We have just arrived back from our first cruise on Royal Caribbean's beautiful Ovation of The Seas. It's always exciting boarding a new ship, so I have a lot to show you and tell you about. With this in mind, I have decided to make this blog entry an overview of the ship and the trip, with links to other blog entries for details.
Flying to Sydney, I researched the best airline for us, and on this occasion it was Virgin Australia - best value for money, this time.
We decided to stay in Sydney two nights before the cruise and we booked return transfers from the airport to the hotel. This worked out cheaper and also more convenient as we didn't have to wait at the port with 4000 other people trying to get on a shuttle. We chose Redy2Go this time. The service was great and on time. We will definitely choose to be picked up from a hotel rather than the port next time.
There are many hotels to choose from near the Cruise Terminal, all expensive (makes cruising cheap 😀). I searched group hotel websites and compared them to the actual hotel site, to get the best deal for the three of us. The cheapest in the Rocks area was a back-packers accommodation @ $170pn. The most expensive was well over $1000pn. We chose one from the cheaper end and it turned out perfect for us. We stayed at The Russell Boutique Hotel, an historic and haunted old pub, and it was only a 2 minute walk to the port. We walked around The Rocks area the first afternoon and all the next day - such a diverse area with many little discoveries along hidden alleyways.
Our cabin was good, our view - despite being an obstructed view, was great.
The food was great, and a slightly different menu this cruising season. We tried all but one complimentary dining venue. Entertainment was varied, as were the activities. Being a larger ship than we are use to, there were many bars - and we tried them all. Of course we had our favourites by the end of the cruise. Having a drinks package included in the cruise special (as well as on board spending money) meant we could try many different drinks.
The artwork on the ship was amazing. I'm sure I missed a lot ... did I say it was a BIG ship 😊! And the staff are always great on Royal Caribbean.
The cruise was a 12 night around New Zealand visiting Bay of Islands, Auckland, Tauranga, Wellington, Port Chalmers (for Dunedin), and cruising the Sounds - all places we have been before.
We love New Zealand.
These links will become active once I have uploaded the relevant blog entry, hopefully one each day or two.
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