Jamesszy94

I'm still waiting to get on an Oasis class one day.. here's hoping. In the meantime I'll just stick to Ovation since she's the only ship based in Sydney.

Congratulations to your daughter? you? DH? on their graduation! Star Class looks amazing! Oh how the other half live!!

Dinner - Night 2

French Onion Soup - why do they put SO much cheese on top... it's like they want you to get diabetes or something, I've never been a fan of french onion soup though...
The Seafood Linguine was the best part of the dinner, it was pretty good. And the desert - Strawberry Icecream was also good..

Mexican tomorrow. I decided I would treat myself this time around and booked for Izumi's for Night 6... 

I am also seriously consider booking the repo to Singapore.. my dad is also onboard to booking - the cruise part

The flying back from Singapore part... he's not so keen on 

Some thoughts so far:
Ovation has been well maintained - all her public spaces still look really nice. One thing I will say is that there's never enough chairs inside the music hall whenever there's a trivia or a gameshow in there, I get that it's multi-leveled, but when everyone is fighting for chairs/a table... it can get pretty hectic at times. 

Is it just me or has the elevator wait times gotten worse? I don't remember the elevator wait times being this bad, when we sailed on her last year, we only had to wait ~1-2 minutes for the elevator, but this time we waited about 5-6 minutes... granted, we were on Deck 10 last time and this time we're on Deck 3, so I guess its expected.

Our Room Steward is nice and he introduced himself on day 1. I really hate the once a day turndown service! But alas, not much we can do about it. The bellyflop competition got postponed because of rough weather... shame. 

47 minutes ago, AshleyDillo said:

I hate, hate, hate that they've taken away this feature! 

When was this feature taken away?

23 minutes ago, AshleyDillo said:

I hate, hate, hate that they've taken away this feature! 

Same! It was one of the best features of the TV. I hate having to call now and be like "yeah can I get it tomorrow morning" 

Also speaking of Crown and Anchor..

There was no welcome aboard letter in my room when I boarded so I don't know about anythint Crown and Anchor related on my account.

Also, how are the robes we can request? Comfy? Like every other robe you get at department stores?

Another thing I noted that's changed a bit: You can no longer order Room Service on your TV.  On my cruise last year we were able to order on our TV.

If only I was a top tier member....  

Speaking of.. when I boarded the ship they printed Gold status for me under Crown and Anchor, but the Royal Caribbean app said apparently I'm Plat.. so I went to the Loyalty Ambassador desk to clear it up and he gave me a new Seapass Card!

Day 2: pretty standard for us non-suite people

Breakfast in the Windjammer: I've recognized 3 people from the last cruise I was on last year.

Good to know the selection hasn't changed /sarcasm

Pretty rough seas at the moment. Didn't really feel too well to go to trivia. Hopefully once we're out of the Tasman Sea it'll be better.

Dinner night 1

The chicken (pie) - I didn't eat the pastry - was good.... but it just looked so sad with the one single broccoli.

The spag bol was nice I suppose, a little bit salty for my liking. 

I've got a little observation I wanted to point out - the waiters in the MDR were extremely friendly, however, they were also a little bit ... I don't know the word - they'd come up to you every 5 seconds and ask you how the food was  or the service or if you'd like anything else. Like don't get me wrong. I know they're just being friendly, and I personally don't mind, but other people would be very bothered by this. 

Day 2 soon.

Got a new cruise director, he's different to the last one. We had Steve from Canada last time and he was way more enthusiastic. The one we have now, I think his name is Michael? Or Mike? Is also good, and he speaks clearly and is well informed, but he doesn't seem nearly as enthusiastic as Steve from Canada.

Alas.. the Windjammer closed right when we got onboard. Oh well. Lucky Fish and Ships is right outside.. 

Oceanview Room... 

Overseas Passenger Terminal is relatively empty.. I guess that's expected when you choose a late check in time.

Boarding soon!

Taking the train to Circular Quay now. T Minus 1 hour to go!

Boarding Day!

2 hours until we board! Just waiting for a lift to the station now then catching the train to Circular Quay to get to the Overseas Passenger Terminal.

Update: Looks like they retroactively applied the Double Points for me... I was doing all the pre-cruise day check-in stuff and found out I had 36 points which looked super weird to me, because it was originally 22.

1 day before boarding day!

