Ovation of the Seas Review (long), 30/12/16 – 9/1/17 (New Zealand)

We have just returned from a 10 night New Zealand Cruise (Sydney to Sydney) on Ovation of the Seas and here are some thoughts and observations on the trip (apologies for the length).

Embarkation

Was a bit of a nightmare, we (my wife and I) had a 12.30pm boarding time and turned up at 12.30 to find a large crowd outside the entrance to the overseas terminal. They had sensibly moved the reception and initial passenger processing outside to avoid large crowds inside.

So whilst that aspect didn’t take too long there were very large crowds trying to get into the next stage inside the terminal. It seems that a lot of the very early groups (11am – 12 noon) had been turned away as the ship was still being cleaned so came back at 12.30/1.00pm.

This was compounded by not turning away many who had later boarding times but had chanced an early arrival to try and board in advance of their scheduled time. The upshot was that 12.30 to 1.30 turned into chaos and it took almost two hours to board. A bit of discipline and management of those who attempt to board early would have solved this.

It’s understandable to want to maximise your time on board but with 4500 passengers trying to get on, sticking to the time allocated is the only way to manage the queues and being firm with those who arrive early would have mitigated this to a large extent.

Cabin

We had a junior suite on deck 9 and it was great, about 30% larger than a regular balcony cabin, two full size reclining sun loungers on the balcony, largest TV we’ve had in a cabin, an extra half bathroom (toilet and basin), great shower over a nearly full size bath and a jug, enabling tea to be made in the morning!!

We were almost exactly midship so it was about a fifty metre walk in either direction to the lifts (waiting for the lifts is almost a full time sport onboard).

Dining

This was pretty disappointing. We’ve cruised on 10 previous occasions (twice with RCCL, Norwegian, P&O, Oceania; once with Princess and Cruise & Maritime) and the main dining room fare was down there with the worst we have had.

That’s not to say it was terrible, just really average for the most part and the menus were much more limited in scope than on previous cruises. This may be due to the size of the ship but it was certainly way below our experience on the Rhapsody a couple of years’ back which was way up there in terms of quality.

We usually like to sit at share table during dinner and a number of others were making similar observations about the food quality and scope of the menus.

We ate at two of the specialty restaurants (Jamie’s Italian and Chops). My wife liked Jamie’s but I was a little underwhelmed by the quality (particularly versus the additional cost). Chops was easily the best meal we had on board and of a very good standard.

Windjammer and the rest of the buffet style places were much as you’d expect with the usual crowds at the usual times. Some good aspects, I did like the 270 Café area and the fact that you could get your own style of salad and the range of sandwiches in there was good.

NB - Bottled wine in the restaurants started at around $35 (with a fairly limited selection at that price point).

Coffee

I’m a very occasional coffee drinker, so won’t comment on the quality of the specialty (at additional cost) coffees but a ship this size should have more than three outlets providing them as the queues for “proper” coffee were always lengthy.

Bars

A lot of them! Prices were in line with just about everyone else, a typical order for us of a beer and a glass of wine was $15 in most cases. The range of beer and wine was again about usual; would be nice if a larger range of beer could be included other than just the usual standard and fairly tasteless range of lagers.

I did discover some Sierra Nevada Pale Ale but although there weren’t many drinking it, it ran out with two days to go.

All of the bars and restaurants have an individual feel and character about them (combined with some truly great artwork on board all over the ship by the way).

The one disappointing bar was perhaps the one I was most interested in, Michaels Genuine Pub on Deck 4. It doesn’t have a great atmosphere being very open to the shopping and public spaces, nor any significantly greater range of beers than is otherwise available and charges additional $$ for some fairly unimaginative “pub grub”.

Service

The service was typically enthusiastic and really good in almost every aspect. The one slight dud note was the main dining room service. We had My Time dining so were limited to the level 4 dining rooms in the evening (the level 3 dining rooms are for those who had fixed times).

Almost every night there was some kind of foul up. Either there was a miscalculation as to whether a table was free and how many seats it had available, twice our greeter couldn’t find the table they were looking for (despite carrying a map of the dining room!), wine was spilt upon ordering or the wine waiter didn’t know what they had in stock. It seemed as if they were a fairly new dining crew without any specialist wine waiters and it showed in the errors being made.

