Review from 2/6 cruise

[cruisnfam]

We just arrived back from our February 6 sailing on the Oasis. We had an extraordinary time, and may be ruined from other ship travel. A few disclaimers before I start my review:

• Our intention was that this ship would be a destination – as marketed. I traveled with my parents and four-year old daughter, and we’ve been to the Eastern Caribbean islands before.
  
• I traveled with my four-year old daughter, so most of my comments are applicable to kids, and I’m going to try to give some additional information about Adventure Ocean and activities that were suitable for a four-year old. There has not been much written about that, and I hope others with kids will find it useful.
  

Embarkation

As noted before, embarkation was really easy. Once on board, we went to Studio B, which is where you sign up for everything. You can make dinner reservations, sign up for the zip line and flowrider, sign up for the wine package, register for Adventure Ocean and get the WOW phones. It was very well organized and easy.

WOW Phones

These were great! There were a few issues with the "guest finder" feature, but it worked about 90 percent of the time. It would sometimes say that one of the people I was trying to locate was in a strange cabin, but it would usually correct itself after a few minutes. We also got the TAG for my daughter, which was correct every time. I would say if you have kids old enough to let them explore the ship on their own, this is a great thing to have. You can keep an eye on where they are at any time, and hopefully find them.

The Ship

The ship really is indescribable. It is just gorgeous, and enormous. Although, it’s not overwhelming – once you get on. Definitely bring walking shoes. You will get plenty of exercise walking the length of the ship several times a day. But you won’t lose weight. See the note about the food below. The maps and signage on the ship were great. There are interactive – like large iPhones – at each elevator. You can ask for directions from where you are and view deck plans, the compass and much, much more.

Someone mentioned in a previous post that there is a disconnect from the ocean. I didn’t really understand this until we were on the ship. You literally could go days without seeing the ocean. That does not take away from the beauty of the ship at all, it’s just a little strange to feel the ocean but not see it. There are so many beautiful things to see on the ship, and plenty of opportunities to see the ocean, but you might have to search it out. Everything is focused on the ship.

The neighborhood concept is wonderful. You can really find a setting for whatever mood you’re in. Central Park is very relaxing and upscale. The Boardwalk is a great place for families, and there is a lot of activity. On the sea days, at 11:30, there was a festival for families. Some themes were music, pirates, and circus. The kids from Adventure Ocean would put on performances for the festivals. It was great!

The art is amazing. It took us a couple of days to really pay attention to it. But it really is fantastic. Take the stairs when you can, because some of the best artwork is on the landings. It truly is beautiful. Royal Caribbean really pulled out all the stops here.

The Room

At first, the rooms seemed a little small. But, they are very well organized and use space extremely efficiently. There was plenty of storage space, and the beds were very, very comfortable.

We had a Central Park balcony view. It was so peaceful. We could hear birds, ducks, and crickets in the early morning and night while we sat on the balcony. -- recordings, but a nice feature. Be sure to close the curtains when dressing. The people in the balcony rooms directly across from you will be able to see you.

The interactive TV was great. It was very easy to sign up for Internet service to use either from your television or to get login information for your laptop. Your personal daily schedule can be reviewed showing your daily reservations and activities. You can also make show and dinner reservations and order room service. It is also very easy to check your account.

Food

The food was outstanding. We had My Time Dining and ate in the MDR almost every night. Our waiters, Sabit and Mejdi from Macedonia were wonderful!! We also did the wine package, which was great! The food was really good, too. We ate at Chops on the last night, and it was amazing! We had tapas at Vintages which was also very, very good. We did the wine flight, but it would have been nice if they did wine/food pairings.

Entertainment

All the entertainment was wonderful. Richard Spacey was a fabulous cruise director. He was very funny and had a ton of energy. Anna and Mitch were assistant cruise directors and were also very funny. Mitch had a very dry sense of humor, which is different from the others, but he will make a great cruise director some day.

Oasis of Dreams – the water show – was breathtaking. The divers and acrobats performed stunts that were simply amazing.

Frozen in Time – the ice show – was also spectacular. As part of the show, they had some quick change artists who changed clothes in the blink of an eye. The costumes were beautiful.

Hairspray was great, too. The performers were very, very good and the staging, costumes and entire production was very well done.

The headliner for our cruise was The Unexpected Boys – a Frankie Valli tribute group. They had developed a cute story that incorporated the most well known Four Seasons songs.

We took my four-year old daughter to all these shows – except for Hairspray (she wanted to stay at Adventure Ocean – and she loved all the shows. We sat in the front row for all the shows, and the performers flirted and waved at her – she thought she was the star!

Adventure Ocean

My daughter is very sociable and will walk up to strangers to make friends, so I wasn’t concerned about her being too shy or not being interested in going to Adventure Ocean. What surprised me was that she never wanted to leave!

