Oasis November 15 -- A Little Late, I Hope it was Worth the Wait!

[Cindy]

Central Park...

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chops

[killtheump]

Great REVEIW so far Cindy, I'm looking forward to the rest. Bringing back great memories.:D

[BillOh]

I had chosen the Hyatt for one reason…the view of ships arriving in the morning. The reviews made me a little nervous, but since I wanted to take pictures safely (the last time we were in Ft. Lauderdale for a cruise I was down under the bridge with the homeless guys at 5:30 am!)

 

That might explain why when we called 911 they showed up under the bridge! (Long story related to April 28th, 2013 cruise;) ) Nice pictures of Oasis coming into port. I may stay here again when we go on Oasis in 2016. Enjoying your thoughts and observations.

[BillOh]

We ended the day with Oasis of Dreams twice…we watched once in the Aqua Theater, and then again from our balcony.

 

Great, that is always one of my tips, watch from the theater first, then again from those balconies (if/ when you can) The show is designed to be the most entertaining from the theater, but the different perspective from the balconies is also interesting.

[Cindy]

More ship pictures...

 

Forward Atrium

 

Royal Promenade

 

Peeking into one of the Small Wonders.

 

I thought this was clever, and I loved the attention to detail throughout the ship.

 

Scene of the crime, because there has to be a law against slots that taketh but never giveth back!:eek:

[Cindy]

Continuing our walkabout...

 

Walking/Jogging Track

 

 

Walking/Jogging Track

 

 

Aft Seating Area Behind the Aqua Theater

 

 

View from the aft seating area.

 

 

Boardwalk balconies -- The Windjammer is the row of windows at the back of the Boardwalk, and the Crown Lofts are above it.

 

 

Diamond Lounge

[Cindy]

Izumi

 

 

Half of Izumi is taken up with the new Hibachi tables. When you make a reservation, you have to specify if you want Hibachi or Sushi.

 

 

We were undecided about lunch, and ended up in the Solarium Café. It was OK, but I thought a bit weird. There seemed to be a focus on one ingredient that was used in most of the dishes. It was also extremely loud and chaotic because in addition to people wandering aimlessly through the space there was a couple with two young children who were letting their kids run wild in there. Their little boy was crawling under the table where we were sitting, and mom and dad were completely oblivious. It wasn’t very relaxing, and we didn’t stay long.

[Cindy]

We went to the 2:00 performance of CATS – I thought it was phenomenal but many left at intermission.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Cindy]

Sunday was our only night in the MDR. I didn’t think My Time Dining worked as well as on other ships…there was an extremely long reservation line, and the hostesses finally started asking who would share. We volunteered and were first offered two seats with a Chinese family who didn’t speak English (we declined). Finally they took 8 of us down to deck 3, where we occupied a table in the traditional dining room. The meal and the service were both fine, but it did seem like stopping to serve us when everybody else was already on their entrees threw things a little out of sync.

 

We ended the day with great seats for the Frozen in Time Ice Show, followed by a quick trip to the casino with the tightest slots on the seas. I didn’t last long…I made my donation in record time, then went upstairs to sleep!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[clochette]

what a great review, I look forward to readying more, we are going on Oasis in January 2016 and I love reading trip reports.

[BillOh]

We went to the 2:00 performance of CATS – I thought it was phenomenal but many left at intermission.

 

 

 

First photos I've seen, Thank you!

[Cindy]

Monday, November 17 – At Sea: Monday was our “event” day. We had the Meet & Mingle, Slot Pull, Suite Cocktail Party, and Cabin Crawl! The M&M was (I thought) weak…there wasn’t anything to it but the prize drawing, and the whole thing only lasted about 15 minutes. Both the slot pull and the cabin crawl were very well attended and a lot of fun.

 

No big winners, but we still had fun!

 

Cheryl (and her husband Russ) did a fantastic job organizing the slot pull!

 

 

We squeezed in the suite cocktail party since we needed to eat lunch anyway, but the timing was awkward and inconvenient. We were a little late getting up to the lounge on 17 because of the slot pull, and they had already started winding down. 11:30 in the morning seems to have been the new standard time for the cocktail party on my last 2 RCI cruises, but I find it inconvenient and awkward to have right in the middle of the day. I’d much rather it be later in the afternoon/early evening before dinner. Maybe they do it that way by design so people don’t stay as long or drink as much!

 

 

Unfortunately, Jim maintained his new tradition of catching a cold on a cruise, and by dinner he was pretty miserable. We went to 150 Central Park for dinner. It was excellent! I loved it but Jim couldn’t taste anything and had no appetite.

 

 

 

I thought the signature Cucumber Martini was excellent. We both ordered one, but Jim ended up drinking tea with honey, so I got his share!:D

 

Edited December 8, 2014 by Cindy

[Cindy]

Jim went to bed right after dinner, and I went to the casino (where I lost again – do you see a theme developing here?), wandered around the ship taking pictures, and went out to the Boardwalk and rode the merry-go-round.

