OASIS pros and cons

[Shooraq]

See, cats are easier, they don't go on vacation with us and they don't care what we do as long as we feed them, love them, and scoop their boxes :D

 

 

Love this photo! Totally made my day. And I have two big ragdoll males that would act the same way if I don't feed them promptly!

[Smurphy]

*Adventure Ocean. For a ship of this size with amenities such as a carousel and boardwalk which appeals to families, I would have expected Adventure Ocean to be huge. It was smaller than that of Liberty of the Seas. My 8 and 10 year old boys were in different groups so I have decent perspective of both programs although the conclusion for both was the same. They HATED "school" on board the ship. They wanted gaga ball, treasure hunts, games, jokes, dance parties and all the fun they had on Liberty. The first couple times they tried to go it was closed. Throughout the cruise we discovered that hours are more limited on Oasis than Freedom class. Then, when open, they seemed to show up at "quiet, listening and learning time. Their next complaint was that it was way too crowded and I could see why. They had to give 5 minute time allotments for Wii. Not enough to complete any level of any game, so they opted out of that too. The whole program was a complete disappointment for them. We ended up buying arcade cards for them.

 

Can you please tell me about the arcade cards? I've never heard about them.

[USS Cheers]

Actually AO on the Oasis is way larger than on the Liberty (having been on both ship with our DD). Maybe the group rooms are smaller because of the separate room (science lab, common play area, crayola art studio).

 

Food temperature might depend on the location of your dinner table in the MDR and your waiter. We never had a problem with the temp of our food. Can´t comment on Chops.

 

steamboats

 

You got it right....the group rooms-where the children spend the most time are smaller, crowded and not to my boys liking. Seemed like a nursery to them.

[USS Cheers]

I don't have kids, so don't understand Adventure Ocean. What is "school"? This is not meant at you OP, but why don't kids just hang out with their parents on vacation? That's what we did. We didn't have Wiis and stuff. We turned out ok. ;)

 

I don't think Oasis has to be for everyone. We loved it, but Liberty is our other favorite. We were not impressed by the food in the MDR and would not eat there again. Oasis certainly isn't perfect and I think anyone who says it is is just an RCI cheerleader. I would definitely go again, but definitely understand those who go and don't want to go again.

 

Thanks for the review!

 

"School" is the educational aspect that has been added to this class of ships. Adventure Ocean is IMO an activity for the kids....just like a martini class or the casino is for adults. I love having them with us, but they looked forward to age appropriate AO activities and they were "mostly" let down. When my kids are let down and I scrutinize it and agree with their perspective, I am let down as well. KWIM?

[USS Cheers]

Can you please tell me about the arcade cards? I've never heard about them.

 

I didn't really explain that clearly and I apologize! They used to be arcade cards that you bought in a machine for most cruise lines. On Oasis, there is 2 automated kiosks in the arcade. If your kids have charging rights they can slide their sea pass and load it with "arcade" money but using the touch screen to select a denomination. From there they can swipe their sea pass in the games make them run. If your kids do not have charging privledges, then you go to the arcade, slide their sea pass, insert money into the kiosk and their sea pass is loaded with that amount of money to spend. Our kids had charging privledges, but we told them they did not work in the arcade and we had to add cash for them....we didn't want it to get out of control.

[nydoll1]

My kids did the lesson the second night of our Oasis cruise. They just divided everyone into two groups based on ability, lessons were the same. Catlady, everytime my cat Moe sees a suitcase he waits for an opening, jumps in, and pees right smack inside. Not sure if he doesnt want us to leave or is just giving us a little something to remember him by......If I dont talk to you, have a great cruise. Dont forget the drinks in the cantilevered hot tub on me and if you're really feeling adventurous, buy yourself a starfish when you dock in Nassau! So jealous, I got some serious time to kill until Allure.

[bwest the man]

My kids did the lesson the second night of our Oasis cruise. They just divided everyone into two groups based on ability, lessons were the same. Catlady, everytime my cat Moe sees a suitcase he waits for an opening, jumps in, and pees right smack inside. Not sure if he doesnt want us to leave or is just giving us a little something to remember him by......If I dont talk to you, have a great cruise. Dont forget the drinks in the cantilevered hot tub on me and if you're really feeling adventurous, buy yourself a starfish when you dock in Nassau! So jealous, I got some serious time to kill until Allure.

