When we got back, Graham had left. I figured that he had probably headed to our cabin so I went there next. He was not there, but our luggage was. I started unpacking a few odds and ends and then decided to use the data roaming to check my emails. This was the day when our profit share announcement was supposed to be made. I was not optimistic that we would get any, but I was still curious. I could not get a signal inside the cabin so I went out on the balcony. One of my team members had messaged me on Facebook. Against all of my expectations we did get profit share and another member of my team had got a shout out from the VP for Retail Offices and Contact Centres for her customer service. So I was pretty happy. I decided to put my magnets on the door and then head out again. As I was in the process of putting the magnets on, our next door neighbours arrived. They were two ladies from Germany. Yet again I was amused that they started to speak German to me. They wanted to know what I was putting on the door. I explained about the magnets and where this tradition comes from. We had a brief chat before they headed into their cabin and I finished putting the magnets on. Once I was done with this, I decided to go and search for Graham.
It did not take too long to find him. On the way, I did get a soft serve ice cream though. The ice cream station was on the pool deck between the outdoor pool and the entrance to the indoor family pool. I had a chocolate and vanilla swirl, which was very nice. I found Graham shortly afterwards. He had found himself a lounger towards the back of the indoor family pool area just before the entrance to the solarium. I decided to join him. We relaxed for about an hour. By then it had started to rain again and it was nice that so much of the ship is covered. Graham decided to head back to the cabin to get unpacked. By then it was coming up to 17:00 and our Cruise Critic group had arranged an informal meet at the pool bar near the outdoor pool. So I decided to go and show my face before heading back to our cabin.
Not that many people had turned up, but it was nice to put some faces to names and I did enjoy some conversation with some of the people I had chatted with online ever since we booked the cruise. The couple that we had spoken to earlier was there and I also met one of our table mates. In the end I had spent longer there than I had planned. Once people started to drift away to get changed for dinner, I went back to the cabin. Graham had finished his unpacking and decided to go for a swim. I told him that I would finish unpacking myself and then would come and join him. The unpacking took a little longer than I had anticipated. I had brought mainly dresses for this part of the trip and it took a while to hang them all up. Fortunately there was plenty of storage space. I also needed to fill out the form to send my gowns for pressing. While I did all of this, I was entertained by video about washing hands. Initially I found this quite annoying, but this grew on us as the cruise went on and kind of became the theme song of the cruise. For the first few weeks that we were back, we were both humming this catchy little tune whenever we went to the bathroom.
By the time I was unpacked, the gowns were in the laundry bag with the form attached and the suitcase was stored safely under the bed, it was nearly 18:30. I put on my swim suit underneath my clothes and then headed down to the Royal Esplanade on deck 4. The Ovation is one of a number of Royal Caribbean ships that offers the DreamWorks Experience. Prior to this cruise, I was not really a fan of the DreamWorks Animation films, but I have watched and enjoyed all the films in the Shrek franchise. My favourite character from those films is Puss in Boots. I was very excited before the cruise when I found out that Puss in Boots would be on the ship. So when I spotted that Puss would be out for a meet and greet at 18:30, this was a must do for me. When I got down to deck 4, I was a little confused. I had expected a long line just like you would find for the characters on Disney ships. When I got to the Royal Esplanade there were a few people around minding their own business, but there was nothing that remotely looked like a line. I headed towards the theatre to see if the meet and greet was that end of the Royal Esplanade. I walked past the pub and took a double take. There were two people sitting at a table outside the pub. One of them was studying the menu and was wearing a rather fetching hat, which I would not expect around a cruise ship. I had a closer look and it was Puss with his escort. There was nobody else in this area. I had expected a photographer with Puss, but there was nobody else in sight. I went up to them and said “hi”. I did not have a camera with me as I was heading to the pool, but I had a nice time with Puss. We must have spent a good 10 minutes together without anybody else turning up. Once somebody else arrived to see him, I said goodbye and headed up to deck 14.
