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

[briehon]

Going on this ship to Alaska in May 2019. Thanks for your review!!

 

 

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[cruiser123!]

Can you speak to your fellow cruisers? I see so many negative reviews about that, but it seems to be more...how do I put this...culture shock for Americans seeing that the whole world isn't like Americans.

[GottaRequalify]

The Room

 

We booked a Deck 8 Grand Loft Suite. This was the first time we had picked a room at the stern of the ship. Every other time, we had booked mid-ships, but our criteria were. Two bathrooms (either one room or two, but must have two bathrooms). Kids can’t sleep in the same fold out couch, so either two beds or room for a roll-a-way. Nothing lower than a junior suite for space purposes. And with the kids ages in mind, if two rooms, must be connection internally and not just on the balcony.

 

It was very hard to find connecting rooms, where both rooms were free. I am surprised RCI allow connecting rooms to book while other rooms are available. With the above criteria in mind, there wasn’t a lot to choose from.

 

We wanted a drinks package for the 4 of us, and by the time you add in all the other perks, unlimited speciality dining, gratuities, laundry, Internet Access etc. The room wasn’t that much more than two JS, so we went for the Grand Loft.

 

There are two types of Grand Loft – the 2 on Deck 8, 2 on Deck 10 that have large balconies, and 2 on Deck 10 that are on the side that have two smaller balconies and are slightly smaller in size. By the time we decided to book the Grand Loft Suite, the 2 large balcony ones on deck 10 had gone, and so had one of the ones on deck 8.

 

I was concerned about Deck 8, because it is just above 270. I was wondering how loud could it be, because the two larges suites on the ship (Owner’s Loft and Royal Loft) were also on Deck 8. Surely they wouldn’t put there two largest most expensive rooms in a location where it can get noisy? Well Shirley, they did.

 

So with the rooms filling up fast, and wanting the biggest balcony, we booked the last of the middle Grand Loft Suites.

 

Noise – boy was I wrong. Every time there was a party in 270, you hear it. The only good thing about this is that they shut the parties down just after mid-night. If you want to turn in early, these are not the rooms for you.

 

I am not sure if this is an advantage or not, but you always know when you are in the port. Whenever they turned the Azipods around (ie docking or stopping), the vibrations would come through the floor, and was enough to wake me up. We were in 270 watching Pixels when we left Auckland and felt and heard when he put the peddle to the metal and left.

 

Not sure if either of these problems would make it through to deck 10. But I would even pick the small balcony Grand Loft Suites on 10 rather than the middle ones on 8. I don’t know why the two most expensive rooms are on Deck 8, unless the noise and vibrations just go straight up and don’t radiate to the side.

 

In terms of roll and lateral movement. The Tasman Sea is a nasty piece of water. Expect it to be rough and if its not, then be surprised. Even in the good weather summer months, there are multiple meter swells. The ship handled it well, and we thought being lower on Deck 8 would stop too much movement. In this regard, it was good. We noticed the motion of the ocean more in other parts of the ship than we did in our Room. If anything we felt more side to side roll, than up and down.

[GottaRequalify]

To get access to the rear of the ship there is a push open swing door. It isn’t key card access, so anyone can go back there. A fire door stops people from crossing from one side of the ship to the other, but there is nothing to stop anyone from opening it. Often the cabin attendants have it propped open while they are cleaning the rooms.

 

 

The Suite cabin attendants wear a different coloured uniform than the rest of the cabin attendants. In the evening (and a lot of the times in the morning), they were often waiting outside our door to leave, so they turn down / clean our rooms.

 

The room itself is everything you would expect from a two level room at sea. It was spacious, well appointed and really had that welcoming WOW factor.

 

There were two bathrooms (no baths, but two shows) – Upstairs, had large bottles of L’Occitane products in the large shower, plus a toilet and a single basin.

 

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The downstairs shower just had small bottles of products.

 

 

On the Deck outside were two Sun Loungers , and a small table.

 

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The large windows were good to look out, but from upstairs you couldn’t easily do it until everyone was up. You also couldn’t leave the door to the balcony open to hear the ocean. The Air Con would turn off, plus the doors were very heavy and springed to self close.

