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Oasis of the Seas 18th birthday cruise - Preamble

unseemlygamer
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unseemlygamer

unseemlygamer

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Hey guys, I just came back from a cruise on the Oasis of the Seas a couple days ago.

 

This was the August 8-15 sailing, which sailed to Nassau, St. Thomas and St. Maarten. I went on this cruise with my parents, for my 18th birthday which was on August 10.

 

I'm currently planning a review of this cruise, much like a blog, and I'm also doing vlogs on my YouTube channel - MichaelsiCast. In fact, I have a few videos already uploaded, so you're more than welcome to check those out.

 

Day 1 of our vacation may be posted later today, where we stayed around the New York area the night before our flight.

Video:

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unseemlygamer

unseemlygamer

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OK, so this will be a report on the day before we left for our cruise.

 

Let me introduce myself. My name is Mike - I recently turned 18. I have 2 sisters - Nicole (age 19), and Jessica (age 32). Neither of my sisters went on this cruise - it was just me and my parents.

 

We stayed in Jersey City the night before our flight. Actually we only live maybe an hour from the Newark airport, but we agreed to make things easier for us. Unfortunately, this wasn't much of the case. More on that later.

 

So I pack up my camera bag, and spend an arduous time packing up my carry-on. Right before we leave, we say goodbye to our cat, which the whole family loves a lot. It's gonna be tough not seeing him for a week :(

 

We don't have a problem getting into New Jersey from Pennsylvania, but a lot of traffic makes for a slow end of our ride to Jersey City.

 

Once we arrive in Jersey City, we get everything settled, and I thankfully have some of my stuff transferred from my carry-on to a suitcase.

 

My sister Nicole arrives, and we decide to celebrate my birthday a little bit early.

 

My cake was cruise-themed :D

 

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We even made chocolate bombs the day before we left. If you don't know what those are, you take chocolate cake, put it in a food processor, mix it with icing to add moistness, roll it up into little balls, and cover it in chocolate. Most of the time we add chocolate sprinkles on top.

 

Also my mother and I decided to put a little prank on my dad.

 

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Those are actually chocolate covered baby tomatoes.

 

The cake was pretty good. We give the chocolate covered tomatoes to my dad. He only takes one of them, bites a layer of chocolate off, and asks, "What's in there?" Nicole asks, "Is that a grape?" We finally answer that it's a tomato. Surprisingly, he eats the whole thing and says he likes it.

 

Nicole ends up taking one of them, but doesn't trust us.

 

http://i1081.photobucket.com/albums/j354/blazingmagnet/Oasis%20of%20the%20Seas%20-%2018th%20Birthday%20Cruise/DSC00194_zpst9ceglei.jpg

 

Actually she finds the tomato to be good - "But maybe not with chocolate..."

 

I finish my vlog for the day and then decide to call it a night.

Here's the link to the vlog for this day:

 

My post for day 2 will be up later tonight! :D

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Dinkachu

Dinkachu

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We are taking our 23 year old son on the same itinerary you went on in December for his college graduation cruise.

 

We'll be looking for you review and photos.

 

Did you, by any chance, go to see the planes land and take of on Maho beach? That is something our son really wants to do on St Maarten.

 

Happy belated 18th birthday!

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unseemlygamer

unseemlygamer

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We are taking our 23 year old son on the same itinerary you went on in December for his college graduation cruise.

 

We'll be looking for you review and photos.

 

Did you, by any chance, go to see the planes land and take of on Maho beach? That is something our son really wants to do on St Maarten.

 

Happy belated 18th birthday!

 

I did see planes landing on Maho Beach, but I was too far from the runway to really see any planes taking off. More on that will be on my Day 5 post.

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unseemlygamer

unseemlygamer

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I don't really have pictures for this day, but I do however have a video up.

 

So, we get up really early in the morning. I wash up, get dressed, and we head off for Newark airport once we're all ready.

 

It isn't a very good experience getting there from Jersey City though, because there's road work going on at the route we take. In fact, I believe they were already boarding our plane during the middle of the ride.

