Ovation of the Seas Cruise Reviews - Reviews

Yesterday, we ended our Alaskan cruise on the Ovation of the Seas. Here is our review and opinion in detail about our trip. Again, this review is OUR opinion. We are placing this review on several FB pages and other websites. Background: My husband and I traveled with our two daughters, their husbands and four grandkids ranging in age from 13 to 5. Since we had small kids, we opted to buy The Key to make our trip a little easier. More on The Key later. We had unusually spectacular weather. Very minimal rain. Sunny for the most part and highs in the 60s. Unheard of for Alaska. The group the week before had rain with freezing temps. In Seattle, we arrived a day before the cruise left, thank goodness as the day the cruise left, there was an internet downage and airlines canceled 4900 flights. (We heard that many people did not make the cruise). We stayed at the Hyatt Regency downtown. The room was fine and the location was walking distance to Pikes Place. Please note that you will encounter several drug addicts and mentally ill people if you walk to the market even in the middle of the day. Do not take 3rd Avenue to go anywhere as this is their main area to hang. One lady in particular was screaming to our silent grandkids to “shut up” and get out of her city. This was on Pine Avenue. If this bothers you, do not walk, but take an Uber to the Market. There is a Target downtown for items you may want (liquid hand soap, extra hangers, bar soap). The best part of the Hyatt was their shuttle ($10 and reservations are required with the concierge well in advance) to the ship. Shuttles take you right up to the terminal where a porter will take your luggage as soon as you get off the bus. If you take an Uber, you will have to walk with your luggage about a third of a mile to the terminal. With The Key, we arrived at the terminal at 10:15 am. I checked-in weeks ahead of time, and the only delay was in getting our pictures taken. Boarding started about 10:40 for frequent RC cruisers, suites and The Key. Boarded on deck 5 and immediately went to the dining room to change our dining time. We also went to our Munster station for their check-in and to guest services since we were not able to sign into the ship’s internet. At noon, there was The Key lunch at Chops. It was not in Chops, but in Silk with a Chops menu. The entrees consisted of a steak burger, a filet and a strip steak. As soon as we got our food, I knew this would be a difficult cruise when it came to food. The bun was rock hard, the filet was watery and tasteless, the Caesar salad boring. We are not foodies and do not expect much with 5,000 passengers, but this was awful and almost inedible. I’m going to continue with my review of the food on the ship. With a few exceptions, it was disgusting. We ended up going to the dining room for MTD only twice as that was the worst venue for food. The buffet had the best fruit, but the bakery items were stale. The omelets did not taste like anything and mozzarella cheese was the only cheese option. Like I said, we did not expect much with feeding 5000, but basic food service quality was expected by us. We have sailed about a dozen cruises and never felt the NEED to pay for specialty restaurants before. We gave the Japanese place a try even though it ‘s not our type of food. Our kids like sushi and gave it a C-. My husband and I had the steak teriyaki bowl which was average at best also. The next night we tried Wonderland. It was cute painting the menu, but that’s where the magic stopped. Our server picked out the apps for our table. Maybe if you are a foodie you can appreciate the Tomato Water and other oddities, but we found it strange. Three of us had short ribs, and two were all fat while my husband had an edible piece. The desserts were cute with the melting chocolate ball, but average taste. Our recommendation if you want to spend money here…study the menu and see if innovative cooking and multiple small portions are your thing. We got pizza afterwards. The best restaurant on the ship was Jamie's Italian. The tomato bruschetta was very good along with the spicy vodka penne and lasagne. Skip the item-filled Caesar salad. The banana split and Tiramisu were very good. We went here twice…$1000 we did not expect to spend with the ten of us. The Sorrento’s pizza was OK, nothing special but it got the job done. Do not bother with the hot dog place as it’s mush in a tube. The specialty coffee places on deck 4 and 14 claimed to be Starbucks, but certainly did not have the quality as a Starbucks on land. Our biggest hint to you: The Vintages wine bar outside of Jamies was always empty. We ordered whole pizzas from Sorrentos and brought them here to eat at the large table. We then were able to purchase apps from Jamies ($3 to $11) from this bar. Now back to other items. As Key members, we were able to get preferred times to the Bumper Cars, North Star, I fly, rock climbing, Flowrider, and rollerskating. On day 1, you must make reservations for the North Star and I Fly. The unfortunate part… the times available were at dinnertime or in port. We took advantage of the I Fly and our assigned time was at sail-away. The best activity was bumper cars. We were able to stay on them for 30 minutes, the whole of the Key allotted time. Our North Star time was in the Juneau port, which meant that we had to cut our time on land in Juneau short. Maybe North Star had merit at the glacier, but otherwise there was no value to it. The Seaplex was great for the kids when it was family time, which was limited as it’s a busy place with lots of things going on. Other activities that the grandkids enjoyed: Family karaoke participation, playing pool in the Music Lounge (despite all the pool sticks missing a tip) , the indoor pool on chilly sea days, and the cupcake making class for the 13 year old granddaughter. Our first port was Juneau. We decided on the Whale Watching, Wildlife and Mendenhall Glacier excursion via RC. The ride to the whale watching boat was about 40 minutes. We were on that oldish boat for 35 minutes going to a spot