QF&EK J+F off SIN to cruise Ovation OTS

[sydks]

After dinner a quick trip back to the bar for a night cap was in order, much quieter on this flight with no greek soccer team onboard!

Returning to my seat the crew had fitted the matress pad and sleep was calling, I tried unsuccessfully to see the end of the movie I was watching (Lady in the van) - which had to be finished when I woke up over breakfast!

Breakfast was the only disappointing part of the flight as there was no cooked option, but what's worse is they didn't even heat up the croissant! So it was pretty cold, hard and most unappetizing! It didn't bother me too much as I knew I could have a better breakfast in the Dom J lounge but it was definitely not up to standard for Int J class.

We did get another hot towel with the breakfast service which was lovely!

 

[sydks]

We enjoyed a spectacular dawn and some great views of the bay and Melbourne CBD on the decent and landed pretty much on time even though we were a little late out of SIN. It had been another very enjoyable flight.

Luggage took a long time to come out and whilst waiting I witnessed something no wine drinker should ever have to witness - the death of a bottle of St Henri! The guy standing next to me dropped his duty free and I heard the crack and thought uh oh! Next thing it was running everywhere! Poor guy was devastated and what really rubbed salt in the wound was the amazing aroma! It was so strong, like having your nose in the glass - everyone was commenting how nice a wine it must have been!!!

 

[sydks]

For some reason these pictures didn't attach to my last post! So here they are.

 

[Magpie10]

Thanks for taking the time to write such a great TR I have enjoyed every minute of your holiday. I wonder what if any changes RCI will make to shows etc on OTS while she cruises Aus waters this season. Cheers V

 

[sydks]

When the bags finally came out we were through the express quarantine line in no time and made our way up the escalators and into the check in area at the Qantas domestic terminal. Being connected certainly makes transferring between Int & Dom easy at Melbourne although I will say I thought MEL international terminal itself was pretty awful and in need of a knock-down rebuild!

QF Check in agent was lovely and had the bags on their way in no time and off we went to the J lounge for a decent breakfast. Was a decent spread including the usual continental options as well as scrambled eggs and the pancake maker!

Had our first real coffee in days and savoured the barista made latte!! Always miss good aussie coffee when overseas!

After some breakfast I had a shower and was impressed with the good size shower room with rainfall shower and Aspar products - definitely an International lounge standard!

Finally it was boarding time and there was no sign of an A/C change so I was very happy to step aboard and get to turn left into the new J cabin!! We would finally get to experience the new A330 J suite!

 

[sydks]

This QF crew were a lovely young lot, very friendly but professional. We were offered pre departure drinks of water or what I think was bickfords cordial - it was nice anyway!

The cabin looked great and first impressions of the seat were very good. First thing I noticed was the massage function which had been sorely missing from both the EK F & J seats - I'm so glad they carried this over from the skybeds! It went straight on

The new entertainment screen is a good size and the navigation menu is smooth and easy to use so another tick there.

As we pushed back I put the seat into the 'reclined' take off position and was surprised at just how reclined it was, I could certainly be comfortably dozing before take off if I was tired. We got to see the new safety video filmed around oz, all my 737 flights to now still seem to have the old video.

'Morning Tea' service started as soon as the seat belt sign went off and with only 1 customer on either side of the aisle reached row 5 rather quickly. Choices were a fruit bowl, French toast with ham and gruyere cheese or something else I can't remember lol. I had the French toast that I was a little sceptical about (I was like shouldn't it be covered in maple syrup not ham and cheese?) - but I have to admit it was very nice! Would happily order again.

We flew right over the snowfields and then almost directly over Canberra which I had a good view of out my window.

 

[sydks]

After the meal I put the seat through it's paces, adjusting it in every way it could go, through the lounging positions and into fully flat bed mode and I was impressed. There were a number of reasons I liked it more than the EK A380 J seat:

Firstly it's a little more understated! While I did love the EK F&J experience, if I had a choice less bling is more my thing

Then there is the massage function I mentioned, can't believe this is missing from the EK seats, even F!

The QF J seat also has an actual leg rest which can come up and take the weight off your legs when you just want to recline and relax. This made the seat much more comfortable when in between upright and lie flat positions than the EK seat which has no leg rest and you have to put your feet up on the bed end if you want them off the floor.

Finally, when you are in bed mode you can adjust the screen down which makes it easier to view when flat than in the EK seat.

The only things I thought could be improved on the QF seat were the fact it's motors can be a little noisy when adjusting and the tray table was already getting a bit stiff to pull out, not sure if it's because people have leant on it and it is bent but once put away it was an effort to get it back out!

We had a good look around the cabin and talked to the cabin crew about the new config too, it turns out that the centre bulkhead seats (E&F) in row 1 & 7 have much wider foot wells and seats 7A and 7K are great for solo travellers if you want more storage space as they have a deep storage bin with extra flat surface on top (see pics).

I can also highly recommend seats 5K and 6F for a couple, you are almost side by side and together with combos 1K/2F and 3K/4F these are the best options for couples. I would also add I think seats 1/3/5/7 F are the most private seats in the cabin followed by the up against the window seats 2A/K & 4A/K.

 

[sydks]

The coughpit advised at the top of decent that we would be landing on the 3rd runway in Sydney with a long taxi to the terminal but obviously there was a change with ATC as we came in on the main one and didn't exit the runway until we were in line with the domestic terminals, so within a minute of leaving the runway we were at the gate.

I was curious as to how the Chauffeur Drive would work having landed at a domestic terminal after connecting through Mel, turns out the driver was waiting at our baggage carousel with a sign so it couldn't have been easier, no counter or waiting area to go and find!

This time our bags were the very first out and we were on our way home in a very nice Audi Q7! Was very impressed with the CD cars in Sydney on this trip!

And so our quick 5 day getaway to Singapore had come to and end! We had experienced EK First, had our first shower at 40000 feet, experienced the MEL F lounge, done the IFly indoor skydive, experienced the world's 2nd largest ship, got to fly the new QF A330 J suite and had a bloody good time doing it all. Not to mention the many great meals, wines and bubbles along the way! Don't you just love travel!! How lucky are we to live in this jet age that makes such things possible