JUST GOT HOME---Review 5/15-22

[bluegirlum]

Warning: BF and I are probably the most boring cruisers in the world. We don't do much activities or excursion-wise. So that won't really be in this review. It's just my general impressions after a week on an amazing ship. It wasn't perfect, but even the "complaints" are mild. Also, I may have some of the nights wrong about shows and such--I tend to lose track of days on vacation!

 

Friday Flew into FLL late, and stayed at Sleep Inn. Free shuttle to airport and to port and cheap price were reasons for picking it. It was just fine. Free breakfast. Walgreens next door to stock up on a few last minute things.

 

SaturdayWanted 11am shuttle, got it at 10:45, had to pick up some ladies at FLL, then at pier at 11:15. Other than usual chaos of people leaving previous cruise, very orderly. Separate entrance for suites, then divided in two groups by deck number. My security agent almost gave me a heart attack by joking that I was a week early! They were already boarding, so didn't have to wait in Platinum area. Got on board by 11:30. So easy! They give you a fold-up map and a little booklet, which was really helpful.

 

Wow is all I can say about how we felt when we walked in. WOW! Amazing.

 

Went up to sports deck b/c thought you had to sign up for zipline. Touch screens said it opened at 11:30, so we got up there, and it was closed. So we got DOD at the Mast Bar, and people started lining up. At about 11:50, staff came up to organize the line. The ladies in front of me were in a tizzy because it turned out that now, instead of reserving a time for the zipline, it's first come, first served. That was kind of annoying, since I had read on here that you reserve a time, but the staff said there had been numerous complaints by passengers about the reserving process, so they have now changed it. So just a head's up if you plan to do it. (I never ended up doing it b/c the lines were always long, but no biggie). Still had my DOD in hand and we headed to the WJ.

 

Had heard WJ was pretty small and it was. The food in there was really good, but they clearly are trying to steer people elsewhere. The set up of the dessert station made no sense, and people were picking food up with their fingers, but the service was great, and we ate lunch there a few times and dinner twice. Never ate breakfast there.

 

Cabin opened at 1 and it was great. Kind of small, but great storage. One minor thing--in the shower, the "shelf" for your toiletries was not that well designed. Basically anything you want to put on it kept slipping through and falling into the shower. Poor BF had to keep picking up my stuff! Really annoying. But otherwise, the bathroom was great. We were given shampoo, conditioner, body wash and lotion, along with regular soap, which I thought was a really nice touch. Don't know if everyone had that so I'd like to know about that.

 

Our room steward was the best we've ever had. She was wonderful.

 

We left at 8:00pm that night, as they were doing maintenance that could only be done in the US. I think it's for the lifeboats.

 

Dinner on the first night in the MDR. It was fine, but not great. We both had Vidalia Onion Tart (yum!), I had pork and BF had fish, then I had pot de creme (i.e. chocolate mousse) and BF had some weird strawberry merengue thing. Waiter was fine, but not great. We only ate there the first night. We had decided not to do formal nights anyway, but based on the menus we'd seen and all the other options, we just didn't feel like it was worth going to.

 

Sunday First day at sea. Formal night. Breakfast from the Cafe Promenade--donuts, danishes, croissants. We did this every day. We randomly woke up super early, so we were able to get a cabana in the Solarium. Wonderful! Lots of chair hogs, but the deck patrol was out in full force. The cabana unfortunately got really hot with the top up after a while, and since I can't really be in the sun that much, we let someone else have it and went to the sports pool and hung out under shade for a while. We then went to the Park Cafe for one of many roast beef sandwiches. Better than advertised! I had the turkey panini, and it was great. Make your own salad was really good too. Then back to cabin to nap, and then a snack at Cafe Promenade. We had the double chocolate brownies and toffee cookies. Wow. Amazing again! We had to have one of each every day! Room service for dinner. I had the honey stung chicken w/sweet potato fries, which was really good. BF had steak sandwich, which was also really good.

