Oasis review - Oct 15th.

[Hammergirl]

I am going to attempt my first review so please bare with me.

 

This was my husband and mine 2nd cruise, but the last one we took was in 2003, so we consider it a 1st cruise. My kids 12 and 7 were also with us and this was their first cruise. We were in a Royal Family Suite - room 12648. Before I write my review, let me first saw that we had an amazing time and booked the same room for the same time next year.

 

Embarkation was quick and smooth. Once we were all checked in we were shown a waiting area for sky and sea class suites. It was really much more than a sectioned off area in the waiting space. I believe there were a couple of nicer chairs in the middle, but otherwise it was the normal chairs. They also had a wedding group that was next to us in a sectioned off area where they were all kind of gathering. I was fairly upset because there were a couple of guys right next to me who used the F word every other word and my 12 year old son was sitting next to me. I glared at them a couple of times, but they never got the hint. We were not sitting there very long so it became a non-issue once we started the boarding process and we never saw them again. As a side note, the star class had a different area to sit in and it had really nice chairs. The only hiccup during boarding was their cameras were not working so they had to take our pictures at the podiums and that took a fairly long time.

 

We walked around the ship and explored while waiting for our room to be ready, instead of racing to a place to eat. We were all in awe so we did not want to stop to eat. The ship was beautiful.

 

 

More to come.......

[Hammergirl]

While wandering around we took the opportunity to stop in AO and get my daughter all signed up. I will say this was a very smart move and something that everyone should do if they plan on having their kids attend. There was one other family signing their child up and it was quiet and you were able to speak with the staff. It was a ZOO later on with people trying to get their kids signed up and other people trying to drop their kids off. We also stopped in the teen area to take a look around and speak with Zoe, one of the staff in that area.

 

Right at 1PM there was an announcement over the speaker that all rooms were ready, so we headed up to our room. Oh my gosh, this room was amazing. It has a huge master bedroom with plenty of space to put your clothes away. There is also a full bathroom in the master bedroom. Again, plenty of space to store stuff. There was a large counter and some storage on the front park of the bedroom. There was also a large living area with a couch, 2 chairs, a coffee table and a mini bar with a counter and some more storage next to it. The hallway had a large closet in it as well. There was a 3/4 bath in the main hall and a small bedroom off the main hallway. This room has 2 twin beds, a tv, a counter and also a closet. The balcony was nothing short of amazing. It was HUGE! It had a 6 person dining table, 2 lounge chairs, a small table and a hottub. Needless to say, we spent a ton of time on the balcony.

[Hammergirl]

THE SUITE LIFE:

 

I loved the room, don't get me wrong. But the suite "perks" is where things kind of were a disappointment.

 

I will start with Coastal Kitchen. I have already written a post about my disappointment with this place. I was so looking forward to it as I had heard so many great things. We were there for the first 2 days for breakfast and then we never went back for any meal. The service was terrible. Both times we waited forever for someone to seat us, even though there were several tables open. The hostess was just nowhere to be found and the staff just kept looking at us (and others) as they walked by. When we finally did get seated, we got our drinks in a timely manner but not once during either breakfast did anyone stop and ask us if we wanted more water or juice. At one point my son got up from the table and went over to the other side of the room and got his own drink. Food was good, but again, service was pretty poor. Our server was the same both days and she was not overly happy to be there and never stopped and asked us how our food was. It was just really disappointing, so we never went back.

 

We stopped up one day to ask the concierge to make us dinner reservations for Chops for our 15 year anniversary. He said he would call down and see what he could do (apparently they were very busy at the moment so he could not do it them) and that he would contact us and let us know. Never heard back from him, ever.

 

We did not use the suite lounge much at all as we are not big drinkers and it was quite a ways from our room. But we did stop up and borrow a game and grab a juice here and there. It was always very quite with only a handle of people in it.

 

We used the suite sun deck quite a bit - but this is another place where the service was lacking. While there was a bar and bartender on this deck, we never saw a waiter asksing anyone if they wanted something to drink. Not that we could not get up and get it ourselves, but when the decks below had waiters all over the place getting drinks for people it was a little odd that the suite deck did not have one. They also had a tray of bags of chips that were complimentary. I witnessed some guy walk up, take every single bag, throw them all in his bag and leave. I just shook my head.

 

We did use priority seating for the ice show and dive show and it was nice. Definitely a perk.

 

We also ordered room service from the dining room 2 nights and it was great. The food was good and eating it on the deck was amazing.

 

Priority boarding and departure was really nice. Not really necessary for boarding, but nice for departure. However, we did it at 8:40 and by that time there was a very long line to get off the ship and those people were NOT happy about us walking past them. One guy was actually yelling at us that "the line is way back there, can't you see the line?".

 

We are not really sure if the suite perks are actually worth the price you pay for a suite, but the room was fantastic.

[Hammergirl]

KIDS CLUBS:

 

My daughter was in the explorers room and she LOVED it. She was in there everyday and begged to go. We had to drag her out of there some days she was having so much fun. The staff was amazing and did a really great job with the kids.

