Carnival Defector Sailing Royal on Oasis for the First Time

[APDMOM]

We participated in the kids' program when our son was 13 months old. To my surprise, the young lady who ran the program had a Masters degree in Childhood Development. I could tell that she was very comfortable with all kinds of kids. So, it seems Royal goes the extra mile to find qualified staff for the kids. We have since been on many Royal cruises and have always seen the kids walk around the ship with the youth staff - never out of control.

 

Since this is your first Oasis cruise, I have many tips in my review from last June that will help you navigate the ship, know what extras to pack, and to understand the TV system. :) It is linked below:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2224751

 

We like all the cruiselines we have tried, but Oasis is our favorite ship.

 

As for your DH: Just get him to Park Café as soon as you can, and get him a Roast Beef Sandwich (aka Kümmelweck). My DH likes it even better than lobster!

[oreomaximus]

Loved your post!!!!

 

You and your family are going to be blown away. I like Carnival also, but there is NO comparison to the Oasis/Allure.

 

As far as excursions go, you really don't need to book them. Your 3 ports are very easy to do on your own and save TONS of money. Are you beach people...adventure....tours....shopping? What is it that you like to do and maybe with can help you with suggestions.

 

Thank you! We (I) have our excursions for the most part set. We are just doing Junkanoo Beach for Nassau (not a huge fan of Nassau) since we are only there until 2. Will probably go to the Tiki Bikini Beach Hut. For St. Maarten we booked a private tour with Bernard's. St. Thomas was the only one we (I) hadn't made a decision about. Was thinking about one of the catamaran tours.

[oreomaximus]

We participated in the kids' program when our son was 13 months old. To my surprise, the young lady who ran the program had a Masters degree in Childhood Development. I could tell that she was very comfortable with all kinds of kids. So, it seems Royal goes the extra mile to find qualified staff for the kids. We have since been on many Royal cruises and have always seen the kids walk around the ship with the youth staff - never out of control.

 

Since this is your first Oasis cruise, I have many tips in my review from last June that will help you navigate the ship, know what extras to pack, and to understand the TV system. :) It is linked below:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2224751

 

We like all the cruiselines we have tried, but Oasis is our favorite ship.

 

As for your DH: Just get him to Park Café as soon as you can, and get him a Roast Beef Sandwich (aka Kümmelweck). My DH likes it even better than lobster!

 

I will check out your review tonight -- thanks for offering. And hubby said thanks for thinking of him and his need to eat --apparently ON THE HOUR -- as his wife is clearly not concerned. Right, because there's a very good possibility that you can actually starve on-board a cruise ship. Get out of here.

[Janespup]

We just got off the Oasis and did your same itinerary. Feel free to ask any questions, but you may not like the answers. I have been on several Carnival cruises and went on this cruise because I wanted to see the Oasis. I am returning to Carnival.

 

To answer your question, the dressy nights are Sunday, after Nassau and Thursday, after a sea day. Thursday is lobster tail night. They were quite large, very good and the waiter brought out an extra full dinner for us. Don't hesitate to order two. Two appetizers as well, every night.

 

Some comparisons between this cruise and what I am accustomed to on Carnival:

While most employees were very friendly, no one went out of their way to learn our names, which they do on Carnival. By the second day, the cabin steward and waiters knew all of our names, but not on the Oasis. (And there were only two of us!)

 

Carnival has two bathrobes in every cabin but the Oasis didn't. I assume you could have asked for them but I had known this before, so brought my own.

 

Carnival provides those thick, large beach towels in each stateroom, which they replace whenever you want. Royal has towel stations by the pool and solarium where you sign out towels for your room. You return them when you are finished with them or if you want replacements.

 

You will see 3 towel animals in your cabin on your seven day cruise.

 

There are very few desserts on the Oasis buffet.

 

The pizza in Sorrento's is much better than the pizza on Carnival.

 

The tv was a huge disappointment and did not compare to Carnival's. I like to sleep with the tv on, and usually put on the channel that plays music. No such channel. The "map" channel is the same as Carnival's but it doesn't tell you the depth of the water, which is my favorite thing. I am always amazed when I see the the depth is 20,000+ feet! There are a few children's channels on the tv and a Spanish CNN. Also a type of CNN channel that has headlines running across the bottom but odd programming. There re no free movie channels, like on Carnival. You can rent a movie for $12. Everything on the tv seems to be an advertisement or a sales pitch.

