Oasis of the Seas - 7/7-7/14 thoughts

[Biker19]

1 hour ago, Crazy planning mom said:

Do you know if the ship was sailing at full capacity?

Ships have been sailing at or above 100% capacity for months now, especially over the summer. It doesn't seem to matter to the newbies.

[nferr]

15 hours ago, PACrew said:

Great assessment @Marleycruiser. We were on Harmony back in April. My review was identical. The nickel/diming is ridiculous. My main complaint was the cabin service. While I dont have a problem with with once a day, it would be wise to have a trash removal and if its a 4 person room, to have the bed returned to couch/vice versa. 

 

Love royal but at its current pricing, we may explore different lines. 

 

 

 Yeah, the pricing is getting high. I booked the Oasis for this October 15 about nine months ago. Pricing for two people (inside room) was $980 and I got a $175 OBC. So right around $800. The prices are way higher now. Looking at a nine night Bahamas cruise on MSC for January and solo it's right around $1000 including the drink package and wifi with $100 OBC. Going to try them out of NYC.

[nferr]

15 hours ago, PACrew said:

Great assessment @Marleycruiser. We were on Harmony back in April. My review was identical. The nickel/diming is ridiculous. My main complaint was the cabin service. While I dont have a problem with with once a day, it would be wise to have a trash removal and if its a 4 person room, to have the bed returned to couch/vice versa. 

 

Love royal but at its current pricing, we may explore different lines. 

 

 

 Yeah, the pricing is getting high. I booked the Oasis for this October 15 about nine months ago. Pricing for two people (inside room) was $980 and I got a $175 OBC. So right around $800. The prices are way higher now. Looking at a nine night Bahamas cruise on MSC for January, and solo it's right around $1000 including the drink package and wifi with $100 OBC. Going to try them out of NYC.

[LobsterStalker]

On 7/14/2023 at 8:45 PM, Marleycruiser said:

In summary, we had a great time as a family. We believe this vacation was a great value for our family of 4 for two ocean view balconies which spent nearly $4500 just for the cruise (plus the drink package and internet so totaled $6200). We were quoted for next year on the Symphony for the same two cabins at $7200. That doesn't include the drink package or the internet package which would be $9K. RCL is positioning themselves as a luxury vacation destination but it is simply not. At that price point I will gladly get on a plane with the family and stay at a resort on an island for a comparable price point. People continue to pay these prices while RCL continue to cut back and that is their decision to do so.

Basically a 50 % increase . You hit the nail on the head , as long as people are paying these prices RCI will continue to "gouge". I am of the belief that the current pricing I am seeing looking out is not sustainable , and will start to trend back 'down to earth'. Only question is how long before the cycle runs its course . We have been trying to cruise twice a year ( a Feb. trip and again Sept./Oct.)

We were able to get Wonder at a fair price in Feb. of this year and have Freedom/Harmony for Early Oct.  , but looking into next February , I'm not yet seeing my trip line up yet 

Time will tell

 

Cheers

 

 

[Another_Critic]

There are still some bargains out there if you're flexible and can get group rates.

[Marleycruiser]

I agree but unfortunately we are pegged to kids school schedules. 

 

A few other random thoughts:

1) Early Dining - Moved from 5:30PM to 5PM. While it may not seem like a big deal to some, that extra half hour is killer in terms of getting a family ready for 5PM. There was also no explanation as to why the change.

2) Parking - Has gone up quite a bit. I want to say we paid $150 for the week at the Bayonne Parking Lot but that has not only gone up to $210, but they make you pay at the END of the cruise as opposed to the BEGINING of the cruise like last year. This makes 0 sense and just adds to the lines when leaving the ship. 

[Pratique]

2 hours ago, Marleycruiser said:

I agree but unfortunately we are pegged to kids school schedules. 

 

A few other random thoughts:

1) Early Dining - Moved from 5:30PM to 5PM. While it may not seem like a big deal to some, that extra half hour is killer in terms of getting a family ready for 5PM. There was also no explanation as to why the change.

