Alaska on the Ovation

[kemmerlinj2]

Hello! Planning an Alaska cruise on the Ovation for June 2020. We've only done Caribbean cruises so far and have never been to Alaska. What stateroom category would you recommend....oceanview or balcony?

 

[dislainey]

Hi,
My family will be going on the Ovation in July 2019. My husband and I are booked in a balcony. My adult children are booked in a interior virtual balcony because of cost. We have read good things about this category.

Elaine

 

[KashasMom]

We've cruised Alaska 3 times and have always had a balcony. Some people say you don't need one for Alaska but I really enjoyed sitting outside - especially in the morning with my coffee - looking for whales and other wildlife. My vote would be for a balcony.

 

[cypressmom]

We sail on Ovation in July. My kids are 13 (boy) and 16 (girl) and they don’t care to share a bed, so we opted for a J3 (junior suite) that sleeps 5 on deck 9. One can have the sofa bed and the other can sleep in the bunk. It has 1.5 baths, so that is a plus!

 

[Searc]

Hello! Planning an Alaska cruise on the Ovation for June 2020. We've only done Caribbean cruises so far and have never been to Alaska. What stateroom category would you recommend....oceanview or balcony?

Balcony, no question. We did our first balcony on our Alaska cruise and loved it.

 

[frank808]

I for one vote for a balcony. I used the balcony more in those 7 nights in Alaska more than 30+ plus cruises in the Caribbean. It helps when you can fall asleep with the scenery passing by.

We will be sailing on the July 5th Ovation cruise. Any of you DIS members on the same sailing? We have a large family cruise with 5 children and 8 adults.

 

[3monkeys4me]

I think I would want an Balcony for Alaska.

We are sailing on Ovation in April (South Pacific) and we have a a couple of balcony rooms and one interior room. We found the prices on Ovation balcony rooms to be fairly reasonable, I think it is partly because there are so many of them. At this point we are planning on sailing to Alaska on Radiance (one way, northbound) but we are considering switching to Ovation of of Seattle if we fall in love with her this spring.

 

[Networth]

My wife and I our booked on the Ovation for Alaska in August 2019. We have a balcony stateroom booked hard to pass up a balcony in Alaska.

 

[ScooterScott44]

Just chiming in since we will be on the Ovation in May. The balcony would be my choice I were you.

Even though this will be our first Alaska I would say it is similar to our past experiences with Norway/Iceland and the Panama Canal in that there is great things to see out on the balcony. Alaska will have even more consistent scenery than those two itineraries. With those two cruises there was plenty of opportunity to just walk out onto the balcony and observe. It was nice to step out even for a few minutes and watch things as opposed to going up to the upper decks. Also if you are doing virtual balcony you can only see what the camera is looking at and not look around or watch a specific spot.

 

[Fuzzywuzzy]

An Alaska cruise is one that almost makes a balcony mandatory. We usually get the veranda/balcony anyway but having one for our Alaska cruise (Wonder) was one of the best decisions we have ever made.

 

[wgeo]

We haven't been to Alaska yet, planning for next summer. I've been reading a lot of trip reports and the last 3 I read all had balconies and all 3 said that they thought they would be a necessity and that all of them barely used them at all. I found that to be interesting. If I had unlimited funds I'd do balcony for sure, but if taking an ocean view means more money for a cool excursion that may be a worthy trade off.

 

[gumbypee]

I have to say that the only time i ever had a balcony was a HAwaii cruise and I felt like it was wasted money for me personally. I felt I had to stay in the room and use the balcony that I had paid for. I much rather like sitting out on the decks and watching the views go by. Like wgeo said, I value the excursions more since I can see the same thing anywhere on the ship and would rather use money elsewhere. Personal opinion here only. Just another side of the coin if you will

 

[ScooterScott44]

It sounds like some context is helpful, are the people who are not using the veranda normally not getting that type of cabin? Do they have a routine that precludes them from thinking about stepping out on the balcony?

