Oasis Review: The Skeptics Did It 11/7

Just off this morning. Last post the airport internet timed out so...the real review will have to wait. I'll try to get going this weekend.

Great time and happy to answer questions while waiting at airport.

I can say that we didn't hear any chatter about the man overboard, sorry.

My family boards a week from today! Looking forward to your review! Honestly I'd rather not hear about a tragedy while I'm on vacation TBH.

Just off too! I can't wait to hear your review :)

FlyStef - agreed. It shouldn't impact 5000 people's vacation. I was relieved it was not a constant topic - as I'm sure the crew were as well.

I'll try to get going on the review tomorrow. Text only, no pics. Sorry! But there have been many other great picture reviews. My goal is to compare the Oasis experience to the Freedom and Voyager experience. We found pros and cons.

We planing our next cruise on Oasis, looking forward to your review.

FlyStef - agreed. It shouldn't impact 5000 people's vacation. I was relieved it was not a constant topic - as I'm sure the crew were as well.

 

I'll try to get going on the review tomorrow. Text only, no pics. Sorry! But there have been many other great picture reviews. My goal is to compare the Oasis experience to the Freedom and Voyager experience. We found pros and cons.

I need to post a review as well. Glad to hear you made it home. Just got back home after 14.5 hour drive. OU is leading BU 20-13 at the half.

Looking forwards to your review :)

Wolf, looking forward to your review. Sorry we didn't get a chance to meet you onboard. I plan to post a review with lots of photos.

That was our experience also, no mention of the man overboard. We did hear some passengers talking about it though.

Forgot to say hi to suzyluvstocruise - nice to meet you as well.

bum - sorry we missed you. I have to admit many of our plans went out the window. After all the chaos here at home, the last few months, some of my best moments were just sitting in a chair staring at the water or standing in the pool with a frozen bellini! :)

Looking forward to your review....we board in 2 weeks and our second time on Lady O.

I'll give it a start.

THE BASICS: We are DINKS in our 50's :eek: This was our 24th cruise. We are Diamond Plus and while we started in junior suites, the last 6 years we've stuck to Grand Suites. Once you do it, it's just too hard to go back. At least for us.

PRE CRUISE: Due to the boat show in Ft L, we stayed in Deerfield Beach at the Embassy Suites. Good price and on the beach. You can tell it was an older hotel converted to an Embassy - it's not the cookie cutter floor plan. We were happy with it. Very clean - decent breakfast, nice to have 2 bathrooms. We are Hilton Honors so we had an ocean view upgrade on the top floor. I used the on site spa for some last minute pampering. Great massage, so-so mani/pedi. I can get a better one at home for $45 instead of $77 and the polish chipped 2 days later. Cab ride there was $70 - it's a ways out. The concierge advised us to do a shuttle to the port the next day. Glad we did. Cost was $65 + 20% tip - so about the same. He was early and took the back entrance to avoid traffic.

We had arranged a 9 am pickup thinking we would hit traffic and be ready to board around 10:30. That was before we heard about the Man Overboard and knew the ship would be late. Oh well. We waited outside for about 30 minutes or so before the doors opened. We were through security and checked in quickly. At least the suite waiting area was very nice and comfortable. iPad and Candy Crush kept me occupied. :)

Boarding began around 11:30-11:45 as I recall. We had bought the drink package online ahead of time. They had a table set up as you board by Bolero's - they have a list and put the sticker on your card. Your soda cups are in your room. Since we did it online and they had a promotion for upgrade, we got the Ultimate instead of Premium. Other than the occasional juice, we didn't detect a great difference. Here's the deal on the drink package for US. We bought it before and felt we "broke even." We only did it this time because our friends were doing it and we wanted to make it simple for the group. For us, we won't do it again. Not that we don't drink :D - between being Diamond Plus, access to concierge aka suite lounge (depending on the ship) and having been recently invited into Club Royale, we can basically drink for free starting at 5. However, if you are planning on averaging 5 adult beverages a day and throw in some bottled waters, you will get your money's worth.

