Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Speaker A: Hey there, Mouse Ears Universe. Thank you for joining us on the Mouse Ears podcast. Your go to source for all things travel, but mostly Disney, brought to you by Fairy Tale Journeys Travel. Whether you're a first time visitor or a travel pro, we're here to bring you the latest news, insider secrets and fun stories from the happiest and most magical places on earth.
Make sure you give us a like and a follow on whichever platform you are listening to or watching us.
So put on your favorite Mouse Ears kick back and enjoy this west coast cruise episode because this adventure starts right now. Let's cue that intro.
[00:00:59] Speaker B: Foreign welcome back to the Mouse Ears podcast. I am Jenny and I am one of your hosts for this evening. And with me fresh from vacation, we have Brooks. Hi Brooks.
[00:01:16] Speaker A: Hi ho neighbors.
[00:01:20] Speaker B: It's so good to see you. We missed you last week.
[00:01:23] Speaker A: I missed y' all.
I was in West Virginia, you know, the state that they call almost heaven.
And let me tell you, if I could have that weather year round, it would be almost heaven on the lake.
Low 80s, no humidity, like maybe 10% humidity. And the locals were saying that that was high humidity and we were all like what?
Like went in some caverns and it was 52 degrees in the caverns.
[00:01:57] Speaker B: Oh wow.
[00:01:57] Speaker A: I was like, can I just have this like temperature year round? This is amazing.
[00:02:04] Speaker B: Yeah, it is nice. It's beautiful up there. Well, we're glad you're back. We're glad that you had a chance to relax and regroup and get back to it.
So we missed you.
All right, with us tonight we have a very, very special guest. One of my favorite people in the world, we have Ms. Sarah Allen, who is one of our Fairy Tale Journey agents. Hi, Sarah.
[00:02:30] Speaker C: Hello. Thank you for having me.
[00:02:42] Speaker B: So Sarah is joining us for today's episode on Ovation of the Seas and we are super exc excited to speak with her. She has a lot of knowledge and I can't wait to absorb it all. But first we are going to head over for our trivia question.
So Brooks, take it away.
[00:03:04] Speaker A: That is right. So tonight's trivia question or today, whenever you listen to it, you know, morning, afternoon, evening, we're all here for the trivia but the trivia question is brought to you by Fairy Tale Journeys Travel. Next time you want to book a Disney cruise, let the agents at Fairy Tale Journeys Travel take care of all the details for a stress free experience and no additional cost to you when you book with them. Not only do you get expert advice like from Jenny and Sarah, but you can Also receive up to $1,000 of onboard credit.
This offer is exclusive to bookings made with Fairy Tale Journeys Travel. So contact them today and let them know that the podcast sent you and enjoy a magical Disney cruise getaway.
So tonight's trivia question, we are going to one of Kelton's favorite topics. You know he is loyal to Royal.
Tonight's trivia question is what is the name of the robotic bartenders found on Ovation of the Seas and other Royal Caribbean ships? And this one is a multiple choice, so you have a 25% chance of getting it right.
Is it A, the Mixmasters.
Sounds like a cool DJ Group B, the Bar Bots, C, the Bionic Bar or D, the Rowbo Tenors?
Stay tuned to the end of the episode to find out. And now back to our masterful host tonight, Ginny. Ginny, back to you.
[00:04:47] Speaker B: Thank you so much. So, Sarah, I am so excited that you got to do this cruise. When you announced it to us, I was like, oh, that is going to be glorious. Just what a way to add on to your epic summer of travel that you have going on here.
[00:05:06] Speaker C: So.
[00:05:06] Speaker B: So it seems like you have been everywhere, just everywhere, all summer.
[00:05:12] Speaker C: I've been a lot of places since April. But staying home for most of the summer? Well, just in Michigan. When you live in Michigan, you try to enjoy the summers here and not go other places.
[00:05:23] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, that's great.
All right, so you had the chance to go on Ovation of the Seas, which is one of Royal's ships. It is in the Quantum class and this ship was launched in 2016 and it has a capacity of a little over 4,000 and it's very tech savvy. I did not realize this about this ship. It is very tech savvy. It's very sleek, large indoor spaces, cold weather friendly, which is going to come in handy in just a bit.
And it has a lot of signature spaces on it like the North Star Ripcord by Ifly, the seaplex, the 270 Lounge and the Bionic Bar, which had to do with our trivia question.
Yes. So I want to know what were your thoughts when you first boarded this ship?
[00:06:28] Speaker C: Yeah, well, the Quantum class has never really been on my radar before. I've been on two Oasis class ships and really enjoyed those. And my very first Royal Caribbean cruise ever was on. I'm sorry, I'm looking at my notes. Brilliance of the Seas, which is a Radiance class ship. So super small, not a lot to do. So like I said, the Quantum class really Wasn't on my radar.
They are introducing the quantum class to LA and Royal Caribbean had taken a break, had 10 year break from having a ship in LA in 2022. They put the navigator there, which is just kind of a tiny ship, not really attracting a lot of, I think it just doesn't have a ton of amenities on it. So bringing a Quantum class ship to LA was a huge deal and there were a ton of people there from, from that area.
Because if you live in la, like to take a three night cruise that, you know, you just drive down to the port.
So having that ship there is a really big deal for that area, for the ports that they're going to go visit. And to answer your question, when I walked on board I was, I was really, really surprised at how much I liked it. I really, I was sleeping on this. It is a, definitely a class of ship that you shouldn't, you shouldn't miss.
[00:07:46] Speaker B: All right. How does it compare with the other, with the other ships?
[00:07:51] Speaker C: So I felt like it had a lot of the same, same amenities as the Oasis class, which is bigger, but it felt much smaller, more compact. The promenade is smaller.
