Just returned from Oasis 12/8-15..pros & cons

[Gracie115]

Well off ship for 24 hours and with whatever perspective that can give one here you go:

Pros-

1) No one should EVER be bored on this ship, the compass has activities from 6:30AM to at least 2AM all nights except the last one.

 

2) They handle the crowd of 6200+ better than I could possibly have expected. I was so hesitant about this trip because I get claustrophobic in crowds and lines and that only happened once the entire week and that was on the last night when they were throwing their farewell party in the Promenade and we were trying to walk through it...bad idea....but really it is amazing that the flow of people just doesn't feel crowded...even in the eating venues at prime times you could find a place to sit.(Now I bet in summer when there are 1000 more kids on board this may well not be true based on what I read here on CC but for this trip crowds were easily managed)

 

3) MDR food....and this was a big surprise...was quite good, very impressed, the menus were changed across the line about 3 months ago and it is MUCH better(this could be a "con" I ate far too much!!!) Service was also excellent from Bodi our server and our cocktail server was one of the best we've ever encountered on any cruise.

 

4)Service was great everywhere, smiles and employees that seemed happy to be there for the most part.

 

5)Room, a Junior Suite was what we expected in size, balcony far bigger and the addition of the single cup coffee maker great for me that wants that one cup of coffee the second I wake up.

 

6)Major entertainment shows were very good...better than expected.

 

7)Several smaller venues, a jazz quartet, a violinist & piano duo, piano bar player, small dance band all good.

 

8)Elevators were amazingly fast, recall one wait for a few minutes, other than that we would push the button and within 30 seconds a cab was there.

 

9)The two specialty restaurants we tried, 150 Central Park and Chef's Table could stand up to any Celebrity(our most frequent cruiseline) venue, easily.

 

10) For people with a tendency to seasickness this ship doesn't rock, guess it's too big but you feel very little motion(this is also a con...for me)

 

11)Embarkation AND debarkation was a breeze less than 15 minutes both ways.

 

12) Spa treatments were better than expected and gym was GREAT...on port days....crowded on sea days...

 

13) Cruise Director Amy is good and I usually NEVER care about that but she seems to genuinely like her job versus other CD's who seem to be just going through the motions....

 

Cons:

This list is shorter but important!

 

1) Ship is SO big it is hard to actually walk around the decks if you have any mobility issues at all and I had a hip flare up while on ship which made walking tough...

 

2) LOUD the ship is LOUD everywhere(at least it seemed that way to us)...one of our favorite things to do on board is to walk the open air decks late at night and feel the wind and hear the ocean and even late at night they have music blaring over the loud speakers at the venues on those decks even though they are closed(areas like flowriders, zip line(which YES I did twice...lol) sports courts etc....) I REALLY didn't like that and affected our enjoyment.

 

3) There are few "quiet areas" even the library is loud, the internet lounge is also the "card playing area" and gets very loud on sea days.

 

4)You feel no movement even in high(er) seas, I miss that, I like to feel the ship on the water(for others this is a pro)

 

5) We had a "bathroom" flood the 2nd to last night which took maintenance two hours to "fix" and then the same flood happened the next day so they didn't fix it and we didn't call the 2nd time because we did not want our last day spent with guys in and out of the bathroom we just used our towels and got more....we did let cabin attendant know the last morning so that it could be fixed before the next guest.

 

6)The ports of call on these ships are lousy if you have done many caribbean cruises(which we've been lucky enough to have).....seems like a small complaint I realize but we have been to Labadee many times, Cozumel probably more than 10 and Jamaica several times....the Eastern route for these ships is Bahamas, St Thomas and St. Maarten all of which we've done many times....it doesn't entice me to get off ship....which is OK but also why after 6 days I was ready to come home...no matter how great the ship is there's still a limit to how long you can just float around on the water.

 

7) I found my enjoyment of the ship waning in the last days....it's SO big, and no matter how friendly staff is still feels impersonal and I kept getting a strong "Disneyesque" feeling .... it is DEFINITELY designed for families with young kids...which is great but wears on you, or it did me anyway.

 

8) Spa prices higher than expected

 

9) As wonderful as gym is it gets crowded on sea days....having to wait for equipment is not cool...hard to drag yourself there when there are fun things to do and easy to say to "heck with it" if equipment is not available....

