Oasis of the Seas B2B Trip Report - 5/10/14 & 5/17/14

[UMDelt]

Norovirus on Previous Cruise Letter (5/17/14) - https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1460400/Norovirus%20On%20Previous%20Cruise%20Letter%20-%20051714.pdf

 

Yikes, I was on the May 10th sailing of Oasis. I had no clue the Noro virus was making its rounds. Since you sailed B2B, did you notice anything on the 5/10 sailing?

[EmpressofPurple]

More more! You're my kind of trip reporter, sharing every little detail, really makes me feel like I'm on a cruise... which is why I read trip reports!!

 

Yeah, it's nice to have all the reference material, and to plan my onboard activities and onshore excursions and menus and shows and so on... but what I really enjoy is the "you are there" feeling, and you are doing that beautifully.

 

Thanks so much, I'm really looking forward to the rest of my (er, your) B2B cruise:D

[marklodi]

Yikes, I was on the May 10th sailing of Oasis. I had no clue the Noro virus was making its rounds. Since you sailed B2B, did you notice anything on the 5/10 sailing?

 

Hi - Nope, didn't notice a thing. It's been so long since we've cruised, I figured the increased cleaning and omnipresent Purell machines were standard operating procedure. Actually expected Purell to just shoot out in a curtain as you walked through automatic doors....or possibly up at you when you flushed the toilet. :D

 

Also wanted to say thank you to everyone for your compliments and kind words. Glad you are enjoying the report! More to come!

Edited June 3, 2014 by marklodi

[marklodi]

Day Nine – Sunday, May 18th: Nassau, Bahamas

 

At 5:45am we were both up, as we were due into Nassau at 7:30am. We ate breakfast at the Wipeout Café, which was fine and another place you could get an egg made to order. It was very windy and overcast, but very warm. It was going to be a hot day.

 

At 7:30am, we were among the first off the ship, as today we were going “off excursion” and doing our own walking tour. But I badly miscalculated. NOTHING is open that early in Nassau….except very strange and aggressive sales people. And it would appear many other guests realized this, because even though we thought there were a bunch of people around us as we existed the ship, by the time we left the secure port area, we were all alone.

 

Understand we have never been alone in a foreign country before. And even though it was bright daytime, just one block into town, we definitely felt exposed and a bit scared. We honestly debated doing a u-turn and heading back to the ship. But instead we wandered around, always moving and avoiding alleyways or blind corners. We walked up to Greycliffe (which quickly showed me what I thought was going to be a long walk across the walking tour was really just a few blocks, which again, a miscalculation on my part – I factored in extended walking time. Not needed.)

 

We finally camped on a bench in front of our first stop, the Pirate Museum, and waited about an hour until it opened at 9am. We purchased our $12 each tickets and eagerly entered the museum….and walked out the exit 10 minutes later. Huh? That’s it? What a disappointment. There was so little there.

 

So instead of eating up some time in the museum until John Watlings opened at 10am, we ended up walking up to the rum distillery by 9:30am. Fortunately the guard at the gate opened up and let us sit in the chairs by entrance. Several more couples eventually arrived – we weren’t the only early birds – and at 10am we started the free tour…and was done by 10:10am.

 

What the heck?!?! This was a guided tour, but really it was a single room, then a well, then another warehouse where you could smell some rum, then a gift shop. At least this one ended with a pina colada sample, which I must admit was awesome. I seriously considered buying a bottle of the rum, since they cannot export so this is the only place to get it. But they only had one size, and I was already concerned with weight and space in the luggage, so we skipped it.

 

One thing that I remember is two 20-something guys towards the back of the tour, inhaling deeply from the three different rum casks. I swear I heard one say to the other, “You got a straw?”

 

“Dude, no, man.”

 

“I bet I could stick my toungue in-“

 

“Dude! Seriously. No!...I already tried. I think I got splinters…”

 

Perhaps I heard wrong.

 

The only other place I really wanted to stop at was closed on Sundays – the Greycliff hotel chocolate shop. However, passing by it as we walked back towards downtown, we saw a shop directly across the street. Looking in, we discovered it was a new shop opened by Greycliff for people visiting on the weekends and did have their chocolate! Yes! Their chocolates are like works of art, decorated in shapes and colors I have never seen before. I’m happy to say the box of 8 chocolates we purchased made it home successfully without melting. By the way, the shop also sells cigars – chocolate and real – as well as shirts, etc from Greycliff.

 

We slowly walked back down, passing by a very busy Dunkin’ Donuts, and bypassing the Straw Market completely. It was already 11am and half of it was still closed up, despite the streets now being packed with tourists. We stopped by Del Sol and the Harley Davidson shop for a few items. Strangely enough, the Hard Rock was completely closed up. I am not sure it was just closed because it was Sunday or if it has been shuttered completely.

 

By 11:30am, we were back on the ship, having had quite enough of Nassau for one visit. We ran into Andre and mentioned we hadn’t seen him in several days. He said he had been switched to the night shift. We then showed him Mona’s SeaPass card and the sideways sticker. He looked at it in horror and said, “Oh, no. I am SO sorry!” And then we all started laughing. Actually, Mona said she would leave it like that for now, as we just got back on the ship, but we would swing by towards the end of the cruise for a new one, to make the card a more pristine “souvenir”. Andre said he’d be happy to do it anytime.

 

(Note that we actually never did get the sticker switch. When I talked to Andre in email a few days ago, that was the first thing he mentioned, saying he felt bad he didn’t get that switched for her. I told him actually, it was funnier this way. By the way, he is currently engaged and will be visiting his fiancée in Haiti soon. Congratulations!)

 

We intended to just swing by the cabin to drop off the souvenirs we bought, but ended up taking a short one hour nap. At 12:30 we did something we only did once the entire cruise – we changed into our swimsuits and headed to the Solarium, grabbing two towels from the stand as we passed. I loved not having to check them out with a card while on board – only at the gangway when taking them off ship. We entered the Solarium and I was surprised how packed it was, though I guess given our experience in Nassau, others realized there wasn’t much to see as well. We ate lunch at the Solarium Bistro then found a couple of chairs near the whirlpool, just left of center.

 

Sitting in the whirlpool for a while was very nice, but when we went to get into the fountain pool in the center, yeow! Talk about cold. Not gonna happen. We instead retreated to our lounge chairs and laid out for about an hour, getting up only to grab Mona and I a frozen mocktail from the Solarium Bar.

 

Around 1:45, we headed back to the room and I did some bookkeeping – balancing my records vs the on board account and took some notes from earlier. At 2:15pm, we went down to the RP by the Champagne Bar where a rep from the Entertainment department was helping people with changes for shows. Or should I say trying to.

