Ovation of the Seas arriving in Sydney now

[MicCanberra]

Now I don't I don't get on here much so it was a "blast from the past" seeing Brisbane 41 / Sutho/ Karate Man mentioned. So he is still around?

 

Works out near Uluru now.

[gbenjo]

Nope. Got about a hundred of 'me it seems.

 

Sorry I didn't catch you last week, but on Sunday there was no way I could walk that far.

 

No problem. Hope the foot is on the mend and did not spoil your cruise.

[GUT2407]

Now I don't I don't get on here much so it was a "blast from the past" seeing Brisbane 41 / Sutho/ Karate Man mentioned. So he is still around?

 

Was around recently telling how he gets off after boarding at the OPT, in spite of everyone else reporting that the rules changed about two years ago, he must be more spethshials than even me is.

[GUT2407]

No problem. Hope the foot is on the mend and did not spoil your cruise.

 

I think the only thing that could spoil a cruise for me would be Mrs Gut.

[MicCanberra]

Was around recently telling how he gets off after boarding at the OPT, in spite of everyone else reporting that the rules changed about two years ago, he must be more spethshials than even me is.

 

He was on an overnighter.

[gbenjo]

Thanks for some more info on the new check in system.:)

 

Could you confirm though that after check in with a CIA whether it be outside or inside the terminal, do you then just go straight to customs or do you still wait in the seating area where they had the coloured card system if the ship isn't ready to board passengers yet?

 

The reason I'm asking is because it was in this area last cruise earlier this year that the staff didn't seem to understand priority boarding, so the whole concept broke down at that stage. Two staff members were quite abrupt in their attitude despite my being very polite. I recall we discussed it on here & you advised that the situation was handled incorrectly by the staff. Another member on here also had the same problem around that time.

 

 

I just want what Royal give us for staying loyal to them as Diamond members, nothing more, nothing less. But I do resent being put in the uncomfortable position of having to ask for something that should be automatically sorted at check in & being treated like you are demanding special favours when you are only asking for what is promised.:rolleyes:

 

 

Thanks - really appreciate it if you can clarify it for me, so that this cruise start will be better than the last. :)

 

Checked today ...yes there is now a priority line for Customs.

[MicCanberra]

Checked today ...yes there is now a priority line for Customs.

 

Cool, Thanks Graham.:D

[avalon007]

Excellent Graham, thanks so much for finding out for us. :)

[tangogulf]

Checked today ...yes there is now a priority line for Customs.

 

Excellent thx Graham. Hope it works better than our Explorer embarkation in March last year where the toughbooks used for checking went down and everything went manual for a while. No priority lines either. Was a bit of a mess. Not the checkin staffs fault. Was some kind of power issue in the terminal.

[MicCanberra]

Excellent thx Graham. Hope it works better than our Explorer embarkation in March last year where the toughbooks used for checking went down and everything went manual for a while. No priority lines either. Was a bit of a mess. Not the checkin staffs fault. Was some kind of power issue in the terminal.

 

Are you saying the system went terminal in the terminal.;)

[gbenjo]

Excellent thx Graham. Hope it works better than our Explorer embarkation in March last year where the toughbooks used for checking went down and everything went manual for a while. No priority lines either. Was a bit of a mess. Not the checkin staffs fault. Was some kind of power issue in the terminal.

 

The "power" issues are usually with management :D:D:D

[MicCanberra]

The "power" issues are usually with management :D:D:D

 

Nicely escalated.;)

[cinogirl]

I watched the Today show this morn with the cast onboard the Ovation, and I saw some CCers from Canberra:p we met them on the Radiance last Easter, I wont mention their names for privacy, but they were the ones that they spoke to who had done the most cruises and they stayed on in the background for the segments.......so good to see them onboard and cruising, looks like they had family with them.:)

 

Hi there, yes we were on board (just Col and me). Some friends badgered me into getting up early to watch the show when they heard it was going to be filmed on board and I was glad I relented on the day, because it was really interesting watching how it all works and I ended up staying through the whole thing. The ship is amazing, the service was excellent and the cruise (to Hobart and NZ) was fantastic (except for the weather in the beginning, which resulted in some activities and shows being postponed - but that can't be helped and no amount of whinging (by lots of people on board, believe it or not!) can change that). I was surprised that being such a big ship with so many passengers we never felt it was crowded, never had problems finding a seat in the buffet or in shows and only had to queue twice, once in Guest Services to get our wrist bands (which is optional - but we loved them), and once to get back on the tender to the ship in Auckland. I highly recommend Ovation. :-)

[dropanchor]

Hi all you can read my review at this link

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com.au/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=560421

 

by the way, what I did forget to say on this premium ship on Christmas Day there was nowhere in sight a Plum / Christmas Pudding...... there hangs another tale:eek:

Edited January 7, 2017 by dropanchor
the link worked

[shireboi]

Hi all you can read my review at this link

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com.au/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=560421

 

by the way, what I did forget to say on this premium ship on Christmas Day there was nowhere in sight a Plum / Christmas Pudding...... there hangs another tale:eek:

 

just 'read' your detailed review..... great !!!

 

mmmm... we did Voyager in Asia just a few months ago... and given the 'Asian' connections with that and Ovation... I wont be as 'shocked' when boarding tomorrow... and what the 'expectations' are going to be like (*eg Windjammer - we found that 'hot plate warmers' were actually 'cold warmers'; long lines at Guest Services - because they couldn't sort out visas, requests to cancel etc !!

 

Loading ROYAL IQ on phone / iPads now - just to ensure that we book stuff straight away !!

 

 

Oh.. and whilst you had Xmas Day on yours.... we are going to 'experience' Friday the 13th in Tauranga :eek: !!!

