Seabourn Ovation: First Timer review/info

Hi there -- just got back from my first Seabourn trip, on Ovation, and thought I'd share some thoughts and address some topics that I know were questions for me when I was deciding to book the trip. Some context: we are not big cruisers, so the only relevant reference point I have is a Windstar cruise a few years back; we do have a lot of experience with high end land based travel, so that does influence my impressions.

Overall: it was quite lovely; certainly worth the money; certainly was a nicer hard product than Windstar, but perhaps not as a consistently good on the service.

Itineary was a variety of Caribbean islands. I won't spend a lot of time on the details, but if anyone is curious or wants more info, just let me know. The upshot was that where snorkeling was available easily, we had a great time. Two of the stops (Soper's hole, BVI, and Grenada) were less that ideal spots to stop.

Cabin: unless you are in a suite, all the cabins are exactly the same but are priced differently because of location. We were traveling in a group of 3 couples and were all in different areas of the ship which was helpful for gaining perspective. With regards to front of ship vs mid-ship and how that plays out with motion/sea sickness, we didn't notice any difference in any of the three cabins, and one was very far forward. Low floor + front of ship does result in a significant anchor noise every morning, so keep that in mind. The cabins were lovely; the bed was comfortable; the toiletries are all Molton Brown; the shower was amazing; and we appreciated having a big double marble vanity.

Food: the amount of choice was very well appreciated, and overall I'd say it was very good quality. From top to bottom: the speciality restaurant, Solis, is exceptional. Every thing about that experience rivaled many starred restaurants we've enjoyed over the years. The bar menu is creative and very well presented (easily the best/most ambitious on ship; tip: you don't have to be eating at Solis to enjoy the bar so we often found ourselves there before or after dining somewhere else). The food was excellent. The presentation was creative and elegant; the tableware and china is by far the nicest on board (it's all gorgeous Bernardaud).

The Main Dining Room had big, interesting menus and often the food was very good to excellent; no real duds although no show stoppers. The issue here is that it always felt like the service was working hard to keep up -- even on nights when it wasn't very busy in there. This was the one place where'd I'd say the service did the job, but was not particularly warm or gracious or consistent.

The collanade restaurant is lovely for breakfast and lunch in particular; it also has the biggest outdoor dining option on board which allowed for lovely al fresco dining. Dinner is a themed menu every night; those were very hit or miss. The "worst" food we had was at one of the theme dinners here.

The patio restaurant near the pool is lovely as it's outside but there are far too few tables and it proved hard to experience.

Sushi, the Japanese restaurant, is exceptional. Food is very well prepared -- and we eat at a lot of very high end Japanese restaurants, so have much to compare it to -- and the service/presentation is top notch. It's very small so we thought we might have trouble getting a table when we wanted, but that was never an issue.

The bars on board are lovely; service is a bit hit or miss, and I'd say the one gripe I had was that there weren't enough bars or opportunities to be served drinks outside. A few of the well placed decks had no furniture at all (which was weird); some decks had furniture but no real bar service (like the aft deck on 5), and in some areas where there were bars, there either weren't a lot of tables or there didn't seem to be enough staff.

The Caviar on demand is a great feature and we ended up ordering up caviar while having drinks many, many times in the week. It was nice to be able to have it wherever you were on the ship.

Entertainment was fine; it was a little "cruise shippy" in the main entertainment venue and we generally passed on that. The more intimate performers (like in the solis bar) were actually much, much better than you might expect.

Logistics like embarkation and disembarkation and all the tendering was very efficient and well handled.

Clientele was mostly 65-80, with just a few exceptions (including us). Wasn't an issue though, just a detail for those who are curious. Dress code was as expected -- most people were better than average dressed at dinner. Men stuck to the collard shirt and pants expectations; I didn't see anyone skirt that requirement. That being said, collared shirt could mean short sleeve and colorful. Many men wore blazers. I did not see anyone (men or women) at dinner with sneakers or tevas or anything like that. People made an effort. For formal night there were more tuxedos visible than I had anticipated based on what I read, but certainly they were in the minority. Mostly men were suits or jackets and ties. Many women had on fairly formal dresses.

When you think about all you get and the generally high level of execution across a lot of different service types, I'd say it was well worth the money and felt like a very 'easy' vacation -- where things were taken care of for you. I did think on occasion there weren't enough staff nearby to make it really feel like pampering. While Windstar is not nearly as 'luxurious' in the traditional sense, my overriding feeling about that trip was that there were staff members absolutely everywhere and you never had to ask for anyone to help you -- they were always right there ready. On this cruise you did see tables on the deck that hadn't been bussed for a while, or would have to go to the bar and order a drink, or ask for your water to be filled at dinner -- obviously nothing major in the grand scheme of things, but not necessarily the kind of atmosphere were you felt the invisible hand of super watchful service.

Additional edit: the wifi. The free, included wifi, was more than enough for me (and everyone in my group). it provides quick and reliable web surfing and texting. Standard video (YouTube) is not possible, although Facebook live videos and FaceTime calls were not a problem anywhere on board. The Seabourn app is a little glitchy and some of us had problems getting on the wifi at first, but a crew member was available to help and once it was sorted, it worked with no problems.