Ovation of the Seas - Inaugural B2B cruise review (with lot's of photo's!!)

[dolphingirl47]

I have very much enjoyed your review. I am looking forward to your final thoughts. We are now on our way to Barcelona, where we will get on the Ovation on the 10th.

 

Corinna

[tomjohnsonjr]

What are the best shows to book and in what dining room is the best food?

 

Thank you for your time and GREAT review

[Clarea]

What are the best shows to book and in what dining room is the best food?

 

Thank you for your time and GREAT review

Why not book all the shows?

Edited April 30, 2016 by clarea

[Sea Lavender]

Hi all,

 

We returned yesterday from our 7 day sailing on Ovation and we very much enjoyed our time onboard. Service was much better all round from Anthem last year. This time we had a large inside cabin on deck 12 and highly recommend this option if you want space over a narrow balcony cabin. Due to the time of year, we wouldn't have used our balcony, and we felt we chose the right option. The virtual balcony was a brilliant idea and worked well. The bathroom had a really large shower, and there was plenty of storage so overall, very impressed!

 

Entertainment... I was absolutely delighted to see Mick Wilson from the band 10cc onboard playing with the Rewind Project, Royal have done really well getting them onboard. Absolutely brilliant, I've been trying to see them and to walk into the Music Hall not knowing they were on was just fabulous. I thought daytime activities lacked but I've put that in my feedback. If anyone would like info or pictures feel free to add your email address and I'll reply to you. Looking forward to Harmony in 38 days. Happy holidays!

[drummerdavebmth]

Really enjoying your review. We were on the 3 day and that was a big mistake as it wasn't nearly long enough! We enjoyed ovation immensely ( had been on anthem previously so knew the layout and how the dining etc works ) - I am still planning a short review but yours will put everyone else's to shame! Glad you had an enjoyable cruise - we really like quantum class ships.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

 

 

Looking forward to reading your review! :)

[drummerdavebmth]

Hi all,

 

We returned yesterday from our 7 day sailing on Ovation and we very much enjoyed our time onboard. Service was much better all round from Anthem last year. This time we had a large inside cabin on deck 12 and highly recommend this option if you want space over a narrow balcony cabin. Due to the time of year, we wouldn't have used our balcony, and we felt we chose the right option. The virtual balcony was a brilliant idea and worked well. The bathroom had a really large shower, and there was plenty of storage so overall, very impressed!

 

Entertainment... I was absolutely delighted to see Mick Wilson from the band 10cc onboard playing with the Rewind Project, Royal have done really well getting them onboard. Absolutely brilliant, I've been trying to see them and to walk into the Music Hall not knowing they were on was just fabulous. I thought daytime activities lacked but I've put that in my feedback. If anyone would like info or pictures feel free to add your email address and I'll reply to you. Looking forward to Harmony in 38 days. Happy holidays!

 

Wow.....Jealous of you having Mick Wilson from 10cc onboard!! :eek:

[drummerdavebmth]

So.........my review is drawing to it's conclusion.

 

We had one more show to see in the main theatre and that was 'Dream'. We had pre-booked online prior to the cruise, which enabled us to have a 5 minute head start finding decent seats ahead of those who hadn't booked. We had booked for the 9pm showing.

 

Taking our B52's from the Schooner Bar with us (our last B52's of the cruise), we settled down in seats behind one of the rows which had been reserved by a "Royal Genie" for suite guests. We had a good view....

 

Untitled by drummerdave72, on Flickr[/img]

 

 

 

 

As the lights dimmed and the performance started, the suite guests (who's seats had been reserved in front of us) decided now would be a good time to swan in, as if they had all of the time in the world!

 

Now, for all those suite guests out there who are lucky enough to have a "Royal Genie" save seats for them in the main theatre.....I am genuinely really pleased for you. It must really enhance your whole experience of the cruise and I bet it's really cool having a personal butler organising everything for you (including saving the best seats so you don't have to arrive early). I totally get that...

