Ovation Jan 30-Feb 13 impressions

[mraven]

Pre-Cruise:

 

Traveling from NJ on Saturday. Snow forecast caused us to move up a day. Good thing as all flights cancelled on Saturday. 5 in party. One tested positive Friday morning after having COVID 3 weeks prior. Tested positive for 2 weeks with minor symptoms the 1st few days, then tested negative 3 times during the week of departure. Had no symptoms Friday, so flew to Miami anyway and tested negative at the airport. Just a bit more stress.

 

Embarkation:

 

2 couples and 1 single in party and we had 3 different check in times, all 40 minutes apart. Arrived together ar pier. Only one suitcase as both couples used Luggage Forward (no issues). Porter insisted he be tipped because he was the one who would be bringing the luggage to the suite. Right.

 

Health check on 1st floor where they checked vax cards and test results. Then agent went to print new boarding pass ans was told 'NO!' by her companion. Big mistake.

 

Went upstairs and stood on line to get tested. 30 minute wait to get checked-in and 15 minutes for test and results. A bit confusing as they announced some names, but not all. After they verified results, they asked for the printed boarding pass which 90% did not have. They needed a hardcopy so you could present it to the main check-in desk. When you didn't have it, one woman would get your room number and disappear behind a curtain and reappear 5 minutes later with the hardcopy boarding pass that the test verifier would then stamp. I heard they improved this 5 minute deal very soon after we moved on.

 

Check-in was smooth after that. Keycards were available in your suite. Others in our party also tested negative.  We heard a few positive tests which required another PCR test and out of that 1 person was denied boarding. But this is just hearsay.

 

Suite: We were in 656. Same level as the Grand Salon which worked out great for us. Stewards were top-notch.

 

Sebourn Source app: Great idea. Horrible implementation. Our check-in time was listed as 4:00 or when you plane arrives (android phone) and 2:40 (iPad and final docs). Same account. Can't get notifications from Seabourn Square in the app. Only via phone. Can't book excurions or cancel them. Same with restaurant reservations. Menus for Colonnade lunch are just the standard offerings. No mention of the theme. No way to see personalized events in the daily schedule. Hopefully they improve on it as it could be a great resource.

 

Seabourn Square: Service person (Mariska) was incredible. I always seemed to get her. She got our Grill reservation increased from 2 to 5 on day 2. Handled all our OBC swapping and listened to our excursion quibbles.

 

Overall Ship opinion:  First time on Encore-class ship. I understand the complaints. Pool deck seems the same size as on the Odyssey-class with less loungers. They did increase seating area which is good for dining. But, really. 150 more pax and no additional space. It was sometimes crowded on our cruise and it was only 406 guests. Deck 5 aft seems to be the same size as well, but again less loungers and more table seating. I liked it when this area was mostly unused.  Area outside the Grill needs to be better utilized. It's a great covered area. Would be nice to get some loungers there during the day. Bigger Grill is really nice. Had 4 dinners there and they were all excellent. Really liked the addition of the patio grill breakfast. Nice to have the different menu options there. Sushi place was good. I only went once for lunch, but I liked it. Restaurant was mostly good. Colonnade was great. Finally, Earth and Ocean was a distant second to the Grill, but still ahead of the others for dinner

 

Excursions: We had $1500 in OBC. $750 of that was nonrefundable. We signed up for 5 excursions to use the bulk of this up.

  Cozumel: Did the Foodie Tour which was 3 taco places where we both got 1 taco and several drinks. First 2 places were holes-in-the-wall places and the good was excellent. Drinks were different in each place. We had Mescal (mixed drink and straight) in one, 3 tequila samples (different ages) and 2 flavored tequilas in another, and 3 different sample cocktails in the last. Best tour of the trip. Only downside was the 40 minute shopping interlude between stops 2 and 3.

 

  Belize: We did the fanboat ride in the swamp. It was ok. Didn't get to see the manatees and the bird sightings were infrequent. Also, this is a tender port and seabourn source app said to meet dockside. We got there early and had a drink right by the tender. We walked outside to see our tour walking away at 1 minute before the meeting time (16 minutes before departure)! We caught up and got on the bus. Got 2 miles away only to find we left some at the pier so we had to return. There were 15 or so who missed the 'departure'. No seabourn rep on the tour. I reported this to Seabourn Square.

 

  St. Andreas: We were signed up for a semi-submersible which was cancelled the week before. Switched to a island tour with the rest of our group. The day before we got there, they announced no buses available and we would be put in taxis (max of 4). This didn't work for us. We cancelled without penalty. Was about to get on the tender when guests returning said nothing to see in the port and taxis to town were $25 each way. We stayed on the ship. Sister went alone and said it was a nice walk with nothing to see.

 

  Costa Rica: We had booked a tram ride through a rain forest, but we found out we were part of a Destination Journeys group and they were providing a free excursion for us. 50 in the group. Only 17 did the free excursion. I assume because they didn't want to change plans. We did their tour which was to go find sloths. It would have been a disappointment (only found 2 and they were sleeping 60 feet up in the trees). Our boat captain found another at eye level and we got within 4 feet of it. That was really worth the change for me.

 

  Panama: We did a tour to the Pacific side to see the locks there and the colonial town. Town was good. Lock tour was a disappointment. Our group didn't want to wait for the cargo ship to come through so we left without seeing anything. My sisters both did other tours and saw the new locks in operation. 

