jg2256

Was on the 14 Jan - 2 Feb cruise. We effectively had 2, I guess you would call theme nights, and a party night with no particular theme. We had a 70's night 3 or 4 days into the cruise and a couple of days later and Australia Day theme night (obviously only once a year) and a few nights before the end of the cruise we  had a party night in Club 270. All were a lot of fun but that is such a small venue you have to get there really early.

I do not remember all the Asian items on the menu on the 21 Jan cruise and there was definitely some sort of breaded sausage that does not appear to be on the menu any longer. I also do not remember the Milk shake

Cruised in Jan on Ovation and it was as said earlier "Fish and Chips", some wings, calamari, and some kind of breaded sausage all for an extra charge. In the 12 days I was onboard only saw one table occupied (other than a few who had food from another venue). Terrible waste of a prime location.

It worked great on our Australia/NZ cruise in Jan. There was one day when were travelling the southern sounds where it was a bit spotty but overall it was  great. I was really surprised how good it worked anywhere on the ship. I assume that the challenges in the Northern Latitudes will be similar to those we had in the far southern latitudes so hopefully it will work well during your cruise.

Not sure how much the entertainment will change in Alaska but I sailed Ovation for 12 days from Sydney to NZ ports in Jan. There was a 70's theme night (3rd or 4th day), an Australia Day (similar to 4th of July) night party and then there was a big party that had a little bit of music for all ages which was a lot of fun. All the parties are in 270 lounge which is not very big so get there early. the parties usually lasted 45 - 60 minutes followed by live music from the house band or tribute bands and I want to say a DJ at the final party. 

9 minutes ago, AP1959 said:

I just got off Ovation today.  Same thing.  Not many suits. More men with shorts than suits.  And forget Smart casual nights. Felt overdressed in a jacket.  I’ll save some 

luggage space next time. 

Could not agree with you more. Ran out of shorts and had too many pairs of pants.

Going  back to the original question I would definitely recommend a balcony. My wife and I just got off the Ovation on the 21 Jan cruise from Sydney and we did a number of Sounds in southern New Zealand which had weather similar to my Alaska cruise. After spending time on the decks or the Solarium there is nothing like sitting on your own balcony with a drink and a blanket if necessary just enjoying the scenery. Yes it can be one-sided but you are not fighting everyone for that one place where the glass is lower on the decks to take pictures. Look up my post for my other impressions of the Ovation. Loved it!

We paid $49 for the 21 Jan 19 Ovation cruise with tips included. It was at $56 most of the time but dipped to $49 one short time. It was $71 once we boarded.

Ovation of the Seas Review

I have not seen a lot of Reviews on the Ovation of the Seas since it moved to Australia and I know a lot of folks are anxiously awaiting its arrival in Seattle for Alaskan cruises so I thought I would provide a summary of my 21 Jan -2 Feb Sydney/NZ cruise on the Ovation of the Seas. For informational purposes I am in my early 60’s and my wife mid 50’s and consider ourselves very active people. I do not plan on writing about the ports but we visited Dunedin, Picton, Tauranga, Auckland and Bay of Islands NZ. This was our first trip out that way and we loved Australia and especially New Zealand and will definitely try to go back some day.  I am sure I will leave out lots of things that folks are interested in but will do my best. I will be happy to answer any questions. 

Bottom-line Up Front: Due to a large number of negative reviews we had a lot of concerns before the cruise but our experience was nothing but positive and we would sail on the Ovation again in a heartbeat. This is a fantastic family ship but it is great for anyone. If you will be sailing on the Alaska cruises you will love this ship and should have a great time

Positives:

-          Crew was incredible; from our Stateroom steward (Iwan) to our waiters to the bar staff, deck folks, etc. Everyone went out of their way to be helpful.

-          Food was above (cruise ship) average in all of the Dining facilities especially in the main Dining room (Silk in our case) in the evenings. Windjammer was the Windjammer. Lots of venues and different atmospheres.

