A skeptic's review of the Oasis

[akb5k]

Hi all- just off the Oasis and thought I'd post a review...I was on the same sailing as niksmom so I won't post photos because she has some good ones! But thought people might be interested in reading something from the point of view of a casual Royal cruiser (still gold level although only 1 point to go!) who went on the Oasis with as much trepidation as excitement! I was super nervous about all the negative reviews I read, the fact that they changed my dining and show reservations 3 times before I ever got on board, and the potential crowds, having done mostly Vision and Radiance class ships in the past. In summary...I was wrong! Oasis was awesome!

 

I traveled just with my 3 year old. First cruise with a child and first "solo" cruise - definitely a different experience! Major temper tantrums from the 3 year old - too much sugar and not enough sleep. And "solo" cruising was a lot lonelier than I expected - maybe because with a child I couldn't do a lot of the "adult" stuff. Next time I'll make better use of the kids' club!

 

Precruise/Embarkation: We stayed 1 night at the Best Western Oceanside Inn. It was fine- not great, just fine. An older hotel, the kind that has rooms directly off the pool. But recently renovated with a free breakfast. I booked it with air miles, and probably wouldn't stay there again if I was paying for it.

We took a car service to the port around 11. We waited for maybe 20 minutes in the lounge area and then were on board enjoying lunch by noon! Very easy and pleasant boarding experience.

 

Stateroom: We had a D7 oceanview balcony stateroom on deck 11. It was clean, quiet, lots of storage, and about what I would expect from previous cruises. Our stateroom attendant was very nice and seemed to always be waiting in the hall to open the door for me! For those traveling with kids: I put the stroller and carseat in the space between the sofa and the closet and they were not in the way at all. Also there was a safety lock on the balcony door so I didn't worry about the 3 year old escaping in the middle of the night.

 

Dining: We ate at the Windjammer for breakfast once, lunch a few times, and dinner once (on the second formal night). For a buffet I thought it was very good and had a lot of variety. And king crab legs on the formal night! Would be nice to have peanut butter and jelly available for the little ones though. We never had trouble finding a seat but ate early, so maybe there were crowds later. And what's with the people who walk around the hand sanitizer instead of washing their hands? We ate in the dining room for breakfast 3 times- slow service but omelets made to order were worth it. The dinner service in the dining room was also slow but I thought the food was good. The waiters were very nice to my daughter- as were other passengers for the most part. We did sit with one obviously non-child friendly couple the first night (we did MTD)- we were already at the table so not sure why they didn't ask to sit elsewhere. I had no problem with MTD- some nights I had reservations and other nights we just showed up and only waited a few minutes. We usually sat at a table for 2. We also made a habit of visiting the pizza place (mediocre), the free ice cream by the pool, and Cafe Promenade for desserts (yummy) almost every day at some point. We tried Park Cafe for breakfast once and enjoyed it, and went to Izumi the last night- I liked the sushi, my 3 year old ate nothing :(. Room service breakfast was gross- cold greasy fake eggs and hash browns.

 

Public spaces: Gorgeous and well done. Central Park was lovely and mostly empty and a good place for a kid to run around, the Boardwalk was a lot of fun for my 3 year old (I think I might have to put a carousel in the backyard now!) and the Promenade was busy but never felt too crowded. I was kind of surprised at the limited shopping there though. We spent a lot of time on the pool deck- my daughter loved the kids pool (I hated it- someone needs to turn off those stupid water cannons, the teenage boys kept shooting me with them while I watched my daughter in the pool!). It was busy as expected but I never had trouble finding a chair, even midday on sea days. Also a lot quieter than I remember from previous cruises- not as many belly flop contests and bands performing. We briefly watched the Flowrider and checked out the minigolf on the first day but didn't go back.

 

Entertainment: Great. I was really frustrated before the cruise because they kept changing my reservations for shows without telling me and would move them to ridiculous times (like 1030 at night- a bit late for a kid!). But once we got on board it was a non-issue- we saw all the shows and actually saw the water show twice. They were all well done and my daughter loved them! They also had DreamWorks characters wandering around once in a while, but it wasn't over the top.

 

Ports: Nassau, St. Thomas, and St. Maarten. We did a glass bottom boat tour in Nassau that was fun. If I hadn't booked an excursion I probably would have stayed on the ship though. I used to live in St. Maarten and have friends in St. Thomas, so for both I just did a "locals day" and hung out at the beach. Yay! Getting back on the ship was never much of an issue, some short lines but nothing crazy.

