Jump to content
Cruise Critic Community

Oasis of the Seas Review 5/30-6/6

GMS4771
 Share

Recommended Posts

GMS4771

GMS4771

Posted
Posted

Home and unpacked and still have cruising on the mind, so here goes my first review for RCCL Oasis of the Seas

 

This was my first Royal Caribbean cruise so I will try to cover what I remember:

 

7 Day Eastern Caribbean on Oasis of the Seas, Royal Suite 1701, Nassau, St Thomas and St Maarten.

 

Pre cruise arrangements: Renaissance by Marriott, Pretty normal hotel, 10 minutes from Port Everglades port with a Shuttle for $8/person and you can arrange for a pickup after the cruise also. Ate at the Rustic Inn Crabhouse. Pricey but great crab.

 

Embarkation: Since it was a suite the waiting area was a little nicer, we got a late entrance on the ship because port authority was holding things up but only by about an hour, so we boarded at around 12. Very easy process and was on quickly once it was open.

 

Room was amazing, very new decor and used the hot tub on the deck daily. Room stewards were very good almost too attentive if thats possible. Deck 17 was very quiet and nice. Suite Lounge/Coastal Kitchen on Deck 17 was very nice, we had cocktails in the lounge every night before dinner and had breakfast every morning at the Coastal Kitchen, made to order eggs, etc. Food was very good here for Breakfast.

 

Now lets change it up to categories:

 

Specialty Restaurants: Had reservations at all the ones we ate at.

 

Sabor (Mexican-Boardwalk): A La Carte pricing, but the guacamole was excellent and the other food was good also, had the Tortilla soup and some bacon wrapped chicken and Margaritas. Always seemed to have openings

 

Chops (Steak House-Central Park): $25 cover when we booked: EXCELLENT Steaks! Even got one as an add on in the MDR. Shrimp appetizer was very good.

 

Giovannis: (Italian-Central Park): $30 cover when we booked it The Pastas and Beef were very good, a few people in the group said the chicken was relatively dry unfortunately. Desserts were excellent here.

 

Solarium Bistro (Fresh Food-Deck 15): This one was comped, this was my least favorite of specialty restaurants we ate at. Not that the food wasnt good, just not my type of food. Some had the chicken and it was the same as Giovannnis (dry) and the beef was ok, the scallop appetizer was the best part

 

Izumi Hibachi (Hibachi Japanese food): This was also comped, but this one I cannot say enough about. The food was excellent and they gave us so much food we couldnt even finish it all and the chef at the table was so entertaining. I highly recommend this one. Only 3 Hibachi tables there so make reservations on cruise planner.

 

Main Dining Room (American Icon Grill) at there 2 nights (Formal nights): Food was good and service was good also, pretty typical food for a cruise as you would expect, but I did order a Chops steak ($20 add on charge).

 

I will say this a few times throughout MAKE RESERVATIONS on cruise planner if you can before you go. You will see 2 lines (Reservations and No reservations and obviously the reservation lines is much shorter and they get you in).

 

Shows:

 

Oasis of the Dreams: Very entertaining, I would recommend seeing it at a night show as the lights make a big difference

 

Comedy Club: Very Funny comedians, had us laughing the entire time. Make reservations for this one (Adult only), as the line was huge for non reservations and not everyone got in.

 

Headliner Show: We has Kennny James (Star Search winner from the 80's) but this does change and he was GREAT!! Brought us all back to motown and I dont even like motown, but that night I did.

 

Come Fly with Me: Another fun show, some great acts. alot of people hangin from wires and spinning. Kind of like a Cirque du Soleil, the kids loved this one.

 

Frozen in Time: Nice story line and some good ice skating.

 

If you have a gold card (Grandsuite of higher) you dont have to wait or need reservations for any of the shows, except the comedy show. You walk right past the lines, DO NOT wait for the lines if you have the gold card.

 

Other restaurants:

 

Windjammer cafe (Deck 15): this is where there were some lines for the buffet, pretty typical food for any cruise ship, only went through there once

 

Sorrentos: (Deck 5): Pizza Bar, no need to say more, pizza was OK

 

Wipe Out Cafe: (Deck 15): Hot dogs, Hamburgers, Pizza, French Fries, again pretty typical food for a cruise line

 

The Doghouse: (Deck 5-Boardwalk): They have some good types of dogs/Brats, we tried the German and and the Smokehouse, 2 good brats.