You first have to register your child and let them know who is authorized to pick her up. You’ll need the child’s Sea Pass to drop them off, and an authorized person’s Sea Pass to pick them up. On the first day, they have an Open House so you can tour the facilities and learn about the program.

The facilities are just beautiful. Very brightly decorated, lots of computers, toys and activities for the kids. They have an art lab sponsored by Crayola, where the kids do art projects, and a science lab where they do science projects.

My daughter was an Aquanaut, which is the 3-5 year olds. Each day there are usually three sessions – a morning, afternoon and evening session. Your child can stay for lunch (they bring it in) for $7.95 on sea days, but is free on port days. They take the kids to the Windjammer Café for dinner during the evening session. Each session has a theme, such as music, colors, pirates, circus, etc. The activities in the art and science labs go along with those themes, and there’s usually a story time, too. Several days, they got their faces painted and dressed up, too. The daily Compass gives you the themes for each session, but doesn’t give you a schedule for the kids. At first, I had hope to have a better schedule of my daughter’s activities, but this gave the staff more flexibility to move things around if they needed to. There was always a sign outside the room letting parents know where the kids were, if they weren’t in their appropriate classroom.

During the week they had a few performances in the puppet theater – which is also very impressive. One day, they had a birthday party for the Fisher Price Little People. They made birthday crowns, played games and the Little People performed for them in the theater.

The kids were also treated with private showings of ImagineOcean, a black light puppet show. Grown-ups were allowed to see it on the last day. The music, puppets and everything were great! Kids and parents really enjoyed it.

The Adventure Ocean staff was incredible. This was the real reason my daughter wanted to stay with them all day every day! Kung Fu Kevin, Cookie Crystal and Hyper Piper were especially great! Piper checked my daughter in on the first day, saw her during one of the parades (Piper is a stilt walker, too!), and remembered her name, which my daughter thought was so neat. I’m sure there was nothing special about my daughter, but they sure made her (and me!) feel that way. We really felt they went out of their way to say hi to her when she wasn’t in Adventure Ocean and to pay a lot of attention to her while she was there. I really can’t say enough good things about the program and the staff.

Disembarkation

OK – after watching the instructional video for this, I was a bit nervous. The video made it seem like it could be a bit chaotic. But, it wasn’t. It was just as well done as everything else. Getting off the ship was easy, as was picking up our luggage.

Without question this was the best cruise we’ve taken. We had so much fun, we’ve booked another cruise next year!

[kenholt]

Thanks for the info but i have one question for you. Did it seem to take any longer to disembark? We are talking about a lot more people then other ships.So what time did you leave the ship?

[Crewmates]

Thanks for the info but i have one question for you. Did it seem to take any longer to disembark? We are talking about a lot more people then other ships.So what time did you leave the ship?

 

I'll throw my two cents in on your question. We were on the same cruise as CruiznFam. We did not indicate that we had any flights to catch (we didn't, we were not flying out until the next day). Our group, #35, was called at about 8:10. We had our bag and were in a taxi to our hotel by 8:25. I have never had a smoother disembarkation. By the way, this ship was full with about 6000 on board. RCCL has got this process nailed.

[sandgrace]

I really appreciate your review we will be sailing on Oasis in May and our daughter is 5 so hearing about the Adventure Ocean Club was very helpful! Thanks! :)

[jty1220]

I have to say that you just made my day. We had Sabit on our first cruise two years ago and he was the best. We have kept in touch with him and are hoping he can be our server in May.

[JeffersonSea]

Thank you so much for your review and all the specifics about the kids stuff. We are taking our son who will be 4 in may, sailing on Apr 24th. I've tried to get more information about the kids activities, especially in that age group, with little success.

 

This will be his second cruise, went on Carnival last year, and we couldn't believe how much he loved being there. Every morning, as soon as he opened his eyes, he would say "Can I go to Camp Carnival now???" So we're very excited about using the Aquanauts program again. (and so is he!!) From your description, it sounds like he's going to love it.

 

Just wondering....last year we took Jackson on all our excursions, mostly because we felt guilty leaving him on the ship, but by the end of the trip, we realized he probably would have had a better time staying on the ship than walking around with us. (except maybe for the dolphin experience...he loved that).

 

But this time we want to scuba and snorkel since we missed it last time. Did you leave your child on the ship when you were in port? Just wondering how that went, and if she was happy staying at the kids' areas? Thanks again!!

[LifeCruisin]

Thanks for the great review!

Did you end up getting a wine package? If so, how much was it and how many bottles of wine do you get?

Thanks!

[cruisnfam]

Thank you so much for your review and all the specifics about the kids stuff. We are taking our son who will be 4 in may, sailing on Apr 24th. I've tried to get more information about the kids activities, especially in that age group, with little success.

