Oasis Trip Report 8/13-8/20

[jll583]

So I thought I'd do a quick review of our trip and try to answer any questions anyone may have. (There is a post on here with the cruise compasses that i scanned, if anyone is interested)

 

I'll also start this with we tried to do this trip as cheaply as possible. I'll start with a few pre-trip details and go from there.

 

 

About us- This was my fourth RC cruise and husbands second, the last RC cruise being in 2006 on Soverign of the Seas (4 night). Our last cruise was Disney Dream (3 night) in 2015. I've sailed on both Carnival and RC on 7 night cruises, but its been probably 15+ years. I've always been a RC fan, so i was really pushing for RC this trip.

 

 

First, the trip was for my husband and I's 10 year anniversary. We sailed alone this trip (we are 40 and 34 if anyone wanted to know) We (really just me) did a ton of research. Due to cost, we were originally looking at Carnival since we wanted to go for a week. I was our travel agent and did a ton of pricing. I assumed RC would be out of our budget and was very surprised to see it wasn't that much more. We booked our trip in February and booked direct with RC.We orignially booked an Oceanview Balcony on Deck 6. We opted to pre-pay our gratuties so we would n

not have to worry about them later. I price checked EVERY SINGLE DAY. I used the app that sends an email if the price changes but i still checked ALL THE TIME. So in the begining of April I logged on to the RC site to check the price one evening before bed. Low and behold, there was a price change on Gty Balcony cabins for less than half of what we paid per person when we booked in Feb. So I call RC to change to a Gty for half the price, thinking there is no way this will happen. Three hours on hold later, they answered and while they had no more Oceanview Gty we upgraded to a Neighborhood Balcony. (We woke up the following morning and the price jumped back up to double what it was from the night before) The following day, we had our assignment of a Boardwalk Balcony, which pleased my husband greatly since he didn't have to pay for the soda package (Eat,Drink,Play promotion) MAJOR WIFE POINTS HERE :)

 

 

I also used a MyVegas reward for Onboard Credit. It was easy to use. Once redeemed on MyVegas it gives an email address (it was a casino one if i remember correctly) to email some info to (name, sail date, ship, reservation number ect) and the OBC was applied to our account within a week or so. This onboard credit showed up and we were able to use for Shore Exursions/Dining before boarding.

 

 

We paid in full a few weeks before the final payment date as we felt there was no way the deal we got could get any better. Thanks to come Cruise Critic Members, I found out that we could call and switch our cabin within the same category if there was a better cabin. I never would have known this. We actually ended up going from an end cabin on the boardwalk (10699) to an all the way aft cabin (12329). Easy phone call, took them less than a minute to make the change. They send a confirmation invoice right away to document the change.

We had my time dining and made all of those reservations in May/June via Cruise Planner along with our Entertainment reservations. I HIGHLY reccomend making entertainment reservations before you board especially if there is a show you definately want to see. They are kinda strict with letting people in with reservations. The standby line for many shows were long and I saw people turned away a few times (comedy shows and Oasis of Dreams)

 

We purchased FNDR as well, and a shore excursion for St Maarten. We also called and purchased on board credit a few times. I will say this kind of made me nervous because it never showed on our invoices but i was assured it would be documeted on paper once we boarded and be available by the second day. We drove down on Saturday the 12th from NC. We stayed the night in Titusville at the Fairfield Inn and Suites. We actually stayed here two years ago when we sailed out of PC on Disney Cruise Line. At the time, this hotel was part of the discount program for parking at the Port. That discount ended this year. We enjoyed staying at Fairfield, we will most likely stay there each time we sail. Its an easy 20 minute ride or so from the Port. At $120/nt its much less expensive than many of the Cocca Beach hotels. It also includes breakfast, which is a nice bonus. There is also a Walmart and Target less than a mile away which was nice for some last minute needs. Also, plenty of restaurants nearby as well, so no need to drive around and search for last minute items or food :)

 

 

Next up: BOARDING DAY!!!!!

[easyboy]

Sounds like you did some hard planning for your 10th anniversary!

Will be following along!

[Keith1010]

Enjoyed your review.

