Very disappointing, did not live up to our previous cruises.
Ovation of the Seas Cruise Review to Alaska - Inside Passage
Contributor Level:
Purser
Cruises: 7+ cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 50
7 Night Alaska Glacier (Seattle Roundtrip)
Sail date: August 16, 2019
Ship: Ovation of the Seas
Cabin type: Suite
Traveled as: Family (young children)
Reviewed: 5 years ago
Review summary
We learned one important thing... never cruise with RC again.Embarkation
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
The Windjamer... same thing every night.
The Coke machines were down half of the time. More Coke machines need to be on the ship, lengthy lines and lack of machines.
The "washy washy" thing is annoying, there are many ways to say "wash your hands" instead of having staff stand at the entrance of the Windjammer saying "washy washy". It sounds ridicules coming out of an adult and I'm sure it's annoying to everyone.
Onboard Activities
Very little.
This was the worst cruise we have been on and we've been on many RC cruises.
There were WAY too many "shopping" activities on the daily Compass and "trivia" events. The "trivia" events need to be longer, they were only 15-30 minutes at most. It would have been a lot of fun if it would have lasted longer.
The rock climbing, bumper cars, roller skating, and many other activities had a long wait (we arrived early). We weren't able to appreciate those fun events because the time ran out while we were in line, frustrating to say the least.
Entertainment
The shows were good but what happened to the "old" events you used to have?
In years past, there were parades on the ship and in the dining room, ice carving demonstrations, parade of nations which was fun to see all of the employees show pride with their countries, that was to name a few.
Children's Programs
This was just sad.
The rooms felt like dungeons, staff didn't look impressed at all and we felt they didn't want to be there. We didn't put our son in there because we didn't feel comfortable leaving him. In the little bit of time we were there, there was no staff interaction with the kids who were there.
The kids were playing by themselves with no directions or activities. We would get the compass in the evening and look at the kids activities to see if there were any activities that would be fun, nope... same thing stale thing every day.
This part was highly upsetting to us, you really need to step it up in that department. In our past cruises there have been hand washing stations before and after entering the children's club, not here. You had staff singing "washy washy" at the Windjammer but severely jumped the shark on this one.
Service and Staff
Our state room attendant was the worst we've ever had, and we've been on 14 cruises of which 9 have been with you guys.
We stayed in a Junior Suite that was stunning. There were 3 of us, my son stayed on a pull out couch.
On our first night, turn down service was great but didn't have a towel character on the bed. We have a 10 year old son who looks forward to these special touches we have become accustomed to.
One day, our room wasn't cleaned until way after lunch and then he didn't put the pull out back into a couch so we didn’t have a place to sit and the pull out was in the way of the balcony.
We asked the state room attendant to please create a towel character and he did it… only TWO nights of our 7 night cruise.
Several random things that were off was… (1) sheets were stained and had spots on them (2) dirty dishes were left in the room for 2 nights (3) clean towels were put under the night stand next to the balcony (4) room was’t turned down one night, until 9 pm (5) we had to call for clean towels because they hadn’t been changed even when left on the floor (6) pull out couch was never put back into a couch for the whole 7 days we were there (7) called for extra blankets and what was given to us were brown rough blankets.
These were to name just a few, and the tip was way too generous for the service we received.
Ship Quality
In our stateroom = sheets were stained and had spots on them, need to be changed. Pillow cases, had yellow stains on them. Brown rough blankets were delivered to our stateroom. The bathroom had a constant smell to it, we had rinse the floor drain with hot water on a daily basis which worked a bit. I didn’t come on vacation to do the plumbing and change the sheets on the bed.
Main dining room = brown and black stains on the white table cloths.
Cabin / Stateroom
Our stateroom was 9632
As stated above…
Our state room attendant was the worst we've ever had, and we've been on 14 cruises of which 9 have been with you guys. We stayed in a Junior Suite that was stunning. There were 3 of us, my son stayed on a pull out couch. On our first night, turn down service was great but didn't have a towel character on the bed. We have a 10 year old son who looks forward to these special touches we have become accustomed to. One day, our room wasn't cleaned until way after lunch and then he didn't put the pull out back into a couch so we didn’t have a place to sit and the pull out was in the way of the balcony. We asked the state room attendant to please create a towel character and he did it… only TWO nights of our 7 night cruise. Several random things that were off was… (1) sheets were stained and had spots on them (2) dirty dishes were left in the room for 2 nights (3) clean towels were put under the night stand next to the balcony (4) room was’t turned down one night, until 9 pm (5) we had to call for clean towels because they hadn’t been changed even when left on the floor (6) pull out couch was never put back into a couch for the whole 7 days we were there (7) called for extra blankets and what was given to us were brown rough blankets. These were to name just a few, and the tip was way too generous for the service we received.
There was an annoying noise in the room, we called about it and it wasn't fixed.
Ship tip
Do not waste your time and money, pick another line.
Thumbs up
0
Ports of call
Sea day was beautiful, really rough due to high seas in the evening. This is beyond anyones control though.
Again, there wasn't anything to do during sea days. There were MANY "buying/shopping activities" but nothing else to get the guests involved in any way. We ended up spending most of the time walking around and back in our room watching one of the 5 channels that was offered in the stateroom.
All water actives were canceled due to high seas. This was very frustrating but again, it was out of their control. BUT what was in their control was the way they handled it.
Everyone was notified last minute (5 minutes before departure), those who didn't purchase wifi had no way to look up other options for fun and activities to do on land.
The excursions that were offered were quickly filled. We were able to get an excursion but it started late due to everyone rushing from the front desk to the bus. What was supposed to be an almost 3 hour event ended up being a 2 hour excursion due to last minute people arriving and delay. One of stops was only 10 minutes, literally... 10 minutes.
Juneau was stunning though, a very neat place to visit.
CRUISE ENDICOTT ARM & DAWES GLACIER
This was beautiful but due to weather, the boat wasn't able to get closer to the Glacier. Again, completely understand.
Disembarkation
Traveler Photos
4 Comments
BigDaddyDanger 5 years ago
We all pay a lot of money to go on these trips. I agree that things are what you make of it, but when you have expectations (which you should for the money you spend) that are not met then you have the right to say so here. That's why the reviews are here to share the good, the bad, and the ugly. I don't understand why people have to jump down the throat of someone if they have legitimate concerns. I would hope the Cruuselines would pay attention to these reviews and make efforts to improve. Not every review has to be rainbows and roses. I appreciate everybody's perspectives here.