Ovation and Quantum sailings from China.

We are in China at present and just booked two last minute short cruises on Ovation sailing from Tianjin.

Price was too hard top resist and booked very quickly so am not too fussed about differences in charges on board but I am certainly curious to know what they may be. Hoping some on here have cruised on these short Chinese cruises.

Main questions are.

We are diamond plus so what happens with our happy hour benefits? I think the D lounge is converted into a high rollers room but does the Concierge lounge still exist and if so can we use it?

Is there an upcharge for the "free" items elsewhere? Particularly flow rider but also I-fly and North Star.

How chaotic is the boarding process at Tianjin?

I don't know about the Diamond Lounge, but you will get your 3 free drink vouchers each evening, to be used at any bar.

Is there an upcharge for the "free" items elsewhere? Particularly flow rider but also I-fly and North Star.

I've not heard of an upcharge for Flowrider but have read reports of a charge for Ripcord and Northstar. Some of that may be sailing specific.

Do a search on Quantum, there have a been a couple of reviews.

Check out some experiences on Tianjin, good and bad....

https://www.tripadvisor.com.au/Attraction_Review-g311293-d2409610-Reviews-Tianjin_International_Cruise_Port-Tianjin.html?m=19904

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We are in China at present and just booked two last minute short cruises on Ovation sailing from Tianjin.

 

Price was too hard top resist and booked very quickly so am not too fussed about differences in charges on board but I am certainly curious to know what they may be. Hoping some on here have cruised on these short Chinese cruises.

 

Main questions are.

 

We are diamond plus so what happens with our happy hour benefits? I think the D lounge is converted into a high rollers room but does the Concierge lounge still exist and if so can we use it?

 

Is there an upcharge for the "free" items elsewhere? Particularly flow rider but also I-fly and North Star.

 

How chaotic is the boarding process at Tianjin?

If there aren't many diamonds and above onboard, likely you will be using the Concierge Lounge since they are often combined in Asia sailings. Should there be many of them, Deck 4 of the Music Hall will be used as the Diamond Lounge.

We are in China at present and just booked two last minute short cruises on Ovation sailing from Tianjin.

 

Price was too hard top resist and booked very quickly so am not too fussed about differences in charges on board but I am certainly curious to know what they may be. Hoping some on here have cruised on these short Chinese cruises.

 

Main questions are.

 

We are diamond plus so what happens with our happy hour benefits? I think the D lounge is converted into a high rollers room but does the Concierge lounge still exist and if so can we use it?

 

Is there an upcharge for the "free" items elsewhere? Particularly flow rider but also I-fly and North Star.

 

How chaotic is the boarding process at Tianjin?

I just got off the Ovation. They will be very happy to see you. We were 2 of 8 Americans on the ship. The ship was basically chartered by Asian tour companies. They also didn't have any English speaking tours because they didn't make the 25 person minimum. So you will probably be on your own for tours. They don't get Crown and Anchor members over there so the Concierge Lounge will be very quiet. It's all the way in the back on Deck 12. The Diamond Lounge is the high roller room.

They are charging for North Star because EVERYONE was signing up to do it and then they wouldn't come for their appointed time. They started accessing a fee to cut down the crowds.

The concierges are awesome !!!! There are four of them and they are called the Golden Concierges. They made the cruise for us and helped us a lot.

We did not have good weather. We were only able to hit the pool one day. There is an inside pool and the Solarium is further passed that. We didn't discover that until later in the cruise.

Windjammer catered to an Asian crowd but we ate in Coastal Kitchen the whole time.

The cruise will be a whole new experience if you haven't sailed in the Asian market before. Let me know if you have any questions.

I just saw that you are from Australia. The Hotel Director is from Australia so I wouldn't be

surprised if you run into him or if he seeks you out. His name is Michael Rasmussen. Great guy.

Agree with catgirl.

Ifly is also charged. Was about $24 for northstar and $30 for ifly as I recall.

No charge for flow rider.

Concierge lounge is great :-)

I just got off the Ovation. They will be very happy to see you. We were 2 of 8 Americans on the ship. The ship was basically chartered by Asian tour companies. They also didn't have any English speaking tours because they didn't make the 25 person minimum. So you will probably be on your own for tours. They don't get Crown and Anchor members over there so the Concierge Lounge will be very quiet. It's all the way in the back on Deck 12. The Diamond Lounge is the high roller room.

