Oasis of the Seas 8/27-9/3/2016 Mother-Daughter Adventure

[ricklepickle]

I wanted to do a trip report since I learned so much from others.

 

I was inspired (mostly by gambee’s reviews) to plan a vacation with my mother. We found a great deal on a week on the Oasis, "hired" my father as our limo driver, and our plans were made for our great “Mother-Daughter Adventure”.

 

About us: I am 53, live in Palo Alto, California, am divorced with a significant other. My mom is 74 and lives with my father in Boca Raton, Florida – only about a half hour from Port Everglades. We had been on the Oasis 4 years ago with our extended family to celebrate my parents 50th. I’ve been on a total of 4 cruises – the Oasis, then on NCL Sun for an Alaska cruise (LOVED Alaska, not so wild about the Sun), the Enchantment this past June for a family cruise, and now the Oasis again. My mom has been on several more with my father, including Carnival, Holland America and Oceania. We aren’t necessarily big cruisers – it isn’t always our first choice of vacation – but this seemed like an easy and reasonably priced way to spend the time together.

 

Note: I do not have Cruise Compass’ or menus to post. Nor did we take food pictures. ☺ In fact, I don’t know if I can post any pictures.

 

Summary: We had a FABULOUS time.

 

I’m not going to do a day-by-day summary, but summarize our experience in sections.Feel free to ask any questions.

 

CABIN: We had a Boardwalk view balcony, 12725. We loved this room, and loved the location. The last time we were on the Oasis we were on the 10th floor and had Central Park balconies, and we spent a lot of time at the Park Café. This gave us a totally different experience of the ship. And since we were at the end of hallways, ensured we walked over 10,000 steps every day. The balcony let us watch the Aqua Theater shows from our balcony, and gave us a view of the water and the wake.

 

Once the door was sealed after 11 pm, it was quiet. We could hear performances and the movies, but those were done by 11. Sometimes you could hear the squeals of children. The noise did not bother us – as my mom said, “It is a happy noise!” And while we only napped one day, we can both nap through noise.

 

SERVICE: We heard a couple of complaints about service on board, but we had really great service. Maybe we are not very demanding. Every RCI employee we encountered could not have been more helpful. I will say that while Guest Services didn’t have all the information they could have (which was weird), they tried to help us as best they could. We couldn’t fault them – this was an issue of communication between departments, but didn’t mean the people didn’t try to be as helpful as possible.

 

(Food in the next post, Entertainment and Ports to follow)

Edited September 6, 2016 by ricklepickle

[ricklepickle]

Continuing to discuss food:

 

FOOD: I wouldn’t say that the food was outstanding, but we were always able to find something good to eat. I did learn not to order fish on a cruise – none of the fish was bad, per se, but it is all defrosted (which affects the texture), and it is difficult to prepare fish well for so many people. One of our waiters agreed with me, and recommended only ordering fish on the first night.

 

One thing which was consistently not good: coffee. And the decaf was undrinkable, with one notable exception (150 Central Park). This did not make or break our cruise. I am a coffee snob, coming from the San Francisco area, and my mother is the opposite of that (she makes instant for herself in the morning). Still, I didn't care enough to buy coffee anywhere.

 

Dinner:

MDR: We ate in the MDR three nights, using traditional dining (early seating) for my first time. If we had a more interesting table, we might have eaten there more often, but that is another story. Each of the three nights the dinner was good (not great, but good), and service was wonderful. The first night I had the horseradish crusted salmon, and it was the only night the fish was decent. One of the nights we went was the second formal night, and I am happy to report that our lobster tails were actually very good.

 

My mother ordered decaf with dessert, and it was undrinkable. (My mother is extremely not picky about coffee, and would not have complained had our table mate not complained.) They brought her another cup, also bad. Then the waiter brought over his manager, and they brought her a decaf cappuccino. Which was so-so. This did not ruin our experience at all – in fact, the level of service & concern enhanced it – but I add this so anyone who cares about coffee is forewarned.

