back from 5/14 Oasis - some thoughts

[figment9999]

Really found the Oasis to be completely over-the-top; in all respects; here are a couple of thoughts

*Before:

-don’t get cocky time-wise if you’re doing on-line check in, you need to do it two weeks ahead to get baggage tags mailed to you.

-You’re going to pier 18, not sure why RCCL help line could not answer the Q.

*Getting on / off

-Very slick embarkation process. Getting off I opted for an early departure; was advised to be in dining room @ 7:20.

-Hooked up w a porter @ the bottom of the escalators who took us thru customs & delivered us to our car in the parking lot across the street from the terminal.

We were on I95 driving home by 8:30 – absolutely awesome

*Room – Junior Suite, deck 8, on bump. Great room & attendant; roomy & well designed. Had some 21 year olds next store who partied (nice kids who apologized); but we never heard a thing. Cabin must have amazing sound deadening in the walls.

*Food: Bfst was usually room service (always on-time and as requested. Lunch tried most all the venues – consistently good. Late seating in MDR, six folks at a table for 8. Great staff, attentive & no delays; always made the late shows. Menu has improved greatly since last RCCL cruise a few years ago.

*Shows – All were top-notch. Strongly advise booking before you board, much easier.

*Labadee – much improved since last visit 5yrs ago. Did two excursions: snorkel & cultural tour; both great. Not enough time to fit the mega zip-line in; next time for sure.

*Falmouth – great set up, when done much larger than other “from-scratch” builds like Grand Turk of Crown Bay in St Thomas. Right now plenty of local crafts & friendly, not pushy vendors. Unfortunately our snorkel tour (great) got me back too late (2hr) for chopper excursion (got refund since booked thru RCCL).

*Cozumel – excursion to Tallum, good day, could have used another hour on the site though.

*Zip line: rode twice, great concept, much fun

*Flow rider – took an hour class (hey I’m 63). The staff was very patient with me, after about 45 mins was up & surfing, thx guys

*Carousel – hand carved & beautiful, a treat

*Iphone – get the shipmate app, great for getting around the ship since all maps etc are in the app & don’t require a connection.

*Wifi - I bought a package but experience was iffy since Iphones are not considered a supported device per the RCCL docs; apparently it doesn’t always log-off effectively. Had one such instance, they gave me partial credits to comp. After that really got paranoid about log-off so my usage dropped off (annoying)

Net-net a great cruise (#17); looking forward to next

[Familygoboston]

Thanks for your review! I appreciate the dope on the ShipmateApp, as I don't plan to have connectivity, it's nice to know I can use my itouch to get around the ship. I have a feeling I'll need it!:rolleyes:

A question for you: were you able to pre book (online at home) your flowrider lesson? When do they offer this? Are the flowriders open at night too? TIA!

[cruzkitty]

Thanks for posting your Review! I am glad to hear you enjoyed the food. I am also glad you learned to Surf!!:eek:

[Yurita]

I'm back from 5/14 as well... so depressed to come back to reality.

Oasis is without a doubt the best cruise in the world!!!

[Sugar*Magnolia]

We're just 30 days away and i cant wait!!

 

DH and I both have the Shipmate app. on our Droid Xs. Good for the deck maps, sloppy in other respects.

 

has anyone who has recently been to Falmouth taken the free shuttle to Rose Hall Shoppes and a taxi from there over to Iberostar Suites (it is about a mile I think)? Im lookong to cut the cost down from $80 round trip for the four of us from Falmouth to Iberostar.

 

Thanks for your review. did you eat at Izumi?

[Familygoboston]

We're just 30 days away and i cant wait!!

 

DH and I both have the Shipmate app. on our Droid Xs. Good for the deck maps, sloppy in other respects.

 

?

I agree, I had high hopes to use it in place of my usual spreadsheet for trip planning (I know- Im a little compulsive about planning:o) but it's just too clunky and I like to be able to see the whole vacation at a glance, and SM doesn't allow that.

[figment9999]

I did book the flowrider on-line, very easy. As I recall the lessons were @8am & 6pm on sea days, more available in-port days. The rest of the time the two flowriders were open to all.

 

Forgot to mention one item in the original post; We stayed in Ft Lauderdale for the two nights preceeding the cruise at the Lago Mar hotel; just a few minutes from the pier. The hotel is beach front and we just can't say enough about how much we enjoyed the facility and how great the staff was.

[LBumb]

thanks for posting