Vacation Crazy

Already put my request into my TA! Woot!!! Hello Alaska 2020!

Ovation is definitely sailing Alaska again in 2020

I'm guessing the same as 2019 - Radiance and Ovation. Asia will get Spectrum next year which means Ovation is free to do Hawaii and Alaska then return back to Australia and repeat for 2020.

Is there any confirmation (or rumors) of which ships are sailing Hawaii/Alaska 2020?  I'm anxiously awaiting the deployment schedule next week! 

Have a great cruise. Alaska is awesome. I've been twice and could back numerous more times.
All have been listed, but I feel compelled to inform you that there are other ships in Royal's fleet. ? I also want to come up with a jingle based on the fact that you're sailing L-O-L-L_O
Have a great cruise!
As of 8:13 Pacific tonight, all have been added to the list here: 
I did it in three parts to make it more manageable.
Thanks, everyone, for your patience. I didn't think I'd be gone from the boards as long as I was.

Day 2 (Sea Day)
We knew from multiple announcements the night before that we needed to set our clocks ahead one hour, but decided to see if maybe we'd cross the time zone boundary overnight so that our phones would just auto-update. No such luck. I woke up at what my phone said was around 7:00, and briefly turned on the TV to check the ship time.
8:00. Ugh. That definitely would eat into our free time before we had to be at North Star for our reserved slot. I manually updated my phone to the new time, and made sure my Fitbit got synced up as well so we had one watch that would have the correct time for our appointments.
I told Cathy, and we agreed to wait another half hour before doing anything since she wanted a bit more sleep. Since I was wide awake, I decided to hang out on the balcony for a bit. I was greeted by a heavily cloudy sky that the sun was trying mightily to break through.

I saw another ship not far off from us, but the overcast made it impossible to make out any markings. But the skies soon started to clear, and as the light improved I could just make out a set of mickeys on the stacks. I pulled up the Marine Traffic app and figured out it was the Disney Magic.

We headed down for breakfast a little after 8:30, and decided to avoid the Windjammer crowd and just go to Cafe Two70 again. We took the stairs down (a whopping two flights) and walked down the Royal Esplanade, actually taking in the decor this time.


This part of the ship was completely empty. I got the feeling that we weren't the only ones who didn't bother to set our clocks ahead before we went to bed. Guess we wouldn't have had any crowds in the Windjammer after all...
Cafe Two70 offers a fixed selection of breakfast items each morning -- breakfast burritos, mini-croissant sandwiches, bacon and sausage links, yogurt parfaits, cups of sliced fruit and whole fresh fruit options, a nice selection of bagels, and a pot of oatmeal if that's more your morning jam. In addition, the coffee area has a nice selection of pastries. We grabbed what caught our eyes, got a couple of cappuccinos, and made our way all the way to the back of Two70 to enjoy the wake view while we ate.


I was curious how the VOOM was measuring up here in Two70 with it so empty, so I ran a speed test. More or less the best possible results for Surf & Stream, but of course the room was empty and not under any load.

After breakfast, we split up for a bit and agreed to meet at North Star at 11. Cathy went to the gym for a quick workout, while I decided to just head over to the Solarium and check out the observation deck I knew was there. On the way, I took a couple more pictures of the Esplanade, including a different angle of what I call "the weird tuba sculpture".



I could probably have spent an hour just in that part of the Esplanade, looking at all the art on display and taking in the general design. When it's not jammed with a big crowd, it really is a very nice space. But, I didn't have an hour, and I had a couple of goals I wanted to clear before we went up in the big glass bubble.
As soon as I got up to the Solarium, I walked down to the bottom level, hung a right to walk past the hot tubs, and found the door that leads out to the observation wing. The view from there, both forward and aft, is really nice.


While I was enjoying the view, I noticed that there were some crew members taking a break in the recess at the bow where the winch is located. Given the three sets of tables and chairs, I figured it must be a regularly-used spot for anyone off-duty or on break to take advantage of if they didn't want to mingle with the passengers while still getting outside.

I still had a bit of time to kill, and I realized that in the previous day's rush to get so many things taken care of before muster, I never had a chance to just sit and the pool and enjoy a start-of-vacation Lava Flow. I went over to the Solarium bar and quickly remedied that, making it a Kraken Lava Flow when I saw the tell-tale bottle sitting on the shelf. It is definitely tastier with Kraken than the one I had on Freedom, with whatever default rum they chose to put in it!

While I enjoyed by belated "vacation is now officially ON" beverage, I chatted with a younger couple who were already there, enjoying mimosas and some other tropical beverages. When it was time for my North Star reservation, I headed on over to get in line and wait my turn. I needn't have rushed, they were actually doing two rides for the 11:00 to 11:30 slot, rather than having separate 11 and 11:15 reservations. Not sure why they did it that way, but it was fine since Cathy hadn't yet gotten back from her workout. I put us down for the second slot and waited for her to arrive, enjoying the view of the still-empty pool deck.

