Hokie79

Really depends on what you are after.  If really wanting a once in a lifetime Alaska cruise, you may want to consider another line that goes to glacier bay.  We did Holland America years ago round trip out of Seattle and the itinerary was amazing.  Summer 2019 we took the kids and did Ovation out of Seattle.  The ship is amazing and so much to do.  We also saw plenty of Alaska but it wasn’t the same.  Also was nice to have a younger, family oriented crowd onboard.
 

I’d go back and do either in a heartbeat.  

Nope they are separated.  However, during port days or when it’s not too crowded, 6-11 can be combined.  

Have never had them give us walky talkies or anything.  My youngest started cruising a few years ago at 4.

Have always found the AO staff on board a bunch of different ships to be top notch.  My kids always like going.  Normal hours where they don’t charge extra is 9-12, 2-5 and 7-10 on sea days.  They are open all day the ship is in port.  A lot of the time your kids can stay between 5-7 and they take them to the windjammer for dinner.  This has varied by day and by ship though.  

We have been on both Ovation and Harmony that both have splashaway bays.  They were strict on height of 42 inches on both.   

My my youngest was 4 when we did Harmony and just slightly too short.  

We just did other stuff and she hung out in the pools and did the multitudes of other stuff on the ship.  

We got there around 10:45 and had very little wait.  They did not look at our boarding time. 

My kids are early risers.  Usually by 7am.

Seattle was fun.  Could easily spend more time there.  

For port valet they give you something to fill out in your room the first few days.  You just then drop it at guest services by the 4th or 5th day and they give you tags the last night.  Worked great.  Never saw the bags again till we got home.  

Quick review of Ovation sailing June 28, 2019

Haven’t posted in a while but thought I’d give a quick review of our recent Ovation sailing.

Went with my wife (both of us are 40) and two kids (9 and 6).  We have been on a number of cruise lines and several Royal Caribbean primarily in the Caribbean.  The wife and I did Alaska on Holland about 15 years ago. We have always wanted to go back to Alaska but with how scenery focused it was we were waiting till our kids got older then Ovation was moved there so thought it could be a good compromise to take the kids.

Overall the cruise was great and we would highly recommend to families.

We flew in a couple days early and stayed at the Hyatt House right next to the Space Needle.  Great location and nice hotel.  

For the the full day we had before the cruise we went out to the Museum of Flight.  Great place to take families and was fun for the adults too.  I’d plan on taking at least a few hours there, we spent a lot of the day.

The morning of the cruise I took the kids up in the space needle for a little while.  Beautiful views as always and saw our ship in the port.

We Ubered to the port around 10:30 and were walking on the ship a little after 11.  Except for the decent walk from The Uber drop off, check in was smooth and quick.  We did Windjammer for lunch and it was busy but not too bad.  I’m not sure I really like the layout with most of the food areas pretty close to each other but it served its purpose.

We did bumper cars in the afternoon.  Wow the line gets long fast.  Got there 30 minutes prior and already had a long line.  This was pretty consistent the whole cruise.  Would think they’d offer if more with how popular it was.  And let me add it was a lot of fun.  

A nice surprise was the pools and the water slides were all heated water.  I guess I didn’t research this enough but very nice for some of the cold sea days.  I don’t think a lot of people realized this as my kids had the water slides to themselves most of the times we went.  A tip, go to the pools earlier in the day as they could get crowded later in the day.  

We we ate at the MDR for dinner every night except Juneau day.   We ate in port that day.  MDR service was beyond good.  Food was

ok to good.  My wife has a gluten allergy and they were all over it.  The assistant waiter Angel was so good to my kids.  

For most breakfasts we ate in the Windjammer.  We were up fairly early and never had too bad of crowds.  For most lunches we ate in the Solarium.  Good food and never crowds at all.  We did try Sorrentos which was good compared to other ships as well as Park cafe for a quick bit and was good.  

Our room was a JS 10622.  Great location and nice room.  I like the one and a half baths in these JS.  Balcony was great with padded loungers.  Room was quiet.  

Juneau we took a taxi to the salmon hatchery.  Good for a short visit.  Then took a taxi to Mendenhall glacier and walked out to the waterfall.  Amazing at how much the glacier has receded in 15 years.  Had a great time and ate at Hangar on the Wharf in town.  Good food and atmosphere.

Skagway we booked with Beyond Skagway tours up to Emerald Lake and back with a drop at Michelle Philips dog sledding camp.  Would highly recommend the entire day.  Just wow on the beauty of that area.

Endicott Arm and Dawes glacier day was pretty with all the ice bergs and seals but we didn’t get near enough to the glacier to see it.

Victoria we did a whale watching drip with Orca Adventures.  Amazing tour and saw tons of humpbacks and seals.  Walked around town and loved it.  

Disembarkation was smooth.  We used the port valet for bags and loved not having to deal with bags all day.  

Spent the the day in Seattle ahead of a red eye home.  Did the aquarium and walked around the water front.  Then went out to a computer museum that had working computers and gaming systems dating back 40+ years.  Could play on most of them.   Even had old arcade games to play.  Kids and adults loved it.

sorry for a little longer review then I thought.  Loved the trip and would highly recommend.  

Usually 9-12, 2-5 and 7-10.  After 10 it costs money.  A lot of ships do adventure dining where you leave your kid between 5-7 and they take them to the Windjammer for a limited menu of food.  

