Our First Cruise: 9 things we didn’t expect on Ovation of the Seas
So, we got on a cruise ship.
If you hopped in the Travel While Nerdy Time Machine, went back a year, and told us we’d have three cruises booked for 2023, we would have laughed in your face.
Between the current pandemic, and various other horror stories, we’d both sworn black and blue that we’d never get on a cruise ship.
Yet our YouTube travel vlogger addiction revealed a passionate cruise community, and made a pretty good case for a floating staycation. Then, when Disney Cruises announced they were visiting our shores for the first time, we knew we wanted to go.
Still, we’d never been on a cruise. Before we got on a boat for almost a week, we wanted to test our sea legs so to speak. So, a Black Friday sale secured us a great room on Royal Caribbean’s Ovation of the Seas 2-night sampler cruise out of Sydney.
When we told people we were going on a cruise, we both got the same reactions from friends and colleagues. Ships are floating petri dishes. They are party boats full of drunks. Some people just recoiled as if we’d handed them a box of snakes. We’d had all these reactions ourselves in the past, so with trepidation and excitement we took to the waves in January 2023.
Here’s some things we didn’t expect on our first voyage on the seas.
Diversity of guests
We had all the same fears we mentioned above. Yet as soon as we were on board, much of that dissipated. The guests were made up of family reunions, couples, singles, bachelorette parties, and ‘lad’ weekends. Kids were doing their own thing, and we had a chat with a single older cruiser who was bundling this sampler with a 9-night cruise to give herself 11 days at sea. All body types and ages were in the pools. It was very comforting.
Ship time
How do you deal with crossing time zones while maintaining a daily schedule? Ship time. That’s right, ships have their own time zone. Yet ships are a bit like a Vegas casino, and you can forget the time of day very easily. With modern cruises, the company app and your room’s TV never let you forget. In all the lifts, they change out the day of the week plates every day. Of course, ship time always matched our home port time on this sampler cruise so it wasn’t an issue.
The prices are in USD
Even though we were sailing out of Sydney, and the Ovation’s season. It just meant that the already inflated drink prices (around US$8.95 for a bottle of Bud or Corona) looked a little different on our credit card statements. The more you know.
Water, water, everywhere
It’s probably obvious that ships are often surrounded by water. Still, if you’ve never been at sea before, looking around and seeing the horizon in every direction can occasionally be discombobulating. It did, however, mean that we got to wake up to views like this.
Doors are super heavy
This was unexpected. You might know that almost everything in a ship’s structure is made of metal, including the doors. Yet one of the safety features of a ship means the doors are surprisingly heavy, in your room, bathroom, and other communal spaces. Either that or the rocking of the ship was slowly sapping our energy.
It’s a moving vessel
Of course it is. It’s really easy to forget though. Everything indoors is designed to make you feel like you’re in a big resort hotel. For the most part, the ship’s stabilisers on calmer seas are there to help you forget. Occasionally you’ll feel the roll of the ship and remember you’re moving. In rougher seas, you probably really feel it. Some of us even feel it for days afterwards.
Music everywhere
You expect to hear music on a cruise ship. There’s parties, poolside fun, bars, and events. Still, we didn’t expect to hear music pretty much everywhere we went. Constantly. On the deck, from our balcony, or eating for the umpteenth time that day. It’s funny: since we’ve been back, several people have commented on the same surprise. So, we’re not alone on this one.
Quiet spaces
Nevertheless, you can find little refuges if you need a time out. Given our background, it’s unsurprising that we found our way to the Library. Your room is a sanctuary, of course. There’s also lots of liminal spaces between decks and away from the action. It’s a holiday after all.
We enjoyed ourselves
Perhaps the biggest surprise was just how much we enjoyed ourselves. All those eye rolls, fears, and misconceptions went out the window in minutes – and we know exactly when our next cruise will be.