Oasis Review - Feb 23, 2013 - March 2. Eastern Caribbean

[jbwhip]

Preface. I've posted a text review below. However, since HTML is not allowed, and I just don't have the time to resize all the pictures, this same review with pictures is available at my site jbwhip.com, which currently houses only the review. If anyone knows how to get HTML allowed I would gladly get the pics over here as well.

 

My wife and I have been on two cruises before. A Carnival cruise 9 years ago, and a disney cruise 2 years ago. Each 30 years old, we chose the Oasis to celebrate our 10 year wedding anniversary.

 

Due to work conflicts, we had to fly in on the morning of the cruise debarkation. We left on a flight from Dallas at 7:30am and after a short stop over in New Orleans, arrived in Fort Lauderdale right at noon. I’ve heard cabs are the way to go and after choosing that route, I stand by that recommendation. The line at the airport for a cab took just under 10 minutes. It was just over $16 from the airport to the pier. There are shuttles but they are more expensive and you have to wait until the bus is full to leave. The taxi took us right to the front of pier 18. We waited for an available porter who took our bags and kindly asked for a tip. “Any tips you wish to leave as we take care of your bags are greatly appreciated.” Hahha. We gave him a few bucks (we only had 2 bags) and made our way into the terminal.

 

Inside the terminal signs are everywhere and very clear on how to proceed, according to deck. We were on deck 12. it was 12:45 by now and I made a remark to my wife saying “let’s see how fast we will be on the boat.” You will need your passport, credit card, and seapass to get checked in. They will take your picture and give you your seapass cards. From there you are funneled through an army of photographers with various backgrounds to take your “before” picture, a notably thinner and paler version on my current self. Down a few hallways and across the bridge, we walked into the ship at 12:58. It’s amazing how fast they get you from the street onto the ship, by far the fastest of the 3 cruises we have been on.

 

I’m being picky, but I enjoyed stepping onto the Disney ship better. They announce every family over the loudspeaker system as they boarded, officially kicking off your vacation. “The Disney Dream would like to welcome the Smith family onboard!” with a row of cast members clapping as you boarded. That’s the last comparison hear from me about Disney. We boarded the Oasis and entered the Royal Promenade.

 

Since it was right at 1pm, we figured the room would probably be ready, and it was. Naturally, elevators were packed and there was a line at each of the hallways to get on an elevator. There are 4 bays of 6 elevators. For the entire trip this was the longest wait we endured. It took 4 elevators before we were able to get one and make our way up to the 12th floor. We were generally able to get an elevator anytime we needed one without more than a couple minutes wait. Peak times were initial debarkation, the safety drill, and right after any show. Unless we had to travel more than 3 floors, we usually took the stairs. Speaking of the elevators, I thought it was a nice touch that the current day was always embedded into the floor of the elevators. Little details.

 

The room was definitely efficient. We had a central park view balcony. But more on that later. From our balcony we could see the Park Cafe and I immediately thought of THE sandwich. So we headed for Central Park.

 

The cafe was not crowded at all, 3 or 4 people in front of us. For lunch they offered a salad bar, various paninis, fruits and sandwiches, pastries and the Kummelweck. The wife and I each got a Kummelweck, some chips, and a couple dessert pastries. We found a table without much effort in the Park and made some last minute phone calls to family before debarking.

 

I thought the sandwich was great. My wife thought it was good, but wasn't a fan of the bread. The desserts were bland and tasteless and that was the general consensus about the desserts for the trip with the exception of a couple nights.

 

After a bit of relaxing and before the scheduled 4:30 drill, we decided to wander around the 14th deck.

 

At the rear of the ship we saw that the zip line had literally no line. I had the appropriate footwear (closed toed shoes required) so I decided to take advantage.

 

They required a wristband to ride, indicating to the sports team that you have signed the appropriate waivers. They did redirect anyone that tried to ride without a band. You can either leave the band on all week or just get a new one when you want to ride again, either the flow rider or the zip line. The ride was slow and easy, right over the boardwalk below. With no one waiting when I completed my turn, they asked if I wanted to ride again, but I declined. The flow riders are there next to the zip line and the lines were not bad at all, but I didn't want to get wet just yet. If you want to ride the zip line, I highly recommend the first day. Knock it out.

