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Ship To Shore: The Ovation in Norway


Fletcher
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1 September 2018: Embarkation Day

Now here’s a question. How many fjords can a man take in a single year without getting bjored?

I ask this as someone who has sailed through Canada’s fjords, Greenland’s fjords and Chile’s fjords this past calendar year, courtesy of Regent and Seabourn, and now I am on Seabourn’s spanking new ship, Ovation, about to sail up and then down the deeply cleft coastline of Norway. I am told there are fjords up there. Lots and lots of them. I am also told that we will be seeing fjords, not fiords, as the latter are to be found in New Zealand or maybe the southern hemisphere. And of course, if the weather is lousy, and I am fully expecting it to be just that, well, I might not see any fjords at all. Now that would be bjoring.

This is the fag end of Norway’s summer tourist season. For several weeks now I’ve been monitoring various live webcams in places like Gerainger and Tromso and watching the cruise ships come and go. How nerdy is that? Some days there have been several big ships in one tiny port of call and I can see how places like Alesund and Bergen can get uncomfortable when 10,000 passengers show up on the same day. But as August has prepared to make way for September, the numbers have decreased and I’ve also noticed how a caravan park at the end of Gerainger fjord has slowly emptied this past fortnight. So this is why we have chosen to come in September. As far as I know, we will only encounter other two cruise ships in two ports - Flam and Alesund. After that we have the place to ourselves, apart from the Hurtigruten ferries and maybe the odd ruminating reindeer.

There is of course a trade-off. Norway, like the rest of Northern Europe, has had a blazingly hot and arid summer. The view from those webcams has been of perpetual blue skies, puffy white clouds and tourists in shorts and T-shirts sucking on soused herring ice-cream. Coming in September and venturing as far as the North Cape, which is several hundred miles above the Arctic Circle, I fully expect some icy blasts and have come prepared with my lovely orange Seabourn parka and my cute Seabourn penguin beanie which I picked up on the Quest earlier this year in Antarctica. You know what they say - there is no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate clothing.

To get to the Ovation today we left home at 3am and did the two-hour drive down to Heathrow in one hour and forty minutes. We flew to (Wonderful wonderful) Copenhagen and were having lunch in the Colonnade by midday. The whole meet and greet at the airport and the check-in at the cruise terminal was seamless. The Ovation seems huge and at first glance it also looks rather fabulous, understated, sophisticated, not remotely blingy. Tomorrow is a sea day and we’ll explore our floating home for the next two weeks. I hope you might want to follow me on this trip. This will be the way I see it. Wjarts and all.

 

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Will be following this closely. The itinerary is of great interest to me and I was very close to booking this cruise.

Also very much looking forward to reading about Ovation. I'm booked on her later this year and am afraid of that first "eek she's huge" moment. Reassuring to read your early impression is "understated and sophisticated" which is right up my street. Blingy most definitely is not!

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I’m excited to follow this live journal too as:

A) we’ll be on Ovation in two months time and I am looking forward to a detailed review from a veteran of Seabourn’s O-class ships.

B) we too are interested in this itinerary in the future

 

Bon voyage!

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Same here, we love these LIVE reports. After reading the review of the Ovations inaugural cruise out of Venice, I am so interested in this blog. We look forward to your reports, Fletcher. Keep up the good work!!! The Ovation is definitely on our radar and to have objective reviews from someone who has been on their other ships will be Invaluable.

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Fun Post, Fletcher.....Enoyed it. Looking forward to your thoughts on Ovation. We sail her in late May, 2019....Lisbon to Amsterdam. We sailed the Encore late this past May in the Mediterranean & enjoyed it very much. We love the size of these new ships.....just large enough, just small enough. Staff, food, amenities were superb.....expecting Ovation to be the same. Norway is jaw dropping beautiful. We did an adventure land cruise with our granddaughter a few years ago. It was stunning. Wishing you a perfect cruise.

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Love your reporting style, Fletcher, so I'm looking forward to reading more. We recently completed a Norwegian Fjords/North Cape cruise with Crystal and it ranks among our favorite itineraries. We got lucky with fabulous weather, no rain and sunny skies ... almost unheard of in these parts. Wishing you the same on Ovation!

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Love your work Fletcher, looking forward to your photos.

We sailed to North Cape on Quest in July/Aug 2015.