 

Keith

[Clarea]

Enjoyed your review.

[baileybrad]

Really enjoyed reading about your planning process. Look forward to more updates. Thank you.

[aubreyc1988]

 

I also used a MyVegas reward for Onboard Credit. It was easy to use. Once redeemed on MyVegas it gives an email address (it was a casino one if i remember correctly) to email some info to (name, sail date, ship, reservation number ect) and the OBC was applied to our account within a week or so. This onboard credit showed up and we were able to use for Shore Exursions/Dining before boarding.

 

 

Next up: BOARDING DAY!!!!!

 

Did you book with RCI or a TA? I would love to do this, as I have a lot of LP, but I usually book with a TA and get OBC with them, and I was pretty sure I probably couldn't double dip

[jll583]

Day 1- Boarding/Embarkation Day

 

I woke up around 4am, I was soooooooooooo excited. I ended up watching the Oasis come into port on the webcam. That only heightened my excitement. Finally actually got up and showered and got dressed around 7. Went down and ate breakfast in the lobby and came back up to grab our luggage. So at this point, I started to regret my decision of waking up so early......

 

Anyway, we headed out to port around 8:30am/9am. There is nothing like getting that first look of the ship for the first time. I was truly amazed of the Oasis size. We parked right on site in the parking garage. (We actually prepaid for that as well, it was $128 for the week). We pulled up and it was super busy. It was probably about 9:15 or so, we dropped our bags with the porters. Quick heads up, my husband slapped a luggage tag on a case of water. It was a no go. I"m not sure if it was the porter we had or what. They wouldn't take it, it was worth a shot. However, I saw other cases of water in the hallways later that day when luggage was delivered. Some of them were in large bags, so I don't know if that made a difference and others were just like ours with the luggage tags taped to the top. Anyway, once we dropped the luggage off, we were off to park. I assumed since we were there and it wasn't 9:30 yet, we'd be the only ones waiting in line. WRONG! There was quite a line at that point.

 

Around 9:45, they opened the doors to the terminal. We had our set sail pass and passports ready for inspection. Then we went thru security. We did have two carry on bottles of wine. They didn't even check them, maybe they did via the security machine. I was prepared to have to take them out, but nope. We then headed up the escalator to check in. They check you in by what floor your cabin is on and I assume there is a line if you are a frequent cruiser. There was quite a line, but only a few agents working. Then all the sudden, it was like the clock struck 10 and a whole bunch of agents came out of a side door and we were at the front of the line. We signed our forms promising we didn't have diarrhea and had our pictures taken for our seapass cards and we were given a number to board. We are gold and were given the number 1. We then took a seat and people watched for awhile. I will say they have some aggressive sales people coming around trying to sell the different packages (dining and drinks). I just told them we were all set and they moved on to others.

 

We were called to board around 11:15am and walked right on the boat. I'll be honest, they don't really check the cards they give you. I handed mine to the lady, but there were many on the floor and many sitting on tables when we boarded. We didn't stop to have our photo taken, I will say they are a little aggressive on the photo front as well, but I get it, its there job. A quick "no thanks" is all that is needed if you aren't interested. We headed to the specialty dining desk in the Promenade (someone from Guest Services pointed it out to us) to find out about switching to Chops for FNDR. We were told at the desk that FNDR now only includes Sabor and Giovanni's. We could go to Chops or 150 Central Park for half price if we'd rather but would be charged the difference. I didn't fight it, I thought maybe I got some misinformation along the way. It seems that it just changed recently from what I've seen. They also told us our reservation was for Giovanni's at 7pm which was odd because I had signed up for an 8:30pm dining time when we purchased FNDR. I stated that and they stated they changed it to 8:30.

 

We then noticed my husbands sea pass card did not have a coke sticker for the soda package so we were advised to head to the drink table where they sell packages. They checked and stated it should have been on there as we had the Boardwalk balcony so it was to be included (mine was correct). They also gave him a cup there stating that it only showed up under my name so there would only be one cup in the room waiting for us. We then took fellow Cruise Critic members advice and headed to Park Cafe for the roast beef sandwich (Kummelwick) It did not disappoint! We then just walked around trying to figure out where everything was on the ship.

