First Family Cruise (Oasis Eastern) with Baby!

[NurseBPS]

Thanks so much for writing this! Thinking about taking our what will be 7 month old on a cruise in May!! So many good tips! Loving it! :)

[m*u*g*]

IGNORE THE PREVIOUS LINK.

 

Hubby reposted with a few subtitles. HERE'S THE CORRECT LINK:

 

 

Note: The crying was during the Muster Drill - she was not a fan of emergency sirens!

 

 

OK, technical question.

 

What were the gopro settings used?

[LissyTx]

Sorry for the delay. Will post St. Marteen (without video for now) shortly and respond to questions.

 

Thanks for following along!

[LissyTx]

OK, technical question.

 

What were the gopro settings used?

 

I have no idea so I asked the hubby:

For video - Standard 1080P 60 Frames / Second

 

Photos were taken with a combo of our cell phones and Cannon 60D

[LissyTx]

Sorry for the long delay, work has been crazy and I was also trying to wait for the St. Marteen video to be ready – but it’s not. So proceeding and will probably stick that video in at the very end.

 

Day 5, St. Martin / St. Marteen & Spa!

We booked a private excursion through Bernard’s Tours. Overall I was very pleased but I wished I’d done research on St. Marteen. I ran out of planning time before the trip so we just depended on what the driver thought was good to show us. Part of the reason we did the private tour was to have freedom to come back to the ship if needed – I didn’t know if we’d want a midday break with Katie or not. We ended up not – we just went straight through – saw a ton – and came back to the ship thoroughly exhausted! We went to Orient Beach where the boys rented Jet Ski’s and we all swam. We also stopped at Maho Beach for about an hour and saw a few planes land. Otherwise we saw Marigot and a ton of smaller towns. Our biggest regret is not getting to another beach to snorkel. I didn’t know at the time that my hubby was so set on snorkeling. The upside is now he’s considering another cruise this year because he missed out! :D

 

St. Marteen Fun Fact: During the Captain’s Corner, someone asked what the barge was doing hooked up to the Oasis all day long (see below in picture w/ hubby and ship). This is the fuel barge. RCCL has better rates with a provider in St. Marteen so they refuel every two weeks in St. Marteen and the process takes most of the time the ship is docked. When they refuel, he said they only get half a tank, so the Oasis/Allure can hold quite a lot of fuel.

 

 

On a sad note: I’m pretty sure it was St. Marteen, but we heard for sure 2 if not 3 Alpha Alpha Alpha calls within an hour or two – all for Deck 8. We ended up leaving St. Marteen about 30 minutes late as they waited for an ambulance to pick up one of the passengers. Again during the next morning’s Captain’s Corner, the Captain said the return route takes us out to sea and there are several places not easily accessible by helicopter, so if there’s any doubt, they’d prefer to get the passenger get off in St. Marteen versus staying on the ship with 2 long sea days ahead.

 

SPA: About an hour after we got back to the ship, I had an appointment with the Spa! I had wanted to visit the Spa especially as this was our 10th wedding anniversary cruise, but the prices were just too high, until an ad in the Compass. $99 (plus gratuities of 18%) got a one hour back/shoulder/neck message, scalp massage, foot and ankle massage, and mini-facial. Worked for me! It was wonderful.

When I got to the Spa, you check in, walk a bit and then go down a glass staircase – I was wondering if I was going the right direction. You then get to another counter where you check in again (ODD to me) and then you sit in this room behind check in (it was relaxing – some drinks, loungers, soft music/white noise) to wait for your assigned message therapist. Overall a very nice experience, but she did try to push both products and booking another service for the last sea day. She did offer another similar $99 package.

 

The rest of the pictures (from St. Marteen) I am saving for the video my hubby is working on – although it’s delayed by his business trip.

 

STROLLER / WHEEL CHAIR TIP: All the announcements tell you to head to Deck 3 to disembark – but this assumes you can use the escalator. If you have someone in a stroller or wheelchair just head directly to Deck 2 via elevator. In St. Thomas & St. Marteen we docked Starboard. If you use the Port side elevators, you’ll have to cross I-95 (the main crew hallway). Look before you walk across it – we almost got taken out by a cart full of supplies.

 

UP NEXT: Two Sea Days, Remaining Baby Travel Tips, and Random Ship Videos/Pics

[AndiShop]

I'm hanging on every word! We leave Thursday for your same trip! We are even dong Bernard's tour in STM. Just ordered the float for my 22 month old. :) Thanks so much for taking the time to help people like me! I so appreciate it!

[LissyTx]

I'm hanging on every word! We leave Thursday for your same trip! We are even dong Bernard's tour in STM. Just ordered the float for my 22 month old. :) Thanks so much for taking the time to help people like me! I so appreciate it!

 

Thank you so much for the feedback, much appreciated. I have a few posts ready to go and will hopefully finish tomorrow. Glad it's been helpful, I know reading family reviews, especially those with a baby were helpful to me.