When you walked in the ship, you were like, oh, we're already at the back of the ship or oh, we're already at the front. But when I looked at like the chart today as I was preparing for this, it's only a little bit shorter than Oasis class, so it doesn't have the neighborhoods like Oasis class does, but it has things like the Ifly and the North Star, an indoor pool area which even in the Caribbean sometimes, you know, like in December or January, it's a little chilly to be out on the pool deck. So having that indoor space, not just the adults only solarium, which is on most of their ships, but the indoor pool space for kids, I felt it was a really nice touch. And so when this ship goes to Alaska or is in Asia, that is a. And even, even la, it was, it was cool. It's that kind of like San Francisco feel. As we went further down the coast, Ensenada was really foggy and kind of cool in the mornings, warm in the afternoons.
[00:09:03] Speaker B: Yeah.
So what kind of atmosphere would you say it has? Like, is it more energetic or more relaxing?
[00:09:11] Speaker C: I think there's both. There's, there's, there's that energy on any ship when you enter the, the promenade. Like that is what they're looking for, is to wow you when you walk in. But there's little spaces that are relaxing. The adults only solarium is A very quiet, nice place to be away from the kids. And then at the very back of the Quantum class ships is the 270 Lounge. And at night that we're going to get to that. But at night that's an entertainment complex. But during the day, it's like all these little places to sit. And then there's these huge windows all the way across the back of the ship, so you can just sit and visit. There's. There's a cafe right there. There's a bar right there. So those are some nice places to get away. There were tons of little places to kind of sneak away.
[00:09:58] Speaker B: That is very cool. Now I want to move on to the staterooms, and because they have the virtual balcony staterooms, which I thought were so cool.
[00:10:11] Speaker C: Yes, yes, I did get to see that. And I actually stayed in a virtual balcony on Utopia over Christmas because that's what my family could afford. We had two cabins. My kids are older.
I. I liked it. If you're going to be in an interior room, having that window was nice. And even, like, the screen is.
You can tell it's a screen, but there's curtains on the wall. So even just having those curtains pulled gave you the illusion that you were on the outside of the ship, even though we were in the center of the ship. So I kind of liked that, like, mind trick. And then if you wanted to peek and see where we were, you know, the cameras are live and it projects on this screen. That's this huge wall which would normally be, you know, the door of your balcony. And then there's curtains that pull to cover it up so you can go to sleep.
[00:11:05] Speaker B: That is so cool. I love that.
[00:11:07] Speaker C: It is cool. I think it's really clever.
[00:11:11] Speaker B: Yeah. And, you know, and if you're going on a budget, but, you know, you still don't want to feel, I guess, cramped in a room.
[00:11:20] Speaker C: Claustrophobic.
[00:11:21] Speaker B: Yeah, just a little claustrophobic.
I think that's a really cool thing that they have.
So they also have suites that have access to Coastal Kitchen.
And did you get to see any of those?
[00:11:38] Speaker C: We did get to tour some suites. They had a whole list of rooms available for us to be able to tour. I toured the Grand Suite and a couple others. Those are incredible spaces and, you know, ways for you to spread out, ways for you to have extra amenities on the ship.
Actually, on our ship, we had the cast. A couple of cast members from Grey's Anatomy, Scandal and Shonda Rhimes and Shondaland were on board. And I'm Sure. They had suites, so they had a special space where they could be away from the rest of us during the day and other places to eat.
[00:12:17] Speaker B: Where.
[00:12:18] Speaker C: They could have a little more privacy. But there's. There's spaces to hang out on. The pool deck. Not the pool deck, but like a.
Like a sunning deck. That would be extra for the suite guests. And then you have access to Coastal kitchen, which is a nice set add on rather than being in the buffet for lunch and breakfast.
[00:12:37] Speaker A: Now, I have to ask, did you see any of the cast?
[00:12:40] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:12:43] Speaker A: Was it the newer cast or the older cast?
[00:12:46] Speaker C: And I don't know their real names, but it was Ben. Miranda's husband from Grace was on board. And we did see him in the bar.
And I've told people. I was like, I'm not the kind of person who normally is like, oh, he's really good looking. But we walked into that bar, I was like, he was stunning. Like, across the room, you. If you didn't know who he was, you have been like, he's somebody. I don't know who he is, but he's somebody.
[00:13:12] Speaker A: I mean, he was an anesthesiologist and then a surgeon, a firefighter. Firefighter, yeah.
[00:13:19] Speaker C: My friend was all fangirl. She couldn't talk. We did get a picture with him and her, and then we saw his first name. His real name is Josh, and he was on Scandal in West Wing. He was the Attorney General on Scandal, and we got a picture with him. Amelia Shepard was on board, but we didn't see her except in the Q and A. And then Quinn from Scandal was on board as well. And Shonda, and I don't remember her partner's name.
That makes Shondaland the two.
Yeah, the two ladies who do it all.
So they had a really cool Q and A for us with them and some Grey's Trivia and Grey's Anatomy music and all that kind of stuff. It was fun.
[00:14:06] Speaker B: That sounds so neat.
[00:14:08] Speaker A: That would be a robust trivia if you've covered all of Grey's Anatomy started 20 years ago.
It's crazy.
[00:14:17] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It's so neat.
All right. The rooms. There's a lot of tech in the rooms. So can you touch on that just a little bit?
[00:14:32] Speaker C: So some of the rooms you can get into with your app, your Royal Caribbean app, you also have a key card, so if that's not working for you, that is your backup.
They do have USB ports in the room, which I guess is kind of outdated tech now. But if you have adapters for your new chargers. But some of the other boats don't have that. So to have that option for charging at night was really nice.
There's some other features in the app. Some of the rooms have curtains that.
[00:15:03] Speaker B: Are.
