Fairlynew

I just got off a 5 night cruise on Independence.  Passenger count around 1600.

I just got off a 5 night cruise on Independence.  Passenger count around 1600.

No separate suite area right now, but you will generally walk right onto the ship after checking in unless you have to wait on a Covid test. Junior Suites and all suites can check in one hour before or after your check in window. If you’re in the first check in window of the day they won’t open the doors until closer to the actual start of the checkin window. 

I just like the fact that Jr. suites have a tub.

On ovation, Sky class got NO priority at boarding.  In line with everyone else.  Only “perk” was ability to flex arrival time by an hour

On ovation, Sky class got NO priority at boarding.  In line with everyone else.  Only “perk” was ability to flex arrival time by an hour

I'm really enjoying this.  It sounds like ya'll are having fun.  I will be on Allure in January in Sky Class.  I will have the drink package, so the lack of free drinks doesn't bother me that much, but I would like to be able to get a drink in the suite lounge outside "happy hour".  Do you know if they will serving drinks that you pay for?

Suite perks are very limited right now.  I just got off ovation in a 2 bedroom gs.  There was no reserved seating for shows.  We had to make show reservations for all shows.  No priority boarding or disembarking (at end of cruise).   Those are generally the things that make a suite worth it to me. In addition to the lack of perks, there was only one concierge and she was essentially worthless.    We were not a demanding group.   Pre-boarding, I requested beds to be split into twins in both rooms and CK reservations for 6:30 each night.  She replied that dinner reservations were made(turned out they weren’t-fortunately, the CK maitre d realized that we planned to eat all meals there and was able to accommodate us, even if the times available were not our preference).   I was disappointed and felt bad that the CK staff had to adjust due to the failures of the concierge.    She also told us that the second bedroom only had bunk beds, not a bed that could be split. She was wring but that caused a few minutes of concern.  

Generally, I love suite class, but I did feel we got few benefits this trip. 

Yippee !!  So glad to see that you made it onboard.  Isn’t it funny how all that stress becomes a faded memory once you step on board ?

Suite perks are very limited right now.  I just got off ovation in a 2 bedroom gs.  There was no reserved seating for shows.  We had to make show reservations for all shows.  No priority boarding or disembarking (at end of cruise).   Those are generally the things that make a suite worth it to me. In addition to the lack of perks, there was only one concierge and she was essentially worthless.    We were not a demanding group.   Pre-boarding, I requested beds to be split into twins in both rooms and CK reservations for 6:30 each night.  She replied that dinner reservations were made(turned out they weren’t-fortunately, the CK maitre d realized that we planned to eat all meals there and was able to accommodate us, even if the times available were not our preference).   I was disappointed and felt bad that the CK staff had to adjust due to the failures of the concierge.    She also told us that the second bedroom only had bunk beds, not a bed that could be split. She was wring but that caused a few minutes of concern.  

Generally, I love suite class, but I did feel we got few benefits this trip. 

Or take the train

Or take the train

Glacier Bay is awesome.   I was on Princess in 2011.  The inside passage was also great.  Skagway was my favorite port.  Ketchikan was not so great.   I am heading out Friday-assuming a negative covid test tomorrow on ovation.  Chose this for ship, Skagway and inside passage.  
 
gping with friends because my husband does not want to go again.  He got “tired of all the pretty scenery”

Glacier Bay is awesome.   I was on Princess in 2011.  The inside passage was also great.  Skagway was my favorite port.  Ketchikan was not so great.   I am heading out Friday-assuming a negative covid test tomorrow on ovation.  Chose this for ship, Skagway and inside passage.  
 
gping with friends because my husband does not want to go again.  He got “tired of all the pretty scenery”

Glacier Bay is awesome.   I was on Princess in 2011.  The inside passage was also great.  Skagway was my favorite port.  Ketchikan was not so great.   I am heading out Friday-assuming a negative covid test tomorrow on ovation.  Chose this for ship, Skagway and inside passage.  
 
gping with friends because my husband does not want to go again.  He got “tired of all the pretty scenery”

The second bedroom is one king bed that can be split with 2 overhead beds (pullmans), therefore the 2nd room can sleep 4 with each having their own bed.
I believe the other bedroom has a king than splits into two beds as well, so there can be 6 single beds in all.  Then there's a double sleeper sofa, which is why the room is rated 8 occupancy.

On another tangent-I was in Sky class on harmony and really wanted to try “the world” from wonderland.   We did not have the dining package.  The maitre’d in CK, Ace, arranged for us to have desert in the wonderland, which was awesome.  I also noticed waiters serving “the world” to several tables in CK, but it was neat to have it in the restaurant.   We were not charged and did not have any dining plan-we love CK

What I did just a couple of hours ago is I finally caved and bought Travel Insurance.  Between Covid, a Same Day Flight, and the smaller risk of Hurricanes, I decided that I needed to this just to be on the safe side.

On another tangent-I was in Sky class on harmony and really wanted to try “the world” from wonderland.   We did not have the dining package.  The maitre’d in CK, Ace, arranged for us to have desert in the wonderland, which was awesome.  I also noticed waiters serving “the world” to several tables in CK, but it was neat to have it in the restaurant.   We were not charged and did not have any dining plan-we love CK

On another tangent-I was in Sky class on harmony and really wanted to try “the world” from wonderland.   We did not have the dining package.  The maitre’d in CK, Ace, arranged for us to have desert in the wonderland, which was awesome.  I also noticed waiters serving “the world” to several tables in CK, but it was neat to have it in the restaurant.   We were not charged and did not have any dining plan-we love CK

Day 73...........
So last week I saw that a 2br aqua suite was available and thought about upgrading. But by the time I made my decision, the WOW sale happened and I was out of luck. I consoled myself with the notion that star class is better on full capacity ships ? I also realized that I probably will never get a better deal than what I paid for this room. I snagged this room for $7100 for 5 people and that includes taxes, port fees and gratuity.......$400 worth of OBC. With the WOW sale it was going to be $11,930. So I keep reminding myself that when others get price adjustments, I had already snagged a pretty good deal.
Our Guac and Sushi making classes have been cancelled. I guess the CDC believes they can't happen because of social distancing but it makes absolutely no sense. Thankfully we didn't want to do the UDP because it has also been sold out from our sailing for over a week now. I kept hearing that because Windjammer isn't open for dinner the specialty restaurants have been slammed and reservations are wonky. Can't wait to get my concierge email so I can have them get us a standing CK reservation each night. I keep hearing conflicting reports of whether the SL is open 11-11pm. On the 8/8 sailing they said there was only a happy hour from 4-8pm.  Hopefully that was a first revenue-cruise-back kink because people currently on the 8/15 sailing say that it is, just that they have to go out to make drinks. We have a stop in St. Thomas so it looks like our sailing will be vax only. Really looking forward to this vacation, after 2 years it is much needed.

Keep in mind that vaccinated people can still test positive and be asypmtomatic.  It is possible but rare for vaccinated people to have mild symptoms and even rarer for them to be seriously ill.  The goal of the vaccines is to prevent serious illness, not positive tests.  

Ovation of the Seas set sail on 8/13 and left a group of unvaccinated passengers on the dock
 
http://a.msn.com/03/en-us/AANiZTo?ocid=sms

Thank you for taking the time to share this.  

Keep in mind that vaccinated people can still test positive and be asypmtomatic.  It is possible but rare for vaccinated people to have mild symptoms and even rarer for them to be seriously ill.  The goal of the vaccines is to prevent serious illness, not positive tests.