Quick, Honest Oasis Review by a Carnival Loyalist.

[Janespup]

My friend, Christine, and I waited for almost year to go on this cruise of the eastern Caribbean, as her retirement celebration. As a first time cruiser, she had been concerned about sea sickness and how she would feel, being on a ship, at sea, with no land in sight. So we choose the Oasis, knowing that it was the biggest ship and really beautiful. We had fairly rough seas the first two nights (enough to close the beaches at Atlantis and churn up the waters at St Thomas and St Maartin). I thought the movement of the ship was minimal, but I am accustomed to it. Christine never felt nauseous or got sick, but felt pretty wobbly.

 

The Good:

 

What a beautiful, huge ship she is! I can't find fault with any part of her design. Everyone was quite friendly and attentive.

 

There were employees at the beginning of the guest services line (which never got very long), screening out the guests problems and, in many cases, solving them quickly. Many times, guests didn't have to even approach the desk.

 

Room stewards were prompt in taking care of the room, soon after you left the little card in your door, asking them to do so. Again, at night, the beds were all made or freshened, soon after we left the stateroom.

 

Lobster tails on the second dressy night were large and very good. Our waiter brought over a full extra dinner without our even asking. He also cut the meat out of the tails for us.

 

Our stateroom was on deck 8, three doors forward of the aft elevators. It was the perfect location for us! We loved being so close to the elevators. We loved being steps away from Central Park. We went to the Park café as soon as it opened every morning and brought coffee and fruit back to our cabins.

Central Park is empty early in the morning and it is really nice to hear the birds singing and crickets chirping (piped in).

 

They have umbrellas near every entrance to Central Park, even when you leave the restaurants.

 

The Solarium is beautiful with some shade and a great pool in the middle. It was refreshing, never crowded and had a wavy motion in it. The two hot tubs were also nice. I had never "reserved" a lounger on a ship before, and am one who believes that towels should be removed after a specific period of time. But, I learned after the first day that that would be the only way that we would ever get a lounger. So, early risers that we are, I brought our two towels up to the solarium on the last two sea days, at about 7:30-8:00 a.m.. Already, all of the choice semi-circular loungers were already spoken for. We had breakfast, did some morning things and were to our reserved loungers by 10 a.m.. Two hours in the sun, hot tub and pool is enough for us, so we relinquished our seats around noon on both days. A few of those semi-circular seats had still not been claimed by those who had "reserved" them though.

 

The Wipe Out Café, on deck 15, had omelettes made to order and self serve ice cream machines. It is not like the omelette station on Carnival ships, but served its purpose.

 

It was fun to watch people zip lining and surfing the flow riders.

 

We did pretty well at the casino. Both of us found several fairly loose slots which kept us busy most nights.

 

Dazzles has great live music every night. Different themes.

 

Our stateroom was only a few doors from Dazzles entrance and we never heard a thing!

 

The Bad:

 

There are no bathrobes in the closets.

 

They do not provide beach towels in the rooms as Carnival does. You get your beach towels up by the pool or Solarium and return them when you are done with them.

 

Neither our waiters nor our cabin steward bothered to learn our names. On Carnival, I am always amazed at how they learn everyone's name so quickly. It is so nice to be greeted by name. We actually changed wait staff after two nights, simply because ours was too busy to accommodate us on the third night. The new waitress made it a point to learn our names and engage us in conversation. So, we switched to them for the rest of the trip.

 

The chairs in the dining room (American Grill) were so heavy that no one could move them comfortably. We wound up sitting too far from the table each time.

 

We made the mistake of going to the dining room for breakfast when Shrek and friends were there. It took 20 minutes to get a cup of coffee and another 20 minutes to get our breakfast. As this was our only time to have breakfast in the dining room, I do not recommend it.

 

Bingo is ridiculously expensive. $49 for a 9 game sheet (same sheet that is $20 on Carnival) and $59 for an electronic gadget that has 30 games loaded in it, which tells you how you are doing, and a three game sheet that you mark yourself. The girl at Bingo, Miss Paige, was very snappy to me when I asked a question. She actually turned her back on me as I was speaking and waved for her assistant to help me. So, we did not go back to Bingo. I have never given or written a bad review of an employee in my life. But Miss Paige was a main topic when I completed the RC survey after the cruise.

 

Central Park, at night, is pretty much just a lot of premium restaurants. Park café is closed and some of the restaurants have tables that take up a large section of the park.

 

Possibly because the beds were separated, the Superior Balcony Cabin we had seemed to be much smaller than what I am accustomed to. They say it is 182 sq feet but it certainly didn't feel like it.

[Clarea]

Interesting report and comparison, thanks.

[JimAOk1945]

Thanks for your review. I found it very interesting. I'm surprised that your room steward and waiters didn't remember your names. Ours always have.

 

All things considered, it sound like you have a nice cruise. Were you able to go ashore at any of your ports of call?

[cincicruisers]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

[Eslader]

Neither our waiters nor our cabin steward bothered to learn our names.

 

This one surprised me. I'm terrible with names so I'm always impressed at how many staffers on the ship remember mine. The cabin steward, MDR waiters... The guy at Vintages even remembered my name when I went in the second time.

[Merion_Mom]

My friend, Christine, and I waited for almost year to go on this cruise of the eastern Caribbean, as her retirement celebration. As a first time cruiser, she had been concerned about sea sickness and how she would feel, being on a ship, at sea, with no land in sight. So we choose the Oasis, knowing that it was the biggest ship and really beautiful. We had fairly rough seas the first two nights (enough to close the beaches at Atlantis and churn up the waters at St Thomas and St Maartin). I thought the movement of the ship was minimal, but I am accustomed to it. Christine never felt nauseous or got sick, but felt pretty wobbly.

