Xmas on Oasis: The Good, The Bad & The Puking

On our last day on Oasis and just off of cabin confinement. More on that later but first the overview of the cruise.

There are six of us traveling; my parents, my husband and my two sons. We are spread out over three oceanview cabins on deck 7 - aft. I like this deck a lot. Easy access down the back stairs to the Aqua Theater and Boardwalk and easy access via stairs or elevator to Promenade and Central Park.

Embarkation went smooth as silk; we were on the boat within about 20 minutes of getting off the shuttle. The only hiccup was with our shuttle to the port from the Hilton Marina. The driver was either new or clueless because he first went to the wrong terminal and once at the correct terminal wasn't sure where to park.

The ship is decorated beautifully for Christmas. In the Promenade is a large Christmas tree, banks of poinsettias in front of the various stores and large sprays of decorations around. The MDR is equally decorated with large sprays of fern & baubles on all of the pillars.

The majority of us were only able to see three shows; Hairspray, Frozen in Time and Oasis of Dreams. I had seen Hairspray on Broadway and while the Oasis version is certainly not Broadway it was good for a ship's production. The actress portraying Motormouth Maybelle was exceptional. Frozen in Time was lovely. Oasis of Dreams was fantastic, I would have liked to seen it again. We have reservations to see Come Fly With Me tonight but I doubt we will make it.

The meals we did get to eat were mostly in the MDR. I found the quality to be very good and the servers to be extremely nice. Some of us did one specialty meal at Chops which was wonderful. A couple of us had a meal at Johnny Rockets and they said it was really good. My husband and I ate one night at the Seafood Shack and it was just ok.

As far as ports; Labadee was very nice. Falmouth was nice if you took an excursion - otherwise you only had the shopping. We did the High Tea excursion and at $49 per person it was not worth it. None of us were able to get off the boat in Cozumel.

Day 4 - Christmas Eve (Falmouth) my mom started to feel a bit under the weather and decided to stay onboard rather than go on our excursion. The excursion staff was really good and let us return her ticket for a full refund.

I checked back with mom when we returned to the ship and she was feeling even worse. By evening she was vomiting and had diarrhea. Dad took her down to medical and it was packed. She ended up being down there for four hours and once released was confined to her cabin.

Day 5 - Christmas: We all knew if mom was sick that Dad was going to get sick. That happened on Christmas night. The rest of us were felling just fine until Christmas evening. By midnight me, my youngest son and my dad were in medical. We were all given injections to help stop the vomiting as well as medication to take. We were then released and confined to our respective cabins.

Day 6 (Cozumel): My husband and other son called from their room - both were vomiting and feeling terrible. Off to medical they went. Same story - injections, medication, confined to cabin. I talked to my dad later in the morning on the phone and found out he had to go down to medical two more times because he was still getting sick.

Day 7: Since we are no longer vomiting the nurse in medical has said we are all off of room confinement. No one is going anywhere though. Not only do we still feel terrible (headaches, body aches, lethargy) we don't want to risk getting any other passengers sick.

Even though our cruise was ruined due to illness I do have to say RCL did take care of us. While on confinement they gave us free internet, free pay per view movies and any liquids we wanted from the mini-bar. They also sent up Evian and Powerade free of charge. They also offered OBC for a future cruise but right now cruising again is not something we are even thinking about.

Right now all we want to do is get home. We have a five hour wait tomorrow before our flight. We had planned to do some fun things in Ft Lauderdale while we waited for the flight. No one is up for that right now. I have considered just getting a hotel room for the day so we can relax until it is time to depart.

I wish we had a better experience. What we did get to see and do we truly enjoyed. I am sure we would have enjoyed the second half of our cruise as well.

wow how awful.

Is there an outbreak of norovirus on Oasis?

Is there an outbreak of norovirus on Oasis?

No idea. They never used the word norovirus to us. They have only referred to it in talking and writing as gastrointestinal.

When opening my door to talk to the room steward yesterday a woman passed by and asked if we were sick. I told her yes we were. She said her family of 5 was sick also - but not with stomach symptoms. Their symptoms were ear, throat and chest - nothing gastro.