that had whales. When we arrived at that spot, there were several boats in the area. Yes, we saw a few whales, but on our way into Juneau we saw just as many from the ship. After about 30 minutes in this whale viewing spot, we started back to the landing. This was a total waste of money and time. It was a 30 minute drive back to the glacier and we had a total of 45 minutes here which was much too short to walk to the waterfall area. (a 2 mile round trip). We saw no other wildlife with the exception of a bald eagle. We walked around downtown for a while then headed back for our North Star time. The highlight was the next day in Skagway. We took the 9 am White Pass train and it did not disappoint. I made a scavenger hunt for the kids so they focused the whole time on the train looking for items. A big hint…and I mean big…sit on the left side of the train. While the train turns around for those on the right to see on the way down, it’s much more impressive going up and the narration is more extensive. There was not much narration on the way down. The history of the train and Gold Rush was amazing and we loved this excursion. We had plenty of time to walk around Skagway and a true highlight was the Skagway Brewery. I had the best fish and chips that I ever had. Made with halibut that was picked up that morning in Hanes. Lightly battered and delicious. Highly recommended. Great service too. Don't miss the Gold Rush museum and the short video. We all agreed that this was the best day of the trip. You may be tempted not to buy the excursion via the ship, but the next day, there was a rockslide blocking the train and people had to be “rescued”. Just a thought. The Endicott Arm and the Dawes glacier were next. We arrived at the arm at 5 am and woke up to sail into it. Since the grandkids were sleeping, we were able to go into the Solarium area which is 18 yr old and up. It was raining and the windows were blocking a clear view. This is another source of contention on this ship…if you are not 18, there is no place to see where we are sailing head-on. You only get a more 180 degree view by going to the Two70 at the back of the ship. It took 2 hours to get to the glacier area. We spent about an hour at the glacier, with the ship turning oh so slowly so everyone could see. After the fact, we heard that our great weather allowed us to go to the glacier…only the third time the Ovation was able to get there this season and we were the closest boat so far at 1.2 miles from the glacier wall. We would recommend that once you get to the glacier, go outside to appreciate the stillness of the area. Would I wake up again at 4:30 am to see it….no. I’d wait until six when the ship started to get into the narrows of the area especially if the windows had rain on them. After a day at sea, Victoria was our last stop. Beautiful and really clean city. We walked to the Fisherman’s wharf area and continued along the water to downtown. In total about a 30 minute walk. We went to the Parliamentary building and just glanced the inside. We booked high tea at the Empress Hotel outside of the ship. It was very nice in the historic building. The exchange rate made it about $70 per adult. Afterwards, we walked around town, stopped for a drink at the Local and the kids played in the playground that was on the way back to the ship. Now for the entertainment. We started watching the comedian, but ended up leaving as he was not funny. The Spectra Cabaret was bizarre. What the heck was the plot? While the room is nice, the production extensive, and the performers good, there was no plot to speak of. The production show was bizarre too. About a guy who had a dead wife and a dream he had to live his life. I wonder if both shows were written by the same nutjob. The bingo is expensive and the gal talks a ton to take up time. There are only 3 games for about $60 per person. Stop talking and give us another game. The venue is so crowded that we had to sit on the floor on the stage. There are limited tables so people were marking cards on their laps. The 70s dance party was the highlight of entertainment and pretty energetic. . The silent disco was fun also. The casino was busy and we like that they had a $6 minimum blackjack table. Note that it closes at 11:30 pm on the last night. Now the ship’s condition. The ship is beautiful. Very clean in both the public areas and the cabins. The indoor pool is a nice touch for the Alaskan weather. The Seaplex is amazing. It never felt really crowded unless you played Bingo or wanted an elevator at key times. As I noted above, it was unfortunate that there is nowhere to look out of the front of the ship if you are under 18. Now the service aspect. This is our first cruise since 2020 and we noticed a downhill trend on service. For the first time in our ten cruises, I have to say that the service left something to be desired. It took quite some time when you ordered cocktails to get one. The unhappy staff did not have the “disney juice” they usually had and for the first time, we noticed a language problem. The english was very accented and there were some comprehension problems. My husband twice ordered a Manhattan, not to get what he ordered. You could not understand the Captain’s announcements as his accent from wherever he was from was very thick. Ordering at the specialty restaurants was challenging, and if you deviated from the menu, look out. The explanation of menu items was impossible and we just gave up listening. This was such an unexpected disappointment. Would we sail on RC again? If it was only my husband and me traveling, the answer is no. If we had the grandkids, maybe. We priced this trip on Disney, whom we sailed twice before, and it’s by far a superior experience in every aspect. However, Alaska on Disney was almost 4 times the cost as RC. No thanks. But if it was double the cost, the answer would be Disney. RC just has more to do with kids then the other cruise lines such as Princess or Celebrity. All in all, a great week and spending time with family was the highlight. Thank you for reading and I’m open to answering questions.

