Trip Report - Oasis Eastern 4/30/16 sailing Bill Oh's first cruise as Diamond

[BillOh]

Hi we were on the sailing right before you - we too commented on what an awful table that was (we were placed very near but tucked away nicely on a balcony) - not to mention the smoke smell that was coming in regularly from the casino (even where we were)!

 

I didn't even think of the smoke smell from the Casino, that would as annoying as all the traffic coming in. I should have edited that picture to lighten up the background so you could really see how close to the entrance it was. I've never seen anything like it before.

[PCWalton1]

Bill,

Thanks for doing this. I am really enjoying your trip report. We enjoyed our stay on Oasis last year and look forward to returning some day.

[wolfganghowell]

Holy cow - you left us on a cliffhanger about the L&M show. I want deets on what the heck you guys did at that audition. :D

[BillOh]

Holy cow - you left us on a cliffhanger about the L&M show. I want deets on what the heck you guys did at that audition. :D

 

About 1000 people saw it, you will have to ask them. We pull that out of the bag whenever we want to be the middle couple. We have used it twice and are 100% with it. The other being Jewel in 2014.

[BillOh]

Now that I have let the cat out of the bag that we have done L&M before. I think of the 8 questions asked CD Drew Devine asked, I think we have heard 6 of them before. We still missed two questions and that was one more than the oldest couple. I take the blame for that. I spent too much time hamming it up for the crowd. :rolleyes: The older couple, from Virginia if I remember right said they were married 60 years, but sitting next to her I would guess she got married at age 8 to 10. At first the women leave the stage and go to a hallway in the back that they call their sound proof booth. They are brought back and have to guess what their husbands said.

 

Gina did pretty good getting 3 out of 4. When it was our turn we went back in the hallway. The younger guy was a real nice gentlemen and interesting to talk to. The same could be said for the older guy. It was nice meeting them both and seeing them later in the cruise. I think we tied with the younger couple and the older couple won. The winners got a nice prize pack and us others got a prize pack with various RC hats, back pack, and pens. We had fun and added memories.

 

 

We finished Monday and our 35th anniversary by being kicked out of one hot tub and moving to the other. No matter which one we picked, they closed it. That reminds me Emmy had mentioned to our roll call that when Oasis was leaving on Satuday night on the Eastern itinerary she would pass Allure coming back home from the same itinerary. She had planned on being in the Solarium to watch the event and it usually happened around 10pm.

 

Oasis' solarium does have the large clam shaped lounge chairs that Allure doesn't have and we thought it would be a good time to try them out. Just before 10pm a bunch of us from the roll call grabbed a couple of these clamshells and watched the ships nearby. Of course that is when the crew members felt it necessary to power wash the solarium deck. We were kicked out of our chairs twice and moved. I understand it needs to be done, but can't it be done a little later?

 

Tomorrow was Tuesday, St Thomas!

Edited May 14, 2016 by BillOh

[just4kixx]

It'a been a while since we've seen a L & M show... I don't remember auditioning... maybe (?) we just showed up too late?!?!

 

Following along, thanks for sharing!

 

A~

[ALSEAU]

Great report Bill!

 

Been to a lot of the L&M's. Janet and I could never do one. Some of the questions are repetitive but the answers change with couples. Between ourselves we never agree on what our answers would be. The ones we do agree on we would not admit to in public.

 

Looking forward to the rest of your report and hopefully some pictures from the L&M.

[OSULabRat]

Great, It may be tomorrow, tonight is the start of summer bowling!

 

Hello Bill, and Happy Anniversary! I am also from Columbus, and also a bowler... Small world! Living the review so far, thanks for sharing.

[Yorkvillain]

Loving the report Bill.

[perfect match]

Speaking of the jetski rental, we had a great time, more on that later. I too was dissapointed not to be able to use Stuarts for diving, but the doctor's advice turned out to be wise. Our Coki excursion was a jetski/snorkel one. When I jumped off my jetski to snorkel I got a nose full of water, which was careless, but no big deal. But later that night we were walking through the casino and some of that salt water worked its way down into my ear canal and I let out a pretty good yelp enough to give my wife some concern. About 15 minutes later it was fine, but it was as close as I've ever come to needing medical attention on a cruise.