So we are onboard and head to the suite lounge. I'll pick it up from there later - real life calls for a bit!

Looking forward to your review. Sorry we didn't get to chat. We're still onboard and enjoying a day onboard today in Nassau.

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Great start on the review. I am anxious to hear your comparisons between Oasis, a Freedom, and Voyager. We went on Voyager in 2008, Indy in 2012, and in around 30 days Oasis. Oasis may be a bit big and more crowded than Indy. We loved Indy and hope we love Oasis. adult kids ages 27-30 will enjoy Oasis more than us I am assuming.

I will definitely be doing that comparison!

After we did the drink package and got the required Embarkation pina colada we headed up to the Suite Lounge for lunch and caught up with our friends who were joining us. We met as table mates 6 years ago and have cruised together 6 times since as well as 2 land vacations. The friendships you can make aboard ship can be wonderfully special. We email throughout the year but each time, we just pick up right when we left off.

Since we boarded so late, the rooms were ready quickly. The Grand Suite on Oasis class is a wee bit smaller than Freedom/Voyager. Mainly noticeable in the width of the room. The balcony furniture is lovely - in fact 2 days in, they switched ours out and they didn't seem worn in the first place. 2 lounge chairs with ottomans, padded nicely. 1 table with 2 chairs. Bathroom seems the same for GS fleet wide.

Normally we get our luggage early and since we were among the first to board, we thought it would happen as well. Nope. One arrived after muster, the other about 30 minutes later. Mr Wolf sent our room attendant on a mission to find it since we were a little worried about the late arrival. So much for suite expedited delivery.

We headed to the Pool Bar pre-muster. This is where one of my first Pro/Cons comes in. It is located on the side of the ship rather than on Freedom/Voyager where it faces the pools and the bandstand. On the Pro side, it is bigger and completely covered so you are out of the sun. On the Con side, it has no real view other than over the always full tables (smokers) out to sea. It is also heavily trafficked due to all the people walking from one end to the other. While initially we liked that is was shaded, the consensus was we preferred the Pool Bar on F/V class. Our sea day "thing" has always been to hang at the Pool Bar, listen and watch the band and watch or participate on the dance floor. We've always had a great time hanging there and talking to the Pool Bartenders and spending the week bantering with them. That's just not possible on Oasis. You don't really "see" the band on Oasis and the dance floor is smaller and hard to see. It's in front of the hole in the middle between the two pools.

Post muster, we headed to the suite sun deck. This we loved! On Deck 17, it wraps completely around. The two sides have loungers for sunbathing and relaxing, with one side having a bar that is open 10:30-5, maybe 7 some days. It was never crowded. One side has 4 cabanas ( more on those later) and the side that faces the pools has tables and seating. We hung out there and had a perfect view for sail away. We could see the pool deck, see the band and see the great view as we left port. The suite sun deck is greatness - the one thing it needs is a hot tub for suite guests. THAT would make it total perfection.

This deck and many other suite perks I will mention are what MADE Oasis for us. Had we not been in a suite, we would definitely not have enjoyed Oasis as much as we did. When she was built, I followed along and was really intrigued. But Mr Wolf and I were put off by the passenger load - Too many people, too many crowds, overkill blah blah blah. While a lot of that is true, Oasis does do a great job at crowd dispersement. Very few times was it an issue. BUT we didn't step foot in the MDR or Windjammer.

Coming up - our first dinner in the splendid Coastal Kitchen.

Coastal Kitchen. Do it. Eat there. Eat there again.

Here's our dinner schedule for the week.

