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Oasis of the Seas 18th birthday cruise - Preamble


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Oasis of Dreams is just the start of fantastic shows I attend this cruise. After the show tonight, I decide to burn off all the junk food I ate today by walking a lap along the longest jogging track at sea.

 

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I think that's enough posts for now, but I'll continue with the tour in maybe a couple hours. Once again, thank you all for enjoying this review so far. :D

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OK, continuing with the tour, we've got the Entertainment Place!

 

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The casino actually has a few entrances throughout the ship. I know what you're thinking. I'm 18, so I'm old enough to use the casino onboard. No thanks - gambling probably isn't worth it, so I made the decision never to do that.

 

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They moved Izumi all the way down to deck 4, so the space that was once on deck 16 is now part of the Windjammer.

 

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After finishing up my tour of the ship, I'm ready to call it a night. Tomorrow we make a return to America, as we dock in St. Thomas. We have the Skyride to Paradise Point planned for our stop.

 

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Vlog for this day:

Lap around the jogging track:

Stateroom tour (I filmed this on embarkation day):

 

If you're a YouTuber, make sure to like, favorite and subscribe to my channel - MichaelsiCast. Thank you all for enjoying this review so far, and I hope to hear from you guys when we're in St. Thomas.

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Tuesday, August 11, 2015

 

Today is day 4 of our cruise, as we are in St. Thomas. As it's a port day, I get up pretty early in the morning. Every port day I stop at the Wipeout Café, but this time I opt for the Windjammer, since we don't dock for another hour and 45 minutes. And I'm thankful that I do go in there at this time, because it's not very crowded at all.

 

Once we got maybe another hour until we dock, we appear to be in the distance from the U.S. Virgin Islands. Probably close enough to get AT&T service.

 

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At about 10am, we are docked. My mother and I get ready for the Skyride to Paradise Point, and we've also got Magens Bay in the plans.

 

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We're off the ship, and they're playing William Tell Overture on steel drums. :confused:

 

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Not far from us is where taxis pick you up, and we hop on a taxi to Havensight. Just for the record, I'm not very comfortable with open-air taxis, because they often carry small amounts of passengers, and I feel crammed in them. It also doesn't help that the US Virgin Islands drive on the left side of the road, and I often find myself right at the left-hand side of the taxi.

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The Norwegian Getaway and Carnival Glory are docked at Havensight Pier. I guess this is where smaller ships dock, while Oasis docks at Crown Bay.

 

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Oasis of the Seas in the distance.

 

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My mother was nervous to do this, and my father didn't even want to do it, but the ride is actually pretty calm.

 

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I can't look directly at the camera for my life...

 

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Time for a little relaxation.

 

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My mother and I take a tram back down, and catch a taxi to Magens Bay. Unfortunately, our taxi to Magens Bay is an absolute mess. It literally took us close to an hour to get there, because as it turns out, it doesn't even go directly there. It stops around Coki Beach. All the passengers get off there, with mother and I remaining. Our driver just leaves us, and waits for the taxi to re-load. We're just sitting there for like 20, maybe 30 minutes. He doesn't come back until the taxi re-loads. Do you know how atrocious that is? 😡😤

 

So after that, we finally get moving again, and arrive at Magens Bay. Truth be told, after that taxi ordeal, I don't think I'm ever gonna stop there again. Also that foul odor - it does go away when you're in the water, but it may turn you off. 😷

 

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Why are you taking pictures of me and my GoPro, mother?

 

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OK, I'm gonna stop telling the story in present tense, and from here on I'll go over to past tense. Present tense is hard to use.

 

So after we were done with Magens Bay, we took a taxi downtown to meet up with my father at Coconuts Bar and Grill. Fortunately, that taxi wasn't anywhere near as bad as our taxi to Magens Bay.

 

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An interesting fact that the owner of Coconuts told us - the reason that the US Virgin Islands drive on the left side of the road is because these islands were originally a Danish territory. The Danish visit the US Virgin Islands every year, so to keep their respect, they continue to drive on the left side of the road.