Unfortunately for us the weather that summer was not kind, colder and wetter than Melbourne at the time ! :( (our winter )

Still a great cruise though, enjoy :)

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2 September 2018 - Getting to know the Ovation

Let’s cut to the chase: we think the Ovation is pretty fabulous. Our benchmark is the Quest and the Ovation is just the same, only bigger and different. That is to say, Seabourn’s overall concept of what a cruise ship should be remains the same. Only the details have changed.

This is particularly apparent in two areas. The Colonnade is far better on this ship. There is more much space, both inside and out. It’s feels wonderfully airy and elegant. We had breakfast outside this morning and enjoyed the clear blue sky, the warm sunshine, the autumn fruits, the banana pancakes and a gannett in our slipstream. Sometimes the Colonnade on the Quest could feel crowded, a little cramped. Not so on the Ovation.

The other area where the difference is noticeable is Seabourn Square. At first sight, the Square on this ship seems a bit random, not as coherent a space as it is on the Quest. But spend a few hours here and you see how brilliantly organised it is. The coffee is as great as usual; the library strong on travel, weak on everything else; and now there are power points for your laptop, like the one I am using to write this.

There are some weaknesses. People elsewhere on the Seabourn forums have commented on the smallness of the pool and the pool deck. It’s true. It doesn’t look quite right for a ship of this size and on a hot-weather trip like the Caribbean or the Med, with a full complement of passengers (and we are full on this trip) this area might be a sweaty squeeze which you might welcome elsewhere but, please, not in public. But we are not really pool people anyway, so it doesn’t matter to us very much.

We didn’t care much for the The Restaurant where we had dinner last night. To be begin with the food was on the bland, lukewarm side of terrible. And the decor is weird - columns and ceiling made out of moulded gleaming white plastic that reminded us of cheap garden furniture. It was also very noisy, not helped by the low ceiling. Somehow the Quest’s MDR feels more spacious and lofty and much more sophisticated. The MDR here really is a mass catering job. I don’t think we’ll be eating there again any time soon.

We have a rather large onboard credit to spend and had thought we’d raid the boutique. We don’t do watches, shiny stones or fancy smellies. We might just be in the market for a bag. But the range of clothing here is minimal, much less appealing than the Quest which had a lot of outdoor Arcteryx stuff. So I guess we’ll just have to spend the money on a few over-priced shore excursions, maybe one of those Ventures zodiac trips around the North Cape.

Finally, our cabin. We are pretty much amidships, both laterally and vertically. Here the newness of the ship really shows - everything is brand new, especially the bathroom which gleams and sparkles. The air-con works a treat, the TV media-centre thing is excellent and there just seems to be a bit more space, inside and out. We like the glass desk/table, there are plenty of power sockets with both US and European styles. Our cabin is quiet and it doesn’t creak or rattle.

The Seabourn staff are an absolute delight as usual. The summer lingers on out here in the North Sea, Norway’s coastline is just over there and later today we will swing into Sognefjord and trickle down to our first port of call, a town called Flam.

 

We are happy bunnies.

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3 September 2018 - Killing time in Flam

Dinner last night in the Colonnade was a bit of a fiasco since the iPads the wait staff use went offline or off message. The theme was French with a choice of sea bream or filet mignon with béarnaise sauce. We chose the beef with escargots to start with. We also chose to have a table for four which proved to be a mistake.

Our snails arrived instantly, we enjoyed the garlicky nature of them, then waited more than half an hour for the meat. During this wait we were asked if we were ready for our creme brulees. We said we usually like to have our main course before the sweet. When the beef finally arrived we were asked if were ready for our coffees. The tech had broken down and so had our relations with the rather combative woman and her subdued husband who had joined us for dinner. We’re happy to natter about travel, where we all live, the Royal Family and so on, but when it gets to American foreign policy and immigration from Latin America it can easily get . . . nasty. And it did.

The mess-up in the meal service meant we endured this couple for longer than necessary and we also missed the 8.45pm show. We didn’t leave the Colonnade until 9.45pm. All in all, this was a car crash of a dinner. There are two points to be made here - always have a table for two and give your waiter a notepad and a pencil.

* * * * *

Our first Norwegian port of call was Flam, at the end of Aurlandsfjord which is itself an offshoot of Sognefjord. It’s amazing how deeply these big ships can penetrate into Norway. There was another ship here as well, the Costa Favolosa, which is capable of taking six times more passengers than the Ovation. That’s nearly 4000 people, compared to the 570 on board our ship. The Favolosa tied up alongside while Ovation people tendered ashore. Size obviously matters more than style.