Cathy arrived not long after I'd settled down, and soon enough it was our turn to go up with Willy Wonka in the Great Glass Elevat... sorry, wrong story. We got into the pod along with the others who'd made reservations, several of them first-timers like us, and in short order we were enjoying the view from 300 feet above the ship. Which, given we were in the middle of the ocean, wasn't much besides the ship itself. It was kind of cool, though, to get our picture taken all the way up there.


 We asked the attendant if the North Star was available while in port, and when she confirmed it was we resolved to ride on it again on our second day in Bermuda.
Our ride done, we decided to head aft and check out the Sea Plex. We got there while the bumper cars were in full swing, but it was almost the end of the session and we didn't think we'd get a chance with the line that was still there.

At this point, we decided it was a good time to visit the thermal spa. We went back to our rooms to get our bathing suits (which you're advised to wear while using the spa), then back up to deck 15. Plenty of spots available at that time, so checkin was no problem. And the steam room was working again, so we'd have a chance to try that out. We started off with the heated loungers, just relaxing for a while and reading.

I tried out the other features of the spa, and apart from the steam room (way too hot!) I thought everything was good and worth the purchase. The rain shower chamber is interesting, as it has three modes that not only change how the water is sprayed down but also the temperature. Going with the coolest option right after a hot session in the dry sauna is bracing, to say the least!
After a little over an hour, we went back to the room and showered, then up to the Windjammer for a late lunch. I was glad the inside area was so crowded, because in searching for a table I found the outdoor seating area all the way aft! I don't know if I just forgot Anthem's WJ had this, or if I missed it in all the live blogs I've read, but it was a nice surprise now that the weather was warmer. The food was good but not great, but I'm as much a buffet denier as I am an Oasis class denier and I'm giving them a pass on this one. The fact I was enjoying a Blue Moon with my meal certainly didn't hurt the final evaluation. ? Cathy always finds the offerings in the Windjammer to be more than fine, and had no problems with her lunch.
Our bellies full, we made our way back to the Solarium and actually managed to score a pair of loungers by the side windows.

Cathy was tired and needed a nap, but the loungers were making me really uncomfortable (my feet and legs just aren't up for stretching out on hard flat surfaces any more), so I decided to head over to the Schooner Bar and actually played my first-ever trivia game. It was 70s trivia, which while a little bit early for me (born in 1970) I thought I could still manage OK with. Well, let me tell you, even after finding a couple to play along with so we'd have a better shot, I still only solidly knew the answer to two of the questions. My teammates weren't having any better luck, and we ended up with a final score of 6 out of 18. The best team got 15, so we were solidly trounced.
After that, I wandered by the Music Hall and remembered seeing the pool tables there. The tables were empty, and I played a couple of solo practice games. It was... an interesting lesson. Considering I hadn't played pool since college, I did a lot better than I thought I had any right to. I guess maybe there's still some residual muscle memory at work there. But I'm going to claim a bit of a mulligan as well, because those pool tables are not at all self-leveling. Two separate times I felt the ship lurch really strongly, and both times I saw the balls at one side of the table roll away to the other side or into the pocket they were next to.
After one round each of practice 8-ball and 9-ball, I headed back to the room to meet up with Cathy and get ready for dinner in Coastal Kitchen. While it was formal night, neither of us brought our formal wear for this trip. We dressed business casual nice and it was Good Enough. While I was in the room and waiting for Cathy to finish getting changed, I took another speed test. The result was really surprising, because our room had an access point mounted dead center in the ceiling!

Yes, that's a good 23% slower on download vs. Two70, in a much smaller room where the access point is maybe 3 feet from my phone.
We still had some time to kill since our reservation wasn't until 7, and my weather app said sunset was around 6:15, so we walked down to Deck 5 where Cathy had seen a couple of nice viewing nooks outside by the life boats. As we walked all the way aft to see what the different spots were, we unknowingly passed by @Broons77 and his wife, who were in the smoking area on the walking deck.
We settled on a spot to watch and I got a really nice photo, but the sun was still oddly high for a sunset that was supposed to be happening in just a few minutes.

You may have already figured it out, but it took me until a bit after 6:30 before I did. My weather app that reported the sunset time was still going off of New York and Eastern Time. So sunset where I was wouldn't actually be until 7:15-ish, by which time we'd be having dinner. So we headed up to deck 14 and Coastal Kitchen.
For the second time, CK had a menu item that I'd had at my Chef's Table dinner back on Freedom -- the Maine lobster salad. I had that along with escargots, while Cathy started off with the Caesar salad again after really liking the one she'd had the prior night. While we ate our appetizers, we also worked out the answer to the evening's riddle from Amar:
"I travel all around the world, but I stay in the corner."
Cathy looked it up and then gave me a very subtle hint, but it was enough to let me puzzle it out. When Amar arrived with our entrees, we told him the answer. Since Cathy looked it up, she got no chocolate, but I was allowed to get the piece since I'd only been given a very small hint. And then we got a second challenge, this one another stick-based puzzle.
You have nine sticks placed side by side, like so: |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
Rearrange the sticks so instead of nine, they make ten.
 
