizzed him about the lack of an internet café on board such a technologically advanced ship as Odyssey and he agreed and said he would pass it on to whoever. I don't know if he actually did/will but at least it felt like he was making an effort to accommodate me unlike the GS clerk who simply shrugged and brushed it off as a corporate decision. Not even the D concierge has access to a printer, so the only way to get anything printed is to email it to either the Voom person or a GS person (tip: the Voom line is invariably shorter and they are far more computer savvy).

Once that was done, we headed for breakfast ahead of Captain's Corner, which is something we always like to attend.

Ship information sheet:

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Captain's Corner this morning was a bit different from the ones we've attended in the past. Whereas usually you would you have the Captain, the CD or Activities Manager, the Hotel Director, the Head Chef and the Chief Engineer, today's presentation was just by the Captain and the CD:

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It included a behind the scenes video:

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And a couple of interesting size comparisons:

Oasis vs the Titanic vs the USS Enterprise!

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And the different ships in the fleet:

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I didn't ask a question this time round. I had one for the Head Chef, who usually attends these things, but since he didn't...

We also didn't get the usual sheet with the photos and biographies of the important crew members. 😞

After lunch there was the C&A behind the scenes talk, which was quite well attended. The three speakers explained a bit about what they do, answered questions and showed a couple of videos. It was slated to last 30 minutes but actually took an hour. I thought it was quite interesting but DH was bored and fell asleep. 

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And then we went off to revisit some of the places on the ship before they made us get off the next day, so indulge me if I post a couple of random shots:

Flowrider with the sky diving simulator in the backdrop. If you zoom in you can see one of the instructors flying high.

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Bumper cars. This was the first time we'd actually found time to see them in operation. Which reminds me I had intended to try a campfire cookie and never got round to it. Next time!

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The sea was like glass today:

A Grimaldi Lines ferry, taken from our balcony:

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And a volcano with a little puff of smoke coming out the top. Could have been either Etna or Stromboli, but I don't know for sure. I took the pic from the solarium where we retreated for a couple of hours before seeing to the dreaded packing, as it was too windy outdoors for our liking and our favourite sheltered spot on deck 15 was completely full.

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Unusually, we actually managed to get all our packing done and suitcases outside the door before we went for dinner.

Final MDR menu:

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Coconut shrimp. Very good; another of my favourites.

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Lamb shank, one of my all-time favourites, never disappoints.

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And the dark chocolate brownie. A wonderful dessert to end a wonderful cruise. 😋

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Because of being so efficient with our packing we were able to see the final show of the cruise too, which usually we miss.

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This was a magician/comedian and he was funny and entertaining. I thought the turnout was surprisingly good for the last night of the cruise.

And then it was off to bed in preparation for the next day's shock to the system.

 

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On 5/26/2022 at 1:29 PM, FionaMG said:

I also asked where we could print our boarding passes for our flight home. Oh, we don't have computers and printers for guests' use any more because of COVID. What?!? They had them on Harmony back in September. Oh, well it's a corporate decision.

Wow! Next time you have issues, try the Diamond concierge. They've always been able to print for me when needed. 

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45 minutes ago, AshleyDillo said:

Wow! Next time you have issues, try the Diamond concierge. They've always been able to print for me when needed. 

To be fair, we never got round to meeting the D concierge, so it's entirely possible she could have done it for us, but the one time we went to the lounge I definitely didn't see a printer in there and I was looking precisely with that purpose in mind.

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And so it was finally "get off our ship day". 😭 

Here's how it went:

Disembarkation:

The allocation of tags could have been improved. In the past, you would receive a form in your stateroom so you could say what time you needed to be off the ship. Not so on this cruise; the only assigned tags were for those who were taking Royal's transfers. Everyone else was assigned randomly (according to Guest Services), which is just plain stupid. This meant there were lots of guests in line to get their tags changed, us included. However, once we finally reached the desk there were no issues getting new ones and our tags were actually called a bit ahead of the estimated time. We dragged our feet a little, bearing in mind that we had transport booked at 9 and had 8.30 tags.

