Ups & Downs but a great cruise overall

Ovation of the Seas Cruise Review

FindingNatasha

Contributor Level: Third Mate

68 Days Till Next Cruise

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Reviews: 2

Helpful Votes: 22

Overall rating:

4.7 out of 5

8 Night Alaska Glacier (Vancouver To Seattle)

Sail date: May 09, 2024

Ship: Ovation of the Seas

Traveled as: Family (young children)

Reviewed: 6 months ago

Review summary

Ovation for my daughters 2nd birthday and sister-in-laws first cruise was amazing! We had a couple of explainable bummers; (1) cruise boarding was delayed until 6pm, (2) our flights with Air2Sea were canceled the morning of the cruise which added stress of rebooking for 8 and ensuring we were all on the same flights, (3) the port Sitka was canceled and replaced with Victoria, (4) our Juneau seaplane tour was canceled with no notice to us prior to book something else instead so it was a wasted day at port. Aside from the above, the staff were absolutely amazing. Paulo (Loyalty), Oswin and his dining room staff, Doris (deck 8 room attendent), Rej (Windjammer), all made our trip even better. It is clear they all care about their guests and going above and beyond. Alaska had beautiful ports but the experience and way we felt onboard trumped that.

Embarkation

1 out of 5

Embarkation was a mess. Navigating this with a 2 year old with a stroller was awful. It was up and down, around and around. Finding and waiting for elevators was confusing. We waited in line for over 3 hours for embarkation to then wait in line to get onto the ship. This port needs help!!!

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

4 out of 5

Onboard Activities

4 out of 5

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

Staff was absolutely amazing. Went above and beyond - Paulo in Loyalty is in the perfect job for his personality. So friendly, assisting, quick and followed thru later on confirming our requests were completed accurately. He went above and beyond by also providing my daughter an Ovation coloring book with crayons which she LOVED. There are so many amazing staff but Paulo seriously went above and beyond - Royal is lucky to have him on their team!!!

Ship Quality

5 out of 5

Ship was so clean. Easy to navigate and if you room is mid-ship, easy to get anywhere you need to!

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5

Doris was amazing and ensuring the cleanliness of our cabin. Any issues, she had them resolved immediately. She also gave us tips for the day and helped explain any issues we had. Doris helped make our trip even better!

Ship tip

Be patient if boarding at Vancouver. Be open minded and kind to the staff who all go above and beyond to try to make this a memorable trip for us.

Thumbs up

Ports of call

Juneau, Alaska

5 out of 5

Our tour for 8 people (seaplane tour) was canceled due to weather. No one told us ahead of time so we had to go out and find out from others, walked down to the location for them to confirm. We got our money back but was bummed as we found out too late to try to book another tour instead.

Thumbs Up 0

Skagway, Alaska

5 out of 5

Victoria, British Columbia

5 out of 5

Seattle, Washington

5 out of 5

Ketchikan, Alaska

5 out of 5

Vancouver (Canada Place), British Columbia

5 out of 5