ScooterScott22

Ok, I clicked on this thread due to the topic. We sailed Ovation for 11 days and had Star Class so we tried all of the specialty restaurants at least once. Unfortunately we can give our feedback on the food and experience but nothing really related to your questions. After you have the questions about booking and such, if you are looking for other details I’ll watch this and share.

We were in port and doing the flow rider once while rain showers were happening. No lightening and it was just light rain so it didn’t impact anything.

Used the club back there on the Ovation and it didn’t seem terribly busy. The hallway traffic was minimal. Not sure you will notice much.

Wanted to share that the cruise security screening is different than airport. You should drop your checked bags, it is much easier and better for the overall process. But if you do carry them on they probably will make it through security. The requirement that the bag be a certain size is not really a thing for the ship. As long as it fits in the scanner it is good to go. Sorry for those that read this before since once I posted it on another thread. Our family had backpacks as carry on and a regular checked bag for our last cruise. Because we were routed incorrectly, more than once, we ended up taking our bags all the way to ship. I thought it would be problem at security but they put them through the scanners and we kept on through the process. Luckily we were Star Class so we’re able to just drop the bags at the room.

It seems that most of the specialty dining is setup like a “normal” restaurant. The majority of seating is a 4 top with a mix of some smaller and larger options. The one exception is Chef’s Table.

The Star Class on Ovation consists of three categories. There is one Royal Suite, one Owners loft suite and six Grand Loft suites. Those are the Star Class. The royal and owners loft are both on deck 8 (and 9) aft corner rooms, port and starboard respectively. The grand lofts are the two corner rooms above those deck 10 (and 11) and there are 4 rooms aft midship on 8 and 10. The sky lofts are all between those cabins and are sky class.

Not sure that it is really all that much more upscale or eclectic. Yes, the quality is nicer and generally better. Those attending dinner there do tend to adhere to the stated dress code more than you will witness in the MDR. I would say that CK has a similar variety of choices for dining as the MDR. The menu rotates each night on a seven night schedule. The menus are posted so you can review the typical options.

Yes, I’ll add my favorite towel animal from our last cruise on Ovation - the panda mascots that are on the top deck.

L’occitane products are in the suites. That doesn’t help the Op but may help someone.

I’ll confirm that in Vancouver we were able to go through screening with our checked bags. It was a SNAFU with boarding there but we each had a backpack and regular full sized suitcase. We were routed incorrectly by a port worker more than once. I thought it was going to be a problem with the size of the bags at security but they made it through. We carried them all the way onto the ship and to the room.

When we walked off out to the ride share area foot traffic appeared to be moving as fast or faster then the vehicles. So it may be faster to walk if you expect to arrive at a time there will be heavy traffic. We each only had a roller checked bag and a backpack so walking was not bad. If you are carrying more bags that might factor also.

First the question about seasickness. While there is some difference between true midship and being forward or aft, if the seas are rough everyone will feel it to some degree. Based on the cabin choices you mentioned since neither is right near midship the difference with that in mind will probably be minimal. The inside passages tend to be a little less rough on Alaska cruises since the mountains/terrain help. Into and out of Seattle the ship will travel in the Pacific so you probably will notice more motion at that time. We had cabin 10720 so it was closer to the cabins you are considering. Being port or starboard didn’t really seem to matter much. A few of the ports/stops the ship will travel up a fjord to get to port and then back the same way out of port so you will get the scenery on each side of the ship at different times of day. So again not much difference between the too rooms you selected. We had the downstairs neighbors up for a short visit and they did say that the view was a little better on the balconies. So being a little higher might have contributed to a little better view. As for being forward or aft, you may consider what items on the ship would be more convenient to get to from the room. Solarium, kids club, theater and fitness center would likely be easier from the forward. Sea Plex, Windjammer, Two70 and cafe from the aft. There seems to be two slight advantages with the aft that are specific to Alaska. Most people walk to the closest elevator to go up and then over to the buffet. If you do that fro the aft you will remain indoors. If you do that from the forward you will cross outside, by the pool, which has the possibility to be cool and rainy. The second advantage to being more aft is also minimal and even more sporadic. If the bridge crew see something in the water, particularly whales they will make an announcement. If you happen to be in the room on that side it gives you a few extra seconds to get out to then veranda and locate them before the ship passes or they swim away.

Great topic. Unfortunately for me there is not one solid answer. If I had to select one itinerary it would be Galapagos. I have too many cruise “things” I would like to do. Here are a few of the items I want to check off or have completed. - cross Arctic Circle - done - transit Panama Canal - done - Trans- Atlantic - fall 2019 - Trans- Pacific/Dateline - booked Spring 2021 - Cross Equator - Antarctica

@Baked Alaska Sounds good, don’t forget to pack your Stanley Cup champs t’s and caps! Ill be honest, during our May Ovation cruise except for excursion on the glacier we really only needed jacket and long pants most days. It felt like a spring (or fall) day most of the time.

