Just off Oasis!

[eroller]

I still find it odd there is a not an internet cafe. I don't bring my laptop on any vacation, and I really don't want to surf the web from my cabin on the TV. Call me old fashioned, but I like to go to the internet cafe and surf the internet on a "real" computer.

 

If OASIS is anything like CELEBRITY SOLSTICE, then every cabin TV is powered by a Mac Mini and comes with a full keyboard (which can also be used as a remote for the TV). Even with the most amazing in-cabin multi-media system in the industry, SOLSTICE still had a sizable Internet Cafe.

 

Attached is a pic of the keyboard.

 

Ernie

 

[snausman]

I still find it odd there is a not an internet cafe. I don't bring my laptop on any vacation, and I really don't want to surf the web from my cabin on the TV. Call me old fashioned, but I like to go to the internet cafe and surf the internet on a "real" computer.

 

If OASIS is anything like CELEBRITY SOLSTICE, then every cabin TV is powered by a Mac Mini and comes with a full keyboard (which can also be used as a remote for the TV). Even with the most amazing in-cabin multi-media system in the industry, SOLSTICE still had a sizable Internet Cafe.

 

Attached is a pic of the keyboard.

 

Ernie

 

 

Was that very easy to use for the TV or were you always having problems with it?

[Cruiserccl]

There is an internet cafe! I was there.

[LLindaC]

Broadwalk?

[eroller]

Was that very easy to use for the TV or were you always having problems with it?

 

 

 

I never had any problems with it. There was a regular remote control as well.

 

I LOVED the TV on CELEBRITY SOLSTICE. There were free and pay per view on-demand movies, plus tons of music to choose from. In addition you could access short films about the building of the ship, book shore excursions, order room service, submit a maintenance request, check your account, and see the location of the ship and weather. Of course you could also surf the Internet and check email.

 

Without question it's the best in-cabin multimedia system I've seen on any ship or hotel.

 

Ernie

[eroller]

There is an internet cafe! I was there.

 

 

So exactly where was it?

 

Was it a true "Internet Cafe" or some temporary converted crew cabins?

 

Ernie

[avalon1025]

Ernie,

 

The same small keyboard was in the cabins on Oasis, loved the interactive TV (it was the largest TV I ever had in a standard cabin) and had lots of great movies. A definate plus.

 

Does anyone have a photo of the internet cafe that was not the crew cabin on on Deck 7 forward? Was there another one that was not the converted inside cabin with 5 computers? We ran around with an officer from the guest relations area and she could only find the one on deck 7

 

JT

[snausman]

I never had any problems with it. There was a regular remote control as well.

 

I LOVED the TV on CELEBRITY SOLSTICE. There were free and pay per view on-demand movies, plus tons of music to choose from. In addition you could access short films about the building of the ship, book shore excursions, order room service, submit a maintenance request, check your account, and see the location of the ship and weather. Of course you could also surf the Internet and check email.

 

Without question it's the best in-cabin multimedia system I've seen on any ship or hotel.

 

Ernie

 

Ernie, sounds wonderful, thanks for explaining.

 

Laura

[Cruiserccl]

So exactly where was it?

 

Was it a true "Internet Cafe" or some temporary converted crew cabins?

 

Ernie

Yeah, They are building a new one I just forgot where. RCCL disabled the WIFI on this cruise also.

[F5Loar]

"There is an internet cafe! I was there. " while others confirm there is no internet cafe. Who do you believe? No sauna/shower/locker rooms either? Could it be this ship is so big those on it just didn't find it? I've been on big ships that by the 6th day find someplace and say "so that's where that was".

To not offer an internet cafe, sauna/steam/locker/shower room on a new mega billion dollar ship would indeed be a disaster. I would say without these things it's sunk before it get's floating good.

[Older Party]

"There is an internet cafe! I was there. " while others confirm there is no internet cafe. Who do you believe? No sauna/shower/locker rooms either? Could it be this ship is so big those on it just didn't find it? I've been on big ships that by the 6th day find someplace and say "so that's where that was".

To not offer an internet cafe, sauna/steam/locker/shower room on a new mega billion dollar ship would indeed be a disaster. I would say without these things it's sunk before it get's floating good.

 

Really? A DISASTER? Strong words for things that are insignificant to the overall design of this mega ship. Most people today travel with a laptop which means they will sit in the privacy of their cabin, taking advantage of the wifi service Oasis offers, and check their emails in private instead of among strangers.