 

Sounds like it was a good idea you didn't dive! Always better to be safe than sorry, and I'm sure you will have plenty of chances to get back to Stewart Cove's to dive with them. I did enjoy my dives there, and would not hesitate to dive with them again. We did JUST make it back to the ship on time from that excursion, though. I was really glad it was a ship's excursion. DH even got a call in our cabin from the ship staff looking for me. When he told the caller I was on the scuba excursion they said that excursion was always late getting back. I think we made it with about 15 minutes to spare before all aboard time! :eek: A bit too close for comfort for my taste, but we did make it back on time. :D

 

We may have to make a point of seeing Love & Marriage on our upcoming Freedom cruise. I will NEVER be talked into being a contestant again on a show like that. Once was enough for me. Let's say it was the beginning of the end of my first marriage, and we did the show on our honeymoon! :eek: This husband is a keeper, so I do not want to risk either one of us putting our foot in our mouth and messing things up! :eek:

 

I am looking forward to hearing about your day in St Thomas since we can't seem to make a decision on what we want to do there. Jet skis with snorkeling could be a good choice. :D

[BillOh]

Great report Bill!

 

Been to a lot of the L&M's. Janet and I could never do one. Some of the questions are repetitive but the answers change with couples. Between ourselves we never agree on what our answers would be. The ones we do agree on we would not admit to in public.

 

Looking forward to the rest of your report and hopefully some pictures from the L&M.

 

If I can just find that DVD!

[newtampagirl]

Bill, I have tried twice last night and this morning and my photo uploads failed. I will try again later. I have an errand to do this morning. :confused:

[BillOh]

It's now Tuesday, St Thomas day and we haven't been off the ship since Saturday morning. We got up early enough for breakfast at Johnny Rocket's and then back to our room to sit on the balcony as we arrived in port. I will always get a balcony on the Eastern itinerary as watching the ship come into St Thomas and St Martin is a great time.

 

 

I hurried this photo as people were rushing to get off the ship, but this was my first escalator on a ship!

 

 

The ship was cleared to go disembark before 10am, but we weren't in a hurry. I had arranged a private jetski tour from the Coki Beach area for 11:45. We did get off the ship and shop for just a few minutes before heading to the taxi area. That might have been much to the chagrin of the people already waiting for taxis. When we got to the taxi loading area I told one of the taxi captains that we wanted to go to Coki Beach. He pointed us to a taxi driver who led us to his taxi.

 

The guy didn't speak real good English. His taxi, a regular size Ford van, was backed in between 2 other taxis and he couldn't open either door more than a couple of inches. I think he was trying to tell us to get in, even acting out getting in the van. I kept telling him to pull the van forward and I would get him, but he kept insisting. I've had spinal fusion surgery and while I don' require any special assistance, I am not as mobile as I once was. I finally got in, but practically had to crawl on top of a passenger who was already onboard. I think that was the last straw for that guy.

 

We were the last 2 passengers to make a full cab going his way. The guy I was sitting next to was b1tching up a storm about waiting in the hot van forever. They were glad to see us and they could finally get under way. People on the van reported they were in the hot van 5 minutes before they insisted he start the van and turn on the air. The guy next to me said, if this was he USA and he was a dog, that guy would be in jail. The AC was running when we got in. The van was crowded, but I have had worse in St Martin. The guy next to me continued to whine and freak out. I think he had claustrophobia issues.

 

We were with that group about 20 minutes before they let him and his friends off at the Redhook area where they were catching a ferry to St John. In another 15 minutes we arrived at Coki. Most people were going to the beach. We were shown the way to the Jetski area.

 

Edited May 14, 2016 by BillOh

[BillOh]

Bill, I have tried twice last night and this morning and my photo uploads failed. I will try again later. I have an errand to do this morning. :confused:

 

If you continue to have problems, email them to me at bmccall at insight dot rr dot com

[BillOh]

This is the tour I found at the last minute.

 

http://stthomascruiseexcursions.com/JetSkiSnorkeling.htm

 

I paid aprox $70 downpayment via Visa for the reservation. My card was charged by a company in Grand Caymen. Shortly after I got an email detailing the excursion including directions on how to get there. The only bad part was at the site they only took cash. But it went off just fine, there were plenty of facilities nearby for food, drink, and locker rental.

