Live Cruising Review Oasis of the Seas 6/24/22 - 7/01/22 Lots of Pictures !!!

[BennyBrun]

26 minutes ago, calakerfan00 said:

Anyone know the approximate time they start taking pictures on formal nights?

Depending on the location 5pm- 5:30pm

[BennyBrun]

Day 6 Lobster Night MDR

 

 

[mets123]

4 hours ago, BennyBrun said:

Day 6

 

Cats …. I am really really really trying to get into this musical … I now have seen this 6+ times … I am still wondering what am I missing … why was this at the Winter theater for such a long time?

Kind of like The Gift when it was on the Anthem. I saw it at least six times and still not exactly sure what it's about. I'm glad it's not been back since the Anthem returned. Maybe it will be replaced with something more interesting.

[Max and Ruby]

22 minutes ago, BennyBrun said:

Thank you sooooo much for the input.  I love it and sincerely appreciate another insight another point of view.  
 

I actually got a lot of work done.  The trick in case you missed it is that when you move from location to location you need to turn off the Wi-Fi and then turn it back on to pick it up at the new location.  So when I move from MDR to theater I turn on and off and it works great again!  In my room I have to use it closer to the balcony to pick up the Wi-Fi from Central Park.

 

He does give off at vibe when I first met him but to give him credit he is actually a very nice guy to talk to once you get to know him a bit and ask him some questions.  I think it’s the accent… 😂 

 

 

WiFi trick. Nope! Had no idea so thanks! I am not tech savvy. 😆

[BennyBrun]

37 minutes ago, mets123 said:

Kind of like The Gift when it was on the Anthem. I saw it at least six times and still not exactly sure what it's about. I'm glad it's not been back since the Anthem returned. Maybe it will be replaced with something more interesting.

Hahahah. I saw the gift too… nope … that’s one gift that needs to returned to sender!

[BennyBrun]

Day 6 Lobster Night 

 

Its the one night that brings out the “strangers” in the traditional dinning room… I have never seen some of these people before … the pineapple cake that’s sugar free is amazing!

[BennyBrun]

Day 6

 

People Everywhere…

[BennyBrun]

Day 6
 

Spotlight Karaoke … can’t even make it through the door 

[BennyBrun]

Day 6 

 

Adult Comedy … Mike Pace… OMG funny … Michelle Balan … funny … definitely try to catch Mike Pace if you can … wow!

[BennyBrun]

Day 6

 

The remaining members of LED Zapagain performing at the Music Hall… I think it’s just music because the singer had a medical emergency…

[BennyBrun]

Day 7 Compass / Departure information

 

Wow … I am moving up in the luggage tag world… number 2 … either that or they can’t wait to get me off the ship 😝… 

[rudeney]

2 hours ago, BennyBrun said:

I actually got a lot of work done.  The trick in case you missed it is that when you move from location to location you need to turn off the Wi-Fi and then turn it back on to pick it up at the new location.  So when I move from MDR to theater I turn on and off and it works great again!  In my room I have to use it closer to the balcony to pick up the Wi-Fi from Central Park.

 

 

That sounds like their mesh system is not "meshing".  They may not even use a mesh system, but just a bunch of wifi receivers with the same SSID and a grid of antennas.  They need to upgrade their system.  Surely one day's worth of Voom revenue would pay for that! 

[BennyBrun]

8 minutes ago, rudeney said:

 

That sounds like their mesh system is not "meshing".  They may not even use a mesh system, but just a bunch of wifi receivers with the same SSID and a grid of antennas.  They need to upgrade their system.  Surely one day's worth of Voom revenue would pay for that! 

Trust me… if you ever been on NCL paying that ridiculous price for that ridiculous Wi-Fi speed you learn to appreciate the minor thing you have to deal with on Royal.  I agree with you that they should upgrade but hopefully starlink will make everything better and faster !!