They are charging for North Star because EVERYONE was signing up to do it and then they wouldn't come for their appointed time. They started accessing a fee to cut down the crowds.

The concierges are awesome !!!! There are four of them and they are called the Golden Concierges. They made the cruise for us and helped us a lot.

We did not have good weather. We were only able to hit the pool one day. There is an inside pool and the Solarium is further passed that. We didn't discover that until later in the cruise.

Windjammer catered to an Asian crowd but we ate in Coastal Kitchen the whole time.

The cruise will be a whole new experience if you haven't sailed in the Asian market before. Let me know if you have any questions.

I have cruised repos to China but never a local cruise. Fully aware of the demographic and as I am in China at present for a while its not an issue.

Are we likely to get into Coastal kitchen as a D+? Realise its only suites and Pinnacles normally but not likely to be many high C+A members on board.

Can you recall if there were big crowds at the flow rider. It's my favourite activity?

I am guessing there wont be much trivia either.

The inside pool area on Quantum Class is great. Weather here is warming up so hoping it continues.

Sorry I forgot to thank you all for the info. CAT GIRL could you relate what the boarding process was like. We have our set sail passes and have uploaded our photos. We will arrive at the port around 1pm which I have noticed is the earliest available boarding time. This is later than what is the normal boarding but my guess is that is because it takes longer to get the ship cleared from previous cruise.

We are D+ so I hope we will have a separate queue.

How was the disembarking?

Another question. What is the immigration process like at the Japanese ports. Do all the passengers need to go through immigration, customs etc at the first Japanese port.

Just completed our first of two cruises.

As previously advised all D and above members are invited to the Concierge lounge. In saying that we were the only "international guests" as were referred to as in the lounge. It was very empty most times.

We were also allowed to eat in Coastal Kitchen for dinner.

The four Golden Concierges, Bai Bing, Cai Cai, Jin Huan, Jing Jing were fantastic and could do no more to make our cruise so much fun.

It was a great advantage to be walked off early in port and skip lines at dinner etc as these lines were quite long with locals queueing early.

Nth Star and IFly were indeed an extra cost.

Flowrider had very short lines early but by the end of the cruise many locals wanted their one photo opp and lines were horrendous. (as was some of the swimwear lol)

All in all a very enjoyable cruise but would be quite hectic without the Concierge priviages.

Staff are amazing the way they patiently deal with challenges presented by the local culture.

Just completed our first of two cruises.

 

As previously advised all D and above members are invited to the Concierge lounge. In saying that we were the only "international guests" as were referred to as in the lounge. It was very empty most times.

 

We were also allowed to eat in Coastal Kitchen for dinner.

The four Golden Concierges, Bai Bing, Cai Cai, Jin Huan, Jing Jing were fantastic and could do no more to make our cruise so much fun.

 

It was a great advantage to be walked off early in port and skip lines at dinner etc as these lines were quite long with locals queueing early.

 

Nth Star and IFly were indeed an extra cost.

 

Flowrider had very short lines early but by the end of the cruise many locals wanted their one photo opp and lines were horrendous. (as was some of the swimwear lol)

 

All in all a very enjoyable cruise but would be quite hectic without the Concierge priviages.

 

Staff are amazing the way they patiently deal with challenges presented by the local culture.

I'm so sorry that I didn't see your earlier questions. I see that you met my Golden Concierges. Aren't they great? I"m glad they took care of you. I'm glad you had a great cruise.

Hi, this message is unrelated to this forum but just wanted to mention that if you are no longer going to be on the Oasis EB t/a in 2019 you may want to remove your info from cruise fellows . com? Enjoy your Oriental itineraries,

Jeff

We are in China at present and just booked two last minute short cruises on Ovation sailing from Tianjin.

 

Price was too hard top resist and booked very quickly so am not too fussed about differences in charges on board but I am certainly curious to know what they may be. Hoping some on here have cruised on these short Chinese cruises.

 

Main questions are.

 

We are diamond plus so what happens with our happy hour benefits? I think the D lounge is converted into a high rollers room but does the Concierge lounge still exist and if so can we use it?

 

Is there an upcharge for the "free" items elsewhere? Particularly flow rider but also I-fly and North Star.

 

How chaotic is the boarding process at Tianjin?