Ovation is a beautiful, clean and modern ship. It was the first time we have sailed on a ship that holds 4,000-5,000 people and that is a challenge in itself. It is a floating city spread across 16 decks. It took me a few days to find your way around and I’m used to cruising and pretty good at finding my way around. There are lots of dining venues and the food is in almost all cases, quite good. The crew are terrrifc, friendly and helpful. There are lots and lots of children, from toddlers to teens onboard and the ship seems to cater to the “bring the entire family” theme. How many ships have a Bumper Car arena, rock climbing and surfing venues onboard. So be prepared to encounter elevators full of kids, especially teems, roaming free. Wi-Fi is expensive and spotty at best. Don’t bother with the RCL onboard texting app. The drink packages are very expensive, so do the math beforehand.
Embarkation
3 out of 5
It is a long process due to the thousands of passengers all boarding within a few hours. However, it was as probably efficient as it could be. Took about an hour to finally get aboard.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
4 out of 5
Windjammer Cafe has the largest, most complete and well prepared buffet we have ever experienced on a cruise. Chops and Jamies were excellent specialty dining experiences. The Solarium Bistro was a great find on the Solarium Deck and is included as a part of the included dining options. The Chic main dining room is beautiful but has very low ceilings and we felt a bit claustrophobic. The staff at all the restaurants a very friendly, efficient and professional.
Onboard Activities
4 out of 5
Fitness center is excellent as an onboard venue. We didn’t use most of the other activity venues, which are more suited for the families onboard traveling with children, lots and lots of small to teen aged children. They have lots of water venues onboard from completely covered to outside pools and hot tubs.
Entertainment
4 out of 5
The comedians and impressionist shows were outstanding as was The Beautiful Dream show. Boleros and The Music Hall were also a fun music and dancing experiences. Phoenix, a well-known cover band from Vegas was onboard and put on two fantastic rock concerts at the Music Hall. We were lucky to be onboard when they performed.
There is one dud onboard and that is Pixels, which is billed as the top show. It is visually as modern a display of lights and electronics as you will see. The cast works incredibly hard and are very skilled. Here’s the problem…..there is no discernible theme to the show. I thought it was just me, but at the end of the show no one in our group could tell me what the show was about. We were in the balcony and actually saw people getting up and leaving in the middle of the show. The applause at the end of the show was very light and tepid, really more of a polite acknowledgement of the intense effort the cast invested in their performance. We heard a number of people in the crowd as we left saying ‘What the heck was that show about’. At that point we at least didn’t feel as if we had somehow missed something.
Contrast Pixels with The Beautiful Dream, which was a wonderful production. It was visually beautiful, the singing was great and, most importantly, you could extract the theme as the production progressed. To say the level of applause was different from Pixels is an understatement.
Children's Programs
4 out of 5
We didn’t travel with kids but there was definitely lots to do
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
The friendliest crew we have ever encountered. Every crew member you encounter has a pleasant greeting for you. The dining staff all all very polite and responsive to requests.
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
Ovation is a beautiful ship, as modern and decorated as any ship afloat. It takes about 3-4 days to find your way around because it is a monster-sized ship. Nothing intimate about it. It is a combination of Disney World, Las Vegas and Park Avenue
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
Our outside balcony stateroom was the most spacious and well laid out of any ship we have sailed on. Lots of storage in the cabin and a very usable bathroom, unless someone is very overweight in trying to use the shower, which was still larger than other ships we have sailed on.. Everything still had a “like new” feeling” and our cabin steward, Edward, was always available and seemed to work 24 hours a day. There is a small digital safe, as well as a cooler (not a refrigerator), which also has an electronic lock on it. Be sure to double check the 4 digit code you enter on both the safe and cooler. From personal experience I can tell you that the cabin steward can open the cooler if you get your combination wrong (I don’t know if that applies to the safe)
Ship tip
The wi-if is very unreliable and don’t bother getting the onboard texting app, which requires you have your phone unlocked and both parties on the app at the same time. It does not work like a regular text messaging app and is a total waste of $14 per person.
It’s a historic and pleasant small town and we had great weather. However, there’s really nothing to do unless you go on a excursion. RCL does a great job running shuttle buses back and forth to town, but it a long, long, line to get on the buses. We went up to Cannon Hill where Russia turned Alaska over the United States, then wandered around for a little while and returned to the ship.
Another small Alaska town and lots of excursions are available. We took the White Pass railroad trip up to the border with the Yukon Territory. We had gorgeous weather and the ride on the train was delightful and the scenery was off the charts (and I’m originally from Alaska).
You have to be up at around 5am to see it. By the time we were up about 7am there were a few chunks of ice in sight and that was it. However, the scenery is still beautiful.
The port call time period is so short, it’s a waste of time. We arrived at 5:30pm and left less than 5 hours later. I believe the only reason for this port call is due to the Jones Act which mandates traversing the territorial waters of another nation, Canada in this case. You also have to go through filling out an entire Arrive Canada form before the cruise, which is a headache. We did the form before cruise but when the time came we all decided it just wasn’t worth trying to get in line to leave the ship, go through Canadian Customs and reverse the process a couple of hours later.
It is a madhouse getting thousands of people off the ship in a couple of hours time. However, despite that challenge RCL does a pretty good job of the disembarkation process. Once we got ashore, we were able to find our luggage fairly easily. US Customs was just a walk through and flash your passport. Our biggest challenge was finding the shuttle to the long-term parking service we used.
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