[TPCRUISER2]

5 hours ago, Max and Ruby said:

I saw him. I had to do a double take….like what the?

That is why I am not usually barefoot in the cabin either!

[perfect match]

16 hours ago, BennyBrun said:

No one can realistically expect half filled ships to go on forever.  That was an unique experience and that’s it.  The ship will be full especially cruises in the USA except Pride of the America.  Currently NCL European cruises are not full but will know for sure when I check out the Jade later next month in Greece.

 

Yes Waldo will be taking a summer break from Royal and let the kids have all the fun… but Waldo will be back to Royal on The Symphony of the Seas 9/17 for two weeks.

I knew right from the start that the low capacity wouldn’t last. We were glad to get two cruises in before it started to go !

 

Waldo will be safe from being found in September - at least from me! We’ll be on Harmony the week before you board Symphony. 😀

 

We like CATS! Enjoyed your pictures from the show, also the AquaTheater show.

[TimeToGetNauti]

I have been enjoying your review as I take this same cruise in October.  I noticed on the compass that Vitality cafe shows as a free food option.  I think the light snacks are free but the smoothies cost extra.  Is that correct?  And do you know the average price for them? Thank you. 

[mac_tlc]

11 hours ago, BennyBrun said:

Day 6
 

Spotlight Karaoke … can’t even make it through the door 

For a ship so large and with a lot of people, the venues for certain events is perplexing. On our May cruise we found two to be especially disappointing. 

 

One is the above -- Spotlight Karaoke (previously OnAir) is woefully small for the very popular events they have there. RCL must know how popular these events are -- but puts them in a cozy, small venue??

 

The other was the Music Hall (previously Dazzles). Maybe it depends on the sailing and the bands but when we tried to see Phoenix there in May it was a real struggle. Very very few seats have a good sightline to the stage, in fact most of the deck 8 seats are facing perpendicular to the stage. What ? And lots of poles in the way.  The deck nine seats are almost all "audio-only", unless you get Benny's seat by the rail. The one time they tried to have Phoenix in the Aquatheare ( a good choice of venue), they couldn't get the sound to work.

 

Probably a logistical challenge but they need to utilize the theatre and Aquatheater more for these high-attendance events.

 

mac_tlc

 

 

Edited June 30, 2022 by mac_tlc

[BennyBrun]

7 hours ago, perfect match said:

I knew right from the start that the low capacity wouldn’t last. We were glad to get two cruises in before it started to go !

 

Waldo will be safe from being found in September - at least from me! We’ll be on Harmony the week before you board Symphony. 😀

 

We like CATS! Enjoyed your pictures from the show, also the AquaTheater show.

Hahahah… enjoy you cruise on the Harmony.  That is another one of my favorite Oasis Class ships!!!

[BennyBrun]

46 minutes ago, TimeToGetNauti said:

I have been enjoying your review as I take this same cruise in October.  I noticed on the compass that Vitality cafe shows as a free food option.  I think the light snacks are free but the smoothies cost extra.  Is that correct?  And do you know the average price for them? Thank you. 

The food in the display case is free but you can get most at the cafe promenade except for the banana bread and granola bar.  Smoothie is about 6.80 for a small and 8.25 for a large.  They also have paid coffee / tea but that is not the best place to get just a coffee or tea because the smoothie line can be loooooooong.

[jetta8300]

On 6/28/2022 at 2:53 PM, Happy New Cruiser said:

I see that a lot of people are commenting on the crowds.  I have never been on Royal and therefore never on an Oasis class ship.  I can tell that there are going to be crowds for my August sailing but I'm trying to understand these comments. Are the crowds worse in comparison to the sailings that had limited capacity due to Covid OR are the crowds actually that much worse than pre-covid.  I sailed on the NCL Escape in 2019 and thinking back it was fairly crowded.  However, reading the posts it seems like there are major problems onboard doing anything.  Just wondering if someone could clarify.

