Day 2 Exploring the Odyssey

Slept late this morning. Must have been due to the eight or nine gin and tonics plus the two or three glasses of wine I had yesterday. Dinner was good. We had breakfast in the room and T tested the jetted tub in the bathroom. Her original idea was to try out the tub on our enclosed veranda, but she could never get any hot water. I contacted Guest Services and they said they would send the plumber. They did and he arrived to point out that the "HOT" and "COLD" faucets are not only unlabeled, they are also reversed, with the "HOT" on the right and "COLD" on the left.

The water is rather choppy today and there is a considerable amount of ship "movement". Both T and I found it analogous to the movement we remembered on the QE2 during our first transatlantic crossing back in 1998. Not complaining but it does make walking a straight line difficult.

As with our last cruise, exploring the ship does not take long. With a capacity of twice the number of guests as our last ship (Windstar Starbreeze), the Odyssey is very similar in its layout. Nothing like the mega ships. No spacious promenade, but it does have an extended area for shops. We found the back end of the boat. Like the Starbreeze, there is an outdoor restaurant on the tail and, also like the Starbreeze, if the wind is right, the eating area is flooded with exhaust from the stacks right above it. I doubt we will be sitting out there much.

Getting back to the room a little before lunch, we found neither of our door cards would open the door (evicted already???). I went down to Guest Services and they said this is not unusual and generated two new cards for us.

After lunch, we went to the bow of the ship. It was so windy, we could hardly stand. They have their shuffle board and putting greens up there.

Later in the afternoon, we took a tour of the galley and met the Chef.

Main Dining Room

 For dinner, we (and four others) were invited to dine with the Staff Captain, Nikolay Nikolov (Russian). Most of the others at the table were very seasoned travelers and frequent Seabourn guests. We both enjoyed the conversation and dinner much more than we expected.