 

The room had a 4 person dining table, a fold out couch, that my daughter said was very comfortable, and a coffee table.

 

 

Upstairs view of master Bed head

 

From the bed, you could see the outside with both sets of curtains open.

 

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Looking down, you can see where the mini bar is, jug, coffee maker, and some cans of drink. They replenished the shelf every day and we moved it from there to the fridge as we took cans out. There were also small and large bottles of Evian water.

 

 

Obviously the star attraction was the uninterrupted view from the back.

 

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View in Sydney

View of the Southern Ocean

View following the coast line

View going into Tauranga, being followed.

General View

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I had been hoping to sit outside, listen to the ocean and ready my book. But alas, it was too cold and wet to do that.

 

 

We put down that there were a couple of celebrations on this trip. It was our wedding anniversary so one day we came back to the room with our bed looking like this.

 

 

 

The book and Gift were from our Genie.

 

After dinner, we came back to this, from our cabin attendants.

 

 

I included these pictures as they show the master bed upstairs.

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We also had a birthday on board, and this photo shows the curtain closed. For anyone that asks, this is the only noise barrier between upstairs and down. They are very good light blocking curtains. Manually pulled across (the main curtains down stairs are electric.

 

 

There was soot at times on the balcony. The cabin attendants washed the balcony every day.

 

Overall – Great room. Decent sized and wasn’t crowded with 4 people. The fold out bed was put into couch during the day and made up while we were at dinner. I would never say no to this room – but would have a preference for one on level 10 versus 8, just because of the noise from 270. However, it never went much past mid-night, even on New Years Eve.

[GottaRequalify]

My research has shown there is a train that hooks to the airport. Is there any reason you didnt use it? It looks like it would be quicker and easier just to use the train. Our flight back to the US is at 11:50 am so I had planned on taking our own luggage off first thing and hopping on the train.

PS Thanks very much, this review is exactly what I was hoping for!

 

The train ticket per person is A$18.50 for 4 of us that would have been A$74.

 

Looking at my credit card statement, it cost $63.00 for the taxi from the airport (Rush hour and airport fees) and $46.83 to the airport (non-rush hour).

 

For 4 people the taxi is cheaper and faster as you go straight up stairs and there is a taxi rank there. You don't have to drag bags anywhere. If there is only two people there would have been zero wait, they were going down the line calling for 1-2 people to come forward. Also, the train is the normal city commuter train, during rush hour if you have a little bit of luggage, you could find it difficult to get onto the train fighting the commuters.

 

I have used this company before - but not for cruise pickup. So the one time I used them in Sydney they were very good.

 

www.redy2go.com.au

 

They are quoting (on their web site) shared ride from the Overseas Passenger Terminal to the International Airport for 2 passengers as A$44 for a shared ride, A$67.10 for a private car vs A$37 for the train for 2 people, and you have to walk to the station and fight the rush hour crowds ...

 

 

The second point to your question - quicker? You are going against rush hour traffic. You are only looking at 20-30 minutes in a car vs 17+ waiting time for the train, its pretty much a wash. For an 11:50 flight, you need to be at the airport by 9:50. A 9am taxi will get you there no later than 9:30, so if you leave the ship at 8am or earlier, you will get there in plenty of time no matter which way you choose, but a car from the passenger terminal would be faster than walking + buying train ticket + waiting + train ride.

 

If you want to know why the train is so expensive and uncompetitive I can explain further if you want - just ask.

 

Oops - forgot to add, thanks for reading and thank you for the comment.

[GottaRequalify]

Very entertaining and informative. Thanks for a fun review. I’m definitely with you on lack of stops. Can’t believe they don’t stop in Queenstown!! And as OP said Wellington would be a great stop, and Picton has so many fun options - wine tours, hiking, etc.

 

Sorry you had bad weather. Not much to do about that but make a quick trip to town to check that box, buying blankets at the gift shops in the way out, get soaked, eat a quick meal, and go back to ship to strip off wet clothes and get warmed up, reminiscent of playing in the snow in our younger years.

