OCSC Mike

Great deal!!! From a Jack to a King...ahem Emerald :D

On our first family cruise that included my BIL (DW and I got married 5 years before her sister) we joked that his status was "rust" b/c he didn't have one yet having never sailed RC before.

We got the 2nd snack plate as well and my guess was also Diamond but can't say for sure.

As far as family members earning C&A status, I learned that when I married into it. I went on my honeymoon cruise having never been on any cruise before and stepped off an Emerald member. :)

Just wanted to share a collective "you're welcome" to everyone who has thanked me thus far. I was honestly afraid that my review wouldn't provide much help so I'm pleasantly surprised at the response. Maybe focusing on certain areas (like free food) rather than other areas made it different in a good way.

No charge on Oasis last week.

OCSC Mike,

I enjoyed reading your review. Freedom is the largest ship we have been on and our favorite. We've been on her 4 times with a March sailing booked. DH has recently started talking about trying an Oasis class ship, which is why I read your review.

I am not sure I would like it, too big, too many people. And it is funny because when we are on cruises I am the one who can't wait to meet fellow vacationers & DH is the one who needs his space! He's not unfriendly, he's in sales & vacation for him involves some time alone on a balcony! I just retired from teaching Kindergarten and I'm DESPERATE for adults to talk to! [emoji6]

Coming from someone who has said I prefer Freedom over Oasis, I still say give Oasis a shot. It doesn't feel overly crowded except at certain times/locations. As for too big, it is, but as I keep posting, you can/will make it feel smaller by finding the locations you like to frequent and ignoring others.

Congrats on the retirement! My wife just finished her 17th year teaching (the last 12 in kindergarten). She's ready to become a Dean because she's afraid she won't make it to retirement if she's stuck in the classroom that much longer, lol.

Removed questions b/c my guaranteed assignment popped up as soon as I posted them.

Thanks so much for the review. We could be long lost brothers. :D

 

We also "deal hunt" and I always say "free stuff is my favorite stuff". I am a beer guy and I usually drink WEBOS beer. What Ever Beer's On Sale. I guess I just don't have a sophisticated pallet. We like to cruise as a couple but take along our kids when we can, especially now that they are grown and are low maintenance. We have never gone on Oasis but are looking at it for next spring when our daughter (finally) graduates from college. Your review touches on everything that I would want to know. We are more 'small to medium' ship people but I think we will manage to cope with Oasis somehow. :)

Glad to be of service to a fellow deal hunter. No sophisticated palette here either. Can't stand wine and every beer in my house right now was bought from B1G1 6-pack sales at our local supermarket chain. :D I have my preferences of course, don't like dark beer and prefer one step up from bud/miller, but that's about it (I was drinking Heineken when I wasn't drinking mixed drinks last week... all free diamond drinks of course). One additional tip reported at a popular RC blog site that I didn't end up using b/c I was content doing my drinking at night was to use your 3 sea pass drinks on beer and ask the bartender not to open them... then stick them in your stateroom fridge for late night, daytime, etc. I asked if this was frowned upon and was assured many people do it. My FIL/MIL used that method to collect bottled water for the family, lol. When we got on board she must have had 20+ bottles in her room.

As for the size of Oasis, research and exploring for the first couple days makes it manageable IMO. Check out everything, sure, but you'll likely found places you frequent and places you don't need/want to go to... making the ship smaller to your agenda.

On many ships it is the mystery dinner in Giovanni's on the first night so it is not available.

No mystery dinner on Oasis but good general tip!

love the PA connections. Sailing on Oasis Aug 20th in a CLS with reservations for Sabor and Izumi (DD19 and DS15 requests) plus plan on taking advantage of Costal Kitchen. What do the RCCL vets recommend for FNDR which we also took advantage of?

I've only been to Giovanni's (twice). Excellent filet but the pasta was a bit disappointing. We like it enough to be going back so I would say either there or Chops since you have Sabor/Izumi covered. Pick which menu is more appealing to you.

Awesome! Where in Montco? I grew up in Cheltenham Twp but now live in Lower Merion Twp. :)

Abington/Jenkintown area. My dad went to Cheltenham HS, mom went to Northeast (along with my MIL).

We will be on the July 9th cruise. I will have to read the other review you linked up.

The other review is a must-read. See you in a few weeks (among the other 6,000 people)!

I'd be interested in that list when you're done!

It will have to get a bit longer & far more interesting to be worth sharing but I will if it does. On the plus side, we have over 3 weeks to work on it.

