Oasis of the Seas Trip Report with Pics from First Time Cruiser! Oct 3-10 2015

[Dianka25]

Day 4 St. Thomas

 

First timer tip: Use the room service breakfast option! We didn’t do this until day 6, and then we realized we could have at least ordered coffee every morning to get us going! It’s free (except for any cocktails) so you might as well use it! There is a menu in your room and you just have to check off what you want and put it on the outside of your door by 3AM.

 

 

After a late night last night we slept in a bit until about 8:30. We had breakfast at the Windjammer again- waffles with strawberry sauce and whipped cream today. We had gorgeous views of St. Thomas as we sat and ate.. hills and valleys and houses that appear to be floating on treetops.

We headed to the Shore Excursion desk on deck 5 and booked a tour for the island. I was open to just paying for a taxi, but my DH was more comfortable with a tour so we did it… you see how I am setting this up to go… ha.

 

We took the elevator down to deck 2 and got in a loooooong line to get off the ship. If you are smart you will get on the elevator that dumps you out right near the gangway exit- those people were getting ahead of the whole line. It didn’t take very long to get off the ship though. Today we didn’t need our photo ID, just our seapass cards. We brought our passports anyway.

 

The tour area was pretty well organized by number, and we gathered as instructed. The sun was starting to beat down, so I was happy when we starting walking toward the tour bus area. There were many many other groups- we were number 12 I think. Unfortunately, we were escorted to this parking lot area behind a shopping building and proceeded to wait 2 HOURS in the hot sun for a bus. The group would get smaller as a bus would arrive and take a select few, but of course by this time there was no line and it was a free for all, so we ended up in the last group of about 30 people. There was little to no communication from the local tour guide. There were many busses sitting empty in the lot, so it appeared as though he was trying to find drivers. He later told us that RCCL had told him to expect 106 people and it ended up being 190 or something like that. I don’t know who’s fault this was, but it should not have happened. In the end he gave us our tickets back and said we would get a refund , and we were to figure out our own arrangements. By this time it’s almost 1PM.

 

We walked down a ways and jumped in an open air taxi to take us to Magen’s Bay for $10 per person. It was a beautiful drive with amazing views of the cruise ships and the island. The road is right up on the cliffside so it’s best not to look down. A little boy in the back row stuck his foot out and lost a flip flop and screamed for the rest of the ride LOL. We spent a few hours on the beach there… it was nice, but I have to admit I was slightly disappointed. It reminded be more of a lake than the ocean because the water was so calm. Since it’s a bay, there is almost no wave activity, and I realized that I like a wavy beach. We walked past all the vendors and crowds to the far end of the beach where it is quieter. The only negative to this was that my DH was not willing to drag beach chairs out there so we laid out on our towels, which is so uncomfortable for me. Plus there were ants. I recommend the beach chairs. It was also very very hot, so my DH sat in the water pretty much the entire time LOL.

 

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Lake Magen haha

 

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Really fun vibe at the bar... we grabbed a drink before we headed back to the ship.

 

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View from the taxi.

 

Next up… Day 4 Part 2… good-bye St. Thomas and hello Giovanni’s

[Dianka25]

Day 4 Part 2

 

First timer tip: Get your picture taken by the ship photographers as often as you can- and don’t forget to look at the pics before the end of your trip at the photo shop! We didn’t do this and wish we had because we didn’t have that many nice pictures together.

 

 

After getting back on the ship from St. Thomas, we did our usual nap and then got ready for the night.

 

We now had our nightly ritual of playing cards at the Globe and Atlas.

 

Before you go on a cruise, I think it’s important to figure out what type of person you are: are you a “same old same old” or a “shiny and new” type of person? By this I mean, do you like to have your routine bar or restaurant that you go to and the waiters know your name and your drink, or do you like to try something new every time and experience as much as you can? We struggled with this during the first part of the cruise, because by nature we are “same old same old” type of people, but the sheer variety of options on the ship made us feel like we had to go everywhere and try everything. In the end though, we were so happy to have our little routine in the Globe and Atlas and get recognized by the crew and get great service. We never went to the Jazz Club, or Boleros, or many other bars, but I’m ok with that. Next time, once we find a place we like, we will not hesitate to dig in our heels and make friends. It makes the cruise so much more enjoyable in my opinion.

 

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Chillin on deck 16

 

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Beautiful Central Park... and some guy that got in my shot haha.

 

 

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Cannolis at Giovanni's... the tiramisu was gone before I could get a pic!

 

 

After dinner we were boring and headed back to our room. We finally broke open one of our 2 bottles of wine tonite. We had left Ketut our room attendant a little love note that morning asking him to fix our TV remote because I think the battery was dying, and also to leave us two wine glasses (we had brought an opener). Both were done without issue of course! Next time I don’t know if we will bring wine. We kind of forced ourselves to drink it since we had brought it all this way, but it wasn’t needed. If we had a balcony though I think it would make more sense for us to bring wine.