 

Kid stuff: Next time I will use Adventure Ocean more! I left my daughter there once for an hour to go to the gym (don't do that, the gym reeks of smoke) and she liked it. The kid pool and the characters roaming around were great for kids, and the staff were really great with her.

 

Crowds and fellow passengers: This was where I was most pleasantly surprised. I expected long lines, waiting for elevators, chair hogs, and pushing and shoving at the buffet. In fact it was exactly the opposite- this was probably the least crowded I have ever felt on a ship. I think there was so much to do and so many places to eat that people naturally just spread out. There were a few times we had to wait for a second elevator but most of the time it was no problem. And the other passengers were by far the nicest, politest group I have ever cruised with. Everyone was friendly and I did not see one loud drunk, anyone cutting in line, or really any of the problems you would expect on a sold out cruise with 6000 people.

 

Departure: I had too much stuff to do the express departure, so waited and was in the first group they called. The airline changed my flight to a 1020 departure- never again! If it hadn't been for some incredibly nice people at the port who let us go ahead and a very helpful porter, we never would have made it. Pretty long lines at customs and a lot of people who seemed like they had never been through customs/immigration before and had no idea what they were doing, so it took a while.

 

So in summary if you've read this far...all of my worries were unfounded (well, except for the fear of missing my flight!). I had a great time and I'm actually thinking about going back next year!

[OfTheSeasCruiser]

Awesome! Thanks so much for the review!

 

I'm going on the Oasis for the first time this May and also got nervous because of the negative reviews (I know, I know, take them like a grain of salt!), so I'm glad to see you had a great time! :D

[Natmom]

Thank you for your review! DH and I are sailing in May and I have been very nervous with all the negative reviews.

[suizas]

Why does the gym (of ALL places) smell of smoke?

[maggieq]

Why does the gym (of ALL places) smell of smoke?

 

That was gong to be my question

[OCruisers]

Thanks for taking your time to report back .

Doing so will be helpful to others who have concerns about cruising on Oasis! :)

LuLu

[thrifty99]

Thanks for sharing your experience, especially regarding the crowds / elevators.

 

When I tell people that the Oasis / Allure never feel as crowded as the other ships we have sailed, they think I'm crazy. And we have sailed several times during Spring Break. But there are so many more spaces to spread out in and the elevators seem to work much more efficiently.

 

The only place I felt the crowds were the seating areas close to the pools on Spring Break. Those areas were very crowded and too many "reserved" all the chairs before 8am and never showed up for hours. I now will not hesitate to remove items if a chair is empty except for a flip flop for an hour.

[murfturf]

Good concise review! Thanks! How fun for just you two to cruise :) I agree the water cannons sound irritating!

 

 

I have an answer for the hand washing - if I've just come from the restroom, washed with soap and water, pushed the door open with my back and haven't touched a thing I will not use the sanitizer especially because the alcohol dries out my skin. However, I do realize that it appears that I am unsanitary so often I'll still put my hand under yet take a lot less than it squirts out. :rolleyes:

[akb5k]

Why does the gym (of ALL places) smell of smoke?

 

I'm guessing it's coming from the casino? It was awful!

[Clarea]

I'm guessing it's coming from the casino? It was awful!

I believe there is a crew rec area either under of very near the fitness center. The smell of cigarette smoke has been associated with the fitness centers on Oasis and Allure since they started cruises.

[JamesEM]

Thanks for the review, also smelled smoke in the gym when I was on the Allure.

[helensobol]

Thanks so much for this review. I'm going with my 6 yr old daughter solo in April. Overall did you find the kids area nice and welcoming. I'm concerned my daughter will be nervous to go there and not have me stay.

 

I'm a bit nervous about the lack of adult conversation but I'm hoping people will be friendly enough to chat with a random person.

[LuCruise]

Hi all- just off the Oasis and thought I'd post a review...

 

I traveled just with my 3 year old. First cruise with a child and first "solo" cruise - definitely a different experience! Major temper tantrums from the 3 year old - too much sugar and not enough sleep. And "solo" cruising was a lot lonelier than I expected - maybe because with a child I couldn't do a lot of the "adult" stuff. Next time I'll make better use of the kids' club!

