buzzard05

I rented these on our recent cruise when they went on sale for $38.00 per two chairs. When I initially booked it, I misunderstood it and I booked it for both my wife and I (and it totaled out at $76.00). Then I realized I just needed to book it for me and we both could use it...so it was only $38.00.

They were nice and comfortable, and ours had a bar right there.

We did the Royalton White Sands (from a third party tour group) and absolutely loved it.

We had full use of the place (except for a room). We were able to eat in the buffet, all-inclusive drinks, etc. They had water aerobics and other activities that we participated it. I was kind of not looking forward to our Jamaica stop on our cruise (based on what I had read) and it turned out to be our favorite day of all.

Don't be concerned at all.....this was our fifth time on an Oasis class ship, and we have never had any major movement that I can recall. On this recent trip we were in the Royal Theater watching the final comedy show on the last evening. The curtains on stage started swaying a bit during the show, and I remember realizing it was the first noticeable movement of any kind we really had all week. Oasis ships are so large and stable, most of the time you forget you're even on a cruise ship....

My wife is also very sensitive to movement and had no issues at all on Harmony. I was worried about her since we had a high (Deck 12) aft cabin (and being high and in the back of the ship is supposed to make the motion more noticeable). However, the only "motion" we noticed up there was a very slight "bump", "bump", "bump" (almost like going over a slightly bumpy road). We didn't notice any side to side rocking at all. The last night of the cruise was the "worst" (if you can call it that), to where the hangers in our closets were rattling a bit....that was it.

My wife did wear a motion sickness patch all week, but never once complained of feeling the least bit queasy. I think you will really enjoy this ship.

Did you do the pre check in compleat with taking your own photo? Just wondering as I did my check in but my hubby thought I was crazy for wanting to take his picture as "They will do that when we get to the port, they always have before" so basically I did everything else including the credit card info except the picture, do you think that will slow us down greatly?

I did the online check-in, complete with uploading our own photos (that were taken in front of a plain white wall with a flash). When I got on board, the person checking us in said our photos were too dark (which was odd, I thought they almost looked too light). Anyway, he re-took all four of our photos and sent us on our way....which took (literally) about two minutes extra. We got inside the port around 10:45 and were on board by 11:00 AM...it was VERY fast.

I was on this same cruise and am looking forward to your review.

I can also second your recommendation of the "chocolate bar". I ran into those gems one afternoon up at Mini Bites and almost devoured the guy's entire tray.

Nothing bums me out more than when I reach the last post of one of your reviews...

Now I have to actually do some work until the next one.

My son too, has severe allergies. We sailed on Navigator last year and ran into a small issue with how the info got passed along.

I had contacted RCI guest services prior to cruising and they said to tell guest services on board, as well as the maitre d'. We did both soon after we boarded the ship, however we figured out on the second day that nobody knew about his allergies (I forget how we figured that out).

Anyway, we went back to the dining room and spoke to a different maitre d'. We watched him make notes of it, and from then on it was never a problem (in the MDR). Our waiter, and the head waiter, checked on my son frequently to make sure he had the food he wanted and was taken care of. They couldn't have been more accommodating and nice about it. To be honest, we didn't have particularly good service on that cruise overall...but their attitude and caring really left us with a positive opinion of the ship as a whole when we left.

(Moral of the story...just double check your first night/meal there to make sure your waitstaff is aware of it.)

They do not have the chip technology on the older ships so there are no wow bands and the keys are mag stripes. Getting extra keys was the way it was always done which is why OP had questions on the changes for Harmony.

Got it, very new to cruising and the intricacies of the different ship classes.

I apologize if I am answering the "wrong" question here....

We sailed on Navigator over Thanksgiving and had my wife and I in one room and my boys across the hall. I was able to get extra room keys (not Sea Passes) for the two rooms without issue (maybe because of the class of the ship?)

The first thing we did when we got on board, was take a picture of those codes on our phones/devices so that we each had ours (my wife and I were sharing a package....my kids had their own).

I haven't been on the class myself, but I'm going on Harmony in May. I'm 100% confident I will love it

...and I am 1000% envious of you.

There's really nothing to agree or disagree with. OP really knows nothing about what it's like to sail on Oasis class. Nobody has a problem with OP not liking Oasis, it's not for everyone.

