Oasis Review/Trip Report - Jan 16th 2010

[Barnfather]

Ok, here follows a rather long trip report, hopefully it won't bore anyone too much!

 

RCI Pre-Cruise Arrangements

 

Prior to the holiday, we were rather annoyed by RCI's attitude regarding pre-cruise arrangements. At time of booking, we wanted to extend by a day to visit South Beach in Miami but were told that there was no availability through RCI, but we could arrange ourselves and RCI would arrange the flights to go out on the day before to allow us to do this.

 

Unfortunately, the first problem related to the flights provided by RCI, involving a change in Charlotte. Given the number of direct flights to Miami from the UK, this wasn't really acceptable to us however we had to pay RCI extra to arrange us to fly BA from Heathrow directly. Not the best start, however we could live with it for the convenience factor.

 

The second issue came because we needed to get from South Beach to Fort Lauderdale for the RCI provided hotel the night before the cruise. Taxis were quite expensive, so one option would be to get back to Miami Airport and then use the RCI shuttle to the hotel in Fort Lauderdale. Unfortunately, despite providing us with a transfer voucher, RCI said they would not allow us to use the shuttle service as we had made our decision to change to an earlier flight and therefore forfeited the right to the service. This seemed overly petty to be honest, and it is this sort of stonewall approach to 'policy' that loses reputations quite fast.

 

Having said that, the hotel used (Hilton Marina) was stunning and with the connected Marina almost makes it worth visiting in itself. Being so close to Port Everglades meant a quick (if completely chaotic) transfer to the ship. I would certainly stay there again.

 

Whilst it is out of chronological order, I should also mention the post-cruise experience as it is relevant to the previously mentioned poor approach by RCI. Despite our flight not leaving MIA until 5.30pm, we were listed as one of the earlier groups to leave the ship at 7.20am (which was extremely annoying) with the shuttle service taking us directly to the airport, a full 8hrs+ before our flights. A year ago we took a Princess cruise and had the same situation but with Princess ensuring everyone was fed at a local hotel and then given some time in a nearby mall before taking everyone to the airport. This was all the more frustrating as on-board during the cruise, RCI were pushing a mall-trip en-route to the airport for $50 per passenger. After already paying for the shuttle, we did not want to pay extra for a detour past a mall. How can Princess provide this service and not RCI?

 

To make matters worse, the shuttle service used by RCI refused to let any BA passengers get off at what was clearly marked as the BA 'zone', insisting it was for American Airlines passengers only and then driving everyone else around to the bus terminal that meant we had to walk a long way to get back to the original place we were meant to be! I know its a US tradition, but how can people do a job where they screw up and inconvenience people and then have the nerve to have their hand out for tips afterwards?

 

Overall, regarding the travel arrangements I think we will go cruise-only in future and book our own flights and transfers, as I don't think RCI offer any real value or service at all.

 

The Ship at Last! - First Impressions

 

The Oasis looked smaller than I imagined on first approach which I think may have been a perspective thing, as later in the cruise it looked enormous - especially when alongside other ships. The new terminal building also looks a bit uninspiring however I guess it is there to serve a purpose and not look pretty.

 

I was certainly impressed with the check-in and boarding procedure. I didn't time it to see if the RCI claim was true, but it certainly felt easy and painless and we were on the ship in no time. We boarded into the Royal Promenade and it felt familiar at once, probably due to so much research and gazing at artists impressions over the preceding months. We decided not to do a full explore immediately, but instead head to the stateroom as early as possible to relax. Finding the stateroom also seemed completely effortless.

 

We did venture out on deck for the sail-away, but was surprised at the lack of an on-deck sailway party. Instead, RCI put on a parade in the enclosed Royal Promenade instead. But given the number of people on-deck to see us sail off, something more organised up there would have been better.