 

On every cruise, you will run across “The Entitled”. These are people who feel that they are “entitled” to have everything catered to them, that no other cruiser matters, that the world and the ship revolve around them. This kind young girl was trying to help this older man, while his buddy just stood in front of the line staring at her. From what I gathered over the 15 MINUTES he stood there is this. He did NOT make reservations online. He did NOT make reservations when he first got on board. He was either a suite guest or a high level Crown & Anchor member and did NOT utilize the concierge. No, it was not late on the second day and he wanted his reservations made, right there and then, including the Comedy Live shows he specifically wanted.

 

The girl tried to explain that these shows were booked solid and there was nothing she could do, the system wouldn’t let her add him and his party (4 of them). He didn’t care and was very loud and nearly screamed at the girl. Everyone in line, of which there must now have been 20 just glared at him. It did no good. He was all that mattered. He owned the ship and these people were just ants to him. It absolutely disgusted me the way he was treating her.

 

She got her manager on her cell phone and at one point had to even walk the guy over to Guest Services. Coming back, he still wasn’t satisfied. Finally she called her manager again and told him it was all taken care of and had to show him proof on the screen. He finally walked away, smug and happy with himself. His buddy just followed along, same stupid expression on his face. Meanwhile the girl was practically in tears.

 

Half the line had left by now, but I stepped up to her and said, “I’m so sorry you had to go through that. I promise mine will be easy.” I asked her if she could change the time for us at the Headliner show later in the week. Two clicks later and it was done. I smiled at her and said, “See? And now you get a hug.” She laughed and gave me a big hug and said thank you. I even heard a small sniffle and thought how easy it was to make someone’s day brighter compared to the effort it takes to destroy it. I never want to wish ill towards anyone, but if someone deserved to have Noro coughed in his general direction, I can think of a couple of candidates…

 

We headed over to the Cupcake Cupboard and chatted with Maria for a while. It was already the second cruise and we realized we hadn’t purchased any cupcakes yet. You could get 3 mini-cupcakes for $5, so we picked out some and Maria wrapped them onto a plate for us. We took them up to the room and sat them in the cooler.

 

At 5pm, we went to the Boardwalk and Johnny Rockets for dinner. We asked for a booth inside was was served by Ma, a delightful tiny girl who had a wonderful smile. Speaking of smiles, of course, that’s what she squirted with ketchup on a plate for us as she brought us a basket of French fries and onion rings.

 

Now everyone knows they do that for all guests. I decided to return the favor. When she came back to take our order, she looked down and the plate and broke up laughing. I had taken an onion ring, broken it in half and given “The Face” eyebrows. I also placed a small French fry into the glob that was his nose, now sticking straight up.

 

When she had returned with our meal, the longest fry I could find had replaced the nose. I explained The Face had told one too many lies and his nose grew. She busted up again. Other servers were detouring by our table to see The Face. He was a popular plate.

When we received our two shakes (C&A special of buy one, get one free), suddenly he had two ice cream pupils with chocolate sauce irises. And when she came with a sundae for desert (Seriously? More food?), he had two small buck teeth made from a cut soda straw.

 

At the end, she thanked us, saying no one had gone out of their way to entertain HER while eating before. I told her if she was ever having a bad day this week, to look out the window at the balcony with the red, white & blue windsock (it was very visible through the window) and know that the M&Ms would be right there with a hug and smile. She called us “Mister and Missus M&M” and gave us a hug as we left, several servers stopping by the table to look at The Face. I’d like to think he is still there, making Ma smile from time to time…

 

Time for a wardrobe change, we slipped into a semi-formal look and since we were obviously skipping formal night, still stopped by several stations for pictures in more relaxed outfits. At 8:15pm, we were seated for Comedy Live. This week the comedians were Gary Delana and Kivi Rogers, both very funny. Hosting the show was Simeon, who did a gut-busting imitation of the Burl Ives/Ranking-Bass animated snowman. You have to see it, as once you do, well you can’t “unsee” it.

 

The show let out at 10pm, and we had planned on stopping by Jazz on 4, but they weren’t playing for some reason. So instead we slunk off to bed by 11pm. A towel animal dog looking cool with my sunglasses greeted us as we fell to sleep.

[kmcphee26]

Hosting the show was Simeon, who did a gut-busting imitation of the Burl Ives/Ranking-Bass animated snowman. You have to see it, as once you do, well you can’t “unsee” it.

 

 

I was not in your show, I went the next night, but I have to agree that the Simeon Burl Ives impression was one of the funniest things I have seen in a while. SO SO SO FUNNY.

 

Amazing review!!! So jealous you spent two weeks onboard.

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the report!

[Wildcatfish]

"Day 9" reminds us that it doesn't take much to put a smile on someone's face. I have no doubt the "face" will long be talked about, and the hug to the reservation woman will long be remembered.

 

It's those little things in life that make a big difference.:D

[DonnaK]

this is an awesome review! love your sense of humor. We are looking at last minute cruises for this summer, and this inspires me to strongly consider Oasis

[marklodi]

Day Ten – Monday, May 19th: Sea Day

 

No alarm. No reason to wake up early. So after 8-1/2 hours of sleep, I woke up at 7:30am and felt refreshed. It was nice. Mona was still asleep, so I snuck out for 3 laps on the walking track (a little over a mile) then came back, took a shower and did some word search puzzles until she got up around 8:30.

 

We casually walked down to Johnny Rockets for breakfast, now our favorite place in the mornings. We saw Ma and she greeted us warmly as Mr. and Mrs. M&M. We wandered around, nothing on the schedule until 10:30, when we went to the Crown & Anchor Welcome Back show at the Aqua Theater. We sat towards the back, as I had a feeling we would have to sneak out for the Meet & Mingle at 11:15.

 

A steel drum player kept us entertained as they handed out free Mimosas, champagne, bloody mary’s and screwdrivers. We each grabbed the latter and were living the cruise life: drinking in the morning in the middle of the Caribbean.

 

Soon this week’s Cruise Director, Jimmy Rhodes, came out and started the show. Quick aside: Jimmy was sillier than Drew, but I liked Drew’s energy and polish better. Jimmy always seemed to be stumbling over his words, struggling to complete a sentence. I realize this was his first week on, but it seemed at times like he was tasting the screwdrivers before they were sent out. Still, overall, he was fine.

 

Acrobats and divers from Oasis of Dreams came out and performed a short set, including one dive from the top-most platform. Impressive every time I saw it. Then the Captain and Hotel Director rode out on small green bicycles, circling around the stage, before introducing his senior officers. It was at this point we had to head up to the Meet & Mingle, so I’m not quite sure what happened next, but I hope there was some additional entertainment.

