0ASIS of the Seas Dec. 7-14 blog and review

[travelbuddies]

Sorry no updates this weekend... packing for my upcoming Explorer cruiser on Friday!! :D

 

I was at a wedding today :)... going to a funeral tomorrow :( ... and I've got lots of work to do on this short week before I'm traveling...

 

I hope to post some more before I ship out... and to get my next review posted sooner!!

 

If you're going to be in Falmouth, I heartily recommend this tour. Well organized, well led, interesting history, delicious food, always felt safe yet still out in the "real Jamaica," not some protected resort enclave.

 

Re: entertainment in labadee, interesting you never encountered this! I've always gone for a walk after lunch to browse the shops... and every time I pass the open air theatre the show is going I and I walk in. No announcement, no entry fee (other than tips), but I think I've seen it every time I've been to labadee...

 

Glad to hear from more folks, and thanks babyrock for having my back!!;)

 

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Forums mobile app

 

Bon Voyage! Enjoy the Explorer.

[FunCruiser56]

very nice review, enjoying it alot. Will keep checking for updates!

 

Bev

[Mrsfabo]

Can't wait for your Explorer review

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[EmpressofPurple]

Thanks CC friends, back to the review:

 

DAY #5 – WEDNESDAY December 11, 2013 – At Sea

Once again, 7am stretch class and 7:30am abs class… Diamond Club breakfast I brought back to the cabin: bagel – cream cheese & lox, butter & blackberry jam, coffee and juice… plus picked up my afternoon snack platter (cheese, melon & prosciutto, ham & cheese, croissant).

 

At 9am I met Rebecca at the Flowrider, the starboard side for boogie boarding (our first time)… I was VERY nervous… you can see the photos of the approaching storm front, too… but it was GREAT!!! I had a wonderful time, just so much fun. There was an older, larger guy in front of me on line, and he assured me it would be fine, and recommended that I drag my toes a bit to steady myself. I followed his advice, and felt very secure… but notice my “flowrider pedicure” in the photos! (I kept that for the rest of the cruise as a badge of honor.)

 

Storm front!

 

Getting instructions (look at that storm front in BG)

 

Diving in - under the trainer's watchful eye

 

Having fun

 

Wheeee!

 

My trainer approves

[EmpressofPurple]

Posing for the camera

 

I'm ready for my closeup, Mr. DeMille...

 

The (in)famous Flowrider Pedicure

(As if my feet weren't damaged enough having run 26.2 miles just two weeks before...)

[ariawoman]

Wow that flowrider pedicure was interesting lol.

 

I was on the same sailing as you, if you saw a bride walking around on Day 1, that was me lol. If you have any photos, please share :-)

 

As for the person who asked about the Prohibition Party, some friends of mine went. They said it was poorly attended, and they were ALL double charged for it and my friend had to fight with Guest Relations to get it resolved for everyone in our group (and consequently everyone else that went). I think they said it was only about 40 people or so, but don't quote me on that.

[EmpressofPurple]

Ooh I heard about "the bride's" but alas no photos!! I was not fortunate enough to catch a glimpse. I trust you had a wonderful wedding cruise! :)

 

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Forums mobile app

[Babyrocko1908]

Posing for the camera

 

I'm ready for my closeup, Mr. DeMille...

 

The (in)famous Flowrider Pedicure

(As if my feet weren't damaged enough having run 26.2 miles just two weeks before...)

 

Oh my.... I admire you for sticking with your flow rider pedicure for the remainder of the cruise. There's no way I could have done that.

 

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy Note 3 using forums app

[EmpressofPurple]

Oh my.... I admire you for sticking with your flow rider pedicure for the remainder of the cruise. There's no way I could have done that.

 

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy Note 3 using forums app

 

(I was just showing off:o:p)

[Pat in NC]

You have made the "Food Tour" sound so interesting....I have just a couple of questions......

 

1. About how long does the tour take?

 

 

2. What was the size of your group?

 

 

Thank you so much for all the hard work you have put into your report. It is so appreciated......Pat

[EmpressofPurple]

Hi Pat, I believe 8 of our group were on the tour... wow, I don't remember the exact length of time it took! I see from my notes that we went to trivia at 10, so we probably didn't meet on the pier until 11 or 12... and we were back in the port area with plenty of time for shopping before sailaway... maybe 3-4 hours total? A walking tour, yes, but sit-down time at the beef patty shop, the jerk restaurant, and the dessert stop at the historic tour at the end.

[EmpressofPurple]

(So, I just got back from a terrific 8-day cruise on the Explorer today... I want to wrap up this Oasis review from December so I can turn to my current cruise description.)

