Just off the Ovation.. the good, the bad and the so so

[welshy74]

Firstly, I have had a fantastic cruise, sailing from Hong Kong to Singapore via Vietnam and Thailand. This was my first cruise outside Europe and my first time on Quantum Class. So here is my brief review and happy to answer any questions for future Ovation cruisers.

 

Well... Its a lovely ship, I challenge anyone to say otherwise. Its sleek, modern and stylish giving a feel of an upmarket major city hotel. The art work around the ship is wonderful and the overall design is sleek.

There were 4100 guests sailing but I never found it too crowded and it certainly never felt like that many. Over 25% were Australian/Kiwi followed by UK, N.America, Germany and Asia. The whole cruise seemed to be gearing up for the winter Oz/NZ season as the entertainment was very Ozzie heavy and they now stock a lot of Australian beers in the bars. They even had an Australian night in the Windjammer.

 

Firstly the cabin. I was in 7214 which a balcony cabin just above the lifeboats. Its not sold as an obstructed view, which its not, but the lifeboats are very noticeable when you look out. The cabin was one of the best I have had on RCI with plenty of storage. Our cabin attendant was first class and it was always spotless.

 

Food - oh dear! This was a real let down. MDR food was average at best. I had a chocolate souffle that resembled a pot of play-doh.

Service - generally very good with a few moody crew here and there

Entertainment - Ok but the guest performers were very Australian led and very average. A lot of walk outs in the theater which personally I thought was rude, even if the act is bad. For the last show I would say nearly a third walked out.

 

The best bit of the ship is the facilities like the Seaplex, Ifly and North Star. We did pretty much everything from roller skating to Ifly. All it takes is a little forward planning and you can do it all. As soon as we got on board we logged onto the RCI app and booked Pixels, Ifly and North Star. It took all of 3 mins to do!

 

Overall it was a great 9 days but having sailed Quantum, Oasis and Freedom class ships I still favour Voyager class. I can't really fully explain why.. I just do.

 

Happy to try and answer any questions or concerns you may have.

[Clarea]

Curious if they offered any drink cards during the cruise.

[welshy74]

Curious if they offered any drink cards during the cruise.

 

Drink package yes but unsure about drinks card, however I did see someone buying a coffee with some type of card that was not her seapass.

[Clarea]

Drink package yes but unsure about drinks card, however I did see someone buying a coffee with some type of card that was not her seapass.

Thanks. That card was the coffee card, which is available the entire cruise, even pre-cruise. However the cocktail card is not always offered, and I was curious if it was offered on Ovation.

[easyboy]

Glad you had a great time on the Ovation! Thanks for the feedback.

 

 

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[cb at sea]

I have to agree with Voyager class being my favorite, too...not too big, not too small....just right!

[jasper15]

Firstly, I have had a fantastic cruise, sailing from Hong Kong to Singapore via Vietnam and Thailand. This was my first cruise outside Europe and my first time on Quantum Class. So here is my brief review and happy to answer any questions for future Ovation cruisers.

 

Well... Its a lovely ship, I challenge anyone to say otherwise. Its sleek, modern and stylish giving a feel of an upmarket major city hotel. The art work around the ship is wonderful and the overall design is sleek.

There were 4100 guests sailing but I never found it too crowded and it certainly never felt like that many. Over 25% were Australian/Kiwi followed by UK, N.America, Germany and Asia. The whole cruise seemed to be gearing up for the winter Oz/NZ season as the entertainment was very Ozzie heavy and they now stock a lot of Australian beers in the bars. They even had an Australian night in the Windjammer.

 

Firstly the cabin. I was in 7214 which a balcony cabin just above the lifeboats. Its not sold as an obstructed view, which its not, but the lifeboats are very noticeable when you look out. The cabin was one of the best I have had on RCI with plenty of storage. Our cabin attendant was first class and it was always spotless.

 

Food - oh dear! This was a real let down. MDR food was average at best. I had a chocolate souffle that resembled a pot of play-doh.

Service - generally very good with a few moody crew here and there

Entertainment - Ok but the guest performers were very Australian led and very average. A lot of walk outs in the theater which personally I thought was rude, even if the act is bad. For the last show I would say nearly a third walked out.

 

The best bit of the ship is the facilities like the Seaplex, Ifly and North Star. We did pretty much everything from roller skating to Ifly. All it takes is a little forward planning and you can do it all. As soon as we got on board we logged onto the RCI app and booked Pixels, Ifly and North Star. It took all of 3 mins to do!

