Oasis planning help please

[jonj]

We have only sailed on RCCL twice, once on the Explorer and once on the Freedom both during non-peak travel times. We will be on the Oasis next year end of June and wanted to get some information on what / how things differ

 

I hear you need to reserve the shows before you board

Specialty restaurants before you board

 

Can anyone share their tips on the best way to get this done? do you have to reserve the nightly regular shows in the main theater?

 

What else should be booked ahead of time?

 

We will be 2 adults 17 and 16 year old

 

I will very appreciative of any information and tips anyone can share making the process not stressful

 

thank you

[janetz]

We have only sailed on RCCL twice, once on the Explorer and once on the Freedom both during non-peak travel times. We will be on the Oasis next year end of June and wanted to get some information on what / how things differ

 

I hear you need to reserve the shows before you board

Specialty restaurants before you board

 

Can anyone share their tips on the best way to get this done? do you have to reserve the nightly regular shows in the main theater?

 

What else should be booked ahead of time?

 

We will be 2 adults 17 and 16 year old

 

I will very appreciative of any information and tips anyone can share making the process not stressful

 

thank you

 

 

About 90 days out from your sailing date, start checking your reservation online and at some point there wil be a link to reserve the shows. Do see them all, they are wonderful. We reserved our shows for the time we wanted. We had My Time Dining and just dined around the show times. It worked very well. The seating is not reserved so you want to get to the venue at least 20 minutes before. Those without reservations are alowed in 10 minutes before and many times the shows are filled or you can not sit together. I am sure many will chime in here. You will love the Oasis. :)

[jonj]

About 90 days out from your sailing date, start checking your reservation online and at some point there wil be a link to reserve the shows. Do see them all, they are wonderful. We reserved our shows for the time we wanted. We had My Time Dining and just dined around the show times. It worked very well. The seating is not reserved so you want to get to the venue at least 20 minutes before. Those without reservations are alowed in 10 minutes before and many times the shows are filled or you can not sit together. I am sure many will chime in here. You will love the Oasis. :)

 

Thank you - do you have to be paid in full before this area opens for booking? I think our balance is not due until 75 days prior to sailing

[DonnaK]

It's not as complicated as it seems. There are six shows that can be booked ahead of time. You can book one for each night (and have one night left over). Try to arrange them around your dining time. The shows are phenomenal, so it is absolutely worth the effort to reserve and plan ahead.

 

Your sea pass will be scanned at the door. There is a standby queue that forms about an hour ahead of showtime for those without reservations - it can get quite long. Approximately 10-15 minutes before the show begins, they will allow the standbys to fill the remaining seats (so if you have a reservation, get there more than 15 minutes ahead of time).

 

Here is an example: http://media.royalcaribbean.com/content/en_US/pdf/showtimes/showtimes_OA.pdf

[NeuroQueen]

Been on Oasis twice and the first time I was sooo lost as to how to plan everything out. I finally downloaded someone's compasses from six months prior so I would know what was going on, and not miss something I wanted to see like Quest and other stuff. Then I planned the times for the shows. I made sure we had MTD so we wouldn't have to work around dinner times. I then made reservations for the specialty restaurants we wanted to go to. After reading the boards I made reservations for MTD each night around the shows, which was a godsend because the line for MTD without reservations was very long each night and especially bad on formal nights. While I love this ship and I know they have to do these reservations with 6000 people, but it was quite the task to plan everything. The shows open 60-90 days prior and you really have to jump on it for the water show and the comedy show, especially. I know some say just go with the flow but we wanted to see and do everything so I was a planning mad women. BTW it's next to impossible to do it all, altho we gave it a good shot. the second time we went we just saw everything we missed the first time. It is a great cruise but not without serious pre-planning unless you are in a suite! Have a great time. Make a spreadsheet to keep it organized as you are reserving!

[Familygoboston]

Congrats! Thinking you will love this ship, and yes, it's good you are thinking about planning a year in advance.

Nothing can be booked via RCL for several more months, so this is the time to do your research!;) Here is my way...you might find it helpful!

 

1- read every review you can find, especially search out on this board using the search function for past photo reviews ( the review section doesn't have photos, so I find the " live" reviews to be better for photos and more details than the review area)

 

2- As you read, start jotting does stuff that interests you; there is honestly so much to do on this ship that you would go cuckoo trying to do it all, plus you will find reviews by " people like you " ( with teens) and these will inform your plans

 

3- at about 6 months before you go, find the most recent cruise compass and menus for your itinerary ( East or West) on CC and click on the website to Oasis and download the current "Showtimes at a Glance". These will not be exactly like your cruise, but close enough to give you some ideas. They don't change drastically.