 

Around 4pm we decided to head to the room, unpack a little of our carry on bags and wait for the drill to begin. Our stateroom attendant came by, Fredy, and introduced himself. We loved Fredy, he was excellent. We let him know we would need the bathroom stuff: shampoo, conditioner, lotion, and body wash. None of these are provided but there is a sign letting you know all you have to do is ask. We also asked for 3 bath towels a day and ice.

 

We were on deck 12, more forward than aft. Room 599. This is the view from our Central park balcony. These pictures were taken around 3pm and you can see it is not that crowded. Never really was and we thoroughly enjoyed it. The white glass section in the middle there is basically a giant sunroof for the Royal Promenade below.

 

Around 4:15pm Fredy asked us to head toward our designated meeting zone, which was Studio B (the ice rink) down on the 4th deck. They disabled the elevators for the drill, but it wasn't bad going down. The drill was organized and quick, about 20 minutes for a video and then a word from the captain over the intercom. Painless.

 

After the drill was painful though, EVERYONE was released unto the ship and trying to use the elevators was useless. So we braved the stairs.

 

I told her I was taking her to a secret balcony. She didn't believe that there could by such a balcony on a ship with over 6000 people, but if you go to the 12th or 14th deck and walk all the way to the back of the ship, there will be a door to the outside with a deck and chairs. There was a crew member out there taking a break. We were the only passengers out there for debarkation. It was great. After beginning to debark though, we did decide to head up to deck 14 where the "party" was. A coast guard boat escorted us out of the port. I took a picture of him because I thought his automatic gun was pretty cool.

 

Much to our delight our luggage was outside the door when we made it back to the room. Some tips for packing.. Bring:

 

a power strip. There are 2 outlets under the desk and one under the bed.

highlighters. Helps to figure out what you want to do each day. The compasses are up to 10 pages long and if you don't highlight, you'll forget what you wanted to do.

action camera. This was awesome when snorkeling and parasailing.

waterproof camera case. I hate those disposable water cases, and was able to find a cheap case for our point and shoot camera on Amazon for $20.

backup battery. We have a backup battery with usb ports, so you can charge any device that will charge by usb cable. If you have a modern phone, then you know that your phone will not stay charged from 8am to 5pm while on the excursions, especially if taking pictures and video.

seasick meds or bracelets. I didn't need em but the wife was sure glad to have them. They are surely cheaper on the mainland.

 

In the room on the desk was our soda cup, our excursion tickets, and day 1 compass. Let me tell you about this soda package. For about $46, they give you a cup that works at any of the freestyle coke machines on board. Unlimited refills for the week. The issue I had with the package? Not enough machines. I only found 6 of the freestyle machines on the ship. 4 machines in the Windjammer, and 2 machines at one end of the Royal Promenade. I would have liked to have seen a machine in every neighborhood, at the least. It wasn't until day 3 that I found out you can go to any bar and they will also fill your cup for you, though they don't have the 100s of combinations that the freestyle machines have.

 

By now it was time to get ready for dinner. We signed up for the 6pm dinner. It worked out for us because all week we had a show right after dinner. We prereserved all of the shows, knowing that it could be hard to get in to a few of them. I highly recommend reserving your shows before boarding. We enjoyed the 6pm dinner time. There was a group of 3 that sat with us and they were ultra nice. We were good friends by the end of the cruise. That said, on any future cruises we will probably choose My Time Dining instead. There were times when we would have liked to delay dinner by 20-30 minutes, and from what I understand, my time dining is also generally a faster service.

 

We dined in the main dining room 5 out of 7 nights. The appetizers and entrees never ever disappointed. This was the first cruise that I took advantage of the fact that you can order as many apps, entrees, and desserts as you want. I guess I was a rookie on previous cruises. Don't be afraid to ask. But like I said before, the desserts constantly disappointed.

