Oasis, Feb 26 sailing, just back...

Ocean Boy · March 7, 2011

Ok, I am back from the February 26 sailing of Oasis. Yesterday I had just finished typing out some comments and thoughts on the cruise and when I hit the send button the whole thing disappeared.:mad::mad::mad: So last night I re-wrote some thoughts on my laptop which is at home and I will post them latter this evening. In the meantime if anyone has any questions about the ship or eastern itinerary I'll be happy to try to answer them. For right now I will just say that we had one fantastic week on an amazing ship. More later.......

Sugar*Magnolia · March 7, 2011

Awwww, sorry you lost your post. I learned long ago when writing a review or anything other than a comment, to use word.

Very interested in reading your thoughts and will look later this evening!! We're going on Oasis in June.

My current curiousity is "what are the shows"? Im looking for a complete list so when rci opens the bookings for shows Im ready to roll!

Thanks!

Ocean Boy · March 7, 2011

I have included the shows in my write-up but I'll tell you this right now.... they are like nothing you have seen in the past. Oasis shines in the entertainment department.

raytownlady · March 7, 2011

Looking forward to reading your review.

silvercrikhix · March 7, 2011

Looks like a have a date tonight with Ocean Boy.....LOL Looking forward to your comments regarding your experience!

firefly333 · March 7, 2011

I lap up every word about Oasis ...cant wait.

Ocean Boy · March 8, 2011

Well, I am just back from my first adventure aboard Oasis of the Seas. Instead of writing a review I thought that I would write some comments and make some observations about the cruise. Everyone is welcome to make comments of their own. Remember that these are my opinions. If you do not agree with me feel free to say so. It would be great if you can disagree in a pleasant way. But I have been around here long enough to know how things work. Some folks can only disagree in a disagreeable way. But that is ok. I can take it.;) Keep in mind that my perspectives are from someone who loves the Voyager/Freedom class of ships. I also initially felt that it would be unlikely that I would ever book Oasis since those other ships had everything that I, and my family, need to enjoy a cruise.

The SHIP

First of all, Oasis is an amazing ship. And it is big. And there will be a lot of people aboard. If you are someone who doesn’t like to walk a lot and would not be happy staying in just one section of the ship then think twice about booking. If you are someone who thinks that the V/F classed of ships are too big then think a lot more than twice about booking. But if you are like me and enjoy walking and exploring then this ship was made for you. You will be in heaven as I was. Either way bring comfortable shoes. You will be happy that you did. Whereas the Freedom class is a a stretched version of the Voyager class, Oasis is not only a new class but a completely new design. It is not a V/F class ship on steroids.. Do not expect to step aboard and find yourself in a familiar environment. However, even though this ship is huge it is very well designed and it takes little time to learn your way around. If by the end of the week you have not seen the whole ship it is because you haven’t put the effort into it. The ship also accommodates the number of passenger that it carries just as well, and maybe better, than the V/F class ships. We only stood in a line once during the week and I will get to that later. Remember, even though there are 6000 passengers there are two rock walls and flow riders so in some respects this ship has a better passenger/venue ratio than the V/F ships. And though there are a lot of people we rarely felt crowed. However, if you do need to be somewhere at a certain time on this ship leave yourself more time than you think you need. If the elevators don’t slow you down the many people walking in front of you who have nowhere to go and all day to get there will. If you are like me and take a day or two to transition from real life time to ship time it can be a bit frustrating.

The neighborhood concept is really cool and they have very different atmospheres. Central Park is a very quiet and relaxing place if you are looking for that. Boardwalk can be pretty noisy and full of kids at times.

DESIGN ISSUES

There are few things about the ship’s design that I will mention. First is the solarium. It is covered with glass panels alternating with open space. I think that this cuts down the air circulation and the area seems to become a bit humid as it, obviously, cannot be air conditioned. The other issue with the area is that people set up their chairs to be in the sun or under glass depending on whether they want to tan or not. The problem is that as the ship moves and the sun shifts position it is necessary to move your chair. However, by then things may have gotten pretty crowded and it is difficult to change your location. The solarium also does not have the nice cushioned chairs of past ships that I have been on. I didn’t find them all that comfortable.