 

 

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Yeah I know - maybe I have gone a bit overboard complaining about the weather. Anyone would think I was English! It is what it is, and you have to live with it. My point was, and I maybe wasn't clear enough, if you cruise in NZ you have to pack for all types of weather, just because it is summer, don't think it is a Caribbean cruise and you will be swimming every day. If you are coming from the US or other countries, this could add a lot to you luggage allowance and not leave much room for other stuff.

 

Um - not sure about the Queenstown comment. You know that it is completely in the middle of the island and not on the coast, so the ship can't actually dock there - EVER! There is an excursion where you can leave the ship in Dunedin, go to Queenstown, stay overnight and then re-join the ship at Milford Sound. But if Ovation ever makes it to Queenstown itself - there are other problems.

 

 

Thanks for reading and commenting.

[GottaRequalify]

Thanks

GottaRequalify! The info is secret with me :) If anything appears on a higher deck in our category of balcony cabin, might see if we can move - otherwise, we could get glimpses of how the "good life" is ;)

 

 

I have posted the room details now and maybe it might be a bit clearer. The standard balcony rooms at the side, don't have 270 straight below them like the suites do. The dance floor / open area doesn't go side to side, there are crew areas on the side that might insulate them a little from the noise.

 

 

Also the two most expensive rooms on the ship are at the side on deck 8. I can't believe that they would continue to be on deck 8 on future builds (Ovation is the 3rd Quantum class) if the vibration and noise issue were as pronounced as they were for us.

 

 

The vibration is for maybe 10 minutes on port days at 6am. The party noise is from 10pm to midnight. Not call the cops loud - but you are aware of it and it would affect you if you are a light sleeper.

 

 

I didn't say this, but you will NEVER, and I mean NEVER hear someone (kids?) running past your door like you do in the standard balcony cabin further along the corridor with the suites door and the fire door, so that is a great advantage.

 

 

I wouldn't worry about it as I have never seen it referenced in any other review.

[GottaRequalify]

Going on this ship to Alaska in May 2019. Thanks for your review!!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

It is going to be great there. Try and book North Star when you are going through the Fjords or near the Glaciers.

 

Thanks for reading and your comment.

[GottaRequalify]

Can you speak to your fellow cruisers? I see so many negative reviews about that, but it seems to be more...how do I put this...culture shock for Americans seeing that the whole world isn't like Americans.

 

 

Not sure what you mean. Should I speak to Australians because of US Culture shock?

 

As a New Zealander that now lives in Australia, I am not sure what nerve I have touched?

 

[cruiser123!]

 

Not sure what you mean. Should I speak to Australians because of US Culture shock?

 

As a New Zealander that now lives in Australia, I am not sure what nerve I have touched?

 

 

Sorry for the confusion. When I was reading other reviews, I saw a lot of negativity because of differences in etiquette. If many of the itineraries are Asian, there would be more Asian people. From my experience, the norm there tends to go more toward moving together as a group "bumping" into people, go directly to the food or elevator spot they want vs waiting in a line. Some Americans tend to find that rude because they don't understand the culture. Or in a similar vein, tipping is considered almost mandatory is the US while other countries don't do it, or could even be offended. Does that make sense?

[paradise4me]

The train ticket per person is A$18.50 for 4 of us that would have been A$74.

 

Looking at my credit card statement, it cost $63.00 for the taxi from the airport (Rush hour and airport fees) and $46.83 to the airport (non-rush hour).

 

For 4 people the taxi is cheaper and faster as you go straight up stairs and there is a taxi rank there. You don't have to drag bags anywhere. If there is only two people there would have been zero wait, they were going down the line calling for 1-2 people to come forward. Also, the train is the normal city commuter train, during rush hour if you have a little bit of luggage, you could find it difficult to get onto the train fighting the commuters.

 

I have used this company before - but not for cruise pickup. So the one time I used them in Sydney they were very good.

 

www.redy2go.com.au

 

They are quoting (on their web site) shared ride from the Overseas Passenger Terminal to the International Airport for 2 passengers as A$44 for a shared ride, A$67.10 for a private car vs A$37 for the train for 2 people, and you have to walk to the station and fight the rush hour crowds ...

