Cruiseswithfamilyornot

So sorry to hear @mathmagicianbut not surprised. We are now up to 7/14 of our group having gotten Covid. Two people just tested positive today. All of us that are positive had never had Covid before either. Hindsight being 20/20, as it always is, we wish we would have worn masks in elevators and public places more. We started the cruise that way, but quicky got lulled into the "everyone was tested negative 2 days ago and is vaccinated plus mostly sea days hype) and midway through the cruise took them off. Big mistake. Was it worth it to have Covid for 5 days after a 7 day cruise? That's a personal choice, of course, but the answer for me is a hard no. One person in our group will probably have to be hospitalized and will definitely be sick for more than the amount of time she spent on the cruise. So my advice to all is don't ruin a great cruise by ending it with Covid, or having to be quarantined on the ship. I know masks aren't perfect but I did wear them at other large public events and never got Covid before so....

@OCSC Mike Mike is 100% right. They probably have about 5 or 6 types of cookies and they do rotate them though on this cruise I found they had all of them for the first day everywhere and many of them for a few days after. Other flavors include some sort of Coconut that I know people love, Chocolate Chip, Oatmeal Raisin, and a White Chocolate Macadamia Nut. Don't be shy to ask for your favorite even if they're not there, they will often get them for you, I know there are others but the flavors escape me now. I search for the Mudslides lol

They are all over. At the Cafe Promenade during the day and at The Windjammer and the two best places to find them, though you will also find them at lounges. Cafe Promenade will usually have a selection of cookies for desserts, as will The Windjammer, but for the WIndjammer you may have to walk around and find which dessert station has them because they don't all. They will usually have a selection of the cookies

Honestly I don't remember his name, wiped it from my memory, but could very well have been,

They are for chocolate lovers, they've had them for years. Chocolate cookies, with multiple types of chocolate chips(white and dark) and other things in them. If you're a chocolate lover they will probably be for you.

@DaniDanielle Our check in time was 11 am. THey do allow 10 am and I was told that was better, but still not great. I didn't keep a copy of the entertainment schedule I'm sorry as I found so many on line before the cruise. So sorry to hear about your experience with Covid too @mac_tlc. Hope everyone stays negative. Unfortunately, I bought tickets for a baseball game which those of us who are positive will not be able to go to. FIrst world issues though lol.

Yes, I found the one from the cruise shortly before ours on someone's live cruise posting. It was also in the Royal app a few days before the sailing I believe, might have been further back.

I completely agree with you @OCSC Mike. We have had many good meals at Giovanni which is why this one surprised me. I have found Chops to be the one that varies more ship to ship, but this time it was Giovanni's. It will not deter me from trying on another ship as we have really enjoyed it on many ships(including Harmony where I met the same people you mentioned and couldn't agree with you more). THere are different menus for lunch at both Giovanni's and Chops, though some repeats as I recall @Parentcruiser

