Kids Clubs/Kids Activities Oasis of the Seas

[zymurgy1999]

I am a first time poster, long time lurker. This is my family's first cruise on Royal Caribbean as a full family (we went many years ago when my oldest, now 10, was a year and a half). We have been on 5 Disney cruises and are now going on the Oasis of the Seas because our extended family asked us to come with them as we live in Miami and it is easy for us to hop on a cruise.

 

We are extremely nervous about all of the things that we have read here about crowds, people angry at families of kids who are too "loud" or "misbehaving", kids running around the ship, etc. We find that cruising with Disney has been amazing as the ship is almost entirely families and people are very tolerant of the younger kids. Our kids are 10, 8 and 4 and we are now having second thoughts about this trip. Will there be things to do for our kids throughout the day? Will we have any time for ourselves on the ship? On Disney our kids beg us to drop them off at the kids clubs as soon as they finish breakfast. We let the older two check themselves out and do whatever they want throughout the day.

 

Can someone with some experience please let me know what we should expect/look forward to on this ship. Thank you in advance.

[holden0301]

Welcome! There are many things for kids to do on Oasis. Miniature golf, rock wall to climb, Flowrider surfing, ice skating, H2O zone, the list goes on.

 

Our kids do not like kids club activities on any ship, so I can't comment on that. I think that's why we were disappointed with our cruise on Disney's Magic. If your kids don't like the club, there isn't much else for them to do. Plus that ship doesn't have all of the things listed above that they enjoy on Royal Caribbean ships. That's why Oasis is so great.

 

I've never noticed kids misbehaving on the ships, other than the occasional elevator button pushers:).

 

We didn't feel the ship to be crowded. I think the layout allowed people to spread out all over so you don't notice the crowds.

 

Enjoy your cruise. You'll love it!

[cello56]

Lots for families to do on Oasis. Kids clubs are wonderful.

 

My two cents? 10 and 8 are awfully young to be allowed to 'do whatever they want during the day' on their own. This is a HUGE ship. Not knowing where my kids were would make me very nervous. Only you know your kids, but especially for the eight year old, I would be keeping them in sight.

[reallyitsmema]

Kids club is broken into groups, ages 3-5, 6-8 and 9-11. so your kids will each be in a different group. The 9-11 yr olds can check themselves out with parental permission, it is not an option with the younger groups.

 

As far as families and crowds, you are going to see crowds as shows get out or at parades but I am sure that is the same with Disney too. Some people who post here have no tolerance for kids and just the sight of them is an issue.

 

Try the ship out and decide for yourself.:)

[brenderlou]

Our daughter is 10 and enjoys the kids club. A bonus is that you can drop the kids off at around 6:00pm and the will take them to dinner and then back to the club for evening activities. Our daughter is not a fan of an 1 1/2 hr dinner so it works out perfectly!

 

 

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[zymurgy1999]

Are there activities that we can do as a family throughout the day? I am not looking to dump them in the kids clubs for 7 days. Can you give me some ideas on how a typical sea day would go with activities and other things to do. We are going in two weeks and I expect the ship to be at capacity.

 

Do the kids get bored at the club? Finally, my 8 year old is closer to 9 than he is to 8 and I would like him to be with his older brother. In Disney they allow this. Do they allow this on Royal Caribbean?

[reallyitsmema]

Are there activities that we can do as a family throughout the day? I am not looking to dump them in the kids clubs for 7 days. Can you give me some ideas on how a typical sea day would go with activities and other things to do. We are going in two weeks and I expect the ship to be at capacity.

 

Do the kids get bored at the club? Finally, my 8 year old is closer to 9 than he is to 8 and I would like him to be with his older brother. In Disney they allow this. Do they allow this on Royal Caribbean?

 

If you do a forum search on "oasis compass", you will find a bunch of reviews and threads that have copies of the daily compass. He is a link to one of them.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2136371&highlight=oasis+compass

 

As far as trying to move your 8 yr old up, they might let him but they are usually more open to moving kids down instead of up a group. Ask once you get on board. Since you are going during the holidays, there is a good chance they will say no since there will be lots of kids on board.

