Ovation of the Seas

The ship is sparking and new (and huge), and the staff seem to work around the clock to keep everything clean. Although there were appx. 6,000 guest on board with us, I never really felt over-crowded (except on first day in Windjammer--but this is true for almost every cruise, because people camp out at tables waiting for cabins to become available instead of moving to a lounge, etc.). I was in an oceanview balcony, and it was spacious and clean with plenty of storage (for two). The shower doors are rounded, creating a few extra cubic feet of space in the shower (Great idea!!). The casino is huge and most of the casino is non-smoking, which I LOVED!!! I believe this is the first cruise (out of 50+) where I did not have to wash my hair and use a neti-pot rinse upon return from the casino at the end of the evening. Some of the shows were unique to the ship, and most of the shows were very good. The only show that you could make reservations for was Pixels, and it was very good. If you want to see Pixels, I recommend making reservations so that you can get really good seats since guests with reservations are admitted first. Ports of call were excellent!

The ship recently went through major dry dock. Ship looked and worked well. The balcony Cabin layout was brilliant. It felt ver spacious and comfortable. MDR meh hit or miss mostly miss. Windjammer buffet total hit. The bratwurst dogs on deck 15 very good. The free fish and chips ..the fried shrimp where a hit, fish not do much. Pizza meh wasn't my favorite but in a pinch it worked. Thw quick sandwhich place near 270 was meh, a once and done. Didn't do any specialty dining as nothing jumped out at me. Only one soft serve ice cream machine on deck 14 lido, they served you not self service and open daily from around 11a to 7p. Found that to be odd. Windjammer had ice cream by the scoop during open hours. After 9p for food your stuck with pizza and nothing else unless you want to spend $. Casino was decent size, non smoking section has all the latest slots. The smoking section also decent in size but fewer machines as the card tables take up.so much room and the machine selection is older. Casinonwas never really crowded not even on night 1. Could have your pick of the litter. This might be do to the $5 to 1 point computation which takes a sizable bank roll to get anything comped. Couple of casino raffles but nothing Great to draw people into play. The cruise director was almost non existing ... only heard him 3 or 4 times and nothing note worthy. I think I heard more from the Captain over PA then the Cruise director. This cruise was pretty low key not much excitement happening almost a sleepy vibe like at by 9p to 10p the majority of ship goes to sleep. Might be different on a different 7 day itinerary.

My wife & I went on an Alaskan cruise on the Ovation of The Seas. We had a blast and won over $1000 on the Gold Diggers slot machine and another $2000 on the Roulette table. The only issues we had, if your going on an Alaskan cruise is how late/early the casino closes when leaving and entering the port on Seattle. We were down almost 3k before hitting several Jacpots and leaving up over 2k. We were also upgraded to a Suite which was amazing. WE WANT TO SAYS THANKS TO UR COMPED & Jessica for such a great trip and cant wait until our next one.