ReneeFLL’s Semi-Live Review B2B Ovation TP & NZ Oct 9th - Nov 9th

[ReneeFLL]

This will be my first review so hopefully it won’t be to bad. We are sailing on the Ovation Of The Seas. This will be a b2b with the first cruise being a 19 day TP and then an 11 day New Zealand cruise. This is our first time on Ovation and our third time doing a TP since 2017. We originally wanted to do a Northern European cruise, but there wasn’t anything that interested us at the time so we booked this one.

Here is our schedule for the 2 cruises. Any questions regarding the second - New Zealand cruise I will answer them when that cruise starts.

 

Honolulu Oct 5 - 9 Wed - Sun

Honolulu Oct 9 Sun board Ovation 🍹 💃🏼 🍹

Cruising Oct 10 Mon

Cruising Oct 11 Tues

Cruising Oct 12 Wed

Cruising Oct 13 Thur

Cruising Oct 14 Fri

Moorea  Oct 15 Sat 8:00am overnight   

Moorea Oct 16 Sun till 8:00pm

Papeete  Oct 17 Mon 7:00 - 11:59pm

Cruising Oct 18 Tues

Cruising Oct 19 Wed

Cruising Oct 20 Thur

International Date Line Oct 21 Fri

Cruising Oct 22 Sat

Cruising Oct 23 Sun

Napier  Oct 24  Mon 8:00 - 6:00

Wellington  Oct 25  Tues 8:00 - 7:00

Picton  Oct 26  Wed 7:00 - 4:00  

Cruising Oct 27 Thur

Cruising Oct 28 Fri

Sydney Oct 29 Sat

 

B2B   Any questions regarding this cruise I’ll be happy to answer when this one starts.

Sydney Oct 29 Sat

Cruising Oct 30 Sun

Cruising Oct 31 Mon

Milford Sound Nov. 1  Tues 8 - 9   

Doubtful Sound Nov. 1  Tues 1 - 2   

Dusky Sound Nov. 1  Tues 4 - 5   

Dunedin  Nov 2   Wed 12:45 - 9  

Christchurch Lyttelton  Nov. 3  Thur 9:30 - 7  

Wellington  Nov 4   Fri 8 - 6  

Napier  Nov  5   Sat 8 - 5  

Picton  Nov 6   Sun 8 - 5  

Cruising Nov 7 Mon

Cruising Nov 8 Tues

Sydney Nov 9 Wed end of cruise 😭😭😭

Sydney fly back on the 15th

 

On Wednesday Oct 5th we flew to Hawaii. We were originally scheduled to fly from FLL to LAX then to HNL. American Airlines decided to change the flights to FLL to DFW to HNL which left us only 61 min to change aircraft in DFW.  If you have ever passed through DFW, an hour is barely enough time to get from one aircraft to another, likely in different terminals. True to form, we arrived at C22 and were departing from A34.  We made it just as our seating group was being called. Whew!

 

After arriving in Honolulu we took an Uber to the hotel. We stayed at the Hale Koa on Waikiki Beach for 4 days. It’s next door to the Hilton Hawaiian Village.  As usual the check in time took a while. It always seems to there and not sure why. Our room was a partial ocean view this time. As you can see in the pictures it’s a very small ocean view, but we were fine with it. It had a king size bed and a balcony which is nice to sit out there and enjoy coffee, food and drinks.

[Jimbo]

Guess you are lucky your luggage made the connecting flight. That's sure is not a lot of time to switch aircrafts.

[ReneeFLL]

9 minutes ago, Jimbo said:

Guess you are lucky your luggage made the connecting flight. That's sure is not a lot of time to switch aircrafts.

Definitely lucky. After reading what happened to @John&LaLa with their lost luggage we decided to also pack a carry on with some clothes for each of us. I would have hit up Walmart or some other stores just so we could come on this trip.

[Ozark_Kid]

Thanks for doing a review!  I bet you will enjoy doing it.  It looks like a really cool itinerary.   I am looking forward to some picks. Have a safe and fun adventure. 

[ReneeFLL]

3 minutes ago, Ozark_Kid said:

Thanks for doing a review!  I bet you will enjoy doing it.  It looks like a really cool itinerary.   I am looking forward to some picks. Have a safe and fun adventure. 

Thanks, will definitely have some pics coming soon. I just need to get caught up to the current day and I’ll be happy. I think it will be easier to keep up with it as I go. Enjoy your cruise.

[Jimbo]

@ReneeFLL What day and time is it right now where you are at?

