Ovation of the Seas - 12 Night NZ, New Years Cruise - Dec 2017 – Review (Really Long)

Food

This is a difficult area, as it can very much depend on the time of day you went and what you like. As this was only our 4th cruise, and second on RCL, I can’t compare it to the good’O’days, but all I can say is – it’s a cruise – no one starved.

/Rant On

The big thing for us is one of us is a Coeliac, which means that Gluten Free food is a must. We will not go back to a place that tells us what we must eat, there needs to be wide selection, not we will prepare something for you. It also means there is a lot of planning involved, we will not turn up and just hope that there is something there that we can eat. This was important for excursions as well. As we knew where we were eating every night, we worked with the restaurants the day before to confirm everything was okay and to review the menu and place an order (the day before!) so that it could be prepared. We also ask questions if something is fried, what else is put in the fryer.

Coeliac disease is an Autoimmune disease, that is your body attacks itself if it detects the gluten protein in food. To be Gluten Free, the Australian definition is that it has to be less than 12 parts per million. A better way to think of ppm is to visualize putting four drops of ink in a 55-gallon barrel of water and mixing it thoroughly. This procedure would produce an ink concentration of 1 ppm. Anything more than that is poisonous to a Coeliac. This is not a fad, it is not a life style choice. Every cross contamination of gluten is increasing the chances of osteoporosis, infertility, increased risk of miscarriage, impaired growth, nutrient deficiency and an increased risk of certain cancers, including lymphoma or other health problems. The damage is being done inside, even if no symptoms overtly manifest themselves. Any Coeliac that states, I am more tolerant of wheat, is fooling themselves and others. You can’t be a little bit pregnant, and if you are a Coeliac you can’t have a little bit of Gluten in your diet.

Do I treat it seriously? You bet, and it annoys the crap out of me that people treat Gluten Free diets as a joke. Next time someone makes a joke about it, ask them if they are the sort of person that would give a Cigarette or a drink of whiskey to a 10 year old. Because that is exactly what you are doing to my child when you give them food containing Gluten, and there is no way I am letting anyone give my child Cancer.

We like Cruise Ships and we like Disney, as every restaurant has Gluten Free options both as standard and if enough notice is given can be made Gluten Free (a different gravy or sauce is used, croutons left off a Caesar salad etc.)

Once the Ovation waiters knew who was the Coeliac, they wouldn’t let them order anything that they didn’t know the provenance of. For example, they wouldn’t let them have the meat plank in Jamie’s as they get the salami from Italy and don’t know if the kitchens there are Gluten Free or not.

/Rant Off

Coastal Kitchen

Open for breakfast every day, lunch on sea days and every evening, this was where we ate the most, including lunch on the first day. Even though we were told to make reservations for dinner, this wasn’t really necessary as it was never full. So much so, that no matter when we turned up, we were sat at the same table for just about every meal there.

The menus were okay. They told me the number, but I can’t really remember them, but I think there were only two lunch menus that rotated and 3-4 dinner menus. I didn’t take many photos to confirm this. Ok for a week long cruise, but boring after awhile on a 12 night cruise. We could see the menu name and know what to order without too much delay.

Here is one of the lunch menu’s and a random dinner menu.

Service was okay, but not stellar. Even though we had the same table, we had lots of different waiters and servers. The most consistent person over the meals was the person getting the drinks. There is no bar in CK, they have to go through a door out into Windjammers for that. It also meant that people, out of curiosity would open the door and stick their head in.

For the suites restaurant, I would have expected some of the top wait staff to be based here, but I never got as much a welcoming feeling as I did as when eating at Luminae on Celebrity Solstice. Little things like being offered Gluten Free bread, but having to ask for separate butter. I don’t mind that, but we had to ask, almost every meal.

Décor is beautiful, and the views are stunning, as you have floor to ceiling windows looking out the side of the ship. Great for Sydney for lunch on the first day, leaving Dunedin, as the sun sets so late and as the sounds are treated as a sea day, it becomes a fantastic place for the sights, as per the photos below. (And the photos for Dunedin Sail Away)

A beautiful place to have breakfast when sailing through the sounds.

