I’m scheduled for the Ovation in Aug. 2024. My first cruise ever. I’m a planner so I love the info so I know where to go for coffee and other things. Your video decreased my anxiety and it’s still 7 months away.
Just back from my cruise on Ovation. Great staff. Great food. Most times went to Windjammer on 14 for the buffet. Liked being able to grab just what I want. Windjammer staff A+. If you like to sit down , 4th floor has the dinning rooms. Food on this ship is the least of your worries. You will gain weight from the amount and frequency available. It's all good. Bars too. Great Bartenders as well. Plenty of games for young and old. Family feud, trivia, karaoke abounds. Give it a try and find the one you like. The temps in Alaska were a low of 48 (night), 56 to mid 60s daytime. If you are going out on a water trip it will be much colder than at the dock. on the boat itself never needed a sweater unless you are in one of the outside areas. In Skagway I recommend the Zodiac boat tours. Great fun and sights. Juneau whale watching was very successful. At every stop there are various tours, whale watching. plane / helicopter tours and the like available as you come off the ship. You can get better deals than going through the Royal Caribbean but do your homework. First off boat gets the best choices. The Glacier viewing was not great. The commercial makes it seem than you are right up on it. You are not. Dont get me wrong you see it, but from a distance. Getting on and off the Ship at the ports was pretty smooth just have your card and picture ID. Getting off the ship at the end, I'd recommend carry your own bag and be off the boat before 8am if you don't want to be stuck on big lines. And the car pickup area is nuts. Make sure you have a game plan with your transportation before your boarding day. All in All I had a great time. I was with a big family group so we had built in entertainment. Ship staff cant help you enough. You will eat and drink more than you think you will. I got the open bar package for $51 a day and I think Royal lost money on it, but it did make it easy that no matter where I was I could grab a coffee, soda or drink with no charge. Had no food package but I feel you don't need it. If you go to the specialty restaurant one or two nights the cost would still be cheaper than the package. The food available was great. I didnt even feel like going to one of them so I cant tell ya if it worth it. Thats my take on it. All I can say in closing is that you make your own good time. Lots to do on and off the Ship. The staff is great. Fellow passengers are a big mix of Americans and from more counties than I can remember. Everyone says hello to each other and you get at least a nod of the head. SOB Band is great. One last thing, take a ride in the elevator with the piano guy. Well worth the up and down.
Just did an August 2023 cruise. It;s really an ok experience. Internet is very crapy. If you have kids/teens or need to respond to important calls/emails, be prepared not being able to do so. Guest services would give you run around when you report problems. And do give different treatments to passengers, as I observed it first hand. Unfortunately, it spoiled the whole experience. Housekeeping and restaurant staffs do work very hard. Food is plenty but mediocre. Booking excursion with RC is more convient since you can board the transportation directly from the ports. Otherwise, shuttles to downtown or greater distance of walking/waiting are often required. Guess that's how RC discourages other local excursion competitions.
I cruised from Sydney to NZ and back just recently from the 14th to 23 rd November 2023 and it was fantastic, the staff on board are excellent from the house keeping to restaurant to the deck staff and Guest Service staff, very very friendly, thank you all, the entertainments where exciting, enjoyed every bit of my time on the Cruise, keep it up, need to take another trip with my whole family. Not forgetting the food it's just super,
Great tour of the ship! After 2 years of cancellation due to Covid my daughter and her husband are finally boarding the Ovation today (6-24-22) for an Alaskan trip. The tour gave me a great look into what they will experience while cruising .
I saw this cruise ship up close in person when it was in Victoria a couple weeks ago and just seeing how close in person I was just at awes just looking at it from a close perspective and what it looks like it was just amazing. I am so excited to go on the ship next year to Alaska and to experience the inside and what it looks like inside, including I cannot wait to see my virtual balcony to as well because that’s what I booked it. I’m just incredibly excited but seeing that cruise ship up close in person couple weeks ago was just a surreal moment and it just brought on more excitement for me knowing that I’m going to be on this cruise ship in 10 months actually in 10 months I will be on that cruise ship and it’s just being a surreal moment and I’m so excited incredibly excited. Thank you so much Matt for all these wonderful videos, every time I watch your videos, it just makes me more motivated and excited to get all prepared for my trip next year and all your videos have been super helpful to preparing for my trip next year and everything so I’m grateful appreciative for all your amazing videos and I cannot wait to go on this cruise ship. Me and my family are in the process to maybe going on. The oasis or the wonder of the sea. We are in the talk to maybe going on those cruise ship and doing a back to back on the same cruise ship so that we can get the full experience and seeing the whole entire cruise ship and that we won’t be able to see the whole cruise ship in like one week so we’re doing a two week cruise in 2025 so I’m excited I cannot wait and hopefully by 2026 or 2027. I hope that I can be on the icon of the sea. But I am so excited to experience this cruise ship next year and I cannot wait. I’m already buying my clothes for the trip and I already have my shoes, ready and packed to go even though I’m leaving in 10 months, but I’m super excited and I cannot wait so thank you for your videos Matt.