 

Around 1, the rooms were ready and we headed there to see if our luggage had arrived. It had not as of yet. We LOVED our room. We had the most aft balcony on the 12th floor, 12329. We enjoyed the balcony so much. We were able to watch whatever was going on in the Aquatheatre from our balcony. They played various movies during the week and that would have been a prime spot to watch as well. As far as the noise, as long as the door was shut and locked you couldn't hear a thing. I would have been worried about that reading others reviews if my kids had been with us. The shows go somewhat late, however we didn't hear a thing as long as the door was shut and locked. Another thing we were worried about was the motion we might feel being so far aft. On our first cruise (on Sovereign), we had the most forward cabin and my husband was very sick the first night and i had even fell in the hallway the boat was rocking so bad. Mind you, this was 11 years ago, but the thought of that made my husband nervous. Anyhow, on sea days, you could definetly feel the boat rocking a bit. Was it bad? No. Was it noticeable? Yes. Still, I wouldn't hesitate to get that cabin again. We met our room steward Ahmad, who was amazing the whole week. We waited on our luggage for awhile as I wanted to unpack and get that out of the way. We waited about an hour with no luck and decided to head out again to explore. As we walked down the hallway, we noticed our luggage was outside another cabin waaaaaaaaay down the hall from our cabin.(Yay for the bright green luggage tags we purchased) So we wheeled them down to our cabin and unpacked. Per suggestion on here I purchased a few things which came in handy throughout the week. First I purchased a shoe organizer to go on the bathroom door. What a space saver! I had pockets for everything imaginable. I also purchased some magnetic hooks which were very helpful for wet bathing suits/clothes.There are a few hooks in the bathroom, but these you could stick anywhere. I also packed a plug with five different USB outlets. We never used it..... my husband left his phone in the car. I had my phone and ipad, but barely used my phone. I charged it overnight before we disembarked the boat on the 20th. Other than that, we used the ipad to keep in touch. We did pre-purchase Voom. It worked well for what we needed. Never had any issue with it. We used it for Facetime to keep in touch with our kids and for Facebook posts. The speed was very fast, no complaints there.

 

When we booked, RC asked if we were celebating anything special and we stated our anniversary. When we first got to them room, they had delivered a fruit and cheese tray for us, which we thought was nice. Also, at this point we had our proof of onboard credit by the printouts on the desk. I"ve read some places where cruisers don't get it sometimes until the first night or even day 2, ours was there as we entered the room. We became aquainted with the TV system, which showed all our reservations. According to the TV, our FNDR was from 5:30 to 7:30 at Giovanni's. So we called and they stated it was changed to 8:30, but we wanted to be sure.

 

We then walked around and became aquainted with our home for the next week before Muster Drill. Our Muster Drill was in the Aquatheatre. This was the most painless Muster Drill I've ever expiereinced. Quick and to the point, the video they play is way cheesey but oh well. We noticed a staircase next to the aquatheatre that took you down to the jogging track/back of the boat. We walked to the back of the boat and it looked as if a storm was about to hit. The sky got very dark and then we saw the Carnival Liberty pull out. We followed right after and sailed into the sun, the Carnival Magic followed us out. We all sailed into the sun, which was nice. The weather looked so nasty! The PC webcam was zoomed right in on my husband and I which really delighted our kids. They thought it was hilarious that we were on there, as we watched the Oasis depart every Sunday before we left. We sat on the back of the boat for awhile as we sailed away. That was probably my favorite spot to relax for the week. Honestly, the times we were back there, there might have been one or two other people back there. SO PEACEFUL! Then off to explore again.....This was probably the point where I found out about the Coconut Ranger Cookies. Holy moly are they delicious! Everytime I passed Cafe Promenade I grabbed one or two!

