Ovation of the Seas - Inaugural B2B cruise review (with lot's of photo's!!)

[drummerdavebmth]

My wife and I got off the 'Ovation of the Seas' this morning and I am now in the process of looking through my photo's......no better time, then, to start my review of our cruise on board the brand new Quantum class ship, the 'Ovation of the Seas'.

 

This cruise hit a few "firsts" for us. Our first cruise since reaching Platinum, our first on a Quantum class ship, our first back-to-back cruise experience which incorporated our first 3 night "cruise" (cough) experience....

 

The Itinerary was as follows...

 

Day 1. Southampton, UK (Embarkation)

Day 2. Rotterdam, Holland

Day 3. At Sea

Day 4. Southampton (Disembarkation for some, but not for us....yay!!)

Day 5. Cherbourg, France

Day 6. Le Harve (for Paris), France

Day 7. At Sea

Day 8. Zeebrugge (for Bruges or Brussels), Belgium

Day 9. Southampton (Disembarkation......Boooo!!!)

 

 

We had a fantastic time overall, there were a few negatives which I will point out along the way to give a true reflection of what Jen and I thought - but on the whole we enjoyed ourselves and we don't like dwelling on the negatives (life's too short). The positives out weighed the negatives anyway...

 

So, our journey started 9 days ago in Southampton. Luckily Jen and I only live about a 40 minute drive up the road (the coastal town of Bournemouth), so we asked my parents to drop us off...

 

Our holiday begins.......

 

 

Untitled by drummerdave72, on Flickr[/img]

 

 

 

 

Getting onto the ship was an absolute breeze thanks to the new online check in procedure. We were on before we knew it!! We were welcomed onboard with Champagne and there were balloons up everywhere. Because we were the first ever paying guests, our rooms were ready straight away - so by 11:20am, we were already in our stateroom.

 

We were in stateroom 9262 - which I can highly recommend, by the way (nice, larger than average balcony).

 

 

Jen looking rather excited....

 

Untitled by drummerdave72, on Flickr[/img]

 

 

Untitled by drummerdave72, on Flickr[/img]

Edited April 22, 2016 by drummerdavebmth

[drummerdavebmth]

Untitled by drummerdave72, on Flickr://[/img]

 

 

 

Of course, no stateroom "tour" would be complete without a peek into the toilet/shower room.....

 

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1514/26303627630_956a775270_b.jpg' alt='26303627630_956a775270_b.jpg'>Untitled by drummerdave72, on Flickr[/img]

Edited April 22, 2016 by drummerdavebmth

[Clarea]

Nice start Dave, this will be fun.:)

[mirp]

Great. Love the pictures.

[drummerdavebmth]

Thanks guys... :)

[tonkie]

My mate is on her now and your pictures have made me jealous :D

Did you get served by the robotic bartender?

 

Looked at your Flickr, some nice shots

Edited April 22, 2016 by tonkie

[mirp]

One question were you able to pre book entertainment before getting on board?

[drummerdavebmth]

We had a little while before we were booked to go up in the 'North Star', so we went to the Windjammer (which was hectic as usual, but less so towards the back).

 

Here's a lovely photo I took of Jen, can you see her smiling? Well, you would if it wasn't so damn sunny outside!! Nice views over Southampton...Anyway, hopefully this gives you the idea of where we sat most of the times we visited the Windjammer - a lot of the entertainment staff also ate there.

 

 

Untitled by drummerdave72, on Flickr[/img]

 

 

Untitled by drummerdave72, on Flickr[/img]

 

 

Untitled by drummerdave72, on Flickr[/img]

[drummerdavebmth]

My mate is on her now and your pictures have made me jealous :D

Did you get served by the robotic bartender?

 

Looked at your Flickr, some nice shots

 

Thanks....I'm jealous of your mate - wish I was back on her now (feels surreal knowing I was on there only this morning).