[00:15:06] Speaker C: Controlled by the app. Our room did not. But you know, some of them do. But there was tech everywhere. I mean the bionic bar, I think we're going to touch on that later. Yeah, that's really cool. The 270 entertainment area is a huge complex of technology.
There was lots, there was lots on board to be wowed by for sure.
[00:15:28] Speaker B: That is cool. Now do you have any advice for choosing a room like location or size or any kind of tips on that?
[00:15:38] Speaker C: Sure. When I'm booking a client, I always, you know, trying to stay within their budget. So we start by talking about, you know, what were you hoping for? And we kind of look at. I would always want to start with a balcony or a suite. But an ocean view room is a nice place to stay with a, with a window.
There's so much to do on the ship. You don't necessarily need to be in your room. And then like I said, my family has stayed interior because that's what we could do for Christmas cruise on Utopia was stay interior.
While balcony would be my suggestion, lots of rooms are an option. I always look to make sure that I don't put clients underneath the pool deck or like an entertainment area because those can be noisy at night when they're moving deck or pool loungers on the deck, they're scraping and stuff or my mom's real sensitive to smoke so we try to keep her away from the casinos.
And then as far as like space in the room, a cruise ship is the rooms are small. And so if you have little kids, you know, four people in a room is still a lot.
We did do a balcony room with two teenagers and two adults. And literally my daughter's friend's head was, you know, this far from me while we were sleeping. And you couldn't walk around the bed when it was. When the sofa bed was pulled out. So you. If you're going to put four people in a room, you have to know that you're just going to have to pack your patients and take turns. You can't have two people in the bathroom. There's just not space. So ideally, if you have four people, you would get adjoining rooms.
If you have older kids, you can take the balcony room and put them in interior across the hallway.
My kids were like on a different floor because that's all that was left, but they're quite a bit older and it was really nice for them to have their own space and not be in my space.
[00:17:43] Speaker A: Yeah. If you have four to a room you have to know them very well or you're going to know them very well into the cruise.
[00:17:51] Speaker C: Yeah. And we have a family of five. So I guess I could touch on that.
People who are a family of five know that the world is not made for a family of five.
[00:18:00] Speaker B: It's so is not.
[00:18:02] Speaker C: And cruising on Royal Caribbean is not a lot different.
There are some rooms on board Royal Caribbean ships that do hold five.
There are not a lot. They book up quickly. So if you are a family of five and you want to book just one room, you need to book early, you know like and that's now is not early for Christmas of this year. Now is that was late for not a family of five for Christmas of this year. You need to book like a year out.
And that doesn't mean there aren't any rooms for five. But they are scarce. You're not going to find a ton of those. The other options on this ship there is a spacious ocean view room.
It only sleeps four. On some of the other Royal Caribbean ships the spacious ocean view and the spacious interior will sleep five to six just depending on the ships.
So that's something to think about. Like those are options getting two rooms or the other thing that I say to clients sometimes if they're traveling with grandma and grandpa.
If grandma and grandpa are willing to take your third child in their room.
[00:19:14] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:19:14] Speaker C: That's an option for a family of five as well.
[00:19:18] Speaker B: Right.
That is great advice.
I love it.
All right, moving on to one of mouse here's podcast favorite topics is food because we are foodies.
So veggie veggie. We, we like the veggie veggie fruit fruit song too.
Dining highlights. There is a main dining room, there's space specialty dining, there's coastal kitchen, there's a bionic bar.
Where were some of your favorite places to eat.
[00:19:55] Speaker C: So on this cruise it was just a three night cruise and it was a travel industry cruise. So the specialty restaurants were not available to myself. They were for, I don't know other important people got invited to those places. So we did the. The windjammer is the buffet on Royal Caribbean ships. So we did that and we did the main dining room which are both very lovely. And then there's lots of other options on board.
Sorrento's pizza is open late and most of the day you can just drop in and get a piece of pizza.
The Cafe Promenade has little sandwiches and snacks and coffee and that kind of stuff. So there's plenty of options on board. And they did have a sampling session for us. So we got to go around to all of the specialty restaurants and try little bites of, of their food. And it was, I mean, the restaurants themselves are decorated so beautifully and the food was really, was really good as well, but we didn't get a chance to partake in that on this cruise.
[00:21:09] Speaker B: Did you know if there, if there were options for people that have like special diets or you know, picky eaters or anything like that? Or people like me allergic to everything?
[00:21:21] Speaker C: Yes.
The dining staff on Royal Caribbean ships is amazing at helping people find something that they can eat. My sister's a vegetarian and she has a mushroom allergy, so a lot of vegetarian stuff is not suitable for her. So they worked with her very well on our Christmas cruise. My nieces are five and eight and they are also vegetarians, but very, very picky. So the waiter was very sweet and he was very helpful to try to figure out what he could bring them that maybe wasn't even on the menu that they could eat. Another time we cruised with a friend's nephew, I think he was a teenager and he's looking at the appetizers and he was sort of a picky kid and he goes, oh, there's nothing on here that I like. I said, do you like french fries? And he goes, yeah. I go ask if you can have french fries. It wasn't on the menu. He was like, I can.
And so he, he was like, can I have French fries for my appetizer? And the guy was like, sure. He, at the end of the cruise he goes, I had French fries every night from my appetizer.
So they will do what they can to accommodate and keep you safe, keep you happy.
Even if you're like, what, which entree should I get, the chicken or the beef? They'll bring you both.
[00:22:46] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:22:47] Speaker C: And say, well, how about I bring you both? If you can't decide on dessert, they'll bring you all three.
[00:22:53] Speaker B: That's a dangerous little game right there.
[00:22:56] Speaker C: It's really fun.
[00:22:59] Speaker B: Now overall, how did the food compare to like if you went to, you know, like a land based resort?
