Updates on all things Ovation of the Seas
Things have been a little crazy around here again and I ended up missing a few landmarks along the day including the three week mark before I leave for this trip last Saturday and the one month mark before I get on the ship on Sunday. It also has been eventful as far as the ship is concerned.
About three weeks ago, the headline entertainment was announced. I don’t really do the shows. I think the last time I went to see a production show on the Disney ships was on the Westbound Transatlantic in 2010 when I went to see Villains Tonight. I don’t do the variety type shows at all and when we sailed on the Splendour of the Seas, I did not even consider going to any of the shows. However, with the Quantum class ships, you have to book the headline shows either ahead of time via the cruise planner on the
Royal Caribbean website or on the ship via an app or the iPads that they have on board for this purpose. So I decided that once bookings online opened, I may as well book some of the shows and figured that I can always cancel later. The main stage show is called “ The Dream”. Here is the blurb for this:
This thrilling production chronicles the story of a man who is visited by his departed soulmate in a very special dream. His long-lost love has come to help him rediscover his passion for life and gives him the will to pursue his wildest dreams and to find love again. In his slumber, he will confront his deepest and most secret fears and journey on a rite of passage towards his eventual awakening. The unique combination of wonderful storytelling, soulful performances and spectacular production values will surprise and delight audiences time and time again. This is the biggest adventure of this man’s life, and Royal Caribbean audiences are invited to join him on a wild and audacious journey of discovery.
I think whichever way it goes, it will be spectacular. It will either be spectacularly good or spectacularly bad. The second show that I have booked is Spectra’s Cabaret, which is essentially a vehicle for the clever technology in the Two70 Lounge using the robo screens and the projections on the windows. I really want to see that technology in action so I made a reservation for this. I have the feeling that this has very little by way of story line, but hope that all the special effects will make up for this. There is another show in the main theatre called Life. Love. Legs, which seems to be modelled on Paris-style cabaret. I have no interest in this whatsoever so did not book this.
About two weeks ago, I got a rather ominous email from Royal Caribbean with a subject line “Important Information – Affecting Multiple Cruises”. My heart skipped a beat. With the Ovation being a new ship that at that stage had not gone in service, there is always the chance that something could go wrong. This was even more on my mind as they had just cancelled a bunch of cruises on another ship that is going through an extensive dry dock and was not finished in time. As it happened, it was only about changes to the online check in system, which I had discovered a day earlier and had already completed online check in again. However, the relief was short-lived. Somebody on Cruise Critic shared a press release from Meyer Werft later that evening stating that they had installed a new kind of propulsion system in the Ovation that was supposed to be more fuel efficient. During sea trials, it had turned out that it did not perform as expected and the Ovation would have to return to dry dock to change the new propulsion system for the propulsion system that is being used on her sister ships Quantum of the Seas and Anthem of the Seas. Meyer Werft did state that despite the unscheduled visit to dry dock, the ship would still be handed over to Royal Caribbean on time on the 8th April. I do tend to trust Meyer Werft as they have an excellent reputation and I don’t think they have ever delivered a ship late. However, in this case I was not sure if they could deliver on time. Still, I figured as we were not going for just over a month from that date, we would be OK. I started to get worried for the first cruisers when a further complication occurred. When the announcement was made, the ship was in Bremerhafen. The dry dock where the work was due to take place is in Hamburg. The original plan was that the ship was due to leave Bremerhafen on Friday evening and arrive in Hamburg in the early morning hours of Sunday. She was then supposed to leave again in the early morning hours of Tuesday morning. Due to some freak weather, the tide near Hamburg was not high enough to stick with that schedule and the whole plan was put backwards by two days. By then it had transpired that they did not have to exchange the whole of the propulsion system, but just the propellers. Everything worked like clockwork, the ship went to Bremerhafen and was handed over to Royal Caribbean on schedule on 8thApril.
This video was taken two days before the handover. The commentary is in German, but that does not actually add anything to the video. So I suggest you put this on mute and enjoy. The ship still looks like a building site, but I got really excited about what I was seeing.
On Sunday, the Ovation of the Seas arrived in Southampton. Some serious webcam stalking went on that day. It was great to see her sail into Southampton.
With her safely arrived in Southampton, the interest turned to two pressing questions: who is going to be the Godmother of the Ovation of the Seas and what will be the animal. The Quantum class ships have an animal statue on deck 15 near the Seaplex. The Quantum of the Seas has Felicia, a magenta polar bear and the Anthem of the Seas has Gigi, a rather fun looking giraffe. This was finally revealed on Monday. The Ovation of the Seas has got two animals, a mother panda reaching out to her cub. They actually look like pandas and I think they are precious:
I was not quite as excited by the announcement of the Godmother. This will be Fan Bingbing, a Chinese actress who starred in X-Men. I suppose there is another Disney connection there.
Monday and Tuesday the Ovation hosted representatives from the media and travel trade and another video of a tour of the ship emerged:
What a difference a few days make. This really has turned out to be a stunning ship and I cannot wait to get to sail on her. The first lucky people are doing so at the moment. The Ovation left for her first cruise earlier today. I cannot wait until they get back with some reviews.
Corinna