I'm curious - what do you differently when planning your own trips (besides not having a balcony)?

I just wanted to respond again to thank you for asking this question. It has inspired me to start a list of things to do/try/eat that are different from last week's cruise. We had already casually discussed some stuff of course but this should provide maximum variety and hopefully we'll stumble onto something new that becomes a future cruise staple.

Thanks for the tip, Mike! That is a great idea. DH was just wondering why we would need the concierge ;) I had to educate him, but did not think about the fact that she could have helped with that charge!

 

I have not read any other reviews yet, as I am a bit buried between writing this and completing continuing ed... I will definitely look your review up when I am done. :)

I figured you were too busy to be reading other reviews. No worries, I didn't mention it because I'm looking for thread hits... but since you and your review are prominently mentioned, I figured you'd at least like the opening. ;)

As for the idea to see the concierge about it, I can't take credit. I'm repeating part of my review here, but basically, I mentioned a CS issue about Diamond free drink rules (as in they didn't know them) at which point she thanked me so she could rectify the situation and then invited me to come see her directly for any future issues. This was only my 2nd cruise as Diamond and my previous interaction with the concierge was limited to discussing soccer one morning when I went to the Freedom DL for a bagel and found him all alone watching English Premier League on Saturday morning (they had TV's in that one obviously).

I will insert here about the bars... Be sure to check your account! We were billed for a drink that was supposed to be free for diamond. We ordered from the bartender at Trellis, and even gave him a tip, which I always did for our free diamond drinks. One day, we noted a charge for drinks at the Trellis bar. We went to customer services, and she said it was charged at 8:43 pm, which is past the free drinks window.

 

Well, the nerve of that bartender!!! We were always there between 7 and 7:45. One drink (mine) was free, the other (bottled water) was charged about an hour after we left?! We had ordered at the same time. So, be careful!! Check your statements! Fortunately, the CS rep removed the charge, but I still don't think she believed us.

If you didn't see my review, I had the same thing happen (it wasn't a time issue, will never know why I got charged) and had a worse experience with CS although they issued the refund. See my review for details but in short, go to the DL concierge if this happens in the future.

I'll never do it again.

Coincidentally also a direct quote from my FIL as we drove home after the cruise (with just my wife and her parents in the car as we're the good kids and not his inspiration).

Not sure why I didn't notice this until today. I just got off a similar family cruise on Oasis Sunday (our 15th anniversary, SIL's 10th, and sadly can't remember what # my FIL/MIL are up to but it's a milestone b/c we do these family cruises every 5 years). I already see many other similarities as well. My review if you're interested: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=53307645&posted=1#post53307645

Although I do enjoy our Diamond perks (mainly free cappuccino and free alcohol), our typical non-family cruise is no-frills. We booked a return visit in an interior cabin for July 9th mostly b/c a base price of $599pp popped up a few days ago and I couldn't resist.

We also had Jessie at Giovanni's and we almost all ordered the filet. I too had the grilled octopus just b/c it was different for me and enjoyed it but my niece's fried calamari was better (I think it was from the lunch menu). When DW and I go back alone next month, we're likely going to do FNDR at Giovanni's.

Agree with you about the kummelweck. I like it but it's at least slightly over-hyped at this point. I also enjoyed the cuban panini and the chihuahua quesadilla at Park cafe for lunch as well as their version of the egg mcmuffin for breakfast.

My issue with Cafe Promenade is that they don't rotate the food like they used to. That said, I did enjoy the pink strawberry tart. I'll have to try the roast beef there although it will be some sort of snack as I'm pretty married to Park Cafe for lunch if you couldn't tell (as is my salad-loving DW who had one with a cheese panini at least 6 of 7 days).

Looking forward to the rest of your posts. If you get the chance to read my food-heavy review, you'll understand how surprised I am that I missed out on the King Arthur. I can already tell we have similar tastes so if you mention anything else I failed to try that sounds appealing, it will likely go on my list for next month. Enjoy the rest of the week!

BTW, my SIL/BIL/nieces had central park view rooms and theirs were also cool while our ocean view balcony directly across the hall was quite warm. I'm convinced it's the balcony. Looking forward to my cold, dark, interior cave next month.

I'm curious - what do you differently when planning your own trips (besides not having a balcony)?