 

The Meet & Mingle was just like the previous week, as far as format goes. Only this time, there were a couple people I knew from the Roll Call. We met Donna (wuvs2cruise) and Holly (hollyann), who were as delightful and friendly as I had imagined. We had the raffle and, unbelievably, Mona AGAIN won 30 free minutes of Internet. But this time, I also won, getting us a Buy One Get One Free dinner at Solarium Bistro. Dinner for Friday night had just been decided.

 

Then Frankie, hosting again, asked who the leader was. Half the group said Holly (including me), while the other half said me (including Holly). We were actually pointing at each other. We both got up, and I let everyone know how much we enjoyed the roll call, and how much fun we had the previous week. They were all in for a real treat with this amazing crew and ship (Frankie leaned over and said, “Okay, here’s the $20 I promised you for saying that”. Laughter.)

 

Holly then said some very nice and flattering words about me, which of course were all true (HAH!) and then thanked everyone for participating in the roll call. She also mentioned all those going on the independent tour they had arranged to meet at a specific time and place when arriving in St. Thomas. Wrapping it up, we all got a great group photo which I have since posted in our roll call. Awesome group of people, and I hope we sail with them again someday.

 

Today, we decided to try lunch in the Main Dining Room and the infamous Tutti Salad Bar. It was very good and very filling, but seating was practically on top of each other which we didn’t care for. Again one of those things that is probably better as a group rather than a couple.

 

We decided to head back to the cabin to test pack the new bag we purchased for the souvenirs. The reason for this is we were planning on doing the Luggage Valet, and sign ups were due by Noon on Wednesday, which was exactly when we would be on an excursion. We need to make a decision now on exactly how many bags would be checked on United through the LV program, and thus how much we would be charged.

 

Next on our random schedule for the day was the World’s Sexiest Man competition down at the Aqua Theater. Hosted by Frankie, we saw 8 muscular and not-so-muscular men dance, grind and parade in front of 4 women on stage. And it was going pretty blandly…until Lou showed up.

 

Lou was a medium build guy with an obvious beer belly, wearing a t-shirt and shorts, crew cut blonde hair and dark sunglasses. He started out dancing and grinding and then, out of nowhere, he jumped and slammed down in a perfect split. Every guy in the Aqua Theater (and Frankie) all let out an “Ow!” while the women cheered like no tomorrow. He performed 2 or 3 more of these and each one looked as painful as the first, because he didn’t slowly stretch out into these. No, he literally jumped up and landed in the splits…on the hard stage….on his….just ow…

 

Needless to say, Lou won in a landslide, though I think it was a split decision.

 

Ba-da-bing!!! (Oh, hush. You wish you thought of that first….and I wish I had thought of that at the time and yelled it out….)

 

Mona wasn’t feeling well – her internal timing couldn’t have waited one more week? – so we rested in the room until dinner. And at 6pm, we were dressed nicely for dinner at the Solarium Bistro. I have to admit I did not have high hopes for the meal here, but it ended up being our very favorite restaurant on the ship. I am ADDICTED to the Bison steak, and their sugar-free desert bar is amazing. We waited until after the meal before booking for Friday with the coupon I won, as I wasn’t sure how it would be. Now I wish I had booked it the week before as well. It’s that good, quiet and romantic.

 

We then headed to Dazzles for the Summer Breeze concert, which stars the Oasis orchestra along with 5 of the singers from Hairspray. At one point, the singer who played Penny actually sat in my lap and sang to me, all while Mona desperately tried to get the camera to work for a picture. Sadly, I only have one with her heading my way. But it’s okay. We still have Paris… or something like that.

 

At 10:45pm, we found ourselves in the Opal Theater for the Love & Marriage Game Show, hosted by Jimmy Rhodes. We have seen this before, and it was as funny as ever. As like almost every one we’ve seen before, the older couple married for over 50 years stole the show.

 

Again no Jazz in Jazz on 4. What the heck?! There were people in there, and the Compass said they should be playing. We must just have bad luck and instead headed up to bed, asleep by 12:15, ready for our next stop tomorrow: St. Thomas.

[marklodi]

Day Eleven – Tuesday, May 20th: St. Thomas

 

7am came way too early – we noticed we were getting more tired earlier and wishing we could sleep in later. Age? Itinerary? Donuts? The exact cause eluded us… but breakfast didn’t. Back to Johnny Rockets this morning, then back to the cabin to gather our items for the day.

 

At 10am, we exited the ship and queued up for our tour for the day: the 5 Star Island Tour. We checked in and were given yellow wristbands, then told to wait a few minutes. I was tempted to turn on my phone, given we were technically in the United States, but I could not get a solid answer from anyone if I would get charged roaming on ATT or not. I opted for the prudent course of action and left the phone off, better that or explain to my company the potential triple digit phone bill.

 

I took a few pictures of the U.S Superior Court building across the street, and then it was time to head out. We followed our guide, Curtis, across the port to his truck/van/bus thing (some sat in the two cab rows, while others sat in the four rows in the back – we were in the last row). Soon he was barreling across the island, around curves and up hills. He said his nickname was Crazy Curtis. Oh, so encouraging.

 

The turn signal does not exist on St. Thomas, by the way. Instead, drivers use their horn to announce they are coming up on a curve. If you honk first, you have the right of way and any other drivers, blind to your presence until, well, until it would be too late, yield to you. We honked first the majority of time, yielding a few times, praying often and cursing one driver who though two could fit around a corner. He ended up partially in a ditch.

 

Fun times.

 

Our first stop was Mountaintop, home of their famous Banana Daiquiri, which we were of course obliged to try (it was awesome.) We were only there about 15 minutes, which gave us enough time for a few pictures of the island from the admittedly impressive few, get a drink, and then head back to the truck. Really, the place is nothing more than an ENORMOUS gift shop that Mona could have spent an hour in.

 

We next headed down to Megan’s Bay for two hours of beach time. Only we were beached-out and didn’t even bring our swimsuits, though we did bring towels in case we wanted to wade into the water or have a place to hide my sunglasses.

 

Honestly, we hated this part. It was oppressively hot, with a slight breeze that helped a little but not much. We were not the first ones there, and there were 3 other cruise ships (all Carnival, I believe) also docked that day. There were no real spots to sit, and we didn’t want to pay $5 for a chair (although that’s not a bad price.) We visited the blissfully air conditioned shop, about the size of our bedroom at home, and Mona purchased a magnet.

 

We camped out on the bar’s patio for about 30 minutes, eating some snacks we brought from home (yes, from California), but smokers and mosquitoes made moving a necessity. We finally found a quiet picnic table near the parking lot, where we encountered a small cat. I dubbed him, creatively, “Kitty”. Keeping our small bottle of Purell nearby, we petted him and he seemed to be quite content to hang around with us for the next hour until it was time to leave. We also chatted (I kid you not) with a one-armed taxi driver who had no problem holding a one-sided conversation as he explained his encounter with this cat, the many dogs he had owned over the years, and his favorite puppy who killed itself after he divorced and his ex-wife got custody of the dog. He said since the dog couldn’t see him every day, running towards him when he got home, it just curled into a ball and died.