 

The Good:

 

What a beautiful, huge ship she is! I can't find fault with any part of her design. Everyone was quite friendly and attentive.

 

There were employees at the beginning of the guest services line (which never got very long), screening out the guests problems and, in many cases, solving them quickly. Many times, guests didn't have to even approach the desk.

 

Room stewards were prompt in taking care of the room, soon after you left the little card in your door, asking them to do so. Again, at night, the beds were all made or freshened, soon after we left the stateroom.

 

Lobster tails on the second dressy night were large and very good. Our waiter brought over a full extra dinner without our even asking. He also cut the meat out of the tails for us.

 

Our stateroom was on deck 8, three doors forward of the aft elevators. It was the perfect location for us! We loved being so close to the elevators. We loved being steps away from Central Park. We went to the Park café as soon as it opened every morning and brought coffee and fruit back to our cabins.

Central Park is empty early in the morning and it is really nice to hear the birds singing and crickets chirping (piped in).

 

They have umbrellas near every entrance to Central Park, even when you leave the restaurants.

 

The Solarium is beautiful with some shade and a great pool in the middle. It was refreshing, never crowded and had a wavy motion in it. The two hot tubs were also nice. I had never "reserved" a lounger on a ship before, and am one who believes that towels should be removed after a specific period of time. But, I learned after the first day that that would be the only way that we would ever get a lounger. So, early risers that we are, I brought our two towels up to the solarium on the last two sea days, at about 7:30-8:00 a.m.. Already, all of the choice semi-circular loungers were already spoken for. We had breakfast, did some morning things and were to our reserved loungers by 10 a.m.. Two hours in the sun, hot tub and pool is enough for us, so we relinquished our seats around noon on both days. A few of those semi-circular seats had still not been claimed by those who had "reserved" them though.

 

The Wipe Out Café, on deck 15, had omelettes made to order and self serve ice cream machines. It is not like the omelette station on Carnival ships, but served its purpose.

 

It was fun to watch people zip lining and surfing the flow riders.

 

We did pretty well at the casino. Both of us found several fairly loose slots which kept us busy most nights.

 

Dazzles has great live music every night. Different themes.

 

Our stateroom was only a few doors from Dazzles entrance and we never heard a thing!

 

The Bad:

 

There are no bathrobes in the closets.

 

They do not provide beach towels in the rooms as Carnival does. You get your beach towels up by the pool or Solarium and return them when you are done with them.

 

Neither our waiters nor our cabin steward bothered to learn our names. On Carnival, I am always amazed at how they learn everyone's name so quickly. It is so nice to be greeted by name. We actually changed wait staff after two nights, simply because ours was too busy to accommodate us on the third night. The new waitress made it a point to learn our names and engage us in conversation. So, we switched to them for the rest of the trip.

 

The chairs in the dining room (American Grill) were so heavy that no one could move them comfortably. We wound up sitting too far from the table each time.

 

We made the mistake of going to the dining room for breakfast when Shrek and friends were there. It took 20 minutes to get a cup of coffee and another 20 minutes to get our breakfast. As this was our only time to have breakfast in the dining room, I do not recommend it.

 

Bingo is ridiculously expensive. $49 for a 9 game sheet (same sheet that is $20 on Carnival) and $59 for an electronic gadget that has 30 games loaded in it, which tells you how you are doing, and a three game sheet that you mark yourself. The girl at Bingo, Miss Paige, was very snappy to me when I asked a question. She actually turned her back on me as I was speaking and waved for her assistant to help me. So, we did not go back to Bingo. I have never given or written a bad review of an employee in my life. But Miss Paige was a main topic when I completed the RC survey after the cruise.

 

Central Park, at night, is pretty much just a lot of premium restaurants. Park café is closed and some of the restaurants have tables that take up a large section of the park.

 

Possibly because the beds were separated, the Superior Balcony Cabin we had seemed to be much smaller than what I am accustomed to. They say it is 182 sq feet but it certainly didn't feel like it.

 

Did you ask for robes?

[Hotel CA]

Did you ask for robes?

 

14 shy of 50K!!!!!!!!!!

[wsyrob]

This one surprised me. I'm terrible with names so I'm always impressed at how many staffers on the ship remember mine. The cabin steward, MDR waiters... The guy at Vintages even remembered my name when I went in the second time.

 

A waiter or bartender I can understand. They have to actually learn you. A cabin attendant could easily make use of the printed info he has available.

[Saturngrl]

Personally, I go by a nickname and hate being called by my first name. Every cruise I introduced myself to various crew members, most of whom remembered my nickname. To help, on my last cruise, I had personalized stateroom door magnets made for each person in my party. They LOVED the magnets and we had fun switching them or moving them around our stateroom doors. The stewards joined in the fun and always addressed me by my preferred nickname.

 

I've sailed Carnival, RC and Celebrity and can report receiving great service on all three cruiselines. :)

[Janespup]

Yes, all in all we did have a very nice cruise. I was merely pointing out some differences. As I said, the ship is beautiful. We did not ask for robes because we had brought our own, having learned, here on CC, that they are no longer provided automatically.

[Luv my furbaby]

I can relate to waiters not knowing your name but luckily it only happened on one cruise - the Jewel in January 2015. Not only did he not even try to know our names we were referred to by numbers - #3 had this entree etc. That was the only time that has happened to me. My waiters on the Vision - even with having anytime dining - always greeted me by name.

[SmileUSC]

So can you request robes and get them?

[Clarea]

So can you request robes and get them?

Varies, the stateroom attendant will try to get robes if there are any available.