Ovations of the Seas Alaska Summer 2019

[jg2256]

Going  back to the original question I would definitely recommend a balcony. My wife and I just got off the Ovation on the 21 Jan cruise from Sydney and we did a number of Sounds in southern New Zealand which had weather similar to my Alaska cruise. After spending time on the decks or the Solarium there is nothing like sitting on your own balcony with a drink and a blanket if necessary just enjoying the scenery. Yes it can be one-sided but you are not fighting everyone for that one place where the glass is lower on the decks to take pictures. Look up my post for my other impressions of the Ovation. Loved it!

[pdr997]

Opinion please.  We will be booking for Juneau a whale watching tour and Mendenhall glacier and want the best for whale watching experience of course.  Thoughts please on booking through the cruise lines available excursions or finding one on our own?  Cruise line makes it easy but I do want to make sure we get a good group to go out with.  

Thanks all!

Patty (& Darrell)

[Clarea]

44 minutes ago, pdr997 said:

Opinion please.  We will be booking for Juneau a whale watching tour and Mendenhall glacier and want the best for whale watching experience of course.  Thoughts please on booking through the cruise lines available excursions or finding one on our own?  Cruise line makes it easy but I do want to make sure we get a good group to go out with.  

Thanks all!

Patty (& Darrell)

 

You may also want to post this on the Alaska forum:  https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/33-alaska/

[TonRin]

We are booked on Ovation for the Sept 13th Alaska trip. We have previously done the Quantum out of Shanghai with 5000+ Chinese passengers so we know what expect . We come from a small tropical Island country in the South Pacific where its 35+deg Celcius nearly every day. We will be driving from New York to Chicago via Toronto first to get aclimatised. 

I hope its colder in Alaska!!!

 

Cheers

Tony

[SpeedNoodles]

On 7/1/2018 at 10:10 PM, Host Clarea said:

Very much different. Many fewer guests. Views to the outside from nearly every public venue. No Royal Promenade.

BONUS!  I find no value to the Royal Promenade.  The Radiance class ships are beautiful.  That being said, I'm booked on Ovation for June of this summer - it's a closed loop, which makes flights shorter and cheaper (shorter important because my husband is terrified of flying). But I'll definitely make it back onto a Radiance Class ship in Alaska again soon.

[Sunny AZ Girl]

On 5/19/2018 at 2:39 PM, LadyBeBop said:

We’re booked for the final cruise of the summer. Almost fall. We’re bucking the trend and booked an interior. We want to be able to afford it. And I’m sure there’s enough places to view the scenery. I can see ourselves soaking in the hot tub in the Solarium.

 

Anyone know how the hot chocolate is? Usually don’t order hot chocolate on a cruise. But we’ve always cruised the Caribbean, so...

We will be on the first cruise for Ovation - the 11 night in May. 

 

I have read that there are hot water pots(but no coffee) in the cabins?  Will this be true also in the US?  I have never seen that on any RCI ship, but this will be our first Quantum Class cruise.  I am thinking I will bring along some packets of sugar free hot chocolate.  Not willing to spend the calories on the full sugar stuff.  Also, some Starbucks  coffee packs.

[Emfagan]

16 hours ago, pdr997 said:

Opinion please.  We will be booking for Juneau a whale watching tour and Mendenhall glacier and want the best for whale watching experience of course.  Thoughts please on booking through the cruise lines available excursions or finding one on our own?  Cruise line makes it easy but I do want to make sure we get a good group to go out with.  

Thanks all!

Patty (& Darrell)

We have booked Harv & Marv's whale watching tour in Juneau based on high recommendations from friends.  They have smaller boats than the cruise line excursions.

Edited February 18, 2019 by Emfagan
wording

[pdr997]

12 minutes ago, Emfagan said:

We have booked Harv & Marv's whale watching tour in Juneau based on high recommendations from friends.  They have smaller boats than the cruise line excursions.

Thank you Emfagan. I did see this cruise line listed online.  

[katrina915]

For those going on the Ovation, please post your trip on the Alaska forum when you get back so the rest of us can experience it and get ideas.