[00:23:07] Speaker C: I think it's, you know, I think their buffet is actually bigger than most of the all inclusives that I've been to. So the Windjammer has tons of options for breakfast and lunch, the dinner options.
So there's a different menu every night. There's probably four appetizer choices, four entree choices, four, four to five ish dessert choices. So probably less choices at dinner, but definitely, like, an array of things.
You know, there might be one night on your cruise that you're like, well, I picked something that I wasn't.
Didn't love, but it was. It was okay. Like, the main dining room, I think, does a nice job of finding a way to find something that everybody's happy with. And I. What I say to clients is, you know, you can pay extra for the specialty dining and do that if that's important to your family or you've already paid for this cruise. If you're happy with, like, the food is good, it's not going to be anything that you're like, oh, my gosh, that was the best meal I ever had.
But I feel like the wait staff, like, they add to that as well. The. The staff on board of these ships is incredible. And, you know, by the end of your trip, you feel like you want to bring them home with you, not just to serve you, but as your friend kind of a thing, because you get to know them. And, yeah, so that adds to the. And they're the same. If you. If you choose a dining time of, you know, the five or the eight, you get the same wait staff every night, so they get to know what you like and. And don't like.
[00:24:45] Speaker B: That is great. That is fantastic for someone like me. I appreciate that because it is a lot to sit and explain to a new person.
[00:24:55] Speaker C: A new person. Yeah.
[00:24:56] Speaker B: Every single time. And go over it every single time.
Yeah. That's.
That's awesome. I love that.
Did you get to go to the Bionic Bar?
[00:25:11] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:25:12] Speaker B: And what are your thoughts on that?
[00:25:15] Speaker C: It's a really cool thing to watch.
It takes a lot of time, so it's not something that you're gonna do over and over again. Right. You're gonna order your drink once, you're gonna watch it, make it, take your video. And yeah, it's a really. It's a neat.
It's a neat kind of experience on. On board, but there are plenty of other bars to get quicker drinks at where the bartender will talk to you. Yeah, the drinks were great. We found a bar that had champagne that we really liked and. And a bartender that we really enjoyed chatting with, so we spent a lot of time at that place.
[00:25:53] Speaker A: Like a real bartender or robot.
[00:25:56] Speaker C: Yeah. Not at the Bionic Bar. No.
[00:25:58] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:25:59] Speaker B: He was real. He was real.
[00:26:01] Speaker C: He was real.
[00:26:02] Speaker A: I mean, AI is very impressive nowadays.
[00:26:05] Speaker B: It is.
[00:26:06] Speaker C: I don't think they're quite there yet on the ships, but I'm sure some.
[00:26:09] Speaker A: People give it five years.
[00:26:11] Speaker C: Yep, that'll be a cost savings.
[00:26:16] Speaker A: Well, moving on from dining, there's a lot of entertainment and activities on the Ovation.
Some of the highlights. Then we had briefly mentioned the 270 Lounge, which is 270 degrees of views by day, and multimedia theater by night. The North Star, which, from pictures, looks stunning.
It's a glass observation capsule for aerial views.
[00:26:51] Speaker C: My son said it's a hamster wheel on a crane, which is. I mean, that's what it looks like, a hamster wheel on a crane. It goes up really, really high.
[00:27:03] Speaker A: There's a ripcord by Ifly, which is a skydiving simulator.
The CPLEx, which has bumper cars, roller skating, an Xbox lounge and trapeze.
And then also with live shows with original productions, aerialists, and digital projections.
Did you catch any of the shows while on board? I know you said you were on a shorter trip.
[00:27:32] Speaker C: Shorter trip. So the first night, we saw a cabaret in the Royal Theater called Live Love Legs. And there was a kind of disclaimer on it that maybe it wasn't for young children.
It was very well done. The costumes were a little skimpy, and some of the dancing was a little risque, but it wasn't completely over the top. I don't think it would be something that kids would want to sit through even if you didn't find the costumes skimpy.
And then there was that same night, they had, like, kind of an introduction at the 270 Lounge, where he kind of showed what the screens could do. So there's a whole. All the windows in the back are screens, these giant screens. And they told us how many pixels. I'm sure, Brooks, you would be impressed with that. I didn't know what that meant.
They did tell us it cost them $13.5 million to make more than that, because 13.5 was the. What the first Royal Caribbean ship cost.
And this particular lounge cost more than the first Royal Caribbean ship cost to make.
[00:28:45] Speaker A: That's insane.
[00:28:47] Speaker C: Yeah. Then they have these large TVs on robots. So I think there's like seven. Five to seven of them, and they move, and there's like, a video on them. And the video, like, it was a person in a box, and they flipped it, and then the person was, you know, kind of like that kind of thing. That's what they showed us that first night.
The second night, it was called Spectra's Cabaret. And although the dancers were very good and the music was good, I did not enjoy the content and neither did my friend. It kind of felt like the Matrix does singing and dancing. It was very. It was odd. It was extremely.
I don't know what made it feel Matrix like, but my friend said that, like we said at the same time, I think it was the narrator. I don't know. It was. It was very odd. And we almost left a number of times.
I hope that they'll put something else in that space because the space is really cool that I do not think children would be entertained with either the. You know, but really cool. The stage isn't just like a regular stage. There's like little elevated places and they come up from the ground and they're there. So the technology was incredible. And all the things they were doing was.
Were incredible. It was just. The content was a little. It was just odd.
Not my favorite. Maybe other people loved it.
[00:30:12] Speaker A: So did you try any of the activities on board?
Like the hamster?
[00:30:20] Speaker C: Yeah, that would be. One of my tips would be to sign up for those things as soon as you get on board. And we did, but we did not have socks with us.
