Ovation of the Seas, and a few flights along the way.

[Atleastonce]

Today we spent a very informative 4 hours looking at the different areas of Cochin. It is very distinctive between the different areas, the new Cochin, the old Cochin and Fort Cochin. The new area is the retail and gold sellers, still very busy, very crowded and hectic, but the different style of people and occupations are obvious. The older part of Cochin is where the roads are thinner, there are more street vendors and many more tuk tuks and motor cycles. Many more places of worship and our guide takes special care to mention all the religious faiths, not to miss out and offending anyone, it is their way of reinforcing the conglomerate of faiths living together in harmony. We saw some interesting work sites on the side of the road, where people were passing buckets up a line of people on a ladder to a second storey. When we visited the fort Cochin, the Chinese fishing nets and fish markets were the only area we experienced beggars, and locals trying to sell to the tourists. Impressively, if you told them you re not interested they did not pursue you like we have experienced in other parts of the world.

We visited the first Catholic Church in India at for Cochin. This was pretty impressive with most of the original structure in place, including the fan cooling systems.

I will upload some photos when I export them from my camera.

We depart this afternoon, and will take 4 days at sea to reach Penang.

 

[Atleastonce]

After a very good 2 part series on the Royal Caribbean Story shown in the magnificent 270 theatre ( which is located at the aft of the ship and when the screen is retracted offers a casual three story view of the ocean) we decided to start some exercise. One lap around deck 15 is 550m. We did about 5km and thought better of it and retired to the schooner bar for some drinks and a round of trivia. A respectable 13 out of 15 was not good enough for the three way tie breaker for first.

We attended a talkback session with the cruise director. I can't believe people complain about the things they do. If the rotation of sudoku puzzles is that important to you, why didn't you bring your own book of puzzles lady! There was a complaint about the crews families being allowed on board for the afternoon before departing Cochin. I personally thought it great seeing the senior members of the crew in their uniforms showing their kids around the ship, and so proud of their workplace.

Off to Chops Grille for our evening meal.

 

[Atleastonce]

A fantastic start to the day. A win at bingo! Unfortunately they could only muster 25 people so we played for prizes not cash. I was able to add a Royal Caribbean bingo t-shirt to my wardrobe.

 

[Atleastonce]

We were given a breakdown of the passenger age groups on the ship. There are 4095 passengers. 455 in the age bracket of 45-55, 1146 in 55-65 and 1285 in the 65-75 age group. There are 3 people over 100 years of age n this cruise.

 

[ellen10]

Enjoying your trip report and the food pics and description of the food courses was very interesting.
Also interesting is the facts about the ship and passenger breakdown.
We are yet to go on a cruise. Have been looking at a Mediterranean one.

Looking froward to more.

 

[Magpie10]

The ship looks amazing, can you post some pictures of the cabins and pool areas. Great T R so far, along for the remainder if your cruise.

 

[Atleastonce]

Tonight we decided to skip dinner and see a few shows. First was a cabaret that was, well, interesting to say the least. Excellent technology adaptation with the show, but not really something we enjoyed. A quick walk to the other end of the ship to see what we thought was the best show we have seen yet. The headline act was an Australian, Jane Cho. She played the electric violin, and started with a Beatles compilation, then straight into Led Zeppelin, ACDC, Kate Bush, Michael Jackson and ended with bohemian rhapsody and we are the champions by Queen. A standing ovation (on Ovation of the seas) performance. You should look her up and if you get a chance to see her, it is a worthwhile experience. She has performed for Michael Crawford, and solo at the Sydney opera house. We went straight to the music hall and watched a non stop 90 minutes of a Beatles tribute band, who were excellent, and played the Beatles songs in order of them being released. An excellent performance. The night was finished off with an hilarious karaoke performance by the cruise directors staff.

 

[Atleastonce]

Magpie10, for some reason I cannot upload photos to AFF at the moment. I can to Facebook though. I will try again later but hopefully I will have better internet connection in a few days time when in a Singapore hotel.

 

[Jim Walsh]

Love the report, a saying is never embark on a cruise that leaves from an Australian port, my last experience with Carnival never was a truer word spoken.

I wish you could caption the Wonderland photos as try as I might I can't match the dishes to the menu !!!

Cheers

 

[Atleastonce]

Martini class today.

Tasting samples of the below 5 martinis, then your choice to finish off with. My choice to finish was a classic Bombay Sapphire Gin, extra dry, with twist of twist. Apparently the classic vodka and gin martinis are the gentleman's drinks. Myself and the only other male in the class of 6, chose the same gin martini to finish with.

The tasting martinis were:

Classic martini first - vodka, extra dry vermouth. Shaken with olive

Cosmopolitan - absolut citron, Cointreau and cranberry juice, fresh squeezed lemon

Side car - Chivas regal, grand marnier, fresh lime juice.

Chocolate martini - Creme de cacao dark, baileys, absolut vanilla

Expresso martini - double shot of espresso, Creme de cacao dark and kahlua, absolut vanilla.

 

[Atleastonce]

Love the report, a saying is never embark on a cruise that leaves from an Australian port, my last experience with Carnival never was a truer word spoken.

I wish you could caption the Wonderland photos as try as I might I can't match the dishes to the menu !!!

Cheers

After the photos of the entrance and settings, the dishes were

Liquid manzanilla olive/herb oil
Liquid lobster/bone marrow caviar
Slow booked baby beets/sriracha yogurt
Buffalo chicken eggs/smoke, blue cheese, hot sauce
Crispy tempura Kim chee leaves/marinated lemon
Pork knuckle which was a substitution for the pork belly n the menu
Terroir beef/river stone potatoes, bordelaise sauce
Slow roasted chicken
Bombe Alaska
Pistachio ice cream with chocolate cake
Key lime Popsicle with raspberry coulis.

 

[Atleastonce]

Our internet is getting faster as we are near Penang. Here are some photos of our shore excursions in Cochin, India.

 

[Atleastonce]

More of Cochin

 

[Atleastonce]

Our stateroom attendant has only managed two towel animals this trip, despite a reasonable pre service tip at the start of the cruise.

 

[Atleastonce]

Chops grille meal, just the starter and desert in the photos. The main was the filet minion. Starter was jumbo shrimp coughtail and the desert was huckleberry cheesecake. A very nice more formal evening.

 

[Atleastonce]

Photos from the Ovations of the Seas 'North Star' gondola. Also showing the main pool area.

 

[Atleastonce]

Ovation of the Seas was the largest passenger ship to dock at Cochin India. We docked at the cargo terminal not the passenger terminal. The locals lined the shore to farewell us.

 

[Atleastonce]

The solarium pool area, with a very nice tiered pool and hot tub area.

 

[Atleastonce]

The inside pool bar area

 

[love_the_life]

Boy,the photos from North Star show how big that ship is