 

After dinner we headed for the Opal Theater for our Hairspray reservations. You can enter the Opal theater from the 4th and 5th deck. If you enter on 5 then you will be sitting in the balcony. 4 with get you on the lower level. We secured seats in the 3rd row on the lower level. The show was fantastic. Be warned that they spray a lot of "hairspray" throughout the show. Seemed like water vapor and did not bother me. But if you think you may be bothered by the aerosol spray, you might sit at least 10 rows back. I heard a few people complaining about the spray.

 

After the show we wandered around a few other decks which I'll detail later and then off to bed. When we arrived back at the room our day 2 Compass was waiting on the bed, detailing our day at Nassau.

 

Give me some time, I'll get the compasses scanned in.

 

Day 2 review coming soon. Thanks for reading!

[jamer8]

jbwhip, Thanks for your review! We are sailing on Oasis in about a month! We are on deck 12 also, in a D1 and my inlaws will be in a CP balcony across from us. I hope to hear more about how you liked ( or did not like) the CP balcony and the 12th deck in general. Did you have much noise from the pool decks? We also have early dining since there are 7 of us and my father in-law likes to turn in early it gives him the option to eat with us and skip the show if he wants to.

 

Thanks again for reviewing, I am going to check out your web site now!

[Jan_In_Maine]

Thanks for taking the time to write a review. Looking forward to reading more!! Jan

[luvmyclassroom]

Love this review. Thanks for the tips. Can't wait to hear more:-)

[sweetdarlin26]

Great Review to get your pics loaded here your have to copy and paste from your website.See below for examples. First one is direct copy and paste the second one is I click on pic to blow it up and then did copy and paste.

 

[jbwhip]

Great Review to get your pics loaded here your have to copy and paste from your website.See below for examples. First one is direct copy and paste the second one is I click on pic to blow it up and then did copy and paste.

 

 

 

 

Great thanks!!

 

And thanks for the comments guys! I'm working on day 2 now.

[jbwhip]

Great Review to get your pics loaded here your have to copy and paste from your website.See below for examples. First one is direct copy and paste the second one is I click on pic to blow it up and then did copy and paste.

 

Maybe you can delete that 2nd image, it's stretching out the page hahha.

[sweetdarlin26]

I'm so sorry, It will not let me edit the post so I can't delete it. Unless someone can tell me how????:confused:

[MomtoCCC]

Looking forward to more - we are going on Oasis in May!

[jbwhip]

I'm so sorry, It will not let me edit the post so I can't delete it. Unless someone can tell me how????:confused:

 

Hahha no worries, I'll resize it this afternoon. I deleted it for now. (wasn't a good picture anyway hahha)

[jbwhip]

http://www.jbwhip.com/wordpress/?p=104

 

Day 1 Compasses Posted

[Kimahri]

Thanks for posting jbwhip :):)

[jbwhip]

for this exact post, with pictures, I had to post at my site:

 

http://www.jbwhip.com/wordpress/?p=88

 

Day two. Nassau, Bahamas

 

We knew up front this would be the shortest day in port, with everyone having to be back on board by 1:30 for a 2pm departure. We had been to Nassau on our Disney cruise and felt we could still make the most of our short day.

 

Nassau time is the same as ship time. We brought our seapass, driver's licences, some cash for the casino and a credit card.

 

We bought our Nassau excursion tickets through Royal a few weeks before the trip. Maybe I'm OCD, or a little over the top with pre planning, but we pre-reserved anything we wanted to do: dining, excursions, and shows. This would be the only excursion we booked through Royal. We purchased the Aquaventure package for Atlantis, which basically gives you free reign of the resorts beaches, pools, hotels and rides. $129 and it included the shuttle ride to and from the resort.

 

The tickets were waiting for us in the room when we first checked in yesterday. A funny, but nice touch, was a note that was with the tickets stating "We have been notified by Atlantis that the rides and attractions at the park do not open until 10am. Due to our short stay in Nassau, if you feel this time will not be sufficient, we are happy to refund your tickets." We knew this might be the issue and were okay with it.

 

We were scheduled to arrive at 7 with the gangway open by 7:30. When we woke up at 7, we were already docked.

