TeamTrom’s Vacation Review: Oasis of the Seas (10.29.16) plus More

[TeamTrom]

Caleb is a cutie! :)

 

Palm trees.......my favorite kind of trees!

Its my sign that im close to parsdise!

 

Sent from my SM-G935P using Forums mobile app

[TeamTrom]

We tried out a place called Jimbo's Pit Bar B-Q. Pretty tasty if I do say so myself. If you like BBQ and are in the Lakeland/Auburndale area give this place a shot.

 

 

We ordered their ribs, chicken and about every side that they offer and came our pleasantly surprised with all of the meat. The sides are not anything special but their BBQ is pretty good in my book. I love a good homemade BBQ sauce. Give me something I haven't had before and you make me a happy camper. Just a sample of what we got.

 

 

Took the fam out for a nightly ride on their golf cart around the neighborhood and it was a perfect ending to a relaxing day. This weather is GREAT!!! Dad comes in tomorrow, looking forward to seeing him and Krisite.

[DChamp]

I still believe in the packing advice I got here, more than a decade ago:

 

Take half the amount of clothes you think you need, and twice the money.

 

As well as the one I learned in Boy Scouts (granted, pertains more to camping than cruising, but still):

 

Divide everything into three piles - first pile are things you need every day. Second pile are things you will need once. Third pile is things you probably won't need at all. Take only the first pile.

 

My thoughts are somewhat like yours except I have 2 piles.

 

Things I need

Things I want

 

I allow myself one or two small things from the bottom pile! *chuckling*

[TeamTrom]

T Minus 1 Day: Dad & Kristie Fly to Orlando/Packing Day Part II

We spent most of the day relaxing, not doing much, being lazy, kicking back or however you want to desciribe it. We are trying to build up some energy for the next 6 days. Have I mentioned that we are SO SUPER EXCITED. This is so crazy how far we have gone from when we booked this thing, it feels like yesterday. Dad and Kristie picked up our rental car at the airport today so we can travel down to Fort Lauderdale tomorrow morning. It almost took an hour of waiting in line to finally get it, Dollar Rent a Car is not my number one choice moving forward. With their flight arriving at 12:40 and our intentions to board by noon tomorrow we only had to book the rental for one day. We booked a standard SUV through Dollar Rent A Car with unlimited miles and our total came to $84.61. On a side note, for customer service purposes, I had to call 3 different numbers (Expedia, Dollar Rent A Car Customer Service and finally the Dollar Rent A Car location we will be picking up the rental from) to get my father’s name listed on the booking so that he could pick up the car that I rented in my name. Slightly frustrating but I suppose I am the one to blame for using a 3rd party to reserve and didn’t think ahead by booking it in his name in the first place.

 

The only event worth mentioning for today is dinner... With my month in the coming weeks and Grandma knowing that my favorite meal all year is Thanksgiving Dinner she planned on that for tonight with everyone together!!! It was delicious just ask Wifey...

 

 

Caught her off guard and she just might kill me for it ;)

Hopefully it is an early night because it is an early morning but ITS EMBARKATION DAY!!! So it is worth it. Cant wait to be on board and run into most of you there. Everyone get a great nights sleep and safe travels to anyone still getting to the ship

[preschool teacher]

I am not going on this ship, but checked out the review.....sounds like it will be a good one!!!! I'll be reading along....have a super time and happy Halloween!!!!

[TeamTrom Wifey]

:mad:

Edited October 29, 2016 by TeamTrom Wifey

[CruisinCJ]

Enjoy the day, I will be following your travels and waiting for your return. Next departure will be mine:):)

 

Carol

[divaofdisney]

Have an awesome trip! Have been and will continue to follow!! I know how excited you must be the day is finally here for you all! Enjoy every minute!!! :)

[Cre8tivemom2002]

Hello Team Tron and Wifey-

We are also following you on the Oasis next week. I love that you are as excited as we are (and I wish I had that great spreadsheet-must work on that). By now you are aboard and hopefully loving every minute. I hope you have wifi so you can keep us updated before we leave. ENJOY!

[cruise47]

Thanks for sharing and it is great to have grandparents on a cruise.

 

Please enjoy your cruise and that handsome young man.

[BlueHerons]

Love your review and thanks for reminding me of how lucky I am that I don't have to wait a year and nine months to see the beach!

