Oasis of the Seas - Sept 24-Oct 1 Review - BEST cruise EVER!

Hi All -

Just back from my amazing cruise on Oasis of the Seas and wanted to share details with you to help anyone who needs the extra help!

Some perspective first, I have been cruising since the Big Red boat in 1990, and my first Royal cruise was on Song of America in 1996. This was the first time on a "larger ship" having been on Liberty and Freedom in the past. I have my good and not so great opinions about Oasis. Hubby seems to think he has found the ship he loves with Oasis, but I am inclined after this one, to head back to Voyager or Freedom class.

On this cruise were myself, Hubby, my sister and her husband, and 6 friends of the family. I am typically a huge planner and a bit of a control freak, but once Hurricane Irma struck St Maarten, I knew I would have to change my expectations a bit. Instead of a full eastern itinerary, we were thrown into a full Western itinerary. So I quickly gave up my "control" and was forced into full relaxation a bit faster than I normally am. I will tell you from that perspective, this was the best cruise in years!

On September 20th (as Hurricane Maria bore down on Puerto Rico) when my friends asked me if we were still cruising I said of course we were. They made a face when I told them what my planned itinerary was (at that time St Maarten had changed to St Kitts, and Labadee and San Juan were still stops). I knew we weren't going to San Juan, but had still hoped we could stay east with Labadee and perhaps Jamaica or something like that. At that point, I said, well, we are still on the ship, and we are just cruising to nowhere. This is pretty important - because I think at this point I was able to mentally relax and just say whatever happens happens and I am good with just relaxing at this point!

On Thursday, September 21, we received a notification of change from Royal with the news that our itinerary was now, Nassau, sea day, Cozumel, Costa Maya and then 2 sea days. Admittedly, I was very disappointed, but I still have a roof over my head and plenty of food to eat and clean water to drink, so complaining about an itinerary was not something I was going to do when others are suffering beyond my imagination. I was very busy at work that day and had a client event to attend that evening, so I didn't get a chance to check message boards or shore excursions for the what is the best tour for me at any of those stops. You all know - we are on cruise critic for various reason, but mostly because we are OCD cruise preppers! We were flying early morning Friday to Orlando, so when I finally got home at 7:30, I paid some bills, and packed the last things I needed to get packed (thank god I packed earlier in the week!)

Since we were flying with my sister and her husband, we had decided to head down 2 days early to do a full day at Magic Kingdom on Saturday. My sister had never been, and we love Disney at our house so we were excited to see Mickey and friends. If you have questions about the Disney portion, feel free to ask! We rented a car, stopped for lunch and a grocery store for water and wine, and then checked in to Port Orleans Riverside for our 2 night stay. After swimming for a bit, we went to Disney Springs for dinner at Chef Art Smith's Homecoming restaurant. Enjoyed moonshine cocktails and some of the best fried chicken! We spent Saturday at Magic Kingdom riding the classic rides and eating way too many treats!

On Sunday, September 24, we loaded the car and headed to Port Canaveral. The ride from Disney took us about an hour arriving at just after 10am, and we decided to drop the luggage off with a porter and left my sister and her husband to get checked in while we returned the car to Enterprise. This is such a perfect location, clean and super easy to use. We could have walked to the terminal easily, but it was getting hot, and the shuttle driver just took the two of us straight over. We checked in and were able to immediately embark the ship. We are at the diamond level and they had already called us. We were on the ship just a few minutes after 11am.

I'll have more later, but feel free to ask your questions!

Looking forward to reading more - you have such a positive attitude and outlook on life!!

Glad you had a great time! We disembarked on your embarkation day and our Oasis cruise was also the best one yet. It is a lovely ship with so much to see and do. Look forward to your full review.

Looking forward to more.

Thank you for taking the time to post your review.:)

Following along. How awesome you could add a couple days at Disney. We were just at Disneyland and Disney knows how to do things.

Looking forward to hearing more about your cruise..and how Irma affected things. Sounds like it was still spectacular.

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I was on the 9/17 Oasis cruise. Was a little jealous when I learned your itinerary was changed to include Costa Maya! One of my favorite ports ever!

Thank you for the feedback! I will update more tomorrow when I have access to a keyboard. Not as easy to type on an iPad!

With this cruise I really tried to keep things as positive as possible. There certainly could be reasons to complain, for example I have noticed in my cruise research that often an eastern cruise is a bit pricier than a western. I technically paid the higher premium of an eastern but got a western. I had all my excursions booked for my eastern cruise and had received RCL discounts when booking. I had to rebook and didn’t have the option for discounts. I really wanted to go to Labadee. That was taken away. But as I said, I have a roof over my head, I know where my entire family is and they are safe and I can afford to take a cruise. So my issues are quite minor and not worth complaining about!