 

The cabins are supposedly only 3 sq feet smaller than on Carnival but they seemed to be much more narrow...like 8 feet wide!

 

Bingo was horrendous! We tried it twice because I love playing it on Carnival, but skipped most bingo offerings. The price is ridiculous! $49 for the same 9 games you pay $20 for on Carnival. They also have a $59 package that gives you 30 games (instead of 9) but they are scored electronically...You don't even get to play them. They also give you 3 regular games in that package. The bingo patterns they choose, (4 corners, any straight line) had winners so quickly that you felt like you wasted your $59! One was won with only 6 numbers called.

 

Room service breakfast was quite good. Lunch was not.

 

We tried three of the soups at dinner, a seafood of some sort, the lobster bisque and a cream of mushroom. The mushroom was very good. The other two, inedible. The chairs in our dining room (The American Icon) were very heavy. No one seemed to be able to pull them in far enough. We made the mistake of going to the dining room for breakfast once, when the children's character breakfast was being held. It took 20 minutes to get a cup of coffee.

We only did that once.

 

The buffet on deck 16 was pretty good. They had real fried eggs for breakfast every day except the last day. You can get omelettes made to order at the Wipe Out Café on deck 15.

 

We were on deck 8 which I feel was the absolute best location. We were able to get coffee every morning at the Park Café, within minutes of waking up. They made great made-to-order salads and had those delicious signature roast beef sandwiches.

 

The solarium is so much nicer than the adult area on the Carnival ships! It had a nice, small restaurant, shady areas and a wonderful pool with small waves in between the hot tubs.

 

Our Oasis of Dreams show was cancelled for our performance and rescheduled for the last sea day at noon. But it was cancelled again because there was rain in the forecast. Frozen in time was very good. Come Fly With Me was a kind of cirque du solei show, good, but not in comparison to others we have seen in Vegas. We choose not to see Cats. There was always something going on at night, either on the Promenade deck or in one of the bars. Dazzles had very good live music and dancing every night. The slots in the casino were quite loose, for us, at least.

 

Overall, the Oasis is a beautiful, huge ship. It rarely seemed crowded. Everything was very well organized.

[Janespup]

One more thing: They have frozen yogurt machine across from the children's pool on deck 15, and another (could be ice cream) inside the Wipeout Café. I don't know if they are available 24 hours though.

[Clarea]

One more thing: They have frozen yogurt machine across from the children's pool on deck 15, and another (could be ice cream) inside the Wipeout Café. I don't know if they are available 24 hours though.

The self-serve ice cream is not 24-hours. Something like noon to 9pm.

[MrsTinks]

And I just defected to Disney (never again) and will be happy to return to Royal. First cruise where our cabin attendant didn't know our names since he never came to room and introduced himself. I had to track him down to tell him how to set up room for the night. Every cruise/personal experience is different.

[riclop]

Oasis is the destination.

[missholly24]

Hi guys,

 

Former Carnival loyalists here cruising with RC for the first time in May aboard the Oasis. I am REALLY excited:D:D:D, my husband not so much because he is a creature of habit and is used to a certain way of doing things. Boo. Hopefully, after he steps foot on the Oasis and sees how she pretty much puts any Carnival vessel to shame, he will be sold. Don't get me wrong, we love the "Fun Ships" we (I) just wanted to try something BIGGER. With so many additional entertainment venues, specialty restaurants and a wider variety of activities, (and not to mention one of the most innovative and uniquely designed ships out there) we (I) figured we (I) couldn't go wrong with Oasis.

 

We sail on May 28th and with that being said, I've got a few questions for you veterans so that I can check off the few remaining questions on my OCD checklist.

 

1. One of my husband's major concerns was that everything seemed to cost WAY more on Royal than it does on Carnival including of course the fare. However, I have found that since we first booked this cruise back in March of 2015, that I have been able to rack up $350 in OBC, got a 15% (I think it was) discount on my internet package, 20% off the premium drink package just this past week, and a few other smaller line items. IS THIS NORMAL? The reason I ask is should I wait and book any shore excursions online? Is there a chance they will offer them at a discount later down the road? Any other discounts or specials I should keep an eye out for?

 

2. We will be on the Nassau, St. Thomas, and St. Maarten itinerary. I wanted to double check when the formal nights would be. Carnival does theirs differently so I was hoping someone could tell me how RC runs theirs.

