The Ship is Beautiful no doubt about it, and our special Key Lunch was great

Day 1-4 was completely fine (apart from a bit of rocking) and going to the sounds was amazing

However, the cracks started to show on day 5, where we couldn't dock in Dunedin due to "high winds", and from a source in Dunedin, these winds subsided early and we could have easily docked later, but the captain still decided not to (I will get to him in a second)

Docked in Christchurch and Picton as well however disembarkation and embarkation of the ship was a bit of a pain, considering there were 4000+ passengers on board,

Didn't dock in Wellington because again high winds and there was a cyclone nearby (this was understandable)

The cabin was fine however, the cabin Stewart tended to be a bit lazy

The service was good, but not overly excellent

No one could understand the captain over the PA and everything he was saying was a bit of Chinese whispers until the cruise director came on

Our Cruise Director Steve was good, however I'm not a big fan of forced audience participation, which it seemed him and his team was a major fan off (felt like I was constantly clapping, cheering and been made to cheer louder, this is just a pet peeve of mine however)

The activities staff were all very good, however the activities offered (talking about the game shows) some were extremely lame and boring,

Food was all really good, however when it came to beverages, I had the soda package, whist a great variety in the soda machine, halfway into the cruise, most of the uncommon drinks were unavailable, leaving sometimes only coke.weird, I know people left the show halfway through

the other thing was internet being a bit on and off most days (which I did expect)

Everything else was pretty good in my opinion, and if anyone has enough money, I do think buying the Key is worth it, for the priority embarkation and vip seats itself.

Ovation of the Seas Review

A New Zealand Experience that was easily Forgotten

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