Ovation to Alaska.....thoughts from recent cruisers

[Biker19]

1 hour ago, chefchick said:

 I am new to a Royal and keep reading that the wait times with MTD are ridiculous.

Wait times vary by ship, itinerary, day of cruise and time of day. Like on land, you go the first day at a popular time, there'll be backups. Also, remember that the great majority don't come here to say "MTD was fine and had short wait times".

[CruiszBug]

41 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

Wait times vary by ship, itinerary, day of cruise and time of day. Like on land, you go the first day at a popular time, there'll be backups. Also, remember that the great majority don't come here to say "MTD was fine and had short wait times".

I was on the first Alaska cruise week this year (05-13 May). It was pretty much a disaster for us. The people kept getting off the elevator, but we were NOT moving to go in for the 2nd seating. We were backed up because first seating had not finished after 2+ hours! After a point, just decided to go get pizza at Sorrento's. Another day went up to Windjammers. The third time I made a meal of the appetizers in the Diamond Lounge! When I did make it to my table in the MDR, another couple was seated at my 2-top. The Head Waiter said they had walked in and seated themselves? I could only shake my head. It was not good. That goes for the food, too. I only ate there twice the whole week.

 

That being said? It was the first week. We were grossly understaffed and I am sure it is much improved by now!

[AeroBaldness]

18 hours ago, chefchick said:

I realize that every week’s sailing is a unicorn and things are always changing, but to those who have traveled so far this season, how was the MDR food and more specifically, the wait times for a table?  I am new to a Royal and keep reading that the wait times with MTD are ridiculous.  As a back up plan, was the Solarium open for dinner on your sailing?

 

And speaking of the Solarium, how crowded was it during the day?  Chair hogs in full effect?

We had early dining last week and the first few days were horrible (like there past 7 horrible and almost impossible to get a drink during).  We actually only sat for dinner 3 of the 7 days.  The service improved greatly by the last time as the D+ at the table escalated the issues.  And the Solarium Bistro was not open at all during our cruise at all (due to staffing concerns from what we could gather).  The food in The Jammie was very good (the local fish brought on board was SO good), but it was always slammed.  The weather was very cool, so the solarium was very crowded and there was a bit of chair hogging, but this was self policed by guests.  

[therealblackknight]

I was also on Ovation from 5/20-5/27 and let me just say now that I did enjoy this cruise a lot, this was my second time to AK and while I think I enjoyed the 1st time better, this was still worth the trip.

 

That said, I will also attest to the long boarding time that another has men.  My boarding time was 12:30 to 1PM, got there at 12:45.  Ended up about 2 hours before I got on the ship.  The bottleneck to me seems to be getting through the security check points as after I got past that, the wait to get actually checked in wasn't bad at all really.

 

There was the issue of the medi-vac that another already mentioned but that is no one's fault and is what it is.  Last we heard, the crew member is doing well so that's good.

 

I do also recall the internet being bad, moreso at the beginning and I think lots of people complained apparently as I recall they even sent out a letter the one day apologizing.  Got better as the cruise went on but nothing great and frankly a bit overpriced for what you get (note: I had the surf and stream).

 

Also, there did seem to be a constant line at Guest Services, I know because I had to go a few times for different reasons, not all for complaints/issues.

 

As for as the ship and crew, they were all good.  I didn't end up going to the MDR but as far as the Windjammer, breakfast seemed to be the busiest though was packed on 1 or 2 lunchtimes too.  Dinner was empty in there so I think a lot of people went to MDR for that.  I did hit up Chops and Jaimes for lunch, there was a bit of a wait to be seated for that but not bad. 

 

The solarium bistro was not open the entire cruise as far as I know.  And as far as I can recall, all other venues were open as per their usual expected times be it for eating, drinking, shows, etc.  The only exceptions was the outdoor stuff like the pool, flowrider, climbing wall but that had more to do with weather.  If it were warmer and less windy I'm thinking they would have been open as usual.

 

As for the shows some were good and some I thought were just ok but that has to do with my personal taste more than anything else, the actual performances, production, etc. were what you would expect which is to say good or better.

 

Lastly, I do wonder if they have a full complement of crew though as maybe it's just me but didn't seem like there were as many staff as usual (hence perhaps why the bistro wasn't open).

[barbeyg]

We were on the 5/20 sailing as well. We were able to get an earlier checkin close to the sailing, when more times opened up. We snagged the earliest time, 10:30, and were onboard by 11:15.  I suggest grabbing an early time if possible. I checked the app once a day starting about 3 weeks out. Can’t remember exactly when earlier times opened up. 

[therealblackknight]

Actually one other point, if you want to do the Northstar, apparently it is mostly free on days the ship is in port (I did the day we were in Skagway) but there is a cost on days that they are at sea.

 

Whether you want to do it for free or pay for it, you need to book it via the app only.  In the app, I think you had to go through the daily planner and then activities?  In there you had to pick the Northstar from the options available. 

 

If you want to do it, I recommend trying to book it as soon as possible as spots get taken quickly (at least on my cruise they were) and they only release the spots the day before and sometime not till late in the day (as late as 8PM). 

[therealblackknight]

36 minutes ago, barbeyg said:

We were on the 5/20 sailing as well. We were able to get an earlier checkin close to the sailing, when more times opened up. We snagged the earliest time, 10:30, and were onboard by 11:15.  I suggest grabbing an early time if possible. I checked the app once a day starting about 3 weeks out. Can’t remember exactly when earlier times opened up. 

 

Yeah, I wished I could've done this but I was flying in from Philadelphia the morning of 5/20.  When I got there was the fastest I could manage.  Only way to do faster was if I had flown in the day before but as it was I was working up to the day before and I didn't want to have to use another vacation day for that...