Just of Oasis Dec 13 sailing.. Lost luggage & cruise review

[quirty30]

D don't E expect, L luggage, T to A arrive. Its the worst airline.

 

One and only time flying Delta. But I must admit, they compensated us nicely in addition to finding the suitcase and delivering it to our hotel within 24 hours.

[reedprincess]

D don't E expect, L luggage, T to A arrive. Its the worst airline.

 

Delta is the worst airline? If Hardly. Try LIAT. Leave Island Any Time. Luggae Is Always Transitting. Left In Another Terminal. And so on. Service 22 airports with 18 aircraft. You do the math. Unfortunately, they are the ones ly option for most of the islands, so no incentive to improve.

[BeeeJay]

Really enjoying this report!

[Paulette3028]

 

We were off to dinner and met our table mates. They were wonderful. Our waitress and assistance waiter were amazing and the food and service was excellent. I couldn’t complain about anything. We ordered glasses of wine and the bar staff did ask for our SeaPasses, but after the first night, they never asked us again. Every night we had our glass of red wine delivered to the table. When our glass was empty, it was immediately replaced. If we wanted something different, it was delivered immediately. Excellent service. No complaints.

 

 

Sorry to read about your missing luggage. As I read this I wonder, were you charged for the drinks that were brought to you each night when they did NOT ask for your SeaPass card?

[NorbertsNiece]

Subscribing. Well written description.... looking forward to more.

 

Linda

[readytolose]

Sorry to read about your missing luggage. As I read this I wonder, were you charged for the drinks that were brought to you each night when they did NOT ask for your SeaPass card?

 

She stated that they had the drink package so there would be no charge.

[CruizeDoggies]

DAY 2:

Some people may cringe at this idea, but we sleep with the balcony door opened at night. We do leave the AC off, but I always understood the air doesn’t work when the balcony door is opened anyway. I woke up sometime after 6AM and I could see the Bahamas in the distance. I went out on the balcony and watched as we sailed into the harbor and docked. The port in Nassau is so small and it blows my mind how Oasis is able to turn and back right in. Once again, because we had our mind on our luggage, I realized that we never placed our room service breakfast request on our door before we went to bed on the prior evening.

 

 

On days we are in port, I prefer to have breakfast delivered to the room so we don’t have to fight the crowds at the buffets. My husband wasn’t up yet and I didn’t want to wake him so I went downstairs to the cafe promenade to get a latte. There was nobody in line but the service was so slow. The gentleman working behind the counter (he worked there the entire cruise) was so slow. He moved slow, talked slow , and made coffee drinks slow. It wasn’t an issue for me on this morning since I was not in a hurry, but when there was a line, you might easily wait 30 minutes for a coffee. There was never anyone in line at Starbucks, but Starbucks isn’t included in the ultimate drink package, so for special coffees we had to go to Cafe Promenade. I took my husband’s seapass with me and ordered him a drink as well. With the drink packages, as long as you had both cards, you could order two drinks. Also, each time we ordered a drink, we were allowed two bottles of water. We tried to stock up this way and always had some waters available for us in the stateroom.

 

Once I got back to the room, my husband was up. We had no specific plans for Nassau originally; we were going to walk around town and explore and planned to be back on the boat before lunch. However, I knew there were several shops in walking distance so we decided we would do some shopping for clothes and spend some of the money we were allotted for our lost bag claim. We still were not in a hurry to get off the ship and watched as the first crowds disembarked to meet their excursion groups. By this time, I decided to call room service and see if we could still get breakfast delivered. They said it would be an hour or more but we ordered anyway and sat on the balcony.

 

While we watched the sun rise and the hoards of people walk into town from the docks, we got to thinking about our luggage again. We accepted the fact that we would not have the bags for the cruise, but what if we NEVER saw our bags again?? The last time I was on the phone with the airline they were going through unclaimed, untagged bags and asking me if the contents sounded familiar: “Did you have a pink dress and blue shirt” “Did you have a brown sport coat”. It was awful. So at this stage, we were starting to accept we may not ever get our bags. This was even more sad because we packed some of our nicest stuff for our cruise. Why? I do not know.... haha. I guess you just don’t think you’ll lose your bags.