 

We then were just walking around, and realized Oasis of Dreams was starting at Aqua Theatre, so we sat at Boardwalk Bar and watched from there. They show everything on the big screens, so you miss some of it, but it was enough. Hairspray was that night in Opal Theatre. Fantastic! Apparently it was the last show by Cast 1, so that was kind of neat. Only complaint is that the theatre got soooo hot that we almost left. Same thing happened when we saw the Headliner, Tony Tillman, a few nights later (he was great too--we didn't have tickets, but did SRO). It was really hot!

 

Monday Labadee. We sat at Nettie's Beach and it was wonderful. I bought something at straw market and had my obligatory Labadoozie. We went back to ship around noon, and it was nice that so many dining options were open---the beach bbq was not the only option. Sorrento's for dinner. We actually found the pizza there to be very good. We got a "make your own" on the last night and it was really good!

 

When we were leaving Labadee, there was a medevac situation and a helicopter had to land on the pier to take a passenger to a "nearby hospital" (according to CD Ken Rush). I'm not sure what the situation was, but I'm wondering what hospital the person would go to. I hope they are ok.

 

Tuesday Sea day. We were very lazy and I can't remember doing much of anything! I think we ate and drank and read and did a lot of nothing. Sorry! Oh, the winds were really high at one point (about 50mph) and the seas were very high. Huge whitecaps.

 

Wednesday/Formal #2 Raining when we woke up and rain for the rest of the day in Costa Maya. Ken Rush and his staff set up extra ship activities, and several excursions were cancelled, but a lot of people seemed to get off the ship. A Pullmantur ship was in port and seemed like a person's tiny yacht in comparison. We walked around a little and got some chips and guac and drinks at Mamasita's. We watched some really drunk people in the pool act like fools, then headed back onto the ship. I wish it had been a nice day, but we weren't deterred.

 

I felt bad for the people dressed up for the second formal night, since the Boardwalk and Central Park aren't covered and people got drenched. I know that's kind of the point of Central Park and the Boardwalk, but when two of your key areas aren't really accessible when it's raining, that's kind of a problem.

 

Thursdayl Beautiful day in Cozumel made up for Costa Maya. We had first planned to go to Nachi Cocum for a beach day, but BF decided he wanted to go deep sea fishing. So...thanks to the recommendation of CC folks, we found a place, and went fishing. BF caught a 50 pound mahi mahi and it was really cool. I'm so glad we did it.

We caught a cab back and were in there with 2 ladies who were on the Carnival Elation. It apparently leaves every week from Mobile, AL. They seemed to be having fun, but I don't think I would enjoy it...No balconies! :eek:

 

We were so wiped out after the fishing that we just headed back to the ship. The line for security was "long," so we had to wait about 10 minutes. People were having water bottles taken if they were holding them out, but seemed to get them through if they were in their bags.

 

We went to Johnny Rockets for dinner that night, which is always fun. Great service as usual. Wish we had tried breakfast there.

 

Friday Final day at sea. We decided to use our casino coupons and ended up winning enough money to pass off our seapass account with some left over! If you play slots, make sure to put your seapass card in the machine each time so you can rack up points to get keychains and t-shirts and stuff. :)

 

Used up some other coupons, and just enjoyed our last day of vacation together. We also tried to hit all the dining venues we needed to go to. So we had a donut from the donut shop (same as from the WJ, so nothing special), and had a cupcake from the cupcake shop (red velvet--really good--would probably get more next time).

