Oasis of the Seas vs NCL Getaway

[Aussie Jeep]

Ok, today I swapped a cruise from the NCL Getaway to RCL Oasis of the Seas. I would enjoy reading about peoples comparrisons of these two ships. I am not at all interested in the Butler, The Concierge, The Suites, who the Captian is, or room comparrisons or any of that. I am more interested in a comparrison of the general public areas, shops, casino, emntertainment etc and I know that there will be a lot of great CC's on here that have been on both. The itinery and the number of days was the same. Different departure ports, Miami and FLL.

Have a great day everyone, Thanks

[remajm]

I personally prefer the Oasis. I like the feel of the bigger ships. I also hated the way the casino was on the Getaway, you had to walk thru it to get from one side of the ship to the other and I didn't like the ambiance of it. I don't think you will be disapointed with the Oasis. The only reason I would sail on the Getaway again is for the room we had (aft penthouse) best balcony ever!

[Briitini]

I also just picked the Oasis over the Getaway. I like bigger ships and had a credit from corporate that took $338 off my total. My first cruise with Royal was a bust, so I am hoping this one is better. I liked the fact that I can sail out of Fort Lauderdale (super close) and not have to drive to miami (a little less than an hour). I also like Cozumel for Mr Sanchos and whenever I book a longer cruise I must be on one that stops there. :D I am so excited to try Oasis.

[Oville]

We've cruised a number of times on Oasis and did cruise the Getaway this past May. We'll never sail the Getaway again. As mentioned the Casino is placed so you walk through it a lot (if you've sailed Epic you know what I mean). We thought the food, including Specialty Restaurants, was sub-par and the ship simply feels more crowded on the Getaway. I'm not a RCCL cheerleader, we've sailed enough times on NCL to be top tier of their loyalty program but this ship was not our cup of tea.

 

The Oasis on the other hand never feels crowded, has an abundance of dining options and you are not forced to go through the casino. Also the entertainment and activities on Oasis are top notch.

[Cruisegirl6]

I haven't sailed the Oasis yet (booked for May) but we cruised on her sister ship the Allure this past May and we have cruised on the Breakaway which is the sister ship of the Getaway....I have to say I been on 53 cruises (I am 51) and the Getaway was my most disliked cruise of them all, too many negatives in fact my other half and myself and my father in law who also came with us would not cruise on NCL again. There are too many reasons why we didn't like the Breakaway and the Allure was our most favorite ship so much that we booked the Oasis as soon as we got back from the Allure.

[MADflyer]

I was on the maiden voyage of the Getaway and the RCI Quantum and sailed for the second time on Oasis on her transatlantic this year.

 

I found some things I really enjoyed on all of them. If you have not sailed on Oasis before, there would be no reason to switch back to Getaway.

 

The Getaway excels with one of the best paid Thermal Suites at sea, the boardwalk venues are fantastic and I really enjoyed both the Grammy Experience and Illusionarium. The cabins were excellent and the variety of specialty dining fantastic. I actually really liked the layout of the Casino that is the source of many others negative comments. Legally Blond was good and the entertainment booking system worked extremely well, even on the maiden voyage and everything was in perfect order from day 1 and reservations could easily be made for dining and entertainment, even from the cabin TV.

 

Oasis is also a fantastic experience and the varied zones of the ship are very appealing to me. I really like the layout of the ship and the cabins are satisfactory, but were not really well renovated in the recent refit, where they concentrated on some new cabins and putting in more specialty restaurants and suite and loyalty lounges. Here the Aqua Theater is amazing and other entertainment quite good. Cats soundtrack was not completed prior to the TA and I am sure the production has improved now and a large percentage of guests did not return after the intermission due to the length of the show.

 

I got much more personal attention on Getaway than on Oasis and the Getaway was a little better managed. I had never seen lines at guest services for en entire 13 day sailing like I did on Oasis, but would imagine it is back to normal now.

 

What I like on Getaway is that the venues are located all together and what I like about Oasis is just the opposite, that by changing zones you really feel like you have such a variety of experiences. The main dining room on Oasis was superior to the experience on Getaway, but with the move to the new Dynamic Dining on Oasis they will be equal from this perspective.

[JasonV1]

My review of the Getaway is here if you want my full report.

 

The Getaway Haven suites are awesome, but sadly they are the only way I would sail that ship again. While the waterslides are awesome, there just isn't enough pool space on that ship.

 

Even if the NCL Vibe beach club (adult area) was free, it still isn't as nice as the Royal Solariums (which also have pools). If you are in the Haven you have your own pool and hot tubs (which again, are awesome), but for all others you are left to fight over far too little pool and hot tub space.

 

Oasis class ships don't feel crowded despite their number of passengers, while the Getaway definitely does. For the record, I've sailed both when full.

 

The placement of the casino around the atrium means that you have a smoking area near a very public area, actually on deck 7 which is the middle deck of 678 place (as it is called).

 

Royal is smart with the Oasis redesign (in my opinion) as they are making the suites more Haven-like with exclusive areas. While they can't build a courtyard, the private restaurant and bars should be very nice (loved them in the Haven).

 

At the end of the day my issues were with the Getaway design, rather than the crew/service/food. I'm not saying you can't have a great cruise in a non-Haven cabin, but you can have a better one on an Oasis class ship (unless you don't care for the pool deck, in which case it comes down to crowds more than anything else).

Edited November 25, 2014 by JasonV1