 

HOWEVER.....leaving it until when the show actually starts before you bother arriving at your reserved seats is just bad manners and damn right rude!! Especially as you then start chatting, ordering drinks and getting up and down again to let in another one of your party who's also swanning in late.

 

Why should the people sat behind you, who had to get in early to find good seats, have the start of the show spoilt for them because you couldn't be bothered to get to your seats in time?!

 

Sorry for ranting, but that really annoyed me!!

 

 

 

Anyway, finally they settled down and we were able to watch a great show. It wasn't very clear what was going on (if you hadn't read the synopsis on the digital signage outside), but it was visually and audibly stunning!

 

I won't include too many photo's (especially of the ending) because I don't want to spoil it for anyone who maybe going........But here is a little taste.

 

 

Untitled by drummerdave72, on Flickr[/img]

 

 

 

 

The singers and dancers were fantastic and we marvelled at how 3D like the stage looked.....great effects through out! We left the theatre happy, but at the same time sad that our holiday was drawing to a close. We went up to our stateroom.....and were met with another surprise gift!!

 

 

 

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1629/26481393322_0c77310ce2_b.jpg' alt='26481393322_0c77310ce2_b.jpg'>Untitled by drummerdave72, on Flickr[/img]

Edited April 30, 2016 by drummerdavebmth

[drummerdavebmth]

We were also given back our Sea Passes from the 3 night cruise. Interesting that the dates on the cards are the dates of when the cruises finished (rather than the start dates).

 

 

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1677/26481394132_7047ae5d65_b.jpg' alt='26481394132_7047ae5d65_b.jpg'>Untitled by drummerdave72, on Flickr[/img]

Edited April 30, 2016 by drummerdavebmth

[drummerdavebmth]

The next morning we awoke back in Southampton, where our journey began. Unfortunately, this time, we were the ones having to leave the ship. We had breakfast for the last time in the Solarium Bistro and then went back to our stateroom to collect our stuff and leave all our US dollars for our room attendant (who had been amazing and deserved every cent!).

 

I took these last few photo's from our stateroom balcony before leaving.

 

In the distance, P&O's Britannia was also in port....

 

Untitled by drummerdave72, on Flickr[/img]

 

 

 

And below, the tanker/fuel boat was already re-fueling Ovation for her next cruise....(that's the outside seating area for Jamie's Italian down there too, by the way)

 

 

I fired up my laptop and started transferring all my photo's, deciding to start this review straight away......and that's when you all came in. ;)

 

Thank you all for following along and leaving such kind words along the way. I'm going to get some "shut eye" now, but I will be giving a summery of positives, negatives etc tomorrow. In the meantime, if anyone has any questions about the ship (or ports of call on this cruise) I'll be happy to answer :)

Edited April 30, 2016 by drummerdavebmth

[MaiseyM]

Great photos and feedback. I now have another class of ships I want to travel on.;) Nice job!

[drummerdavebmth]

Great photos and feedback. I now have another class of ships I want to travel on.;) Nice job!

 

Thank you! :)

[MikeC1610]

Hi Dave

Thanks again for the brilliant review and also for answering my question. I'm looking forward to your summary.

 

We are still tossing up whether to go on Ovation. The ship looks incredible. It looks like a cross between the Celebrity Solstice class and the RC Oasis class. RC have added 4 new cruises at the end of the Aussie summer from Sydney and there is a 5 night Sydney to Hobart we are interested in just to get a small taste of what the ship is like.

 

Based on your advice we decided to stick with our Voyager Sydney to Singapore and not change to Ovation which is doing the same cruise but at nearly double the price. We have been on Voyager before and love it.

 

I do have another question for you. Have you booked another cruise yet? If not do you have a next cruise in mind and what is it?

[drummerdavebmth]

Right, as promised....I'll share my thoughts on various aspects of the ship. Obviously, pretty much everything I'm going to write here is subjective and I'm sure there will be people agreeing and disagreeing with me in equal measure (based on their own experiences).

 

 

So, with that little disclaimer out of the way, let's start!

