Oasis LIVE (one month later!) Review

[Ocean Boy]

I've never been lucky enough to have parents who " paid for the crowd"; it's more the other way- we take people along!)

 

I think that we may be related. I seem to have the same family issue. I have taken my parents along on every cruise that we have gone on. My brother seems to find his way on board too.

[Ocean Boy]

He tries many thing; lots of clicking, many trips down to the basement room where DROBO lives,( no idea if wine and flowers are involved) an email to tech support, a little swearing...still DROBO does not give up it's secrets.

 

 

If I was relegated to living in the basement I, too, might not be in the mood to talk to either one of you.

[Familygoboston]

My DH ( Did I mention he is wonderful? and tall?) came home at lunch time to work from home and attempt to implement the steps suggested by the tech support to fix the DROBO.

If this doesn't itnterest you, just skip along to the end (or if you are like me you will read and understand none of it anyway, in whch case you've lost 3 minutes you'll never have back!)

 

It appears that the DROBO did have one of it's 5 little drives fail, but normally, it shows up as a little failed drive you replace it and all is good.(DH is very good at that part) The weird part about this problem is it did not do all its normal stuff (there are lights and flashes involved, none of which I understand entirely) but the point is it didn't look like it suppossed to and DH didn't want to make things worse by monkeying around with it, so he contacted the guys who know it best, but they felt it was just an ordinary disc failure, whch could be fixed with an ordinary fix. DH did the ordinary fix and now the DROBO is "recovering" in the basement. (no idea if chocolates and get well balloons are involved). I am told this means all the old discs are basically welcoming the new disc, filling him in on what goes on around here, and asking it..."oh by the way, can you hold onto these photos for us?" Dh tells me after several hours this should be complete.

Time for folks not interested in technical stuff to jump back in here:

If all goes well I should be able to post Day 4 tonight (cue cheering, baloon release, fireworks)

[Familygoboston]

If I was relegated to living in the basement I, too, might not be in the mood to talk to either one of you.

 

Like, like , like:D

There are a ton of electronic things down there in this one closet, the invisible dog fence (darn, where is that invisible dog now!), the alarms, the heating system, the cable, the phone, so many lights, the flashing , the beeping... it scares me a little!:eek:

 

BTW-Im not complaining about my family, love them...love having them around, and they do so many wonderful things for us. But I always envy those folks who say, "oh, so my parents flew us all to Cabo" or "Im going to spend a couple of weeks skiing at my brother's chalet in Wyoming".

 

Actually, ...maybe those are my own relatives Im hearing;)

[Ocean Boy]

Like, like , like:D

There are a ton of electronic things down there in this one closet, the invisible dog fence (darn, where is that invisible dog now!), the alarms, the heating system, the cable, the phone, so many lights, the flashing , the beeping... it scares me a little!:eek:

 

BTW-Im not complaining about my family, love them...love having them around, and they do so many wonderful things for us. But I always envy those folks who say, "oh, so my parents flew us all to Cabo" or "Im going to spend a couple of weeks skiing at my brother's chalet in Wyoming".

 

Actually, ...maybe those are my own relatives Im hearing;)

 

Trust me, I love the family too. If I didn't then when they went to put their seapasses into the scanner to get aboard ship instead of getting that pleasing "bong" they would hear that hiddeous "CLANG-CLANG".;)

[capecodrn]

i am enjoying reading your review and suggestions i am the planner in the g roup and am taking it all in the compasses are a great help am staing on deck 11 not far from the""secret balcony"" im excited wondering if i will be able to see the aqua theater from my own balcony

lots of great activities i may even go ice skating

i would be very interested in your spreadsheet bennaye at gmail if you wouldnt mind solarium cafe sounds awesome to me

im looking forward to sunshine and no work everything else is a plus looking forwardto the rest of the days reviews didyou also wake up to a dusting of snow this am???? all gone!!!!

[Familygoboston]

i am enjoying reading your review and suggestions i am the planner in the g roup and am taking it all in the compasses are a great help am staing on deck 11 not far from the""secret balcony"" im excited wondering if i will be able to see the aqua theater from my own balcony

lots of great activities i may even go ice skating

i would be very interested in your spreadsheet bennaye at gmail if you wouldnt mind solarium cafe sounds awesome to me

im looking forward to sunshine and no work everything else is a plus looking forwardto the rest of the days reviews didyou also wake up to a dusting of snow this am???? all gone!!!!

