Oasis 3/22-29/14, so, so writing, pretty good pictures, very pretty girls!

[OSULabRat]

Great review so far, can't wait for the next post... My First time on Oasis is coming up, May 24 & May 31 B2B! So excited!

 

Following!

 

 

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[ChloChlo2013]

I'm currently booked on a cruise on the Navigator, but, like everyone else, I have enjoyed reading your review. The pictures are amazing! If you don't mind, can you send me the name of the travel agency you use as well? I would greatly appreciate it. My email address is babyc16 @ hotmail dot com.

[caneguy]

I'm back!!

 

 

DELAY…DELAY…DELAY….

I feel like writing this review is like I am in an airport in the Northeast this winter trying to get on a plane…

BUT the review is not cancelled!!! So here goes with day 6 of our wonderful Oasis cruise..

 

DAY SIX - AT SEA, ROCK AND ROLL and I am not talking the ROLLING STONES, , WHO HAS THE MOTION SICKNESS PILLS!!!!

 

 

OK, so let's get back to walking around like a drunk (even though you had not one sip of an Adult Beverage), not working out because it is very had to use an elliptical trainer and trying to keep your balance as the ship sways side to side, or lying outside due to intermittent rain and high winds!...Yes it was that type of day, so what does one do? Be lucky enough to have booked an early morning All Access Tour of the Oasis of the Seas!!!

 

I booked this online about two weeks prior to departure. There are only 60 spots available for this tour and it takes place on the last two days at sea with 2 tours each morning and 15 in each tour. There are some open spots held for those who go to Guest Services but I would go almost as soon as you board the ship.

 

The tour is about 3 hours long and you go to some interesting places on the ship, so let’s begin a recap of this tour.

The tour meets at the Aqua Theater and you start with about a 10 min movie on the making of the Oasis and some information about the ship and it is shown on the big screens. Then you meet a staff member of the Aqua Show and he gives you a talk on the production of the show.

1) The diving boards are 3, 10 and 17 meters (9, 30 and 51 feet) above the level of the pools.

2) Only two divers are qualified to dive from the 17 meter platform.

3) The members of the show train at a hotel in Hollywood, FL for two weeks prior to working on the ship

4) There are sensors around the inside of the pool to prevent the floor from rising or lowering if there is a person, object, in the way of the floor moving

 

Taken from the Stage

 

THE AREA BEHIND THE CURTAIN IS WHERE THE PERFORMERS ENTER AND EXIT THE POOL, when they don't dive or jump in view of the audience

 

After the talk about the Aqua show we then went to the kitchen (galley) of the 4th deck Opus Dinning Room to view the workings of the kitchen. We were greeted by Eduardo, who is the Chef du Cuisine of 150 Central Park. Eduardo told us that he has worked with Michael Schwartz, the Executive Chef of 150, at his restaurant in Grand Cayman and was asked to come aboard the Oasis to run 150 Central Park. We had a very nice tour of the kitchen.

Fun Facts

1) No open flame anywhere in the kitchen

2) Each deck of the galley has a different function and prepares different items

3) Very little waste of food, (except of course when we don’t eat that 4th entrée’ we ordered)

 

EDUARDO OUR GUIDE

 

 

NO OPEN FLAMES

 

[caneguy]

galley con't

 

MAKING THE SHRIMP COCKTAIL

 

SHRIMP COCKTAIL ANYONE?

 

I WANT THE STAINLESS STEEL BUSINESS!!!

 

MEETING THE CHIEF, I mean the main guy, CHEF.

sorry forgot his name

 

 

From the galley we then walked down to the storage area of the ship, were all the items brought onto the ship each Saturday are kept. Look at these pictures. Our guide for this portion of the tour told us why the tour is given only on the final two days of the cruise…. On Saturday and for a few days into the cruise, this area is completely full and has only a very small walkway between the pallets of stored items!!

FUN FACTS

1) On each Saturday over 240 TONS of “stuff” are brought on the ship for consumption

2) Each type of food is stored according to the temp. best kept for that type of food, i.e. fruits and vegetables one cooler, beer another, red wine and white wine kept in different coolers for temp. control

3) 14,000 pounds of watermelon consumed each week

4) 28,000 bottles/cans of beer drank each week

5) On each Saturday whatever few pallets of food are left are placed in the front of the storage area and used on that day. If anything is left over then it is discarded.

 

OUR GUIDE OF THE STORAGE AREA, HE IS IN CHARGE OF STORAGE

 

BEER COOLER

I think I will just stop here for a while

[mamaehen]

I emailed the Ritz-Carlton in St. Thomas about renting a beach cabana and this is the answer I got. In my email I did mention I was on a cruise:

 

Unfortunately, the cabanas are only for in-house guest. However, you are free to come and enjoy our beach and have lunch at one of our restaurants.