 

 

The second point to your question - quicker? You are going against rush hour traffic. You are only looking at 20-30 minutes in a car vs 17+ waiting time for the train, its pretty much a wash. For an 11:50 flight, you need to be at the airport by 9:50. A 9am taxi will get you there no later than 9:30, so if you leave the ship at 8am or earlier, you will get there in plenty of time no matter which way you choose, but a car from the passenger terminal would be faster than walking + buying train ticket + waiting + train ride.

 

If you want to know why the train is so expensive and uncompetitive I can explain further if you want - just ask.

 

Oops - forgot to add, thanks for reading and thank you for the comment.

 

Thats awesome information and exactly what I was looking for! Thank you and following your awesome review closely:)

[GottaRequalify]

Star Class

After the Room, I assume most people would want to know what being a Star Class Guest is like.

 

All I can say is if you can get into a Star Room, do it. It wasn’t that much more than two Junior Suites, + Internet + Drinks Package + Laundry +++ for 4 people. It adds an incredible amount of smoothness to the cruise. I have already talked about the lack of planning you need to do. Two weeks before sailing you email your Genie the list of restaurants you want to attend and this is reserved on your behalf at mostly no additional cost. Don’t worry about it being sold out on cruise planner, they will get you in. You don’t need to worry about Show Times being changed or wanting to see a show at the last minute. When you see your Genie, let them know what you want to do and they will reserve seats for you. Or if it is a last minute thing, then just like most other RCI ships, there is the Gold Card Reserved Seating area you can get into.

 

Our Genie Josh, told us that there were 3 Genie’s on board, two of them looked after 4 cabins each and the 3rd looked after only 3, but that included the Royal Loft Suite which was full and the largest room. There was a 4th Genie, but he shadowed the 3 room Genie as Josh was leaving the ship after the next cruise. He told us that his background was a Butler in a 5 star hotel in Singapore, and Genie was his first job at sea. He told us that he would be coming back for another contract after his break, and would be moving to Harmony as a Genie from there was moving to Symphony. We found Josh to do everything that the Genie program promised.

 

This person was on the cruise straight after us, (maybe even in the same room) and found that Josh wasn’t as proactive. Including this as a counter, but if we were going onto Harmony I would be happy to have Josh as our Genie.

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com.au/showthread.php?t=2590814

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Some examples of how the Genie gave us great service.

 

On the first day, we saw on the La Patisserie menu that they had Macarons at US$1.75 each. Macarons are Gluten Free so we asked if they had any. They told us they had run out of the mix and wouldn’t know until tomorrow or the next day if they had any reprovisioned during the Sydney turn around. We asked Josh later to find out and the next day we saw they did have some in stock. We grabbed a few and later that night and every night after that, Josh stocked our cabin with a dozen Macarons.

 

Josh also found out that we like a cheese plate, so make sure that every afternoon, a cheese plate was put into our room. They didn’t have any Gluten Free crackers, but they did make sure the crackers were on a different plate and covered in plastic film to make sure there wasn’t any cross contamination issues. We always travel with our own GF rice crackers and restocked in the Bay of Islands. One afternoon, we got back to our cabin and the cheese plate wasn’t there – Shocked, we were absolutely shocked! At 5pm the door bell rang and everyone started yelling in their best Wallace and Grommet accents – Cheese, the Cheese is here.

 

 

 

We opened the door to find a startled cabin attendant delivering our Laundry. The cheese plate turned up slightly later.

 

The kids had daily (or 2-3 times a day) hot Chocolate from La Patisserie. We also had some of the candy there as well. My wife and I had the Ice Cream in Wind Jammers. Whenever there was an item that cost, they just grabbed a clip board and wrote down our room number and the item. None of it needed to be paid for. This was all included in Star Class.

 

For New Years Eve, Chops was running a special menu. On the Cruise planner it was going for $105 a head (from memory). We didn’t ask for it, we just said that we wanted to eat in Chops at some stage during the cruise, and this was where we were placed for New Years Eve. The Genie could have put us anywhere, but we got a special place for NYE.

