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Just off Oasis...wow!

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WakeView4Us

WakeView4Us

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We had been on Anthem a few years back and it was horrible...glad to say the Oasis was amazing! The service,  shows and things to do were great! The food was good and pretty consistent and the specialty coffees were fantastic! 

The Aqua 80 show was so good we went 3 times! Cats was cancelled dur to a "technical issue". The ice show, magician and comics were also good. We even did the mini golf, zip line and ultimate abyss!

Our favorite hang out was central park (specifically park cafe).

 

If they could improve anything, I would say the beds...just hard.

 

 

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FamilyCruiserUK

FamilyCruiserUK

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I liked the flow of oasis, esp central park and the boardwalk. More for our daughter to do. After experiencing independence and oasis i liked the board walk style main deck with the shops and cafe etc. The anthem went back to the old style for me of a bit clustered together. Although i did like the 270 club. But for a family independence and oasis class were much better. 

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KKB Great Review Rare

KKB

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2 hours ago, basktchic said:

We had been on Anthem a few years back and it was horrible...glad to say the Oasis was amazing! The service,  shows and things to do were great! The food was good and pretty consistent and the specialty coffees were fantastic! 

The Aqua 80 show was so good we went 3 times! Cats was cancelled dur to a "technical issue". The ice show, magician and comics were also good. We even did the mini golf, zip line and ultimate abyss!

Our favorite hang out was central park (specifically park cafe).

 

If they could improve anything, I would say the beds...just hard.

 

 

Curious, why was your Anthem cruise horrible?

Cruised it in Dec. '18 with our 3 YA kids & LOVED it!

(loved our Allure cruise a few years prior as well...)

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loman

loman

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I prefer Oasis over Anthem also . Tried Anthem once and then decided that Oasis class is it for us . Saves time on searching for cruises now . We cruise for the ship and dont necessarily care about destination now. 

Whatever Oasis class is sailing from Port Everglades or Miami is our choice.

Ill try Symphony next , after my Allure cruise coming up .

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LuCruise

LuCruise

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Interested in OP's reason for ship preference too.  Thanks for the feedback.  Going on Oasis for the first time in March.

 

SO far we've been on a couple Oasis class ships, Anthem, Freedom and most Voyager class ships.

 

Symphony makes 1st place.

Anthem makes 2nd place.

 

They are very different though and can see one liking one and not the other.

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taglovestocruise

taglovestocruise

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4 hours ago, puggylicious said:

Oasis is my favorite ship.  Anthem would be my second choice.  One thing I really liked about Anthem was the smaller dining rooms.  The dining experience was quieter and calmer.  

Absolutely hate the closed in dining room.  Love the big open three deck dining, we usually get a table along the balcony railing. I must not be alone as there were so many complaints that Spectrum and Odyssey came out with three story dining rooms. 

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lgonquin

lgonquin

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2 hours ago, Punnymaker said:

Did you notice any staffing shortage on the Oasis?  Were any activities (such as laser tag, escape room) not running?  Did any of the restaurants have more limited hours than usual?

We were on this sailing and the week prior. It was mentioned during the Captains Q&A that they were short handed. But did not give specifics. 
 

Despite that, service was good. MDR was typical chaos that we’ve seen for several years. Wait staff busting @$$ to get things done.
 

Specialty restaurants were spot on. No issues. 
 

Shows all good. Except for (wait for it…..) 

Cats. They cancelled mid week due to “technical difficulties”. We interpreted that as COVID related. 
 

Escape room was open. 
 

Don’t know about Laser Tag. 
 

Bar staff seemed a bit stressed in some instances, but that was more at the bar. Wait staff was strong and timely. 
 

Great cruise. 

Edited by lgonquin
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Another_Critic

Another_Critic

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1 hour ago, taglovestocruise said:

Absolutely hate the closed in dining room.  Love the big open three deck dining, we usually get a table along the balcony railing. I must not be alone as there were so many complaints that Spectrum and Odyssey came out with three story dining rooms. 

Two story (deck 3 and 4).  I'm not sure that it was the complaints or cost savings.  It was probably cheaper to build a two story MDR vs four separate venues.  Plus, with the demise of Dynamic Dining, there's really no reason to have four separate venues with the same menu.

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OnTheJourney

OnTheJourney

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8 hours ago, basktchic said:

I would say the beds...just hard.

