Two Sea Days Homeward Bound

Sea days with kids haven't been a holiday highlight, but I felt we made the most of/ enjoyed these two days more than the first two.
Overall, I didnt find Ovation of the Seas to be a particularly amazing or memorable ship. It was the 13th cruise I'd been on, 5th with Royal Carribbean, the largest ship I'd been on but would probably rank around the middle for design, excitement, activities..
There wasn't any fundamental issue or gripe with the design, just little unique features or grandeur.
The cabins have been excellent, among the best I've had. Efficient space layout, great storage, comfy beds, nice balcony, even enjoyed the colour themes. The staff have generally been pretty good as expected, friendly and helpful for the most part.
The entertainment has been clearly the worst, least exciting and laziest Ive ever experienced on a cruise ship, period. The ship boasts two great theatres, the main enclosed, double storey at the front, and a smaller, windowed boutique theatre at the back.. both dominated by b grade comedy and tumbleweeds. Across the 11 nights (22 show opportunities over both venues), we had about 6 comedians, one burlesque dancing show, one jazz show, one great but weird light/dancing show, and a comedy juggler... three nights the main theatre had nothing, whacking on old movies... and most nights the rear theatre had nothing...
For kids aged 1-4, there was very little for them to do, unless you wanted to discard them for a high cost at childcare.. which wasn't the objective of a family trip. There was only one "swimnappy" permitted "splash" area about 5m long, closed at least half the cruise.. the kids waterslides and whirlpool was closed as well at LEAST, half the cruise, more I think.. leaving us to have to lie about toilet training to get some younglings into the 10cm deep indoor pool... who knows why it wasnt toddler designated... you'd raise an eyebrow and want a working with children check for any solo adults without kids lurking in there.
The kids play area was weak... one tiny playground with about 4 toys and a slide.
Overall, food was fairly plentiful but substandard. The restaurants were separated into four small segments, rather than a grand dining hall. Service was friendly but always super slow and atimes, when not with our regular attendants, incompetent - bringing wrong orders.
Only a handful of dishes would have been better than 6/10... as many would have been worse than 4/10.
Another big issue was the onboard cost hikes... beers $10US, cocktails $15US, no happy hours (there used to be) photos $130US for 20... and shore excursions, usually pricey, now extortion.. I think they ended up wanting $800US for a Rotorua or Hobbiton tour and they cancelled all those.
We had some fun at sea the last two days though, my brothers dad and I (with a filler) competed in a 6 a side soccer comp, air hockey with Ryland, lots of pool and spa time, fish n chips, a few cocktail evenings with the kids dancing up a storm, dodgeball comp for me, and Nat Ryland and I took a ride on the North Star, a gondola on a mechanical arm that rose 300m above the ship.Read more