No snow here yet...but it's been cold!

You are leaving soon! You will probably have a great time- you seem to like Royal already, and this ship just makes it all better! I will email the sheet- sadly, also on the darn DROBO! DH assures me it's still recovering (maybe you could help with recovery capecodrn;)) and hopes this several hour process will be complete sometime this evening.

Edited January 6, 2012 by Familygoboston

[Familygoboston]

...and we're baaaaaack! (Thank you, 21st Century Handyman!)

 

Day 4 Tues, Dec 6 St Thomas: The day we biked around Water Island, the Waterless Island.

 

It was fun to be able to watch the ship come into port this morning! Most mornings it's so early that I sleep right through it, or actually it's my wake up call. My body sort of senses, "hey, we are not moving anymore...time to get up and off this dingy!" and then I'm up and ready to go! So this morning it was nice to sit on the balcony and watch us dock. The approach to St Thomas is just beautiful; the islands are lovely and it was just a glorious sunny day today. Before we got near the land these pelagic birds were following along, fishing in the water turned up by the ship. They would soar along with the ship, scanning the water then dive down and pluck up some fish that had been churned up. They were huge when they flew along, just feet from our balcony, but once they hit the water, they were tiny, you could hardly spot them...which really made you realize just how huge this ship is !It's incredible to me how wildlife can adapt to its circumstances. Pelagic birds live at sea and these birds learned how to use the passing ships to assist in their hunt! Maybe a reader out there is more of "birder" and could tell us what the name of this one is. It does look like some type of albatross. Birds fascinate me, but I don't know enough about them! I watched this flock for a long time, till we got closer to shore and they stayed out at sea!

 

(photo of birds)

 

 

(view from our "hump")

 

 

(photos of St Thomas approach)

 

 

 

 

[Familygoboston]

One of the fun things about being on Oasis, is that she is still (after 2 years afloat) a marvel everywhere she goes. Everyone comments in port, "oooh, you are on Oasis" and their eyes get big. (maybe that's just 'cause there are 6000 people vs. the regular 3000 people to separate from their money, but that's just speculation, and I might add a little cynical on my part!). As we pulled into port, these guys working on a repair barge stopped working (not a terribly unusual occurrence in and of itself in the islands...it's Island Time, M'on!) but when we looked closely, we could see they were taking pictures of us with their cell phones cameras! This delight and awe followed us pretty much every where we went!

 

(photos of guys taking photos)

 

 

 

Now is when I will mention another of my tiny, niggling, eensy weensy disenchanment with Oasis. So we've established she's BIG! We've talked about all the wonderful ways that she doesn't feel that big. But the one place you really can't forget she is big, is in port! I joked in my mini review about the "Total Eclipse of the Seas" but really, she does tower over everything.

 

(photo of 'Total Eclipse of the Seas" in port this is Nassau actually...but you get the idea)

 

 

Now, I don't have a problem with her bigness per se, but the result is that she is too big to tuck into most of the smaller docking areas on the islands that I have been to on smaller ships. I was disappointed that we docked in an industrial port, and everything was a cab ride away. Generally, DH and I like to do "too much" in a port stay. We will usually do a shore excursion, but we will also power tour the port area; me with my guide book in hand and DH with his camera. We will walk several streets beyond the "tourist center" and shop in a little local shop (where regular people go to get chips and soda on their lunch break). We might rent bikes or wander to a beach on our own. Usually we are one of the first off in the morning and the last stragglers back to the ship, ( but we are never runners...oh no! Much to anxious to cut it that close!)

 

We found that with Oasis, most of the port towns were quite a distance from the dock, requiring another cab ride to that area after our excursion returned to the dock area. Now this is true for other large ships (or just those lowest on the berthing totem pole) too, as we were never the only one at these outlier docks, so there is no guarantee that even if you took another RCI ship you would dock right in the town. Also, I understand that the inhabitants of these port towns probably don't want a daily " Total Eclipse" right outside their neighborhood, so these port areas developed away from town are a way to have the commerce without the blight, and traffic. I get it! I guess I'm just nostalgic about the idea of walking off the ship and into the port and going about my day discovering the port, the real place, not an artists rendition of a Caribbean port. As I write this I know I sound like the lady who we heard complaining about the rainy weather- wait for it...in the rain forests of Costa Rica. There is really no way to have your cake and eat it too, so in the end, I can't complain that Oasis is wrong or bad because she doesn't fit in the little ports, but admit that I do also like the smaller ships that can tuck into the tiniest ports. Luckily, both types are out there for me to book and both will happily take my money!

