Oasis Review - May 3rd Eastern Caribbean - Ask Away

[LS6Caddy]

Just off the May 3rd Eastern sailing on the Oasis. These boards have been so helpful to me leading up to my trips so I will share my thoughts/observations. I have all the compasses, I will try to get them scanned in and posted if somebody would like to see them. So here it goes….

 

 

Background –

I am a 34 yr old single male, traveling with 19 other friends and family, ranging in ages from 30 to 60, coming from Denver, Albuquerque, and Las Vegas . This is actually the smallest group we have traveled on a cruise with before.

Pre-Cruise –

We stayed at the Quality Inn & Suites Airport/Cruise Port. Not terribly fancy, but serves the trick for us. Decent pool area with bar and a little grille where you can get hamburgers and such. There is also a strip mall with a K-Mart, liquor store, and many fast food restaurants within walking distance. There is a free breakfast in the morning as well. I believe it is $99 a night.

 

 

Embarkation –

We arrived at port at about 11:15, dropped our luggage off with the porters, checked in, picture taken, and on deck by about 11:45. Probably by far the easiest embarkation we have ever done. The sky did open up and it down poured for a while. It did let up enough that we could be outside for sail away.

 

 

Ship –

The size of this ship is incredible, even in comparison to the Freedom class. I think the width of it is where it is really noticeable. And it really does accommodate 6000 passengers well (I believe the announced count for our sailing was about 5800 passengers). Embarkation was a breeze. Getting off and on the ship in port was never crowded. There are so many venues that shows never really felt crowded either. It is clean, beautiful, and in great shape. I am not really one to sit idle, kind of always on the go, so I can’t speak to much about lounge chair availability. But from what I noticed there always seemed to be chairs available, both around the pools and in the solarium. I was in stateroom 6130, all the way forward on the port side. It was pretty much what I expected for the room. If I was to nitpick I would say that it could have used a little more shelf/drawer space for those items that don’t hang up in the closet. But no big deal.

 

 

Staff –

Most everybody we encountered was great. Our dining room staff was excellent (we do traditional dining). The cruise director (Drew Divine) and the rest of his staff did a great job as well. They were all very funny. Our room steward was excellent as well. I do miss the days of towel animals every night (I certainly understand though how time consuming they are and how that is difficult for them to provide night in night out), but we did get them 3 nights. The only thing I did notice is that there did not seem to be as many servers walking around the pool deck as in the past. Not sure if that is cut backs, by product of the drink packages, or a false observation on my part. In any case, I certainly didn’t go thirsty.

 

 

Food –

I am not a good evaluator in this department. I am not a foodie, I am a simple eater…I prefer a good cheeseburger over a good steak. So you could say my tastes are not as refined as some. With that said, I thought all the food was what I expected. MDR food was all good in my opinion, with some things standing out over others. Windjammer and other venues were what I would expect from a buffet that is trying to serve 6000 people. Some things good…some things so so. We did not do any of the specialty restaurants. I did not go hungry…and I managed to keep the weight gain under 5 lbs. I consider that a win.

 

 

And then there is the ever popular drink card topic. I, and about 8-9 others in our group purchased it. I was on the fence, as I was borderline to making it worthwhile (I think I did). I did not drink more because I had it, nor did I get the impression other people were excessively drinking because of it. I did try things that I probably would not have had I not purchased it simply based on the fact that I didn’t care if I didn’t like it and thus didn’t drink it (that didn’t happen though). They are very lax with it. Often time’s one guy would go to the bar with like 3-4 of our cards to get drinks and never had a problem. Or getting a drink and turning around and getting another drink almost immediately.

 

 

Entertainment-

Everybody enjoyed the shows. The comedians were great. The ice show was good (not really my cup of tea though), especially the sand artists…there were worth the price of admission. The headliner Tony Tillman was excellent as well. Come Fly With Me and Oasis of Dreams (aqua show) were both very impressive. And there is always good laughs from the love and marriage game show and the battle of the sexes. And then there is the Quest. Never to be missed. Always so much fun. It is amazing what people will do simply for the spirit of competition. I do however think it would be good if they could find a way to switch up some of the items. People come prepared with extra bras and show laces and stuff like that now. It doesn’t much take away from the overall comedic value of the show, just an observation.

 

 

I only spent a little time in Dazzles, the band in there seemed to be pretty good. I heard good things about the band in the Viking Crown Lounge, never saw them though. Saw a little of the singer in the Schooner Bar I was passing up and down on the Rising Tide Bar (We may or may not have rode that for about 4 hours the first night) and she was pretty good as well.