Flam is famous for a railway that cuts 20kms through majestic mountain scenery to link up with the main line to Oslo. I guess most passengers aboard the Ovation went on that. The other main option was a scenic cruise down adjoining Naeroyfjord which is one of only two fjords to be designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

More interesting to us was another UNESCO World Heritage Site which was tantalisingly close and infuriatingly difficult to reach. This is a 12th century stave church at a tiny hamlet called Urnes. Although I think the whole UNESCO thing has become devalued in recent years I still have this illogical desire to visit all of them. But Urnes wasn’t really feasible. It was about 30 miles away and needed two ferries as well. By renting a car we might have got there but we couldn’t guarantee we’d get back before the Ovation set sail.

There is another lovely-looking stave church nearer Flam, at Borgund, but we couldn’t find anyone to take us there. One travel agency we spoke to said they were not allowed to drive through the world’s longest road tunnel to reach the church. The tourist information office looked flummoxed, as if we were the first people to ask about going there. Taxis didn’t seem to exist. So we just went back to the ship and killed time. Maybe we should have taken the safe option, the train, but it really didn’t appeal to us.

There was a sailaway with caviar which is probably something they don’t do on the Costa Favolosa. And dare I tell you about tonight’s dinner in the Colonnade a la Thomas Keller? The service was as disjointed as ever. A full hour this time between first course, a ludicrously ‘re-imagined’ Waldorf Salad and another beef dish with a disgusting gravy so gloopy that a quad-bike would have got stuck in it. Can the Ovation ever produce a dinner on time and worth eating? I doubt it.

Tomorrow it’s a town called Alesund. Our guidebook says it has more in common with Paris and Prague than with other Norwegian towns. Really?

 

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Fletcher,

 

I was on this itinerary on the Ovation in July and loved every minute of Norway. I look forward to reliving/comparing the journey through your posts the next two weeks.

 

I highly recommend Earth and Ocean for dinner. I gave up on the other venues and ate there most nights.

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Fletcher,

 

I adore your wit and honesty. The recommendations about insisting on a table for 2 is yet another reminder how dangerous mealtimes can be once you cave into the attractive seating hostess’ suggestion you meet new people. We have encountered presumptuous and noisy amazons, their husbands/mates of various characteristics, and their offensive propaganda. Ruins dinner every time, and like you, I won’t put up with it long at all.

 

About service levels and technology on Ovation, this is regrettable. Our friends who were on the Ovation’s maiden voyage raved about how much more they enjoyed it versus the Encore’s maiden we sailed together in 2017. So I am assuming that the entire “A team” from Ovation’s spring season is now on leave and you have something else to contend with. I certainly hope it all improves!

 

Happy and healthy sailing!

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It is an ugly season for political discussions. We encountered a woman on our June Ovation voyage who assumed that everyone within earshot one early morning agreed with her very loud criticism of those on the other side of her political spectrum . Without saying what her view was, I'll tell you she was a native of Mississippi. I surprised myself with the sudden vitriol of my own response as I distanced myself as far from her as I could. I had been warned by others about her lack of tact and outbursts. We still brave sharing a table with others we have never met, and usually enjoy the experience.

 

I hope the service improves for you Fletcher. We did have a couple of misses in the service at meals on Ovation, but most of the service was top notch. Do try Earth and Ocean and come back and tell us what you think.

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Very funny Fletcher

I don't like the Colonnade for dinner at the best of times.

The French dinner is the same every cruise and consists of very few dishes.

A competent waiter should be able to remember an order and deliver it correctly.

Always a gamble dining with unknowns it's like tossing a coin really

Some you win and all that

Stiff upper lip and keep the posts coming.

 

Sent from my SM-G955F using Forums mobile app

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3 September 2018 - Killing time in Flam

Dinner last night in the Colonnade was a bit of a fiasco since the iPads the wait staff use went offline or off message. The theme was French with a choice of sea bream or filet mignon with béarnaise sauce. We chose the beef with escargots to start with. We also chose to have a table for four which proved to be a mistake.

Our snails arrived instantly, we enjoyed the garlicky nature of them, then waited more than half an hour for the meat. During this wait we were asked if we were ready for our creme brulees. We said we usually like to have our main course before the sweet. When the beef finally arrived we were asked if were ready for our coffees. The tech had broken down and so had our relations with the rather combative woman and her subdued husband who had joined us for dinner. We’re happy to natter about travel, where we all live, the Royal Family and so on, but when it gets to American foreign policy and immigration from Latin America it can easily get . . . nasty. And it did.