 

After more exploring, we decided to go back to the cabin and relax for awhile before dinner. Around 7 our phone rang and it was Giovanni's asking if we'd like to come to dinner at 7:15. We were about to shower and dress for dinner, so we comprimised and said we'd be there around 7:45. I will say Giovanni's was the best meal of the week! It was a great start to the cruise and our vacation. The meat and cheese tray, with the pickled veggies (they just bring it as you are seated) was to die for, as was the bread with the oil/balsamic/parmesan dipper. I had the mushroom risotto and that may have been my favorite of the week. My husband had the Tuna carpaccio (bleh to raw fish) and he raved about it, so if thats your kind of thing, he gave it two thumbs up. I had the Filet for my main course. It was also very good, I ordered it medium, and it was definitely more of a medium rare, which was still fine with me, but if you are a strict medidum/medium well person, you might want to mention how you would like it cooked in detail. It was stated again by the waitress, that the filet is the same filet from Chops. It was very very good. My husband got some type of Pork Belly dish, that he did not care for. He actually cracked a tooth on it as it was so hard. So that was the one drawback of the meal. I had tiramasu for dessert and it was really good, my husband had canolli's which he also enjoyed. I will say at this point, it was probably 8:45-9pm and Giovannis was PACKED. I think they may have had a problem with the reservation system or something or they just had to cram everyone into Giovannis or Sabor.

 

We then headed to the Casino, and I found my favorite slot, which became my home for a little while each night of the week. We then went to Kareoke (did not participate) in On-Air and watched people sing for an hour or so. We both got the drink of the day (two drinks with the 18% and tip came to around $25), which was pretty good and enjoyed people singing. By then, it was nearing midnight and since id been up since 4am, i decided it was time to turn in. Of course, one quick stop by Cafe Prominade for a few coconut ranger cookies was needed!!!!

 

Next up: Day 2 (At Sea)

[jll583]

Did you book with RCI or a TA? I would love to do this, as I have a lot of LP, but I usually book with a TA and get OBC with them, and I was pretty sure I probably couldn't double dip

 

We booked thru RCI, but this seemed to be a seperate thing with the MyVegas deal. We still received our OBC for a promotion when booking, Worst case scenerio, if RC doesn't allow it, you can return the reward on Myvegas and get your "gold" points back. We had to do that with my Husbands as i didn't read the fine print stating one reward per cabin. Also, it has to be done within 30 days of booking the cruise.

[jll583]

Something I forgot...... we had MTD and reserved a time before boarding. Since we decided to do FNDR we decided not to go to MTD. I wanted to let the dining room know so we wouldn't mess up our reservations for the remainder of the week. We went down and there was a line and a RC crew member asked us what we needed. We stated we just needed to cancel our reservation. They told us it was not necessary and anytime during the week to just let the reservation to run out if it was not needed.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[jll583]

Monday/Tuesday were two sea days. We did sea day things, pool, ate, pool, ate....... watched the sexiest man comp and belly flop contest from our balcony. I confused myself and missed the meet and mingle.... for some reason I thought it was sea day 2, not day 2. We are in the MDR these two nights. We actually had the same table and servers each evening. Not sure if it was because we made our reservations at the same time each night or what. We also spent time in the casino each evening. I just play the penny slots and won back what my husband lost!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[sunshine0009]

Day 1- Boarding/Embarkation Day

 

 

 

I woke up around 4am, I was soooooooooooo excited. I ended up watching the Oasis come into port on the webcam. That only heightened my excitement. Finally actually got up and showered and got dressed around 7. Went down and ate breakfast in the lobby and came back up to grab our luggage. So at this point, I started to regret my decision of waking up so early......

 

 

 

Anyway, we headed out to port around 8:30am/9am. There is nothing like getting that first look of the ship for the first time. I was truly amazed of the Oasis size. We parked right on site in the parking garage. (We actually prepaid for that as well, it was $128 for the week). We pulled up and it was super busy. It was probably about 9:15 or so, we dropped our bags with the porters. Quick heads up, my husband slapped a luggage tag on a case of water. It was a no go. I"m not sure if it was the porter we had or what. They wouldn't take it, it was worth a shot. However, I saw other cases of water in the hallways later that day when luggage was delivered. Some of them were in large bags, so I don't know if that made a difference and others were just like ours with the luggage tags taped to the top. Anyway, once we dropped the luggage off, we were off to park. I assumed since we were there and it wasn't 9:30 yet, we'd be the only ones waiting in line. WRONG! There was quite a line at that point.

