Just Back: Oasis review including drink package

[nobody_knows_me]

My partner and I went on Oasis last week, 1/18–1/25. We’re both mid-20s active and healthy men. I’ve been on 2 Carnival cruises when I was a teenager. We’ve been one 1 cruise together last year on NCL Epic, which we compared this cruise to quite a bit.

 

We were VERY pleased with our cruise on Epic, but wanted to try Royal, which we believed to be the next most comparable brand.

 

Altogether we had a great cruise. There were many WOWs and a few disappointments. Here are the details.

 

The ship, of course, is absolutely stunning — a modern marvel. It’s incredible how clean they kept it. We were very pleased there.

 

First the highlights. The entertainment was absolutely incredible. Oasis of Dreams, Come Fly With Me, Frozen in Time — all must sees. It’s stunning what they’re able to accomplish in the shows, let alone at sea.

 

In comparison to Epic, we felt the food altogether was subpar. A previous thread talked about the Windjammer being absolutely awful and we couldn’t agree more. It barely switched up anything. Also, there were very few even moderately healthy choices, especially if you didn’t want to eat a salad for every meal. Also disappointed that there weren’t any stations to get custom sandwiches, pastas, etc.

 

MDR was very good, though. Great selection and fabulous service. We did the Oasis dining package. Chops was good, but not phenomenal. Same with Giovanni’s. Solarium was ok. Izumi was AWFUL. Some of the worst service on the ship. We asked 3 times to get water after being seated and didn’t get anything for more than 10 minutes.

 

We purchased the Premium Inclusive, $55/day drink package and were pretty happy with it. We basically could get any cocktail on the ship. It says $10 and below, but we could only find one cocktail that was more than that.

 

HOWEVER, we did run into some issues over and over again. The staff’s familiarity with the package was messed up. No one seemed to understand the actual details of the package. For instance, we really enjoyed the Perfect Patron Margarita. It calls for Patron, Patron Citronge, mix and orange juice. Many times we’d watch the bartender use the silver Patron, then use regular triple sec instead of the Patron Citronge. One time I complained and requested it be remade according to the menu description, and the bartender informed me that I’m not even supposed to get Patron. BS. My package says ANY cocktail $10 or less and the drink is listed as $9.25. He did remake it, though. This happened more than once.

 

Also, there is NOTHING in the package description about Red Bull. I understand that I can’t order a can of Red Bull, but they list Red Bull and Vodka as a $9 cocktail. At one point, a bartender told me no and I argued with him. Eventually, I went to guest services where they told me that they just picked up 200 new crew members and they don’t all know the details. Also, that if I have any issues ordering Red Bull and Vodka, to just pay for the drink and guest services would wipe the charge. That was great and all, but how are they not communicating these things out to their staff? It’s unbelievable they would implement this new package and not get the crew on board with it.

 

We used the gym a lot. It’s ok. All of the weights were always jumbled and none of the screens on any of the cardio machines worked. That said, it was a fine gym for being on a cruise ship. We didn’t want to spend too much time there on vacation anyway. That’s what we’ve been doing the months leading up!

 

2 towel animals in the stateroom.

 

The weather was just ok, but that’s nothing we can blame on Royal. We had fantastic weather in Labadee so that was good. Didn’t get off the ship in Jamaica but it poured for part of the day. In Cozumel we rented a scooter which was fun.

 

We enjoyed the cruise for the most part, but are excited to do NCL for our next as we enjoyed it much more. Would do Royal again in the future, though.

 

Pics here: https://www.facebook.com/impressiveinstant/media_set?set=a.10152548096509027.1073741829.811689026&type=1

[raerenee]

My partner and I went on Oasis last week, 1/18–1/25. We’re both mid-20s active and healthy men. I’ve been on 2 Carnival cruises when I was a teenager. We’ve been one 1 cruise together last year on NCL Epic, which we compared this cruise to quite a bit.

 

We were VERY pleased with our cruise on Epic, but wanted to try Royal, which we believed to be the next most comparable brand.

 

Altogether we had a great cruise. There were many WOWs and a few disappointments. Here are the details.

 

The ship, of course, is absolutely stunning — a modern marvel. It’s incredible how clean they kept it. We were very pleased there.