The mess-up in the meal service meant we endured this couple for longer than necessary and we also missed the 8.45pm show. We didn’t leave the Colonnade until 9.45pm. All in all, this was a car crash of a dinner. There are two points to be made here - always have a table for two and give your waiter a notepad and a pencil.

* * * * *

Our first Norwegian port of call was Flam, at the end of Aurlandsfjord which is itself an offshoot of Sognefjord. It’s amazing how deeply these big ships can penetrate into Norway. There was another ship here as well, the Costa Favolosa, which is capable of taking six times more passengers than the Ovation. That’s nearly 4000 people, compared to the 570 on board our ship. The Favolosa tied up alongside while Ovation people tendered ashore. Size obviously matters more than style.

Flam is famous for a railway that cuts 20kms through majestic mountain scenery to link up with the main line to Oslo. I guess most passengers aboard the Ovation went on that. The other main option was a scenic cruise down adjoining Naeroyfjord which is one of only two fjords to be designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

More interesting to us was another UNESCO World Heritage Site which was tantalisingly close and infuriatingly difficult to reach. This is a 12th century stave church at a tiny hamlet called Urnes. Although I think the whole UNESCO thing has become devalued in recent years I still have this illogical desire to visit all of them. But Urnes wasn’t really feasible. It was about 30 miles away and needed two ferries as well. By renting a car we might have got there but we couldn’t guarantee we’d get back before the Ovation set sail.

There is another lovely-looking stave church nearer Flam, at Borgund, but we couldn’t find anyone to take us there. One travel agency we spoke to said they were not allowed to drive through the world’s longest road tunnel to reach the church. The tourist information office looked flummoxed, as if we were the first people to ask about going there. Taxis didn’t seem to exist. So we just went back to the ship and killed time. Maybe we should have taken the safe option, the train, but it really didn’t appeal to us.

There was a sailaway with caviar which is probably something they don’t do on the Costa Favolosa. And dare I tell you about tonight’s dinner in the Colonnade a la Thomas Keller? The service was as disjointed as ever. A full hour this time between first course, a ludicrously ‘re-imagined’ Waldorf Salad and another beef dish with a disgusting gravy so gloopy that a quad-bike would have got stuck in it. Can the Ovation ever produce a dinner on time and worth eating? I doubt it.

Tomorrow it’s a town called Alesund. Our guidebook says it has more in common with Paris and Prague than with other Norwegian towns. Really?

 

Fletcher a Costa sail away can sometimes be a very eventful ordeal.

Please stay away from the Colonnade at dinner time and park yourself in the TK Grill every evening,it's the best place on the larger ships with a good wine list and a nice bar too

 

Sent from my SM-G955F using Forums mobile app

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Fletcher, I’m greatly enjoying your reports - keep the updates coming please. I hope that the service improves for you. We’ve always enjoyed the Thomas Keller nights at the Colonnade (especially fried chicken night) but I definitely wouldn’t have enjoyed thick gravy either. We’re not fans of the other themed nights. Fully agree with Mr Luxury that TK Grill is the place to be.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

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Fletcher, pity that Flam was a flop. We've also learned the dining lesson and unless we're invited to a hosted table, we always request a 2-top. I'm sure the Restaurant Hostess may think we're anti-social but who cares? I'm sorry your day on shore was a bust. For future reference (!!), there's another stave church close by Flam in Undredal. It's the smallest stave church in Scandinavia still in service. Quite unassuming with its white clapboard exterior but a real treat on the inside with 12th century wood beams and hand-painted frescos of angels and biblical scenes. It even has a chandelier with carved deer heads that is said to be medieval. We visited it as part of a great private excursion. Really enjoying your reports and hoping things improve on Ovation.

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I have not often accepted encouragement from the seating hostess to join others as I’ve ended up with some odd dining pairings (twice, for example, being seated with others who preferred not to - or were unable to - converse in English)

 

Once I did get lucky and met Roxburgh and his lovely wife that way. But that was a remarkable exception!

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Once, when we accepted the seating hostess's offer to seat us with others, we were seated with people who did not want company. Can you say awkward? We quickly unseated ourselves and returned to the seating hostess.

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I have not often accepted encouragement from the seating hostess to join others as I’ve ended up with some odd dining pairings (twice, for example, being seated with others who preferred not to - or were unable to - converse in English)

 

Once I did get lucky and met Roxburgh and his lovely wife that way. But that was a remarkable exception!

 

I think I was the one that got lucky. :evilsmile:

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