Semi Live Ovation 16th Nov b2b Our Trip to a Land Down Under

[chaching]

Hello. We will be on the Ovation for three cruises starting in February until March 23rd. We are reading your updates and want to see what you do on the islands in the South Pacific since we are doing that one also.

 

Regarding your "Self Test" in Australia. We are from the U.S. and wonder if we can take our "self tests" and get a photo of the "negative" results and that will be sufficient for our cruises?

 

Thank you for posting everything for us. This is so helpful!

 

ChaChing

[chaching]

One question we do have. What time do passengers have to be onboard since the ship does not leave until 6:45 p.m.? We're wondering if we can do some exploring in Sydney that day such as a tour of the Opera House which does not start until 11:30 a.m.?

 

TIA.

 

ChaChing

[kernow]

4 hours ago, chaching said:

Hello. We will be on the Ovation for three cruises starting in February until March 23rd. We are reading your updates and want to see what you do on the islands in the South Pacific since we are doing that one also.

 

Regarding your "Self Test" in Australia. We are from the U.S. and wonder if we can take our "self tests" and get a photo of the "negative" results and that will be sufficient for our cruises?

 

Thank you for posting everything for us. This is so helpful!

 

ChaChing

Hi,

We bought our own self tests from the UK and did them at the hotel, we took a photo on our phone to show them and I also put the negative tests in a plastic bag and took them along.

There was a lady in the terminal checking for tests, Mark had his photo already called up and showed her, I went to get my photo and I also had the bag with tests in hand but she just waved me through. They were quite casual about it all, you won't have any problems.

 

About the boarding times in Sydney, I don't know yet but will find out on turnaround day as we plan to go into Sydney ourselves.😀

[kernow]

Last night we watched Pixels Cabaret in 270. It's the only show on this ship that you need reservations for. It was quite similar to Spectras on Anthem except that there were no aerialists in this one( apparently there have been in the past). The performers were very good and we enjoyed it although we couldn't really follow the theme.

 

Dinner was in Wonderland, a first for us. It's certainly very clever and the food was good especially the desserts. Of course we had to try the cocktails, a Cheshire Cat Cosmo for me and a Smoke Rings for Mark.

Edited November 18, 2022 by kernow

[kernow]

The food in Wonderland.

[kernow]

After dinner we headed for the silent disco, normally our favourite entertainment. I'm 57 and for the first time in my life on a ship I felt old🤣. Two70 was packed, we got our headphones and put them on, we tried both channels then looked at each other in horror, neither of us knew any of the songs. They were clearly aimed at the very young crowd onboard who were packed onto the dance floor singing along. No sign of any 70s, 80s or even 90s music that we might know we decided to head to the 'oldies' band who play in Boleros and we had enjoyed the previous night😁.

 

Joking aside though it is lovely to see so many youngsters onboard enjoying themselves and they do also seem very well behaved. Just been chatting to a couple of (our age) Australians at breakfast and apparently the youngsters are 'schoolies', 18 and 19 year old who have just left school.

[chaching]

We have always enjoyed the "Silent Disco" also. I guess we could ask the DJ's to play some "Oldies" possibly? 

 

I'm wondering if you have any excursions planned for this South Pacific cruise? We have booked with Viator the Full Day Vanuatu Round Island Tour from Port Vila. 

 

I'm hoping Mystery Island will be open by the time of our cruise in February. Snorkeling is supposed to be wonderful there.

 

Thanks for doing this great blog! It's much appreciated!

 

ChaChing

[kernow]

9 hours ago, chaching said:

We have always enjoyed the "Silent Disco" also. I guess we could ask the DJ's to play some "Oldies" possibly? 

 

I'm wondering if you have any excursions planned for this South Pacific cruise? We have booked with Viator the Full Day Vanuatu Round Island Tour from Port Vila. 

 

I'm hoping Mystery Island will be open by the time of our cruise in February. Snorkeling is supposed to be wonderful there.

 

Thanks for doing this great blog! It's much appreciated!

 

ChaChing

We haven't booked anything, just going to get off and decide then. I think the early tenders will be very busy later so we may just stay onboard and get off for the full day tomorrow. 

 

There is a 70s/80s night in the Music Hall tonight so hopefully plenty of music we know😃.

 

Just from the FB group I have a feeling the next cruise might have a totally different demographic.

[kernow]

Yesterday was another lazy day.

I managed to face time my dad back home, was not sure it would work using just our surf Internet but the connection was good. The internet on this ship seems quite fast so far.

We then spent an hour or so trying to find a solution to our damaged suitcases, I won't go into detail at the moment as it's still ongoing but we are not very happy with RCLs current offering. If anyone reading this has had luggage damaged previously please can you let me know how it was resolved.

We then went to the sundeck and walked pur daily 6 laps (just over 2 miles). The weather has been getting gradually warmer and the seas calmer.