 

Looking forward to the rest!

[Patsfan3]

I asked this somewhere else too but am covering all bases. I am trying to find out if they play Monday Night Football on the Oasis on the screens at the Aquatheatre. If anyone knows or is going soon please let me know.

Thanks

[gatour]

Only have been on an Oasis class ship in May, but my guess is that if there is show going on in the aquatheater which is most likely then Monday night football won't be shown. There are other venues on the ship that would be showing the game, most likely

 

 

I asked this somewhere else too but am covering all bases. I am trying to find out if they play Monday Night Football on the Oasis on the screens at the Aquatheatre. If anyone knows or is going soon please let me know.

Thanks

[Patsfan3]

I dont think there is a show in the Aquatheatre on Monday night

[Ourusualbeach]

I asked this somewhere else too but am covering all bases. I am trying to find out if they play Monday Night Football on the Oasis on the screens at the Aquatheatre. If anyone knows or is going soon please let me know.

Thanks

 

From the cruise compass from Oct 6th,

 

https://issuu.com/hochmania/docs/james_crowell_-_oasis_of_the_seas__?ff=true&e=2025714/39747768

 

They showed Sunday night football in the Aquatheatre at 8:30 (day 2 of cruise)

 

Monday night there was 2 Aqua shows (day 3 of cruise)

 

This could change come the beginning of November when Oasis switches from Saturday departures to Sunday departures out of PC.

[Coralc]

I asked this somewhere else too but am covering all bases. I am trying to find out if they play Monday Night Football on the Oasis on the screens at the Aquatheatre. If anyone knows or is going soon please let me know.

Thanks

 

If you aren't settled on Oasis...you should sail on Liberty. I think they had football 4 days and nights out of the 7. No sail away show with characters....just more and then more football. :rolleyes:

[Patsfan3]

From the cruise compass from Oct 6th,

 

https://issuu.com/hochmania/docs/james_crowell_-_oasis_of_the_seas__?ff=true&e=2025714/39747768

 

They showed Sunday night football in the Aquatheatre at 8:30 (day 2 of cruise)

 

Monday night there was 2 Aqua shows (day 3 of cruise)

 

This could change come the beginning of November when Oasis switches from Saturday departures to Sunday departures out of PC.

 

We leave on Sunday and our team has Monday night that week. So, there is some hope! One Thanksgiving we were on the Oasis and loved sitting outside watching football:) Thanks so much!

[Cruisin' Along]

I'm enjoying your TR. Hope you have a fantastic vacation! :)

[TeamTrom]

Day 1: Embarkation Day is Finally Here!!!

 

Bright(not so bright actually when we left) and early, we depart from my grandma's house, said goodbye to our son, and after a stop at our first 4-star meal of the trip, McDonald’s for breakfast (sorry no pictures!), we head towards the port. A little over 3 hours later we get our first glimpse of the ship we've been dreaming about for 584 days.

 

 

Dad and I drop off the ladies with our piles of luggage at the port and they wait for us to turn in the rental car and catch a ride from Dollar Rent A Car’s free shuttle service to meet them. Check in is super easy and quick. No lines(couldn't even use my almost meaningless Gold Priority Check in), no fuss. Wifey's passport expires this upcoming year and is still in her maiden name so we usually show them our marriage certificate in addition to it but they never ask for it this time so it sits unused in our documents folder. The woman hands her a sea pass card with her maiden name. Apparently, we aren't married during this trip, so plenty of Singles meet and greets for us ;) (we never had any problems regarding the name change, we just made sure to bring her passport instead of ID when getting off the ship). For those of you who don’t have a passport like myself, know that you don’t NEED one for your standard roundtrip cruise out of America. I have always used my Birth Certificate with absolutely no problems, but I must admit my first cruise had me very anxious wondering if I would be accepted or not. Worry not though because it is completely acceptable, just know that if you don’t make it back to ship at a port out of the country you will have a much more difficult time getting home, let alone back on the cruise. If you want to make a memory you will never forget then I bet you could make one by doing exactly that. If you do make an attempt at this PLEASE tell me about it, I could use a good laugh!!!

 

There's a short line to board the ship once checked in but it takes a total of twenty or so minutes from walking in for check in to finally get onboard the Oasis of The Seas!!