[LissyTx]

Finally, the long awaited St. Maarten / St. Marteen / St. Martin video. (The spelling drives me nuts, ha!)

 

[LissyTx]

Day 6: Sea Day and our 10th Wedding Anniversary!

 

First of all, so sorry for the long delay. Hubby was on a business trip this week and we had our first sick visit for Katie so it was a crazy week with not a lot of sleep!

 

Day 6 happened to fall on our 10th Wedding Anniversary, time sure has flown. We looked so young!

 

 

Everyone except DH decided to attend the Captain’s Corner which took place in the main theater. People had a ton of questions many of them very technical which I didn’t capture, but a few interesting ones that I did:

• Royal has 2 female Captains

• In Royal’s simulator in Miami, they have tested whether Port Canaveral could handle an Oasis class ship.

• For Oasis 3 & 4, the staterooms will be 1 foot wider – and they’re trying to decide if they’ll give that foot in the bathroom or in the main cabin.

• One of the Azipods is somewhat broken and they’re running that one on half capacity to keep it limping along until dry dock.

• #1 operating cost is fuel, #2 is food

 

After Captain’s Corner we picked up DH in the Casino (they were running $5 blackjack tables – but only 1 on each side of the casino. The casino has a NON-SMOKING side (on the Port side)!! Yipee!!! This was fantastic news for me as I rarely have issues with my asthma, but it can be triggered by cigarette smoke. Not trying to offend anyone that smokes, I was just glad I could enjoy the casino since I love to gamble.

 

We went to lunch in the MDR right before it shut down – and of course the Tutti salad bar was a hit. The Grandparents then took Katie so DH and I could take our time getting ready for formal night.

 

I had ordered one of the celebration cakes to be delivered to our table in the MDR. (On a side note, I LOVE cake – and plain cake is hard to come by on Royal. You might suggest the Cupcake Shop, but the consistency of their cupcakes is just much denser than I prefer. So, in hindsight as my husband suggested – why didn’t I order two cakes one earlier in the trip so I could enjoy it more. Smart man.)

 

Some pictures from Formal Night

 

 

 

Earlier in the day DH carried the pack and play to the Grandparents room so they could keep Katie. This was her first night away from us both. We visited a Piano Bar in the Schooner Bar and spent a few hours in the Casino. At one of the poker games where you play the board and try to beat the dealer we hit several good hands in a row, one of which was a Straight Flush – and won $500! (This made up for our previous donations to the ship building fund, so we broke even for the cruise in terms of gambling.)

[LissyTx]

Day 7, Last Day & Thoughts

 

Oh the last day of the cruise is so sad. Every time this day arrives I remind myself I should do a back to back cruise next time. I think however, this was the first time I felt ready to be home – mostly due to having a baby and wanting the convenience of your own environment. However, had we done a back to back we would’ve utilized the Grandparents and the Royal Nursery to get a bit more alone time.

 

Johnny Rockets for Breakfast

Being as how we didn’t wake up until close to 10am after a late night in the Casino, we (minus the Grandparents) had breakfast at Johnny Rockets. I really thought their breakfast was delicious. The selection is definitely more limited than the Windjammer or Main Dining Room, however their breakfast sandwiches were just delicious – I felt like their eggs had more flavor. We also had their cinnamon French toast which was quite yummy.

 

Chips on the Ship!

I almost forgot to mention this in my review and it was such a little gem of a surprise. On previous cruises I had missed not having chips – you know good ole Dorito’s etc. It was such a pleasant surprise to find bags of different flavored chips readily available in the Park Café! (On previous cruises we actually brought chips on board with us – but didn’t bother this time with all the extra stuff we’d packed.)

 

Regrets / Things we missed out on:

• Hubby and I did not spend any time in the Solarium after Sailaway. He did video it early one morning and it really made me sad that we missed this… I guess there’s always next time!

• We also never made it to the Beach Pool.

• I did not learn until Day 6 that Sorrento’s had make your own pizza as an option.

• You are a little more separated from the Sea (smaller windows in MDR versus Floor to Ceiling in other classes of ship) and so many internal facing venues… As such, next time I would book an Ocean Balcony (versus the Boardwalk Balcony we had).

 

Favorite Things about this Cruise and Ship:

• I loved Central Park. Sometimes it could get hot during the day, but it was AMAZING at night. Especially as a nice place to stroll with your stroller.

• The ship is so well designed/organized. I only felt truly crowded / the # of passengers twice during the cruise – waiting for an elevator after Muster and waiting to go through Customs. Otherwise we often asked ourselves where all the people were. There are so many different venues. It is easy to find quiet places.

• Great service and food. I was underwhelmed with my Mariner Cruise, but this cruise relighted my passion (maybe addition) for all things cruising.

 

 

Any questions, feel free to ask. I will work over the holiday weekend to get more ship videos up (similar to the Promenade video previously posted.)

 

-Melissa

[Sunkissed Mommy]

Thanks for your review. I can appreciate everything you wrote about. We travel with our son all the time. He's 16 months and has been on 2 cruises, going on his 3rd in 3 weeks :)