Sat - CK

Sun - Izumi

Mon- Sabor

Tues- CK

Wed- CK 2nd formal night

Thu - Tapas in Vintages

Fri - CK

1st night was beef tenderloin, 2nd night was penne pasta primavera, 3rd night we did lobster and requested IN ADVANCE the shrimp cocktail and escargot, 4th night was pasta primavera (the first time was SO GOOd - #1 was a cream sauce, #2 was olive oil). The consensus among the four of us was that CK is definitely the way to eat dinner on Oasis. On our sailing, jr suites were allowed to make reservations on the last 3 nights only. Service is good here although a bit slow. But the ambiance makes up for it. We also ate 4 breakfasts here. Again, great food and view but not as quick as the suite breakfasts have been on F/V in Chops. We had a great server in CK for dinner and requested him the rest of the cruise - Edwin will take great care of you. We tipped him extra in cash and the last night he saw us on the Suite Lounge side and made a point to come over and thank us for the gesture. Very classy of him and totally unnecessary - the pleasure was ours. (On a related note, I did ask the CK manager about the tipping to make sure that CK was included in the pre-paid grats. They are indeed.)

After dinner it was casino time. Yeah yeah, it's a cruise and there's lots to do. I'll get to all that!

Another comparison for cruising gamblers or gambling cruisers. The Oasis casino layout is totally different from F/V. For the non smokers, you have an entire side of the casino for slots and tables. Ditto for smokers. The smoking side was usually packed, the non not so much. Discuss among yourselves - NOT here. ;) For some reason, I didn't like the configuration as much as I do on F/V. I can't put my finger on it - it could be something as simple as I'm used to the other style. To other Club Royale peeps - I did not get my rebate until Day 3 of the cruise. I didn't sweat it, I checked back on Day 4 and she was happy to tell me it was waiting at the cashier. And it was. I did decent all week - pretty much broke even. That would be a happy ending except for the loser I married. Oh sorry - I mean Mr Wolf. He was a big stinking loser all week at the tables. He's just one of those gamblers that runs hot or cold. He had a hot streak last month locally so no harm, no foul. We're firm believers that if you freak at the money you lose, you shouldn't be playing in the first place. Play what you can afford and look at it as Monopoly money. When it stops being fun, stop. End of Gambling Dissertation.

Back to the cruise itself. From here on, I think I'm switching gears and explaining areas. A daily blow by blow is only of interest to me, not you the reader. You want INFO!

Oasis is as overwhelming as everyone says. It was different enough but then we found many thing similar. I didn't care for the Royal Promenade - again I prefer F/V class. On Oasis, it DOES seem like a shopping mall. We did Rising Tide Thursday night - big deal. Sure it gives you a great view of the shopping mall...err Promenade. But yeah whatever. We hit the pub on Sunday night and probably could have gone back - Jimmy Blakemore was a fun entertainer, good musician and if you have the right crowd, some good energy. Stop in and take a look. It did seem a bit larger than F/V pubs. Never had a chance to do Sorrentos and Cafe Promenade. Bolero's seemed to have a good band but again, too many venues, too little time.

Back with more - Mr Wolf is screaming he's hungry. Can't imagine why - we ate like a pack of wolverines for a week. We should be able to live off our fat stores for awhile.

I know CC is quiet on the weekend so I'll be back mañana with more - still a lot to cover.

Loving your review! I board Oasis for the first time on Saturday. We are in a suite, so love hearing about the benefits!

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Quick note on comedy club. We went Sunday to the 9 pm. The concierge made the reservations for us that day - I was pleasantly surprised we got in. We had made reservations ahead of time for Wednesday but our friends wanted to go ahead and go. So on Wednesday, 4 people in the stand by line were happy. Our show was sold out and about 10 stand by's got in. Both comedians were pretty good and I'm tough to please since I work in entertainment.

cookmg40 - you will love the suite amenities. They truly made our cruise. Many more suite tips to come.

Great so far, thanks.

Coastal Kitchen. .... On our sailing, jr suites were allowed to make reservations on the last 3 nights only. .

Just a little correction here, in case anyone is sailing in a JS and wants to eat in Coastal Kitchen.

