Onboard the Oasis of the Seas (August 21, 2010)

[Daghis]

Good morning, everyone!

 

I had a big post typed up last night, but instead of composing it offline, I wrote it while connected and when I went to post it, my Internet connection had been lost.

 

We're at the Fort Lauderdale airport now. It's very busy, unsurprisingly.

 

I have to commend Royal Caribbean on what was the smoothest departure that we've ever experienced. Instead of being kicked out of our cabin and being forced to wait in the designated public lounge, the instructions advised that we could wait in our staterooms if we wanted. We waited there (allowing the kids more time to get ready) until about 20 minutes before our estimated departure time when we then went to the Opal Theater. We were only there for a few minutes when they called the last of the departure numbers (we had #82) and we then proceeded through the Royal Promenade.

 

Also, the luggage system worked very well. It was extremely easy to find our bags. Instead of using a dozen or two groups where there are hundreds of bags grouped together all with the same number, by having so many different luggage tag numbers, it's much easier to locate your bags among a much smaller set.

 

The only slow part of the departure was waiting in line for customs/immigration. That took 5-10 minutes. Once we got go the front of the line, the actual conversation with the agent went very fast and was almost cursory.

 

So, let me go through some pictures in my time here waiting to board and see what I can share.

[Daghis]

Trying to figure out if our 2 cabins have the doors right next to each other. Has anybody stayed in or near 14302 and 14304 ? As alot of ya know, doors are like in "pairs", and I'm hoping these 2 are next to each other. If you stayed near by, I can probably calculate it out to see the answer to my question.

Here's the picture I took of the two cabin doors. As I mentioned, they are recessed from the hallway. The depth of the recess is roughly the same as the width of the door (so they can open outward and not block the hallway).

 

[Daghis]

Here are a few more selected pictures while I wait...

 

Me hanging out in Labadee by the beach

 

 

The Oasis of the Seas off in the distance (even far away, she's still big)

 

[Daghis]

Burger and fries... or delicious cupcakes?

 

 

Colorful lighting above the Royal Promenade

 

 

Some of the Mayan ruins at Chacchoben

 

 

That's it for now... We'll be boarding our flight soon.

 

I still love the Oasis of the Seas!

[janetz]

Great Pics! Have a good flight home! :)

[linedancer]

Great review, great pictures. I almost enjoyed your cruise as much as you did. Can't wait till Oct when we will be onboard.

 

What time was it you were allowed to stay in your stateroom till? Can you stay as late as 8:30-9:00? That would be wonderful. Can you get breakfast at Park cafe or coffee shop on that last day? Or just windjammer and MDR?

 

Thanks for the info- safe trip home

Irene

[SingBill]

Have a safe flight home and thanks again for your wonderful posts

[sailingawaysoon]

Hurry home and hold off unpacking until tomorow! All your cruise critic friends are waiting and anticipating hearing and seeing more about this wonderful ship! We leave this coming Thursday for Saturday's sailing....CAN'T WAIT! Did I make my self unclear? CAN'T WAIT, CAN'T WAIT, CAN'T WAIT!

[janetz]

CAN'T WAIT .....Tell me about CHOPS please. :D

[Daghis]

Great review, great pictures. I almost enjoyed your cruise as much as you did. Can't wait till Oct when we will be onboard.

I don't know... you really can't beat being on the ship. A vicarious experience just wouldn't do it justice. :)

 

What time was it you were allowed to stay in your stateroom till? Can you stay as late as 8:30-9:00? That would be wonderful. Can you get breakfast at Park cafe or coffee shop on that last day? Or just windjammer and MDR?

The departure procedures were really improved. First, they offered that you could stay in your stateroom until departure. No particular must-be-out-of-your-cabin time was specified.

 

Breakfast was available before departure in the Windjammer, main dining room, Park Café, and Solarium Bistro. They were generally open from 6:00 to 8:30.

[skycoaster510]

Just got back from the Oasis and boy was it absolutely amazing!! I will post a review in the member review section in the next day or so. I do agree with everyone saying wow about this gigantic ship. Didnt get to do everything i wanted too either!!

[time4me2fly]

Have a safe flight.

 

Thanks for the photos. Nice job on the cupcake burger.

[bellebud]

i've really enjoyed your review - thanks so much for posting live!

 

looking forward to seeing more pics too.

 

a silly question - i've been on 3 cruises, and I feel the motion of the ships too easily. do you feel any rocking on the Oasis?

[Daghis]

I'm finishing up the uploading of my pictures now. It's far easier on the computer than it is on the iPad. :) I've uploaded my SanDisk card, and now I'm waiting for my Eye-Fi card to finish its wireless uploading.

 

a silly question - i've been on 3 cruises, and I feel the motion of the ships too easily. do you feel any rocking on the Oasis?

First few days, no sense of movement whatsoever. Once we left Costa Maya, though, then we started feeling some very slight rocking, just enough to remind us that we were on a ship. To us, though, we expect that feeling as part of a good cruise. :)

[erbunny]

Thanks so much for doing this. We are going on Allure's 4 day cruise Dec 1, and I can't stand the wait. I know it will be much too short a cruise to check every thing out, but aren't most cruises just a bit short? Thanks again, I had lots of fun reading this.

[Daghis]

Some more pictures...

 

Kids' play area in the waiting area, upstairs in the terminal

 

 

This is the ultimate goal in this waiting area, the security gate leading to the ship.

