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The beginning of the Odyssey. 8 Nights Odyssey of the Seas February. 25th 2023


Andrew72681

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So things have been so crazy the past year and a half since moving to Florida, I’ve been lax in doing liveblogs. I’m hoping I can use this cruise as the way to get back leading to being probably one of fifty liveblogs on next year’s icon inaugural. 
 

Some background- this will be my second time on Odyssey. Was able to sail her during the “dark times” of October 2021 when the ship was mostly empty and you couldn’t even sit at bar stools. I still loved the ship so when the opportunity came up we jumped at it. 
 

The Specifics

Guests-It’ll be me, my wife, and my 12 year old daughter on this sailing (who the other day informed us that she had counted and this will be her 17th cruise), My mom and aunt will be on as well in their own room  

Room- we’ve booked a junior suite on Deck 11 pending some unforeseen RoyalUp magic. After having one in  2021, I’m a big fan of the split bathroom over the walk in closet. There’s still lots of room for clothes and having more space to get ready is better.

DX- can’t do that one anymore. Stress related epilepsy and a neurologist who says no drinking. Luckily she didn’t say no gambling, so you’ll still find me at the blackjack table, just with a “plain” Coke in hand instead of a Captain and Coke.

Dining-not long after we book onboard Harmony this past April, the dining package went on sale for 235, which giving the selection of specialty restaurants seemed like an OK deal, it’s also the last time we’ll be able to get children’s pricing as our daughter turns 13 in June  

itinerary- as with most southern Caribbean this is a sea day heavy sailing. Our only stops are Labadee, Aruba, and Curacao. Luckily that leads to pretty long times in port with time to explore. We’ve been to Labadee several times, and have flown to Aruba for weeklong vacations. So Curaçao will be the first time for us.

 

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19 minutes ago, JohnK6404 said:

Welcome back! Envious of your move to Florida!

We loved Odyssey and will definitely be following along… have an awesome time!

Thanks. This time I’ll actually have someone along to take pictures of me looking ridiculous in the IFly. Last time I was solo wasting time and spending severance between roles so couldn’t capture anything. 

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Probably the last of the cruise planner purchases today. A few weeks ago I promised my daughter we could go to an arcade, but then we had to leave early, so prepurchased some arcade credits for her. It’s a 20 percent savings versus buying onboard, and gives a definitive stopping point. 

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1 hour ago, Andrew72681 said:

Probably the last of the cruise planner purchases today. A few weeks ago I promised my daughter we could go to an arcade, but then we had to leave early, so prepurchased some arcade credits for her. It’s a 20 percent savings versus buying onboard, and gives a definitive stopping point. 

About that... the arcade may be able to override any limits you set, or pre-purchased credits, and it is hard to keep track of how many credits you have left (reports that people have to go to the casino to get a print out), so maybe just keep a very close eye on what she has spent at any given time? 

If your daughter has a C&A number, the youth offers for the last year or so have included a $25 credit back to the account when $50 is spent in the arcade. If you were planning on spending at least $50, thought I would make you aware of it in case it is a more appealing option!

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On 2/14/2023 at 6:21 PM, jbrinkm said:

About that... the arcade may be able to override any limits you set, or pre-purchased credits, and it is hard to keep track of how many credits you have left (reports that people have to go to the casino to get a print out), so maybe just keep a very close eye on what she has spent at any given time? 

If your daughter has a C&A number, the youth offers for the last year or so have included a $25 credit back to the account when $50 is spent in the arcade. If you were planning on spending at least $50, thought I would make you aware of it in case it is a more appealing option!

I’ll have to check out the offers when we get onboard. Luckily less than 8 days from now. 

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Day -1. 
After completing everyone’s health questions we just got on the road to our hotel for the night. Traffic is not being cooperative so far and it’s showing almost three hours and 45 minutes from our house in winter garden. Will still be there in plenty of time to meet up with family for dinner. 

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As has become a Port Everglades departure tradition, we decided when we got into town to head to @Lovetocruise2002’s recommendation, Labamba over on Cordova. Didn’t need it this time but there’s a very convenient Publix next door for last minute needs. 
The food and the service was very good and my loved her coconut mojito. 

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After dinner it was off to our hotel. When we were down in December we stayed at the Hilton Fort Lauderdale Marina. This time as I had some expiring Marriott certificates, we used one for a night at the Renaissance Fort Lauderdale Marina as it’s hard to beat the price of FREE

https://www.marriott.com/en-us/hotels/fllbr-renaissance-fort-lauderdale-marina-hotel/overview/

 

The hotel is in need of a refurbishment which has started, but wasn’t mentioned during booking. Not a big deal as we’re just here to sleep for the night. The room overall is alright, could definitely use some aftermarket USB plugs (the CUBI devices are super easy now) as the only plug on the nightstand was one on the lamp which is unusable because it’s so far down.

Hopefully the bathroom gets an upgrade during the renovation as it’s showing its age. 

 

 

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2 hours ago, Andrew72681 said:

As has become a Port Everglades departure tradition, we decided when we got into town to head to @Lovetocruise2002’s recommendation, Labamba over on Cordova. Didn’t need it this time but there’s a very convenient Publix next door for last minute needs. 
The food and the service was very good and my loved her coconut mojito. 

My SIL and BIL live in FLL and have taken us to Labamba. 😄 They also really, really like Carlos & Pepe's on 17th for Mexican. 

And of course I'm following.  Just took advantage of Odyssey moving to NJ so following along with great interest. 😍

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8 hours ago, SweetPea said:

My SIL and BIL live in FLL and have taken us to Labamba. 😄 They also really, really like Carlos & Pepe's on 17th for Mexican. 

And of course I'm following.  Just took advantage of Odyssey moving to NJ so following along with great interest. 😍

We’ll have to try Carlos and Pepe’s, we’re back down this way Memorial Day weekend for another 8 nighter to the ABC Islands on Celebrity Equinox. 

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5 hours ago, sherrydavis44 said:

Hi, sailing on Odessey on March 10th, can you tell me if they offer the drink cards onboard?

 

They only offer the drinks cards when deluxe beverage package sales are low. Then it will be something like day 4 on a 7 night sailing. Historically speaking larger class ships, like Odyssey, won't have a problem with guest buying drink packages. Also, a March 10th sailing will fall in/around spring break meaning a big fat no to the drink cards. 

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59 minutes ago, CrimsonCruiser said:

ooh! a live vlog I'm not too late for! an on Sweet Odyssey, our first mega ship 🤩

And hopefully when we get to Aruba on Wednesday I’ll have fast enough Wi-Fi to put up the day 2 and day 3 blogs with all the pictures. It keeps Toni g out because of the slow upload speed. 

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