Oasis 12/31/17 - a gouge, a fight, hogs, and a wow

[Got Out There]

"

I'll piggy-back a mini-review."

 

Glad you did...I know I appreciate it when reading other threads when fellow passengers on the same sailing post too.

 

". Another gouge was no first night done right or dining packages. Instead, it was $89 per person for Chops or Giovanni's for the meal and champagne the first night. "

I forgot about the increased charge for the specialty restaurants on the first night. I think they did include champagne but it still seemed too high. We walked through CP and peaked in Chops and CP 150 around 7:30pm and they both appeared to have many open tables. Also, on this cruise they did not offer any specialty restaurant packages (multi night or the one that combines with drink package).

 

"One thing about having so much packed into embarkation day was the 7 nighter felt more like 10 days. We were expecting the worst for crowds with it being a holiday cruise, but it didn't seem much worse than our usual"

 

We thought the same thing about having so much packed into embarkation day that it made the trip feel longer. I heard RCCL is going to try to use more technology in the future to make embarkation day 'much more packed' as you said. This would be great not sure how they would accomplish this.

 

"The unplanned visit to Nassau was interesting. I was at the Flowrider early and saw buildings on the horizon and then could make out Atlantis as we got closer. The rumor mill for what happened was in full force. I heard everything from a heart attack, to a stabbing, to someone getting their ear cut off. We were in Nassau for what seemed like hours. The rumors for that were that they kicked two families involved in the incident off the ship, and one person went into hiding so that was what delayed us."

 

We heard the same rumors, with the fight and broken beer bottle leading to ear being cutoff repeated often. The odd part was the extended time we were in Nassau, had to be at least 4 hours docked. We were speculating that it had to do with getting the air ambulance not just scheduled but also paid for upfront. Had some friends of ours that ran into an unfortunate serious medical problem on a ship and had to subsequently be flown to larger city...biggest hassle was how to pay for it since they did not have the extra travel policy to cover it. Air company they used wanted payment upfront, guessing when people get the bill later it goes unpaid since it is very expensive (well north of $10K).

 

Other thoughts on this cruise that I left off......very diverse group of passengers from Russians to Brazilians. Some did not understand the concept of a line, they were very much like liquid and flowed through any gaps that you left.

 

Crew was outstanding. We noted seeing several crew from bartenders to servers and housekeeping staff that were much older (50+) that we have ever seen in the past. I hope that this means they like RCCL and have worked there for multiple years.

 

Not sure if I mentioned how new everything on the ship looked, we were very impressed. Could be because we had sailed on the Rhapsody two months ago and the differences are striking.

 

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[gingersvp]

I really enjoyed both reviews. Thank you so much for posting/sharing.

[mil76]

Other thoughts on this cruise that I left off......very diverse group of passengers from Russians to Brazilians. Some did not understand the concept of a line, they were very much like liquid and flowed through any gaps that you left.

 

We noticed the diversity as well. We always chalk it up to the Orlando effect where if you are putting forth that much effort to go on a cruise from the US, you might as well cruise from PC and do Disney as well.

 

Speaking of flowing through any gaps left...we were in a pretty full elevator going to the Windjammer. Door opens and a guy with a stroller immediately gets on and jams the stroller in sideways to completely block the door, with no regards to anyone planning to get off. All of our requests to let people off went ignored (might have been a language thing). About 8 people had to climb over the stroller to get off.

 

As for the jam-packed first night, we also did Cats that night. We thought the performance was great save one performer and sat through the whole thing. I felt really bad for the cast when 3/4 of the crowd left at intermission. Cats is just the wrong play for the wrong audience. I'm assuming RC learned their lesson since Hairspray is coming back on Symphony.

[Got Out There]

We noticed the diversity as well. We always chalk it up to the Orlando effect where if you are putting forth that much effort to go on a cruise from the US, you might as well cruise from PC and do Disney as well.

 

Speaking of flowing through any gaps left...we were in a pretty full elevator going to the Windjammer. Door opens and a guy with a stroller immediately gets on and jams the stroller in sideways to completely block the door, with no regards to anyone planning to get off. All of our requests to let people off went ignored (might have been a language thing). About 8 people had to climb over the stroller to get off.

 

As for the jam-packed first night, we also did Cats that night. We thought the performance was great save one performer and sat through the whole thing. I felt really bad for the cast when 3/4 of the crowd left at intermission. Cats is just the wrong play for the wrong audience. I'm assuming RC learned their lesson since Hairspray is coming back on Symphony.

 

Yep the elevators.....let people off and then you get on, not universal process across the world. We did Cats on I think night 2. About 1/3 did not return after intermission, probably more on night one because it was NYE??? It is a shame for those that left, act two is by far the best part! The storyline is kind of a hard to understand if you go in and know nothing about the show ahead of time. Fun part for me was that I last saw Cats over 30 years ago and I was amazed at how much I remembered about the performance. We also thought it was a great performance and we know which 'save one' you referred to. Thinking she must have felt ill or perhaps she was the captain's daughter :D .

[molly361]

Thanks for the review. We are booked on this same cruise for next year. We definitely won’t be doing the reserved seating.

 

I think you should do the Schooner Bar seats fro $750:halo:

[Ourusualbeach]

I think you should do the Schooner Bar seats fro $750:halo:

 

Only if your buying.:D

[karen s]

I cannot believe they actually charge for seats is specific venues on NYE and passengers actually paid for it. I feel if I am paying premium already for a holiday cruise then I should be able to go anywhere to celebrate. This practice is absolutely disgusting. Just my 2 cents....

[Ocean Boy]

I cannot believe they actually charge for seats is specific venues on NYE and passengers actually paid for it. I feel if I am paying premium already for a holiday cruise then I should be able to go anywhere to celebrate. This practice is absolutely disgusting. Just my 2 cents....

You won't get any disagreement from me. But I guess if people actually pay it then RIC will happily take their money.