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

[GottaRequalify]

The Ship

 

What can you say about Ovation but Wow! Standing beside her she is long and looks really nice. Apart from the problem after muster where half the ship tried to leave 270 through a very narrow walkway, which caused people to faint. The ship never felt crowded. I am sure being Star Class helped with that, as we never faced the boarding day lunch crowds (going to Coastal Kitchen), never worried about getting to the theatre early to get a good seat. Decided where we wanted to eat and got reservations there. Never had to queue up for the bumper cars. So we got the big boat benefits without the queues.

 

The facilities were amazing, 270 with the views out of the window during the day and shows at night is a great spot, with the café serving the great roast beef rolls and the bar doing cocktails. This is a comfortable place to spend the cruise. On the second levels, is the reserved spot for suites during shows (the old gold card area).

 

 

 

 

I just noticed the Bar is in all three shots - hmm - I wonder why that is!

[GottaRequalify]

North Star is also another nice feature of this ship.

 

Rather than just a gimmick, if you can get onto it in the right spot, like we did when going into the sounds, then it adds a lot to the cruise.

 

 

 

 

 

[GottaRequalify]

 

 

 

[GottaRequalify]

 

 

 

 

No problems getting chairs next to the pool. No Towels reserving seats. Good to see the life guards on alert.

[GottaRequalify]

Finally, some pictures of the ship itself. As the ports in Tauranga and Dunedin are container ports, there is no fancy terminal to walk through, and it allows you to get up close and personal with Ovation.

 

 

The door open “wings” are where sets for the main theatre get loaded when they change shows. All sets have to be packed so they can fit through here, then twist and turn to go down to the main theatre. One reason why they only changes sets / shows during dry docks.

 

 

 

One thing I didn’t know until seeing it up close. All the windows on the back always looked dark. I couldn’t figure out why. There is a film on the all the windows at the back to stop too much reflection getting into the room. It created a sort of one-way mirror effect. Even standing on the balcony close to the window, didn’t allow you to see into the room.

 

Photos of Our Room

[GottaRequalify]

General Photos of the ship

 

Freestyle Machine getting loaded.

 

 

Seaplex with Bumper cars.

 

Christmas tree ‘O Christmas Tree – they had this still setup for our NY cruise.

 

Who said the cruise is crowded?

 

You can see the Christmas tree in the background. It stayed there for most of the cruise, but we were given warning when they were going to take it down, if you wanted family photos next to it. This is where we rang in the New Year. The roof was covered in balloons which they dropped. The Captain was above the Michaels Pub sign, which is where seats for Izumi normally are.

[GottaRequalify]

There were some interesting facts from the different tours.

• The Galleys for the 4 main dining rooms are very separate. They are really setup for dynamic dining. They don’t have 1 for deck 4 and one for 5, they have 4 separate, independent galleys.
  
• All left over bread for the day is dried out overnight and then smashed to make the bread crumbs for whatever the chefs want.
  
• After the Galley tour they had drinks and nibbles laid out for us.
  
• Ovation is in the Guinness book of world records as the tallest observation deck at sea. The official certificate is on the bridge (photo shown previously)
  
• We had a dancer as well as the theatre manager with us in the Royal Theatre.
  
• There are three dance Troops on Ovation. One for the Royal Theatre, one for 270 and one doing the Dreamwork characters
  
• The dance troops come on the ship together and leave together. They start their contract in Miami where they rehearse in the theatre they have made there to the same dimensions as the ship.
  
• The cast member helping with the tour had been on the ship while it was based in China. They told us they can tell exactly where the ship is, as soon as the curtain opens. In China they face a sea of screens. Everyone is up early in China and the first show is packed, while the second show has no one there, and they often don’t schedule anything past 10pm. In Australia, there is more clapping.
  
• Every couple of weeks the dancers are weighed and have photos taken of them in their smallest clothes, which are sent back to Miami, to make sure the image is maintained.
  
• The Bridge tour was cancelled the first day as the ship was in thick fog, and they didn’t want the distraction on the bridge.
  