 

DH and I decide that since we have an afternoon excursion, we will probably have Johnny Rockets all to ourselves for breakfast. My husband likes to have one big greasy breakfast per cruise, and today is a good day to load up, since our excursion is at 12:30 and we will miss lunch. Except for the orange garnish and OJ, there is no fruit here, but we enjoy our eggs, toast and DH his bacon and we fill ourselves up for our excursion. JR is free at breakfast and we had no trouble finding a table outside. I love that there are so many places to eat outside on Oasis!

 

After breakfast we take the stairs behind the Aquatheater and walk the track. I love this track! The signs are funny, it is so big, fewer laps are needed, there are several areas where you can see the ocean and best of all it is not on the pool or smoking decks. It is just impossible to get a good run in when dodging people carrying Pina Coladas around or getting a lungful of the smoking area every 1/8 of a mile!

 

Today we decided to take the RCI "Water Island Bike" excursion. DH and I are avid bikers, (not fancy spandex clad avid bikers, just people who bike for fitness) and we try to ride a little on every trip we take. We are trying to bike in each of the extremes of the US. We've biked in Northeast in Acadia Maine, Northwest on the Tony Knowles Coastal trail in Anchorage, South East all around Key West; so we thought biking in the USVI would be our new "point furthest south in the US". We still have to hit the west coast or Hawaii!

 

We were very impressed by the Water Island Bike excursion. It was a touch bigger at about 25 hearty souls, than we (and the tour operator) would have liked, but as they mentioned, this is what happens when the tour is offered to 6000 people; the same tiny percentage will take the trip, but it will just be a larger number of people! The folks on our excursion were great, friendly, active folks from all over the world. We met the guide, its run by Water Island Adventures, and I'm sure you can take the trip as a non RCI excursion, but it's a small operation, so I'm not sure you'd get put in a different group. The folks who run it are Water Island resident retirees who are making a living on Water Island running these tours.

 

We were led on foot to the Havensight Mall area, be sure to check out the camouflaged iguanas sunning on the rocks, on the way there. At the edge of the mall there is a dock for the Water Island Water taxi. We took this just across the bay (maybe 15 minutes!) and docked at Water Island. This island was at one time full of beautiful resorts, then the US military took it over to use for strategic purposes, they removed most of the tourist infra structure and then realizing it was not needed militarily, they turned the island back over the USVI, and invested a whole bunch of money to try to rebuild the tourist infrastructure. Bear with me ...here comes the "waterless part"! In the old days there were several fresh water ponds that served as an excellent source of fresh water for St Thomas as well as Water Island (can you guess now how it got its name?) Unfortunately, a tsunami came and swamped the island with seawater, and all the fresh water ponds became brackish. This meant that developing tourist infrastructure was more or less abandoned and all the locals use cisterns to collect rainwater or have a water truck sent over from St Thomas at great expense! So the enterprising group of folks who live there now decided those of us visiting St Thomas might like to see their beautiful little waterless island by bike...and they were right, this was one of our favorite excursions!

 

We rode on a little safari bus to Honeymoon Beach to use the facilities before our ride, then up the hill to where our wheels awaited. The operators had 4 folks helping with fittings and made sure everyone was outfitted safely and comfortably before we went off. The biking itself was not fast, as much of it was down hill, some on dirt and even mud tracks. But the views were phenomenal and we stopped many times to collect everyone and take in the views and the stories of Water Island. I would describe this as one of the most "authentic" tours I have taken from a cruise ship. This was led by locals who shared not only island history but also a little about island life. There was very little vehicle traffic, but several times a golf cart would stop and it's driver would chat with one of our guides in that small town way " do you want me to drop that thing off today?" was one quote. You just got a real feel for the Island-ness of the place, so very different from the bustle of St Thomas! As far as difficulty, I would say if you ride a bike regularly, even just to town for the paper, you could do this ride. The guides were all for anyone who wanted to get a workout going faster, but encouraged people to keep their own pace. We had a follow van and a few folks who maybe weren't as comfortable in the muddy areas, or struggled on the few hills, hopped aboard at one point. Water was provided, as was any other thing your bike might need while on the approximately 8 mile route. We felt we got a pretty decent workout even though we were not going fast because it was very warm and the surfaces were uneven, requiring a bit more pedaling even on the straights. We decide this was good enough to put off a trip to the gym another day!

