calypso17

I was on the Mar 19 5N to Phuket and had a wonderful time. Boarding was a walk through with a few minutes in the holding area. I arrive early at 11.45am and was surprise they just check me in, no waiting. I stayed in an inside as I wanted to experience their new virtue balcony. It is good and I would say it is equivalent to a window. Book for next year cruise on board as they would only do 1 cruise in Singapore. Book balcony as I love to sit in the balcony and feel the wind in my face.

We had a glimpse into one of the virtual balcony rooms and it looked great! Very spacious. The prices for the sole cruise in 2018 are a little high and we have cruises booked on Symphony of the Seas and on Celebrity and Crystal cruise lines so we are holding off for now.

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We will be visiting Phuket in November on a 5 day, 4 night land trip from Singapore. Can you let us know what you did in Phuket while visiting there? We plan to go to the Big Buddah, and to explore the Phi Phi Islands. Did either of you go there? How about any of the Temples, or the Nightlife (if you were there in the evening).

 

I think it depends on the group you're travelling with. With kids, you could consider Fantasea for evening entertainment. We went to Monkey Hill this time round - there is a small temple there as well. Phi Phi is great but I wouldn't do it with kids. There're also cooking schools all around if you like that. Have fun - Phuket is a wonderful relaxing destination!

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After lurking around for a while, I finally decided to post a review of our Ovation cruise, primarily because there is so little information on these boards about Quantum and Ovation in Asia. I hope this helps those looking to sail on this very beautiful ship in future.

We are currently onboard for a 4-night cruise to Phuket and due to disembark tomorrow. It is our first time trying out Star Class - I had gotten contradictory information from both these boards and RCL Miami about whether the Royal Suite Class programme was available for SG sailings during the 2017 season and can confirm it is (a little late as there are only two more sailings including the repositioning to Tianjin before the ship changes to the Golden Suite Class programme that Quantum currently operates).

As DH had to work and DD only finished school at noon, we missed early boarding (and lunch), arriving at the cruise centre closer to 2pm.

First glimpses of the ship. She was docked next to the Diamond Princess.

Our genie had sent us a sign to be printed and placed on the vehicle window for access right at some VIP aisle but it worked out to be the same place as our previous cruises anyway.

Our sailing had a lot of locals and I am guessing that they were all taking only half a day off work so the embarkation line was VERY busy. However, a very friendly young man quickly came over and said he would lead us through boarding. At the luggage scan, we got our bread confiscated (apparently we would have been able to keep it if we were on Princess but not on RCL) but it was otherwise smooth. We were then directed to the priority check-in line.

I had tried to print our set sail passes the day before but was unable to do so - the system told me it was too late even though online check in had been completed. The girl at the counter gave me a disbelieving look and then had to ask her supervisor what to do (I guess there aren't many errant folks in this respect but I swear we did try to print it and it was the first time we had failed to do so!). We had to fill out a lot more forms than before but it was not much more of a bother.

We were then whisked to a holding room that had some snacks and water and within a minute were greeted by our genie Sunil, who took us past the boarding queues, on to the ship and right to our suite. Our vacation had begun!!!

TBC as it is 730am now and I have to go jog off some of the million calories (and counting) consumed over the last 3 days.

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Currently on Ovation in Star Class - they don't even use the loop app. The genies give us their extension numbers and we are supposed to call them whenever. The information sheet on boarding gave the times they are available but our genie insisted that he was available and on call 24/7 (we had religiously kept to those hours and he threatened to come tear up the paper...we still keep to those hours LOL). Prior to the cruise, we weren't sent a questionnaire, just a welcome email asking when we were boarding, our mini bar preferences and whether we needed any restaurant reservations in advance. We did a pretty late upgrade so it might have been too close to saildate for the questionnaire to be sent.

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Update on Ovation of the Seas (currently on it). Only concierge onboard is Wang Jingjing - she sits in the Concierge Club on deck 12. She stays until the ship repositions to Tianjin and transits to the Golden Suite Class after which she leaves on holiday for a month before rejoining the ship. When the ship is homeporting in Tianjin, there will be 4 concierges but no genies. There are 3 genies currently taking care of the 11 Star Class suites - Sunil (our genie - he's fantastic!), Wendy and Josh.

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