And so we couldn't do the ifly, our luggage. So when you get on a ship, you leave your luggage with the porter and you get on board. But our luggage hadn't come to our room yet, so we missed our first reservation for the ifly because we did not have socks with us. So I would say if you were going to be on board and you want to do the ifly, and in fact, you can if you're not doing the kind of cruise that I was. If you're doing a regular cruise. I had a client on board last week and she reserved the ifly ahead of time. So reserve your ifly spots ahead of time. That is an extra fee on board, but a really cool experience. We went and watched and there's a area to go and watch. So even if you are not adventurous enough to do it, it was really cool to watch people trying it. And then the. The instructor, what he could do in there was incredible.
Other people were not allowed to do what he was doing, but that was cool. Then there's a flow rider right there as well, which you didn't mention in that. And teenagers. Oops. Teenagers love that. Flowrider. It's a surf simulator.
So that is on the back of the ship. I did not try that either. That is not something that I would be good at.
It was like 69 degrees and then the North Star, we had an appointment and then we found out about the Q and A with Shondaland and so we chose to do that instead.
But I think that would be really cool to do to be able to. To see the port or even just see ocean everywhere. Definitely. And they had a lot of appointments. They had a lot of appointments available.
[00:32:15] Speaker A: Gotcha. So would you say that this ship is more geared towards the relaxing cruisegoer or more the activity driven cruiser?
[00:32:28] Speaker C: There's a. I think it's more. More geared toward.
Well, I think if you're going to do both, you have to have the activities on board and then you can choose to not do them. If you have a ship that doesn't have the activities, you can't do both. I think this ship does do both because there are so many activities that Seaplex was incredible. And like I said, I've never been on Quantum class ship before.
The sports court on Oasis class is outside and it sometimes is hot or I mean they don't have bumper cars or roller skating at those either. But the fact that it was indoors and it was this really cool space that families could go hang out in.
The family that went last week, they sent me pictures. They did bumper cars, they roller skated together.
That's what a Royal Caribbean Cruise does really well, is they provide experiences that families can do together.
They make it really easy. And then you can drop the kids off at the kids club and go do adult activities. Like it. It's a. It's such a great combination of both.
When you go to the beach with your kids, it's not really a vacation for mom. You are on the whole time. You're cooking, you're cleaning, you're doing laundry, you're hauling everything to the beach like on a cruise. You can have a vacation as well.
[00:33:56] Speaker B: The beach is not fun with kids.
[00:33:59] Speaker C: I mean, it's fun. It's just not.
[00:34:01] Speaker B: Well, a break.
It's not.
Relaxation equals fun.
[00:34:07] Speaker C: No, it is not.
[00:34:08] Speaker B: It's not. It's not relaxing.
[00:34:11] Speaker C: I'd still rather be at the beach than stuck at home, but still.
[00:34:15] Speaker B: Yeah, well, I don't. You live in Michigan, so I don't blame you there because other than the summer.
[00:34:23] Speaker C: Yep.
[00:34:26] Speaker B: All right. So speaking of the family and the kid friendly type stuff, they have an adventure ocean youth program and the teens only hang out an arcade. Like you had mentioned, the Cplex doubles as a teen magnet with bumper cars and all that. And then the family staterooms are also an option. So you know, in your opinion, would you say that this is a good ship for like a big multi generational group?
[00:35:05] Speaker C: Yeah. And I, and I think cruises, most cruise ships are a great option for multi generation cruisers because there's, there's something for everyone. You can come together at dinner, you can come together for the shows.
Some people can go, you know, do Grey's Anatomy trivia, while others are going to go do karaoke. Like there's, there's something for everyone. We did a trip at in December. I have 20 something kids, aged kids, and my sister has littles. And then my parents are in their 70s, so there were 11 of us and you know, we hung out together most of the time. But there were times when, you know, my kids didn't want to do little kid karaoke, so they went and found something else to do. There's, there's tons going on all the time. There's more than you can fit in for.
[00:35:54] Speaker A: Sure. What is little kids karaoke?
[00:35:58] Speaker C: Oh, wow. Yeah. Every night they had it.
[00:36:01] Speaker A: What song, what songs are in little kids karaoke?
[00:36:05] Speaker C: I mean, some of the same songs, but they have a limited, there's limited choices and a lot of Taylor Swift was chosen.
I love Taylor Swift, but a lot of kids who didn't know and then they couldn't read.
There was one girl who did the same song every night, but my nieces were just like.
And my, my littlest niece said next time we go on a cruise, I'm doing Pink Pony Club so I could get super cute.
[00:36:44] Speaker A: I mean my, my little two year old right now goes in where she sings Let it Go, Let it Go.
[00:36:52] Speaker C: I'm sure that that one was available. There were a lot of Disney songs available for sure.
[00:36:57] Speaker A: We're trying to teach her wicked songs right now. Oh, if I, if I could get her to start belting Defying Gravity, I feel like I've succeeded as a father.
[00:37:08] Speaker B: I can't wait for that video.
Yeah, I can't.
[00:37:12] Speaker A: My Broadway love is praying for a theater child.
[00:37:15] Speaker B: Look, I am all for this.
[00:37:19] Speaker C: You're gonna get a lacrosse player.
[00:37:22] Speaker A: I mean, if she wants to play soccer or something like that, I'm all for that too. But if we could, if we could also put theater in there in the hot summer months in South Carolina, I would not be opposed to that as well.
[00:37:39] Speaker C: Good luck.
[00:37:40] Speaker A: She's probably gonna want to play ice hockey.
[00:37:45] Speaker B: So I think she'd be good at that though.
[00:37:48] Speaker A: I mean, yeah, she has my bone structure. She's built for it.
[00:37:54] Speaker B: She's a cutie. I Love that little one. She is so cute.