We were on the same cruise in a JS and could have eaten in Coastal Kitchen any night, in fact we did eat there on night 3 and night 5 so we could try the two different menus.

Hello!! Great review so far. We also enjoyed CK-service and food. It was nice seeing you onboard!:)

Bobal - thanks for the correction. We were in the Suite Lounge when they brought a group of Junior Suite people in and had a presentation for them. We thought we heard them say that they could make reservations in there the last 3 nights - we just misunderstood the intent!

Speaking of food, let's review Izumi and Sabor. Loved both. The Izumi Hibachi was a fun and entertaining time. We booked online and went there the first formal night. Service was perfect, very friendly. Our chef was a RIOT. The food was fantastic - best grilled shrimp I have ever had. I'm sure it had NOTHING to do with the gallons of garlic butter on them. :eek:

Sabor was also very good - service was a bit slow though. We did Sabor on Navigator and I do prefer their venue - just more intimate and comfortable. Sabor on Oasis is on the Boardwalk so open air, very casual and can be hot and humid. Food quality is the same, just a different dining "experience". Sabor is also ala carte on Oasis - Navigator is a pre fix price (unless they have changed it.)

Thursday night we did tapas in Vintages. I misunderstood the concept - I thought you had free tapas in there. Perhaps you do as singles with wine. We ordered a 7 plate tapas off the menu (no prices were listed) and we liked the paella so much they brought us one more. The bill was $17 for the tapas and $3 for the additional paella. I'm not sweating $20 but if you want free tapas, I would ask first. I didn't - so it's on me, not them.

As long as we're talking food, let me wrap it up with our forays to Johnny Rockets for one breakfast, a Dog House snack and two Park Cafe lunches.

Johnny Rockets - don't order the scrambled eggs unless you like the pre-made ice cream scoop scrambled. Mr Wolf made that fatal error. I got my eggs fried so my breakfast was cruise ship normal*. *Meaning no matter how many times you ask for "crisp" bacon, you are going to get wobbly soft chewy bacon that MIGHT have 2 small semi-crispy bites per slice.

Dog House snack - plain old hot dog. fine. Mr Wolf got a bratwurst and one of the other specialty hot dogs - he scarfed them down so I assume he was ok with them.

Park Cafe - we did lunch on Day 2 and Day 7. I had salads both time - very nice. They are like a junior version of the tutti salad in the MDR without the chopping. Since we never did the MDR, I have no idea if they do the tutti on Oasis. This was definitely a good substitute. The first day I had the famous roast beef - yep it's good and I am NOT a roast beef sandwich girl. But try it - I agree, the bun is what makes it. I had a good piece of beef though - others seemed a bit fatty but I lucked out. Second time, I had a grilled cheese panini, the others had the turkey avocado and both were good.

I think this concludes the food portion of this review. Feel free to ask your food related questions though!

The first day I had the famous roast beef - yep it's good and I am NOT a roast beef sandwich girl. But try it - I agree, the bun is what makes it. I had a good piece of beef though - others seemed a bit fatty but I lucked out.

So true! The first sandwich I had was excellent, but the second time I went was on Day 7 and they put the beef on a standard crunchy dining room roll. Not the same at all!

Bobal - thanks for the correction. We were in the Suite Lounge when they brought a group of Junior Suite people in and had a presentation for them. We thought we heard them say that they could make reservations in there the last 3 nights - we just misunderstood the intent!

 

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Ahh, this would be the fact that we had had an invitation in our cabin several days into the cruise inviting us to experience all the benefits that suites had to offer, with a tour of the suites lounge. I can't remember whether it was because we were D+ or in a JS, although I'm thinking the former as we definitely had a letter on Day 1 inviting us to dine in Coastal as JS guests.

We were in a JS on Allure twice this year and couldn't use Coastal Kitchen so were VERY happy to be able to do so in a JS on Allure - what a wonderful space that Suites lounge/dining room is :)