Cruising InnOvation
- Claire Ottaviano
- Dec 11, 2016
- 5 min read
The number of books I can read while on a cruise is a good measurement of time spent on board.
On an average week during the last year of my travels I could read up to three decent sized novels.
On the Royal Caribbean's newly launched Ovation of the Seas I made it through a third of my war epic, just about enough to relax and lay back, but really, it was all go go go on board the fourth biggest cruise ship in the world.
The cruise giant made its debut in Australian waters when it and its almost all Perthian passenger list of 4900 sailed into Fremantle on Tuesday.
With five other cruises under my belt by age 25 I was very much looking forward to what the biggest ship to ever visit Australia had to offer.
The first thing that got my attention about the Ovation was how big a part technology played on board, starting with the virtual balconies in the interior guest rooms. Now every guest no matter the budget has a real time view of the outside world and ocean views. My fiance and I experienced our first balcony cabin thanks to a last minute half price balcony sale as well as my parents who traded with their original interior cabin. I was pleasantly surprised to find the interior and the balcony rooms identical in size and features, minus the balcony. The size of the cabins were a bit larger than I'd stayed in across P&O, carnival, Princess, Star and a previous Royal Caribbean ship. The fully enclosed glass door showers meant I had my first dry cabin bathroom ever and the convenience of a kettle and tea in the cabins was another bonus.
When you leave the cabin the technology starts in your hands with the IQ Royal app, which needed more advertising as no one knew about it, and once on board with no wifi it was impossible to download. With the app, I could book all of my on board activities such as the Ifly and North Star. However if you didn't have the app there were devices located all around the ship that allowed you to do the same thing. It saved so much hassle standing in long ques to book in person.
The incorporation of technology means the Ovation is a very interactive ship, from the Bionic Bar where two robotic arms make and shake drinks to your hearts content to the Butterfly Wall which had the interest of everyone passing by.
The first day on board we got ahead and nabbed an early spot on the North Star. The four of us and about 10 others gently ascended 90 meters into the air for views over the ship and Singapore. Usually the North Star takes 25 minutes to rise above and then extend out to the side of the ship, but due to the number of passengers on this leg of the journey we took a shorter 15 minute journey up and down only.
Then we went straight to the RipTide surf wave to try our hand (or feet) at a new skill. It was easier to get than I thought and the instructors give you a quick run through and safety demo. It ran pretty much all day during our six day voyage which gave everyone plenty of time to have a few goes.
We filled our second day with Rumba dancing lessons, a soccer game, dodgeball, bumper cars, rock climbing and of course, the Ifly Skydiving experience.
From then on for the next six days we seemed to always be doing something.
We used the gym almost every morning. It wasn't exactly impressive, I thought it pretty standard. It had the same equipment as the Brilliance of the Seas which has half the passengers to cater for. But as far as views go, situated at the front of the ship, it's a nice place to workout. Being such a new ship adds to the 'clean' feeling of a gym too and all the equipment was very new and nice to use.
For the first time on a cruise we had the My Time Dining option instead of having the allocated same time and table each night. This suited us as we were travelling in two pairs and wanted to spend time with each other. When cruising on our own we would sit on a large table to meet new people.
The ship caters for both scheduled seated dinners and casual seated dinners with four different restaurants. My Time Dining chose from the American Grill or Silk restaurants, although both menus were the same.
We loved the food, but as budget travellers Mark and I are just thrilled to have beautiful food cooked and prepared for us, without the cleaning up too!
I loved the variety of eating options. The Solarium served a good buffet breakfast which we ate at every day because it was quieter than the main Windjammer buffet. Two70 also had breaky although we never ate there as I didn't think there was much seating for eating at Two70.
Lunch we ate at Two70 because it had easy to grab food. The salad bar is amARzing and I loaded up on a few days. They also had French and Italian paninis that were really good. It was also a convenient location for a game of cards in the workshop above after lunch. We also ate one lunch in the formal dining room and it was probably the best lunch we had on board.
Entertainment on board was what we expected from a cruise. I can't comment on the Pixels show or Live, Love, Legs, we were too busy to go! I didn't feel like I missed out, because there is so much going on. We did see performer Rachel Beck as well as hypnotist Shane St James.
The shear size of Royal Caribean's Ovation of the Seas does make for a very different cruise experience compared with traditional cruising.
There are more people on board, yes you will have to wait a little longer in lines, yes it's busy at breakfast and lunch. But really, you're on a cruise, take your time, get to meals a little early or a little late, relax. The one thing I don't like about cruising are the entitled passengers. Just because you're on a cruise does not give you the right to be rude to staff or exclaim your 'right' to demand that you be served first, or that everyone stop what they're doing to help you. Cruising is the most luxurious form of holiday, where else can you get your accommodation, food and entertainment all for one price and have staff waiting on your every whim? A cruise is what you make it, if you want to relax, then choose one of the many pools to lounge by, if you want to be active, go join a soccer tournament.
The Ovation really had so many options that were never presented to me before on a cruise, and now I'm setting my sights on the pinnacle of cruising, the Harmony of the Seas.
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