[Ocean Boy]

Looking forward to this. I'm glad AA got you to your destination... with your luggage.🙂 What type of planes? Yup, you know where my interest is.😊

[ReneeFLL]

17 minutes ago, Jimbo said:

@ReneeFLL What day and time is it right now where you are at?

It’s Friday October 14th at 5:26 pm. This is ship time, they haven’t changed it to local time. I’m assuming they will when we get into Moorea tomorrow.

 

Edited October 15, 2022 by ReneeFLL

[ReneeFLL]

34 minutes ago, Ocean Boy said:

Looking forward to this. I'm glad AA got you to your destination... with your luggage.🙂 What type of planes? Yup, you know where my interest is.😊

737-800 from FLL to DFW then 777-200 from DFW to HNL.  Sadly, 737 seats for the 3 hr flight were far more comfortable than the 8 hrs on the 777. Renee stepped out for a minute.

Mike

 

Edited October 15, 2022 by ReneeFLL

[Bailey & Sophie]

 

What a dream of a trip. Can't wait to read more!

[ReneeFLL]

25 minutes ago, Bailey & Sophie said:

 

What a dream of a trip. Can't wait to read more!

We did this trip in 2017, but going in the opposite direction. On that one we also stopped in Bora Bora and did only 1 day in Moorea. We were supposed to go to BB again, but the new rule from the French Polynesian government changed that. They ruled that cruise ships with a passenger count of more than 3,500 passengers will be banned from making port calls beginning on January 1, 2022. Ships with more than 2,500 passengers will be limited to stop at Tahiti and two other ports where there is a large enough infrastructure to support them. Bora Bora is limiting the daily passenger count to 1,200 which counts us out. 😭

[Coralc]

I had forgotten about the new restriction in Bora Bora. I guess we won't be getting back there any time soon on any of the RCI. Too bad. That was the nicest of the three ports. Looking forward to your experiences! 

[ReneeFLL]

11 minutes ago, Coralc said:

I had forgotten about the new restriction in Bora Bora. I guess we won't be getting back there any time soon on any of the RCI. Too bad. That was the nicest of the three ports. Looking forward to your experiences! 

I also think it's the nicest. We really wanted to go on Patrick's tour again. When we were there his daughter from North Carolina was staying there for awhile. Guess that's what happens when you have a short fling with an American.  😀

[Coralc]

8 minutes ago, ReneeFLL said:

I also think it's the nicest. We really wanted to go on Patrick's tour again. When we were there his daughter from North Carolina was staying there for awhile. Guess that's what happens when you have a short fling with an American.  😀

He is a handsome fellow. I can post his loin cloth photo that I have. (If you want to spice up your review ☺️) But probably not, it is a little racy. And no one on Royal Caribbean will be going there anywhere. But it was a great excursion. 

Edited October 15, 2022 by Coralc

[ReneeFLL]

43 minutes ago, Coralc said:

He is a handsome fellow. I can post his loin cloth photo that I have. (If you want to spice up your review ☺️) But probably not, it is a little racy. And no one on Royal Caribbean will be going there anywhere. But it was a great excursion. 

You mean like this one? How could I not take it? 😁

 

Edited October 15, 2022 by ReneeFLL

[perfect match]

Thank you for doing this review, Renee! This is a true bucket list trip for me which, unfortunately, is not happening for us any time soon. ☹️  For now I’ll have to do it virtually by sailing along with you. I’m excited to be coming along, and if the picture you just posted is any indication it’s going to be a fun ride! 

[sgmn]

Sounds like an amazing itinerary Renee, glad you decided to do a review. Looking forward to hearing all about it 

[BecAus]

Hi!

I'm very much looking forward to your review!  I had been hoping you were going to do one!  I saw a post of yours awhile back and at first I thought you were on the same 11n NZ cruise we have booked but the dates didn't sound right and after looking at RCI website I saw there was an 11n NZ cruise end of October and then another one (ours) on the 26 November.  Slightly different itineraries as yours is doing the 'Sounds' and ours is doing more of the North Island.

I happened to look up your itinerary this morning and thought "I hope Renee does a review'!

 

Have you done the NZ Sounds before?  We've done them a couple of times on Radiance and Ovation and whilst I definitely wouldn't have minded doing them again, I'm also looking forward to our stops, a couple of which we haven't done before.

 

Also interested in hearing how you're TP goes as we are doing the return trip on Quantum in April.  

We don't have the NZ stops on that one, same stops in the middle (was a bit upset about the Bora Bora change as I would have loved to go there but it is what it is!).  We also stop in Kona day before we arrive in Honolulu.

 

So...very much looking forward to reading any posts you do on your trip.

