Ovation of the Seas, Royal Caribbean Cruise (Review)

I honestly don't even know where to start when writing this review of my first Royal Caribbean Cruise on the Ovation of the Seas. As I've previously shared, it was a huge nightmare from booking the cruise, changing to a different ship and fighting for a fair price for the new cruise agenda. I tried to put that behind me as I boarded the cruise ship to have my holiday.

At the airport, I was met by a team from the company who convinced me to book a transfer with them to the ship. They sold it to me by stating fast track boarding, pre-boarding with security information and having luggage delivered to the cabin within an hour of boarding, whereas I was told security queues can take hours and luggage wouldn't arrive until late evening. It was $15 more than the train and sounded much easier but didn't quite live up to expectations. When we arrived, we did board straight onto the ship following security, but so did the normal non-pre checked arrivals as there was no queue. Then my luggage still hadn't arrived after 4 hours so I couldn't get changed or freshen up or even take my medication. I had to ring multiple times to chase it. 

To top it off, I was put in a room which didn't have a working virtual balcony. I went to the help desk and ended up calling twice and then ended up having to call maintenance. I waited in the room for someone to attend and when they arrived they said someone would come to fix it whilst I was eating. When I returned a couple hours later, no one had been and when my room attendant came to say hello, they said it had been broken for the last two cruises! I was fuming because I had literally paid extra for this room upgrade to ensure I could still see the view off the ship, whilst not paying a significant amount for a balcony, and they knew it didn't work. Anyway, I called maintenance again and was sadly told it couldn't be fixed. No apology nothing. I then contacted the front desk to explain the situation and ask to be moved room, ideally with an upgrade. I was then told that there was no upgrade room available as they were at capacity, which seemed unlikely, and told someone would come to collect my bags and move rooms shortly. I was eventually moved to the opposite side to the one I had specifically picked, but I raced to pack my bags and then had to wait over an hour longer, calling again to ask when they were coming as they had originally made it sound immediate. When someone finally came, they asked me what room I was moving to and where the key was, to which I replied I didn't know as they were supposed to be coming with the key. When I finally got moved to the new room, it was filthy. I had to go round cleaning drawers and surfaces in order to unpack. There was also things from the previous guests in the drawers and so clearly no one had bothered to even look inside which I found incredibly frustrating. 

From there, things did improve. I've shared a full room tour and review already here. I cannot fault the food. For someone who is quite fussy and usually ends up having the same meals every day, I was so impressed. I ate something different every day. There were so many options and new things every day. There was a restaurant that had table service, however, I was seated on a large 10(?) person table and didn't enjoy being on such a large table alone, so I only went there once. I mainly ate at the large buffet restaurant with different themed nights, but also enjoyed the pizzeria and cafe for salads and hot sandwiches. They also had a fish and chips shop which I went to once, a hot dog van which I didn't go to and a couple of bakeries. The food was phenomenal and the options were endless!

The activities on board were also impressive. They had lots of options for children especially with an almost 24/7 child entertainment programme and club. They had dodgems, climbing walls, skydiving, surfing and more. Of course, they also had all the pools, sunbeds and relaxing hotel experiences too. From an adults programme, they had a lot of different quizzes, dance and gym classes. Every day, I did the aqua aerobics class in the pool, the activity of the day (crossword, sudoku etc) and quiz. 

I also did some of the free spa experiences, but found them very frustrating and forced sales people which was annoying. I did enter a raffle and ended up winning a voucher for a free experience but it still then cost over £200 to do so I asked to switch to a manicure, which was still £50 and very disappointing. I ended up going back to get them take off because they chipped within 48 hours. I just found the whole spa situation very uncomfortable and off putting at all times. 

The evening entertainment was endless with so many options and often multiple things on at the same time. I went to the main evening show every night and I really enjoyed these for the most part, but the entertainment was definitely geared more towards Americans and the older population. The shows ranged from burlesque which was my favourite, a dramatic show, comedians, country singers, impressionists and jugulars.  

Overall, the cruise itself was nice, but disappointing for the price paid. Having said that, if I had travelled with someone else, I think it is very reasonably priced for the basic price bundle and I did enjoy parts of the cruise. I'll also share an insight into the cruise arranged trip which was another huge disappointment.