 

The Stateroom

 

We had stateroom 6136, which is port-side and close to the front of the ship. The room did appear quite small, but to be honest I thought it was fine for two people for a 7 night cruise. The wardrobe space did seem rather limited, but again for a cruise of this length it was liveable although I did wonder if it would have been better to have more storage space and replace the sofa with a single armchair.

 

The bed was supremely comfortable. A real boost when on holiday, and i absolutely loved the large LCD TV in the room which was a big surprise. The interactive television service was also something I wasn't expecting, with a large selection of on-demand movies (some in HD!) as well as facilities to review the onboard account, check availability of dining options and so much more. I really think RCI did a fantastic job on the stateroom entertainment options. Channels-wise, it was the usual selection of compiled-for-the-ship channels and news stations, but it was perfectly adequate. My only complaint in this regard was the lack of a route/progress map which we had on our last two cruises (Ruby Princess and Vision of the Seas). The scrolling channel guide indicated it existed on Channel 40, but this was just a bridge-cam and didn't have any route information. Indeed, on the Vision of the Seas, we had a route map which also reported on wave height, wind conditions and so on. I just hope the system wasn't working rather than RCI dropping this feature.

 

The bathroom was good as well (albeit small) and the shower was excellent.

 

The balcony was smaller than I had expected, with just enough room for two chairs and a table, but this didn't bother me unduly. What did concern me was the misalignment of balcony railings between our room and next doors. On closer inspection, it seemed that the corner of their balcony was bent and some of the glass had come out of the housings at the base of their balcony pushing the rail and whole structure out by a few inches. In port, we looked at this from the ground and it seemed that the base of the balcony may have been hit by something (lifeboat crane?) as there seemed to be a significant dent just below their balcony. It seemed stable enough - certainly from our side, but if I had been in stateroom 6138 I would have complained immediately as it just didn't look that safe to me.

 

The 'Cruise Compass' newsletter was standard RCI fare, and I felt it was a bit more confusing that it needed to be, with various inserts often repeating information already given in previous editions. This increased the chance of missing something important, and it also seemed a bit wasteful paper-wise. Keeping it to pertinent information regarding the next days activities and any port info would have been better, and a separate edition with the other stuff in would have been more manageable in my opinion.

 

One thing I did like a lot was the listing of which dining options were chargeable and which were complimentary. This was a bugbear of mine on Princess, where you hesitated before asking for something in case you were charged.

 

The towel-animals were also making a welcome edition to the ship, and contrary to my expectations we had two chocolates provided every night. We had no complaints over our stateroom attendant, although he seemed a bit anonymous and distant. Our previous cruise on the Vision was the same so maybe this is an RCI thing, as the Princess room attendant almost became a friend during the holiday.

 

Looking around the ship

 

I won't dwell on the features of the various 'neighbourhoods' as they are covered elsewhere in great detail. I will just provide some observations…

 

The Royal Promenade was very impressive and really is the hub of the ship. I liked it a lot, although I always find the presence of high-end upmarket shops, such as the jewellers, a bit 'niche' and it would be nice to see some shopping options that offer a bit more variety. For example, the central 'stall' in the promenade that had special offers on each day had a day where they were selling watches tax-free (they also had a cheapo watch sale on another day with unknown brands in gift-boxes). The watches seemed to be either Fossil or Citizen, however the jewellers seemed to be geared to the high-end brands. Why not have a shop where these sort of items can be bought all the time? I just think they are missing a trick…

 

The Boardwalk was great fun looks-wise, with the wooden flooring and the carousel. They tried to get the spirit of a seaside pier in this area and I think they succeeded although much of the time it seemed to be void of people and a bit soulless as a result. Johnny Rockets and Seafood Shack fitted the bill, but unless there was an Aqua Theatre show on, it was all a bit dead. It may be an idea for the Allure to put some other attraction in this area to encourage its use. One obvious thing to do would be to host movies on the Aqua Theatres big-screens. On Princess the 'Movies Under the Stars' feature is very popular, and whilst it may be off-putting to people with boardwalk-view balconies to have late night movies, I think it would make sense by boosting trade in that area. I also couldn't quite figure out why the carousel only ran for a few hours a day.

