cleophus12

Is it possible to get an itemized copy of one's bill after disembarking? We left our room before 6 and our bill had not been delivered yet. I would like to see the final itemized copy.

Oasis pictures are usually in binders with your stateroom number on the spine. Great system.

 

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It is a great system. However, my understand is that it only works if you do the boarding picture for facial recognition. We skipped that step and no pictures were ever in our binder. Furthermore, we never found a single one of our pictures in the gallery. It was kind of a bummer, but it was our fault completely.

Dear Cleophus12 - Could you please tell me about the drink card? First I have heard about that. Thanks to everyone for the reviews.

The drink card was sold at most of the bars on the 4th day of the cruise. It was $79 for ten drinks and the bartenders punch your card each time you get a drink. Be warned, gratuity is added so the total comes out to approximately $93. Unlike the drink packages, the drink card is shareable. Once you purchase it, you can let anyone in your party use it. It worked great for us because my daughter and I were each able to have our pool drink and a couple extras to spare. I also found that most bartenders did not give me a receipt when I used the card. They punched it and sent me on my way.

Ship -Oasis of the Seas

Deck - 11

Stateroom # - 11276

Stateroom Category – Superior Oceanview with Balcony

Starboard or Port Side - Port

Quiet Stateroom? (With comments on problems) – No noise issue

Was stateroom a connecting stateroom? -no

Balcony View - Give comments on view, noting if location of any obstructions was an issue. – no issues

Balcony Size? Normal or oversized for class? - Normal size

Was wind a problem? -

If an aft cabin, was soot a problem? -

Any specific problems with this cabin? -No problems with the cabin

Any other comments? -Great location. We were within walking distance of pool decks and Central Park. In fact, we only used the elevators for returning from our third floor dining room. Otherwise, stairs were manageable. Only four doors down from elevator lobby made it very easy to get to from everywhere.

Thanks for your review CarnyMan. You saved me a lot of time and trouble. I agree with almost everything you said. We also loved the Oasis as this was our first cruise on the Mega-ships. We experienced so many pleasant surprises on this ship.

Embarkation and Debarkation: Embarkation and debarkation were super smooth. We arrived at the port around 10:30 and were onboard by 11:40. When they began the TV crawl that boarding would begin at 12, we were a little disappointed, but they began much closer to 11:30 and boarding went very quickly. Debarkation was also very simple. We got in line about 6:15 and were in our car on the way to Disneyworld by 7.

Shows: We thoroughly enjoyed Oasis of Dreams and feel it is a "don't miss" show. The others were just ok IMO. Come fly with me is very technologically advanced, but the story line is somewhat weak, and the songs appear randomly selected. The show just felt old to me--just like something we would have seen on a cruise 30 years ago (except for the acrobatics which were great). The Dangerous Magic headliners were a little flat. Their show seemed better suited for a smaller venue, and they didn’t seem very dangerous. We did enjoy the ice show, and I saw the adult comedy show which was pretty good. We loved watching movies in the Aqua Theatre and saw LaLa Land and Rogue One there.

Crowds: We were also very impressed with the crowd management on the Oasis. I had heard the horror stories about the crowds and lines everywhere and we simply did not find that to be true. I’ve been on much smaller ships with longer lines to disembark at ports. We walked off at St. Thomas and St Marteen with no trouble or delay.

Stateroom: Our cabin 11276 was an oceanview balcony and it was great. Our stateroom attendant was also amazing. I will say that if I were able to make the choice, I would choose a cabin with the bed by the balcony. I like to go out on the balcony early in the morning, but since my daughter’s bed was there, I couldn’t go out without disturbing her.

Dining and Drinking: We ate several meals in the MDR on My Time dining. We did have the same wait staff twice and they were terrific. In fact, everyone who waited on us in there was great. We found the food to be quite good. My favorites were the Mushroom Risotto and the Rack of Lamb. Our FNDR dinner was in Chops and it was outstanding. We also ate in the Solarium Bistro for dinner one night and loved it. My husband also loved his lunch there one day. I agree with your assessment of the desserts. They all sort of taste the same. The Crème Brulee was good though. All service was excellent, but bar service was the most frustrating. We only used the pool bars, and the staff was stretched way too thin. Simply no tenough bar tenders for the amount of guests they are required to serve. This is not the fault of the bar tenders themselves. They were great. I purchased the ten drink card on Day 4, and felt it was a good value since we could share it.