[Jon in the ATL]

My boys are 9 and almost 7 and love the Allure and the Oasis. In reference to the kids clubs, they have a great time. The kids club counselors on both ships we have encountered are fun and engaging. We have traveled on Disney and its my opinion that the staff is about the same. I mean how can you work on a ship with kids and not like what you do?

 

In terms of kids/family activities on the ship, check out all that the compasses have to offer. Some of our favorites: Ziplining, flowrider, ice skating, treasure hunts around the ship, pool time, mini golf. You can watch a movie, watch the world go by in a quiet spot, take them for some exercise on their great running track, and go to to a show.

 

There is tons to do on this ship for families. Impossible not to have fun on Oasis and Allure.

[zymurgy1999]

Thank you all for your responses. I have been told that during the week that we are going that the crowds for these activities are insane as the ship is packed with families trying to do the same 5-6 activities with their kids.

 

Does anyone have any advice for us?

[Duke Mazer]

Thank you zymurgy1999 for posting and thank you all for your replies. We had the same questions and concerns. We considered Disney, but found Oasis seems to have so much more to do and I've been beating myself up that I made the wrong choice, but I think we will have a good time and follow advice posted.

[zymurgy1999]

Thank you zymurgy1999 for posting and thank you all for your replies. We had the same questions and concerns. We considered Disney, but found Oasis seems to have so much more to do and I've been beating myself up that I made the wrong choice, but I think we will have a good time and follow advice posted.

 

My family is very comfortable on the Disney ships and I have no worries when I book a trip on their ships. On Disney they have non-stop family activities throughout the day. You get the Navigator, which is the schedule for the following day, every evening in your stateroom, and we sit as a family and decide what activity to do. There are organized activities in the clubs that the kids highlight and they go on their own to the clubs when they want to do something there. From everything that I have read here there are far fewer organized family activities like on Disney. That is what concerns me. I am sure that the rock wall, florider, etc., are fun and the kids will enjoy standing in line to do it a few times, but I assume that they will tire of these activities and the standing in a long line for a short activity and I will end up being the cruise director for the family.

[drb116]

We are in the same situation. We did a Royal Caribbean cruise 3 years later, but have since done 7 Disney cruises and will be on the Oasis at the end of the month.

 

Disney doesn't have rock climbing walls and flow riders, but they do have great family activities like family arts and crafts, family dance parties, and about 2 hours of kids club open houses where the parents and kids can all play together in the kids club spaces.

 

I can see the physical things on the ships, but what kinds of daily activities do they have that involve the whole family? From what I remember about Royal Caribbean, most of the activities were aimed at adults.

[Grandma Dazzles]

Sailed the Oasis this past July - probably busier than this time of year. Grandchildren aged 6, 8 and 10. There was lots to do - kids rarely went to the kid's club. They also were experienced Disney cruisers.

 

However, they loved many of the "new" things - rock climbing wall, ice skating, zip line, flow rider, plus more pools. Also enjoyed mini golf, shuffleboard, table tennis, sports court - had soccer, basketball, etc. daily. These activities can be done as a family.

 

it is a good idea to check the Cruise Compass - newsletter left in your cabin each night for the following day - and try then try to plan your following day.

 

As an example, rock climbing wall had one wall open for younger kids only at 9:00 a.m. there were just a couple of kids there. The other walls were for the rest of the passengers.

 

Ice skating is held in sessions. You need long pants/socks. You sign up at the rink for the hour-long session and they allow 50 people on the ice. If the next hour isn't full you can sign up again for another hour. It was never full when we were there. Kids skated for almost 2 hours! They love to skate at home though, so it depends if you like to skate.

 

Zip line, flow rider, etc. sometimes had a short (10-15 minute) wait, but most of the time you could walk right on.

 

Some activities have height/weight/age restrictions so check before joining a line, or check on-line ahead of time - they are enforced.