2) Parking - Has gone up quite a bit. I want to say we paid $150 for the week at the Bayonne Parking Lot but that has not only gone up to $210, but they make you pay at the END of the cruise as opposed to the BEGINING of the cruise like last year. This makes 0 sense and just adds to the lines when leaving the ship. 

In June I parked in the overflow lot and I paid when I entered. It was $210 to park outside next to an abandoned warehouse.

[Jerseygirl1416]

1 minute ago, Pratique said:

In June I parked in the overflow lot and I paid when I entered. It was $210 to park outside next to an abandoned warehouse.

We had to park there too in May and came back to a car covered in bird 💩

[Pratique]

34 minutes ago, Jerseygirl1416 said:

We had to park there too in May and came back to a car covered in bird 💩

Yeah us too.

[vacationlover_mn]

On 7/15/2023 at 6:47 PM, Marleycruiser said:

I agree @Mum2Mercury.

 

At some point they are going to lose clientele and are losing sight of what made them successful in the first place. Good food, drinks, and entertainment at a reasonable price point.

DH and I are not cheap with vacations… however, the prices of Icon kinda scare me!  Way outside our budget for what it is.   We are ok for now- want to try every ship departing from us, and we have many more to go… but prices on these new ones is alarming!

[PATRLR]

On 7/14/2023 at 7:45 PM, Marleycruiser said:

2) CocoCay - First, love the island. A ton to do and lots of free activities to do as a family; however, we went into the bathrooms near Chill Island and it was worst than a NYC PortaJohn. I asked my wife how the women's bathroom was and she said the same. It was gross and an easy fix for RCL to address.

Haven't been on RCCL in quite a few years now.  Going in a few weeks and something like this will be a huge issue for us.  My question is, are there alternative bathrooms available to steerage class like us?  Looking at the map of the island, it looks like if you want to just hang out at a beach, that's where you are going to be?

[Biker19]

7 hours ago, PATRLR said:

Looking at the map of the island, it looks like if you want to just hang out at a beach, that's where you are going to be?

You can go the most out of the way bathroom on the island but it doesn't mean it will be any different than the rest. There's quite a bit of subjectivity to "clean" when it comes to toilets.

[Doc2725]

On 7/17/2023 at 8:33 AM, Pratique said:

In a suite you still get twice daily housekeeping and they will deliver the paper Compass in the evening. If you see a paper Compass in your suite when you arrive then you will get one each day, otherwise ask the attendant or concierge. I also saw copies in the Diamond Lounge.

Great to know. Thank you. 

[Russ Lomas]

On 7/16/2023 at 2:10 PM, Doc2725 said:

Did they deliver a paper copy of the Cruise Compass in your room each day? If not, did you request a paper copy? 

We asked our cabin steward and received one every evening with turn down service (cabin cleaning).  There were never any to be had at Guest Services.  One change we noticed is that in the MDR, they were handing out paper menus again without us having to ask for them.  The previous few cruises we took, they expected you to look at the app for the menus and you had to request a paper copy.  Guess they figured that was slowing down dinner service.

 

On 7/16/2023 at 9:29 PM, Doncin said:

I also paid for 4 of us to enter the water park which was a total waste of money. It took my grandchildren 50 minutes to go on one water slide. Ridiculous and I agree that the restrooms were not clean. 

For the price of the water park alone, I would not pay for it for my family.  If you read any comments about the water park online, you will note that basically if there are 2 ships in port (which is almost every day), then the lines are usually 30-60 minutes each.  Not my idea of fun.

 

On 7/17/2023 at 7:54 AM, MaddyandMax said:

We were on Oasis the week before you and agree with all you said.  We are a group of 11 that cruise 2-3 times a year.  This was our first cruise since the menu change.  We had just been on Oasis in October less than a year ago.