 

 

Dining: ...We ate in the dining room for breakfast 3 times- slow service but omelets made to order were worth it. The dinner service in the dining room was also slow but I thought the food was good. The waiters were very nice to my daughter- as were other passengers for the most part. We did sit with one obviously non-child friendly couple the first night (we did MTD)- we were already at the table so not sure why they didn't ask to sit elsewhere. I

 

 

Entertainment: Great. I was really frustrated before the cruise because they kept changing my reservations for shows without telling me and would move them to ridiculous times (like 1030 at night- a bit late for a kid!). But once we got on board it was a non-issue- we saw all the shows and actually saw the water show twice. They were all well done and my daughter loved them! They also had DreamWorks characters wandering around once in a while, but it wasn't over the top.

 

Ports: Nassau, St. Thomas, and St. Maarten. We did a glass bottom boat tour in Nassau that was fun. If I hadn't booked an excursion I probably would have stayed on the ship though. I used to live in St. Maarten and have friends in St. Thomas, so for both I just did a "locals day" and hung out at the beach. Yay! Getting back on the ship was never much of an issue, some short lines but nothing crazy.

 

Kid stuff: Next time I will use Adventure Ocean more! I left my daughter there once for an hour to go to the gym (don't do that, the gym reeks of smoke) and she liked it. The kid pool and the characters roaming around were great for kids, and the staff were really great with her.

 

 

So in summary if you've read this far...all of my worries were unfounded (well, except for the fear of missing my flight!). I had a great time and I'm actually thinking about going back next year!

 

Glad to hear you had a great time and what sweet bonding time with a 3 year old. We're coming with our two kids so good to hear the club is fun. I do have a couple questions.

 

1. If you had MTD, then why were you seated with others?

 

2. I saw recent posts about show changes and to odd times. I am sorry about that as I'd be annoyed too with kids. Did you end up doing stand by for an earlier time?

 

3. What beaches do you recommend in St Thomas and St Maarten for kids?

 

Thanks...and thanks for your review.

[Yorkvillain]

Nice review. And welcome to the Oasis-addicts club. You should be receiving your membership card in the mail soon.

[LA_CA_GAL]

Hi all- just off the Oasis and thought I'd post a review......

 

....... So in summary if you've read this far...all of my worries were unfounded (well, except for the fear of missing my flight!). I had a great time and I'm actually thinking about going back next year!

 

Same here, did Oasis Eastern, then just had to do Allure Western.

 

Both as you reported, fantastic.

[ColoradoGurl]

Thanks so much for this review. I'm going with my 6 yr old daughter solo in April. Overall did you find the kids area nice and welcoming. I'm concerned my daughter will be nervous to go there and not have me stay.

 

I'm a bit nervous about the lack of adult conversation but I'm hoping people will be friendly enough to chat with a random person.

 

I travel with my daughter by myself all the time and we end up meeting lots of nice people willing to hang out with us both. I do find that most times "coupled" people see single people as being invisible and I get a lot more attention and make more friends when I'm with my boyfriend, which is irritating because when i'm by myself is when I need and want the adult friends the most, but either way, you will find friendly people. As a matter of fact on my last cruise it was just my daughter (who was 10) and myself and we ended up meeting a young newlywed couple who was at our dinner table and their ages were right in between my daughter and mine so they were perfecty happy to invite us to hang out with them. They were great with my daughter and always included her in the conversation and my daughter ended up feeling pretty special because she now had 3 adults who were focused on making sure she had fun instead of just 1. That couple has become very good friends of mine and we have traveled to visit eachother and are always planning our next joint vacation. Hopefully you will meet some people like that. But if not, just remember how lucky you are to have a built in travel buddy and know that the two of you will have a great time together even if you don't get much adult time. Being able to show your kids the world is so great!!

Edited March 3, 2015 by ColoradoGurl

[cb at sea]

If you've just washed you hands because you HATE "hand sanitizer"...isn't that ok? I cannot bear the odor of the alcohol on my hands...so I wash them before heading to eat.

[Diver2014]

We were on the ship with you last week and agree with just about everything you said. I guess the one thing that scares people about such a large ship are the potential crowds and long lines - of which there were none in our experience. I mentioned on another thread that since we were on deck 14, we were curious about the kids area up front so we ducked in to see and wow! That has to be the largest and most extensive kids area I've ever seen on a ship! RCI really gave 'keeping the kids occupied' some serious thought.