I found Graham in the outdoor pool. It was still raining and I was not too keen on this idea. I told him that I would head for the hot tub by the indoor family pool. He decided to join me. We ended up talking with another passenger from Mexico for a while. Once we had long enough in the hot tub, we decided to check out the solarium pools. They were nearly as warm as the hot tub. There were ledges to sit on around the pool and seats in the middle of a couple of the pools. There were also waterfalls and it was nice to sit on the ledge by the waterfall. After a while, we decided that we had enough water for one day. We got dried off as much as we could and then headed back to the cabin. We both had a shower and got changed for dinner.
Dinner that evening was in Chic, which is on deck 2 aft. The way dinner is handled is a real departure from how Royal Caribbean normally does things. Virtually all their ships have a multi-level main dining room. People then have the choice between traditional dining with early or late dinner and My Time Dining. However, irrespective of what you choose, the menu is the same. On the Quantum class ships, the setup is different. Apart from the speciality restaurants, a restaurant for suite guests, the two buffets and the various quick service offerings, there are four complimentary restaurants. They each have an individual theme and menu. There are two different approaches to dining. Dynamic Dining Choice takes the place of My Time Dining. People are encouraged to make dinner reservations before the cruise, but they can be changed while on board using the Royal IQ app, the iPads that are around the ship or by visiting one of the restaurant podiums. At times, walk ups are also available. We had gone with Dynamic Dining Classic. Dynamic Dining Classic is essentially the same as rotational dining on the Disney ships. With this you have the same server and table mates and a set dining time and rotate through the 4 different restaurants. Each restaurant has two lines, one for Dynamic Dining Choice and one for Dynamic Dining Classic.
We arrived at Chic about 5 minutes ahead of our dinner time. There was no line for Dynamic Dining Classic and we were shown to our table straightaway. Two of our table mates had already arrived and the other two arrived a little while later. Our server came to introduce himself and brought the menus. Then we did not see him for a long time. Things were all over the place that first evening. It took an hour until we had our starters and at one stage we all wondered if we would be done in time for the muster drill at 22:30. They have a strange set up in the restaurants on the Ovation. Every table has a server, but there also floating assistant servers and sommeliers. That first evening this set up did not work at all. Our head server came by to introduce himself and asked if we had to be anywhere before the muster drill. The food was nice though. Graham had crab cake followed by cream of vegetable soup. For his main course he had the rack of lamb with broccoli and mashed potato. For dessert he went with the yoghurt panna cotta and berries. I had the beef Carpaccio with Parmesan and sourdough bread. It was very tender and full of flavour. For my main course I had the prime rib with Hasselback potato, mushrooms, asparagus and tomato. The only disappointment was dessert for which I had chosen the Black Forest Mousse. This just was not very tasty.
Once everybody had finished dinner, we said goodbye and headed back to the cabin. We still had a little bit of time and I checked out the Daily Compass for the next day. Then the alarm sounded and it was time to make our way to Two70, which was our muster station. I had expended that we would be directed down a crew staircase. There was one not far from our room. However, we ended up going back down the corridor to the midship elevator lobby and then had to head through the Via to Two70. That seemed to be a strange approach to take in an emergency. The rest of the drill was pretty smooth and well organised though. There were plenty of crew members at the elevator lobby and at the Via to direct people to the right place. I think pretty much any public space on deck 4 and 5 that was not a shop was used as a muster station. When we got to Two70, our Sea Pass cards were scanned and we were directed to the right area as there are two muster stations in there. They used the screens in there for a brief video. Then crew members demonstrated on how to put on a life vest. It was then that I realised that there are no life vests in the cabins, but they keep all of them at the muster stations and around other public areas. The captain made an announcement. They then played the wash your hands video again and then we were dismissed. The whole thing was smooth, quick and painless. We decided to find some seats at the Via and wait for the crowd to disperse. We ended up chatting with the couple from the morning again and once people had stopped milling around, we headed back to the lifts and went to our cabin. We quickly got ready for bed and I set the alarm for the next morning. This may well have been one of the most comfortable beds I ever had the pleasure to sleep in and it did not take long until I was fast asleep.