The Verdict on Oasis: My Views (Rm 12729 ), Tips, Compass, and "Too Many" Pictures!

[APDMOM]

Thank you for all the positive feedback! ...and I am sorry for the delay to continue. I had to deal with a dead car battery - at the gas station of all places. :eek: I guess 16 days were too long for my car to wait around. :)

[APDMOM]

We're sailing on the Oasis first time in August. Looking forward to the rest of your review. Interactive TV looks helpful in planning dining locations. Just wondering if there is an app as well and I'm assuming you still get a daily printed paper with activities?

 

Hi, Donna! Yes, you will still get the daily Compass. I will scan and post those toward the end of the week, in case anyone is interested. I did not use the app, but thanks to the poster who replied. :)

 

On a side-note: The Royal Caribbean website is available on the ship, for free. You can just go to the login page for internet, and choose to browse the free sites that are listed at the bottom of the internet login. It was handy while sitting in the Promenade Cafe to browse the deck plans. I also used it to see if there were any good deals for next year in order to determine whether I will book a cruise while onboard. I did not find any worthwhile deals, so we did not book onboard.

[APDMOM]

Our Favorite spot on the ship:

 

So, on to our favorite spot on the ship. It is behind the Aqua Theater. You can get there from the Promenade - just exit the door by guest services or by the Champagne Bar and go aft. You can also get there down a set of stairs from the Aqua Theater. There are a few chairs there that can recline, and you can hear the ocean. It is like having your own balcony, aside from the few joggers/walkers that pass behind you from time to time.

 

You can see the chairs behind the Aqua Theater from this view:

 

Closer up:

 

My View: From one of the Wooden recliner chairs... Ah, can someone bring me a Peach Long Island Iced Tea? ;)

[destaw7182]

Following along, really want to sail RC. Great start

[APDMOM]

Our Second Favorite spot on the ship: Our Balcony

 

We booked 12729 way in advance (More than 61 weeks before sailing) to have access to the "secret" public balcony. As most know, these were converted to private Grand Suites (soon to be Aqua Suites). So, our own balcony had to do. It was a great experience though! The good news is... there is still a 'semi secret' public balcony. I will show that soon.

 

The verdict on the balcony:

We will only book this balcony again (Boardwalk, as close to aft as possible) if the price is right. If we can get an oceanview balcony in the future for an acceptable rate, we would rather have that. I do recommend trying the Boardwalk balcony one time though, since we did have great views of the Aqua Theater, Boardwalk activities, and the weather/partial ocean view. It is definitely a unique experience.

 

This Specific balcony was great for the following reasons:

1. Almost 100% cover from the sun and total coverage from the rain. Look how the overhang covers our entire balcony. It really makes a big difference. My parents were in 12727 and their balcony was about 50% covered from the rain. 12729 is therefore a great choice during inclement weather.

 

2. Great views at different angles of the Aqua Shows, Belly Flop Competition, Boardwalk activities, Some sunset/sunrises, and all the rehearsals for the Aqua Shows (which were fun to watch).

 

3. Due to the overhang, you get a bit of a breeze flowing through while standing at the rail. This was much less notable on even my parents' balcony, which was right next to us.

 

Specific reasons why this balcony is not ideal:

 

1. Noise from the Aqua Theater is very real. We could hear the NBA cheering until about 11:30 at night. Movies are loud, and you can hear the noise through the closed and locked door until about 10:30 or 11 every night. It did not bother us, since we accommodated to the noise, but it will be a problem for people who are sensitive to noise and go to bed early.

 

2. You could not hear the ocean. Due to all the other noise on the b\Boardwalk, you could not hear the sound of the ocean, even in the early morning when the Boardwalk was relatively quiet.

 

On to 'too many' pictures of the cabin. :D

 

This first picture shows the overhang that shelters the balcony. It also shows the divider open, which Wilson (our room steward) opened during the Muster drill/safety briefing. We enjoyed sharing the larger space with my parents:

 

The open divider:

 

Our View during the Sailaway Party:

 

[Donna_In_India]

Doesn't anyone go to the sail away party? Or are they participating from somewhere else?