They were as mentioned, really enthusiastic and keen to help, but just lacking some basic training or knowledge. Everywhere else was great and our room steward was a particular star.

Fitness Centre/Gym

I thought I’d put something in about this area on deck 16 as it is the best I have encountered in all the cruises we’ve taken. I used it 7 times over the ten night trip and whilst it could get busy, I never found it overcrowded, had a great range of equipment and floor space. Really top quality.

Entertainment

We’re not usually big on attending the production shows but those we saw on this trip were outstanding and you can see the benefits of a large entertainment staff and the quality of the lighting, sound and technology they have available.

Particular highlights were the Live, Love, Legs show in the main theatre and the Pixels show in the 270 lounge (which is a great venue). Pretty much everything we saw was up with the best we have seen previously.

I liked the Cruise Director Joff Eaton, who is really good at managing a crowd during the dance parties and runs a great quiz. Quick witted and smart.

We went to bingo a couple of times and Roxanne the presenter of that is really good as well, the only downside of that is the price. However the cash prizes were high, attendance good and one lady won $7600 at the end of the cruise (we were one of those sweating on one number at the end….!).

Onboard Activities

Tried the bumper cars (excellent, despite the always large queues), the North Star (good, but you’d only do it once) and IFly the freefall experience (really fun). A good range of presentations including a really interesting one on the history of RCCL done over two separate days, a meet the captain session and a few others which were all worthwhile, well attended and run.

Ports

We live in NZ and (apart from Fiordland) had been to all the destinations before, so didn’t have any organised tours arranged and I can’t comment on how good or otherwise they might have been. Fiordland We had good weather (by Fiordland standards) insofar as it didn’t rain and wasn’t too cold.

This a very remote and fascinating part of the world and the ship bought on a specialist on the area to provide commentary over the PA system and a presentation in the theatre throughout our passage in the three fiords.

Speaking of the PA system, it would have been great if you could hear announcements in your room. I appreciate you don’t want to interrupt or wake people up, but making it available on one of the TV channels couldn’t be too hard surely?

Dunedin

A good destination slightly spoiled by appalling weather, cold (about 13 degrees) and wet all day. We took the bus ($15 each for the port shuttle!) into the city, took a walk round and had lunch before returning to the ship.

Pity about the weather as there was a pipe band to greet and farewell the ship and it was the first visit for the Ovation to Dunedin, having had to cancel the previous stop due to bad weather.

Wellington

Our home town, so we called into our place to change some clothes and take care of some domestic tasks! One observation about Wellington, it was the biggest port on this voyage but we arrived at 1pm leaving only half a day to see the city.

The itinerary could have perhaps gone to Picton next and left a full day in Wellington for the last port of call. The weather was great on arrival but about 3.30pm the southerly storm that followed us up from Dunedin blew in and dropped the temp by ten degrees and bought sweeping rain and wind with it.

Napier

Great stop, perfect weather. The city put on lots of displays and activities, loads of good transport to and from the ship and everyone we spoke to after seemed to have enjoyed it.

Picton

Again, great weather greeted us. This is a very small port, with the ship doubling the population of the township. I think most did winery tours or other activities but there was a nice market set up on the foreshore, we stayed for lunch at one of the pubs and spent the afternoon catching some sun on board. There was a great sail away through the Marlborough Sounds.

Disembarkation

Much smoother than getting on, we walked our own bags off, and upon shutting the door to our cabin for the last time at 8am were off the ship and out the terminal by 8.15am.

Summary

As those of you who have got this far can tell it was for us a bit of a mixed bag and on balance we probably wouldn’t do another ship of this size. Doing things and getting places on board takes time and there were loads of queues and crowds for most things.

As a consequence the many positives didn’t quite outweigh some of the frustrations or shortcomings for us at least.

That said, this is a really great ship for large groups (especially prevalent during this New Year sailing) and has great activities and options for teenagers and smaller children.

Happy to answer any questions others may have….

Thanks for the review. I agree with quite a few aspects of your observations and experiences.:D

Great review, and I completely agree. I loved the ship, but as said before the dining was the let down. It sounds like the switch out of DD hasn't resolved that (yet anyway). The entertainment is easily the best on any RCL ship class.