 

Now the Ship:

This Girl is huge!! Our cruise was sold out and it only felt crowded a couple times during the whole cruise. The elevators at times would be very crowded but it was at expected times, like after a show or dinner and people would take an elevator up to make sure they could get on a down elevator. This and Debarkation was about the only times I felt the ship was crowded, I like that they change the days on the elevator floors so you know what day it is as you can forget..lol....

 

There were 4 pools (1 of those was the kiddie) and I never felt crowded or had any issues getting chairs. Plenty of towels (Gold Cards, you dont have to check out towels and can have as many as you need--important if you have off ship excursions). I heard people saying drink service was lacking at the pool areas, never once did we have an issue getting a drink there, service was excellent there. We were always at the pool right near the Windjammer Cafe. Kids did get a little out of hand at times (jumping and running) but I am happy to say for the first time EVER that security was all over it. I have never seen this before. Normally I would see security come, say something and it would stop for 10 minutes and the kids would watch security walk away and BOOM back at it, but this time the security guy would leave and go to another spot to watch and come right back, very impressive.

 

Excursions:

 

Sea Lion Encounter (Nassau) was a great experience. If youre a dog lover these mammals are dogs of the sea and so much fun to get close to. All the staff here was excellent

 

St John Champagne Snorkel Tour (St Thomas): Ok wow a long ride to get to the catamaran. Then the boat ride over to honeymoon beach. Staff was great, but the snorkeling was less to be desired. DIdnt see much at all.

 

SeaTrek (St Maarten): Very cool. 25 feet underwater with fish and sunken artifacts to see. They get fish over by you, hold sea urchins and make fether dusters go in. Then you get to snorkel. Some good fish, Baracudas, Sting Rays and a lot of pelicans, lol Great crew there also.

 

Casino: Like others said, it was smoky (at least the smell of trying to cover it up), but there are only a few spots to smoke on the ship, so all can live with that. Lots of tables, even some older games like Caribbean Stud and Let It Ride, fun dealers! and I actually one this trip so I may be a little biased lol.

 

Summary of the ship: Oasis of the Seas definitely WOW'd me. SO much we booked another one already on the same ship. What a great atmosphere, great staff, rarely felt crowded. Drink service was great everywhere. Any issues (and there were only a few small ones) and they corrected it immediately!! I cannot say enough about this ship. Never felt like I was even on a ship. Sitting in Chops looking out at Central Park and I couldnt believe we were on a ship and not in a big city area.

 

The staff was EXCELLENT on this ship. I have prepaid gratuities and the ultimate drink package and tipped every time additionally they were so good. I spent more on tips this cruise then ever before. Ive heard the compalints of the raised drink prices, but the package was well worth it as the $12 dollar drinks covered that price easily

 

Debarkation: The only long lines we encountered because we carried off our luggage, you have to take the elevator unless you have 1 free hand to take the escalator. Took us an hour from getting on the elevator to the curb for transport pickup.

 

Tips:

Make Reservations using Cruise Planner if you can schedule it, you will see that with the lines and be thankful you had them

 

Gold Cards: You are treated like a VIP!! Especially on Deck 17, but throughout the ship. Dont wait in lines, go right in, except the Comedy Show

Take as many towels as you want, not limited to 2 like the silver card and gold cards dont have to return the towels (they arent checked out).

 

I know there is more, but time for some laundry

 

Thnx

 

Greg

Link to comment
Share on other sites
GMS4771

GMS4771

Posted
  • Author
Posted
Thanks for the review and so glad you had a great time.

If you could answer a question. What nights were formal?

 

Nights 2 and 6 were the formal and unlike the things I read, most people were dressed up, from slacks and shirts to tuxedos (I did a suit). I only saw like 2 guys in jeans...it was very nice to see formal was formal

Link to comment
Share on other sites
LuCruise

LuCruise

Posted
Posted

Sounds like a great cruise, and especially if you booked again 😃. Nice to hear such positive things.

 

 

 

One question about disembark process. What time did you leave? Was most of the time waiting for an elevator? Taking 1hr when getting off yourselves is awful.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
GMS4771

GMS4771

Posted
  • Author
Posted
Thanks so much for the review and taking time on the saddest day of the cruise to do it :-( Looking forward to sailing her in 2 weeks! [emoji3]

 

It was such a great week/cruise/ship that it was a pleasure talking about it. I read so many good, yet so many negative things about this ship. And the positives outweighed the negatives by so much I cant even start to describe. This ship really WOW'd me. Loved pulling into port next to NCL and Carnival (like the Conquest) and making her look tiny. 1 week ago today I was just on her and having dinner at Sabor, but will never forget it and my countdown as of now is at 371 days...lol

Link to comment
Share on other sites
GMS4771

GMS4771

Posted
  • Author
Posted
Sounds like a great cruise, and especially if you booked again 😃. Nice to hear such positive things.