 

 

Next up… Day 5 and St. Maarten… will we see a plane land at Maho Beach?

[dolphin27502]

Loving your review! DH & I sail on Oasis for the first time October 31 can't wait!

[Koohiichan]

Loving your review. We did Oasis last January and loved it so much we are booked on Allure in January 2016. About the wine, though, I hope you didn't think you had to drink it in the room. I get my glass the first day and I use it to bring my wine to dinner. I just fill up a glass and head to dinner with it or take it somewhere else on the ship (solarium, sail a way, etc.) Guest are walking all around the ship with drinks so you never feel awkward at all.

 

Of course, wine is my main drink so it works well for me. We book 2 insides and I am the only drinker in my family so I think of it as my own cheapskate drink package. Except for the odd beer or sangria, I am set with my wine allotment.

 

Okay, it was a little awkward at the wine place, but as a Crown & Anchor member, I can use my BOGO there.

 

Cheers,

 

Koohiichan

[perfect match]

Thank you for your review. We have a bit of a wait until our turn on Oasis, so I am hoping to spend that time learning as much as I can about her as I can. Your tips are helpful, so keep them coming! :D

[ImpulsivePuppy]

terrific review, I'm on the Oasis in two weeks!

[Yorkvillain]

Personally, I felt like the ship is so beautiful and fancy, especially at night, that it felt like we were on the Titanic or something (minus the bad stuff) when everyone got dressed up.

 

I'm really enjoying your review. And I cracked up on the line above.

[jimbri]

Enjoying your review!

[LuCruise]

Day 4 St. Thomas

 

First timer tip: Use the room service breakfast option! We didn’t do this until day 6, and then we realized we could have at least ordered coffee every morning to get us going! It’s free (except for any cocktails) so you might as well use it! There is a menu in your room and you just have to check off what you want and put it on the outside of your door by 3AM.

 

 

...

 

We took the elevator down to deck 2 and got in a loooooong line to get off the ship. If you are smart you will get on the elevator that dumps you out right near the gangway exit- those people were getting ahead of the whole line. It didn’t take very long to get off the ship though. Today we didn’t need our photo ID, just our seapass cards. We brought our passports anyway.

 

 

Great tips. I've noted these in my own notes that I've been keeping. Room service would be a good idea for a day with an early morning excursion.

 

For the elevator near the gangway exit, do you remember where to catch that (area of ship and/or specific deck to get on)? We'll be on Allure but I imagine it's the same.

 

Loving your review. You captured such amazing pictures. Looks like such a great trip so far.

Edited October 14, 2015 by LuCruise

[birdlord]

The Solarium can definitely get hot in the hot/humid summer months in the Caribbean. However, I'm guessing it'll be very nice in December which is when it looks like you will be going.,

 

Yep. Thanks!

[caseymorgan]

Enjoying your review. We have been on the Allure and are looking forward to January when we will be on the Oasis. :)

 

Us too!

[Susie51]

Thank you for your great review and pics.

 

Sorry to hear about your long wait for a bus in St. Thomas.

[jkiinm]

Great review! Looking forward to the rest. We are booked for the Allure in June of next year. Appreciate all the tips in your review.

 

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

[Dianka25]

Day 5 St. Maarten

 

First timer tip: Research your ports ahead of time and have a plan for how to spend your time there. Exploring is fun and all, but when the sun is radiating down and it’s 90 degrees outside, exploring gets old quick.

 

 

We ventured to the Solarium Bistro for breakfast today. The selection was pretty good. I did expect more fruit and vegetables from this “healthier” venue though. The views of St. Maarten from the ship were amazing.

We got off the ship and made our way to the water taxi station, where we bought roundtrip tickets to take us over to Phillipsburg. We had no idea where we were going, but it seemed like most people were doing this so we followed the herd. That never ends badly, right? There was no wait for the water taxi, and the ride over was quick and smooth.

 

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She needs no introduction

 

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St. Maarten

 

On the way to Maho, our driver told us that there was a local protest going on near Orient Beach, blocking the tourist traffic to that location. The protest had something to do with a local woman being denied government housing after losing her job, while “foreigners” are allowed to live there (this is per our driver). We didn’t go there near that area so I can’t verify the truth of this, but the traffic was pretty bad where we were. We also stopped for gas on the way there, which I thought was a bit odd. Have you ever been in a taxi and made a gas run?