One more tip: I would encourage everyone to make sure you get that first boarding picture taken. My hurried husband insisted we skip it and we never found a single one of our pictures in the photo gallery.

I would gladly cruise on another Oasis class ship. It was a wonderful trip.

So now that I've looked over my post, I see than I spent more time than I meant to. Your review was thorough and on point.

Over the past few years, St Marteen has become my favorite destination. Always rent a car--except this time we are taking a taxi to Maho. Never been there. Looking forward to something different.

The Spring Break dilemma is real. Spring Break can be anywhere from March to late April depending on the school district. I agree with others that the hotel reservation could be made as early as possible. And I would start watching airfare ASAP and book what feels comfortable to you.

Price may go down further. That's hurricane season. But that sounds like a fairly good deal to me.

I agree with the PP that the White Pass Railway would be the best contact for this question. That is who we did our excursion with (sounds like the same one you are doing). They do this trip everyday, so they would know the answer. Loved our Alaska cruise. Have fun.

Great review and thank you. But are there really no curtains to divide the room on this ship? I like to sit up and watch TV and DD likes to go to bed earlier. Guess she will need her sleep mask.

As far as the "service" disappearing, they don't make hanging around comfortable. They leave you hardly any place to sit. Pool chairs are stacked up and there is nowhere to go. They will still serve you breakfast, but they want you out of their way. They aren't usually rude about it or anything, but they have a job to do. Last morning is all business.

Indeed, it was.

Very disappointing experience with Comfort Suites Paradise Island this am. Arrived with reservation confirmation in hand only to be told their system was down and they could not check us in nor could they give us our "pink card" necessary to check into the waterpark at Atlantis. Maybe their system was down. Or maybe this is just a new way of disallowing the day guests they have allowed to check in for so long. They did, however, cancel my reservation without charge. After wasting time there, walked over to Atlantis and bought their day pass for only about $30 more. I spoke with several people at the Comfort Suites and no one was of any help. Just beware: it could happen to you!

I am cruising in May and I think the 30% for our cruise was offered back in February or March. I took advantage of it then. Don't know if it will come back closer to your cruise or not.

I don't think RCCL is the problem with these points. I think the rewards points are just pretty much worthless everywhere. I bought a $100 card for $90 (big savings) after we had paid for our cruise. When I received the card, it led me to believe it could only be used on new bookings. I called Royal and they asked me to send them copies of the paperwork. I noticed today that they have credited my account for $100. It did take several weeks (maybe more than a month), but they did let me use it. Even when booking with those points, they don't go very far toward your booking price. Explore the options, but I don't find them to be very valuable.

I also choose a room with guests on both sides. We were in a room on another ship with white space close by (forward) and it was crew space. Although the crew members themselves were not noisy, the slamming of the door to their space at all hours of the day and night was somewhat annoying.

As far as I can see, there is nothing wrong with these ports of call. And IMO nothing is more stunning than cruising in and out of Venice.

This is a a fascinating thread. Love all these ideas.

Which islands are you planning to walk around? Someone here might be able to give you some good ideas for excursions that will cost much less on your own than through the ship. We never do ship excursions. Can't remember the last time I did one. Always able to do things on our own for much less.

Booked! Thanks for the info.

How about the cheese in St Maarteen? I notice there is an Amsterdam cheese store and I'd love to buy some Gouda, but I don't want it confiscated when I get back to the ship.

We used to take sandwiches from the Promenade Cafe on shore with us so we could have a picnic lunch. Can't do this anymore? It's been several years since we've cruise with Royal.

Thanks Molly 361. Helpful to know.

Don't mean to hijack this thread, but how is self-disembarkation from Port Canaveral. I'd like to get off the ship as early as possible. What time would that be, and how long will the process take?

I'm just going to throw this into the discussion. We were on a Costa Mediterranean cruise on one of the Concordia's sister ships a few months before the disaster. We had life jackets in our room. At 2am the alarms went off. I grabbed my lifejacket and started into the hallway. NO ONE and I mean not another person even came out of their rooms. At all. When the false alarm announcements started several minutes later, English was the last of about 10 languages to be heard. Why do you suppose I was the only one concerned? The passengers were largely European--don't they worry?