Glad you liked the Windjammer, we did too, but OMG, we missed the king crab legs! We skipped the main dining room one night for the 'Seafood Extravaganza' in the Windjammer but I never saw king crab legs! Just as well, my husband would still be on board eating if he'd seen those. :D

[tcc3]

Seafood Extraganza that sounds awesome! Do you know what night that was

[SHSLIM]

We were on the oasis in feb and I agree 100% on everything you said,the wj was good no problem finding a table for five for breakfast between 8:00 & 8:30 each morning and the only time we felt crowded was when there was a sale event on the promenade.watching our 4 year old gs at the water park their were a few times I wanted to find the off switch on those guns.

[Sunny AZ Girl]

Thank you for the wonderful review! That Seafood Buffet sounds wonderful! I hope it's still there in May.

[Diver2014]

Seafood Extraganza that sounds awesome! Do you know what night that was

 

It was day 2 on our eastern cruise - the first formal night. It was listed in the Cruise Compass and sounded too good to pass up - they even had lobster tails hidden in the very back of the Windjammer between the dessert counters- I didn't find that out until I was hunting for a dessert. We'd spent all day wandering around Nassau and didn't feel like dressing up for formal night so I'm glad we went to the Windjammer. I might add, we had 6pm dinner so we usually got to the Windjammer just as it opened and got a table next to the windows. Even when we got there later, most people took the tables nearest to the food carousels but the area in back always had a table available and we sat next to the window more often than not. At lunchtime when the WJ got a bit crowded, an announcement would come on that if you were finished with your meal, please vacate your table so others could eat. We never felt rushed but some people did get up and leave because they were just sitting there talking after having their dessert. It worked. The Wipe Out Cafe on deck 15 aft also had lunch fare - burgers, hot dogs, pizza and a frozen yogurt machine! Yum If you want a better burger, go to Johnny Rockets and order the 'Route 66' there is a $6 cover charge but that gets 'all you can eat' including fries, onion rings, salads, etc. Worth the price. And DO try the roast beef sandwich in the Park Cafe in Central Park - to die for!

Edited March 4, 2015 by Diver2014

[akb5k]

Thanks so much for this review. I'm going with my 6 yr old daughter solo in April. Overall did you find the kids area nice and welcoming. I'm concerned my daughter will be nervous to go there and not have me stay.

 

I'm a bit nervous about the lack of adult conversation but I'm hoping people will be friendly enough to chat with a random person.

 

The kids area was great- mommy guilt kept me from dropping her off more, I only used it for an hour. But the staff were super nice and the facilities were nicer than a lot of land-based daycares. I think next time we'll use it more so we can get a break from each other!

[akb5k]

Glad to hear you had a great time and what sweet bonding time with a 3 year old. We're coming with our two kids so good to hear the club is fun. I do have a couple questions.

 

1. If you had MTD, then why were you seated with others?

 

2. I saw recent posts about show changes and to odd times. I am sorry about that as I'd be annoyed too with kids. Did you end up doing stand by for an earlier time?

 

3. What beaches do you recommend in St Thomas and St Maarten for kids?

 

Thanks...and thanks for your review.

 

1. When you do MTD you don't have a specific table. So sometimes we got a table for 2, sometimes we sat with others. I'm sure if you specifically request to sit alone they will accomodate you, but we just took the first available. Plus when you've only talked to a 3 year old all day, sometimes it's nice to sit with grownups!

 

2. Yes I don't know what the deal was with shows but they kept rearranging everything and moved all the shows to later at night- maybe just based on demand or maybe staffing. But in the end we had no problem just doing standby for the shows that were early enough for us.

 

3. Beaches- I tend to go to the locals' beach rather than the tourist beach, so usually not a lot of services available on those. But in STT if you want to stay on the main island, we had fun going to Coral World and then there's a little beach right there next to the aquarium, so that makes for a fun day. A lot of people take the ferry to St. John or go to Magen's Bay (I've never been there). In SXM my favorite beaches are Mullet Bay and Baie Longue- maybe not the most kid friendly, the current can be pretty strong on that side. But my daughter had fun and Mullet Bay has a good food shack. Dawn Beach is nice, or Le Galion is known as "baby beach" because the beach is shallow and gentle.