A Canadian takes on a B4B on Oasis 6/5/22 - 7/1/22

[JessyCruises]

We left home this morning at 6:15 AM AST.  We checked into our hotel in Staten Island at 6:45 PM EST after a few stops.  So 13.5hrs travel time.  The weather was perfect the whole way.  We did get stuck in traffic for 1.5 hrs trying to get into NJ on the George Washington Bridge. We did not end up making it to old Orchard Beach. We ended up in that area at 10:30 AM so Pier Fries were not open yet.  We are hoping to hit it on the drive home on 7/1. 
 

We are staying at the Hampton Inn Staten Island.  We booked a King Studio with sofa bed.  This is the type of room we usually book at Hampton. This one is huge and looks to be recently renovated.  Check in was easy and we will be leaving our car here at no extra cost. They appears to be lots of security cameras.

 

 

 

 

 

 

It will be a 20 minute drive to the cruise port in the morning.  We have a car service booked for the morning for $45 but plan on checking Uber we wake up to see which is best.  This is the car service the hotel recommends who we have booked with.

 

Edited June 4, 2022 by JessyCruises

[Luckynana]

Following! 

We moved from Staten Island 5 years ago.  I know exactly where the Hampton Inn is!  

Happy sailing!!

[bme]

On 6/3/2022 at 4:06 PM, LorraineP said:

Thank you. We are driving from Pennsylvania so most likely have to stay in Newark. Looking for somewhere to park that’s gated & secure so we don’t have to worry about leaving car for 28 days. 

FYI -- I've used SNAP parking in Newark (near the airport) many times. Cars are parked in a garage which means protection from snow when traveling in the winter months.

[LorraineP]

9 hours ago, bme said:

FYI -- I've used SNAP parking in Newark (near the airport) many times. Cars are parked in a garage which means protection from snow when traveling in the winter months.

Will definitely check it out. How did you get to pier after parking?

[jimbri]

Looking forward to  your review.  Have a great time!

[bme]

2 hours ago, LorraineP said:

Will definitely check it out. How did you get to pier after parking?

I've only parked here for airport trips and they run a van to/from the terminals at Newark. There is an indoor waiting area so you could comfortably call a cab or ride share to pick you up and take you to the pier in Bayonne.

[rabidstoat]

I was on the Oasis 2 weeks ago, it's my favorite class of ship! Things were a bit understaffed but staff was still great, as was the Aqua show and the ice show. Cats was awful.

 

My friends are still on the ship! They are doing a B2B2B that ends with the Canada jaunt.

[psac]

18 hours ago, JessyCruises said:

We left home this morning at 6:15 AM AST.  We checked into our hotel in Staten Island at 6:45 PM EST after a few stops.  So 13.5hrs travel time.  The weather was perfect the whole way.  We did get stuck in traffic for 1.5 hrs trying to get into NJ on the George Washington Bridge. We did not end up making it to old Orchard Beach. We ended up in that area at 10:30 AM so Pier Fries were not open yet.  We are hoping to hit it on the drive home on 7/1. 
 

We are staying at the Hampton Inn Staten Island.  We booked a King Studio with sofa bed.  This is the type of room we usually book at Hampton. This one is huge and looks to be recently renovated.  Check in was easy and we will be leaving our car here at no extra cost. They appears to be lots of security cameras.

 

 

 

 

 

 

It will be a 20 minute drive to the cruise port in the morning.  We have a car service booked for the morning for $45 but plan on checking Uber we wake up to see which is best.  This is the car service the hotel recommends who we have booked with.

 

Which did you use?  We live in Staten Island, and that’s actually the car service we use for the airport or if we were going to the cruise terminal (Bayonne or Manhattan) and didn’t want to drive. They’re usually very good.   The Hampton Inn itself was expanded a couple of years ago. They basically added on a second half of the building. So I assume you were in the new “wing.”  Enjoy!

[Oceansaway17]

well with four weeks on the ship that will give you a lot of time to see the show CATS.

 

Enjoy some of the specialty restaurants too

[ItsADryHumor]

On 6/3/2022 at 8:43 AM, JessyCruises said:

Hubby and I are going to be boarding Oasis of the Seas on Sunday 6/5/22 for 4 consecutive cruises.  The 1st is a 5 day to Canada and the other three are 7 cruises with stops in Port Canaveral, Nassau and Coco Cay.