 

Parades and character appearances are also listed in the Compass.

 

You would have to ask about moving the younger child up an age group in Adventure Ocean - believe it is at the discretion of the staff.

 

Finally, only you know your kids, but I would not recommend letting them have the run of the ship on their own at such a young age. Obviously it is like a floating city.

 

Have a great time!

Edited December 12, 2014 by PMcC1998

[cb at sea]

Aside from the cabin size, the cruise will be more like Disney, than different. Most kids prefer the clubs on RCI over Disney.

 

No worries.

[dogsambam]

Having been on both Disney and RCCL (almost Diamond Plus), both lines have their positives and negatives. We loved that Disney kept our kids together, if they so chose to stay together. We will be on the Oasis in March, and we just are hoping our kids don't mind not being able to be together. Our kids only like to spend a couple hours a day in kids club, and we only put them I if they choose. The only thing we did notice on out Disney Cruises was that if the kids were not in the kids club, their were some dead times and not too much for them to do (if not eating or pool activities. We have never noticed that on any RCCL ship. I remember my wife saying on many occasions that as much as she liked Disney, RCCL had more options for the kids.

[Wilda]

Family scavenger hunts, family trivia games, family golf competitions, family movies...you get the drift.

 

I get a sense that you are very concerned about the crowds. There will be around 6,200+ passengers on your sailing and since you are going during school vacation there will be a minimum of 1,000 kids. I have been told that there can sometimes be as many as 1,800 kids during vacation week...we had 1,050 kids on Allure last week. We have had zero instances of unruly kids...the H2O zone can be chaotic but your 4 year old is sure to have a blast.

 

The ship is huge and is rarely ever crowded. This is due to the fact that there are so many different venues. As a pp mentioned, it is only crowded after a show lets out.

 

Adventure Ocean would not allow my GS to move up to the next level with his brother, claimed they were too full. My guess is you may not get what you want on that request. Kids loved AO!

 

You know your kids best and I imagine that after 5 cruises on Disney you were probably comfortable with them checking themselves out of the kids club and roaming around the ship. Royal will not allow you to do that with the 8 year old, only the 9-11 can check themselves in and out. I personally would wait at least a few days for everyone to get their bearings before allowing that....but that's just me. My GS was not mature enough and your children may be very responsible and level-headed. You will get varying opinions on this topic.

Edited December 26, 2014 by Wilda

[zymurgy1999]

Thank you all for reviving this post the day before we board. It appears as though the difference between RC and Disney is that on the Disney ship there is a much heavier reliance upon the cruise staff and their planned activities for family entertainment and on RC there is a much heavier reliance upon the parents to take the kids to different activities.

 

On Disney when the kids are bored or unhappy with what we are doing, whether it is an activity or a meal, the kids would always just take off and check themselves in the club. we let them check out as well. The wave phones on disney were very, very useful. It appears as though this is not possible on the Oasis.

 

I will be able to post my opinion, for whatever that is worth, a week from tomorrow.

[SarahD112]

My kids are now 12 and 15 - we are sailing on Oasis in March. It'll be our first time on this ship, but we've sailed on the Mariner once and Freedom twice, starting when they were 5 and 8. My kids LOVE the kids clubs. They check out the kids compass everyday night so they know what's going on the next day. They'll go in and out during the day - also rock climbing, swimming, surfing, etc - but after dinner they're in there until it closes - or midnight for the older one. This is the first trip both will be in teen groups, so we'll set midnight curfews unless something special is planned. When we sailed Freedom last, they moved my nephew up to my sons group, no questions asked. But it was february and maybe less crowded than spring break or summer, so that may have been a factor.

