Ovation of the Sea is COMING to Australia & New Zealand!!!

The category I booked has increased by $5000 since I made my reservation. So glad I didn't wait as I wouldn't have been able to select it at this price.

We booked a balcony cabin on deck 8 on the 14 day 9 Jan cruise which all now seem to be sold out, same class of cabin left on deck 7 but mostly deck 6 have gone up $150, so not a big increase but a lower deck which may have been slightly cheaper, so maybe the increase is larger?

But there may be more cabins come available as courtesy holds drop off if people didn't take the cabin/s they held.

We were going to do the 10 day cruise so held a cabin on deck 8 & then changed our mind to do the longer cruise & the 10 day cabin is still showing as held on my RCCCL account.

I haven't had any warning email either saying the hold will expire. Maybe due to a processing backlog because of so many bookings coming through?

We were going to do the 10 day cruise so held a cabin on deck 8 & then changed our mind to do the longer cruise & the 10 day cabin is still showing as held on my RCCCL account.

 

I haven't had any warning email either saying the hold will expire. Maybe due to a processing backlog because of so many bookings coming through?

I've noticed sometimes the hold takes longer than 24 hours to remove itself. Just go into the reservation and click Cancel so another cruiser may have the chance to snag your room sooner rather than later.

Prices are crazy high for some categories but the demand is there so I'm sure they will sell.

For myself personally none of the NZ itineraries interested me as due to the ship size it seemed to be missing some key ports for a NZ itinerary I would consider. However these voyages would be more aimed for experiencing the ship than the ports.

Maybe next time if Ovation comes back!

With RCI / Celeb gratuities for Australia bookings, you can remove gratuities after depositing only if selecting traditional dining. If you are in dynamic / select / my time dining you are unable to remove grats.

 

With RCI / Celeb gratuities for Australia bookings, you can remove gratuities after depositing only if selecting traditional dining. If you are in dynamic / select / my time dining you are unable to remove grats.

Why would RCI comment on the Facebook page that they can be removed for My Time Dining?

With RCI / Celeb gratuities for Australia bookings, you can remove gratuities after depositing only if selecting traditional dining. If you are in dynamic / select / my time dining you are unable to remove grats.

With manual intervention if you go through RCL you will be able to have them removed.

To be honest in 4 years as a TA I have never heard of this being possible for Australian cruises. I would be interested to hear of any Aus / NZ cruisers on voyages departing from Aus or NZ who have been successfully able to do this on sailings other than Ovation. I believe the Facebook notification is a current offer on the Ovation sailings as the general cruise cabin price is higher than ordinary cruises.

To be honest in 4 years as a TA I have never heard of this being possible for Australian cruises. I would be interested to hear of any Aus / NZ cruisers on voyages departing from Aus or NZ who have been successfully able to do this on sailings other than Ovation. I believe the Facebook notification is a current offer on the Ovation sailings as the general cruise cabin price is higher than ordinary cruises.

The Facebook post from RCI was in response to a general query asking them to confirm that Australians no longer have to prepay gratuities as they had heard this from their TA. There was no mention of Ovation anywhere in the conversation :)

This topic is being disucssed on the main RC board, so appears to be fleet wide ie no requirement to prepay T&G's for MTD now.

We will still pre-pay as usual - like to have as much as possible pre-paid before the ding :D

This topic is being disucssed on the main RC board, so appears to be fleet wide ie no requirement to prepay T&G's for MTD now.

 

We will still pre-pay as usual - like to have as much as possible pre-paid before the ding :D

Agreed, :D

I suppose there will be those who don't though.:(

I was noticed in the overview of the Ovation on my TA's site that it has 17 restaurants. Does anyone know how many of these are included in the price?

Agreed, :D

I suppose there will be those who don't though.:(

Seconded - I always pay gratuities, if I can afford to cruise I can afford to pay them is my philosophy. I also usually tip a little extra in cash to the room steward at the end of the cruise.