 

3. Hubby would like to know, is there lobster (sit down somewhere I am sure they have lobster, geez).

 

4. Adventure Ocean -- I have a very, very hyper 4 year old and she will be spending a good majority of her time in Adventure Ocean. I've seen it mentioned several times on this board that during dinner times, sometimes they will "escort" the kids down to Windjammer to eat. This concerns me -- and I realize I could just elect to pick her up if I am that uncomfortable with it -- but I am just curious, how do they keep a bunch of 3, 4 and 5 year-old's corralled and not running wild and uncontrolled around the ship? Perhaps maybe my child is the only one that acts like wilder-beast when she gets free??? :eek: Hubby said, do they have a bus or a cart or like a rope they tie all the kids to, to transport them? Really a rope? Pretty sure that would be child abuse, Dear. I doubt it.

 

4. Last question and thank you in advance for reading this ridiculously and unnecessarily long post: Speaking of specialty dining, does anyone know why they charge kids under 5 the whole price for the dinner when booking the reservation online when kids under 5 are supposed to eat free (and no I will not be bringing the wild child to any of the swankier venues, only Izumi and Sabor).

 

Thank you in advance for any feedback.

 

Haha..."Carnival Defector"...Just want to pop in and say I loved your post. I too sail both lines and you will LOOOOOOOVE RCI. Especially with that onboard credit girl good job! Oh, and my 5 and 7 year olds are wild banshies too and I sympathize with your fear of them being escorted to dinner. It seems to always work fine though. Maybe the "pack" mentality. They follow everyone elses lead. The Adventure Ocean employees are wonderful. Happy Cruising! P.S. Write a review, I would love to read your thoughts about the "switch"...and your husbands! I too had to convince my husband to try Royal. He was scared about there not being enough ice cream (its not 24 hours--seriously really?) and he loves the Carnival vibe. It all worked out though.

[oceancocktailawaits]

Thanks for all the info, I too Have only cruised on Carnival and have loved how the waiters and room stewards always called us by name the very first day. Its amazing how they could remember. They made us feel very special. Well my husband had cruised once with RCI and has always said that the whole experience was more grande on royal. So our family has decided to give it a try on the Oasis on May 28th. Have to say Im a little nervous but very excited at the same time. A few of my family members always enjoyed the omelet station on Carnival so I will have to make note of where you found them. And also the ice cream. My husband husband has to have that. We actually loved the pizza on Carnival on our cruise on the sunshine. So I was happy to hear you like RCI pizza. I think I will miss guys and the burrito/taco stand tho. Hopefully we will be happy with the experience.

[Janespup]

One thing that dawned on me a few days after we got home is what I feel is one of the biggest differences between our Oasis cruise and our Carnival cruises, other that the sheer size and design of the ship. And that is the age of the passengers. Not counting children (and there weren't very many of them), I would say that the average age of the passengers on our cruise was 60+. On our Carnival cruises, not counting the children, I would say the average age was more like 40. I am, admittedly, one of those older people, so I am not saying anything against them! I just feel that this difference in demographics could have created a more mellow vibe on the Oasis, than I am accustomed to on Carnival.

[skywalkr2]

Wonder if the OP had a good time? I often want to try RCI, but never end up doing it as I keep hear about pros/cons, and the CCL pro of way cheaper always wins for me.

[Rinderoo]

Been on many cruises and different lines, and I prefer Carnival for 5+ nights as I don't feel nickel and dimed to death like I do on Royal. Seriously, $12 for a glass of wine? On Carnival it would be $7. Plus Carnival ships have guest laundry areas! That is a huge issue for me as I like to do laundry on a cruise so I don't have to pack as much. On the Oasis in two weeks it looks like I'll be washing out the delicates in the bathroom and sending out the shorts and t-shirts, because my friend refuses to let me go to the laundromat in Crown Bay. I've also been on many Princess cruises and like them quite well. Guess I am a reluctant Oasis passenger but I know it will be good.

 

The Oasis is the destination, and it is an amazing ship. But it is going to be hard to beat the Carnival Breeze, which is the best ship I've ever been on. Doing the Caribbean Princess instead of the CCL Vista because of price, but none of those have gone to final payment yet. If I find I absolutely love Royal and the Oasis, I might just book it again and cancel the others. But it is doubtful!