 

Well not really a boat, its a ship, and a gigantic ship at that but oh well lol

[TeamTrom]

We step right onto the promenade which is super crowded and bustling. Also it is worth mentioning that this area of the ship is in fact as amazing as everyone gives it credit for, take a look!

 

Below is the always famous Graffiti shot in the RP. It seems every review ever has a photo of this somewhere in it so I decided I must as well. A interesting note that I had not yet heard was that the name that was "written" in graffiti is "Genesis" which was apparently the original name or the project name prior to officially being name The Oasis. Pretty neat

I am disappointed with myself, for the next photo because I constantly make fun of everyone for having a photo of Starbucks from onboard in their review, and I made it a priority to not do this, but as I loaded this picture I noticed that I failed in this area so I figured what the heck, cant beat em then join em

 

After one quick walk through (and a stop at the bar to break into my first ever ultimate drink package!) we decided to avoid this area until after we set sail.

[TeamTrom]

We are starving and thanks to the suggestion from some fellow Cruise Critic friends we head straight to Park Café and boy was that a good suggestion!! It's a small place but after a short line we had a delicious roast beef sandwich and even found an open table! (hint: we would not have been able to say the same about the Windjammer)

 

Don't keep track how often(or not often) you receive a photo pre-eaten in some capacity lol I am pretty forgetful.

 

Funny story: we sit next to a group of friendly strangers who turned out to be on Cruise Critic who recognized us from our pictures in my review! The lady leans over "Are you the guy doing the Cruise Critic review?"

Why yes, yes I am. lol This was interestingly the only time this happened on the cruise, which quickly humbled me from feeling like a celebrity, to being back on earth. If you are said people please call yourself out, I failed to get your username nor do I remember your name. Sorry

 

Took this photo of the Promenade from our table, pretty cool how incorporated this ship is from area to area.

 

 

We then explore the ship a bit, skipping the Windjammer because, SURPRISE! It's beyond packed, there's a line past the elevators and the stairs one floor down. Impressive. Me and dad get some more drinks because we can, my wife nurses her first one which is okay by me because like Kristie she did not get the package. only dad and I are the alcoholics lol :p. Now is a great time to mention Ramesh. We met him very early this day at the Schooner Bar. He bartends there every night and he was our favorite of the entire week. It just so happens this bar was the closest one to our Cabin which really made it that much better. He was very personable and we enjoyed each and every conversation we had with him. He took great care of us, remembering our names from the first interaction. Go and pay him a visit.

[TeamTrom]

Hello Team Tron and Wifey-

We are also following you on the Oasis next week. I love that you are as excited as we are (and I wish I had that great spreadsheet-must work on that). By now you are aboard and hopefully loving every minute. I hope you have wifi so you can keep us updated before we leave. ENJOY!

 

Enjoy the day, I will be following your travels and waiting for your return. Next departure will be mine:):)

 

Carol

 

By now you are both on the ship and I am sure your having a fantastic time. I did have Wifi and while I would have liked to spent time on this during the trip I never found a moment where I rather would have done it then enjoy my vacation. Have a great week

[TeamTrom]

I asked this somewhere else too but am covering all bases. I am trying to find out if they play Monday Night Football on the Oasis on the screens at the Aquatheatre. If anyone knows or is going soon please let me know.

Thanks

 

We leave on Sunday and our team has Monday night that week. So, there is some hope! One Thanksgiving we were on the Oasis and loved sitting outside watching football:) Thanks so much!

 

I had full intention on watching SNF in Aqua Theatre being a huge Cowboys Fan but I never made it out of the On Air Club/sports bar when not in use for karaoke. I can say that the Aqua Screens were malfunctioning the one time we watched them, big sections of the screen blacked out as if pixels were out.

[TeamTrom]

I'm enjoying your TR. Hope you have a fantastic vacation! :)

 

Love your review and thanks for reminding me of how lucky I am that I don't have to wait a year and nine months to see the beach!

 

Looking forward to the rest!

 

Thank you to both of you and each and everyone one of you who also wished me a great vacation. I in fact did have such a good time I could never find time to post on here, but never fear, I will catch up soon.

[stickyshocker]

I think I recognize you from the shuttle line bound to Lost Kingdom Adventure Park Costa Maya, am I right?