Oasis 1/23 - 1/30 LIVE!

[Sealily22]

Loving everything about our first cruise! 
 

We weren’t sure what to expect, especially with all the uncertainty with traveling right now…

 

We booked the Rapid PCR tests at CVS 2 weeks in advance for Friday and had our negative results in less than an hour. We printed out the page to present upon check-in.

On Saturday, we got emails from RCI instructing us to get to the port 2 hours later than scheduled, which meant 2pm for us.

 

We ended up getting to Port of Miami around 1pm to drop off our suitcases and the attendant said we could check in! The check in process was a bit slow and frustrating - to get into the door we first showed our printed negative Covid test results - highly recommend this as others that pulled it up on their phones took forever and really held up the line. Then we went up the escalator and showed our Set Sail pass and passports. We had already uploaded our vaccination cards to the app, so they gave us our purple bracelet indicating we were vaccinated and then we joined the really long line of people waiting for 2pm to start boarding. We were starving by this point because we thought we were just going to drop our bags and then grab a snack in South Beach. Our takeaway is - go ahead and get to the port early and wait in line but just eat before you leave. At 2pm, the line started moving, we went through security and up the escalator, showed our Set Sail passes again and were heading onboard!

 

Rooms were not ready yet, so we headed to Windjammer to get food and start booking our activities. Windjammer was busy but there were plenty of open tables and the food was so good! The waiters brought over a tray of Bahama Mamas and we enjoyed our first cruise cocktails!

At about 3pm they announced our rooms were ready, so after finishing up our activity booking, we headed down to deck 8. We love our ocean view balcony room and it took no time at all to get completely unpacked and settled in. We left to check-in at our muster station, since this had to be done by 4:30. They scanned our Seapass cards and we were free to go!

 

We stopped for a glass of wine at Vintages and they offered us 20% off if we bought 5 bottles, which we could take to dinner with us. 

 

We are early dining time, so we went back to the room to change for dinner and headed to MDR deck 3. No lines, we walked straight in, but were not happy with our initial table and asked to be moved, which they happily accommodated. 
 

Dinner was really good, we had crab cakes, salmon, roast chicken, dessert and coffee.

We explored the ship after dinner and kept commenting on how empty it is! 

Next we went to Globe and Atlas for the Pub Trivia and I enjoyed my James Bond martini. Also we won Trivia!!! The prize was an RCI pen, so not too exciting but still. After Trivia, we listened to the pretty decent female guitarist/vocalist for a little while.

It was definitely busier on the Promenade deck, but not too bad.

 

In bed by 10:30 and looking forward to Coco Cay in the morning! 

 

 

Edited January 24, 2022 by Sealily22
Add pics

[Missusdubbya]

Looking forward to the rest of your review, thanks so much. 
 

welcome to cruise critic!

Edited January 24, 2022 by Missusdubbya

[JamesEM]

Following along, how much was the drink package?

[relaxatsea]

Welcome to Cruise Critic, I am so glad you are writing this review, and with lots of information and great pictures too, thanks so much!

 

We will be on Oasis next week, so are following along with great interest.

 

Happy cruising!

[twangster]

Good morning from Odyssey next door!

 

Edited January 24, 2022 by twangster

[CRK9313]

Did you have the letter in your cabin stating what the prior week covid positivity rate was?

[Sealily22]

6 hours ago, JamesEM said:

Following along, how much was the drink package?

We went back and forth about the drink package and ultimately decided against it. The cheapest we saw it was when we first booked in Nov 2021 for $900 for 2,  but thought there was no way we could drink that much, since we have all day excursions planned on 3 days. Well we might be wrong about that!

 

When we boarded yesterday they were offering the ultimate package for $88 per day and 2nd person half off, not including gratuity. 

[Sealily22]

1 minute ago, CRK9313 said:

Did you have the letter in your cabin stating what the prior week covid positivity rate was?

No, no letter about Covid positivity percentage. I’ll keep you posted if we get one. 

[Sealily22]

38 minutes ago, twangster said:

Good morning from Odyssey next door!

 

Good morning to you! We saw you come in!

 

 

Edited January 24, 2022 by Sealily22

[mek]

Thanks for posting - my husband and I were supposed to be on this cruise, but we rescheduled for next October.

My husband is disabled and uses a transport chair, which is one of the reasons we postponed this cruise.  Did you happen to notice how they were handling people who required wheelchair assistance?

Edited January 24, 2022 by mek

[bajathree]

Hope it's warmer in the Bahamas than it is here in FL.....BBbrrrrrrrrrr

[cruisegirl1976]

have fun, enjoy your cruise!

[vacationlover_mn]

10 minutes ago, bajathree said:

Hope it's warmer in the Bahamas than it is here in FL.....BBbrrrrrrrrrr

 

[bajathree]

[bajathree]

It's warmer in Anchorage Alaska this morning than it is in north Tampa.

[nessachelle]

So glad to see someone doing a live on Oasis. I will be there in just a couple of weeks. 😁

[ryano]

23 minutes ago, bajathree said:

It's warmer in Anchorage Alaska this morning than it is in north Tampa.

 

A lot of people just dont realize how cold the 30s are in FL.   Its a different cold.  30 in Lakeland this am,  Wow.    

[renza]

44 minutes ago, ryano said:

 

A lot of people just dont realize how cold the 30s are in FL.   Its a different cold.  30 in Lakeland this am,  Wow.    

Yes I am in south Florida. We are 50s right now and it’s very cold. People really laugh from up north and think it’s not cold. Then we get the tourist and they are all over looking for sweatshirts because they are freezing. 

[binro01]

1 hour ago, bajathree said:

It's warmer in Anchorage Alaska this morning than it is in north Tampa.

This is what happens when Tom Brady's deal with the devil falls through. Hell freezes things over.

[Sealily22]

2 hours ago, mek said:

Thanks for posting - my husband and I were supposed to be on this cruise, but we rescheduled for next October.

My husband is disabled and uses a transport chair, which is one of the reasons we postponed this cruise.  Did you happen to notice how they were handling people who required wheelchair assistance?

Hi, from what we can see they have been very accommodating to those in wheelchairs. Make sure to get a handicapped cabin for extra space. 

[Sealily22]

Well we were nervous about the cooler temperatures but it turned out to be a Perfect Day at Coco Cay!! We hauled all of our stuff over to South Beach and there are plenty of chairs to choose from. The island is beautiful and we are in bliss! Enjoying a Goombay Smash!

[mek]

26 minutes ago, Sealily22 said:

Hi, from what we can see they have been very accommodating to those in wheelchairs. Make sure to get a handicapped cabin for extra space. 

Thanks, but we use his own transport chair that collapses into something small and we have never needed a handicapped room.

Was just wondering if they still have a designated area for those requiring assistance as our last Royal cruise was in 2018 - and at that time we didn't have any assigned arrival times.

[ATLD]

@Sealily22   Thank you for the updates, I am following along as we are onboard next week.  This is great information.

[Sealily22]

1 hour ago, mek said:

Thanks, but we use his own transport chair that collapses into something small and we have never needed a handicapped room.

Was just wondering if they still have a designated area for those requiring assistance as our last Royal cruise was in 2018 - and at that time we didn't have any assigned arrival times.

If you mean during embarkation, we did notice them pulling people in wheelchairs out of line for expedited check in… other than that have not noticed. 

[Sealily22]

Stopped at Snack Shack for lunch - highly recommend the crispy chicken sandwich and fries!