[Grandma Dazzles]

[quote name=Wilda;45055912

 

You know your kids best and I imagine that after 5 cruises on Disney you were probably comfortable with them checking themselves out of the kids club and roaming around the ship. Royal will not allow you to do that with the 8 year old' date=' only the 9-11 can check themselves in and out. I personally would wait at least a few days for everyone to get their bearings before allowing that....but that's just me. My GS was not mature enough and your children may be very responsible and level-headed. You will get varying opinions on this topic.[/quote]

 

Totally agree - everyone knows their own kids and grandkids. However, to the original poster, remember that the Oasis and Allure are so much bigger than Disney ships. Personally would not be comfortable with 8-11 year-olds on their own on the ship.

[zymurgy1999]

So if we drop the kids off at the club how do they notify us that they want to leave?

 

Again, not comparing apples to apples, but on Disney they send us a text message on our wave phone that we carry around with us.

[Wilda]

So if we drop the kids off at the club how do they notify us that they want to leave?

 

Again, not comparing apples to apples, but on Disney they send us a text message on our wave phone that we carry around with us.

 

You can rent walkie-talkies on RCI ships. Otherwise you could check in occassionally to see how they are doing.

[beccawes7471]

Interested for your review/feedback when you return, hope you had a great time!

[zymurgy1999]

I know that I rely upon these reviews so I am going to try to give back to the community by posting my opinion. Remember that this is my opinion and what is good or bad for myself and my family may not be the same for others.

 

I have 10-8-4 year olds. Being on 5 Disney cruises I can tell you that this cruise and the ones on Disney are almost different vacations altogether. They cannot be compared in an apples to apples comparison. My opinion of the Disney cruise is that there is a much stronger emphasis on the "family" dynamic with many, many more activities that are intended to be done as a family. If you want to go on a trip in which you enjoy doing family activities Disney has the clear advantage and it is not close. We spend a significant amount of time together as a family on the Disney cruises doing things together. The kids would want to spend more time with us doing these activities. The family would get together, go through the Navigator (aka the Compass) and decide what we would be doing together, what activities the kids wanted to do in the club and where we would meet for meals. I am a runner and I would wake up every morning at 6AM to make sure that I exercised before the kids got up just in case they wanted to do something during a period of time where I wanted to go run. The food, in my opinion, was significantly better and the shows were not even close. I thought that the shows on the Oasis were terrible and the kids refused to go after the second night, instead wanting to go to the club.

 

On Oasis I felt as though the family dynamic was less of an emphasis and there was more emphasis on the "individual", meaning there was a significant variety of activities, food choices, bars, etc. that should appeal to any taste, where on Disney it is pretty much Disney all day. On the Oasis there were no real "family" activities, rather there was the pool or the club. The kids usually opted for the club because we would read the Compass and the kids would see that there was nothing to do as a family. They did not use the florider at all, they went on the rock climbing once (it would not open until 2PM), they did not want to go ice skating and they did not really want to swim. They played mini golf a few times and did the zip line once or twice. Other than that there was nothing for them to do on this ship other than going to the club, which by the way, they enjoyed very much. I found myself spending a lot more time alone walking around, or with my wife (not a bad thing) in the adult area, whereas I spend virtually zero time in the adult areas on Disney ships because I am usually with the kids doing something, even later at night. We would go to the club at 12 to pick them up (it closes from 12-2), eat a meal with them, hang out together for a little while, and they would go back to the club from 2-5 because they were just not interested in doing anything else. I found myself staying up later and sleeping later because I had plenty of time to go to the gym or exercise at my own leisure (the gym is outstanding). I did not like the fact that the clubs close at 10PM and thereafter charge $7/hour. Another point about the kids club that I found astonishing was the size of the space. On a ship that size I cannot understand how they can dedicate effectively EQUAL square footage, or what appeared to be equal square footage, as there is on the Disney ships, even the older ones. It was shocking to me. I expected so much more from the clubs. Finally, I do not gamble so that was irrelevant to me.

