Just off the Oasis 8/8-8/15

[wolfganghowell]

thanks for your review.

[BillOh]

 

MDR: we had 6pm traditional in Silk, deck 5................and my parents said the roast beef was so fatty they couldn't finish it. .......

 

My sons loved the pizza. To me it was kinda averag.

 

 

Thanks for taking the time to post, I find all reviews/opinions to be worthy. I had heard that traditional dining was on deck 5 now, it used to be 3-4 before the re-fit last year. (Not that this is important, i use to prefer deck 3 when Oasis had the more open 3 level dining) But I appreciate hearing that at least some tradtitional dining is on deck 5 (I like to come informed :D)

 

As for the pizza at Sorrentos, did you try the made to order pizza's they offer? It takes about 10 minutes and comes in a personal size. Much better than any other Sorrento's on Royal. They don't seem to promote it much.

 

As for the Roast Beef at Park Cafe,, did they try it more than once? I've had it when it was excellent and other times a little fatty.

[johnstoc13]

Enjoying your review and perspective on Oasis! Always nice to hear about someone's experience as ours approaches. Thanks!!

[NJ_HotelPro]

Thanks for the info on the pop up hampers and packing cubes. My family of 5 will be staying in a balcony cabin with a pullman and sleeper and I have been concerned on how to maximize the space. I now am adding these to my list.

[novalab]

Thanks for the info on the pop up hampers and packing cubes. My family of 5 will be staying in a balcony cabin with a pullman and sleeper and I have been concerned on how to maximize the space. I now am adding these to my list.

 

 

The packing cubes are new to me. They sound like a great idea! Who carries them at a reasonable price? Thanks for any help & advice!

[clawmachine]

Thanks for taking the time to post, I find all reviews/opinions to be worthy. I had heard that traditional dining was on deck 5 now, it used to be 3-4 before the re-fit last year. (Not that this is important, i use to prefer deck 3 when Oasis had the more open 3 level dining) But I appreciate hearing that at least some tradtitional dining is on deck 5 (I like to come informed :D)

 

As for the pizza at Sorrentos, did you try the made to order pizza's they offer? It takes about 10 minutes and comes in a personal size. Much better than any other Sorrento's on Royal. They don't seem to promote it much.

 

As for the Roast Beef at Park Cafe,, did they try it more than once? I've had it when it was excellent and other times a little fatty.

 

Yes, our waiter was explaining just that to us - that they had switched around the MDR seating. On our cruise, American Icon was all My Time, Silk was all traditional, and I believe Grande was mostly traditional but maybe with a section of MTD.. Not sure.

 

They didn't try another roast beef, unfortunately! I feel like maybe Park Cafe had some staffing issues or something this week. It was rather chaotic in there and a couple of the employees were abrupt with people. That was the only place all week I witnessed unfriendly staff.

[clawmachine]

The packing cubes are new to me. They sound like a great idea! Who carries them at a reasonable price? Thanks for any help & advice!

 

I bought mine from two different Chinese sellers on eBay so I could get 5 different colored sets. The sets for my husband and I contained 5 bags of different sizes and the kid sets had 3. We actually had two bags unused! The smaller bags are perfect for shoes. They were very cheap and a couple of the zippers got wonky but I'm certain I can get a couple more trips out of them. They each had a see-through mesh side which made it even easier for me to pull out the right one each morning. The shelf in the closet is very deep. You can fit two of them front to back on each shelf and then stack another one on top.

[clawmachine]

I wanted to add that by taking the time to roll up complete outfit sets (shirts, top and underwear/socks) ahead of time, we not only were able to cram more into the cubes, but it made it extremely easy for me to pull out everyone's clothes each day, or for them to do it themselves., If for some reason they didn't need the whole outfit (some days we went to the pool in the morning after breakfast so the guys all wore their swim trunks with a tshirt to eat), then we used the remaining floor space in the closet (next to the two pop up hampers) to lay the "extra" clothing for use later on. I know it sounds incredibly OCD but I know our family and we can get messy quickly with this stuff. Our only other cruise as a family was 5 years ago on DCL and I will never forget the stressful scrambles we had every day trying to find lost socks, missing bathing suit pieces, etc!

[clawmachine]

"As for the pizza at Sorrentos, did you try the made to order pizza's they offer?" - sorry - forgot to answer this!

 

 

I should have tried the made to order pizza! I saw several people getting it and the quality looked far better than the regular stuff. But I sadly eat too much pizza in my "regular life" so I tried to get more unique lunch stuff when I could. I was in love with the Jive Turkey sandwich in the Promenade cafe so I often got that!

[Grandma Petania]

I tried the roast beef sandwich only once, and it was terrible! The beef tasted as if it had been boiled or canned. I'll be back on the Oasis next February. Maybe I should give it another try. Thanks for your pleasant and very informative review. Glad you had a good time!

[Grandma Petania]

I feel like maybe Park Cafe had some staffing issues or something this week. It was rather chaotic in there and a couple of the employees were abrupt with people. That was the only place all week I witnessed unfriendly staff.