-          Entertainment was varied and was good to excellent. Most nights you had more than one big event occurring. Fantastic entertainment staff. Joff was our cruise Director and he was great (sadly for future cruisers he was on our plane back to LA and on his way to RCCL HQ for a bit)

-          Ship is beautiful and with the exception of a few of the entertainment venues it rarely seemed crowded despite over 4500 passengers.

-          There were less than 500 Americans on our cruise with mostly Australians and small number of Chinese and Indian. Cruising with Australians is a lot of fun. Great attitudes, always friendly and there was little to no chair hogging at the pool, around the pool or in the Solarium. We were fortunate enough to be onboard during Australia Day (similar to US 4^th of Jul). What a blast!

Negatives (minor):

-          Main entertainment venues are too small. The Theater, the Music Hall and the Two 70 are way too small and have a lot of obstructed/restricted views. Most nights if you wanted to see a show you had to be in place at least 30 minutes early and on AC-DC tribute band night 45 minutes was barely enough. It is amazing how many obstructed/restricted views there are in the main theater from both the upper and lower levels.

-          No Martini/Champagne Bar. This is one of our usual favorites before dinner and we missed it. Bionic bar was neat the first time you used it but not a replacement for a good Martini Bar

-          Pool side dining venue formerly a Noodle shop (Johnny Rockets ?) was a waste of space. More on this later

Embarkation: The ship docked right in the middle of the downtown port with an amazing view of the Sydney Opera house. The ship was departing at 6:30 PM and we wanted to maximize our tourist time in Sydney so we did not board until after 3:00. By far the easiest embarkation we have ever had. We had walked by the ship earlier while sightseeing and there was a pretty large crowd so waiting seemed to pay off.

Stateroom: We stayed in Cabin 8718 which is a starboard side balcony cabin in the far aft part of the ship. Our room was the last one before entering the loft suite area. It was a long walk to the elevator but it was very quiet and peaceful. The cabin seemed a bit bigger to me because my legs did not hit the bed every time I walked by it, but the bathroom was tiny. Cabin had plenty of storage, nice TV and desk (wife had to work a bit), and very comfortable bed. Balcony was good size and had two nice chairs and each had a small piece of furniture to prop our legs. Our steward, Iwan from Indonesia was the best we have had in our 15 or so cruises. He met us on our arrival and ensured we had everything we needed throughout our cruise.

Ship: Overall this is a beautiful ship. There is art everywhere. The majority of the public places were on decks 3-5 (restaurants, shops, entertainment venues, bars etc and decks 14-16 (pools, windjammer, spa/gym, recreational facilities (courts, bumper cars, climbing wall etc.). I liked that it had an outdoor pool and indoor pool area and the adults-only solarium. This will be ideal during the Alaska cruises (except for the chair hogging that is bound to happen). The ship is well laid out and it did not appear to have any hard to find venues that you sometimes find on other ships. There are just so many activity spaces especially if you are a kid. The Promenade could be a bit crowded at times and did not have that big open feeling you have on the Allure or on the Freedom. That said I think I liked the central park and boardwalk on the Allure a bit better but the Ovation was much easier to navigate.

Food: We ate in most of the venues. For breakfast we ate in the Grand, buffet in the Chic, Windjammer many times (crowds after 9:00 AM), Solarium Bistro, and Two 70 Café. Food was good but the menu was just about the same every day and in every location. Two 70 Café was a bit different and had more of a fast food flair but was very good. For lunch while onboard we ate in the Solarium most days (very good), Windjammer a few times (good) and had pizza one day at Sorrento’s (pizza is better than it looks) and hot dogs from the hot dog stand (good variety of hot dogs and bratwurst).

