Review: Oasis Dec 21-28, 2013

[Wheeling_family_of_3]

Four of us traveled by van from NC to Ft. Lauderdale to join the Oasis of the Seas in her journey to the Western Caribbean. The cast of characters include: me (frumpy bedraggled mom), husband (dashing hero in the story), son (grumpy he had no internet kid), and adult niece (beloved by everyone in the family). If you haven't noticed in my sig file, my husband is a wheelchair user; he is quadriplegic. In his particular circumstance, he can shrug his shoulder and turn his head, and that is all. His wheelchair is operated using a head switch and a chin-controlled unit.

 

Getting on the Ship

 

We checked our luggage and headed for the check-in when a RC staff member spotted us, swooped in and diverted us directly to a check-in agent bypassing all lines entirely. There was a special seating area for the disabled and we waited there for about 10 mins when they announced suite guests could board. Just after they announced that, the RC staff came and personally plucked us out to board with the suites, and then after us, the rest of the disability section. We walked up the gangway and…..

 

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The ship was stunning from the get-go. You enter at deck 5 which contains several bars, restaurants and shops anchored by the entertainment theatre (Opal Theatre) and one of the dining room levels on each far end. We were given free champagne - at first I thought this was because we boarded with the suite guests, but they served free champagne right until 5 pm when we sailed, so they clearly were giving it away free to all guests. We sipped our wine, took a ton of photos because the ship was glammed out to the max with Christmas motif. But after a short while, we started to wander around the ship. First we ate at Sorrentos, which is included so there is no extra cost. We then went to the various decks and saw the spa, photo center, Opal Theatre, Guest Services, the dining rooms, Boardwalk, Central Park, and the swimming areas. We stood at the rail at sail away while in my other ear, my teen groused nonstop about losing internet for the entire week!

 

We were in cabin 10166, a disability specialized balcon room. It was 272 square feet according to their website. I thought that sounded really small and I worried about getting around because my husband's wheelchair is very large. But when we got in the room we were very pleasantly surprised at our much space that actually was. He had no trouble turning around in the room, which is a big problem in most rooms. Also, this is the uber cool part: when you slide open the deck door, a RAMP DEPLOYS!!!! So my husband was able to get on the balcony!!!!!!!!!!! that was amazing and totally not expected. He had plenty of space to get in and out on the balcony and I was surprised at the spaciousness (relatively speaking) of the balcony.

 

 

The Food

 

Our party of four ate in the main dining room by decree of good old mom (literally old, I had a birthday while we on the cruise just to prove it). I had planned our budget and I knew that the fastest way to blow our budget would be to start eating at up charge restaurants - those "oh just this once"s add up fast, especially with four people. The food in the MDR was delicious (but let's face it, as the chief cook and bottle washer here at home, I could eat sautéed tires if served in 3 courses to me by men in suits that frequently bow to you).

 

Once we ate at Windjammer and really loved all the variety. The epidemiologist (like for real, I'm an epidemiologist) in me was a little worried about contamination problems …. a well founded worry it turned out because on the last night, we got a letter from our cabin steward that said an outbreak of a GI bug had happened on the ship, and they wanted for survey purposes to know if anyone in the room had been sick. (None of us got sick … you can thank MDR-Only-Mom for that thankyouverymuch ;) We all ate at Sorrentos frequently - I think every day now that I thin about it. And I'm celiac, and they had gluten free pizza. And not just GF pizza, but the literal BEST gf pizza I've ever had. It was crunchy and crispy - things GF crusts just aren't. Speaking of celiac, they bent over backwards to accommodate me in the MDR. They took my order specially the day before for the next day and they BAKED gf bread every day, fresh, on board for dinner. I was totally shocked. And this is the reason I gained 7 (omg) pounds in 7 days. It ain't pretty folks!

 

Anyway, back to food, one budgeted expense was for husband and I to go to 150 Central Park on my birthday. We got the wine pairing to go with it, which was very expensive, but was worth it because it was a lot of fun trying different wines right in a row so you could really taste the difference. There's never really a way to do that otherwise but who would ever open 6 bottles of wine at home? The food was sublime and they accommodated my gf beautifully. Then, that guy….. he had gone up there while I was doing something else apparently, and secretly arranged to have a GIANT gf cupcake baked and brought to the table with a gift!!!! This is a man who knows the phrase "happy wife, happy life" and is taking it to heart!

 

The Entertainment

 

We saw everything except Frozen in Time. We saw Hairspray (although, cough, cough, I kinda slept through it. I laid my head on my husband's arm rest and I uhhhh fell asleep for the entire show, lol) which everyone loved (except Sleeping Beauty). The aqua show was beautiful and captivating. The headliner show was Beatles Mania, which I didn't think was very good and it was a little too cornball for me - the spoke as if they actually were John Lennon, etc. We missed Frozen in Time - for some reason that i don't remember, we were just all too exhausted to go and so we just went back to the cabin instead. We saw Come Fly WIth Me, which was neat. The last day we saw Splish Splash, a show you can't reserve for and is hilarious (it's at the Aqua Theatre, it's a water show). They only have two showings, so get there early for it to be able to see it. We got there at 12:45 and were the first. But by 1 pm, there were quite a few people there.

 

The only thing we disliked about the entertainment is our perpetual gripe: the handicapped seats are in the LAST row. We always have the crappiest seats in the house. It would have been nice if they had built some accessible seats in part way up the middle since this was so recently built.