 

After our stop at Coconuts, we caught a taxi back to our ship. This time it was just a standard taxi - no open air or getting squashed. I like it.

 

My mother and I went back on the ship, but my father decided to stay in port. We made a quick stop at the Café Promenade. Mother decided to get a Coconut Ranger cookie, while I got a mud cake, but thanks to all the powdered sugar on top, I didn't get much chocolate out of it.

 

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We actually left port a few minutes early for some reason. This was in total contrast to our other ports of call this cruise, where we left port later than expected.

 

I got a pretty interesting experience to share with you guys.

 

Later in the night I decided to go out front at the Sun Deck to get a view of where we're going. Unfortunately, it was too dark out to see the bow of the ship, and it was REALLY windy, so I decided to go back inside.

 

The problem: the door wouldn't slide back open! I was hesitant to press the emergency button because I thought that would set off the alarms, so this called for extreme measures.

 

I tried knocking and pounding on the door - no response from anyone. Stuff was going on at Adventure Ocean, so I peeked out through the windows and tried calling for the counselors to get me back inside. No response. However, there were kids that did notice me peeking out through the windows and calling out, and two of them came up to me. I tried, you know, communicating with them and telling them I was trapped outside, but instead they continued playing around while looking directly at me. So I gave in to that.

 

I tried one more time to head to the door and get back inside, when I witnessed an elder couple that also came out to get a view of where we were going. They couldn't get back inside either! Yes, they were also hesitant to press the emergency button.

 

Eventually a crew member came from inside and opened the door for us, then we finally were able to get back in. Thankfully, the emergency button doesn't set off the alarms.

 

After that ordeal, I decided to head back to my room and call it a night.

 

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How come they only do the towel animals on certain days?

 

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So tomorrow we are in St. Maarten, and that's unfortunately our final port of call for this cruise. As a result, our last 2 days onboard will just be sea days. We have Maho Beach planned for early in the day, and that should be exciting.

 

Thank you for reading my review of our day in St. Thomas, and I hope to hear from you when we are in St. Maarten.

 

Day in St. Thomas -

Trapped On Deck! -

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Wednesday, August 12, 2015

 

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Today is day 5 as we are in St. Maarten - our last port of call as I mentioned.

 

We are the only ship docked in St. Maarten today.

 

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When we were walking through the pier, I was admittedly scared to go any further because I saw a guy with what looked like two firearms.

 

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We caught a taxi to Maho Beach, which is about 25 to 30 minutes from the pier, so that's too far of a walk.

 

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I decided to go to this place and see the planes. Unless you're in the water, that's hard to do because the terrain consists of so many rocks and so little sand that there's hardly enough comfortable space to sit at, let alone swim in, because there's rocks in the water as well.

 

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Also be careful when you go near the tide.

 

We had planned on stopping at Sunset Bar and Grill for lunch after I spent some time at Maho Beach, but it was way too crowded.

 

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It was a fun experience to see all the planes landing. I was too far from the runway to really see any planes taking off, but I can imagine getting knocked by the jet blasts into the water, let alone getting blasted with the sand that the blasts kick up.

 

But despite that, I don't plan on ever going there again, and it's all because it's more of an obstacle course than really a beach.

 

We took a taxi downtown, right by Great Bay. I was also alarmed at that area because I heard what sounded like drug dealers.

 

Our stop was a relatively new restaurant in St. Maarten called Lazy Lizard.

 

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As we were sitting down, a dog was going around the place and greeting people, which definitely wasn't something I expected.

 

My parents were discussing a gelato place that's only a short walk away from the restaurant, and I decided to go there myself.

 

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The place is called Gelateria Milano. I opted for the Oreo flavor. Just 2 scoops of gelato cost $6 USD, but as someone who enjoys cookies 'n cream, I'd say the $6 are worth it.

 

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After we were done with that, my mother and I took a water taxi back to the ship.

