Odyssey of the Seas - Caribbean Embarkation

 5 November, 2025

We had tentative plans to rise early and find a proper deli for a real New York breakfast. In years past Carnegie Deli was our destination, but they have fallen to the complexities of landlord-tenant friction and the pressure of the COVID pandemic, so we find ourselves adrift. Frankly, after our amazing dinner the previous evening neither of us were particularly hungry, so we opted to sleep in a bit. (The consistent twilight in the room thanks to our proximity to Times Square was certainly a contributing factor in this decision.) I completed our pre-boarding health questionnaires, and we went through the online safety briefing in the Royal Caribbean app. My daughter-in-law texted, requesting a newspaper to commemorate the historic election of the day before, so I ventured out for what I thought would certainly be a simple task. 

I could not have been more wrong. 

In days past you couldn’t walk 50 feet down Broadway or any of the major Avenues in Manhattan without passing a newsstand. This morning I walked nearly a mile, covering a four square block area (48th Street to 50th Street, 7th Ave to 5th Ave) – hitting everything Google THOUGHT was a newsstand, as well as a bookstore and a pharmacy, and the best I got was a chuckle and a suggestion that Grand Central or a subway hub was probably my best bet. 

Oh, well. At least I got my steps in. 

The elevator was significantly more guest-friendly this morning, so getting down with our luggage was easy, and our driver (again from NYC Airports Limo) was a few minutes early, so we wheeled from elevator to sidewalk and were on our way to the cruise pier in Bayonne in a matter of minutes. Again, traffic was much lighter than what I’ve come to expect over the years. Only a few obnoxious horn-blares were heard all the way from midtown to lower Manhattan. Traffic flowed well through the tunnel and all the way down Interstate 78 to Highway 440. We didn’t experience a slowdown until we reached the drop-off queue at the port. 

The ship arrived from Europe this morning, which meant that every member of the staff and crew had to present themselves to US Customs and Immigration, and the US Coast Guard conducted a thorough inspection of the ship. Despite the additional effort demanded by these efforts behind the scenes, the passenger-facing port experience was exceptionally smooth. Our designated arrival time was 13:00, and we exited our car with our luggage at 12:45. From the time our luggage was unloaded it look us less than twenty minutes to walk to the terminal, navigate the security line (the magnetic closures on my jacket pockets raised some concern for the screener, requiring a second pass through the x-ray) check-in, and make our way up the escalator for the short (~100 yd) walk onto the ship. The Bayonne port may not be glamorous or flashy, but it runs with Swiss-watch efficiency. 

Upon boarding we immediately completed the required safety briefing by reporting to our Muster Station (if you’re not a frequent cruiser, please don’t be one of the 200-300 people that they call out mid-afternoon because you haven’t done this. It takes about two or three minutes, and once it’s done you have nothing else to do the rest of the cruise that you don’t explicitly choose to do.) By 13:05 we were headed to our stateroom to drop our carry-on bags, only to discover that our cabin wasn’t going to be ready until 13:30. Rather than schlep anything around we opted to wait for a few minutes so we could enjoy lunch without our bags. 

Manhattan Skyline

The Windjammer was busy, not packed, and we managed to find a seat with relative ease to enjoy a light lunch/heavy snack. Afterwards we returned to the cabin and did a bit of unpacking before finding a bar for a compulsory Goombay Smash and watch a dance class led by the activity staff. The Captain made his initial "Welcome Aboard" announcement, and included birthday wishes for approximately 25 guests and crew celebrating on the day. He calls out the first name of each person, which I find to be a nice touch. (He has continued this each day during his noon announcement.)

We spent the rest of the afternoon completing our unpacking before heading to dinner. We have a delightful team whom we quickly let know that we're not ones to get terribly wound up over anything short of a life-threatening situation. Feeling the desire for a bit of comfort food we both opted for the spaghetti, which isn't elegant or exotic by any means, but it is presented with precise consistency year after year, cruise after cruise, and it is quite tasty (and never seems to hit me with the dreaded "red sauce" heartburn that some sauces produce.) 

We spent the evening back in Two70, enjoying music and drinks as the smooth rolling of the ship put us at ease. We returned to our well-chilled cabin and crashed into a blissful slumber.

Goombay Smash for two