Looking forward to posting more tomorrow. I seem to have gotten sick on the cruise, so ended up at the doctor tonight for antibiotics. Has anyone else ever felt like they might have an allergy flare up while on a cruise? I never have before, but my day 4 I had issues with super itchy eyes, and my sinus issue is now a sinus infection and bronchitis. Resting tonight so I can post more tomorrow! Have a great night.

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Get feeling better. I got a cold on the Oasis around day 4. Fought thru that to get a stomach bug my first day at home.

Was on the 9/24 Oasis cruise as well. I will help the OP out as well if you all have any questions. Was my first RCCL cruise after being on Princess, Disney and Carnival. Have chosen to stay loyal to royal and we really liked everything about them. As you can see in my signature I already have 2 more booked. Going to try and make Diamond in 5 years or less. Ask away.

Following your review. How long was the checkin process?

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Following your review. How long was the checkin process?

 

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For us, it took roughly 3 minutes at security, and then straight up to the diamond line. That took maybe 5 minutes total, then we literally walked right on the ship. They were calling for group 3 at that point, so had already gone through the C&A groups. I had all my forms filled out ahead of time, and I do feel that saves a ton of time.

Our cruise tradition is to carry our swimsuits on the ship with us and land poolside as soon as possible. We were on the ship just after 11, but hubby just had to wander a bit. So we ended up on deck 8 talking to the wine guy at Vintages. Within a few minutes, I was able to get someone to focus on our priorities (not food, but sun) and we ended up on deck 15 poolside! We had the right amount of sun, a bar waiter bringing us fruity, blended rum drinks and the pool water.

I last cruised on Royal in May 2016. They didn't have lifeguards then. While I understand the need (because no one seem to watch their darn kids) I think its a waste of resources. But to each their own. It really isn't needed in the solarium. The life guard there was so bored all week! None of us were hungry as we had breakfast at 8 before heading to the ship. So we enjoyed the pool and drinks until about 1:45. We had the pool to ourselves - which is why we always go there first!

After a quick lunch in the windjammer at about 2 - let me say, that is a small place for this size of ship. I will have more on food later. We went to our cabin to drop off wine, and met the most amazing man there - Dean, our cabin steward. We had booked on deck 11 Boardwalk balcony. It was perfect for the two of us.

Our muster station was deck 5 silk dining room (at least I think that was deck 5, it could have been deck 4.) My issue with muster is the damn stairs. I have no meniscus in my right knee, and going down is just harder than going up! I'm sure I could ask to use the elevator, but those are always so packed, and I just don't want to bother anyone. I don't know if this an Oasis thing, but that video during muster was the oddest part of the whole cruise. The faux spy movie being safe while stealing the golden teddy bear on the cruise ship. I am sure its hard to grab peoples attention during muster, but that was too funny (and I don't mean that in a good way.)

For us, it took roughly 3 minutes at security, and then straight up to the diamond line. That took maybe 5 minutes total, then we literally walked right on the ship. They were calling for group 3 at that point, so had already gone through the C&A groups. I had all my forms filled out ahead of time, and I do feel that saves a ton of time.

Thanks for the quick response. We have booked an Owner's Suite. I would hope the suite line would be similar to that of the diamond line. Looking forward to your review.

Ray

We we were on the 24th Oasis also and had a great cruise. Drove to port and pulled into garage at 945 am dropped luggage that went on conveyor, pulled out of garage in circle ,up ramp to park across from elevator on deck two. In terminal thru scanner in less than five minutes. We are D+ and in a Jr. and boarded at 1050 am just behind back to back.

All food in Coastal great for the three nights menus we had. Had breakfast in dinning room and best in all our Royal cruises. Chops great as usual.

Had read on boards about a month ago that someone posted they ate lobster in the windjammer. Well they were correct. On the last night they had huge trays which just kept coming out with broiled lobster tails cut in thirds. they put six or so pieces on your plate each time, drawn butter and also big trays of broiled shrimp. Both were great and people kept returning to fill plates. I was one of them. Set up just behind the three food buffet stations. Also were pouring unlimited Champayne just as you entered windjammer. Also had the hand dipped ice cream sundae station just past dessert bar.

In all our Royal cruises this was a first and I hope they continue. Bob & Nancy The Villages, Florida:):):)

We were on the eclipse cruise in Aug., and I, too, would have to say "best cruise ever." No question that they are doing a lot of things right on that ship.

After Muster, it is always our family cruising tradition to enjoy chocolate covered strawberries on the pool deck with a bottle of champagne. So I waited for the elevator to get to deck 15, while hubby went to the cabin to get the strawberries and champs. We met in the solarium in some very nice cushioned wicker chairs. I do really like the chair selection in the solarium.

We had dinner scheduled for 7:45 each evening that we were planning to eat in the dining room. We did reserve those times online ahead of time for our group of 10. We were placed in the American Icon dining room on deck 3. We like to have our drinks in Diamond lounge before dinner, but since we were traveling with friends, we agreed to meet them for drinks each evening at 7 in the champagne bar on deck 5. I was able to partially unpack before muster and only had one suitcase left. I finished that and we were ready for diamond lounge by 6:15.

