Let’s take 20 people on Oasis! June 6 2015 Western

[Coralc]

Answered in post #18:

 

We just tagged the water, no bags, no covers. All the water made it to all the rooms with no issues!

[rsharp83]

Hi RSharp83:

 

I noticed you had 2 cases of water in your pictures, did your water make it on the ship without a problem, I've read no water or soda could be brought on board? Would love to know:

 

1. if anything was said upon check in?

 

 

2. Did you just carry it thru in your hand?

 

 

I'm sailing on Oasis soon, there will be 22 of us and we all were wondering about bringing water and soda. Thank you.

 

Nae

 

Between the 20 of us we had (I think) 8 cases of water. Nothing was said at all. In fact when we unloaded the shuttle van trailer with all our luggage the driver stacked all the cases of water in one big stack. We carried them to the porter and he put them on a cart with luggage. All the water showed up in our rooms with our luggage. No problems at all.

[nae418]

Coralc:

 

Great! Thank you.

 

 

 

Nae

[nae418]

Between the 20 of us we had (I think) 8 cases of water. Nothing was said at all. In fact when we unloaded the shuttle van trailer with all our luggage the driver stacked all the cases of water in one big stack. We carried them to the porter and he put them on a cart with luggage. All the water showed up in our rooms with our luggage. No problems at all.

 

Thank you, that's good information. We won't have that many cases, but it's good to know the water made it on board. I love your review. I'm sooo excited. Thanks again.

[rsharp83]

Thinkin’ ‘Bout Drinkin’

 

 

Should I buy a drink package? It is the endless eternal question on CC. I will not endeavor a mathematical analysis of how many drinks it takes to make financial sense for someone to purchase whatever package they want. I’ll leave that to others. But at some level 6 or 7 drinks a day (depending on what they are and what they cost) usually is the answer to the question of “How much do I need to drink to get my money’s worth”.

 

What I saw on our trip was interesting. We had a couple of people get the Premium Package. They did it for the convenience more than the break even dollar level. In fact (unless they were doing a LOT of drinking in their room) I am pretty certain they did not break even on the package. On the other hand they ordered what they wanted when they wanted it and didn’t give it another thought.

 

Funny aside on this couple. First day the first thing that happens when we board is that my wife and the wife in this couple head straight for Starbucks. I told the husband, “You can have pretty much every drink you want on this ship at no extra cost to you and your wife promptly finds the ONE drink you have to pay extra for within minutes of boarding the ship!”

 

We had a number of people opt for the Beer and Wine package (I believe that it is the Select Package). What I noticed here was that those people started the week pretty much getting their cost covered every day. They were consuming quite a bit of beer and wine. I also think that some of them might have consumed more than they actually wanted to but maybe they were feeling that need to “get their money’s worth.”

 

But they also wanted some of the other drinks – especially at Labadee where “The Doctor” was serving up frozen prescriptions on the beach! Of course those were not on their package and they had to pay. As the week went on they started running out of steam on the drinking. Unless you are accustomed to drinking that much on a daily basis, you just can’t sustain it for seven straight days. And let’s be honest, the drinking can be at night and then you are staying up much later than normal and it all just catches up with you at some point. (At least it did for several in our group). We had really pushed going to Quest on Thursday night and some of our group just hit the wall and couldn’t do it. One couple in particular would have loved Quest and they crashed that night by 10 pm after several very late nights and “getting their money’s worth.”

 

 

Yes, drink prices were very high. The jump in price and gratuity this year was a big one. I do think that RCCL’s pricing is forcing more people to buy drink packages if they want to drink at all. And RCCL must be making money on that proposition or they wouldn’t have made that move. I think most people can’t drink enough for seven straight days to get the full benefit of the cost. I’m not much of a drinker; I had 2 drinks on the Royal tab for the week. DW had maybe 4. Best drink I had for the whole trip was at a bar on Playa Palancar in Cozumel. Banana Daiquiri – the real deal, and for $9 it was easily the size of 2.5 drinks on the ship and it was really good!