I only ate there one time, and it was the only place that I witnessed unfriendly staff. I wonder if there is a management problem in that particular venue that trickles down.

[prekteacher]

This is a great very detailed review. I am enjoying it very much. We are on Oasis for Thanksgiving-can't wait! Thank you for all your time and information. I will surely be following some of your tips.

 

Barb

[JamesEM]

Thanks for your review, agree completely on the roast beef sandwich, looking forwards to seeing some photos.

[Michylicious]

Thanks for your review! I'm leaving in a month and your tips are very helpful!!!

[Carolrd]

The packing cubes are new to me. They sound like a great idea! Who carries them at a reasonable price? Thanks for any help & advice!

 

I have been using the packing cubes for many years now. I absolutely love them, and will not travel without them. Here is a link:

 

http://shop.eaglecreek.com/packing-cubes/l/212

 

 

Carol

[clawmachine]

thanks for everyone's comments! I truly do intend to try to get some photos on here in the right orientation, but it's a crazy week for me with back-to-school stuff and work, so it might take me a bit!

 

quick comments about "disallowed stuff" -

 

Bottled Water: I brought reusable water bottles and wasn't sure if we would try to bring on bottled water, but since there happened to be a dollar tree about 10 steps from the Hampton Inn Cruise Port North/Ft. Lauderdale where we stayed the night before the cruise (excellent hotel BTW), I figured we might give it a try. I bought three 6-packs and put them in a duffle bag we had packed for extras. I put a luggage tag on it and just gave it to the porter with the rest of our bags. It showed up at the same time as everything else and came in handy quite a bit, especially on port days! Very glad we tried!

 

Power Strips: Do not put these in your luggage! If you really feel you need one, put it in your carry on. They do allow them if they are a certain voltage (I can't say what it was - 120?? - but my brother said it was standard for the U.S.) but as soon as they see them in your bag, it will go to the naughty room and you'll have to come down and open up your bag for them to see it closely. Despite my trying to advise him ahead of time not to do this, my brother brought one in his luggage. He was a freaking out the first day because it was 6pm and he still had gotten no word on the location of his bag. He finally had to make the call himself and they told him to go down there. My Dad's bag mysteriously didn't show up until very late as well, but he didn't have anything objectionable in it. All that being said, we brought one of those multi-usb hub things with 5 wires hanging off it to accommodate our various different cell phones, and that passed inspection just fine. It had a standard sized plug which fit easily in the desk unit allowing the other 2-plug space free for my fat hair dryer plug.

 

Fans: We brought a small battery fan with us (got it cheap on amazon) just in case the room was hot, but we never used it. As long as we kept the balcony door locked (you have to lock it, not just shut it, for the A/C to come back on) and the Master Switch kept in the "ON" position (it's the big square switch at the top of the switch panel near the bathroom), we found that the room was always more than cool enough for us. The fan was in our checked luggage and did not get flagged.

[clawmachine]

Let's try one quick photo to see if I can get it right. Here is what it looks like with 3 balconies open in a row. We loved it!

[novalab]

I bought mine from two different Chinese sellers on eBay so I could get 5 different colored sets. The sets for my husband and I contained 5 bags of different sizes and the kid sets had 3. We actually had two bags unused! The smaller bags are perfect for shoes. They were very cheap and a couple of the zippers got wonky but I'm certain I can get a couple more trips out of them. They each had a see-through mesh side which made it even easier for me to pull out the right one each morning. The shelf in the closet is very deep. You can fit two of them front to back on each shelf and then stack another one on top.

 

Thank you for all your information! I think I will give these a try on our 2016 Oasis cruise.:p

[clawmachine]

You are welcome! Glad I got so many great tips here before we left!

 

I'll start posting our port experiences now. Have to take a break soon to make birthday cupcakes for DS. :-)

 

Nassau, Bahamas:

 

We consciously chose not to spend any money at this port because we couldn't afford to do exciting activities at every stop. What most people have said here already is true- it's not the most pleasant stop. Almost immediately after leaving the gangway, you are constantly summoned to buy this or that, take this or that cab or your, etc., and it feels overly aggressive. My kids started to get really upset when we walked to the straw market and two vendors there started a screaming match with each other over whose customer it was! Just too much. It also felt oppressively hot there for some reason- not as many trade winds that day for some reason. I felt so sad for the skinny horses that were being used for carriage rides- I can't imagine they have anything but a tough life. So, yeah, not my favorite stop!!