A great thing about Coastal Kitchen was that a Head Chef (not THE head Chef, just the one for Windjammers / Coastal Kitchen) came around every night to ask how things were going. He also gave advice on the menu, and we would often order the next nights meal with him next to us to say what could or couldn’t be done. It was great talking to him here and out in Windjammers, as we built us a very good rapport with him.

I guess after the poor experience with the kids eating there, and never getting any apology, we just in the end decided to eat elsewhere. After sailing on Solstice, we all agreed that we wouldn’t get a room on a Celebrity ship without having access to Luminae. Coastal Kitchen didn’t have the same attraction, we are not going to pick a room or ship based on this restaurant.

WindJammers

For a buffet restaurant, it was pretty good. We had a number of lunches here, when we wanted to not have to wait as long as we would for a sit down meal in Coastal Kitchen or split up due to different activities, we were all doing.

There is a separate section of food for Gluten Free diets. It was okay, but the selection wasn’t great. It was far enough away from everything else that there was no risk of cross contamination from tongs or other items. A lot of other food in the buffet is often Gluten Free, but cross contamination becomes an issue and also, you don’t know what they have put in the different sauces, so we found a crew member to find us a supervisor to help walk through what could or could not be eaten. It turned out to be the head chef that we had met in Coastal Kitchen. He did a quick run through of the different stations and when he found out what we wanted, went out the back to get it from fresh containers, so that there wasn’t a cross contamination issue.

Other days, he must have seen us walk in, as he came and found us to see what we wanted and got it quickly. One time, I went up to him to say hello and he was talking to another chef. He said that she was in charge of the Gluten Free station and she only cooks Gluten Free food. It’s nice to know they have dedicated fryers as well as staff and how seriously they treat it.

He was very friendly and one day while we were eating lunch, he pops up next to us with a plate of Gluten Free cookies he had made especially for us. They were really yummy! Most GF cookies could substitute for hockey pucks or cricket balls, but these were very enjoyable. We asked for the recipe and he said he just makes them, he tried to give the recipe to us, he made me write it down, as it was just a handful of this and a pinch of that, nothing formal.

Windjammers was busy, it often took awhile to find a table. Some times we ended up on the single seats next to the window. But we always found a seat, everyone got food that they liked. There was one coke freestyle machine, that we saw being filled up one day.

but it was a hassle to take the required cup to/from lunch, so we ordered from the plentiful waiters that were walking around.

The layout was good, with food in multiple islands rather than just a single line and kept people moving without bunching people in one spot. Every lunch and also for dinner they had different themes or specials. Mexican, Thai, Indian, Seafood etc. We never got there for dinner, but the food quality and selection at lunch was good enough that if we had I don’t think we would have been disappointed.

The weather was bad enough (for a summer cruise) that a lot of the time the outside eating areas at the back of the ship were closed. Even with the reduced seating areas, it handled the crowds well.

Overall – Wind Jammers did what it did very well.

Chef’s Table

On Ovation, the Chef’s table is at one end of Chops, they had partitioned off the table with a couple of screens, but we could see into Chops easily. Our start time was scheduled for 6:30pm and we turned up at 6:30 and found everyone seated. We thought we had been given the wrong start time, being on time and being last.

Tonight every seat was taken, with 16 people being seated on one long table. We didn’t bring the children as we knew dinner was going to take awhile and felt they were likely to be bored.

There was one waiter serving everyone and he did a fantastic job. He introduced each course and spoke about the wine pairing. He spoke at different points at the table so that everyone could hear and no one was disadvantaged. Just as the food was ready to be eaten the Chef showed up, said a little but it could be that his English wasn’t the greatest, he didn’t say much.

The food was fantastic. As it’s a set menu (copy in the documentation thread), the only choice you have is how you would like your steak done. I said I wasn’t a fan of Mushrooms, so they left these off the main course.

Conversation with the other passengers was good, but with the length of the table, you are limited to the people opposite and those next to you.

Even though we were Star Class, there was no charge for the food, but an extra US$29.50 per person (total) to cover the higher cost per glass of wine, over the package limit.

I was a little concerned before going as I was worried I might not enjoy the food, but found it very filling and there was a lot to drink that night, the flavours all worked well together.