Overall just a great cruise with loads of stuff and great views.

The cruise itself was great on a great boat. We went to three Spectra’s Cabaret and that’s 40 minutes I’ll never see again. Great dancers terrible story if you call it that and terrible technical sound. Music so loud you couldn’t hear the vocals. RCI needs to dump this show overboard and come up with something new.

A cruise is always what you make it. While we weren't a huge fan of ship layout, it did not deter us from having a great cruise, and overall, it is a big beautiful ship with a tremendous staff

Very enjoyable cruise. Great ship. Great crew and itinerary.

We had a great cruise on a beautiful ship. The staff and service was wonderful as well!

If you're cruising as a family doing a roundtrip inside passage cruise to Alaska you can't go wrong with a Royal Caribbean Quantum Class ship. My husband and I were in a balcony cabin and our two adult girls were in a neighboring cabin. We had the balcony divider opened and loved having a longer balcony which made it easy access for us to go back and forth to each other's rooms. Our girls are 26 & 21 and they were pleased with all the activity and entertainment options the ship offered. We were never bored. There was always something to do, but we did find time to relax and enjoy the scenery from our balcony. Although we did a helicopter tour of the waterfalls in Hawaii we have never seen as many waterfalls as we saw in Alaska. We saw at least 50 waterfalls during our cruise and half were from our balcony. In Sitka our girls did a boat excursion to True Alaskan Tours and loved seeing otters. My husband and I walked to the Alaska Raptor Center which we found a worthwhile experience as we love eagles. We also did a shot hike and did some shopping. With the hopes of seeing wildlife we booked the 9 AM train in Skagway and were blessed with seeing 3 Alaskan brown bears -- a mother and her twin cubs. I booked our train tickets direct from the train station and saved money. It's was an easy walk of 2 blocks from the ship to the train station. After the train ride in Skagway we tried beer made from the tips of the pine trees. It was very treeish. Skagway offered decent shopping. My husband and I enjoyed relaxing sore muscles in the solarium hot tubs after visiting Skagway and Juneau. We even enjoyed wine in the hot tub. In Juneau we booked a tour through a private vendor and visited Mendenhall Glacier and hiked 2.4 miles roundtrip to Nugget Falls. Hiking to Nugget Falls was an easy paved path and well worth the hike as the falls did not disappoint. We had already visited Victoria, BC on a prior cruise and did an entire 14 hours worth of excursions so we just walked around and took a water taxi. I would have liked to revisit the Butchart Gardens but the ships didn't really allow us enough time in port to justify the price of the trip. I would do this cruise again to experience different things at the ports, but I would do the longer train ride in Skagway next time.