How did anyone else rent a cabana?

[packercruising]

Caneguy, it seems to me that when the ship gets really rocky, if you have a few adult beverages, you have a 50/50 chance of being tipsy the opposite way and the ship would be level again. :)

[Theredofshaw]

Caneguy, it seems to me that when the ship gets really rocky, if you have a few adult beverages, you have a 50/50 chance of being tipsy the opposite way and the ship would be level again. :)

 

I like this solution :D

[LA_CA_GAL]

I emailed the Ritz-Carlton in St. Thomas about renting a beach cabana and this is the answer I got. In my email I did mention I was on a cruise:

 

Unfortunately, the cabanas are only for in-house guest. However, you are free to come and enjoy our beach and have lunch at one of our restaurants.

How did anyone else rent a cabana?

 

I have found that good ol' cash works wonders in the Caribbean.

[lee101224]

Loving this review ( nothing to do with the obsoletely beautiful blonde young lady that keeps popping up in the photos :-) ) Honest ! ;-) ........ Wonder if she's after a British guy ?!? :p

[jayblue]

Awesome!

 

I've heard of this beach by the airport and added to my must-see list!

 

Sent from my SGH-T769 using Forums mobile app

Edited April 12, 2014 by jayblue

[caneguy]

I emailed the Ritz-Carlton in St. Thomas about renting a beach cabana and this is the answer I got. In my email I did mention I was on a cruise:

 

Unfortunately, the cabanas are only for in-house guest. However, you are free to come and enjoy our beach and have lunch at one of our restaurants.

How did anyone else rent a cabana?

 

We had a guest pass for the day given to my by a friend who works for Ritz Carlton

[caneguy]

caneguy, it seems to me that when the ship gets really rocky, if you have a few adult beverages, you have a 50/50 chance of being tipsy the opposite way and the ship would be level again. :)

 

genius !!!!

[caneguy]

Let's continue...

 

 

From the storage area we then proceeded to the Engine Control Room. This is the area were most all of the ship’s controls are monitored. We were given a very informative talk by the Chief Environmental Engineer. He gave us a detailed talk on how the ship disposes of it’s waste and that the Oasis produces ZERO amount of landfill!!! Everything is either burned off or recycled. Food items are washed and then disposed of at sea to feed the fish! He mentioned that at times you can see porpoise jump behind the ship feeding on the disposed food.

1) The ship’s propellers are called Azipods. There are three of them and they can rotate 360 degrees

2) There are 4 thrusters on the bow of the ship to help maneuver the ship, two on each side

3) The Oasis travels at the SLOWEST SPEED needed to arrive at the next port on time, saves fuel.

 

 

 

After the Engine control room tour we descended a small and very steep staircase two decks below sea level into the laundry. This has got to be the worst job on the ship!!!

 

Very interesting area, but I would not want to spend too much time here!

 

AREA WHERE GUEST LAUNDRY IS DONE

 

SMALL WASHING MACHINE ONLY 275 LBS

 

LARGE WASHING MACHINE 900 LBS

after the wash, the laundry is put on a conveyor belt and brought to the dryer. It is then fed into a presser and folded for use again.

 

From the laundry we walked down the famous I-95 corridor from the aft of the ship to the forward area into the staff mess hall. The only place were pictures were forbidden was along the I-95 corridor. The reason given was the placement on the walls of detailed descriptions of the ship that they do not want I guess on sites such as this… VERY INTERESTING ITEM. As we approached the crew mess there was a long line of staff. I asked someone what they were waiting for and it was PAY DAY!! The staff is pain in CASH! There is no tax taken out from the gross pay (except for U.S. Citizens). Our guide of the tour told us that each staff has a locker to keep valuables and that they have an ATM machine to re-charge their Sea Pass card. Yes even the staff has a cashless system. They buy drinks at the Crew Bar (much less then we do, Vodka and Cran. = $1.50!) and anything else they want to purchase on the ship. When they travel back home, it is at the custom check point that they declare the amount of cash they are bringing back and they have to produce a pay stub to prove that the cash was obtained legally. It is then that they are taxed on the earnings.

 

THE ONLY PICTURE ALLOWED OF I-95

[caneguy]

THE CREW MESS HALL

 

 

NOW on to the BRIDGE!!

 

We were greeted by an officer cadet and given a talk about the different controls, radar and maps used on the Bridge. We spent about 15-20 minutes there and then our tour was finished

 

THE BRIDGE

 

VIEW OF THE HELIPORT.