[APDMOM]

An inside view:

We had the bed by the closet. I know many people prefer the bed by the balcony, but to me this was much better. We had adequate access to the sliding doors of the closet, and I liked the easy access to the balcony. My parents had the bed by the balcony, and it was more crowded toward the balcony door. So, it depends on your personal preference:

 

 

 

Our stateroom sleeps 3, and we preferred to use the pullman. We were allowed to use the couch, converted to a bed, but our son enjoyed the pullman.

 

[APDMOM]

Doesn't anyone go to the sail away party? Or are they participating from somewhere else?

 

I know... this was a very quiet sailaway party... I was surprised too. Many people who had Boardwalk balconies did participate from there though. The back rows of the Aqua Theater also fill faster, so the picture you see is not a real representation of the attendance. I will post more later. The weather was a bit 'touch and go'.

[APDMOM]

Storage space in the cabin:

 

Cabinets to the left of the dresser, top and bottom:

 

 

The top drawer of the dresser has the hair dryer. The other two drawers are very deep. The large door holds the mini bar. It cooled very well! We put our Wine in there, and the bottle was chilled after a few hours.

 

 

 

[Donna_In_India]

Great job, good & helpful info/photos!

[APDMOM]

More storage next to the bed and inside the closet:

 

 

 

Tip: You do not have to slide the closet door shut all the way. There is a rail that catches it, and closes it softly. That way it will never slam.

I found there was adequate storage in the closet:

 

 

The safe is definitely smaller than others we had, but we stored our iPad and iPad Mini, as well as cash, phones, and passports. You just have to turn and angle the regular iPad a bit.

 

Time for a break. Coming up later today: Tips about the bathroom and your luggage...

[jbr5049]

We had ov balcony and grabbed drinks and enjoyed from our room highly suggested !!!!

[andrea2609]

I'll be sailing on Oasis in August, can't wait...I'm definitely following all your tips.

You wrote you put your own wine in the minibar, I know u can bring one bottle each. Now, my question is...: do they allow you to carry your own bottle to MDR? If so, is there any cork fee or any cost.?

Thanks a lot

Andrea

 

 

 

 

Inviato dal mio iPad utilizzando Tapatalk

[jbr5049]

They got rid of the corkage fee so feel free to bring your own bottle without fear of unnecessary charges!

[andrea2609]

Thanks jbr5049!

 

 

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[jbr5049]

Enjoy oasis it's a beautiful ship with a lot to offer. If you like sun and plan on sitting out get to the pool deck by no later than 9 am on a sea day to claim chairs. Also make sure you have someone sitting there throughout the day because they will pull items off of the chairs if it's crowded. Chair clips also help identify your chair and a dollar or two tip to the bartenders or servers go a long way if you plan to booze!

[andrea2609]

That's another great tip...honestly I thought it was easy to find chairs on Oasis...this was one of the reason of our choice!

 

 

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[miniflea]

Awesome info so far, thank you! We're in the same room on the May 21st sailing next year and loved seeing the pictures you posted of it!

[APDMOM]

I'll be sailing on Oasis in August, can't wait...I'm definitely following all your tips.

You wrote you put your own wine in the minibar, I know u can bring one bottle each. Now, my question is...: do they allow you to carry your own bottle to MDR? If so, is there any cork fee or any cost.?

Thanks a lot

Andrea

Inviato dal mio iPad utilizzando Tapatalk

 

Hi Andrea, As mentioned, there is no corkage fee and our waiters kept our glasses filled - until the wine was empty, that is :D

 

You may bring two 750 ml bottles of wine per stateroom. We also liked drinking some wine on our balcony.

[APDMOM]

Awesome info so far, thank you! We're in the same room on the May 21st sailing next year and loved seeing the pictures you posted of it!

 

Well, here is another reason I loved that stateroom... You can watch it on the webcam:

 

 

You can follow it here:

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/multimedia/webcam/ship.do?shipCode=OA&cameraLocation=%2Fcontent%2Fshared_assets%2Fwebcam%2FOA%2FGallery_4.jpg--Pool+and+Sports+Zone

 

It does not always update, but most of the time it is updated every 10-15 minutes.

[APDMOM]

Where to store the luggage...???

