Alaska Cruise Review: Royal Caribbean’s Ovation of the Seas

Constantly captivating scenery. Frequent wildlife sightings. Delicious food. Jam-packed itineraries. Family-friendly activities. These are some of the phrases I would use when describing an Alaska cruise on Royal Caribbean’s Ovation of the Seas. We had the opportunity to go on a 7-night cruise from Seattle in August 2019 and had an absolute blast! Here are our thoughts on the ship and the destinations. If you’re considering going on an Alaska cruise, I can assure you that it’s absolutely worth it. Don’t hesitate to reach out to us if you have any questions!

The Ship

Ovation of the Seas is a Quantum-class ship, built in 2016, and has more than 2,000 staterooms that can host up to 4,900 guests. That, along with 1,500 crew members, ups the onboard count to more than 6,400! We stayed in a quad-occupancy balcony stateroom on the 6th floor, which gave us some beautiful sea views from the balcony. If you can, though, try to get a room on a higher floor so you don’t have the lifeboats mounted on the side of the ship blocking your view.

Family-Friendly Activities

Ovation of the Seas has no shortage of activities that will keep the whole family busy during the entire cruise! One of the first places we visited was the SeaPlex. The SeaPlex is an indoor space that can be customized to host multiple activities such as bumper cars, skating, basketball, and even circus trapeze swinging! You’ll want to check your Daily Compass to see what time each activity is taking place. Also, be sure to arrive early because there can be long lines for activities, especially on cruising days. There are also ping pong, fooseball and air hockey tables around the space, as well as an Xbox gaming lounge (free) and an arcade with games (at an additional price).

Next to the SeaPlex, on the aft upper levels of the ship, you’ll also find activities like the Ripcord by iFly, which is an indoor skydiving center. Even our 3-year-old daughter Nora was able to participate, so I highly recommend trying it out at least once! You can also do some rock-climbing as well as experience the FlowRider surfing simulator.

Speaking of the upper decks, it wouldn’t be a proper cruise without some pools to splash around in! Ovation of the Seas has several options. The first is Splashaway Bay, which has some waterslides as well as a lazy river-type of roundabout pool that we hadn’t seen on another ship before. There’s also an outdoors pool (with heated water) and two hot tubs, which still let us enjoy ourselves even when the temperature dropped on the way to Alaska. In case of inclement weather, an indoor pool and hot tubs are available, as well as an adults-only Solarium with a pool and bar.

I’m also happy to let you know that Ovation of the Seas offers its Adventure Ocean kids club. There are separate areas for 3-5 year olds, 6-8 year olds, and 9-11 year olds. There’s also a nursery where you can drop off babies at an additional cost. For kids over 11, there are plenty of activities in The Living Room, the designated area for teenagers.

Dining

If you’ve sailed on a Royal Caribbean ship before, then you know that the Windjammer Marketplace is ready and willing to serve some delicious meals! The Windjammer serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner buffet options, with plenty of choices for the whole family. You can also get snacks and meals throughout the day at Sorrento’s (pizza), the Dog House (hot dogs), and Fish and Ships (fried fish and chicken). You will also be assigned a time for your seated dinner, which is optional in case you want to partake in some of the specialty dining options. On Ovation, you will find favorites like the Chops Grille and Jamie’s Italian, as well as some creative dishes at Wonderland, mouth-watering sushi at Izumi, and spa-style cuisine at the Solarium Bistro.

The Itinerary

Our cruise was the 7-night Alaska cruise departing from and returning to Seattle, Washington. During that week, the ship sailed to ports of call in Juneau and Skagway in Alaska, and Victoria in British Columbia Canada.

Juneau

Alaska’s state capital lies on the southeastern corner of the state and borders the Canadian province of British Columbia. It’s a small city of over 30,000 residents, yet it welcomes more than a million tourists each year, primarily from cruise ships. In Juneau, we spent the morning walking along the Gastineau Channel and spent some time relaxing at Bill Overstreet Park, which has a beautiful statue of a breaching whale that also sprays out water every few minutes. In the afternoon, we did the Whale Watching and Wildlife Quest excursion, where we took a shuttle bus to our whale watching vessel, and learned about Alaska’s marine life. We got to see several humpback whales, as well as sea lions and bald eagles. Our tour guide also took us to their crab pot, where we were able to observe their invasive species monitoring activities. Ultimately, we loved our whale watching excursion since we were able to get up close and personal with a magnificent species. There are also excursions to Mendenhall Glacier by helicopter, kayak, and boat, as well as several dog sledding, salmon bake, and zip lining adventures.

Skagway

Our second port was in Skagway, Alaska, which is the northernmost town on the Alaska Inside Passage. It’s a small but charming town, with a year-round population of about 900 people, except for the summer tourism months, in which 3,000 residents and workers tend to the town. The town was built during the Gold Rush era in the late 19th century, and also welcomes about 1 million tourists a year (mostly from cruise ships). In Skagway, we took part in the Haines Wilderness Odyssey by Jetboat, which started with a short ferry ride from Skagway to the neighboring town of Haines. From Haines, we took a shuttle to the Chillkat river, where we boarded our jetboat in search of brown bears, moose, and bald eagles. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to spot any bears or moose, but we saw plenty of bald eagles throughout our journey. The excursion itself makes for a pretty long day, with a 45 minute ferry, 30 minute bus ride, 1+ hour jetboat ride, and return trips to go along with it. There’s not a lot of opportunities for kids to run around much during the excursion, so just be prepared since you may or may not see wildlife during the tour! The Skagway port also has plenty of hiking, zip-lining, horseback riding, and glacier trekking excursions available, which we hope to be able to do one day!

Victoria

Our last cruise stop was in Victoria, also known as the “City of Gardens.” And that nickname is truly earned! In 2018, there were over 3.4 BILLION blooms. There are countless amounts of floral arrangements throughout the city, and the colorful flowers give the town a vibrant feel. In Victoria, we did the Bites and Sights tour, which was a walking tour that took us throughout the city over three hours, with 3 stops along the way to sample local cuisine. We began by walking to Fisherman’s Wharf, where we stopped by for local tea and took a water taxi to Victoria’s Chinatown, which is the oldest in Canada. From there, we sampled snacks at a local brewery, ate chocolate-covered waffles, and witnessed some beautiful architecture near Bastion Square and the Parliament building. The tour itself gave us a great inside look into what life is like in Victoria, and learned some of its history along the way. Another excursion to look into would be a trip to Butchart Gardens, which is a scenic and beautifully maintained property that welcomes 1 million visitors a year.

Bottom Line

Simply put, we loved our time on our Alaska cruise aboard Ovation of the Seas! The pacing of the trip was perfect, with the two Alaska port stops on the 3rd and 4th days, and Victoria on the 7th day. We were surprised by the amount of family-friendly activities on the ship, from the SeaPlex, to the pools, to rock-climbing and indoor skydiving! The cruise gave us a great sample of the many adventures that Alaska has to offer, and we hope to be able to return to dive deep into their culture and activities sometime soon!

This post was produced in partnership with Royal Caribbean who provided our family with an all expenses paid cruise  Despite working with them all views and opinions are our own.