 

Central Park was very nice and pleasant and like everything else, matched the artists impressions perfectly. The evenings with the guitarist in the centre was nicely atmospheric too. Being shaded from the sun made this area a nice retreat on hot days and a pleasant place when darkness failed. Couldn't really fault it.

 

Aside from our muster drill, we didn't venture into the Spa area but I must say the fitness area was immensely impressive in terms of its size, facilities and services offered. We also didn't spend much time in the Solarium, although it looked large and impressive with fantastic sofa-type 'pod' seats looking out of he front windows

 

The deck areas were standard cruise-ship layouts really, with a number of small pools and a large number of hot-tub/whirlpools, including the massive cantilevered ones which were great fun. The sports zone was impressive too, with a table-tennis area, basketball court, crazy-golf, zipline and two flow-riders. We kept meaning to spend more time trying out some of these things but simply ran out of road - but will do so next time.

 

Regarding the decks, I did feel that whilst the ship is clearly enormous, when you are actually onboard it doesn't really feel as big as it is. I think this is due to splitting everything into themed areas, and the deck area being divided in the middle. This isn't a criticism really, just an observation. At no time did I think the ship was much bigger than the Ruby Princess despite the Oasis being nearly twice as big. It's only when you think of the various areas as a whole that you realise the scale of everything. This is probably a good thing, as if everything correlated with the ships size (so for example, the Promenade being one huge area running the length of the ship) then I imagine it would put a lot of folk off.

 

Navigating the ship was easy, with lots of lifts and touch-screen guides dotted around the place. As long as you remember which 'end' of the ship different features are on, getting around is easy and despite its size, i could make it directly to our stateroom from just about anywhere very quickly. There are some cleverly positioned areas, such as the Casino which you can reach from the entertainment deck at the front of the ship down two arched corridors or directly from the rear of the ship but ALSO from the centre of the promenade where a spiral staircase took you to directly down to it.

 

Talking of the casino, this was very impressive with one side being smoking and one non-smoking. All the table games you would need as well as a poker room with three electronic tables in them. I play poker quite a bit and found these fun, although I am sceptical of their software but thats for another day. I would say however, that casino staff should make more effort to ensure english is spoken during play at the tables, as there seemed to be a large number of Brazilians who ignored this rule throughout. Anyway, I digress…

 

The dining rooms and theatre are much as you would expect, with my only gripe being that the windows in our part of the dining room (My Time Dining) looked out on the running track and lifeboats. Our previous trip on the Vision class, had big ocean-view windows which were amazing.

 

which brings me onto…

 

Disconnect from the Sea

 

The first few days of the cruise were really smooth and the ship barely moved in the water. This meant that from most non-deck or stateroom areas of the ship, you could have been in-port or in a land-based hotel/resort. There certainly did feel like there was some disconnect from the sea, especially compared with the Vision class where RCI went out of their way to 'connect' people with the sea. Don't get me wrong, it was easy enough to get to see the sea - but the design of the ship certainly doesn't go out of its way to encourage this. Case in point - late afternoons, all the sun loungers around the top decks are roped together and tethered near the railing meaning that to look over the side to watch the Oasis sailing away from port you had to wrench the rope back and slide the loungers out in order to hop over them to look overboard. In later days there was more motion giving that 'ship feel', but the holiday is clearly more about the ship itself rather than the sea or even the destinations.

 

Food and Dining

 

Obviously, a ship this size with so many dining options will have plenty of variety - and indeed there is (although some at a cost), however I do feel as though the quality of the complimentary food was average at best really. There is nothing more depressing than ordering something that sounds tasty and succulent from a waiter, only to eat something that feels mass produced and a touch bland, but thats often the case here. Not that this is an Oasis issue, or indeed an RCI one - as I thought the food on the Ruby Princess was similarly bland. Oddly, the food on the Vision of the Seas cruise was significantly better, which makes me wonder if a lot has to do with where the cruise originates, as the Vision cruise sailed from the UK. Perhaps the quality of cruise-line catering is a level higher over here?