Most surprising to hear this! I've always found the beds on any ship to be quite comfortable. First time I saw the Oasis up close was last month. We were docked next to her at Coco Cay (on the Enchantment...talk about a size contrast!!!)  I swear when we backed out of the dock to leave, a few minutes went by and yet we were only at the half-way point of the Oasis. That is one big ship...

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WakeView4Us

WakeView4Us

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8 hours ago, KKB said:

Curious, why was your Anthem cruise horrible?

Cruised it in Dec. '18 with our 3 YA kids & LOVED it!

(loved our Allure cruise a few years prior as well...)

Anthem was a huge disappointment on many levels:

- food - just meh... no one meal was what I would call good or great 

- entertainment- we walked out of the production shows in the theatre and in the 270 (spectra's cabaret and we will rock you). The quality of the performers were high school level at best

- servers in the restaurants and bars were mediocre

-cabin steward - bad - our room had food on the floor and finger prints on the mirrors and tv at check in!

- the flow of the ship on the promenade was so cramped that at many times it felt like walking through a black Friday sale.

- cruise director - was Dennis Charles - just didnt seem to have any real passion for what he was doing - very forced feel

Our cruise was the 4th week in a row with a norovirus outbreak and we had delayed boarding because of it...knowing this, I was surprised they weren't forcing people to wash their hands when entering the buffet or restaurants. One night we even had 4 crew in hazmat suits fogging our hallway...they just told us to walk through this fog...eeewww no thank you 

 

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WakeView4Us

WakeView4Us

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2 hours ago, AnyWayIsGood said:

Most surprising to hear this! I've always found the beds on any ship to be quite comfortable. First time I saw the Oasis up close was last month. We were docked next to her at Coco Cay (on the Enchantment...talk about a size contrast!!!)  I swear when we backed out of the dock to leave, a few minutes went by and yet we were only at the half-way point of the Oasis. That is one big ship...

Falling asleep on the bed was easy...waking up we both had back and neck pain every single morning.

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WakeView4Us

WakeView4Us

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5 hours ago, lgonquin said:

We were on this sailing and the week prior. It was mentioned during the Captains Q&A that they were short handed. But did not give specifics. 
 

Despite that, service was good. MDR was typical chaos that we’ve seen for several years. Wait staff busting @$$ to get things done.
 

Specialty restaurants were spot on. No issues. 
 

Shows all good. Except for (wait for it…..) 

Cats. They cancelled mid week due to “technical difficulties”. We interpreted that as COVID related. 
 

Escape room was open. 
 

Don’t know about Laser Tag. 
 

Bar staff seemed a bit stressed in some instances, but that was more at the bar. Wait staff was strong and timely. 
 

Great cruise. 

I agree...the dining room staff busted a@@ all week and they announced they have been awarded best in the fleet for 3 months now. I will also say that the windjammer staff and cabin stewards were also working very hard. We heard from more than 1 staff member that they arent getting time off and cannot currently get off the ship either. 

 

The zip line, flowrider, ultimate abyss and ice rink were all open. 

I agree on Cats as well...i think "technical difficulties" = cast member with covid

 

 

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WakeView4Us

WakeView4Us

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7 hours ago, LuCruise said:

Interested in OP's reason for ship preference too.  Thanks for the feedback.  Going on Oasis for the first time in March.

 

SO far we've been on a couple Oasis class ships, Anthem, Freedom and most Voyager class ships.

 

Symphony makes 1st place.

Anthem makes 2nd place.

 

They are very different though and can see one liking one and not the other.

I posted a detail description of why Anthem was a dud for us. 

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lgonquin

lgonquin

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24 minutes ago, GSRDPM said:

AQUA80 was the best show I I have ever seen on a cruise ship!

It’s the music first and foremost. I was singing and tapping along the entire time. 
 

But will agree the performers helped a little 😉

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bmc alabama

bmc alabama

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59 minutes ago, GSRDPM said:

AQUA80 was the best show I I have ever seen on a cruise ship!

We didn't care for Oasis overall on our cruise in January  (not enough included food options like our March Mardi Gras cruise had and why, oh why does the ice cream shut down at 5:30pm???).

 

That said, we loved Aqua80.  I'll agree.  It's right up there with Duel Reality on Virgin's Scarlet Lady...

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