 

Overall it was a great 9 days but having sailed Quantum, Oasis and Freedom class ships I still favour Voyager class. I can't really fully explain why.. I just do.

 

Happy to try and answer any questions or concerns you may have.

 

Thanks for your review, we don't read too much on here about Ovation. Just wondering did you try any of the speciality restaurants? What was the food like in the WJ, any better than MDR?

[welshy74]

Thanks for your review, we don't read too much on here about Ovation. Just wondering did you try any of the speciality restaurants? What was the food like in the WJ, any better than MDR?

 

 

 

Did not do speciality nor windjammer for dinner, kept to the MDR.

We ate at the WJ for lunch a few times and it was ok. Cafe270 was not bad and did good roast beef sandwiches and salads.

 

We deviated to P&O in the summer and the MDR food was excellent so it angers me that on RCI if you want good food you need to pay extra. Even that’s not guaranteed.. whilst on the Allure the worst dinner was 180 Central Park.

 

 

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[datolim]

Firstly, I have had a fantastic cruise, sailing from Hong Kong to Singapore via Vietnam and Thailand. This was my first cruise outside Europe and my first time on Quantum Class. So here is my brief review and happy to answer any questions for future Ovation cruisers.

 

Well... Its a lovely ship, I challenge anyone to say otherwise. Its sleek, modern and stylish giving a feel of an upmarket major city hotel. The art work around the ship is wonderful and the overall design is sleek.

There were 4100 guests sailing but I never found it too crowded and it certainly never felt like that many. Over 25% were Australian/Kiwi followed by UK, N.America, Germany and Asia. The whole cruise seemed to be gearing up for the winter Oz/NZ season as the entertainment was very Ozzie heavy and they now stock a lot of Australian beers in the bars. They even had an Australian night in the Windjammer.

 

Firstly the cabin. I was in 7214 which a balcony cabin just above the lifeboats. Its not sold as an obstructed view, which its not, but the lifeboats are very noticeable when you look out. The cabin was one of the best I have had on RCI with plenty of storage. Our cabin attendant was first class and it was always spotless.

 

Food - oh dear! This was a real let down. MDR food was average at best. I had a chocolate souffle that resembled a pot of play-doh.

Service - generally very good with a few moody crew here and there

Entertainment - Ok but the guest performers were very Australian led and very average. A lot of walk outs in the theater which personally I thought was rude, even if the act is bad. For the last show I would say nearly a third walked out.

 

The best bit of the ship is the facilities like the Seaplex, Ifly and North Star. We did pretty much everything from roller skating to Ifly. All it takes is a little forward planning and you can do it all. As soon as we got on board we logged onto the RCI app and booked Pixels, Ifly and North Star. It took all of 3 mins to do!

 

Overall it was a great 9 days but having sailed Quantum, Oasis and Freedom class ships I still favour Voyager class. I can't really fully explain why.. I just do.

 

Happy to try and answer any questions or concerns you may have.

I was on Ovation in October to Vietnam. You are lucky with just 4100 on board.

Full load is 5000+. So you will feel not crowded.

I was also on the 7th floor but all you could see is the post the lifeboats were hanging from.

On my 5N cruise the menu in the MDR do not change daily. So I ended up eating escargot and lamb shank for 3 of the 5 nights.

You are right about the entertainment. The Broadway show put me to sleep. The other is an ultra high energy show with very loud music and limbs and body flying around constantly.

[OCruisers]

Glad you basically had an enjoyable cruise and appreciate your time to report back. :)

[welshy74]

Thankfully there menu changed each of the 9 nights.

[kobecat]

Thanks for your feed back. How much is ifly,Northstar etc. they are free in Australia but I understand not when sailing in Asia.

 

 

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[Keith1010]

Enjoyed reading your report.

Keith

[Clarea]

Enjoyed the report, thanks!

[welshy74]

Thanks for your feed back. How much is ifly,Northstar etc. they are free in Australia but I understand not when sailing in Asia.

 

 

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Thankfully both were free on this cruise but I understand on the previous cruise this was not the case which is appalling!

[kobecat]

Thankfully both were free on this cruise but I understand on the previous cruise this was not the case which is appalling!

 

 

 

Well I won't get too excited yet. We do a Hong Kong return trip in May so there may be a charge.

 

 

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