 

Mediocre complimentary food aside, I have two main observations - good and bad..

 

Firstly, the Windjammer was significantly smaller than I expected. Clearly RCI have attempted to take the emphasis away from the main buffet for this cruise, due to the range of other establishments on board and also the sheer number of people (if everyone tried to cram into the Windjammer all the time it would be bedlam). That in itself is fair enough, but the WJ (or rather the 'Windjammer Marketplace') was only open for short periods which whether through bad luck or bad timing meant that every time we visited it was either closed, or was starting to clear away whilst we were eating, preventing multiple trips to try different things. Given that the WJ is such a reliable beast on other ships, and can always be relied to provide a range of food at almost any time, this was rather disappointing. To illustrate, after an afternoon reading in the sun by the pool, a decision to pop to the buffet for a light bite before heading back to the stateroom is one that I can't imagine is that unreasonable. However at 5pm, the WJ is shut. I can't imagine it saves RCI that much money to keep such an iconic function open non-stop between breakfast and late night (it closes at 9pm) and by doing so it is just rather irritating.

 

Of course there are other options, albeit with a narrower choice, such as Sorrento's for Pizza (excellent) or the Wipeout Cafe for burgers, fried and hot-dogs (okay, but food is often cold) but I still think the WJ should be the place to be.

 

Which brings me onto one eatery which we didn't get around to trying until the final day, which seems like a big mistake. The Park Cafe in Central Park doesn't strike you as a particularly amazing place, but the food in there was tremendous, with freshly toasted panninis and hot meat sandwiches which didn't suffer the usual problem of only being luke warm. Plus, they have packets of crisps (chips, to our American friends) which amazed me, as I would have been convinced these would have been at extra cost. The next time we go on this class of ship, I think we will spend more time in this cafe.

 

As for speciality restaurants, we didn't use them. We tried on one night to get into a near-empty Giovanni's Table, but were told we couldn't as they had so many bookings for the next hour supposedly turning up.

 

Was a little bit disappointed with Formal Nights. The vast majority of people didn't make an effort, and despite the message being to the contrary - the main dining room were letting people in wearing scruffy shirts and jeans. I felt completely out of place in a tux :(

 

Entertainment/Shows

 

Despite missing the second production show (Come Fly with Me), we did catch the production of 'Hairspray', which I thought was magnificent. The sets were impressive, the cast were spot on and it was thoroughly entertaining from start to finish. Highly recommend this. Likewise, the Oasis of Dreams production at the Aqua Theatre was breath-taking.

 

We really wanted to check out the comedy club, however this was booked up long before the cruise, and it seemed you had to be there at the right place and right time to get in on a reserve-list and it just never happened for us. It would seem more sensible to host this feature in a bigger venue.

 

The jazz club (Jazz on 4) was very good, with the australian quartet being high-quality. The seating is really comfortable in this area as well with soft armchairs and sofas dotted around the place.

 

Overall, I don't think anyone can have any complaints with the level or quality of entertainment RCI have put on this ship.

 

Ports of Call

 

We took island coach tours at each port of call, although I am starting to feel as though most of these Caribbean islands are interchangeable as they are so alike. St Thomas was good in the sense that we were taken up to the 'Great House' which has a fantastic viewing platform to take panoramic shots of the Virgin Islands, although we skipped the offer to drop off in the town as it looked a bit on the rough side. St Maarten was a bit of a waste of time really. The coach trip, which took us to the french side (Marigot) was uncomfortably hot and the tour guide really struggled to come up with any redeeming features of the island…'If you look to your left you can see a petrol station - our petrol is priced at $x per gallon. Now if you look to your right you can see a school. Just up ahead is a chemical plant. Now to your right you can see a retail park' etc etc. The island looked absolutely beautiful from the ship when sailing out, but if the tour we went on was representative, a 'dump' is the word that springs to mind.