The Windjammer is a bit odd also. Instead of being a long space with a central food preparation area as on most ships this Windjammer is “horseshoe” shaped. The problem with that is as people walk through looking for a table they get to the end where instead of circulating around they turn around and start walking in the opposite direction resulting in people walking in both directions in a fairly narrow space. The food islands also have poor signage. It is difficult to see what is located where and people will just stop in the middle of a traffic area and look around to see where they want to go. People also approach the islands from different directions and instead of all walking around them in one direction there will be folks walking around them in both directions leading to a lot of congestion at times.

The other thing that I found very odd was the “Logo Shop” on the Promenade which is now called simply “The Shop”. It is less than half the size of the shop on the V/F class ships and you enter and exit right by the check out register leading to a lot of congestion. At times it was a chore to walk in there and the entire space felt somewhat claustrophobic. Why RCI would skimp on the area allotted to this shop makes no sense to me as I am sure they want people to buy the sort of stuff that is sold in there.

The jogging track has moved from the sun deck to deck 5. Initially I did not like this as I enjoy morning runs while looking at the ocean. However, we all know how the sun deck gets clogged with chairs and people as the day goes on making the running track unusable. So moving it to deck 5 works out much better as far as it can be used all day long. The one problem with this location is that the lifeboats hang at the edge of deck 5 making it seem like you are running in a tunnel and you rarely get to see the ocean.

The outside area on deck 4 of the V/F ships is gone and replaced with the outside area on deck 5. But if you want to sit and watch the ocean on deck 5 the only place to do it, because of the lifeboat issue that I just mentioned, is at the stern of the ship where you get a beautiful view of the ocean and the wake of the ship trailing off into the distance.

The CREW

I have read on these boards that the crew seems to be overworked and the service was lacking. I have to say that I encountered none of this. This crew was one of the happiest and friendliest that I have encountered in awhile. This applies to not only the service personnel but also maintenance workers, painters, cleaners, etc. If there were any disgruntled crew members on this ship they and I were never in the same place at the same time. Our cabin attendant was excellent. Not only did he do his job well but every time he saw me walking down the passageway to the cabin he would stop what he was doing and try to get to the door first to open it for me. This was completely unnecessary but little touches make a big difference and my comment card reflected it. All the other attendants working that passageway were just as friendly and would greet me when they saw me. I will also say that they keep this ship so clean that public bathrooms rarely look as if anyone as even used them

The CABINS

I do not like the new design of the cabins. We had one with the bed near the closet. If both people in the cabin are not on the same schedule it is very hard to not disturb the person who is sleeping when you get up. I had to plan what I was going to wear for the day the night before as it is impossible to get in the closet without disturbing anyone. Also, without having a dividing curtain between the sleeping and couch area you can’t turn on lights without lighting the entire cabin again disturbing sleepers. It is also a very narrow area at the foot of the bed to get over to the couch/dresser area making a small cabin seem even smaller. I will say that as the week went on we adjusted, as people do with things they encounter in life, and the cabin layout became a non-issue. RCI builds the biggest cruise ships and makes the cabins so small. Yeah, I understand the reasoning behind it but I don’t have to like it.