 

Saturday I'm not sure what time we docked, but I'm guessing it was around 1am or so. I woke up around 6:30 and got breakfast at the Park Cafe. We carried off our own bags at 8:15 and were at taxi stand at 8:30. Taxi stand was not well thought out and people were just pushing each other, but it was fine. We got to FLL at 8:45. Flight was at 1:15, and turns out they are very strict about the 2 hour before your flight thing. If you don't have to be at the airport until 2 hours before your flight, don't go there. It's a zoo. Waiting downstairs was fine--there is free WiFi at least--so I caught up on Facebook. :)

 

So now I'm home, and sad that I'm not in the Schooner Bar or Globe & Atlas listening to the bagpiper. Again, not an exciting review, I know, but just my observations. Below I'm just going to list my likes and dislikes, and know that the "dislikes" were pretty minor. The ship was amazing, it was a great week, and I hope I get to go again. I was pretty "anti" Oasis, but I'm going to have a hard time going back to a smaller ship. Please let me know if you have any questions. (And yes, the compass for this week was basically the same as the one posted for 2 weeks ago. My scanner isn't working, but if you have specific questions, I can try to answer).

 

Likes

--embarkation and disembarkation, in FLL and at piers: very easy and quick

--dining options: so nice to have so many places to eat; not only that, but overall, the food was really good. We didn't do any of the specialty restaurants, only because we were pretty lazy, but they looked really good. Our favorites were the brownies and cookies in the Cafe Promenade, everything in the Park Cafe (great breakfast!), and most of the things we had in the WJ.

--crew: Clearly they picked the best of the best. Our cabin steward, was the best we've ever had. I could write a whole review about her. The Guest Services staff was helpful, the waiters everywhere were great. I was really impressed.

--touch screens: very helpful to see what restaurants were full, what was going on at that time, how to get around, etc. Great idea!

--entertainment: We're not usually entertainment people, but Hairspray and Tony Tillman were great. We even watched the water show at the Aqua Theater. The bagpiper was really good, and we loved the dedicated Jazz on 4 lounge.

 

Dislikes (again, pretty minor!)

--MDR: very disappointing. Only went first night. Food is just kind of blah. Been there, done that.

--WJ: Great food, but bad set up and not enough seating. Also, one night they blocked off one side for a "private event" but we never saw anyone in there.

--Zipline: No reservations. Everytime I wanted to go, line was long. I'm just impatient, and would've loved to have had the chance to make reservation. Also, the process was unclear.

--Cabin: As mentioned, the shelf in the shower, and I miss the bedside tables. It would be great if there were loungers on the balcony, but that's just a dream, not a dislike.

--CD: I tried to like Ken Rush this time, but I couldn't. He looked bored at some things, like he was just going through the motions. Even BF, who never notices, was like "what's up with this guy?" He likes to hear himself talk, but that's about it. And on the last night, he signed off over the ship's PA with "May God bless each and every one of you" when wishing us safe travels home. To me, that's something the President of the United States says, not a Cruise Director to a ship of 6000 diverse passengers. I wasn't offended, but just found it odd.

 

I think that's it for now. I may think of other things. I will say that each time I went to guest services (4 times?) someone was up there complaining about the WOW phones (or whatever they are called). But other people seemed to like them.

 

Again, it was amazing and I'm so glad we did it. I hope everyone else enjoyed their trip as much as we did!

[CruiserNicole47]

Thanks for the review! Glad you had a good time. Just a question- if you and DBF don't do much entertainment or anything, what was your reason for choosing Oasis? Just wondering. :)

 

Also- I've read that people have asked for loungers for balconies and they brought them right up. Tip for next time I guess!

[bluegirlum]

Thanks for the review! Glad you had a good time. Just a question- if you and DBF don't do much entertainment or anything, what was your reason for choosing Oasis? Just wondering. :)

 

Also- I've read that people have asked for loungers for balconies and they brought them right up. Tip for next time I guess!

 

Very good question! :) I had been pretty anti-Oasis--thought it was just too big--but we got a great residency deal on it, and thought we'd give it a shot to see if the hoopla was worth it. We like cruising because it's our time together and if we want to do stuff, it's there, but if we want to have a lazy day, we can do that too. I'm more of a pool/beach person, but he gets bored sitting around, so it's nice that he can go off to the casino or whatever. We know we don't have to plan anything or make any decisions if we don't want to, and since our work lives are all about planning and deciding, it's a nice break. And now that we've seen the entertainment on Oasis, we'd like to see what's on Allure! :)

 

Good to know about the loungers. Now that I think about that, I am pretty sure I had read that too, and if it was a really big deal, we probably would've asked. We didn't want to bother our steward, but I know she would've brought one if we asked.