I also like to have as much prepaid before I leave as possible - less to think about once on board! :D

I was noticed in the overview of the Ovation on my TA's site that it has 17 restaurants. Does anyone know how many of these are included in the price?

Go to this page on Royals site & you can see all dining options & sort by free or extra charge options, then visit a dedicated page for each one to see menus etc if you want more detail.

Loads of free food options on board, plus some unique paid for restaurants as well - should be something for everyone - I'm really looking forward to the variety.

I was noticed in the overview of the Ovation on my TA's site that it has 17 restaurants. Does anyone know how many of these are included in the price?

Here is a quick rundown of the complimentary restaurants/cafes.

A good chance one will not go hungry :)

The Grande

Dress: FORMAL

Meals Served: DINNER

Price: COMPLIMENTARY

Devinly Decadence

Dress: CASUAL

Meals Served: BREAKFAST, LUNCH AND DINNER

Price: COMPLIMENTARY

Silk

Dress: SMART CASUAL

Meals Served: DINNER

Price: COMPLIMENTARY

Café Promenade

Dress: CASUAL

Meals Served: BREAKFAST, LUNCH AND DINNER

Price: COMPLIMENTARY

Chic

Dress: SMART CASUAL

Meals Served: DINNER

Price: COMPLIMENTARY

Coastal Kitchen

Dress: SMART CASUAL

Meals Served: BREAKFAST, LUNCH AND DINNER

Price: COMPLIMENTARY FOR GRAND SUITE GUESTS AND ABOVE, AND PINNACLE MEMBERS

Sorrento’s

Dress: CASUAL

Meals Served: LUNCH AND DINNER

Price: COMPLIMENTARY

Windjammer Marketplace

Dress: CASUAL

Meals Served: BREAKFAST, LUNCH AND DINNER

Price: COMPLIMENTARY

SeaPlex Dog House

Dress: CASUAL

Meals Served: LUNCH AND DINNER

Price: COMPLIMENTARY

The Café @ Two70°

Dress: CASUAL

Meals Served: BREAKFAST, LUNCH AND DINNER

Price: COMPLIMENTARY

American Icon Grill

Dress: SMART CASUAL

Meals Served: BREAKFAST, LUNCH AND DINNER

Price: COMPLIMENTARY

Prices are crazy high for some categories but the demand is there so I'm sure they will sell.

 

For myself personally none of the NZ itineraries interested me as due to the ship size it seemed to be missing some key ports for a NZ itinerary I would consider. However these voyages would be more aimed for experiencing the ship than the ports.

 

Maybe next time if Ovation comes back!

 

With RCI / Celeb gratuities for Australia bookings, you can remove gratuities after depositing only if selecting traditional dining. If you are in dynamic / select / my time dining you are unable to remove grats.

Which ports Luckie do you feel are being missed? No Akaroa & no Christchurch, but nobody stops there much now due to the earthquake. One cruise has Napier, another Bay Of Islands.

The rest of the 14 day cruises cover most ports stopped at in NZ & on Royal you can choose to do an optional extra tour that leaves either Dunedin or Milford (boat collects you or drops you back to the ship inside Milford sound) that takes you to the famous Fjordland NP, Queenstown, Te Anau, Arrowtown & a few other stops overland.

Having cruised to NZ twice before we plan on doing this tour if possible.:)

Seconded - I always pay gratuities, if I can afford to cruise I can afford to pay them is my philosophy. I also usually tip a little extra in cash to the room steward at the end of the cruise.

 

I also like to have as much prepaid before I leave as possible - less to think about once on board! :D

Definitely, and there is always a particular waiter and or Bar steward who goes the extra bit and as such gets an extra bit.:D

Here is a quick rundown of the complimentary restaurants/cafes.

A good chance one will not go hungry :)

 

Thanks for posting the long list.:D

How does that work for a solo diner. Am I going to always be at dinner by myself if I have to book and chose restaurants at a certain time or will there be a shared table?

How does that work for a solo diner. Am I going to always be at dinner by myself if I have to book and chose restaurants at a certain time or will there be a shared table?

I'm sailing solo as well, and have always used Traditional dining previously.

