Willdra's Outrageous Oasis OTS October 21-28 Cruise

[willdra]

2 hours ago, MzShae said:

Yes! I've been waiting for your review! Looking forward to it.

 

LOL 😂 thanks!! 😍😍😍

[Jenglish711]

STAHP you are hilarious and I'm loving this review 110%. I can't wait for more! 

[Trinam2]

Loving this review! I’m looking forward to your take on the oasis. We are going on Oasis after being loyal to Carnival for years. I had to twist my DH arm to get him to try a new line.

[carnivaladdix120]

11 hours ago, willdra said:

 

Thank you! Hopefully I will have a good bit done before your embarkation! 😍😍

No worries, I'm getting the internet on board so hopefully I'll be able to follow along while relaxing in the sun 🙂

[SenatorsFan]

Hi Willdra! I'm looking forward to following along for this one. 

Heather

[crusinot]

following!  great review!

[EeyoreRN]

Following! Love your style!

 

I have never heard of an arepa before today and TBH, I'm kind of sad I now know what I've been missing. That thing looks DELICIOUS!  Your photos are stunning. Can't wait to read more!

 

Eeyore

[joand452]

Following along!

[AKR2011]

Thanks so much for posting your review! I've been looking forward to this one!!

[willdra]

Embarkation Day

I woke up around 6, saw that it was 6, then went back to sleep.  Ain't nobody got time to be waking up that early. Not even on embarkation day! The next time I opened my eyes it was 8:30. That was more like it. I had hunger in my belly, and it beat up the sleep that was fading away. Hunger doesn’t fight fair. We got dressed, threw our stuff back into our bags, then went in search of sustenance. I can’t say enough about having packing cubes. They make it so easy to take out what I need without having to destroy my whole suitcase. I’ve also gotten better with packing the pre-cruise stuff in one cube, so I don’t have to look thru 109 items to get that one shirt. #brilliant 

 

Walking outside, there was a nice breeze blowing with a partly cloudy sky. It felt good not to be so hot. I was glad that I chose leggings instead of shorts for that day too.

iHOP was our destination, and it was hopping, but we only waited like 5 minutes. Once were seated and the coffee was on the table, I wasted zero time pouring. After those first few sips, I had to take a minute to let the coffee sink into my soul. That stuff was so bomb, I felt it in my knees! I don’t know who invented coffee but whoever it was deserves a huge mansion in heaven. He or she came all the way thru with a drink that makes me want to talk to people. In the morning. Child. That ain’t easy. Ask W.

 

When my soul was satisfied, I ate my food and talked to W and our neighbors. See what I mean? Coffee had me talking to strangers. Strangers y’all.

 

To be honest tho, the iHop in Cape Canaveral is about the size of a postage stamp, which means that the people next to you are really at your table too. The couple next to us were from Cincinnati, so they chatted with W for a while about that. Eventually we remembered that we had a cruise ship to board, so we ate then went to Publix for my coconut oil. I have different coconut oil potions that I use with essential oils and I also use plain coconut oil as my "go to" moisturizer. I packed the coconut oil with rosemary by mistake, and since I didn’t want to spend the week smelling like a pasta salad,  I ran in to get a plain one. I was surprised that Publix had a nice variety of inexpensive coconut oil to choose from. W didn’t come in the store because he knew that would give me a reason to “need” more crap. I was in and out in a flash. Darn him.

 

We went back to the hotel, packed the car and went to park at Country Inn. We reserved with Parkway and one of their shuttle parking locations is at the Country Inn. I went to the back to check in for our shuttle, but no one was at the desk. Maybe the coordinator needed to use the restroom. I guess. After about 7 minutes, the shuttle coordinator showed up finally, and resumed checking people in. He asked for my name, located it on his list, then asked for my green ticket. Excuse me? What green ticket? He smirks, and says “Oh you have to get the ticket from the front desk”. Butttttt I see my name right there on your clipboard. “Nope still need a green ticket”. Where on my shuttle reservation did it say that and when was I told that I needed a green ticket when I called on Friday to reserve our spot??? Huge sigh. Ok Mr Monopoly Man, I will go get the ticket! I go back out to the front desk, to wait in that line, cuz you know this wasn’t going to be quick. I get to the desk, see my name on the green parking ticket, my green going ticket, and my red coming back ticket but this time they couldn’t just hand it to me cuz I didn’t sign in on the clipboard. Really??????? I wanted to go full Joffrey Baratheon right at that moment! However, I digress. And proceed to the clipboard line.

