johnt83

I am going on my first solo cruise this week and got 3 more booked in the next 2 months for a total of 4! Wife is totally okay with it 🙂 can't wait!

Here is a snapshot of the email, and link: https://www.royalcaribbean.com/the-healthy-sail-center/getting-ready-to-cruise?dPort=seattle

Excellent review! Thank you so much for doing this LIVE blog, and I must say, for your first one, you did a superb job! I know it had to feel different/weird onboard with all the new restrictions and measures, but I know many people would love to just get on a cruise ship again after so long. Here's to staying healthy and more future cruising. I am onboard Quantum of the Seas in July 2021 to Alaska, but will only be going if these measures/restrictions are lifted. If they aren't maybe in 2022!

9 minutes ago, 702allennaru said:

You can go to Facebook, search Singapore cruise society. I'm booked for the same cruise from singapore but it's in March.

Thanks!

Hoping to follow along! Please link if there is! Thank you :)

So much great information on here, thank you!!

Alaska prices rarely drop due to the demand...good thing you booked a year out! We are going on Ovation soon and we booked back in February 2018!

On 8/8/2019 at 9:13 AM, SacCaliCruiser said:

OK I'm giving this a try. Here are (I hope) the daily planners - except Day 5 seems to have disappeared for some reason - and a couple examples of the Kids Planner, Teen Planner, and the show and theme night/dance party schedule. Fingers crossed you can see them. Please let me know if it doesn't work and I'll try something else.

Ovation Daily Planners 7.26.2019.pdf 13.8 MB · 15 downloads

Thank you for these! We leave in 3 weeks and this will be some good reading before we head out!

Great post and review, and pics! Thank you for sharing. One of my coworkers was on this 7/26 sailing and he had a blast! We sail in a few weeks on 8/30, can't wait!!! So excited!!!

10 hours ago, Hoopster95 said:

 

You're welcome.... by the way, was it you who asked about using photos and video? By all means go ahead

 

 

That was taken at 11:55pm... basically midnight

 

 

Just to be clear, unless I had an out-of-body experience and I floated out and up above Ovation by a couple thousand feet, I didn't take this photo! This is "photo-shopped", I believe Radiance has the exact same backdrop on some promo material.

 

This is a deceiving photo that Royal does not promote anymore I don't think... I haven;t seen it for a while anyways. It was from a RCL advertisement or promo last year promoting Ovation to Alaska for the first time. This is Hubbard Glacier... in which Ovation will no longer visit again.

It was me 🙂 Thanks! The Ovation of the Seas group on Facebook now has that pic... not sure if you're a part of it or on Facebook but thanks for letting the group admin borrow it!

4 hours ago, bluecartakesacruise said:

 

Wow, I thought I got up early.

What time do they change these? I always wondered... 🙂 I don't like seeing the last day before the cruise ends!

Loving the post-cruise posts, keep them coming!

5 hours ago, twangster said:

Cruise Compass posted.

 

Ovation of the Seas May 13, 2019 11 Nights Cruise Compass

 

Adventure Ocean, Babies and Tots and partial Teens Cruise Compass

This is super helpful, thank you!!! We are considering putting our 20 month old in adventure ocean...so we'll see what info i find out 🙂

@Hoopster95 The group admin of the Ovation of the Seas facebook group is asking if we can use the first pic on this thread (Ovation with Mountains in the background) as the cover photo. I wanted to check with you first.

I also gave you picture credit of the pic you took of Ovation docked in Seattle and share it with not only my friends on facebook but also the Royal Caribbean Crown and Anchor society group as well as the Ovation of the Seas group. And another kudos to you all for this wonderful thread, I referenced it in the comments as well for the 2 public group posts.

Just now, Hoopster95 said:

 

Yep, butter chicken/Dahl/lamb curry yesterday. Three days ago huge Mexican Station, guac, fajitas, enchiladas.

 

Theme lunches and dinners each night. They also had Malaysian night and Thai for example. Standard fresh pasta Station each night.... and the best views with huge windows as well as the open air seating farthest aft.