 

These will be out 13th-16th cruises since the restart, all but one of which have been consecutive cruises.  I have live threaded some of them, most memorable is probably our Oasis/Odyssey in January 2022 sailing which was supposed to be a S2S then a B2B but became a S2S and a long quarantine at the Embassy Suites in Fort Lauderdale because Hubby contracted Covid onboard.  If you want to check out that thread, hereis the link: A Canadian takes on a S2B2B on Oasis 1/2/22, Odyssey 1/9/22 & 1/15/22 (hopefully) - Royal Caribbean International - Cruise Critic Community

 

We have cruised a few times since that trip and we just got off a B2B on Ovation last month that had some challenges (a death at home in the family while onboard, lack of staffing causing some service and dining issues, horrible wifi when trying to telecommute, my dad testing postive upon his return home after the 1st cruise, just to name a few).  We still had a great time though 🙂

 

I decided to document these cruises as well, just as a fun way to share our experiences and because I simply enjoy doing it!

 

Please feel free to ask me any questions, and if there is anyone else onboard for any of these sailings who would like to post, please feel free.  The more the merrier!!

I want to be you one day. That is all. 

[JessyCruises]

Sorry for not really posting yesterday.  I did not have wifi once I was onboard until after dinner.  

 

We ended up doing Lyft to get to the cruise terminal.  The total with tip was $50.  We left the hotel at 9:25 and arrived at the terminal at 9:53.  We had a 10AM check in time but we walked right in the door and checked in immediately.  They did not seem to be checking times.  We were not in a line once and it was a straight shot through security to the check in desk.  We were then asked to be seated in the waiting area and walked onboard at 10:22AM.  

 

We headed right to our muster station in the fitness center.  I am not sure why but ever since Muster 2.0 started, it NEVER shows we have watched the videos.  We always make sure to watch all the videos in the app with the sound on.  It is very bizarre that this happens to hubby and i every time.  Does this happen to anyone else?

 

 

[JessyCruises]

 I do not think I mentioned this but all of these cruises we have booked are on casino offers.  For the 1st two cruises were are in an in an interior cabin.  We are i a central park balcony for the last 2 cruises.  We actually have 2 cabins for the first and last sailings.  We both had offers so we we booked the two cabins.  Why not get double points if we can, right?  We could not get connecting cabins and will not even be using the 2nd cabin most likely.  We might use them to store the suitcases. 

 

This is our 1st full sailing as D+ with over 340 pts.  I was looking forward to getting some tote bags as when I was on Ovation they did not have any and the LA told me the towels were no longer an option.  She had changed our preferences to the totes on the 5/13/22 cruise while I was at her desk, but I had champagne and strawberries delivered to my cabin last night.  I will have to hit up the LA later today to get the preferences straightened out.

 

 

[JessyCruises]

Here are the Diamond+ Docs that were in the cabin.

 

 

[JessyCruises]

Here are the show times:

 

 

 

Cruise Compass Day 1:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 6, 2022 by JessyCruises

[Bound4Bermuda]

On 6/3/2022 at 1:54 PM, JessyCruises said:

Thanks!  We are looking forward to it 🙂

 

This will be another working holiday for both of us so we will be working 8-4:30 most weekdays with the exception of Coco Cay days where we will be taking the afternoons off and hopefully enjoying what it has to offer!

You just answered my first question: How are you in your 40s and able to take off a month of vacation time?! That seems excessive even for Canadians, lol. Enjoy! I’ll be following your voyage to get psyched up for my Oasis trip July 15.

[JessyCruises]

Cruise Compass Day 2:

 

 

 

 

 

[JessyCruises]

Onboard Drink Package Prices.  The BOGO special is on.  $98 for guest 1, $49 for guest 2.  Works out to $73.50 pp.  That is nuts!!

 

Luckily we no longer have a need for the package.  We are Prime in the casino so get free drinks in there when it is open and we are Diamond + so each get 5 free drinks a day that can be used throughout the ship.  It would be nice if that $18 drink package mistake popped up again though 🙂

 

 

 

 

Edited June 6, 2022 by JessyCruises

[JessyCruises]

20 hours ago, Oceansaway17 said:

well with four weeks on the ship that will give you a lot of time to see the show CATS.

