Just off the Oasis 8/8-8/15

[clawmachine]

We just got home late last night, from a wonderful Oasis cruise! I don't have my pics ready to post but hopefully can do that soon. I'll try to break my review into parts. Traveling in adjacent staterooms was my family of five (kids aged 12, 10 and 8), my parents and my brother, his girlfriend and her 2-year old son. We connected to my parents room and we had all 3 ocean view balconies open to each other.

 

Stateroom: we were on deck 9, right near the aft elevators, starboard side. It was an excellent location! We never felt like it took more than 5-6 minutes to walk to anything on the ship and that included elevator wait time. I highly recommend choosing a room near an elevator on this ship, especially aft. You don't hear any noise- the elevator banks are well separated from the rooms.

 

I know I had read a million times that you would never be able to accommodate 4 people in one room, but I am here to tell you that not only did we do it, but we actually had all 5 of us in there all week. My oldest was booked into my brother's stateroom but we just asked for some extra pillows and we were good to go. He and my other son slept on the sofa bed and our daughter slept in between us on the king bed. It was plenty of room for comfortable sleeping.

 

Thanks so much to whoever suggested using packing cubes- I bought a different colored set for each of us and we rolled complete outfit sets into them tightly. The cubes (about 15 of them) fit perfectly on the closet shelves and we only hung up pants and dresses. Under the hanging clothes we used two dollar tree pop-up hampers (another great suggestion from cruise critic) which worked out perfectly for dirty clothes. Toward the end of the week I just dumped the hampers into our suitcases under the bed.

 

We had no issues with temperature control in the room and it was quite hot and sunny all week. Our room attendant was great. We all took showers before dinner time which worked out well. Every once in a while someone would have to ask to use my parents' bathroom but it was less often than I expected. There was more than enough storage in there and I brought a ton of toiletry items.

We also used the over the door hanger and a suction cup clothesline. There were plenty of hooks in the bathroom but I wish I had brought just a couple magnetic ones too. Chair clips worked great to secure wet clothes to the balcony chairs when we needed a quick dry.

 

In conclusion, if you know your family well, you'll know if you can do this arrangement or not. I was pleasantly surprised how well it worked for us. I would not choose to do this with other adults or people I didn't already live with.

[clawmachine]

I highly recommended bringing one of those pop up bins (storage cubes) to use on the desk. Little random "stuff" tends to accumulate all over that area and the cube allowed us to stay contained rather than all over the place. Since I had the shoe hanger for stuff like sunscreen, goggles, etc., we used the cube on the desk for pre-packaged snacks. We brought a bunch of snacks because my son has a severe food allergy and wanted something safe for excursions, but we all ended up munching on them in the late afternoon before dinner.

 

Magnets worked great to hold up the Compass each day. The battery tea light we brought to illuminate the bathroom at night wasn't adequate so we just left the bathroom light on all night with a slight crack and that worked fine.

[clawmachine]

Since we had a 4-person room with a sofabed, our main bed was automatically near the closet. We didn't find this arrangement inferior in any way! (My parents next door had the opposite for comparison). There was actually plenty of space to sit on that side of the bed and get stuff out. Again, the packing cubes and hampers helped immensely here.

 

More later.. Laundry is calling!!

[Tony O]

We are finally on our way home with no thanks from our airline.Even though not their fault but very cold and matter of fact about the whole radar thing.

Oh yeah we were able to book another airline.

Edited August 16, 2015 by Tony O

[clawmachine]

We are finally on our way home with no thanks from our airline.Even though not their fault but very cold and matter of fact about the whole radar thing.

Oh yeah we were able to book another airline.

 

Tony, I'm so sorry! I was going to leave my airline drama for the end of my review! Was it Southwest? One of their employees left me in tears yesterday! My parents and brother are stuck down there til late Monday. We got ridiculously lucky after 6 hours of waiting, when they suddenly reinstated flights RIGHT as I approached the counter.