Yessss! I'm getting hungry just thinking about it 😛 Love the theme lunches/dinner idea, that'll make things interesting on a daily basis and definitely compete with the MDR... we typically swing by the MDR on a daily basis to see what their offerings are... we are vegetarian so we have to be a bit more selective in where we eat... if there isn't anything good we just hit up the WJ... never been disappointed in it. I think we may do MDR on formal night... which I think there are typically 2 on a 7-night sailing...

2 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

Before you buy the texting option inside the app, try using iMessage while connected to the ship’s WiFi. 

Will do! Appreciate this insight... fingers crossed that it still works lol

Good to know about the WJ... we have actually enjoyed the buffet quite a bit in past cruises over MDR... it's fast, easy, more selection and good food. While I definitely enjoy the sit-down experience at the MDR, why take 2-3 hours to eat when it can be done in less than 1 hour! It looks like the WJ on Ovation is nicely organizsed... do you know if they had Indian food any of the days in the WJ? I love cruise ship Indian food... oh and Mexican too! How were those offerings if you noticed and tried the food?

1 minute ago, Hoopster95 said:

 

 

Perfect, thank you! Totally worth it...hopefully it works better than VOOM lol

I hope you guys are enjoying your last night on the cruise... I know it's sad..but as they be happy that it happened and not sad that it's over... thanks again for the wonderful review and information, it definitely helped a lot of folks including myself. I am still 3 months away from Ovation but hope to tour it in July! Safe travels home all, I hope you enjoy your stay in my hometown city of Seattle... it was beautiful today, back to 60s/cloudy tomorrow/Friday though... shoot!

21 hours ago, Hoopster95 said:

Yep, per Twangster... no guarantees.

This is the official word:

Royal IQ has a chat function however you’re supposed to by a package

 

 

Is the package $8 for the whole week? I thought I saw someone post about that earlier in the thread... we are sailing in August as well and won't be getting Voom since we like to disconnect on cruises...but definitely want to stay in touch with our group via texting on the Royal iQ app... we have Apple phones as well so it'll be interesting to see what iMessage can/cannot do.

21 hours ago, twangster said:

Endicott Arm and Dawes Glacier Time Lapse.

 

Nine hours in 3 mins and 42 seconds, 5am arrival, 2 pm return to the Inside Passage.

 

 

It took 2 1/2 times longer than the actual cruising time to upload this over Voom, heavily compressed and reduced in file size.   

That's a lot of sailing to get to a glacier where they only spent a few minutes it seems like... how long were you guys at that glacier? The ship did one spin and it left? lol

Wow... just caught up on the 20+ unbelievable pages of amazing content, pictures and videos. Kudos to hoopster, twangster, biker and others who have contributed to this most amazing thread. I don't think I've ever seen anything like it on CC, where there are multiple folks contributing to 1 thread with such great stuff...

I'll be on Ovation on 8/30 so I am sure I'll have all sorts of information and experiences from folks and what to do, when to do it, where to do it, and how to do it... definitely want to try the Escape room and Wonderland if it's vegetarian friendly... would be a fun experience.

Looking forward to reading about the last few days... as Ovation now heads into my hometown Seattle for the summer. We are excited to have this ship in our backyard!!

What an incredible review, thank you for sharing your experience with us on the Bliss. I was fortunate enough to be on the 3-night inaugural/christening right before you got onboard, and seeing the pics you shared brought back so many memories and smiles. Bliss is a wonderful ship and I'm glad you had a great time. I think everyone needs to experience this beauty and we are so lucky she is here in our home port of Seattle :):)

@Motegi -- Excellent sharing of details on your cruise, thank you so much. I was on the inaugural right before your sailing and seeing the pics of this brings back great memories. I think you would agree that the Bliss is a beautiful ship and a game changer for the Alaska region. Cheers!

Excellent thread, Rick! Enjoyed all the pics you took and the experiences you shared... so glad I came across this as I hopped on Cruise Critic to check out some RCL action. Your reviews are amazing and I'm looking forward to Adventure and Symphony's inaugural, exciting! #KeepCruising

 

Aww thanks so much for the compliment. Have you read any of my others? I'm a pretty "winded" person. LOL Definitely give the Breeze a try! She's amazing! Aww how nice (the proposal to the gf now wife). That's awesome!

 

I haven't read your other reviews yet but definitely putting them on my "need to read" list :) thank you again for sharing your experiences!!