My first cruise of 2024 was on Odyssey of the Seas, and it did not disappoint! For this eight-night voyage, my mom and I visited Perfect Day at CocoCay, Aruba, and Curaçao.
I have never been to Aruba and Curaçao, so I was eager to explore both of these new-to-me ports of call. I was also excited to be sailing on Odyssey of the Seas, one of Royal Caribbean’s newest ships.
If you’re planning a cruise on Odyssey of the Seas in 2024, my experience may be helpful for you as you prepare for your cruise on this beautiful ship. Let’s get into it!
Overview of Odyssey of the Seas
With so much hype about Royal Caribbean’s newest ships, like Icon of the Seas, Utopia of the Seas, and even Wonder of the Seas, many people forget that Odyssey of the Seas is a new ship as well.
In fact, Odyssey of the Seas’ inaugural sailing was in July of 2021. She was supposed to launch earlier in 2020, but the pandemic postponed these plans.
Odyssey of the Seas is part of the Quantum Ultra Class. Spectrum of the Seas is also a part of this class, launching in 2019. Both of these Quantum Ultra ships are slightly bigger than the ships in the Quantum Class. Odyssey of the Seas’ guest capacity is 5,498 guests. The guest capacity on Quantum Class ships is around 4,900.
Read more: Top 10 Odyssey of the Seas hidden secrets
Embarkation and disembarkation
For this sailing, Odyssey of the Seas sailed roundtrip from Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
As a cruising rule of thumb, you should always fly to the port the day before your cruise to allocate time in case of travel cancelations or delays. My mom and I were able to take a direct flight to Fort Lauderdale from our hometown in the Midwest, so that was very slick!
We stayed at the Marriott Fort Lauderdale Airport Hotel in Dania Beach. I have stayed at this hotel many times (as well as the connecting hotel, AC Hotel Fort Lauderdale Airport), and I couldn't recommend it enough. The location is perfect because you are near the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL) and Port Everglades. The hotel is also near the Dania Pointe shopping center and is a great place to grab dinner the night before your cruise.
The next day, we took a Lyft from our hotel to Port Everglades. The ride was 15 minutes and cost $21, including a tip.
Our check-in time was at 2 p.m. It appeared that it was going to storm around that time, so we decided to get to the port earlier (around 1:30 p.m.) to see if they would let us check in early. Luckily, there were no problems with us showing up early and we were onboard Odyssey of the Seas by 1:45 p.m.
Many cruisers want to get on the cruise as early as possible, but a benefit of getting on the ship a little later was that we could go to our cabin right away to drop off our luggage. Oftentimes, your cabin isn’t ready until a few hours after you get onboard and you have to lug around your luggage, but this isn’t the case when you check in late.
At the end of our cruise, we were in no rush to get off because our flight home wasn’t until the next day. Mom and I had a leisurely breakfast in the Windjammer at 8 a.m. and it was very busy. Since it was so crowded, I decided to swing by Café@Two70 afterward to grab an egg burrito and coffee before disembarking. Café@Two70 wasn’t nearly as busy, so I would recommend eating here on embarkation and disembarkation day.
The disembarkation process was quick since we were one of the last people to get off the ship. Finding our big luggage was also easy because everyone else had already claimed their luggage!
Read more: Guide to cruises from Fort Lauderdale
Interior guarantee cabin
I usually cruise in interior cabins, and Odyssey of the Seas was no different.
Booking an inside guarantee was the cheapest cabin option for this cruise, so that is what we went with for our Southern Caribbean sailing.
Not too long after booking the cabin, we were assigned cabin 9225 on deck nine. Luckily, the cabin was located approximately midship, slightly aft. Upon walking into the cabin, we also discovered our cabin had a connecting door to our neighbor, cabin 9227. This was not an issue because our neighbors were quiet and the cabins had good soundproofing.
Our interior cabin was 166 square feet and offered so much storage. From the two large closets and dresser to the cabinets above our beds, we had more than enough places to store all of our clothes and belongings. And since this cruise was eight days, we had a lot of stuff!
We split the king bed into two twin beds so each of us could have our own bed. The beds were comfortable, though I did have to request a new pillow because the ones already there were lumpy (in my opinion). Our stateroom attendant was great about bringing us extra pillows, along with other things we needed.
Since our cabin did not have a window, there were lots of ways we could bring light into the space. There was a lamp on the dresser, a ring light around the vanity, two lights by our beds, and the main lights for the entire cabin. There was even a built-in night light in the bathroom in case we had to use the bathroom in the middle of the night.
Overall, cabin 9225 was an excellent choice for our cruise. The location was convenient because we were in the middle of the ship, meaning we were close to the upper-deck venues as well as the lower ones.
Dining onboard Odyssey of the Seas
There are many places to eat on Odyssey of the Seas, including classics such as the Windjammer Marketplace, Main Dining Room, and Café Promenade, and specialty restaurants like Chops Grille, Giovanni’s Italian Kitchen, Teppanyaki, and Wonderland.
What’s great about Odyssey of the Seas is the number of included dining venues. I liked being able to go to El Loco Fresh or Solarium Bistro for a snack and Café@Two70 for breakfast or lunch. On older Royal Caribbean ships, you won’t find these options.
For breakfast, we ate at the Windjammer, Main Dining Room, Café@Two70, or the Solarium Bistro.
The Main Dining Room offered brunch on sea days from 8:30 a.m. until noon. I really liked this option because I could sleep in and not feel like I had to get up early to enjoy some breakfast food. The first time we ate here, it took a while to get our food because it was busy, but the second time we visited it was much faster.