Oh my gooodness, orangepeel, I am so sorry your Christmas cruise was marred by illness. Thank you for sharing your review of the good part and of how things unraveled as you each got sick. I have to admit, I am impressed by both your positive attitude and Royal's efforts. Wishing you all a speedy recovery!

:( That was a surprise Christmas gift you did NOT want!

Glad you enjoyed the first part of the cruise but so sorry it ended the way it did.

LuLu

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Sorry to hear that had to happen on your lovely Christmas cruise :( Would love to hear more about the parts you did get to enjoy though. I was just on a Western Caribbean cruise on the Allure the week before and I loved it! Thought about doing the high tea excursion in Falmouth but decided against it due to the high cost and lacklustre reviews online. Mom and I love afternoon tea but it sounded more like a gimmick than anything.

We were also on Deck 7, but Forward, and loved being close to/on the same side as Central Park, the Vitality Fitness Centre, Amber Theatre and Solarium. Whenever we had to get to the aft side, I would always go through Central Park, even if I was headed to a lower level. Central Park was definitely my favourite neighbourhood by far!

I feel for ya, getting sick on the cruise is no fun. My wife got sick the last few days of our last cruise. We thought it may be Norovirus, but no one else on the cruise was complaining of it.

We narrowed it down to water in Jamaica. We had bottled water in Cozumel at a restaurant, bottled water in Labadee and Grand Cayman, but they had fruit punch in cups on the Plantation tour in Falmouth, my wife had the punch, I had a Red Stripe and she had just been on antibiotics for a virus a few weeks before.

Thanks for the well wishes everyone! I got all our bags packed up this afternoon and have been resting most of the day. We had reservations for a 5pm show but decided to skip it. Not too sure if we want to sit for an hour and definitely do not want to risk getting others ill in case we are still contagious.

Rp23g7, I don't think water anywhere was the issue for us. We only drank bottled water except for tea in Jamaica...but the two of us that had tea were not the first to get sick. We were also very good about using the Purell stations, washing hands continually and I also brought Lysol which we used in our rooms on surfaces when we first arrived. So no clue how we caught a bug; just a bit of bad luck it seems.

Sorry to hear that had to happen on your lovely Christmas cruise :( Would love to hear more about the parts you did get to enjoy though. I was just on a Western Caribbean cruise on the Allure the week before and I loved it! Thought about doing the high tea excursion in Falmouth but decided against it due to the high cost and lacklustre reviews online. Mom and I love afternoon tea but it sounded more like a gimmick than anything.

 

We were also on Deck 7, but Forward, and loved being close to/on the same side as Central Park, the Vitality Fitness Centre, Amber Theatre and Solarium. Whenever we had to get to the aft side, I would always go through Central Park, even if I was headed to a lower level. Central Park was definitely my favourite neighbourhood by far!

High tea was definitely not worth it. The "mansion" tour was really a tour of a very old home and only 5 rooms of the house. The tea was bagged tea, two little sandwiches, two tiny scones and a mini muffin. There may have been a cookie too, I cannot recall now.

I will say that the best part of the tour was the drive to and from the mansion. The guide was fun, talkative nd shared all sorts of interesting facts about the island, the history of Falmouth, as well as info on the vegetation and wildlife. I would have enjoyed a full driving tour if he was the guy giving it!

High tea was definitely not worth it. The "mansion" tour was really a tour of a very old home and only 5 rooms of the house. The tea was bagged tea, two little sandwiches, two tiny scones and a mini muffin. There may have been a cookie too, I cannot recall now.

 

I will say that the best part of the tour was the drive to and from the mansion. The guide was fun, talkative nd shared all sorts of interesting facts about the island, the history of Falmouth, as well as info on the vegetation and wildlife. I would have enjoyed a full driving tour if he was the guy giving it!

A good guide really makes or breaks a tour. Thank you for sharing!

If only RCI offered some sort of high tea (or at least simple afternoon tea) on board... even if for a surcharge, we would have definitely gone for it! Princess Cruises is looking very attractive for a future cruise right about now as I hear they have a pretty good high tea service... :o

Really sorry you were all sick.

Being home in your own bed is where you want to be when you feel like that.