The ENTERTAINMENT

This is where Oasis really beats any ship that I have been on. Our showing of Hair Spray was rescheduled because of technical issues. I almost was not going to go because it was put at the same time as sail-a-way from Nassau and my past experience with cruise ship shows told me that is was not worth missing a sail-a-way for. I decided to go and I am so glad that I did. For those of you familiar with a typical RC Singers and Dancers production show let me assure you this is not that. I don’t go to Broadway shows so I don’t know if it compares to that but it was the best thing that I had ever seen on a cruise ship. Then came “Oasis of Dreams”. This show left me absolutely awestruck. Every show that I have been to on a ship ends up getting a standing ovation. I rarely stand as I think it becomes meaningless when it happens every time. When this show ended, without thinking I was on my feet so fast. It was an incredible experience. Then came “Splish Splash” which was just as good. Maybe it is because of my younger days as a swimmer that I had such an appreciation for these aquatic shows but I could keep going on about them. They are a combination of entertainment and incredible athletic skill. The ice show was excellent. The RC production show, Come Fly With Me, was better than the typical RC Singers and Dancers show. The Comedy show was actually funny. The guest entertainers, a Temptations imitation group was horrible. My mother, who had seen the Temptations years ago really disliked the show. I fell asleep during the show so a guess it did serve a purpose. I caught up on a bit of needed sleep.

There was a huge discussion on these boards when Shrek was being introduced by RCI. It really was all for nothing. Shrek is very non-intrusive. The characters only appear at certain times and their location is announced. I only saw them a couple of times during the week with one time being the parade. RCI is NOT turning into Disney.

The MANAGEMENT

There were a few issues with the management of this ship that I wasn’t crazy about. The first I already touched on which was rescheduling a major show to conflict with a sail-a-way. Another was the scheduling of the C&A event at the same time as sail-a-way from St. Maarten. The invitation also said not to wear shorts. What do they think people are going to be wearing that just got back from an island on a hot day with no time to shower? Considering what some past C&A gatherings have been like I opted for the sail-a-way at which I got some of my best sunset pictures of the entire week as I watched St. Maarten slip into the distance. I think I made a good decision.

During lunch in St. Thomas half of the Windjammer was closed while the place was packed with people having difficulty finding seating. I can understand that they may not have planned on that many people on a port day and not have planned to stock all of the food islands but to not let people use the tables that were roped off was ridiculous.

The interactive TVs were not working for most of the week. All you could do with them was watch TV. I went to guest services as I thought there was a problem with our TV. They informed me that it was a system issue which should be fixed shortly. Shortly ended up being Thursday. What bothered me about this was it would have been easy for them to make an announcement that the system was down and to provide updates.

The Cruise Compass said that sail-a-way from St. Thomas was at 4:30 PM. When we were leaving the ship the sign said 5:30 PM. Now I do not deal with discrepancies like this well so twice I asked security what time we had to be back. Why could they not have announced the day before that the time in the Compass was wrong? We could have planned our day differently if we had known sooner that we had a extra hour on the island. They sure have no problem making announcements about bingo and art auctions.

There were some days when only one towel station was open to serve the pool deck, sun deck, and solarium. They have to be kidding. It was not so much an issue of lines as it was an issue of inconvenience and a lot of walking just for towels. They are not using the new style blue and white towels with the RCI logo on them but using plain blue towels that are just like the old mustard colored towels of the past so I don’t think they have to worry much about theft. As the week went on they did opened more stations.

Now for the one real glitch in the week. We are about to disembark in Ft. Lauderdale and as I put my seapass into the machine it sets off an alarm and I am told that I have to go to guest services. When I get there they inform me that there is a balance on my account that I have to take care of. I informed them that I gave them my credit card when I checked in. They inform me that the information did not go through the remote transfer from the pier to the ship. They told me that this happens frequently. Now I understood what this alarm was that I kept hearing as we were standing in line waiting to get off the ship and kept hearing as I was wasting my time at the service desk. I give them my card and it takes almost 10 minutes for them to swipe it and get authorization. Now I am getting pretty aggravated. The same issue happened to my parents and it took almost another 10 minutes after settling my account to take care of theirs. Meanwhile more and more people are showing up at the desk for the same reason and you know how it is when a lot of disgruntled people are standing in line and start talking to each other. One of the staff behind the desk told me that if I want to avoid this happening in the future to wait until I board the ship to give them my information instead of doing it on the pier. That was the wrong thing to say to me. I asked him if they really want 3000 people, assuming an average of two people per account, showing up at guest services to do a second check-in after boarding. He stood there speechless. I can assure you that by the time we were finished that my displeasure was quite clear to guest services. So once my parents and I are finish the guy says that we are all set and we can go. I said that I have no intention of going and standing in line all over again to get off of the ship. We had a plane to catch and I want off of this ship NOW. He was very apologetic and escorted us to the front of the line. I know how it feels to be in line and see someone get what seems like preferential treatment but we had already stood in line once and the glitch was no fault of mine so I didn’t feel badly about jumping this line.