 

As my luck would have it, I wait again behind someone who was completely confused on what putting your name and information on a clipboard meant. After she was done, I fill it out then I have to wait behind her again. Great! She was asking a billion questions because she didn’t follow or read any of the directions. Yep inconvenience everyone else since you failed to do your homework. Finally she was done and I walked up just to be handed the tickets that I needed. Wow. I can't even be mad at this point. I go back down to the shuttle room and guess what?!? I get to wait behind Disorganized Donna. Again. I breathe in heavily and wait my turn. When I got up to Monopoly Man he looked at me and said “yes I have you right here”. Blank stare and a few rapid eye blinks. He took the green ticket, checked my name off, and I did an about face to sit and wait. 10 minutes later we were called. Right then, the 12,000 other people who weren't called, got up and started blocking the door to the shuttle. Of course these stragglers were now in the way. Alright Granny move your ankles if you wanna keep 'em. This is war! Why can’t people just wait until they’re called? Blocking the path helps no one. No one.

 

We were stuffed on the shuttle, but instead of leaving, we got a speech about what to do when we arrived there and where to meet the shuttle when we returned. We finally rode out after a few of the driver’s dry jokes. Hahaha just go. We got to the Port in about 5 minutes but we had to wait until we could park and unload. I should’ve used that time to double check that my Fantasy Football teams were good for the next 2 weeks cuz they were not good! Fantasy fail. That would've at least taken my mind off of the morning's dumpster fire.

 

Our first glimpse

 

The driver and the porters took all of the bags off first. Then we identified the ones that needed to go. Once the bags were checked in, we walked into the terminal. The first line was for the initial "we need to make sure you belong here" check in, then security. In security I went ahead of W cuz he had a lot going on with his carryon bags. He brings the wine and soda in a small roll on suitcase along with the contents of our whole house and a small country in his backpack. My move proved to be unnecessary tho, as they didn’t even blink at all of his stuff. After that we went upstairs to another line for our Sea Pass. It was kinda hectic up there. Along with lots of confused cruisers roaming around, there was a whole random toddler just lying in the middle of the floor. Sir or Ma’am get your baby! Please.

 

 

There were droves of folks in almost every available space, who looked and acted like they didn’t know what they were doing or why they were there. To check in, we had to find the sign for our deck. After we located the right sign, we were checked in by a nice lady who was a little frazzled. It took her a minute to acknowledge us.  When we walked up, she was looking down at a paper. Once the paper said what she wanted it to say, she looked up and greeted us. She was a low slow talker. She talked very slow and you could barely hear her. I really had to concentrate on what she was saying, and read her lips to understand. It’s unfortunate that we can’t listen slow when someone talks slow. She gave us the spiel about our cards and what we use them for. She also told us that our cabins wouldn’t be ready until 2pm. After that part, I backed up from the counter cuz there was a family with 3 or 4 kids all trying to crowd the counter next to us. Rude.

 

Boring Beatrice told W about food options and provided a map, then they both started looking at me. I’m like "what?". Oh Boring Beatrice wanted to tell me the same thing she just told W. After an epic eye roll, I walk up so she can slowly whisper where we could get food. I swear I blacked out and nodded off during the speech. Twice. Finally W woke me up, and she sent us on our way. We went through the picture line, took a few pictures then onto the ramp to enter the Oasis. All total it took us about 45 minutes from parking to walking on. We dinged our cards in and were immediately surrounded by a lot of people. A.Lot.Of.People. Our entry was on Deck 5 but we really couldn’t tell where we were or where we wanted to go from there. We didn’t have the cool entrance into the open area. We walked in to a walkway with a railing directly in front of us.

 

 

 

We got out of the way, and dug out the map to get our bearings. We decided on Park Café, mostly to get the heck outta all of the hustle and bustle. After we found it, we sat a minute,  then decided we were not really hungry. A miracle. I know. After that huge breakfast, I really just needed a drink to clear away the “getting here”. After a few wrong turns, we ended up in the On Air Bar. My first drink was a Planters Punch. I needed that punch too! I was instantly cured of all of my cares after the first sip. Suddenly my eyes opened, and I could see The Oasis all around me. That drink was made with Godly hands. W wanted pizza, and since Sorrento‘s was right across the way, and I was now agreeable, we walked over there. At promptly 2pm an announcement was made on the intercom that all staterooms were ready. Efficient.