• We did the bridge tour after the captains talk, it helped as the captain had explained the screens below.
  

 

The screen on the left shows our course and the allowed deviation. The black line and dark grey. If there is an obstruction or some other reason why it needs to move outside the grey area, they may be able to do that, but can’t until they get captains permission. So anywhere within the grey area, is the allowed course the officers on the bridge may sail in. These are all part of the electronic maps that they have now.

 

 

 

 

• In 270, the cost of the room, including robots and the screens, computers etc. is the same cost as RCI first ship (not allowing for inflation). $2-3 Million.
  
• They have pressure pads next to the windows, so if the screens are being dropped and someone is standing there it won’t hurt them.
  
• 270 is open all the time (unlike the main theatre) and they do rehersals that anyone can watch
  
• Ovation doesn’t have broadway shows like Anthem as the ship moves between Australia and China, so must cater for the non-English speaking clients.
  
• The sets are built in a location in the middle of the US, boxed to fit strict dimensions and then sent out to be assembled on board. There is a very narrow space to load new sets (the wings that open when the ship is in port) and it takes longer than a single turn around day to get new sets loaded, which is why they generally only change shows during a dry dock, as they can’t store the old and new sets on board, while they are assembling them. Even if they could get the new sets on board on turn around day, they would have to take the Royal Theatre off-line for a number of days to get it setup.
  
• They use air brakes for the sets to stop them moving once in place.
  

Well I hope that you have enjoyed this (long) review. It has taken me six months to write. If anyone still has any questions, I would be happy to try and answer them.

 

Thank you if you managed to read all the way to the end. I have appreciated the feed back and comments as I have been posting.

 

 

Next up is the Aqua Theatre A1 Suite on Symphony in December - I wonder if this is the same December sailing as CruiseLifeRick? We are in the US for a month, including Christmas in New York + a week at Disney and Universal, if you are going to fly all the way. Make it worth while.

 

 

Then early 2020 - 2 weeks in Asia on the Celebrity Millennium

[3monkeys4me]

Thanks for the detailed review! We are doing 10 nights to NZ from Sydney late March/early April so this review just adds to the excitement.

[JBC11]

There were some interesting facts from the different tours.

• The Galleys for the 4 main dining rooms are very separate. They are really setup for dynamic dining. They don’t have 1 for deck 4 and one for 5, they have 4 separate, independent galleys.
  
• All left over bread for the day is dried out overnight and then smashed to make the bread crumbs for whatever the chefs want.
  
• After the Galley tour they had drinks and nibbles laid out for us.
  
• Ovation is in the Guinness book of world records as the tallest observation deck at sea. The official certificate is on the bridge (photo shown previously)
  
• We had a dancer as well as the theatre manager with us in the Royal Theatre.
  
• There are three dance Troops on Ovation. One for the Royal Theatre, one for 270 and one doing the Dreamwork characters
  
• The dance troops come on the ship together and leave together. They start their contract in Miami where they rehearse in the theatre they have made there to the same dimensions as the ship.
  
• The cast member helping with the tour had been on the ship while it was based in China. They told us they can tell exactly where the ship is, as soon as the curtain opens. In China they face a sea of screens. Everyone is up early in China and the first show is packed, while the second show has no one there, and they often don’t schedule anything past 10pm. In Australia, there is more clapping.
  
• Every couple of weeks the dancers are weighed and have photos taken of them in their smallest clothes, which are sent back to Miami, to make sure the image is maintained.
  
• The Bridge tour was cancelled the first day as the ship was in thick fog, and they didn’t want the distraction on the bridge.
  
• We did the bridge tour after the captains talk, it helped as the captain had explained the screens below.
  

 

The screen on the left shows our course and the allowed deviation. The black line and dark grey. If there is an obstruction or some other reason why it needs to move outside the grey area, they may be able to do that, but can’t until they get captains permission. So anywhere within the grey area, is the allowed course the officers on the bridge may sail in. These are all part of the electronic maps that they have now.

 

 

 

• In 270, the cost of the room, including robots and the screens, computers etc. is the same cost as RCI first ship (not allowing for inflation). $2-3 Million.
  