The Solarium Bistro is also a great spot to have breakfast. I was able to order a custom omelet, something I didn’t know they offered, so I was happy! This venue was open for breakfast and dinner every day of our cruise and for lunch on sea days.
Every night for dinner, my mom and I ate in the Main Dining Room. We considered splurging on a lunch or dinner in one of the specialty restaurants, but we decided to stick with the included food because we are always satisfied in the Main Dining Room.
Royal Caribbean rotates its dinner menus in the Main Dining Room on every ship. Onboard Odyssey of the Seas, we had these menus:
- Welcome Aboard
- A Taste of Mexico
- A Taste of France
- A Taste of the USA
- A Taste of the Caribbean
- A Taste of Italy
- The Royal Night
- Bon Voyage
My favorite dishes were the chicken cordon bleu and chicken marsala, as well as the warm chocolate cake with ice cream. My mom loved the beef tenderloin, lobster, coconut shrimp, and lemon meringue tart.
We wished our table was located in the main area of the dining room, but instead, our table was assigned to a back room on deck three. Whenever there was a performance or announcement in the dining room, we couldn’t see it because we were so far away.
While our table location wasn’t the best, our waiter Ikomang and assistant waiter Putu were absolutely fabulous! They went above and beyond to give us excellent service!
Read more: Odyssey of the Seas restaurants
Entertainment and activities
With 15 decks to explore, Odyssey of the Seas has so much to do, from skydiving and surfing to bumper cars and rock climbing.
If you are going to sail on Odyssey of the Seas, I would recommend reserving a time to do the North Star and RipCord by iFly on port days when it is free. If you want to do either of these activities during a sea day, it will cost extra (around $50 per person).
When we were docked in Curaçao, I did both of these activities. My mom and I chose to do the North Star in the morning before getting off the ship to explore the city, and then I did the iFly when we were leaving Curaçao - it was beautiful to do during the sunset!
There were many production shows offered throughout the sailing. These included:
- The Book: Seven Chapters, One Adventure: “Powered by our collective imaginations and told in seven extraordinary chapters, this breathtaking journey reminds us that in between the front and back covers of a great book, absolutely anything can happen!”
- Showgirl! Past, Present, Future: “Paying tribute to the past, the present, and the future of this enigmatic and famous performer, this new dance spectacular takes us on a stunning journey that features one of the most iconic of all entertainers, the beautiful Showgirl.”
- The Effectors: “Join Pixel, Reverb, Lume, and Captain Viz as they individually demonstrate their awesome powers and then come together to battle their arch nemesis, Crash, as he tries once again to stop the show and destroy the city of Showville.”
I thoroughly enjoyed all three of these shows! The costumes, choreography, singing, and dancing were all top-notch. I wish they had The Effectors more than one night because I would’ve liked to have seen it again. The Book was offered almost every night of the cruise.
We also saw a late-night comedy show, the band Rookie, a singer, and a magician/illusionist. At night, we would often swing by and listen to Bryan James perform in the Crown & Compass Pub. He was a great performer and truly engaged with the audience!
Something to note is that the VR experience, Zone Zero, was closed the entire cruise. We learned that in the near future, Royal Caribbean will be removing this venue as well as the Skypad, which is currently being used for bean bag toss and stretching classes.
Read more: 20 free things to do Odyssey of the Seas
Ports of call
During our eight-day cruise, we had three ports of call and five sea days. They were nicely spaced out, with Perfect Day at CocoCay being on our second day, then two sea days, our two stops in the Southern Caribbean, and then two sea days back to Fort Lauderdale.
Our first stop was Perfect Day at CocoCay. The weather was cloudy and a little foggy when we arrived, and as the day went on, we had some wind and rain. Despite the weather, we still enjoyed walking around and having lunch on the island at Snack Shack.
We were warned about the high winds we were going to have en route to Aruba, and they were right. Mom heard that there were 15-foot swells! I felt the ship sway more than I have on other ships, but it was never bad enough that I needed to take motion sickness medication. I think having our cabin in the middle of the ship helped with less motion too.
On day five, we arrived in Oranjestad, Aruba. Here, we did the “Aloe Factory, Casibari Rock, Natural Bridge Scenic Drive” excursion. This excursion was about 3.5 hours - the perfect amount of time to get a glimpse of what the island has to offer. My mom and I liked this excursion because we were able to visit the highlights of the island and also drive around to see the beautiful beaches and resorts. I would love to come back someday and visit one of these resorts, like RIU Palace!
The next day, we were docked in Willemstad, Curaçao. My mom had been here before, so she recommended we walk around the city because there is lots of shopping nearby. Within a few minutes, we crossed the bridge and were in the heart of the city. Willemstad is so pretty with all of the colorful buildings, so I enjoyed walking and admiring the views!
Read more: What I liked (and disliked) about my Odyssey of the Seas cruise
Overall thoughts
Everything onboard Odyssey of the Seas felt modern and new, and she is in excellent condition.
I have no complaints about this ship. The only slightly annoying thing was the elevator buttons. I like how they are touchless, but I found that people did not understand how to use them. There were so many times when I would see people lean against the buttons and accidentally push every floor, causing the elevator to stop multiple times.
Our sailing was nearly at full capacity but did not feel crowded. There was a time or two on the pool deck or in the Windjammer when it was super busy, but I was always able to find a place to go for some quiet time, like the Solarium or Crown Lounge.
Odyssey of the Seas is a great ship to consider for your next vacation!