Ok, a brief overview... We left from Seattle, which was great. We got on the ship and started to try and book things to do. We found out that almost everything on the ship was not available for our kids because a 2 and 4 year old aren't old or tall enough for anything. Not even riding along in bumper cars apparently. Or, they dont have small enough skates for them to go skating. Or, they dont have a small rock climbing wall for kids to just mess around on without gear like any other rock climbing place has had for all of history... Or, and I really dont get this one, they arent tall enough to stand in place in something the size of a large elevator and be lifted above the ship. Nope! that's just too much for someone under 42". Ridiculous!! The ports were amazing! Whale watching in Juneau was the highlight of our trip. Well it might be tied with Victoria, which was beautiful. We just took a shuttle into town and walked to the park/petting zoo (just a beautiful city)

I will definitely go back. Really liked Skagway Tours for that port. Also found a great bus for $20 round trip to go see the bears and raptors in Sitka (be sure to sit on the right side of the bus for the free shuttle into town for better views).

We lucked out with the weather going the first & second week of June. The weather was absolutely amazing everywhere and we never experienced rain (only some minor drizzle once). It was cool and clear nearly the entire trip to include Seattle.

It was a good cruise and we did enjoy it despite some of the problems we had.

We would like to review this as a positive journey, and cruising by definition always is, but minor inconveniences turned into major objections.

We regret having booked our Alaska cruise in the Ovation of the Seas because they didn’t deliver what they promised. First, they changed the route, skipping the port of Sitka, the former Russian town; secondly the Captain decided to avoid the glacier passage because he saw a few scattered ice pieces floating and didn’t want to compromise the safety of the ship. What about us that paid to have a once in a lifetime opportunity and experience of watching the glaciers and couldn’t ? Not even a credit or discount for a next cruise! The Windjammer needs a lot of improvement, particularly the cooking of the bacon: strips half raw and half overcooked and all stuck together and not sorted on the serving plate. I could go on with further details but it would take more space.

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.

Overall the cruise was disappointing . The cruise itself was cold which made the ship cold. Even the solarium was cold . They were running aircontiining when the outside temp was 50.

Won't do a relocation cruise again. Definitely retired population. Had a medical emergency postponed us a day from getting home. Had to pay for hotel 1 night, transportation, missed a day of work ... terrible experience.

Love the trip. The worst part is knowing we won't get a great deal again like we did with this one.

The ship is just amazing and the crew was fantastic. The only disappointment was Dunedin and The Sounds was cancelled because of poor weather

This was a very relaxing cruise and I enjoyed hanging with many people who were from Sydney or Australia. I learned a lot about Australia in general and New Zealand is beautiful and the only insects they have are bees. The flower gardens and the green areas are just beautiful. The water is so colorful you cannot get enough. I would do this cruise again, but I would do one back to back where they do Australia and New Zealand to see so much more.

If i could do a review for a MINUS score i would because i am appalled at the plain and simple discrimination and dictatorship by Royal Caribbean cruise line. I do not drink alcohol and avoid any type of processed food, sugary drinks, artificial colors etc... i choose to drink filtered water only, i know what you are all thinking BORING, i know. however it is my choice. I was just informed by Royal Caribbean that i HAD to book an alcohol package or at the very least refreshment package if my husband wanted one, and if i booked this to be eligible for a refund i would need to send proof in the form of a medical certificate to state why i didn't want these other drinks and that would be the only consideration they would make was due to a medical condition. I have never been so appalled and i have contacted the Federal Maritime commission to take this further but just for anyone to be aware, do not give this company a cent of your money.