 

That's nice doing it by ability. And getting a starfish may just be the only reason to get off at Nassau. Lol. :D

[BrianAlt]

Our kids had charging privledges, but we told them they did not work in the arcade and we had to add cash for them....we didn't want it to get out of control.

 

Yeah, I lied to my kids about that too. ;)

 

We just manually added cash to their cards.

[janetz]

We sailed Oasis on June 5- Eastern. I don't want to let anyone down, but I just cannot give this cruise a perfect score. We are a family of 5. DH and I are 39/40 kids are 8, 10, 13. This was my 6th cruise.

Pro's

*Embarkation and disembarkation throughout the entire cruise. RC is completely prepared for the crowd this ship holds. We were ON the ship in 25 minutes from the taxi and we did not have a suite!! Very quick at port as well. We had a number of over 5000 for our sailing.

*Cabin. We have chosen upper end suites in the past. This cruise was too expensive so we had to scale back. We had adjoining CP balcony rooms. The storage looked like little until we started unpacking. We had room for everything and room to spare. Creative nooks, shelves throughout. Luggage fit nicely beneath the beds. The decor is very tranquil. Comfortable bed. I did not miss the Ocean view as much as I thought I would. Viewing Central Park was serene. (mostly- Bagpipes echoed up annoyingly)

*The beauty of the ship itself....what a magnificent creation and it was marvelous to just roam and look at detail. It was worth taking stairs to view art on each floor.

*Pool Deck Chairs/Loungers- Plenty of them and we never couldn't get one near if not exactly where we wanted to be. Chair hog problem solved!

Touch Screens. We most appreciated being able to see current events.

Shows. We saw them all and we most enjoyed Come fly with me. It was very energetic . The stage settings were impressive. The ice show was cute and I was impressed with the effects on board- as I also was on Liberty. Hairspray was great. We very much enjoyed it, but it was probably 3rd of favs. Oasis of Dreams- aqua show was okay. Cast was spectacular but I don't think it was the best use of space for this ship....more details in the "con" section.

Stability. Hardly know you were cruising. I personally like a bit of sway, but the rest of the family does not and we very rarely felt a thing.

*The Living Room for teens. My daughter had a fun time there. Loved the "Fuel" dance club, scavenger hunts, and other activities. Andy was great.

*Cabin steward. Far and above the best employee we encountered. Consistently happy, positive, professional and sure of himself- in a confident way. Thanks Romel.

*Maitre-D- The first time I have ever tipped him extra. Just a wonderful attitude, funny personality and he really tried to fill in when waiters simply could not keep up.

*Lobster- The second formal night was Lobster night. Pure White, slightly firm and delicious. The only superb meal of the week out of MDR for us. (others ranged from ok to good)

*Dessert at Chops- this is the place to go ahead and get a gut ache. Mud Pie and Cheesecake-mmmm.

Family dance in the Blaze. Since the boys were with us most of the time it gave us a fun option.

*Park Cafe- We prefer a light breakfast and the atmosphere has the element of health and breakfast was light and quick here. Nice salad selection for lunch as others mentioned.

*Escalators to the gangway. Just added to the speed of embarking and disembarking at ports.

Con's

*Adventure Ocean. For a ship of this size with amenities such as a carousel and boardwalk which appeals to families, I would have expected Adventure Ocean to be huge. It was smaller than that of Liberty of the Seas. My 8 and 10 year old boys were in different groups so I have decent perspective of both programs although the conclusion for both was the same. They HATED "school" on board the ship. They wanted gaga ball, treasure hunts, games, jokes, dance parties and all the fun they had on Liberty. The first couple times they tried to go it was closed. Throughout the cruise we discovered that hours are more limited on Oasis than Freedom class. Then, when open, they seemed to show up at "quiet, listening and learning time. Their next complaint was that it was way too crowded and I could see why. They had to give 5 minute time allotments for Wii. Not enough to complete any level of any game, so they opted out of that too. The whole program was a complete disappointment for them. We ended up buying arcade cards for them. They love basketball and chose to hang out with us much of the time. The court is the next "con".