Yea, the pasta was even listed in the menu with a nice description. The waiter said order the entrees with him. Once we ordered the pasta he said to get that off the Buffett. So once the entree was “completed” it did not match the description at all!

Last month on Ovation the details were pretty much the same except one fact. Most entrees were served from the kitchen but a couple were from the buffet. Our son ordered pasta and that was one of the serve yourself items. So it may not be variety just from ship to ship but specific dishes.

Some of your question are already answered so I’ll just try to cover some items that were not. The dress code is not well enforced so you can pretty much wear what you want to a certain extent. It is Alaska and while you may have some nice weather, last mont we were only able to wear shorts on a couple of days. It is likely your cruise will also have 2 formal nights. Again you can wear what you want but expect that most will be in dress pants and collared shirts, some will have suits on and even a few tuxedos, so dress to your comfort level. As mentioned you can work with concierge to book some activities and those are items that have set reservations like iFly and certain times for the NorthStar. Only Star Class has a priority access for activities that do not have reservations like bumper cars. To help you plan here is a link to the cruise compass for our cruise last month that @twangstershared. https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/cruise-compasses/ovation-of-the-seas/mon-2019-05-13-0000 I don’t want to disrespect that you can try to keep your normal schedule and be in bed at a certain time. But you will be on vacation, so it is likely that you should consider allowing for a little variety and flexibility to your day. First of all you will be in the Alaska time zone which is an hour behind Pacific, so even if home is on the west coasts there is a time change, more so if you are from somewhere else. Second since you are on vacation your schedule during the day will likely be different anyway.

DS who is 11 was able to do pretty much anything on the ship. NorthStar, bumper cars, trapeze, iFly and climbing were all possible and have very clear age/height restrictions posted. He was even able to do a number of those own his own, including driving by himself in the bumper cars so I think you teens should be fine. Since I went with him on the NorthStar I didn’t check but he might have needed an adult for that. He also did make a few different drinks at the Bionic Bar while on the Ovation. An adult has to scan their sea pass card and confirm their age by inputting g their birth year but then he could do the drink selection. He had a blast with the make your own. The attendant the helps at the Bionic Bar even offered to assist with getting some ice after he had created a drink that he forgot to include some.

Are you departing out of Miami or Fort Lauderdale? There is a passport office not far from the Miami port that does “emergency” passports. You need to make an appointment but turn around can be same day. If you are already traveling with your birth certificates you have the documents. https://www.us-passport-service-guide.com/miami-passport-agency.html

One viable option would not be going directly to guest services, but to interact with any of the stateroom attendants in the hall. It is very easy to find any of them in the hall near the room and just ask if they are covering your room. If not, mention you wanted to meet your attendant and share the issues. They all work in close proximity to each other so usually the message travels quickly. Jay, with this being your kids first cruise by themselves, they did a reasonable thing. But wanted to point out that there are usually different avenues available.

Wow, I really hope the OP doesn’t read this and take it literally. They seemed overly concerned that the door would not be able to be locked already. The Magic is true to a certain extent, and yes they are observing you but the room stewards are doing so from a low tech perspective. There are security cameras in the halls but the stewards are in the halls around your room and simply using their own eyes and ears. If you are in your room it is pretty easy to know if your neighbor just came in or left. Since the steward has your room and those right around they can see you leave or sometimes hear you leave. The guests also tend to follow the same patterns as outer guests. Between direct observation, basic human behavior patterns and the privacy/cleaning magnets it is a pretty low tech system.

Are you concerned about this because you have heard it or is there another reason? The United Kingdom, France and most of Western Europe are on the same level. So would you be as reserved and not venture out in Paris, London or Rome? The information is valid but not much beyond normal safe practices you should always use while traveling. Also there are specifics that are mentioned that would not probably apply to you.

What do you consider to be safe? That may be a good starting point to get an understanding as if you should be getting off the ship or not. There are bad people everywhere and you should always be aware of your surroundings, pay attention to where you are and where you are going and be conscious if your valuables. To me Nassau is no more risky that any other city in the US or foreign port.

Not sure which ship or room you are referring to but as Twangster mentions there is no bad view. Wanted to share that we sailed with him but had the starboard/aft. There were opportunities to see whales, seals, eagles, etc. It doesn’t seem to be as specific to location but more being in the right place at the right time. As for the landscape views it is pretty constant so you just have to be looking. Based on our room and everting we were able to see I think you will be fine. Just take the time to enjoy.

Pretty timely, this thread about losing a SeaPass card was just on the boards. The more fun topic is if you are in port and get left behind with all the famous dock runners videos. We got a lot of insight while speaking with a crew member who was often the one standing at the port waiting for folks or transferring the passports to the port authorities. They shared the most common reason for people having passports or even all their belongings removed from the ship in these instances. It is usually not the careless “lost track of time” pier runner. Usually some sort of situation or emergency causes the guest to request to leave early, or stay behind, and the crew will usually retrieve the passport at minimum.