HeatherLynne

Thanks for the review. Did your kids do anything with the kids club? I am taking my two grandkids (same age) on the Oasis so interested to hear.

My kids were not interested in the kid's club at all since they would be in different age groups. We didn't even check it out.

Thanks for taking the time to do a review! DW and I embark in a little over a week and cannot wait to experience Oasis.

Did you ever have trouble with long waits to get drinks? Did you get anything that they charged you above and beyond the drink package?

The bars by the pool had a bit of a wait if the pools were busy. Same with if you ordered from your deck chair. But otherwise it was a reasonable time.

Most drinks seemed to be in the $8-13 range, which were all covered with the deluxe drink package. My husband found a whiskey drink (on the rocks or martini style) called the Gentleman's Sidecar that was $15 so we were charged an additional $2 every time he ordered one, but we deemed them worthy since they were delicious. I also highly recommend the Washington Apple if you like whiskey and fruit together. So good.

Enjoy your cruise! You're going to love it!!

I love reading reviews of the ship and cruiser's experiences, so I thought I'd chime in with mine. ;) We're (Me, hubs, kids 11 and 12) just off the Oasis spring break sailing. Had a blast! I'll give you the quickest version of info and if anyone has any questions, feel free to ask!

Arrival: We flew in the night before and since I booked way too late, we ended up staying at the Doubletree near the airport. The hotel was very close, very clean and comfortable, and the breakfast was tasty! Also, you can't beat warm cookies at check in!

Shuttle to port: We used the one that Doubletree uses (AA Access). We were told pickup in the morning was 11. We asked for earlier since it's a long drive to the port and we were anxious to get onboard. Check in confirmed a 10am pickup instead. That morning we were in the lobby by 9:30. After 10 we inquired about our shuttle only to be told it had already come and gone. They did send another in about 15 minutes minutes so we ended up leaving the hotel around 10:30. We then stopped at 4 other hotels and arrived at the pier after 1.5-2 hours. We were nervous about the return trip that we'd already paid for, but the return was flawless and fast.

Embarkation: Was slower than our previous experience on NCL out of Miami, but still pretty efficient. The security line was a bit long but after that the process moved quicker.

Room: We had an ocean view forward balcony on 9 and loved it! If you like an ocean view while cruising, I would recommend going for it. The room was tight with 4 of us in it. Definitely felt more cramped than the mini suite we had on NCL Escape. Not nearly enough storage, but we like being cozy and were comfortable for the week. There were not that many places to just sit and watch the ocean because of the style of the neighborhoods and because the decks by the pool were incredibly busy, so I really liked having our own balcony to use whenever we wanted.

I didn't stay in the central park or boardwalk view balcony room, but I know it would not have been for me. Boardwalk was very noisy. Central park was quiet and very pretty. However, both areas of balconies seemed far too out in the open for me to feel like I had any place to sit and relax. I rarely saw anyone actually using those balconies.

Neighborhoods: Neighborhoods are all really cute and functional. However, I did feel a little like I could've been sitting in a mall somewhere, not on a cruise.

Food: Everything we ate was great! We enjoyed breakfast in MDR both buffet and a la carte style. Windjammer was also good for a quick breakfast. We didn't eat there for dinner and only once for lunch. We only liked windjammer at breakfast. Lunches we mostly ate at Central Park Cafe. They made great salads and yummy sandwiches. Dinners at MDR were great. Service was most great. Chop was fantastic food and service but pricey. Izumi hibachi style was a great. We have these places where we live but the one of the ship was tastier and a better show. Solarium Bistro was also delicious and we ate there twice for dinner. I would recommend booking dinners in advance of sailing if you are able. The one night we didn't have booked, we ended up eating at 9, which was late but still fine with us.

Enterainment: Frozen was awesome! Better than expected honestly. Fly With Me and Oasis Dreams were both amazing! The story for Oasis Dreams was a little vague but we all loved the diving! Splish Splash Comedy show was also really fun! The headliner show Impact was ok. The guys are talented but it was too long for little variety. We did not see Cats but heard it was good. Family Comedy show on Sat evening was really funny. We all enjoyed it. It was super busy so go early.

Drink package: I bought the deluxe package for myself and hubs when it was on sale buy one get one 50% off. So I think it was somewhere around $750 total for the two of us. We kept track of what we drank for the week, because we're weird that way, lol. Between martinis and margaritas for us, virgin drinks for the kids, and bottled water all, we figure we would have spent somewhere around $850 +. So it was worth it for us, but not if we weren't also buying the virgin drinks for the kids.