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It probably took us all of about 10 minutes to ding out for the last time and walk through the terminal to the car park, where there were lots of drivers holding up name signs. Since we were early, ours was not there but we did finally spot him at about 8.50.

Homeward bound:

Our flight home was not until 5.30 pm and I had originally planned on getting a transfer straight to the airport, where we would store our bags and then go and visit the nearby Etruscan ruins of Ostia Antica. Except it hadn't clicked that our cruise ended on a Monday and the Etruscan ruins are all closed on Mondays. 🙄 DH has no idea how lucky he was to avoid another dose of ruins! 😆

Consequently, I arranged with our pre-cruise hotel to return there and store our bags for a few hours before heading to the airport so that we could have another little wander around Rome. With this is mind I booked a shared shuttle, again with Civitavecchia Shuttle Express, back to the hotel. As I mentioned above the driver met us as scheduled, but we were the last of four drop-offs so it took us two hours to get there, by which time I was second guessing myself and almost wishing we'd just headed straight to the airport. In the end, though I was glad we didn't. We had a pleasant wander around - much better than sitting around the airport for 6 hours - and went for lunch in the nearby Monti area of Rome, where the guide on our first walking tour had told us we would get sensible prices and decent quality. And he was right.

Last lunch in Rome:

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I had again booked our return taxi to the airport with Fiumicino Taxis. The driver arrived about 10  minutes early, which worked fine for us as we had already arrived back at the hotel a few minutes beforehand, and the trip to the airport took just under 30 minutes.

I was surprised at how "un-chaotic" the airport was (except for our airline's check-in desk but we're used to this with TAP; the Air France desks opposite seemed much more orderly). The security line was long and zig-zagging but fast-moving, as there were lots of stations open. This was in Terminal 1 and we were flying within the Schengen area, so I don't know how typical a situation this is or if it might be different in other parts of the airport.

Someone from the CC roll call posted that a lot of American cruisers had missed their flights home because they had to be tested at the airport for their same-day flights and the line was long and very slow-moving, with a waiting time of around four hours! So while that testing requirement is still in place for those of you flying back to the US, it would be well worth considering a next-day flight that gives you the chance to get tested before heading to the airport for your flight. Another member of our roll call opted to stay overnight at the Rome Airport Hilton, where they were able to test, allowing them to get their results (happily negative) without the ordeal of potentially missing their flight home.

Final remarks:

The ship:

This was our first time sailing a Quantum class ship and, while I liked the ship, I would be bound to say it is definitely not my favourite class. I missed the open spaces like Central Park and the Boardwalk on Oasis class, as well as the wider promenades on Oasis and Voyager class. I felt that the Via (I think that's what it was called) was rather a waste of space as there wasn't really anything on it, and the Esplanade was too narrow. I didn't like the way the Diamond lounge was so hidden away that we had to go hunting for it (the reason we only went there once). And I didn't like the lack of an internet cafe and a physical payment terminal at Guest Services, both of which caused us inconvenience. As a space, I thought Two70 was lovely, but it didn't do it for me as an entertainment venue because of the layout of the seating. The gym was fantastic but had a couple of what, to me, were design flaws: not enough open floor space for peeps wanting to do floor work outs; and no bathrooms! There was only a single bathroom on the landing outside, for everyone's use - men, women, families and disabled people. That's just not good enough. Folks doing a serious workout can be in the gym for an hour or two and they will be drinking fluids constantly to keep hydrated. Proper bathroom facilities are a must.

Entertainment:

All in all, I thought the entertainment was good. For once, we managed to see all the shows because there were performances scheduled for later times after dinner (9.30 or 10.30). We rarely make it to pre-dinner shows because they clash with my gym time and DH's hot tub time. I liked the special effects in the Effectors even though the story line was weak and I enjoyed the headliners and the production shows. I wasn't impressed by The Book. I thought it started way too slowly (and DH agreed by falling asleep within the first five minutes) and, while I enjoyed the aerial acrobatics, I thought the bazaar scene was messy.