 

 

 

Around 9:45, they opened the doors to the terminal. We had our set sail pass and passports ready for inspection. Then we went thru security. We did have two carry on bottles of wine. They didn't even check them, maybe they did via the security machine. I was prepared to have to take them out, but nope. We then headed up the escalator to check in. They check you in by what floor your cabin is on and I assume there is a line if you are a frequent cruiser. There was quite a line, but only a few agents working. Then all the sudden, it was like the clock struck 10 and a whole bunch of agents came out of a side door and we were at the front of the line. We signed our forms promising we didn't have diarrhea and had our pictures taken for our seapass cards and we were given a number to board. We are gold and were given the number 1. We then took a seat and people watched for awhile. I will say they have some aggressive sales people coming around trying to sell the different packages (dining and drinks). I just told them we were all set and they moved on to others.

 

 

 

We were called to board around 11:15am and walked right on the boat. I'll be honest, they don't really check the cards they give you. I handed mine to the lady, but there were many on the floor and many sitting on tables when we boarded. We didn't stop to have our photo taken, I will say they are a little aggressive on the photo front as well, but I get it, its there job. A quick "no thanks" is all that is needed if you aren't interested. We headed to the specialty dining desk in the Promenade (someone from Guest Services pointed it out to us) to find out about switching to Chops for FNDR. We were told at the desk that FNDR now only includes Sabor and Giovanni's. We could go to Chops or 150 Central Park for half price if we'd rather but would be charged the difference. I didn't fight it, I thought maybe I got some misinformation along the way. It seems that it just changed recently from what I've seen. They also told us our reservation was for Giovanni's at 7pm which was odd because I had signed up for an 8:30pm dining time when we purchased FNDR. I stated that and they stated they changed it to 8:30.

 

 

 

We then noticed my husbands sea pass card did not have a coke sticker for the soda package so we were advised to head to the drink table where they sell packages. They checked and stated it should have been on there as we had the Boardwalk balcony so it was to be included (mine was correct). They also gave him a cup there stating that it only showed up under my name so there would only be one cup in the room waiting for us. We then took fellow Cruise Critic members advice and headed to Park Cafe for the roast beef sandwich (Kummelwick) It did not disappoint! We then just walked around trying to figure out where everything was on the ship.

 

 

 

Around 1, the rooms were ready and we headed there to see if our luggage had arrived. It had not as of yet. We LOVED our room. We had the most aft balcony on the 12th floor, 12329. We enjoyed the balcony so much. We were able to watch whatever was going on in the Aquatheatre from our balcony. They played various movies during the week and that would have been a prime spot to watch as well. As far as the noise, as long as the door was shut and locked you couldn't hear a thing. I would have been worried about that reading others reviews if my kids had been with us. The shows go somewhat late, however we didn't hear a thing as long as the door was shut and locked. Another thing we were worried about was the motion we might feel being so far aft. On our first cruise (on Sovereign), we had the most forward cabin and my husband was very sick the first night and i had even fell in the hallway the boat was rocking so bad. Mind you, this was 11 years ago, but the thought of that made my husband nervous. Anyhow, on sea days, you could definetly feel the boat rocking a bit. Was it bad? No. Was it noticeable? Yes. Still, I wouldn't hesitate to get that cabin again. We met our room steward Ahmad, who was amazing the whole week. We waited on our luggage for awhile as I wanted to unpack and get that out of the way. We waited about an hour with no luck and decided to head out again to explore. As we walked down the hallway, we noticed our luggage was outside another cabin waaaaaaaaay down the hall from our cabin.(Yay for the bright green luggage tags we purchased) So we wheeled them down to our cabin and unpacked. Per suggestion on here I purchased a few things which came in handy throughout the week. First I purchased a shoe organizer to go on the bathroom door. What a space saver! I had pockets for everything imaginable. I also purchased some magnetic hooks which were very helpful for wet bathing suits/clothes.There are a few hooks in the bathroom, but these you could stick anywhere. I also packed a plug with five different USB outlets. We never used it..... my husband left his phone in the car. I had my phone and ipad, but barely used my phone. I charged it overnight before we disembarked the boat on the 20th. Other than that, we used the ipad to keep in touch. We did pre-purchase Voom. It worked well for what we needed. Never had any issue with it. We used it for Facetime to keep in touch with our kids and for Facebook posts. The speed was very fast, no complaints there.

