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My week on the Oasis. 13th -20th

retnuh281

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retnuh281

retnuh281

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we signed the oline waivers - where do you go to get the wristbands for rock climbing/flow riders???

 

 

The place we got our bracelets was up at the Flo Rider "shack" there is a little building between the two, can't miss it.

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srf mom

srf mom

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I am sitting here hoping you will post more of your review. Actually I need to go pick up my son from school but he can wait...can't he??? Really want to stay and read more of your review!! You should be a writer! I'd buy your books any day of the weak. I'm going on the Oasis April 24th and CAN'T WAIT!!!

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srf mom

srf mom

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Lovin' it. Keep it coming!! Sailing on Apr 24th, so close I can almost taste it, and it tastes like roast beef sandwiches and coconut cupcakes. And the Works at Johnny Rockets.

 

We're doing the flowrider lessons, too, so any tips you can offer will be appreciated. Never been on a surfboard in my life, so it should be interesting. Can't wait to be doing this kind of running diary myself!!!!

Kim and Jeff, I'm sailing on April 24th as well. Looking forward to meeting everyone from cc!! Doing the doc dance today. Got my luggage tags yesterday!! YIPPPEEEE

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JeffersonSea

JeffersonSea

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Kim and Jeff, I'm sailing on April 24th as well. Looking forward to meeting everyone from cc!! Doing the doc dance today. Got my luggage tags yesterday!! YIPPPEEEE

 

Great, looking forward to meeting you. Got all our shows booked, our flowrider lessons, our scuba lessons, dinners, you name it. Now all we need is the calendar to start speeding up a little.

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catlady27

catlady27

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Instead of the traditional review, I would like to take this review day by day and try to relive it as I write this. There is no way to get this all on one post so I will do it in sections and a day by day review with tips and such as I go. I will be happy to answer any questions about anything.

Here we go.................

First a little background, I am 46 yr old guy, married, with one daughter age 16. This was our 5th cruise and 3rd with RCCL. Previously we have sailed the Navigator and Voyager all during the same time of year for Spring Break. This year was really special in that we sailed with 5 other families, 24 of us total, all neighborhood friends for years.

Well, 13 of us were scheduled to leave Friday afternoon on AirTran out of Houston connecting Atlanta, then arriving in Ft Lauderdale about 10:00 p.m.. Had the hotel booked and arrangements to the port on Saturday morning. We checked on line ALL day about our flight and other than about a 20 minute delay all seemed fine. Upon arrival we were informed that because of severe weather in ATL that our flight was CANCELLED. A refund was offered and that was it. Of course we checked every other viable alternative, but as you can imagine there aren't a whole lot of vacancies or any other alternatives during spring break weekend.

Before anyone asks.........none of us had trip insurance. Could have been a very costly mistake.

By this time it was 3:00 CST, we had to board the Oasis the next day by 3:30 EST. The decision was made to get some rental cars and go for it.

My family and luggage in a car. A family of 6 in a van, and a family of 4 in another car. Do you have any idea how much luggage 7 kids (all female) and 6 adults have? Did anyone catch the part about 10 females and luggage? Was this a bad dream? Everyone seemed to think so.

So in an effort not to bore you for the next 20.5 hours we arrived at the port at 11:30 a.m. the day of sailing March 13th 2010. Tired, very tired. We drove straight through from Houston Texas to Ft. Lauderdale Florida in about 20 hours. When we returned the rental cars to Avis, the woman told us that we weren't suppose to be here yet. LOL, well here we stand lady.

One of the other families booked Delta which also had to go through Atlanta. They arrived in FLL at about 3:00 a.m. and at least got a few hours sleep before boarding. The other 2 families left the day of, which I would NEVER recommend, and made it there without a hitch. Wierd thing is, we all arrived at the terminal AT THE SAME TIME, and checked in together.:p

Well embarkation was a breeze, 2 of us had booked suites and we have one disabled girl in our party and they let us all check in together, which was nice. I wish I had all the pictures to go along with this story because a few of us looked more than a little haggard in the boarding pics.

 

Now my first tip. Is everyone paying careful attention?????

No matter how many times you have cruised, take the boarding pictures, even if you have absolutely no intention of buying it. The Oasis has a face recognition system for all of the pictures. If you don't take this boarding picture you will not have all of your pictures together for the remainder of the cruise. This happened to one of the families traveling with us and it became a REAL pain as the trip went on. Because of the way I felt and looked I really didn't want this picture, I'm so glad I did. They take your Sea Pass, and the pictures go with your room number, and everytime a picture is taken it goes in your "folder".

 

So..........we are on the ship and let me tell you, if you've read any reviews about the Oasis you've seen adjectives like WOW, breathtaking, fabulous , unbelievable. Now take all those words and roll them up into one and then you may have an idea what this ship is like. WOWbreathtakingfabulousunbelievable. Kind of like that.