 

 

 

If you don't like the lighting, wait...it will change before you know it!

 

 

 

Sabor

Edited December 8, 2014 by Cindy

[Cindy]

I was tired, so I went up watched the aqua show again from my balcony. After the aqua show there was a fountain show, which was also very entertaining. I loved sitting out on the balcony relaxing and having entertainment too!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Cat8bird]

Did you make your reservation in advance for Izumi? We did & weren't given an option of which we preferred. Which did you do???;)

[Cindy]

Did you make your reservation in advance for Izumi? We did & weren't given an option of which we preferred. Which did you do???;)

 

We didn't get to eat there.:( It wasn't available on-line before the cruise, and when we tried to make a reservation after we boarded we were told it was remaining closed for our cruise. We were surprised when we were walking around on Sunday and found them open for business!

[Cindy]

Tuesday, November 18 – St. Thomas: We woke to another beautiful day. Time was on my side, since we weren't due in St. Thomas until 10:00. I started my day with some quality balcony time admiring the weather and the scenery.

 

 

 

 

 

I stayed outside until we were docked, and finally decided I needed to drag myself away from this:

 

 

I ate breakfast at the Park Café…it was great! Sadly, I also concluded that I wasn’t just imagining things, there really were a lot of rude and inconsiderate people on the ship. A lady at the table next to me knocked a big (full) glass of juice off the table when she got up to leave. She grabbed a napkin to wipe the juice off herself, but she didn’t apologize to me for the juice that was running down my arm, nor did she make any effort to even pick the glass up off the floor. I’m just astounded sometimes at how self-centered, sloppy, and discourteous people can be to other passengers and to the staff.

[Cindy]

Jim stayed on the ship and slept on the balcony, but I decided to go ahead with our plans and go ashore.

 

 

 

The iguanas are a familiar sight to anyone who has docked at Crown Bay...they're all over the rocks that form the pier shopping area. The other thing that's all over the rocks are signs that tell people to stay off the rocks. So why did I see/hear a couple encouraging little Johnny to climb on the rocks and chase the iguanas? People never cease to amaze me!

 

 

I took our pre-purchased Coral Land and Coral Sea excursion.

 

 

 

The excursion was just OK. I thought it was a long open air taxi ride for a relatively short semi-sub boat ride. There was very little of interest to see underwater, and the windows of the boat were extremely scratched and fogged.

 

 

 

 

I guess the good news is I didn't freak out or feel trapped. I tend to be claustrophobic, and we were really only doing this excursion to see if I could handle a submarine. I didn't have a problem, so maybe the next time we're in a port that offers the submarine trip we can give it a try!

[Cindy]

We had lots of free time after the boat ride, but in my opinion there wasn’t enough to see or do at Coral World to occupy the time. I just walked around taking pictures, and was one of the first people on the taxi to return to the ship!

 

The aquarium at Coral World

 

The aquarium at Coral World

 

At Coral World

 

The iguanas were everywhere!

 

This one was the Alpha Male!

 

Sea Turtles at Coral World

[Cindy]

The view from Coral World...it was a very pretty spot!

 

 

Other ships in St. Thomas

 

 

Celebrity Reflection

 

 

Carnival Sunshine

 

 

Back "home" at the Oasis!

[Pooh8941]

These are really splendid photos--the color and composition are striking. And I love your coverage of the ship and comments. All so very helpful!

 

I sailed on the 7th inaugural cruise and am currently booked on a b2b Jan 17 and 24 in 14730, one of the new aft grand suites (second leg, standard grand suite first leg.) We are thrilled to be sailing this beautiful ship again.

 

Thank you so much for sharing your experiences.

[Cindy]

Jim felt much better when I got back, and we spent the evening in the Suite Lounge followed by dinner at Coastal Kitchen. We thought the food was very good, and I think the restaurant will be a hit! I was feeling a little “over-scheduled,” so we skipped the headliner show. Instead, we "rode" the Rising Tide Bar for a while. It was a fun place, and it gave us an opportunity to relax and talk to some interesting people.

 

Looking up in the Rising Tide Bar

 

 

 

Going up! Leaving Deck 5.

 

 

Looking up in the Rising Tide Bar.

 

 

Approaching Deck 8.

 

 

Looking out into Central Park from the Rising Tide Bar.

 

 

[tgnorton]

Really enjoying your review so far! Thanks for taking the time to do it! I know it's hard after you get back to reality!

[cruzkitty]

WOW!! What a Great Review-thanks for doing this-looking forward to more! I Am glad to read good news re: the Coastal Kitchen. Love the Oasis!

[Wildcatfish]

Great review! Really appreciate the pics from Cats. The costuming is amazing!