Ovation of the Seas-Alaska-May 5, 2022-May 13, 2022

[graphicguy]

14 minutes ago, SunandShade said:

I was excited to hear what you said about Beyond and Capt. Kate.  We are on Beyond in the Fall for the “CEO cruise” to Greece and Malta. Come on along!

Don’t tease me.  I was looking at Beyond sailings Earlier today!  Who knows?  I’d give even odds my next cruise will be Beyond!

[graphicguy]

I know....little late in doing so, but finally unpacked from the trip.  Pleasant surprise I had forgotten about.

 

Had bought two bottles of Buffalo Trace Bourbon on board at $30/ea.  I can't find it anywhere near where I live (and I live within an afternoon drive to the Bourbon Trail).  Had to ship it from Alaska.

 

Both bottles were intact.  Yay!!!!!

[graphicguy]

On 5/11/2022 at 9:57 PM, MikeBayAreaCa said:

How was your meal at Wonderland?   We are sailing on the Ovation in July.

Forgot this…sorry!

 

WONDERLAND was the best meal I had on the ship!  Well worth it!

[MikeBayAreaCa]

28 minutes ago, graphicguy said:

Forgot this…sorry!

 

WONDERLAND was the best meal I had on the ship!  Well worth it!

Thank you.

[mking8288]

Haha, GG - found this, bookmarked it & will go thru all the details - Chromebook is now my favorite travel tech partner for traveling light & everything else.  

[graphicguy]

On 5/17/2022 at 4:46 PM, mking8288 said:

Haha, GG - found this, bookmarked it & will go thru all the details - Chromebook is now my favorite travel tech partner for traveling light & everything else.  

Hey Henry….we’re stalking each other’s threads….LOL!  Love yours over at NCL.

 

Welcome to peruse.  I just found some other pics after sifting through them earlier this week.

[graphicguy]

[graphicguy]

And more….

Edited May 19, 2022 by graphicguy

[graphicguy]

More…..

[trafaelwyr]

Were there any Covid outbreaks on this sailing you just did?

[graphicguy]

7 minutes ago, trafaelwyr said:

Were there any Covid outbreaks on this sailing you just did?

I read from one UK couple who posted in this thread that they tested positive and were quarantined.  But, that’s all I know of.  Didn’t see anyone who was obviously sick while I was on board.

 

That said, Alaska was quite strict in their procedures for the shutdown, after the reopen and only lifted the more restrictive regulations fairly recently.  So, I would think it would be less likely to have someone get off the ship and contract COVID in Alaska vs some other cruise ports like FL, for example.

 

There might have been more cases.  I just wasn’t aware of any other than that one.

[Biker19]

32 minutes ago, graphicguy said:

That said, Alaska was quite strict in their procedures for the shutdown, after the reopen and only lifted the more restrictive regulations fairly recently.

I don't recall many on land restrictions during the abbreviated season last year.

Edited May 19, 2022 by Biker19

[Chase101]

Graphicguy,

     I was on this sailing with a friend. I am also part of another group (not mentionable on here), and there were a lot of people posting that they were positive for Covid! As well as me! I actually was randomly selected in Vancouver for PCR test. The Wi-Fi was so bad on the ship, it took over an hour to get to my results! It was negative! We wore masks anytime outside of our cabin, even on excursions! At least 95% of the passengers weren’t wearing masks, and packing into elevators. We flew home Friday nonstop & Saturday morning woke up with sore throat & aches. Tested negative. Got worse throughout the day & next day, tested positive! I was shocked to see how many tested positive from the other group! My friend got lucky & is feeling fine & testing negative. I actually got my 2nd booster 2 1/2 weeks before this cruise. I am finally feeling like I am turning the corner to feeling better!  Still glad I did the cruise, but also glad I got to my own bed to be sick!

Barbara

[Ryalie1]

2 hours ago, trafaelwyr said:

Were there any Covid outbreaks on this sailing you just did?

When they were collecting up the covid passengers to disembark there were 3 or 4 pages of staterooms listed, and I would say very approximately 20 staterooms per page. This is just what I could observe while trying to keep my distance, so please be clear this is VERY approximate. My husband was the second passenger to test positive, this was first thing day 4. Most passengers seemed to be collected from their rooms and not the red zone, so possibly tested positive in the last couple of days or were close contacts and not positive cases. 

[crzndeb]

This cruise for me (solo) still fell under the Double Points promo, and color me shocked that they actually credited me the correct number (32). 110 more to go for the magical 340. Should get there with the cruises I have booked through next year.

[Oceansaway17]

On 5/16/2022 at 10:02 PM, graphicguy said:

Forgot this…sorry!

