WVHillbilly

The OV's between elevator are a good location. Not all interiors are the same. When we book, we try to get 351, 353, or 355. They have a better bathroom set up than the forward deck 3 interiors. Where is the general location of you current interior?

My current cabin is 305, my OV options are 355, 309 and 359 series. How are the bathrooms different?

I have done OV and interior on the Grandeur and would choose an OV over an interior 8 days a week.

 

How long is your cruise? And when? 😊

We are sailing Dec 13 for the 9 day, and I redid the cost and it's actually about $240 additional cost. Going to make the final payment today. Decision-Decision had originally booked the inside as I wanted to see if we would like it and OV's were more of a increase than they are now. We don't actually spend a great deal of time in the cabin, even with our balcony on the Oasis our room time was sitting on the balcony before retiring for the night and in the morning/evening waiting to get ready for breakfast/dinner.

Thanks for the replies, only availability of OV is decks 2 & 3. I'm considering OVs near the aft elevator or midway between the two elevator banks. Trying to decide if the additional cost of $140 is worth it, or if we should stay with the inside cabin, our only other cruise was a balcony on the Oasis.

I have an 3rd Floor inside mid ship cabin for a winter cruise booked; however I'm thinking of switching to an Ocean View cabin on the same floor. Where should I stay forward/mid/aft cabin, we don't get motion sickness but this is only our second cruise and don't know how we will react if the seas are rough.

We did it in April and I don't recall the exact time but it was pretty close to what we had planned. We did the Zip Line in the AM and did the Parasailing in the PM with shopping and lunch between. Both were amazing, no regrets. I think if you allow 2 hours start to finish you won't have any problems getting to the second event.

We had late seating (8:00 pm) on the Oasis this past April, we went to all the shows that required reservations and we only had one show that caused us to miss our late sitting, so we ate in the Windjammer that night. Select your dining time then, reserve your shows around your dining time and port times.

A lava flow with dark rum is a must. Now....what is a Kraken Lava Flow?

Kraken Rum is a black spiced rum.

Kracken Lava Flow

We brought a box of the single cup non-dairy creamers in our checked luggage, however we also double wrapped in a zip lock baggie. They made it on a flight and thru the porters with no problems.

We were on the Oasis in April and did the zip line and parasailing excursions, it took about 4 hours to do both throw in an hour for lunch and we didn't have a lot of time to relax on the beach. You will have to be onboard 1/2 hour before departure. So look at how long your planned excursions are throw in an hour for lunch then determine if your remaining time is worth it to rent one of the cabanas/beds.

Mixed drinks range from $8-$13 plus 18% gratuity, there will be some signature/specialty drinks in the $14-$15 range. They also have a drink of the day that runs around $8.

+1.

+2 Grills was great, try the shark kabobs.

My DW and I (64) did it in Labadee this past May. I think there were about 10 of us on the boat and the actual time to parasail was about 6-8 minutes. The DW doesn't like heights but was entirely comfortable with going, we both agreed that the ride was amazing. It was so quiet floating above the ocean we definitely agree it was worth doing. It's something everyone should try at least once.

On a side note the actual boat ride was choppy and one young lady did get sick, they warned us before boarding that it was a little rough. We didn't get sick but the ride was definitely a jolt to the back.

If your talking about free beverages, there is coffee, milk, juice at breakfast, water, tea and some flavored waters.

Everything else is available to purchase individually.

Can't speak to the Allure, but when we were on the Oasis in April it was the generic yellow packets.

Nobody want to respond to this then?

Sure what a corporation makes in profits is of no concern to me, it's important only to the shareholders who invested their money hoping to increase their investment. Not all profits are returned to the shareholders as a good percentage is generally spent to grow the business (purchase new ships and upgrade older ones).

I see cruising as a pretty fair value, most cruises are about $100-150 per person per day. Assuming it's just the two of us, a decent hotel will cost about $150 per day that leaves another $150 for dining/drinks which works out to $25 per meal, then you throw in the entertainment on top of that.

For those who oppose tipping to supplement servers income, because they are "not paid a fair wage". My question is how much do servers get paid per hour in countries that don't tip? I ask this as I truly want to know what other consider a fair wage for servers?

In April Oasis was docked on the starboard side on departure, also starboard side in Labadee, Falmouth and Cozumel. Upon our return to Port Canaveral she docked on the port side.

We only have one cruise under our belt, since we rarely dress up to go out we decided that we would dress for dinner.

On the two formal nights, I wore a suit and tie and the DW wore a cocktail dress, on the remaining nights I wore dress slacks and a dress shirt and the DW wore a dress.

I didn't concern myself with what others were wearing or even notice who wore what; however I did notice that our table mates were dressed similarly to us.

I understand that many do not like to dress up on a cruise but for us it made every night like a special date night and will dress for our next cruise.

Yes all the major rental agencies have a office within 10 minutes and have a shuttle to drop you to the port.

We picked up a Budget rental at MCO the day prior, dropped our bags at the terminal then returned the car and rode the shuttle back to the terminal. Was very easy, no problems.

One note, either get an ezpass for the rental or grab a couple dollars of quarters as some of the toll booths are exact change only.

Used a rental on the return trip so can't help with the uber.