 

Sauna and Steam? Locker room with showers? Still don't get how the absence of these things equate with a disaster. There are lockers in the gym btw. Personally, I have never understood anyone's need to shower in a gym on a ship when their own cabin is only a short walk away.

[Coolmama_1]

Thanks for the peek into the Oasis!

[avalon1025]

Yes, there are not "free" steams or saunas on Oasis (at least in the spa), and most of the locker room space is given to revenue producing treatment rooms. RCI is a business and they want every dime of on board revenue.

 

You can pay for the Thermal Suite, but honestly its the same size as on ships half her size, I'm not sure how they will manage it if its popular.

[georgeinpa]

This promises to be long.... so grab a beverage or your choice and dig in, or hit the "next" key and move on.

 

As it turns out, I got two invitations to go on the Oasis of the Seas.

 

I belong to a travel agent consortium and they were combining their yearly meeting with the first two day intro sailing departing on November 20. I accepted this invitation although I wasn't sure I would be able to go due to scheduling problems and frankly, I don't like traveling so far just for a two day cruise. But then, this was the OASIS and I really wanted to see her. Then... I got an invitation from Royal Caribbean to go on the second two day cruise. Again, scheduling problems.

 

Bottom line is that I was able to go but only at the last minute and airfares were out of the question, so we had to drive. That added two days to each end of the trip so we ended up doing the consortium meetings and the original 2 night cruise and did not go on the second 2 night cruise. It worked out well.

 

I won't bore you with details of the consortium meetings but I did manage to grab the ear of a few suppliers and have some interesting talks. The rep from Viking River Cruise Lines took 8 of us to dinner at the W hotel steakhouse... 954. It was excellent and I am very glad I wasn't paying that bill. They had a Kobe Steak on the menu for $235. We were a bit more restrained in our ordering.

 

Pier 18 - the new cruise terminal at Port Everglades is everything they said it would be. Going through the doors, you can go left or right, immediately through security. If I recall correctly, there are 6 security stations on each side. Once past Security, you are in the main check-in area. The check-in desks are arranged in a "V" shape in the center of the room and there are 45 stations on each side. Flat screen TV monitors tell you which line to use, sorting people by which deck their cabin is on. We were on Deck 12 and there were 6 station for that deck. Once you go through the check-in procedure, you go up the escalator or elevator to a waiting area (assuming the ship; is not ready to board). There is seating there for 3000 people and a play area for children and a lounge area for Suite passengers.

 

http://cruisemaster.*****.com/photos/oasis/oasis-003.html

http://cruisemaster.*****.com/photos/oasis/oasis-005.html

http://cruisemaster.*****.com/photos/oasis/oasis-008.html

 

At check-in, they take your photo right there so when you board the ship, all you do is put your sail and sign card in the reader and go. A LOT of the people working that day were new on the job.

 

The Oasis was late getting into the pier that morning because of broadcasting for Good Morning America so we had to wait about an hour and a half before boarding the ship.

 

Finally... we were among the first 50 people to board the Oasis of the Seas. I am not going to describe the ship or the various rooms. There have been a zillion conversations about this and another zillion pictures. If you would like to see the photos I took, look at http://cruisemaster.*****.com/photos/oasis/index.html What I will try to do is point out some new things, plusses and minuses and general impressions.

 

This two night cruise was to be a "soft opening" for the ship. This is where they operate at less then full capacity in an effort to get the ship and crew up to speed. There were only 2800 invited guests on this sailing so I felt pretty pleased to be a part of the first group.

 

Aside from travel agents, there were a few Crown and Anchor people onboard. The criteria was that they had a minimum of 50 Royal Caribbean cruises under their belt... and it was announced that one couple had 150 cruises.

 

Of course, being first has good points and bad. The good is that there were only 2800 people on a ship that will hold over 6000. We never saw a crowd, never waited in line for anything and since all the drinks were free and the bar staff was at full level, we never waited for a drink. I can only guess, but I don't think that this ship will feel crowded with a full compliment of passengers. There was a whole LOT of empty space with 2800 passengers..... it actually felt a bit strange at times.

 

I expected the Oasis to "feel" huge and I was pleasantly mistaken. The concept of "neighborhoods" effectively creates smaller, self contained areas of the ship that have their own distinct personality. Surprisingly, the lounges and bars were pretty small, but there are a LOT of them all over the ship.