 

Have a great time on your cruise!!!

[Beach710]

Thanks for the review. I think we are the same type of cruisers (unless we visiting new exciting ports.) We like to have the option of relaxing or having acitivities avaialbe if we get bored.:)

[champagne123]

Loved your review. Your point of view from people that do not need to be on the go 24/7 was refreshing.

[mcfaddensfarm]

Thanks for the great review! We are also probably not going to do specialty restaurants (in October) so it was good to hear from someone else who didn't and still found plenty of good food choices.

 

A quick question if you (or anyone else reading this) can answer: When we were on Liberty, my son LOVED the tiramisu dessert in one of the promenade cafes. (Thinking back, I can't remember if it was Cafe Promenade or Sorrento's...but I'm thinking Sorrento's since it's pizza/Italian.) It was served layered in plastic cups and my son got at least one of these every night. Do you know if they have this dessert in Sorrento's (or anywhere else) on Oasis? My son will be really excited if they do. :)

[Tyler80]

Thanks for the great review! We are also probably not going to do specialty restaurants (in October) so it was good to hear from someone else who didn't and still found plenty of good food choices.

 

A quick question if you (or anyone else reading this) can answer: When we were on Liberty, my son LOVED the tiramisu dessert in one of the promenade cafes. (Thinking back, I can't remember if it was Cafe Promenade or Sorrento's...but I'm thinking Sorrento's since it's pizza/Italian.) It was served layered in plastic cups and my son got at least one of these every night. Do you know if they have this dessert in Sorrento's (or anywhere else) on Oasis? My son will be really excited if they do. :)

 

I too loved the tiramisu dessert cups at Sorrentos onboard Liberty! I would image that every Sorrentos has these types of items onboard.

[kybill]

We have a lot in common with "bluegirlum." We don't usually do any of the excursions and this cruise we didn't make one show. We ate in the specialty restaurants and didn't go to the dinning room at all. We were lucky to catch a residence/age discount on one of the Crown Loft Suites and loved it. We also felt the same way about the WJ, poorly laid out with not enough tables and chairs. One of the best parts of the cruise for us was the Concierge Lounge on deck eleven. A great place to read, look over the Board Walk area and meet interesting people. Reno who was Concierge with us on the maiden voyage was wonderful to work with. Reno is always spreading the RCL "Wow!" One night I observed Reno take off his jacket and place it over a Lady as an umbrella in Central Park when a sudden rain appeared from no where. I was glad to hear from the Hotel Director the ship will be retro-fitted with different electrical plug outlets which will be accessible from counter tops. I'll post more later, but for now unpacking seems to be calling.

Regards:

Bill

[bluegirlum]

I too loved the tiramisu dessert cups at Sorrentos onboard Liberty! I would image that every Sorrentos has these types of items onboard.

 

I actually didn't see any desserts of any kind at Sorrentos. Someone may correct me on that, but I just remember pizza being served. However, down the Promenade across from Boleros is the Mondo Coffee bar. It always had a stock of desserts, like chocolate mousse, etc. I would try there first. Also, the Cafe Promenade had a ton of desserts, and you can try Park Cafe as well. We didn't even go to the Wipeout Bar, but maybe they have it there? I would comb the Promenade first, and would guess you can find it!

[kybill]

OOPS! I just noticed I spelled Reyno's name wrong. His real name is Reyno Varkevisser and he is the real deal when it comes to being a Concierge!