[rsharp83]

Parties on the Ship

There is always a party going on somewhere on this ship. The 70s party is fun and lots of people get into that. CD Ricky Martin with a giant pink afro wig was pretty funny to see, the wig is almost as tall as he is. But they never venture far from the standard 70s hit list whether it’s the DJ, the band or the main performance; there are certain songs they will just do over and over and over. It does get a bit repetitive.

 

 

We went to the Glow Party because it was something new for us and DD2 really wanted to go. We brought our own glow necklaces and glow sticks from home; much much cheaper than buying something on board. All evening we had people asking us where we got our stuff. I could have sold a ton of glow necklaces! (Before the staff caught me and I got in trouble that is).

 

 

 

 

The Glow Party is in Studio B and there is a performance with it that is pretty cool and includes lots of dancers in costume. It is sort of trying to be a rave atmosphere crossed with an exercise dance class. The other thing to know, the age demographic is WAY young. It’s like being at the mall on a Friday night – teens and tweens everywhere! We really didn’t care, our group had fun and DD2 had a ball.

[rsharp83]

On Schedule - Sometimes

One thing about organizing a group, it takes coordination and inevitably something or someone throws a kink into all the well laid out plans you made. As a planner you know this, you mentally prepare for this and you just expect some things to go sideways at times. But in the moment frustration still creeps in…I tried to stay calm and my DW would give me that look when she could tell I was getting frustrated. And it doesn’t help when one of the points of frustration is your kid!

 

Here is the schedule that we worked off of for the trip. I handed this out when we got on the plane or when people came to Lago Mar. I found this spreadsheet to be very helpful in laying out a basic plan to follow. On Oasis ships you have so many dinning choices, shows and activities that putting together a plan is pretty crucial if you want to get lots of things done.

 

Of course the plan is never set in stone, except when it is. Shows are pretty much set, and dinner is not negotiable unless you just want to go to Windjammer. The other thing that requires coordination is shore excursions.

 

Here is our schedule as an example of what you can do for your group.

 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzpEC8hcNd-NWVdkR1loT1BCUUU/view?usp=sharing

[rsharp83]

Labadee – Hit the Beach!

This was our first port, thank goodness. Because if this had been the Jamaica day where we all needed to get off the ship together then it would have been a disaster. Luckily there is really nowhere to go at Labadee except Labadee. You can’t wander off the reservation so to speak.

 

We were supposed to meet in our hallway at a certain time. However someone had disappeared and we didn’t have any clue where she went. She was just gone, without her phone. So that delayed us and kind of concerned us for a time since we didn’t know the whereabouts of one of our group. Another couple took off early and went to stake out a claim on Columbus Beach for us.

 

When we finally had everyone accounted for we headed to the elevators. But getting an elevator that will take all 18 of us at once is impossible on a port morning. We had a group that was going to take the stairs but not everyone could do that. I was with the elevator group to help make sure we got to where we needed to be, I failed. We got to deck 3 but I hesitated because I didn’t hear the gangway announcement on that floor. Before I could react, DD2 leaned against the elevator and her shoulder and arm pushed almost every button for every deck and away we went. (This would have been one of those times you might have seen some frustration from me…maybe a little).

 

So one group is off the ship the other is heading for Deck 15. It took a while to get everyone off the ship and meet up. We still had the ship wifi in range so that made it possible to find everyone. I said to the group, this cannot happen in Jamaica! We are on a tight timeline there and this kind of confusion just won’t work. Luckily we had the “low-stakes” port of Labadee to get our $#*& together before the critical excursion port.

 

We made our way to Columbus Beach which involved a trolley ride and a walk through the “gauntlet” of merchants selling their various wares. I didn’t mind the market, I just knew to keep walking and not get drawn into conversation.

 

 

Yes that would be my in-laws with the photo-bomb!

 

 

 

This is the calm water side of Labadee and the beach has shade options from many trees. The other side didn’t have much shade to offer. If you want a nice relaxing beach this is it in my opinion. We got there early enough to get 20 chairs and have a good spot with both sun and shade to offer.