I think this entire issue was handled very poorly. They had all week to get a hold of me to let me know there was a issue with my account. They could very easily tag my account so the first time I tried to buy something on the ship a notice could come up to inform me of an issue and to please visit guest relations during the week. I do not like, or want, surprises like this when I am about to walk off the ship and am facing the ordeal of getting my family home. RCI needs to fix this. But I suppose that as long as this is only a hassle for the guests and crew and they have a way to stop you before leaving the ship to get the money due them that fixing this will not be high on RCI list of things to do. This, however, was not a good last memory of a vacation and I can envision a first time cruiser leaving with a very poor last impression of RCI.

That aside, boarding and disembarking were very efficient. We were aboard the ship within 20 minutes of arrival at the port and once we finally got off of the ship it was no more than 20-25 minutes before we were in a cab and on the way to the airport. FLL was also operating quite efficiently Saturday. Maybe it was because there were only three ships in port this Saturday.

CLOSING THOUGHTS

There are things that RCI does incredibly well. There are things that they do that I dislike, things that make me shake my head in disbelief, things that I find amusing, and things that I find frustrating. But I can say the very same thing about every member of my family.:eek: The facts are that Oasis is an amazing ship, but it may not be for everyone, and RCI provides a great product.

We spent the week traveling with NCL’s Sun and Carnival’s Dream. What I am about to say is in no way intended to me a shot at either of them. One morning I got up very early and was sitting in the solarium looking out at Dream and I had such a feeling of peace and contentment. And I just knew that if I was on that ship looking out over at Oasis I would be wondering what was going on aboard the ship and wishing that I was on it.

The Freedom class ships have some features that I like over Voyager ships but nothing that I can’t do without. So after sailing Independence it opened more options for me as I would be just as happy with a V or F class ship. I was hoping that Oasis would open even more options but instead it has limited me as the Aqua Theater has really won me over. I would very much miss it if I were on a ship without one just as I miss the Royal Promenade when I am on a ship without one. So here is my dilemma. I love the Southern Caribbean routes and I really like Oasis. For the time being there is no way for me to put both of them together. Yeah I know, what tough problem to have…….

So those are some of my thoughts. I didn’t mean for this to drag on so long but I just kept typing. If I bored you I would imagine that you didn’t read this far anyway so I guess there is no need to apologize. Questions and comments are very welcome.

Ocean Boy · March 8, 2011

Well, I am just back from my first adventure aboard Oasis of the Seas. Instead of writing a review I thought that I would write some comments and make some observations about the cruise. Everyone is welcome to make comments of their own. Remember that these are my opinions. If you do not agree with me feel free to say so. It would be great if you can disagree in a pleasant way. But I have been around here long enough to know how things work. Some folks can only disagree in a disagreeable way. But that is ok. I can take it.;) Keep in mind that my perspectives are from someone who loves the Voyager/Freedom class of ships. I also initially felt that it would be unlikely that I would ever book Oasis since those other ships had everything that I, and my family, need to enjoy a cruise.

