Sorry for the quick second post but I wanted to put up the schedules for our second day on Ovation of the Seas so I could point out the total disfunction in their scheduling and systems. You can see my full report on Day 2 here.
Here are the two sides of the day 2 schedule. This was a sea day so there was nothing else to do than what you see on this sheet. If you click it twice it will zoom in so you can read it. The sections highlighted in yellow are the dining times. The pink highlight are things kids can do but remember, there were more than 1,000 kids on board and they show Table Tennis open play for instance. Ever play ping-pong with a five year old? That doesn’t last long not to mention that there are only four tables for 1,000 plus kids. There are also age and height restrictions which were enforced randomly (our 5 year old granddaughter was allowed to do rock climbing on Day 1 but not on Day 2 or after that. Try explaining that to her). Roller skating was limited to no more than 25 people on the floor at any one time. I get that but to schedule that for so few hours is nuts.
Also, please note the purple highlights. These are things happening (some only once on the cruise) during the early (which was full of kids) dinner seating. This was a VERY common occurrence. During this time only two of the pools on board were open. The indoor pool and the Solarium (adults only) pool.
That water slide had better open soon!
We never saw it open until the last day when we were in Victoria.
Jim. Have you been on RCL before? It booked any others on an RCL cruise? you think this is typical or just this ship? Do they have a BDM anymore to complain to??
You know that Cody was the BDM and had he still been here, I would have been able to take care of a lot of this. We have been on RCL before. I will tell you in October after we have sailed on Allure of the Seas if this is fleet wide. With kids you don’t have a lot of choices.
Are the star class and sky class room types you can stay in? I’d imagine the more expensive rooms?!
You are correct. The Star class is about 5 TIMES as much as we paid.
Part of Ovation’s issue may be their sports venue. It is designed to be multifunctional, morphing from basketball to soccer to dodgeball to roller skating to bumper cars. One of those ideas that sounds great in theory but is horrible in reality, especially if executed poorly.