Oasis with a toddler - review

[wampuscat7]

My husband and I took our 20-month-old daughter on Oasis of the Seas in December. I know this review could go in the Royal board, but there are plenty of posts there about Oasis, and this is heavy on what our toddler liked/didn't like. If you have any questions, let me know. I can try to post pictures, etc. if you'd like them. I also have the dailies that I can scan and send if anyone wants them.

 

Overall, we couldn't have picked a better ship for our toddler's first cruise.(Keep in mind that I am not an experienced cruiser. This was my fourth cruise, with all previous cruises being on Carnival Freedom-class vessels.) There were minor hiccups here and there, but I don't get hung up on the little things when I'm on vacation.

 

SHIP

The ship is quite spectacular. Yes, it is large. Yes, there may be quite a bit of walking. However, the neighborhood concept is really wonderful. Royal does a great job of fragmenting the ship and overlapping activities to disperse the crowds. I know it was the offseason, but the only lines we encountered were embarking and at guest services the evening before debarkation. We thought the décor was lovely and enjoyed how each area had it's own personality.

 

The carousel was one of the highlights of our vacation, and we will miss it on every other ship we go on. The entire Boardwalk area was great, as it was never crowded, and the toddler could meander back and forth between the boats and bus/car to climb on. We also loved Central Park (daughter loved the lights in the walls around the walkways and the "bugs" on the lanterns) and the Royal Promenade (daughter loved the water fountains beneath the floating bar). We did not miss the lack of open views to the ocean as some do, but we also had a balcony room. Had we not had a balcony room, we probably would have spent more time on the top decks or in spots with views.

 

The kids' H2O Zone is great, and the small area for diapered kids is a really nice amenity for those with little ones. We noted that there were staff members monitoring the children's area (including stopping children from spraying the babies and parents sitting in the diapered area). (Also we noted that the water in the baby area was much warmer than that in the rest of the kids area.) We walked the deck and took in the sights but did not spend much time at any of the other pool or sports areas. For those with toddlers, there is a small putt putt area just for little ones.

 

We used the nursery only one evening for a couple of hours, and it was fine. I had heard mixed reviews from others, but it seemed that the staff was happy to do as you instructed.

We did borrow a bag of toys from the nursery, which my daughter happily played with in our room. We also liked the open play area just outside the nursery, which had plenty of toys, slides, etc. for babies and tots and was open everyday until 10 pm. (Do note, though, that parents are supposed to put toys that had been mouthed or dirtied into the bins for cleaning, and I did not witness that happening. I also saw a woman changing a diaper in there once, even though there is a spacious bathroom with changing table and wipes about 10 feet away. Not the ship's fault, obviously.)

 

(Speaking of diaper changing, there are also diaper changing areas in the women’s bathrooms near the H2O Zone, on the Starboard side of the ship outside the Serenity area, and near the Opal Theater. I did not see changing tables in any of the other bathrooms onboard.)

 

STAFF/SERVICE

The staff was generally fantastic and went out of their way to chat and play with my daughter, etc. The Windjammer staff, in particular, was fantastic and made fast friends with my daughter, even though she was quite shy. One of the jewelry store ladies got my daughter a balloon a couple of days, much to her delight. Our room steward was excellent and always asked if our daughter needed anything special. We did not do the free face painting, but we got free balloon animals from Mr. Balloon Man, who was great. He said he was just a few cruises from retirement, so I hope Royal finds a good replacement. The bartenders, etc., we ran into were all friendly.

 

SHOWS

We only saw three shows: the ice show (Frozen in Time), the Oasis of Dreams in the AquaTheater, and the afternoon show in the AquaTheater. All three were excellent, though personally I enjoyed the ice show the most. I've been to Vegas dozens of times and have seen most of the big shows on the Strip. I would classify the talent as very close to those shows. Overall the shows are not quite that extravagant, but considering I've spent $100 or more on tickets to those shows, it seems quite a bargain to have them included in the price of my cruise. We found the ice and AquaTheater venues to be quite kid-friendly. My daughter was captivated by the ice show, until she fell asleep about halfway through. She enjoyed the water shows as well but they didn't have her dancing like the ice show did.

 

DINING

Dining is such a personal choice, but for us it was a bit of a mixed bag. Our one big disappointment of the cruise was that our travel agent requested early dining, which was on our set sail pass. But when we checked in, we were told we had my time dining. I did not know how our toddler would do in the dining room, so we had really hoped to at least have a set time and set of waiters who would be prepared for her. I asked the head waiter if it was possible to switch, but they were not able to accommodate us. We tried my time dining the first night of the cruise, and she did fantastically, but we left before desert because the wait between courses was just too slow for her. We tried the main dining room only one other night. Service that night was ok. We did not receive my or my daughter's drinks, but we just let it go. Frankly, we found the food to be mediocre to good, so we didn't make a point of going to the main dining room. (For Carnival folks, I did manage to stay long enough to have the Royal version of chocolate melting cake one night. It was not quite the same but very good.)