 

Not everything on the ship was ready for us. The information manual in each cabin... wasn't there yet. Cabin service consisted of making the bed and changing towels, no ice service, no room service was available. The photo shop wasn't operational yet. They were working on the Aqua Theater.

 

The cabin looks typical, but the doors to the cabin open outward into the hallway instead of inward into the cabin. The shower has a movable European shower head, but you can not adjust the height of the shower head, it is in a fixed position. They do not have a clothes dryer cord in the shower, they have two hooks. They do have shelves and drawers in the bathroom, but of course they are small. They have a couple of outlets in the cabin, but they are located under the desk, which will make it hard for the handicapped or elderly people to reach. I don't know what they were thinking when they designed this but it stinks. Bring a 3-way plug and an extension cord or a power strip. http://cruisemaster.*****.com/photos/oasis/oasis-214.html

 

Dinner the first night was a mess. There was only one seating at 7:30 and dinner took almost 3 hours. I think this was he first full-scale seating they attempted and it showed. As we left the dining room, one service area looked like a bomb zone... a far cry from the neat and efficient stations you are used to seeing. The second night.... MUCH better! Service was almost as good as you would expect from a seasoned crew. Things like this do not bother me. I know how hard it is to get any new business up to full working speed, and a cruise ship isn't any exception.

 

INNOVATIONS: Sail and Sign Cards - Your Sail and Sign card takes on a whole new importance on the Oasis of the Seas. Before your even leave home, you can make reservations for shows and dinner reservations online. You aren't issued any tickets.... you just show up when you are supposed to and ship's crew with hand held scanners scan your card and confirm your reservation. Very simple, very fast, nothing to it.

 

All the muster stations for safety drill are in lounges. When you arrive, your card is scanned. You do not have to bring your life vest to the safety drill, in fact, there weren't any life vests in our cabin. They are all stored at the muster stations. Also, your muster station location is printed on your Sail and Sign card. This is the most pleasant way to do a safety drill that I have ever seen.

 

You can also use your sail and sign card to purchase wine from a vending machine that is outside the dining room. http://cruisemaster.*****.com/photos/oasis/oasis-125.html

 

Also, on your Sign and Sail card is a number for your photos. Our number was 6-44 (tower #4, slot #44) You go to the photo shop, find your tower and slot number and your photos will be there in a folder. You find them instantly, no more looking through hundreds of photos for yours.

 

INNOVATIONS - Interactive Information Displays. Near many of the elevators is a touch screen, interactive monitor display. On it, you can see on a deck plan where you are and touch the location of any venue on the ship and it will map directions telling you how to get there. You can enter your stateroom number and it will map out how you should get there.

 

http://cruisemaster.*****.com/photos/oasis/oasis-069.html

http://cruisemaster.*****.com/photos/oasis/oasis-070.html

 

You can pull up the daily schedule. http://cruisemaster.*****.com/photos/oasis/oasis-065.html

 

You can check out how busy various restaurants are! Really... you can look at a graphic display that shows the occupancy level of every restaurant on the ship at that moment.

 

INNOVATIONS - It appears that you will be able to access the internet on your TV in your cabin. This looks like the system already in place in a lot of hotels,,, the keyboards were in the cabins but the system was not operational yet. Add to that the WiFi capabilities of the ship and the internet "cafe" is almost unnecessary. Royal Caribbean is thinking that way, because the internet room is tiny, out of the way and has only 5 stations.

 

The big ship is even more impressive because of small things. I was very happy and surprised with the amount of small details that I found in the design of the ship. There are small details on light fixtures, signs hidden in amongst the plants telling you what they are. http://cruisemaster.*****.com/photos/oasis/oasis-152.html

 

There are numerous hand-washing stations located outside of most of the eating venues and they are pretty attractive. http://cruisemaster.*****.com/photos/oasis/oasis-165.html

 

Small wonders... a number of displays that you view through special telescopic viewers. These are scattered throughout the ship; and are very interesting. http://cruisemaster.*****.com/photos/oasis/oasis-122.html

 

The Solarium is 2-stories tall with plenty of rattan chairs and ottomans, plus they have chaise lounges and those big, round seats tjat are big enough for two people, like they had on the Solstice. The Solarium has its own eating area, with turkey bacon, turkey sausage, grilled vegetables, and layered fruit/yogurt cups.