 

So, continuing Wednesday, December 11, after the flowrider adventure:

 

We then had a delicious (second) breakfast in the Wipeout Café (another hidden gem on the Oasis, and the home of the custom omelette station, which apparently does not exist in the Windjammer on this ship… (FYI, I never ate in the Windjammer. Not once. I walked through at some point or another, but didn’t even have a snack… and as you can tell, if you’ve been paying attention, that’s saying a lot!) Wipeout Café breakfast: Oatmeal with raisins and brown sugar; sausage and bacon; banana, orange and coffee. Yum! (Alas no food photos -- too hungry!!) (FYI, the self-serve soft-serve is also located in the Wipeout Cafe.)

 

Spent the rest of the morning on the pool deck, enjoying my first experience of the cantilevered whirlpools, overhanging the ocean (I’ve been dying to try those ever since they debuted on Freedom Class, which I’ve never sailed)…

 

Then showered, dressed, and went down to get a seat at the Promenade Café (actually ended up at Sorrentos) for the 12:30 Dreamworks Move it! Move it! Parade. What great casting for the face characters from How to Train Your Dragon! Just amazing to see all of the characters from SO MANY movies, Shrek, Kung Fu Panda, Madagascar, one after the next after the next. Terrific, just great fun. Alas, most of my photos are fuzzy because of motion issues, but here are a few to set the scene:

 

Parade walkway unfolding from within giant globe over Pub

 

Heralds announcing the arrival of the parade

 

Inflatable Toothless up on the roof

 

The Madagascar Penguins are always popular

 

Lots of staff in costume (not just performers) made the parade huge -- hopefully it's a nice break in their hard-working days, too

[EmpressofPurple]

Confetti explosion

 

 

And cleaning up afterwards (with amazing backpack vacuum!)

 

I had some of the little sandwiches from the Promenade café for lunch: the mini roast beef, the mini ham croissant, a toffee cookie and self-made iced coffee (i.e., get self-serve coffee at the Promenade Café, ask for a cup of ice, pour the coffee on the ice – voila, iced coffee!).

 

Back to the Schooner Bar (with a cappuccino from the Diamond Club) for Progressive Trivia… Roberta and I are still hanging in there… although I think today was the day I had to hold the fort ALONE! Against our genius traveling friends in a tight group of six!

 

Plus there were numerous other terrifying trivia mavens, including one gentleman who had an entire VEST made of Royal Caribbean keychains, with a dozen “lucky spin” and "VIP" keychains hanging from the bottom as fringe… (think I’m going to make a necklace of mine for my upcoming Explorer cruise, just to intimidate the competition)…

 

I see from my photos we tried to see our rescheduled diving show... which was canceled again due to sea conditions... but here are some photos from the Aquatheatre area and the pool deck:

 

Putt-putt (didn't get to play on this cruise, but here's a photo)

 

"hang glider" hanging overhead in the Aquatheater

 

Rockwall (entry one flight up from Boardwalk/Aquatheatre)

[EmpressofPurple]

Here are some pix from the (shortened) diving show -- we saw a lot of the comedic and artistic stuff, even some of the breathtaking high dives.

 

Big screen image:

 

Notice the yellow umbrella theme

 

 

Group Dance / Dive (underwater floor rises and lowers to allow dancing and diving -- timing is everything!)

 

Diver flying in (in front of big screen image of same)

 

Diving Aerialists!

[EmpressofPurple]

So many acts in this show! I'll just post a few more photos for the flavor.

 

Strongmen trampoline divers

 

 

Dancing and diving with the moving underwater floor

 

More aerialists

 

Multiple divers on the middle platform

 

Dancing

Edited March 30, 2014 by EmpressofPurple
added photo

[Wildcatfish]

Empress, welcome back! Looking forward to the rest of the review... and the next review too!:D

[EmpressofPurple]

Oh all right, just a couple more...

 

Climbing the big ladder (notice photo on guy's phone in front of me)...

 

 

...and jumping off!

 

Divers at all levels

 

Diving and flying

 

Many more in-between photos including synchronized swimmers, multiple divers, etc., etc. -- but let's just say farewell

[EmpressofPurple]

And then, today’s theme being “daredevils at sea,” Marianne, Becca and I went to zipline! Now, THAT was scary! At least, just for that first second when you step out over the void… then you’re flying and it’s FUN!!! I had to check three times that this harness would really hold me… it felt loose, weird, uncomfortable… but I had seen dozens of people of all shapes and sizes sail along with no problems, I figured they wouldn’t let anything happen to me… and indeed, it went very well indeed. Afterwards, we celebrated with some self-serve soft yogurt in the wipeout café.