 

Josh booked us in iFly as well as Northstar. They were in Josh’s calendar for us, but didn’t appear on the calendar view on the TV. When we turned up to those locations, they said they had no record of our booking, I said our Genie made the booking to which they responded, that is in a different system, hold on. There you are.

 

Josh made two bookings for us on North Star, once in the morning (very first booking) and once in the afternoon on the day we went through the sounds, just in case the weather wasn’t great in the morning or we were delayed going through the sounds.

 

For the headliner shows, Josh told us he would automatically save seats for us. For the other shows, once he found out we were going he said he would save seats for us, and to meet him outside the theatre 15 minutes before show time. He then took us to our seats and organised a roving bar waiter to come and take our order. In the main theatre, they were about 4-5 rows back on deck 4 in the centre section. In 270, they were on deck 5, in the middle with no one in front of you. Good seats.

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Some photos from the bridge and Dining Rooms.

 

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Tid bits learned from the tour will be listed at the end under The Ship section.

[GottaRequalify]

Josh met with us every day, sometimes in our room, sometimes at lunch or dinner. There was no set schedule. He went over the evening activities and we told him what we wanted changed or if we were likely to go to the evening show or not. He always tracked us down (somehow). The Bridge tour was organised for one sea day, but he let us know in the morning that it might be cancelled due to the sea fog. He left us a voice mail message saying tour cancelled, so we went to Trivia instead. Somehow, he found us, saying he just wanted to confirm that we got the message.

 

Other benefits we got from Star Class,

• Unlimited Laundry – great for a 12 day cruise.
  
• Room Service with No Charge – including a full bar menu (cocktails and other drinks)
  
• There is a separate queue for the bumper cars. At the head of the queue. The first time we went there, a sign was up saying Star Class queue here. The second time, the sign wasn’t up, but we asked staff, and we got onto the cars at the next turn. Both times the line was long which meant a big time saver.
  
• We all got gifts. My son had is birthday on the boat and was given a Billabong Backpack, my wife and I got a figurine and book and my daughter got some ear rings. All on different days.
  
• Never having to go to guest services – eg. Gratuities showed up on the on-board account for my son and daughter. As they are included in a Star Class room (and are included in Australian cruise fares), I queried this with Josh and he took care of it.
  
• There was a special event for star class guests to meet the captain and have your photo taken. This was just after breakfast at Vintages on the first or second sea day, and they had food (canapes) from all the speciality restaurants to try. Wonderland, Jamies etc. There was a LOT of food that went to waste as not many people turned up. But I got a photo with the captain, on my phone, as they didn’t supply a photographer!
  
• Internet for everyone. It worked well out of Sydney and the response and speed were fine. In the middle of the Tasman Sea, on speedtest we had download 3.77Mbps, Upload 1.94Mbps, ping was 203ms. The further south we went the response got worse and dropped out a few times.
  

 

So what didn’t work. Generally not that much. What was annoying was the group with the other Genie who oversaw the Royal Loft Suite. That was a family / friends of about 20+ people. Not all of them were staying in a Star or Sky suite (you could tell from their sea pass) but they all got the Star Treatment. Seats were reserved for them in the first couple of rows – so there was a LOT of seats reserved. This caused problems as they always turned up late. Right at show time. So they were coming in as the show was starting and walking in front of everyone, ordering drinks and getting them delivered, before finally settling down after the show started. Not once, but numerous times. They also turned up late for the behind the scenes tour. The tour guide had started and then had to repeat himself when they turned up. We asked our Genie about it and he said the family head was staying in the Royal Loft Suite so what could the Genie do.

 

We are not talking about 1 or 2 extra that’s maybe a bit understandable if they were Sky Class guests but 15+ people that most were not even staying in suites. Every piece of documentation given out states the benefits were for the people staying in the room, so how about applying the rules. In the end we asked to make sure we were not on the same tours or same show, not because of the number, but because they were always late.