Bill

 

We have a lot in common with "bluegirlum." We don't usually do any of the excursions and this cruise we didn't make one show. We ate in the specialty restaurants and didn't go to the dinning room at all. We were lucky to catch a residence/age discount on one of the Crown Loft Suites and loved it. We also felt the same way about the WJ, poorly laid out with not enough tables and chairs. One of the best parts of the cruise for us was the Concierge Lounge on deck eleven. A great place to read, look over the Board Walk area and meet interesting people. Reno who was Concierge with us on the maiden voyage was wonderful to work with. Reno is always spreading the RCL "Wow!" One night I observed Reno take off his jacket and place it over a Lady as an umbrella in Central Park when a sudden rain appeared from no where. I was glad to hear from the Hotel Director the ship will be retro-fitted with different electrical plug outlets which will be accessible from counter tops. I'll post more later, but for now unpacking seems to be calling.

Regards:

Bill

[Langley Cruisers]

Thanks for your review. I agree with a lot of what you wrote.

 

 

And on the last night, he signed off over the ship's PA with "May God bless each and every one of you" when wishing us safe travels home. To me, that's something the President of the United States says, not a Cruise Director to a ship of 6000 diverse passengers. I wasn't offended, but just found it odd.

 

I'm not sure I understand your comment. Isn't the United States filled with diverse people too? Perhaps he is a Christian and was wishing everyone safe travels and God's blessings. Or perhaps it's just a general "bon voyage" greeting he says. It's not really a random thing to say. :) Our waiter said it every night to us.

[bluegirlum]

Thanks for your review. I agree with a lot of what you wrote.

 

 

 

 

I'm not sure I understand your comment. Isn't the United States filled with diverse people too? Perhaps he is a Christian and was wishing everyone safe travels and God's blessings. Or perhaps it's just a general "bon voyage" greeting he says. It's not really a random thing to say. :) Our waiter said it every night to us.

 

He didn't say it when we were on Liberty with him, so we found it odd. I am not around a lot of people who routinely give me God's blessings--I live in a city that's pretty "PC", so I think that's why we noticed it. :D Maybe I was just sick of his announcements at that point? :eek:

[househunter]

Just curious what you meant about the "2 hour rule" at the airport? We were off the ship and at the airport by about 9:30 for our 2 pm flight. We checked right in and then went and had breakfast in another terminal. We were very surprised that it did not seem crowded at all to us- we just wished we didn't have such a long time to wait before our flight!

 

Maybe you were at the Miami airport?:confused:

[bluegirlum]

Just curious what you meant about the "2 hour rule" at the airport? We were off the ship and at the airport by about 9:30 for our 2 pm flight. We checked right in and then went and had breakfast in another terminal. We were very surprised that it did not seem crowded at all to us- we just wished we didn't have such a long time to wait before our flight!

 

Maybe you were at the Miami airport?:confused:

 

What airline were you on? We were on Delta out of FLL, and they were very clear that although the FAA/TSA rules say you can be there 6 hours in advance, they would only let you check in 2 hours in advance of your flight. And if you tried to go through security more than 2 hours before, TSA would not let you through as well. There is a scrolling sign at security that says "Now checking flights from 12-2" or something close to that. The folks waiting for Air Canada had the same rule. It was the C gates.

 

We just wanted to get rid of our bags and couldn't even do that. Let me know what airline you were on, because I will not be flying Delta out of FLL again.

[Langley Cruisers]

We just wanted to get rid of our bags and couldn't even do that. Let me know what airline you were on, because I will not be flying Delta out of FLL again.

 

Oh my goodness - sorry to hear about this. We flew Continental (domestic within U.S.) and we were permitted to check in, bags and all, at 10 am for a 6 pm flight! We could not believe it!! We thought it would be at least the 4 hour rule, but they let us through! Spent the time in the airport with the free WiFi since we'd already spent 3 days pre-cruise in Fort Lauderdale.

[wahlberc]

Thank you for the review on FLL airlines. Since it seems more psgrs are on DL than CO we will stay on board the ship longer.

 

Where can you have breakfast on arrival day & what time do they stop serving?

 

What time must you leave your room?