 

And it would be nice to see some shops in these places that weren't either selling ridiculously expensive jewellery or cheap made-in-china tat! And a word of caution regarding any visit to Marigot. The prices in the 'proper' shops are in Euros, so watch any currency conversion on credit cards as items may be more expensive than first appear.

 

Nassau was fun though. Although again, our coach tour left a lot to be desired. It stopped at the Atlantis resort for 20 mins which wasn't any time to check the place out. We would certainly visit here again though and explore the Atlantis resort for longer next time, probably by catching a water taxi over there. The edge of Paradise Island alongside our mooring was exceptionally beautiful though - a really idyllic view of some bahamian coastline, which took us by surprise.

 

Also fun, was the ability to see the Oasis alongside number of other ships (by Carnival, Disney and MSC) and appreciate just how much bigger she really is! What is especially amazing is that the extra size is not so apparent at the side (where it just looks a bit bigger) but by comparing WIDTHS, with the beam of the Oasis dwarfing the others by some distance. Truly amazing.

 

Account Issues / Disembarkation

 

Mostly, our account ran pretty much expected, however there were two issues we needed to sort out via guest services, so would be worth watching…

 

Internet WiFi service. I wanted to use my iPhone to connect to this service, however when I did so there wasn't an obvious way of logging off (I later discovered there was a page that should be bookmarked however you needed to log on twice in a row for some obscure reason). Despite cutting my wifi facility on my phone, I still checked with Guest Services who claimed I had been billed for 20 minutes usage, when my real usage was more like 2 minutes. Also, following this I paid for the $28 pre-paid package but a mysterious $10 charge also appeared when I first used it, for no apparent reason. Also, on logging out the system often told me I had been online for about a million minutes, which was alarming but didn't seem to generate additional costs. Guest Services were happy to refund the extra costs.

 

Pool Towel Service. We made use of this on all sea days, making sure we returned and checked-in towels at the end of the day to avoid the $20 non-return charge. Despite this, we still were hit by an $80 charge on the final morning just prior to disembarkation (the printed account wasn't put on our door until 30 minutes before our disembarkation time). Guest Services were happy to arrange a refund on this also, and it seemed that other people were having the same problem as us. So perhaps their special towel management computer system has some glitches on it. But beware.

 

Disembarkation was delayed a little, but seemed quite straightforward

 

Summary

 

For such a big ship, the Oasis doesn't seem as monstrous inside and the neighbourhood concept almost makes the ship feel like a smaller cruise liner at times.

 

We would certainly go again!

[Cruising89143]

I was also on this sailing. This was a very good review. Very balanced.

 

Just a note. They did show several movies towards the end of the week in the Aqua Theater along with the NFC and AFC championship games. I think that the Boardwalk will be a MUCH busier place come spring break, summer and during the holidays when more children are on board. We had very few kids on this sailing.

 

Thanks again for sharing your thoughts.:)

[lauderdalebob]

Thanks very much for posting your review. I really appreciate reading about what people think of this ship - the good and not so good, and where it could be improved. Will get to see on May 8 when we sail for a week. Really looking to try this ship. While I live near Port Everglades I doubt we'll do Oasis more than once since ports are important to me and we've been to the East & West Carribbean many times. There's a lot of world to see . . . and I hope to see it as time goes by. Thanks again.

[Windy56]

I just love a detailed and unbiased review, such as yours. Thank you for taking the time to post it.

 

What kind of dining did you select? We are doing Anytime this summer for the first time and I am wondering if it is a good choice. Was the MDR open every day for lunch? Any reports on the menus for lunch? Did you try room service?