For dinner we had My Time dining and did not make any reservations (to me it defeats the purpose of my time dining). We usually ate during the same time period (6:45-8:00) but at different times every night. Most nights arriving at the lines for the two My Time restaurants it appeared chaotic trying to get a table and a few times we had to wait while folks with reservations were taken care of but it usually did not take long. One night we were asked to come back in 20 minutes so they could give us a table with the servers we had had previously (not our request but appreciated) so we went and got a drink and our table was ready 20 minutes later. I would recommend that if you do not have a reservation that you arrive at the MDRs before or sometime after the early main show because it is a zoo immediately after the show. Apparently after the first night they try to give you the same servers/table as before and although we tried American Icon and even Chic (apparently some folks did not show up for their dinner in Chic so we were moved to the traditional dining venue), we settled on Silk most nights. Overall the food was very good. I learned a long time ago not to eat the steaks and a few other things in the main dining rooms (MDRs) so we did not have a bad meal. There was a great variety of food in the MDR. In addition to the usual fare there were usually a few Indian Dishes on the menu as well as some sort of Australian Pie of the day (meal pie not sweet). Our servers (Shari from Belize and Gretchen from Philippines) were second to none. Their service was great and their personalities were even better. My wife does not like to waste food and does not eat big portions so they were more than willing to serve her smaller portions. One weird thing that I had not seen before is that there were head waiters watching over/lurking in their areas of the restaurant to ensure everything was OK. Frankly we found it a bit creepy (or maybe it was just particular head waiter) but perhaps that is why the MDR experience was so good. That said there were a few nights where everyone arrived at the same time and he did help out. We also ate at the Windjammer one night (so-so) and the Solarium Bistro later in the cruise. We really liked the Solarium Bistro for dinner which has a completely different menu from the main dining rooms for dinner. There is no additional charge but you had to have reservations; the second time we tried to eat there they were unable to accommodate us. We ate in Chops and Jamie’s (for the first time). I love my Ribeye in Chops but they overcooked my wife’s Filet Mignon. I am sure they would have cooked another but she did not want to bother. We liked everything at Jamie’s.

Also on Australian day they had a cook-out with among other things ribs and jerk chicken on the pool deck. This was very well done. Kudos to the chefs.

I mentioned the Poolside dining venue earlier in my negative comments. This venue was an additional charge restaurant open for lunch and dinner on the starboard side aft of the pool (14^th deck) and its menu consisted of Fish and Chips, wings, calamari and some sort of a breaded sausage, etc. I do not think that I ever saw anyone eating in there other than a few folks that may have brought something from somewhere else. What a complete waste of a great space. I assume the ship will change the menu on the Alaskan cruises but unless they have a repair period I doubt it will be a Johnny Rockets.

Entertainment: There is no Broadway show on this ship. There was Pixels (reservation required) in Two 70 and two stage productions in the main theater. Pixels was good and although we did not see the other two shows we heard good reviews. The Theater headliners ranged from your typical cruise ship entertainment (singers, piano, mediocre comedians) to a few outstanding comedians and magicians. During our cruise they also had the Australian Eagles and an ACDC tribute bands that each played one night in the Music Hall and one night in Two 70. The Eagles guys were really good but the AC DC tribute band was awesome (my new favorite cruise entertainment). I am only familiar with a few ACDC songs but this band brought down the house. We sat at the bar the night they were in the music hall and I can only assume this was their first time because even the bartenders were taking pictures. This band is probably only for Australian cruises only but if anyone from RCCL reads this post then they should be on every cruise.

There were a few entertainment staff sponsored events including a great party on Australian Day, a 70’s night and an end of cruise party. They were a lot of fun but held in Two 70 which is just not set up to handle big crowds especially since there were a lot of kids on the cruise.

Almost all the bars had some sort of entertainment which usually moved around to include an acoustic singer, two piano players a few bands and the Ovation Orchestra played a few times outside of the theater. Depending on your mood you could find almost any kind of music you were looking for. Most of the music was good. The band Pulse was the closest to a house band andhad an incredible range of songs and genres. They were especially good following/as part of the 70’s party. We really liked the music hall which is a two floor venue. The upper deck also had some pool tables.