 

Windjammer: We ate here once for dinner, when a shore excursion got us back late and we had a show to go to. We were really pleasantly surprised here, as we tend not to go to the Windjammer often, and had never gone to the buffet for dinner on any ship we had been on. Not too crowded, and the food was pretty good – much better than we had thought it would be. The Indian food was GREAT. One caveat: they were serving ice cream sundaes – the ice cream wasn’t very good, which I can’t believe I am saying, but it wasn’t worth the calories.

 

150 Central Park: This was the only paid venue we went to (using the certificate we got from our travel agent). I chose this because we hadn’t yet experienced it, unlike Chops and Giovanni’s. Really like the experience, I love tasting menus and the whole farm-to-table concept. Service was impeccable, and the ambience was lovely. Everything was delicious, except the 4th course – the halibut. The halibut was overcooked and tough. However, the 5th course, the short ribs, melted in your mouth. And the desert was so good (a bourbon chocolate tart) my mother, who is watching her sugar intake, was compelled to eat the whole thing. Oh – and the decaf coffee was excellent!

 

Solarium Bistro: This was a delightful surprise. There is no longer a charge for the Solarium Bistro, although it is still considered a “specialty” restaurant, and they take reservations. The theme is “Mediterranean” – the waiter told us that the food was the same. We loved this, and went twice. The format is a buffet with salads and appetizers + desserts, and a menu with maybe 6-7 entrees. We didn’t even bother with the entrees. They had individual pots of hummus, tzatziki, baba ganoush which is a clever way to present them, rather than as a big bowl that you scoop from. In addition to these dips and salad fixings, the buffet included grilled vegetables, kofta, lasagna, mousaka, shrimp (better than the shrimp cocktail at the MDR), ceviche, and more. As I said, we didn’t bother with ordering from the menu. No charge here, but we did leave a tip as if there was one. The atmosphere was very relaxed. Highly recommend you try it!

 

Breakfast: We ate breakfast in the MDR (as expected), Solarium, Wipeout Café (eggs to order + buffet, it was okay), Park Café (bagels to order + breakfast sandwiches + yogurt) and Johnny Rockets (eggs to order + griddle orders). Our favorite was actually the Solarium, where we went twice – plenty of fruit.

 

Lunch: We ate lunch at the Windjammer, Park Café, MDR and Solarium. Park Café and MDR were our favorites – loved the salads made to order. I didn’t realize that the MDR had such a delightful salad bar/buffet at lunch – I’d go there more often next time.

 

Next: Entertainment

Edited September 6, 2016 by ricklepickle

[tbmrt]

No charge for Solarium Bistro, even at dinner?

 

I had this in my notes:

At night, the space turns over to a fee restaurant ($20) that serves more elaborate healthy fare.

 

Thanks

[Thrilled2012]

Following :)

[Clarea]

No charge for Solarium Bistro, even at dinner?

 

I had this in my notes:

At night, the space turns over to a fee restaurant ($20) that serves more elaborate healthy fare.

 

Thanks

Solarium Cafe is a free buffet at Breakfast and Lunch. It turns into Solarium Bistro in the evening, for a $20 fee.

[ricklepickle]

Re: Solarium Bistro -- in the last month (according to the waiter), the Solarium Bistro has stopped charging a fee in the evening. It is still considered a "specialty restaurant", and reservations are accepted/recommended (although it was far from full either night).

 

Our waiter (who was the same both times we were there) said that it was mostly the same food, but I have nothing to compare it to. I thought it was supposed to have 'healthy' desserts, but the desserts were not healthy looking (and looked better than they tasted). But at no fee, it was GREAT. Not sure how I would have felt if it was still $20 per person, hard to tell. But at no fee: more elegant atmosphere than other no fee dinner locations, better food, personal service. I whole heartedly recommend it!

 

I read somewhere on Cruise Critic right before we sailed that it was no fee. They brought us a 'bill" for $0, which we then added a tip to.

