Upon arriving at the Pier in Fort Lauderdale, I was in total shock of the sheer size of Odyssey. I have sailed many times on the smaller Seabourn ships, so this was a huge surprise. Although she accommodates 450 guests, she is 3 times larger than the smaller yachts. The styling of the ship is Seabourn all the way. Parking at the pier can be a bit of a hassle, as you must take a shuttle to the mid garage to park. Most people do not drive to the Port, so its no big deal for most. We arrived at 1PM and were seated in the terminal awaiting check-in. We were greeted with a spiked punch in Champagne glasses. A very nice touch, as we weren't even on the ship yet!

Embarkation was very smooth.

We were led to the Observation Lounge until the suites were ready to be occupied. I saw several crew members that I have sailed with in the past. The feeling of "family" is not lost on Odyssey. We were led to our suite which was suite 421. We had booked a category A1 guarantee in hopes of an upgrade. The ship was completely full, so we ended up with exactly what we paid for, which was fine by me. All of the suites (except for the owners suites etc) are identical. The only thing our suite category lacked was a balcony. We were greeted by our lovely stewardess with champagne and salmon canapes. We were also given a choice of soaps. I read on CruiseCritic that the location of the safe was very convenient and easy to use. For the life of me, I couldn't find it! I asked our stewardess where the safe was, and she explained that our safe had been removed and had been moved to another suite that had a faulty safe. I asked what the solution would be, and she indicated that she would make every effort to find out. I also noticed that a door over the flat screen TV was also not operational. It would not close, causing the light to stay on. This needed to be addressed as well. When our stewardess came back, she explained that the only solution to the safe issue was to put our valuables in a safe deposit box at the pursers office. I thought that this would be a pain, but knew that it would be temporary. The door issue would be addressed the next day. Read more