All right. And, and this one's kind of, kind of a big one. There's a lot to unpack here.
The itinerary and the destinations for this ship is a lot more than what some of the other ships go to. Like as far as, you know, the, the amount of travel that it does.
[00:38:23] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:38:25] Speaker B: So yours, what ports did you go to?
[00:38:29] Speaker C: So mine was a three night, so we went to Ensenada which is in Mexico. So they told us that Ensenada is a two hour drive from San Diego, not very far. We, on our sea day we just kind of sat in the ocean. We didn't even really go anywhere.
But this ship nails pace.
I don't even know that we, I think they like cut the engine and we were just floating.
I was really impressed with the geography. Like I've done cruises out of Florida before, probably five or six of them and really enjoy that. But the geography in la, I was really struck by it. It's beautiful. Like it's beautiful. LA is smoggy and full of traffic but, but it is beautiful in its own way. And as you go further down the coast it's a lot like that with less people and smog. So Ensenada was very mountainous, right on the ocean.
Not what you typically find at some of the ports like Cozumel or Bahamas, more like it definitely had that Pacific feel.
So I thought it was a really nice change of pace.
And when you fly out to la, there's so many things to do there as well. So if you did a three or four night cruise out of la you could go jump up to Disneyland for a few days, you could do Universal Hollywood, Universal Studios Hollywood, which I did do that was, I was impressed with that as well. And then there's just all the stuff in la, all the Hollywood and I mean the, the studio tours and all that kind of stuff there. So I really, it really opened my eyes to the possibilities. They kept saying west coast is the best coast, so I, I was super impressed. This ship is going to do three night, five night and six night out of L. A until September 17th and then it's going back to Asia.
My pocketbook doesn't include going on an Asian cruise, but that would be really cool, maybe someday, but. So the five night cruise goes to Cabo and does an overnight there. So they have two nights in Cabo San Lucas and then the six night cruise does Ensenada and then the two nights in Cabo.
But I do know that after the ovation Leaves. The Quantum of the Seas is coming, which is also another Quantum class ship to la, and it's doing similar itineraries to what the Ovation is doing right now.
[00:41:10] Speaker B: That is cool. And this one also goes to Alaska. I love that. Yes, yes, I love that.
[00:41:20] Speaker C: So that's on my list.
[00:41:22] Speaker B: Yeah, that's on my list. I'm. I really want to do an Alaskan cruise.
And, you know, like we were talking earlier that this ship is built for the cold.
I imagine with all these, these scenic itineraries, that having something, you know, like the North Star would be. Would be an added value to the cruise. You know, the North Star and 270.
[00:41:53] Speaker C: Yeah. Because you could sit in that room and just as you're going, you know, the Alaskan cruises go through, they have a couple days at sea that are going through the glaciers.
So you could sit in that room and just watch from there or make sure you get your reservation for the North Star on one of those days. For sure. I'm sure there's.
[00:42:11] Speaker B: That would be.
[00:42:12] Speaker C: There's definitely a lot to see from there.
[00:42:15] Speaker B: That would be stunning.
[00:42:17] Speaker C: And then the indoor pool areas and the indoor sports courts. Yeah, they really. They thought that through for sure.
[00:42:23] Speaker B: Now, were you able to do any excursions?
[00:42:27] Speaker C: Yes.
In Ensenada, we did an excursion to a winery, and I had no idea what we were in for. They said Ensenada has 250 wineries.
And so we had met some older ladies at the bar from la and they turned their noses up. Oh, you're going to a winery in Ensenada. It was incredible.
It was so beautiful. The mountains, like the deserty Rocky Mountains and the, the flowers and it was a really, really neat experience. And then we went on this wagon throughout the whole winery, and at every stop we tried a different wine.
And then they took us back into town and we.
We went and had fish tacos. Because fish tacos were invented in Ensenada. Did you know that?
[00:43:23] Speaker A: I did not know that, but thank you. Ensenada.
[00:43:26] Speaker C: Well, fishermen kept catching sharks in their nets and they didn't want to waste it, so they battered it and fried it and put in a taco. So real fish tacos are mako shark.
Did you know that?
[00:43:42] Speaker B: I did not know that.
[00:43:44] Speaker C: So we went to this teeny place and they made us those. And then we went tequila tasting as well.
Tequila?
Yes. It was great. He told us all about.
He was like, I know some of you have a bad relationship with tequila. You've had bad experiences, but that's the big House tequila. They don't let it.
They don't let the plant grow long enough, old enough. They use baby plants. And that's why you maybe get sick, but his tequila won't make you sick because the plants were older.
[00:44:20] Speaker B: I, I like that.
I like that.
As far as. Because you've been on several royal ships and you've done multiple cruises with them, are there any standout ports or excursions that you, that you recommend from. From any of the ships on any cruise?
Yeah. That were your favorite?
[00:44:42] Speaker C: Well, we did one cruise that went to Key west and the Bahamas. So we did a little tour in Key west that was super fun. Just on this little train and took us all around and kind of gives you the history of, of each town. And then we've done the snorkel. Like take a catamaran out and snorkel. We've done that a couple times.
When we have our kids with us, you know, we tend to do more like the adventure type tours versus the, you know, the things that maybe adults would prefer. So doing the wine tasting probably was my favorite of all that we've done.
They also have whale watching in Ensenada, which obviously in the Caribbean they don't have a lot of that.
Yeah, there's tons of options on the app that would fit, you know, if you're adventurous, if you're not adventurous, if you're super active, if you're not super active, if you've got little kids or big kids, there's tons of options to take part in to either just do something fun at the port or learn something about the place where you're at.
Just go to the beach.