Ports: Labadee was really fun and beautiful. There was a lot to do for the adventurous and lots of ocean and sand for the less adventurous. The food was okay, but go to the buffet early as it gets VERY busy. The "labradoozie" was delicious if you like slushy drinks. We got ours in pineapples which was expensive but so good and the kids loved eating the leftover fresh pineapple (1 plastic cup filled from each pineapple.) We also paid for the Floating water park. It was so, so fun! Hubs was able to do all obstacles. There was only 1 I couldn't do. Kids were unstoppable! If you have little kids, I would suggest going with them. The lifeguards looked like they were asleep and the obstacles were big. You do wear a life vest so you're probably safe. And I would recommend aqua socks for climbing. We did not zip line. It looked like fun but over quickly for the price.

Jamaica, we did the Zip Lining, Water Tubing, and Adventure Falls. The excursion time was changed without notice so check your tickets in advance. We pretty much had to ask to do everything and be proactive as it seemed very chaotic and no one seemed to know what you were there to do. Zip lining was fun and the lines were fast. I think there were 6. Water tubing was just ok. Sort of fun, sort of boring. We didn't eat the food so can't comment on it. The falls were man made but the kids didn't care and had fun playing and swimming. Getting back on a bus to come back to port was chaotic and stressful but we made it. The port area had good shopping and we very much enjoyed nachos and drinks at Margaritaville before getting back on the boat!

Cozumel we stayed in the port area. Shopping was fine. It was enough for the kids to get some souvenirs. We're not fans of Mexico so staying in port was enough for us. The rest of the day we enjoyed the pool onboard!

Disembarkation: We did the luggage valet which cost $25 per person but they checked us into our flight, printed off our boarding passes and luggage tags. We tagged bags the night before, left them out like everyone else, and saw them again at our final destination. At the airport, we were able to skip the check in lines and go straight through security. Awesome! Customs was slow walking off the ship at about 8, but I heard they were short staffed that morning, so maybe it's normally faster.

Overall: A really great cruise experience that we all enjoyed! I would book it again or on a similar ship. Very compatible experience to our NCL Escape cruise.

We just got off an Oasis cruise and ended up like Solarium Bistro so much on night 2 that we booked it a second time. We're not very adventurous eaters so we mostly had caesar salad, potatoes, mushrooms, bread for appetizers. Entrees were fantastic (salmon and chicken kebob). Desserts were fantastic. And the service was excellent. We booked the first time on cruise planner in advance. The second time we ended up eating at 9pm which was very late for the kids, but we all thought it was worth it to eat there again. There was no charge. The ambiance was very nice as well. The menu was very much like this one: https://www.******************.com/menus/solarium-bistro-menu-oasis-of-the-seas

How do you book something like "Mr. Sancho's" and does transportation pick you up and return you to the peer? With all the news lately, I'm a little leery of drinking alcohol in Mexico so not sure it's worth paying an all-inclusive price. But a beach/resort thing might be cool!

Check Trip Advisor or Cruise Critic (same company) Cozumel Excursions; no need to book through cruise line you will just overpay. There are many options (we like Mr. Sancho's, but our guys are young adults and enjoy the adult beverages; but we see young families there too). Only thing I would avoid is any excursion that involves spending half the day on a ferry to the mainland as it wastes half the day (ruins tours - do those on mainland). Never had an issue or felt unsafe in Cozumel; nice port area, clean, free wi-fi and the vendors really are not that aggressive.

My family of 4 (kids 11 and 12) will be docking in Cozumel with RC in April and I'm stuck for something to do. The excursions don't sound like stuff we really want to do, either because of travel time/distance or age or cost. We're considering the Jeep to Punta Sur or the dolphinarium (?), but Jeep gets mixed reviews and we've done the dolphin thing before somewhere else.

If we don't book an excursion through the cruise, are there things to do in/near port that are safe, fun, close by and easy to get to? Is there a 'must see/do' in Cozumel? My husband and I were there many years ago but our kids have never been.

Thanks!!

I never asked for anyone to mix my protein powder. Not sure they would do that. I would either bring a shaker bottle and mix it yourself or in a pinch, I usually just use a regular half-full water bottle and give it a good shake. I don't mind drinking my protein with just water, so it works for me. Of course, you could always add in other liquid, but if you're going to do that, a shaker bottle is probably the easiest way to go.

Not going to win me over on this one not a lounger in site and I'm used to enjoying watching the band and kids at same time and if I want to go swimming with them I can without leaving main area

I just got off this cruise. There is one area on "the bridge" between the adult pool and kid's area where you can sit on a lounger and watch both the stage and the kids pool/slide/splash area. It's deck 17 so above the actual pool deck, but the bridge is narrow enough that you can sit on one side and still see the other side. It worked for us, but our kids are 10 and 11 and good swimmers. If yours are little or weaker swimmers, and you need to be in arm's reach, this won't work for you either.