I just returned from Oasis of the Seas from July 22nd through the 29th. I am a diamond plus member and have been on over 30 Royal ships, and also a frequent cruiser who has been on almost every cruise line once. Though for full disclosure I will say when I go on a main stream line Royal has been our top choice over the years. That said, I think I can be pretty objective. I've been on well over 10 Oasis class ships, and the Oasis ship itself 3 times. I do want to give one caveat here. Service levels have been impacted everywhere due to Covid and problems with staffing. So I think to judge Royal on that without taking that into consideration wouldn't be fair and so I did. I travelled with a large group, there were 14 of us, adults(50s and 60s but all active) and grown children(20s) Here's what I would consider the "Good", the "Ok", the "Bad" and yes, I'll even include a few in what I'll call the "Awful", my opinion and others as well: The Good: 1) Having been on many cruise lines you can compare and contrast the activities on board. Royal is consistently on the top in terms of the range and sheer amount of activities available. I couldn't possibly list everything to do on this ship, but it's a huge selection and I'm not just talking about things built on the ship like mini golf, zip lining, flow rider, waterpark, laser tag, escape room, etc,,. I'm speaking of everything from multiple daily trivias to even scrap booking. It's all over the place and there is something for everyone. They deserve huge kudos for this one, always a top of the list item for me for Royal especially on the Oasis class ships. There is almost too much to do, you have to make choices all the time. 2) We did Laser Tag and Escape Room. Laser Tag is free but you better sign up the minute you get on. It looks like nothing, but it's actually alot of fun and I highly recommend it. Their escape room has a fee and also sells out, but it's very well done. The Aqua Show was also fantastic. One of the best we've seen and we've seen many. 3) The food. Shockingly, to me, the food overall was actually very good. There were hits and misses of course, but overall I would give it very good marks. I've been more critical of the food on Royal on more recent cruises with them, so I was very happy to see this. WIndjammer could still use some improving, but it was definitely better. The Solarium Bistro was a nice place to go to avoid the overcrowding of the Windjammer, and it was overcrowded often. The two standouts were the new BBQ restaurant where for a small fee you get very good(not great) bbq and a live singer(nice touch), and the free mexican place on deck 15. Surprisingly good. Central Park Cafe is always a big winner for me and my group, love that place and go multiple times. Johnny Rockets and Playmakers both had very good comfort/horrible for you food. Izumi was fantastic. 10/10. The show and the food are even better I swear and they were great before. We go to Hibachi all the time, and the show here is the best we've seen. Kudos. 4) CoCo Cay. Their private island here is really amazing. I've been half a dozen times and I think I'm going to try to book a cruise with two days there. Yes, it's that good. They try just to have one cruise ship in at a time(I'd check the cruise map to make sure there aren't multiple ships in there at once, especially larger ones for your cruise). There is so much to do here. We splurged for an over the water cabana at Cabana Beach. Amazing. We had Donny as our attendant, he is fantastic, great personality. 5) Suite Concierge. The Suite Concierge on this ship was fantastic. Once you got on board. 6) The little touches. Towel animals in your room a number of times(new and inventive ones at that). Some crew members who are extraordinarily outgoing and make sure to get to know you and make you feel special every day, the entertainment staff and their personalities, it's hard to list them all, suffice it to say there are lots of them 7) The neighborhoods on the ship. Oasis class ships layout are exceptional. Some don't like them as they are too large and you can't possibly do everything. For me, I love all the options. Central Park is very nice. The boardwalk is fun, and enlarging Playmakers was a great idea. 😎 Getting off the ship. They have this down pat. So easy and quick. Fantastic. 9) The Mudslide Cookies. Everyone has their favorite. That is mine. I'm a total addict and I love them. Royal frequenters all now they are the bomb and seek out their favorites. We will travel to multiple places on the ship to find them. It's like a scavenger hunt, with an incredible prize. 10) The Jazz Club/live music all over the ship. I'm surprised it's still there as there's never a lot of people there, but it's always very entertaining and the group there on this cruise was very good. THe live music all over the ship is always a nice surprise, including in Central Park and the Boardwalk, by the pool, the list goes on. The Ok: 1) Windjammer. It's really too small of a venue for the ship size and is overcrowded all the time. You have to wait on line to get in. However, the food was pretty good here, and I was surprised that they had people walking around offering you drinks which I thought was a very nice touch. 2) Service levels. Again, in fairness, some short staffed so understandable. But definitely a mixed bag. Guest Services the long was always too long. The first four days people waited for hours some times. At the end of the cruise too. Just wrong. 3) Stabilization. To be honest on this one, I had no problems. But I never do. There were members in my party who swore the stabilization on this ship was much worse than the other Oasis class ships, and I will admit I felt the ship more than I did on other Oasis class ships, including the Harmony that I was on three months prior so the memories were fresh. The Bad: 1) The Ice Skating Show. In fairness, I have LOVED the Ice Skating shows on other Royal ships I've been on. They had drones, special effects, and were spectacular. This one had none of that and so was a huge let down to all of us who cruise. If we werent comparing it would probably be what we expected from an ice show, but when you've seen all the whistles and bells, hard not to compare. 