 

(My friends took photos, but I can't find them right now in my email... sorry!)

 

So, what else was there to do? Well, ICE SKATING of course! So Becca and I made our way down to Studio B, wearing long pants and socks, strapped on some skates, and did one shaky, slow, embarrassing trip around the ice rink. Whew! How do those skaters do it? I’m watching the winter Olympics now as I’m writing up this trip report; it’s simply inconceivable. Amazing!!! (No photos from this session at all, I'm afraid)

 

After ice skating, I bought some “glow” accessories on sale in front of the On Air lounge (for the “glow” party scheduled for tomorrow night) and had my afternoon snack that I had “banked” in the morning. I changed clothes and headed to the Aqua Theatre at 5:15 for the rescheduled Oasis of Dreams. We got to see a few acts… but once again, due to wavy conditions, the show was canceled, with no time to reschedule it again, alas. (Oops, I guess all those photos were posted out of order in this review, but it takes so long for images to load on my oudated laptop that it's too late for me to edit this review and put this text ahead of the pictures!)

 

Tonight was the second formal night, but we were hosted at Giovanni’s Table for dinner. What an amazing meal! We had shared appetizers: antipasti, caprese salad, eggplant parmesan, prosciutto with mozzarella, shrimp ravioli, tagliatelle, ricotta/spinach crepe (amazing, my favorite), osso buco with polenta and green beans. ALL of the desserts had alcohol in them, so our (handsome) waiter made a trip to Chops to bring me a serving of red velvet cake (which was disappointing, honestly). I also had a cappuccino.

 

Giovannis

 

Some of the amazing appetizer platters

 

 

 

Edited March 30, 2014 by EmpressofPurple
added photo

[EmpressofPurple]

After dinner, I went up to one of the “secret balconies” overlooking the Aqua Theatre and watched the fountain shows at 8:45pm (which was followed by a movie on the outdoor theatre screen, though I didn’t stay for that).

 

It was ‘70s night, so I dressed in my special ‘70s outfit and I might have stopped by the Opal Theatre to check out the “Summer Breeze Classic Rock Concert” at 9:30pm, and wandered through the Casino for a while (at least, I have a photo that Carol took of me there when she was playing the slots).

 

We had group reservations for the 10:30pm ice show, “Frozen in Time.” People had been raving about this show – I believe it was taken in full from the Explorer, including the sand painting storyteller before the show, and the individual skaters! I remember seeing all of this.

 

Sand painter at work

 

It is a terrific show, based on the fairy tales of Hans Christian Anderson, and there is amazing skating artistry. We had great seats, right on the ice rink, and could really appreciate the choreography and accomplishments of the artists.

 

Winter scene

 

Ugly duckling

 

Emperor's New Clothes

[EmpressofPurple]

Afterwards, I headed down to the Promenade for the amazing CD Disco Inferno Street Party at 11:15pm… and then went to the ‘70s Disco After Party with Muzik Xpress in Dazzles (I had headed down to Blaze first, but that was just a regular dance party, not a ‘70s party).

 

Muzik Xpress was an AMAZING live cover band, playing all the great hits from the ‘70s, and you would believe that you were hearing the original artists, they were that good! They mixed it up on the floor with the dancers, and everyone in the club was dancing together, whether you knew each other or not (indeed, I knew no one and had a great time).

 

Who could believe we closed the club? It’s advertised in the Compass as running “Midnight-late” – but believe me, it couldn’t have been that late, or I wouldn’t have been there until they turned the lights back on and said good night. What a great time! How nice it is to have a great dance party without a velvet rope at the door.

 

Singers performing on the packed Promenade

 

Village People + CD staff

 

Posing with CD Jimmy Rhodes

 

Activities Director Frankie Potente

 

And yeah baby, some sexy dancers!!

 

The amazing Muzik Xpress

 

In viewing the photo of the Indian and the Biker again, I am reminded of my joke about the "hot-off" behind the scenes on the Oasis: In addition to the gym staff, the RC dancers, and (on Voyager class and above) the ice skaters -- on Oasis class, add the divers and the aerialists!! Imagine the competition: The dancers say to the gym staff, "Oh, you just lift weights and run around; we jump and dance and kick and lift each other and change costumes in 5 seconds..." The skaters say, "Bah, we do all that on skates, sliding backwards on ice while lifting each other with one hand..." The divers say, "Ha, puny skaters, we leap from 30 feet in the air into a teacup..." The aerialists say, "Feh, silly divers, we hold each other from our teeth while spinning 30 feet above a hard stage!" -- each batch more buff and fit than the next!!! Yep, I'd love to see the hot-off backstage...