[Clarea]

Re: Solarium Bistro -- in the last month (according to the waiter), the Solarium Bistro has stopped charging a fee in the evening. It is still considered a "specialty restaurant", and reservations are accepted/recommended (although it was far from full either night)....

Thanks for the updated info.

[ricklepickle]

Thanks for the updated info.

 

Your welcome - you have been a source of a lot of good information for me in the course of planning this cruise, so I'm glad to be able to provide some 'new' information for you. :)

 

I have no idea if this is a permanent change or an experiment. The waiter thought it was permanent, but I doubt he is 'in the know', no matter how good he was.

[Ken at the beach]

Your welcome - you have been a source of a lot of good information for me in the course of planning this cruise, so I'm glad to be able to provide some 'new' information for you. :)

 

I have no idea if this is a permanent change or an experiment. The waiter thought it was permanent, but I doubt he is 'in the know', no matter how good he was.

 

It makes srnsecas they are not charging for it on Harmony or Anthem.

[Clarea]

It makes srnsecas they are not charging for it on Harmony or Anthem.

What does it make?

[Cruising Golfer]

What does it make?

 

It's Canadian... :cool:

[Clarea]

It's Canadian... :cool:

Must be like "eh".;)

[tinkertwo]

Just went into my reservation and to prebook it they are still charging. :(

Guess I'll look into it when I board. Thanks for the tip.

[ricklepickle]

Just went into my reservation and to prebook it they are still charging. :(

Guess I'll look into it when I board. Thanks for the tip.

 

There was NO issue with getting in as far as I could tell. The first night of the cruise, we went by to check it out (I heard it was no charge here on Cruise Critic), and that's when they told us to make a reservation. But there were empty tables.

 

We ate there the 4th night, showed up with no reservations. And then night 7, we had reservations but didn't need them. Of course, we ate both times on the earlier side, 6:30ish.

 

Enjoy!

[ricklepickle]

Entertainment: We are definitely “shows” people and went to everything we could. This is a big part of our enjoyment of a ship like the Oasis.

 

Cats: While we are definitely fans of most things Broadway, and I can quote more song lyrics from musicals than anyone I know, neither of us understand the appeal of Cats as a musical. It seems people love it or hate it. My mom had seen it on Broadway and was “meh” about it, and we are surprised to hear it is revived on Broadway and on the West End. That said, this production and the cast are WONDERFUL. Yes, half the audience (more?) leaves by intermission. But the cast more than deserved the enthusiastic standing ovation at the end. We couldn’t stop talking about the casts’ talent, and sought out every venue where cast members were singing (three different times that we saw). The three older cast members – who played Grizabella, Deuteronomy and Gus – gave a concert in Jazz on 4 which was just amazing. This cast’s contract is over in October, and the woman who played Grizabella is moving to the Harmony & Grease in 2 weeks, but I encourage you to give it a try. Cats itself is not my cup of tea (I won’t go again), but if you enjoy shows, do some research on the “plot” (such as it is) in advance, and just enjoy the superb singing, dancing, staging and costuming.

 

We saw everything else at least once, even if we saw it 4 years ago. We watched the Aquashow Oasis of Dreams the first night in the audience and twice from our Boardwalk view balcony, and went to the Splish Splash show. We laughed at the Comedy show and greatly enjoyed Come Fly with Me. The Headliner was Voice Play, an acapella quintet that was so good we went twice. (You may have seen them on other RCI ships, as well as some other cruise lines. In fact, they are playing practically next door at Stanford University in October, and I plan to drag my boyfriend, and invite anyone else who wants to come. After all, it is $10 a ticket for Stanford employees.)

 

We made reservations in advance for everything, but ended up just showing up for Come Fly with Me and for the second viewing of the Headliner show. Both times, we got excellent seats (for the former, second row center).

 

As I said above, we also saw various members of the Cats cast perform at different venues – Dazzles and Jazz on 4. And went to the Q&A with performers on the last day that was held in the Comedy Live venue. We are so glad we went out of our way to attend all of these – amazing talent at the performances, and so interesting to hear from the performers about their life on board.