 

 

Embarkation Process

 

This was easily the fastest embarkation we've ever experienced. My folks dropped us off at about 11:15am. 10 minutes later we were onboard the ship (having avoided the photographers!) with a glass of Champagne in hand! All you had to do was walk up to a member staff holding one of their tablets (Windows Surface Pro's, I noticed) who asked you a few questions, swiped your passport and you were away to the ship! Brilliant!

 

 

 

Our Stateroom (9262)

 

We were really impressed with our stateroom. It was very spacious and had a good amount of storage options. The bathroom was the best one we've had in a balcony stateroom (our Junior Suite on Indy was bigger, but this seemed more classy - if that makes sense?). The shower cubical was larger than we had on Liberty or Serenade.....rather than having two shower doors sliding open, the shower cubical had a door that opened out into the bathroom. Jen preferred this to the sliding doors, I preferred the sliding doors. Regardless, the bathroom was very nice. One thing we definitely both agreed on was how lovely our balcony was. For a regular balcony stateroom, it was very big (deep) and gave us fantastic views looking to the aft of the ship.

 

 

 

 

Now lets talk about some of the public area's - pools, bars etc...

 

 

The Royal Esplanade

 

This was quite a nice area, although (for me) it didn't quite have the "wow" factor of the Royal Promenade on Indy/Liberty or even the centrum on Serenade (that may surprise a few people, but the sheer height of Serenade's centrum when looking up from the R-Bar was very impressive to me). Nonetheless, it was nice enough and served it's purpose.

 

TWO70

 

Now this was a venue that definitely did deliver the "wow" factor!! The huge panoramic views from here looking out to the sea and ports of call had Jen and I thinking how amazing this would have been when we did our Norwegian Fjords cruise. Also, the clever use of technology and screens were very impressive. They had 'Spectra's Cabaret' or something on every night in there. We really enjoyed all the shows in TWO70, but we would have also liked to have been able to just sit in there with a few drinks and spend the evening watching the sun setting over the sea as we left port one or two times. We were unable to do this as the screens came down each evening with different backdrops. I guess, because we were on two short cruises they crammed in as much entertainment in there as they could. Maybe over a long cruise it would be paced out a bit more.......Regardless, we loved TWO70 a fantastic venue and public space on the ship!!

 

 

 

The Via

 

This was quite a nice area with some interesting centre piece artwork. It got quite crowed when shows finished in 270, everyone heading in one direction. Jamie's Italian is situated off here, so too Vintages wine bar.

 

 

 

Seaplex

 

Another "wow" factor space. Typical of Royal Caribbean to come up with something like this.......bumper cars at sea? Brilliant!

 

 

 

Swimming Pools and Solarium

 

Ok, personally I wasn't too impressed with the pools on Ovation (Quantum class). Actually, I tell a lie, I did like the inside pool.....my main gripe was with the outside pool. For a ship with a capacity of 4,900 passengers, having just one outside pool is ridiculous - especially when you consider this class of ship goes to/is going to/has been to the Caribbean, Mediterranean, Australasia & Asia (all places that can get very hot!). This is an area where I think the Voyager/Freedom class ships definitely have the edge with their two pools, side by side.

 

Both the outside pool and inside pool on Ovation were freshwater (rather than salty water). This was good, however they were both very cold - I wasn't expecting very warm, but I was hoping the indoor pool would at least have been at a temperature typical of my local swimming pool at home. To be fair, it did get close to that on the last day - so maybe they were just having some teething problems there.

 

We both liked the Solarium, particularly the hot tubs at the front overlooking the front of the ship. I will say, however, it did get very crowded and didn't feel as tranquil as the Solarium on Serenade (Radiance Class), which is our favourite Solarium at sea so far.

 

One thing we noticed on this ship, there weren't nearly as many bartenders walking about taking orders for drinks in the pool areas as there were on Liberty and Serenade (or even on Indy when we went to Norway, for that matter). More often then not, you'd have to get up to the bar yourself - not really an issue for us, but thought I'd point that out anyway.

