Aquahound

Ovation's North Star is a problem this year. I was on the shakedown cruise in April and people got stuck in it. They were having a lot of problems and ended up having to shut it down completely on that cruise.

I felt like I got stuck in a rut of cruise line loyalty for a long time. Branching out and trying other lines was the best cruise decision I ever made, imo. I highly recommend spreading your wings. Prolonged loyalty to one line tends to breed irrational viewpoints; some can be recognized easily on these boards. Don't be "that guy."

No, you do not need to show ArriveCan in Victoria. It takes a few minutes to walk from the ship to the busses. You walk right through that small customs building. No stopping to talk to any officials.

We do not know what the situation is going to be in Feb so it is very hard to point you in a direction regarding safe from COVID. For example, advice such as requiring 100% vax is extremely premature to say now for a cruise that is 8 months away. Heck, it's beginning to look like that doesn't even matter now considering how many vaxxed are returning sick from cruises. This may seem miniscule, but I recommend looking for a line that does not provide self-serve tongs in the buffet. It's hard to say at this point how many lines will make that a permanent practice.

I've been on Ovation twice in the past year. The blackout curtains work great and there was no need to clip them together.

Both are excellent experiences so I would ask what your preferences are for the cruise line itself. If you're looking for a very active ship with lots to do, pick NCL. If you're looking for something more refined with overall better service, pick Celebrity. If you pick Celebrity, go Retreat. Aquaclass is just an upgraded balcony cabin with some extra small perks.

If there is an overall biased against Carnival on a general board; that's an indictment on Carnival, not the people posting.

I live on the west coast now and I cannot wait to get back to Florida. There are so many great reasons to live there beyond the multitude of cruise choices; not the least of which is friendly people who actually know how to communicate with one another instead of always judging. That said, despite the multitude of cruises, the itineraries do get old after a while. How many times can one stomach going to Nassau? Of course, being near so many major airports also makes transatlantic flights easier too. Good luck with wherever you decide to hang your hat. 🙂

x3. And if folks don't believe a Captain and a Chief Engineer, perhaps adding a USCG voice on top will help. I'm sure "locked up" was just a metaphor meaning confined to their room. They are not literally locked up.

They had the dividers all open for balcony cleaning when I boarded Ovation in April.

I don't understand the question. Are you asking which would be better to be upgraded to or which would be better to outright book? Either way, there's no way I can vote if I don't know your cruising preferences. Those are 3 different lines. And I'm not sure what you mean by "the other."

BTW, DW and I tested again. Both antigen and PCR tests came back positive. So add 2 more + cases from this cruise.

I'm not resistant to the facts. I just didn't want anything to do with that FB group when I saw the cruising ducks in there. What an idiotic thing to do right now.

On May 16, the line was the worst I have ever seen at this terminal. We showed up at our arrival time (12pm) and the line stretched out the building and all the way down the covered ports for catching busses. By the time we were approaching the building, I looked back and saw the line wrapped all the way back to the building and then was making its way down again. It looked like a long line for a roller coaster. ArriveCan wasn't the problem. The problem was only 3 people were present to check everyone's paperwork before entering the building. It takes time to show boarding passes, vaccine cards, ArriveCan, and negative test results for each person while standing there. Then there was a small line inside for health screening, then upstairs where someone else checks your stuff again and checks you in. FWIW, no one checked our arrival time. I guess it was too much of a madhouse for them to care. The only other time I remember a check-in this long and chaotic was in San Juan. It took a little over an hour to get aboard.

Yes. I had the 3-night plan and was still able to use both mine and DW's.

That's disappointing. I was on Quantum for the 5/16 sailing and I was able to use mine. Quantum was also running well under 100% staffing. Funny how 2 sister ships running out of the same port can be so inconsistent with this stuff.

Belay that. I canceled the request. It is what it is at this point. Plus, I'll just get kicked out anyways when I tell them how dumb of an idea it was to leave those stupid little ducks all over the ship. I'm sure that didn't help. I don't even want to be associated with that stuff.

Ok. I really backed off from FB a couple years ago but I'll make an exception and look at the page. I just sent an invite request.

Yes, that was Ovation. I planned to ask that question on Quantum last week but upon boarding they had officers directing us to our muster stations. It was a great process. Muster was complete before I could even remove my backpack. 😁 Directly to North Star bar afterwards and cashed in our first D+ vouchers. No problem. On final debarkation day, I cashed in on 2 lattes since the DL was closed. Again, no problem.

I actually find that ironic considering how many other games are being played with close contact.

DW and I were also on this cruise. We never heard any stories of people getting sick during the cruise, so reading of it here is news to me. We did see the ambulance at the ship in Victoria. We didn't know what it was for though. That said, we did encounter a fair amount of people on the ship who were absolute....well, if I say the word, I'll be put in time out again. Some were in large groups and they did not care about others. They were coughing openly without covering their mouths among other things. I did say something once but the response was in Spanish and not very nice. The cruise was a ton of fun but looking at the crowds during the parties and thinking about the self-serve in the WJ, I'm not the least bit surprised. DW and I have been sick for 2 days now but we've tested twice and both times were negative. I think we have sinus infections.

I’m a huge fan of Oasis Class as well but I think my current favorite is in the Quantum Class - Ovation. I love the Solarium and Two70 on this class.

Both DW and I started feeling minor symptoms Monday night. We both tested negative yesterday. Probably just typical cruise crud, but we’re isolating just to be on the safe side.

Steve McGrew. Yes! That guy was the funniest comedian I've ever seen on a cruise.

Thank you Btimmer. I was on this cruise as well and I enjoyed reading through this thread. What fantastic weather we had!