My request for your second cruise is if you wouldn't mind posting the Entertainment schedule for that one.  That's why I'd looked up your itinerary this morning : )

Whilst it might be a little different to ours it might help me a little with our planning.

We will be in a GS for the first time (on both cruises actually) and I'm trying to work out what time I should request our dinner reservations for, I'll mostly reserve CK on the NZ cruise.

 

Have a wonderful time.  We are very much looking forward  to the RCI ships gracing our shores again - it's been a long time between drinks!

I'm curious to see what they will do if the ships arrive with C19 cases on board.  Hopefully common sense will prevail but I think the non-cruising public still have a pretty bad view about what happened with the Princess ships at the start of the pandemic.

I think both Australia and NZ have both decided that we just have to live with it now so I'm really hoping it all goes well with the ships arrivals and first few cruises here after nearly 3 years away.

 

Sorry, this post got longer than I intended but I will be watching for your updates to your exciting trip - Enjoy!!

[ReneeFLL]

57 minutes ago, perfect match said:

Thank you for doing this review, Renee! This is a true bucket list trip for me which, unfortunately, is not happening for us any time soon. ☹️  For now I’ll have to do it virtually by sailing along with you. I’m excited to be coming along, and if the picture you just posted is any indication it’s going to be a fun ride! 

Thanks for coming along. If you do get the chance I know you’ll love it. South Pacific, Australia and New Zealand are beautiful places.

[ReneeFLL]

47 minutes ago, sgmn said:

Sounds like an amazing itinerary Renee, glad you decided to do a review. Looking forward to hearing all about it 

Thanks, hope you enjoy it. Have you been here before?

[ReneeFLL]

43 minutes ago, BecAus said:

Hi!

I'm very much looking forward to your review!  I had been hoping you were going to do one!  I saw a post of yours awhile back and at first I thought you were on the same 11n NZ cruise we have booked but the dates didn't sound right and after looking at RCI website I saw there was an 11n NZ cruise end of October and then another one (ours) on the 26 November.  Slightly different itineraries as yours is doing the 'Sounds' and ours is doing more of the North Island.

I happened to look up your itinerary this morning and thought "I hope Renee does a review'!

 

Have you done the NZ Sounds before?  We've done them a couple of times on Radiance and Ovation and whilst I definitely wouldn't have minded doing them again, I'm also looking forward to our stops, a couple of which we haven't done before.

 

Also interested in hearing how you're TP goes as we are doing the return trip on Quantum in April.  

We don't have the NZ stops on that one, same stops in the middle (was a bit upset about the Bora Bora change as I would have loved to go there but it is what it is!).  We also stop in Kona day before we arrive in Honolulu.

 

So...very much looking forward to reading any posts you do on your trip.

My request for your second cruise is if you wouldn't mind posting the Entertainment schedule for that one.  That's why I'd looked up your itinerary this morning : )

Whilst it might be a little different to ours it might help me a little with our planning.

We will be in a GS for the first time (on both cruises actually) and I'm trying to work out what time I should request our dinner reservations for, I'll mostly reserve CK on the NZ cruise.

 

Have a wonderful time.  We are very much looking forward  to the RCI ships gracing our shores again - it's been a long time between drinks!

I'm curious to see what they will do if the ships arrive with C19 cases on board.  Hopefully common sense will prevail but I think the non-cruising public still have a pretty bad view about what happened with the Princess ships at the start of the pandemic.

I think both Australia and NZ have both decided that we just have to live with it now so I'm really hoping it all goes well with the ships arrivals and first few cruises here after nearly 3 years away.

 

Sorry, this post got longer than I intended but I will be watching for your updates to your exciting trip - Enjoy!!

This will be our first time doing the NZ Sounds. What ports are you stopping at in NZ? We are in a jr suite on both so we have only had dinner in CK so far. Remind me about the entertainment schedule for the NZ cruise and I'll post.

[ReneeFLL]

This is the Hale Koa Hotel where we stayed. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ReneeFLL]

 

 

 

Infinity pool overlooking the ocean.

 

Chairlift into the pool.

 

It is very handicap oriented. Plenty of ramps into the pools and elsewhere.

 

 

 

[ReneeFLL]

This is what they call the Bathers elevator. It overlooks the adult pool and the ocean. I believe this was the original pool before the others were added.

 

 

 

 

[Coralc]

7 minutes ago, ReneeFLL said:

 

 

 

Infinity pool overlooking the ocean.

 

Chairlift into the pool.

 

It is very handicap oriented. Plenty of ramps into the pools and elsewhere.

 

 

 

The military member hotel is beautiful!  What a nice benefit for current and retired veterans.