[champagne123]

I saw on the news this morning how the whole East Coast was affected with the flights. Please don't let this hinder the WONDERFUL time you all had. :D

[ElwoodPDowd]

DW and I were on board with you and also had a great cruise celebrating our 35th wedding anniversary. Looking forward to hearing your impressions and seeing your pictures!

 

We were advised there were 6,400 passengers on board v. 5,900 the prior week.

I would be curious to know what and when the average highs and lows are.

 

We were lucky with our flight - we left FLL at 10:20 am and arrived at CLT at 12:07 pm.

 

Thanks for your review.

[clawmachine]

I took these 5 pics purposely to post here to show the closet and storage considerations. In the pic with my legs, I'm sitting on the bed next to the closet. I wanted to show how much room there is. I'm not exactly a small person but had no trouble. You can also see the packing cubes and the pop up hampers.

[clawmachine]

Hmm. Only 1 pic posted. Here's the closet view with the packing cubes.

[clawmachine]

Ok, gotta run. I suck at this photo thing. Be back later! I hope all my fellow cruisers enjoyed it as much as we did! :-)

[clawmachine]

Food: of course we all know how subjective this is, but here is my take. Keep in mind I often eat frozen food at home and I consider a chain restaurant to be a nice dinner. Unfortunately some of the food wasn't as tasty as frozen food and most of it wasn't as good as a typical chain meal. We did not do any specialty dining however. I certainly did not starve and truly did enjoy eating in general; it just seemed like the flavor was "off" on a lot of basic dishes.

 

MDR: we had 6pm traditional in Silk, deck 5. My request for a table for 10 near a window was honored perfectly! Our waiter Herb and assistant waiter Andrew and head waiter were all wonderful and made ordering for our multiple food allergies easy. A few goof ups occurred but they were always erring on the side of caution. For example, a couple of times the kitchen got confused and made my shellfish-free meal into a shellfish AND gluten free meal when it's only my brother who is gluten free. But no big deal. There were a couple of dishes that were just awful and they quickly replaced them. By quickly I mean almost immediately! One night they made special brownies just for my son that would be safe. Overall this was our favorite food, even the "misses."

 

Park Cafe: I had been so excited about this venue but the overall experience was disappointing. It was always super chaotic in there and the employees were fairly rude except for the salad girl. The few things I tried took way too long to make (panini sandwiches) and my parents said the roast beef was so fatty they couldn't finish it. The salad bar looked great but it had shrimp so was too risky for me. We mostly avoided this deck! It was the only place on the ship where the heat bothered me.

 

Promenade cafe and Sorrentos: I group these together because we often went to both (right near each other) and satisfied everyone's lunch needs. My sons loved the pizza. To me it was kinda average. On the other hand, I found all kinds of yummy things to eat at Promenade and it was an easy in and out. Note to all those who are gluten free or nut free! They don't advertise or display it, but all you have to do is ask and they'll give you chocolate chip or snicker doodle cookies that are both gluten and nut free. They are pre-wrapped Udi's brand and very tasty. These came in handy many times when DS needed a safe snack!

 

 

Windjammer: we found it worked out great for breakfast but not as well for lunch. The dishes were kind of unusual and there were too many sauces for me to have to ask about to be safe. My husband and son enjoyed it a few times though. We are early birds (breakfast at 8 and lunch by 12) and never had any lines or trouble finding a seat.

 

Solarium Cafe: we only checked it out for breakfast but it seemed great - it has the healthier selections of what Windjammer serves.

 

Wipe Out Cafe: great option for fast service, never crowded. Omelettes good!

 

Overall I would give the food a solid "B." If you keep your expectations level, I think you'll find plenty to be satisfying.

[crabby5]

We were on board with you! We got messed up with the Baltimore/East coast issue and didn't get home until 2:30 this morning, but we made it! We had a great time and I'm looking forward to your opinions.

[clawmachine]

Shows: our cruise director was Drew Devine and our Activities Director was Zack. Both were great. I can't say a single negative thing about any of the shows! They were all top notch! We reserved all 6 of them ahead of time; this is a must unless you want to stand in a long line each night and possibly not get in at all. With reservations you bypass the whole line and walk right in.

