Fourth Times the Charm! An Oasis Review

[kmcphee26]

What a great review. Your poor Mom. I drove my mom around in a WC in Las Vegas one year and it wasn't pretty. We were on the same sailing. Was it windy or what? I actually made it to the Captains question and answer talk and he said he backs into Nassau so he can get out quickly since St Thomas is so far. He spun that ship so fast my head was spinning. I was surprised, but realized my other two Oasis trips had been to Western, so we came in bow first. I had never felt the ship move until this trip. We caught that cold front that had just hit Florida before we left. It was freezing the first two days.

 

I found out there was a Casino group of 300 people on our cruise which explained the crowded Casino all week. I would love to see the pix from ST Martin. Did the resort look nice? I have a Divi time share and I've wanted to trade it for St Martin. I think we were in your Quest group. You guys were amazing. We were about three rows up and VERYl loud. I'm sure we had put that alcohol package to great work that day. Haha. I totally agree with you about the champagne bar on the Jewel. Nice job on the review.

 

 

Thanks so much! Oh man was it windy the first two days! While docked in Nassau, my dad and I tried to get to the deck 14 sundeck but it was closed due to wind. But the weather at the end more then made up for it.

 

I will definitely post some St. Maarten beach pics, as well as some more St. Thomas. They are all on my laptop which I almost never use, but I hope to get around to posting them tonight or tomorrow night.

 

TEAM 7 FOR LIFE! I think we were robbed. It felt like the whole team had so much energy!

[Susie51]

Thank you for this wonderful review.

[NeuroQueen]

I checked with my less inebriated friends and we were definitely in your quest group. Team 7 FOREVER. We were robbed. Post the pix whenever you get a chance. My friends agreed you two were the best captains ever!!!

[kmcphee26]

Disembarkation aka the first step toward post-cruise depression

 

We woke up at 6am that Saturday to complete last minute packing and grab some breakfast before disembarking. We still had our luggage as we planned on doing express departure as we had a 10am flight. We usually hit the WJ prior to disembarkation but our friend asked us to go to the MDR to say goodbye. It was really quiet and relaxing there and the breakfast buffet quality did seen slightly superior to the WJ. I think we will have to do he MDR on disembarkation day in the future. We ate until about 7:15 when we absolutely had to get going or risk missing our flight.

 

We had to leave the wheelchair in the room so special needs at sea could pick it up so we dropped mom off with her crutches on deck 5 by the gangway and my dad and I made a few trips back upstairs to get luggage. Somehow my mom made it down most of the gangway with her crutches and dad and I made it most of the way carrying 4 suitcases and three carry-ons. Once we got back into the terminal, one of the pier workers on wheelchair duty noticed us and offered to take my mom. We ended up in the wheelchair line and it did get us through the terminal and through customs much faster. We headed to the taxi stand and got a cab right away. We were at the airport and through security by 8:45. Our flight to Newark was uneventful (if you don't count me crying silent tears for having to disembark the Oasis). Then I sadly had to leave my parents as they continued on to Boston.

 

That's all for now. Tomorrow I will post some final thoughts and opinions and a few things I did that I totally forgot about as I was writing. I will also try to post some beach pics tomorrow night. I'd post pics taken onboard but unless anyone wants to see a close up of me and the ostrich on the carousel, I don't think many of them would be beneficial to my fellow cruisers.

[kmcphee26]

So rereading through this thread I realize there are an unacceptable amount of typos. I blame it in part on autocorrect and in part on my lack of proofreading skills. So I deeply apologize for that, I know it's really annoying as a reader.

 

So a few things I forgot...

 

Day 3 before the comedy show we hit up the Summer Breeze concert in Dazzles. It starred some of the stars of Hairspray singing classic rock songs. It was a lot of fun and they were all very talented. Please understand that me forgetting about it speaks more to me and less to the quality of the show.

 

I also hit the donut shop after the first trip to JRs (second breakfast is a thing, okaaaaay). I had a frosted donut with sprinkles and it was very tasty. I wish I had gone more often throughout the week but I was a little concerned for my already growing waist line.