 

First the highlights. The entertainment was absolutely incredible. Oasis of Dreams, Come Fly With Me, Frozen in Time — all must sees. It’s stunning what they’re able to accomplish in the shows, let alone at sea.

 

In comparison to Epic, we felt the food altogether was subpar. A previous thread talked about the Windjammer being absolutely awful and we couldn’t agree more. It barely switched up anything. Also, there were very few even moderately healthy choices, especially if you didn’t want to eat a salad for every meal. Also disappointed that there weren’t any stations to get custom sandwiches, pastas, etc.

 

MDR was very good, though. Great selection and fabulous service. We did the Oasis dining package. Chops was good, but not phenomenal. Same with Giovanni’s. Solarium was ok. Izumi was AWFUL. Some of the worst service on the ship. We asked 3 times to get water after being seated and didn’t get anything for more than 10 minutes.

 

We purchased the Premium Inclusive, $55/day drink package and were pretty happy with it. We basically could get any cocktail on the ship. It says $10 and below, but we could only find one cocktail that was more than that.

 

HOWEVER, we did run into some issues over and over again. The staff’s familiarity with the package was messed up. No one seemed to understand the actual details of the package. For instance, we really enjoyed the Perfect Patron Margarita. It calls for Patron, Patron Citronge, mix and orange juice. Many times we’d watch the bartender use the silver Patron, then use regular triple sec instead of the Patron Citronge. One time I complained and requested it be remade according to the menu description, and the bartender informed me that I’m not even supposed to get Patron. BS. My package says ANY cocktail $10 or less and the drink is listed as $9.25. He did remake it, though. This happened more than once.

 

Also, there is NOTHING in the package description about Red Bull. I understand that I can’t order a can of Red Bull, but they list Red Bull and Vodka as a $9 cocktail. At one point, a bartender told me no and I argued with him. Eventually, I went to guest services where they told me that they just picked up 200 new crew members and they don’t all know the details. Also, that if I have any issues ordering Red Bull and Vodka, to just pay for the drink and guest services would wipe the charge. That was great and all, but how are they not communicating these things out to their staff? It’s unbelievable they would implement this new package and not get the crew on board with it.

 

We used the gym a lot. It’s ok. All of the weights were always jumbled and none of the screens on any of the cardio machines worked. That said, it was a fine gym for being on a cruise ship. We didn’t want to spend too much time there on vacation anyway. That’s what we’ve been doing the months leading up!

 

2 towel animals in the stateroom.

 

The weather was just ok, but that’s nothing we can blame on Royal. We had fantastic weather in Labadee so that was good. Didn’t get off the ship in Jamaica but it poured for part of the day. In Cozumel we rented a scooter which was fun.

 

We enjoyed the cruise for the most part, but are excited to do NCL for our next as we enjoyed it much more. Would do Royal again in the future, though.

 

Pics here: https://www.facebook.com/impressiveinstant/media_set?set=a.10152548096509027.1073741829.811689026&type=1

 

I was also on this cruise the same week and couldn't agree more with you on the food. The buffet was just plain nasty. Green hot dogs and weird slop.

We also had the drink package and encountered the same issues. Patron was charged on my card several times but after a visit to guest services they took it off.

[nobody_knows_me]

Also, one other drink package issue: you can get bottled water, but you can't order bottled water and a drink. It was so annoying on Labadee when I ordered a beer and a water bottle and was told no.

[raerenee]

We had a suite and two full drink packages. They filled the suite up with bottled water everyday and we were charged for it. I knew this was the policy, just seems a bit much when you are spending a lot of money. Throw in a bottle of water!

[Tyler80]

Also, one other drink package issue: you can get bottled water, but you can't order bottled water and a drink. It was so annoying on Labadee when I ordered a beer and a water bottle and was told no.

 

Thanks for your review. Did you miss out on seeing Hairspray? Great photos!

[nobody_knows_me]

Thanks for your review. Did you miss out on seeing Hairspray? Great photos!

 

We opted not to see Hairspray because we've seen it on tour before.

 

Good reminder, though: make sure to get to all of the shows early. Only for one show were they checking SeaPass cards for entrance. We had to stand for Frozen in Time, had bad seats for Come Fly With Me and sat in the splash zone for Oasis of Dreams. Not horrible, but definitely get there early!