Progressive trivia is at 1pm daily, we did OK the first day, a bit less well this time😫. Our excuse is that there is only the 2 of us, usually we find it pretty easy to team up with others but no one seemed interested in joining us this cruise ( perhaps we look a bit thick🤣).

The meet up for our FB group was at 2, we met up and chatted to some nice people. During this the captain made an announcement that we had a medical emergency onboard and a helicopter would be coming from Noumea to evacuate someone. A bit later on the ship came to a standstill and we saw the helicopter. We've not heard anything but hopefully it was in time and the passenger is recovering.

Last night we dined in the Solarium Bistro which was a first for us. We really enjoyed the food, the buffet for the starters was just our kind of food. We'll probably book again sometime during this trip.

After dinner we headed to Boleros which is becoming our regular haunt this cruise. The band that play in there are really good (called Pulso). The staff are also great.

[kernow]

Solarium Bistro food

[kernow]

The weather this morning is much warmer, currently 28 deg C. Seas are also very smooth now.

 

[kernow]

Last night we overheard half a conversation in the D lounge and it sounded like someone was saying that D+ were allowed in the Concierge lounge. This morning Mark walked to the back of deck 12 to see and it's true. The concierge told him that it's done on a cruise by cruise basis on this ship but they don't really announce it.

 

It's a long walk back here but the view is worth it!

[resordanis]

42 minutes ago, kernow said:

Last night we overheard half a conversation in the D lounge and it sounded like someone was saying that D+ were allowed in the Concierge lounge. This morning Mark walked to the back of deck 12 to see and it's true. The concierge told him that it's done on a cruise by cruise basis on this ship but they don't really announce it.

 

It's a long walk back here but the view is worth it!

Enjoying your review as we are on the next 3 cruises. Do hope that diamond + will be allowed into the Concierge Lounge as I really do enjoy that view during the day. See you next week.Cheryle 

[kernow]

23 minutes ago, resordanis said:

Enjoying your review as we are on the next 3 cruises. Do hope that diamond + will be allowed into the Concierge Lounge as I really do enjoy that view during the day. See you next week.Cheryle 

We did ask but Concierge said he doesn't know yet.

 

Think we are doing the Picton wine tour with you, see you next week😀

[resordanis]

1 minute ago, kernow said:

We did ask but Concierge said he doesn't know yet.

 

Think we are doing the Picton wine tour with you, see you next week😀

Yes, I think we are doing that tour together, but didn’t want to mention it! I guess it all depends on how many diamond + there are on board. We like that area, but not the end of the world for us! Hopefully one of our 3 we will be in that particular 

lounge. If you hear any news, I will be waiting. Enjoy the rest of your trip!

 

[kernow]

Land ahead, our first view of Vanatu.

[kernow]

We're in the bay and tenders have been lowered. 

[JamesEM]

Following along, enjoying posts and photos.

[kernow]

We ended up not going ashore tonight. By the time we would have got a tender ticket it would have been well after 6 and we'd made no plans so we decided to have dinner on the ship and get off tomorrow morning. Quite a few people seemed to have the same idea so although the ship was quieter than usual there was still plenty going on.

 

We had dinner in the MDR, service was very quick as there were a lot of empty tables. Afterwards we went to Schooner bar for a change. It's now 10.30pm and we are back in the cabin ready for a full day ashore tomorrow.

 

Forgot to mention that the captain did update us all earlier  that the person evacuated yesterday made it in time to have surgery in Noumea and is now doing better.😀

[kernow]

Just stepped out onto the balcony at 7.30 am. What a lovely view to wake up to.

[tinkr2]

Looks nice a nice relaxing cruise. I do not think I would like 2 ports in 10 days.I was supposed to be on Carnival cruise this week followed by a week in Sydney. We had to cancel a week before bc of a health issue with my mom. Nice to see the pictures.It looks like you're having fun.

[Chiliburn]

Vila is a lovely place,the worst part is the wharf.
It really has potential.

 I said hello in the diamond lounge?

[kaseyoz]

Hope you enjoy Vanuatu.

it used to be the best place for duty free liquor. They even used to deliver it to the ship for you. All precovid days of course.

 

we would love you to join our family for progressive trivia if you do nit have a full team We have our adult kids (30 yrs) with us too.

we did the progressive trivia on the Anthem a few years back. With Joff Southampton to Canary Islands.

[kaseyoz]

One question julie,

is there a coffee maker or kettle in the cabin. I have heard differing answers on this. We only have balcony although the kids have mini suite. 

if a coffee maker can you let us know what brand of pods it uses.

thanks

[Chiliburn]

8 minutes ago, kaseyoz said:

One question julie,

is there a coffee maker or kettle in the cabin. I have heard differing answers on this. We only have balcony although the kids have mini suite. 

if a coffee maker can you let us know what brand of pods it uses.

thanks

I have a standard balcony and there’s a kettle