The food:

Always subjective, I thought that the food in the MDR was good. We ate there for dinner every night except the night which had the Duck Terrine appetizer on the menu, as we don't like that particular menu. We would have done Teppanyaki that night instead but did not want to book before the cruise, when we could have got it for $38 each, because we didn't know which night that particular menu would show up; and we didn't want to book on board once we did know because the onboard price was an unjustifiably expensive $54. In retrospect, it was probably a mistake not to book it beforehand; I could have attempted to change it on board, if necessary and, in a worst case scenario, I would have been able to cancel and get the money back. I will bear that in mind for future cruises where there is a Teppanyaki option.

Breakfasts and most lunches were in the Windjammer. I thought the food was just OK there and very lacking in variety, especially at lunchtime. We ate dinner there on the "duck terrine" night, when supposedly the WJ had an Italian theme, and I was very disappointed at the lack of choices. I have seen much much better on other ships. But hopefully, this situation is temporary and will gradually improve as the ships get back to their pre-covid standards.

The Staff:

In a word: fantastic. They went out of their way to provide excellent service and make sure we had a good time. And we did. I can't praise their efforts, in still very difficult circumstances, highly enough. They were still having to wear masks and many of them were actually double-masking. And during our cruise, they were only just beginning to be allowed some very limited shore leave. I really hope that will continue and improve going forward as they certainly deserve it.

To sum up:

Overall, this was a great trip. The itinerary was fabulous and I would happily do it again. Thanks to everyone who's been reading my rambles. It's been a huge pleasure to relive our experience onboard Odyssey and I will undoubtedly revisit the thread just to remind myself what a good time we had! Doing a blog like this is a great way to look back on your cruise so if you've never done one I would definitely recommend giving it a try. Plus, you'll be providing useful information for other blog users.

Our next cruise is going to be on Anthem, out of Southampton, to the Canary Isles in late September. Hopefully I will be able to do another blog then. 

Wishing you all happy cruising in the meantime. 😊

 

 

 

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2 hours ago, Carotthat said:

Hello @FionaMG, just asking about the procedure at the port Civitavecchia:

Did your shared shuttle drop you off at the RCT to check in? And then you took the free shuttle bus to dock 12 (or another one)?

 

Thanks,

Carotthat

It dropped us right beside the ship at the entrance to the terminal. That's something to check for in the descriptions on the different companies' websites. Most of them say something to the effect that they are licensed to take you right to the ship. That is definitely preferable.

Only one of the ones that I looked at had wording that suggested they dropped you at the port gate, necessitating the use of the shuttle bus.

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53 minutes ago, FionaMG said:

It dropped us right beside the ship at the entrance to the terminal. That's something to check for in the descriptions on the different companies' websites. Most of them say something to the effect that they are licensed to take you right to the ship. That is definitely preferable.

Only one of the ones that I looked at had wording that suggested they dropped you at the port gate, necessitating the use of the shuttle bus.

...saying, the Terminal is close to the ship - the Rome Cruise Terminal 🤔

I was wondering whether to check in at the terminal and then take another shuttle bus to the ship....

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31 minutes ago, Carotthat said:

...saying, the Terminal is close to the ship - the Rome Cruise Terminal 🤔

I was wondering whether to check in at the terminal and then take another shuttle bus to the ship....

Odyssey was berthed right next to the terminal so the taxi dropped us at the door, we went into the building to deal with the check-in formalities, and then up the stairs and straight onto the ship. No other form of transport was needed.

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43 minutes ago, Eddie Ireland said:

@FionaMG - thanks very much for taking the time to do this. I appreciate the effort. I'm doing this exact cruise with my wife in September, it will be our first cruise and I got lots of useful information from this. Thanks again.

My pleasure. I'm so glad it was helpful. You're going to have an amazing time for sure! 😊

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