2) The Maitre D' in the Coastal Kitchen. It's not like me to slam someone like this, but this one is unfortunately deserved. We had one suite and all others were in junior suites so we could eat dinner in Coastal Kitchen. This guy just messed with us continually, was rude to members of our group, and a pain in the butt to deal with. He gave away our tables and told us we made a reservation for later that night(not true). Looked right at some of the kids whose cards weren't opening the door and refused to let them in, the list goes on. We ate the last few dinners at different specialty restaurants due to him. I feel like I should send him the bill. Never have I experienced something like that, especially in a suite area. 3) Giovanni's. It pains me to write this. The service there was very good. The Maitre D' there was everything the Coastal Kitchen guy wasn't with a fantastic personality to boot. We usually love the food there. But here it just wasn't good. Our worst dinner of the cruise sad to say. No we didn't say anything, because there were 14 of us and we all got different things and nobody liked their food. And the service was too excellent, we felt bad lol. But I wouldn't go there on this ship. 4) Royal does a great job with Trivia's but Schooner simply isn't big enough. They have a number of venues that for the size of the ship aren't big enough for the crowds they atttract(eg-----The Karoake room which wasn't big enough before they redid it, and Dazzles redone into the Music Hall is not nearly large enough either. Blaze is not used much during the day and is substantially bigger than Schooner, why not have some things there? There are other rooms, or rooms to make bigger. 5) The Internet. Just not as good as on the newer ships. Drops frequently, and I connection wasn't strong enough so I couldn't do something all week for work. Very frustrating. 6) The ports. We left from NJ. We didn't get to Cape Canaveral until the afternoon, and then Bahamas until the afternoon too. So we basically had one full day(Coco Cay, amazing) and two half days in ports. So two port days on a seven day cruise. Why didn't we have a full day in the bahamas? Cape Canaveral is such a toss away, anyone who has been there once rarely gets off the ship. The Awful: 1) Cats. I mean seriously. I cannot understand why the contract for this bad show was renewed. Even the comedians make fun of it. Repeatedly. Other staff members laugh over how much the guests hate it. The theaters aren't full and people walk out. I will say the cast was good the lady who sang Memories was shockingly good. But is that enough to watch a painful 90 minute show? Royal has great shows on every other ship, they have the same shows on some ships(eg..Grease), I just don't get it. And to boot, they didn't bring back their special effects show yet which is the second show the Royal Singers and Dancers do. The ship was sold out, why is that show not back and all we get is Cats? Why do these poor performers have to sing multiple songs about Jellical cats, and not get a chance to showcase their talent in any other way? My heart goes out to them. Yuck. 2) Pre Cruise everything and boarding. Awful. Really truly awful. You reserve a time then you get to the pier and wait on a huge line. What was the point of reserving a time exactly? How can getting off the ship be so good, and getting on be so bad? I could go on about this one. Then you get on the ship, four of the rooms had the wrong names on the card keys. Each one was told "That never happens". Yet it happened four times to our group. You cannot pre book entertainment on the ship, the first day was a bit of hysteria as everyone was running around trying to get things done. Talk about a zoo. I could go on about this, but this left a bad taste in a lot of people's mouths. Royal needs to do better on this. 3) We got off the ship and some of us got Covid the day we left. Unbeknownst to us, the captain had gotten Covid and some others had as well. I realize it was our choice that we did not wear masks everywhere, but I do think better communication on this would have made us wear masks as while Covid is not the death sentence it was before who wants that? This one is probably more in the bad category than awful, but someone is very sick from it, so I need to put it in awful. 4) The photo place. I've always had a love/hate relationship but this time what was a "misunderstanding" really pissed me off. And I'm not the kind of guy who gets easily pissed off. Someone called us and said you have a photo package and you haven't taken many shots, how about we come to your cabanas at coco cay(we had two as a large group) and take some pics for you? We said sure and were excited. We took 50 pics or so, and I had bought a package for 100+ digital pics or some such. They told us to come down and look at our pic.....they ran late and we waited 45 minutes for them...literally sat there and waited for 45 minutes only to hear that no if wanted THOSE pictures we have to pay extra because it was a private session. We corrected them we didn't book anything, they called us, referenced our photo package, etc,,. Bottom line, if we wanted the pics they took that day we would be charged $499 for digitals, and $299 for just one pic and going up from there. I kid you not. I was shocked and couldn't believe it. I even asked if we could meet in the middle, which I felt I was suckered into doing, from what I paid and what they asked for(499) and was told no!!! So maybe this one is on me cause we didn't ask enough questions, but honestly I don't think so and if you saw how it all played out there was a lot of misrepresentation going on here. If we had any idea that's what it would have been, we would have said no and would have taken our own pics. Instead we liked the pics they took and so took none of our own, and ended up with no pictures from our day at CocoCay but sitting and waiting for this info for 45 minutes. Overall, I thought the cruise was very good and I would said with Royal again. They are not without their faults(as everyone has), but