When we were in Nassau with my family at Christmas, since we did have the littles and the older kids, we did resort for a day and we walked. That wasn't through Royal Caribbean because we walked there. I felt like that was safe because we could make sure we got back to the ship in time. But we did resort for a day at Margaritaville and they had water slides in a lazy river and just hung out at the pool by the beach. And that was a really nice option for NASA.
[00:46:24] Speaker B: That sounds so nice.
Could totally use that right now.
Now we had mentioned before that this ship had a lot of tech involved in it.
So they offer the, the high speed WI fi at sea and of course they have their app.
Most places have an app now, but you can do a lot of things with the app.
And the touchless tech is something that they have that they have rolled out. So did you use the app a lot when you were.
[00:47:06] Speaker C: You definitely use the app a lot. It's got the whole schedule on board, on the ship. And it's got a really nice way, like when you see something you like, you can hard it and put it on your kind of schedule so that you're not looking like, where was that karaoke gonna be again?
It also tells you all the restaurants, the times that they're open, because it can vary, especially if you're at sea or import.
Like when the pizza place opens kind of a thing.
All the entertainment is listed there. So there was this gal named Darla who sang at one of the bars every night and she was incredible. So we made sure we found out when she was going to be there. We would go sit at that bar and listen to her.
What else about the app?
You can text each other on the app. The one thing that we figured out kind of a little bit late after our second cruise was you have to have the notifications enabled or otherwise you don't know that somebody texted you, obviously. Right. But that's nice. So you don't have to have the Internet package if you want to disconnect and not have Internet or if you don't want to spend money for your whole family to be on the Internet.
You can still text each other with. With the Royal Caribbean app, but that's it. You can't text home unless you have the WI fi.
The WI fi is decent. It's not like you're not gonna do. You wouldn't record this from.
You wouldn't do a zoom call for work.
Getting on and working was challenging. Like just. It's more like dial up.
Things are just slower because you're out at sea. But you can text if you have the Internet package and that. That's nice to stay connected. So, you know, if one person in your. Your group has that just to kind of keep tabs on whatever's going on at home, that's.
That's a good way to handle that.
[00:49:09] Speaker B: Yeah, I love that you can text each other through the app. That's got to be great when you're on there with, you know, your teenagers and.
[00:49:18] Speaker C: Right.
Just to know where everybody is.
[00:49:21] Speaker B: Or yeah, we're like, hey, we're going to meet here. That, that would be great. And then you don't have to, you know, all that.
Okay.
Are there any features that make things easier for. For guests and like any kind of learning curves, like for a first timer?
[00:49:43] Speaker C: If you do have the Internet package. Getting on the Internet package is my Husband wasn't with me. He usually does that for that. For me, they handed us directions and I still.
I had to go down to the help desk. So that would be my advice. Like, if you can't get on, just go to the help desk. And they deal with people like me every day. And they're just like, here, this is what you do.
So that, like exploring, like when you get on, walk around the whole ship.
The other thing I can. I don't have a great sense of direction. So if I get off an elevator is this way the front of the ship or this way? I have.
I really have no idea.
But there's maps at every elevator that are very helpful to find out where you were. And then by the last night, we figured out when we get off the elevator, we need to go the opposite way or the stairs to get to our room because we kept going and having to go around. It took us way too long to figure that out. But you're on vacation.
[00:50:45] Speaker A: You're not supposed to be getting your steps.
[00:50:48] Speaker C: I know. A lot of fun. So, yeah, take advantage of the maps.
Just walk around, explore, ask questions.
Go to guest services. If you need help, go to the WI Fi help desk.
Those would be mine.
[00:51:04] Speaker A: Are they physical maps or is it on the app? Or there's.
[00:51:08] Speaker C: There's a deck map on the app. I don't know that we really use that a lot. There's. There's like an.
Maybe younger people would prefer that there's a map on the wall.
You are here and you can be like, okay, we need to go this way.
[00:51:24] Speaker A: I don't know. I just had the image of the episode of Friends where they're in London and Joey's like, he has to figure out where he is. It's like, hold on, I have to get into a map. And he literally sets a map on the ground and steps onto the map.
[00:51:39] Speaker C: Is looking around the other thing that Royal Caribbean ships do. And it. It always takes me way longer to realize this than it should. But at. So there's usually a front, big frontish bank of elevators and the aftish bank of elevators and they have different art hanging in that large space.
So if you can remember that this art, this. The red stuff hanging is in the back and then the rainbow stuff is in the front, then you know where you are.
But it. It always takes me longer than it should to. To realize that that's how they distinguish the. The forward and the aft elevators.
[00:52:23] Speaker B: So Sarah needs to be on longer cruises is what she's saying.
[00:52:27] Speaker C: Yeah. Probably three nights like it just figured it out.
[00:52:32] Speaker A: Three nights, three hour tour.
[00:52:33] Speaker C: Yep, yep.
[00:52:35] Speaker B: Oh my.
[00:52:36] Speaker A: We need to get you on a seven night minimum next.
[00:52:40] Speaker C: Well, I think this one's doing like an 18 day trans Pacific after it leaves LA.
[00:52:48] Speaker B: That would be nice.
[00:52:49] Speaker C: That's a lot. That's a lot of days at sea.
[00:52:53] Speaker B: Yeah, it would.
[00:52:55] Speaker C: I would imagine they have more than two shows for that cruise.
[00:52:59] Speaker B: I would hope so.
[00:53:01] Speaker C: See the same one every night.
Like this is great.
[00:53:05] Speaker A: And that same little girl is going to sing the same song every single night.
[00:53:10] Speaker C: Karaoke. Exactly.
[00:53:12] Speaker A: And now Wonderwall.
[00:53:14] Speaker C: Yep.
[00:53:20] Speaker B: All right, so pro tips and final thoughts. And you have done a great job with putting tips in for like this whole episode. So if anyone has skipped ahead to the back end of this episode, you need to watch the whole thing because you're going to be missing a lot.