Activities: There was something going on all the time to include Bingo, trivia, tastings, etc. I would have loved this ship as a kid. Rock climbing wall, basketball/soccer courts, bumper cars etc. We used the gym on several occasions. It is very well equipped but a bit small for the number of passengers. You really have to figure out what time works best for you. Mornings were very crowded and early evenings were not too bad. The ship also offer a wide array of classes for $20 each (7 for $100 if you pay ahead). We did one class but did not like the instructor so did not take any more classes. The ship has a great jogging/walking track on the 15^th deck that is around 4/10 of a mile. Like any ship track it was best to use before 10:00 in the morning or after 5:00. One funny thing about the track is that the Australians keep to the left and Americans keep to the right when walking/jogging so it was anyone’s guess who would move when walking in opposite directions.

Final Observations

-          Had the drink package (studied this for a long time (prices ranged from $49 (what we paid)-$62 prior to sailing were $71 on board) – still not sure if it was worth it but when you add in the fresh squeezed juice, specialty coffee and water it was probably worth it. Most frozen drinks were listed as $14 and they were always covered. There was also a good selection of wines covered. I was a little disappointed in the beer selection but that is because I like IPAs and if they had them on the ship I could not find them. They will probably fix this when the ship sails in the U.S.

-          Had the Voom and streaming package as part of the beverage combo. First time we had a Wi-Fi package on a ship and the internet was surprisingly good. There were a few places in Southern NZ where the coverage was sporadic but overall it was much better than expected.

-          Maybe I missed them but did not see a big push on the specialty restaurants and spa services that are overwhelming sometimes.

-          Since it was summer in Australia there were a lot of kids of all ages but overall they were great.

-          Ship seemed to do a pretty good job of getting folks on an off the ship and onto their lifeboats acting as tenders. There was a glitch one day in port with the ship’s passenger check off/check in system which led to ship’s security personnel checking folks out manually. It caused an hour delay resulting in the ship departing 30 minutes later. If the system had not come up early in the delay there would be folks still trying to get off the ship. Need a better back up system.

-          Do not worry if you cannot get a reservation on the Northstar prior to your cruise. On our cruise there were no appointments in the afternoon and one of the operators said that by the end of the cruise there will be no lines and he was correct. If you want a particular time and location during your cruise then it may be an issue but if like us you were just curious then you should be able to get on. The experience was different but it is not something I would go out of my way to do in the future.

-          Two laundry specials: First/second day – fill a bag (good size) of items to be pressed for about $14 (sorry do not remember exact amount) and washing special about the 4^th day for about $35. This was great for us because we had been on the road for over a week before we got to the ship. This was mainly for underwear, socks, t-shirts, shorts, etc. and did not include shirts with collars and pants (specifically stated on info sheet that they would charge full price for these items).  Thanks to the cruise critic board where I learned you can get more in a bag if you roll the items.

Well I guess I have droned on and it is time to wrap it up. I will do my best to answer any questions and like most reviews there are plenty of others standing by to answer specific questions.

While preparing for my recent Ovation of the Seas cruise, about 6 months out I got sucked in by this exact same Ad and at the time without the knowledge shared on this board I got pretty angry and moaned and groaned on this board but beverage veterans explained to me the shady tactics the RCCL uses and I got over it.

So since this was an Australian cruise the 18% tip was part of the package so take this into account when I discuss price. With the ad above my price was $56 dollars a day and shortly thereafter it went to $62 a day and I was depressed thinking I missed a good deal but it went back to $56 a day several times and finally one day it hit $49 so I bought and never saw it go any lower but it did higher a number of times. I also booked the voom and stream in a package with the beverages and got what appeared to be a good deal. When we arrived on the ship it was $71 a day so it was definitely much cheaper pre-cruise. Best advice is; if the price seems good, buy it and cancel if it goes lower.

Just got off the Ovation on Saturday and there are currently 3 production shows; Pixels (reservation required), Legs (not full name) and another production that I assume will be on the ship. Pixels was very good and heard from several folks that Legs was very good. Most of the other entrainment (comedians, magicians, singers, etc) was geared to the mainly Australian audiences so doubt any of those acts will go to Alaska. Too bad because they had an Eagles tribute band and an amazing AC DC tribute band.

