No matter what number of occasions I sail on a cruise ship, there’s all the time not less than just a few takeaways from the expertise.
I took my household on an awesome 8-night cruise on Royal Caribbean’s Odyssey of the Seas, and it was my first time again on Odyssey since late final yr. Quite quite a bit has modified within the cruise world since then, and I got here again with just a few attention-grabbing observations from the cruise.
Due to the worldwide well being disaster, Odyssey of the Seas’ launch was delayed and getting into service so near Wonder of the Seas, Odyssey was shortly overshadowed by all the eye Wonder acquired. Having had the possibility to revisit Odyssey, I discovered numerous issues that stood out about this ship.
Any cruise you go on can have positives and negatives, and a few of these are nuances immediately associated to the ship itself. This is not meant to be an all-encompassing evaluation of Odyssey. Rather, just a few takeaways from my cruise whereas they’re recent in my thoughts.
In an effort to share my expertise with our readers, listed here are the issues I preferred and disliked about my newest crusing on Odyssey of the Seas.
Likes on Odyssey of the Seas
Dance events in Two70 & Music Hall
Usually when Royal Caribbean holds a ’70s dance occasion or another huge celebration, they maintain it proper in the midst of the ship. On Odyssey of the Seas, they moved it to a selected venue and I liked this transformation.
On different ships, these dance events are within the Royal Promenade and which means the principle thoroughfare of the ship is inundated with music, dancing, and many friends. That’s nice in case you’re there to boogie, nevertheless it additionally means different types of leisure should briefly cease and it additionally jams up probably the most handy (indoor) solution to get from one finish of the ship to the opposite.
On Odyssey, these occasions had been held in both Two70 or Music Hall. This meant those who wished to bounce and be a part of the enjoyable might go to those spots and luxuriate in it. Plus, each venues had been giant sufficient to really feel like a celebration and never some cramped room. The vitality you get from partying with a crowd was nonetheless there.
The profit was the Royal Esplanade remained clear and musical acts within the pub or Boleros might proceed unabated. Plus, navigating the ship from end-to-end was not impacted.
Best web at sea
Maybe you heard that Royal Caribbean is rolling out Starlink web to all of the ships within the fleet?
I’ve tried Starlink on Independence of the Seas and Allure of the Seas up to now, and the web on Odyssey of the Seas carried out considerably higher than both ship. Did I point out Odyssey of the Seas is not on Starlink but?
When I say Odyssey’s web was higher, I imply the web was responsive, quick, and barely “disappeared” by way of outages.
Instead of Starlink, Odyssey of the Seas nonetheless depends on web service offered by O3b Networks, which is a subsidiary of SES. Before Royal Caribbean modified each ship’s web service to be known as “Voom”, this was the web service that first coined the time period Voom.
Of course, Royal Caribbean will ultimately swap out Odyssey from O3b to Starlink.
Why did Odyssey’s web carry out so significantly better? I’m not a community engineer so I do not wish to fake I do know precisely why. Part of the explanation will be the Quality of Service (QoS), which is a mechanism for controlling community site visitors for efficiency.
In any case, if I used to be going to do work from a cruise ship, I’d wish to be on Odyssey of the Seas for it.
Best wanting important eating room
While the precise meals served in any restaurant is finally what makes it a good selection or not, I am unable to assist however love the look of the principle eating room on Odyssey of the Seas.
Spectrum of the Seas was the primary cruise ship to undertake this look, however since Spectrum has been in Asia since her launch, I’ve solely had the privilege to sail on Odyssey.
Royal Caribbean lower out the highest of the eating room to open it as much as the Via, and the general aesthetic is gorgeous.
We solely ate on the important eating room for Thanksgiving dinner, however I actually like how the eating room seems to be on Odyssey of the Seas.
Effectors: Best present within the fleet?
Could Royal Caribbean’s unique manufacturing, The Effectors, be the most effective present proper now throughout the fleet?
With all due respect to the Broadway exhibits, if you wish to take a look at simply the exhibits Royal Caribbean has created, I feel Effectors is likely to be my best choice.
Between the music picks and really spectacular technical results, I feel Effectors has the most effective stability of pizazz and story but.
While I nonetheless need Royal Caribbean to develop exhibits with a extra coherent plot, Effectors has sufficient of it that it clearly stands out from each different present I’ve seen.
Of course, I have not seen Effectors II but on Wonder of the Seas, so this may occasionally change after I sail on Wonder in just a few weeks.
SeaPlex is unbelievable
Odyssey of the Seas is the fifth Quantum Class ship, and it is clear they nailed the implementation of the SeaPlex on this ship.