Yes, we did all leave Cats at intermission. I felt terrible doing it but it was too late for the kids to stay awake. Mid week my Mom and I attended the "backstage tour," which was more of a Q and A with the actors (I recommend it) and they talked about how devastating it was in the beginning to see 70% of the audience leave like that! They said that now they try to focus on the fact that those who remain must really want to be there. My mom and I did see the whole thing; we just came back on the last sea day when they had an afternoon performance, waited in the back until after intermission, and easily found empty seats. The play itself is way down on my list of favorites, but nothing negative can be said about its execution in any way! The actors told us that each and every one of them (they change the cast every 9 months) must be individually approved by Andrew Lloyd Webber himself! Many of the Cats actors are in Come Fly with Me as Well.

 

Parades: well worth attending. They are short but fun! There is usually a space next to Sorrentos that has a good view. Be prepared to put up with rude people! (More on that issue later.)

 

Belly Flop and World's Sexiest Man contests and Love and Marriage: we enjoyed them!!

[clawmachine]

Dreamworks Theming: my kids really aren't "into" characters anymore, but I think we all enjoyed having those guys around! It was easy to find them- they had many scheduled meet and greets and the handlers were friendly! It wasn't just all about a photo grab. King Julian almost surprised me out of my lounge chair one day by the pool! Lol. My kids watched several of the movies over and over while hanging out in the stateroom. I just hope those costumes have air conditioning in the head! :-)

[clawmachine]

Activities: again, top notch! We didn't attend any "classes" but tried many of the active things onboard. I'm proud to say I did successfully manage the boogie board FlowRider, though I'm certain I created a freebie comedy show for several onlookers! I'm not graceful or athletic at all!! My son and hubby enjoyed that as well. It can be challenging at first!

 

The zip line was really easy and much less scary than I thought it would be! I recommend for both flowrider and zip that you go up there before the scheduled start time, as the line will have already started forming. The lines do move fast though, and you get to enjoy watching everyone else while waiting!

 

We didn't get to play mini golf or do the rock wall but it looked fun. The rock wall always looked uncrowded. We used the pools and hot tubs a lot! There were plenty of deck chairs at all times of day. It's still annoying to see the chair hogs do their thing, but really, we never were more than 10 feet from an empty chair.

I highly recommend using the pools before 11am or after 5pm on sea days!!! In the afternoon they got so jam packed with bodies that it was almost gross. A little bit of "strategic planning" goes a long, long way to enjoying this ship! We found the towel check out to be really inconvenient. Some towel attendants would scan once for two towels and some would scan twice. Then when you returned it you had to remember who took one and who took two and how many times your card needed to be scanned again. They also don't keep them out on the gangway long enough on port days. We disembarked in St. Thomas 2 hours after arriving in port and they had already put them away. They need to just drop the towel check out system!

 

The boardwalk was fun and our 2-year old loved the carousel! My 8 year old made a Pets At Sea stuffed carousel horse up in Adventure Ocean one day but otherwise we didn't use the kids' club. Ping pong was fun.

 

We tried all 3 arcades several times! They are pricey but we had fun. I'm kind of a claw machine addict (hmmm.. Could you tell?) and one day I came across the money claw machine in the casino! I'm not a casino person but we were passing through on the way to the theater. Well, it was only $1 cash to play and on the third try I won a pack of $100 one dollar bills! Very exciting!!

Edited August 16, 2015 by clawmachine

[clawmachine]

I saw on the news this morning how the whole East Coast was affected with the flights. Please don't let this hinder the WONDERFUL time you all had. :D

 

It was quite stressful in the airport but no, it certainly didn't taint the cruise for us. Even my kids (who sat in airport chairs for about 7.5 hours straight yesterday with nothing to do and with frantic, stressed out parents) have said they can't wait to travel again!