Definitely something I would organise to go to again on a longer cruise – over 7 nights.

Solarium Bistro

In the evenings this becomes an extra charge restaurant. At the front of the ship, it didn’t have any views over the ocean as such, but while eating, you could see a lot of semi naked old hairy people of different body shapes, to add to the ambiance .

This was our least favourite restaurant on the ship. The food selection was poor. The meat was so tough it was almost inedible. The service was slow to borderline non-existent. If we had paid a cover charge for it, we would have been asking for our money back.

It was part buffet, part order off a limited menu. We gave up in the end and didn’t order any dessert, but went and had it somewhere else on the ship.

We didn’t make it back there for lunch so can’t offer advice on what they serve. If you are going on Ovation in the future, try it as a lunch venue first. If what they serve up is okay for Lunch, try it as a paid venue for dinner, as it may be better by then. Otherwise if its bad food for lunch, it won’t be any better in the evening.

Chops

I’m a steak guy.

Put a good steak on my plate, and that’s all I need for dinner. Okay, a potato in some form, but nothing green. By all that is holy, I should have been eating here every night.

We were lucky enough to get Chops for New Years Eve. It had sold out in the Cruise Planner for a number of weeks before the cruise, so we were very surprised when the Genie put us here for the night. They were running a special menu where you got a glass of Champagne on arrival and every main course had a lobster tail added. There was also a huge upcharge over the normal Chops fee for the New Years Eve menu.

I know this is starting to sound picky, but we just didn’t enjoy the meal. The meat was okay, not great, a little chewy. The service, very slow. We were booked to go back to Chops later in the cruise, but decided not to do it. This is our second RCI cruise, and 2nd time in Chops. Our experience was that bad, that when we are on Symphony at the end of the year, we have decided that we don’t even want to try Chops on the next cruise. It’s not even a cost issue as all speciality restaurants are free, we just don’t want to spend an evening there when other options are available. I would give it another go, but the rest of the family don't.

Maybe it was just a NYE thing that they had more people sitting down at the same time than normal. But there was still no excuse for steak that isn’t melt in your mouth. Maybe I was just upset that it wasn’t even Australian Steak, we learnt on the galley tour that the beef comes from the US warehouse and isn’t sourced locally from Australia. Those steaks had a lot of food miles on them. I was just a little disappointed with the meal that night.

Kung Fu Panda – Noodle Shop

There is no Johnny Rockets on Ovation. Instead, to cater for the China market, they have the space turned over to Kung Fu Panda Noodle Shop, with a lot of Dreamworks Themeing. We went there a couple of times for Lunch.

We didn’t expect anything Gluten Free to be there, so we split up with an adult and GF child going to Windjammers and a child and adult going to KFPNS.

I went the second time, and this was about day 11 or 12. It had never been that busy everytime we walked past, with most people going for free food a few steps away at wind jammers rather than paying to eat here.

We asked for two serves of BBQ Pork Bao Dim Sum. Got told they only have one serve left and that’s it for the cruise. Can’t remember what I asked for the main but was told they didn’t have that, didn’t have that, didn’t have that, so it was a case of them telling me what I could eat rather than my choosing what I wanted. Considering how few people I had seen actually eating there for the cruise, I was very surprised they had run out of food. They obviously don’t cater much out of Australia for this place.

Very limited menu. Again, no cost to eat here as Star Class.

If it wasn’t for the case of the food was free, after they told me what I could eat, I would have left, but we ordered a couple of items which turned up quickly. There were two other people already there, and at most two other people turned up while we were eating. Empty place so no problem finding a seat.

Okay – but not great Asian food. Would rather go to WindJammers. But the steamed BBQ Pork Dim Sum that we could get were nice.

Café Two70

Hot Roast Beef Rolls – YUM!

My son and I had a number of Roast Beef Rolls. He had them with Gravy. I chose the Horse Radish Sauce. They were a great mid-afternoon snack! They also had a number of Sandwiches and other rolls pre-made.

They have a sandwich press labelled Gluten Free only, so could heat up GF items if necessary.

For ourselves, the other food looked good, but if I was going to go to Café Two70, there would be only one thing I would be getting.