So what is one tip that you would give someone cruising on the ovation for the first time?
[00:53:54] Speaker C: Well, one, you should book with a fair Fairy tales.
Fairy Tale Journeys travel agent so that they can tell you all the things that you need to know about this cruise.
I, I think just once you get on board, making sure that you get all your reservations, they will put the entertainment and kind of activities, those should be loaded up within like the week to a couple days leading up to your cruise. So if you have the time. And I know I always struggle trying to get ready for vacation to have extra time to sit and prepare. But if you can, you know, kind of look at the schedule and see what kind of things you're going to want to do, then you're going to know when to plug in those reservations for the Ifly and the North Star and not do what I did and miss out on that because they add Shondaland in as a surprise. But yeah, I would just, I would try to do and, and know that you can't do everything. That would be my other tip because that's something that I get wrapped up in is like having anxiety about getting to do everything that I want to do. And you're not going to get to do everything. You'll have to come back and do it again.
[00:55:03] Speaker B: And who do you think would love this ship the most?
[00:55:06] Speaker C: I think it's a great ship for that. I mean I have two boys and a girl, but my boys, my girl's happy anywhere. My boys would have loved this ship. Ship at ages 12 to even 22 where they are right now.
The client who was on it last week, she has little kids like 8, 6 and 2.
They loved it as well. So I really think it, it's. It really. They have enough things on there for both the little kids and the big kids that it's a great family ship.
[00:55:41] Speaker B: That is good to know.
Would you do this ship again?
[00:55:49] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:55:49] Speaker B: Which itinerary would you want to do?
[00:55:51] Speaker C: I really do want to do Alaska and I really, I think it would be a great way to see Asia as well, because you can get back into your comfy place and you know where all your stuff is and have food maybe that you're comfortable with, but also get to see all these amazing places on the Asian coast. Like, I, I do. I do think that would be amazing.
[00:56:15] Speaker B: And what would you say is a must do experience on board?
[00:56:23] Speaker C: I think that ifly is really unique.
Like, I mean, we would have.
But bring your socks or. Well, they really want us to have shoes. But they were like, well, at least you have socks. Tennis shoes and socks is what they wanted you to have.
We have one in Chicago, so it's two and a half hours away to do. But yeah, like, I would really like to try that someday. And the bumper cars. Bumper cars on a boat.
[00:56:50] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah, that would be fun.
[00:56:53] Speaker C: For sure.
[00:56:54] Speaker B: That'd be fun. Bumper cars are always fun. I mean, just crashing into people. It's just great. I. I don't know. It's special.
It's special.
All right. You're. Do you have any other tips for us?
[00:57:08] Speaker C: If you do want to do specialty dining, you can make those reservations ahead of time. That's probably a good idea to do that ahead of time.
If you have little kids who think they might want to do the kids club, there is an open house when you get on the ship while you're at port. So go check it out, sign them up, and then if they decide they don't want to do it, then you don't go. But if you don't go explore it, you won't be able to go in there after, you know, that first day. You can't go in there with them. So to go in there with them and walk through it and see if it's something they would. Might maybe want to do.
If you have little, little kids, you can do after 10pm you can pay to have somebody watch them.
If you have kids that can stay up that late.
Some people do. We did not. But then adults can do more adult things without little babies.
Or go to have a nice dinner and leave the kids. You know, book the specialty restaurant just for you and your husband and then, you know, drop the kids off at the kids club.
[00:58:15] Speaker B: Those are great.
Well, thank you so much for being with us and for sharing all of this. It was exciting.
Yeah, it was exciting to kind of, you know, as you were going through and sending pictures to us, it was like, yay.
I loved it. I loved it.
[00:58:34] Speaker C: Cruise to Alaska, Jen.
[00:58:36] Speaker B: I know, right? Let's, like, let's do that.
[00:58:39] Speaker C: Let's do that.
[00:58:40] Speaker B: I'm dying to do that.
Brian wants to do it, too, so we might have to make it a couple.
[00:58:46] Speaker C: Oh, for sure. It will for sure be a couple screws.
[00:58:50] Speaker B: Yeah. Because I don't know if I'd be able to come back home if I didn't take him.
There might not be a husband there if I leave him and go to Alaska.
All right, well, we really appreciate your time and we are so grateful, and I just adore you.
So we're going to go back to our trivia question and find out that answer.
And so, yes.
[00:59:23] Speaker A: So if you've been paying attention to the episode, you should already know the answer, but what is the name of the robotic bartenders found on Ovation of the Seas and other Royal Caribbean ships?
And your choices were. A, the Mix Masters. I wanted to say the Mix Meisters.
B, the Bar Bots, C, the Bionic Bar. Or D, the Robotenders. I'm just thinking of the Three Tenors.
And the answer is C, the Beyond the Bionic Bar, which was mentioned several times in this episode.
[01:00:13] Speaker B: Yeah, we really gave away the answer on that.
We really gave away the answer.
[01:00:20] Speaker A: Yes.
[01:00:21] Speaker B: All right, well, folks, that about does it for this week's episode of the Mouse Ears Podcast. Don't forget to join our Mouse Ears Podcast Facebook discussion group and our Facebook page. You can also can also follow us on TikTok X and Instagram to stay up to date with all things travel, but mostly Disney.
If you are interested in having a Fairy Tale Journeys agent book your next trip, visit fairytalejourneys.com and let them know that the podcast sent you.
And finally, if you enjoy our weekly episodes of the Mouse Ears podcast, we'd love for you to leave us a review wherever you listen to us until the next episode, where we will be covering Disney's Nighttime Spectaculars.
Thank you so much and have a great day.
[01:01:11] Speaker A: Bye.
