Ovation of the Seas Cruise Reviews - Reviews

I loved our Alaska cruise with Royal Caribbean! I would do it again but want to see more of Alaska

It was well worth it and definitely would go again!!!

We plan on trying to make an Alaskan cruise an yearly thing.

Once in a lifetime trip that shouldn’t be missed.

We loved this ship! So elegant! Alaska was an amazing once in a lifetime trip!

I enjoyed the whole time with my expectations set appropriately for short staff all over the world, short tempers for those who should probably just stay home. We had amazing calm seas and beautiful views.

Beautiful ship, great staff. Beds were so hard that we didn't get good sleep the whole cruise. Food was alright. Had a wonderful massage.

Beautiful ship. Great entertainment. Comedian was great. The production shows were good with great dancing and singing. The scenery was incredible. Glaciers were great. Food and service in dining room was good but not as good as the food in past. Food in windjammer was hard and dry. Average food. Loved the solarium area. Drinks were spendy. Had a great cruise experience. Nice people

Ovation, Alaska (Juneau, Skagway and Victoria) and Seattle-My review. (10-17th June sailing) Seattle: Flew from UK 3 days before to enjoy Seattle. Had two full days in Seattle. Stayed Crown Plaza Downtown. Great hotel, 33/34 floor up so views were spectacular! Lovely restaurant. Other food available with 5 minute walk, lots more within 10 mins. Space Needle-a must. (Allow 1.5 hrs) Chilhuly Glass-an even bigger must. (Allow 2 hrs). Aquarium. Really good, but been to some equally as good. Allow 1.5 hrs. Pike Place Market-outstanding. 5/6 floors deep. Top floor (street entry level) is the local farmers section. See fish being thrown, get fresh flowers for your stateroom to take on ship, and lots of souvenirs. Hop on Hop off City Sighting seeing-Don’t bother. Awful service. Panoramic tour cancelled and we were not informed. Incurred Uber costs to get from hotel to stop no 1 for tour. Emailed to complain about cancellation and they’ve not even bothered to reply. 2nd day, we used the Hop on Hop Off service. Waited 50 mins for 1st bus of the day to reach a point in the loop where buses should have been at 25-35 minutes. Then found out only one bus operating all day on the loop so a 20-30 min service was over an hour at each stop. 😡 Ovation-Stunning ship. Been on Anthem (sister ship, so identical). Entertainment: really good variety. Evening shows are too early. Some at 6:45pm. Ridiculous when trying to organise dinner. We like to eat 6/6:30pm. Speciality restaurants say to allow 2 hours. Will be leaving this in review. Shows need to go back to 8pm as they are only 45 mins long. Activities: Did Ifly again (1st time on Anthem last year). This time he got me to do early tricks as apparently I was the best he’d seen in long while!! Turned my hands to get me to spin in a circular motion, and guy let go so I was free!!! Quizzes are good-only usually got 8-12/20 but felt we gave it a good shot! Didn’t do North Star this time as we had a balcony and felt this was enough. Extra charge for premium flight at glaciers was $69. Boarded at 11am-pack swimwear in hand luggage. Headed straight to Solaruim hot tubs. We were the only ones up there for almost an hour! Restaurants-we did My Time Dining. All booked on planner before we left. But only 2/7 showing on arrival. Then told MTD starts at 6:45pm! You can turn up anytime, join line for ‘no reservations’ and you’ll be seated within 10 mins. We also did Chops and Jamies. Both amazing. Jamies was rushed due to theatre booking at 6:45pm. And booking Jamie’s for 5pm really cut our day short. Ended up missing 6:45pm show and went to 9pm instead. Plenty of ‘free’ options for food. Didn’t try Fish and Ships, but wish we had. Solarium Bisto-great for breakfast and lunch buffets. Don’t bother with evening meal. We understood it was table service in the evening, although the waiter was encouraging us to go look at everything on offer on buffet. Then after he eventually served our dessert, he disappeared. Restaurant had closed at 9pm (this was one of the evenings we had to do a show at 6:45pm and dinner at 8pm). We waited. Nothing. Only 3 families in there for the duration we were there. Eventually (after feeling like we should just walk out) we called the head waiter (who was on computer at desk) and asked if he could find our waiter as we hadn’t seen him for nearly 30 mins!). Needless to say-no tip! Juneau-had our helicopter glacier flight and landing cancelled. Very low cloud right down in town all day. So flew downstairs and quickly booked the summer musher camp. Still got to cuddle the puppies and the dogs took us on a rainforest ride. It was fantastic but obviously would have preferred the helicopter. If cancellations happen like this, jump straight on the app and book quickly as the queue down at Shore Excursions was 40 mins long. There are booths on the pier (not for summer camp) but you run the risk of getting nothing by the time you are off the ship. Skagway-(again all helicopters cancelled today as weather same as yesterday). Beautiful port. The train is a must. Currently only option is a trip to summit and back. No exit from train. Each carriage has a restroom and free water bottles. Stunning scenary. Snow drifts still 6-10 ft deep on the top. Sit in first or last carriages for great views of whole train on bends. Left or right side-doesn’t matter-you see one side on way up, the other on way down. Wear warm layers if wanting to stand out inbetween carriages on platforms. Better photos than behind glass. I wore layers, windproof coat, then a Universal Orlando wet ride cape over the top. Stayed warm and dry. Take binoculars. Victoria: Butchart Gardens, high tea and city highlights. 9:30am start (didn’t leave until 9:45am) Stunning gardens but too rushed. City tour enroute very detailed but got us to gardens at 10:50am. Our high tea slot was 11:45am right in the middle. Mum has slow walking/mobility issues. We were at furthest point away from cafe at 11:45am (following their one way route) so chose to continue with gardens. Dived in for tea at 12:30pm. Gift shop huge but only got 10 mins. Had to be back to bus for 12:50pm. Far too rushed. Gardens alone need two uninterrupted hours. Do this excursion alone, not through RC. Endicott arm and Dawes Glacier-BEAWARE! Endicott arm is the cruising upto Dawes Glacier. Chris, cruise director said the night before we’’d be there from 7am-12pm. Many people missed this. I happened to look out at 6:20am and we were nearly at glacier. We got dressed and headed up top and captain turned ship once and sailed away down arm again. I commented to my mum how quiet the top deck was. Then came the complaints. And rightly so. By 10am, glacier no longer in view and way down the arm almost back out to sea!! Apparently the captain made an announcement at 6:30am but no one we spoke to heard it! Sea days: very slightly rocky going North. Saw people with sea bands/sickness patches on (but unless they were super sensitive) not needed. Stay mid ship height and length and you’ll be fine. Sea day going back south-wouldn’t have known we were moving!! Seattle airport: lots complained about busy, chaotic scences with cancelled flights. Guess we were lucky. Virgin airlines-highly recommended!! This was a 2020 trip moved to 2021 and then 2022. I travelled with my 72 year old Mum on her 2nd cruise (my 4th). I am now Platinum so got my robe. Great little extra for the balcony!! Overall one of the best holidays ever. This post might read negative in many ways. But overall everything was incredible. There is always going to be little hitches. Sadly now though-both mum and I have tested positive for Covid. We wore a mask EVERY TIME in public areas. And washed our hands everywhere. It’s likely to have been on the ship or an excursion on Thursday as first sign was just a cold sore. Which i put down to two very busy, exhausting weeks. Clothing: You’ll read lots about layers. We each had a long sleeved thermal vest. Then a long sleeved tshirt, shirt etc. And a hoodie. I took short sleeved t shirts for layering but only ever used them for walking around the warm ship. Trousers-do not take jeans. They will get wet! I had shower proof trousers for excursions and pulled my waterproofs over in Juneau where it was really wet. Took leggings as base layer but not needed at all. Shoes-trainers-fabulous, I took one pair of smarter brown boots for evening and a heavy pair of walking boots for all excursions. Just 3 pairs altogether. And I normally pack tons of shoes. Flip flops for pool might be good but I didn’t miss them. Wildlife: Again, take binoculars. Saw whales and bald eagles from the ship (balcony). Many others saw dolphins, seals and other wildlife. It’s all about being in the right place at the right time. Happy to answer questions!!! (May not get to them all but I’ll do my best!) ✈️🇺🇸🛳🐳🌎❄️🌫💙❤️