 

The “Doctor” showed up with prescription Labadoozies for sale and he was such an entertaining guy that we all purchased his libations. That is a really good drink, but not cheap! We had a great time all morning laying on the chairs or swimming in the calm clear water. As you can see from the pics this was just a great stop for our group. Labadee is an easy stop to plan for and not incur much expense. Lunch is included and there are no fees for cabs, etc.

 

This Doctor makes Beach Calls!

 

 

Just the medicine my wife needed.

 

 

A group of us did go ride the gravity roller coaster for just over $25 each. I had been told you could get an all day pass on this attraction (a coworker did it earlier this year when she was a Labadee) but that was not the case for our day. Maybe Oasis has too many people so they don’t offer an all day option? I would have like to ride it twice; once for the thrill aspect and once to go slower and look at the terrific views that you get. Pretty much impossible to do both things at once!

 

The coaster is worth doing if you like that kind of thing. I would have liked to do the zip line but spending $400 for the family for something that lasts about 90 seconds seemed a bit steep. For that money it should be an entire zip line course that lasts a while. But people were doing it all day long so apparently they get plenty of business.

 

The hike out to the Dragons Breath rock area was closed which was a bummer. We shopped in the market and I did purchase a painting that I liked. Not sure what I will do with it but for $40 I figured it was worth it to put some money back into the economy of this incredibly poor country. We did experience some of the locals asking us to get food for them. Very sad. I am sure that this is a tough thing for RCCL to deal with on a constant basis.

 

All in all Labadee gets a big thumbs up from our group. This is a far better port stop than Nassau was on the Eastern route.

 

[rsharp83]

ZUMBA

This was the “Amy Zumba Cruise Group” so of course Zumba needed to be a part of the deal. On Oasis there are 2 crew members that are certified instructors. My wife is a Zumba instructor and several of the folks on our cruise are part of her classes. So she got to talk with the crew members about doing Zumba on the ship. They told her that they got certified and begged RCCL to let them teach a few classes. It’s a 30 minute class (not the standard hour). They hold it on the sports court in the morning on sea days. Each class was well attended and the group had fun. I suspect that RCCL is not all that hyped about Zumba because there is nothing form them to sell or market from this class. If you go to the spa they are always trying to up sell you something, with Zumba there is nothing they can make extra money on. The crew basically shoe –horn this 30 minute class into their packed schedules just because they love doing Zumba.

 

 

[rsharp83]

The Blue Hole – Jamaica

What an awesome place. Well off the beaten path and still not that well known. The tour operators that come here are not affiliated with cruise lines (as far as I can tell) and therefore the ships don’t have the Blue Hole on their choices for excursions. I also suspect that this place would not meet some of the safety standards that the cruise lines might demand. But no matter, that just means fewer people and a more exclusive adventure for those who do research and find such hidden gems.

 

First off, what exactly is the Blue Hole? It is essentially a spring fed river with a waterfall and several pools. The guides take you through these areas along a crude path that runs through the river. Path is a generous term here. There really is no “path” rather it is a general outline of where you should traverse obstacles and not fall into a hole in the stream or get clobbered on a rock. Good water shoes are an absolute MUST. It’s one of those things that if you really thought about it you might decide not to do it but since everyone else is foraging up river you just go along with it and do it. The entire excursion pretty much operates on that premise. There are things that could hurt and injure you at every turn here but amazingly I saw no one sustain any kind of serious injury. But it could happen, and if you are the timid sort then this trip won’t be good for you. Wear your swim gear! The bathroom is small; you will waste a lot of time if you all need to put on suits. Also you will leave the bus dressed as if you are going to exit and jump directly into a pool of water. Because essentially, that is exactly what you are about to do.

 

 

The access to this area is somewhat restricted for people that have mobility issues. There is a steep hill from the parking area with some concrete stairs. However the stairs don’t run all the way from the parking lot. It’s fairly steep but would not be too much of an issue for most people. There is a viewing area here where people who don’t want to do the tour can stay. You get a great view of the waterfall area and the rope swing. Every few minutes a couple of the guides will run by and vault off the ledge and into the pool bellow. A 30+ foot jump. (Tourists don’t do this jump – only the guides). You will have something to watch the entire time you are here, but you will not be able to see everything your group does unless you go up river with them.