 

(photos from the bike tour)

 

 

 

(View of our ship from the lookout point)

 

___________________________________________________________________________________

[Ocean Boy]

I also dislike the fact that Oasis has to dock at Crown Bay instead of Havensight on St. Thomas. Ever since they built the walkway from Havensight into town I have enjoyed making that trek. From Crown Bay it is a miserable walk to town. And I am sure that the taxi drivers like it just the way it is. At least Oasis can use the regular docks at both Nassau and St. Maarten.

Edited January 6, 2012 by Ocean Boy

[Familygoboston]

After riding back to Honeymoon Beach, we all turned in our gear and then had about 2 hours to enjoy on one of the prettiest beaches we have been on in the Caribbean. Again, not a lot of infrastructure here, a snack shack and cash bar, a bare bones little rest room, a few palapas, and a little shade pavilion. There are no beach chairs, but most of our group headed for the calm warm waters after a slightly gritty ride! There was another "tour group" there, it appeared to be an excursion, but the principal activity for this one seemed to be the open bar! But there was plenty of room for all and it was not crowded or loud, truly a romantic beach.

 

(photos from Honeymoon Beach)

 

 

 

The trip operators offered tee shirts, sketches they had drawn and encouraged everyone to say something on Trip Advisor if they had a good time...which we all agreed we did, but there was no hard sell and they kept an eye on things in the pavilion for you if you were floating in the water. When time was up, we took the safari bus up the hill and down the road to the ferry, and back to Havensight. The operators stayed on Water Island figuring most of us could find our way from Havensight to Oasis (not like you could miss the total Eclipse of the Sea!)

Just for fun...this is how the palm trees near Havensight were decorated for the holidays!

 

(Photo of palm tree)

 

 

This is when DH and I would usually go to the port town and walk around a bit, but because it was a cab ride away (I want to say $4pp- maybe someone can correct that, since we didn't go!) we decide to go back on board. It was getting near sunset and as Captain Selvag had warned us, if we chose to stay ashore till "all aboard" we would be returning in the dark at 5:30! We decide to go back and do what always needs doing after a soak in the cool ocean... a soak in the hot tub!! We chose the cantilevered tub for it's beautiful sunset view, and we were not disappointed, even though that big island was in the way of the actual orb! We also stopped for a quick pizza at Sorrentos to hold us over till our late dinner. I really liked the pizza a Sorrentos; they have pizza ovens so it's real pizza not the frozen stuff you get at the Windjammer. Also, they make all kinds, with interesting vegetables and meats on them. You can do the "make your own", which takes a bit longer, but we found plenty of tasty choices by the slice. My DH went there a lot for pizza!

 

(photo of sunset from hot tub)

 

 

We had 7:45 dinner reservations, so we got cleaned up and headed down to dinner. We dined alone tonight, but DC's were seated at a table right near us about 1/2 hour into dinner, so we chit chatted about our days and saw photos of their dolphin excursion in Tortola (they LOVED it!). We finished up and agreed to meet them in the Schooner Bar before our Headliner Show. We enjoyed Angelo in the Schooner Bar, he's competing a bit with the noise from the Promenade, but we sat here a few times when we had a few minutes to kill and enjoyed the piano standards.

 

After meeting up with our cousins, we headed to the Opal Theater again. Our headliner was Vegas Act- Earl Turner. Since we were entirely unsure if this would be something we would be interested in, we went with our balcony strategy. We sat up in the balcony, as so not to embarrass ourselves or the entertainer if we decide that we didn't really want to sit through the whole performance. We were pleasantly surprised. Earl has a boatload of energy (you know his teachers spent every day saying "Earl, sit down in you seat, Earl, please raise you hand...Earl!!"). SO for all you kids out there with ADD, there is a lucrative career awaiting you, you just have to find a place for that energy! Earl found a place for it by jumping around the stage, off the stage, up on the arm rests of the chairs (yup!) and basically did not stop moving for 45 minutes! If you ever get Earl on your ship I recommend the mezzanine seats if you want to see and keep your drink from being spilled. Earls act included a lot of dissing rap music and lamenting that all the really good music was from the olden days (60's mainly), he'd break into a classic and everyone would sing along, but in typical ADD fashion, he never actually completed a whole song! But people were going wild down there, dancing in the aisle, grabbing the mike when he offered it, singing at the top of their lungs and throwing their bras onstage (ok, I made that up, no one really disrobed! Did I warn you about hyperbole? No?) We did find him and the whole scene entertaining enough to stay for the whole show and we had another evening side splitting laughter, so the show was a hit with our clan! Because we didn't bail on Earl, we missed the Battle of the Sexes show. But we were still in a partying mood so we decide to check out Blaze.

