Thoughts/pics from June 26 to July 3rd cruise.

We are sitting in the airport after just walking off the ship. I won't do a blow-by-blow review, but will mention some highlights. Happy to answer any Qs.

One cool thing was that the Captain told us that we had the highest passenger count to date, making the cruise a world record for people on a ship at one time.

Cabin:

We splurged and got an Aqua Theater Suite and really enjoyed it. See here for some pics, including several of the room:

http://gallery.me.com/cnicholson1?view=grid#100305&bgcolor=black&view=grid

However, it was too hot/humid/windy to comfortably hang out on the balcony for very long during the day. The room would be even better if weather were cooler/drier.

Cruise Director:

I was confused about all the attention given here to who the CD is. We now "get it." Richard Spacey was just awesome, and really enhanced the whole cruise for us. My wife said on the comment card "Give Richard a raise."

Shows:

Hairspray -- we didn't care for it as a show/script, although the performer were good. We found the story a bit trite/cliche/preachy for our tastes.

Ice Skating / Sand Painting show -- my personal favorite. Started a bit slow, but ended with tons of action and energy. Very very good. Not to be missed.

Aquatheater show -- saw it 4 or 5 times from the balcony. ;-) Pretty good show. Impressive diving. See the photo link for pics.

Come Fly with Me --- worth seeing, but not great, IMHO.

Food:

Chef's Table was, hands down, the best dining experience on board and compared favorably world class restaurants on land. I am shocked that they don't sell this out. The canceled our requested day due to lack of interest. Bizarre.

Chops -- also compared favorably to a "normal" steakhouse.

Misc:

At a charity auction event, we won a "Champagne sail away on the bridge with the Captain" event that was really really neat for our kids (13 and 14). If you have the opportunity to do this, go for it. Really neat.

We also enjoyed the Day 7 "Captain's Corner" chat. Very interesting stories / discussions about Oasis and the Captain's 40 year career with RCI.

That's all for now. Please check out the photos-- I was playing with my new camera that allowed me to take some cool action shots of the stage and diving shows without using flash.

-Chris

Thanks for the review. We got off the day you got on. Sounds like you had a great cruise! Do you know the passenger count for your sailing?

ETA: I found it - 6189 - in your photos. That is 59 more than our voyage. We never felt like there were that many people on the ship.

By the way, your photos are awesome! Thanks for the photos of the AquaTheater Suite. It looks really nice.

Amazing pictures. Thanks for posting.

Where were you when you took the port pictures?

your pictures are absoulty beautiful. what type of camera did you use?

Great pics! You got shots I have not seen others get. My turn is coming all be it slowly.

Do you know the passenger count for your sailing?

 

ETA: I found it - 6189 - in your photos. That is 59 more than our voyage.

BTW, the photo is from the Captain's white board on the bridge. It was extra cool that when we were up there he said "I haven't announced this yet, but we just figured out that we broke the passenger record."

your pictures are absoulty beautiful. what type of camera did you use?

Thanks. Canon 1D Mark IV, with 2.8 "L" zooms.

Amazing pictures. Thanks for posting.

 

Where were you when you took the port pictures?

I need to add labels. The very first ones are Florida, then Labadee, then Cozumel.

We skipped Costa Maya due to seas and winds leftover from Hurricane Alex. A bit of a bummer, but we had come for the ship so were not too upset.

We are sitting in the airport after just walking off the ship. I won't do a blow-by-blow review, but will mention some highlights. Happy to answer any Qs.

What time did you get off the ship? Did you do self-disembarkation?

Thanks ...

What time did you get off the ship? Did you do self-disembarkation?

 

Thanks ...

We had a 10:05am flight home (which I am now on), and could not afford to miss it, so we did the "lug your own luggage" option. We overdid it a bit, in retrospect. We left our cabin at 6:15am and got in line to wait for the gangway to open. That happened at about 6:25. We were off the ship and had cleared customs before 7:00am and were at the airport by 7:15.

There are only two direct flights home for us. If you are have many departure time options (and, therefore, a backup plan if you miss flight), I would think that a flight as early as 9:00am would be very doable (8:30 for the brave), especially if you leave the cabin at 6:00am to be in the front of the line.

Best pictures I've seen to date, thank you for posting! We go in several weeks and I can't wait. Will have to check out your camera too, interesting shots and great clarity. Thanks again.

cgncruise - did you have to carry your bags down a lot of steps to get off the ship?

Absolutely some of the best pics to date of the Oasis. Thanks for sharing.

cgncruise - did you have to carry your bags down a lot of steps to get off the ship?

No steps, really, just some ramps and escalators. If you can carry your bags from your car to the airport baggage check (without using a cart), you can carry them off the ship.

There was one speed bump for some: they required that you have a "free hand" to use the escalators (so no go to drag two big roller bags). Those folks had to wait for elevator, and the line looked pretty long.

Really terrific pics!

It looks like your Cabin Crawlers could have lived on that deck and would have never been in anyone's way (barring the humidity).

The Grandeur looks like a yacht next to Oasis! Scary.

wow! fantastic photos! thankyou for posting them:) You must have a very good camera, Haha i have been sitting here looking at the divers trying to work out if it my son or not :) very hard to tell when they are in a "bird?" suit:) but great to see some close ups of them. thankyou!

cgncruise - thanks for answering you have put me at ease.

Great pics and review! Thanks for sharing.

This has been fun to read - short and sweet with great photos. Thanks for posting!

Love the pics, thanks so much for taking the time to post them.

wow! fantastic photos! thankyou for posting them:) You must have a very good camera, Haha i have been sitting here looking at the divers trying to work out if it my son or not :) very hard to tell when they are in a "bird?" suit:) but great to see some close ups of them. thankyou!

If you point me to the ones that might be him (by file name or date stamp), I can see if I have others of the same person and try to blow them up.

-Chris

If you point me to the ones that might be him (by file name or date stamp), I can see if I have others of the same person and try to blow them up.

 

-Chris

wow excellent!!! yes this one is of him : BY7G1537.. thankyou!

wow excellent!!! yes this one is of him : BY7G1537.. thankyou!

Here's the rest from that sequence:

http://gallery.me.com/cnicholson1/100313

You can also download the pics and get a better close-up view of him.

Pretty talented guy. You must be proud.

-Chris

Great pictures.

Which night was the 2nd formal night?

Thanks

 

Which night was the 2nd formal night?

 

Thanks

Thanks.

Wed, which was Day 5 I guess.