twangster

Vancouver is a great embarkation port and a beautiful city. The last time I was on Ovation they were building the Fish and Ships restaurant on deck 14 by the pool. This time it was open so I tried the basic fish and chips that included in the cruise fare. It's small but a good snack size. If you want a full meal I'd order two. I didn't know Vancouver had dry dock facilities for smaller ships. As sail away approached the upper decks grew more crowded. With that our sail away commenced and we headed towards the Lions Gate Bridge. As if there was any doubt we cleared with ease and made our way into Burrard Inlet. It's a very pretty sail away leaving Vancouver. I enjoyed some balcony time taking in the scenery. These pictures don't do the majesty of it all any justice.

Cabin Tour! Deck 12 standard balcony - 12552. View aft. View down to the sea. View forward.

The last time I boarded Ovation in Vancouver I arrived at Canada Place to board at 9am. I had a long wait inside a small waiting area so this time I left my hotel around 10:15am and took the Skytrain to Waterfront station for all of $3.12 USD. From Waterfront station I walked over to Canada Place. I knew the routine from last time, down to the P2 parking deck to drop luggage, back up to Hall C to check in (agent with tablet for a 30 second check in), down one level to security and US Customs to pre-clear back into the US. This time my timing was perfect, they were just beginning to board as I reached the waiting area. First stop on board was to re-code my previous Wow band to my account and into the Diamond Lounge to finish some work. Entering the DL requires the use of a SeaPass card which I wouldn't get until cabins were ready later but with a Wow band on my account I used it to enter the DL which I had to myself for over 30 minutes until someone else with a Wow band joined me. I saw a blog post about Ovation starting to use the new Royal app so I tried the old Royal IQ app and found it still working. Then I tried the new Royal app and sure enough it worked too. Shortly after 1pm the announcement came that cabins were ready.

Hilton Vancouver Airport Free shuttle from the airport. I don't recall booking a Junior King Suite but that's what they gave me. Separate sitting area from the bedroom. Bedroom. Bathroom. I walked over the the Richmond Center shopping mall and their food court for dinner.

Time to bring you all up to speed, or at least up to date. It's Day 3 here on Ovation but now that we've entered into our sea day phase I have some time to play catch up. Unlike some other users who post in this section of the forum, I chose not to start this thread one year before sailing. Ten nights Vancouver, BC, Canada to Honolulu, HI. Day 1 - Vancouver Day 2 - Seattle Day 3 - 6 - Sea Day Day 7 - Cruising Napali Coast Day 8/9 - Overnight in Maui Day 10 - Kona Day 11 - Debark in Honolulu I flew into Vancouver the day before on September 19 and stayed at the Hilton Vancouver Airport. It's significantly cheaper staying out by the airport compared to downtown. I thought about going over to the Lions Gate Bridge for Ovation's arrival into Vancouver but low tide was around 4am when it would pass under the bridge so I stayed in bed. I'm not going to post everything in real time for this cruise but will drop in from time to time to post or show some pictures if anything interesting comes up.

I'm on board and have shown your post to guest services. It's early here so only one GS person on shift right now. They will engage the guest service manager and housekeeping manager later this morning when they come on duty. The problem with cash is that it's an easy claim to make. I'm not saying your story isn't true but with so many people trying to cash in on scams these days everyone including Royal needs to be extra diligent to validate such claims. I'm assuming they still have your contact information from the previous voyage. If they need to contact you they will directly without me being involved any further.

The entertainment and some food venues are different. The solarium is a little different. Otherwise nearly identical.

Both are great choices. I have a slight preference for Navigator. Cabins were touched during the Navigator AMP. The resort style pool deck is nicer. Mariner does have Hibachi though.

Sometimes I've seen an extra "free" day if you purchase the full voyage package on boarding day. Varies by ship. Kind of debunks my buying Voom on day two strategy :) This is from Ovation 10 night sailing. Note the "High Speed + 1 day FREE". However in your case it specifically says Prepaid. Ships are doing away with codes. One less thing to distribute. When you sign in it knows you pre-purchased it.

Hurry up and get off. Some of use want to board. :)

This cruise ends in Vancouver. It was a repositioning cruise of sorts. Tomorrow she leaves for Hawaii.

Any word when you might go into Vancouver harbor and under the bridge?

People say to roll your clothes. I tried it once. My suitcase has wheels on the bottom and I rolled it all the way. Clothes were still wrinkled. Perhaps the airline didn’t roll my suitcase.

Try the C&A page.

Royal seems to be testing higher Voom prices like they did with other items like drink packages.

Lesson learned. Repricing usually requires losing certain perks or benefits to take advantage of current promos. . Particularly in your case if they have to cancel a booking and create a new one that is clue #1 you will have any cruise planner purchases cancelled. Next time you know the questions to ask.

Possibly related? https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2019/08/28/spotted-2-day-thrill-waterpark-pass

2 years ago a loyalty ambassador forecast big changes in the coming months. BIG! 2 years later nothing. The Crown & Anchor Society is a very successful program. Change is always possible but I stopped listening to rumors and prognosticators a long time ago. Enjoy D+. Great accomplishment. Not a huge bump over D but that’s why it doesn’t have its own name. It D plus a few things.

No. At this time there are no suite areas or benefits at CocoCay.

That's why they can't raise prices to cover the $18 DX mistake. When they raise prices many people stop buying the package. You can see that trend in many different posts on the topic. If they could have raised prices and had minimal impact to sales they would have raised prices long ago. In the end the market (us) indirectly dictate prices. When they raise them if sales remain the same that is the new normal price. If they raise prices and people stop buying it, they have lowered revenue, not increased revenue. When they raise prices and sales fall the natural reaction will be price reductions. Until the recent price increases the DX price was largely unchanged from 2016 when the DX was first introduced. Yet cost of alcohol, beer and wine have increased for all of us over the last 3 years. Prices of individual drinks have increased on board. A price hike was due simply because of the cost of inflation and cost of goods compared to years past.

As @JLMoran mentioned I was there last year. Saint Johns is very walkable with a nice walk along the waterfront to the reversing falls. https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/boards/index.php?/topic/9521-adventure-ots-13-night-snowbird-migration-quebec-to-ft-lauderdale-oct-8-2018/&do=findComment&comment=87555 I used my phone GPS that took me through town and residential neighborhoods on the way there only to find the nice riverwalk on the way back. Very walkable city.

Suggest you call Royal and inquire directly with them.

All signs indicate Melody but until it's officially announced it is subject to change.

At the moment Royal IQ is the app for Ovation. It features an $8 per person, per cruise chat feature.

When I saw his post I was SMH. Must be a slow case week for him. Clearly it's the cruise line's fault for placing itself in the jets path.