Trevor & Jonathans Cruise & Trip to the Far East and Australia 2016

Day 37 - Wednesday June 15th 2016 - Ovation of the Seas - Cruising

We are free, free! Oh what a joyous feeling it is! So morning came and Trev passed the toilet test (sorry for being so graphic but this is seriously good news) so we headed up to the Windjammer for breakfast.

The sun is out today and it’s a glorious day on the deck yet most of the sunbeds are empty, again the Orientals all staying out of the sun. As we have been cooped up we feel like we need to be doing something exciting, doing something new but of course that is not

going to happen either as we know the ship inside out and about the only thing we could do that would be slightly different would be to attend a napkin folding class!

After breakfast we headed down to deck four for coffee and then caught up on the blog for yesterday (back in our routine, ship life).

It was certainly lovely being free of the cabin and knowing that Trevor was all ok again. We needed some fresh air so we headed up to deck 15 and a couple of sunbeds. It was really hot and being typical brits abroad we had not put any cream on (could not be bothered) so we knew that our time outside would be controlled so it was an hour in the sun for us both.

It was really empty up on deck, yes we all know that the Orientals don’t do the sun, this makes it really hard to gauge how busy the ship actually is. Although the sunbeds were empty the dance class inside the seaplex centre was rammed. Rows of people of all nationalities learning some kind of Latin dance. It was hardly complicated, one step forward, two back and a step to the side whilst wiggling your hips and do it all over again and again.

We left the sun deck behind and headed down a deck to 14 and the indoor pool. Trev wanted to cool off for a bit so we eventually found a couple of empty loungers and settled for an hour again. Jonathan doesn’t do the pools on board, never fancies it for some reason, too many people in too small an area and all those kids jumping in and out (grumpy old man I know).

Last night Jonathan had terrible acid reflux and it kept him awake but now it had passed thanks to an overdose of gaviscon so we went for a very late lunch around three in the afternoon in café 270 (it’s those beef rolls they are just so good). It so happened whilst we were down there that they were running a technical rehearsal for what they were calling a new show called Pixels. It only took about thirty seconds to realise that this was basically Spectres Cabaret that we had seen before under a new name with a new female lead performer (who was nowhere near as good as the last male lead). It felt a bit of a rip off to be honest. That’s three shows on board now that we had seen on the Anthem a year ago just being recycled and played out again. Ok so admittedly that’s six nights of twelve where you have duplicates so 50 % of your time on board so that’s not terrible I guess but it I when your just like to watch something new.

We did a bit of research on Hong Kong, trying to find something new to do when we get there this being our fourth visit to the tiny island. We’ve settled on going right over to the other side of Hong Kong Island and the area of Stanley as a starting point. We need to do some shopping, chemist supplies after the recent bout of illness etc.…. better to be prepared the next time!

Our next stop was The Crown & Anchor welcome back party at The Royal Theatre for repeat cruisers. We are now Emerald level cruisers, doesn’t mean much but it does mean that the next level is free drinks in our own private lounge bar (now that’s worth having). We got a free glass of Fizz, watched a couple of singers and the band perform and watched a video on the making of the Ovation then listened to the big sales spiel on future cruises.

It was back to the room briefly post Crown & Anchor before getting changed and heading out for our first proper night on the ship since getting on and this is day four. We headed off to our old faithful, The Schooner Bar with me ordering my usual of an espresso martini with Trevor on a B52. From here we headed down to dinner and our reservation at the Silk restaurant. The earlier glass of Fizz I had had set off Jonathans acid reflux again and he was not comfortable but there was no way he was giving into it, not after what we had been through the last few days so we joined the queue for the restaurant.

That’s the thing you see, Royal Caribbean have not really sorted out this dynamic dining thing yet. It’s not lick and stress free, even though you book a table you still have to queue yet when you walk in the restaurants they always seem to be half empty, it makes no sense. It was then all a bit chaotic when we did get seated, we ordered our meals before we had been offered any water or bread and then the appetizers turned up at the same time as the bread and it all felt rushed and without the service you would expect, we were disappointed. The food was ok though but we did (well Jonathan did) end up having a long conversation with one of the senior waiters about dynamic dining as they call it and how this was now our third cruise using this option and how it had always been a bit chaotic. He let us know that apparently when this boat leaves China they will actually be scrapping it and reverting back to the old school way of two formal seating times for evening meals, that will improve things I am sure.

Despite feeling his acid reflux Jonathan stupidly ordered a glass of red wine with his dinner but gave half of it to Trevor as he just could not finish it at all. As soon as his dessert spoon hit the plate he knew he needed to go back to the room. He had a serious headache and felt like his throat had narrowed due to the acid build up. He needed a dark place to lay down in….his turn to be poorly this time.

I begged Trevor to leave me to it, after having been holed up for 36 hours the last thing he needed was to be sat in the cabin again. He took another load of Gaviscon, turned all the lights out and laid there, I slept until I heard Trev getting ready for bed.

So he lesson is no wine for Jonathan at the moment, it’s not working for some reason and when we get to Hong Kong it’s another tablet to add to the shopping list!

Both of us must be suffering from some kind of travel fatigue as we are never normally ill. It’s all the eating out, different waters, alcohol, foods…. also we’ve not been to the gym in an age or have been looking after our weight and that showing as well. Oh well, its holiday, we can worry about all that kind of thing when we get back to normal life.