Embarkation day priorities on Oasis

[FirstAnthem]

We are sailing on Oasis on April 1. It’s our spring break, so I anticipate a lot of kids onboard. We have a couple things we need to do once onboard—we have to go see the Maitre d’ because our daughter has celiac and we want to try to get switched to early traditional dining (it was full when we booked), we have to register our son for Adventure Ocean, and we have to make a reservation for Giovanni’s for sometime during the cruise (we got a free dinner for two as a perk from our travel agent, but reservation must be made once onboard). With such a big ship, and it being a busy cruise because of spring break, which of these should we do first? Should one of these things be done before another? Meaning, will it be hard to get a Giovanni’s reservation unless we book right when we board? Will Adventure Ocean fill to capacity unless we register right away? Will we have a far less chance of getting traditional early seating or will the Maitre d’ be swamped with people unless we go there first? Oh yeah, we’ll need lunch too, which I know is VERY busy on embarkation day. We have never cruised before so we aren’t sure of the best plan of action. Sorry for the long winded question! Thank you for any help!

[Foodluvr]

We are sailing on Oasis on April 1. It’s our spring break, so I anticipate a lot of kids onboard. We have a couple things we need to do once onboard—we have to go see the Maitre d’ because our daughter has celiac and we want to try to get switched to early traditional dining (it was full when we booked), we have to register our son for Adventure Ocean, and we have to make a reservation for Giovanni’s for sometime during the cruise (we got a free dinner for two as a perk from our travel agent, but reservation must be made once onboard). With such a big ship, and it being a busy cruise because of spring break, which of these should we do first? Should one of these things be done before another? Meaning, will it be hard to get a Giovanni’s reservation unless we book right when we board? Will Adventure Ocean fill to capacity unless we register right away? Will we have a far less chance of getting traditional early seating or will the Maitre d’ be swamped with people unless we go there first? Oh yeah, we’ll need lunch too, which I know is VERY busy on embarkation day. We have never cruised before so we aren’t sure of the best plan of action. Sorry for the long winded question! Thank you for any help!

I would start by going to the MDR. Then to any specialty to do Giovanni's if MDR can't do the specialty reservation. The AO will have an open house where you can sign up. Enjoy!!

 

Park Cafe is a good lunch choice on Embarq day! Have a Beef Sandwich for me!

[Foodluvr]

I would start by going to the MDR. Then to any specialty to do Giovanni's if MDR can't do the specialty reservation. The AO will have an open house where you can sign up. Enjoy!!

 

Also,email the special needs email about your daughter's dining needs. This will put it on the reservation and ensure all restaurants are aware!

 

Park Cafe is a good lunch choice on Embarq day! Have a Beef Sandwich for me!

[CruisingNole]

On my most recent embarkation day I went to park cafe (it was very empty) for this "amazing" beef sandwich I kept reading about on here. All I have I say is...meh. It was OK, nothing special. My girlfriend got a veggie pita that was mostly pita with hardly any veggies. To be honest, other than MDR, the rest of the "free" food on Oasis is lackluster, at best. This is one area that Carnival does much, much better than Royal.

 

 

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[Rjh8842]

Are you on the waitlist for early dinner? If not you might want to do so now. You never know you could be changed before you board.

[waterbug123]

Your daughter's health should be your top priority so go take care of that first. Seems like people tend to prefer late dining or My Time so likely you can switch to early dining with little problem. While one of you does that, the other can get your son signed up for AO. No need for both of you to worry about both; divide and conquer. And since youre opting for early dining, presumably you dont mind eating early, in which case a rez at GT shouldnt be difficult. It can be tough to get a popular time like 7-8pm, but they often have plenty of openings for 5, 5:30 or maybe 6, in my experience.

[tinkertwo]

Divide and conquer. While one does the Giovanis reservation the other can sign son up for Adventure Ocean. Then, on to the next items. Just divide them up and agree on a meeting spot once each person completes their tasks.

And I do agree with CruisinNole, don't rush to get the roast beef sandwiches. There just meh, nothing to get as excited as some get about them. JMO and not meant to demean anyone else's thoughts on them. If you love them, you love them. If you don't, its because their over rated.

[FirstAnthem]

Awesome—thank you for all the advice! We are on a waitlist for early traditional dining. My daughter and I will head to the MDR, hubs and son will head to Adventure Ocean, we will meet at Giovanni’s to make our likely early reservation, then on to Park Cafe to see for ourselves what these controversial roast beef sandwiches are all about! Haha

[mcfrs]

Here is the email address for special needs: special_needs@rccl.com I would even put my early dining request in the email if it has anything to do with her needs. (Med Schedules, digestion, etc.) The special needs department is great!

[FirstAnthem]

Thank you! Yes, I’ve emailed them already so we are all set there.

[JaniceB]

Sounds like what my embarkation day will be like. We also received a priority boarding from our T/A so hopefully that will help although I have no idea how it will work.

[vpat48]

Anyone have the email address for the dining team? I heard you can send them a mail for specific MDR requests.

[cruisegirl1]

Sounds like what my embarkation day will be like. We also received a priority boarding from our T/A so hopefully that will help although I have no idea how it will work.

 

Can you elaborate?

 

Never heard getting any priority boarding from a TA. There is a general "schedule" of boarding something like, Back to Back cruisers, high end suites and Pinnacles, Diamond Plus, Diamond and so forth down the C&A system to then new cruisers. If you have some priority, then you are bumping one of these groups.

 

Thanks for any information.

M

[FirstAnthem]

Actually, since I posted these questions I have made some progress on the dining reservations. I emailed RCLDining@rccl.com and requested the early traditional dining because of my daughter’s needs and heard back within a day that I was put into early traditional dining per my request. I emailed this request to special needs about a month ago and made no progress. I just kept getting general responses that had nothing to do with my questions. So if anyone has specific questions or requests, email RCLDining@rccl.com!

[Clarea]

Anyone have the email address for the dining team? I heard you can send them a mail for specific MDR requests.

If you are in traditional dining, use rcldining@rccl.com.

[vpat48]

If you are in traditional dining, use rcldining@rccl.com.

Thank you very much

[Clarea]

Thank you very much

Youi're welcome.

[dacsmom]

You will have plenty of time to accomplish all of your tasks. Special needs and the dining team are really good about specific dining requirements. I was chatting with another solo cruiser at dinner one evening and he had the same dietary needs. Someone came to his table every evening and made sure he had chosen the meal for the next night. They even wanted to make sure he was set for breakfast and lunch too.

 

One tip is to make sure you take a copy of the specialty dinner voucher with you. I booked through a TA and got the same offer but RCI could not find a record of it. Everything was fine once I gave them the confirmation.

Have a wonderful first cruise, the Oasis is a fantastic ship.

[JaniceB]

Can you elaborate?

 

Never heard getting any priority boarding from a TA. There is a general "schedule" of boarding something like, Back to Back cruisers, high end suites and Pinnacles, Diamond Plus, Diamond and so forth down the C&A system to then new cruisers. If you have some priority, then you are bumping one of these groups.

 

Thanks for any information.

M

I have no idea how it works, I just went back and looked and it says priority check-in voucher, probably different than boarding. I was not correct with the boarding word.