 

The food changes were really upsetting.  No one from our group is what I would consider a "foodie" but so many nights more than one us didn't want anything on the menu and ended up with ordering 2 starters.  Starters continually came cold (except soup).  Don't even get me started on the July 4th menu.  They need to throw it overboard LOL.  If the food continues to be like this we will branch out.  I personally have only ever cruised with Royal but others in our group have been on other brands.  I suspect the food problems are not just on Royal though.  

We had the exact same comments that we mad to the officers and in our comment card.

 

On 7/17/2023 at 1:05 PM, Crazy planning mom said:

Do you know if the ship was sailing at full capacity?  As long as they are selling out, there will be no incentive to approve things.

They consider 100% capacity to be full at 2 people per cabin or, 5602 passengers.  We were told that they were close to 7000 passengers on this sailing (maximum passenger capacity with all cabins that hold more than 2 people at full capacity is 6771).

[taglovestocruise]

On 7/21/2023 at 10:19 AM, Russ Lomas said:

We asked our cabin steward and received one every evening with turn down service (cabin cleaning).  There were never any to be had at Guest Services.  One change we noticed is that in the MDR, they were handing out paper menus again without us having to ask for them.  The previous few cruises we took, they expected you to look at the app for the menus and you had to request a paper copy.  Guess they figured that was slowing down dinner service.

 

For the price of the water park alone, I would not pay for it for my family.  If you read any comments about the water park online, you will note that basically if there are 2 ships in port (which is almost every day), then the lines are usually 30-60 minutes each.  Not my idea of fun.

 

We had the exact same comments that we mad to the officers and in our comment card.

 

They consider 100% capacity to be full at 2 people per cabin or, 5602 passengers.  We were told that they were close to 7000 passengers on this sailing (maximum passenger capacity with all cabins that hold more than 2 people at full capacity is 6771).

I read a blog a few weeks ago that predicted Icon will be the first Royal ship to sail at 135% with a passenger count of 7600. That will be a lot of kids.....

[Loracpin2]

On 7/21/2023 at 1:19 PM, Russ Lomas said:

We asked our cabin steward and received one every evening with turn down service (cabin cleaning).  There were never any to be had at Guest Services.  One change we noticed is that in the MDR, they were handing out paper menus again without us having to ask for them.  The previous few cruises we took, they expected you to look at the app for the menus and you had to request a paper copy.  Guess they figured that was slowing down dinner service.

 

For the price of the water park alone, I would not pay for it for my family.  If you read any comments about the water park online, you will note that basically if there are 2 ships in port (which is almost every day), then the lines are usually 30-60 minutes each.  Not my idea of fun.

 

We had the exact same comments that we mad to the officers and in our comment card.

 

They consider 100% capacity to be full at 2 people per cabin or, 5602 passengers.  We were told that they were close to 7000 passengers on this sailing (maximum passenger capacity with all cabins that hold more than 2 people at full capacity is 6771).

We were on the June 30th sailing and were told the ship's passenger head count was over 6800.  Although we have Diamond status, it was our first RCI sailing since June 2017and this was definitely our last RCI sailing!!!!!

[RyderJ201]

The toilets on Cococay in May were the worst. Filthy. No toilet paper by 1pm. It was absolutely disgusting. Saw one attendant the entire day. Not one every hour. 

[Scottdalfonso]

On 7/18/2023 at 4:14 PM, Marleycruiser said:

I agree but unfortunately we are pegged to kids school schedules. 

 

A few other random thoughts:

1) Early Dining - Moved from 5:30PM to 5PM. While it may not seem like a big deal to some, that extra half hour is killer in terms of getting a family ready for 5PM. There was also no explanation as to why the change.

2) Parking - Has gone up quite a bit. I want to say we paid $150 for the week at the Bayonne Parking Lot but that has not only gone up to $210, but they make you pay at the END of the cruise as opposed to the BEGINING of the cruise like last year. This makes 0 sense and just adds to the lines when leaving the ship. 

