paradise4me Posted January 4, 2019 #1 Share Posted January 4, 2019 Just got home from our New Zealand cruise. I will be writing a full review but will answer any immediate questions. It was the best cruise I have ever taken and in my humble opinion the Ovation is the best ship in the fleet 🙂 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlorenceItaly Posted January 4, 2019 #2 Share Posted January 4, 2019 Looking forward to your review! We will be sailing on the Radiance Feb/March 2020, B2B in this same region. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CRUISEFAN0001 Posted January 4, 2019 #3 Share Posted January 4, 2019 Indeed - we were on the 12/12 - 12/22 Ovation cruise out of Sydney as well. Quite the amazing experience. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adelaidemay1 Posted January 5, 2019 #4 Share Posted January 5, 2019 I look forward to your review as we have done NZ on Radiance recently but are looking forward to NZ on Ovation at the end of March. Hope you have lots of pics! Adele. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GUT2407 Posted January 5, 2019 #5 Share Posted January 5, 2019 It wast the ship that made it so good, it was the location. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paradise4me Posted January 5, 2019 Author #6 Share Posted January 5, 2019 Although I can’t argue with your location as it is my favorite I must add that the ship is top notch incredible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GUT2407 Posted January 5, 2019 #7 Share Posted January 5, 2019 Haven’t tried Ovation yet, but really can’t imagine living anywhere else. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paradise4me Posted January 5, 2019 Author #8 Share Posted January 5, 2019 I definitely see your point! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rondo Posted January 5, 2019 #9 Share Posted January 5, 2019 Looking forward to your review! We want to book the Ovation for the fall of 2020 as soon as bookings become available,,,hopefully in March. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LadyBeBop Posted January 5, 2019 #10 Share Posted January 5, 2019 Looking forward to your review. We sail the Ovation to Alaska in a little over 8 months. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paradise4me Posted January 5, 2019 Author #11 Share Posted January 5, 2019 Just waiting for it to post but it was such an awesome cruise. There were no complaints. People say it was crowded but it’s a show you wanted to really see then get there 15 minutes earlier. It’s really easy to have a great time and pretty hard to have a bad time! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
viviancartman Posted January 5, 2019 #12 Share Posted January 5, 2019 I’m looking forward to your review! I’ll be on the Ovation in 62 days time cruising around NZ. And since you’ve offered to answer some questions.... How was the food? There are tons of reviews of people complaining about bland and cold food. What was your favourite NZ port? What shows were playing on your cruise? Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mumsy1959 Posted January 5, 2019 #13 Share Posted January 5, 2019 Booked on Ovation for March 8th to New Zealand..looking forward to any suggestions or recommendations you have. Glad you had such a wonderful time Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paradise4me Posted January 5, 2019 Author #14 Share Posted January 5, 2019 4 hours ago, viviancartman said: I’m looking forward to your review! I’ll be on the Ovation in 62 days time cruising around NZ. And since you’ve offered to answer some questions.... How was the food? There are tons of reviews of people complaining about bland and cold food. What was your favourite NZ port? What shows were playing on your cruise? Thanks! We've been on many Royal cruises and the food is about the same. Nothing we ate was cold, the menu varied with plenty of choices, it was good but not as good as 10 years ago. We did chops, Jaimes and Wonderland and feel Jaimes was the best the others not much better than the dining room. I cant pick a favorite port, all of them were mind blowing one way or another. Just plain stunning! We stayed with Royal excursions being unfamiliar with the region but in hindsight would go out on our own at any of them. The people everywhere were incredibly nice and I would move to Taraunga across the street from the beach if I could! Pixels was the best show we saw. The singers and dancers were awesome but they are about the same on all cruises. They had some comedians that were ok, people were saying if you lived in Australia you would get more of their jokes 🙂 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paradise4me Posted January 5, 2019 Author #15 Share Posted January 5, 2019 51 minutes ago, mumsy1959 said: Booked on Ovation for March 8th to New Zealand..looking forward to any suggestions or recommendations you have. Glad you had such a wonderful time Just make sure if you want to do the ifly and Northstar to book online before you go. There are alot of people doing that. Try and do Northstar on the sounds day. Its incredible! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mumsy1959 Posted January 5, 2019 #16 Share Posted January 5, 2019 48 minutes ago, paradise4me said: Just make sure if you want to do the ifly and Northstar to book online before you go. There are alot of people doing that. Try and do Northstar on the sounds day. Its incredible! Thanks for the tip...says Northstar not available to book online..but will certainly do the Ifly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CRUISEFAN0001 Posted January 5, 2019 #17 Share Posted January 5, 2019 1 hour ago, paradise4me said: Just make sure if you want to do the ifly and Northstar to book online before you go. There are alot of people doing that. Try and do Northstar on the sounds day. Its incredible! Suggest you book any outside activities earlier on the cruise on sea days...since Northstar (in particular) and iFLY don't operate on days when seas are rougher - and the Tasman Sea between Sydney and New Zealand can be quite choppy on some days. That gives you a chance to rebook onboard if needed. We got on Northstar on the 2nd day on the way to New Zealand and I did iFLY on the first day at sea. Ovation is quite the ship...and this whole cruise is absolutely a "bucket list" experience. Coming in a few days early and enjoying Sydney was also a big plus. While there is a Zoo in the city, highly recommend a Southern Coast Tour that includes a stop at the Symbio WIld Animal Park about an hour away - an open sanctuary where you can actually walk among scores of Kangaroos and be up close with the Koalas. Without those things...we would not have felt we saw Australia. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare countess5 Posted January 5, 2019 #18 Share Posted January 5, 2019 Thanks for your thoughts, we will be boarding Ovation on January 17th for the 12 day NZ cruise. Can’t wait to sail the sounds. What time in the morning did you hit the first sound? I know going in will be the same as coming out but want to take it all in. We have sailed Anthem in the Mediterranean so know the class of ship which 270 is a nice touch! Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CRUISEFAN0001 Posted January 5, 2019 #19 Share Posted January 5, 2019 Symbio was fantastic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CRUISEFAN0001 Posted January 5, 2019 #20 Share Posted January 5, 2019 2 minutes ago, countess5 said: Thanks for your thoughts, we will be boarding Ovation on January 17th for the 12 day NZ cruise. Can’t wait to sail the sounds. What time in the morning did you hit the first sound? I know going in will be the same as coming out but want to take it all in. We have sailed Anthem in the Mediterranean so know the class of ship which 270 is a nice touch! Cheers Milford and Doubtful Sounds are roughly starting 9am and 1pm respectively. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare countess5 Posted January 5, 2019 #21 Share Posted January 5, 2019 Beautiful! We hope our weather is as nice! Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CRUISEFAN0001 Posted January 5, 2019 #22 Share Posted January 5, 2019 (edited) 26 minutes ago, countess5 said: Beautiful! We hope our weather is as nice! Thanks Indeed. Our 4 days in Sydney averaged 76 degrees (F) and nice. Departure day on the cruise started 4 days of rain in Sydney - so it's tough to predict. Terrific weather all days we were there. On the cruise...we had 1 choppy day at sea and another that was overcast but OK. On the 6 days in New Zealand, we had 3 hours of mist in one port that stopped quickly, and the rest of the weather was sunny in all locations and about 70 degrees (F). While in any ports or in the Sounds...the weather was great. One thing to keep in mind...since New Zealand is actually 2 islands...the Southern ports are cooler than the Northern ones. It makes sense when you realize the Southern area is closer to the Antarctic. One final recommendation...the Taieri Gorge Railway EXCURSION tour in Dunedin. The RCI tour cost is much higher than booking it directly through a travel service like Viat-r. The views are stunning, and the train itself enjoyable and comfortable. Edited January 5, 2019 by CRUISEFAN0001 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare countess5 Posted January 5, 2019 #23 Share Posted January 5, 2019 Thanks for the weather info, we have been watching it and one thing for sure is that it is unpredictable. Will pack warm and cooler clothing. Cooler weather not an issue, just hope rain can be avoided. The train is not in our plans we have another private tour booked but I am sure whatever we see it will be stunning. Your pictures look great. One additional question, how was the tendering? We are Diamond so hope the C&A helps. It is a large ship and a lot of people to move. Do they use the life boats as the tenders. That happened in Edinburgh last year and was a nightmare. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paradise4me Posted January 5, 2019 Author #24 Share Posted January 5, 2019 (edited) 5 hours ago, countess5 said: Thanks for the weather info, we have been watching it and one thing for sure is that it is unpredictable. Will pack warm and cooler clothing. Cooler weather not an issue, just hope rain can be avoided. The train is not in our plans we have another private tour booked but I am sure whatever we see it will be stunning. Your pictures look great. One additional question, how was the tendering? We are Diamond so hope the C&A helps. It is a large ship and a lot of people to move. Do they use the life boats as the tenders. That happened in Edinburgh last year and was a nightmare. We had Eli as our diamond concierge and she would ask us the day before if we had ship shore excursions or not because if not she would escort us down to the tenders and bypass most. We did that in Auckland. She was amazing, the best I have ever had on any Royal ship. And yes they use the life boats as tenders. Edited January 5, 2019 by paradise4me Spelling Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare countess5 Posted January 5, 2019 #25 Share Posted January 5, 2019 Thank you for that info, I will work with Eli if she is still onboard or whoever the Diamond concierge is. We are all Diamond or Diamond Plus.When she did help you did it take long to get off and get to shore? We have, of course, times we need to meet our guides. Thank you again Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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