*Basketball court- With Adventure Ocean being a wipeout for our boys they attempted the basketball court. It was good about 1/2 the time. The other half, upper age teen boys would come in, steal the balls from younger and basically bully them off the court by charging into them with full court BB. It was near impossible to get any sort of supervision by RC staff for this area on the ship. We witnessed the bullying one evening from the Windjammer and tried to get help for the situation to absolutely no avail. RC seems to be avoiding this problem. I suggest 2 courts on the next ship or time allotments for different age groups. A bad situation for sure.

*Zip line- Absolutely no shade for gear hook up and very little shade for the wait- very hot and the ride is very short. Fun few seconds while it lasts though. I heard Allure is being fitted for shade.

*Food- We could not get hot food on the ship. MDR was consistently luke warm. I totally understand the problem. They are simply feeding too many people and food is sitting out too long before being served. Presentation was grand though. Our server in MDR did the best he could, but he was overwhelmed and said his workspace is shared with 8 other servers- once on board you would see how tight these quarters are. He wants to go back to a smaller ship, but has to go to Allure first- he stated that RC is transferring much of the crew b/c RC doesn't want to re-train for set up on Allure and the Oasis crew already knows the routine.

We had the same problem at Chops. Sides and Filet mignon are prepared too far in advance. Filet is slow baked rare, then charred to order. DH ordered MW and had a luke warm steak. A steak freshly prepared to this degree of doneness would be hot. We did not have this problem at Chops on Liberty. Prep like this is acceptable in the dining room, but not at Chops in our opinion. So my advice is to order another cut- I got the rib eye and it was grilled fresh- my only hot item outside of tea, coffee and crème brulee for the entire cruise. Our sides were only warm as well. Chops does not have an Ocean view- all specialty restaurants view Central Park.

*Pool Count- Love the pools they have, but since my boys did not like adventure ocean at all they were with us which made the solarium out for DH and I. The family pools were too crowded and the water got very murky from all the bodies and sunscreen. They needed one more large chlorine pool in the back for public use- this is why I personally didn't appreciate the aqua theater as much- it took away what is usually a nice place to gaze at the ocean and space for a much needed extra family pool. The beachside pool is salt water- nice to have beach entrance, but my youngest DH has allergies and ocean water always sets off his eczema....so nice for most, but we choose RC for chlorine pools for him = 2 pool choices and no room to splash even a little unless he wanted to join the kiddie pool- perfect 2 years ago, not so much this cruise. The chlorine pools have a sign stating that they are open 24 hours except for cleaning. Cleaning is every night (understandably) and to well past midnight so my son with allergies could not swim when the pool was not crowded. Wish they could clean one at a time for families with a situation such as ours. The ocean water pool truly appeared to be a 24 hour pool-I don't know when it is drained as it was the one that was always open when we tried to swim at night.

------

My best suggestion for anyone who has not cruised yet is to make all show reservations in advance of your cruise. I advise you to print out your reservations and take it with you to the show. Our reservation for Hair Spray was somehow dropped but I had my reservation printed out as a "just in case" and I was sure thankful. All other reservations were fine. We did this and signed all waivers in advance and did not have to wait in any lines upon boarding. It was very nice.

I was a little disappointed in the clientele of this cruise- maybe it was time of year. Many patrons seemed impatient. I never felt over crowded on this ship and I saw no reason for it.

I'll end on a positive note- none of us gained an ounce. The ship is huge and requires a great deal of walking.

Allure will not be in our future and I'm still very happy we tried Oasis. It is a beautiful ship. Our cruise on Liberty of the Seas is #1 for us thus far. When we mentioned Liberty to one of the bar tenders he said...."Awww, that's my ship and I'm going back to her." We heard this more than once and we agree. We will cruise RC again.

 

 

Thank you for your great review! :D

[catlady27]

My kids did the lesson the second night of our Oasis cruise. They just divided everyone into two groups based on ability, lessons were the same. Catlady, everytime my cat Moe sees a suitcase he waits for an opening, jumps in, and pees right smack inside. Not sure if he doesnt want us to leave or is just giving us a little something to remember him by......If I dont talk to you, have a great cruise. Dont forget the drinks in the cantilevered hot tub on me and if you're really feeling adventurous, buy yourself a starfish when you dock in Nassau! So jealous, I got some serious time to kill until Allure.