 

Also, was there a venue for social dancing...foxtots, rhumbas and the like? What were the bands like? I have been disappointed lately with the trend to canned music and one or two musicians playing along. How soon would you have to book the comedy club to get reservations?

 

Were the solarium hot tubs and pools quiet at night or were they as busy as they were during the day?

 

I just read my post and realize that I have peppered you with questions but a) we just booked this week and are quite excited and b) you seem to be a person who would notice a lot!

 

Sounds like you had a great trip! It looks like a magnificent vessel!!! I am with you, though, on the subject of the outdoor promenade scene. When I started cruising about 20 years ago, an evening stroll was a must. It seems now that the people designing these newer class of ships, in all the lines, are steering away from the traditional wrap around deck in favour of indoor venues that draw and entertain smaller crowds of people. Even the ships with wrap around promenade decks don't have lounges and so they are largely unused. It's a shame, really.

 

Once again, thanks for a a very informative review and happy future sailings to you and your family!

[Barnfather]

I just love a detailed and unbiased review, such as yours. Thank you for taking the time to post it.

 

What kind of dining did you select? We are doing Anytime this summer for the first time and I am wondering if it is a good choice. Was the MDR open every day for lunch? Any reports on the menus for lunch? Did you try room service?

 

Also, was there a venue for social dancing...foxtots, rhumbas and the like? What were the bands like? I have been disappointed lately with the trend to canned music and one or two musicians playing along. How soon would you have to book the comedy club to get reservations?

 

Were the solarium hot tubs and pools quiet at night or were they as busy as they were during the day?

 

I just read my post and realize that I have peppered you with questions but a) we just booked this week and are quite excited and b) you seem to be a person who would notice a lot!

 

Sounds like you had a great trip! It looks like a magnificent vessel!!! I am with you, though, on the subject of the outdoor promenade scene. When I started cruising about 20 years ago, an evening stroll was a must. It seems now that the people designing these newer class of ships, in all the lines, are steering away from the traditional wrap around deck in favour of indoor venues that draw and entertain smaller crowds of people. Even the ships with wrap around promenade decks don't have lounges and so they are largely unused. It's a shame, really.

 

Once again, thanks for a a very informative review and happy future sailings to you and your family!

 

Hi

 

I don't know about the dancing, lunch menus or room service. But we were on Anytime dining and think that is the best choice to be honest. It just provides you a degree of flexibility that I think you need when on holiday. The lines weren't bad either when we did show up to eat, with the most we found ourselves waiting being just a few minutes.

 

Unsure about the Solarium at night, but the cantelevered whirlpools and hot tubs on the decks were used at night, but nowhere near as busy as during the day. One thing that struck me were the sheer number of whirlpools/hot-tubs. Plenty to choose from!

 

Hope you enjoy your holiday

[Windy56]

Glad we made the Anytime choice. It will be nice to have that flexibility in terms of time and seating arrangements. Sometimes you just want to dine with your spouse and sometimes it's nice to meet new people.

[soxfan7]

Thanks for your review!

Since you werent able to get in to some of the shows, what other options were available? Was there a "Love & Marriage Game show"?, if so what night was it? We always look forward to this and hopefully our entertainment reservations won't fall during these other fun shows.

[Barnfather]

Thanks for your review!

Since you werent able to get in to some of the shows, what other options were available? Was there a "Love & Marriage Game show"?, if so what night was it? We always look forward to this and hopefully our entertainment reservations won't fall during these other fun shows.

 

There was a Love & marriage game show and they repeated it a million times on the onboard TV system throughout the trip! Can't remember what day it was, but I think it was on an afternoon in the main theatre, and the place didn't look anywhere near full so you should be fine.

[Barnfather]

Love & Marriage was on Day 3, 5pm in the Theatre (just checked our cruise compass!)

[soxfan7]

Love & Marriage was on Day 3, 5pm in the Theatre (just checked our cruise compass!)

 

Thanks!! We always get a kick out of it! :)