 

On that happy note, we joined the rest of the group back on board the truck-of-doom and hurtled towards downtown Charlotte Amalie for 2 hours of shopping. The area was PACKED! Curtis dropped us off in front of, where else, Diamonds International, and said he would return promptly in two hours. (He lied – more on that in a moment.)

 

The heat was getting worse, so we walked inside Diamonds International where we were immediately met by Valerie. Yes, sounds ominous already that I know her name, but actually it was a wonderful experience. She was very nice, especially when I honestly told her we weren’t shopping for anything and just needed a moment in their A/C. We chatted and soon met her manager, again a very nice guy and before we knew it, despite the store being busy, we had 4 or 5 staff standing around, just chatting and laughing.

 

It was a wonderfully refreshing, zero pressure experience, unlike any other DI or jewelry store we had experienced in any port, on this cruise or before it. We didn’t feel obliged to, but still looked around a bit. No, we didn’t buy anything, but Mona did try on a few pieces, really liking a specific ring and necklace in the Kabana line (rose gold with stone inserts). Valerie wrote down the style numbers and prices for us on a business card, and we thanked her as we headed out.

 

The stores in the area are unique, in that they are usually multiple stores all connected to each other internally, so you never have to wander outside. At least, that’s the way it was on the block between the waterfront and the street where we were dropped off. We wandered through many shops. In one, I had an idea for a thank you gift for some of the crew members on the Oasis. We picked up several tubes of Mini M&Ms (as we are known as “M&M” to most of them), and planned on writing small thank you notes on them.

 

We also visited The Belgian Chocolate Factory and grabbed some chocolates, which despite the heat somehow managed to make it back to the cabin intact, as well as a small rum sample pack. After what we felt had been two hours, I glanced at my watch, not wanting to miss the tour back to the ship. I couldn’t believe it. Only an hour had passed.

 

We were not adventurous enough to travel much further past the downtown area where the majority of the people were, so we did another pass, and then ended back in Diamonds International. We chatted more with the staff, and they let Mona try on both the necklace and ring she liked and let us take pictures. The staff also seemed very intrigued by my Pebble smart watch, and quizzed me on it for a good 20 minutes. I turned into the sales person, showing them how it integrated with my Android phone, how the alerts worked, etc. Fortunately I could do all this via Bluetooth and never had to take the phone out of airplane mode.

 

We just hung out, in the blissful A/C, until it was time for the truck and Curtis to arrive. We saw our group assemble itself from various directions outside, so we said our thanks and headed back into the heat.

 

Only Curtis wasn’t there yet. In fact, it wasn’t until 10 minutes later – which given how slow time seemed to be moving today seemed like a life time – that he finally arrived, saying his apologies, how he timed the traffic wrong, etc. The grumbling amongst everyone told him his tips were probably in trouble.

 

We were back at the port about 4:30pm and had no real desire to do any more shopping, so we headed back to the ship – leaving my sampler pack of rum with security of course – and stopped for Mona’s Starbucks and a Pineapple Blast from the On Air bar. While waiting, I had another person ask me about my watch, whom I chatted with for a few minutes. Bizarre - I wore my watch the entire trip and only this day people asked about it.

 

Back in the cabin at 5pm, we took showers and then headed back to the Royal Promenade for dinner at Sorrento’s pizza. We also stopped by the Cupcake Cupboard and purchased the Cupcake Kit we had been eyeing, which included a cookbook and various decorating items from Maria. Out of nowhere, Maria hands us this extra box and says “This is for you, as a thank you from me for being so special. Thank you.” It was a very nice and quite large glass Cupcake Christmas ornament! We hugged her and thanked her for the awesome gift. She almost teared up (as did we) as she said how much she appreciated how nice we had been, and how much she loved seeing us. It made her smile no matter what kind of day she was having. That made our day and cruise right there.

 

We watched The South Side Band in Dazzles at 7pm, then headed down to the Opus Theater for tonight’s Headliner show, the ventriloquist Ronn Lucas. I had to admit I have long been a fan of Mr. Lucas. He comes from the era of Shari Lewis and Jay Johnson, before the awesome Jeff Dunham and Terry Fator came on the scene and achieved rock star-like status. Ronn Lucas even had his own prime-time television show on network tv.

 

We were front row, dead center, which ended up being the perfect spot, as any who saw that first show will quickly understand why. During his first bit, he brought out his best known puppet, Cowboy Billy, who proceeded to hit on – yep – Mona. And it continued as a running gag throughout the show, making her a mini-celebrity at the end of the night. We loved the show, and wished we could have met Mr. Lucas at some point for a photograph, but it never happened.

 

At 9:30pm, we headed over to Studio B for another Throw Me A Line improve show. Same cast of actors, though different improv setups, which were actually not as funny as last week. Still good, but despite worse suggestions the previous week from the audience, the cast just didn’t seem to be at their best.

 

We stayed in Studio B for The Battle Of The Sexes game show, hosted by the Italian Bingo host….and quickly left. It might just be us, but he has to be the most annoying person I have ever watched. Mona agreed and we headed up to bed, crashing at midnight, not letting the thought that we were heading into our final destination of the cruise enter our minds…

Edited June 5, 2014 by marklodi

[RedHeadTexan]

I am absolutely loving your review! :D

 

Lisa

[Debinnova]

You make me feel like I'm right there on the ship with you and Ive picked up some tips for our Oasis transatlantic this fall. You and Mona sound like a lot of fun and I'm exhausted just reading about your days. You guys seem to hit many of the shows, etc., which is great.

 

Looking forward to more!

 

Debbie

 

 

 

Sent from my KFJWI using Tapatalk HD

[parrothead33]

Great review, I feel like I was there with you. Thanks for taking the time and effort!

[Hollyann]

Fantastic and very entertaining review Mark! (Not that I expected any less!)

I'm reliving our week all over again. You and Mona were great members to plan with and meet up with. So glad to get to know you two and Donna and her brother - I don't think I ever saw her without a smile on her face!!

 

It was fun to remember Simeon's snowman - I honestly think it is one of the funniest things I've seen in my 52 years of living!!:p:p I also loved seeing Cowboy Billy calling out Mooonnnnaaaa:D.

 

I know what you mean about the Casino - I hated the way that they had the no smoking pass-through cut off. I tried to hold my breath to make it through the smoking section, but could not quite walk that fast :eek:. I also agree about the Battle of the Sexes contest - he could have done SO much more with that game - that was a disappointment - especially since I was tired when it came time for Quest - and I could not get anyone in my cabin to go with me - I wish I dragged myself out that night.