 

One thing I liked about this ship was in the elevators. There is a "gangway" button. On days in port, you can just push that button and it will take you to the floor where the gangway is located. No guessing or trying to remember which floor to go to.

 

Our excursion tickets said to meet on the pier at 7:45 and we were there a little early. With 6000 people on board we didn't know what to expect when leaving the ship. I'll say it was no different than any other cruise we had been on before. Every day at port, there was no line to get off the ship. I suppose people are leaving throughout the morning, and there are multiple exits.

 

There is a little cabana on the pier where everyone was meeting, and where the Royal staff was stationed. You hand them your ticket, they wristband you, then you wait. And wait. There must have been 1000 people that booked some sort of Atlantis excursion, and they were all waiting here at the cabana. The staff did a good job organizing with what they had to work with, but you couldn't help but feel like cattle. Around 8:15 they told everyone to line up single file, and then we walked to the gate where the buses were waiting. Talk about the longest pier of all time, we must have walked half a mile. The comedians hit on this fact in the comedy show, and everyone got the joke.

 

At the end of pier was an army of mini busses, and we were on one in no time. Zipping through town and over the bridge to Atlantis took only 15 minutes and we were at the resort by around 8:45. Upon arriving, we all got off the bus and were told to line up again. They informed us that buses would be making trips back to the ship every half hour starting at 11, with the last bus leaving at 1, which meant we had just over 4 hours on the island. In single file fashion, a staff member of the resort led us to the far end of the resort, explaining along the way the different museums and attractions along the way. At the end of the resort we were released to wreak havoc upon the resort.

 

With nothing opening up until 10, even the pools were closed, we took our free hour to head to the beaches. At the end of the beach is Cove beach, where we found this nice lone palm tree. I'm not sure where everyone else disappeared to, but we were two of only 3 people on the beach.

 

 

 

If you're going to take pictures, take em early. My wife accurately predicted that the lines for the picture ops would get longer throughout the day. Like the line for this chair that we gladly didn't have to wait for because we took it early.

 

 

 

After the beaches we hit the casino and did pretty well, winning a couple hundred bucks.

 

By then it was time for everything to start opening up, so we staked out a couple chairs and an umbrella by one of the pools. These are free. We did a little swimming and a few of the slides and then wandered back to the beach for an hour before it was already time to head back. There were several buses waiting and clearly marked by cruise line. We were back to the port quickly.

 

One thing I was not a fan of was the building they make you walk through to get back to the ship. The lines are long, it was stuffy and uncomfortable. After passing through the building and making that long walk again to the ship, there was really no wait time to get back onboard.

 

I don't know that I'd be comfortable doing any other excursion outside of Atlantis. Nassau was generally run down and unappealing outside of the resort. You have to option to just hop a taxi to the resort and buy tickets there at the resort. It will cost the added fee of the taxi fare, but you won't have to deal with being cattle herded around. It would probably add 30-60 minutes to your time at the resort. We felt a little more comfortable sticking with the ship's excursion on this one.

 

Check out the panorama amongst the pictures below, probably the best spot in the resort to get a picture of the hotel

 

 

 

Back on the ship we took quick showers and went to the going away party at the aqua theater. There was a sandwich bar set up on the boardwalk, serving philly cheese steaks, burgers and hot dogs.

 

The boardwalk is on deck 6, basically at the end of the Royal Promenade and up a flight of stairs. There are various shops and restaurants on the Boardwalk, and at the end of the Boardwalk is the Aquatheater and access to the rock climbing walls.

 

There is also a carousel on the boardwalk. We rode it.. just to say we did, hahha. There was never a line for it, but it was free as well.

 

 

 

Johnny Rockets is here but we never tried it. One hidden gem is that breakfast is free at Johnny Rockets. I heard it's pretty good, but never tried it.

 

Stay away from the donut shop. Worst donuts in the history of donuts. Dry and without taste. It was at this time that we figured out where trash cans are. You'll be hard pressed to find a regular trash can anywhere. Sure, you can just leave your trash on a table and someone will come pick it up, but keep in mind the easiest way to find a trash can is to just use the one they keep by the elevators or stairs.