Just got off the Ovation on Saturday. Pixels is the only entertainment requiring reservations. There are some reservations for Northstar available prior to the cruise but it is pretty easy to get on later in the cruise. However, the theater, the music hall and club 270 smaller than you would expect so if there is something you really want to see get there 30 minutes early.

I just got off the Ovation on Saturday and although there were two formal nights I saw one tux and not even that many suits. Many more women were dressed up than Men. I wore dress slacks and a dress shirt on formal nights and was dressed better than most. Throughout  the cruise I was pretty was shocked how many T-shirts, shorts and flip flops I saw in the dining rooms. I wore long pants but frankly would prefer shorts.

I have had the drink package on Celebrity, RCCL and Norwegian and thought the Celebrity and RCCL were similar. The biggest difference with NCL, where just about everyone had the package, was that most specialty mixed drinks (especially the frozen drinks and martinis) are premixed and frankly they were terrible. I also found it a bit harder to get premium level drinks even if I was willing to pay the difference. Also found that NCL was charging higher prices for some premium liquor that was included in the other packages even though they all had the same max.

Do not, I repeat do not pay any attention to the percentage off. I am on the Ovation in Jan out of Sydney and have been monitoring for a while now and have actually seen 30% off cost more than 25 % off because there does not appear to be a set price. As stated above, look for the bottom line. I have seen a 20 Per cent off as high as $63 per day but yesterday was 30% and it was $49 (lowest in the past 6 months only reached once before).

We stayed at the Banks Mansion last summer and it was awesome. Favorite place we have ever stayed and wouldn’t stay anywhere else in Amsterdam. Very highly rated on Trip Advisor. Right in the middle of the canals and easily walkable to just about everything. Price was a moderate. Wasn’t too far from the port via taxi.

The problem is that the prices don't just change from ship to ship, the supposed base price (that sales are being offered on) that RCL is offering on the same ship is changing. For example we are going on Ovation of the Seas in Jan 19 from Sydney. When I first saw the price it was buy one, get 50% off the other and it was $56 a day - which RCL priced in the cart as 25% off for each person (apparently gratuity is included on Australian Cruises). When that sale was over it went to $60 per day. OK, understand that but then this week it is 25% off again so I am thinking OK $56 a day...not bad. However, this time the 25% off comes to $58 per day....aargh. As discussed on this thread I will probably just wait for major holidays or Black Friday to see if it gets any better sine cruise is still several months away.

Don’t buy this post. The OP’s IP is from within the USA.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

I am not attesting to the veracity of this post and there are sometimes disagreement about these definitions but Wikipedia and other references discuss the use of the ethnonyms "Hispanic" and "Latino" to refer collectively to the inhabitants of the United States of America who are of Latin American or Spanish origin—that is, Latino or Hispanic Americans.

I will be taking a 12 day New Zealand cruise from Sydney on the Ovation of the Seas in Jan 19. The other day I got an email stating that for a limited time that for my cruise RCL had a buy one get a 50% off the second drink package. I thought this may be a good deal so I started the process and put into cart and it came to $1344 (plus gratuity) and when I looked at the details it showed both of us with the same cost. I naively thought that it would show a full price package and then a half price package so I thought there may be a mistake. With the supposed discount this averages to $56 per day which from what I read on CC is about the "normal price".

I called RCL and the person I spoke to told me that the $1344 is correct and it represented a 25% off for each of us. I said that cannot be correct and asked that based on what I had read it shouldn't it be be around $55/56 per day? He said that is incorrect and that the number is not published and that it is only in his system. I stated that did not seem ethical and that how I am supposed to know what 50% off something is when I do not know what that something is. Call did not go well from there and we will probably not get the package (which will probably save us money in the long run).

If my math is correct the non published regular daily rate based on the numbers I was given (in the RCL system) was $70 per day (plus gratuity for a total of over $1900) which seems very high. This type of deceptive advertising is illegal in many States in the US. Am I overreacting or missing something?