My advice is to bring suitcases that are more flexible so that you can store them under the bed. Our largest suitcase was 10.5 inches deep and easily slid under the bed. We were able to store 4 suitcases and 2 carry-ons under the bed and never had to deal with them again until packing up. I did see some people store their hard shell, inflexible suitcases on the balcony, since the could not fit under the bed. So, if you like to keep the suitcases out of sight, bring the softer ones that fit under the bed.

 

Another tip about luggage: I also take a picture of the suitcases before we put them outside the room on the last night. That way you have a picture, should any get lost. We just 'lock' the zippers with zip-ties in stead of using TSA locks (we typically drive home):

 

The verdict on the bathroom:

Despite the smaller size with less shelf storage, I loved it! Here are the things that are great:

1. A shaving bar in the shower for the ladies.

2. A nightlight! Yes, when the main bathroom light is turned off, there is a nightlight shining - no more getting blinded in the middle of the night.

3. The setup made the bathroom feel more spacious than the ones on Freedom of the Seas.

 

Tip: I still put a rag in the soap dish, because the razor and soap can still fall through the holes.

 

There are plenty of American standard outlets for our needs. They have 3 above the counter and one under the counter by the dresser. There is also one behind the bed, but we never used it. There is one European outlet under the counter.

 

[APDMOM]

About the temperature:

I have read many reviews that stated Oasis is hot, including the cabins. Our cabin was usually very comfortable, except when we opened the balcony door a lot to go in and out of the room. "Comfortable" for us is around 75 in the day and 77 in the night. We travel with a thermometer (or let me say my OCD DH does ;)). The lowest the temperature got in our room was 72, and that was with the thermostat not even on the lowest setting. The hottest it got was 79 due to opening the door a lot.

 

 

To me, the rest of the ship was pretty comfortable, except the stairs at deck 8 (where the Central Park doors constantly open). I even got cold during CATS, when I wore my knee-high 'formal' dress.

 

Of course, the Boardwalk and Solarium were usually hot and humid. Central Park was surprisingly cool or comfortable with a breeze most of the time.

 

Here is a look at our port side mirror cabins: Note that the overhang covers the whole balcony for 12329, just like it does for our 12729 starboard side:

 

[APDMOM]

A quick pause to look at the Boardwalk from our balcony: By day and at night...

 

 

[APDMOM]

On to the "Not so secret" public balcony...

 

There was much chatter about the 'secret' public balconies that were taken away during the Oasis dry dock. Well, we found one more that remains. Although it is not as 'secret' as the others were, there is a space next to the rock climbing walls on deck 7 where you can watch the Aqua shows and see the ocean. Even though many people use the rock climbing walls, I was surprised to find that these areas were often not occupied at all while the rock climbing wall was closed.

 

So, If you do not have reservations for one of the diving shows, this is an open space to claim... You can get there from a door on deck 7 or up the stairs from deck 6 (Boardwalk):

 

The door from deck 7:

 

The area with a view of the shows:

 

The area with a view of the ocean (people moved these chairs around to watch the shows or the water):

 

A view of that area from our balcony:

 

Well, let me circle the area for you so it is easier to see:

[APDMOM]

Here are some other great elevator tips I learned from others here on CC:

 

In the elevator, they have inserts that tell you which day of the week it is. Take a picture of the day in the elevator before you start taking pictures for the day. That way you have an easy way to organize your pictures per day. (Or let iPhoto do it for you...:))

 

This picture is not very clear, but every elevator has a STAR button marked "GANGWAY". Just push that button when you disembark in port. It is programmed to take you to the gangway level. Sometimes you still have to go down one level of stairs or escalators (yes there are escalators on the ship). So, if you have limited mobility, check with guest relations to help you get to the gangway.

 

Sometimes the elevators can get crowded. We easily found a way around that by taking the stairs (yes, several times from deck 4 to deck 12). Now, at times we did need to use the elevators, so we used this tip from CC: If you are going up, press both the up and down button and take the first 'empty' elevator. (The same counts for going down). If you happen to go in the wrong direction, it only adds about 30 seconds to your ride to your true destination. Sometimes, when most of the traffic is moving in one direction, it is hard to find an empty elevator, unless you are willing to travel in the opposite direction first. :D