 

Enjoy some of the specialty restaurants too

 

 

My god I hate cruise critics sometimes.  I just typed out a long answer to this and when I hit submit reply, it went *poof*

[Biker19]

54 minutes ago, JessyCruises said:

Does this happen to anyone else?

It may, depending on when you watch it - if you do it on the ship's wifi, that should not happen.

Edited June 6, 2022 by Biker19

[JessyCruises]

20 hours ago, Oceansaway17 said:

well with four weeks on the ship that will give you a lot of time to see the show CATS.

 

Enjoy some of the specialty restaurants too

 

Let's try this again...

 

I LOVE Cats!  I think John&Lala and I are among the few cheerleaders.  I think its a fantastic show.  I was the 1st show I ever saw on Broadway back in 1992. I actually got to sit in the section that was right onstage.  I have seen it a couple times on tour and I have lost count of how many times I have seen it on Oasis.

 

We are going to Izumi tonight. I reserved it ahead of time for just myself for $28.99+18%.  The plan is to use one of our BOGOs.  I was told on here that they would need to cancel the existing reservation and book it at the onboard price but when I went to do that yesterday, the guest services rep told me it was not necessary and when we get to the restaurant, to just tell them we want to use our BOGO.  I guess we will find out for sure tonight.  They better have ramen this time.  there was some kind of ramen shortage last time we were onboard and we could not get it 😞

 

When we were on the Oasis in January, we had the UDP and took full advantage.  We love Playmakers and Port Side and enjoyed being able to use it there.  I do not think I mentioned it in my live thread, but on one of the last nights I actually ended up with food poisoning that I am 100% sure I got at Giovanni's Table.  I know I should have reported it but did not.  Let's just say it was a very unpleasant evening.  I do not think my brain will ever let me go back to that restaurant.  I do love Giovanni's TABLE though so hopefully my mental block will not affect that.  🤣

 

We probably won't be going Chops or 150CP either.  We will definitely be hitting up Playmakers a few times and Port Side.  I am not sure if our BOGOs will work there.  I know they let us use it at Johnny Rockets on Allure in November, but these are A la carte so who knows...

[JessyCruises]

8 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

It may, depending on when you watch it - if you do it on the ship's wifi, that should not happen.

 

I always watch it in the hotel the night before.

[Biker19]

Just now, JessyCruises said:

 

I always watch it in the hotel the night before.

Many times that's too far out - need to do it closer to sailing time, like the morning of.

[JessyCruises]

33 minutes ago, Bound4Bermuda said:

You just answered my first question: How are you in your 40s and able to take off a month of vacation time?! That seems excessive even for Canadians, lol. Enjoy! I’ll be following your voyage to get psyched up for my Oasis trip July 15.

 

I actually get 5 weeks of vacation + some floaters but do not think my boss would like it very much if I took them all at once 🙂

[JessyCruises]

1 minute ago, Biker19 said:

Many times that's too far out - need to do it closer to sailing time, like the morning of.

 

Thanks for the tip.  I will try that next time!

[Oceansaway17]

7 minutes ago, JessyCruises said:

 

Let's try this again...

I LOVE Cats!  I think John&Lala and I are among the few cheerleaders.  I think its a fantastic show.  I was the 1st show I ever saw on Broadway back in 1992. I actually got to sit in the section that was right onstage.  I have seen it a couple times on tour and I have lost count of how many times I have seen it on Oasis.

I do not think I mentioned it in my live thread, but on one of the last nights I actually ended up with food poisoning that I am 100% sure I got at Giovanni's Table.  I know I should have reported it but did not.  Let's just say it was a very unpleasant evening.  ...

 

I too got to see CATS on broadway with the original cast and was great.  I will look forward to Mama Mia next week on Allure and then Cats on Oasis in Oct.

 

I got food poisoning at the Irish restaurant at Disney Springs.  OMG took me 4 hours to get under control before I could get on the bus back to hotel.  

I am doing Giovanni's on Allure next week so I hope all is well.  Let me know what YOU ate so I might think about it when I am ordering.