Just off March 5 Oasis

[dizzlepop]

Wow, what an interesting thread!

 

I'd like to clarify "Carnival" for those who don't know it -- it's the crazy week of partying BEFORE Lent; the final day is "Fat Tuesday," which is the day before Ash Wednesday (first day of Lent).

 

I can empathize with the frustration of the issue being discussed. One thing I haven't read is this: This way of being is simply the Brazilian culture. This is how Brazilians behave at home, too, with each other. Doesn't mean anyone has to like it or excuse it. It just is. We each behave the same out and about as we do at home, too, right? I'm a polite, rule-following type. I behave that way wherever I travel. Other Americans are not, and they take it with them wherever they travel. I've seen all of it countless times.

 

Here's a little funny: My daughter was singing with her choir on tour in Italy, so there was a sizable group (50) of Americans we traveled with. I have only been to Mass in the U.S., and we very orderly go up for Communion, row-by-row. So we're in Milan, it's time for Communion, and there's this MAD DASH to the front! Holy smokes we all stood there, dumbfounded! Then we joined them :)

[justcrusin']

We sailed the Allure on the 2/27 sailing and understand there were 600 Brazilians onboard. Always found cruisers to always be friendly and especially enjoy meeting people from all over the world.....but this was the first time we too experiencee rude behaviour not just to fellow passengers, but to the staff from a certain demographic. They would pile in the elevators and my husband even joked about reaching the limit in the elevator and there were 11 elevators in the same area...they would pile in before letting people out.

 

I understand the 3/6 sailing was going to include over 3000 Brazilians and they were going to adjust dining time to accomodate their lifestyle. Upon arriving home and telling about our great cruise (ship was amazing), but rudeness and pushy behavior, others had the same expierience at Disney World. Next year, I will be sure not to schedule trip around Carnavale time.

[justcrusin']

Hello all,

 

We were also on the same cruise. My understanding is that there was 2600 Brazilians on board this week and over 3000 on the Allure. The only issue we found was they did tend to have a "air" about them that they were better than the rest. My son had a few encounters with them. He was on the basketball court and they were trying to pick a fight with him. When that failed they would talk away in spanish about him and call him a stupid american. We are Canadian.. not that that matters. Another time during a crowded event on the Royal promenade he accidentally stepped on someone's foot .. he apologized but they didn't accept it and shoved him spilling his pop all over him. Another time we were in the Park Cafe and my daughter sat at an empty table while I got our food and this family sat around her and motioned her to leave. She didn't understand spanish so didn't understand what they were saying, so she gave up the table. I was also in the ABBA show when a group of people started fighting.. very scary experience.

 

These were some bad experiences we had but overall the cruise itself was fantastic! I am planning on posting a review later as well. These kinds of things are certainly not a fault of Royal Caribbean. It is just a fact of life. We didn't let it spoil our cruise.

 

D[/quote

 

....think the Brazilians...have replaced the saying about the "ugly American"

[scoopgirl]

We sailed on the Oasis in January and had a large number of Brazilians on board and had similar problems also. I was shocked to see how many Quinceanera (sp?) celebrations were on board. Does the birthday girls parents pay for this or each individual kids parents pay?

 

We had the problems with the elevators and the pushing and shoving when in lines also. I was traveling with my parents and my dad has a walker, I finally got tired of having the doors shut on us when there was ample room. There was a group of three boys that were roaming the ship non stop, it seemed everytime we turned around, they were there. About mid-week I lost my temper with them and then it seemed they stayed away from us or went to the elevators on the opposite side.

 

One night in the MDR a group of Brazilians started a chant and I was just looking at my parents and my sister, like what is that. When the waiter came to the table, I asked him what was going on and he said, "Oh, that is the Brazilians, they own the ship." We of course laughed and then told him our experience so far on board with them. He said they let them do pretty much what they want as they are some of the largest spenders on RCI. He said you don't want to be around when they are watching soccer.

 

I will say, they did provide entertainment in what they wore. How those women walk in those heels is beyond me. It was like watching a beauty pagent, bikinis and 5 inch heels. lol We also got a kick out of watching the young girls and how they had to primp themselves. Where ever there was a shiny spot or something they could see their reflection, they would inch their bikini bottoms up, mess with their top, flip their hair and try to get a look at their back side. lol

 

The Brazilian Olympics I'm sure will go down in history.

[Ocean Boy]

Here's a little funny: My daughter was singing with her choir on tour in Italy, so there was a sizable group (50) of Americans we traveled with. I have only been to Mass in the U.S., and we very orderly go up for Communion, row-by-row. So we're in Milan, it's time for Communion, and there's this MAD DASH to the front! Holy smokes we all stood there, dumbfounded! Then we joined them :)

 

Funny! Yeah, Italians don't have much use for lines. If they are not going to stand in them at the grocery check-out or to buy a train ticket you can't really expect that they are going to stand in one in order to get to God!:D

[cravingthis]

See, Red Dragon? No matter how eloquently you try to put it, there's always someone who just has to question your logic. Good luck with your review. I, for one, want to read it after all the research you did before your cruise.

 

Hi Cruzaholic - I actually didn't see that post, until you pointed it out :D if you know what I mean.

 

I have every bit of confidence in my review right now, as I'm finishing it, if there are people who don't like it, they can always hit the next button.

 

Thanks and have a great day! :)

[Ocean Boy]

Hi Cruzaholic - I actually didn't see that post, until you pointed it out :D if you know what I mean.