 

 

There was a pretty active night life on this sailing. I tend to believe that has more to do with who sails on a week to week basis rather than the ship itself. Blaze was full most every night into the early morning. So much so that on the 2nd deck party when the DJ stopped at 3:15 everybody went down to Blaze only to be upset to find out they were not continuing the party down there. Much of this contingent was a younger crowd that was part of a large wedding group from Canada. It is fun when there is this type night life. I can say that I think I prefer Princess’ deck parties to the deck parties conducted on the Oasis. But never the less, they were still fun.

 

 

Ports –

Nassau – 3 of us did the water park at the Atlantis. It was overpriced (especially considering I have one of the country’s best water parks minutes from my house and it cost me about a ¼ of that to get in) and too short of a time. But we knew that going in and it was just something we wanted to experience once. It was fun. Others in our group found that there was not much else terribly exciting about Nassau.

 

 

St Thomas – Our entire group took a cab (open air bus) to Magen’s Bay. We really like that beach, as it is the 3rd time we have been there. Can’t remember the exact cost of the cab but it was in the neighborhood of $20 round trip, Plus $4 to get into the beach itself. I don’t remember that from past trips, but no big deal.

 

 

St Maarten – Some of our group did the helmet dive and they all enjoyed that (I have done that on past trips and enjoyed it as well). Some others did the Snuba trip and enjoyed that. A small group spent the afternoon at Maho beach. This was probably my most memorable thing from this trip. It is so much fun. You can sit back on by the bar and watch take-offs and landings from the side. Or you can stand on the beach during a take-off and get sand blown and blown over. Or you can stand on the guard rail and hold on to the fence when they take-off. I chose the latter. And it was so much fun.

 

 

Misc. Thoughts-

There was a large group from Brazil on board, something like 1500 people. The only reason I mention it is because at least three times they had venues closed for private parties. One night in Dazzles, one night in Studio B, and one night in the Solarium. I am not sure what would have occurred in those venues had there not been the private party in there. But with that said, I don’t feel like I missed anything, more of an observation.

 

 

There was the Alfa Alfa Alfa call I believe Monday night for the Rising Tide Bar. Being the Ambulance chasers we are, My dad and I ran up there to see what that code was. We were told a gentleman had had a heart attack. We never did hear if he was okay or what.

 

 

The last morning, at about apparently 3:00, there was a small explosion in the incinerator. I guess there was a pretty loud bang which was followed up with an announcement (saying everything was fine, just filled up a hallway or something with a little smoke). After a week of late nights and early mornings, I slept through it all.

 

 

And not to turn this into a dress code discussion, as that has been beat to death tirelessly on these boards. But this was probably the least enforced dress code cruise I have been on. Lots of shorts. Lots of T-shirts on formal night. Doesn’t really bother me, as I am only concerned about myself and not what other people wear and I like looking nice. But it was definitely something I noticed as people were walking by our table in the MDR.

 

 

Oh, and last but not least. Limes are back! They were not there to start the cruise, but showed up after our stop in St. Thomas.

 

 

Disembarkation – Worst ever. Not because it was slow or anything, it actually went very smooth. But because I didn’t want it to end, one of the best cruises I have been on. And to top it all off, I come home to snow.

 

That’s that. Ask away….

Edited May 12, 2014 by LS6Caddy

[meyer_22]

Thanks for the review, we sail on OOTS in just under two weeks - going Western.

 

Question on drink packages - Which level did you get? Select, Premium, Ultimate? Im debating on Select or Premium for my wife. She only really drinks wine and beer, but the Select says it only covers up to $8 glasses of wine. Wondering what the quality and quantity of choices is...

 

Also, you said no time limit between getting drinks and things not strictly enforced? Interesting as I would think they would try and police sharing and such.

 

Again, thanks for the review!

[2calgarycruisers]

Thanks for sharing! DD16 and I leave on Saturday - same itinerary - can you remember if there were any deals offered on the specialty dining to book onboard? What is The Quest? What snuba trip and helmet dive did you do? Worth the money? Thanks.

[LS6Caddy]

Thanks for the review, we sail on OOTS in just under two weeks - going Western.

 

Question on drink packages - Which level did you get? Select, Premium, Ultimate? Im debating on Select or Premium for my wife. She only really drinks wine and beer, but the Select says it only covers up to $8 glasses of wine. Wondering what the quality and quantity of choices is...

 

Also, you said no time limit between getting drinks and things not strictly enforced? Interesting as I would think they would try and police sharing and such.

 

Again, thanks for the review!

 

I got the premium. I mostly drink beer, but enjoy the after dinner shots, Bailey's in my coffee, and a nice frozen concoction when the temperature climbs. My dad did the select, but he only drinks beer, so I can not speak on the quantity and quality of wines.

