Why So Many Unenthusiastic Reviews for Ovation of the Seas?

We are looking forward to a July 2019 cruise on Ovation of the Seas. But, I read some of the reviews with concern. Despite the fact that this is a new and gorgeous ship, there are many bad reviews on cruisecritic.com. The ship is in Asia now. Much of the negativity centers on crew, long lines, noisiness and general disorganization. The last 10 reviews include two 3-star, five 2-star and three 1-star ratings--terrible, right?

Does anyone have insider insight into why Ovation cruisers are disappointed? I sure hope whatever is going on is fixed before our cruise!

All the reviews are from Westerners who can not survive in a Asian based society. Luckily for you the ship will be sailing in Alaska or leaving from Hawaii. It is absolutely amazing Royal has made no changes after a year of 1 and 2 star reviews. Anyone thinking of a Ovation cruise while it is based in China should scroll up and read the CC reviews. Good Luck and happy cruising

Yeah, should have mentioned we are cruising in Alaska--hope that makes all the difference!

I’ve been on the ovation 4 times sailing from Sydney.

Two in the last season and two the season before.

I’m of mixed feelings .once the hype wears off you quickly get sick of rude and pushy people.

I think the ship has problems handling the rush of people at peak times and the crew don’t really care anymore.you hardly see the cruise director or captain.

The upside is the entertainment,that’s something they have picked up their game with as they fly different entertainers in during the cruise to supplement their resident staff.

The food is pretty hit and miss,very repetitive.

The MDR and windjammers serves identical food and windjammers can be very unpleasant,because of the crowds. I don’t think it’s big enough.

I read somewhere the new generation of quantum has two .

But that said,we are booked for Christmas 2019.we have learned a few tricks about the ship and booked a suite.that way we can eat in coastal Kitchen and hopefully get some better service.

Thanks--we are in a suite, too. I love/hate every ship's Windjammer--calories of every format galore, but otherwise, not special.

I am concerned around the negative reviews we are booked on Nz 12 night cruise in Feb, I understand this is a big ship, but RC really need to be reactive if not proactive to these reviews/complaints, i know it's all about perception, and we all want and expect different things, some of these are un-acheivable and for some people things will never be right, however it seems that something is rotten in Denmark, I hope they respond a send in a team to get the basics right.... come on RC sought it out

I was actually thinking about Alaska on the Ovation for summer 19 as well. I am concerned about the reviews too.

I've been on sister ship Anthem which I absolutely loved, and am looking to book Ovation for Alaska next summer. Not at all concerned about the negative reviews, as a previous poster stated I think a lot of it has to do with the Asian culture onboard.

I have been on anthem ( sister ship) and loved it , was also on ovations pre inaugural cruise and also loved it. We have booked Alaska on ovation for next year - not in the least bit concerned about reviews - will make my own mind up. RC have made a big decision in moving ovation to Alaska - they will be doing everything they can to ensure a good experience for guests.

We should remember ovation continues to sail full.

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I don’t think you folks should be concerned about the Australian or the Alaska cruises.

A friend of mine was on quantum out of China and he felt like a minority.

The only place he felt special was from the bar staff.

Apparently Chinese are not really big drinkers and the bars were empty.

I don’t think you folks should be concerned about the Australian or the Alaska cruises.

A friend of mine was on quantum out of China and he felt like a minority.

The only place he felt special was from the bar staff.

Apparently Chinese are not really big drinkers and the bars were empty.

Many Western passengers feel like a minority when they are on an Asian cruise doing an Asian season that predominantly caters for locals. When that same ship re locates to Australia or Alaska or wherever there is usually some form of re furbishment or venue upgrades that cater to the needs of Westerners. I have the same concern for Majestic Princess which reportedly has a large casino for Chinese gamblers but currently has no casino bar. Princess have already announced changes will take place for that ship before it re locates from Asia in August to do a full Australian season. I would expect that similar arrangements will be made for Ovation before it goes to Alaska.

I was actually thinking about Alaska on the Ovation for summer 19 as well. I am concerned about the reviews too.

I would actually be more concerned with that Seattle itinerary when cruising to Alaska. JMHO

We sailed on Ovation from Sydney to NZ in 2017 on her third voyage in Australia. I can’t comment on whether things have changed since then, suffice to say, it was at full capacity, and we had a great time. I had also read negative reviews from Asian sailings prior, however did not encounter any of the problems I had read about. We are sailing on Ovation in April - Transpacific- and very much looking forward to it.

For comparison, maybe better to look at reviews for sailings from Sydney rather than Asia - might give you a different perspective.

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We are booked on a 10 night out of Sydney in March. I am not at all worried about the reviews. The majority of the bad ones seem to be on Asian sailings from people that haven't spent a lot of time in Asia. A lot of the Asian sailings have similar reviews, it doesn't seem to matter which ship or cruise line.

We were on the initial repositioning from Barcelona to Dubai when it launched. It was actually well run at the time, but the Chinese culture was only about 15-20% of the total population. That culture as small as it was, was definitely reeking havoc at times. Especially at guest relations and Windjammer. I believe RCI likely doesn’t make any changes as they likely do not get many complaints from a predominatly Asian base as that is standard for their culture. When I went on Star cruises many years ago, it was a very similar problem and similar chaos everywhere.