[clawmachine]

DW and I were on board with you and also had a great cruise celebrating our 35th wedding anniversary. Looking forward to hearing your impressions and seeing your pictures!

 

We were advised there were 6,400 passengers on board v. 5,900 the prior week.

I would be curious to know what and when the average highs and lows are.

 

We were lucky with our flight - we left FLL at 10:20 am and arrived at CLT at 12:07 pm.

 

Thanks for your review.

 

Hi Greg! I wonder if we saw you? You weren't related to the 3 Charlotte guys in the Sexiest Man contest, were you? It seemed like there were many Charlotte folks on board! Congratulations and many blessings on your anniversary!! I'm so glad you avoided that airport mess! It was a disaster. You may have been one of the very last flights to be cleared to Baltimore!

[clawmachine]

We were on board with you! We got messed up with the Baltimore/East coast issue and didn't get home until 2:30 this morning, but we made it! We had a great time and I'm looking forward to your opinions.

 

Hi Crabby! We met a lot of Pittsburgh folks on our journey too! I bonded with like a dozen people while waiting in all those airport lines yesterday. Ugh. Glad you finally got out!! My family is still stuck there- they didn't get lucky like we did. Did you get on one of the "reinstated" flights?

[ElwoodPDowd]

Claw-

 

Great review! So glad your family had a wonderful time.

 

No, we were not part of the sexiest man show. We did watch the Love and Marriage show on the television - turns out we saw the newlywed couple in Silk every night at dinner! We also saw the older couple on board. Wonder if they know how many people recognize them after their appearance on the show!

 

Did your family group have a formal portrait on the staircase leading from deck 5 to deck 6? DW and I enjoyed having pre-dinner drinks in Schooner Bar while watching the families down below enjoying the ship.

 

Looking forward to more.

[cincicruisers]

Enjoying your review, thanks for posting

[musik07]

We were on this cruise as well and had a great time! I also noticed lots of people saving chairs. We actually watched people saving chairs in the shade and the sun and bouncing back and forth!

 

So glad we made it back to Philly yesterday! We were out of FLL at 10:30 so we beat the issue and from Atlanta our pilot flew all the way up through the midwest and cut across from Ohio! I go back to school (teacher) tomorrow so I would have had big problems had we been stuck!

[dolphin27502]

Sailing on Oasis for the first time in October, thanks for sharing your cruise experience.

[clawmachine]

Thanks everyone! I'll add bits here and there when I have time!

 

Atmosphere on the Ship: my general take on this is that your experience will directly result from your level of planning. I heard grumbles here and there from people who didn't read the Compass and were upset that a certain food place they wanted was closed or had an extra fee. I also heard grumbles about heat and about the number of children on board. When I heard these things all I could do was just invisibly shake my head. Even if you don't read cruise critic, it is entirely logical to assume that a huge ship would have scheduled open and closed times for venues, as well as logical to assume that a Caribbean cruise in August would be hot and filled with kids who are off school. Now as far as lines go, we rarely stood in any thanks to being early bird types, but there were a couple of times where I did and it was mildly annoying that Royal hadn't accommodated better. For example, on the last sea day they had a big "$10 t-shirt sale" on the Promenade, which brings out crazy numbers of people (more on that later), yet they only had a third of their available cash registers manned. That made no sense at all and the lines were very long and slow. Overall though, the agitation I witnessed from certain passengers was 99% their fault. I'm the type who loves to take on the "stress" of planning ahead of time so that once I get there I can truly just relax and enjoy. I realize that many other people find planning stressful and prefer to be spontaneous. I'm just saying that on this particular class of ship, the latter is most likely not going to maximize your experience. On this ship, you have a much, much better chance of being able to relax and do everything you want if you just put a little effort into planning.