 

I checked my phone for any updates and received a text message from my mom. I had given the airline her number as a contact since I was unsure if we would be easily reached. She sent me a text that said the airline had my bags at the port! Shew that was such a relief. I called her and realized they had the bags at the airport in FLL and they once again said they would hold onto the bag until our return. They also said they took the bag off the plane in Chicago because the plane was overweight. This is where I got confused. They knew they took my luggage off the plane but did not scan it or notify us at all. They intentionally took the bag off the plane! And they didn’t notify us! Now I was more upset. I am a terrible flyer and have bad flight anxiety, so anything that delays me due to safety issues I will not complain about. I’m glad they erred on the side of caution with the plane being overweight... but I don’t understand how they could not tell me where my bag was and I don’t understand why my bag did not get replaced on the next flight out of Chicago to fort lauderdale. Anyway, it was a relief they actually had our bags... So acceptance started to set in. We would make the best of this trip either way!

[CruizeDoggies]

Day 2 Continued:

Breakfast was delivered before the hour predicted wait. It was good but the eggs were cold. We ate them anyway and sipped on coffee until we could see some breaks in the crowds getting off the ship. We got off the ship around 9AM and did some shopping. We managed to find a few things but because the ship was in port on Sunday, several of the shops were closed! All the jewelry stores were opened, but the clothing boutiques were not. Bummer. But we managed.

 

We headed back to the ship by noon and dropped off our new belongings in the stateroom. The ship has interactive iPad-like screens on each floor at the stairs. These touch screens can bring up the Cruise Compass, the map, and dinning venues and the wait time for each dinning venue. I wanted my husband to experience the roast beef sandwiches at Park Cafe (I usually go there when we first get on the ship but we didn’t have time) and the interactive screen showed green, a low wait time. We walked one floor up to central park and were met with a very long line. Oh well, we decided to wait. It was lunch time and we figured everywhere would be crowded. The line moved pretty fast.

 

The food was very good and my husband loved the sandwiches. There was nowhere to sit so we sat at the central park bar and ordered some beers. After lunch, we went up to the pool deck to find a seat. We sailed away from the bahamas at 2PM so there was still a few hours of sun left. It was warm in the sun, but in the shade it was breezy and a little bit cold. We got a seat near the main pool with no issues and ordered some more drinks.

 

I loved the ultimate package because it allowed me to try several different drinks. I didn’t feel pressured to finish it if I didn’t like it. Also, we had no problems getting service from the roving bar tenders. On the first two days, we tipped in cash 1$ per drink (which was in addition to the included tip) and after that, several bar tenders knew our names and never had us sign a receipt. At the pool, even if we didn’t sign a receipt, we always had to provide our seapasses. It wasn’t as lenient as the MDR.

[CruizeDoggies]

Day 2 Continued:

Tonight was the first formal night and the Captain’s Gala/Captain's party. It started to get cold on the pool deck, even in the sun, so we decided to get ready for dinner a little early and try to grab a seat on the Promenade for the Gala. I had one of my formal dresses since I cross packed a little, but the shoes I packed for the dress didn’t make it. I ended up wearing my cheap black heals I bought in the strip mall near the hotel. It worked okay, but it wasn’t my ideal formal night outfit. My hair dryer and curling iron never made it so i had to use the hairdryer on the ship, which works ok but I have thick hair so it took extra long to dry my hair. Luckily, I bought a cheap straightener too so I could at least look presentable in the evenings. My make up was in my carry on... at least I had that! :)

 

We walked down to the Promenade and took several pictures. We didn’t plan on buying any but sometimes there are a few that turn out really well, so we tried. My husband was surprised at all the “photo stations”. He wasn't prepared to take any photos, but he agreed. Several of our photos turned out wonderful and we gave in and spent $$$ to purchase them.

 

We sat at the Globe and Atlas pub and waited for service.... nothing. We waited over 10 minutes before we got helped and the place was almost empty. Finally we got to order and we decided to tip cash for an incentive for the bartender to come back quicker next time. That didn’t work. They never served in a timely manner at the Globe and Atlas Pub for the entire cruise. I don’t know if it was the drink package or not, but even our extra cash tip didn’t go very far. :(

 

The champagne started to flow and we people watched as all the families took their pictures by the Christmas tree. I couldn’t help but look at everyone and think “man, they got their luggage and their shoes match their dress”. haha. But after a few drinks I didn’t worry about it. I tried hard to not let the events ruin our cruise. Captain Per came out on the Globe and Atlas Bridge and gave his speech. Nobody stopped to pay attention. Everyone continued walking, shopping, taking pictures, ect. I remember when Captain’s Galas were the highlight of a cruise and for some reason, nobody gave the Captain the time of day. My husband and I enjoyed his speech tho.