 

A GREETING MY THE MASTER (CAPTAIN)

 

THE SIDE CONTROL PANEL

There is one on each side of the bridge. The 3 round "things" with the little handle control the Azipods (propellers)

 

RADAR MAPS AND DECK PLANS

The deck plans give details as to the condition of the ship. There are different colors for liquid holding tanks as to what they are holding. An officer in an emergency and dump any liquid, even empty all the pools (it takes about 20 minutes)

[caneguy]

RADAR CLOSE-UP

zoom in, notice you can see a tag for cruise ships and the location of the ship.

 

THE VIEW FROM THE CAPTAIN CHAIR

 

OUR 1ST AND 2ND OFFICER.

SO These guys are amazing. The 1st officer in the white shirt is 23 and from Canada, the 2nd officer in the dark shirt is 21 and from New Zealand. What a future they have!!!

 

 

After the tour we meet our wives in the MDR for lunch, yes the TUTTI SALAD bar once again, and a few items from the menu. Menu items were Ok, nothing worth writing about… So the ship is still rocking and I decided that the best thing to do was TAKE A LONG NAP! and so I did!!

 

Now tonight being the second formal night, Lobster was going to be served in the MDR and I was not going to miss that! But my wife had a different idea, “Let’s go back to Chops for dinner”. Oh, what am I going to do? You see, I do know if you remember the 5 words a husband needs to know for a successful ( and mostly happy) marriage ( 25 years this month!), and the first two are YES DEAR! So I did an unusual Surf and Turf, Turf in Chops and Surf in the MDR!! Worked like a charm!!

Sorry not food porn from tonight, Chops was already done and we had the same items, and I did not bring the camera to MDR.

 

After dinner we all went to see Come Fly With Me, a very entertaining show with some dancing, singing, acrobatics and stunt work. A MUST to see, but I have to say I enjoyed Blue Planet on the Allure a little better.

 

After the show a nightcap in Central Park and then I took out the camera to take some pictures of the Boardwalk late at night. I have to say that these two pictures are in my top favorites of this review. Please post what was your favorite pictures of this review.

 

 

 

 

Tomorrow the final day, another dinner at 150 Central Park, some more printed information sheets, and some final thoughts

[caneguy]

Loving this review ( nothing to do with the obsoletely beautiful blonde young lady that keeps popping up in the photos :-) ) Honest ! ;-) ........ Wonder if she's after a British guy ?!? :p

 

Thanks for the post and the thumbs up for the review. I know she has a boyfriend, sorry:)

[caneguy]

Awesome!

 

I've heard of this beach by the airport and added to my must-see list!

 

Sent from my SGH-T769 using Forums mobile app

 

Moho beach was great when I spent time there last year! The ladies this time had different plans:(

[EMED2010]

Wow! That carousel picture is incredible!! You should definitely be proud of that one.

[caneguy]

Wow! That carousel picture is incredible!! You should definitely be proud of that one.

 

Thanks so much, yes I got really lucky on that one!!

[CruiserTK]

Yes that carousel picture is stunning. You ask that we state which photo is our favourite. They are all so good, that it's hard to pick just one.

[JamesEM]

Thanks for taking us along on the tour, enjoyed the photos.

[caneguy]

Yes that carousel picture is stunning. You ask that we state which photo is our favourite. They are all so good, that it's hard to pick just one.

 

Thanks so much!!!!

[caneguy]

Thanks for taking us along on the tour, enjoyed the photos.

 

Thanks James, and thanks for following from day 1!

[warriorprincess]

Thanks for such a fun and fantastic review!!! We are going on the Oasis May 3 and your review has really fueled our excitement. We can hardly wait. I appreciate your review of the Ultimate Ship Tour. I have always wanted to do that. Could you please send me the name of your travel agent at gborrun at gmail dot com.

[funfamilyof6]

Hi, I'm back... Sorry for the delay in posting but two things came into the way of continuing this review, the first WORK, I have to stop doing that... the second is that we lost internet yesterday at home.

 

But before I begin the review I have a BIG ANNOUNCEMENT!! I hope that my Cruise Critic friends and those who love RCCI will as happy as my wife and I were when we heard the news. My younger son is a Jr at the University of Miami majoring in Finance and Economics. He called us yesterday and told us that he has been ACCEPTED INTO THE ROYAL CARIBBEAN RISING SENIORS INTERNSHIP PROGRAM for this summer in the Finance division!! He will be working at the Port of Miami!!

 

Ok, the proud father is now going to continue this review..

 

I like to get up early in the morning and walk around the ship. It is a peaceful feeling before the masses start to enjoy the Oasis. Here are few pictures I took that first morning of the cruise...

 

Beach Pool

 

 

 

You must be so proud of your son, what a great opportunity, CONGRATS!!!

 

LOVING your review, this picture is one of my favorites so far and definitely swaying me to Oasis over IOS next summer!