drummerdavebmth

By now we had about an hour before we had to get back to the meeting point. We walked passed a 'Medieval Torture Museum" on our way to the main square.....We decided to have a look on our way back. Let's just say, I'm glad I don't live in the middle ages!!

It was my idea to go in here.....Jen's putting on a brave face, but I really don't think she was so sure!

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Untitled by drummerdave72, on Flickr[/img]

Untitled by drummerdave72, on Flickr[/img]

We bought some chocolate for my parents (to say thank you for dropping us off and picking us up in Southampton) and Jen's parents (who were looking after our pet Budgie - Archie).

We naturally bought plenty of chocolate and biscuits (that's cookies, for my North American friends) for ourselves too!

Now it was time for some 'pommes frites' (with mayonnaise, of course!!). They were sooooo good!!!

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And not a bad place to eat them.....

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Untitled by drummerdave72, on Flickr[/img]

And now it was time for chocolate........There is chocolate, and then there is Belgium chocolate!!

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Untitled by drummerdave72, on Flickr[/img]

The next place we visited was the Sint-Janshospitaal (Saint John's Hospital). It has an 800 year old history of caring for pilgrims, travellers and the sick. It has medieval wards, where the nuns and monks performed their work of mercy as well as a chapel, archives, art works, medical instruments and paintings by Hans Mewling.

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I hope nobody's eating....

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Now, do you remember that "Rapunzel" tower that we walked pass as we first arrived in Bruges? Well, take a look at this medieval painting and look to the right. Outside of the window in the painting, you can see the very same tower....

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What a great review, have just sat and read though the whole thing with a cuppa and its brought back lots of very happy memories of our cruise to the canaries on the Anthem last October. We really love the quantum class of ships and would have jumped at the chance of trying out the Ovation whilst she is enjoying her short spell of time in Southampton but unfortunately our hot water cylinder went pop and all and any spare cash had to go towards that instead!

 

My favourite places onboard where 270, the Solarium (especially the huge hot tubs at the front with the view) and Vintages. We enjoyed eating in Icon and Chic more than Silk and the Grande too and had a fabulous (if rather filling) meal at Jamie's. All together it was a fabulous cruise on a stunning ship and something that will stay with me as a very happy memory for a very long time to come.

Thank you!! Really glad you've been enjoying my review so far....

It seems like we share the same favourite places on this class of ship! :)

Do they allow smoking on Ovation of the Seas???

To be fair, the casino is the only indoor public space where smoking is allowed.

The only other smoking area's were in outside public areas that could easily be avoided.

There is a strict no smoking policy on balconies.

Unfortunately I had to put that to the test on the 3-night part of our cruise. In the stateroom next door, there was a 17/18 year old kid. On the morning of the 2nd day he was stood on his balcony talking quite loudly on his mobile phone to his friend who was obviously in another stateroom. He was telling his friend not to let his parents know how drunk he was the night before (apparently he spent the whole night being sick - that would explain why I kept hearing his toilet flushing throughout the night!).

He was telling his friend all this whilst swearing constantly and flicking ash from his cigarette over his balcony.

Jen was trying to enjoy our balcony at the time and came back in, quite disgusted.........I was straight on the phone to Guest Services to report him. Guest Services thanked me for reporting it and said they would get someone from security to have a word with him straight away. We had no further problems after that.

Luckily this next-door neighbour was only on the ship for the 3-nighter. We had a really lovely older couple next-door for the 5-night cruise.

Is that a bar near the floor of the shower to make it easier to shave your legs??? If it is, that's brilliant!

Yes....it is!!! :cool:

Really enjoying your review.... It's helping to build the anticipation for May 10th.

 

Quick question, did you use the casino at all and if so, is it still possible to get actual cash from the cashier?

 

There's another thread with varying reports about a voucher being issued now rather than cash and you put that voucher in any slot machine, play, cash out and then get that voucher changed to cash, which seems like a long way around to get cash?

 

Sorry for long winded explanation, any insight would be appreciated, if not from Dave (OP), anyone else who has been onboard

 

Thanks

Hi

Glad you're enjoying the review. I'm afraid I can't help you with regards to the casino as we never used it (we generally avoided the area as it could get quite smokey - especially the end nearest the Music Hall entrance).

Hopefully someone else might be able to answer your question, though.. :cool:

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Untitled by drummerdave72, on Flickr[/img]

Now we are approaching the choir space and high alter...

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After a while, we decided to pay a visit to the 'Church of Our Lady'. This church dates back to the 13th century and boasts the 2nd tallest brickwork tower in the world (at 401 ft).

The sculpture has an interesting history all of it's own....

From Wikipedia: The sculpture was removed twice from Belgium after its initial arrival. The first was in 1794, after French Revolutionaries had conquered the Austrian Netherlands during the French Revolutionary Wars; the citizens of Bruges were ordered to ship it and several other valuable works of art to Paris. It was returned after Napoleon's final defeat at Waterloo in 1815. The second removal was in 1944, during World War II, with the retreat of German soldiers, who smuggled the sculpture to Germany enveloped in mattresses in a Red Cross truck.[1] It was discovered a year later in Altaussee/Austria and again returned. It now sits in the Church of Our Lady in Bruges, Belgium.