 

To the OP, sometimes I get a balcony for Alaska and sometimes I spend the money on excursions.  If it's your first trip and it's in the budget, then I would get it after looking at cost of excursions that you want to do.  If I do get a balcony, I only get it if going to glacier bay (Royal doesn't go there) since that is a longer period of time watching the coast.  Best views of glaciers are out on the open decks on most ships (can't speak for Ovation), even if you have a balcony though.

[katrina915]

On 7/1/2018 at 11:03 PM, Host Clarea said:

The one-way itinerary gets farther north and you have the opportunity to add a land portion.

I will be on the Radiance in July and will be doing a DIY road trip to Denali, etc the week before.  

[voyager70]

17 hours ago, pdr997 said:

Opinion please.  We will be booking for Juneau a whale watching tour and Mendenhall glacier and want the best for whale watching experience of course.  Thoughts please on booking through the cruise lines available excursions or finding one on our own?  Cruise line makes it easy but I do want to make sure we get a good group to go out with.  

Thanks all!

Patty (& Darrell)

 

We did the whale watching tour with Mendenhall glacier visit through the cruise line and thought it was excellent.  Saw tons of whales and plenty of time to explore Mendenhall.  It was a crowded boat for the whale watching part of the tour but it didn't bother us.

 

[pdr997]

21 hours ago, voyager70 said:

 

We did the whale watching tour with Mendenhall glacier visit through the cruise line and thought it was excellent.  Saw tons of whales and plenty of time to explore Mendenhall.  It was a crowded boat for the whale watching part of the tour but it didn't bother us.

 

Decided on a smaller boat/less people and booking with Harv & Marv.  Wish us luck!

Thanks!

Patty (& Darrell)

[voyager70]

1 minute ago, pdr997 said:

Decided on a smaller boat/less people and booking with Harv & Marv.  Wish us luck!

Thanks!

Patty (& Darrell)

 

Excellent, have a great time & enjoy Alaska!

 

[Hoopster95]

On 2/18/2019 at 3:52 AM, SpeedNoodles said:

The Radiance class ships are beautiful.  That being said, I'm booked on Ovation for June of this summer

 

You'll be very happy that you'll be sailing on a larger morphed Radiance+Celebrity S Class ship, with as much or more outside views as Radiance. I don't know... Quantum Class changes the game in Alaska in my humble opinion once people figure it out.

 

 

On 2/18/2019 at 9:35 AM, katrina915 said:

For those going on the Ovation, please post your trip on the Alaska forum when you get back so the rest of us can experience it and get ideas.

 

I'm pretty sure I'll be doing the first LIVE thread on her first Alaskan sailing on May 13.

[LadyBeBop]

8 minutes ago, Hoopster95 said:

 

You'll be very happy that you'll be sailing on a larger morphed Radiance+Celebrity S Class ship, with as much or more outside views as Radiance. I don't know... Quantum Class changes the game in Alaska in my humble opinion once people figure it out.

 

 

 

I'm pretty sure I'll be doing the first LIVE thread on her first Alaskan sailing on May 13.

Can’t wait to read it. 🙂  I want to know what to expect. So many unknowns. 

[Sunny AZ Girl]

On 5/19/2018 at 2:39 PM, LadyBeBop said:

We’re booked for the final cruise of the summer. Almost fall. We’re bucking the trend and booked an interior. We want to be able to afford it. And I’m sure there’s enough places to view the scenery. I can see ourselves soaking in the hot tub in the Solarium.

 

Anyone know how the hot chocolate is? Usually don’t order hot chocolate on a cruise. But we’ve always cruised the Caribbean, so...

We will be on the first cruise for Ovation - the 11 night in May. 

 

I have read that there are hot water pots(but no coffee) in the cabins?  Will this be true also in the US?  I have never seen that on any RCI ship, but this will be our first Quantum Class cruise.  I am thinking I will bring along some packets of sugar free hot chocolate.  Not willing to spend the calories on the full sugar stuff.  Also, some Starbucks  coffee packs.

 

Sorry for the duplicate post here!  For some reason it was automatically posted when I tried to post another question.......