 

This will be his second cruise, went on Carnival last year, and we couldn't believe how much he loved being there. Every morning, as soon as he opened his eyes, he would say "Can I go to Camp Carnival now???" So we're very excited about using the Aquanauts program again. (and so is he!!) From your description, it sounds like he's going to love it.

 

Just wondering....last year we took Jackson on all our excursions, mostly because we felt guilty leaving him on the ship, but by the end of the trip, we realized he probably would have had a better time staying on the ship than walking around with us. (except maybe for the dolphin experience...he loved that).

 

But this time we want to scuba and snorkel since we missed it last time. Did you leave your child on the ship when you were in port? Just wondering how that went, and if she was happy staying at the kids' areas? Thanks again!!

 

I was a little nervous about leaving our daughter on the boat while we explored the port -- but we did. She had a great time, and it was really nice being able to pick something that was not as kid-friendly. She really preferred to stay on the ship. To give you fair warning, you'll love the ship so much, you might not want to leave it either!

[cruisnfam]

Thanks for the great review!

Did you end up getting a wine package? If so, how much was it and how many bottles of wine do you get?

Thanks!

 

We got the 5 bottle wine package -- the platinum package. It was really nice -- you can order the wine in any restaurant or have it delivered to your room. It was a pretty nice selection of both reds and whites. I'd definitely do it again.

[cruisnfam]

I'll throw my two cents in on your question. We were on the same cruise as CruiznFam. We did not indicate that we had any flights to catch (we didn't, we were not flying out until the next day). Our group, #35, was called at about 8:10. We had our bag and were in a taxi to our hotel by 8:25. I have never had a smoother disembarkation. By the way, this ship was full with about 6000 on board. RCCL has got this process nailed.

 

I totally agree with Crewmates -- this was a very easy disembarkation. We were in group 79, and were off the boat very quickly. Once they called our number, it only took about 10-15 minutes to get off the ship and get our luggage.

[cruisnfam]

I have to say that you just made my day. We had Sabit on our first cruise two years ago and he was the best. We have kept in touch with him and are hoping he can be our server in May.

 

Sabit was one of the highlights of the cruise! He also works at Johnny Rockets during the day, so you can see him twice!

[ddonalds]

Great review - we were on the week before, and agree with all your comments (well, except the children stuff - since we don't have any children) - I think I might have an issue going on a regular ship.... When we disembarked - 5 minutes from the time I stepped over the threshold to leave the room we were waiting in, until I got in the cab - that included getting to the exit (which was SO convenient), walking down the gangplank, finding and retrieving our luggage, going through customs and then existing the terminal. 5 Minutes!!!!! Checking in was 10 minutes, but there were pictures being taken included....:D

[tootsieh]

We were also on the Feb 6 cruise---it was outstanding! The MDR,

Solarium Bistro, 150 Central Park and the Chef's Table were all wonderful!

Also, if anyone is Diamond/Diamond Plus do not miss the private section of the dining room for breakfast! One morning they had Crab Benedicts as the special, one morning a chocolate breakfast - choc waffles. choc pancakes, choc croissants, choc donuts, choc milkshakes, hot shocolate, an assorments of chocolates---------choc everything. They also had Huevos Rancheros (my husbands favorite) one morning! You could also order off of the menu.

[Crewmates]

We got the 5 bottle wine package -- the platinum package. It was really nice -- you can order the wine in any restaurant or have it delivered to your room. It was a pretty nice selection of both reds and whites. I'd definitely do it again.

 

Another option is to go down to Vintages in Central Park and buy a bottle to take to your room. I found the prices in Vintages to be very good and they have a much larger selection. And while you are there, try the tapas (extra charge but you get soooo much for your money - i.e. the Deli which is 5 different tapas for $8.00 and will be more than enough for two people. Very good.)

[Plut0]

Can anyone off a recent cruise tell us whether you can still sign up for all activities in Studio B or do you have to go to all the places on the ship in order to sign up for things like zip line, wow phones, etc.

 

Thanks.

[dcherry]

Can anyone off a recent cruise tell us whether you can still sign up for all activities in Studio B or do you have to go to all the places on the ship in order to sign up for things like zip line, wow phones, etc.

 

Thanks.

 

 

Same question here. I keep reading conflicting info about where to actually sign up for the zip line and WOW phones.

[hollon]

I have a question regarding being disconnected from the ocean - can you walk thru the doors and stroll around the ship like on the others as you see the ocean?

[nydoll1]

Studio b to get the phone but if you are not on line by 11:30 dont bother, they will be gone. The only place you can sign up for zip line is up at the zip line desk. Long line to sign up, we passed on sign up first thing, waited until Tuesday and got signed up in 15 minutes. Have fun!