Seaplex Dog House

Great advertising, lousy product. Bread roll was squished and not cut properly which made for a poor holder for the hot dog.

Best thing going for it was the Coke Freestyle machine which was there, and due to the limited hours of the doghouse, was always available. Didn’t require the washy washy to get near it compared to the one in Wind Jammers. In the evening if you wanted a refill, you could get here and back to the room much quicker than trying to get to Wind Jammers (which might be closed) or Sorento (which always had a line).

Sorrento’s

I know some people say their local pizza shop is far better, however, have you seen the amount of slices they send out, - for the quantity they serve and to get a snack quickly in that part of the ship, they were really nice.

Handled Gluten Free really well. Once you can find someone to order from, you tell them what type you want and they make it to order. The pizza comes from the back kitchen and its surrounded by foil for when it goes into the oven, to stop cross contamination risks. They then deliver it to you. While it’s a little wait, it isn’t that bad, and a whole pizza, not just a couple of slices.

There are two freestyle machines in Sorrento’s that always had a line and generally one wasn’t working so down to one.

Izumi

Only went here for lunch one day. The location is not the best, as it’s open to a walk way. To get from one side of deck 5 to the other, you need to walk through the restaurant, and you can stare at what everyone is eating. Sure, it’s the quiet side of Deck 5, but still a public walkway through the restaurant.

No cost for what we ate. The food was okay, not great. Not enough wow factor to make us want to come back for dinner, or have lunch there again, ie happy to choose Windjammers over Izumi.

So by now you must be thinking, was there anything worth while that they did like. Don’t get me wrong, apart from Solarium Bistro, we never walked away from a meal hungry. We liked that we could pick and choose where we could eat and not worry about cost, or must enjoy this because I have paid so much for a speciality restaurant. We were grateful that there was so much choice. We were very grateful we didn’t face the huge lines going into the main dining room. We were also grateful that we could pick the time we went to dinner rather than must be seated no later than 6:30pm every night. We timed some of the meals for the sail away, so that we could be in Coastal Kitchen with the wonderful views.

I have maybe focused too much on some of the negatives, but we have used this experience to help us with our next cruise. For example – for the 7 night cruise on Symphony at the end of the year, we won’t be going to Wonderland, but if we did another 12 night cruise – we would have at least one meal there. There was nothing to turn us off, but there was nothing when we have only 7 dinners to drag us back. In the end, there was so much choice, as the ship was so large and we were grateful for that.

So what did we like the most! I know that this will divide some people.

Jamie’s Italian

We loved the place. So much so that we ended up going there 3 times. We used the Genie to make a last minute booking for us, during the cruise when they were supposedly full. Sure the themeing is a bit kitschy, putting the meat planks on tins with old labels. Like a true Italian restaurant, they handled Gluten Free very well, and there was a great selection to choose from. Even going three times, there were items on the menu that we didn’t get to try but wanted to. There were also items that we want to try again in the future.

Jamie’s is definitely one restaurant where if we weren’t Star Class we would be happy to pay.

I think the last time we went, they squeezed us in between other bookings, as the service was definitely not slow. They said, when we first turned up, you don’t have a booking with us, and I said the magic words, “Our Genie made the booking”, so they had to go to a separate system, saw it there, then took us to our table.

When ordering the planks, they can do them to any size. One night, only I wanted one, so they made the plank for one, when there were 4 at the table.

I can answer any further questions about Jamie’s if you want, but there are good reviews out there that give good descriptions of the actual food and menu. As a family we all enjoyed the meals here.

Thank you so much for your detailed review, just loving it. We will be on Ovation in October, Singapore to Sydney so this info has been very helpful. We have been on a number o RC ships, this will be our first time on Ovation.

Is there more to come?????

Thank you so much for your detailed review, just loving it. We will be on Ovation in October, Singapore to Sydney so this info has been very helpful. We have been on a number o RC ships, this will be our first time on Ovation.

 

Is there more to come?????

That is a great itinerary and the last time it will be done, as in 2019 Ovation heads to Alaska. I wish we could have done that, but it is too early in the season with the kids still in school. Maybe in the future if they bring another big ship down from Asia. Or we will just have to do the Hawaii to Australia leg.