 

Dinner was wonderful as usual. Several people at our table ordered two entrees and never had any issues. The steak was wonderful and so tender. We opted to not do any specialty restaurants during our cruise and I was happy with this decision because the MDR food was amazing. After dinner, I asked our assistant waiter for a coffee with Baileys. She was very sweet but had no idea what Baily’s was. She does now. :)

 

Weeks before the sailing, I had carefully planned all our shows around the ship’s schedule, but like many other people, the show schedules were moved around and I lost most of my reservations and was unable to reschedule the shows. Instead of trying to do the standby line, we opted to go to the Schooner Bar for some good piano music.

 

Jim Long was the piano player on our cruise. He was extremely talented but loved Elton John a little too much... I wish there was a little more variety. He was still a joy to listen to. We closed the Schooner Bar down and went to bed. We wanted to wake up early on Day 3- our first day at sea.

[CruizeDoggies]

She stated that they had the drink package so there would be no charge.

 

This is correct. We had the ultimate drink package. In all other venues, they requested the SeaPass card to swipe but they never did in the MDR. I don't know what the policy was but it was a nice touch. One of the reasons my husband had not cruised before was lack of the "all inclusive feel" and the MDR allowed us to enjoy dinner without worrying about signing receipts.

[CruizeDoggies]

Enjoying your review so far. I have only had one lost luggage scenario in my lifetime; fortunately it wasn't for a cruise, but rather a Disney World trip. It was the only time we've ever booked a connecting flight, and Delta was able to tell me the suitcase was still sitting in ATL even though we made it to MCO. Like you, it was after a very late arrival. And we got it back less than 24 hours later. I'm thinking that it was not a good omen that your airline didn't have a clue where your bag was. I also admire your attitude and your situation is definitely making me reconsider a late arrival into FLL when we sail on the Oasis next August. Perhaps I should take an extra vacation day and get in earlier on Friday.

 

 

Yes! Take the extra vacation day just in case! Our airline was always a favorite of mine. I have never had an issue with them and I have flown them for several years, but after this problem I don't think I'll ever fly them again. Any airline can get a bag lost, but it was the incompetence and how they handled it. The story gets worse.. after they found it, they lost it again!

[pajazz28]

So far so good keep them coming.

 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Forums mobile app

[maggieq]

Nice review so far. Sorry about the lost luggage but I was impressed with your attitude.

 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Forums mobile app

 

Me too. I'm not so sure I would have done as well

[renza]

More please

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[twindaddy]

OP, I thought the drink package covered Starbucks too? I bought my wife the royal replenish package so she could have her Starbucks drinks.

 

Might have to think again about that....thanks again for the great review!

[Clarea]

OP, I thought the drink package covered Starbucks too? I bought my wife the royal replenish package so she could have her Starbucks drinks.

 

Might have to think again about that....thanks again for the great review!

The Starbucks venues on Oasis and Allure are not included in any of the beverage packages.

[JamesEM]

Interesting review, thanks for posting.

[CruizeDoggies]

DAY 3

This was our first day at sea. I had read some various threads that mentioned getting out to the pool early to get a good lounge chair. At some All-inclusives, such as Sandles, reserving chairs is not a problem. But at other resort chains, it’s a serious problem. If you aren’t up by 5:30AM to place your flip flop on a chair, you won’t have a lounge chair. We woke up at 6:30AM to see how bad it was. We picked up some lattes at the Cafe Promenade and went upstairs. People were already up at the Beach Pool reserving chairs. On this day, about 25% of the chairs were already reserved at the Beach Pool. No other areas were reserved.

 

Although I wanted to sit at the Beach Pool, we noticed the wind was terrible and found a spot that was shielded from the wind (the chairs forward from the beach pool). It was cold this entire day. The people at the beach pool were covered in towels all day. Bummer it was so cold. We tried the solarium and main pool.. those areas were so windy your towel blew away when you got up. I understand some wind is good. We live at the coast and we boat on a weekly basis, but this day was exceptionally windy.