 

4- with these docs and your list of neat things to do in hand, start making a day by day schedule broken up by morning, afternoon and night. Start putting in the things you really want to do, by checking when they are available on the Compass. Use the show schedule to gauge which shows you'd like to do and when ( for instance we ruled out Hairspray on embarkation night- too long, and we'd be too tired) By the time you have a rough outline, you can start to figured out which night you'd like to dine at what places. Jot these in too.

 

5- At some point about 5-1 months before sailing reservations will be available to book. Unfortunately, almost always shore excursions and specialty dining come up first ( no coincidence these are things you pay for in advance:rolleyes:) But if you have an idea of what showtimes and days you hope to have, you can book your meals and excursions with confidence in your plan.

When shows become available, book these to fit in your plan, changing any dining plans if you can't get a particular show ( this is unlikely if you plan and execute all this early in the process- you'll be booking before others have figured it all out;)) Don't get frustrated if shows come out late; but check daily, early. Each entertainment schedule is made in blocks of dates, so if your sailing is at the end of the block, it will be very close to sailing before your shows will be open to book.

 

6- most important!!

If all of this makes you cringe...DON'T DO IT! We planners loved his system, it works for us, and we have wonderful times following our lists and spreadsheets. By your asking a year in advance I'm thinking you are one of us:o if not...you can go on this ship the day before it sails and have the time of your life not planning a thing. Also, anything that doesn't fit or fills online you can add the day you embark at Studio B, or at the restaurant. So have fun with it, and if not, dont bother!:D

[Familygoboston]

Thank you - do you have to be paid in full before this area opens for booking? I think our balance is not due until 75 days prior to sailing

 

No, it's quite likely some things will be " bookable" before final payment...you don't need to pay that to book!

 

 

Here is my own photo review of Oasis...with Compasses, but they are already 6 months old, so you may want to look for newer ones this fall or after the holidays!

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1539995&highlight=oasis+live

 

I love this one by Jennat- she also had kids pre teeny, teen!

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/search.php?searchid=31459785&pp=25&page=2

[johneeo]

We have only sailed on RCCL twice, once on the Explorer and once on the Freedom both during non-peak travel times. We will be on the Oasis next year end of June and wanted to get some information on what / how things differ

 

I hear you need to reserve the shows before you board

Specialty restaurants before you board

 

Can anyone share their tips on the best way to get this done? do you have to reserve the nightly regular shows in the main theater?

 

What else should be booked ahead of time?

 

We will be 2 adults 17 and 16 year old

 

I will very appreciative of any information and tips anyone can share making the process not stressful

 

thank you

 

We booked dinner early seating, 6:00 and found that all the shows that we needed to schedule were all available with start times between 8 and 9:30, so it was very easy to book them all.

 

We found out when reservations opened up on our roll call.

 

Simply go the RCCL web sit, log in, and book your shows, very easy to do.

[Catperson]

If you are staying in a suite, is it necessary to make show reservations ahead of time or can you just show up at the venue 1/2 hour before a show? Same question for the specialty restaurants - can the concierge make the reservations for us on board? Thanks.

[NeuroQueen]

If you are staying in a suite, is it necessary to make show reservations ahead of time or can you just show up at the venue 1/2 hour before a show? Same question for the specialty restaurants - can the concierge make the reservations for us on board? Thanks.

We were just on the Oasis April 28th and the concierge placed a VIP sticker on the back of our sail and sign card. We could walk in all of the shows, but the reserved seating in the theater filled up faster than I would have thought. I did not think this would work for the Comedy show, due to such a small venue, but a couple we met in the CC got in without any problems. The concierge, Francis, was wonderful! We already had our reservations for shows and SR but I saw him making reservations for others! A couple of nights the times did not work out for us and that is why he put the sticker on our card. Have a great cruise!

[Greek50]

Is it possible to reschedule a show once it is booked? I want to book on-line before they get filled up but may want to change in a week or two; cruise is 8/4/12.

 

We usually do 6 PM dining but this time we chose 8:30 and I am worried about making 10:30 shows-I could not get group to agree to MTD unfortunately! Any thoughts about feeling too rushed during dinner?

 

Thanks!

[JamesEM]

Thanks everyone for the great infomation.