 

 

 

When we booked, RC asked if we were celebating anything special and we stated our anniversary. When we first got to them room, they had delivered a fruit and cheese tray for us, which we thought was nice. Also, at this point we had our proof of onboard credit by the printouts on the desk. I"ve read some places where cruisers don't get it sometimes until the first night or even day 2, ours was there as we entered the room. We became aquainted with the TV system, which showed all our reservations. According to the TV, our FNDR was from 5:30 to 7:30 at Giovanni's. So we called and they stated it was changed to 8:30, but we wanted to be sure.

 

 

 

We then walked around and became aquainted with our home for the next week before Muster Drill. Our Muster Drill was in the Aquatheatre. This was the most painless Muster Drill I've ever expiereinced. Quick and to the point, the video they play is way cheesey but oh well. We noticed a staircase next to the aquatheatre that took you down to the jogging track/back of the boat. We walked to the back of the boat and it looked as if a storm was about to hit. The sky got very dark and then we saw the Carnival Liberty pull out. We followed right after and sailed into the sun, the Carnival Magic followed us out. We all sailed into the sun, which was nice. The weather looked so nasty! The PC webcam was zoomed right in on my husband and I which really delighted our kids. They thought it was hilarious that we were on there, as we watched the Oasis depart every Sunday before we left. We sat on the back of the boat for awhile as we sailed away. That was probably my favorite spot to relax for the week. Honestly, the times we were back there, there might have been one or two other people back there. SO PEACEFUL! Then off to explore again.....This was probably the point where I found out about the Coconut Ranger Cookies. Holy moly are they delicious! Everytime I passed Cafe Promenade I grabbed one or two!

 

 

 

After more exploring, we decided to go back to the cabin and relax for awhile before dinner. Around 7 our phone rang and it was Giovanni's asking if we'd like to come to dinner at 7:15. We were about to shower and dress for dinner, so we comprimised and said we'd be there around 7:45. I will say Giovanni's was the best meal of the week! It was a great start to the cruise and our vacation. The meat and cheese tray, with the pickled veggies (they just bring it as you are seated) was to die for, as was the bread with the oil/balsamic/parmesan dipper. I had the mushroom risotto and that may have been my favorite of the week. My husband had the Tuna carpaccio (bleh to raw fish) and he raved about it, so if thats your kind of thing, he gave it two thumbs up. I had the Filet for my main course. It was also very good, I ordered it medium, and it was definitely more of a medium rare, which was still fine with me, but if you are a strict medidum/medium well person, you might want to mention how you would like it cooked in detail. It was stated again by the waitress, that the filet is the same filet from Chops. It was very very good. My husband got some type of Pork Belly dish, that he did not care for. He actually cracked a tooth on it as it was so hard. So that was the one drawback of the meal. I had tiramasu for dessert and it was really good, my husband had canolli's which he also enjoyed. I will say at this point, it was probably 8:45-9pm and Giovannis was PACKED. I think they may have had a problem with the reservation system or something or they just had to cram everyone into Giovannis or Sabor.

 

 

 

We then headed to the Casino, and I found my favorite slot, which became my home for a little while each night of the week. We then went to Kareoke (did not participate) in On-Air and watched people sing for an hour or so. We both got the drink of the day (two drinks with the 18% and tip came to around $25), which was pretty good and enjoyed people singing. By then, it was nearing midnight and since id been up since 4am, i decided it was time to turn in. Of course, one quick stop by Cafe Prominade for a few coconut ranger cookies was needed!!!!

 

 

 

Next up: Day 2 (At Sea)

 

 

 

I know there is an ATM in the casino but do you know what the charge is to use it? Also can you get cash from your onboard account for the casino? I hate to carry around too much cash.

Thanks.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[lazydayz]

Thanks for your review. Our turn in just over two weeks.:)

[jll583]

I know there is an ATM in the casino but do you know what the charge is to use it? Also can you get cash from your onboard account for the casino? I hate to carry around too much cash.