 

TIP: if you are sensitive to temperature, you can check your TV in your stateroom and find the channel that updates the ship’s location and it will show apparent winds and the direction the wind is hitting the ship so you can get a good idea of what side of the ship is best protected from the wind.

 

We did the Solarium Bistro for breakfast and it was simple but good. It had all the basics and we got there around 7:30AM when it opened so there were no lines. We always brought our plates and coffee out to our pool chair to eat it. Mostly because if you disappeared for any longer than 10 minutes, your chair would probably be taken by someone else (even though the rule is 30 minutes). More on that later. The Beach Pool turned out to be a large area of drama during the entire cruise and it was a shame that adults couldn’t just act like adults; reserving chairs became a huge problem. People also used their C&A and gold card status to take people’s chairs!

 

For a late morning snack I went down to the Promenade and brought up some sandwiches. I have always loved the croissants but they tasted different this cruise. They were still good, but different. It got so cold and started to cloud up again, so we went to the Windjammer for lunch. My husband called it “The Trough” but he actually enjoyed it. He tried some really eccentric dishes and said they were really good. It wasn’t busy when we went (around 2PM). We went to explore the sports deck after lunch but because my husband was fresh off surgery we skipped the adventurous activities and played some mini golf. :)

 

On our way back to the room, we were walking down the port side aft hallway on deck 7 and noticed a sewage smell. It was actually pretty pungent and made me gag at one point (and being a nurse I can handle lots of smells). We got into our room and it was faint, so we opened the balcony door and the smell disappeared. Unfortunately, it returned many times on our trip and we never figured out where it was coming from. When I got in the shower that night, the shower overflowed and flooded the bathroom, dripped on to the cabin floor, and into the hallway. We called maintenance and waited 30 minutes... called again and they finally came. It was a 10 minute fix and wasn’t a problem again.

 

We had reservations to see the Aqua Theater show, Oasis of Dreams after dinner, but we got ready in time for the 7:30 show so we decided to walk a few doors down to the secret balcony on Deck 7. We got two chairs and watched the show from there and it was wonderful. People who were in the standby line all got in, but most of the open spots were in the “splash zone”. The show was fabulous and definitely a favorite. Dinner was amazing again.

 

Tomorrow was our day in St. Thomas and the night of the Prohibition Party.

[CruizeDoggies]

OP, I thought the drink package covered Starbucks too? I bought my wife the royal replenish package so she could have her Starbucks drinks.

 

Might have to think again about that....thanks again for the great review!

 

On Oasis, Starbucks isn't included, but you could get a large variety of very similar (if not, the same) drinks at the Cafe Promenade. Our problem was the slow service, but the quality of drinks were just as good as any Starbucks and they were included in our package!

[CruizeDoggies]

DAY 4:

The ship’s scheduled arrival into Saint Thomas was later (10AM) so we planned on sleeping in a little and having room service for breakfast on the balcony. When I woke up, we were traveling through a driving rain. It was cold, windy, and wet! I was hoping it would pass, but it ended up raining all day.

 

Room Service was good; we wrote in “salmon” on the breakfast menu and it actually showed up. The eggs were cold again but we still ate them! :) The rain stopped enough for us to enjoy breakfast on the balcony. Once again, it takes an amazing Captain, Harbor Pilot, and Ship to pull into that small harbor. It was really cool to watch.

 

Once we docked, the captain said the rain would be on and off all day, so we decided we would get off the ship and head to the Taxis to see if there were any nearby beaches to try so we didn’t dump a lot of money on a taxi to a far away beach if it rained. The Taxi situation was a nightmare. It was so unorganized and the taxi drivers were so rude. I never experienced this service while in St. Thomas so I don’t know if it was the rain or too many people coming off the ship. Either way, we opted for Emerald Beach. It was 4$ per person each way and it was a short drive. Sapphire and Magens Bay were 14$ per person each way... next time I’ll just get an excursion in Saint Thomas.

 

Emerald Beach was really nice. There was a small bathroom, a bar with food and drinks, and some activities like kayaking and paddle boarding. It started raining as soon as we got there so we didn’t bother spending 6$ to rent a chair; we went to sit at a table near the bar. We had a few drinks (beers were 3-4$ and we had a BBC for 7$). We also ordered some conch fritters and they were surprising good. We made the best of the rainy day.