The crew states it can be absolutely exhausting dealing with the chaos. They definitely look forward to a different ship when they get transferred from those that I have talked to that have done a tour on the Ovation. Hopefully, sailing out of Seattle will help the situation. They will also likely bring back the diamond lounge which for Asia is converted into the high rolling casino room. I am sure the extra slot machines will stay in the music lounge though as tacky as those are, they need more gambling space for the Chinese market.

Yes--I looked at Deck Plans for Ovation and could not locate the Diamond Lounge--had to research to find that the Asian reconfiguration replaces the RCCL loyalty program lounge (which would probably not apply to a large percentage of Asian passengers) to the "Golden Room," a gaming room. This make sense.

You know, maybe I would risk coming out of my comfort level a little and vacation in Asia with a predominantly Asian passenger group---I think I would have to do some research first, and keep a focus on learning about and appreciating the people and the way they live and vacation in these close quarters. The language issues and occasional disconnectedness might be more than offset by new insights. But, I think just showing up on ship and expecting a business-as-usual American Style experience would be frustrating and disappointing.

Yes--I looked at Deck Plans for Ovation and could not locate the Diamond Lounge--had to research to find that the Asian reconfiguration replaces the RCCL loyalty program lounge (which would probably not apply to a large percentage of Asian passengers) to the "Golden Room," a gaming room. This make sense.

 

You know, maybe I would risk coming out of my comfort level a little and vacation in Asia with a predominantly Asian passenger group---I think I would have to do some research first, and keep a focus on learning about and appreciating the people and the way they live and vacation in these close quarters. The language issues and occasional disconnectedness might be more than offset by new insights. But, I think just showing up on ship and expecting a business-as-usual American Style experience would be frustrating and disappointing.

Yes the Golden room replaced the Diamond lounge on the Dubai to Singapore leg in 2016.

I was definitely very annoyed when I went on the Star Virgo many years ago due to the differences in orderliness of culture.

Toward the end of my time on the 16 Nt repositioning on the Ovation where it wa still predominatly Western passengers with some Eastern mixed in, the culture clash was wearing thin on much of the passenger base for the final days, especially in the Windjammer. I am just glad it didn’t come to blows as a I could definitely sense tempers flaring at the end, especially in the stir fry line. That was getting intense, and I started to avoid it toward the end of the cruise.

You know, maybe I would risk coming out of my comfort level a little and vacation in Asia with a predominantly Asian passenger group---I think I would have to do some research first, and keep a focus on learning about and appreciating the people and the way they live and vacation in these close quarters. The language issues and occasional disconnectedness might be more than offset by new insights. But, I think just showing up on ship and expecting a business-as-usual American Style experience would be frustrating and disappointing.

For what it is worth my family has been traveling predominately in Asia for the last 2 1/2 years and we have one more land vacation in Asia (2 weeks in Japan) before our next cruise. We absolutely love traveling in Asian countries and cities. Thailand is my favorite country I have ever visited. We lived in Europe for 4 years and I never thought I would love traveling anywhere else but I was very wrong. We have not run into too many language barriers. We attempt to learn a few phrases (and my older two kids speak some Mandarin) but we mostly just use google translate and a whole lot of gestures and smiles. We have not done a cruise out of a an Asian port but we have done several land vacations in different areas from cities and theme parks to the country side and park reserves. All the trips have been wonderful so far. So my advice would be do your research and go in with realistic expectations and a open mind and you just may enjoy it! :)

For what it is worth my family has been traveling predominately in Asia for the last 2 1/2 years and we have one more land vacation in Asia (2 weeks in Japan) before our next cruise. We absolutely love traveling in Asian countries and cities. Thailand is my favorite country I have ever visited. We lived in Europe for 4 years and I never thought I would love traveling anywhere else but I was very wrong. We have not run into too many language barriers. We attempt to learn a few phrases (and my older two kids speak some Mandarin) but we mostly just use google translate and a whole lot of gestures and smiles. We have not done a cruise out of a an Asian port but we have done several land vacations in different areas from cities and theme parks to the country side and park reserves. All the trips have been wonderful so far. So my advice would be do your research and go in with realistic expectations and a open mind and you just may enjoy it! :)

I agree. As long as you can go with the flow it will be fine, and keep in mind each Asian culture is notably different than others. Singapore is incredibly regimented, way more so than the US and punctuality is king. For the Philippines... not so much. (I am Filipino) The Philippines runs on Filipino time. Also the level of organization and orderliness varies greatly as well. If you are incredibly OCD and demand everything run in a set way, however, cruising out of China could prove to be difficult.

I would just read Anthem reviews

As the Ovation is changing itineraries to an Australian/Alaska rotation in October, I assume they will be de-China-izing the ship & converting the Golden Room back to the Diamond Lounge ................ most likely during it's two China - Sydney repositioning cruises.

As the Ovation is changing itineraries to an Australian/Alaska rotation in October, I assume they will be de-China-izing the ship & converting the Golden Room back to the Diamond Lounge ................ most likely during it's two China - Sydney repositioning cruises.

That would be a good assumption as when it repositioned to Asia is when they converted it last time.

Last month we spent 17 days on Ovation. It was our first time on a Qunatum class ship and we loved it. I don't base the ship on the passengers which were extremely rude on the 5 day cruise but more of congenial crowd on the 12 day cruise.

Here is a link to my report I was doing while on board.

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2620307

I have heard that the Mainland Chinese have no manners, compared with those of Hong Kong and Taiwan.

I have heard that the Mainland Chinese have no manners, compared with those of Hong Kong and Taiwan.

It appears they haven’t the social graces of other countries