We just did Freedom in December. Went on Freedom the year before when it was in Ft Lauderdale.  We really liked this class of ships.  

We absolutley loved the itinerary and Old San Juan.  

The ship was showing a few a few signs of age though.  We were on deck 8 aft and could smell sewage in the halls some and had issues a couple times with our toilets being able to flush.  In Studio B during an ice show we could smell sewage during part of it too.  Otherwise the ship looked good and had no issues.

The passenger mix was very different then sailings out of florida.  There were a lot more pushy and rude people then we have ever seen before on a Royal cruise.

Windjammer was much worse then normal, very repetitive and food not warm a lot of the time.  MDR was much better then normal.  Fast service and good food with great servers.  

We would definitely book this cruise again for the islands but would probably wait a while to take our kids back on this trip.  

Usually two ice skating shows in Studio B shown a few times a piece as well.

I have one of these booked for Mariner next year. Assumed it would be akin to a JS but this would be a pleasant surprise.

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That show was great. He was amazing to watch.

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I just did Allure in early July with my kids. They are 5 and 8. There were a lot of kids on this sailing so we’re pretty strict on the age groups.

Both of my kids loved Adventure Ocean and went most evenings with a couple afternoons thrown in. They were typically unhappy to be picked up.

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How deep

Is the water?

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I’ve been on many airboat rides over the years (have family in the Ft Lauderdale area). Never failed to get close to many alligators. On a sunny day, you will see plenty of birds, iguanas,etc as well.

I’ve gone primarily to Everglades holiday park. Not sure where Royal would take you.

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Tons of activities to do on the ship that are all fun, water slides, flowrider, zip line, mini golf. Lines can get long on some of these though. Embarkation day or right when they open have the shortest lines.

The aqua theatre shows are also well worth seeing. I really enjoyed them both.

For food, keep in mind there are a number of included places that are different but good, Park Cafe, Solarium Bistro in addition to Windjammer and the main dining room.

The pizza place does made to order pizzas that I found to be pretty decent and better then the ready premade ones.

Tons to do on the ship and think one would have to go on her multiple times to see and do everything.

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Both of mine have loved Adventure Ocean on all of the ships we have been on so far. I would recommend trying it out with your kids. The staff does a great job and my girls love going, especially the evening sessions. Mine are three years apart and kept in separate groups.

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Freedom out of San Juan? Since it starts much further south, it hits a lot of islands that are difficult to get to from Florida. The family and I are doing this in December.

We have done Freedom and Independence and really like that class of ships.

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I’m on Allure in July and entertainment is still not up. Booked dining reservations a few months back.

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I’d definitely hit up the Solarium Bistro and the Park Cafe, although both could be considered buffet. They are great alternatives for breakfast lunch and dinner (Solarium). Sorrentos does made to order pizza which seemed better quality then the pre made pizza.

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Bringing this thread back to life because it’s the closest one I could find to my question. Just got off an amazing week on Harmony. We saw several characters throughout the week for meet and greets, including Poppy and Branch from Trolls. However, the main parade was not Dreamworks-themed. We were really surprised, as we saw amazing Dreamworks parades on both Freedom and Oasis. Also, the selection of Dreamworks merchandise on the ship (which was plentiful on Oasis) was lacking as well. My daughter was hoping to add to her plush collection with some Trolls, but there were none. Does anyone know if the de-emphasis on Dreamworks is isolated to Harmony or if it is extending fleet wide as well?

 

 

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We did Harmony and Freedom last year. We felt there were more meet and greats on Harmony then Freedom, but that might have been a function of more sea days on Harmony. There were some days on Freedom were Dreamworks didn’t really exist. Freedom had a great parade the last sea day, but Harmony had a great dance party at the aqua theatre.

Overall, I really think RCI could do more with Dreamworks. I didn’t think it would be too much more to have the characters more available and generally walking around the ships instead of just set meet and greets where you have to line up for pictures. I have commented on my reviews to RCI at the end of each trip on this.

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Thanks everyone for your very informative responses. Unfortunately, we are going to wait until our kids are 3+ as it would be very costly to send them to the Nursery on top of paying more for a larger room. Hopefully Royal Caribbean will adopt a program similar to Carnival's to help families that would love to vacation with little's but not have to pay extra for "daycare services" in exchange of having some child free time.

We didn’t start cruising with kids till my youngest was just shy of 4,

We have found either a JS that has a sleeper sofa or two normal balcony rooms right next to each other work great. Even with the extra space in the JS, it is a little tight and one bathroom is problematic at times. A lot of the ships have balcony dividers that open making for easy access between rooms and a nice size balcony.

We usually do whichever prices out cheaper.

Really like having a balcony to sit on when the kids go to sleep and generally to relax.

We book as soon as the itineraries come out so we can get the rooms we want.

Both of my girls (now 5 and 8) love adventure ocean. They go to most of the evening sessions and a day session or two during the day depending on what is going on.

Cruising has been great for the family. So nice having the buffet and other options like pizza for picky eaters as well.

We have stuck to the newer classes of ships so far as they have more for kids and mom and dad to do. Really liked Harmony and was surprised that it felt less crowded the Freedom most of the time.

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We are looking at hotels for December and was considering this one. Can anyone comment it there are nearby restaurants in walking distance?

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We stayed in deck 8 JS room 8230. According to the deck plan the restaurants were on the other side of the hall. There were no entrances though on this side that we could see.

Room was very quiet and conveniently located. Wouldn’t hesitate to book again.

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