 

When we get to the airport, my parents are mostly calm, but I'm EXTREMELY panicked because we're seemingly about to miss our flight. :eek:

I swear to god, flying in the day of a cruise is a really bad idea, 'cause I knew this was gonna happen - and it usually doesn't happen. I don't believe it when people say that the worst thing that can happen is you miss the ship, but on the bright side can catch the ship at the next port of call. Nonononono, that's bull. There's no way they'd just let you on. I'm sorry, but this is a traumatizing event I'm not gonna just let go.

 

We get through security quickly, without any issue except my mother setting off the metal detector. After security, I make a RUN for it to our gate, while my parents walk. Boarding time is supposed to stop by the time we're at the gangway, but apparently a lot of other people, both behind and in front of us, are getting on as well, so as a result, our departure gets delayed. In fact, our flight back home was delayed as well, but more on that will be MUCH later.

 

For whatever reason, we're seated at the back of the plane. Much to my pleasure, I'm assigned a seat by the window, so I can get a good shot of us flying. (In the video, I shot a clip from my GoPro, but it's not easy to tell we're flying)

 

At least all is good once we actually get on the plane, and it's quite a bit of time before everyone gets on and we can finally take off.

 

During the flight, I occupy myself by watching The Simpsons Movie that I brought along with my portable DVD player. It's always a tradition for me to watch that movie when flying, but only when sitting at the starboard side. Quick note, what I did was bring a headset for that, especially because that movie contains THE B-word that you should never say on an airplane. Also please don't watch movies like "Meet the Parents", or even god forbid "Airplane!" when onboard a plane, 'cause people would look at you like you're psycho.

 

Once I finish that up, I kill the last half-hour, maybe 45 minutes, playing some Super Mario 64 DS. Yeah, as you can tell, I always bring along my OWN in-flight entertainment.

 

So we arrive at the Fort Lauderdale airport to get our bags. My dad retrieves his bag, my mom retrieves her bag, which is almost identical to mine. We spend maybe 45 minutes at the baggage claim, and unfortunately it turns out that the baggage handler wasn't responsible enough to get my luggage on our plane. :mad: We think maybe us running late had something to do with it, but who knows? And I think some other people had their bags lost as well. As a result, I'm left with the clothes on my back for the rest of the day, and the following morning, but with the help of my dad, I have clothes to wear for our excursion in Nassau tomorrow, and after our afternoon docked in Nassau, I fortunately receive my bag onboard the ship. Y'see, I got trust issues here. Thankfully I have my carry-on and camera bag with me though. :)

 

We get onboard the ship with a few hours to kill before our muster drill, and in fact I get a welcome aboard photo at the cruise terminal. That'll be posted later.

 

While we're waiting for our staterooms to open, we sit at a table near the H2O Zone kids pool, which isn't open for the time being, and we each grab something to eat at the Windjammer. Trust me, that place is one of the most crowded dining areas on the ship, especially on embarkation day. Also it's pretty annoying to carry food to a table when you have a camera gripped in one hand, 'cause it takes forever. I grab some fried chicken, and despite the crowd, a kind guest lets me sit at their table. :)

 

After I'm done with that, I head back down to the pool deck. My dad's still getting the lost luggage issue sorted out, and I help myself to a couple frozen yogurt cones. I've always had a reputation for eating a LOT of frozen yogurt (or ice cream, whatever it actually is) from the self-serve stands on Royal Caribbean ships, but I didn't find myself doing that as much as usual, though still quite a lot.

 

Our staterooms are ready a little earlier than expected. I make myself at home, unpacking stuff from my carry-on, and I decide to video tour my stateroom. My stateroom was #14727, a large inside cabin that wasn't really what I expected, but I guess it'll do - and my parents stayed in stateroom #14730, a Grand Suite that was added to the aft of the ship when it was upgraded back in October.

 

We have our muster drill at the AquaTheater, and surprise surprise - we get to see the safety video along with the "wash your hands" song that was the first thing I saw when I turned on the interactive television.