 

We ate twice at specialty restaurants - once at Giovanni's and once at Sabor. I mistakenly thought that because Giovannis is served family style that it is a more casual restaurant. Not so much. Our daughter wanted to go back and forth between my lap and my husband's, so we left early. The kind staff tried to send us away with deserts to go, but we declined. The food there was quite good, as was the service. (The service was also very quick and happy to accommodate our little one. They brought her meal out right away, etc.)

 

Sabor was very good. I think it's the best food on the ship. We had the tasting menu and found it to be too much food for the three of us. The guacamole really is as good as the reviews say.

 

(I should also mention that we ate at both specialty restaurants and the main dining room without reservations. Since I had been planning on a set dining time and eating in the main dining room, by the time I was told we could not have our set time, there were not many reservations to be had. We decided to just walk up and see what happened. We had a 5-minute wait for the dining room, a 20-minute wait for the dining room, and no wait at Giovannis or Sabor - though we did go to Giovannis just as they opened because I thought that would be best with the little one.)

 

The other evenings, including formal night in formal attire, were spent in the Windjammer, which was a very nice surprise for me. I've always found Carnival's buffets mediocre. Royal's buffet was quite good, and there was a wide variety. The staff, as I mentioned, was also excellent. I do not recall a buffet worker asking if he could bring me coffee, etc., on any of my Carnival cruises.

 

For breakfast, we had room service delivered each day, except the dreaded debarkation day. We love the view from our balcony for breakfast. Plus, having one quiet meal in our room was good for our kiddo. (P.S. - For those with kiddos who like/need milk, we asked for extra with our room service and put it in the fridge surrounded by cold soda cans. It stayed perfectly cold for snack time or later in the day.) Lunches and snack times were spent at Park Café, the Dog House, Sorrento's, Wipeout Cafe, or in port. We found all of the small venues to be good to very good, depending on the item, and we never encountered much of a wait, if any.

 

ITINERARY

We had never been to any of the three spots on the cruise: Labadee, Falmouth, or Cozumel.

 

I admit upfront that I love beach days and I love private island areas for the easy beach day they provide. Labadee was no exception. Especially for a day with a toddler, Labadee is perfect. You can walk off/on the ship whenever you like. There is no tendering to deal with. There are a variety of beach areas with varying levels of crowd and activity. Nellie Beach or Columbus Cove is better for small children than Adrenaline Beach. We found the sand soft and warm, and the water calm. My daughter also loved the kids splash pad, which is near the Adventure Ocean area. Like others, we found the buffet BBQ lunch to be mediocre. (For those with kiddos, I will note that the bathroom at Nellie Beach had a diaper-changing area. The bathroom near Columbus Cove and the one near the Town Square buffet area did not.)

 

Falmouth was not a great stop for us because we did not do an excursion. After a few busy days, I didn't know how our kiddo would do on a bus ride to the excursion spots, so we chose to walk around port a bit and get back on the ship. Since we loved the ship and could've used many more days to explore it, this was fine. My daughter did love dancing to the music as we pulled into port, though!

 

In Cozumel, we went to Chankannab Park. We didn't do snorkeling or dolphin encounters, which they offer. There is a very small cove that is perfect for small kids, though. It has very soft sand, no waves, and the water goes up to 2 or 3 feet at most. Chankannab also has a sea lion show, tequila tasting area, history tour of replicas of Mayan artifacts, etc. The food at the park is pretty good as well. The park is only a few minutes from the port by taxi.

 

ROOM

We had a oceanview balcony, 7th floor Aft. Having been only in Carnival's delightfully orange/pink balcony rooms, the décor of the Oasis rooms seemed quite nice. We had the configuration with the bed by the closet, which I understand is less desirable, but I really liked it. It was nice to have some open floor space near the balcony where the kiddo could play.

 

I loved that you could move the small bedside tables and coffee table around the room. (One of ours stayed under the desk chair to save room. We also stashed our bag o' toys from the nursery under there.) I also loved that the couch was huge, as was the bed. My 6-4 hubby really appreciated these things. The other big win for RCI vs. Carnival is the sliding glass door. I love that you can keep it a little bit open if you want. I also love that it doesn't slam shut like the Carnival doors.

 

We thought there was a little more storage/closet space on Carnival. However, the little storage areas around the desk were really nice for small items.

 

The bathroom was comparable to Carnival in size, but the décor was nicer. I also liked the tube showers better, partly because of the bar for shaving your legs. It was super easy to give the toddler a shower without drenching myself. I wish there was a laundry line like on Carnival, but it's a minor want.