 

Stay tuned for the next episode in which the family arrives at their stateroom at 1:05 and the luggage has arrived...........rivoting.

 

OMG, this is the FIRST and ONLY review I have read that has me cracking up. :D

 

We live in Summerwood and are going on the Oasis in September of this year and can't wait. I have seen Air Tran but we opted to stick with Continental for just the reasons you named. I can't believe you drove straight through - WOW

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tray

tray

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Retnuh: okay....I'm sitting here reading your review experiencing all kinds of emotions. Shock and fear for you all when you found out your flight had been canceled, sheer amazement that you all drove all the way to Florida, even greater amazement at your energy day in and day out on so little sleep, hysterical joy and laughter at your descriptions of so many things throughout your trip already, excitement reading about what is to come for us in June, and then a few minutes ago sheer pride realizing you are from Sugar Land....right here somewhere by me! I tried to look at the pictures to see if we know one another....where are you in SL? We are in Avalon.

 

I am looking forward to your next hilarious installment!

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retnuh281

retnuh281

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For the Turtle Cove excursion on St. Thomas, did you leave directly from the pier or did you have to take transportation to the Pirate ship? If so, what kind of transportation?

 

Sorry for the delay, it seems daughter contracted strep during our cruise, Dr. said it was probably the plane trip home. Oh yes, and this little thing I like to call work. UGHHHHH

 

We were picked up by an open air "bus" at the dock for the excursion and a short ride over to the Pirate boat. TONS of fun. If any of you are on face book look at some of the pics, it seems they are all pics of people smiling and having fun. JOHN HUNTER on FB.

 

We rented two vans through Arthurs car rental, only vans I could find on St. Martin. The guy (Arthur) was great. No hassles no problems and a hell of a nice guy. If you are wanting to explore St. Martin you almost have to rent a vehicle. The cab prices are per person, and if you want to see more than one place it's so much more cost effective. A family of three going to Orient beach is 15 per person ONE WAY. For our group of 22 renting two vans came out to be $13.00 a piece and thats WITH gas. Doesn't take Copernicus to figure this one out.

Well, our plan was to hit Marigot for the outdoor market they have on Wednesday and then on to Grand Case for lunch and beach. There are these little things called "turnarounds" which driving a stick shift on mountainous terrain with a van full of back seat drivers, I ended up going the total opposite way from which I planned. I have only been looking at the map for about 6 months so give me a break. We didn't want to fight the crowds at Orient there were 5 ships in that day, and the Oasis can be counted as two. Tooo many people!!

Well, we ended up in Grand Case, parked the van, walked out to the beach and plopped down on the available chairs. No one else around at this point, just us. If you like to eat, then this is where you MUST go. OMG there are restaurants one after another. They have outdoor LOLO's which is where the best deals are found. $4.00 for a rack of ribs, $2.00 for chicken and homemade side dishes ranging from .50 to $2.00. Gastronomic delights!!! Me and another Dad watch a show called Three Sheets on the fine living network FLN. They did a piece on St. Martin and it happened the chairs we plopped in was the place we were looking for. Unbelievable. The girls ordered salads from this place that really can't be put into words. I ordered a whole lobster from the LoLo and it was so decadent, almost like a dream. We talked with the owner about his television enfamy and tried the centipede rum and the rooftop rum as well.

1378347051_centipederum.jpg.749380dc115772f970f71e3e47a5bb8d.jpg

calmos.jpg.657d1cb87206c323883152765c523eef.jpg

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Thats us in the water and a pic of Calmos Cafe.

OK at about 2:30 in the afternoon traffic starts getting bad in and around any town, so give yourself plenty of time. The shopping at the pier isn't that great so do it in Philipsburg if you're going to shop. The Dutch side looks better, more modern and cleaner than the Frenchie side IMHO. Next time we will spend more time there, but what a great day had by all. Because I was driving I've not had anything except a sampling of the centipede rum at this point. We have Chops tonight and too much wine from our wine package left. Lest we forget it is St. Paddys day. I'm the one in the pic, with the shamrock on the T-shirt.

BRB, this work thing is killing me.

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retnuh281

retnuh281

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Retnuh: okay....I'm sitting here reading your review experiencing all kinds of emotions. Shock and fear for you all when you found out your flight had been canceled, sheer amazement that you all drove all the way to Florida, even greater amazement at your energy day in and day out on so little sleep, hysterical joy and laughter at your descriptions of so many things throughout your trip already, excitement reading about what is to come for us in June, and then a few minutes ago sheer pride realizing you are from Sugar Land....right here somewhere by me! I tried to look at the pictures to see if we know one another....where are you in SL? We are in Avalon.

 

I am looking forward to your next hilarious installment!

 

We live in Greatwood, as do all the people in the pictures. Get goose bumps just thinking about how cool it is having friends like this.

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