Pre-pandemic, ships always sailed full.  They did whatever they could to fill every last room.  From dropping prices, to giving rooms away for free to casino patrons.  Most people I personally believe are complaining about the crowds because they have now become used to cruising during covid with limited capacity.  And equally because we are now ULTRA aware of crowding and lack of social distancing due to the pandemic. We wouldn't have thought twice before about standing nose to nose with 20 people in an elevator.  Now we have been taught that is going to get us killed.

 

We have not cruised since October 2018 and are going on the Harmony in a few weeks.  Things will be just as they were.  The buffets were always horribly crowded many times (especially on boarding day), long lines for MTD, etc.  This isn't new.

[BennyBrun]

10 minutes ago, mac_tlc said:

For a ship so large and with a lot of people, the venues for certain events is perplexing. On our May cruise we found two to be especially disappointing. 

 

One is the above -- Spotlight Karaoke (previously OnAir) is woefully small for the very popular events they have there. RCL must know how popular these events are -- but puts them in a cozy, small venue??

 

The other was the Music Hall (previously Dazzles). Maybe it depends on the sailing and the bands but when we tried to see Phoenix there in May it was a real struggle. Very very few seats have a good sightline to the stage, in fact most of the deck 8 seats are facing perpendicular to the stage. What ? And lots of poles in the way.  The deck nine seats are almost all "audio-only", unless you get Benny's seat by the rail. The one time they tried to have Phoenix in the Aquatheare ( a good choice of venue), they couldn't get the sound to work.

 

Probably a logistical challenge but they need to utilize the theatre and Aquatheater more for these high-attendance events.

 

mac_tlc

 

 

The set up in the music hall is strange.  I don’t understand it at all.  Between the “hall way” to the stage and all the poles it’s not a place to catch a performance it’s more like a night club.  It would be almost better to swap spaces with Blaze because most people tries to hide from the comedians any way and the music hall provides a lot of good hiding spaces.

[BennyBrun]

5 minutes ago, jetta8300 said:

Pre-pandemic, ships always sailed full.  They did whatever they could to fill every last room.  From dropping prices, to giving rooms away for free to casino patrons.  Most people I personally believe are complaining about the crowds because they have now become used to cruising during covid with limited capacity.  And equally because we are now ULTRA aware of crowding and lack of social distancing due to the pandemic. We wouldn't have thought twice before about standing nose to nose with 20 people in an elevator.  Now we have been taught that is going to get us killed.

 

We have not cruised since October 2018 and are going on the Harmony in a few weeks.  Things will be just as they were.  The buffets were always horribly crowded many times (especially on boarding day), long lines for MTD, etc.  This isn't new.

You are absolutely correct.  I do believe that if you are flexible you can still find a way to avoid the ultra crowd and have a great cruise.  It just takes a little more planning.

[Bound4Bermuda]

12 hours ago, BennyBrun said:

Day 6

 

People Everywhere…

👀I spot a few different people wearing shorts on formal night. 👀 Just saying... 😄

[kwokpot]

52 minutes ago, BennyBrun said:

The set up in the music hall is strange.  I don’t understand it at all.  Between the “hall way” to the stage and all the poles it’s not a place to catch a performance it’s more like a night club.  It would be almost better to swap spaces with Blaze because most people tries to hide from the comedians any way and the music hall provides a lot of good hiding spaces.

That's because it was originally designed as a nightclub.

[kwokpot]

59 minutes ago, BennyBrun said:

The food in the display case is free but you can get most at the cafe promenade except for the banana bread and granola bar.  Smoothie is about 6.80 for a small and 8.25 for a large.  They also have paid coffee / tea but that is not the best place to get just a coffee or tea because the smoothie line can be loooooooong.

This must be a change because when I first sailed on the Oasis a long time ago there wasn't any complementary food at the Vitality Cafe on the Oasis. Is this the setup in the Vitality Cafe on all Oasis class ships?