Our entrees were the pappardelle with veal ragout for me, and the zucchini spaghetti for Cathy. My entree was accompanied by a glass of the Chianti Ruffina that I like so much. For dessert, I got the Valrhona Chocolate Bar, which I found to just be OK, along with another Bailey's and coffee on ice; Cathy tried the sugar free chocolate ice cream and said it was really good. Neither one of us could figure out the second puzzle challenge, and gave up after dessert. Amar showed us the answer and I face-palmed. Thinking outside the box really isn't my strong suit.
 
After dinner we went to the Schooner Bar, where we were due to meet up with @ellcee and @Broons77. Only Ellcee showed up, as Broons was still dealing with an interesting situation at his Chefs Table dinner. The three of us had to relocate in short order; the piano player had started, and his instrument and mic were amped so loudly over the Schooner Bar's speakers that you couldn't even think about having a conversation with someone. We ended up going to the Bionic Bar, just because it was the quietest and least crowded place on the deck. Didn't order anything (hey, when everyone here says all of the drinks at that place are awful, I listen!!), we just found a table there with a few chairs and spent the next hour or so chatting and getting to know each other. It was a really nice meet-up, and I hope we'll have the chance to get together again on another sailing. (2020 CA/NE group cruise?)
We called it a night around 10:30 and went our separate ways, as we all wanted to be up early for our arrival in Bermuda. When Cathy and I got back to the room, we found someone had snuck in and was still trying to find something good on the TV.

Thanks!  We are actually looking to do the same next year!  Hopefully around peak Aroura Borealis season.

The views from 270 look amazing.  I can't wait to see the views from this venue next year on Ovation in Alaska.  It will be our first time on a Quantum class ship.  Great blog!!

It’s hard to capture with my IPhone, but the views from 270 of Nassau and Paradise Island are amazing.

I will tell you our experience in Sept.  I did the unthinkable and booked an early return flight leaving FLL at 8:55 am.  The cruise compass stated 6:30 am if you carry off your luggage.  We got in line around 6:10 with about 20 people ahead of us.  They began to disembark a little early at 6:15.  We were through customs and in a cab by 6:30.  We made it through TSA and to our gate a little after 7:00 am.  Our disembarkation was a breeze.   There could have been a lot of things go wrong to make us miss our flight.   We were flying Southwest and could change flights at the last minute so that was a big stress reliever.   It sure beat seating in the airport all day!

Just back a few hours ago from our 5-night trip to Bermuda that @ellcee and @Broons77 were also on. I have a ton of photos to go through and edit, and I'm taking my older daughter to SUNY New Paltz tomorrow for a campus tour and maybe interview before she applies to transfer, so I probably won't be posting anything detailed before early next week or even next weekend. But here's a quick preamble of what, where, and why:
This was a double surprise cruise for my wife and me. First surprise was that I even booked the thing, as we had only booked our cruise on Freedom in December 2016, still had nearly a year to go to sail that cruise, and here I was going and booking another one! Why? My wife had mentioned a while back that she's never been to Bermuda, so when I saw this itinerary I figured I'd jump on it. While we were "officially" declaring the cruise on Freedom as our 20th anniversary celebration, I wanted something for just the two of us where we could have a chance to reconnect over a few days.
The second surprise, as most here have known for quite a long while now, is that when a BOGO 60 sale came along I upgraded us from a D2 Balcony cabin to a J4 Spa Junior Suite on deck 7. I managed to keep that secret until embarkation day, and I'll give the details about the reveal and reaction when I start making the real posts.
You all already know from @ellcee's great live blog that this was a single-stop cruise to just Bermuda, nowhere else, with an overnight stay that gave us basically two full days on the island. Since we had free rein of the island for that whole time, we'd worked out a plan for what mattered most to us and when we'd try and see it:
First port day – St. George, Crystal Cave and the nearby Swizzle Inn, and if time permitted, Hamilton Second port day – Horseshoe Bay Beach and the shops / sights around Royal Naval Dockyard In addition to our time in Bermuda, we made plans to check out the North Star and try out Ripcord by iFly, see all the on-board shows, and have dinner at Wonderland. We also wanted to buy the Thermal Spa package and have a chance to enjoy that throughout the trip. It was a pretty packed itinerary for a 5-night sailing; stay tuned to see how it all turned out!

An Alaskan cruise on Ovation of the Seas--Aug 23, 2019.  Our first time to Alaska.  We are having so much fun "researching" this cruise.  304 days to go!!