 

Back at the ship, dinner was amazing once again. After dinner, we headed to Jazz on 4 for the Prohibition Party. I read lots of reviews on this party and I was really excited about it. We purchased tickets in advance online, they were 35$ per person. We had to whisper a password to the “bouncer” and it was fun. The drinks were served in coffee cups and they kept bringing drink after drink to us. People walking around were fascinating with what "Secret party" was going on in the lounge. My only complaint is it wasn’t really worth the money. The cruise staff who were roll playing at the party were fun, but all we did was play games (pass the hat around and when the music stops, if your holding the hat, your out). It was childish and not really what I expected. We did some dancing, but that was only after we had a couples dance contest. The jazz band was amazing, but the cruise staff actually forced people to get up and dance. There was an older couple who was dressed up and having a great time and she made a comment about them not dancing and went over to them and they got up and danced and then left. I felt bad for them. Not everyone likes to dance and feeling pressured to do something was just uncomfortable. I was disappointed and I don’t think I will do the Prohibition Party again. But, I have still read amazing things about this party. My husband enjoyed it because the cruise director’s staff was hot... gotta love men!

 

Tomorrow is Saint Martin. We went to bed praying for better weather. By this time, I had already forgotten about my luggage. Despite the weather, the cruise was still wonderful. It's all about your attitude and staying positive.

[cruzin4sun]

Thank you for your review - I am enjoying it very much. We will be on Oasis for the first time in May, taking our daughter and granddaughter. Cannot wait.

 

We had a very similar experience with lost luggage a few years ago. Because of weight issues they unloaded some of the luggage, and all of our pieces were included in that so cross packing didn't help. Sad to say I did not handle it anywhere near as well as you.

[poncho1973]

D don't E expect, L luggage, T to A arrive. Its the worst airline.

 

That's great that you love/hate different airlines, but the one thing I can say about Delta is that they have an amazing app that tells you EXACTLY where your bags are.

 

Every stop from the curb, to security, to the plane, to the destination, to the tarmac, to the baggage carrousel the items are scanned and you can get alerts for each scan event. You then know exactly where your stuff is.

 

We used Delta on the way to Europe this summer and had some serious plane issues (we arrived almost a day later than intended and went from a 1-stop trip to a 4-stop trip) but knew where our bags were every step of the way.

 

 

ETA: it's even free to log in and check them from the plane.

Edited December 30, 2014 by poncho1973

[poncho1973]

We were on the same cruise.

 

Did you try the Solarium pool? We had a great time there.

[A&L_Ont]

That's great that you love/hate different airlines, but the one thing I can say about Delta is that they have an amazing app that tells you EXACTLY where your bags are.

 

Every stop from the curb, to security, to the plane, to the destination, to the tarmac, to the baggage carrousel the items are scanned and you can get alerts for each scan event. You then know exactly where your stuff is.

 

We used Delta on the way to Europe this summer and had some serious plane issues (we arrived almost a day later than intended and went from a 1-stop trip to a 4-stop trip) but knew where our bags were every step of the way.

 

 

ETA: it's even free to log in and check them from the plane.

 

We need to research this app as Delta is our main carrier. We have the Delta app loaded, is it on there? It would be great to know where your luggage is while you travel.

 

God forbid, if I were to read on the app that it was placed beside the bananas in a bowl next to the ketchup and mayo.

Edited December 30, 2014 by A&L_Ont

[CruizeDoggies]

That's great that you love/hate different airlines, but the one thing I can say about Delta is that they have an amazing app that tells you EXACTLY where your bags are.

 

Every stop from the curb, to security, to the plane, to the destination, to the tarmac, to the baggage carrousel the items are scanned and you can get alerts for each scan event. You then know exactly where your stuff is.

 

We used Delta on the way to Europe this summer and had some serious plane issues (we arrived almost a day later than intended and went from a 1-stop trip to a 4-stop trip) but knew where our bags were every step of the way.

 

 

ETA: it's even free to log in and check them from the plane.

 

 

This is how every airline should be. Swiss air lost my bags in Europe and knew exactly where the bag was and had it to be within -12 hours. The airline we traveled with for this trip does not scan and it baffles me. But maybe that's how they can get away with bags flying free.