Thanks.

Have done both lines a few times and we cruised on the NCL Epicback in Feb of this year and just got off the Celebrity Silhouette and agreewith most of the previous comments. Demographics are different and generallyfood is better on Celebrity in the MDR and the Entertainment better onNorwegian but that said you have to make reservations for almost all of thebetter entertainment on NCL (at least the Epic) or wait in lines to see ifthere will be room.

The biggest difference I noticed was in the included drinkpackages which Celebrity wins hands down. NCL offers an all inclusive drink package that is supposed to cover premiumdrinks but the quality of even premium beverages is subpar (many mixed drinksare pre mixed to include all frozen drinks and martinis…nasty). Also the price of higher end alcohol onNCL has been raised outside of the range of drink package. So if you comparedthe price without a package of a high end NCL drink or a high end Celebritydrink the NCL drink price is much higher and many higher end drinks included inthe Premium package on Celebrity were not even available on NCL. We upgradedto the premium package on Celebrity and to us it was well worth the extra cost (or if youprefer just pay the difference between the classic limit and the cost of thedrink that exceeds the limit. In addition to including better quality drinks inthe package, the Celebrity Premium package includes almost everything liquid toinclude specialty coffees and large bottles of water. Although some woulddisagree we found the selection of wine to be much better throughout theSilhouette especially in the dining room. The quality of the wine on NCL waspoor and the wine stewards were virtually non-existent on the Epic while notonly did we always see a wine steward in the MDR on the Silhouette they usuallyleft the red wines on the table (even though we were using our package to orderby the glass). Also they had a much better selection of beers on the Silhouettethroughout the ship but most notably in the Cellar Masters (extensiveselection), most of which were included in the Premium package (they also hadsome of the bigger bottles but they did exceed the package cost).

Under the right circumstances we may sail NCL again but for now we definitely prefer Celebrity

As an IPA drinker who is going on the Epic in a few weeks I am sad that I won't be able to have an IPA but sure I will find something :) With the drink package there is longer an incentive for Norwegian to have IPAs on board because they are generally more expensive. Saw an article this week about Carnival brewing craft beer, to include an IPA,(based on other's recipes) on board the Vista. What a great idea. http://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/cruises/2016/05/17/carnival-vista-brewery-cruise/84433878/

Was able to book on my iPad. Never was able to see a cart on Explorer. Thanks for all your help

We are going on the Epic on 11 Feb and I have been trying to make reservations for Priscilla and Burn the Floor. I can add them to the cart but cannot find a place where I can empty the cart and actually confirm the reservation. I have checked and the site does not show us with any reservations yet. I am sure I am missing something obvious but cannot figure it out so any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

We just did the Northbound out of Vancouver a few weeks ago and the only place that asked for cash was the local bus tour in Ketchikan. Other than that we had no issues whatsoever. There were also were plenty of ATMs. The only caution I would have is that several tour operators did not take American Express so if that is your card of choice I would take a backup.

We got off the Millie on Friday following a Northbound cruise and had a great time. We had been on this ship a few years ago and loved it and after reading all the complaints on cruise critic we really had doubts whether we picked the right ship but we can say with confidence that that all is well on the Millie. We had a few nit picky items but the ship was in great condition and staff as attentive as always. There is no doubt however that the wait staff has been cut and this was evident in the dining room for meals other than dinner. Although this only affected us directly one time It was really evident In the buffet where tables were slowly cleared if at all and never once were we approached to get us a drink. Again it was not a big deal to us but might be a big deal to others. Food in the MDR was good to very good. Entertainment was good but the house band Twist of eight was fantastic. They played dance music almost every night in Cosmos for 50's to today and were really good. We had Select dining and ate at different times between 7-9 and only once did we had to wait and only then it was for 5 minutes. Obviously Alaska was great. My opinion is that if you have an Alaskan cruise planned on Millie this summer or next year you will be very happy