First and foremost, the SeaPlex is numerous enjoyable for friends of all ages. I like there’s numerous totally different actions provided right here, and never all of it’s purely for the below 18 set.
I had a good time on the primary day of the cruise enjoying badminton with my daughter. Later, we received to trip bumper vehicles and that left a smile on our faces.
Then there’s Zone Zero, which is an extremely spectacular digital actuality expertise that everybody ought to do not less than as soon as.
Of course, children love the actions within the SeaPlex and the proof is in how well-attended all of the occasions are.
During a latest media occasion, Royal Caribbean International President and CEO Michael Bayley joked they make investments tens of millions of {dollars} in new areas for teenagers on cruise ships however the teenagers all the time find yourself hanging out within the stairwells. On Odyssey of the Seas, the teenagers would not less than maintain off from going to the staircases till the SeaPlex closed at 11pm.
Best Playmakers within the fleet
Speaking of the SeaPlex, I have to level out how good the Playmakers location is on Odyssey of the Seas.
Royal Caribbean put Playmakers on the second flooring of the SeaPlex and it is a house run (a sports activities reference for a sports activities bar!).
On most ships, Playmakers is both outside or overcrowded from its handy location mid-ship. The outside areas are too sizzling or humid most time of the yr for my style, and on ships the place it’s indoors, it will get method too crowded from visitor overflow as a result of it is a handy place to simply cease in.
On Odyssey, it is air-conditioned, has plenty of house, and a large display to catch the sport. Even when there’s not a recreation to observe on the display, you possibly can watch the motion beneath within the SeaPlex.
While I do just like the Playmakers areas on Independence and Freedom of the Seas, the Playmakers on Odyssey is the one Playmakers location that may be a actual vacation spot for me in the course of the cruise.
Cafe @ Two70 is my go-to grab-and-go spot
In phrases of menu, Cafe @ Two70 is not that totally different from Park Cafe on different ships, nevertheless it has simply sufficient distinction that I drastically choose it.
First, it has a full espresso menu that you just normally discover on Cafe Promenade on different ships. But in contrast to Cafe Promenade, Cafe @ Two70 tended to be far much less busy.
Plus, Cafe @ Two70 has an awesome collection of meals for breakfast and lunch. Not solely are there good choices, however they’re fast. This is so useful on port days the place I wish to get everybody in my household one thing to eat, however accomplish that shortly.
The icing on the cake for Cafe @ Two70 is the view you possibly can take pleasure in whereas consuming. Located adjoining to Two70, I liked taking my espresso and bagel to Two70 and having fun with a view outdoors.
Dislikes on Odyssey of the Seas
Show schedule
There is not any good leisure schedule that can work for everybody’s private schedule, however I did not perceive a few of the present scheduling on Odyssey of the Seas.
There had been far too many showings of The Book in Two70 and never practically sufficient of Effectors.
On our 8-night cruise, it appeared they confirmed The Book for the primary two thirds of the cruise and left Effectors to simply the final two nights of the cruise. I do know they had been swapping out casts on our cruise, so maybe that factored into that call. I simply want there was extra alternatives to see Effectors.
Elevator logic
Maybe that is simply me, however I discovered the elevators to be the worst by way of wait occasions on Odyssey of the Seas in comparison with some other ship I’ve been on because the restart in 2021.
There’s plenty of components concerned with how lengthy you will look forward to an elevator and luck positively performs a big half. But I really was baffled by the “logic” the elevator system used to assign vehicles.
Besides simply ready a very long time for an elevator, there have been many occasions the place an empty elevator would zoom previous us solely to have one other practically full automotive come to our flooring for a cease.
Far from a significant drawback, I simply discovered it perplexing how inefficient the elevators had been on Odyssey.
Read extra: Why you must skip the elevator in your cruise
Pub singer and trivia schedule
This final dislike is tremendous small, however I did not perceive why they scheduled trivia inbetween units of the pub singer.
As a purveyor of pub singing leisure throughout Royal Caribbean, I prefer to assume I’ve a fairly good deal with on how this specific type of leisure is dealt with and what works nicely.
On Odyssey, the pub singer would begin his first set, after which when it was time for a break, they’d carry a trivia crew to conduct a trivia session. Then the pub singer would resume along with his subsequent set.
Frankly, it was jarring by way of vitality. Similar to the Schooner Bar participant, the pub singer expertise is all about vitality from the group coming again to the singer. So to go from singing alongside to trivia felt disjointed and it isn’t one thing I’ve seen on some other ship.