Thanks.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

 

 

I'm not sure about ATM fees. We never used it. To be honest I didn't see ATMs in the Casino, I only saw them outside On Air in the Promenade. So if anyone is searching and can't find them in the casino they are definitely outside On Air. We didn't withdraw cash from our onboard account either, but I think I've read somewhere they charge a 5% fee. Sorry I couldn't be more help!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[jll583]

Wednesday- St Maarten

 

We purchased the Sea Trek excursion thru RC before the cruise. This is the underwater helmet dive excursion. We had to meet right off the boat at 9:30am. It was lightly raining and pretty cloudy out. The weather did not look promising. By the time we signed our release forms, the sun had come out! We made our way over to the boat to take us to the dive. It wasn't a far walk at all and I think it's the same place you catch the water taxi from. We then headed over to the floating hut to do our dive. There were probably 30 people in our group and they separated us into two groups. We were in the second group so we were able to snorkel while the first group went down. They provide their own equipment to those who choose to snorkel. Also, you need water shoes for this excursion and they provided those as well if you didn't bring your own. We snorkeled for awhile (my first time) and then it was time for us to do our dive. You go down about a 20 foot ladder (you are helped down) and then walk along a guided path underwater. It took us about 20 minutes. It was by far the coolest thing I've ever done! You are able to take an underwater camera with you if you'd like but the excursion also takes photos which you are able to purchase after the dive. I was a little sketchy on doing this. I wasn't exactly sure how I'd feel being under the water with no way up. I was fine. The helmets weigh 75 pounds but once under only 15. I was afraid I'd be the one whose helmet filled up with water but as long as you stand straight no water enters. Once we were done with our dive, we were offered rum punch (complementary and very good). They show the photos they took underwater on a TV. The photos are put on a Flash drive and sold for $35. You will get all photos of your group, so you have a bunch with strangers. They also have a ton of beautiful stock photos on the drive. The photos included each of us holding a sea urchin, a photo of both of us once we got to the bottom, a photo behind prison bars and various photos of us with fish. We then headed back towards the boat. We were given the option to get off at the boat or stay on and they offered to take us to the city. It started raining again so we opted to just shop around the boat for awhile. We took some photos and shopped for awhile and headed back on the ship. We decided to use our Johnny Rockets meal and went down. They were supposed to open at 2pm that day, and we were there around 1:50-1:55. There were several people in there already. We walked up and were told they didn't open until two. So we said that was fine and stood there to wait. Others walked in behind us and they were seated. So we asked again, and they stated they were only seating inside and we'd have to wait until someone got up. They hadn't even started cooking yet apparently so it was going to be awhile. We ended up going back to the room and ordering room service. The Love and Marriage show was this evening and was hilarious! We did the norm of casino/dinner/walking around for the reminder of the evening.

 

Next stop- San Juan

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[jll583]

Thursday- San Juan

 

Woke up to horrible weather. Rain and thunderstorms. Our original plan was to walk to one of the forts. We decided to try the MDR for breakfast. This was the longest meal of the week and honestly the food wasn't that great. I got Eggs Benedict and they were cold. We were in the dining room for an hr and a half. We decided we'd walk off the boat and see if we could find a place to buy a few souvenirs. There was a Walgreens right across from the ship that we (along with half of the ship) decided to go shopping at. It was so crowded in there. There were many people trying to sell tours but it was so nasty out we did some shopping and went back to the ship. We were set to leave around two and of course at that point the sun decided to appear. We went to the Sun Deck on 14 to take photos as we were leaving. It was quite a popular place to be. A funny from the trip happened at this point. There was a couple who were playing music (quite loudly) from their phones. Most music was not in English. Then all the sudden as we started to sail away they started blasting the Celine Dion song from Titanic. I couldn't stop laughing. It just seemed like such a silly song to be playing on a ship of all places. After that song, they went back to the non English songs. We got some great photos of the forts upon leaving so hubby was happy. This was the second formal night (lobster night) and it was delicious!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[jll583]

Friday- Labadee

 