 

  Guatemala: Did a tour of the Maya ruins at Quiriguá. This was a long day and advertised as 4.5 hours. There's no way it could be done in that time. We hit traffic on the way and it took 2 hours to get there. Without the one slowdown, it would heve been 1:45 (they advertise 1:30). Tour was 2.5 hours, so we were leaving when we should have been back at the ship. Then we hit 1:15 of delays, getting us back 3 hours late. No lunch offered and no water. Luckily most took from the ship. The traffic is unavoidable, but the basic trip is not doable in 4.5 hours. By the time we got to our suite, we had an apology and credit for 1/2 of the cost waiting in the in-box.

 

Overall, the descriptions on the website were different than the descriptions on the Seabourn Source app and that was different from the info on the TV.

 

 With all the cancellations and refund, we still had over 400 in nonrefundable credit. We tried booking the retreat, but it was full. Well, not full, but they don't book completely apparently. We were supposed to get a message if they would let us in. But we didn't get an overnight message. Leaving our suite at 9:45 for the pool deck when the phone rang informing us we could get a cabana if we still wanted. We did it and I wasn't impressed. Luckily all the cabanas on the sides has their 'back doors' open so you could see the sea. Loungers are good. It's what they should have around the pool deck. We got a bottle of Moet NV (out of Bollinger) and we had some premium Chardonnay in the afternoon. Wouldn't pay for it if it was real money. As it turned out, we didn't pay with fake money either as they never charged our account.

Edited February 24, 2022 by mraven

[Sbtravels]

Thank you so much for the review.  I am leaving on Sunday.  Your descriptions were great and I can picture the flow of embarking along with some great hints especially on tours.  I haven't signed up yet but thinking of the Taco tasting and the Canopy ride through the jungle.  I am OMO, on my own, or Solo to say, but looking to returning to Seabourn after two years plus.  It has been so long, I had to do a 'to do' list with all the changes.  Thank you for all of your input.

[mraven]

They have single-only meetings, but verify  you  are on the invite list. One of my sisters (who is Platinum) wasn't invited. But she was invited to a first-time cruiser event. Go figure.

[Fletcher]

I have long dismissed these cruises around Central America, mainly because the ports are on the coast and the major sights are way inland and often quite remote and hard to reach.  In other words, it's a land based trip like the one we did from Panama to Guatemala a few years ago.  I like the Ovation but not for this itinerary - you really need an expedition ship to do this area properly, otherwise you will end up taking a lot of disappointing excursions.

[Mauzac]

We did this trip end January and had two really worthwhile excursions on it.

But everyone to their own, I suppose...

[Cru Doll]

Mauzac,

We are on the March 13 sailing.  could you tell us the names of the worthwhile excursions?  

[Mauzac]

1 hour ago, Cru Doll said:

Mauzac,

We are on the March 13 sailing.  could you tell us the names of the worthwhile excursions?  

 

 

Yes.

 

We did tortueguero national park by boat.  And Guatamela was the trip by speedboat up to a Community School. (It began with Al...)

 

I am really sorry I can't give more info but now everything is on the App, there is no record anywhere!  I have looked everwhere.  If you find it from what I've said, I will know it! 

[Cru Doll]

Thanks this helps.  

[Covepointcruiser]

So the OP spent a day in the Retreat and drank the champagne and the great Chardonnay but didn’t pay for it?    Did they notify Mariska in  Seabourn Square of the missing charge?   I am guessing not.    The charge for Cabanas when not in a port is $250 or higher,  why shouldn’t they pay for what they received?

 

 

 

[cruiseej]

13 hours ago, Covepointcruiser said:

So the OP spent a day in the Retreat and drank the champagne and the great Chardonnay but didn’t pay for it?    Did they notify Mariska in  Seabourn Square of the missing charge?   I am guessing not.    The charge for Cabanas when not in a port is $250 or higher,  why shouldn’t they pay for what they received?

 

They said it was going to be paid with unused OBC, but the charge didn't show up on their account. Why bother reporting it when it didn't affect their final bill?

[mraven]

We didn't report it and ended the trip with 423 in nonrefundable credit. We assumed it would eventually show up, but it was not in the final statement.

[ajpeter]

We were on the cruise which Mauzac, hi Helen, was on too. Had a fantastic white water rafting in Limon. Loved the Locks(agua clara) and Kayak in Panama. And a superb excursion in guatamala to the Ak'Tenamit, which Mauzac also mentioned. Missed the excusion in Belize because the tender was delayed, not good, but Seabourn handled it well. And there was a seabourn person there, chris, to help us.

We used the Retreat for the first time and had two pleasant days there, quiet and relaxed.

We did this trip to relax and enjoy warm weather, not for a port intensive journe . And .... our glasses are always more then half full .... never empty.

Happy sailings

 

 

[Mauzac]

3 hours ago, ajpeter said:

We were on the cruise which Mauzac, hi Helen, was on too. Had a fantastic white water rafting in Limon. Loved the Locks(agua clara) and Kayak in Panama. And a superb excursion in guatamala to the Ak'Tenamit, which Mauzac also mentioned. Missed the excusion in Belize because the tender was delayed, not good, but Seabourn handled it well. And there was a seabourn person there, chris, to help us.

We used the Retreat for the first time and had two pleasant days there, quiet and relaxed.

We did this trip to relax and enjoy warm weather, not for a port intensive journe . And .... our glasses are always more then half full .... never empty.

Happy sailings

 

 

  And hello to you (waving madly here...!)

 

Thank you for reminding me of the name of the excursion in Guatamala... yes AK Tenamit, that was it!

Really worth doing I felt, was blown away with the community school built on a hillside only accessible by rowing boat for the students.

😊