The reason given for moving the times to 5 and 730 were to accommodate my time dining earlier. Its a bit of a pain ,for sure- 5pm means getting back from ports and basically running right to dinner. That 30 minute buffer was perfect. 

 

[Russ Lomas]

On 7/22/2023 at 3:14 PM, taglovestocruise said:

I read a blog a few weeks ago that predicted Icon will be the first Royal ship to sail at 135% with a passenger count of 7600. That will be a lot of kids.....

That is a lot of kids that I will not be seeing personally.  Although I am interested in seeing what the Icon has to offer, the pricing has made it one ship that I am likely not to sail on, as well as the fact that due to its size, ports it can visit will be very limited.

 

On 7/22/2023 at 7:45 PM, Loracpin2 said:

We were on the June 30th sailing and were told the ship's passenger head count was over 6800.  Although we have Diamond status, it was our first RCI sailing since June 2017and this was definitely our last RCI sailing!!!!!

Just curious why you say it will be your last RCI sailing?  We were not impressed with the menus in the MDR, the reduced entertainment, and the huge cut backs in the Windjammer for food selection, but we still have trips planned with RCCL in the future.  That said, we are trying Princess for the 1st time in March because the pricing Royal was asking was outrageous in my opinion (triple what Princess is asking).

[MacMarauder]

Thanks for the review OP. Question about the terminal, how did you find getting in and out? I haven't sailed out of Bayonne since 2017. We like to do a later check time when the lines at the terminal die down.

 

I'm booked on Symphony out of NJ with two balcony cabins next year for around the $7k you were quoted. Compared to Wonder at $10k plus flights to FL it's a steal lol. I like Royal but I agree there is a certain point where the value isn't there anymore. We did Carnival Celebration this summer out of Miami and it was great. I would like to try MSC one day as well but always get scared off by bad reviews.

Edited July 24, 2023 by MacMarauder

[IsanTom]

On 7/16/2023 at 2:25 PM, GetToLivin said:

This. For us personally, we're at the point where we've had to remain incredibly flexible in our dates because it's the only way I can scout out a deal that makes it worth it to me (which I understand is subjective to each person and what they decide to book). I book a suite or suite GTY when I can since it seems like the only category that doesn't deal with certain cutbacks. Specialty restaurants aren't even a maybe, they're a must, because we've had good experiences for the most part and the last thing I want is a disappointing dining experience. My point is, for us, I'm finding if we want our vacation to feel luxurious with RCI, we're having to really pay for it. Being diamond, those perks help, but it's still difficult not to get irked by cutbacks with an inflated price point. I appreciate your review from your perspective: it's okay to like a brand and still be upset by company decisions that are off-putting to the consumer.

Since your Diamond, where did you go for your coffee. We're Diamond Plus and we were on

the Harmony of the Seas 2021, they allowed us to get coffee in the Diamond Lounge and the

coffee shop next to the Pizza shop. How about the Oasis? Thanks

[simon.hed]

Thanks for the review.

 

It sounds like bad MDR food is a universal truth at this point. We havent sailed since Harmony last August and are booked on Mariner next month for our anniversary. The food (specialty and included) was amazing on that trip but sounds like it may not be in near future.

 

as an avowed capitalist, I get the 'what the market will bear' part. As many have mentioned, prices going up and the product getting worse will result in alternatives being considered.

 

That is one reason I ended up cruising multiple times a year (last year and next couple at least). My vegas trips became less and less of a 'value' for me so I made other arrangements.

[GetToLivin]

11 hours ago, IsanTom said:

Since your Diamond, where did you go for your coffee. We're Diamond Plus and we were on

the Harmony of the Seas 2021, they allowed us to get coffee in the Diamond Lounge and the

coffee shop next to the Pizza shop. How about the Oasis? Thanks

Since turning diamond we've always used the diamond lounge for lattes 🙂 We'll grab regular coffee anywhere else on the ship.