 

Up river you come to a beautiful area that has a little waterfall to sit in and some areas to jump into the pools. Everyone takes turns and the guides help you access different things. The view up river from here is spectacular.

 

From there you start making your way down towards the big waterfall doing various jumps in different pool areas. The footing can be tricky and you will fall down, stumble, etc. What is amazing is that you have such tremendous grip on the rocks. The water is flowing at a very fast rate so no moss or slickness builds up on the rocks. Get out of the current and the rocks get slippery.

 

When you get to the big waterfall they take your shoes away. You walk down the waterfall (which looks really steep from the viewing area but is not quite as steep once you are on it) barefoot and guides help you down the rock to the point where you want to jump off and into the pool. Some of us jumped pretty high up and some jumped pretty low. It is an amazing process to watch, the guides run around on this rock like mountain goats, almost like they defy basic physics. They are all just kids but they really know how to get people down the waterfall safely. It is a total rush.

 

Unfortunately we really needed our shoes back for the remaining part of the river and we didn’t have them. They need to work out a better system to get the shoes back to everyone so that the last part of the trip is easier. Those rocks hurt tender feet!

 

 

One word of caution about who comes on this trip. If your spectators are nervous about watching the rest of you do some of these activities – don’t bring them! One person in our group was an absolute wreck watching the rest of her family do all these things. She was so concerned for their safety and so worried they would get hurt that it really made for a miserable experience for her. She should have just gone to the beach and not come with us.

 

After the waterfall you have a rope swing and then you crawl up some tree branches and a make shift ladder through a tunnel of sorts to get back to the original main pathway. You can also do a high jump from this point; I’d say it’s a 20 foot jump or more. If you hit wrong it will really hurt. I did it and even though I have done many high jumps and dives, the impact still bruised my heal. If you don’t know how to properly hit the water don’t do this jump.

 

There is also a cave behind the waterfall but the crowd was pretty big so we didn’t do that part. Maybe next time!

 

We booked this trip through Liberty Tours and they were great to work with from beginning to end. I booked over a year in advance via email and phone call. They provided complete written instructions and gave us a call the night before we sailed to ensure we knew where to go and what to do. We had a very nice, clean bus that accommodated all 20 of our party comfortably. We had a driver and a guide with us. We stopped for some Red Stripe at a little store right near the distribution center. We stopped for some Juci Patties that were really tasty and hit the spot. Our guide explained a lot of things about the area and was entertaining and informative. After the Blue Hole we went to Scotchies for jerk chicken that was very good, if a bit disorganized.

 

It’s a long trip from Falmouth to the Blue Hole so be ready for that. The road to the Hole is very treacherous but these guys travel it almost every day so you just have to trust them. The scenery is amazing and some guy will try to sell you marijuana brownies. It was a great trip and a real adventure. If you like that sort of thing then I would highly recommend it. We had people ranging in age from 19 to mid-sixties that did this trip and you don’t have to be in top physical condition to do it either.

 

Be sure to tip your guides. Those kids were amazing and they worked very hard to make sure we all got where we needed to go. Just an incredible day in Jamaica’s hidden gem, The Blue Hole!

[rsharp83]

What do you do at 6 am when you can't sleep? Take photos of course.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[rsharp83]

 

 

 

 

[rsharp83]

Cozumel – Just Keeping Time

We arrived at Cozumel to rain and blustery skies. Our plan was to head straight for the beach but the weather was not cooperating at all. A group of us decided to head into San Miguel and do some shopping. Our return from the Blue Hole had left us very little time to shop in Jamaica so this seemed like the perfect opportunity to go see what we could find.

 

 

The taxi rates in Cozumel are all standardized and based on 4 person occupancy. We took 2 vans with 16 people total to the downtown shopping area and it was $16 for each van.

