We recently went on Royal Caribbean’s Ovation of the Seas for a 7 night Alaska Glacier Cruise (departure date August 16, 2019).  We stayed in room 13132, which is a Category 5D Ocean View Balcony.  It is located on the port (left) forward (front) side of the ship on Deck 13.  It is located immediately under the Solarium pool deck, which was unfortunate because there were times when we could hear the noise of chairs being moved around.  We loved the location of the room other than that.  It was super convenient to head up one deck and be right at the Solarium or family indoor pool area.

We normally put magnets on our door when on a Disney cruise, but we decided to skip it on Royal Caribbean. 

 

The room is similar to the Disney staterooms we have sailed in before, perhaps a little bit smaller.  I do think overall, the room didn’t feel any smaller except for when the sofa bed was open for sleeping and when we were packing/unpacking.  The room opens with the bathroom on the right.  There is a large bed (that I think can be split into two twin beds) and a sofa (that turns into a double bed).  The desk/dresser is across from the sofa.

The television in the room is much bigger than the one on the Disney Cruise ships.  There is a small shelf below it with a magazine and the room service menu.  We used it to put the Cruise compasses in it after we read them. 

The door has the muster station (ours was in the main theater) along with a Do Not Disturb magnet that you can place on the door to indicate if you are in the room or not in the room.  We used it a lot on the cruise to let our stateroom attendant know when we were headed out or if the girls were sleeping late in the room.

The room has a card slot similar to the one located on the Fantasy and the Dream.  You can place your key card in the slot when you are there and the lights and environmental controls will function.  We brought a key card from a recent hotel stay and used that.

 There are closets located on either side of the main bed.  The one on the right has lots of room for shorter hanging clothes like shirts and skirts.  The light switch next to the bed has an electrical outlet below it as well.

The left side cabinet has a series of small shelves, a safe, and an area for longer hanging clothes like suits and dresses.  There are a few drawers as well on the bottom. 

There are cabinets above the bed for additional storage.

 The desk area has two USB plugs and two electrical outlets.  There is also an outlet for the hair dryer. 

Next to the desk is a dresser. 

Half of the dresser is taken up with a small refrigerator. There is one drawer above it and four beside it.

The refrigerator does come with a small lock on it that can be activate with a PIN.  This is nice if you want to secure some alcohol or medicine in it that you don’t want younger cruisers to get into.

The bathroom was a single room, not split like we are used to on DCL.  Having said that, we found the bathroom to be really well laid out.  There is a long counter with shelves underneath that gave us lots of room to set out our toiletries.  Lots of towels, washcloths, and hand towels were always available.  There are some shelves on the right hand side as well.

The shower was enclosed in glass with a door.  I actually found it easier to use than the standard tub/shower combination on the Disney Cruise ships.  The shower was taller as well.  There were double hooks inside the shower as well as on the bathroom wall next to it.

Here is the sofa bed set up in the sleeping configuration.  Our girls said it was much more comfortable than the Disney beds. 

The verandah was about the same size as the Disney one.  It had two chairs, each with footstools as well as a small table.  The wall was clear plexiglass, which made it easy to see out when you were seated.

 Here are some of the great sights we saw while on our verandah.  Here are a few whales, a few of many that we saw on this day.

Here is the view towards the aft of the ship.

Here is the view towards the front of the ship.  The bridge wing was kind of in the way of our view from this balcony.  In hindsight, I probably should have picked a room on a lower deck, perhaps Deck 11 or Deck 10.  It wouldn’t have been as easy to get to the pool deck, but the view would have been a bit better.

Luckily, on the day we went to Dawes Glacier, the Captain did rotate the ship so we did get a great view of the glacier from our stateroom.

If you have enjoyed this article, please be sure to check out our Disney Cruise Line information page or our Royal Caribbean Cruise Line Information page, which has useful hints in addition to our cruise trip reports!

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