Ovation of the Seas Review
hjb123
10+ Cruises • Age 70s
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Additional details
Sail Date: May 2016
Cabin: Superior Ocean View Stateroom with Balcony
We chose this cruise because it was a maiden voyage. The ship smelt new when we embarked. Overall, we found the food to be exceptional. The free restaurants all had excellent quality and variety, and the surcharge restaurants were exceptional. Jamie's was far superior to the two that we have experienced on land; Wonderland was most interesting and different, and Izumi was delicious. The crew were happy and energetic and the special shows were well produced and executed.
The iFly which simulates skydiving was very well organized and a lot of fun. The North Star, the giant arm that allows you see the ship from a great height, was interesting. It did break down several times, though. People on the Flowrider looked to be having a great time but we did not try it! Dodgem cars were also fun. All of these things are free of charge. The solarium is wonderful, with very large spa baths and cascading pools.
One complaint was the smell of cigarette smoke coming from the casino, one of the designated areas. The casino is quite large and the smell permeates the Music Hall at times.
Cabin Review
Superior Ocean View Stateroom with Balcony
Cabin D1
Our cabin was spacious. The balcony was quite deep and a great size. We were port side, towards the front. The bathroom was quite good with a larger shower. The voyage was very smooth, so almost no rocking.
Our only complaint is that the hanging rack. This was a problem for all cabins, though.
Port Reviews
Barcelona
We had 3 days precruise and enjoyed seeing the old town in particular.
Athens (Piraeus)
The old museum is excellent. The churches are worth having a look at for their beauty- just remember to be appropriately dressed in Greece! We had a wonderful lunch at terrific restaurant on the waterfront with delicious Greek food. We took the little train but did not get value as we walked all the way back to the ship.
Piraeus is the one place we found to have our VAT type dockets stamped by customs- no other ports seem to have stands available. You get the port bus over to the other terminal. It takes a bit of mucking around, but the customs people are really nice and helpful there.
Dubai
So many people were disembarking that the taxi queues were enormous. We had read that the shopping malls had buses to take you there- but there were none except Mercato. We ended up paying for the hop-on hop-off bus which did not give us value for money. The traffic was so heavy that the buses became very slow, and if you got off they were slow to return. We watched the fountains at Dubai Mall which were very lovely, but if you have seen Bellagio in Las Vegas, don't make a special trip.
4 Helpful Votes
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