Yes there is a minimum 75 lbs weight required. I just did this ride last month, not sure I know a 5-6 year old would be allowed to ride this. You must be able to hold on for the duration and there is a good jolt at the end. The biggest problem would be him not following directions and not having the momentum to make it all the way down. The speed half way down is pretty slow, but once you hit the midway point the speed increases rapidly. Here is the Royals web site for the Zipline

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/shoreExcursions/product/detail/view.do?ProductCode=ZL26

Also just returned from my first visit to Labadee, I knew about the aggressive sell tactics and it was worse than I imagined. Subjected myself to it once and will never walk that way again.

As far as letting Royal, know I did voice my displeasure on the post cruise survey. I believe that Royal knows how it is and lets it go on, maybe because it's part of the deal to lease the land.

Thank you WVHillbilly for the very down-to-earth, informative review. You did a great job and your photos were terrific. We’ll be boarding Oasis in 47 days, can’t wait!

thank you, I'm sure you'll have a wonderful time.

Final Thoughts:

The Ship- I only have one other ship to compare to the Oasis and it was grey and owned by the US Navy and this one was far better. Actually, I had read all the comments about the poor shape it was in; I didn’t see anything that was more than a little wear and tear. Maybe a few stains in the carpet and worn upholstery were all that I noticed. You really do not notice that there are 6K passengers on board; the way the ship is laid out disperses the people very well. It was only busy when shows were getting out, or when events were happening on the Promenade. There is so much to do and see on this ship that there is no way you can do it in 7days.

The Room- Our room was an ocean view balcony on deck 10. We had met our cabin steward on day one, and requested ice for the cabin; he gave us ice twice a day and always greeted us by name in the hallway. Everything worked in the room, the bed was comfortable and we enjoyed sitting on the balcony and watching the ocean pass by. The only noise we heard was an occasional door shutting, had to remember to hold the door when leaving so it didn’t slam shut. We left the bathroom light on and the door shut for the middle of the night bathroom trips, there was a dim light over the pictures but it was too bright for me to use as a night light.

The Food- Here’s our tally for the week, Breakfast: Room Service (1), Johnny Rockets (1), Café Promenade (1) and MDR (5); Lunch: Windjammer (1), Park Café (1), Dog House (1), Café Promenade (1), and Labadee(1); Dinner: MDR (5) and Windjammer (2). We are not major foodies; we enjoyed all the meals on the ship. My only complaint was the flow in the Windjammer; I found it a bit frustrating finding what I wanted the two evenings we ate there.

The Bars- We had drinks in the Solarium Bar, Schooners, Globe and Atlas, Boleros, Champagne Bar, Sabor, Trellis Bar as well as at several shows, and the MDR. Service was good everywhere except it was a bit slow in the Champagne bar considering there were only a few people there at the time. For ambiance it was the Schooner bar and the Trellis Bar (Central Park)that was our favorite.

Beverage Package- Neither of us are big drinkers, so it was with a little apprehension that we purchased the Deluxe Beverage Package. We had purchased it $45.00 per day and I figured one specialty coffee, orange juice, bottled water and 3-4 cocktails a day and we would break even. I think we managed to maybe do a little better than break even and will consider purchasing it again if anything to not have a surprise bill at the end of the cruise.

The Shows- We saw all the shows that could be reserved and the singing, dancing, etc. was first rate and very enjoyable. The only other show we saw was the “Love and Marriage Show” and it was very entertaining, we never got to see “The Quest Show” but heard it was great.

Embarkation- We arrived very early before the doors were opened, once the doors were opened it was show our set sail pass at the door, thru security and then up to check-in. The time for all of this was 30 minutes, at 11:00 am boarding began and we were getting our first drink by 11:15 am and the rooms were opened at 1:00 pm.

Disembarkation- Our departure number was 5, and we were called off the ship at 8:00 am, we grabbed a porter upon entering the terminal to help us with our four bags. Once he had our bags, it was straight thru customs and out to the shuttle buses.

In Conclusion- We are recent retirees and this was our first cruise and we had booked a second one for this December before knowing if we would like cruising. Well we loved cruising so much that the DW insisted on booking a third cruise for February 2020. We both wondered why it took us so long to try cruising. 2019 was to be a land vacation year and now were both wondering if we could sneak in a cruise.

I hope everyone enjoyed our review as first time cruisers.

Didn't know they had an afternoon cats show, may have to wait and see that one. Looking forward to your final thoughts.

yes it was at 2:30pm on the last sea day. I took this day as it worked out with all the other shows, we had booked and I didn't want it on a formal night.

Cruise Day 8: Debarkation Day

We had one last breakfast in the MDR, after eating we headed to the waiting area and our debarkation number was called before we could even find a seat. Down the gangway and into the terminal we made our way to the baggage claim area. Since there was no way I was going to be able to manhandle our bags thru customs, I grabbed a porter to help with the bags. We zoomed thru customs and out to the shuttle buses to pick up our rental car.

Since we were not flying out till the following day we paid a visit to Kennedy Space Flight Center, we missed quite a bit only hitting the highlights. You definitely need a full day and then some to properly do the Kennedy Space Flight Center. Then it was back to our hotel for a good night sleep before heading off to the airport for our flight back home. With the cruise all done, I will work up a summary of our first cruise.