[brillohead]

There was NO issue with getting in as far as I could tell. The first night of the cruise, we went by to check it out (I heard it was no charge here on Cruise Critic), and that's when they told us to make a reservation. But there were empty tables.

 

We ate there the 4th night, showed up with no reservations. And then night 7, we had reservations but didn't need them. Of course, we ate both times on the earlier side, 6:30ish.

 

Enjoy!

 

I was on this same cruise (same week). My teenaged son blew me off for dinner on the fourth night (Jamaica, 8/30), and so I thought I'd try the revamped "free specialty" restaurant in the Solarium. Got there right around 6pm and the place was about 70% empty, and they said they couldn't seat me until after 7pm because I didn't have a reservation.

 

I thought it was pretty ridiculous, since as a party of one, I would have already finished dinner by 7pm if they seated me in one of the many obviously empty tables right then.

 

I just went to the MDR and sat by myself, rather than waiting. Never did go back.

[aml716]

My husband and I were on the sailing just before yours and agreed, the Indian food was excellent!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[ricklepickle]

I was on this same cruise (same week). My teenaged son blew me off for dinner on the fourth night (Jamaica, 8/30), and so I thought I'd try the revamped "free specialty" restaurant in the Solarium. Got there right around 6pm and the place was about 70% empty, and they said they couldn't seat me until after 7pm because I didn't have a reservation.

 

I thought it was pretty ridiculous, since as a party of one, I would have already finished dinner by 7pm if they seated me in one of the many obviously empty tables right then.

 

I just went to the MDR and sat by myself, rather than waiting. Never did go back.

 

That is RIDICULOUS!

 

They were a little, well, snotty on the first night when we inquired - they did say we had to have a reservation (we didn't want to eat there that night, we were just asking). Maybe we did make a reservation for night 4, I honestly don't remember now - but they were NOT full. We definitely had a reservation for the last night; again, not full.

 

I can't believe they turned you away!

[kmorg1234]

Thank you for this fun review- I also travel with mom, and we always have a blast. Never occurred to us to see shows twice or seek out the actors in other venues, but it makes perfect sense! They are talented individuals what are asked to perform all over the ship. We also are low key, and go with the flow, but always have fun ordering cheese and crackers (ok, so caviar when we are on the other ships) to go without private happy hour before dinner on the balcony. May you continue to have fun times together.

[brillohead]

That is RIDICULOUS!

 

They were a little, well, snotty on the first night when we inquired - they did say we had to have a reservation (we didn't want to eat there that night, we were just asking). Maybe we did make a reservation for night 4, I honestly don't remember now - but they were NOT full. We definitely had a reservation for the last night; again, not full.

 

I can't believe they turned you away!

 

Yeah, I thought it was pretty darn silly. If they weren't full right then and couldn't seat me without a reservation, how did they expect to be able to seat me in an hour (when, presumably, even more people with reservations would have already shown up)?

 

Plus, being a buffet and me being by myself, I would have been in and out of there in 30 minutes, tops. They really screwed up with that one.

 

Only thing I could think of is that maybe they are still in the "trial project" phase of this new restaurant concept, and so they won't even allow themselves to get anywhere close to capacity seating until they have all the kinks worked out of the system.

[ricklepickle]

Thank you for this fun review- I also travel with mom, and we always have a blast. Never occurred to us to see shows twice or seek out the actors in other venues, but it makes perfect sense! They are talented individuals what are asked to perform all over the ship. We also are low key, and go with the flow, but always have fun ordering cheese and crackers (ok, so caviar when we are on the other ships) to go without private happy hour before dinner on the balcony. May you continue to have fun times together.

 

Thanks -- we had such a good time. It was really special. My mom hadn't been willing to do anything like this without my dad before, but somehow I convinced her this time. There aren't many people (besides my SO, I guess) that I could spend that amount of time in a small space without getting on each other's nerves...

 

As for going to shows without reservations, we had no problems at all (although we had initially had reservations for everything we wanted). Even the comedy show, after they opened it to everyone, had open seats (maybe was 80% full). I think that is not usual - we were an early show, maybe that is why?

 

Oh, they also had the comedy show on the last night at 10 pm in the Opal theater, for anyone. So if you don't get a reservation during the week, hopefully they'll do that regularly. Same show supposedly.

 

I forgot! We also saw the ice show on the last day - we had reservations but maybe only 20% of the seats were taken. Also fun.

[ricklepickle]

Only thing I could think of is that maybe they are still in the "trial project" phase of this new restaurant concept, and so they won't even allow themselves to get anywhere close to capacity seating until they have all the kinks worked out of the system.

 

Maybe that's it - they did make it a point of saying to us that it was still a "specialty" restaurant and you needed a reservation. But if you just showed up at Chops, and they had space, wouldn't they be happy to serve (and charge) you?

 

It's buffet for appetizers/salad + menu for the entree + buffet for dessert.

[molsonschooner]

It's Canadian... :cool:

 

doesn't look too Canadian to me

[ricklepickle]

Ports - this was for the Western Caribbean itinerary. We had never been to these ports, so they were new to us.

 

Labadee: Not being beach people, we had a surprisingly good time on Labadee. We did nothing but take a “ferry” to Columbus Cove, go in the water, read, eat and walk around, but had a great day. It is quite beautiful. The BBQ they serve is fine – nothing to write home about, but fine.

 

Falmouth:The port area itself is not very interesting to me - for goodness sakes, there is a NATHAN'S there. However, I hired a driver/guide through Marvyn’s Paradise Tours; highly recommended – price was the basically the same as if we did a shore excursion through RCI but it was just the two of us. And Marvyn is very responsive over email. We went tubing and to Dunn's River Falls.

 

The tubing was SO MUCH FUN. Just the two of us and a guide who sang with us down the river, kept us moving, took pictures for us, etc. Had we done this on the RCI excursion, there would have been 30 of us with 2-3 guides. This was really fun, really peaceful. There were “rapids” (such as they were) in the first half, not so much in the second half, just smooth water. We wished there were more “rapids” (okay, it is NOT white water rafting, it’s tubing, so rapids is quite the exaggeration). Halfway down, there was this sort of rest stop, where there were bathrooms, food to buy and someone who would take your picture (we declined) in a beautiful location.

 

We also went to Dunn’s River Falls, which was just beautiful, although we decided not to do the climb. We started, but my mom, who is quite athletic (plays tennis 3-4 times per week), got a little scared as we started to go up and we opted out. Despite the fact that we had bought $5 water shoes at Walmart for just this purpose. I was, frankly, slightly relieved, as it seemed a little scary and I didn’t want to worry abouther -- although people of all ages and levels of fitness seemed to be doing it. If you go, say yes to the “free” guide they offer at the place and have fun.

 

Given we didn't climb the Falls, we wish we had gone to Blue Hole instead. But, oh well, the Falls were gorgeous.

 

We ate lunch at a place called Scotchie’s, which seems overrated on Trip Advisor.

 

Cozumel: We chose the Isla Passion by Twister excursion. Actually, my mom chose it. We also LOVED this one – my mom chose it for the Twister (perhaps you have a sense of this almost 75 year old’s nature, between choosing the Twister and wanting more ‘rapids’ during Tubing). The Twister is a speed boat that holds 20 passengers and goes quite fast, twists and turns in the water and does 360’s. An exhilarating thrill ride.If you are interested, I'm sure you can do a search on YouTube. The ride is about 30 minutes to Isla Passion and 30 back. We then spent about 3 hours on Isla Passion, which is an all-inclusive beautiful beach. The food was meh, the drinks were free, there were water toys and hammocks in the water, and at some point, they started organizing games (water balloon tossing, limbo, dancing). Remembering we aren’t really beach people, we nonetheless enjoyed the time on the beach, but LOVED the Twister.