kmcphee26

Hi! Looking into booking our next cruise for next summer. My kids (currently 5 and 3) had so much fun in Adventure Ocean on our recent cruise, but my oldest will be turning 6 just before we sail which would put her in the 6-8 year age group. She may love this as they’ll do more age-appropriate activities but ideally we’d have the option of keeping her in the 3-5 year group with her little brother if they don’t want to be split up. 
 

Has anyone had any experience trying to put a child into a different age group in Adventure Ocean? Are they flexible so long as there is room and the child isn’t insanely older? Or do they need to strictly adhere to designated age ranges? Going on the Oasis class if it makes a difference. 

Thanks in advance. 

3 minutes ago, MommaBear55 said:

If it is important to you, only some ships have Royal Babies and Tots and only some have diapered swim play areas.

Thanks! I'm looking at the Oasis out of NJ. I've been on it a few times but back in the pre-kids days. Do you know if the Oasis has these? 

Thank you all! This is awesome. Now I just have to convince my husband to take a trip with two kids 3 and under :)

Thank you both!!!

Hi,

Does anyone know if it’s possible to book without putting any name on the reservation for the 4th guest? I am due with baby #2 this summer and am hoping to book a family trip for summer 2021. The kids sail free promo right now is tempting but unfortunately baby #2 has no name to add to the reservation. I heard something about a $100 change fee if I needed to change the name later- is that true? If so, has anyone had luck waiving it?

Thanks in advance!

I’ve followed them for a while, mainly for their cruise vlogs that they used to do. Plus they were great on Dancing with the Stars. They are such a cute family! Love this!

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I recently came back from the Allure where I couldn't drink. I usually do and I usually love to try the drink of the day. I will say that when I tried to order one every day some bartenders looked at me like I was crazy but others did try to make an effort to swap out ingredients so it was kind of similar to that day's drink of the day. If you just want a frozen non-alcoholic drink, try the island fusion. It's on their non-alcoholic menu and it's delicious!

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Hi,

Anyone have a recent Allure compass for the western itinerary?

Also, anyone had an anniversary onboard? Does RCI do anything special? It's my parent's 40th anniversary and was wondering if I should let our travel agent/dining staff know? Or if I need to order something through RCI's cruise planner?

TIA!

Thanks, all! The sailing is in September. I will definitely try to get on the waitlist and keep calling C&A once we book!

Hi! Considering a particular sailing on the Allure because the timing/costs work for my family. The only issue is I see MTD as the only dining option available. I've had a terrible experience with MTD in the past and would prefer early traditional dining. The other wrinkle? There are going to be 10 of us across 5 reservations. Has anyone had any luck contacting the ship's dining and having it changed? Or any other suggestions! It's been a few years since I have cruised! I don't want to totally eliminate this sailing because of the dining situation. TIA!

Hi! Sorry if this has been posted but I didn't see any posts on it and thought people might find it interesting. I happen to follow actor Carlos PenaVega on Instagram (been a fan since Grease Live) and he and his wife are on Harmony right now. He's posting some cool pictures and video on his Instagram (therealcarlospena). Again, sorry if this is old news!

I always found it weird how people always think that different parts of newark and jersey city are ok and some parts are not. people always say like ok ironbound is pretty safe but dont go anywhere else. I just dont get it. Its newark. Its not safe. Its jersey city. Its note safe. Your percentage of getting robbed, shot, car jacked etc are just the same in one part of the town then the next. Theres a reason why people dont want to live there. Idk just the way i fell i guess.

I lived in Newport for 4 years and worked by Exchange Place and never once felt unsafe. I'd recommend one of the hotels in either area (though they might be overpriced- those areas think they can charge Manhattan prices now). Both areas are quite nice in fact.

Sorry if this has been mentioned but it's a long thread and I've tried to keep up but have only skimmed every post...

I see it this way. Let's say you were concerned about food allergies onboard. Would a CSR at RCI's call center be able to tell you the ingredients of each menu item? No. They'd tell you to defer to the dining staff once onboard. And I think that would be a totally acceptable answer. So by the same token, if you need specifics about excursions and they deferred you to the experts at the excursions desk onboard wouldn't that be just as acceptable? And in both cases, if I really needed some clarity before boarding (whether to orebook an excursion or a specialty restaurant), I'd just hit up CC!

Just my two cents...

I believe they are 18+. The comedians will usually do a family comedy show in the main theater on the last night that does not require reservations.

Someone asked Linda to find the hidden garden knomes. I was on Oasis in June and looked for probably an hour and couldn't find them. :mad:

 

 

 

I made my husband walk central park with me 4-5 times back and forth in a row looking. :rolleyes:

That was me! They are surprisingly small so they are easy to miss. When I was there in May they were off to the right if the Trellis Bar is on your left.

Find the Central Park gnomes!

Watch at least one sail away from the sun deck all the way forward on deck 14.

Enjoy your trip!

Last traditional midnight buffet in the MDR we saw was in 2007.

 

Some ships still do a poolside late night buffet, once per cruise.

Yup- we had one poolside on the Jewel last year. But it wasn't billed so much as a "midnight buffet"... they referred to it more as a deck party that happened to have buffet-style food available. Other than that I haven't seen one in the last 6 years or so.

Not a fan at all. The MDR experience (if not always the food itself) and its personalized service is one of my favorite things about cruising. Will probably try dynamic dining once, but if it goes fleetwide I will either cruise far less or find a new line.

Just posted in the general thoughts thread that this was the only thing that stood out to me in the announcement... and in a bad way. I would hate wearing a wristband all week and it would basically require me to keep a purse at all times just to carry it in. I hope they still use seapass cards, as an option.

I would MUCH rather carry a seapass than wear a wristband. Essentially I would end up carrying the stupid thing in my purse/beach bag the whole time. I wonder if they will have both and you can choose which you want to use at certain times?