Yes, there are two more sections - shore excursions, which isn't much use to you, as they are New Zealand ports, and the final section on the ship.

Thank you for reading and your comment.

Will be doing New Zealand Feb 2019 with Princess so we will be interested what you have to say. This will be our first NZ cruise.

Thank you for the detailed review we will be on the ovation in August 2019 for the Alaska cruise. I appreciate all of your information.

Will be doing New Zealand Feb 2019 with Princess so we will be interested what you have to say. This will be our first NZ cruise.

The next section on ports in New Zealand will be posted shortly. Hopefully some of the same destinations as your cruise will be included so you can get an idea of what to do. No matter what city you stop at in New Zealand it will be slightly different so makes a fantastic cruise that you can do over and over again. New Zealand isn't a destination that if you have been to one beach, you have been to them all. A cruise is a great way to see New Zealand, but there is so much more than what is in the few cities the cruise lines stop at. Hopefully you will get a taste and want to go back.

I think a Princess ship makes a surprise appearance during the transits of the sounds …

Thanks for your comment, and I hope the next section helps with your New Zealand planning.

Thank you for the detailed review we will be on the ovation in August 2019 for the Alaska cruise. I appreciate all of your information.

Thanks vrock, for your comment. I have to say, I have always loved your signature. My two dogs are often like that, but there is no way they are a security system, unless knocking you over so they can lick you, counts.

Ovation is going to be a great ship in Alaska. Try and book the North Star when close to a Glacier or close to land. Even during one of the port stops, as it is designed to give you "ooh" moments when next to something and not just out at sea. The section on the sounds might give you an idea. 270 has beautiful indoor unobstructed viewing areas so even if you don't like the cold, you can still see everything, stay warm, next to the bar and the roast beef rolls from 270 café.

I am pretty sure I talked about the cold weather in New Zealand. The ship handled it very well and never felt crowded at sea. So even a cold weather destination like Alaska and the ship being fully loaded isn't going to be a bad experience. There is so much to do on board that no matter how long your cruise is, it will feel like it is over in a blink of an eye.

So while destinations in New Zealand aren't much use for you, the last section on the ship will be.

Thanks all, once again for reading. Just waiting for the video to upload to YouTube, then I will start posting.

Ports of Call

Day 4 – Bay of Islands

Our first Tender port and a new year.

There are free shuttle buses that can take you from the port to the town. But it is an easy 20 minute walk. The beach is wide and very sheltered, so if you want a swim, this is a good place, but don’t expect to find a Caribbean resort where for $50 you get food and your first drink. The beach is free, no loungers, just lay your towel down. Walk to the pub for a drink, walk to the takeaway for food.

We did an RCI ship excursion “Glow Worm Caves and Kauri Forest”. It stated that it was only 4 hours long, but it took slightly longer. Most of the time you were in a bus looking at the country side.

We did the tour on New Years Day, which is a public holiday, meaning most of the shops in the small town we stopped for lunch were closed. There wasn’t a lot of choice there, especially for a Coeliac. You can’t take food off the ship with you, they have bio-security sniffer dogs as you get off the Tender. They will fine you, if found with ship food.

The drive on the bus to the Glow worm caves were pleasant, while not hilly, the road definitely twists and turns, if you get car sick, get it sorted out early so you can sit near the front of the bus.

The Glow Worm Caves is open to the public, but for the Cruise Line passengers, they put on a little Maori show and dance. They also do a Welcome ceremony, which requires one Male to volunteer to be the tour party “Chief” and rub noses with the locals. The general public are asked to be on the side waiting.

You are then taken into the caves and given a good description on the life cycle of the glow worm. There are lots of them and easily seen. A few steps are required, but the track is smooth and not slippery. A very easy walk.

It was very well done.

We then drove to a small town for a rest room stop. While there were port-o-loos at the Glow Worm Caves, they are a bit of a walk from the bus, so we were told if you can wait do so.

The small town is also the lunch break. Being a holiday, nothing much was open. The only option for lunch was Carb central. Pies and Chips! They also did sandwiches. There is a small supermarket for snacks if you want them, but the prices aren’t cheap.