 

We headed back to the ship within the hour and took good advantage of lunch and pools before it got crowded again. :-)

Edited August 19, 2015 by clawmachine

[clawmachine]

St. Thomas, USVI:

 

Our experience in St. Thomas was overall very nice. We did once again experience aggressiveness with taxi drivers essentially fighting over us (we disembarked after lunch so we were practically the only ones at the taxi stand just then). They also argued over the prices, even though they were posted as fixed on a big sign (the sign's prices were higher than what I had seen posted online, FYI. It was $45 for 5 of us to Magen's Bay and it's not a terribly long distance). Finally we got into a minivan with a nice older lady driver who promised us she had air conditioning. Unfortunately what I should have specified was a working transmission! We just barely made it to Magen's Bay without breaking down! They drive on the left hand side of the road there and I didn't see anyone driving safely, to be honest! She also tried to take back roads but they were closed, so she had to backtrack and it was nearly an hour before we finally got to the beach. The beach was gorgeous and since we got there a bit later, it got less and less crowded the longer we stayed. We didn't pay a dime other than the $4 per adult entrance fee. They did have bathrooms, food and even a souvenir shack, plus chair and float rentals. We were so glad we brought inflatable rings from the Dollar Tree. They worked great, took up little space. The water there was so incredibly salty that you could practically stay afloat upright without anything! There are also lifeguards here and they were quite vigilant. Do not try to smoke on the beach or use spray sunscreen- they will promptly get on the megaphone and direct you to the parking lot!

 

We had a much easier time with the cab ride home- this time it was an open air type vehicle and the driver was a maniac, but since we hadn't changed into dry clothes we were glad not to be using a regular vehicle. (We planned to change but they started grabbing at us to go before we had a chance!) When we got back to the port, the driver tried to charge us too much and we had to lead him over to the sign before he would agree to take $45!

 

Overall a great day. Next time I think we will just know better how to handle the taxi situation..

Edited August 19, 2015 by clawmachine

[clawmachine]

Phillipsburg, St. Maarten:

 

Our day on St. Maarten/St. Martin was just wonderful! We were so glad to have saved the most special excursion for this island because it was the most beautiful and most pleasant as well. About a month before the cruise, I had booked the Rhino Riders excursion directly online (not through Royal). Not only was it significantly less expensive than going through Royal (for the EXACT same vendor) but if you book directly you can bring children as young as 5. Royal says 10.

 

This time our cab experience was totally different! Our driver, Friday, was not only a safe driver and extremely pleasant, with a fully working vehicle, but he even took the time to check with the Rhino staff to find out when he should return to pick us up! The fare was much more reasonable here - only $7 per person for a longer distance.

 

As it turned out, Friday had to wait for us for almost 45 minutes because our tour got started SO late thanks to an extremely clueless and inconsiderate large tour group who showed up late and didn't even have their suits or sunscreen on! My husband is grateful I kept my lips zipped but it was everything I could do to refrain from standing up and telling them to get their act together, as we and others had been suited up in life vests in the hot sun for almost an hour waiting for them!!

 

Despite the rocky start, the Rhino Riders experience was AMAZINGLY fun and exciting!! It immediately made me forget about the group with us! (BTW, they continued to act ignorant the entire tour, often blatantly not following the guide's safety instructions!) The tour feels very long, perhaps as long as 3.5 hours, and really worth the cost! I drove a 3-person boat carrying my two younger kids and my husband drive a 2-seater with my older son. They go FAST! It's quite a bouncy ride, but oh so fun! We drove all the way from Simpson Bay to Creole Rock on the west side of the island, then stopped in open water for snorkeling. My kids were the only kids on this tour, and my oldest was the only person in the group to jump right in without his life vest. He's a competitive swimmer but it still freaked me out a bit! It's extremely hard to get back into the boats but the friendly guides were right there to heave your butt back in. Lol! They also hand out cold water at the stop. The speed on the way back was even greater and the thrills even wilder. We had so much fun, even if a few times my kids were sure I was trying to bounce them out of the boat! :-) Loved, loved, loved this day! It was the high point of our entire trip!

 

BTW - our driver Friday explained why the taxis on St. Maarten are so much nicer than St. Thomas. St. Thomas has a HUGE import tax on vehicles and so most folks just continue to try to repair old vehicles and keep them together. On St. Maarten they just pay the regular price of the car- no major fees added. He said they have a ton of illegal immigrants on the island and that their only industry is tourism. He also said that the island's younger generation is now just like American kids - choosing to stay inside with video devices instead of playing outside. They also get almost all their food from the U.S. Very interesting!

[DeesEscape]

Thank you for the informative and laugh out loud entertaining review. I love your writing style. Very engaging and common sense relatable.

Great job.

Edited August 20, 2015 by DeesEscape

[clawmachine]

Thank you for the informative and laugh out loud entertaining review. I love your writing style. Very engaging and common sense relatable.

Great job.

 

Thank you - that's very kind of you to say! I'm typing on my little phone so I apologize for some errors I've missed. I think a lot of us here on cc like to read and write reviews because it helps fill the void when we aren't actually on a cruise anymore! :-)

[birdlord]

Thanks for this review - I enjoyed it! Can you enlighten me as what size packing cubes you bought -- when I go on ebay the choices are endless in what you can get in a "package" of cubes.... or maybe you can let me know the Chinese seller you bought from? Thanks.

[clawmachine]

Thanks for this review - I enjoyed it! Can you enlighten me as what size packing cubes you bought -- when I go on ebay the choices are endless in what you can get in a "package" of cubes.... or maybe you can let me know the Chinese seller you bought from? Thanks.

 

I think these are the ones I got for the kids! The sets I got for my husband and I came in red and light pink and had 5 bags each. Not the highest quality but very lightweight and can't beat the price.