 

But there are NO BAD CRUISES and we had a good time and would consider going again if different ports were involved.....DH liked it more than I.....but it was a good break and a fun week away from work.

If anyone has any questions would be happy to help if I can.

[hollon]

great review, glad you broke it up with pros and cons

[teddie]

Thanks for posting this. The noise issue puts me off in a big way, so glad to know about this.

 

Teddie.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Gracie115]

Thanks for posting this. The noise issue puts me off in a big way, so glad to know about this.

 

Teddie.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

 

I see you just got off Explorer...we've been on that class twice on the Mariner and could still walk the top decks and stand at the front of the ship with the wind in my hair and the ocean rocking below....MUCH harder to find spots like that on Oasis.

 

It was much more a factor for me than DH, but it was one of the larger, if not the largest "con" for me....

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the review!

[BettyPC]

Haven't been on it yet - I liked the thoughtfulness of your comments. I don't think I would want "noisy" everywhere I went.

[teddie]

I see you just got off Explorer...we've been on that class twice on the Mariner and could still walk the top decks and stand at the front of the ship with the wind in my hair and the ocean rocking below....MUCH harder to find spots like that on Oasis.

 

It was much more a factor for me than DH, but it was one of the larger, if not the largest "con" for me....

 

The noise issue would definitely bug DH too. Interestingly, there were two things we really loved about our recent Explorer cruise: the peace and quiet afforded by our aft cabin, and the motion of the seas. I think we'll wait on the oasis class just a bit longer. Thanks again for the review!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[molsonschooner]

Well off ship for 24 hours and with whatever perspective that can give one here you go:

 

Pros-

 

1) No one should EVER be bored on this ship, the compass has activities from 6:30AM to at least 2AM all nights except the last one.

 

2) They handle the crowd of 6200+ better than I could possibly have expected. I was so hesitant about this trip because I get claustrophobic in crowds and lines and that only happened once the entire week and that was on the last night when they were throwing their farewell party in the Promenade and we were trying to walk through it...bad idea....but really it is amazing that the flow of people just doesn't feel crowded...even in the eating venues at prime times you could find a place to sit.(Now I bet in summer when there are 1000 more kids on board this may well not be true based on what I read here on CC but for this trip crowds were easily managed)

 

3) MDR food....and this was a big surprise...was quite good, very impressed, the menus were changed across the line about 3 months ago and it is MUCH better(this could be a "con" I ate far too much!!!) Service was also excellent from Bodi our server and our cocktail server was one of the best we've ever encountered on any cruise.

 

4)Service was great everywhere, smiles and employees that seemed happy to be there for the most part.

 

5)Room, a Junior Suite was what we expected in size, balcony far bigger and the addition of the single cup coffee maker great for me that wants that one cup of coffee the second I wake up.

 

6)Major entertainment shows were very good...better than expected.

 

7)Several smaller venues, a jazz quartet, a violinist & piano duo, piano bar player, small dance band all good.

 

8)Elevators were amazingly fast, recall one wait for a few minutes, other than that we would push the button and within 30 seconds a cab was there.

 

9)The two specialty restaurants we tried, 150 Central Park and Chef's Table could stand up to any Celebrity(our most frequent cruiseline) venue, easily.

 

10) For people with a tendency to seasickness this ship doesn't rock, guess it's too big but you feel very little motion(this is also a con...for me)

 

11)Embarkation AND debarkation was a breeze less than 15 minutes both ways.

 

12) Spa treatments were better than expected and gym was GREAT...on port days....crowded on sea days...

 

13) Cruise Director Amy is good and I usually NEVER care about that but she seems to genuinely like her job versus other CD's who seem to be just going through the motions....

 

 

Cons:

This list is shorter but important!

 

1) Ship is SO big it is hard to actually walk around the decks if you have any mobility issues at all and I had a hip flare up while on ship which made walking tough...

 

2) LOUD the ship is LOUD everywhere(at least it seemed that way to us)...one of our favorite things to do on board is to walk the open air decks late at night and feel the wind and hear the ocean and even late at night they have music blaring over the loud speakers at the venues on those decks even though they are closed(areas like flowriders, zip line(which YES I did twice...lol) sports courts etc....) I REALLY didn't like that and affected our enjoyment.

