Fun cruise on a big ship

Item: Ovation of the Seas
Rating: 4.7
Author: Ginny4

Ovation of the Seas Cruise Review to South Pacific - Australia

Ginny4

Contributor Level: Third Mate

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Reviews: 2

Helpful Votes: 59

Overall rating:

4.7 out of 5

10 Night New Zealand (Sydney Roundtrip)

Sail date: December 12, 2018

Ship: Ovation of the Seas

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: 8124

Traveled as: Family (older children)

Reviewed: 5 years ago

Review summary

We have rebooked on Ovation and look forward to sailing with her again. Just PLEASE, fix embarkation. Great cruise director and entertainment staff. You won't be disappointed.

Embarkation

2 out of 5

Electing a 12-12.30pm embarkation time, we were really annoyed to find every man and his dog were allowed to embark with embarkation times being ignored. This lead to a ridiculous 90 minutes to actually get on board. Not a great way to start the cruise. When you have 4900 passengers, for Petes sake, use your brains and stagger embarkation!

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

4 out of 5

The service was second to none but the food in the dining room was repetitive and boring. RC cannot do breakfast either. Wonderland however was excellent.

Onboard Activities

5 out of 5

Loved the many pools, the Star and trivia.

Entertainment

4 out of 5

Enjoyed Pixels.

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

Cannot fault any of them, honestly they are amazing.

Ship Quality

5 out of 5

Brilliantly clean and extremely tasteful decor.

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5

We had 8124 and 8126 which are interconnecting. They were also able to open the partition on the balcony so it was like having one large cabin. EXCELLENT!

Ship tip

Get a cabin midship because it is a very long ship! Breakfast at 270 cafe is the best.

Thumbs up

Ports of call

Sydney, Australia

5 out of 5

We live here

Thumbs Up 0

Port Chalmers (Dunedin), New Zealand

5 out of 5

Charming little port.

Thumbs Up 0

Wellington, New Zealand

5 out of 5

Love windy Wellington and were able to see the terracotta warriors.

Thumbs Up 6

Napier, New Zealand

5 out of 5

Favourite port of all in NZ.

Thumbs Up 0

Picton, New Zealand

5 out of 5

Great vineyards

Thumbs Up 0

Disembarkation

4 out of 5

Better than embarkation.

3 Comments

JanLaw 5 years ago

Which port did you leave from Ginny4?

Thumbs Up 0

Flag

Roworth 5 years ago

Embarkation is controlled by local port authorities and cruise lines have no control over it. They do try to make it run smoother by allocating boarding times but many passengers just ignore it. Best place we ever embarked was Ft Lauterdale. Everyone abortded in under 20 min, and that was on Alkure with a lover 5500 passengers.

Thumbs Up 0

Flag

annieluvcruises 5 years ago

We had the same issue on embarkation back in 2016. Sounds like it still hasnt been fixed up.

Thumbs Up 0

Flag

Other reviews of this sailing

Way to big a ship for us

Great All Round Cruise

Picturesque New Zealand Cruise Royal Caribbean