The biggest one is probably that we don't eat at 5:30 and actually don't eat in the MDR at all b/c of DW's pickiness and my preference not to spend 90+ minutes being served hit or miss meals. By extension, I don't lug a suit on board as I'm not a suit guy. I only own the one and it's reserved for weddings and cruise formal nights (when forced to attend), lol. Also by extension, this means we don't have to rush to the Diamond Lounge super early in the cocktail period because dinner is so early. We spent a ton of time in the Freedom DL relaxing before dinner two years ago. That was partially b/c it was up by the Viking Crown when we were there and extremely empty during our cruise for some reason. So we got to know a super nice server very well. She knew us by name, even sat down with us b/c it was THAT empty, and started inventing fruity drinks for DW who doesn't really drink with whatever she could get her hands on. There was still no blender and nothing frozen but she came up with cartons of different juices and even some sort of fruit puree to make random punches with a bit of vodka for her. That was likely a one-time dumb luck great experience, but still, we like relaxing in the DL for a bit before dinner, not having to get dressed and head up there 4:30-5:00 so we can make it back down to the MDR at 5:30.

The other stuff is smaller and less-specific. DW didn't mind the differences as much as I did but it's her family and she's more selfless than I am. Don't get me wrong, I get along with everyone and love my nieces, but we only get to cruise so often and while we could always go do our own thing, we're more likely to gravitate towards doing whatever the family is doing (which is often whatever the kids want). I just like to sit down with the compass at night and plan the next day rather than wake up and see what everyone is doing, base plans around a cranky 3 year old or a moody in-law, etc.

Hopefully that didn't make me sound ungrateful or overly selfish. I really do get along great with my in-laws and am extremely grateful that they have taken us on a family cruise every 5 years since 2007 (when we've all had milestone anniversaries in the vicinity of June).

I can only report anecdotal evidence.

 

I and everyone I know who has ever done FNDR has been able to get whichever restaurant they wanted once they boarded.

That's exactly what I'm looking for... anecdotal evidence. Appreciate your response.

EDIT: BTW, just noticed your name/location. I grew up in Montgomery County and my wife grew up in Bucks. We moved down here after college. The PA connection makes your anecdotal evidence even more reliable in my book. ;)

We will be cruising on the Oasis in January. The first time on a ship that size. :eek:.

Don't sweat it. You've obviously read some reviews so you'll have an idea of what to expect. I suggest taking the first couple days to check out the various venues/sections of the ship. After that, you'll likely find yourself frequenting certain places and avoiding others. Yes, the ship is almost too big to do EVERYTHING but chances are you won't want to do everything. For example, when not with my carousel-loving nieces, I won't go near the Boardwalk except for the water shows.

Thanks for an excellent review! I live 90 minutes from Port Canaveral, and will take my first Oasis (and Oasis class) cruise in September. I cannot wait to become Diamond! Just have 8 more nights, which means I will have to book a short cruise after my Sept. 7 night Oasis cruise to get there.

Totally understand. We were sitting on 76 pts in 2014 and took the cheapest 4-night Bahamas cruise from Canaveral we could find just to reach Diamond. I'm a bit spoiled. I didn't start cruising until my honeymoon aboard Voyager in 2002. I married into some C&A points thanks to my wife's family sailing when she was a kid and Voyager was the smallest ship I had ever been on. Stepping onto a ship with no promenade (Enchantment) took some getting used to but we were there to reach Diamond and had a good time (and an even better time on Freedom the following summer).

Thank you for the very detailed review and photos!! They are greatly appreciated!! We will be boarding in two months with our daughter and family, can't wait!! :D You got me thinking about the Solarium Bistro for dinner one night. Do they have a children's menu? They are seven and six years old. Not sure this is the best for them. Thanks again for taking the time to do this review.

DW is so picky, I'd like to know about the kid's menu too. She's not embarrassed to order off it. In fact, we're considering Giovanni's after eating there last week when our 7 year old niece got a pizza bread appetizer there that my wife is hoping they'll let her order (to go with her adult salad and filet at least).

Thanks for this nice review. Finally doing Oasis class in October and it was very informative for where to eat!

If there's one area about the ship I know about, it's the free food. :')

Glad I helped.

Thanks for the review Mike.......I'm D+ and been on Oasis a few times with Beatrice in DL, but never thought to see her for erroneous charges. That's a great tip!! Thanks!

She gets the credit for inviting me to come see her. Glad there was something useful in there for an experienced D+ cruiser.

You can request when you board.

 

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Thanks, sorry if I was unclear. I'm aware of the procedure, I was asking about the success rate of having said request granted.