 

Because of how hot and humid it is in Florida, I cool off in the main pool and watch us sail away, with my trusty GoPro in my hand.

 

I'm at the pool deck, so my plan is to stop at the Wipeout Café, but since that's not open, I stop back at the Windjammer. This time, I get a couple pork sausages, with some vegetables, and a serving of rice. I didn't find myself eating a lot of vegetables on this cruise, and let's just say I consumed a LOT of rice. When we were onboard I found myself stopping at the Windjammer and Wipeout Café most of the time, and trust me, even with that jogging track and fitness center, you're not gonna get any skinnier. ;)

 

Prior to this cruise I had decided to purchase the soda package myself, 'cause I love the Coke Freestyle machines, but my dad had already bought it for me. One drink I ALWAYS get from those machines is Coke with Lime, which they used to sell about 10 years back, and they still have a Diet version, but it's satisfying to get the real thing from those machines.

 

I go to the Teen Meet and Greet, where I meet a couple Brits who were doing a back-to-back cruise, many people from the Carolinas, and quite a few passengers who actually live in the Miami and Fort Lauderdale areas, so this ship isn't far from them at all. I think it'd be nice to take a cruise that's not far from where you live - don't you think?

 

So I'm ready to call it a night after that. And we have some Nassau excitement from a glass bottom boat in store the next day, so stay tuned for that! :D

I may post it really early in the morning.

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Tony O

Tony O

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We are taking our 23 year old son on the same itinerary you went on in December for his college graduation cruise.

 

We'll be looking for you review and photos.

 

Did you, by any chance, go to see the planes land and take of on Maho beach? That is something our son really wants to do on St Maarten.

 

Happy belated 18th birthday!

 

We were are same cruise. We went directly to Maho and staked out a space and on the beach and the bar right next to it. The bar will post flight arrival times on a surfboard as you will here people say here comes a plane.

Really fun to watch.

Also if you do a Google search of SXM airport you will get flight times

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unseemlygamer

unseemlygamer

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Sunday, August 9, 2015

 

Today is day 2 as we are docked in Nassau. I get up around 6 in the morning, shower up, and unfortunately have to go back into the clothes I wore yesterday. Afterwards, I head to the Wipe Out Café for breakfast, so I can get a shot of the port of Nassau.

 

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The Atlantis resort is in the distance.

 

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Majesty of the Seas docked with us.

 

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A yacht.

 

After some time strolling around the sports deck, I head back down to deck 14 and meet my parents in their stateroom around 8:30am. Fortunately my dad gives me a change of clothes. We gather everything, and head to the port. By the time we're there, we still have to wait, as it's about 15 minutes before our excursion begins, so we kill our time going around the dock a little bit, and I have a couple professional photos taken.

 

Once our excursion begins, we're all escorted past the yellow tower, and we finally board the Sunshine Glass Bottom Boat.

 

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I can only put up 6 images per post, so the images I took while onboard the glass bottom boat will be put up in the next post.

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unseemlygamer

unseemlygamer

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The tour is maybe an hour and a half long, with occasional stops to get a view of what's at the glass bottom.

 

We start off by passing the two bridges that link Paradise Island to Nassau, and also getting a closer look at Atlantis.

 

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Passing by the picturesque row of buildings.

 

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You can get a complimentary rum punch or fruit punch. The first one's free, but after that, it's only $1 USD. I only decided to have one fruit punch. No rum punch for me guys - remember, I'm only 17 at this time, and even then, I made the decision never to drink alcohol, smoke, do drugs, or even god forbid gamble in a casino, 'cause gambling probably isn't worth it, especially on a cruise ship.

 

As we're passing by other areas, our tour guide keeps saying things like Chuck Norris this, and Oprah Winfrey that.

 

One of our stops includes a chance to see the Mahoney shipwreck back in 1929 - that everyone thankfully survived. Except they get the information wrong - they say it's the HMS Mahoney, and that it sunk in 1945. I can't blame them though, 'cause our tour guides are most likely not locals.

