Oasis of the Seas - Photo Review

[jennat]

Love, Love, Love your shirts! Are you willing to share your secret on how you made them? Would love to make some for our upcoming Oasis trip! Any suggestions or advice you are willing to offer would be appreciated!

 

Loved your review and awesome pictures too!

Tammy

 

mjcrouch@4dv.net

email me and I will share

[jennat]

we use several. The ice show shots that were really good were taken from my husbands SLR....it is a Sony, one of the new ones...not sure what it is called but it was about $700 and we got it just prior to the cruise. I will try and remember to ask him when he gets home.

The others we use are the Sony DSC HX5 which takes fabulous HD movies and probably took most of the diving shots. Or the Canon SD850IS which is my personal favorite camera for colors (brightness). We also have a canon underwater camera powershot D10, which normally does better than the Jamaican pictures. DOn't know what happened there.

Pretty idiot proof. Our theory is, if you take enough pictures. Even an idiot can get a couple good ones. We took 2012 on this trip. I always have two with me and he always has his. Unless of course we are in the water cuz that would just be dumb!! ;):D

 

Opps, DH's camera is a Cannon T3i

[Familygoboston]

Well, I have to say, if scary, old bitty is on board then you may have a problem. But since she doesn't work for RCCL and I can't figure out a way to track where she will cruise next to avoid her.....you may not want to hold it against RCCL ;)

 

The chairs at the Aqua Theater were very nice. I loved the whole area actually.

 

Not a Royal specific problem, im sure, but Ive never seen people bopping each other on the head with pocket books on a trip or ship with only a few hundred ( or less) people. Seems you have to be nice when you know you will certainly run into each other again:rolleyes:

[jennat]

Not a Royal specific problem, im sure, but Ive never seen people bopping each other on the head with pocket books on a trip or ship with only a few hundred ( or less) people. Seems you have to be nice when you know you will certainly run into each other again:rolleyes:

 

Well, I'll tell you, if that old lady had bopped me with a pocket book she would have needed to run for her life. I needed therapy and a stiff drink from her overly rude and aggressive comment, I cannot imagine if she whipped me with her cash. I think that whole nice when you know you will run into each other thing maybe overrated in that case. I would go more for the "you should be scared if you run into me again." I have teenagers, that little old lady (okay, she wasn't that old) doesn't scare me a bit.

 

That being said, my girlfriend and her husband that were on this cruise, just got back from a Celebrity cruise in the Galapagos (200 people or so) and they LOVED it. And as far as I know, there was no physical assaults all week.

[jetravel]

Love your review! I still have a long wait until my cruise on Oasis. Taking my daughter for her 16th birthday. Did your daughter do the teen clubs?

[jennat]

Love your review! I still have a long wait until my cruise on Oasis. Taking my daughter for her 16th birthday. Did your daughter do the teen clubs?

 

THanks!

She didn't. I think she brought her entertainment (friends) with her. That being said, my kids have, for whatever reason, never gotten into the kids clubs. They will make friends at the pool (back in the day I went to the pool) but never wanted to go to the clubs. I'm sure they are great though.

Also, because she is 12, she is in the teen(ish) category where there really isn't an organized thing. I do remember when my son turned 12 and went and often there was no one in there. I'm sure this varies from line to line, ship to ship and sailing to sailing.

 

I do know that there were some other boys in our cc group who met up the first night at the teen club and hung out, so I would definitely tell her to go on the first night.

[jennat]

Today we had booked a catamaran tour with Cozumel sailing.

We weren't sure exactly when we were supposed to be there so we grabbed a cab and headed over right over. It was a ways from the cruise ship dock, about $3 to $4 dollars per person.

 

 

We arrived and realized that ship time was an hour later than island time and had a short wait. I have to give major kudos to this company and would absolutely recommend them and use them in the future. The reason I say this is, when they arrived, they told us that the water was really choppy and the visibility was not good. You see, there had been a storm for the past couple of weeks, hanging out in Mexico (storms like paradise too) and the port had been closed the two days prior to our arrival. I am assuming he meant the marina port not the cruise ship port but what do I know. He went on to say, he was happy to take us out but wanted to give us the opportunity to not go because he couldn't promise us a perfect day and that is what they go for. I was shocked. He was putting our happiness before his bottom line. This was $90 pp and there were 17 of us so it was a significant amount of money to him. The 9 of us decided not to go, looking at the waves in the harbor area did not, in our opinion bode well for the potential for the waves in the open seas. The other 8 decided to try it. We bid them farewell, knowing we would be calling them next time we were in Cozumel and headed to Paradise Beach.