Many parents swam in the kids pool. It's 5 feet deep and you can still hear the main pool entertainment and possible see some of it from the poolside.

A word of note about kids swimming alone: If the boat is rocking, the water sloshes in the pool. It becomes sort of a wave pool with a current. Great fun if you can swim, dangerous if you can't. My family personally helped a couple of children who were too young to be swimming on their own get to the side of the pool. So be aware of that with your own kids.

We really enjoyed the ship! Hope you have a good cruise regardless of which line you decide to go with!

Anyone know if the Escape scheduled to go out today actually left? Was their schedule changed? Was there any compensation if missing ports?

I'm on the Dec 24 cruise and hoping it at least goes to St Thomas and Tortola. Ideally I'd love a fully functioning boat to float on. LOL.

"Natural flavors" — which does not sound to me like the same thing as "real fruit" ;) — but artificial sweeteners (sucralose and acesulfame K).

 

The brand appears to be "Vitality" (Nestle), so you can check the full ingredients here: tropical mango & strawberry kiwi.

Thank you so much for this info!! I thought I was being a little silly for asking, expecting it to be just sliced fruit in water like I've had at resorts, but this is great info. I would have made a huge mistake drinking it since I can't have artificial sweeteners. If it says "sugar free" I usually just stay away. Thanks!

I think you'll happy with the quality and the flavored waters are a nice little touch even though sometimes I find them a little strong and I just use half of a flavor (mango, kiwi strawberry are what NCL has) and half plain water.

 

 

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Anyone know how these waters are flavored? Is it strictly real fruit or is there an artificial flavoring added to enhance it?

Thank you--exactly correct. Amazon has nicer tabletop real trees than the Charlie Brown rejects that are left to order. I had already checked with our hotel that they would receive the Amazon shipment.

 

Thank you to the poster who mentioned Home Depot--I was thinking Walgreens or CVS to pick up a battery operated lighted one.

 

Never ceases to amaze me the parenting assumptions that get posted. I am sure it is karma for my "I would never do that when I have kids!" ;)

The tree I got from HD, the battery lights I found at Pier One. Just wanted to clarify since I don't know if HD carries those or not. The Pier One strings work great! We have them around our house (inside) as part of our decorating.

Is there a way to know if a fancy alcohol drink will be covered as part of the UBP or not? I'd love to order fruity martinis but will I end up with a bill for them at the end of the cruise? What about brands like Crown Royal, which typically cost more at restaurants?

I don't know what's allowed or not, but my kids are still fairly young (11 and 9) and I'm worried it won't feel like Christmas on the ship. So I bought a small tabletop artificial tree from Home Depot that I'm planning to take. It should fit on the counter of our mini-suite room, I hope. And I've bought a string of battery operated lights for it as well. I figure it should be just enough to make our room feel festive without going over the top or taking up too much space in the luggage. Hoping the cruise doesn't mind it coming onboard with us!

Uber sounds like a good option, but my concern is getting a vehicle big enough for 4 of us plus luggage. Not sure how many Ubers are minivans. But hubs has the Uber app so maybe he can look into it a bit. The same can be a problem with a taxi, I guess.

I always use the cruise line's shuttle. $25 one way. The bus is right outside the port doors and the wait is about 10 to 15 minutes before you leave. It can be a 30 to 45 minute drive. With a ship's shuttle service they require you to not fly out before 1130 am. If your flight is earlier then that they won't take you.

 

 

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How would I arrange to be on the cruise line shuttle? Is that on the website? Thanks.

Personally, I would base it on how much "togetherness" I felt like having with the group. If I thought I'd need my own space, then I'd be tempted to do the 3 separate suites so there's always a place to escape with just my family unit (hubs and kids) if being with the group might get overwhelming or annoying. But if I wanted to be able to hang out all the time, and knew my group would all get along great for the whole time, then GV sounds amazing.

Can anyone tell me the best way to get from Port of Miami to Ft Lauderdale airport after the cruise? Do I need to arrange for a private car pick-up in advance or are there lots of taxis hanging around? We'll need transport for 4 people plus luggage. If private car is needed, any recommendations for who to call?

Thanks!

Thanks everyone!

Yes, it is commercially wrapped individual portions of the protein powder so no concern about what it is.

I honestly thought NO food was allowed, which is why I asked. Thanks for the info!!

I usually travel with individual portions of protein powder/nutritional shake with me because I have a lot of dietary restrictions. Sometimes I've found eating in restaurants for every meal while on long vacations to be a real problem, so these come in handy. But I know you're not allowed to bring food or drinks onboard. Does anyone know if protein powder would be allowed? I'd hate to bring them and have to through them away.

I'm really hoping there's a nice variety of foods available so it's not an issue.

Thanks for any advice!