 

 

We went up to our cabin and W tried to stay out of the way while I took pictures. I absolutely adored our cabin 10699. I let Royal Caribbean pick it for me, as I had no clue where I wanted to stay. I just wanted a neighborhood Balcony. I was so happy that we were assigned to a Boardwalk Balcony. With this cabin, we got 2 free soda packages that come with the special cups for use at the Coke Freestyle Machines. We also had stickers on our Sea Passes to get sodas at the bars. I don’t really drink soda, so I was good with the water and juices in the machines. No worries tho, W would drink enough soda for both of us and 3 more people.

 

Edited December 29, 2018 by willdra

[willdra]

 

 

 

 

 

 

[willdra]

 

 

 

 

 

[willdra]

 

 

 

 

 

[willdra]

After we checked out our digs we went up to explore the upper decks. We also took and posted our official we’re on vacay pics to social media while we walked around. We loved the Solarium and we were looking forward to some public napping, loitering, disorderly conduct, and vagrancy up there. The Sunshine and Liberty were in port with us, and it was cool to look over at the whale tails. Hey ya'll!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[willdra]

 

 

 

 

 

[willdra]

 

 

 

 

 

[willdra]

Sooner than we liked, the call was made for us to attend the Muster Drill. We returned to 10699, dropped off the camera and phone, then went to find our station. We were in Station F1 which was located in the 5th floor dining room. When you go in, you wait in line for your card to be scanned. Then you wait in another line to have your name checked on a clipboard. Then you wait to find a seat. Once we checked in with every check point, we found seats and waited for the drill. The first part is the life jacket demo. Afterwards there is a movie about an agent trying to find and stop someone from doing something they shouldn’t be doing. It’s all about the rules and what to do in an emergency. Maybe. I guess that’s Royal Caribbean’s way of trying to make the drill interesting. I had to keep waking W up during the movie so that tells you how interesting it was. Right when the movie ended, they abruptly let us out and it was over.

 

Sail Away was next, but we couldn’t get all the way up to Deck 15 from 5 on anybody’s elevator. We walked back up to 10699, got the camera, then took the elevator up to 15. Our luggage was there when we got there so we dragged it in the cabin.

 

All I can say about the Sail Away Party, is that it was more of a Sail Away Gathering than a party. The way the ship is setup, it’s hard to fit a large group of people anywhere outside really. It would work tho if the “Fun Squad” used the pool ledge, then the crowd could be in front of them. Needless to say we didn’t stay long. It was sad and painful to watch. I mean dry as pencil shavings. #wasteoftime Luckily tho, this ship had so much more to offer.

 

 

 

 

 

[willdra]

The Saints and Ravens game was showing in On Air and I wanted to see some of it, cuz we really didn’t have an agenda (we were supposed to still be at the party). We grabbed our cups and went down after sorting out some of our luggage. I was unpacked in like 10 minutes since I really only needed to slide my packing cubes in the cubbies. Sweet!

 

There were 2 games showing in On Air, which I didn’t understand. The Redskins vs. Cowboys and the Saints vs. Ravens. The Redskins Cowboys game was showing on the Aqua Theater big screen as well so it made no sense to show it there too. Especially when the sound was only on for that game.  I got bored quickly since I couldn’t hear the other game. I left W, and went back to the cabin.

 

 

 

I played around with the WiFi until I figured how to connect to Royal WiFi to access our reservations in the app without purchasing Internet.  There might be a better way to do it, but they don’t make it easy to skip signing up for Voom. I started flipping thru the channels, and found the Saints Ravens game on in the cabin.

Please tell me why I didn’t look before we went to that bar! Oh well better late than never. I watched the rest of the game while W came in and put his stuff away.

 

James, our Stateroom Steward stopped by to see if we needed anything. I told him we were good, he said call  if we changed our minds. It got late quickly, as it often does on vacay, so we washed the day away in the shower, then left to find dinner.

[willdra]

 

We had late seating in the Grande Restaurant at table 563. Luciano and Mingming were our servers. I chose the Waldorf Salad, Prime Rib, and Warm Hazelnut Cake. The Waldorf Salad was good. When Luciano brought out the entrees, he gave us the wrong one. We let him know and he fixed it. He just mixed up my order with someone else’s. We ate and talked, and it took a while for the desserts to come. Luckily W and I enjoy talking to each other. Most of the time. Mingming said there was a long line in the galley. She apologized a lot for the wait. When Luciano brought out the desserts, I got the wrong one. This time he ordered me the Chocolate Cake instead of the Hazelnut. I would’ve just taken it but he said earlier that this was the only night for the Hazelnut. He went back and got it very quickly.  Both servers apologized a billion times for the mistake. I wasn’t mad at all. I was just happy that they fixed it fast. And I had Hazelnut Cake.

