So, so disappointed

Item: Ovation of the Seas
Rating: 3.7
Author: Chickenbone1

Ovation of the Seas Cruise Review to South Pacific - Australia

Chickenbone1

Contributor Level: Purser

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 27

Overall rating:

3.7 out of 5

12 Night New Zealand (Sydney Roundtrip)

Sail date: March 11, 2023

Ship: Ovation of the Seas

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: 8178

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 1 year ago

Review summary

All I can say that if this is how Royal Caribbean are going to operate post the pandemic, we will be looking closely at going with another cruise line in future.

Embarkation

5 out of 5

Embarkation actually was pretty good, though we were b2b cruisers which speeds things up

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

1 out of 5

The food was frankly disgusting. Never once actually received a hot meal. Waiter in Main Dinning Room kept giving us the wrong meals, cold food and was so slow with service it was ridiculous. We would get our main meal as other sections had finished and wrre leaving. Got so bad we walked out mid meal and didn't return for the rest of the cruise. Windjammers was a major let down compared to other times on RCI cruises. Same cold food as MDR, poor quality meals and stale bread rolls that were physically cold inside from being stored in a fridge.

Onboard Activities

4 out of 5

Entertainment

4 out of 5

Service and Staff

4 out of 5

As always the general staff are fantastic and friendly.

Ship Quality

4 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

4 out of 5

Fairly happy with the cabin

Ports of call

Sydney, Australia

4 out of 5

Cruise Milford Sound

4 out of 5

Cruise Doubtful Sound

4 out of 5

Cruise Dusky Sound

4 out of 5

Port Chalmers (Dunedin), New Zealand

4 out of 5

Lyttleton (Christchurch), New Zealand

5 out of 5

Tauranga, New Zealand

5 out of 5

Auckland, New Zealand

5 out of 5

Bay Of Islands, New Zealand

5 out of 5

Disembarkation

1 out of 5

As my wife caught covid on-board we were quarantined and had to wait to be escorted off the ship by an officer. We were eventually pushed out a staff gangway directly onto the wharf in the rain where our bags were sitting soaking wet from the rain.

5 Comments

Nancy7500 1 year ago

Thanks for your review. We too left our cruise ill but did not know it was Covid-19 til disembarked and tested. In person muster drills need to stop and much better cleaning protocols reactivated.

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javawoody 1 year ago

Appreciate the comments

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Gwbigdog 1 year ago

Thanks for sharing

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AuntPinkie 1 year ago

Appreciate your detailed feedback. Hope your wife is feeling better. Sorry you felt this cruise didn’t meet RCCL standards.

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diamondplus4lyf 1 year ago

100% agree with your comments about food quality. We have sailed with Royal over 20 years and the recent changes to the food selections and food quality are the worst.

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