Live - Standing Ovation from the Land Down Under - New Zealand, 11 Nights Feb. 2, 2020

[mr walker]

1 hour ago, twangster said:

 

At the airport now waiting for my flight.

Not so good weather here this morning for you. Really enjoyed your report - brought back great memories of our NZ landtour & cruise Jan/Feb last year.

Safe travels.

[iceh20]

1 hour ago, twangster said:

 

At the airport now waiting for my flight.

Did Royal offer any excursions that take you to the airport after disembarking?

[RFerrington]

Safe trip home, Twangbot.

[Sea Dog]

Great review! I hope you had a great trip home and I look forward to seeing you on your next adventure.

[NHProud]

1 hour ago, Sea Dog said:

Great review! I hope you had a great trip home and I look forward to seeing you on your next adventure.

When have you seen Twangster ? I’ve not seen one photo or have any info as to where you live , Twangster .  You value the privacy of fellow cruisers and your own.  

[RFerrington]

16 minutes ago, NHProud said:

When have you seen Twangster ? I’ve not seen one photo or have any info as to where you live , Twangster .  You value the privacy of fellow cruisers and your own.  

He’s very private and elusive

[twangster]

Guess I better finish this...

 

Mid day on our last day back out of the blue another ship appeared in the middle of nowhere.    It's the Ruby Princess.

 

 

The rest of the day was a usual sea day but the humidity of Australia was unmistakable.  

[twangster]

Day 12 - Sydney

 

Pilot station at 4am.  I went up to get some pictures of our arrival into Sydney.  

 

One is the loneliest number... someone put their luggage out too late.

 

 

A wet morning for our arrival into Sydney.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[twangster]

Our progress...

 

 

 

Breakfast in the Windjammer at 6am.  The view down to the self assist line at 6:16am.

 

 

I finished packing, collected my bags and made my way down to leave.  By 6:46am I was outside and on my way to the train station.

 

 

Walking to the train station one last view of Ovation.

 

 

 

The train.

 

 

 

At the airport by 7:24am only to find out Delta check in doesn't open until three hours before the flight.  Another hour to wait.

 

 

Eventually made it into the American Express lounge.  Last chance for an Aussie beer.

 

 

[Chiliburn]

You will be back 

[twangster]

5 hours ago, iceh20 said:

Did Royal offer any excursions that take you to the airport after disembarking?

 

I did see some listed in the excursion guide but didn't pay much attention.  

[Chiliburn]

6 hours ago, iceh20 said:

Did Royal offer any excursions that take you to the airport after disembarking?

They do a short one via the beaches and sights then drop off about 11:00 for a after 2:00 pm departure.

A long one doing blue mountains with Sydney sights and drop you off at a airport hotel in the afternoon. Ready for next day morning departure .

 

They are reasonably priced

[mrpotatohead]

On 2/12/2020 at 9:38 AM, twangster said:

Tonight's entertainment in the Royal Theater - Live, Love, Legs.

 

It's a Vegas style showgirl show.

 

Having been on Ovation a few times with Joff as CD. All I can hear in my head is him repeating ad-nauseum - "there's legs -- lots of legs"

 

btw: Great photos - You were really fortunate to get perfect blue skies in the Sounds - although it is also great with the rain/water streaming down the cliffs.

[Chiliburn]

17 minutes ago, mrpotatohead said:

 

Having been on Ovation a few times with Joff as CD. All I can hear in my head is him repeating ad-nauseum - "there's legs -- lots of legs"

 

btw: Great photos - You were really fortunate to get perfect blue skies in the Sounds - although it is also great with the rain/water streaming down the cliffs.

Joff is loved by people but I’m not one of them 

[TPCRUISER2]

Awesome review and Pictures. Wow! Thanks for taking us along!

[RFerrington]

Those early morning Sydney pix are the best of the whole cruise.  Stunning !

[Sea Dog]

10 hours ago, NHProud said:

When have you seen Twangster ? I’ve not seen one photo or have any info as to where you live , Twangster .  You value the privacy of fellow cruisers and your own.  

Figure of speech. Meant as "see your future posts."

[HBE4]

18 hours ago, RFerrington said:

He’s very private and elusive

 

Like Bigfoot?

 

19 hours ago, NHProud said:

When have you seen Twangster ? I’ve not seen one photo or have any info as to where you live , Twangster .  You value the privacy of fellow cruisers and your own.  

 

He doesn't really exist.  He is actually a Royal Marketing AI app that generates these reviews.

 

A very effective one I might add. After every Twangster review, I immediately find myself doing a mock booking trying to follow in his footsteps. I'm still working on Empress and Panama canal and now I need to add Down Under to the list. I will NOT read his Norway review. 😃

[RFerrington]

2 hours ago, HBE4 said:

 

Like Bigfoot?

 

 

He doesn't really exist.

That’s why we refer to him as a “bot” on the other site.  He’s actually a really nice guy.

[Oceansaway17]

23 hours ago, RFerrington said:

He’s very private and elusive

 

hmmmm check out his Ovation Vancouver to Hawaii fall of 2019 as there might be a mention of an airport and photo of snow.  sorry I thought most folks knew.  shhhhhhh

 

I have seen him and on Ovation before but never talked to him.  Perhaps one day he will write travel essays and be famous.  I always admire folks who drag a lot of camera stuff with them.  The reward is great photos.

For me I just strive for pretty good and be done with it.

[perfect match]

Hope you had a safe flight home, Twangster. I’ll be looking for your next review.  🛳

[twangster]

Looks like I forgot to mention the Crown and Anchor top tier event.  Day 8, 7pm.

 

Total guest count 4,361

 

First time cruisers 2,789 or 64%

 

Total CAS 1,572 or 36%

 

Gold 823 (52.4%) , Platinum 314 (20%), Emerald 145 (9.2%),  Diamond 213 (13.5%) , Diamond Plus 68 (4.3%), Pinnacle 9 (0.6%). 

[twangster]

Cruise Summary

 

This cruise was a pretty fantastic experience overall.  New Zealand is pretty amazing and every port was very welcoming.   Sydney was a great city to start from.  

 

A couple of days pre-cruise to adjust to local time was perfect.  In general terms I haven't found the time changes to be that hard on the system on either end.  The long flight helps the transition.  

 

I was able to use credit cards in most cases so there wasn't a need for a lot of cash.

 

Third time on Ovation.  I'm very comfortable with Quantum class and it was a good fit for this cruise and the environmentals around New Zealand.  Tendering wasn't an issue, they seem to have this down to a science on Ovation.  In fact they did a better job tendering on Ovation than Vision did on a recent cruise with a tender port.  

 

I booked this cruise for the ports of New Zealand yet the time in Fiordland was the highlight of the cruise.

 

This was a photo intensive cruise.  Picture stats: 4,828 pictures taken, 870 posted.  

 

I hope you enjoyed following along and I thank you for viewing.

 

PS - some menu pictures coming soon.

[twangster]

On 2/5/2020 at 3:43 PM, nklpikl said:

Also, would you mind taking photos of the Two70 drink menu?

 

Here you go:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Prices are $USD plus 18% gratuity.

[Biker19]

2 minutes ago, twangster said:

Prices are $USD plus 18% gratuity.

I thought on Aussie cruises the grats were included?