 

The room showed a little wear (a stain on the carpet, wear on the couch and desk, etc.), but nothing major. We actually thought the common areas of the ship were in very nice shape for a ship set to go into dry dock.

 

The 7th floor was a great location for us, since we loved the Boardwalk so much. It was also only a floor away from Central Park. We did not feel much movement, despite being in the aft portion of the ship.

 

EMBARKATION/DEBARKATION

Embarkation seemed incredibly easy and seemed very organized at first. We checked in with very little wait after arriving at the dock around 11:15. However, once upstairs, we were guided to chairs to wait. That was fine until the chairs got full, the ship started boarding, and the line of people who had recently checked in began bypassing those who had already been waiting. There was only one employee in the area who was supposed to be directing traffic, and she was admittedly new and timid. That said, it was the most minor of hiccups, and the only result was that we got on the ship 10 minutes later and had to wait in line at Park Café.

 

Debarkation was the easy. We waited on the ship until around 9, which means the customs line was quite long, but it really wasn't much of a hassle. Thankfully, our toddler fell asleep in line.

 

CROWDS/CLIENTELE

As I said above, I really didn't see many crowds, with the exception of after shows, during parades, etc., when you would expect crowds. Knowing that I didn't want to mess with crowds and an unpredictable toddler, we avoided most of the times or areas where that might be a problem. Being a FTM travelling with a little one for the first time, I was somewhat concerned with what we might run into, but we did not run into anyone who said a rude thing about us or our kid. In fact, many people seemed to love interacting with our kiddo or enjoyed watching her explore the ship. The worst thing that happened was that once or twice a big group rushed the elevator before we could get off.

 

VALUE

We booked after final payment and got a good deal on our room (which was a Category X oceanview guarantee balcony). Yes, we could have gone on a Carnival ship, or an NCL ship, or even a smaller/older RCI ship, for cheaper, but I am pretty smitten with RCI's megaships after this trip on Oasis. I do think the ship is worth paying a bit extra, though I certainly wouldn't object to other ships on various lines if the price is right.

[kitkat343]

I'm glad you had a nice vacation, and sorry about the dining time - it's unfortunate to have to stress over food while supervising a toddler.

[mustcruise1217]

Thank you for writing your review. We will be on Anthem with our 18 month old so I like to hear as much as I can about traveling with toddlers.

 

 

 

 

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[Sooner-Cruisers]

Sounds like there was lots of great entertainment, was the carousel included or extra?

[wampuscat7]

The carousel is free, and the attendants were really nice about being patient and letting my daughter wander and pick the animal/horse of her choice. (It also wasn't busy. When there were other people around, we didn't let her dawdle.)

[bubba83]

Did you feel safe taking the taxi in Cozumel?

 

My family of 4 (2 daughters ages 3 and 5) are cruising this april and we I am thinking of Chakanaab or Mr. Sanchos that day...

[wampuscat7]

Did you feel safe taking the taxi in Cozumel?

 

My family of 4 (2 daughters ages 3 and 5) are cruising this april and we I am thinking of Chakanaab or Mr. Sanchos that day...

 

We felt safe in the taxi we took in Cozumel. It was a minivan that seemed in better shape than the taxis we had taken in Fort Lauderdale (one had the check engine light on, the check battery light on, etc.). All the seat belts worked, and you could easily install a car seat. Chankannab is a short drive down one straight road.

Edited January 13, 2016 by wampuscat7

[wampuscat7]

I'm glad you had a nice vacation, and sorry about the dining time - it's unfortunate to have to stress over food while supervising a toddler.

 

You know, it really irritated me at first. But in the end, it really wasn't a big deal. We waited in line to be seated for dinner that first night, as we lined up before the dinning room opened. I do think the service may have been better if we had an assigned table, but I think we still would've chosen the flexibility of the Windjammer after we discovered that the food was decent. My hubby's biggest fear was having to eat at the buffet since we've had such rotten luck with those on Carnival ships.

[archchic]

Thank you for the review. We went on the Oasis when I was pregnant and have been dreaming about taking our daughter on that ship for 4 years now. We've got a Spring cruise booked for the Allure. It was very helpful to read about your experience.

[wampuscat7]

Thank you for the review. We went on the Oasis when I was pregnant and have been dreaming about taking our daughter on that ship for 4 years now. We've got a Spring cruise booked for the Allure. It was very helpful to read about your experience.

 

Thanks! I hope you have a fantastic time! It was such a joy seeing the ship and the beaches through the eyes of my kiddo.

[JeffandAlison]

Thanks for your review!! We are cruising on Oasis in April with out 14 month old.

[wampuscat7]

Thanks for your review!! We are cruising on Oasis in April with out 14 month old.

 

You're welcome! I hope you have a lovely trip!