We travelled on Royal Caribbean’s ‘Ovation of the Seas’ cruise ship with our 6-year-old Kidsetter on route to New Zealand over New Year’s Eve.
After boarding the ship, locating our cabin, attending the safety induction, it was time to kick back and relax !
We checked our Kidsetter into the Explorers Kids Club each day which is for ages 6 – 8. Open from 9am to 12pm, closed between 12 – 2pm, open 2pm – 10pm. There is also a ‘Late Night Party Zone’ from 10pm – 2am. (Our Kidsetter goes to bed early so this has yet to be an option for us.) They have busy schedules of activities set out for each day.
There is always plenty of activities for us too, however we tend to use the time to relax, swim, enjoy the live music and excellent dining experiences.
The restaurants and dining facilities are world class. Various options are available; Café Promenade, Windjammer Café, Main Dining Room, Coastal Kitchen, Sorrento’s, Solarium Bistro, Jamie’s Italian, Chops Grille, Chef’s Table and Wonderland Restaurant. Wonderland is a unique dining experience in an Alice in Wonderland-inspired setting. The restaurant’s menu is a dreamscape of creatively presented modern dishes, created using molecular gastronomy techniques. Even though our Kidsetter has quite broad food tastes we dined here without him; he would’ve loved the setting, however the food would invariably been wasted.
We had to experience the unique activities especially created for this ship. The i-fly was a great success. Kitted up for the sky dive simulator we embraced the adrenaline rush. Our Kidsetter loved every minute of it and wanted to demonstrate his flying ability. Thankfully the instructor was nearby to keep him in check !
We were also very excited to experience the first dodgem cars at sea ! The queue to have our turn was long however moved quickly. We all enjoyed watching people’s rides whilst we waited. Once in our own cars it was game on. I have to say, I was surprised at how rough they were – well fellow drivers. We were bumped so hard that our Kidsetter ended up sliding out of his harness and our necks were not feeling the best afterwards. Note to self – don’t do this again.
We needed a refreshing cold drink after our dodgem ride and visited the famous Bionic bar where robots mix and serve your drinks. Great fun !
We love taking our Kidsetter to live theatre and find cruise shows a fabulous way to expose him to the artform. They are included in the cost of your cruise fare, usually short in duration and easily accessible making it ideal for Kidsetters. Anytime our Kidsetter is becoming tired we can leave and not feel like we have been cheated of our tickets. We watched Ovation of the Seas productions starring the Royal Caribbean Singers and Dancers in “Dream Musical”, “Pixels”, and“Live Love Legs”. We also watched one of the funniest hypnotists we have seen, starring Mark Anthony.
We enjoyed the upbeat atmosphere of Royal Caribbean’s ‘Ovation of the Sea’s. An excellent option to spend NYE without the hassle of having to arrange over priced tickets to NYE functions, it is all taken care for you.