Edited February 20, 2019 by Sunny AZ Girl

[Sunny AZ Girl]

This will be our first time sailing on this class of ship.  Could someone recommend a good meeting place for groups going on private tours in a central location?  Thanks in advance.

[cft8]

On 2/18/2019 at 11:01 AM, voyager70 said:

 

We did the whale watching tour with Mendenhall glacier visit through the cruise line and thought it was excellent.  Saw tons of whales and plenty of time to explore Mendenhall.  It was a crowded boat for the whale watching part of the tour but it didn't bother us.

 

Do you remember about how much time you had at Mendenhall? We are doing this tour, and I would like to do the Nugget Falls trail, and the Mendenhall website says to allow an hour (although it's only 1 mile, which I can easily do in 30 minutes if it's not too steep). I don't want to have to rush, though, or worse yet hold up the excursion. 

[voyager70]

1 hour ago, cft8 said:

Do you remember about how much time you had at Mendenhall? We are doing this tour, and I would like to do the Nugget Falls trail, and the Mendenhall website says to allow an hour (although it's only 1 mile, which I can easily do in 30 minutes if it's not too steep). I don't want to have to rush, though, or worse yet hold up the excursion. 

 

I can't remember exactly how long but it was at least an hour.  You should have plenty of time.

 

[vistapat]

2 hours ago, Hoopster95 said:

 

I'm pretty sure I'll be doing the first LIVE thread on her first Alaskan sailing on May 13.

 

I'll look forward to following along with you.  We're on Ovation for the August 30 sailing.  This will be our sixth Alaskan cruise, but first on Quantum class, so give us lots of details, pretty please?

 

Pat

[vrock]

On 2/13/2019 at 10:49 AM, pdr997 said:

We booked also for August 2019.  Just hubby and I.  Sail on the 16th from Seattle.

We are on the August 16th sailing as well.   See you on board. 😀

[vrock]

On 2/18/2019 at 8:32 AM, pdr997 said:

Thank you Emfagan. I did see this cruise line listed online.  

We also booked harv and marv whale watching in Juneau.   We booked with them on our last alaska cruise and had a great time.  

[pdr997]

5 hours ago, vrock said:

We also booked harv and marv whale watching in Juneau.   We booked with them on our last alaska cruise and had a great time.  

We are really looking forward to this!  We booked the 6 person boat at 1:00.  How about you?  

[katrina915]

12 hours ago, cft8 said:

Do you remember about how much time you had at Mendenhall? We are doing this tour, and I would like to do the Nugget Falls trail, and the Mendenhall website says to allow an hour (although it's only 1 mile, which I can easily do in 30 minutes if it's not too steep). I don't want to have to rush, though, or worse yet hold up the excursion. 

I did the whale watch/Mendenhall ship excursion and walked to Nugget Falls.  You just have to watch the time and not dawdle too much.  I took pictures and was back in time.  Long line for woman's bathroom on way back so figure a little time for that.  I don't recall them doing a head count on the bus, so not sure if they would know if there were leaving someone behind or not.  I had enough time though and waited about 10 minutes for the bus and then for people to return.

[A&L_Ont]

On 5/19/2018 at 2:30 PM, El Abuelo said:

I get that and appreciate how variable the climate can be. I guess the safe thing to do is be prepared for cooler weather. One can always take off a fleece, but can't put on the one left at home.

 

We live in South Florida and our son-in-law is Canadian, and there's a pretty big (potentially irreconcilable) difference between how each of us defines "warm and cool". He wears shorts when I'm looking for my fleece.

 

Yes, there will be a big difference to your group. We were in Alaska this past summer and had 78F in Juneau and sunny weather everyday including our Alaska precruise tour. It was not the norm for Alaska, and we have been two other times.  

 

We kept an eye on long range weather forecasts and the day before we left we took some colder weather items out and added shorts and flip flops to our suitcases. When the ship was moving on the water it was cool, but while tied up in port it was hot. 

 

Being from Canada all I wore extra on the glacier was a sweater, but it was a warm day. We had a another guy in our tour who wore a winter jacket the entire time.