Other than that, all the tech innovations make me say "meh." Just not for me I guess.

I wonder if they just haven't finalized the entertainment schedules for the new shorter/longer itineraries.

Another vote for Oasis. Have sailed on the Oasis several times, but also did the Jewel out of San Juan. The Jewel is a beautiful ship, but the Oasis is just out of this world- especially if you haven't tried it!

We cruised Oasis over New Year's two years ago. No fireworks - it was a formal night and there were noisemakers, hats, etc. on the table in the MDR. There is a large "ball-drop" event in the Promenade, and parties in various locations throughout the ship. According to crew members we spoke to, it is a very popular sailing for families from Brazil every year. I mention that because we were told there were only 700 or so passengers for whom English was their native language. It was rare to hear English spoken around the ship, and communicating with other passengers was often a challenge. We switched to Anytime Dining as our assigned table mates all spoke Portuguese. Since they tend to travel with large groups, it was nearly impossible to find chairs in the pool areas, solarium, etc. We have sailed with Royal for 15 cruises, and this was the most frustrating cruise we have been on relative to passengers not following rules (numerous children in the Solarium running around and in the pools, large groups of chairs "reserved", etc.). We sailed on Navigator the following NYE, and did not experience the same issues.

We were on the Oasis for NYEs 2010-11 and had the exact same experience!

Though the NYEs party on the promenade was fun- they give out free champagne and do a count down to a balloon drop.

Well pooh, was about to book a Halloween cruise for my partner and myself...We haven't cruised in over 3yrs and at the last minute thought to check if there had been any changes to the smoking policy...Anyhoo's that won't fly with him, so looks as though our cruising together days are over. :( He smokes, I don't...They had already begun to eliminate where you could smoke on ships the last time we were on, but he coped well as long as he still had the balcony available...With that option gone I'm afraid it would become the vacation from hell for both of us...I couldn't trust him because if there's a rule he'll break it and love every minute of it...I have no desire to be put off the ship at the first stop and lose my money.

 

Oh well...I understand how those who don't smoke feel, but it's never bother me...I guess I equate it with everyone I love...LOL

 

I'm really disappointed now though.

I know this is an old thread but let me offer my 2 cents. I'm a smoker and my Oasis cruise last month was the first since the policy change. It really wasn't that inconvenient to go up to the pool deck smoking areas as opposed to my balcony. It really just took a max of 2 mins to get there and there were always seats. Additionally the casino provided an easy place to hop over to in the evening. I was initially upset by the policy but it did not negatively impact my cruise experience at all. I will continue to sail even with the new policy unless the completely disallow smoking onboard. I hope your partner reconsiders because RCI is otherwise a great great cruise line.

So some final thoughts...

There was a lot I didn't get around to doing/seeing this time around. Zipline, flowrider, mini golf, etc. My mom's mobility issues made it easier to just relax by the pool and we had done all of those things on our previous Oasis trips. They are all great though and I recommend trying to get to them if you sail on this class. I had every intention of getting a cupcake from the Cupcake Cupboard, but our waiter friend had a bunch of cupcakes (red velvet and vanilla bean) sent to our stateroom and I would have been on cupcake overload. Still haven't gotten around to trying the Manly Cupcake (I think that's the name) that has BACON on it. Darn.

I wish we had made it to karaoke (only to watch of course, no one wants to hear me sing). I also wish the Wipeout Cafe still had nachos, guac, and tacos. I was ready to go there for lunch on Day 2 and was a little disappointed they got rid of these options. The one thing I really wish we made time for was the Rising Tide Bar. I have done it on previous cruises and have always enjoyed it. Plus it would have only taken a half hour away from my time losing money in the casino. Oh well!

Finally, some overall opinions of the ship and crew...

The ship was in great shape, looked just as great as when we sailed on her in 2010. Doesn't look like it needs dry dock at all! Only maintanence related issue was our balcony door would get stuck and was really difficult to open. We mentioned this to our steward who said someone would come fix it but never did. I do think we utilized the balcony a little less because of it. But all public areas seemed to be in great shape.

We met some really lovely crew members on board, but then we were less impressed by some others. Obviously our dining room team was the BEST and we got really personalized service because of our connections (haha). Also great were the officers at the C&A events- very approachable and outgoing. Servers at the Schooner Bar and casino were great, always being friendly even during busy times. As always, the casino dealers were fabulous (even if they didn't pay well). The bartenders all around the ship I found less friendly than usual. We usually have a few favorite bartenders, but I could not even tell you the name of one this time around. Most of the bars seemed busier than I had previously experienced so maybe that was the case.

The biggest issue I had with the crew would probably have to be the CD's staff. Jimmy himself was ok. He was less visible than previous CDs I have had, but maybe it just felt that way because we missed some shows. (To put in context, I loved Richard Spacey and Allan Brooks). The CD's staff was nice enough, for the most part, but seemed disorganized overall. Activities usually run like well-oiled machines on the Oasis and it just wasn't the case this time. On several occassions, I wanted to grab the mic at a trivia and be like "you know what, let me handle this, I got this." Someone on the CD staff also threw a lot of shade at us when we tried to find seats at the Oasis of Dreams show (essentially "well, get here earlier, k thanks bye"). Listen, chica, don't cop a 'tude with a woman in a wheelchair. Manners. The exception to all this was the Dirty Minds Adult Game Show. I really enjoyed the hosts and I feel like they were really comfortable hosting the show, probably because for once they were allowed to let loose and speak like normal 20-something adults (at least the ones I hang with).

I think that's all she wrote (see what I did there?), unless something else pops into my brain as I continue to follow some of the other Oasis reviews. Plus, I PROMISE more beach pics this weekend!