Looking to sail Oasis of the Seas

[griz400]

We have been cruising now just 3 years, and 12 days from our sixth cruise here on Halloween. But, now we are looking for a spring cruise and was wanting to " go large " ... lol. We are looking at the Oasis of the Seas, and going to Haiti, Jamaica and Cozumel from port Canaveral this May.

Some questions though, cause we have only sailed on Carnival and once on Norwegian, are ..

Do they have your time dining in the dining rooms ??

Do you have to pre book shows ??

Can you order for example Carnival has fun shops, and we usually or a couple fifths of rum, and a cake, and some water all for our room before we cruise ??

Can you put cruise cash on your account before ?? and then also link your card to your account ???

Will we be spoiled on a large ship like this and not want to sail the small ones any more ??

Hope we are not a bother here and we probably still have some more questions ...:)

[jamesr3939]

Do they have your time dining in the dining rooms ??

 

yes

 

Do you have to pre book shows ??

 

not really, only the comedy show is recommended

 

Can you order for example Carnival has fun shops, and we usually or a couple fifths of rum, and a cake, and some water all for our room before we cruise ??

 

no hard booze. only wine, champagne, cakes, cheese fruit plates, water, etc.

 

Can you put cruise cash on your account before ?? and then also link your card to your account ???

 

not sure about "cruise cash" but you can buy gift certificates and deposit them on your account and you can still put a CC on the account.

 

Will we be spoiled on a large ship like this and not want to sail the small ones any more ??

 

probably, yes

 

Hope we are not a bother here and we probably still have some more questions ...:)

 

never a problem that's what CC is all about

Edited October 18, 2016 by jamesr3939

[Ken at the beach]

Instead of buying gift certificates that have a lot of restrictions it is easier just to call either gifts and gear and purchase OBC directly. 1-800-722-5443

Edited October 18, 2016 by Ourusualbeach

[griz400]

We like to prepay just about everything .. can you on the gratuities as well ???

[Ken at the beach]

We like to prepay just about everything .. can you on the gratuities as well ???

 

Yes, Royal likes taking your money early.

[linerode]

We have been on the cruise you are mentioning and it was a great itinerary. We love Oasis and you will probably be spoiled. We were. We wondered if we would not like that there are so many people on Oasis but we found this ship is so large it feels like there are less people on the ship. We love it.

[jamesr3939]

Instead of buying gift certificates that have a lot of restrictions it is easier just to call either gifts and gear and purchase OBC directly. 1-800-722-5443

 

While I haven't done either I was going to put OBC on our kids cabin for our next cruise.

 

I didn't see any restrictions for buying gift certificates and then redeeming them for OBC. I didn't really look, but I don't recall seeing direct purchase of OBC.

 

We too were concerned about the Oasis being to huge the first time we sailed her. By the second day we were planing our next "huge" ship cruise and are leaving in 12 days for the Allure. Plus, looks like we will do the Oasis again next October.

 

The ship really is the destination and the ports sort of secondary. But, we have done about 35 cruise so that's just us.

Edited October 18, 2016 by jamesr3939

[nealstuber]

We had been following Oasis since before she was built, but did not have the opportunity to sail on her till a couple of years ago.

 

For us, when there is such a long wait and a huge build up, we're disappointed. Oasis was an exception to that rule.

 

The ship exceeded our expectations in every way. WE booked at the last minute so show reservations were not an option, but we had great seats going standby for everything - during a prime summer week.

 

Only thing that disappointed us to a degree was the service. Allure gets much better reviews on this front so if FLL is as easy an option for you, I'd choose her first.

 

 

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[wampuscat7]

I'm a relative newbie compared to most here, but I can say that after 3 Carnival cruises and 1 on Oasis, I did feel spoiled. The ship itself and especially the entertainment was so much better than I had experienced. That said, I still like Carnival enough to be sailing on Magic this winter. (Gotta try one of Carnival's bigger boats.)

 

I felt RCI did an exceptional job of crowd management on Oasis. Overlapping events and the neighborhoods concept really spreads out the people. Embarkation day is the only time I felt like there was a large crowd.

 

 

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[Ery]

You don't "have to" book the shows, but if you want to see Comedy and the water theater show- make reservations. People were turned away each time for those when we've been on.