[kybill]

We used the luggage valet service which worked well. We put the bags out the last night and didn't handle or see them again until we got to our home airport. We got to the airport by 10 and had a 3:20 flight, we chilled out in the Sky Club and got caught up on email, news and snacks.

We're always able to breath a little easier when all the pieces of the luggage shows up at the claim area. We'll use the valet service again.

Bill

[Rock1t]

We did express check out. Woke up about 6am and had breakfast at the Windjammer. It opens at 5:30 am on disembarkation day. After breakfast, we went back to the room and did a last minute check for everything and about 15 minutes later were in a taxi on our way to FLL. We had a 9 am flight and got there with plenty of time to spare. We were also flying Delta, sorry to hear about all of your troubles.

 

For breakfast on disembarkation day, times are as follows...

• 
  Windjammer: 5:30 am - 8:30 am
  Solarium Bistro: 6:00 am - 8:30 am
  Park Cafe: 6:00 am - 8:30 am
  Opus Dining Room (deck 4): 6:00 am - 8:30 am
  

[bluegirlum]

Thank you for the review on FLL airlines. Since it seems more psgrs are on DL than CO we will stay on board the ship longer.

 

Where can you have breakfast on arrival day & what time do they stop serving?

 

What time must you leave your room?

 

As KYBill says, if you are flying Delta, definitely consider the luggage valet. We will do that next time, no matter what airline we fly. We also would then probably go into FLL or do an excursion so we wouldn't have to sit around the airport. It certainly wasn't the end of the world, especially with the free internet, and we've learned for next time. I am actually more frustrated with Delta than anything, and this goes back to my Majesty cruise in December. Just one of those things and I'm glad to hear others had smooth sailing (pun intended)! I think BF and I are just flagged by them! :)

 

As to your other questions:

 

I think the last people to leave were supposed to leave at 9:30, but I think that some people must stay later because when we came to board the week before at 11:15, there were plenty of people waiting around who had just gotten off the ship.

 

As for breakfast, the WJ, Park Cafe, Solarium Bistro (I think) and somewhere else were open. I ran up to the Park Cafe around 6:45 and it was empty. I think they were open until 8:30, but am not totally sure because we knew we'd be gone. Platinum members could meet in the MDR for a continental breakfast, but we didn't go to that. I don't know where suites/diamonds went.

[househunter]

What airline were you on? We were on Delta out of FLL, and they were very clear that although the FAA/TSA rules say you can be there 6 hours in advance, they would only let you check in 2 hours in advance of your flight. And if you tried to go through security more than 2 hours before, TSA would not let you through as well. There is a scrolling sign at security that says "Now checking flights from 12-2" or something close to that. The folks waiting for Air Canada had the same rule. It was the C gates.

 

We just wanted to get rid of our bags and couldn't even do that. Let me know what airline you were on, because I will not be flying Delta out of FLL again.

 

We were on Delta. Did not see any signs and had no issues going through security early??? Maybe because we were first class?

[seeship]

I would like to know more about the 2 hour flight thing at the FLL airport. Our plane doesn't leave until 3:30 PM and we are not interested in taking a tour. For clarification, are you saying you cannot check in at until 2 hoours prior to flight time? Thanks for your help.

[Langley Cruisers]

For clarification, are you saying you cannot check in at until 2 hours prior to flight time? Thanks for your help.

 

I think it depends on your airline. As I stated previously, we were allowed to check in 6 hours prior to our flight on Continental.

[BrianAlt]

It's possible that the lines were so long that they restricted it so people who needed to get on sooner could do so.

 

Just a thought.

[Cruiser0721]

By chance did you hang onto your cruise compasses from this trip and be willing to share them? I am one of those people who want to "do it all" and a copy of the Compass would be quite helpful. I have located a link to the Compass from the first sailing of the western itinerary; however, I believe the agenda has changed.

 

Thanks for your help!

[Puffinater]

Thanks for taking the time to post your review/comments. I agree about Ken Rush, way to full of himself. Hopefully he will not be on in October.