I’ve done Alaska only twice. Once with Princess, and once with Norwegian. Never considered doing Royal unless I’m cruising the Caribbean. The Ovation looks absolutely wonderful.
We just cruised on the Ovation the last week of September to Alaska. Wonderful ship. So much to do onboard - regardless of the weather.... Can hardly wait for our cruise on the new sister ship Odyssey of the Seas next September from Rome to Greece!!
We're loyal to Royal, so yes. In fact we've since gone on the Odyssey twice (Rome to Greece and also in the Caribbean) as well as a second voyage on the Ovation this last spring from Sydney to Honolulu (18 day repositioning cruise). We love the Quantum class ships - not as big as the Oasis class and still have tons of activities for the whole family. One major plus is the SeaPlex - indoor activity center with basketball, pickleball, real live bumper cars and much more. Not to mention the iFly and Flowrider. And Alaska is beautiful too. Many excursions into nature.
Incredible ship that I'm excited to experience in September! Your video and detailed information is simply fabulous, thank you for the many hours you probably spent to create it. Very insightful!
Cool tour! Takes me back... I was on the inaugural repositioning in 2016 (the Dubai-to-Singapore segmant). This is still the only RCCL ship I've been on, but it's also my favorite ship I've been on! I had a lot of favorite parts of the ship, but if I had to pick one it would DEFINITELY be Two70.
Wonderful tour ovation of the seas 2 year before from Singapore to Thailand and back it was 5 days tour but its was amazing tour crew member was good hospitality excellent really i enjoyed this tour and i never forget this thanks ship and love you .
Wonderful tour, Matt! I love these ship tours from different perspectives. It is one of my favorite ships! Been on Ovation 3 times...including twice in August 2021! Beautiful ship. The only thing that would make it better is having it go to Glacier Bay National Park :)
I am so excited because I just booked it my cruise on this cruise ship, and I am so excited for it. Just looking at your video right now at the whole tour. Just makes me even more excited going next year in September, and I am so excited and this is something that I will be definitely counting down. There’s only about 463 days left until the trip so got a lot of planning. Got a lot of things to do before hand, but I am so excited for my trip on this ship your videos literally hyped me up that literally I was like I have to go onto a royal Caribbean cruise, and I am so looking forward to stepping foot onto the ship.
I just came back from that exact cruise ship and I had so much fun and I like the fish better than the chips also the ship's engines had a problem so the 2 islands we supposed to go got cancelled and I'm writing this a few hours after I left.
Was just on the alaskan cruise Oct 8-15th and I love Ovation!!! Everything about it is absolutely amazing - food, specialty restaurants, entertainment, the crew and the ports were great too! Cant wait to try the Oasis class ships!
Great job with this ship tour! We are taking her this May for a much anticipated (and rescheduled due to Covid) family voyage to Alaska. I sincerely appreciated all the time you took to show all the nooks and crannies of this one; we are REALLY looking forward to sailing on her! Thank you again!
We just got off Quantum of the Seas (first cruise and loved it) and have noticed some differences. Vintages for our cruise had NO wine wall and the selection of wines was poor compared to Schooner Bar! We loved 270 and all the entertainment - so much to do.
This is the best video i've seen for Ovation of the Seas. Good job on getting all this done! Going to Alaska in May so this really helped me out. Cheers
fab tour you give the best details thank you my fave ship is actually Anthem i love two70 my fav place to be i sit on the floor looking out the windows i love it
I'm saving up for my first cruise, Syd - NZ, and though I'm a few years away from being able to afford it, your videos have been a dearth of information. As Ovation is the only, or one of few, RCL ships that cruise in our part of the world, Australia, this tour, and your videos, have been very helpful in getting my mind together for this. Thankfully I have a friend who is a cruise specialist travel agent, and he loves RCL (he applied for a job with them at their Sydney office), he'll be my go to person for everything cruising and RCL.
I am looking forward to getting on this ship in April 2023 from Sydney to Honolulu. My first time on a Royal Caribbean cruise. I have been on other cruise. I thinks it’s the best was to travel.