The SHIP

First of all, Oasis is an amazing ship. And it is big. And there will be a lot of people aboard. If you are someone who doesn’t like to walk a lot and would not be happy staying in just one section of the ship then think twice about booking. If you are someone who thinks that the V/F classed of ships are too big then think a lot more than twice about booking. But if you are like me and enjoy walking and exploring then this ship was made for you. You will be in heaven as I was. Either way bring comfortable shoes. You will be happy that you did. Whereas the Freedom class is a a stretched version of the Voyager class, Oasis is not only a new class but a completely new design. It is not a V/F class ship on steroids.. Do not expect to step aboard and find yourself in a familiar environment. However, even though this ship is huge it is very well designed and it takes little time to learn your way around. If by the end of the week you have not seen the whole ship it is because you haven’t put the effort into it. The ship also accommodates the number of passenger that it carries just as well, and maybe better, than the V/F class ships. We only stood in a line once during the week and I will get to that later. Remember, even though there are 6000 passengers there are two rock walls and flow riders so in some respects this ship has a better passenger/venue ratio than the V/F ships. And though there are a lot of people we rarely felt crowed. However, if you do need to be somewhere at a certain time on this ship leave yourself more time than you think you need. If the elevators don’t slow you down the many people walking in front of you who have nowhere to go and all day to get there will. If you are like me and take a day or two to transition from real life time to ship time it can be a bit frustrating.

The neighborhood concept is really cool and they have very different atmospheres. Central Park is a very quiet and relaxing place if you are looking for that. Boardwalk can be pretty noisy and full of kids at times.

DESIGN ISSUES

There are few things about the ship’s design that I will mention. First is the solarium. It is covered with glass panels alternating with open space. I think that this cuts down the air circulation and the area seems to become a bit humid as it, obviously, cannot be air conditioned. The other issue with the area is that people set up their chairs to be in the sun or under glass depending on whether they want to tan or not. The problem is that as the ship moves and the sun shifts position it is necessary to move your chair. However, by then things may have gotten pretty crowded and it is difficult to change your location. The solarium also does not have the nice cushioned chairs of past ships that I have been on. I didn’t find them all that comfortable.

The Windjammer is a bit odd also. Instead of being a long space with a central food preparation area as on most ships this Windjammer is “horseshoe” shaped. The problem with that is as people walk through looking for a table they get to the end where instead of circulating around they turn around and start walking in the opposite direction resulting in people walking in both directions in a fairly narrow space. The food islands also have poor signage. It is difficult to see what is located where and people will just stop in the middle of a traffic area and look around to see where they want to go. People also approach the islands from different directions and instead of all walking around them in one direction there will be folks walking around them in both directions leading to a lot of congestion at times.

The other thing that I found very odd was the “Logo Shop” on the Promenade which is now called simply “The Shop”. It is less than half the size of the shop on the V/F class ships and you enter and exit right by the check out register leading to a lot of congestion. At times it was a chore to walk in there and the entire space felt somewhat claustrophobic. Why RCI would skimp on the area allotted to this shop makes no sense to me as I am sure they want people to buy the sort of stuff that is sold in there.

The jogging track has moved from the sun deck to deck 5. Initially I did not like this as I enjoy morning runs while looking at the ocean. However, we all know how the sun deck gets clogged with chairs and people as the day goes on making the running track unusable. So moving it to deck 5 works out much better as far as it can be used all day long. The one problem with this location is that the lifeboats hang at the edge of deck 5 making it seem like you are running in a tunnel and you rarely get to see the ocean.

The outside area on deck 4 of the V/F ships is gone and replaced with the outside area on deck 5. But if you want to sit and watch the ocean on deck 5 the only place to do it, because of the lifeboat issue that I just mentioned, is at the stern of the ship where you get a beautiful view of the ocean and the wake of the ship trailing off into the distance.

The CREW

I have read on these boards that the crew seems to be overworked and the service was lacking. I have to say that I encountered none of this. This crew was one of the happiest and friendliest that I have encountered in awhile. This applies to not only the service personnel but also maintenance workers, painters, cleaners, etc. If there were any disgruntled crew members on this ship they and I were never in the same place at the same time. Our cabin attendant was excellent. Not only did he do his job well but every time he saw me walking down the passageway to the cabin he would stop what he was doing and try to get to the door first to open it for me. This was completely unnecessary but little touches make a big difference and my comment card reflected it. All the other attendants working that passageway were just as friendly and would greet me when they saw me. I will also say that they keep this ship so clean that public bathrooms rarely look as if anyone as even used them.