 

When we arrived there was already a couple there who came in on NCL Escape. (I got a look look at that new ship driving to Coki). Turns out this couple lived 15 miles from us in nearby Canal Winchester, Ohio. We had to wait for 2 more couples. Turned out they were my Australian and New Zealand friends from our roll call. They came via an open air taxi.

 

The tour was a 30 minute right to an island near St John. We would then snorkel for a while. Turns out we were the only couple out of the 4 couples who had any jetskiing experience. Gina and I were on separate skis while the other couples shared.

 

 

Above is the start of the tour and I believe my Aussie friends. These photos are a screen capture from the Gopro4 video. I made a big mistake and started the video to early during the 20 minute instruction we had, so the battery died before snorkeling.

 

This is me on a high speed run chasing my wife.

 

 

Here is my position in the group.

 

 

Once we made it to the other island and our snorkel spot we waited for the rest of the group to arrive. Just as the couple from Canal Winchester arrived they both leaned the wrong direction and rolled over as seen here.

 

[BillOh]

Sorry! I didn't resize the GOPRO pics properly.

[Clarea]

Sorry! I didn't resize the GOPRO pics properly.

Excellent photos Bill.:)

[BillOh]

I forgot to add this photo of our arrival into St Thomas. This is actually closer than it appears. Later I would talk to the Captain and this guy got into a bit of trouble.

 

 

This was taken from my 12th deck balcony just as we docked.

[Queenzena]

One of the best reports I've ever read! Looking forward to more posts! Thanks for doing this.

[BillOh]

One of the best reports I've ever read! Looking forward to more posts! Thanks for doing this.

 

Thank you! My favorite day at St Martin was comin up, but unfortunately photographs are not allowed, or couldn't be posted here anyway. Well, I do have pics of some of the new buildings at Orient.

[Ocean Boy]

That reminds me Emmy had mentioned to our roll call that when Oasis was leaving on Satuday night on the Eastern itinerary she would pass Allure coming back home from the same itinerary. She had planned on being in the Solarium to watch the event and it usually happened around 10pm.

 

 

One thing I really like about the Voyager class ships is the navigation chart up on the Peek-a-boo bridge. I like being able to identify land and other ships that I can see from the ship. Whenever we are on a non-Voyager ship I am always wondering what land or ship I am looking at.

 

Ok, back to St. Thomas.

[BillOh]

After our excursion we caught one of the open air taxis back to the ship. Mr Claustrophobia would have liked this much better. We first dropped off some people off a NCL Escape. It was the first time I've been back to Havensight since 2006. The couple that got off told us how much better Escape was than anything RCL offered. They had cruised RCL once.

 

 

Once back at Crown Point, we shopped a little more and decided to stop for lunch and one of the BUSHWACKERS that the CD had mentioned were available here. Emmy from our roll call mentioned it as well, so guess who we ran into there.

 

 

In 4 visits to St Thomas we have walked past this bar all 3 times that had the donkey that said free beer tomorrow. That landmark is falling apart!

 

[BillOh]

Oh,

 

I pride myself in posting one picture that I've never seen posted here. For this review, I saw this sign behind an open door in the Diamond Club. I also saw it later on our all access tour. I imagine its been there awhile, but there was a recent report about Royal (Oasis?) crew smuggling heroin in sandals.

 

 

Once back on the ship we were pretty tired from the 2 hours of jet skiing. We decided to skip the MDR for the 3rd time in a row, a record for us! We did eat in the WJ again. I think (my notes were lost remember) did see the Frozen in Time ice show. I did think it was better than Allure. I think I forgot my camera though. Next up St Martin.

[BillOh]

One thing I really like about the Voyager class ships is the navigation chart up on the Peek-a-boo bridge. I like being able to identify land and other ships that I can see from the ship. Whenever we are on a non-Voyager ship I am always wondering what land or ship I am looking at.

 

Ok, back to St. Thomas.

 

Speaking of which, I'll post a couple of pics from the bridge's computerized radar showing Carnival Glory off our port side and then he pointed it out to us.

[CTCruiser74]

Thanks for the great report. For our cruise in October, we are in a D Balcony on Deck 12 at the start of the the first hump. My first balcony cabin so I am very excited!