 

Now, my 10 and 8 year olds enjoyed the club very much and the 10 year old gave me his honest opinion that he enjoyed himself tremendously on this trip, however, we went with a very large group (18 cousins) who we rarely see and he loved hanging out with his older cousins instead of his younger siblings. My 8 year old was torn. He liked the organized activities and shows on Disney more and was not happy that he could not spend more time doing family activities with everyone, but also enjoyed the club more than on Disney. They both liked the food much more on Disney. Good or bad, I swear that I did not see a chicken finger or bowl of mac n cheese for the whole trip. The 4 year old also loved the club, but asked if we could go on Disney next time.

 

Overall, I was personally very impressed with this ship. It never, ever felt crowded and all of the horror stories that I heard about were either non-existent on this ship or overblown completely. I never stood on line for anything, ever. I never felt as though I was overwhelmed with people. I was not impressed with the enthusiasm of the staff. While there were some great employees that we met on board who did an equal job to those that we met on Disney, overall I felt a general lack of enthusiasm of the staff. It appeared as though they were just trying to get through the trip instead of going above and beyond, which I think that Disney does.

 

A final though. My wife has food allergies. I was astounded at the apathetic attitude that the food server in all restaurants had to her issues. At times they appeared annoyed that they had to do more than what they normally do. They never offered to prepare special meals other than at dinner and would often make her wait 20-30 minutes to walk the buffet with her during breakfast and lunch, only to tell her that she could eat salad and nothing else. With 6000 people getting on and off that ship on a weekly basis I thought that it was safe to assume that they would be experts in this area. Instead that had virtually ZERO food options for her and never even tried to do anything special for her. On Disney they go well beyond what you can reasonably expect. The head server would run all over the ship trying to find out where my wife was eating for breakfast, lunch and dinner to make sure that a special meal was prepared. The head pastry chef found out about her issues and dedicated a special area in the kitchen to prepare just desserts for her. Every day he had a plate of fresh, delicious, desserts waiting in our room for her. The specialty restaurant on Disney (Palo) asked our head waiter what my wife typically ordered for dinner every night and what her preferences were and they had pre-cooked an entire meal for her based upon those preferences including a chocolate souffle, dairy free and gluten free!! They told us that they were expecting us. Amazing. This in and of itself would keep me away from Oasis in the future.

 

I hope that this review helps someone as these reviews have helped me in the past.

[Grandma Dazzles]

Thanks for posting your comments.

 

I was interested as I had responded to many of your questions earlier in the thread, having sailed on the Oasis earlier with grandchildren who are seasoned Disney cruisers. From day one it appeared that you were looking for "family activities" but never mentioned what you did on Disney that was so different.

 

You mentioned rock climbing was not open until 2:00 p.m. Last July it was open at 9:00 a.m. especially for younger children (and the other side for older kids). Every time I have sailed Oasis and Allure and other ships it has been open before 2:00 p.m. Not sure why your cruise was different.

 

The shows on the Oasis - aqua show, ice show, etc. can't believe that you and the kids didn't enjoy those.

 

Also so many daily activities on the sports deck. Parades and characters on the main promenade, etc.

 

I do not have allergies, so cannot comment on your food situation. However, I can say that in the main dining room the children's menu had lots of kid type foods (pretty sure there were chicken strips, mac and cheese, etc.) and the staff went above and beyond to bring anything that our family asked for.

 

Glad you had a good time and enjoyed other aspects of the trip ..... but what family activities were you looking for?

 

I am not trying to be a royal loyalist - i am just curious as to what type of family activities or shows you were looking for.

[retire2cruise55]

I totally agree with Z. Having been on 4 Disney cruises and 3 RCL cruises with another scheduled in March, I can honestly say that there is no comparison. Disney wins hands down when it comes to service, dinning (DS has wheat egg & milk allergies) and overall family atmosphere. Disney is expensive, but when we are on the ship it is AMAZING and the kids love the clubs. It's like Disney hand picks the staff with criteria that they love kids. The difference is they want to be there vs. have to be these. My kids are 9 & 11 and while RCI ships have a lot to do, there is a lot of down time when my kids are bored. This normally occurs when in port; only the pools are open. We want to enjoy the ships when everyone gets off, but nothing is open or happening.