Anybody been on one of the RCL Oasis Class ships??

[bazzaw]

The largest ships we have been on have been RCL Voyager of the Seas at around 138,000 tonnes and Queen Mary 2 at around 154,000 tonnes. QM2 has a significantly fewer passengers though than what Voyager carries.

 

They both had different appeal to me and enjoyed both of them.

 

Is there a reason that the biggest of the RCL class only do 7 day cruises?? ( or am I incorrect about that?)

[sewgood]

I haven't been on them.

But I am just taking a guess about why they only do 7 day cruises.

A recollection is watching a show on Oasis where they said that special wharfs had to be built because of their hugh size. For these small Islands to fund/partially fund this infastructure contracts were signed that the ship would use these ports for a certain amount of time.

That being said they just can't stop at any Island. And one would think because of the number of passengers tendering would take too long.

This is a total guess and the show I watched is just a hazy memory now.

[The_Big_M]

Hmm, I thought you used to be critical of larger ships like Oasis.

 

In any case, it's a market thing. The cruises out of their home ports are typically 7 days, with Sunday turnaround, so they follow that.

 

As above, there are only limited ports they can visit, but they do run east and west itins, so it's not just only say 5 ports they can go to. But with only 2 weeks holiday for most Americans, a longer cruise would eat most of their holidays so isn't so popular for local cruises. Hence, Florida cruises are mostly week long, and as Oasis/Allure are there, that's what they adopt.

[vozzie]

Been on Oasis of the Seas and I can say that the experience boarding was so much more enjoyable than on most smaller ships that I have sailed on. They really have their act together.

 

Once on the ship, you never felt crowded and most of the time it felt like more room than the smaller ships....better, more modern planning and design I suppose.

[nenasmum]

Been on both Oasis and Allure and loved them both. Did not feel at all crowded. We have booked for Harmony for next year and can't wait

[Miamia65]

Oasis is amazing, we did a b2b western and eastern Caribbean ... Both out of Fort Lauderdale... Awesome cruising and so much to do in these big ships. Give it a go! It's worth it!!

[jspqld]

Have been on the Allure western route & loved it. It is way bigger than the ships you mentioned, mainly coz they are just so wide. The two ships currently operate a reverse schedule every 7 days so you can do just 7 days east or west or do b2b for 14 days and do both. Also, one ship used to depart on a Sat & the other departs on a sunday. This is so boarding at F.L goes smoothly and it makes it easy for americans wanting to just take 1 week off work. Once the harmony arrives, the oasis will be home ported in Port Canavral I believe and will continue 7 day trips from there.

[Layn33]

I did 7 night Eastern Caribbean on Oasis and loved it. I was a bit worried about the number of passengers but it felt less crowded than our recent cruise on Explorer.

 

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[Kiwi Kruzer]

I have not been on them , but do remember reading about all the planning that went into building the special terminals to handle them. I believe they can handle embarkation and disembarkation at the same time on different levels.

 

The logistics of a turnaround every 7 days are mind blowing.

[joandian]

I've been on Oasis and I guess I must be the odd one out, because I didn't enjoy it as much as the Voyager and Radiance class ships. We did feel like we had to line up everywhere. Even with a rare booking for MTD, we waited nearly 30 minutes to even get a table. Lined up at the cafe, lined up at the self serve drinks, lined up for pizza, lined up ... well you get the picture :-) I'm pleased we tried it and now we know what it's like, we don't need to do it again :)

 

Boarding and disembarking went well but then we are D+ so have a little advantage there. Food was great at Izumi (hibachi) and Sabor (Mexican) but the buffet left a lot to be desired. The food is always amazing at Portofinos and we have eaten there a lot and it's always good.

 

I loved Central Park and The Diamond Lounge has a spectacular view over it. We have tended to do longer cruises over the past several years so perhaps that came into play but I do think it's worth trying once.

[CassCruise]

To be honest I am pretty easy going - very much go with the flow attitude and always subscribed to the view of there is no such thing as a bad cruise - it is what you make etc etc etc that is until we went on the Allure - honestly I doubt I would go on it again if it was free - except for embarkation and disembarkation, our waiters and a some of the shows it was nothing but queues and problems (not of our making) still somewhat "scarred" the least enjoyable cruise we have had in the many many I have done over the past 35/40 years. I think we must have been unlucky judging by many other reports I have read but that in no way changes my opinion - horrendously crowded, again lots of queuing for everything - lousy service, horrible cabin and very few places to be able to sit and watch the sea/world go by - sorry not at all impressed or a fan.

[Missusdubbya]

I have also been on a back-to-back on Oasis out of Fort Lauderdale on the Western and Eastern cruises. I loved the ship and cruise, however as some of the others have mentioned we had to queue for everything!

 

I do favour the Vision and Radiance class ships over Oasis class, because I prefer the smaller size and being able to see the ocean from most venues.

 

Planning on Explorer next year to check out Voyager class.

[Jman111983]

I quite frankly loved my experience on the Allure of the Seas. 99% of the time I felt like there wasn't a line issue, but it would happen from time to time. I made a point to make reservations for every show/dinner I wanted to do outside of the MDR (comedy, Mama Mia, etc...) and I think that helped. There were great alternatives to the buffet with no wait/crowds. And we never had to wait too log for the MDR, but we would typically show up on the earlier side.

[CassCruise]

I think it may well have been a bit of bad luck on our cruise - prior to boarding we had made all our reservations for shows etc as well - but my goodness even the buffet one day the queues to get in were sooooo long they had security posted outside and then strategically along the line to ensure no queue cutters and that was just to get into the buffet area!!!!!!!!!! (personally no thanks not that hungry). Some of our other issues included the fact we were consistently double charged for so many things (photos, ice skating lessons, chefs table, drinks despite having drinks packages) which required again long queues at pursers desk to get sorted - I could go on but enough said...

 

We had booked the Radiance for the following March, which (thankfully) would have to be one of my all time fav ships or else I am not sure (and still aren't) that I would sail with RCL again.

[Jman111983]

I think it may well have been a bit of bad luck on our cruise - prior to boarding we had made all our reservations for shows etc as well - but my goodness even the buffet one day the queues to get in were sooooo long they had security posted outside and then strategically along the line to ensure no queue cutters and that was just to get into the buffet area!!!!!!!!!! (personally no thanks not that hungry). Some of our other issues included the fact we were consistently double charged for so many things (photos, ice skating lessons, chefs table, drinks despite having drinks packages) which required again long queues at pursers desk to get sorted - I could go on but enough said...

 

We had booked the Radiance for the following March, which (thankfully) would have to be one of my all time fav ships or else I am not sure (and still aren't) that I would sail with RCL again.

Yeah...all of that would have been enough to frustrate me, for sure. Your feelings are understandable!

[The_Big_M]

To be honest I am pretty easy going - very much go with the flow attitude and always subscribed to the view of there is no such thing as a bad cruise - it is what you make etc etc etc that is until we went on the Allure - honestly I doubt I would go on it again if it was free - except for embarkation and disembarkation, our waiters and a some of the shows it was nothing but queues and problems (not of our making) still somewhat "scarred" the least enjoyable cruise we have had in the many many I have done over the past 35/40 years.

 

That's why I'm not a fan of that expression as it implies things are always rosy. Sometimes things go wrong - sometimes badly so - and there are differing experiences on the same cruise, with valid reasons for that arising.

 

Call it as it happens, the cruise line aren't trying to make a bad holiday, but things go wrong, sometimes personalities don't mesh well and sometimes you can have a run of bad luck that you're more attuned to noticing for a variety of reasons.