 

We did dinner in the main dining room and it was again delicious, save dessert. :( We really love desserts too.

 

After dinner we made our way to our reserved show which tonight was the Comedy show. This is a must see show, and a must reserve show. The venue is small and intimate and one of the more popular shows. As a result, people lined up for it up to 2 hours early only to find there were not enough, or no seats, available.

 

Apparently there were a lot of complaints about not being able to get into the show, so on the last night they did a special PG 13 version of the comedy show in the aquatheater but it wasn't as funny.

 

That completed our Day 2.

[jbwhip]

http://www.jbwhip.com/wordpress/?p=161

 

Day 2 compass

[goouchjac]

I miss the lady O and want to go back soon,,,but I have to wait till next Jan.:(...Love the Central Park:):cool:

[Brandonclan]

Thanks for taking the time to do this review!!!

 

Nice job so far!!

[SF]

Thanks for taking the time to post a review. Just wondering, if you have pre-booked your comedy show how far ahead do you think you need to arrive to the venue to assure a seat?

[Clarea]

Thanks for taking the time to post a review. Just wondering, if you have pre-booked your comedy show how far ahead do you think you need to arrive to the venue to assure a seat?

You must arrive at least 10 minutes before showtime, else they will give away reserved seats to walk-ins.

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the report!

[jbwhip]

Thanks for taking the time to post a review. Just wondering, if you have pre-booked your comedy show how far ahead do you think you need to arrive to the venue to assure a seat?

 

Yep, 10 minutes before the show they release the seats for anyone that hasn't shown up. That's for all the shows. They'll scan your seapass on the way in to verify reservation.

[SF]

Just got a notice from RCCL a few days before sailing they are cancelling the Oasis of Dreams show for the first night and they rescheduled us for another night...unfortunately we already have something planned for that night so unless we clone ourselves this isn't going to be possible. Problem is they are booked up and I've had no help from them. I understand days and times can change but they didn't add another show just cancelled one and there is no way at this late date anyone is going to get reservations. What are the chances we can get it changed on board without having to wait in line for standby? We are all diamond members, do any benefits kick in here?

[jbwhip]

Just got a notice from RCCL a few days before sailing they are cancelling the Oasis of Dreams show for the first night and they rescheduled us for another night...unfortunately we already have something planned for that night so unless we clone ourselves this isn't going to be possible. Problem is they are booked up and I've had no help from them. I understand days and times can change but they didn't add another show just cancelled one and there is no way at this late date anyone is going to get reservations. What are the chances we can get it changed on board without having to wait in line for standby? We are all diamond members, do any benefits kick in here?

 

That's pretty inconvenient so close to sailing. I would wait until you get on the ship to decide what to do. I remember OoD was scheduled at some random times, it was one of the easier shows to catch on a whim in the early afternoon. You can also watch OoD from the secret balconies on decks 12 and 14 aft.

[jbwhip]

Day 3 was at sea.

 

with pictures : http://www.jbwhip.com/wordpress/?p=181

 

Woo hoo! Sleeping in! Only not. We had reserved the character breakfast. This is a breakfast with 4 of the Dreamworks characters. They walk around the tables, dance, and take pictures with everyone. You'll want to reserve in advance if you want in. Reservations sell out fast and the waiting line was long. You're right, we didn't bring the kids with us, but we are still kids at heart, and saw many other couples without kids attending the breakfast. We had a blast though the food was... eh.

 

 

 

Shop Talk. This might be for you, it was not for us. For the past 2 days they have been hyping up this shopping talk presentation on the RCCL tv channel. The first 200 people get a free coupon book with thousands in savings! Spoiler, the coupon book has 5 or 6 coupons for each port of call. You only go to 3 ports, but you get coupons for 30 ports. Which means out of 200 coupons you can only use around 15. The coupons are for the various shops at the port, and usually have something to do with jewelry. But none-the-wiser, we lined up early with several hundred people just to get the book. They also tell you to line up early and sit close, because they THROW JEWELRY INTO THE CROWD!!! You didn't think they really threw jewelry right? I happened to be lucky enough to catch a couple. They are plastic quarter machine pieces of jewelry, hahha. They main pitch is them telling you which shops to go to for whichever piece of jewelry you are looking for. We were lured to the presentation with the promise of free stuff but left 15 minutes in. I hear a lot of people buy diamonds though on cruises.