I've started packing... finally just throw a bunch of clothes, underwear, socks, pants and shorts into a suitcase and call it a day!

I would have also liked to visit Dunedin.. but alas, this one didn't include Dunedin.

Two more days until we board Ovation of the Seas... this will be my third time on her, but I don't mind, she's a great ship, and it's not like we (people who live in Australia.. ) have any other choice that doesn't involve flying..

Our itinerary goes:

DAY 1 (TUE 12 MAR) - Sydney, Australia

DAY 2 (WED 13 MAR) - CRUISING

DAY 3 (THUR 14 MAR) - CRUISING

DAY 4 (FRI 15 MAR) - Picton, New Zealand

DAY 5 (SAT 16 MAR) - Napier, New Zealand

DAY 6 (SUN 17 MAR) - Wellington, New Zealand

DAY 7 (MON 18 MAR) - CRUISING

DAY 8 (TUE 19 MAR) - Dusky Sound (8:00am - 9:00am), Doubtful Sound (11:00am - 12:00pm), Milford Sound (5:00pm - 6:00pm)

DAY 9 (WED 20 MAR) - CRUISING

DAY 10 (THUR 21 MAR) - CRUISING

DAY 11 (FRI 22nd MAR) - Sydney, Australia

Not entirely sure why Royal are doing it this way but lol okay... you'd think they'd go through the Sounds first, up to Picton, over to Wellington, then over to Napier and then north past Auckland back to Sydney, but I'm not questioning it.. as long as Royal gets me to the places, I'll be a happy camper.

WHO: Myself and my father (my mum doesn't like cruising, cause she gets seasick often)

CABIN: Oceanview on Deck 3 right next to the Music Hall (upgraded from an Interior through Royal Up) - I wish I could afford staying in a suite...  maybe later this year when I turn 30... I'll treat myself.

My house to the Overseas Passenger Terminal is ~35-40 minute train ride. It's a 5 minute walk over from Circular Quay to get to the port.... 

Let's hope they reserved us a table for 2 in the MDR like I requested... 

I think Explorer, Liberty and Adventure are/were also supposed to be getting amplification's too, but noone knows when. I think they already did a small amplification/upgrade for Explorer earlier this year or sometime last year if I remember correctly.

I made a similar post a while ago - some good insights.

2 minutes ago, twangster said:

That is not the phone number for Crown and Anchor.  it is the phone number for sales and reservations in Australia.  The reason they are telling you to email them is because the person you reached is not part of the CAS team and they can't perform CAS related tasks.  

In North America the toll free number for Crown and Anchor is 1 ‭(800) 526-9723 or ‭1 (541) 285-9723‬ as a long distance call‬.   The second number can be reached globally but would be charged as a long distance call.  The concept of using a provider like Google voice is to be able to call North American toll free numbers from foreign countries such as the UK or Australia.  If you can find a method to call CAS directly during North American daylight hours your issue could be dealt with immediately.  Yes it sucks that the CAS department doesn't provide in country phone numbers around the world but it is what it is.

Well, that's the number that's listed on the Australian website under the Crown and Anchor society page...I've emailed them now though, so will just wait for a reply. 

3 minutes ago, twangster said:

The amount doesn't matter, the presence of the line on the invoice is all that matters.  If that line item is present with any amount including zero then it shows the fare was booked on a solo basis.  

Hmm, I guess that makes sense, I'll see what they reply with on the email (hopefully they do) and will keep you updated.

4 minutes ago, mattymay said:

It ends in school holidays so there is potential for more expensive flights.

Too bad we can't look up flights now...

But one way would still be cheaper than Return, so it shouldn't be too bad either way.

On 3/5/2024 at 1:36 PM, mattymay said:

Booked! 

I'm trying to convince my dad to go with me on that repo, so I might bump into you. He's not too sold on the idea that we have to fly back from Singapore though... one way on Qantas shouldn't be too expensive right?  Especially since you get 30kg of checked baggage included.. don't really want to pay an arm and a leg for Scoot where they charge you for literally everything.

When I got my RoyalUp bid accepted last month for an upgrade from an Interior to an Oceanview, I bid the absolute minimum on the 2nd bar of the wheel. 

Like Mike said, it's purely anecdotal, you could bid the absolute minimum and win, or you could be 10,000 (just as a hypothetical number) over the minimum and still win, my guess is it's about demand and what other people are willing to pay.