 

It was very lax. You couldn't order two drinks with one card. But could easily order one and then order another one from a different server/bartender within minutes. The second deck party the bar was crowded and hard to get a drink. I finally got mine as my friend was ordering me one on the other side of the bar. I gave them my card for the one I ordered and then walked right over to where she was and gave them my card again. No questions asked.

[LS6Caddy]

Thanks for sharing! DD16 and I leave on Saturday - same itinerary - can you remember if there were any deals offered on the specialty dining to book onboard? What is The Quest? What snuba trip and helmet dive did you do? Worth the money? Thanks.

 

I am not sure of any deals offered for specialty dining.

 

The Quest is an adult scavenger hunt that Royal Caribbean does. The room is split into about 8 teams (by sections in Studio B) and all items asked for are in the room. They end up being things like women's bras, mens pants, tattoos, women in mens pants, men in women's bra's, etc. It is a must see if you have a sense of humor and are not easily offended.

 

We did the snuba trip and helmet dive offered through RCI. And yes, I would recommend both of them, more so the helmet dive than the snuba.

[brookmill18]

Were the deck parties just listed in the compasses each day? I don't remember seeing anything about those when we went. Did they typically start really late (like around midnight)? Which deck areas were they on?

 

Thanks!

[caneguy]

Thanks for sharing! DD16 and I leave on Saturday - same itinerary - can you remember if there were any deals offered on the specialty dining to book onboard? What is The Quest? What snuba trip and helmet dive did you do? Worth the money? Thanks.

 

Thanks for the review, just as good as I remembered!!

 

Yes, most specialty restaurants were giving our 20% off for the 1st night of the cruise. I did a review with a lot of pictures of my Eastern cruise with all the compasses as well. Click on the link below to see the review.

[LS6Caddy]

Were the deck parties just listed in the compasses each day? I don't remember seeing anything about those when we went. Did they typically start really late (like around midnight)? Which deck areas were they on?

 

Thanks!

 

Yea, the first one I believe was Tuesday night, I think it was called a "beach party." I think it started at 11:00 and then moved down to Blaze at 2:00. I can't remember what the second one was called. It was Thursday night and went from 11:00 till "late." Late apparently was about 3:15 because that is when they stopped, even though there was still a lot of people on the dance floor and around the bar. Both parties were on the upper level of the Solarium.

[taylortime05]

Hi - Do you have a copy of the cruise planner? I am interested in finding out what they have restructured in the dining packages. I was told today that they are piloting it onboard the Oasis.

Thank you.

[Jen731]

What time did you arrive at Magen's Bay and how were the crowds? Thanks for the review! A month and change for us...

[BeachLover01]

I have all the compasses, I will try to get them scanned in and posted if somebody would like to see them.

 

I would love to see all of the compasses. My DH and I are sailing eastern on May 31 and I would love to see all of the activities that are offered.

 

Thanks!!

[2calgarycruisers]

Hi - Do you have a copy of the cruise planner? I am interested in finding out what they have restructured in the dining packages. I was told today that they are piloting it onboard the Oasis.

Thank you.

 

Me too. I was hoping to see something in my cruise planner but there is nothing.

[Xina143]

Did you do the rock wall and-or zip line?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[LS6Caddy]

What time did you arrive at Magen's Bay and how were the crowds? Thanks for the review! A month and change for us...

 

 

We got to Magen's Bay around 11:30 I think. There was a fare amount of people there, but not crowded. We were the only ship in port that day.

[LS6Caddy]

I would love to see all of the compasses. My DH and I are sailing eastern on May 31 and I would love to see all of the activities that are offered.

 

Thanks!!

 

I will try and get the Compasses scanned in this weekend. Still trying to catch up from the sleep deprivation :)

[caneguy]

I would love to see all of the compasses. My DH and I are sailing eastern on May 31 and I would love to see all of the activities that are offered.

 

Thanks!!

 

HI Beachlover01,

Hi LS6Caddy,

Love this review. Don't mean to jump the review..I have all the eastern compasses posted in my review from 3/22-29/14 on the Oasis. Click on the link below..

[jalpert]

Thanks! I'd also love to see the cruise compass. Not going until November, but the newest one I can find online is about 9 months old. Not sure how often they change.

 

I will try and get the Compasses scanned in this weekend. Still trying to catch up from the sleep deprivation :)

[Jen731]

For those wanting the compasses Caneguy just posted a full review including all the compasses from the last week of March! Here is the thread, I think the compasses started on page 4 or so.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2017432

[FunCruiser56]

There is info on the RCI website about the new dining discounts. Log in and go to your reservation, I found the info when I clicked on make a dining reservation. Lots of other information there about some of the parties that have a cover charge also. Menus for specialty resturants were also available .

 

Bev