We have done only one inside stateroom and liked the aspect of sleeping and the total darkness. But all the rest of our cruises have been in cabins with verandas and we have gotten used to stepping out there to check things out. On DCL we have had mostly regular verandas, the extended side verandas and once the extended aft veranda, as well as a few suites. Most days we will spend at least a little bit of time out there and some days it can be hours. On a sea day last cruise we were out there at least 3 hours in one stretch and probably a total of 5+ that day alone. Using the balcony is something you just get used to and I see the benefits of doing that especially with the amount of coastline and sights that will visible in Alaska. It is different from cruising over open ocean. Sure there will be vast stretches of trees, trees and more trees but is that necessialy a bad thing. And what about the occasional wildlife sighting that you might be lucky enough to see.

 

[frank808]

I think I would want an Balcony for Alaska.

We are sailing on Ovation in April (South Pacific) and we have a a couple of balcony rooms and one interior room. We found the prices on Ovation balcony rooms to be fairly reasonable, I think it is partly because there are so many of them. At this point we are planning on sailing to Alaska on Radiance (one way, northbound) but we are considering switching to Ovation of of Seattle if we fall in love with her this spring.

We couldn't decide so are doing a side to side cruise. July 5th on the Ovation then on July 12 will be boarding the Radiance for a Northbound cruise. Get the best of both worlds.

 

[DnA2010]

Going to go against the flow and say it isn't necessary- I'm glad we didn't book one for ours as the weather wasn't good at all. I was very thankful for the indoor pool deck space (HAL ship)

 

[buteraa]

I would book a balcony. We did the Alaska cruise this past July on Princess and we used the balcony daily. It's protected so not nearly as windy as on the top of the ship and it can get cold up there. We are thinking about RCC for another Alaska trip in 2020. I looked at the website and they don't really have pictures of the rooms. Are they fairly updated? How was the food/coffee? Princess was ok. Ship seemed in need of refreshing and it was bit boring. No real shows or anything. Looking for a little more of a lively vide.

Thanks!

 

[nickle831]

We are planning an Alaskan cruise for June 2020. I told my husband it was mandatory to get a balcony.

 

[Jerry@dvcstore]

My wife, son, father in law, and I are booked for the Ovation on the first Alaskan cruise of the 2019 season - May 13th. It's an 11 night adventure. We got 2 balcony rooms 11th floor, starboard side (which I hear is better?). I sure hope it's not too cold in MAY and the wildlife is out and about. We did an Alaskan cruise 10 years ago on the Radiance in August which was amazing.....so we are very excited. We are looking forward to the New Ship and the amenities it offers. Any advice on must do's on the ship or at the ports would be much appreciated....

 

[cel_disney]

I would book a balcony. We did the Alaska cruise this past July on Princess and we used the balcony daily. It's protected so not nearly as windy as on the top of the ship and it can get cold up there. We are thinking about RCC for another Alaska trip in 2020. I looked at the website and they don't really have pictures of the rooms. Are they fairly updated? How was the food/coffee? Princess was ok. Ship seemed in need of refreshing and it was bit boring. No real shows or anything. Looking for a little more of a lively vide.

Thanks!

So much of this is based on the cruisers on your ship but I think that Ovation if the seas would be most likely to meet your desires. Alternatively - Norwegian Bliss is probably also a good candidate.

Both are new and have activities and amenities for everyone.

Radiance is beautiful but smaller, fewer amenities and not as modern. It’s perfect for many people but might not be the cup of tea you are looking for!

 

[mrp4352]

I would have said balcony in a heart-beat prior to my Anthem cruise last September. We had one of the forward corner spacious ocean view rooms (9510) and I would love to see Alaska from one of those rooms. There's an alcove for the porthole and even seated you can easily see out. we also discovered that the little table under the mirror moves and slides under the porthole really well. I have done Alaska in a standard ocean view and would not want to repeat that - we felt like we were always crowding around the window trying to see outside.