• They have pressure pads next to the windows, so if the screens are being dropped and someone is standing there it won’t hurt them.
  
• 270 is open all the time (unlike the main theatre) and they do rehersals that anyone can watch
  
• Ovation doesn’t have broadway shows like Anthem as the ship moves between Australia and China, so must cater for the non-English speaking clients.
  
• The sets are built in a location in the middle of the US, boxed to fit strict dimensions and then sent out to be assembled on board. There is a very narrow space to load new sets (the wings that open when the ship is in port) and it takes longer than a single turn around day to get new sets loaded, which is why they generally only change shows during a dry dock, as they can’t store the old and new sets on board, while they are assembling them. Even if they could get the new sets on board on turn around day, they would have to take the Royal Theatre off-line for a number of days to get it setup.
  
• They use air brakes for the sets to stop them moving once in place.
  

Well I hope that you have enjoyed this (long) review. It has taken me six months to write. If anyone still has any questions, I would be happy to try and answer them.

 

Thank you if you managed to read all the way to the end. I have appreciated the feed back and comments as I have been posting.

 

 

Next up is the Aqua Theatre A1 Suite on Symphony in December - I wonder if this is the same December sailing as CruiseLifeRick? We are in the US for a month, including Christmas in New York + a week at Disney and Universal, if you are going to fly all the way. Make it worth while.

 

 

Then early 2020 - 2 weeks in Asia on the Celebrity Millennium

 

Fantic reviews thank you

John:):p

[accio_7]

This was amazing, thank you so much for the in-depth review of Ovation and your cruise! I am so happy that you and your family had a blast and am looking forward to reading about your adventures on Symphony later this year :)

[cft8]

Thank you for the review. We are going on Ovation when she moves to Alaska next year, so I have been trying to read up a bit on it since it I am not familiar with that class of ship. You briefly mentioned the trapeze - so there is a trapeze activity on Ovation? I had seen it is Anthem, but something I read made me think that Ovation doesn't have it.

[V40Man]

Thanks for such a detailed review of Ovation! It has helped to confirm our decision to finally take the plunge & give her a try after completing 5 cruises on RC's other Aussie ships which we enjoyed immensely. It appears our main concerns around overcrowding are largely unfounded. Our only regret may well prove to be not continuing our trend of choosing a suite as 4 of the 5 cruises were as suite guests & avoiding queues is always a nice perk. We found on our last cruise Hawaii to Sydney via Tahiti aboard Radiance as non suite but diamond members that we still had a really great time without the magic gold card so decided the money was better spent on more cruises! I hope we don't regret that decision on Ovation! Thanks again!

[GottaRequalify]

Thank you for the review. We are going on Ovation when she moves to Alaska next year, so I have been trying to read up a bit on it since it I am not familiar with that class of ship. You briefly mentioned the trapeze - so there is a trapeze activity on Ovation? I had seen it is Anthem, but something I read made me think that Ovation doesn't have it.

 

I remember reading it in the Daily Planner that it was listed. Not often, and generally only in the evening.

 

If you look at day 11, between 6-9pm, you can see it being offered.

 

 

Doing a quick scan of all the daily planners, I could only see it being listed on day 4 and 11. But you could check yourself. All the documentation from the cruise is stored in this thread.

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com.au/showthread.php?t=2605120

 

Apart from the Johnny Rocket / Kung Fu Panda swap, and the Broadway Show being more visual due to the audience languages, with Ovation being the third Quantum class, anything on Anthem, should be on Ovation.

 

Thanks for taking the time to read and comment. Feedback is appreciated.

[GottaRequalify]

Fantic reviews thank you

John:):p

 

This was amazing, thank you so much for the in-depth review of Ovation and your cruise! I am so happy that you and your family had a blast and am looking forward to reading about your adventures on Symphony later this year :)

 

Thanks for the detailed review! We are doing 10 nights to NZ from Sydney late March/early April so this review just adds to the excitement.