 

I think Frank might toss me overboard if I bring a dead sea creature back on board :)

 

Moe is just sharing the love. :D

 

You have as long to wait on the Allure as we waited for the Oasis. I thought it would NEVER get here. ONLY 80 days to go - woooooooooo hooooooo. I will make sure to post pictures and videos of our cruise. First one I post will be in the hot tub :)

[catlady27]

My kids did the lesson the second night of our Oasis cruise. They just divided everyone into two groups based on ability, lessons were the same. Catlady, everytime my cat Moe sees a suitcase he waits for an opening, jumps in, and pees right smack inside. Not sure if he doesnt want us to leave or is just giving us a little something to remember him by......If I dont talk to you, have a great cruise. Dont forget the drinks in the cantilevered hot tub on me and if you're really feeling adventurous, buy yourself a starfish when you dock in Nassau! So jealous, I got some serious time to kill until Allure.

 

Thanks for the info on the lessons :) and even though Frank was doing better than me last time, he has to stay with me during lessons. I think it's in the marriage rule book somewhere :D

[funat55]

Thanks for your review. I thought it was positive for the most part. I also think it's important to hear the negatives from someones elses perspective and then make up your own mind. Can't tell you the number of times I've gone to see a movie that I loved that got two thumbs down. I am my own critic but I thoroughly enjoy reading everyones reviews.

[Evilblah]

As far as flowrider lessons go, i would do it regardless of whether you want to boogie board or not. I boogie boarded for the whole hour and it really does make a difference in learning tricks. By the end of the lesson i was doing handstands, bodysurfing, flips, and barrel-rolls. It was a blast! Our lesson started just as we were leaving St. Thomas and the sun was going down, a great view of the sunset and island while we were on the flowrider was a plus too.

[Smurphy]

I didn't really explain that clearly and I apologize! They used to be arcade cards that you bought in a machine for most cruise lines. On Oasis, there is 2 automated kiosks in the arcade. If your kids have charging rights they can slide their sea pass and load it with "arcade" money but using the touch screen to select a denomination. From there they can swipe their sea pass in the games make them run. If your kids do not have charging privledges, then you go to the arcade, slide their sea pass, insert money into the kiosk and their sea pass is loaded with that amount of money to spend. Our kids had charging privledges, but we told them they did not work in the arcade and we had to add cash for them....we didn't want it to get out of control.

 

Thanks for clarifying. I was hoping they came out with an "arcade card" kind of like the soda card -- for one price they play all week. Yes, with three kids it gets very pricey!

 

Thanks for the great review!

[bluegirlum]

"School" is the educational aspect that has been added to this class of ships. Adventure Ocean is IMO an activity for the kids....just like a martini class or the casino is for adults. I love having them with us, but they looked forward to age appropriate AO activities and they were "mostly" let down. When my kids are let down and I scrutinize it and agree with their perspective, I am let down as well. KWIM?

 

Absolutely. And it costs a lot to go on Oasis, and if they offer all that stuff, you'd expect it to be what the kids want. I would imagine you tell your kids that they are going to get all this cool stuff, and then when it doesn't pan out, they're kind of disappointed, as are you.

 

Our vacations were either all-day sightseeing sorts of things (Paris, etc.) or a beach vacation (Maine, Nantucket), so I guess I never had the option of something like AO. I like to see the different perspectives, even if I seem to be a fuddy-duddy who doesn't understand it! :)

[steamboats]

Do you refer to the science stuff they are doing? Actually this is the same on all ships. It´s just that they have a special science lab now. My DD did the "bacteria" thing again (they add some glitter to a body lotion and then shake hands and touch things to show how bacteria is spreading, they make a petri dish with glitter bacteria and more). DD did the same last year on the Serenade. So this isn´t anything new. The vulcano is another classic on RCI ships. If you call that school...

 

steamboats

[catlady27]

Do you refer to the science stuff they are doing? Actually this is the same on all ships. It´s just that they have a special science lab now. My DD did the "bacteria" thing again (they add some glitter to a body lotion and then shake hands and touch things to show how bacteria is spreading, they make a petri dish with glitter bacteria and more). DD did the same last year on the Serenade. So this isn´t anything new. The vulcano is another classic on RCI ships. If you call that school...

 

steamboats

 

I say leave the kiddos at home and take the cat on vacation