 

I don't currently have all the pictures imported to my computer, but I do however have a video of this day. More on that later.

 

After seeing the shipwreck, we make our way downtown as we're finishing up the tour. I decide to relax a little bit, especially because it's really hot out.

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unseemlygamer

unseemlygamer

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DSC00223_zps0dh8ibyy.jpg

Along with the Majesty of the Seas, the Carnival Conquest is docked in Nassau with us.

 

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There's our ship! :D

 

We have to walk downtown a little bit to get back to our ship. Nassau has a reputation for being avoided by tourists due to their high crime rate, and I was a little finicky with making the decision whether to go to port or stay onboard. Fortunately, we never have any issues with crime, or being offered drugs.

 

My parents and I all get back onboard by maybe 11:30am. I head back to my room for a little bit, while my parents are headed off the ship for lunch. Once again, I cool off at the pool deck.

 

Later that afternoon, my luggage finally arrives in my room. I spend the rest of the afternoon, painstakingly unpacking my luggage and hanging my clothes up.

 

I decide to attend the Teen Dinner, which takes place in the Windjammer. We're outside The Living Room, all waiting for the counselors to show up, but that doesn't seem to happen. One of the Brits was all dressed up (tonight's attire is formal), and he's wondering why no one else is. Most of us are in normal clothes, and heck, I didn't have the attire to attend a lot of the specialty restaurants, or even the dining room! Well, my dad had nice wear that I probably could've worn, but I didn't feel like doing that.

 

So after a bit of waiting, we're all like "screw it" and head straight to the Windjammer. Turns out that this activity isn't supervised by the teen staff. Well, it sort of is.

 

I sit at a table with a couple teens who are debating over certain video games, particularly Minecraft. I don't play that game, so I got no room to talk. They have a little bit of a discussion about Pokemon, particularly the older games, which I grew up with. Not too keen on the show though.

 

When it comes to food that night, I just jump over to the gluten free section of the buffet - I grab myself a couple chicken breasts and a serving of rice. This was pretty much my routine meal whenever I stopped at the Windjammer for dinner, 'cause I think I ought to cut down on my gluten. I'm not celiac, but I tend to have dark circles on my eyes, and I believe my rather unhealthy diet has something to do with it. They also had mashed potatoes and gravy available, but I never found myself getting that, as I didn't find the gravy very good.

 

So after our teen dinner, I decide to call it a night. Tomorrow's my 18th birthday, and for the rest of the night I'm in my room, where I therapeutically play a game of Sonic Generations on my 3DS. Nothing that important, but midnight will be a good story to tell.

 

Vlog for this day:

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unseemlygamer

unseemlygamer

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I had the "unlimited" wi-fi throughout the entire cruise, and I put that in quotes because it lasted until the final day at sea, when I thought it was gonna last until departure day. Just a few minutes after midnight I receive a text from my prom date's sister wishing me a happy birthday. After I'm done with my game of Sonic Generations for the night, I decide to finally go to sleep. For some reason, I wake up at 4AM, but I discover that as soon as it was midnight, one of my best friends shot me a text wishing me a happy birthday. Throughout the day, I definitely receive a lot of birthday wishes on my Facebook page, as well as quite a few texts from other friends, and I gladly appreciate them. It definitely makes for quite a nice cruise I'm having. :)

 

I start off the day by spending a few minutes at the Solarium. You really only gotta be 16 to use the Solarium, so I was technically old enough in the first place.

 

Not only is it my 18th birthday, but it's also a day at sea, so I spend the majority of the day video touring the ship. I manage to take about 235 pictures throughout the whole day. I'll give you guys a tour of the world's largest cruise ship - the Oasis of the Seas - right here, right now!

 

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Oh, and my room was decorated with streamers and blue balloons. :)

 

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Like the other ships, there are maps onboard to help passengers navigate this place.

 

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The sun deck up top is only for suite guests.

 

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These recycling bins are placed all over the ship.

 

I'm limited to 6 images per post (and that includes smilies), so it's gonna be difficult for me to tour this ship in any particular order.

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