 

Just seems strange to make a long opinionated post about what they think their opinion might be if they actually ever, you know, set foot on the ship.

 

I probably wouldn't book NCL because I don't think I would enjoy the freestyle concept as much. But i'm not gonna go over to the NCL board and tell them all the reasons it sucks when I haven't actually tried it. That's just weird.

All good points.

I guess if the title of his post had been, "Why YOU Shouldn't Book Oasis Class" I would have had more issues with it, than "Why I Won't Book Oasis Class".

As for the opinions without setting foot on a ship, here is mine...

I don't have tons of money to cruise several times of year (family of 4 and have to fly to most all of the ports)...so when I get to, I have to make a decision based on what I "think" will be the best experience for my family and I.

With that said, I "feel" being on the larger/monster ships is really cool, with all the stuff to do and gives my family and I the best chance of getting the most bang for our buck. Given that, I have pretty much excluded all of the smaller ships in the fleet when I search for cruises.

Now, they may all be great ships and lots of fun...but based on what I have read and learned, I just don't think they would give me what I am looking for in a cruise.

So in this case, I have formed an opinion on an entire class (classes) of ships without ever even seeing them (let alone setting foot on any) based on what I am looking for in a cruise.

Now...should I go make a post on that to tell everyone that....nah, probably not...you have a VERY good point there. Not because it is wrong...but why would anybody care about my cruise preferences. However, if I did, I might expect to be persuaded into trying a smaller ship or at least hearing why I may be "missing the boat"....not being told I am ignorant for just arbitrarily excluding them.

(Sorry for keeping this thing going...but VERY bored at work.)

Dumb question- is someone an "X"-fanboi if all they are doing is correcting facts?

 

It is a fact that you do NOT have to make reservations. For anything- shows, dinner, etc.

 

Many have pointed out that fact.

 

It is an opinion that service is fine or not, sure. Just like it's an opinion that it's not based totally on other people's experience.

 

Personally, I think it's quite interesting the power that people 100% give to other people's opinion. Deciding that you will never do X purely based on other people's negative opinions puts a lot of power to the negative people. Basically, you are letting THEM decide your life. I do my best not to let that happen. But that's just my opinion.

 

Reminds me of all the people who are so very bothered by others wearing lanyards. If you don't want to wear one, that's 100%, totally great. But to get upset that others do... hmm.

 

These opinion pieces that come up on this board are pretty amusing sometimes.

No. I consider x-fanbois as those who come on and correct facts...and then trash the person who had an opinion that differed from theirs as if they were criticizing their mother.

I have no problem with correcting bad info, or disagreeing....but I have grown tired of people just bashing people because their opinion of something differs with theirs.

Also, as a newer cruiser, I like these posts because it exposes me to things about cruising that I had never thought about (i.e. how tough it might be to get a reservation on a larger ship). Will it cause me not to book a larger ship...absolutely not. However, before I do, I will definitely ask questions and try to find out any "tips" more experienced cruisers might have that will help me out.

(As for this thread...I also find them amusing...it is keeping me entertained at work the day before my Xmas break begins.)

Generally mine are based on fact. You should try it sometimes. Maybe a good crying room right now is just what you need.

Sounds good...save me a seat.

You might want to go back and read the OP again. He's never booked an Oasis class ship and never been on an Oasis class ship. So what experience does he have to judge how friendly the people are?

 

I'm not sure where you're from, but what if someone said they've never been there and will never go because the people are "unfriendlier"?

 

Did the OP read some threads critical of the large ships? I'm sure. But it seems strange to me to pay attention to the handful of critical posts and ignore the plethora of good reviews. Let me guess, if you're shopping online and an item has 500 five star reviews and 10 one star reviews, it makes sense that item must be bad and you should avoid it?

Perhaps you should go back and re-read his post. He never said people on Oasis class ships were not friendly. He said people on the larger ships, across several cruise lines, were not as friendly. You assumed he was talking about Oasis class ships specifically...but he was talking about larger ships in general.

As for what I would do with a negative opinion like his, I would definitely consider it. If I could find several other negative opinions that echo'd his same themes then I would definitely take that into consideration when booking a trip. At the very least, it would spur me to ask some questions (on boards like these) to get some more experienced viewpoints.