This was our bucket list cruise and enjoyed every minute. Even though it rained most of the time I would not trade the time we spent on this adventure.

Our flights were the only real downer, but that’s an entirely different story.

The ship and country were beautiful. MANY people are back to cruising and they are impatient to "make up" for the time they were not able to travel. Apparently they have forgotten how to cooperate and follow directions. Cruises during Covid were much more relaxing with fewer passengers. Some crew members on this cruise seemed "green" and not sufficiently trained.

Good cruise facilities but Worst Service at the Sea

A great cruise with the highlight being the dog sledding. Ship was great. Food was wonderful and another great trip

It was a fabulous amazing cruise! One of our top vacations. I will totally do it again. The crew were amazing. The cabin was clean and spacious with great views from our balcony. The ship was clean. The atmosphere was energizing. The food was good. Lots of options for food and drinks. Great entertainment. Expect long lines for somethings. They move pretty quickly. Totally worth doing.

Ship is excellent, maybe a little shortage on staff but they do all they can do to bring a good service.

A beautiful, scenic view of snow capped mountains.

This was my fourth Alaska cruise (3 Disney, 1 RC). I loved the ship, but the itinerary felt like something was missing. When you sail out of Vancouver, you can use all your port days in Alaska, but sailing out of Seattle, you need a foreign port. I would have enjoyed the cruise more if it had at least one more Alaska port. The family chose this cruise, we just followed the granddaughters. : ) That said, despite weather, crew issues and staffing, it was an excellent cruise and excellent ship and I would recommend it. After all, it is Alaska!

Keep your expectations real, unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know about staffing issues. We don’t let that stuff bother us, but if you’re used to the Rolls Royce treatment you might be disappointed. Many rude guests we’re the only real negatives for us and of course the many cases of C19

This was my 30th and last cruise. What a disaster.