 

3) There are few "quiet areas" even the library is loud, the internet lounge is also the "card playing area" and gets very loud on sea days.

 

4)You feel no movement even in high(er) seas, I miss that, I like to feel the ship on the water(for others this is a pro)

 

5) We had a "bathroom" flood the 2nd to last night which took maintenance two hours to "fix" and then the same flood happened the next day so they didn't fix it and we didn't call the 2nd time because we did not want our last day spent with guys in and out of the bathroom we just used our towels and got more....we did let cabin attendant know the last morning so that it could be fixed before the next guest.

 

6)The ports of call on these ships are lousy if you have done many caribbean cruises(which we've been lucky enough to have).....seems like a small complaint I realize but we have been to Labadee many times, Cozumel probably more than 10 and Jamaica several times....the Eastern route for these ships is Bahamas, St Thomas and St. Maarten all of which we've done many times....it doesn't entice me to get off ship....which is OK but also why after 6 days I was ready to come home...no matter how great the ship is there's still a limit to how long you can just float around on the water.

 

7) I found my enjoyment of the ship waning in the last days....it's SO big, and no matter how friendly staff is still feels impersonal and I kept getting a strong "Disneyesque" feeling .... it is DEFINITELY designed for families with young kids...which is great but wears on you, or it did me anyway.

 

8) Spa prices higher than expected

 

9) As wonderful as gym is it gets crowded on sea days....having to wait for equipment is not cool...hard to drag yourself there when there are fun things to do and easy to say to "heck with it" if equipment is not available....

 

 

But there are NO BAD CRUISES and we had a good time and would consider going again if different ports were involved.....DH liked it more than I.....but it was a good break and a fun week away from work.

 

If anyone has any questions would be happy to help if I can.

It seems like you must have had a week with nice calm seas. We were on the Oasis a year ago and she rocked and rolled so much for the first 2 or 3 days that even some of the staff was sick.

[Cupcrazy]

Great review! Thanks for both the pros & cons. I'll be on Oasis in 10 months. Can't wait!!

[PathfinderEss]

Thanks for your thoughts on the Oasis.

[Keith1010]

Thank you for your review.

 

Keith

[Gracie115]

It seems like you must have had a week with nice calm seas. We were on the Oasis a year ago and she rocked and rolled so much for the first 2 or 3 days that even some of the staff was sick.

 

We had 5 days of calm seas and 2 days of rough seas with 30-40MPH winds and the ship just didn't rock and roll... Was on the Jewel a few years back with similar seas and the Captain actually closed the open decks because of how much the ship was rocking.... Just felt almost no movement on Oasis...so can only imagine how rough the seas must have been on your sailing!!!:eek:

[coffeebean]

I was on Oasis about a year ago and recall Central Park being quiet and serene. How about the adult's only solarium. Was that noisy too?

[coffeebean]

It seems like you must have had a week with nice calm seas. We were on the Oasis a year ago and she rocked and rolled so much for the first 2 or 3 days that even some of the staff was sick.

There you go.... Oasis can have the motion of the ocean.

[Gracie115]

I was on Oasis about a year ago and recall Central Park being quiet and serene. How about the adult's only solarium. Was that noisy too?

 

 

Ah yes...you're right the Central Park area was the one area that was serene at night, at lunch the Park Cafe was always busy and bustling and made the area not as pleasant but Central Park is definitely the best area of the ship for calm. Solarium area was quiet(er) than other areas too, so yes, there are some more peaceful places on the ship, I was speaking in general of the "loudness" of the ship.

[Peach-and-Cuban]

We are about to book for next November. Were you port or starboard, and which would you suggest? We love the balcony and do spend a good bit of time there.

[tribefan]

We are about to book for next November. Were you port or starboard, and which would you suggest? We love the balcony and do spend a good bit of time there.

 

If you are doing the western, I would suggest starboard. We were on port side and at every port, we just looked out at the water.

[stones902]

Great review. We were on board the Oasis 2 weeks before you and I had many of the same opinions. Didn't care for the volume in the promenade and the fact that many venues such as the Schooner Bar lacked outside windows.

 

There were good points about the ship but also noted that the sheer size and number of pax and staff on board made for a less "personal" experience. I agree with your comments about "Disneyesque". Personally, our daughter is grown and at 50 years old I don't need a photo with Shrek.