 

 

 

Waldorf Salad

 

Calamari

 

Prime Rib

 

NY Strip Loin

 

[willdra]

I guess Luciano felt very bad cuz he stayed at our table awhile talking to us afterwards. I didn’t want to be rude, but the ice cream on top of the cake was melting at an alarming rate. He kept going on and on about breakfast choices and yada yada yada. I even stopped encouraging conversation by just smiling and nodding but Luciano wasn’t taking the hint. Dude. Shhhhhh. Meanwhile out of the corner of my eye, I could see my ice cream disappearing and sliding down the side of the cake like lava. I was eyeing it and sending it subliminal messages by silently willing it to stay strong and hang in there. "Please don’t be a puddle. Please don’t be a puddle. Man up ice cream! You got this!"  As soon as Luciano tired of talking and walked away, I ate as much of it as I could, and it was worth every second of the wait. Every. Second.

 

Warm Hazelnut Chocolate Cake

 

 

Full and finished, I took my water glass from dinner to use as a wine glass later. W gave me a quick side eye cuz there might be wine glasses elsewhere or perhaps one of the bars would provide one. It was just quick for me to use that one. So I asked Mingming if I could take it and she said "No Probrem"'. 

 

We went up to Windjammer to see if they had the beverage stations open up there. The whole thing was shut down tight like they were guarding the Colonel’s secret recipe for KFC. It was roped off and completely dark. We were not expecting that. On to Plan B. We took a dark walk in Central Park to see if Park Café was open. Nope. Not even close. They’d been closed for a few hours. Looks like Café Promenade will be my only late night beverage option. I'ts all good.

 

Central Park After Dark

 

 

 

 

 

 

[willdra]

We had reservations for "Frozen In Time" at 10:30 that evening, but W wanted to catch some of the Bengals game first. I met him after I went to Café Promenade to check out the hot water situation for my tea. They had everything that I needed and then some. Nice! I was feeling so good that I tried my luck to see if there was no line at Guest Services. I was in luck there too! I walked right up and got a hole punched in my Sea Pass Card. I was trying something different by having it in one of the plastic cardholders on my lanyard, but it was too hard to get in and out. I don’t love waiting behind people who aren’t prepared with their cards, so I had to get myself together.

 

 

There was a gift shop in that area, so I did some window shopping to see what caught my eye. Right at 10 I met W and we walked to Studio B. I was confused as to how we would get in since they don’t give you tickets. They asked for our Sea Passes, cuz everything was loaded to those. Maybe that was written somewhere, I just never saw it. Duh. Our passes were scanned quickly and we went in. It filled up fast, and even tho seat saving is prohibited there was a lot of that going on. The couple next to us were saving seats for friends who came right at the last minute. I thought someone was gonna fight about those seats. That was prime real estate.

 

The show was way better than I expected and I’m glad we went. I am always in awe of ice skaters. I can barely walk straight and keep my shoes tied but these guys were out there cutting up on the ice. It was marvelous. The skaters used the steps by us a lot as a staging area. Once a skater was on the steps dancing and an old guy got up RIGHT THEN to leave. He couldn’t possibly find any better time to go?? Dude. He walked right in front of her, blocking her for a good minute. Lucky for him she didn’t have to go back in then. That could’ve ended badly. I sorta wanted to see it too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[willdra]

After the show we grabbed our drink cups and went back down to Café Promenade. On the elevator there was a group of inebriated individuals who had no idea where they were going. Astonishing. They kept asking us where to find food. "Um there are maps and signs everywhere, but ok follow us". At the café, we lost the losers, I got juice and my hot water. W got his Diet Coke, and all was right with the world. To make it better, I popped over to Sorrento’s. That spot was quickly becoming one of my faves. They know what they’re doing with cheese. It's a work of art. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[willdra]

After our pizza pitstop, we walked back to Boardwalk. It was cool and no one was really back there. I was even able to get a few pictures. We surveyed the scene then went back to 10699. We tried very hard not to burn any more calories that evening. We were successful.

 

 

Before I fell asleep I said a prayer thanking God for those Coke Freestyle Machines. They were worth their weight in gold to W. I can't even describe how happy he was to have that type of power at his fingertips. I also prayed that he didn't try to purchase one for our house!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Trinam2]

Great pics!

[willdra]

2 hours ago, Trinam2 said:

Great pics!

 

Thank you!!