 

We had one person that was on the hunt for a very specific item; a timepiece. He had inquired about it in Jamaica but it was not at the port shop and we did not have time to wait for it to be brought over. He looked on the ship but they didn’t have it either. Although I did see a nice $17,000 watch that was very fetching! In Cozumel our first stop was the more upscale Forum shopping area and a jewelry / watch dealer. He inquired and they said they had one, but not at that store.

 

Our group looked at things in the Forum and took pictures with the pirate guy.

 

 

Eventually we moved on towards the more affordable shops where we browsed and bought several things. Some ladies got rings or other jewelry. We had coupon books and so many of the stores had “free gifts” for us to go in and get. Eventually a man from the watch store caught up with us. The watch was on its way via courier, please come back and see it! So we lost 2 of our group to the watch shop and we continued our trek.

 

This was a nice area to shop in and you could find things to haggle over and purchase. There was lots of silver to be had in every store. Knock off Oakley sunglasses were available, I tried to bargain down to what I thought was a reasonable price, the seller wouldn’t budge.

 

I went to look for Mr. Watch back at our first stop. He was just finishing up. In this picture are two watches, I’m wearing one and he’s wearing one. Only one of us left Cozumel with a watch…It wasn’t me.

 

 

We eventually got hungry and the weather got better. Some went to eat local and the rest of us decided to head back to Oasis, grab lunch at the Jammer and then a few of us were going to make a run for our beach that we had originally planned to go to. I will say the Jammer on a port day is really nice, good food and not the crazy busy place it usually is. And it saved me time and money!

 

The best store at the port?

 

[rsharp83]

Playa Palancar

Eight of us headed for the beach. Playa Palancar is the last beach on the road before you get to the nature preserve areas. It is a bit remote, and it is not built up like some of the other beaches. The cab is $25 each way for 4 people. The beach itself is free, no entry fee. There is a bar / restaurant some chairs, some shaded tables and a fairly small beach. That’s it! But that was exactly what we wanted. It’s very near the Palancar reef and in the morning there were apparently a number of dive and snorkel boats in the area. There is also a boat that goes out from a nearby pier but we were far to lat in the day for that.

 

 

The sea was a bit angry on this day and the waves were pretty rough and the undertow was very strong. You had to be careful even standing knee deep took effort to maintain your balance. One of our party got knocked down in the waves and just couldn’t get up, then she started laughing hysterically and just kept writhing around in the sea. This went on for a good 3-5 minutes until she finally got it together and we got her up and out. I would post the video we got of this event, but she would kill me. Trust me, it is awesome.

 

We retreated to our table and then saw that others from our group were on the other side of the restaurant. They didn’t go shopping and headed to the beach earlier and had been there all day. We ordered some drinks that were large, strong enough to be good and in my case made with a real banana. We watched the waves crash in and just enjoyed our time. If you are looking for a beach without giant inflatable toys, constant harassment, a quieter vibe and no mandatory cover charge; this is your place.

 

 

Upon return to the port we went to a shopping area across the street. Here were my Oakley sunglasses, about 5 different stores worth of them. Interesting deal, no haggling on prices but it was buy one pair get the second pair at a pretty steep discount. But I didn’t need two pair of sunglasses (truth be told I really didn’t need ANY sunglasses). My friend that might have been all in on some discounted sunglasses was strangely a bit cash poor after purchasing a certain watch…dang. Again, it helps to really know what you are looking at and what prices run for these items.

 

 

I did find one pair of really nice Oakley glasses that are new and very cool. They were marked at a pretty hefty price, and then the discounting began. Even with tax and duty free they were going to be in the +$400 range and I just wasn’t going there. Since I had not really done any research on them before the trip I was a bit leery of the price. When I got back to the wifi I looked them up on Amazon, Yeah I can get them for $350 to $400 depending on lenses. So my deal would not have been a deal at all! And I likely won’t buy them anyway.

 

We also visited this shop full of swords and other fun stuff. I was thinking of buying this whole lot and having it melted down into a chair to sit on, Game of Thrones style!

 

 

Shark!

 

 

 

Some folks did miss the boat in Cozumel. We sailed without them, it does happen! That’s why you need an accurate and expensive Swiss quality timepiece! Lucky for our group we had such a watch.