We ran into one of the other couples later that night and they said they had the best day of their trip. They said at first it was really bumpy and one of the people started to feel sick so they headed back toward the marina and anchored to a buoy. From there, they were spoiled rotten with homemade guacamole, lots of great drinks, food, etc. He said it was paradise. They also have a spinnaker on board (like a para sail meets a kite and has a baby) and they took that up and down. He said he was glad we didn't go (huh? smile) because there was so much room to spread out and with the 9 of us it would have been more compacted. Okay, I get it but he said it was a day of luxury. I am so glad and so I want everyone to look up this company if this appeals to you at all. I was really impressed. Not your typical, "unless it is unsafe we are going" company.

 

So we arrive at Paradise Beach. It is really stunning. It costs $2 to get in and they ask that you send $10 pp. No problem. They take you to chairs and give you a wrist band. They kids wanted to do the aqua park. That is another $15 pp. After trying to get out to the aqua park and stepping on rocks, etc and with all the waves they thought, no way. Paradise beach was awesome to give us our money back. We asked but didn't expect them to say yes.

 

 

[jennat]

 

 

 

 

 

[thshhh]

Hey Jenn, great review!

 

You got us in one of those pics....LOL.

Paradise Beach was a nice place to hang out for the day. I enjoyed visiting with you that day.

 

Tina.

[jennat]

Right back at ya.....I had to search to find you in the picture....didn't know that was you at the time!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[will773]

Can't believe it's almost over! :mad:

[jennat]

We sat and had some drinks and ordered lunch. As I was walking up to check on the kids I felt like someone had stuck a lit cigarette to the bottom of my foot. I look down and between my flip flop and foot, still engaged was a bee or something the size of a lady bug. Boy let me tell you, that sucker packed a punch. It continued to sting bad for around an hour. Good times. Don't know what it was but OWWWWW! The kids started to get bored at around 1 or 2pm. I know, I know, bored in paradise. We sat in the pool a little more. It was a really nice pool with a shallower area around the sides that was about 1 foot deep. I love that. "Can we go back to the ship???" Ordered another beer and listened to the music. "How long do you think we are going to stay?"

Finally, my foot a stingin' I said we could go back. So we headed back.

This was a really nice beach and I would recommend it, however on this day it was windy and the water was rough enough it wasn't inviting. Also, I would imagine that all the rocks in the water are nornally covered up and it is due to the weather that they had all been uncovered. One of our party even got a sea urchin spine in her foot. Of course it didn't hurt NEARLY as bad as my lady bug bee sting. NOTHING COULD!

 

The port area which RCCL docks in, in my opinion is not a very nice one. I like the one Princess and Carnival use a lot better. Once again, just my observation. Even the one Disney uses is much better.

 

 

 

 

 

Carnival/Princess dock

 

RCCL dock (looks nice from here)

[jennat]

Can't believe it's almost over! :mad:

 

That is exactly how I felt, in real life, real time. The week went unbelievably and inexplicably fast.

 

But thanks for the kind words....

[will773]

That is exactly how I felt, in real life, real time. The week went unbelievably and inexplicably fast.

 

But thanks for the kind words....

 

Oh trust me, I know how you feel (felt). It seems so slow when it's happening, but then on the last day, it feels as though you just got there! The worst part about cruising, or just vacation in general! :mad:

[jenninlaca]

I just wanted to reiterate how amazing this cruise review has been. I am booked on Allure in the room next to the one you had but I have a very long wait until July 2013! Is it too soon to count the days??

[jennat]

I just wanted to reiterate how amazing this cruise review has been. I am booked on Allure in the room next to the one you had but I have a very long wait until July 2013! Is it too soon to count the days??

 

It is absolutely not too soon to count the days. Thanks for the kind words. I think that room should be perfect. It will be backwards from mine which I think is a good thing.

[jennat]

The ship next to ours was having a big party. Looked fun. My dad even said, "makes you want to be on that ship"

 

 

 

 

 

[jennat]

We went up on deck and walked around for awhile, enjoying watching sail away. Then we got ready for dinner.