We are heading the Hawaii in Sept 2022 on this ship so I’m so happy I got to see all of it before as I don’t like surprises or not know where things are and missing fun things
Great job Matt. You answered questions I had and even those I didn't think of. This will be the first time on Ovation to Alaska. Looking forward to the adventure in July.😃
Me and my partner would to go on the criuse shit. Never been on one if we won lotto then we would off had a holiday away together. Love watching your videos and seeing what inside looks and hearing alot about ovation off the sea. Got amazing food and everything yous got insode
In a few weeks we’ll be doing a back to back, New Zealand and the next to Tasmania & Adelaide on the Ovation. I made a mistake once by going P&O….never again.
Hi Matt: Thanks for the great tour of Ovation of the Seas . I will be going on this ship Sept. 16 2022. to Alaska This will be my first cruise on RC. . I didn[t realize it was so big, Cant wait to try all the specialty restraunts. Happy Cruising.
When was this video taken? I'm booked for Alaska on 8/11/23 and am concerned about weather. The weather in this video looked cold & wet. Video was very good orientation, nice job.
thanks Matt! This makes me so excited for Alaska in Sept! I was supposed to go this past Sept but I had to push it back! This is our first time to Alaska and my boyfriend's very first cruise!
Back in 2019, We took a 16 day Ocean crossing on Ovation from Sidney to honoloulu via French Polynesia. The ship is lovely but it is a bit too big for my tastes. Radiance and Vision class ships are still my preferred.
Great tour of the ship! Fingers crossed my husband and I will be going on Ovation at the end of next year as we are in Australia. We will be travelling with our 10-month old son hopefully. Any tips for cruising on Ovation with a baby? Do you know if Splashaway Bay allows swimming diapers in the pool or do the kids have to be toilet trained already?
Just to be clear about NextCruise and OBC offer. The OBC is applied to the cruise you are on now, not the future cruise. So don't wait until the last day to book NextCruise because you will be pressed for time to spend the $100 credit.
Is Covid measures still in place? I was just on Quantum of the Seas, sister ship and no where was Covid being enforced other than the "washy washy" at Windjammer.
Just got off the cruise today, it is a great ship and great cruise, sad the cancelled Endicott because of darkness. Touring Victoria was a waste of time and money as it was 5:30-9:30 pm and nothing to see because of darkness
Nice tour Matt, thanks. We'll be on the Ovation for 18 days early next year. Do you know if they offer any dining packages for cruises of that length? There's nothing listed on their website for dining as of now, other than individual purchases. I was hoping for maybe a 5 or 7 night package...
We are booked for the May Alaska cruise on here and very excited. Still have a lot to figure out before the trip. I’ve seen a few comments about excursions and doing them off the ship instead of booking ones onboard. Many of the onboard ones are already fully booked so we may not have a choice. I’m hoping by now that masks are not the norm walking around the ship and completely optional. My son wanted to visit Vancouver so I booked the 8 day that leaves out of Vancouver and returns to Seattle. Flights from Atlanta to Vancouver were crappy with many of them taking all day due to layovers so I booked us round trip to Seattle instead and figured we would find transportation from Seattle to Vancouver. That is still an issue I’m trying to figure out if anyone has experience there. In my mind I just figured we would rent a car and enjoy the drive up but it didn’t cross my mind that going into another country with a rental car would be an issue. I just assumed in that area it would be a pretty common thing.
Hello…my girlfriend and I will be on this sailing too. May 11th out of Vancouver right? Did you figure out your transportation from Seattle to Vancouver?
Hey Matt My husband and I want to go to Alaska for our 35th anniversary. It is Jan 1st, 2025 so do you think it would be a good idea to wait till May or June so the weather will be better there? And when can we find out which ship will be going to Alaska at that time?
Fish and chips restaurant is on the Independence of the seas and other ships, Not unique to Quantum class. Thank you for the tour , the ship is amazing.
This is the second video I'm watching of you doing it to of the ship but this is for the previous video I watched of allure of the seas when it goes into dry dock are they going to take out the jazz bar and make that a high-roller area of the casino or are they going to keep the jazz? I hope they don't take out the that's the one disappointment with Wonder of the seas they took the jazz bar out. Have an excellent
Hello, I have a question about the "Formal" Nights in the Restaurants. It's been 6 years since we've been with RCCl and now it's time for a criuse with the ovation. Do I have to wear a suit on these "formal" nights in the restaurant, or is appropriate attire sufficient? Thanks Mike