 

I did see some things that I missed in your review that I wanted to do too. Only one thing to do about that:rolleyes:

 

I can't wait to read the rest!!

 

P.S. Mark - Remember how we bought the pre-cruise unlimited photo package (along with the DVD of the originals it was $409). We had 253 individual 8 x 10s by the end of the cruise of the 3 of us! (technically the port pictures were 5 x 7s) We never waited more than 5-8 minutes in any line (I would not have been able to get them to stand in the few long lines if I wanted to). It really turned out to be a good buy for us.

Edited June 6, 2014 by Hollyann

[marklodi]

Hi Holly,

 

Always great to hear from you. Glad to hear that Photo package worked out for you. I cannot even imagine how many they had to toss for us over a 2 week period. :)

[marklodi]

Day Twelve – Wednesday, May 21st : St. Martin (or Sint Maarten)

 

It was probably a blessing we went to bed earlier than planned, as this ended up being a very early morning. We rose like zombies from bed at 5:30am, and had breakfast in the Solarium at 6:30. At 8am we were off the ship, but my instance of being early bit us this time. Nothing was open in the port, so we ended up sitting around until the tour we were scheduled for finally formed up at 9:15am.

 

The See & Sea Tour had us meeting the tour guide “Destiny”. Not her real name, but it was what she insisted on being called. We got out of the port later than planned as, despite the excursion mentioning walking was required, we had many who insisted on taking golf carts or otherwise being assisted to the buses, which were about a 5 minute walk away. Sigh.

 

We finally headed out, Destiny introducing us to our driver, “Angel Gabriel” (I kid you not). She was quite a character. Here’s how the tour started, as the bus pulled away: “Okay everyone, my name is Destiny and your driver ‘ere is Angel Gabriel. If we say ‘ello to you, you be sure to say ‘ello loud back to us, ‘aye? ‘Ello!” <quiet hellos and murmurs> “Okay. Stop the bus! Stop the bus!”

 

To “Angel Gabriel’s” credit, he never did stop the bus, but Destiny made her point and the responses livened up after that. Well played. We crossed over from the Dutch side where we were docked to the French Side. It was here that Destiny had her biggest prank of the day.

 

As we approached the border sign, which had a small guard shack to the right, she said, “Okay, you all need to show your ship’s cards and your passports so we can continue.” Silence, followed by mad scrambling as some brought theirs, others – like us – did not, with some starting to panic while we, and several others, chuckled. She finally laughed and said, “Just kiddin’! No passports needed as we are such good friends here on the island.” Ha ha ha….not everyone was amused. We were.

 

The bus, unlike the open-air truck in St. Thomas, was a coach model and blissfully air conditioned. We rode comfortably and smoothly to Grand Case Beach as Destiny described her many houses and ex-husbands we passed on the way, all make believe of course and a creative way of pointing out places she had undoubtedly seen a million times.

 

Once at the beach, we all walked down a dock and onto the Explorer boat for the “sea” part of the tour. We sat above deck and travelled about 10 minutes out into the harbor, along a reef that was just 10 feet below us. When we reached to appointed spot, we all climbed downstairs into the belly of the ship, where fold-down bench seats allowed us to sit and look out large glass windows below the water. It was like the submarine attraction at Disneyland, only these weren’t concrete and plaster formations and animatronic fish.

 

We watched in the air-conditioned hull as many species of fish and corral were all around us, and a diver swam by slowly on both sides, holding fish food in his hand and swarmed by a ton of fish. It was very interesting. We slowly crawled along the edge of the reef, seeing small jellyfish, many types of fish, several squid and one very fast sea turtle.

 

Soon back at the dock, we climbed out and walked about a half-block to where the bus had parked. Mona pointed excitedly and said, “Look! It’s your old car!” Sure enough, on this small island, there sat a silver Chrysler Crossfire, in fairly good shape. I of course took a picture.

 

Next stop was an all-too brief stop in Marigot for some shopping. I asked Gabriel if he knew where Sarafina’s was. He pointed out in a specific direction and said about 2 blocks that way. For those who may not know, Sarafina’s is a famous French pastry shop in Marigot that we learned about on Cruise Critic. It was on my must-see list, and despite ZERO people from the bus heading the same direction, off we went. We winded through a quite large flea market, crossed a busy street and asked directions twice. But within about 10 minutes, we made it to Sarafina’s.

 

I admitted I thought it was indoors, but it was rather open-air, though sheltered. It was also, obviously, predominantly French speaking. We ordered a ham & cheese croissant to share, while Mona got an almond chocolate pastille and I found what I came there for: two enormous French macaroons. We shared the croissant while there, then I devoured the vanilla macaroon before we headed back. It was heavenly. I have to admit, the orange macaroon didn’t make it off the bus. I only wish I had purchased a couple more – they were enormous!

 

Let me mention again that it was insanely hot, and if you stood in the direct sun, you would melt or burst into flames. No seriously, we saw it happen. Just ask Destiny. Lol. Back on the air-conditioned bus, we headed out and made one last, 5-minute stop at a scenic vista for a quick picture of Indigo Beach, then back to port.

 

We enjoyed this tour, but if we come back, we would like to spend much more time in Marigot. It looked like a lot of fun to explore. At 1:30pm, we were back at the port and did a little shopping in the small area they had here. We stopped by the satellite shop of The Belgian Chocolate Box by Beatrix for some delicious chocolates, and then by Maison Pradier for some smaller but very delicious frozen macaroons. In the heat, they melted in your mouth and despite getting 8, they only lasted until the next day. Yes, I devoured them, while Mona finished her pastille – she has much more will power when it comes to sweets than I do.

 

I should also mentioned we briefly stopped by the stall claiming to sell the world famous Guavaberry Rum. I had a taste. Oh. My. God. It’s basically the nastiest tasting cough syrup you could imagine. I couldn’t speak for several minutes, my throat burning. I already admitted I was a light weight, so this is probably better than I am making it out, but yuck. Just yuck. And the poor girl in the stand, trying to make a sale when it was obvious I was on the verge of hurling. Needed a macaroon to get rid of the taste! Yay macaroons!

 

By 2pm, we were on board and headed up to the cabin for a nap. 2-1/2 hours later we work up (what?) and took showers, then headed downstairs and gave our M&M thank you’s to Andre, Zandi and Maria. They were huge hits and they must have shown them around later, as for the rest of the, more and more staff referred to us as the “M&Ms”.