Edited January 7, 2017 by shireboi

[dropanchor]

just 'read' your detailed review..... great !!!

mmmm... we did Voyager in Asia just a few months ago... and given the 'Asian' connections with that and Ovation... I wont be as 'shocked' when boarding tomorrow... and what the 'expectations' are going to be like (*eg Windjammer - we found that 'hot plate warmers' were actually 'cold warmers'; long lines at Guest Services - because they couldn't sort out visas, requests to cancel etc !!

Loading ROYAL IQ on phone / iPads now - just to ensure that we book stuff straight away !!

Oh.. and whilst you had Xmas Day on yours.... we are going to 'experience' Friday the 13th in Tauranga :eek: !!!

 

I sincerly hope they have learnt something from the reports on the cruise over and then the xmas cruise, I do hope it goes very well for you, we have decided that after experriencing Voyager, Diamond Princess and now Ovation the best way to avoid disapointment is to simply not get on ANY cruise ANY brand ship that is home based in China or has been "refurbished" for the chinese market and keep to those ships that still do the world or USA sailings where "western everything" is fully understood and more important the number 1 priority if you get my drift, if they want their ships for the Chinese market that bad then let them have them so to speak....the wear and tear on this ship already can be seen as with the other 2 I have mentioned so that is our rule from here on in:)

[Porky55]

dropanchor,

Read your review of the Ovation Christmas cruise which we were also on and couldn't agree more, such a shame.

We have been cruising since 2008 and have come to the same conclusion as you - anyway happy cruising! We are off to Iceland in 2018 on HAL ( with maybe a Princess cruise to PNG thrown in :) )

 

 

Sent on from my iPad using Forums

Edited January 8, 2017 by Porky55

[shireboi]

I sincerly hope they have learnt something from the reports on the cruise over and then the xmas cruise, I do hope it goes very well for you, we have decided that after experriencing Voyager, Diamond Princess and now Ovation the best way to avoid disapointment is to simply not get on ANY cruise ANY brand ship that is home based in China or has been "refurbished" for the chinese market

 

Just a few more bits ...

Chinese far more than normal on a RCL cruise and to be honest it trashed the RCL brand as they simply can’t do western food, the offerings were/are the same every night and bland, and as far as cakes / sweets they have no idea, the same 2cm square cake/deserts in a different color on tray after tray, meal after meal, and as for pastries there is none, other than the “Danish” for breakfast. As a example the Napoleon slice is “pastry” and filled with some water based gunk product with no cream in sight, just not worth the calories and as for the red velvet cake it is coloured sponge and very poor.

 

NOOOO... not that RED VELVET CAKE on Ovation ?? We had that on Voyager in Oct - it was terrible !! And those 2cm square things.. :p

 

In any case - I'll be found in the gym most of the time (the Voyager gym was pretty low grade) - 14 days... i must must must drop a few kgs on this cruise !!:rolleyes:

 

Strange though - on the last Asian cruise HK to Singapore - the majority on board were Aussies/English.....

 

 

And one final thing... and we BOTH have the same thing in 'mind' when we do NZ.... (and I've already 'mapped' out the locations in other ports...)

 

.. The Warehouse... yep.. it's no longer in Queen Elizabeth Square... it's actually 'moved' up the road... 21 Elliott St, Auckland. smaller store in a side street mall (* not sure if you found that one ??). I'm off to the ones in Tauranga CBD and Dunedin :)

Edited January 8, 2017 by shireboi

[dropanchor]

dropanchor,

Read your review of the Ovation Christmas cruise which we were also on and couldn't agree more, such a shame.

We have been cruising since 2008 and have come to the same conclusion as you - anyway happy cruising! We are off to Iceland in 2018 on HAL ( with maybe a Princess cruise to PNG thrown in :) )

 

g'day Porky55, yes it is such a shame,like yourself we also do a lot of cruising obviously and we can "afford" to absorb a bad cruise like this but I REALLY feel sorry for all those that were 1st timers and those that are on tight budgets and it is a once a year or even lifetime thing and they get served up this...............never mind, lets hope they (RCL) learn well from it because like you I guess I met noone in the last week on a ship with 4500 people saying they werent going to write in complaints- enjoy Iceland :)

[thistledoo]

I sincerly hope they have learnt something from the reports on the cruise over and then the xmas cruise, I do hope it goes very well for you, we have decided that after experriencing Voyager, Diamond Princess and now Ovation the best way to avoid disapointment is to simply not get on ANY cruise ANY brand ship that is home based in China or has been "refurbished" for the chinese market and keep to those ships that still do the world or USA sailings where "western everything" is fully understood and more important the number 1 priority if you get my drift, if they want their ships for the Chinese market that bad then let them have them so to speak....the wear and tear on this ship already can be seen as with the other 2 I have mentioned so that is our rule from here on in:)

 

We did the Golden Princess repo from Beijing to Sydney in October - we will never do a cruise originating there again. We will consider one to Asia from an Australian port but only at the end of our summer season.

[shireboi]

Trying to use Royal IQ - so far - terrible - nothing to book !

 

It also only allows one device at a time

 

Sitting here in the Windjammer - or buttjammer for a few trying to to sit in the tight seats :)

 

Obviously chaos to start with here....... time for a walk to see the boat !!

[dropanchor]

Trying to use Royal IQ - so far - terrible - nothing to book !

It also only allows one device at a time

Sitting here in the Windjammer - or buttjammer for a few trying to to sit in the tight seats :)

Obviously chaos to start with here....... time for a walk to see the boat !!

If you think the Windjammer is crowded wait till you see the line up for your gym equip

re Royal IQ, dont let that get away from you or it will be all booked out and in regard to the Warehouse I would cetainly keep to your thoughts in the other ports as to go to the one "up the road" .......that is a 3k round trip by foot:eek: ...have a great cruise and good seas for the trip:)