[EmpressofPurple]

DAY #6 – THURSDAY, December 12, 2013 – Cozumel, Mexico – 8:30am – 6:15pm

7am stretch, 7:30am fab abs… Solarium Bistro breakfast with Marianne and Becca: Bagel, cream cheese and lox… half grapefruit… grits with salt, pepper, hot sauce, butter… turkey sausage… cappuccino (from the Diamond Club)…

 

Dressed for a beach day, went ashore and met up with those sharing the private cooking class we had booked at Mr. Sancho’s beach club ($45pp plus transportation and tips). We shared a cab ($5 each) and arrived at the beach area early, checked in, and went to the food preparation area.

 

What a great class! This was one of the best tours I have taken… and I love our “food theme” for this cruise, with a food tour in Jamaica and a cooking class in Mexico.

 

(I would have booked the cooking class in Jamaica at the historic house, through the cruise line shore excursion department, but it was more than twice as expensive as booking the food tour privately… ditto, the Mexican cooking class through the ship, held at another beach – which many friends of mine have taken and said was terrific – was also nearly twice as expensive as what we booked on our own.)

 

We prepared several dishes: salsa, guacamole, tortilla chips, sopas (small fried breads), refried beans, grilled chicken + frozen margaritas (virgin for me) – regular, strawberry or mango. It was so much fun! We learned hygiene (washing our hands like surgeons before handling the foods), knife handling skills, chopping tomatoes, peppers, onions, avocados…

 

We cut tortillas into triangles and deep-friend them into fresh tortilla chips for our salsa and avocado… we customized the salsas to be spicy or plain depending on our taste… and we filled the sopas with the refried beans (which had been prepared in advance), chicken which we had grilled on the open grill, topped it with a little white cheese, and enjoyed several drinks while we were working.

 

We tipped the chef and his translator/teacher well, and ate the delicious lunch which we had prepared ourselves. I continue to make the guacamole for my appreciative family!

 

Tropical Christmas Tree @ Mr. Sancho's

 

Beautiful fresh ingredients!

 

Diced tomato

 

The gang's all here...

 

...with big knives!!

 

Avocado and onion

[EmpressofPurple]

Tasting our individual mixtures (some with hot peppers, some without)

 

Beautiful finished product in colors of the Mexican flag (with chopped cilantro for the green, mild white cheese for white, and the chopped tomatoes for red, all on top of the mashed avocado and onion base)

 

Grilled chicken and handmade sopas

 

Deep-fried tortilla chips

 

Beautiful coconut tree on beach

 

Me posing with coconut tree (look at that belly full of guacamole, and chicken, and sopas, and black beans, and tortilla chips, and frozen drinks!!!)

[EmpressofPurple]

After lunch, I walked to the nearby restroom… and nearby was a massage station (very reasonably priced compared to the cruise ship)… and a FISH PEDICURE station!!! This is something I had read about and always wanted to try… and having recently completed that marathon, I had LOTS of dead skin on my feet and toes, having suffered terrible blisters from mile 10 to the end (that’s mile 26.2)… for $25, I got to sit with my feet in tanks with tiny fish nibbling away at my feet and legs. I only wish I had enough money for a longer session!! It was amazing, and while yes, it definitely tickled at first, once you adapted to the sensation, it was very relaxing.

 

Fish pedicure

 

It tickles!!

 

Their T-shirt design (I didn't get one)

 

Then we relaxed on the beach for a few hours, and shared a taxi back to the port area. I paid $1 for a photo with a truly wild-looking “native”… bought some beautiful silver and turquoise jewelry for my daughter’s upcoming birthday gift (a bracelet and a pendant)… and some Mexican vanilla to take home…

 

(Hey, I can't find my $1 photo with the guy in the cool costume!!! Here's a shot of beautiful Oasis at the dock in Cozumel)

[EmpressofPurple]

I have a few things marked in the Compass, but the only thing I remember doing is going to the Broadway LIVE show with Edna and Tracy (the two leads from Hairspray) in the Viking Crown Lounge. What an amazing show, a true delight for lovers of standards and Broadway show tunes. Just a delight.

 

(Mostly have videos of the performers singing; here's a shot of the girl who played Tracy)

 

Grabbing a shot from the video:

 

 

My attempt at a dressed-up selfie

 

Best towel animals ever!!

[Wildcatfish]

Yes, best towel animals ever!!! Absolutely! I've seen lots of towel animals, but your pic of "reading in bed" is the best.