 

We also watched as a group of “Pirates” walked around the Royal Promenade. It was a group of about 1 or so people all dressed in full pirate regalia, like you would see at a Renaissance Faire. It was great! They stopped and talked with kids, posed with folks, and stayed in character all night. Heading up to Central Park, we hopped on the Rising Tide Bar with them, which was a treat. Though where we got off at the top, they proceeded to stay on for several more round trips. Seemed they found their “pirate ship” for the evening.

 

We entered Chops at 6pm for another great dinner. This time, we sat “outside” in the enclosed verandah they have, and it was wonderful, both public and private. It was a delicious meal, and afterwards we wandered back downstairs to watch to 70’s Dance Party.

10pm found us back in Studio B for Frozen In Time again, this time with a new cast (though some of the old cast was still there, just in different roles) and it was again very good.

 

Afterwards we rolled the dice and headed into Jazz on 4 again…and the Jazz Ensemble was actually there! We found seats and listened for about a half-hour until we simply became too tired to enjoy more. When we entered the cabin, we found our bundle of laundry from the $30 all-you-can-stuff-in-a-bag special from a couple days earlier waiting on the bed. We folded the clothes, quickly put them away then almost immediately were asleep, visions of macaroons dancing in my head.

[marci22]

I did a search for 'mona' to find this review on page 5.

 

Nice job and thanks for posting all those flyers.

[marklodi]

I did a search for 'mona' to find this review on page 5.

 

Nice job and thanks for posting all those flyers.

 

Oh, great. I've created a new celebrity! It's Mona. Ta-dah! :D

[marklodi]

Day Thirteen – Thursday, May 22nd: Sea Day

 

Today was the first of two sea days…and the last two days on board the Oasis. It started to set in today, that impending feeling of the cruise/vacation coming to an end. After a year of planning, months and weeks and days of planning and apprehension, it finally happened….and was now coming to an end. I did my best to suppress the feeling as much as possible, but you could tell it wasn’t just me feeling it.

 

At 8am, I woke up and went for a walk. When I returned, Mona was up and getting dressed, so I took a shower and we headed down to Johnny Rocket’s and waited for Ma’s table. We gave her the M&Ms, which she loved, and then headed up to the Sports Deck.

 

We both did the Zip Line again, then played some more Table Tennis. We tried to talk ourselves into going back to the cabin, changing into our swimsuits and giving the Flowriders a try, but chickened out. Next cruise, it’s a must.

 

We did, however, end up back in the cabin, for our first pass at packing. Dirty clothes, which was the majority of what we had by now, was packed away and we did some initial weighing of the suitcases. We found if we weren’t caring about neatness, we could fit a whole lot more in the smaller suitcases up to their weight limits.

 

At noon, we made the mistake of heading down to the Royal Promenade. It was absolute chaos – the shopping frenzied women (and some men) were going at the center tables with a viciousness I had no interest in diving into and we were very glad we had most of our items purchased. We stopped by the Logo Shop for a variety box of small rum cakes (great random gifts) as well as magnet or two. Poor Zandi was manning the register by herself with a line 15 people deep.

 

We stood in line, in no hurry and wanting to say what would probably be our goodbyes to Zandi, when a large heavyset woman in line who was not paying attention swung her armful of items carelessly and knocked several shot glasses into the aisle, shattering them. The shop went silent, and then I couldn’t believe what I saw. This beast of a woman actually started yelling at Zandi. I couldn’t make out what she was saying, but Zandi kept her smile, grabbed a broom and swept up the carnage quickly, then returned to the register and the line. No backup arrived, no letup from Moby Dork, just more yelling and blaming.

 

When we finally made it up to Zandi, I could see the look on her face. She brightened when she saw us, but I could tell she was frazzled. She rang us up, but when she handed us the bag, I excused myself to the bewildered ladies behind us in line, and made Zandi step out and we both gave her a hug. He smile grew ten-fold and her posture straightened up. She thanked us again and said how she needed that. We said our goodbyes, and I tanked those in line behind us for their patience. All I saw were smiles.

 

We went up to Central Park, wanting one more Roast Beef sandwich for lunch, but it was absolutely pouring. Fortunately, there are loaner umbrellas in stands at the entrances, so we grabbed on and sloshed over to the Park Café. We saw Jason, who was surprised we were still on board. He hadn’t seen us in the dining room all week and though we mentioned staying another week, thought we left. He made Mona’s Mocha, explaining that it was the way he melted the chocolate that made the difference. Mona didn’t care, as long as he made it.

 

We dashed out to a covered table in the middle of CP and enjoyed our lunch under the rain. Then, at a loss of what to do, headed back to the cabin to just relax. It was a strange feeling, just relaxing when we felt like we should be doing more, getting more out of the vacation, but enjoying the downtime all the same.

 

Due to the rain, the “International Belly Flop Contest” at the Aqua Theater was rescheduled to 1pm tomorrow, so we just hung out in the cabin until about 3pm. The rain had left, so we headed down to the Aqua Theater for the Splish Splash Comedy Show again. With frozen mocktails from the Boardwalk Bar we sat and enjoyed the show in the sun.

 

Grabbed a donut (white chocolate of course) then headed back up to the room to relax until time to get ready for formal night. We hit a few more photo stations, especially the one Chris was at, getting a photo with him when we were done. They even had a station in Central Park – the first time we saw one there – and we stopped. It ended up being one we kept. For some reason Central Park was deserted tonight and the cool breeze along with the sparkling lights was quite romantic.

 

We headed into the Main Dining Room at 8:30pm for our only visit this week. Imagine our surprise when we learned that James and Savio were still our servers! They both greeted us warmly and soon Jason came by, making sure we received our drinks. A little later, the Maître D stopped by, asking if everything was okay, as they had not seen us all week. I explained it was our second week, and we had focused on Specialty Restaurants this week. I also said how happy we were that James and Savio were still assigned. He said there were a few consecutive cruisers in James’ section and they had all given him very high marks, so despite their usual protocol of moving the waiters, they had reassigned James to this same section again. Made me feel a little bad for not coming in more.

 

After dinner, we headed over to the Opal Theater to wait in the stand by line for Come Fly With Me. We had reservations for the next night, but with all the prep for heading home, we decided to give it a shot tonight. It wasn’t a problem. But again, we both found it difficult to stay awake during the show, so we decided to skip The Quest this week and instead headed up to be, asleep by 12:15am.

[marthkat75]

Still following! Thanks again, Mark. I am usually caught up in my own head when dining or shopping, and your review is making me think of how I should be more aware of others and show I care. I am inspired. I have about 9 months before my cruise, so plenty of time to practice being thoughtful like you and Mona. Then I will tell people on Oasis M&M say hi!

 

Marthkat75

[marklodi]

Still following! Thanks again, Mark. I am usually caught up in my own head when dining or shopping, and your review is making me think of how I should be more aware of others and show I care. I am inspired. I have about 9 months before my cruise, so plenty of time to practice being thoughtful like you and Mona. Then I will tell people on Oasis M&M say hi!

