Ovation of the Seas Review

4.5 / 5.0
757 reviews

Lovely, Modern Ship with Some Mediocre Operations

Review for Trans-Ocean Cruise on Ovation of the Seas
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Zawmer
2-5 Cruises • Age 50s

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Additional details

Sail Date: May 2016
Cabin: Super Studio Ocean View Stateroom with Balcony

I sailed the Dubai-Singapore leg of the inaugural (sorta) repositioning that brought Ovation from Southampton to Tianjin. So my experience was with a shiny new ship that was a real pleasure to behold at every corner.

Royal Caribbean has put together a very appealing vessel, but still it often felt like, well, like I was on more of a budget cruise. Food is abundant, with plenty of options, but a lot of those options are pretty low-quality. I suspect they cut corners behind the scenes as well, as I often had need of guest services to resolve problems, and the lines at guest services were always (ALWAYS) intolerably long. For example, the internet wasn't working for half of my cruise. I had prepaid for an unlimited package, so not having it for several days should warrant some sort of credit. Whenever I had a chance to ask someone about that (which, again, involved waiting in a really long line), the answer was something along the lines of "uhhh, we're working on it, you'll probably receive some sort of credit". That was a typical response to any issue I had. And I never did receive any credit.

But internet outages were as bad as my issues got. It was easy to overlook them when there were so many fun activities to partake in on the ship. Between all of the music and theater venues, the place was really alive with entertainment. At night you could just wander around and choose from plenty of great places to sit down and hear some quality musical performances. I usually headed for the Music Hall. Or Two70. Or Michael's Genuine Pub. Or, really, it was always just a pleasure to hang out in the Royal Esplanade, which was always bustling with energy.

Cabin Review

Super Studio Ocean View Stateroom with Balcony

Cabin SB

I was very pleased with my little one-person cabin. There was just enough space for me and my stuff. Because I was always in there alone, it was never cramped. If I'd had guests over, it would be noticeable that there isn't any place to sit except for the balcony, and two people maneuvering around each other would have been extremely awkward. But for just me, the size was fine.

This stateroom had an obstructed view, which was not advertised. That was downright dirty of RCCL, in my opinion. I didn't end up spending that much time on my balcony, partly because of that but also because this itinerary was through a very, very hot part of the world.

The bathroom was normal size, by the standards of a typical two-person stateroom. I liked the shower.

Storage was really plentiful. If I'd had twice as much stuff I would have fared just fine.

I liked having the cubby-hole next to my bed with a power outlet. And the USB ports by the tiny little desk were very handy.

The location, apart from what it did for the view from my balcony, was just great. A few easy steps and I was at the Royal Promenade. A few more in the other direction and I was at my beloved Two70. The elevator bay was very close, but not so close that I heard the binging. (I may have noticed it a couple of times when it was otherwise very quiet.)

This stateroom is 119 square feet (not including the balcony); going forward when I'm shopping for solo staterooms, I will consider that ideal.

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