 

That being said, most people on the ship seemed happy and some, well some a little TOO happy!! Lol. The "I'm so drunk I keep knocking over my multiple liquor glasses" type were concerning (grandma in the theater whose granddaughter basically loudly called her out on her drinking issue), and the "I'm drunk and I think I'm the bomb so I'm just going to try to get you to look at me by standing up and loudly singing show tunes across the aisle to my friend" type were just plain annoying. I do believe you see these types on every ship so it didn't really phase me. I did notice that lots of people just stuck with their own little (or big) group and there wasn't as much mingling as I've experienced on other ships. That was ok but I did miss it a bit. I'm very outgoing and did try to strike up conversations here and there, which was fun.

 

Our family of 5 had a wonderful time, and truly got to experience nearly everything on the ship that was important to us! There were only really a small handful of negative moments for me all week, which I'll post in a bit. NONE of the negatives were Royal's fault.

Edited August 17, 2015 by clawmachine

[clawmachine]

Clothing: I've participated in a few of the infamous "appropriate clothing" threads here on cruise critic, and I'm here to tell you my own thoughts and observations matter of factly. If you would like to debate it or put me down for being a classless person (you know who you are!) I would strongly prefer you start your own thread- thank you!!

 

The bottom line: this ship is like a small city, with the same diversity you see in a city. We saw EVERY kind of attire, from the barest minimum coverage to floor length sparkling gowns! With the exception of the requirement to have shoes on in the dining areas and for females to have a towel or shorts over their bathing suit bottoms, I did not observe them regulating much on anything. The cruise compass wording is intentionally different on formal nights versus non formal nights. The only time the compass states that shorts are not "permitted" in the main dining room is on the formal nights. Even still I saw many nicely dressed men (and some women) in shorts that night who obviously weren't turned away.

On non formal nights the wording is changed to "not recommended." I saw so many people in nice shorts on those non formal MDR nights that I truly wished I hadn't bothered with some of the clothing we brought, especially the pants for my kids. It truly wasn't necessary.

 

In the entire cruise, not one person's attire "bothered" me nor did anyone seem inappropriate, even if their choice was very different from mine. Everyone seemed to make a decent effort and that's perfectly fine with me. Well, there was one lady who I would say was dressed "inappropriately" but that's because she was in direct 90+ degree afternoon sun at the Aqua Theater wearing long pants and a long sleeved sequined sweater! It was the end of the week, so my hunch is she ran out of clothes. Lol.

 

Speaking of running out of clothes, I'm here to give a possibly uncommon opinion and recommend that you bring a bit of extra clothing instead of trying to re-use stuff multiple times. We re-used a few pieces but in general we had no interest in trying to put on stuff that had already been worn in the heat and humidity. (We take afternoon showers on the cruise too, so that adds to the clean clothing usage.) As I said in the first post, we fit all 5 of our clothing in the one closet shelf using storage cubes. We each brought 8 full daytime outfits plus our "dressier clothes" and it all fit without a struggle. We only had 4 suitcases total. If you roll up complete outfits it really helps! However, to each their own! :-)

Edited August 17, 2015 by clawmachine

[clawmachine]

Communication: we had decided we'd just pay AT&T 50 cents per text to communicate with each other while onboard. We never sent a single text except to the dog sitter at home! So I'm very glad I didn't buy an AT&T package. My brother had work concerns so he did buy the ship's wifi package on the third day, and said it worked very well. He let us use his to do our Southwest check-in on the last day (which turned out to be a complete waste of time but more on that later). We found that our family of 5 did most things together and it was easy to meet back in the room or at a restaurant when we split up. The other 5 family members mostly did their own things on their own schedule and then we all met up at dinner and showtime. The open balconies were fantastic as my kids could play out there with their cousin right before dinner, and it made it easy for us to get in touch. Keep in mind that even though the balcony door locks, you can unlock it from the outside, so if you have shared balconies, you could potentially enter someone else's room from the outside. This actually worked out well for us, while respecting privacy, of course.

 

The ship sells walkie talkies in a gift shop on the Promenade and I did see a couple people using them, so I assume they do work.

 

If you get a room near an elevator bank, especially the aft ones, it only takes a couple minutes to get to your room from wherever you are! Truly amazing considering the size of the ship! Excellent design!