 

The Shops

 

Surprisingly, the Oasis/RC gift shop is tiny! We really wanted tshirts that said Oasis, keychains, etc and there was only one little place that sound a very small variety of items. I was disappointed in this. Otherwise, there was a jewelry shop and watch shop where we dropped a load of cash (this was a planned amount to purchase, in budget-mom's spreadsheet!). There are kiosks in the center of the ship with items to purchase and there are a number of shops along the royal promenade (deck 5, the main thoroughfare).

 

The Ports

 

My son and I were booked to go parasailing in Labadee Haiti, but it was cancelled due to waves being too high, so instead we just walked the beach for an hour or so. My husband and niece rolled/walked the sidewalk along the beach as well and then we all met back up and went back on board. Labadee is not terribly accessible because the sidewalk is quite a way up the beach, but on the other hand, they do have beach wheelchairs that they will help get you into. We did not do that because it would not have been wise to have RC staff try to transfer my husband without me present to show them how to <--- we had gotten split up when my son and I got our excursion cancelled, they had already gone somewhere else. Jamaica had only shops (with very pushy store staff) and so we walked around, ate at a place that had jerk chicken (and pork, pick the chicken, it was much better) and got back on. And accessibility was not great there either, could not do any excursions because they involved a car or bus ride. But at least there were markets and shops right at the pier in Jamaica. Cozumel was not accessible at all. RC said that the shop you want to visit were an 8 minute taxi ride away. Taxis and power wheelchairs do not mix. So we got off, rolled/walked 300 yards tops, turned back around and got back on the ship. We just wanted to say we'd been to Mexcio! :D

 

The Extras

 

As I mentioned, it was my birthday while we were on board and my husband had a dozen pink roses delivered to the room AND he had the cabin steward make a towel animal of two swans kissing on the bed with rose petals strewn all over the bed!!!!!! I was so surprised and I nearly cried!! Guys, you may want to take a lesson from that one there, and girls no, he's mine. We ordered birthday decorations, which were fun to come back to that day! Well worth the money. The decorations consisted of a door sign, and two ceiling mounted decorations over the bed / in the room.

 

Vehicles with BOTH a handicapped placard or plates AND ramps for a wheelchair do not have to pay for parking at the pier. This means if you have a h/c placard or plates, but do not have a ramp, you still have to pay. You must have ramps in addition to your h/c placard/plates to qualify for this. And the attendant came out and opened our door to verify we had ramps. It was kinda funny - she opened the door, took one look at my husband and said "Oh yeah" like well DUH. LOL That was a nice perk of disability (and trust me, there ain't a many perks of breaking your neck ….)

 

If you are a wheelchair user, do NOT, I repeat, do NOT book the Holiday Inn Express at the pier. We booked, and they gave us the specifically handicapped accessible room. But instead we literally had to have two pieces of furniture removed to allow husband to get in sufficient to get him into the bed. As in carried out of the room!! In their "accessible" room. Geesh.

 

Accessibility was great. My husband could roll all over the ship independently because all the doors were slides with slopes, no steps. The only thing he couldn't do to get around was push elevator buttons, but he never found a shortage of people willing to push the button for him and hold the door. So it was nice in that I could go to one area and he could go to another. As I mentioned about, our room was very spacious relatively speaking and we loved it.

 

We got the alcohol package for all 3 adults (my niece is an adult). It was worth it for us. I never knew I was a closet lush!

 

Last but Definitely Not Least

 

We loved it so much we booked a New Year's cruise on Oasis this year! (it's 2014 now, I can say "this year" …. gee, that makes it sounds so much closer now lol)

Edited January 2, 2014 by Wheeling_family_of_3

[Wildcatfish]

Thanks for the review! Sounds like it was a great vacation.

[maureencruiser]

Fabulous! Review and cruise!! I'm sorry you didn't have much luck with accessible things off the ship, maybe other ports would be better? Does your husband have a brother? :D

[LMaxwell]

Sounds like all your planning paid off and you had a great time. Just curious why Oasis again and not Allure? Is Oasis doing the alternate ports that week you re-booked? That would be worth going on the same ship again. But if it did the same ports that would mean Allure was on the alternate itinerary. I didn't even think of that when I started to reply, I just meant that you'd get totally different shows on Allure. Regardless, sounds like a great trip and that you're hooked now :D

[Wheeling_family_of_3]

We are going on the opposite itinerary on Oasis. The dates work well for us, but we're not opposed to Allure if that worked better.

[anandaindonesia]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

 

I'm happy reading your review. Thank you for spreading your happiness.

Keep cruising.

[portofrome]

Thanks for your review.

[Keith1010]

Enjoyed your review.

 

Keith

[Mouse's Shadow]

Thanks for the review. We'll be on Allure a year from now. Thanks for the Holiday inn Express tip. My son is in a wheelchair, it's good to know. We have points for Holiday Inn. How was the roll in shower at the hotel?

[kruzerci]

I'm glad you had such a good trip. We were onboard the week before you and had a fantastic time, too. I can't wait to do it again!

[knittedcabin]

thank you for the review, I'm really looking forward to our time on Oasis in

Feb.:)

[Wheeling_family_of_3]

Thanks for the review. We'll be on Allure a year from now. Thanks for the Holiday inn Express tip. My son is in a wheelchair' date=' it's good to know. We have points for Holiday Inn. How was the roll in shower at the hotel?[/quote']

 

I honestly don't remember. We didn't use the shower. Sorry!

[ephelps]

You are such a great writer! Loved reading your review and would have, even if we weren't headed for the Oasis next month. Thanks for all your personality - I have even sent two of my friends your quote about eating sauteed tires. Hilarious.