 

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Later in the afternoon, I went up to the pool deck for the sailaway party. I can't help but be reminded of school dances, because they were playing songs like "The Cupid Shuffle," "Uptown Funk," and "Cha Cha Slide."

 

We ended up not leaving port until 45 minutes after we were supposed to leave. Most likely there were people still getting onboard. 😑

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As we were sitting down, a dog was going around the place and greeting people, which definitely wasn't something I expected.

 

My parents were discussing a gelato place that's only a short walk away from the restaurant, and I decided to go there myself.

 

DSC00516_zpsxijteanm.jpg

 

The place is called Gelateria Milano. I opted for the Oreo flavor. Just 2 scoops of gelato cost $6 USD, but as someone who enjoys cookies 'n cream, I'd say the $6 are worth it.

 

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After we were done with that, my mother and I took a water taxi back to the ship.

 

DSC00518_zpsd4cafwki.jpg

 

DSC00519_zpsfmohpe5w.jpg

 

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Later in the afternoon, I went up to the pool deck for the sailaway party. I can't help but be reminded of school dances, because they were playing songs like "The Cupid Shuffle," "Uptown Funk," and "Cha Cha Slide."

 

We ended up not leaving port until 45 minutes after we were supposed to leave. Most likely there were people still getting onboard. 😑

 

I had an opportunity to talk to the Captain who explained the reason we left St. Maarten late was that 2 people needed medical attention and they felt it was better to have them taken care of in St. Maarten than being on the ship for 2 days at sea .This was precautionary and for the benefit of the injured people.

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I had an opportunity to talk to the Captain who explained the reason we left St. Maarten late was that 2 people needed medical attention and they felt it was better to have them taken care of in St. Maarten than being on the ship for 2 days at sea .This was precautionary and for the benefit of the injured people.

 

You were on that sailing?

 

What happened to them?

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Yes I was

Different people each time loaded into the ambulance

They all seemed in good spirits as they said goodbye to staff who took care of them. As for actual injury I am not sure nor did I ask the Captain what happened.

Edited by Tony O
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I had the ice show planned for tonight, so I did some things to kill a few hours.

 

First thing I did was a stop at the Mast Bar, and I got a Shirley Temple.

 

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When it was getting closer to nighttime, I decided to take a stroll around Central Park. That place is really relaxing and charming under the stars.

 

At the Royal Promenade, I stopped at Port Merchants and got a couple souvenirs. Three postcards - 50 cents apiece. Also got a lanyard for my SeaPass card.

 

Went back on the Boardwalk, stopped at Cups and Scoops. This time, I got some scoops - them being Mint Chocolate Chunk on the bottom, and Ben and Jerry's Phish Food on top. Didn't get a picture of that. Then I decided to go back on the carousel. I gotta tell ya, it's even better going on the Boardwalk at night.

 

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Finally it was time for the ice show.

 

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The ice show was called "Frozen in Time." Basically they put a bunch of fairytales on ice - more specifically fairytales by Hans Christian Andersen, such as "The Snow Queen," "The Ugly Duckling," "The Red Shoes," "The Little Mermaid," "The Emperor's New Clothes." Another great show, but along with the guy that sat next to me, I found it really weird. The Ugly Duckling part was weirdest to me, because the ducks waved directly to the audience, which I found a little disturbing, and the duckling just so happened to be wearing a hat and glasses much like the ducks. Also they were playing unfitting music such as Rihanna while the skaters were dancing. "Don't Stop Believin'" was played at the end, and apparently the world's smallest Zamboni is on the world's largest cruise ship.

 

After the show, I had planned on going to the "Teen Bingo" in the Living Room, but not enough teens showed up for that activity. So screw that, I'm gonna head straight to the Promenade, for the 70s dance party.

 

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It certainly beats hearing songs like Cha Cha Slide.

 

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I didn't stay at this party for very long. My plan for 11pm that night was to attend the Teen Pool Party, but at that point I was way too tired, and I decided to call it a night.

 

As far as our last two days at sea go, I may report on that in just one or two posts, 'cause I didn't do much on day 6.

 

Vlog for this day:

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