Standing Ovation!

On Monday 11 April I was lucky enough to go on board the brand new Royal Caribbean ship ‘Ovation of the Seas’ – she arrived into Southampton for the first time on Sunday.  I have never seen a Quantum Class ship so was extremely excited to go on and have a look around and stay on board for the night.

You will have seen quite a few pictures of the ship if you follow my Facebook page but if not, take a look:-

https://www.facebook.com/barbara.cruises

My first view of her:-

A cheeky little selfie with my two colleagues Teresa & Phillipa ( we traveled down together in my car).

She is a beautiful, stunning ship and we were on board by 1.30pm.  We had just the one night to get round the whole ship so was a very busy day/night but so worth it.

A few key facts about Ovation:-

Quantum Class Ship
Length 1.141 feet
Beam 136 feet
Draft 28 feet
Guests – 4,180
Tonnage 167,800
16 Decks

Ovation has been built for the Chinese market and will sail over to Hong Kong later in the year to begin her Chinese itineraries, a lot of the signs on board are in English & Chinese.

Royal Caribbean International also announced that the Godmother for Ovation of the Seas will be Chinese actress, Fan BingBing- the first Chinese celebrity to be Godmother of an international cruise ship. She will officially name the ship at the inaugural ceremony in China on the 24th of June. 

We started off at the Sky Bar for a quick drink after a long drive and met up with the rest of our group ready to explore. The Sky Bar is on Deck 14 by the main outdoor pool area, here is also the H2O Zone pool where the kids will have so much fun. There is also a big screen to watch various movies & sporting events whilst relaxing by the pool.

One deck up on Deck 15 is the ‘North Star’ – this is a pod which you get into and it is elevated up in the air 300 feet up giving fantastic views of the ship and surroundings – I must admit it was fun but not the view of Southampton – ha ha!! We waited till the evening before having a go on this – the ship looked amazing all lit up… this is a must if you go on a Quantum Class ship.

Also on Deck 15 there is the SeaPlex – this is a real fun area for all ages offering dodgems, roller skating, circus school and much more. Table tennis also available here and a snack bar for if you get peckish after all the activities. There is also an arcade, a bit like a real fun fair!

How about trying a bit of sky diving? The RipCord by iFly is up on deck 16 and looks like fun – I didn’t have a go as I’ve done a real sky dive so know how it feels but great to watch one of my colleagues, want to see for yourself….

We had a balcony cabin number 6530 on deck 6, the cabin was very spacious with plenty of storage and good size bathroom with a fantastic shower.  They even have the shaving bar like the Solstice class ships on Celebrity.
It felt part obstructed  due being the last cabin before the bulge so could only see from one side so I personally would not book this cabin by choice.

I loved that there were USB ports to plug in your smart phone to charge.

Also remember you need an European adapter to any electrical appliances, the 2 round pins.

There were also Tea making facilities (no coffee provided but sure you can ask), we didn’t use them but good to know they are there.

We saw various cabin types on our tour of the ship, from inside to the Grand suite (which was bigger than my house).

Some inside cabins have virtual balconies which are amazing, it is a live view from outside the ship so feels like you have a real balcony – just can’t sit out on it – ha ha!

The loft suites & grand loft suite were impressive – you have separate bedroom upstairs and a sofa bed downstairs so great for families and more spacious than a standard balcony.

This would be my choice if sailing on this class of ship.

I will cover more on the suites and the dining on my next blog….

Until then – happy cruising.