 

When you turn the tv on there is a menu of options and I quite enjoyed it. Everyday you get messages with reservations reminders and tips about what's going on that day. You can check your account and a plethora of other items as well, though we mainly used the system for the messages. It was also nice that if you had reservations, the restaurant would call your room with a courtesy call the day of your reservation.

 

We were really exhausted this day, and ended up falling asleep in the afternoon for a couple hours. When you shut the curtains and turn off the lights, it is DARK, and QUIET. Loved it. We were on deck 12 in room 599, which is more forward than aft. When I reserved it, it looked pretty close to in the middle of the elevators, which is what i was shooting for, but it was a noticable difference closer to the front. I had read concerns about noise since it is right below the deck 14 pools, but the sliding doors pretty much soundproof your room from the outside. No noise concerns at all. As far as location, I might have preferred being closer to the aft elevators. 80% of the time we found ourselves using the aft elevators even though they were further away. The windjammer, boardwalk, casino and dining room are best accessed by the rear elevators. The Opal theater, Studio B (ice rink), and Fitness Center are better accessed from the front. Windjammer, Casino, Dining room.... you see why we were toward the back of the ship more, hahha.

 

 

 

Dinner we had reserved at Izumi. Izumi is right next to the windjammer at the back of the ship. Reservations are $10 a person when you reserve prior to the cruise, but they apply the $20 ($10 x 2 people) toward your bill. Dinner is the only time you can try the hot rock entree that they are known for. Yeah, we called and asked. Everyone gets a bowl of edamame to start. Soups are also free if you ask for a bowl. The hot rock is okay. They sprinkle some salt on a 500+ degree rock and you place your steak on it. After a few seconds, flip it and done. The meat sticks to the rock. It is not aged or seasoned in any way. Pretty plain. The novelty of it is nice though. We also had a few sushi and sashimi plates. Very delicious. For dessert I really liked the green tea mochi. They will also tell you about a recipe book, for sale, that includes the recipe for all the food on the ship. Besides the book they will show you a neat little wine aerator as well. Check out some pics.

 

 

 

After Izumi we made our way to the aquatheater for our reservations at the Oasis of Dreams show. The aquatheater at the end of the boardwalk at the back of the ship. The first 3 rows are the wet zone, and there is not a bad seat in the theater. Okay who knows the storyline of the show? It's been on for 3 years now and I don't think anyone gets it yet, hahha. The comedians made fun of the Cirque show gone wrong all week. The dives and choreography were still entertaining, even if you didn't know what was going on. Our show ended rather quickly, after only 30 minutes, and our suspicions were confirmed the next day when someone told us they cut the show short due to high winds.

 

Sorrentos was our go-to spot for a quick snack. Located on the Royal Promenade, they have 4 different types of pizza readily available, and you can also build your own pizza which takes about 10 minutes to cook. We hit this spot 4 or 5 times during the week. Not the best pizza ever but at 1 am it might be the best pizza ever.

 

Tomorrow we are in St Thomas!

[ticketsunlimited]

Excellent we are getting pumped for our 3/23 Oasis cruise. Our OoD reservation was moved also. Going to have to pack in St. Johns excursion, OoD show, and the Headliner show all in one day with the reservation change. Drink package may have to suffer that day for a few extra coffees. We are in a D1 hump on Deck 12!!

I already downloaded all of your Compasses on your other post. Thanks for doing that. Looking forward to the rest of your review.

[jbwhip]

Excellent we are getting pumped for our 3/23 Oasis cruise. Our OoD reservation was moved also. Going to have to pack in St. Johns excursion, OoD show, and the Headliner show all in one day with the reservation change. Drink package may have to suffer that day for a few extra coffees. We are in a D1 hump on Deck 12!!

I already downloaded all of your Compasses on your other post. Thnks for doing that. Looking forward to the rest of your review.

 

 

Thanks for the great comments!