I found the food quality much improved and only had one disappointing main/entrée but agree the selection over the 10 nights was much reduced.

Thanks Undertone for writing a review, I enjoyed reading it.

I have one question about your cabin.

When you say that there was a half bathroom does that mean that there are two toilets in the junior suite cabin?

Hi sewgood - yes, the junior (family) suites have a seperate half bathroom opposite the (main) bathroom with a second toilet and handbasin. Useful for larger groups (and us actually...) when the bathroom is tied up with someone showering.

Hi sewgood - yes, the junior (family) suites have a seperate half bathroom opposite the (main) bathroom with a second toilet and handbasin. Useful for larger groups (and us actually...) when the bathroom is tied up with someone showering.

That would be handy even with two people.:D

Hi sewgood - yes, the junior (family) suites have a seperate half bathroom opposite the (main) bathroom with a second toilet and handbasin. Useful for larger groups (and us actually...) when the bathroom is tied up with someone showering.

Fantastic, sounds just perfect for my situation.

Thanks for the reply Undertone.

It even has the extra cupboard space and similar of the main bathroom, so you can have supplies in each room for different people. Excellent design!

Thank you for reviewing your cruise.

Sorry Dunedin could not give you better weather,...... still waiting for summer!!

We stood in the rain watching the ship sail out of the harbour.

What a great review! Detailed but not boring haha. Thanks!!

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Thank you for reviewing your cruise.

 

Sorry Dunedin could not give you better weather,...... still waiting for summer!!

 

We stood in the rain watching the ship sail out of the harbour.

I enjoyed a nice Speights tour (with plenty of bevies at the end) and then a fantastic Ale house lunch. The send off by the Dunedin residents really was an amazing spectacle all the way out to the breakwater as well, especially considering the weather at the time.:D

Hi MicC - I agree with you regarding the Dunedin send off (thanks Erewhon!), there were people all along the harbour exit, making for a great spectacle.

My personal favourite sail away moment occurred in the Marlborough sounds when the harbourmaster boat had to turn on the lights and siren to pull over a speeding pleasure craft trying to keep up with the ship as we sailed away from Picton! Stern warning followed....

Stern warning followed....

Just as well they weren't any faster, they may have received one of the dreaded bow warnings. :p

Hi MicC - I agree with you regarding the Dunedin send off (thanks Erewhon!), there were people all along the harbour exit, making for a great spectacle.

 

My personal favourite sail away moment occurred in the Marlborough sounds when the harbourmaster boat had to turn on the lights and siren to pull over a speeding pleasure craft trying to keep up with the ship as we sailed away from Picton! Stern warning followed....

Yes, saw a few boats take off and expand the distance between them and the ship after that. The sounds were very beautiful with wonderful weather for a sailaway.:D

Thank you Undertone for a very helpful review. We will be on Ovation in a few weeks. The disappointment with food and the reduced menu choices seems to be a common theme with all RCCL ships at the moment.

Thanks Undertone, great review. I agree with many of your points too. But overall a very enjoyable cruise!

The send off by the Dunedin residents really was an amazing spectacle all the way out to the breakwater as well, especially considering the weather at the time.:D

Spotting all the albatross sitting on their nests on the cliff, as the ship departs Dunedin, is one of my favourite sailaways. Take your binoculars!

Spotting all the albatross sitting on their nests on the cliff, as the ship departs Dunedin, is one of my favourite sailaways. Take your binoculars!

I always bring my binoculars with me but was too busy waving to the residents.:D

The send off by the Dunedin residents really was an amazing spectacle all the way out to the breakwater as well, especially considering the weather at the time.:D

There were numerous toots from the Ovation:D

There were numerous toots from the Ovation:D

More like blasts, it was very loud where I was.:D

Thanks for your Review. We will be on it on the 20th February and looking forward to trying Coastal Kitchen - I hope it's as good as they say.

Cheers

Di

Thanks for your Review. We will be on it on the 20th February and looking forward to trying Coastal Kitchen - I hope it's as good as they say.

 

Cheers

Di

I didn't try it, only went to the Buffet for one lunch and it wasn't operating, it was Napier and most people were off the ship.:D