Odyssey Cruising – Part 1

The Odyssey Cruise adventure day was finally here, and I absolutely could not wait to board the ship!  I had the, ‘champagne bubbles’ feeling in my stomach:  excitement, curiosity, anticipation, and pure delight of what awaited us aboard the Odyssey.

As we made our way up the ship’s plank to begin our two-hour lunch cruise, we were greeted by several members of the crew, all with smiles and enthusiasm.  I liked that, as it set the positive tone for the entire journey.  This crew goes out of its way to make each passenger feel special!

The above photo is a view of Navy Pier from the ship; the Odyssey completes a 180 degree turn before heading out to Lake Michigan, so it was a terrific opportunity to capture ‘The Pier’ and some of the Chicago skyline behind it.  As you can see, it was a rather overcast, hazy kind of day.  There were small waves on the lake, but I must tell you the Odyssey is such a smooth sailing ship I did not feel anything but the glide of its stride!

Our table for lunch couldn’t have been better.  Set directly beside a large window, I found myself peering out at Lake Michigan with a mesmerizing gaze.  Did you ever see the movie, “Dead Poets Society” with the late Robin Williams?  He asked his students to get out of their seats and stand on their chairs.  He wanted them to view the world they thought they knew using a different perspective.  I had never seen Lake Michigan from this new perspective, and I loved it.

Now, where was I? Oh yes, window gazing, Lake Michigan, but I am sure you’re wondering when I’m getting to the lunch portion of the program! Right now, as a matter of fact!  Please meet Avery:

 And Juan Carlos:

These two gentleman were unquestionably incredible.  At one point I asked Avery if he was a mind reader, because I was literally thinking, wow, these bread rolls taste homemade; I would love another one.  Within 15 seconds there was Avery at our table with a warm basket of bread!

The Odyssey has a lovely lunch menu; we chose a vegetarian dish which included a cauliflower steak.  I’ve never seen a grilled, gigantic cauliflower like this before!  We also had a roasted Summer vegetable salad.  Apologies for no photos; I ate before I thought!

Alas, taste buds satisfied, I regained my momentary lapse of reason to take a photo of the sumptuous desserts:

Good heavens these were phenomenal desserts! The dessert on the left is called, “Odyssey Signature Warm Butter Cake”, and the one on the right is, “Chocolate Decadent Cake”.  I was, “stuffed to the Dickens” (my mother laughs at me when I say this; I have utterly no clue as to when/why I included this in my repertoire of nonsense, although I suspect it has something to do with the author, “Charles Dickens”).

After a thoroughly enjoyable lunch, we had the honor and privilege of meeting Kacie Grace.  Kacie is the Restaurant Supervisor.  Here she is, please say hello:

 If there was ever a person perfectly aligned with their job, Kacie is that person.  Not only was she friendly, professional, sweet, kind, and funny, Kacie has a great amount of knowledge about the Odyssey.  Kacie was gracious enough (perfect last name for her) to take a few photos of us on the top deck.  As we made our way to the top deck (more about the decks et. al. in Part 2 of our Odyssey adventure), we all noticed something rather interesting skimming beside the ship:

Well didn’t a member of the Chicago Fire Department just get married aboard the Odyssey, and his fellow fire fighters were saluting him with streams of water from the Chicago Fire Boat!  They kept up with the Odyssey for quite some time; it was a spectacular scene, and we were so grateful to vicariously share in the festivities.

Please stay tuned for Part 2 of our Odyssey Cruise adventure!  We’ll take a closer look at the ship’s decks, meet the Captain of this fantastic vessel, along with some shots of the Chicago Skyline (albeit hazy, but I think you’ll get the picture)!!

Until the next post, please check out the cruise website; they have cruises available in other US cities, too (I’ll be saying more about their other cruises in the next post; I can’t wait to check out more of them; doesn’t a Full Moon Cruise sound sublime?):

http://www.entertainmentcruises.com/

Huge thanks to Emily Cleary, Marketing Manager of Entertainment Cruises Chicago, Kacie Grace, Captain Jason, Juan Carlos, Avery, the entire crew, and Peter, the sensational Entertainment Director.