 

Anyway, yes. We did get served by the robotic bartenders - for us it was one of those "to do once" things. A bit of a novelty, but no need to repeat the experience....

[drummerdavebmth]

One question were you able to pre book entertainment before getting on board?

 

 

Yes, we pre-booked 'Spectra's Caberet' and 'Dream' online prior to the cruise.

[QE2_Fan]

Great sounding review, sorry if just me but all the pictures are showing broken links??

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[drummerdavebmth]

Here is a nice photo I took of the Seaplex whilst some people were having fun on the bumper cars....

 

 

 

 

Untitled by drummerdave72, on Flickr[/img]

 

 

Untitled by drummerdave72, on Flickr[/img]

 

 

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1553/26550371736_5df6849f51_b.jpg' alt='26550371736_5df6849f51_b.jpg'>Untitled by drummerdave72, on Flickr[/img]

[drummerdavebmth]

Great sounding review, sorry if just me but all the pictures are showing broken links??

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

 

Hmmmm....that's strange. Anyone else having the same problem? :confused:

 

My wife has just checked on her iPad and she can see them ok....

[QE2_Fan]

Hmmmm....that's strange. Anyone else having the same problem? :confused:

 

 

 

My wife has just checked on her iPad and she can see them ok....

 

 

 

Yes I'm on iPad too, and accessing via Tapatalk app. I closed and reopened the app but no Change. If just me I'll leave it a bit and try again later - you have me intrigued!

[Clarea]

Hmmmm....that's strange. Anyone else having the same problem? :confused:

 

My wife has just checked on her iPad and she can see them ok....

I'm on a Windows PC using Firefox and see the photos fine.

[bogofman]

Those photo's bring back memories of our Anthem cruise out of Southampton last year.

 

:)

[drummerdavebmth]

Before we knew it, our time had come to try the 'North Star'. I had pre-booked it online for Southampton on embarkation day and also, on our 2nd sea day).

 

 

 

"....I am not a number, I am a free man"

 

 

Untitled by drummerdave72, on Flickr[/img]

 

 

Untitled by drummerdave72, on Flickr[/img]

 

 

Untitled by drummerdave72, on Flickr[/img]

[drummerdavebmth]

Yes I'm on iPad too, and accessing via Tapatalk app. I closed and reopened the app but no Change. If just me I'll leave it a bit and try again later - you have me intrigued!

 

Jen is just using the Safari browser (rather than an app), maybe just try that? :cool:

[drummerdavebmth]

Those photo's bring back memories of our Anthem cruise out of Southampton last year.

 

:)

 

 

Cool... :)

[Yorkvillain]

Awesome. Thanks Dave.

[QE2_Fan]

Jen is just using the Safari browser (rather than an app), maybe just try that? :cool:

 

 

 

Yes, that works! Strange must be they way the photos are embedded, other photo reviews were fine thru the app [emoji848]

 

But thanks, now I can see yours and so far are well worth it!! [emoji38]

 

Cheers!

[drummerdavebmth]

Awesome. Thanks Dave.

 

Glad you're enjoying :)

[drummerdavebmth]

Yes, that works! Strange must be they way the photos are embedded, other photo reviews were fine thru the app [emoji848]

 

But thanks, now I can see yours and so far are well worth it!! [emoji38]

 

Cheers!

 

Hahaha....glad they're worth it! Strange they aren't showing through the app though :confused:

[drummerdavebmth]

Once we had got back down to ship level, we decided to carry on exploring. By now, a lot more people were being welcomed onboard with Champagne on deck 5 (notice all the balloons....)

 

 

Untitled by drummerdave72, on Flickr[/img]

 

 

Untitled by drummerdave72, on Flickr[/img]

 

 

 

 

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1571/25971460304_43e2e4c98e_b.jpg' alt='25971460304_43e2e4c98e_b.jpg'>Untitled by drummerdave72, on Flickr[/img]

[wolfegizmo]

Thanks so much! We will be on her in December!