However, my original point still stands...it was his opinion, disagree with it all you want, but there is zippy reason to trash a guy just because his opinion doesn't match yours.

He was talking out his backside with no experience just like you are now. He has an opinion and they are just like you. If I have an opinion I try to base it on past experience

Sorry snowflake, didn't mean to trigger you.

You realize opinions are opinions...they aren't facts.

I love how the world has become an "agree with my opinion or I will bash you in my comments" type of place.

The OP was stating his opinion of something (hence the title "Why I Won't Book Oasis Class"), based on a previous thread where several people were stating their show times were changed without their knowledge. As a new cruiser, I read these and though the same thing, "that sucks!" Now would I avoid an entire class of ship because of it, probably not. However, if my true purpose was to be stress free on a cruise and not have to worry about it, and some feedback regarding some areas of a cruise that I find very important are negative for a certain class of ship...then yes, I might take his/her opinion into consideration (especially if I could find other posts the echo'd the same opinion).

However, all you "oasis-fanbois" come out of the woodwork and attack the OP because they have an opinion that doesn't agree with yours, or they based their opinion based on impressions rather than facts. It doesn't matter how they came to their opinion...because it's THEIR opinion.

You have people telling the OP their "ignorance is showing", just because THEIR opinion of something (or how they formed that opinion) doesn't jive with YOUR opinion (or how you form YOUR opinions). Others, nominating the OP for the "Darwin Award". JFC, get over yourselves.

...and by the way, the OP never said the crews weren't friendly on the larger ships (in fact he/she said just the opposite)...he/she said in his/her experience, the people weren't as friendly. If you're going to flame people in your replies, it is only common courtesy to actually read and comprehend their post....just sayin'

"or perhaps Silver Fox gliding across the room with nothing but a pair of angel wings on and of course her fanny pack filled with crystal meth fairy dust"

More Silver Fox...we must have more Silver Fox.

We were on Navigator over Thanksgiving and had a pretty good time. I found the ship to be clean and in decent shape (didn't see any huge maintenance issues). The only issues I encountered were service related issues...and they weren't huge, just annoying and persistent.

Other than our first night (service) issues, we found the food (and service) in the main dining room to be good (If you do My Time dining, request to be seated at Apurv's table...he and his partner were great!) We had lunch at Sabor and it was very, very good.

I did find the service lacking in other areas of the ships (bars). The Schooner Bar and Casino Bar were two bars I was consistently able to go to and get served pretty fast.

The service at the Promenade Cafe was awesome. That place always had a line and the people making the drinks worked their tails off to get people served quickly.

Our cabin attendant was invisible...fortunately, we didn't have anything major that we needed him for. As for the beds, I requested a mattress topper (prior to sailing). I prefer a harder mattress than my wife does, and she didn't complain at all...so I guess the mattress topper helped.

We did the 4:00 ice show and got there about fifteen minutes early and had no issues (and the ship was completely full). Not sure if we were just lucky...or if that is the norm.

All in all, the cruise wasn't as "extravagent" and "wowing" as I had expected...but maybe I had an overly inflated expectation of what cruising would be like (this was our first "real" cruise). We had some issues that I had to work on repeatedly to get addressed, which was time consuming. However, with that said, I would absolutely book another trip on Navigator if the price was right.

Sorry if this has been mentioned (I didn't read through all 4 pages)...but one thing to consider is the ages of the kids. If you have any that will be over 18 at the time of the cruise, they will be a little "left out".

I just got back from a cruise with my 15 and 18 year old sons. The 18 year old is considered an "adult" (even though he is a Sr. in high school), so was excluded from participating in the teen club or teen events (though he did sneak into the 3 on 3 basketball). He and his younger brother are good friends, so the younger one always stayed with the older one...which meant he didn't go to the teen club or activities either.

Both of them had a good time on the cruise, but I think there was a lot more for the younger one to do, that he didn't experience. Likewise, the older one was kind of caught in-between....not allowed to participate in the teen activities with his peers (the ages of the kids he is in school with), but also not old enough to participate in the adult activities (drinking, etc.) or really be able to relate to 19-20 year olds that are in college (just a different dynamic).