 

(Photo of Blaze)

 

Come on people, it's a dance club, why are you sitting there? On other cruises we found the DJs sometimes would spin the same 10 songs and so once you have sat through a 1/2 hour set, you will hear the same songs again (I think this is because the cruise line has to pay royalties to the artists and therefore they go for really affordable songs, like "Tonight's gonna be a good night" by the Black Eyed Peas, but this is entirely speculation...and probably not even sound speculation since we are in international waters and the Captain can play whatever he feels like on his vessel. And if that's the case, really, he should be embarrassed!) So almost instantly we recognized the RCI top 40 (really only 15, maybe 20 songs), which is good because we are old, we don't go clubbing, we would not know new music if it came up and introduced itself. When I try to keep current and sing along in the car, my teens look at me with murderous eyes and then roll them. They know it's hopeless! But I like to dance (albeit, badly) and NO ONE was dancing.

 

We decided to get a drink and then we would start it! Fortunately, while our drinks were arriving another group started, so we just joined! If you've been on other RCI ships you know their discos always have this medieval dungeon theme going on, but Blaze has this very strange little dance nook that looks like a rock tower with windows opening into Entertainment Place and cameras and screens so you could see your own butt wiggling. Maybe it's there, because most of us think we are doing ok, or at least we are unaware of how bad it really is. But in Blaze the video evidence is right there for you, in your mind you may feel 20, but there is no denying you don't look like it! This was not what I wanted to see, its also not something anyone else wants to see, but I think the marketing team is hoping you will be filled with shame and leave the dance floor to the young, lithe, beautiful people and just buy another drink (or two) so you can forget about the whole awful incident. ( but again...that's just speculation on my part!) After working up a good sweat, making complete fools of ourselves (which must be on You tube, somewhere) and negating the need for visiting the health club for yet another day, we went to bed!

 

Day 4 Compass

 

That's all for today...lots of photos today...we don't have quite so many tomorrow...I should be able to post in the early part tomorrow now that our technical issues are all corrected (Yeah!) Thanks for you patience and encouragement!

[Familygoboston]

I also dislike the fact that Oasis has to dock at Crown Bay instead of Havenshight on St. Thomas. Ever since they built the walkway from Havenshight into town I have enjoyed making that trek. From Crown Bay it is a miserable walk to town. And I am sure that the taxi drivers like it just the way it is. At least Oasis can use the regular docks at both Nassau and St. Maarten.

 

You are right, Ocean Boy...Oasis is docked at Crown Bay, not the Havensight dock... I'm not sure if the mall where we got the water shuttle is considered the Havensight mall or has another name...but we did walk to it. I don't want to confuse people! :o

Sorry about that folks!

(sheesh, sure can tell I'm a rookie at this!)

[Breen1224]

Oasis is right in your back yard! I think your boys WILL love Oasis. Tomorrow I review a bike excursion we took that the guys might like. And on my last couple of sea days, I'll be be reviewing the Flowrider. Don't know if your boys surf, but this is a teen magnet. The boys are there literally all day ( which should have been a sign unto me not to try it, but that's a story for day 6;)

The sports deck in general is great, a real neat hangout for the teens. We plan on bringing our teen girls in April 2013, and they are already excited!

 

They don't surf ur I know are dying to try the Flowrider. We have one not too far from our home but just haven't made it there yet. I look forward to reading about the bike excursion. :)

[Ocean Boy]

You are right, Ocean Boy...Oasis is docked at Crown Bay, not the Havensight dock... I'm not sure if the mall where we got the water shuttle is considered the Havensight mall or has another name...but we did walk to it. I don't want to confuse people! :o

Sorry about that folks!