 

 

Can you tell my kids are getting tired of having their picture taken. They really are good sports but I take so many, by the end of the week they are a little, shall we say, resistant. Maybe defiant, definitely not compliant. I always laugh at the thought that one year in Hawaii...my son was so over having his picture taken. I said "just a few more, please..." he replied "100 more and that's it mom" Funny that he thinks 100 is a few......to our family it is!!!

 

 

 

Our waiter was giving the kids lots of puzzles to figure out. He was a great waiter. One thing I thought was interesting was how he really wanted us to fill out the review thing for him. I think they are really affected by what we put on them. Just my thoughts.

So while our kids were fighting, errr I mean figuring out the puzzle, Sean and Karin were eating tapas at Dazzles. Yeah, I know, short end of the stick and all that. She said she enjoyed the experience. I think it was just because I had her kids (smile)

 

 

[jennat]

 

After dinner we went back to the "private veranda" and watched the water show. I never knew when it was going to be on but caught it several times.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Seriously, love this deck!

[fatcattravel]

I love your shirts! We will be on Oasis December 10th!

[jennat]

Soon it was time for the production "come fly with me" I didn't know what I was going to think about this because I'm generally not blown away by cruise ship entertainment but so far on this cruise it had been outstanding. Richard Spacey came out and said that the theater we were in was designed around this show. He then talked about how people watching was one of his favorite parts of his job. Especially dancing......HELLO....? Is he, will he????? He is! Richard Spacey's evolution of dance. If you want to see it you can search for it on you tube. It is awesome!

 

 

 

 

 

 

The show was wonderful. Don't miss it!

[jennat]

 

 

 

Directly after the show was the Quest game show. We hurried to catch that. I enjoy this show less on the big ships than on the smaller ones but it is still a laugh or two. A couple years ago we were the runners. Now that was fun!

 

 

 

 

The dude with his hands up in the next to the last picture and the guy with his back to us on top of the pile in the last pictures were brothers. One was one of our runners and his brother sat in the front row, right in front of us. They were obnoxiously drunk. Really annoying. I'm sure they were really nice guys but that night they were so tough to take. You could tell Richard was getting over it too. It was a good learning opportunity for my 15yr old on how idiotic you look when you drink too much. But he's 15, he might have thought they looked cool. Who knows.

 

Tomorrow is a sea day. You know where I will be for the whole day right? The POOL!

[jennat]

Last day of the cruise, last sea day....boo hoo, I need a minute......

 

Okay.

 

My daughter and hubby went down to again conquer the rock wall. There was a hard section she was having a problem with (mostly because the things you hold on to would twist in her hand!) They climbed it several times. Then they looked over at the other rock wall and saw the rest of our party and walked over to join them. I don't know how she had any strength left in her arms. Mine were tired from holding the camera!

 

 

 

I sat on my "private veranda" and watch the world go by......or actually us racing back to the world again.

 

 

 

Can't get enough of these shots...

 

 

[jennat]

 

 

My son was meeting my father

and my daughter was meeting my mom for lunch (at different places) at noon, so they headed out to kill an hour or so until then.

After lunch my daughter and mom and our friend did the jewelry class.

Mike and I wanted to try and hit an early lunch too so we could sit at the pool. We headed up to the photo area before hand to see about getting some pictures or possibly the disc. Man oh man, I do not overstate when I say that the entire ship was there. It was crazy. We purchased the disc and they told us to collect it downstairs at 10:30. Which I think is kind of late for some people....wouldn't cha think? Anyway, we went to the main dining room for lunch (because of the salad bar) and met up with our friends. It was 12:30 at this point (I KNOW). Finished eating and headed to the pool.

 

I took a quick ride on the Merry Go Round. It was more fun than I thought it would be.

 

[jennat]

Karin loves the Solarium so I went there because I wanted to be with her successfully completing my week of "no fun in the sun pool time". Just relaxing, peaceful pool time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

All my choices inadvertently but certainly not the choice I would have made overall. So weird how this week panned out. Still had a nice time visiting with hubby and our friends of course. Hung out the rest of the afternoon and went back to the room to get ready for dinner.

 

 

 

I know you have seen this picture but I will show you again to illustrate how tired everyone was at this point. It looked like this everywhere.