[perfect match]

I am really enjoying your review. The newsletter and time schedule you did are amazing! While it will just be DH and I when we finally get to:sail, I am still finding plenty of information that I know we will put to good use.

[rsharp83]

I'll post some more newsletters. I did one per month leading up to the cruise! Thanks for reading.

[CP3o]

 

But they also wanted some of the other drinks – especially at Labadee where “The Doctor” was serving up frozen prescriptions on the beach! Of course those were not on their package and they had to pay.

 

 

Yes, drink prices were very high.

 

Thanks for your review. Do you happen to remember if there was a separate charge for Labadoozie in the sovenier cup for virgin versus with alcohol?

[rsharp83]

We didn't wind up buying a virgin one -- and the only cups the beach vendor had were these. If you go to the actual bar I believe there might be other choices for cups.

[rsharp83]

Cruise News

 

As I said earlier, one of the ways I kept everyone informed about the cruise was through monthly newsletters. These newsletters covered a variety of topics that new cruisers would really need to be aware of in order to get the most out of the trip.

 

Here are the links to the pdf files for the newsletters.

 

January: All About FOOD!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzpEC8hcNd-NdW5OVmJQN2x4a1U/view?usp=sharing

 

February: What to Wear and How to Tip

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzpEC8hcNd-NWXBKSXdGTFR2YUE/view?usp=sharing

 

March: Lago Mar and Drink Packages

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzpEC8hcNd-NNUcxVy1hYmloNDg/view?usp=sharing

 

April: All the Things to Bring that you Would Never Think Of

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzpEC8hcNd-NdEhsd2MyM0tmRnc/view?usp=sharing

 

May: The Cash Money Issue

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzpEC8hcNd-NWkw1VUgxMTNNWTA/view?usp=sharing

 

Use these as suggestions for your own newsletters or just blatantly steal them and use them as they are!

[vkoneness]

I really Like the newsletter that you created, we are going on the Oasis In September it will be 22 of us. How often did you send your newsletter?

Thanks

[mirp]

Your newsletters are great. What a terrific organizer you are.

[rsharp83]

I really Like the newsletter that you created, we are going on the Oasis In September it will be 22 of us. How often did you send your newsletter?

Thanks

 

I did 6 total newsletters, one per month from January to June. The June edition was a short one that just had info about where everyone's cabin was and some last minute details. I handed it out with the schedule sheet when we got to the airport to head to FLL.

 

I also kept up in between newsletters by posting things on the Facebook group page.

 

Thanks for reading!

[rsharp83]

Last But Not Least

We had a great time on Oasis. The 16 months of planning seemed to last forever but it always gave us something to look forward to. Our whole group had a great time and everyone is interested in going again.

 

Because several of us posted lots of daily pictures to Facebook all during our trip we have quite a few people who want to join in and go with us on the next adventure. We hope that will be an Eastern Caribbean cruise on Harmony of the Seas in May/June of 2017.

 

Until then...here are a few more pics!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[rsharp83]

 

 

 

 

[Familygoboston]

How did I miss this! Oh yeah, I was in Cuba with no internet! ;)

 

Thanks for saying such sweet things, (the check is in the mail!) We absolutely would have LOVED cruising with you and Amy again, and I'm sure our girls would have got along fabulously! When I met Amy onboard Allure, she told me aboit this Zumba thing, and I thought "gee, Amy's so fun, and if she thinks Zumba is fun, I should try it!" And I did and I think it's fun too!

 

Even though graduation (sheesh, it's only high school, kid, do we REALLY have to go? ) kept us from cruising with you, I had a blast as part of your "group", reading your excellent newsletters and posting photos all over your face book page! I enjoyed your review and it will please you to know that your BFF Jeff also thinks Cats is one good song surrounded by a terrible show (I loved it, LOL!)

 

Thanks for the kind words, wonderful friendship and great review, I look forward to the next cruise (hopefully we can get on board the same ship again one day! )

 

Ps- stop showing yoir injury, it's skeeving me out!:eek:

Edited July 2, 2015 by Familygoboston