If you have a couple kids that are 18, it may not be an issue because they can hang out together. However if you only have one or two that are 18, there is a chance they may end up being excluded from the things the larger group is doing (going to the teen club, etc.)

What about Navigator?

People were smoking in the casino, but it wasn't overwhelming when we were on two weeks ago (I'm pretty sensitive to smoke smell, and it didn't bother me in there). With that said, I also didn't spend hours in there...if I had, I may have a different opinion.

I don't know if they had a smoking/non-smoking section.

We boarded Navigator on 11/23 and it was very easy. She was the only ship in the port that day however and we were in the very first cruise terminal coming into the port (from the road....sorry, don't know the number/letter).

We got there around 11:00 AM and were on the ship by noon. I was also impressed with how friendly the staff in the terminal was.

I guess it just depends where the ship is in the line, as to what type of boarding experience you will end up with.

If the initial post had provided some supporting documentation it might have headed off some of the defensiveness. When you are read by people who have experience with a particular company, and that experience is very different from the one you are describing, it makes sense to provide examples to back up what you are writing.

 

You are, however, quite correct in your assessment of RCI being a business. For whatever reasons some people lose sight of the fact that we enter into business arrangements when we book vacations. The fact that a company can get you to forget that and develop emotional attachments with them is maybe a sign of a well run company? The reality is that to RCI we are all C&A numbers that own credit cards. The other side of reality is that RCI has provided my family and me with some very awesome vacations.

Can't disagree with anything you said there.

We enjoyed our time on Navigator, but as I said in another post...it was "good not great", and (perhaps unrealistically) I was expecting great.

As for the OP, I agree, they should have been more specific off the start. However, even after they did give specifics, they were somewhat ridiculed, which I thought was absurd. As a consumer, I want to hear the good, bad, and ugly about a potential purchase so I can make an educated decision. I don't want to just hear the "good stuff".

Wow, based on the replies to the OP, you would think he/she was criticizing somebody's mother. It's a business, stop being so defensive...they are sucking the money out of you like any other company. Instead of kissing their a$$... demand quality service and don't just settle and "remove the glasses yourself".

I would absolutely be angry if I found used glasses in various parts of my room(s). I don't expect to be treated like royalty, but JFC for the money these cruises cost...I don't expect to find your nasty toothpaste covered glass in my room on the first day of my cruise. And for the commenter who asked, "how could you tell they were pubic hairs?"....c'mon man.

I recently sailed on Navigator on our first RCL cruise (or any real cruise for that matter) and was not overly impressed. With that said, I would much rather be on that ship than here at work.

However, many of the things the OP stated I experienced as well. The service was lacking in many areas of the ship. I ran into the same "apathetic" attitude at Guest Services and had to keep bouncing from person to person until I found one that would handle our issue. Many of the bar tenders also shared that same apathy. As for our cabin attendant, I couldn't pick him out of a lineup. He came by the first night for two seconds and said "Hi'...and that was the last I ever saw him. We had a couple minor issues in our rooms that I attempted to get addressed with any cabin attendant I saw in the vicinity of our rooms, without success.

The overall condition of the ship was clean when we were on board.

Getting off the ship was a joke. It was kinda like they had never done this before (we got off in Miami).

For those saying the OP shouldn't be posting his/her negativity on these boards, you couldn't be more wrong. That is EXACTLY what these boards are for. Not just negativity, but honest reviews. As a consumer, I want to read both good and bad reviews and look for common themes. If I constantly see from several posters that the service is poor on a ship, or the service is great...I use those to make an educated decision on where to spend my money.

As for me, RCL did nothing to inspire me to become a loyal customer. It doesn't mean I won't sail on their ships again, it just means I won't automatically look to them first when booking our next cruise. I will search for price compared to the reviews/research I can do to determine where the best quality for the money is.

This was our first "real" cruise as a family (my wife and I took a short two-nighter earlier this year as a test run for her motion sickness)...so I really don't have anything of this scale to compare it against.

Overall, we had a good time on Navigator. I would rate it as "good", not "great"...but maybe I had unreal expectations going in (based on what I had read about cruising and various message boards).

The ship itself is really nice. I was "wowed" at its sheer size. Everything was clean and well-maintained. There is a lot to see and do (pools, bars, restaraunts, etc.) In just four nights, we didn't have time to experience it all (not even close). The shows were enjoyable (the comedians weren't great, and if I had it to do over I probably would skip their shows). The ice show is pretty cool, especially given the small size of the rink they are on. We found the live bands/singers they had in the various bars to be pretty good too.