[Gracie115]

We are about to book for next November. Were you port or starboard, and which would you suggest? We love the balcony and do spend a good bit of time there.

 

 

Starboard, it does face the ports as tribefan said, also on returning to Florida last day and night you will face to the sea which we preferred rather than seeing the approaching Florida coast lights.....and constant reminder that our trip was over.:)

[zooma]

Thanks so much for your succinct review. A few random questions, if you have time, as we prepare to sail this weekend:

 

Would you mind saying which JS you were in (hope they fixed bath!) and whether there were any noise issues near your room?

 

Also, do the in-room coffeemakers use individual pods or loose coffee?

 

Did you happen to dine on My Time Dining and, if so, did you reserve times in advance? We've tried to do that online but can get only very early or very late times. Wondering whether we can just try to go at other times without reservations.

[Gracie115]

Thanks so much for your succinct review. A few random questions, if you have time, as we prepare to sail this weekend:

 

Would you mind saying which JS you were in (hope they fixed bath!) and whether there were any noise issues near your room?

 

Also, do the in-room coffeemakers use individual pods or loose coffee?

 

Did you happen to dine on My Time Dining and, if so, did you reserve times in advance? We've tried to do that online but can get only very early or very late times. Wondering whether we can just try to go at other times without reservations.

 

 

Hi we were in 7636, there were no noise issues at all. The in room coffeemaker has an individual pod. No we didn't do My Time Dining, we were originally signed up for it and after reading about lines for that venue we switched to early which is set for 6PM, we actually arrived at 6:15-6:20 since we were a table for 4 and didn't disrupt other diners by arriving then, we did see people arrive even later than that. First time we've done fixed seating in a long time and actually enjoyed it although still a bit earlier than we prefer, but I hate lines so it worked out well for us.

[suzyluvs2cruise]

Thanks so much for your succinct review. A few random questions, if you have time, as we prepare to sail this weekend:

 

Would you mind saying which JS you were in (hope they fixed bath!) and whether there were any noise issues near your room?

 

Also, do the in-room coffeemakers use individual pods or loose coffee?

 

Did you happen to dine on My Time Dining and, if so, did you reserve times in advance? We've tried to do that online but can get only very early or very late times. Wondering whether we can just try to go at other times without reservations.

 

I'm not the OP but we were also on Oasis 12/8. The coffeemakers use individual packets but they are quite large so, if you use them, be careful. You really have to stuff them in so the water can run through them. I guess I didn't and had hot water all over the counter. :o

 

We did MTD. As soon as you board you can go to the MTD desk and arrange your dining times. We found this worked for us. We had a 6:45 reservation and never waited more than a couple of minutes to get in. In the evening there are two lines into the dining room....one for those with reservations and the other for those without. Most nights the line for those without reservations was much longer.

 

The electric outlets in the JS are under the mirror on the desk/vanity. The mirror sticks out a bit so it's hard to plug in anything.....even the provided hair dryer. I'm glad I had an extension cord.

 

Enjoy your upcoming cruise. :)

[zooma]

Thanks so much, Gracie115 and Sue. Just trying to figure out whether it'd be worth it to pack our own coffee from home, along with some small paper filters but, given your hot water spill, I'll probably just make a bigger mess with all the coffee!

 

BTW, I was very glad to hear you thought the new menus in MDR were a big improvement.

[Gracie115]

Thanks so much, Gracie115 and Sue. Just trying to figure out whether it'd be worth it to pack our own coffee from home, along with some small paper filters but, given your hot water spill, I'll probably just make a bigger mess with all the coffee!

 

BTW, I was very glad to hear you thought the new menus in MDR were a big improvement.

 

 

I had no issue with the pods and used them every day, they are very similar to small coffee makers you will find in many hotels, and we got two cups out of one packet...and still was VERY strong....a great wake me up!!!:D

[Gracie115]

The electric outlets in the JS are under the mirror on the desk/vanity. The mirror sticks out a bit so it's hard to plug in anything.....even the provided hair dryer. I'm glad I had an extension cord.

 

Enjoy your upcoming cruise. :)

 

I found the outlets to be the one "flaw" in the JS design and commented to my DH a few times about whether they fixed this on the Allure....anyone know?