After 30 minutes to allow everyone to go to the toilet and have lunch. Onto the Kauri Forest. About another 20 minute drive away. Of the 4+ hours of the tour – 3 of them were driving.

The Kauri trees are similar to the California Red Gum. Hundreds of years old and Really big. At one point, more money was made in NZ by exporting Kauri Gum than was made exporting Gold.

Once we arrived on site our guide was introduced to us and we started the walk.

I would like to stop here and say the weather today was horrible. Rainy and not very warm. We were given the option of staying on the bus, which my wife did, but the rain was light, so the rest of us went out.

The walkway is wide, wooden and level, with a slight fall and rise to get to/from the road (as can be seen from the photos below).

The guide was interesting, but the rain started coming down heavier and in the end we left the group (as had others) and bolted back to the bus. We were so wet, we might as well have gone swimming in the ocean in our clothes.

We were then taken back to the ship, via a lookout point where we could see our majestic vessel.

The bus also went back past the Waitangi treaty grounds. (An important place in NZ history.) If we were going back to Bay of Islands on a future cruise, I would not take an organised tour, but do the easy walk from the pier then walk into town, the first capital of NZ. But this would mean more to me as a New Zealander than most visitors.

Views from the tender on the way back to the ship.

That said, this was a great tour and I am glad we did it. The rain was shocking, but the cruise can’t be held responsible for that. The two places we visited were interesting and overall a worth while tour.

Day 5 – Auckland

A stunning beautiful day when we arrived in Auckland. As I use to live in Auckland, we didn’t organise any tour and just did our own thing. The ship is too big to dock, so sits out in the harbour for everyone to stare at, which means a tender to get to shore.

They didn’t do tender tickets in Bay of Islands or Auckland, they just hoped that the crowd will be small enough not to bunch all at once. For BoI, we were on a tour so got on the Tour tender. For Auckland, we met Josh and he walked us to near the front of the queue. Once on shore, there were taxi’s waiting at the arrival point and it was a short walk to the shops.

View from Tender back to ship.

We walk around the city for awhile, (which is ok, but the city is very hilly, so a good excuse to stop and get a drink), went and had lunch at a very nice Japanese restaurant at the casino that had a great GF selection and then did some shopping. The 2nd of January is a public holiday in NZ, (it takes two days to recover from all the drinking on NYE), which meant the city wasn’t that busy as workers weren’t around, but it also meant that shops were on reduced trading hours.

What Passes in Auckland as a harbour bridge – bit different from Sydney!

You can see where the tender is coming from to give an idea of walk from port into the city.

A pleasant relaxing day. The ship wasn’t scheduled to leave until 8pm, so there was no rush to get back to the ship.

Day 6 – Tauranga

I won’t go into my rant again about how poorly the port in Tauranga is setup. We were followed into the port area by a Holland America Line ship, but according to the port list, it was suppose to dock before us.

The heavens opened and the rain bucketed down. An hour was spent waiting for a taxi in the open area despite calling two different taxi companies trying to organise a taxi. In the end, my wife hijacked a taxi and we got to the rental car agency.

Rather than take an RCI sponsored tour, we organised to pick up a rental car and drive to Hobbiton for the day. About an hour away from the port. For the four of us, if we had gone on the ship excursion it would have cost the same as getting a rental car and taking a private tour. Just getting a normal tour would have made it far cheaper for the day than doing the excursion.

Once arriving at Hobbiton we checked in, met our guide and were whisked off to Festive Marquee for Lunch. The buffet has lots of Gluten Free options to choose from. With the delays in getting here, we were grateful that Lunch had been pre-arranged, as it would have been difficult with the troubles trying to feed everyone (okay the Ship Excursion would have made life easier in this regard, but we had a far better tour because we did our own thing).

After lunch, the five of us started our tour. Lots of things were pointed out about how it had changed between the LotRs movies and the Hobbit series. It was easy to hear him, because it was just the 4 of us and not 25 people. We went to places that the other tours didn’t go to and had lots of photo stops where there was no time pressure as we moved on when we were ready. Expensive, but if there are 6-10 people on a roll call, well worth organising the private tour.