 

Marthkat75

 

Awesome attitude! Thank you! :D

[marklodi]

Day Fourteen – Friday, May 23rd : Sea Day

 

Up at 7:30am, I let Mona sleep in and I went for my last walk on the track, then stopped by the Café Promenade for a glass of fresh squeezed OJ. Mona was up when I returned, and I showered and we headed down to Ma’s table for breakfast at Johnny Rockets.

 

Wandering around the ship, we tried to find things to do. Another round of air hockey, another game of miniature golf. We found our way to Focus and picked out our photos for the same package we purchased the previous week, giving us a total of nine 8x10s all total. Not too bad.

 

At 11:30am, we were in the Viking Crown Lounge for the Crown & Anchor “Meet The Stars” session. Hosted by Frankie, we had Vince and Bradford (“Seaweed”) from Hairspray, 2 skaters from Frozen In Time, 1 dancer from Come Fly With Me & Hairspray, 1 synchronized swimmer and 1 high diver from Oasis of Dreams. For about 45 minutes, it was a very fun and informative Q&A session, though you could tell a few people (skaters and swimmers) really didn’t want to be there. But all in all a good event.

 

It was now time for the International Belly Flop Contest at the Aqua Theater. This was fun to watch, with the skinniest kid winning the whole thing. Even Lou was back to give it a shot – probably should have done the splits a few times. I’m surprised he was even waling straight…

 

We headed up to the Wipeout Café for one last pretzel dog and those awesome fries, then back to our cabin for final packing. Earlier in the day, I spoke with Florin about timing of our candles and alcohol, wondering how it would all work since we weren’t supposed to have candles in the cabin, but yet we had to somehow pack before we left out luggage out for Luggage Valet that night. When we entered our room around 2:30pm, Florin had contacted his manager and received the candles. He left them in our cabin, and later came by so we could sign them out on a security form he had.

 

We were finished packing by 3:30pm – including all of the decorations, and headed out again, not wanting to sit and look at packed luggage. Depressing.

On the Boardwalk, I had my last White Chocolate Donut while Mona bought our Daughter a necklace in the Star Pier shop. Mona then looked at me and asked if she could have what she had been asking for the entire cruise. Sigh. Okay, I gave in.

 

We walked into Pets At Sea and Mona made herself a teddy bear. She chose the fur and then the crew member (why do I want to keep calling them cast members?) filled him with stuffing. When done, Mona made a wish on a little golden Royal Caribbean “wish star”, which was inserted into the bear and then sealed up. We then purchased a yellow Oasis of the Seas t-shirt showing the carousel from the Boardwalk –

 

Quick side story about this t-shirt. We had visited Pets At Sea several times during the past two weeks, and they always had about a half dozen of these specific shirts. They had others, but this one was part of the Pet + T-Shirt special, plus it was the only one that said Royal Caribbean, Oasis of the Seas AND had a picture of the carousel from the Boardwalk on it. We didn’t think it would be something they would run out of. I should have known better, learning my lesson on the last cruise 5 years ago that ships simply cannot restock in the middle of a cruise, so if you see something you like in a size you need, GET it. If there is a sale, you can always bring it back and ask for a credit.

 

Anyway, so in we come to get the bear and the shirt….and there are NO shirts on the rack. Turns out – I kid you not – some lady came in a few hours before us and bought them for her DOGS AT HOME. We have two little Yorkies ourselves so this makes complete sense, and again, I kicked myself as we really wanted the shirt.

 

Well, our luck held out and one of the display animals just happened to be wearing this very t-shirt. The crew member said while he didn’t have the bag it came in, he could sell us the shirt off of the walrus’s back (my new favorite saying – “Yep! I bought it right off a walrus’s back.”) We checked it out and it was clean and in perfect shape, so onto the bear it went.

 

It was now time to fill out the birth certificate (seriously?), which Mona was thrilled to do…until it came to the name. She turned to me. “Okay, I picked everything else out. You get to name the bear.” Now this is not a silly request. I actually named our kids and our dogs, which is why our daughter is named “Lady” and our son is “The Tramp”. KIDDING!

 

So I thought about it for a minute and then it came to me. “Simple,” I said. “Cecil.”

 

She looked at me, then at the crew member, and then they both asked me in unison, “Cecil?”

 

“Yep.” I answered. They just stared at me. Oh, I know they wanted an explanation, but I wanted my brilliance to sink in for a minute (probably shouldn’t use the work “sink” on a ship…)

 

Finally my dear wife couldn’t take it anymore and said, “Okay, I’ll ask: Why ‘Cecil’?”

 

“Because of the ship, of course.”

 

Blank stares.

 

“Really? Nothing?”

 

Crickets were chirping.

 

I laughed. “Oasis of the Seas-sil. Cecil! Get it?”

 

Eyes proceeded to roll, but you have to admit – genius. Pure genius. Thank you, thank you. Anyone need a kid named, just email me. Hah!

 

As we were heading up to our 6pm dinner reservation at Solarium Bistro, something told me to look down in the elevator and take a picture. At that moment, I didn’t realize why, but now I do. Looking back at our photographs, one of the first things I took a picture of when coming aboard was the day plate in the elevator. Of course, back then it said “Saturday”. Today, it said “Friday”. Beginning and end. A nice photographic bookend to a great trip.

 

Dinner was once again quiet, romantic and fantastic. And while Mona changed it up and went with the lobster, I simply had to have the Bison steak one more time. It was phenomenal. We lingered during our meal this time, still quick for most people I’m sure, but slow for us. Done in just over an hour. We almost had cobwebs forming. Lol.

 

Swinging by the room, we found our luggage tags had been delivered, in an envelope that said “Luggage Valet” on it. Inside was three Orange and White striped luggage valet luggage tags, three United airlines luggage tags, and our two boarding passes for tomorrow’s flights. This was awesome.

 

I attached both sets of tags to the three pieces, made sure they were locked with the TSA luggage locks we brought. We then headed downstairs to say some final goodbyes. We met up with Zandi, June, Chris and – of course – our wonderful Maria for hugs and promises to stay in touch via email.

 

At 8:45pm, we watched the Farewell Comedy Show, which again was one of our favorite shows of the week. Now 10pm, we swung by the cabin and set out our luggage (which we were asked to put out between 7pm and 11pm), and then went down to the Aqua Theater for something we had not seen yet during the cruise: the Fountain Show at 10:45pm.

 

We sat in the cool air, watching the wake of the ship past the Aqua Theater, the sound of the ocean mixing with the music from the carousel. Soon the show started, and it was very nice, though several of the fountain jets seemed to have some problems – something we had noticed throughout the cruise during the various shows there. It didn’t detract too much, but you could tell the upcoming refurb was needed in a few places.