 

 

View of the Embassy Suites as seen from the Oasis of the seas

 

[Daghis]

Elevators remind you of when you are. These plates aren't the traditional carpet ones.

 

 

Map of Labadee... boy, is there a lot of walking around there to get from one end to the other!

 

 

When the Rising Tide Bar is up in Central Park, the fountains below are going, including one fountain that shoots all the way up to the bar itself where it comes back down.

 

 

The wonderful jazz group playing in Jazz on 4

 

[Daghis]

You can find special art viewers scattered around the ship. They're a nice surprise and we always stopped to take a moment to look inside. Some are viewers like this, and some are binocular (3D) viewers.

 

 

Inside the viewers, always something interesting

 

 

Stateroom instructions

 

 

 

Outlets available below the desk

 

[Daghis]

When you get the electronic package for playing bingo, you get this handheld computer that keeps track of 30 cards for you. It beeps when you get close and probably makes noise when you get a bingo, but I never heard that.

 

 

I participated in the "Win a Cruise!" slot tournament. I qualified to play in the final round. I almost won! I got a $90 cash prize for second place.

 

 

After Cozumel, I was surprised to find this hitchhiker in Central Park.

 

 

View from Central Park View (CV) cabin 9645

 

[Daghis]

CAN'T WAIT .....Tell me about CHOPS please. :D

Chops was nice, but I think it's lost its appeal to me as we went there on both the Liberty of the Seas and the Adventure of the Seas. DH was very disappointed with both his starter (shrimp cocktail) and his entrée (some form of stuffed shrimp, I think it was) primarily due to quantity. The shrimp cocktail was only four medium shrimp, so he finished his appetizer rather quickly. The dinner was just two shrimp. One would think for a main course that features shrimp, there'd be more than just two on the plate (along with some included vegetables).

 

I got the petit filet mignon and it was cooked perfectly. The side dishes that we got were pretty good. The desserts we had were excellent.

 

All in all, between DH's dinner experience and my own, I didn't think that Chops Grille was worth the $25 service charge. In retrospect, I think I would have rather had dinner in the main dining room.

 

That said, I will say that the service we got from Monica was great. She was very helpful and did an excellent job.

 

Of course, one thing also to think about Chops Grille is that it has a lot of stiff competition from the other specialty restaurants aboard the Oasis of the Seas, so if we decide to skip it on our next cruise, there are plenty of other options available for us.

[Daghis]

Lastly, a couple videos to share. They may take a while to load after you click on them. I found I had to be patient and wait a bit for MobileMe to do its thing.

 

There is nothing like the experience of boarding the ship the first time from the cruise terminal. Here's that experience.

 

Boarding the Oasis of the Seas

 

When the Rising Tide Bar is up above the Royal Promenade, the fountains below can be quite pretty to watch, especially the tall jet in the center that shoots all the way up to the bar itself and then comes down in a circle of rain around the jet.

 

Watching the water stream up to the Rising Tide Bar

[Daghis]

Now, a few things that I didn't get a chance to do and are on my wish list for the Allure of the Seas next year.

 

 

• Ice skating - I've been on three ships with an ice skating rink, but I've never gone.
  
• Zip line - I couldn't go this year due to the weight limit, but I'm hoping that won't be a problem next year if things continue as they have been.
  
• Spend some time just sitting and relaxing, maybe reading a book. I kept myself very busy, occupying almost all of my time doing something.
  
• Get up earlier to have breakfast especially in the different venues. Except for the departure day, I missed breakfast each day, either sleeping in (I'm a night owl) or leaving early for an excursion.
  
• Ride the carousel.
  
• Enjoy a custom made pizza at Sorrento's.
  

 

 

I'm sure that there are others. These are just a few items that came to me today.

[Daghis]

Oh, I think someone asked for cabin photos.

 

Here's the entrance to a Central Park View (CV) cabin (room 9649, in this case)

 

 

Inside the cabin

 

 

Looking back toward the door

 

 

And the bathroom

 

[FloridaPalms]

First, I want to thank you for sharing your cruise experience with all of us on CC. And thank you for the great pictures!

 

I participated in the "Win a Cruise!" slot tournament. I qualified to play in the final round. I almost won! I got a $90 cash prize for second place.

 

How exciting this must have been for you! Maybe you'll win it on the Allure. How does the slot tournament work and how do you sign up for it?

 

After Cozumel, I was surprised to find this hitchhiker in Central Park.

 

What a beautiful little bird! Looks like he picked the best ship to stowaway on! :D I've often wondered what happens when birds hitchhike (we had one visit our balcony once but we were still in port at Cozumel). Do they try to leave the ship while it is at sea? Even if they don't lose their bearings, it could be an awful long flight home with nowhere to land (except perhaps another cruise ship). Does anyone know? Having found Central Park, I wonder if your little friend decided to stay onboard, got off at FLL, or opted to do a B2B? :p:D

[oliviaonthe beach]

Daghis, you are so generous to share so much. I have just a couple questions.

 

1. I also wonder what happened to the bird...

2. The view from your cabin...is that are under the glass the bar, or a restaurant of some kind? I'm a bit confused.

3. Did you notice where the Hyatt Place North is in relation to the Embassy Suites and the Hess container?

4. Is it just me or is there a lot of room and seating in the CPV cabin? My (spoiled) kids will be very happy in there I think.