 

I have every bit of confidence in my review right now, as I'm finishing it, if there are people who don't like it, they can always hit the next button.

Thanks and have a great day! :)

 

Oh no, that is not how it works around here.;):D:D:D

[johneeo]

Oh no, that is not how it works around here.;):D:D:D

 

You mean that some will cry about it and claim they have been flamed and they will never post again and go eat worms in the garden?:eek:

 

HORRORS!

[Ocean Boy]

You mean that some will cry about it and claim they have been flamed and they will never post again and go eat worms in the garden?:eek:

 

HORRORS!

 

I am not sure about the worm part.:D

[lkb125]

Thank you all and still looking forward to more replies.

 

I am from south florida myself (I am italian) and I am used to all people of different places and hearing different languages, this not bother me on a cruise....after all, the ship is still filled with half american speaking people and with all those thousands of people it has to have people of many nationalities.... What concerns me is the crowds in the windjammer and other places on the ship, I get mixed reviews some saying its fine, some saying its not but I will keep reading posts then decide as I have more time to think about it.

 

As with the rude people you get that anywhere...but its plain wrong what happened to your daughter a simple question asking her to move few inches was all that was needed....

 

I had a great time on the cruise, but the one place that fell short was the windjammer it was very crowded the two times I went there. I thought the windjammer on the Freedom always seemed less crowded and we used it for breakfast and lunch most days. I think the Oasis is a beautiful ship and I will cruise on her again. We are going on the Freedom in early September.

[maweberpa]

One night our asst. waiter did mention having to deal with MTD guests on the 2 nights we had done specialty dinning. She said it in a cute way (like she was relieved to see us), but it definitely seemed like she did not care for dealing with them. I can't say whether they were part of this obnoxious group others were speaking of.

[Pete32]

Until reading this thread I was totally unaware of the large number of brazillians on the cruise. My family of 4 never had any issues - sure the windjammer(plenty of warning about this) was crowded but there were plenty of other places to eat and we often ate lunch later and were able to find a table at wj easily then. The mdr and bar service was great - food wonderful and shows top notch. The parades and parties on the promenade were crowded but what good parade or street party isn't? It just added to the atmosphere for us. We planned ahead and got a good spot to just sit back and watch. There were more times than not when we would look at each other and wonder where all the passengers were... For example: rock climbing and zip line were short waits, always a ping pong table or shuffle board empty to use, no wait for dinner at 6:30 in mdr or at 8:00 for breakfast, central park & park cafe always had tables available to eat, drink or just sit and the boardwalk was somtimes virtually empty. We loved schooners bar and the staff there for trivia or piano or a family game of cards with a drink. If u r oppose to crowds - avoid the $10 sales, t-shirt sales, street parties and pools on hot sea days. There was so much to do on the ship we had a hard x

finding time to lounge around the pool for more than a couple hours a day. Our family had the time of our lives and would love to cruise the allure next.

[fourowdys]

The wide diversity in opinions of the March 5 Oasis is probably due a lot to different people's expectations. Because my family cruises RCL frequently, there are certain things that have become "the norm". We expect to exchange pleasantries with other passengers in the elevator, we expect to be able to go the Concierge Lounge and have a calm converstion and meet new people, we expect to spend time in the solarium with the only real noise being someone talking in the hot tub, we expect to go to dinner and not have our waiter (in MDR and Specialty) harried because of the behaviour of other passengers, we expect to be able to walk down the promenade without feeling like we have to fight our way through. On this particular cruise none of those expectations were met. It's not the end of the world! I'm sure our next RCL cruise in July will meet and exceed all of those expectations.

[SherriZ366]

I think I read that dining times in the MDR were changed. What were times for late and early seating? thanks

[fourowdys]

We had My Time Dining, so I can't tell you what time the seatings were. I can tell you that when we exited the MDR at around 9:30 (when it should be closing) on the evenings we ate in there, there was a VERY long line waiting to be seated. There was a large table next to us, it started filling when we sat down and people were still coming to it when we left. Poor wait staff -- I really felt sorry for them!

[westcoaster]

We were also on the March 5 Oasis cruise and had a fantastic time. While the demographics on the ship did change the experience, it was mostly in positive ways - some great opportunities for people watching! I didn't notice any major problems with crowding - we ate nearly all our breakfasts and lunches at the Windjammer and we were always able to find a table within a minute. While I did witness some incidents of rudeness on this cruise, it was certainly not limited to any one nationality or group. I don't let that ruin my vacation.

[pabrett46]

Just to clarify from my point of view. I certainly expected crowds especially during parades etc.. and if fact that wasn't when we experienced the rude behavior it was during other times.

 

We still managed to have a great time don't get me wrong. But I do expect decent manners. I do expect people to sit politely and listen while things are going on. As I type this I remembered another incident it was during muster. The video wasn't working so perhaps that added to the problem ..but I was sitting beside a large table of Brazillian folk. They were chatting like crazy... as was everyone. Until the captain came on and made announcements since the video wasn't working. The Brazillians kept talking. I felt it rather important to hear what the captain was saying for the safety of myself and my children. Other people got annoyed and "sh'd" them. They quieted for a bit and then started up again. Then one of the crew decided to give a demonstration on how to put on the life vest... again they were talking and ignoring the demonstration. It was very annoying.

 

 

Our dining time was 6pm. I think the later time was 8pm.

Debbie