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OVATION May 13-24 *LIVE* in ALASKA w/lots of photos


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Anyone ever wonder where I got “Hoopster95” from?

 

Yep, one handed, one take. 😁🏆

 

Just got back from adult 3 on 3 tourney. Of course during practice I was ripping turn around jumpers from everywhere... I wasn’t so hot during game time.

 

Thankfully Mike, a Charles Barkley clone (would not want his guy mad at me in a dark alley!) played really well, and us out of shape guys at least salvaged 2nd place and the silver medal in the championship game, keeping my streak alive of at least one medal on every sailing I’ve ever been on.

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Edited by Hoopster95
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Talking about television stuff...

on channel 16, where they show the itinerary map, we also get several gear webcam views all over the ship show up at random. Here are some of them

 

 

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Edited by Hoopster95
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So I went out to the Northstar to get hooefully my 2nd ride...3-6pm

is no reservation times. I counted the line-up... 14 people allowed at a time and I would be #14 of the 3rd ride about 45min away. 

 

I decided to suck it up and wait, striking up conversation with those around me. Turns out that the next load they were one short, and we’re looking for a single to go up. SCORE! So I lucked out, total wait 5 min

 

 

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Intel from the operator is they have strict orders to not go off to the side, somlooks like subsequent cruisers may not get hatnopportunitu unless things change mid-summer.

 

However, I was told during the Hubbard Glacier morning, those that have paid for that morning will Be going to the sides 😁👍

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Edited by Hoopster95
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After Northstar, I found the soft serve ice cream dispenser... in an odd place out of the way on the pool deck. Strawberry & chocolate swirl... nice 😋

 

 

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My fellow CC’er here on Ovation, Alan, already reported on the main forum that Johnny Rockets and Kung Foo Panda are officially gone from Ovation.

 

The new poolside pay venue is

named “Fish & Ships”. No eta, but will be under xomstruction for at least “the next few weeks” per an officer I asked when I was walking by. I really hope they do this better than the absolute failure of an attempt RCL did on Radiance with the Crab Shack.

 

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Time for bumper cars again... however this Time the line up wraps around

the entire Seaplex... approx 1 hour 😕

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Edited by Hoopster95
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So rather than chill on my balcony, I’ll stay in line here for bumper cars and continue adding to this review with stuff I missed from yesterday....

 

Many thanks to my great friend Shelley in North Van who sent me this beautiful photo of Ovation in Vancouver, taken from a high floor of a condo in Coal Harbour downtown

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This one’s for Biker

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My one and only attempt on iFly is coming up on day 6

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Outside the Dog House

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Edited by Hoopster95
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Last night 8 Of is CC’ers pre-arranged a group dinner at Wonderland. We got the “head table” so to speak, the one in the middle of the room under the chandelier.

 

Our waitress, Bernadette, waited on me on Hewel two years ago... always fun seeing people you recognize from previous sailings. 

 

She he served us family style,  bringing everything out to us on the entire menu so we can try everything. This is the benefit of dining with others at specialty venues.

 

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The menu comes blank. Using a paint brush and water, you “paint” over the paper and the menu magically appears!

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Can you guess all of the appies below?

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 The tomato is a science experiment... they come in these beaker containers, you put your thumb over it and shake it... then you shoot it down

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Edited by Hoopster95
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Rest of dinner continued with family style mains... to cleanse the palate they served these shrimp in a sherbert & lime... delicious! And cleansed the palate.

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Micro greens

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Pork Belly

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Tenderloin & Branzino

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Great deserts!!!

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And my fave desert of them all... ”The World”

They poured just a bit too much hot caramel, not all the outer chocolate should melt like that. You should have to dig out the filling. Still extremely awesome.

 

Edited by Hoopster95
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11 minutes ago, twangster said:

Darn hoopster95, I'm getting tired just reading about everything you are doing 🙂

 

Haha! And this is all after 1:15 my gym time this morning 💪🏃🏻‍♂️. I also got to run the track for 20 min in beautiful BC/Alaskan sunshine in T-shirt and shorts no less. Say I missed you at the M&M. I gave you props on the mic ☺️

 

9 minutes ago, junior3006 said:

Any chance you might swing by the casino? My DW and I would like to know if they swapped out most of the tables for Slots, since they left the table dominant Asian market.

 

Was through here last night, watched the full Texas Hold’em cash table for a while. Tons of tables. 👍

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Exactly 1 hour and 1 minute since I lined up, it was my turn to get on the bumper cars. Keeping in mind there’s only two

more times this entire cruise that these cars will be out, I’m guessing the wait

may be longer on the last sea days as many try to slam all the things they missed on the final days. I figure This will be amplified on the 7 day sailings with the same 4000 passengers.

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By the way, if you are Star Class or “ The Key”, guess how long your wait is? Zero! No one was here. You would bypass that one hour line

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Edited by Hoopster95
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3 hours ago, Hoopster95 said:

 

Took me 10 seconds to pull it out... wow, so easy. And surprisingly comfy. However not much space left over for balcony access. The back pillows come off (Velcro).

 

Four of you in this room?!... did you also see the size of the SMALL bathroom in my previous pics? I hope you all really love each other!! Lol 😉😁

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Hoopster95 - THANK YOU for these pics.


And yes, I'm a little nervous about space 😄 Two adults, two teens.  Never cruised before and the other option was an interior, which I wasn't interested in!  So...we shall see!

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3 minutes ago, PCWalton1 said:

I have an ask. Have you seen this young lady? She worked the Coastal Kitchen desk on our Asia cruises last year. If you see her can you show her this picture and tell her Marie says Hello. 

 

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Hey Bill. I’ll look for you... I walked through to the WJ and there was a male officer at the front desk. I’ll keep a look out 🙂

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2 minutes ago, Hoopster95 said:

Wow, how beautiful!

 

would you be able to do me a favor? Can you see if anyone has the dividers open on their balconies between rooms? We are traveling with 3 families and all 3 rooms are next to each other, but none with the interior connecting door. Everyone says the dividers on the balcony’s open, but I haven’t seen any photos of this. 

We were offered an upgrade to another row of 3 rooms, but only 2 of the rooms connect, so one balcony divider would still need to be opened. 

 

Sorry for the the odd request, but was just wondering. 

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There aren't enough superlatives to describe seeing Alaska IRL. This report is so enjoyable...loving the collaborative effort of multiple reports and pictures. Went to Alaska for the first time last year...will definitely be going back but this is a great virtual treat for the can't get to Alaska again any time soon blues.

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