 

I had hesitated to even go to Maho Beach because I heard that the sand had washed away. This apparently happens every year according to our driver, but this year it happened a few months early so it interfered with the tourist season a little more. In any case, GO TO MAHO BEACH. I loved it. There is plenty of sand already replenished from the surf, and the beach was small but quite nice with fun waves. There is a festive bar at one end of the beach where we got mojitos. I was feeling pretty good after one, but it could have been heat stroke too haha. I was a bit dismayed to see our driver ordering at the bar as well… I think he was enjoying our stops as much as we were!! The sand didn’t quite meet up with the bar area yet, so we had to walk a short distance along the road to get from the bar to the beach area where the planes fly over. Right when we got there we saw a jumbo jet fly over the beach. It was apparently about 20 minutes ahead of schedule, based on the list posted on the bar. We enjoyed the beach for about 45 minutes and saw a couple other planes land. They weren’t quite as big, but it was still a ton of fun. Somehow we only took video of the planes, so I don't have any pics!

 

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Maho Beach- see how the sands ends before reaching the bar?

 

 

Then our driver came up and told us he had to leave because he had to emergently pick his son up from school, so we found another driver to take us back to the ship. We hadn’t paid the first driver yet, which is why I think he even bothered to find us (or maybe he was just a nice guy). Tip: don’t pay your driver until the end! There are plenty of drivers hovering in the area waiting for customers so you will have no problem getting a taxi back. The driver asked if we wanted to be taken to the water taxi stop or directly back to the cruise ship. It was the same price for both so we asked to be taken to the cruise ship. We boarded the ship without issue and went to our room to shower and rest.

 

Next up… will we get our free dinners at Chop’s?

[racerxspeedy]

Never know what those horses were depicting, thanks. Excellent photos.:)

 

What? Some detail that Bob missed? ..how is that possible?

 

Great pictures and review. I am reading this while eating my left over "welcome aboard" cookies!! It's great to hear from someone excited about the experience on Oasis. These reviews never get old for me.

 

Thanks

[NewSalt]

Thanks for taking time to do this review. I'm enjoying it very much.

 

Re the driver stopping for gas - things are just different in the islands. We've had a taxi driver stop and buy produce from a roadside vendor and another drop something off at his mother's house. Our last driver on St. Martin picked up her DD at school while we were at Le Galion and drove back to the ship with her in the car. On the trip to the mother's house, I could tell from the look on my DH's face that he was half convinced that we were being abducted.

 

(However, in the U. S. we once had a tour bus driver stop for gas only 15 minutes or so after we boarded the bus. I thought that was bizarre. It takes quite a while to gas up a large bus.)

[Dianka25]

Day 5 Part 2

 

First timer tip: If you are too full for dessert at the end of your specialty dinner, ask for it to-go!

 

 

We tried to stop by Guest Services for our refund from the St. Thomas excursion, but then found out that we have to go to the Shore Excursion table for that, which was closed of course. Later we did end up stopping there and getting the refund credited to our account. I feel like the customer service could have been better during this exchange (ie more apologizing on their part, maybe a little extra onboard credit), but we got our refund and did not dwell on it. I do marvel at how the crew handles 6,000 guests week after week… I never saw any crew member look impatient or irritated.

 

After that, you guessed it, we went to the Globe and Atlas for our usual card game and drinks. I tried the Bee’s Knees drink… tasty. Our dinner reservation tonite was for Chop’s Grille. If you recall, we booked this reservation on day 1, using free dinner vouchers we had received through our travel agency.

 

 

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Crab cake at Chop's.. sorry it's a little dark.

 

We had beef carpaccio, mushroom soup, crab cake, and grilled bacon to START! The grilled bacon was awesome. It's literally a slab of the biggest, thickest, most delicious bacon you will ever see. We each got 9 oz filets and shared the family style asparagus, tater tots, and sautéed spinach for the entrée. I would normally get the smallest cut of meat, but I read in one of the reviews that the larger cut is easier to cook appropriately (and it was free anyway!), so I got the 9 oz filet. It was seasoned and cooked just right. Once the steak was served, we were also offered a sauce on the side… I chose 2! Everything was amazing, though I would skip the tater tots next time. We also split a bottle of wine and were NOT CHARGED FOR IT AT ALL! (remember my husband is on the drink package, I am not). We gave the waiter a $20 tip as thanks. We had absolutely no room for dessert, and I did not think to ask for it to go, but I am sure they would have done it!

 

A bit about the drink package now…. We did not buy the drink package before the cruise, we bought the Premium Package for my DH on day 1. I think that some days he broke even costwise, some not. I would occasionally share a drink with him, and he often asked for a bottle of water that he gave to me, but otherwise I didn’t want to be sneaky and try to steal drinks- not worth it to me. However, several times we were not charged for my drinks, or the bartender would deliberately charge the cheaper of the two drinks to my account to save us a few bucks. The crew seem very willing to try to work the package any way they can to help you out. Even though we probably didn’t really save money by buying it, I would DEFINITELY buy it next time. It was just so relaxing for my DH to be able to grab a beer at the pool or try a crazy cocktail without worrying about each dollar. Also, he enjoyed drinking top shelf liquor, even in mixed drinks, since it was included! I don’t think we ever ordered a drink which cost more than the $12 or $14 max on the package, or at least we never get charged for it. If you drink more than 2-3 drinks per day (which is easy to do on a cruise!), I would recommend getting the drink package, and don’t even bother trying to figure out if it paid off. Just enjoy it!