 

 

 

Public Bars (Schooner bar, Vintages etc)

 

 

The bars we went to were all very nice. We particularly Vintages (which we often went to for pre-dinner drinks) and the Schooner bar (which we often went to for after dinner drinks). We didn't spend an evening in Bolero's, but that looked very nice too..

 

Again though, we did notice a lack of bar-waiters coming up to tables to take orders for drinks compared to our previous cruises (Indy, Liberty and Serenade). This often resulted in long waits at the bar, stood waiting to get served. I'm not sure if this is wide spread across the Quantum class fleet, or if this was just teething issues on Ovation that will get ironed out.

 

 

 

Coming up - my views and experiences of the Dynamic Dinning restaurants, Speciality Restaurants and other aspects of this cruise!

Edited May 1, 2016 by drummerdavebmth

[drummerdavebmth]

Hi Dave

Thanks again for the brilliant review and also for answering my question. I'm looking forward to your summary.

 

We are still tossing up whether to go on Ovation. The ship looks incredible. It looks like a cross between the Celebrity Solstice class and the RC Oasis class. RC have added 4 new cruises at the end of the Aussie summer from Sydney and there is a 5 night Sydney to Hobart we are interested in just to get a small taste of what the ship is like.

 

Based on your advice we decided to stick with our Voyager Sydney to Singapore and not change to Ovation which is doing the same cruise but at nearly double the price. We have been on Voyager before and love it.

 

I do have another question for you. Have you booked another cruise yet? If not do you have a next cruise in mind and what is it?

 

 

Thank you!

 

Yes, Ovation is an incredible ship in many ways. Although I've never sailed with Celebrity, from the photo's I've seen of their Solstice class ships, the decor does look very similar - more understated contemporary design, furnishings etc

 

I think you've made the right decision for your voyage from Sydney to Singapore - Ovation was nice enough, but not worth nearly double the price - in my opinion.

 

With regards to future cruises for us? It's doubtful we will go on one soon as we are planning on starting a family and (if things go according to plan) our money will probably be channelled else where.

 

Having said that, we've been pipe dreaming about 'Jewel of the Seas' doing the Greek Isles or Western Med, Navigator or Indy to The Canaries.

 

We may even give MSC a try one day (if all goes according to plan) as children go free up the age of 18 years old!

 

Who knows?

[cruiserinsg]

Thank you so much Dave and we are looking forward to our cruise on the Ovation soon. :)

 

By chance you know where are the freestyle machines for the drink package?

[mit429]

Hi

 

Glad you're enjoying the review, you're going to love this ship!

 

With regards to DD and dressing up. This is where I think the general confusion is - and it's of RCI's own making.

 

One one hand, they have said that there isn't a "formal night" except for those guests wishing to eat in The Grande (where it is formal night every night).

 

 

That's fine....

 

 

Yet, on the other hand, they have decided to have what they are calling a "Royal Night" - where all guests are encouraged to "dress your best" (I presume this is to please those cruisers who like formal nights).

 

So, what you have is some people every night dressed up (presumably because they're eating in The Grande).....and then one of the nights, the majority of the ship was dressed up. So really, "Royal Night" is just another name for formal night (as far as I can tell). Let's just call it a formal night, and be done with it!

 

I wish there was a bit more clarity where this is concerned.

 

Anyway, hope that helps! (.....sorry for my rant! :p )

 

I didn't know they were doing a "Royal Night" ... interesting! Thanks for this information, and no worries on the rant - I completely agree with you :)

[drummerdavebmth]

Thank you so much Dave and we are looking forward to our cruise on the Ovation soon. :)

 

By chance you know where are the freestyle machines for the drink package?

 

You're welcome!

 

From memory, there was a Freestyle machine in Sorrento's, by the Doghouse (Seaplex), Windjammer.....and various other places I can't remember!

 

We didn't have a drinks package, so they weren't on our radar...

[FirstCruise2331]

Still loving your review. Hilarious you were photobombing the promotional shots!

 

We're on board in three weeks and I recall you said when comparing Ovation to Serenade that Ovation was more crowded. Just curious does the solarium fill up early on Sea Days? It will be considerably warmer on our cruise so would expect outdoor pool to be busy but on my only other cruise (Enchantment) on Sea day we were late to pool deck and solarium and couldn't get a sun chair. Would hope it's not like that.