It appears you can still choose 'Traditional' Dining (Dynamic Dining Classic), where you switch between the 4 main dining rooms (The Grande, Chic, Silk and American Icon Grill), keeping the same table mates and waiters.

Or, choose Dynamic Dining, and either book in advance which I imagine wouldn't suit solo travelers to well, or just show up without a booking and possibly having to wait for a table, not sure if they do shared tables this way.

I've initially chosen Dynamic Dining, but thinking about changing to traditional.

That is my take on the situation anyway. Right or wrong:confused:

The Facebook post from RCI was in response to a general query asking them to confirm that Australians no longer have to prepay gratuities as they had heard this from their TA. There was no mention of Ovation anywhere in the conversation :)

Wow that's fantastic thank you for the clarification! Will be sure to let my clients know :)

Which ports Luckie do you feel are being missed? No Akaroa & no Christchurch, but nobody stops there much now due to the earthquake. One cruise has Napier, another Bay Of Islands.

 

The rest of the 14 day cruises cover most ports stopped at in NZ & on Royal you can choose to do an optional extra tour that leaves either Dunedin or Milford (boat collects you or drops you back to the ship inside Milford sound) that takes you to the famous Fjordland NP, Queenstown, Te Anau, Arrowtown & a few other stops overland.

 

Having cruised to NZ twice before we plan on doing this tour if possible.:)

I was a bit spoilt on my first NZ cruise which visited Milford / Doubtful / Dusky Sounds, Dunedin, christchurchc, picton, Wellington, Napier, tauranga, bay of islands and also scenic cruising around White Volcanic Island.

For me to do another NZ cruise I'd like the same itinerary (don't mind about White Volcanic Island).

I'm sure it will be a fantastic cruise regardless! But just for me, I'd prefer to wait for an itinerary and ship that covers these places.

Have you booked Ovation for yourself? The ship will be amazing and a holiday in itself!!

To be honest in 4 years as a TA I have never heard of this being possible for Australian cruises..

It's only a recent change - about a month ago.

The rest of the 14 day cruises cover most ports stopped at in NZ & on Royal you can choose to do an optional extra tour that leaves either Dunedin or Milford (boat collects you or drops you back to the ship inside Milford sound) that takes you to the famous Fjordland NP, Queenstown, Te Anau, Arrowtown & a few other stops overland.

A pricey option, but good reports. The main other trade-off is what you miss, but since you've done these before, that's covered.

Best to book early for this one.

How does that work for a solo diner. Am I going to always be at dinner by myself if I have to book and chose restaurants at a certain time or will there be a shared table?

For DD you'll be allocated a table for two, as a solo.

On arrival, you can then be assigned to a larger table forming at that time if you prefer (and your two-top passed to others).

Classic is like Traditional so you stay with your assigned table group.

I was a bit spoilt on my first NZ cruise which visited Milford / Doubtful / Dusky Sounds, Dunedin, christchurchc, picton, Wellington, Napier, tauranga, bay of islands and also scenic cruising around White Volcanic Island.

 

For me to do another NZ cruise I'd like the same itinerary (don't mind about White Volcanic Island).

 

I'm sure it will be a fantastic cruise regardless! But just for me, I'd prefer to wait for an itinerary and ship that covers these places.

 

Have you booked Ovation for yourself? The ship will be amazing and a holiday in itself!!

Yes, we booked the last 14 night cruise on Ovation - it visits Bay Of Islands, Auckland, Tauranga, Wellington, Picton, Dunedin & The 3 Sounds.

We have been to them all before once or twice except BOI.

She is restricted of course by which ports can handle her size & her passenger numbers.

Most NZ cruises don't do many more ports than that I find, maybe the odd one will include Akaroa &/or Napier as well, but Christchurch stopped being a regular port since the earthquake.

We would have preferred not to be going to NZ again at all at this stage, but we wanted to try Ovation & not wait for 2.5 years until she returns.

But if she does do some different itineraries when she comes back in late 2017/18 then we may just have to book her again!:D