 

We also had a reservation for the Frozen in Time ice skating show tonite. It was enjoyable and the costumes and sets were beautiful. One skater fell after tripping over a part of the side wall, but otherwise no mishaps. Overall I was impressed by the level of the skating; I had read mixed reviews and expected worse. I didn’t really follow all the story lines that were supposed to be associated with fairy tales, but I enjoyed it all anyway.

 

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At the Champagne Bar

 

Realizing we are in the middle of the singles Meet & Mingle at the Champagne Bar!

 

We got back to the room after midnite and watched some of the ship’s “Sexiest Man” competition from a day or two earlier on TV. Looking forward to a couple of sea days to really enjoy the ship!

Next up… Day 6 Shows, Shows, and more Shows!

[Dianka25]

Thanks for taking time to do this review. I'm enjoying it very much.

 

Re the driver stopping for gas - things are just different in the islands. We've had a taxi driver stop and buy produce from a roadside vendor and another drop something off at his mother's house. Our last driver on St. Martin picked up her DD at school while we were at Le Galion and drove back to the ship with her in the car. On the trip to the mother's house, I could tell from the look on my DH's face that he was half convinced that we were being abducted.

 

(However, in the U. S. we once had a tour bus driver stop for gas only 15 minutes or so after we boarded the bus. I thought that was bizarre. It takes quite a while to gas up a large bus.)

 

Wow that is crazy! Sounds like you have some great stories. I guess our little stop for gas is nothing!

[Dianka25]

Day 6 Relaxation at Sea

 

First timer tip: If you relaxing in the aft of the ship on deck 5, your quickest way to grab a drink is probably to take the staircase which is right there, which leads up to the Aquatheater. Then you can hit up the Boardwalk bar!

 

 

Aaah nothing like a relaxing sea day. I wasn’t sure what I would think about finishing up our trip with 2 sea days, but I ended up loving it. This morning we slept in until almost 10AM. We made a quick stop at Windjammer for coffee, and grabbed some apples and boxes of cereal to snack on for breakfast. Then we found a spot by the Dive Shop again on the pool deck. We sat out for a couple of hours, hopping in the saltwater pool to cool down. I saw some questionable content floating in the water… do they filter it at all?

 

 

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View from deck 5

 

 

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Getting ready for the Splish Splash show

 

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The Belly Flop contestants... and my DH too!

 

After the shows we went back to the room to shower off the sweat and relax. Do not underestimate how tired the sun can make you. My DH napped and I read.

[Dianka25]

Day 6 Part 2- Slot machine victory and Quest

 

First timer tip: Do not miss Quest the adult scavenger hunt… but hide up in the top rows of the theater if you don’t want to participate!

 

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A little crooked, but it's the Boardwalk at night

 

 

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Gorgeous Opal Theater

 

An example of the amazing sets.

 

We stayed up for the 11:30 Quest show at Studio B. I was nervous because I didn’t know what to expect and it was intimidating at first as the crowd gathered. Liquid courage helps here. But rest assured, you can really just sit and watch, but I would recommend sitting up higher to avoid getting asked for something. The show is just insane and I won’t even attempt to explain it. Suffice to say, you need to do it. Just do it. And don’t bring your kids.

 

That just about wrapped up day 6.

 

Next up, same old, same old and a little sushi

[jessv12]

Loving your review. I totally agree with taking a pre dinner nap! My BF and I always try to rest up a bit so we can really enjoy our evening.

[ImpulsivePuppy]

Alright, I simply have to ask, what is "Quest"?

[perfect match]

I love the photo of the aft end of Oasis in St Maarten! :D

[racerxspeedy]

Alright, I simply have to ask, what is "Quest"?

 

The Quest is an adult scavenger hunt/game. On the larger ships it is held in studio B (ice rink with wood floor down). The crowd is broken up into roughly 10 seating sections. Each section chooses a male and female "captain". The captains scavenge items selected by the cruise director as quickly as possible from people in their assigned section. These items will include bras, pants, shirts, shoes, false teeth, tattoo's..... with the goal of get the highest amount of "points" spoiler alert:

In the end each group ends up with team members dressed in drag.... it's always fun no matter how many times you cruise.

[Susie51]

I'm enjoying your writing style and your well organized review. Your teasers about what is coming next keeps me coming back for more. Also, I like your tips.