I will stop for a moment to discuss food and food quality on Royal. I agree it has taken a downhill turn in the last 5 or so years. I'm not one for buffets, never have been, so I like the elegance of service in the main dining room. As I mentioned before, I found the windjammer to be what felt like too small of a venue for the size of the ship. I did find it refreshing to see a gluten free area in the windjammer. I don't have issues, but I know a growing population does. I thought the choices in the windjammer were underwhelming, but the food tasted better than it had on my last 2 cruises on Freedom and Liberty. I really do wish there were more diverse options in the main dining room. I love pasta but not with a red sauce and there were few options there. I did feel the food was well cooked and appeared to not be sitting in a warmer for too long. It was hotter and had better flavor. We did do meals in some of the specialty restaurants but more on that later.

Our wait staff was amazing especially with our odd group. Most of us have cruised before, and a few of us hadn't. We sat at table 261 (a table for 10) and our amazing waiter, Valento and assistant waiter, Jackson quickly got to know us and our preferences. Seas were a bit rough today, as hurricane Maria was about 500 miles off the coast. We know the captain was keeping us safe, but it wasn't an easy evening and night for those with sea sickness. I asked about savory bites since I didn't see them in the bread basket, and they were on the table the next night and every night after that. My sister mentioned she loved curry and our waiter brought her a special curry to try. He said it was more flavorful than the dining room curry (and it was!) He claimed it was from the staff dining - and maybe it was:)

We had also prebooked all of our shows for the cruise (all except Cats). I have seen that show on Broadway and touring and I hate it. I am a Broadway show lover though, but that is the worst show and honestly the worst choice for a cruise ship. Bring us some Rock of Ages, Dreamgirls, Motown or some of the other shows that have a bit more of an upbeat score and fun story.

After dinner we remembered that we had spa reservations for Thursday, which is the day we were supposed to be in San Juan. We were now going to to be in Costa Maya and the reservation was at 1. This wasn't an issue for San Juan because the ship was leaving at 2, but it was for Costa Maya because the ship was leaving at 5. We walked to the spa (to work off dinner) and were able to move our massages to 3pm the next day. This was our Nassau day, and we weren't sure what we were doing yet, but thought it would still work even if we did something. We reviewed the shore excursion list and made a decision that we would either get off for a walk near the dock, or stay on the ship. We called it an early night because of the rough seas and over tiredness from our Disney day the day before!

We were on the eclipse cruise in Aug., and I, too, would have to say "best cruise ever." No question that they are doing a lot of things right on that ship.

My favorite ship was Liberty - they had a great crew and the crew seemed very cohesive. I think Oasis has a very similar culture, and I loved it.

We are cruising on the Oasis in early December. I know my husband is really hoping to see a movie (or two) out at the pool screen (we did it a few years back on Princess and he loved it), and I've heard they do that occasionally. Can you tell me if that was the case during your cruise? Do you happen to know times and nights? I have all of our shows booked and the 5 night specialty dining, too, and would like to ensure that I make room for at least one outdoor movie if it's available. Thanks!!

We are cruising on the Oasis in early December. I know my husband is really hoping to see a movie (or two) out at the pool screen (we did it a few years back on Princess and he loved it), and I've heard they do that occasionally. Can you tell me if that was the case during your cruise? Do you happen to know times and nights? I have all of our shows booked and the 5 night specialty dining, too, and would like to ensure that I make room for at least one outdoor movie if it's available. Thanks!!

I was on the oasis in March. They would show movies at the aquatheatre, but I never saw any by the pool.

We will be on the Oasis Sunday, first time. I'm so excited.

I was on the oasis in March. They would show movies at the aquatheatre, but I never saw any by the pool.

Oops, sorry. That's what I meant. The Aquatheatre. Do you recall how often they did this?

Oops, sorry. That's what I meant. The Aquatheatre. Do you recall how often they did this?

I don't sorry. If you start a new thread I feel like someone will know :)

Oops, sorry. That's what I meant. The Aquatheatre. Do you recall how often they did this?

They had them a few times mostly kid ones. I think the two or three nights there wasn't the Oasis of Dreams show they showed something more adult. Actually I posted the Compasses on here if you want to take a peek [emoji3]

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I just saw the oasis and allure daily schedules are available in the Royal Caribbean app now.

Sorry I didn't get a chance to update yesterday! This cold is kicking me!

There were movies in the aquatheater. We could clearly see quite well from our balcony. Last week there was Guardians of the Galaxy 2, Pirates of the Caribbean 5 and something I didn't recognize. I will be honest in saying one of the reasons this was the best cruise ever, was that I never looked at the schedules in the cruise compass. I just did what I wanted to do and didn't worry about making it to things (with the the exception of the wine tastings and dinner!) So I couldn't tell you if there was a cycle to offering the movies at specific times etc.