 

 

 

One question about disembark process. What time did you leave? Was most of the time waiting for an elevator? Taking 1hr when getting off yourselves is awful.

 

Yes, this was the one mistake we made. We were in the Royal Suite and the steward said since we had a 11am flight we should carry our bags off at 7:45 and the concierge would escort us down, well that worked to a point, because you have to take the elevator (you need one hand free, so like roll away carry on luggage, to take the escalator) and people could get off at 615, the line for the elevator was VERY long. If we would have used the red pinnacle/suite luggage tags, we could have put our luggage out the night before and taken the escalator down to the baggage and gotten our luggage immediately, I would guess the process would have been about 15 minutes instead and Customs was VERY quick! Having said that, we got on the elevator from Deck 17 at 7:45 and the transport picked us up at curbside at 9:05, we still made it in plenty of time for our 11:00am flight at FLL airport.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
gamecock411

gamecock411

Posted
Posted

Thanks for the review. Will you be uploading any pictures?

 

We are on this ship April 2017 but will be in "steerage", not a suite!:):)

 

I am just thrilled to be able to cruise on this ship w/a balcony room. I have read so many good things. It will be our granddaughter's first cruise, our 5th. Having sailed the last 2 w/Norwegian:mad: and Carnival :mad::mad:, it feels good to be coming back home to RC!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
GMS4771

GMS4771

Posted
  • Author
Posted
Thanks for the review. Will you be uploading any pictures?

 

We are on this ship April 2017 but will be in "steerage", not a suite!:):)

 

I am just thrilled to be able to cruise on this ship w/a balcony room. I have read so many good things. It will be our granddaughter's first cruise, our 5th. Having sailed the last 2 w/Norwegian:mad: and Carnival :mad::mad:, it feels good to be coming back home to RC!!

 

I will probably try to post some pictures, but here is an earlier review with some GREAT pics of the ship

Link to comment
Share on other sites
GMS4771

GMS4771

Posted
  • Author
Posted
thank you for posting your review.

we will be in a grand suite on our upcoming cruise in january. Did you have to make dinner reservations or did your conceirge do that for you?

 

We actually had made reservations in the specialty restaurants I mentioned on the cruise planner except Izumi Hibachi as it was completely booked for our party of 7, but the concierge (Nadia and Israel) got us into that restaurant, so I would say yes they can make them for you on the ship. They sit on Deck 17 just inside the door on the left of the Suite Lounge.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
GMS4771

GMS4771

Posted
  • Author
Posted
What transport did you use to get to the airport and how did you get it.

 

We used the hotel shuttle (we flew in Friday) on Saturday morning to get to the ship and used the same service, we pre booked and pre paid them to pick us up Saturday at the ship and take us to the airport. They charged $8/person to get to the ship and $9/person to take us to the airport. We just called them after clearing customs and they met us at the pre arranged pick up spot, which is right across the street when you exit customs.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
GMS4771

GMS4771

Posted
  • Author
Posted
Very nice review.

 

Regarding breakfast in Coastal kitchen....did you have to wait a long time to get your breakfast?

 

Just wondered if they prepared it there?

 

Thanks

 

The wait was not long, maybe 15 minutes and yes its freshly prepared to your order. If you choose, if you are on deck 17, the windjammer is directly below you on 16 if you are looking for something really quick, but its the buffett style, so lines can be very short or very long depending...Coastal Kitchen we always walked in and were seated immediately.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
GMS4771

GMS4771

Posted
  • Author
Posted
Thanks for your review.

 

Youre welcome, I used this site so much before my cruise and love getting/giving tips to use and not one persons cruise experience is the same so the more reviews the better. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Bases5

Bases5

Posted
Posted

Thanks again for the review.

We have done this basic cruise many times but not on Oasis class ship.

We were thinking about staying on the ship in Nassau and

was hoping for a fairly empty ship to give us time to wonder and explore.

For us the ship is the cruise this time

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing
  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • Hurricane Zone 2024
      • Cruise Insurance Q&A w/ Steve Dasseos of Tripinsurancestore.com June 2024
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Cruise Critic News & Features
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...