We thought the food was good, though we heard some more "experienced" cruisers complaining about its quality. The only specialty restaraunt we ate at was Sabor, and it was worth every penny. The food was outstanding (though it was a little disappointing that the "tableside" guacamole really wasn't prepared tableside as I wanted to watch them make it). We wanted to try Chops, but waited too long to make reservations and it filled up. The Windjammer (buffet) had decent food but was very crowded and hard to find seats (I think that is typical though of buffets on ships).

We had a balcony room and our teenage sons were in a Promenade view room right across the hall. Both were nice (the shower is VERY small...but that may be the norm). The balcony was fun, but I didn't have nearly enough time to just sit out there and enjoy it.

Where things went a little wrong for me was in the level of service. I really thought you would be taken care of on a cruise and that wasn't the case for the most part. Our cabin attendant was brand new (his first day was our first day on the cruise). We never saw him...in fact, I couldn't even pick him out of a lineup if asked. Compared to our little trial cruise earlier this year, where our cabin attendant was personable, knew our names and just generally made us feel welcomed and wanted on the ship...I didn't feel that on Navigator. With that said, our room was kept clean.

I had also made a request to have the bed separated in my son's room and that was never done (fortunately the bed is pretty big so they didn't complain). The remote in their room was also broken which I asked to be replaced. This was also never done. It isn't that we wanted to watch TV, but I did want to be able to navigate their TV system to view my account (which was very tough to do with a broken remote).

Our first night's experience in the main dining room was also not good. Our waitstaff was extremely slow and was really bad about making sure we had water (we weren't guzzling our water either...they just rarely came by to refill it). Fortunately, I did request another table on the second night and was put with Apurv (fifth floor Saphire dining room - My Time Dining). He and his partner, Alona, were OUTSTANDING. If you do My Time Dining, definitely request him (we were at Table 655 on the fifth floor, so that is the area he serves). His service really turned our impression of the main dining room (and the cruise for that matter) around.

Also, my son has some serious food allergies. I spoke with RCL before boarding and they said to talk with Guest Services and the waitstaff for our dining room. I did this the first day on the ship and it never got communicated to anybody. When we found this out, we tried again to get this noted on our account. After getting a bit of a run around (talk to this person...no, no go talk to this person...rinse/repeat) we finally found somebody who made a note of it on our account. From that point on, when we made a reservation using that room number it was noted. Once the head waiter and Apurv found out about his allergies they were very compassionate and made sure he was taken care of.

Also, getting drinks/sodas at the bars was a pain. Many of the bartenders were overwhelmed and the service was slow. Other times, the bartenders were not overwhelmed but just seemed apathetic to providing any level of service (especially the Pool Bar and Sky Bar). This ship doesn't have the Coke Freestyle machines, so if you want soda you have to get it from a bar or the Promenade Cafe. The best service for bars I found was in the Casino and at the Schooner Bar. There was an Asian lady at the Casino Bar (I wish I had her name) that was really good. The servers at the Promenade Cafe also worked their tails off. That place seemed to always have a line and they worked hard to serve people quickly.

Disembarking was painful. There were seven ships in port (including us) the morning we arrived and it was really slow. I don't know if the slow down was Royal Caribbean's fault or not (they kept saying it was the Port Authority that was slowing things up). It would have been nice for them to communicate what was going on a little better. Also, the announcements for when to line up for your specific luggage number were sporadic and not broadcast throughout the ship which contributed to some confusion for passengers.

There weren't any HUGE negatives, it was just a combination of several smaller negatives early on that left me with a bad impression for the first half of the cruise. I think if we would have had a few more nights, my early negative impressions of the cruise would have been overwhelmed by the positives I experienced towards the end (We were just "learning" how to "navigate" the Navigator (where to get drinks, etc.) and then our cruise was over). Also, some of our issues were specific to us (i.e. my son's allergies). Given all of that, I would kill for it to be this time last week and be back on that ship rather than sitting here at work :) .

Hope you guys have a great trip!

(Sorry this was so long, but I hope you find it helpful.)