This was our favorite day of the trip! The weather was great and I enjoyed relaxing on the beach for the day with some Cocolocos! This day was our actual 10 year anniversary and we had a great time. We ate breakfast at Johnny Rockets before we got off the ship. Breakfast from JR is really good, I'd recommend it over MDR for sure. We then headed toward the beach. I will advise water shoes for Labadee. Very very rocky. We purchased two of the full face snorkel masks off of Amazon and snorkeled for awhile. Saw a few fish and sea urchins but the water was more cloudy than we thought it would be. Another suggestion is to bring your own float. There were many who rented floats but more that brought their own. We didn't use floats but many did! We did not eat on the island and ended up going back and going to Windjammer for lunch. The buffet line on the island was long and we just weren't that hungry at the time. We went to the Quest game show which is not to be missed! The show started at 10:30 and we went around 9:45 to get a seat and there was a LONG line. So I'd advise to go early if you want in. There was standing room only by 10:15.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[risaacson378]

Very nice. My Aug 20-27, we were on 12 290 loved it.

[jll583]

Saturday- Sea Day

 

This was basically a day where we bought our photos, went to the Boardwalk farewell party, ate a lot, watched the Splish Splash show and packed. We also attended the adult comedy show in the opal theatre. We did attend the Adult comedy show earlier in the week and they stated they wouldn't be telling the same jokes. The comedians were great!

 

Sunday Morning- Disembarkation

 

We had luggage number 20. We ate breakfast at Park Cafe before getting off the boat. I wasn't too excited about this as I assumed it would take awhile to get off the ship. We were called off around 8:30, grabbed our luggage, went thru customs and was in our car and on the road at 8:50! Cannot beat that! By far the smoothest transition it could have been!

 

This trip definitely ranked as the #1 trip we have ever had. We are already planning another trip for next year with our kids.

 

If anyone has any questions feel free to ask!!!!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[Ned11]

Loving the review, thanks. [emoji41]

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[kittymamma]

On your day at Labadee , when you returned to the ship for lunch at WJ , did they serve the same BBQ type menu as was being served on the island ?

[jll583]

On your day at Labadee , when you returned to the ship for lunch at WJ , did they serve the same BBQ type menu as was being served on the island ?

 

 

 

I don't think so. They had the whole hamburger hot dog bar everyday at lunchtime (and I think dinner too) but they had a turkey carving station along with other types of food. I saw a lot of Asian type dishes, steamed fish, steak and many veggie dishes.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[KmomChicago]

When getting off the ship in the ports and on the tenders, is there a place you can go to line up to wait for debarkation while the ship is docking and being cleared? On Carnival (Triumph, with 3400 passengers on a spring break sailing) we showed up on Deck Zero about 20 minutes before the published time we were told we could start lining up, and hence were the FIRST passengers off, which meant, first on the dock, first to grab a taxi, first riding down the 4 mile pier in to Progreso, Mexico.

 

It seems even more important to do this on Oasis with almost double the number of passengers on board. I think we may do ship excursions in Labadee so not as worried there but in San Juan especially would like to get off and in a taxi fast to visit the area my husband wants to see.

[jll583]

When getting off the ship in the ports and on the tenders, is there a place you can go to line up to wait for debarkation while the ship is docking and being cleared? On Carnival (Triumph, with 3400 passengers on a spring break sailing) we showed up on Deck Zero about 20 minutes before the published time we were told we could start lining up, and hence were the FIRST passengers off, which meant, first on the dock, first to grab a taxi, first riding down the 4 mile pier in to Progreso, Mexico.

 

It seems even more important to do this on Oasis with almost double the number of passengers on board. I think we may do ship excursions in Labadee so not as worried there but in San Juan especially would like to get off and in a taxi fast to visit the area my husband wants to see.

 

 

 

There was somewhat of a line each day when we disembarked but no more than a 5-10 minute wait. They disembark from two different points. I will say, I got confused because in the elevators they tell you to press the star button to go to the deck to disembark. That was level 3, but there was a button for deck three too. We didn't get off and then had a ride to deck 16, and then stopping on each floor. They keep the lines moving very well so there really is no long waits. Just make sure you keep your seapass card out for quick scanning

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums