Oasis tips and thoughts

[texasmom121]

So, I'm a little behind on adding a post/review. We actually cruised on Oasis in June of 2015. I learned a lot through posts on CC, so I wanted to be sure I added a few tips that we found to be helpful.

 

Our group was me, my husband, my 11 year old son, my 6 year old daughter, and my mom. It was our kids first cruise, but the rest of us had cruised several times. We booked connecting balcony cabins on deck 8. My husband and I had cruised on Allure before on deck 8 and really liked the location. We were able to open the door between the cabins, and they took down the partition on the balcony so we could have one larger balcony between us. We loved our location so much, we booked the same two cabins on the other side of the ship for our Allure cruise this coming summer!

 

We like to get on the ship early, so we arrived around 10:30 to check in (which was really quick) and then waited in the terminal for maybe half an hour before they had us board the ship. We went straight to Chops to get a reservation for the first night. If you book a reservation on board for the first night, it's half price, so we took advantage of that special. Then it was off to Park Cafe for roast beef sandwiches. After that, we explored the ship until we could get into our room and drop off our carry-ons.

 

First thing we did when we got to the cabin was meet our cabin attendant and give him some cards our kids had drawn for him with a nice cash tip to get the week started off right. We also took some Ghiradelli Chocolates that we left for him throughout the week with notes from the kids. I have to say, he took amazing care of us, and we couldn't have asked for more from him.

 

For the room, we took several things to make things easier. We had an over the door shoe organizer for the bathroom. There isn't a lot of counter space, so this really helped keep everything organized and out of the way when we didn't need it. We also took a set of plastic hangers. There never seem to be enough hangers provided. And, FYI, your suitcases fit under the beds, so they easily slide out of the way. We took some battery powered tealights to use as nightlights. We had a dry erase marker to make notes on mirrors for each other or for our cabin attendant. We took pump hand soap to use in the bathroom, so we didn't have to mess with bars of soap at the sink. I think next time I'll also take a pop-up hamper for dirty clothes.

 

I am a planner. My family affectionately calls me their personal cruise director. Needless to say, I booked all of our dinner and show reservations as soon as I could do it online. If you look around CC boards, you can find the dinner menu order for your itinerary. That helped me pick which nights to book specialty restaurants, since some nights were "must do's" and others looked like total busts. We ate at Chops one night, Giovanni's one night, and my husband and I did a date night at Izumi one night. The main dining room food was good - not stellar, but good. The service in the MDR was great, although we did have one night that seemed a little off and slow. Our bartender/waiter was phenomenal. He had us figured out from the beginning and really took care of us all week. Chops was our whole family's favorite dining experience the whole cruise. Giovanni's was good, but really loud. Izumi was pretty good, but I'm not sure we would go back.

 

We enjoyed the entertainment (with the exception of Cats, which I don't think we made it through 30 minutes of), but our favorite was definitely the Aqua Theater show. We did that the first night, just in case they had to cancel it later in the week due to high seas or something crazy. I had heard that does happen. We did notice that we had to rush to several shows because dinner ran a bit long, so you might consider doing the shows first and dinner after, if you don't mind eating a bit later.

 

My husband and I had the premium beverage package. We aren't big drinkers, by any means, but by the time we factored in sodas, bottled waters, and a few drinks a day, the ease of having the package just made sense to us. And it was so refreshing to not see our room account total go up and up every day!

 

Overall, this was one of the best vacations we've ever taken. We are excited to sail the Allure this summer on a different itinerary. We are "Royal Loyal" as we like to say.

[molly361]

Thanks for the review- we will be onboard in May

[Clarea]

Thanks for the info.:)

[Keith1010]

Great information.

 

Keith

[LuCruise]

Great review. Sounds like a great cruise! We'll be on Allure in April with kids same ages as yours. So nice you'll on Allure too in the summer.

 

You commented about rushing to the shows. In general, how long did dinner take when you were in the MDR?

[firefox247]

You mentioned that specialty dining is 50% off the first night. I've read this on a few other reviews too. Did you have to ask for this deal, or did they have signs all over advertising it? Also, do you know if they had the same deal for the second night? I really like the MDR menu much better the first night than the second night, and I know Royal frequently has deals for day one or two for specialty dining, but I'm not sure about this deal.

[Clarea]

You mentioned that specialty dining is 50% off the first night. I've read this on a few other reviews too. Did you have to ask for this deal, or did they have signs all over advertising it? Also, do you know if they had the same deal for the second night? I really like the MDR menu much better the first night than the second night, and I know Royal frequently has deals for day one or two for specialty dining, but I'm not sure about this deal.

When we were on Oasis, there were crewmembers approaching us on the Promenade and the pool deck, pushing the specialty dining.

[kms18]

Did your daughter like the kids club?

[OCruisers]

Good & Helpful review! Thanks so much! :D

[Turtle05]

 

I am a planner. My family affectionately calls me their personal cruise director. Needless to say, I booked all of our dinner and show reservations as soon as I could do it online.

 

OMG yes this was my favorite thing about going on the Allure. Like RCI was thinking of people like us when they came up with that...

[LuCruise]

OMG yes this was my favorite thing about going on the Allure. Like RCI was thinking of people like us when they came up with that...

 

Ditto! :D

[nelblu]

Thanks for the review. We sailed on Oasis this past Feb. and found the 1st night MDR to be the pits. Can you confirm the going raet for Chops--When we sailed it was $39 for lunch and $45 for dinner. Also, what was the going rate for children.

[Clarea]

Thanks for the review. We sailed on Oasis this past Feb. and found the 1st night MDR to be the pits. Can you confirm the going raet for Chops--When we sailed it was $39 for lunch and $45 for dinner. Also, what was the going rate for children.