My family all had that the week prior to xmas -flu season here in Canada! They were lucky to all be fine for Christmas day.

Take care, and Have a good New Year!

sorry to hear about your Xmas present, you have a great attitude, anything good on tv?

sorry you all got sick - but it is flu season right now and there is a chance that that is what you had/have

Ugh! So sorry this happened to you guys! It is certainly going around, though. Christmas day, I swear that at least 2/3 of my FB newsfeed was filled with friends whose households had been laid low with whatever this stomach virus is. Whatever it is, it's going around, but dealing with it at home sure would've been better than dealing with it on vacation!!

sorry you all got sick - but it is flu season right now and there is a chance that that is what you had/have

No, I really don't think this was the flu. None of us are vomiters (lol, is that a word), nether of my children have ever thrown up )and thus were scared to death when it happened) and my step-dad even commented that in 30 years of marriage he has never known my mom to throw up.

This was something but definitely not the seasonal flu.

A good guide really makes or breaks a tour. Thank you for sharing!

 

If only RCI offered some sort of high tea (or at least simple afternoon tea) on board... even if for a surcharge, we would have definitely gone for it! Princess Cruises is looking very attractive for a future cruise right about now as I hear they have a pretty good high tea service... :o

I too would love to see a true high tea on a cruise and would gladly pay extra for the experience! We did high tea at Harrods this spring while on vacation and my oldest son was instantly hooked on the experience!

sorry to hear about your Xmas present, you have a great attitude, anything good on tv?

Yes! We watched Cars 2, Planes, Despicable Me 2 and Jobs. Hey if they were giving me free movies I was going to make sure the kiddos watched their fill and got their mind off of feel poorly.

The free Internet though has been the most appreciated. I had paid for a package because I needed to stay in contact with work. With the free Internet they gave us the kids have been able to hop online today now that they are feeling a bit better.

Really sorry you were all sick.

Being home in your own bed is where you want to be when you feel like that.

My family all had that the week prior to xmas -flu season here in Canada! They were lucky to all be fine for Christmas day.

Take care, and Have a good New Year!

Sorry to hear your family was ill prior to Christmas. You are right, when you are I'll nothing sounds better than ones own bed!

Our flight home is not until 7pm Saturday night. We have a stop in Dallas and then continue on to Washington. I believe we get home around midnight pacific time. We only have a short drive from the airport and then yay...we are home!

Even with being sick I am still a bit sad vacation is almost over. No matter what the situation I do not think anyone likes to see a vacation end.

Ugh! So sorry this happened to you guys! It is certainly going around, though. Christmas day, I swear that at least 2/3 of my FB newsfeed was filled with friends whose households had been laid low with whatever this stomach virus is. Whatever it is, it's going around, but dealing with it at home sure would've been better than dealing with it on vacation!!

I agree katydid, being in the comforts of your own home is always best when feeling poorly. Hope your friends are all feeling better soon!

Noro....gastrointestinal virus.....same thing!

Flu (influenze) is a respiratory virus....doesn't usually cause vomiting, unless you have a VERY high fever.

"Tis the season for the stomach thing!

did your room get cleaned while you were ill? safe travels!

Oh how awful - I feel so bad for you! Hope that you and your family get well very soon and crossing my fingers that your next cruise is the BEST cruise ever - because you deserve it!

PS- We also did the High Tea when we were in Falmouth and thought it was a rip off.

I got really sick once on one of my cruises, but it only lasted about 24 hrs.

So sorry yours lasted so long! I hope you feel better and stronger by the time you get this email. You just never know. Wrong place/wrong time. Next time should be fantastic! :)

did your room get cleaned while you were ill? safe travels!

During the 24 hour isolation - no. But guest services checked in with us to see if we needed anything and room service did bring us some powerade and bananas. We noticed that when room service came there was a card in our door where the usual "make up room/do not disturb" card goes that said "do not enter". I am not sure which staff member put it there nor who removed it.

Once the isolation period was over they did service our room. We were told the protocol is they had to do our rooms last in order to avoid any cross contamination. All linens were stripped and replaced. What they did not do is vaccum. They said this is also to avoid cross contamination. They will be cleaning the carpets in our rooms right after we disembark.