We cruise from Athens to Napoli or Naples, Italy at about 16 or 17 knots, an easy cruising speed for the Odyssey of The Seas. We arrive at about 6:00 AM Thursday.
My right knee is sore from all the walking over uneven surfaces. I decide it to be most prudent to cancel my scheduled tour to Pompeii and rest my knee. Even though my decision is past the normal cancellation period, Royal refunds most of the fee. Lynn will still do the tour without me.
These are quiet days on the ship. An opportunity to share some observations of the past 30 days. Tidbits that are unrelated except for occuring on the Odyssey over the past 5 weeks.
The current manifest of passengers, over 4400 strong comprises passengers from 86 countries. Passengers from the US, Canada and the UK top the list. Truly an international crowd. Announcements are now given in English, Spanish, Italian and ??
Despite Royal's claim that there are too many passengers for the Coastal Kitchen, we have never seen it full. Often by 9:00 PM, the latest seating time, the room is totally empty.
Our new cruise director, Ana, is fluent in several languages, very professional in appearance and presentation, but not as personable as most CDs.
Royal is making lots of errors at the detail level. For example the Pinnacle passengers are told that Chops opens for breakfast at 7:30, but the staff doesn't arrive until 8:00.
The descriptions of shore excursions have been lacking in accuracy and in some cases very misleading. I expect most of these issues are occuring at the corporate, not ship level. The first of these I wrote about previously. The shore excursion I cancelled, is described as being easy for the mobility impaired, and is over paved pathways for wheelchairs. The shore excursion manager says its nearly 2 miles of cobblestone path, and wheelchair guests must walk in some parts while the wheelchair must be folded and carried. Certainly a difference in messages.
Communications lack accuracy and consistency. Royal is pushing everyone to use their app, but the app is often wrong. I only follow a few things, but on several occasions the app listed a certain entertainment and it just wasn't true.
Just as I am writing this I get burned again by the app. The app says they are doing virtual fireworks in two70 at 11:30 AM. I think great, as usually they are late at night after I am asleep. You know the rest. It just doesn't happen. The app is in error. Many other passengers read the same app, gathered in two70, then left as there was nothing.
A printed daily compass is getting harder and harder to find. They still print some, but they are getting as rare as hens teeth.
More significant errors for disembarkation. The paperwork for wheel chair assistance says meet in Giovanni's. The app doesn't say, and Ana on the recorded TV information channel, says you must call guest relations by 11AM the day before, and then meet at the Schooner Bar at Disembarkation time. It turns out the paperwork is correct this time.
Passenger behavior is entirely different on each cruise. During the previous two cruises, The Dukes packed whatever venue they played in. This cruise there always are empty seats, sometimes many. Same musicians, same music, same venues, different 4000+ passengers.
On the southern Caribbean and Transatlantic cruises there were a number of passengers that had bought the drink package, yes they are often easy to spot. On the Greek Isles, package sales were almost non-esistant according to the bar staff.
One night I went into the buffet area and it was packed solid at dinner time. There always have been passengers that eat dinner in the buffet, but the percentage is much higher on this cruise.
Lobster, the meal of most conversation, is not being offered in the dining room at all except with an upcharge of $20. The lobster served in the coastal kitchen was a meager 3 ounces at most.
The menu for Europe has substantially changed. It used to be that the menu on every Royal ship was the same. No longer true.
Apple pie, one of my favorite topics, was removed from the menu years ago and replaced with a factory made apple tart. Improved over the years, but never as good as the fresh baked on the ship. A provisioning officer shared that it cost more to provide from shore than to bake it, but it was a desision made by Miami. It was still the factory pastry during the crossing, but now that we are in Europe we again have real apple pie. Probably too many chemicals in the factory one to be used in Europe.
No beef tenderloin on the Greek Isles cruise either. Offered multiple times on the transatlantic. Personally one of the best meal choices.
Balconies are cleaned every 3 or 4 days. Unfortunately they need to be. Just hours after being hosed down, everything is covered with a heavy layer of dust and light sand. A byproduct of the heavy pollution that has existed in the air since we left the Atlantic ocean.
Hiding of ducks has been a thing for a number of years. We brought about 40 with us to spread out over the three cruises. A couple of days ago we thought it would be nice for the CK (Coastal Kitchen) manager and his assistant to give 4 ducks to the well behaved children that have dined at the same time as us on this leg. Well, I will just blame it on the language barrier. Neither of them could understand that we wanted them to pass them on to the kids. They thanked us and shared how them line them up in thier rooms. Plan foiled.
We try the ducks again a couple days later. This time we ask their waiter to give them the ducks. He is thrilled. Places the ducks on small plates and gives them to each of the children. I could not hear the words, but they were excited and the waiter had a blast doing it. Mission accomplished.
In Naples today the sky is sunny with temperatures in the low 80's. About 11 AM the MSC Divinia docks across from us on the next pier. There are many ferry boats here, I can't see how many other cruise ships.
All in all it has been a great 5 weeks. By far the majority of passengers behave well. There are few children, there rarely are on longer cruises during school time, and again those that are here are well behaved. The Royal employees as always are great.
My "return to" ports on this cruise? I would probably say Rhodes, and Mykonos. My least likely to return to Athens, and Santorini.
Lynn has just returned from her tour of Pompeii. Absolutely confirms that the walking is very difficult. Fabulous tour. Pictures - well that is another story. She lost her phone between the cabin and Pompeii. No pictures to share. Fortunately her phone was turned in to guest relations and it was recovered after a few hours of anxiety. Should I add that the phone is only about 6 months new, a gift from her son?
Time to pack. Headliner show tonight. In the morning we have reserved transportation to our hotel in Rome.
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