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The rest of the church was beautiful too...

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We noticed lots of original medieval artwork around the church...

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Thanks so much for taking the time to post your review. Your photos are fantastic - including of Grand Suite 9242. We will be across the hall in 9642 in June - the ship looks fantastic.

Thank you, I'm glad you're enjoying the review! Yes, that Grand Suite looked very nice....you're in for a treat! :)

Loving the pictures of Belgium. My grandparents and mother are from there and I hope to visit some day. These pictures are making plan it sooner than later! Thank you for sharing and sparking my desire to get on with the planning.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

Hey, glad you're enjoying the review!

We loved Belgium, particularly Bruges - we plan to go back for a short break one day and stay in a hotel there for 3/4 nights. A 4-hour excursion wasn't nearly long enough!

Boutique chocolatier shops everywhere....

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There were also lots of boat tours in Bruges, a city often referred to as the Venice of northern Europe with it's many waterways running through it.

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The first thing we did once reaching the centre of Bruges, was explore...

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Untitled by drummerdave72, on Flickr[/img]

Dave,

 

We leave next week for the Barcelona to Dubai leg and have booked DD Classic and will have the rotation of the 5 free restaurants over the 16 days. This means we will probably be in the Grande 3 times. I know the dress is listed as formal which is a suit and tie for the men. Are there any exceptions? My husband doesn't want to pack his suit as we are traveling from Australia with a couple of stop overs before we get to Barcelona. Will he be allowed in with just a shirt and tie?

 

If not, we will go to some of the other restaurants on those nights.

 

Thanks for the great review.

Helen.

Hi Helen,

Men have to wear a jacket for The Grande. However, they did have some available at the front desk for any gentlemen arriving without one, so that could be an option.

Maybe try that for your first night at The Grande, to see if that works (then you can decide if you want to eat there again).

I'd definitely recommend breaking the Dynamic Dinning restaurant cycle up with one of the speciality restaurants though. Chops Grille and Jamie's Italian were well worth the cover charge, in our opinion!

Glad you're enjoying the review :)

After a short 30/45 minute coach journey we arrived in Bruges. Our guide led us to a meeting point where we were to meet back in 4 hours.

That tower ahead of us is a medieval tower dating back to the 1300's. Later on in the day, we saw a painting of one of Bruges early Mayor's (from the 1400's) and you can clearly see this tower in the background...

"Rapunzel, Rapunzel let down your fair hair!"

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The Swans certainly seemed to be basking in the sunshine....

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Thanks for your kind words everyone.....

So, we are now in Zeebrugge, Belgium. We had a morning excursion booked for Bruges today, which we were looking forward too ('Bruges of your own').

Good Morning Zeebrugge!!

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As this was our last full day of the cruise, this was to be our last 'Morning Show' (sniff, sniff). I actually made it on TV this time though, when I nipped down to Boleros to get a couple of wine glasses the night before!

My 2 seconds of fame!!

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Before we knew it, we were on our coach.....then on our way!!

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So h a wonderful review. Thanks for sharing.

Glad you're enjoying :)

Thanks Dave, we are leaving our kids and Grandson at home so we want to be able to Skype

That sounds like a good idea (Skype-ing). They did have Voom (high speed) packages - both bookable before hand and onboard.

Very Nice Pictures! The ship looks good an I hope to sail on her one day! :cool:

Thanks! She is a great ship :)

This review is great Dave. Thanks for sharing ALL the pics!!!

Glad you're enjoying it :)

Thanks again Dave, great seeing all the pictures really building my excitement :)

 

Did you notice how much the internet was, I don't know whether to book now or wait until I'm on board ?

I'm afraid I didn't notice how much the internet was (someone else might be able to tell you).

I'm quite old fashioned in the sense that, whilst I love technology at home, I like to disconnect totally whilst on holiday and not get distracted - I always put my phone on "Airplane Mode" for the duration and just use it as a camera. :)

 

One of our favourite place too... and indeed there we are, sitting on the right of your picture with our friends! :)

Cool!!!! :D

After dinner we decided to see if some robotic barmen could give us better service......

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The robotic barmen required a tip....the tips are where they earn their wages, poor things!

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This was the first and only time we went to the Bionic Bar. For us it was one of those, do once kinda things. It was fun, but we didn't feel the need (or want) to repeat.

We headed to the Schooner bar (Ahhh...our happy place!). You're probably thinking we had our usual B52's, right?

WRONG!.......This time we went "craaaazy" and had a 'Baileys Butterball', at the barman's recommendation. It became a new favourite! We took our drinks with us into the main theatre to watch the 'Love & Marriage' show. Although this is a Royal Caribbean tradition, this was the first time we'd gotten around to seeing it.

As usual, Joff Eaton was hilarious (and he had his work cut out....lol). It was a fun way to round off what had been a (on the whole) great sea day!

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Overall, we'd had a great day at sea. Tomorrow we'd be in the port of Zeebugge. We were going to spend the morning in Brugge, which we were really looking forward to.....Stay tuned!!

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