 

When it was done, we walked slowly down to the Royal Promenade, and stopped by the Café Promenade for two bottles of water for tomorrow, and one last cookie & brownie. Back in our cabin, we packed up the final small items, and I did a final accounting and took some final notes. We sat on our balcony for a little bit. There was no sense avoiding the melancholy that had set in, but also there was a sense of fulfillment.

 

We had done what we never thought we could have done, let alone afforded. It was a great cruise, a wonderful vacation, but it was time to head home. We turned in at 11:30pm, ready to wrap it all up in the morning.

[Miryam1234]

Day Fourteen – Friday, May 23rd : Sea Day

 

We sat on our balcony for a little bit. There was no sense avoiding the melancholy that had set in, but also there was a sense of fulfillment.

 

 

Thank you for sharing your wonderful trip. I feel like I have been there with you - and you've managed to do it without photos, over a certain language barrier (from my side). Thank you for letting me join you and Mona.

[marklodi]

Day Fifteen – Saturday, May 24th : Debarkation Day

 

I woke up at 5:15am, taking my shower, with Mona following at 5:30. Packing the final items and dirty clothes from the night before, we took a final look around the room then left our luggage there while heading to breakfast at the Park Café.

 

Back at the cabin, Florin was there to say goodbye and we tipped him extra for taking care of us/putting up with us for two weeks. He thanked us and wished us a safe trip home. We grabbed our luggage, did that final look-under-the-bed and behind-the-couch sweep you simply have to do, then headed down to Studio B.

 

This is where anyone who had Shore Excursions this last day were to meet by 7am. We checked in and received green “A” stickers (for Air Boat Tour) to wear. At 7:30am we were told to head out, and we travelled up to Deck 5. The Oasis was now parked normally, and we exited via the doors on the starboard side by Sorrento’s, “dinging” out with our SeaPass cards for the last time.

 

We walked down the gangway and were soon in the same room we were in the previous week, only no stopping and waiting in chairs this time. Instead we headed down the escalators, past all of the luggage (no luggage due to Luggage Valet – SWEET! No searching, no waiting. This was very nice.) and up to customs. We presented our passports and declaration form, and were quickly waived through.

 

As instructed, we headed out the doors and all the way to the right where several tour busses were waiting. Being early (naturally) we found seats and then relaxed until the remaining guests arrived. We then drove about 30 minutes to Everglades Holiday Park.

 

Now you may recall, very early on in this trip report, I mentioned we only had two real issues during the cruise, and both were with excursions. The first was, as you read, the pricing of the photos at the Dolphin Excursion. The second issue was here.

 

We exited the bus and were escorted to an air boat for the first part of the tour, obviously an air boat ride through the Everglades. We were sat dead center in the front row of the air boat, which was covered with open sides and a large window in the front.

 

Only the window in the front was COMPLETELY COVERED IN CONDENSATION! You couldn’t see through it at all. And because we had people on both sides of us, we could barely see out the sides either. I waited for the driver or someone to wipe it down, but before I could say anything, we were off. I thought, okay, maybe the speed of the boat would dissipate the condensation. Not a chance.

 

For the entire ride, our view was zero. It was miserable. We did three “speed runs”, twisting and turning, sliding around. Imagine doing this looking through heavily frosted glass and hope you didn’t get sick. And to make matters worse, we had our backpack with us, which when we got into the boat – a dry boat with high sides – we sat on the floor in front of us.

The floor that was now a half-inch deep with foul-smelling swamp water. Son of a….

 

We got off the boat and they had the nerve to try to sell us a photograph. We ignored them and tried our best to pull our soggy snacks and paperwork out of the bottom of the backpack. Fortunately important items like our passports and the like I had sealed in plastic bags, so we only lost some brochures and container of Starbucks caramels (my favorite! Son of a… part two.)

 

We headed into the second part of the tour, an alligator show with one of the “Gator Boys” from the Animal Planet TV show. In this case, we happened to really get one of the stars, Paul Bedard. He was very funny and informative, and my only complaint would be this part only lasted about 5 minutes or so. Way too short, considering what we paid (and what we missed).

 

We visited the gift shop, as my daughter is a fan of the show, and Mona grabbed the kids some shot glasses. We then grabbed some paper towels from the bathrooms and packed them into the backpack to try up the remaining moisture. It was quickly time to leave, and at 11:30am we were on our way back to the port to drop off the three couples who were consecutive cruisers this week.

 

Then it was on to Fort Lauderdale airport, where we grabbed our carry-on bags that were stored under the bus and headed into the terminal. We headed to the Premier security line for United, and happened to get chose randomly for the TSA Pre-Check line. Mona’s hands were swabbed, but we were able to head through without removing any items, including our shoes, and were soon into the airport….

 

For a SIX hour wait for our flight (yes, SIX hours – the only non-stop flight from FLL to SFO). This terminal had a Chili’s Too restaurant, sort of a mini-Chili’s with doubled prices and plastic silverware, but good enough for lunch. We grabbed some items for dinner on the plane and did word search puzzles for the next couple of hours (though now with internet access, we also caught up with all the social outlets and Mona called just about everyone in the family with updates.)

 

At 6:11pm, our planed lifted off from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. As I looked out the window, I saw the Oasis just then pulling out of port. I could imagine the crowds on the top deck, looking out over the railings. I can see the Coast Guard cutter doing donuts, the man with the machine gun staring straight ahead, the loud speaker yelling, “Oasis of the Seas! Are you ready to party?”

 

Yes. Yes I am.

[marklodi]

Wrap-Up

 

It was a phenomenal vacation. I want to thank our wonderful travel agent who kept us on track and well-planned. Thank you to the great folks on Cruise Critic, especially our fellow cruisers in the roll call threads. And an extra special thank you to all the crew members of the Oasis. You truly made this a very special and unforgettable cruise for us. I hope we made it a little bit special for you as well.

 

Would we do this again? Heh. We are already booked for the Oasis of the Seas next year, same time frame – Eastern only though, going with that group of friends we didn’t get the chance to sail with this year. And if all goes according to plan, we’ll also be visiting Walt Disney World for a week, as well as Universal Studios for a couple of days prior to the cruise. I have no idea how we are going to manage our luggage and laundry.

 

If there are any questions or anything I can help with, please don’t hesitate to contact me on Cruise Critic. My screen name is MarkLodi.

 

And to all future cruisers, if I can offer one piece of advice, it would be this: take the time to meet the crew. They are working crazy hours for months at a time away from their families. Get to know their names and treat them with the kindness and respect you would want to be treated yourself. You will find your life richly rewarded as a result.

 

Thank you for reading this report, and Mona and I wish you all the very best. Happy cruising!