tomatosauce

I would go for the Explorer. A bigger, nicer and newer ship. Also you get to sail into and out of one of the best harbours in the world.

I am a bit surprised by the comments about things breaking down and poor service for a ship that hasn't been launched yet. I guess that there is no pleasing some people.

To answer the itinerary question it will be sailing a few times out of the UK then heading to China where it will alternate between China and Australia for the next few years. It is proving very popular in Australia so I expect the 2017-2018 Ovation season in Australia to be a bit longer than the 2016-2017 one.

You don't need to pay any extra but you may be required to prepay gratuities.

I would like to support what others have said. If you pay the daily service charge then there is nothing else to pay.

For me some excursions are available for booking on your Ovation cruise but only until Cochin. Nothing else is available at the moment. It is exactly the same situation for the cruise starting on the 10th of May in Barcelona.

As someone who doesn't like tipping I have come up with something that I am happy with on RCI. I just don't touch anything. The daily charge goes to those who deserve it and there is an automatic service charge added to things like drinks and specialty restaurants. So just go with the default and you don't have to think about it any more.

For a different perspective as someone who is not from North America I still find the concept of both price reduction (in all its forms) and changing guarantee cabins rather odd and would never have expected it to be a possibility.

They had over 20,000 people register to get an email when it first went on sale. It is also here (largely) over school holidays and only doing 4 cruises whilst it is here. All in all a recipe for it selling well (and being rather pricey).

In some countries they work on what they call an agency model where they are not allowed to offer the cruise for a different price to what everyone else does so from a strict pricing point of view it should be the same everywhere. Where the TA can make a difference is with OBC or a bottle of wine waiting for you or a lanyard or a hat or...

I would not be surprised if there were differences in the lost luggage policies between the different countries when it comes to compensation, etc. For example I know that airlines in different countries have different levels of compensation.

The mere chance that there could be a difference (even if there is no difference) means that I can understand why the UK team would be reluctant to attempt a resolution and would prefer for it to be handled in the US.

It is actually a little more complicated than all of that. Until 2003 P&O, Princess and P&O Australia were run out of Southampton but Princess is now run out of CA, USA. The P&O brands, Cunard and Ocean have since been run out of Southampton along with UK (and probably some other areas) marketing and sales of Princess cruises.

The Voyager class ships have pizza (plus other stuff) available 24/7 at the cafe on the promenade. There are generally 3 different flavours of pizza, namely mozerella, pepperoni and another that I can't remember.

Everything is is US dollars and keeps the US plugs.

At this point O3b, the company that RCI uses for internet has 12 satellites in orbit with 8 more to come by mid 2018. Recently I read that RCI by itself uses 4 of the satellites. This costs serious money and so it has to charge for it. Maybe when OneWeb comes along starting in a few years things will change but not at the moment.

I would throw into the mix...

Do you want to go on a brand new ship that was only launched about a month earlier?

The reason that you need to catch their shuttle is that the cruise ships (or at least the ones that I have been on) dock at the timber wharf not the pier which is where the ferry to the North Island docks so you are a 5-10 minute bus ride from downtown. Even if you are one of the first off the ship getting there in time will be a tight fit (although it is only about 200m from where the bus drops you off at the information centre).

The general advantage for ships' tours is not the getting off but the guaranteed getting back in time. Having said that they will give priority to people doing their tours but that generally doesn't mean much.

The trick to enjoying the Picton stop is to get up early enough to see the sounds as you come in. That makes the whole thing worthwhile as there is not much in Picton itself.

I am thinking supply and demand.

When the cruise was first released about 6 months ago the solo balconies were good value and very popular especially as there are only 12 in the whole ship. Over time the pricing adjusts from the initial pricing according to the principle of supply and demand within each category.

At this point if 2 people were to try and book the solo room (and were allowed to) then the cost would be about $8,000 - $10,000 so there is no single suppliment on the price.

Interestingly when I booked solo balconies for 2 cruises on the Ovation transit from Europe to Asia the price was several thousand dollars cheaper per cruise than buying standard internal cabins.

The photo at http://www.cruisecritic.com/blog.

Am I the only person who has a problem with the latest desktop wallpaper in the Cruise Critic Blog? The orientation of the Sydney Opera House is totally wrong. For all the great photos of cruise ships in Sydney Harbour it is a pity that they went with one that can't exist.

It can also be the port rule based on ship size. Until the recent dock extension in Sydney at the Overseas Passenger Terminal any ships over 270 or 280 metres in length needed to be stern in and any shorter than that was bow in. Since the extension the Voyager class (and smaller) now docks bow in. This was due to options to secure ropes, access for other vessels, etc.

Royal posted a photo on their Facebook page saying that it was in Milford sound today.

Given it is at the end of the tram line it can be a hassle to get anywhere via tram from the port or even returning to the ship from downtown Melbourne.

Even the ones from Perth generally go via the East coast as they stop in Melbourne first. As an aside if you are heading from Hobart to Melbourne and have a full day at sea then you will have sporadic mobile coverage for about half of the sea day as you travel up the Tasmanian coast.

It is a big port but the cruise ship terminal is by itself and there are some signs directing you to it.

Reading one of the reviews I really wished that I could comment on it based on the person who didn't do enough research.