Current Ovation CD?

[DC Traveler244]

We’ll be on the Ovation’s  holiday cruise, and wondering if Handre is still the Cruise Director. Can anyone advise?  Thanks. 

[ab21au]

6 hours ago, DC Traveler244 said:

We’ll be on the Ovation’s  holiday cruise, and wondering if Handre is still the Cruise Director. Can anyone advise?  Thanks. 

 

Things could have changed, but few months ago, Handre was to go home to SA about 22 Dec till Feb then rejoin the Ovation in Hong Kong and on for most of the year. He will have one break in that period but not sure when.

[DC Traveler244]

Thanks ab21au. If that’s still the plan, he’ll be heading home for a well earned break as we board on Dec 22.   

[oceanviewer21]

Jim Cannon listed in today’s Herald as CD on Ovation

[DC Traveler244]

Thanks!  

[lovingthesaltlife]

I'll be on Ovation in May 2019 for the inaugural Alaskan cruise.  Any have any idea on the CD? 

[DC Traveler244]

Handre Potgieter, who’d been with the Ovation since before its launch, departed for a break in late December. Jim Cannon then took over as Ovation’s CD. I don’t know whether this is a temporary assignment while Handre’s away, or whether Handre will go to a different ship when he returns. 

[Isklaar]

Ovation is going to Alaska in May? I thought it was in Europe. That's a pity, I have no intention of travelling on Ovation again and had hoped to get to Alaska this coming season. Seems I will have to rethink as I assumed it would be Sojourn.

 

 

DCTraveler, how did you find the Holiday cruise? I'm still preparing to post my thoughts about it here....

[Isklaar]

Ignore my post above. The poster is asking about Ovation of the Seas (RCCL) not Seabourn Ovation. Wrong board.

Phew - my Alaska trip may go  ahead this year !

Edited January 17, 2019 by Isklaar

[DC Traveler244]

4 hours ago, Isklaar said:

Ovation is going to Alaska in May? I thought it was in Europe. That's a pity, I have no intention of travelling on Ovation again and had hoped to get to Alaska this coming season. Seems I will have to rethink as I assumed it would be Sojourn.

 

 

DCTraveler, how did you find the Holiday cruise? I'm still preparing to post my thoughts about it here....

 

4 hours ago, Isklaar said:

DCTraveler, how did you find the Holiday cruise? I'm still preparing to post my thoughts about it here....

Isklaar, I was underwhelmed by the holiday cruise. I particularly disliked the stop at Sihanoukville (pointless except for passengers taking Seabourn’s mid-cruise excursion to Siem Reap). I also don’t understand the far-too-short stop in Laem Chabang.  

 

The rough weather was unfortunate, though obviously outside Seabourn’s control. I was pleased that we were able to dock in Da Nang, albeit several hours late. 

 

I thought the CD was perfunctory and impersonal. 

 

We ate at the Keller Grill twice and thought it was a mixed bag  — good service, attractive space, sometimes-odd background music (supposedly, TK personally selected the playlist) and sometimes-disappointing food. Specifically, we found the quality of steaks to be far below what we’d enjoyed  at TK on the Encore and the Ovation (the latter in May ‘18). 

 

Apart from the two TK evenings, we ate dinner in the MDR or Earth and Ocean. We were happy with the food/service at both. 

 

We didn’t take any Seabourn shore excursions, so I can’t comment on them.  

 

Disembarkation on was a mess, though the delay in getting luggage off the ship may have been caused by the port rather than Seabourn. However, when tag groups finally began to be invited to disembark, I noticed that the those who (like us) had made private arrangements for HK were left waiting and waiting.  Eventually, we and a few other such guests took matters into our own hands and disembarked even though our tag groups hadn’t been called (as we’d suspected, our bags were in the terminal waiting for us). 

 

That’s all I can think of. I look forward to reading your comments on the cruise, Isklar.  

 

Best,

 

Anne

 

 

 

 

 

[BasandSyb]

Although this is not on thread topic, the TK steak we had on Encore two weeks ago was also dreadful. We avoid TK, but were roped into dinner there with another couple. I thought it was the knife at first, but I had difficulty cutting the steak. It was tough and tasteless. Other passengers at trivia made the same remarks a few days later.