 

We visited the photo store on deck 6 several times throughout the cruise, checking up on our pics using the kiosk as the week went on. From the start there was an amazing set of pictures from when we were initially boarding so every time we went and I saw them, I literally died laughing (apparently I'm a cat because I have died laughing about 4 times). The whole reason this was amazing is because my mom had zero desire to have our picture taken while she was in the wheelchair. I understood but I knew that we had to take that first photo for face recognition so we would easily see the rest of our photos throughout the week. These set of three or so photos literally looked like some televised hostage situation. My dad and I were all smiles behind my mom who looked like she was being wheeled to her death. She didn't mean to look like this but honestly put today's NY Post in her hands and it was legit a hostage photo. Anyways these photos were hysterical but obviously not worth purchasing. I couldn't think of not seeing this photo ever again (especially when I was sad and needed a good laugh) so on our last trip over there I tried to subtlety take a picture of the picture on the kiosk. Almost immediately, a crew member working there grabbed me and asked to see me delete the photo. Grrrrrr! I totally get why. They need to make money. But I totally wish I hadn't been caught.

 

I know I have been promising beach pictures and final thoughts/opinions for a few days, but work has been nuts. I promise to have both up ASAP. Again, thanks for reading!

[delirious9876]

I'm on my first Oasis cruise later this year and I'm so excited after reading your review. Thank you so much.

 

You mentioned Simeon in the comedy club. We met him several times years ago just before he moved to Oasis. It's great to know he's still there and we'll see him again. Like you said he could just do 1 man shows !!!!

 

:-)

[JohnGaltny]

This was a terrific job of a review. I enjoyed it thoroughly.

 

Thank you.

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the report!

[kmcphee26]

This was a terrific job of a review. I enjoyed it thoroughly.

 

Thank you.

 

Thanks! I enjoyed your ExOS review very much as well!

[kmcphee26]

So some final thoughts...

 

There was a lot I didn't get around to doing/seeing this time around. Zipline, flowrider, mini golf, etc. My mom's mobility issues made it easier to just relax by the pool and we had done all of those things on our previous Oasis trips. They are all great though and I recommend trying to get to them if you sail on this class. I had every intention of getting a cupcake from the Cupcake Cupboard, but our waiter friend had a bunch of cupcakes (red velvet and vanilla bean) sent to our stateroom and I would have been on cupcake overload. Still haven't gotten around to trying the Manly Cupcake (I think that's the name) that has BACON on it. Darn.

 

I wish we had made it to karaoke (only to watch of course, no one wants to hear me sing). I also wish the Wipeout Cafe still had nachos, guac, and tacos. I was ready to go there for lunch on Day 2 and was a little disappointed they got rid of these options. The one thing I really wish we made time for was the Rising Tide Bar. I have done it on previous cruises and have always enjoyed it. Plus it would have only taken a half hour away from my time losing money in the casino. Oh well!

 

Finally, some overall opinions of the ship and crew...

 

The ship was in great shape, looked just as great as when we sailed on her in 2010. Doesn't look like it needs dry dock at all! Only maintanence related issue was our balcony door would get stuck and was really difficult to open. We mentioned this to our steward who said someone would come fix it but never did. I do think we utilized the balcony a little less because of it. But all public areas seemed to be in great shape.

 

We met some really lovely crew members on board, but then we were less impressed by some others. Obviously our dining room team was the BEST and we got really personalized service because of our connections (haha). Also great were the officers at the C&A events- very approachable and outgoing. Servers at the Schooner Bar and casino were great, always being friendly even during busy times. As always, the casino dealers were fabulous (even if they didn't pay well). The bartenders all around the ship I found less friendly than usual. We usually have a few favorite bartenders, but I could not even tell you the name of one this time around. Most of the bars seemed busier than I had previously experienced so maybe that was the case.

 

The biggest issue I had with the crew would probably have to be the CD's staff. Jimmy himself was ok. He was less visible than previous CDs I have had, but maybe it just felt that way because we missed some shows. (To put in context, I loved Richard Spacey and Allan Brooks). The CD's staff was nice enough, for the most part, but seemed disorganized overall. Activities usually run like well-oiled machines on the Oasis and it just wasn't the case this time. On several occassions, I wanted to grab the mic at a trivia and be like "you know what, let me handle this, I got this." Someone on the CD staff also threw a lot of shade at us when we tried to find seats at the Oasis of Dreams show (essentially "well, get here earlier, k thanks bye"). Listen, chica, don't cop a 'tude with a woman in a wheelchair. Manners. The exception to all this was the Dirty Minds Adult Game Show. I really enjoyed the hosts and I feel like they were really comfortable hosting the show, probably because for once they were allowed to let loose and speak like normal 20-something adults (at least the ones I hang with).

 

 

I think that's all she wrote (see what I did there?), unless something else pops into my brain as I continue to follow some of the other Oasis reviews. Plus, I PROMISE more beach pics this weekend!