 

 

Thank you for reading. Anyone sailing on her will have a great time. I was very surprised how well the ship handled the Tasman Sea, so this is a great way to travel to NZ.

 

We are all looking forward to cruising on Symphony as well. Roughly this time next year the report should be finalised and ready for posting, even though the cruise is in December - it does take me awhile :confused:

[GottaRequalify]

Thanks for such a detailed review of Ovation! It has helped to confirm our decision to finally take the plunge & give her a try after completing 5 cruises on RC's other Aussie ships which we enjoyed immensely. It appears our main concerns around overcrowding are largely unfounded. Our only regret may well prove to be not continuing our trend of choosing a suite as 4 of the 5 cruises were as suite guests & avoiding queues is always a nice perk. We found on our last cruise Hawaii to Sydney via Tahiti aboard Radiance as non suite but diamond members that we still had a really great time without the magic gold card so decided the money was better spent on more cruises! I hope we don't regret that decision on Ovation! Thanks again!

 

 

The biggest crowd was after muster. And being in a suite didn't help. Everyone was trying to leave 270, Muster finished just as the first seating for dinner started, so people were queueing up to enter the dining rooms. Long queue for Guest Services and the lifts all merged into a single point.

 

When we left the ship on the last day it wasn't early, so there was no queue to be escorted past, while the escort was nice it wasn't really needed. On one of the two tender ports we did an RCI excursion, so no suite escort.

 

The biggest benefit for Star Class over the rest of the ship was not having to get to the main theatre early to get a seat and not having to plan anything before hand.

 

We really didn't find the ship crowded except for after muster and Bingo - if you want to go - go early or sit on the floor :D

 

I have reposted this photo of Bumper Cars as it was the other benefit of Star Class that we used.

 

 

 

The people you see standing at the rail is the end of the line for the bumper cars. Everyone got a go, as they had a crew member stand at the end of the line when they were closing down for the night to not let anyone else join, but there would have been a good 20-30 minute wait to get onto the cars.

 

Being in a suite was great, the food, the drinks etc. - but in terms of bypassing lines because of crowds, there was only a few times where it really helped, and a few times if was nice - you just need to plan accordingly.

 

Even though the ship was over 100% capacity - they didn't even run a ticket system for the tender.

 

Thanks for reading, and I don't think you will regret your decision.

[Diane Rose]

Thank you for the great review and all the pictures. We will be doing this cruise November 2nd with the additional port of Wellington. You have really got me excited to see the ship as well as the ports. Great job!

 

Diane

[Lloyd555]

Great review and photos.

 

My aunt wants to know - Is there a swing onboard like her sister ships? If so, where is it?

[GottaRequalify]

Great review and photos.

 

My aunt wants to know - Is there a swing onboard like her sister ships? If so, where is it?

 

Lloyd555, thank you very much for reading my review and commenting. We always love the pictures you have posted of the new ships being built and it helps get the kids interested in the future cruises - especially our Symphony cruise coming up.

 

By Swing, are you talking about the trapeze they do or something else? Whenever they did the trapeze, it was done in the Sea Plex and they divided the Sea Plex into two, having two different activities going at the same time. It went from side to side.

 

If it is something else - with Ovation being the 3rd one built, anything (apart from Johnny Rocket) that is on Anthem, should be on Ovation.

[Lloyd555]

Lloyd555, thank you very much for reading my review and commenting. We always love the pictures you have posted of the new ships being built and it helps get the kids interested in the future cruises - especially our Symphony cruise coming up.

 

By Swing, are you talking about the trapeze they do or something else? Whenever they did the trapeze, it was done in the Sea Plex and they divided the Sea Plex into two, having two different activities going at the same time. It went from side to side.

 

If it is something else - with Ovation being the 3rd one built, anything (apart from Johnny Rocket) that is on Anthem, should be on Ovation.

 

Glad that you enjoy the photos.

 

I'm referring to the metal swing similar to the one in Quantum of the Seas' Two70 & Anthem of the Seas' Solarium (which I read elsewhere appears to have been removed for liability reasons(?!) ).

 

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