 

Disappointments..... I have only two. I had expected to see a show at the Aqua Theater and didn't. They had it operational for the Good Morning America taping, but they drained the pool and there were a lot of construction-type people working on and in it both days. I also wanted to see the show "Hairspray" which Royal Caribbean has been touting... but they didn't run that while we were onboard either.

 

If you hung in there through all this, there is one more photo I would like you to see.

http://cruisemaster.*****.com/photos/oasis/magcover.html

 

Getting off the ship Sunday morning was easy. They cleared the ship at 7:20 and we walked off. Since it was a two night cruise to nowhere, we only had a couple of light bags and there was no Customs to deal with. We were on the road by 7:35 and had an uneventful trip home.

 

 

 

--

George Leppla

[Becca1960]

Thanks for the update. You're correct that this ship is not for everyone and of course RCI did not design for the "traditional" cruiser.

 

In ways it sounds very much like Voyager and Freedom class as far as the limited views of the sea from inside the ship. The solarium is basically like the Radiance class with the roof as sunlight was limited on the Jewel also.

 

I cannot believe that RCI did not put a dedicated Internet Cafe on this ship. A major mistake. I always use this.

 

What I am waiting to hear is how the port handles the first revenue cruise with many more guests on board trying to embark and debark.

 

 

They have an internet cafe on Deck 8 at the front of the ship. You go through the hallway and turn right, and it is on your right. They have 5 computers and 2 printers. My laptop broke on the morning before the cruise, so I had to use the internet cafe.

 

Becca

[Cruising89143]

George, thanks for the comments on the ship. I know that you tell it like it is so this makes me feel good about the ship. From every photo that I have seen, she is a beauty.

[tomko2]

George, wonderful review; thanks for sharing.

One Question: The vending machine for wine seems weird; do you get a glass or a bottle? Is it meant that you get your own wine and then enter the dining room?

Thanks

Kathy:)

[Cruising89143]

They have an internet cafe on Deck 8 at the front of the ship. You go through the hallway and turn right, and it is on your right. They have 5 computers and 2 printers. My laptop broke on the morning before the cruise, so I had to use the internet cafe.

 

Becca

 

I had read this but this is not the typical internet cafe that one expects from previous RCI ships but I have since read several times that you can use the TV in your cabin or of course bring your own lap top for the WIFI in the cabin. Works for me. I can see the small internet cafe getting crowded though with some wanting to print their airline info.

[Becca1960]

Thank you for posting your review. Although a ship without a lot of glass is not for me, I've been curious.

I think that this ship will draw a lot of kids, which hopefully will be good for RCI in the long run.

Were there long waiting periods for elevators?

 

 

We did not have to wait long for an elevator, but they have lots of elevators on each deck. We also did not stop anywhere, so this was like a day at sea.

[caa419]

Great information, George! Thanks for all the pics-very informative. I can't wait to go next July. One question--the wine dispenser--I have never seen anything like that. Is it for buying a whole bottle to take in to dinner or for a glass while you wait?

[georgeinpa]

Great information, George! Thanks for all the pics-very informative. I can't wait to go next July. One question--the wine dispenser--I have never seen anything like that. Is it for buying a whole bottle to take in to dinner or for a glass while you wait?

 

 

It is for buying by the glass on your way into dinner. There is a rack of glasses behind the vending machine.

 

George L

[Cruising89143]

It is for buying by the glass on your way into dinner. There is a rack of glasses behind the vending machine.

 

George L

 

That is smart. Sometimes it takes forever to get wine service in the main dining room.

[mafig]

George, thank you for your review. A lot of additional information.

 

About the self-serve wine stations. Many times I don't know what I'm going to order. Can I order and then go to the wine station...? Is this convenient to do?

[georgeinpa]

George, thank you for your review. A lot of additional information.

 

About the self-serve wine stations. Many times I don't know what I'm going to order. Can I order and then go to the wine station...? Is this convenient to do?

 

 

The stations are right outside the dining room entrances. You could order you meal, get a glass and be back long before the first course is served.

 

George L

[emmy]

The stations are right outside the dining room entrances. You could order you meal, get a glass and be back long before the first course is served.

 

George L

 

I like this feature..thanks for the info on it.:) Will try it on the Dec 5 sailing.

 

Great review..