What I favored (and disliked) about my Odyssey of the Seas cruise

Irrespective of what number of instances I sail on a cruise ship, there’s at all times at the least just a few takeaways from the expertise.

I took my household on an ideal 8-night cruise on Royal Caribbean’s Odyssey of the Seas, and it was my first time again on Odyssey since late final 12 months.  Rather a lot has modified within the cruise world since then, and I got here again with just a few fascinating observations from the cruise.

Because of the international well being disaster, Odyssey of the Seas’ launch was delayed and coming into service so near Surprise of the Seas, Odyssey was shortly overshadowed by all the eye Surprise obtained. Having had the prospect to revisit Odyssey, I discovered a variety of issues that stood out about this ship.

Any cruise you go on could have positives and negatives, and a few of these are nuances instantly associated to the ship itself.  This is not meant to be an all-encompassing overview of Odyssey. Somewhat, 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 below are the issues I favored and disliked about my newest crusing on Odyssey of the Seas.

Likes on Odyssey of the Seas

Dance events in Two70 & Music Corridor

Often when Royal Caribbean holds a ’70s dance get together or another massive celebration, they maintain it proper in the midst of the ship. On Odyssey of the Seas, they moved it to a particular venue and I liked this variation.

On different ships, these dance events are within the Royal Promenade and meaning the principle thoroughfare of the ship is inundated with music, dancing, and many visitors. That is advantageous in case you’re there to boogie, but it surely additionally means different types of leisure should quickly cease and it additionally jams up probably the most handy (indoor) method to get from one finish of the ship to the opposite.

On Odyssey, these occasions had been held in both Two70 or Music Corridor.  This meant people 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 massive sufficient to really feel like a celebration and never some cramped room. The power 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.

Greatest web at sea

Possibly 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 Attract 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?

Once I say Odyssey’s web was higher, I imply the web was responsive, quick, and barely “disappeared” by way of outages.

As a substitute of Starlink, Odyssey of the Seas nonetheless depends on web service offered by O3b Networks, which is a subsidiary of SES. Earlier than 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.

After all, Royal Caribbean will finally change out Odyssey from O3b to Starlink.

Why did Odyssey’s web carry out so a lot better? I am not a community engineer so I do not need to fake I do know precisely why.  A part of the explanation often is the High quality of Service (QoS), which is a mechanism for controlling community visitors for efficiency.

In any case, if I used to be going to do work from a cruise ship, I would need to be on Odyssey of the Seas for it.

Greatest trying principal eating room

Whereas 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 minimize out the highest of the eating room to open it as much as the Through, and the general aesthetic is beautiful.

We solely ate on the principal eating room for Thanksgiving dinner, however I actually like how the eating room seems to be on Odyssey of the Seas.

Effectors: Greatest present within the fleet?

Might Royal Caribbean’s unique manufacturing, The Effectors, be the very best 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 choices and really spectacular technical results, I feel Effectors has the very best steadiness of pizazz and story but.

Whereas 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.

After all, I have never seen Effectors II but on Surprise of the Seas, so this will likely change once I sail on Surprise 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.

Initially, the SeaPlex is numerous enjoyable for visitors of all ages.  I like there’s numerous completely different actions supplied right here, and never all of it’s purely for the beneath 18 set.

I had a good time on the primary day of the cruise taking part in badminton with my daughter. Later, we obtained to journey bumper automobiles 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 at the least as soon as.

After all, youngsters love the actions within the SeaPlex and the proof is in how well-attended all of the occasions are. 

Throughout a current media occasion, Royal Caribbean Worldwide President and CEO Michael Bayley joked they make investments thousands and thousands of {dollars} in new areas for teenagers on cruise ships however the teenagers at all times find yourself hanging out within the stairwells.  On Odyssey of the Seas, the kids would at the least maintain off from going to the staircases till the SeaPlex closed at 11pm.

Greatest Playmakers within the fleet

Talking of the SeaPlex, I must level out how good the Playmakers location is on Odyssey of the Seas.

Royal Caribbean put Playmakers on the second ground of the SeaPlex and it is a residence 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 places are too scorching or humid most time of the 12 months for my style, and on ships the place it’s indoors, it will get means 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 a number of area, and an enormous display to catch the sport. Even when there’s not a recreation to observe on the display, you may watch the motion under within the SeaPlex.

Whereas I do just like the Playmakers places on Independence and Freedom of the Seas, the Playmakers on Odyssey is the one Playmakers location that could be a actual vacation spot for me throughout the cruise.

Cafe @ Two70 is my go-to grab-and-go spot

When it comes to menu, Cafe @ Two70 is not that completely different from Park Cafe on different ships, but it surely has simply sufficient distinction that I significantly choose it.

First, it has a full espresso menu that you simply normally discover on Cafe Promenade on different ships.  However not like Cafe Promenade, Cafe @ Two70 tended to be far much less busy.

Plus, Cafe @ Two70 has an ideal collection of meals for breakfast and lunch. Not solely are there good choices, however they’re fast.  That is so useful on port days the place I need to get everybody in my household one thing to eat, however achieve this shortly.

The icing on the cake for Cafe @ Two70 is the view you may get pleasure from whereas consuming. Positioned 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

Present schedule

There isn’t a good leisure schedule that may work for everybody’s private schedule, however I did not perceive among the present scheduling on Odyssey of the Seas.

There have been far too many showings of The Ebook in Two70 and never practically sufficient of Effectors.

On our 8-night cruise, it appeared they confirmed The Ebook 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

Possibly that is simply me, however I discovered the elevators to be the worst by way of wait instances on Odyssey of the Seas in comparison with another ship I have been on for the reason that restart in 2021.

There’s a number of components concerned with how lengthy you will look ahead to an elevator and luck positively performs a big half.  However I really was baffled by the “logic” the elevator system used to assign automobiles.

Apart from simply ready a very long time for an elevator, there have been many instances the place an empty elevator would zoom previous us solely to have one other practically full automotive come to our ground for a cease.

Removed from a significant downside, I simply discovered it perplexing how inefficient the elevators had been on Odyssey.

Learn extra: Why it’s best to 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 suppose I’ve a reasonably good deal with on how this explicit type of leisure is dealt with and what works properly.

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 power. Just like the Schooner Bar participant, the pub singer expertise is all about power from the gang coming again to the singer. So to go from singing alongside to trivia felt disjointed and it is not one thing I’ve seen on another ship.