 

WONDERLAND was the best meal I had on the ship!  Well worth it!

Wow I did Wonderland on Symphony and it was just okay and not worth the money.

But great to do once for photos.

[JessyCruises]

13 minutes ago, crzndeb said:

This cruise for me (solo) still fell under the Double Points promo, and color me shocked that they actually credited me the correct number (32). 110 more to go for the magical 340. Should get there with the cruises I have booked through next year.

Last week was double for us as well and just pushed me over the top to squeak in at 343 🙂

 

BTW I am onboard now as we were on a B2B and apparently a lot of kids tested positive that had to get tested to disembark.  

[jonbgd]

On 5/11/2022 at 6:21 PM, J0Y0US said:

 

Do you know were they allowing take out for Izumi at all? Either lunch or dinner?

yes you can  Both

also Alacarte or Pri Fixe 

we had Sushi on our balcony one night so we wouldn't  miss the views

[jonbgd]

Hey Graphic guy nice job in the review and great Pics.

 

I was surprised how many people actually dressed up and waited in line for pictures both elegant nights. 

 

 

 

[graphicguy]

Was out and about quite a bit on the ship and didn't know or hear of any COVID cases....just what's been reported here.  

 

I personally tested after I returned.  NEGATIVE.  But, I'm boosted, too.

 

Mere speculation....~4,000 passengers and probably another ~1,500 crew.  Out of 5,500 total, if there were 50 passengers who contracted COVID, I personally don't think that's a lot.  Plus, people are self reporting their illness. That's a good thing, too.  It saves others from being infected.  The other reason for so few infected were there weren't a lot of children who weren't vaccinated on board.  I was surprised as to how few there were, actually.

 

I had heard that Vancouver (YCR) was randomly selecting people to test for COVID before they got to the ship.  Didn't know of anyone personally tested.  Still, they were fairly upfront about that.

 

WONDERLAND.....may be my menu choices but I found it to be the best meal I had on the ship.  Presented well, and service was great (which was tough to come by on this cruise).

 

I didn't tarry long at ANY of the MDRs.  I saw the long lines, and just found somewhere else to eat.  I ate once at the Chic restaurant.  I even made reservations.  I was solo, so the seating "person" kept bypassing me to seat parties of 2 and 4+, even though they came after me.  Standing at the host counter, I finally just told the hostess to forget about it and became to leave.  She must have said something to the person seating us.  As I was walking away, the person seating people said from behind me...."come with me Mr 'GG'".  I was seated but he acted put off that I would actually try to walk away after he took at least 8-10 people before me.

 

Any time I checked after that, there was always a long line.  I didn't wait.  Thought it was crazy to see people dressed in suits, gowns, etc waiting in line for 20-30 minutes (maybe more) to be seated.

 

Mentioned earlier, I think it's a convenient excuse to say they have a labor shortage.  That may be true, but not for the reasons they want us to believe.  Talking to other crew members, who said they had other experienced friends back home who've been waiting and waiting to be called back by Royal.  They may not want to admit it, but I think it's a tight budget issue, not a staffing issue.

 

I never had to wait at any of the extra charge specialty restaurants.  Seemed none of them had "staffing issues".  MDRs have probably the highest labor requirements and do not add extra revenue.  It was clear where they put the staff and why.  MDRs are part of the fare.  "Extra Charge" restaurants add revenue.

 

Even in the buffet, there were a couple of times they supposedly ran out of typical staples.  Only thing I could figure out was they didn't budget enough money to have those staples as part of the food cruise budget.

 

I've sailed on many different cruise lines, and cruises.  Even the stores they had on board were short inventory.  You could tell they were trying to stretch their inventory out (particularly their proverbial watch sales).

 

Make no mistake.  Had a grand time.  But, as mentioned before, Royal is probably 75%-80% ready to sail.  They aren't sailing at 100%, and probably won't be for a little bit, yet.  At least, not until they can put more greenbacks in their coffers to re-establish the cruise experience everyone is hoping for.

 

How long that takes is anyone's guess.

[graphicguy]

17 hours ago, jonbgd said:

Hey Graphic guy nice job in the review and great Pics.

 

I was surprised how many people actually dressed up and waited in line for pictures both elegant nights. 

 

 

 

Thanks!  Glad you enjoyed it.

[graphicguy]

19 hours ago, JessyCruises said:

Last week was double for us as well and just pushed me over the top to squeak in at 343 🙂

 

BTW I am onboard now as we were on a B2B and apparently a lot of kids tested positive that had to get tested to disembark.  

Now, I have to check my points to see if I received double points.  Thanks!