Shared by Maria Reynolds
Ovation of the Seas, 7 nights
Ports: Seattle, Juneau, Skagway, Sitka, Victoria
This is a great Alaska family cruise review on Ovation of the Seas of the Reynold’s family’s experience!
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Review:
Hello everyone! I recently got off the Ovation of the Seas on a 7 day Alaska cruise. I had my 18, 7, and 3 year old. While I was researching this cruise , I couldn’t find many family reviews so I wanted to share mine with you!
We flew southwest from North Carolina to Seattle three days prior to cruise. Packing was difficult and we had a lot more luggage then our normal Caribbean cruises. We brought a coat, sweatshirts, boots and mainly pants for everyone.
We stayed at Sheraton Grand Seattle downtown and visited pike place, aquarium, took a tour to Snoqualmie falls, the troll, a Harbour Tour, the great wheel and a driving tour of Seattle. After the cruise we stayed another 3 days and visited the Childrens museum, Chulily glass museum and the space needle. We took the light rail to the hotel from airport and this was simple as long as you have enough hands for luggage. In town we used the taxis for everything.
We had two balcony rooms on deck 12 on Ovation. We were very close to the kids club. The temp was high compared to normal. We wore sweatshirts some days but never had to pull out the coats. And surprisingly we never had rain. Even with the temps in the 80’s, the splash pad was never opened for our sailing (though it has been on some others).
One activity for families on the ship is bumper cars but you have to be 5 years old.
They also have the simulated sky diving which my 3 year old was allowed to participate in and the workers made it a safe, great experience for him
A lot of activities in the Seaplex, he was too young to participate in.
We visited Juneau. Here we did the whale watching and Mendenhall glacier through Royal. It was great. We saw humpback whales, orcas, sea lions, bald eagles, a glacier and beautiful landscape. The guided were great. The whale watching boat was amazing. They guarantee seeing whales. I brought my kids binoculars and they really enjoyed spotting the different creatures.
In Skagway we did the best of Skagway tour through royal. It included the train ride into the Yukon, red saloon tour and a stop at liarsville camp for a salmon bake. This was my favorite. The train ride was picturesque. My 7 and 18 year old enjoyed this a lot. My 3 year old fell asleep. The red saloon was an old brothel and it was historic talk. At Liarsville they put on a little show and then we panned for gold.
In Sitka we did the Homestead experience. We first went to the bear rescue center then boarded a small boat that took us past a salmon hatchery and then to a small home stead where a man told us stories about the area. This excursion was beautiful, especially the boat ride.
Last stop was Victoria, B.C. There was a problem with customs in Canada and we stood in line for 2 hours before they let us off the ship. Everything got behind We booked Butchart Gardens and Craighdorch Castle through royal. It was a long slow bus ride to the gardens. The gardens were beautiful but we were rushed. The Castle was ok but I would not recommend this. I think we would have preferred staying at the gardens then even stopping at the castle.
Would I recommend taking young kids on an Alaskan tour- yes, but be ready for some down time with the kids. We did a lot more sitting in the room then normal. This cruise is very low key compared to a Caribbean cruise.
We did see tons of wildlife out our balcony!
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