I don't know if they have lowered the opportunistic dinner rate back to $39, but the kids rate is $10.

[nelblu]

I don't know if they have lowered the opportunistic dinner rate back to $39, but the kids rate is $10.

 

Thank you. Maybe you can answer my question:

 

Cruising with my 2 married children and 3 grands under 9 years old and would like to get them settled the 1st night and planning on dining in the MDR. For the 2nd night, we are D+ and my 2 children are Ds, can we use the 2 D+ BOGO coupons and one of my children use the D coupon for the half-off the 2nd dinner.

[Grandma Dazzles]

Thank you. Maybe you can answer my question:

 

Cruising with my 2 married children and 3 grands under 9 years old and would like to get them s vettled the 1st night and planning on dining in the MDR. For the 2nd night, we are D+ and my 2 children are Ds, can we use the 2 D+ BOGO coupons and one of my children use the D coupon for the half-off the 2nd dinner.

 

Pretty sure the coupon is good for the first night only when the restaurants are not as busy.

[Clarea]

Thank you. Maybe you can answer my question:

 

Cruising with my 2 married children and 3 grands under 9 years old and would like to get them settled the 1st night and planning on dining in the MDR. For the 2nd night, we are D+ and my 2 children are Ds, can we use the 2 D+ BOGO coupons and one of my children use the D coupon for the half-off the 2nd dinner.

 

Pretty sure the coupon is good for the first night only when the restaurants are not as busy.

Actually, the D+ coupon has been changed recently, and now can be used on the first and second night. So the two D+ coupons can be used on the second night.

 

With regard to the D coupon for half-off, I'm not familiar with that coupon.

[Nado44]

We had a dry erase marker to make notes on mirrors for each other or for our cabin attendant.

 

Wow. We've always used nautical-themed post-it notes and pen for communication purposes. Your incredible dry-erase marker idea is one that eliminates the need for post-its. One less thing to pack too. Thank you for sharing.

 

And just to be sure, any dry erase marker writing on a mirror would come right off?

[texasmom121]

Wow. We've always used nautical-themed post-it notes and pen for communication purposes. Your incredible dry-erase marker idea is one that eliminates the need for post-its. One less thing to pack too. Thank you for sharing.

 

And just to be sure, any dry erase marker writing on a mirror would come right off?

 

 

It was a great tip I gleaned from someone else. And yes. It wipes right off the mirrors. We did take a multi color pack but really black was the only one that worked very well, and maybe the blue. The others were just too light.

[texasmom121]

Great review. Sounds like a great cruise! We'll be on Allure in April with kids same ages as yours. So nice you'll on Allure too in the summer.

 

 

 

You commented about rushing to the shows. In general, how long did dinner take when you were in the MDR?

 

 

It really varied. When things are moving well, an hour to an hour and a half was pretty normal. But I think we had at least one meal take even longer. This time we did My time dining and I made sure to give us more than two hours, if we had something to do after the meal. Probably not necessary, but it works better for us that way.

 

Enjoy your cruise in April!

[texasmom121]

You mentioned that specialty dining is 50% off the first night. I've read this on a few other reviews too. Did you have to ask for this deal, or did they have signs all over advertising it? Also, do you know if they had the same deal for the second night? I really like the MDR menu much better the first night than the second night, and I know Royal frequently has deals for day one or two for specialty dining, but I'm not sure about this deal.

 

 

I'm really not sure if they did it the second night too. Honestly, I looked at the menu and for whatever reason, night two was good for us so we never checked for that night. You shouldn't have to ask for the deal the first night, though. I'm pretty sure I remember crew members were telling people about it as they walked around.

[texasmom121]

Did your daughter like the kids club?

 

 

She only went there one time, and she didn't seem to love it. But her older brother (who is a bit more introverted) didn't enjoy his area very much, and she tends to follow his lead. So, I'm not convinced she didn't like it a whole lot. She is willing to try again on our next cruise so it must not have been too bad. I think our kids just really wanted to be with us more than playing games. I would give it a shot if you have kids and see if they like it. Do the tour when you get on the ship, so you can get a feel for it.

[texasmom121]

OMG yes this was my favorite thing about going on the Allure. Like RCI was thinking of people like us when they came up with that...

 

 

I know!! Right!?!?! ;)

[texasmom121]

Actually, the D+ coupon has been changed recently, and now can be used on the first and second night. So the two D+ coupons can be used on the second night.

 

With regard to the D coupon for half-off, I'm not familiar with that coupon.

 

 

Sorry. I don't have an answer for that one!

[LuCruise]

It really varied. When things are moving well, an hour to an hour and a half was pretty normal. But I think we had at least one meal take even longer. This time we did My time dining and I made sure to give us more than two hours, if we had something to do after the meal. Probably not necessary, but it works better for us that way.

 

Enjoy your cruise in April!

 

Thanks for getting back to me. We're on My Time too. I just double checked and the times that we have dinner before the show, we have at least 2hrs intetween. So we should be ok. Interesting how it was slower on some nights (have heard that about of the first night you said you did Chops that night)

 

PS - I just posted about over the door organizer, and now just re-read your original post and I see that you found it useful. Where did you keep it so it wasn't in the way? Trying to determine if it's worthwhile or more of a hinder.

[texasmom121]

We did do Chops the first night but we had one other night that was really lagging. We ended up running to our show that night. Specialty restaurants do tend to take longer, so keep that in mind if you go that route.

 

I hung the shoe organizer on the door facing the inside of the bathroom. We could even reach things from the shower if we needed something. I don't feel like it was in the way at all. For us, getting everything off the counters and having easy access was definitely worth it.