[debgreg]

Thanks again for a great review 😊 we are off to Southampton tomorrow, leaving Tuesday, I was curious did you get free wow bands or were they for sale ?

[chloe kitty]

Thank you for your great review. I was on the Quantum last year TA.

There wasn't any mention of wristbands instead of using your cruise cards for your cruise. Do they still have the wristbands? You were so lucky the have Claire V as one of your shows. She is just wonderful!

I am on the May 10th sailing and looking forward to it. We have booked Grande for a few of the nights, and am now wondering if that was the right thing to do. On the Quantum, we were given a glass of champagne with dinner in Grande. Are they still doing that? Did you do the Ifly?

Thanks again for the great review.

Edited May 1, 2016 by chloe kitty

[drummerdavebmth]

Still loving your review. Hilarious you were photobombing the promotional shots!

 

We're on board in three weeks and I recall you said when comparing Ovation to Serenade that Ovation was more crowded. Just curious does the solarium fill up early on Sea Days? It will be considerably warmer on our cruise so would expect outdoor pool to be busy but on my only other cruise (Enchantment) on Sea day we were late to pool deck and solarium and couldn't get a sun chair. Would hope it's not like that.

 

Hi....We did find the Solarium to be busy (but then again, we were in the English Channel, in April). You're always going to get the early bird chair hogs - On the seas days we found somewhere in the indoor pool area (near the Solarium doors).

 

On a longer cruise, you might find the ship less crowded (the longer the cruise, the more time people have to find their favourite places to spend time in - shorter cruises, people seem to be trying to cram in everything into a short time....so seems more hectic).

[drummerdavebmth]

Thanks again for a great review �� we are off to Southampton tomorrow, leaving Tuesday, I was curious did you get free wow bands or were they for sale ?

 

 

The WOW bands were on sale from Guest Services (so not Free, unfortunately). We didn't bother buying any. Our thinking was, we didn't have them on our previous three cruises and we got by just fine.

 

It would have been cool to have, if they were free. But we didn't think they were worth paying for.......Just our point of view, of course. Others may disagree.

Edited May 1, 2016 by drummerdavebmth

[drummerdavebmth]

Thank you for your great review. I was on the Quantum last year TA.

There wasn't any mention of wristbands instead of using your cruise cards for your cruise. Do they still have the wristbands? You were so lucky the have Claire V as one of your shows. She is just wonderful!

I am on the May 10th sailing and looking forward to it. We have booked Grande for a few of the nights, and am now wondering if that was the right thing to do. On the Quantum, we were given a glass of champagne with dinner in Grande. Are they still doing that? Did you do the Ifly?

Thanks again for the great review.

 

 

Glad you enjoyed the review........We didn't bother buying the wristbands (they weren't Free, unfortunately). Yes, Claire V was amazing - outstanding voice!

 

The Grande certainly were not giving glasses of Champagne (at least the night we went) - I don't think our waiter would have allowed time for that! However, we did arrive with two glasses of wine we'd poured ourselves in our stateroom....so maybe that had something to do with it.

 

We didn't get around to doing to iFly, I'm afraid.

Edited May 1, 2016 by drummerdavebmth

[PompeySailor]

Great review Dave,

 

Was really nice seeing Pompey and the Spinnaker, have not been back in 7 years, but look forward to making it back next year for an Indy sailing.

Great memories of the South Coast, thanks:)

 

Appreciated for all the photos

 

Happy Days!

[FirstCruise2331]

Hi....We did find the Solarium to be busy (but then again, we were in the English Channel, in April). You're always going to get the early bird chair hogs - On the seas days we found somewhere in the indoor pool area (near the Solarium doors).

 

On a longer cruise, you might find the ship less crowded (the longer the cruise, the more time people have to find their favourite places to spend time in - shorter cruises, people seem to be trying to cram in everything into a short time....so seems more hectic).

 

Thanks, hopefully you're right!