The other shows usually had plenty of additional seating.

 

We love Oasis, but looking forward to our upcoming Allure trip simply because of Mama Mia instead of Cats and The Samba Brazilian steakhouse.

 

 

 

 

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[Ery]

We like to prepay just about everything .. can you on the gratuities as well ???

 

 

Always prepay everything but specialty dining. Gratuities and drink packages are always paid for before we board them we use obc for specialty dining, shopping or photos. Of course now Oasis has been getting access to obc before sailing it will be nice to use that towards pre board booking of dining or towards drink packages

 

 

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[PTAngel]

You don't "have to" book the shows, but if you want to see Comedy and the water theater show- make reservations. People were turned away each time for those when we've been on.

The other shows usually had plenty of additional seating.

 

We love Oasis, but looking forward to our upcoming Allure trip simply because of Mama Mia instead of Cats and The Samba Brazilian steakhouse.

 

 

 

 

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We were just on Oasis last month. I would advise booking the ice show also. It was really crowded & they kept letting people in. My friend ended up sitting on a step & I found a single seat. If I remember correctly, there were only 2 showings of this show on a 7 day cruise which also made it appear on my To-Do list ASAP.

[Ery]

We were just on Oasis last month. I would advise booking the ice show also. It was really crowded & they kept letting people in. My friend ended up sitting on a step & I found a single seat. If I remember correctly, there were only 2 showings of this show on a 7 day cruise which also made it appear on my To-Do list ASAP.

 

 

Our last trip it was nearly empty at the ice show we went to. It was a great show. We always just book all the shows in advance it's just easier. But I know some people hate doing that.

 

 

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[tgloersen]

Just got off the ship,

 

Same itinerary which was a good one,

 

Booking shows not needed, Comedy (do book this though)

 

Loved the ship, but still will do the smaller ones. My only complaint is the maintenance seems to be lacking on a ship that is only 7 Years old, many areas were you smell mold and mildew, as a matter of fact our balcony cabin had a very bad smell of this, after 9 hours of dealing with customer service they finally put us into a JS which had no issues and was nice upgrade but did cost us the first 9 hours without a cabin. I really think the problem is within the HVAC system, the need to go through and do a de-scaling or have a condensation water drainage problem

 

Other than that its a nice ship and did not feel crowded.

[Nayola]

My husband and I just got off the Oasis a couple weeks ago. Definitely book the comedy show if you want to see it. We tried to just walk up and could not get in. The ice show was my favorite. I would book that as well.

 

Although I enjoyed this huge ship, I feel that the smaller ships have a certain charm about them as well. So I don't believe that I've been spoiled. I like that there is variety!

[Klstaack]

In my opinion the key to enjoying these mega ships is reservations. Make reservations for everything you can in advance...you can change them if needed. Lots of people complain about lines on the oasis class but if you make reservations the lines will not be an issue. We have sailed oasis class twice and have an upcoming sailing on Harmony of the Seas.

 

You don't "have to" book the shows, but if you want to see Comedy and the water theater show- make reservations. People were turned away each time for those when we've been on.

The other shows usually had plenty of additional seating.

 

We love Oasis, but looking forward to our upcoming Allure trip simply because of Mama Mia instead of Cats and The Samba Brazilian steakhouse.

 

 

 

 

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[Ery]

We always book In advance, we've honestly never waited in a line for anything on board. The only exception to that is we waited 7 minutes to get photos with the captain.smaller ships we always find ourselves in lines

 

 

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[RedJessi]

My first Cruise was on Allure and everyone said I was going to be spoiled right away and not be able to enjoy smaller cruises. As you can see in my sig, we don't cruise a whole lot (but I'm a aplnner and I love all the great info on CC!) - so my second cruise was on The Carnival Ecstasty - 4 years later. And maybe I went in with my expectations very tempered - but I was very plesantly surprised by the quality of the experience. I enjoyed both cruises and didn't feel that the smaller (and MUCH older!) ship marred the experience. The only bad thing I could say about the Carnivale cruise was that the comedians were just awful.

 

So, no, I don't think you will necessairly get spoiled by a big mega ship and not be able to enjoy the smaller vessels at all. At the end of the day, a cruise is a nice get away from the norm!

Edited October 20, 2016 by RedJessi