smoothy

it might vary from ship to ship.

Yeah, true that. DS's first cruise using the X-Club was this past holiday on the Reflection and I just asked him, he said there was no soda bar in the club. He didn't seem too broken up about it though.

added on an tip via the form from guest services allocated for all dining services

I was going to use that form on my last cruise to give a little extra to the Luminae staff, but the guest relations guy said that the tips on those forms go to the MDR staff and not to the Luminae, even if that is where you eat all the time. I was unsure about that so I went back to relations a different time and got the same info. I ended up doing a cash advance (royal suite so I didn't have to pay the cash advance fee in the casino) and tipping the Luminae staff directly.

We have 3 boys, 14, 11, and 5. All 3 love cruising on X, especially the fun factory (teen club for the oldest one, its the only place he doesn't seem to be surly these days). They have been on 6 cruises with Celebrity (2 which were b2b), and have had a great time whether there were few other kids on board or a full house.

We are going in these coming September school holidays with our 12 and almost 16 year old. It is a quieter time apparently as American kids have finished their holidays and are back at school so there won't be thousands of kids like there would be in their holiday break in June-August.

 

We have been on one Royal Carribbean cruise in the Mediterranean and we all absolutely loved it. The kids thought it was fabulous and they can't wait for the Oasis as it is an amazing ship with so much to do.

 

We will let you know how it all goes. We are doing the eastern itinerary on Oasis of the Seas.

With a September sailing keep in mind that it is hurricane season, chances are low there will be a problem, but look at what is happening with the Allure right now.

Here's a pic of the rail on the Liberty of the Seas. The ones on the Celebrity Millennium were a little bit shorter.

If you couldn't get a stern and have a choice, pick starboard for your trip, many of the buildings related to the canal are on that side as well as some of the other interesting sites such as the old US base, the Hercules crane storage area and the jail:eek: . Best to walk around though (like others have said) and see things on both sides. Depending on which side of the locks the ship is assigned to, you may or may not see the lock beside you in operation from your balcony. I don't know if they have started work yet on the new larger locks, if they have I believe they would be located on the port side for your trip. You can always Google Earth the canal system to get an idea what you can see on each side.