(sheesh, sure can tell I'm a rookie at this!)

 

No, the shuttle to Water Island leaves from a Marina just a short distance from the Crown Bay dock. The walk over to Havensight from Crown Bay would take at least a couple of hours.

[Familygoboston]

No, the shuttle to Water Island leaves from a Marina just a short distance from the Crown Bay dock. The walk over to Havensight from Crown Bay would take at least a couple of hours.

 

Thanks for clarifying that!

[will773]

Still loving your review! Can't remember if this has been asked or not, but what kind of camera are you using, your pics are awesome! Also, is there a dedicated panorama setting on this camera, or did you do these manually? They look great!

[Familygoboston]

Still loving your review! Can't remember if this has been asked or not, but what kind of camera are you using, your pics are awesome! Also, is there a dedicated panorama setting on this camera, or did you do these manually? They look great!

 

At the tippity, top of the review I list DH's gear. That panoramic was taken with the smaller Nikon on it's automatic setting. That little camera is waterproof, so we took it a bunch of places, it's great!

[will773]

At the tippity, top of the review I list DH's gear. That panoramic was taken with the smaller Nikon on it's automatic setting. That little camera is waterproof, so we took it a bunch of places, it's great!

 

Thanks! The pictures are really great!

[Familygoboston]

Thanks! The pictures are really great!

 

Thanks Will, I'll pass that compliment along, because I'm terrible at photos!

[beachgirls]

Thanks for the great review! We are going in March. Can you tell me if the Hairspray show is ok for kids? I have a 13 year old girl and a 10 year old girl. I am about to make my show reservations and I am trying to decide if I should take them. I have not let them watch the movie.

 

Thanks!

[cocoabeana]

I am enjoying your review and I look forward to it everyday. We went on the allure last year and loved it. We will be on the oasis in 3 weeks. I cannot wait! We are from MA too!

Are you going to post your spreadsheets at the end of your review? I would love to see them.

One question, when you docked in st. Thomas were there any stores that you could walk to or did you have to take a cab in order to go anywhere?

Thanks!

Sue

[janetz]

Great review. Water Island is a beautiful place to go. So easy to just hop on the ferry to get there from Crown Bay. :) No need for a ship excursion

[Familygoboston]

Thanks for the great review! We are going in March. Can you tell me if the Hairspray show is ok for kids? I have a 13 year old girl and a 10 year old girl. I am about to make my show reservations and I am trying to decide if I should take them. I have not let them watch the movie.

 

Thanks!

 

Oh, I do! I spent the whole show thinking, oh how I wish my girls could see this! I'm sure your decision about the movie was a good one, because movies always seem to push the envelope with the language and " boy/girl" situations. ( not sure what words are ok on CC)

The show is about a very innocent, outcast HS girl in 1960's Baltimore, who follows one of those teeny bopper dance show and eventually ends up on it! She becomes disillusioned that the black teens she knows aren't allowed on it and that dances are segregated and she has to make some tough choices about what's more important to her. All in all a really wonderful message for young girls I think! And the music is just fabulous.

I am a real fuss budget about media with my girls and I defininately would have brought them to this show at your daughters ages.

[Familygoboston]

I am enjoying your review and I look forward to it everyday. We went on the allure last year and loved it. We will be on the oasis in 3 weeks. I cannot wait! We are from MA too!

Are you going to post your spreadsheets at the end of your review? I would love to see them.

One question, when you docked in st. Thomas were there any stores that you could walk to or did you have to take a cab in order to go anywhere?

Thanks!

Sue

 

Well, I've really bungled the dock in St Thomas...but this I know is right...there is a fairly sizable shopping center with shops and restaurants within easy walking distance. You walk along the shore, it's all fairly new development, with a nice wide sidewalk, very safe and clean and those rocks by the pier are where you can see the iguana. On our way back lots of people were sitting out having a drink!

I will definately post an image of my spreadsheets, but there is no way to post the Excel document. I could talk to the 21 St Century Handyman and see if he can put it with the Cruise Compasses. He's already letting us use a little piece of hs work share file now, maybe one more doc wont hurt;)

[Ocean Boy]

Thanks! The pictures are really great!

 

Fortunately, the camera isn't forced to live in a closet in the basement with the rest of the family's gizmos.