 

One evening, my wife and I had dinner at Chef’s table, so sent my son and daughter to Coastal Kitchen. This is about a week after the start of the cruise, so we knew the waiters and had said at lunch, that we wouldn’t be there that night. We also passed comment to the Restaurant manager. It was disappointing to hear that the kids had a terrible time at Coastal Kitchen that night. There were left alone for over 20 minutes before someone came and got their drinks and dinner order. Another long wait before anyone turned up to give them bread, and they knew they had to give Gluten Free bread, so knew who we were. It wasn’t a case of waiters waiting for us to turn up, as they were given a table for 2. I complained the next day to Josh about the poor service and he said he would speak to the Restaurant Manager about this, but at no stage, during the rest of the cruise when we went back to Coastal Kitchen did anyone apologise to the children about the poor service.

 

Maybe someone that has travelled in Star Class before can explain this. On our sea pass card, was a room and time in the main dining room. We never ate there. Josh told us at lunch on the first day that Coastal Kitchen was our main dining room. We asked about why then was it on our sea pass card, as we didn’t want a table held for us that we were never going to eat at and were told to ignore it. About a week into the cruise, we got a call from the Head Waiter, left as a voice mail, asking us if everything was okay as we hadn’t been there for a meal yet and if there were any problems. We again asked Josh about this and he said he would take care of it, but to continue to go to Coastal Kitchen. A few days later, we got another call from the Head Waiter.

 

Anyone have any idea why a table is held, but we are told not to go to it? Why put it on the sea pass card? And why would the Head Waiter call a suite saying why haven’t we been to the MDR? For our next cruise, I am going to try and get it changed to My Time Dining, so a table isn’t reserved / wasted.

 

Wish list – reserved seats at Bingo – not sure about cruises in other locations, but Australian’s love their Bingo. On the last sea day, the two deck music hall was packed. People were on floors, there was almost a fight between a woman for had been saving space for 10 people (for an hour before Bingo Started) and a man who walked up and said you can’t save. The only reason why he lost was he had to stand up to go and buy his tickets, so he had no where to return to. The prize for the final Bingo draw was US$9,500. So not having to sit there for 90 minutes before bingo started would have been nice. But it was a pleasant family afternoon.

[Sanbel]

I am loving your review. I am sailing Star Class on Ovation in January and was wondering of there is a separate que for Flowrider and other activities or just bumper cars.

[GottaRequalify]

I am loving your review. I am sailing Star Class on Ovation in January and was wondering of there is a separate que for Flowrider and other activities or just bumper cars.

 

The genie booked the North Star for us. While there is a stand by line, if you wanted to go up during a different day, or port, I am sure they could arrange it. Their bookings are done in a different system, so it doesn't matter if the "normal" queue is full at that time. For iFly, North Star and one restaurant we were told there was no booking, but when I said the Genie had made the booking, they commented that it was in a different system, so they had to change to a different app to find us.

 

As stated, for iFly the booking was made for us, if you wanted to do it multiple times, I am sure something could be done. The system was so booked, that there were no standbys.

 

Didn't go near the Flowrider much and didn't use it myself, not sure if I mentioned this or not, but the weather wasn't conductive to getting wet and standing in the wind. At least not for my old bones now living in Queensland. But A&L_Ont has talked about in the past that there was a separate Star Queue.

 

From what I saw on TV (views from around the ship) and the few times we walked near that area. The lines were so short that it was almost walk on for everyone as it was. I am sure A&L_Ont would have loved almost 12 days of continuous Flow riding.

 

Thanks for you comment and I am glad that you are enjoying my review. It is a great ship and we had a good time.

[GottaRequalify]

Sorry for the confusion. When I was reading other reviews, I saw a lot of negativity because of differences in etiquette. If many of the itineraries are Asian, there would be more Asian people. From my experience, the norm there tends to go more toward moving together as a group "bumping" into people, go directly to the food or elevator spot they want vs waiting in a line. Some Americans tend to find that rude because they don't understand the culture. Or in a similar vein, tipping is considered almost mandatory is the US while other countries don't do it, or could even be offended. Does that make sense?

 

If you don't like negative reviews, you aren't going to like the next couple of sections. Sorry if this next bit goes a bit over the top.

 

I won't comment much on tipping as that is best discussed on a thread dedicated to that. That is one thing I really don't understand.