 

My son had access to the teen area and he loved that as well. He thought it was pretty cool to be able to hang out in there and the dance club next door. He met several friends while on the cruise and they all hung out all week together.

 

Honestly before the trip, I never anticipated our kids using the kids clubs that much or liking them as much as they did. It was great and gave my husband and I lots of time on our own to reconnect.

[Hammergirl]

FOOD:

 

This is my biggest gripe about the cruise. Not only was the food not nearly as good as I thought it would be, the service was pretty bad in all placed except the main dining room. All servers and table bussers seemed to really hate their jobs and not many had a smile on their face.

 

Windjammer. My kids loved this place so we ate there quite a bit. For me, breakfast was horrible. Their scrambled eggs were absolutely disgusting. There was no real good pastries at all and really nothing I ate was really all that good. Dinner and lunch were a bit better, but not really good by any means. the only night they had good deserts was the night they had all the cakes out. The red velvet was very good. The service in windjammer was the worst on the ship, IMO. The waiters would let the plates pile up on your table and mostly waited until you were done eating and getting up to come over and clear your plates. Plates really start to pile up when you have 4 people at your table. One time all week someone came and asked me if I wanted something to drink other than the juice and water they served.

 

Main dining room. We only ate there once and it was fairly good. I had the filet and it was very good, but of course cost me $16.95. The rest of the food I ordered was not that good, including the molten cake desert. My husband seemed to like his meal. Service was good here.

 

Sorrentos. This was a good place to stop for a slice of pizza. My son must have eaten about 15 pizzas on his own by the end of the week. It got very crowded at times and you would have to go to the area near starbucks to find a table.

 

Wipeout cafe. I only had the fries and ice cream here and both were very good. My family ate here a lot and they seemed to like it. The ice cream was really good, but only open from 11:30 - 5:30. There is also another ice cream place in the pool area, but that always had lines and had on and off hours as well.

 

Johnny Rockets - we got a milkshake here one night and it was really good. We also went here to eat on our last night and the cheese fries were really good. I did not care for my burger all that much. My daughter got a grilled cheese and really liked it and my husband got some other sandwich and thought it was good. However, both my husband and I did not feel good after this meal and it was the only time during the week we did not feel good after eating.

 

We did not eat at any of the specialty restaurants.

Edited October 28, 2016 by Hammergirl

[cincicruisers]

Thanks for sharing your review with us.

[stickyshocker]

What time did you arrived at the pier? Just curious if we would partake the priority boarding or just sleep in. ( btw boarding this Saturday)

[easyboy]

Thank you for your review.

[Hammergirl]

What time did you arrived at the pier? Just curious if we would partake the priority boarding or just sleep in. ( btw boarding this Saturday)

 

 

We arrived at around 11. We said next year we will sleep in. But this was FLL and next year will be Port Canaveral so it might be a totally different ballgame.

 

 

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[Cruise a holic]

Did you eat in the speciality restaurants? Chops, etc? I really enjoyed them. We had a better experience in the suite restaurant on the Allure and Quantum, and hope to also on the Harmony. We found the buffets much too crowded. We were able to get nice fresh omelets in the Suite dining room.

 

Sorry that you had a few issues, but since you booked again, probably not serious.

 

Thanks for sharing!

[Hammergirl]

Did you eat in the speciality restaurants? Chops, etc? I really enjoyed them. We had a better experience in the suite restaurant on the Allure and Quantum, and hope to also on the Harmony. We found the buffets much too crowded. We were able to get nice fresh omelets in the Suite dining room.

 

Sorry that you had a few issues, but since you booked again, probably not serious.

 

Thanks for sharing!

 

Yes - don't get me wrong we had a fantastic time, which is why we booked again. All the positives highly outweighed the negatives.

 

We did not eat at any specialty restaurants. We tried, but concierge never got us our one reservation we requested. We ended up eating in the main dining room that night so it worked out fine. When paying $8000 for the cruise, I have a really hard time paying extra for eating in a restaurant.

[Hammergirl]

Continued review.....

 

 

Shows - we saw the ice show and the dive show. Both were absolutely fantastic. We were able to catch the dive show again on the last night, but from up near the wipeout café. It was really cool to see it from that point of view.

 

Activities - if you get bored on this ship, there is something wrong with you. There is something to do for everyone and seemed like something was going on all the time. My husband and son did the zipline and while my son said never again (because it was scary) he was so glad he did it. There are plenty of pools and while they seemed busy, they never seemed overly busy. There was always a chair to be found somewhere. It might not be right next to the pool, but you could always find one. It poured almost the first 2 complete days of our cruise and there was still always something to do.

 

Casino - I am not a big gambler, but we went to the casino for a little bit almost everyday. It does smell like smoke in there quite a bit, but they had a non-smoking section as well that was pretty smoke free.

 

Central Park - it was very peaceful here. We stopped in the few shops and sat and enjoyed the quiet a few times. The only time I saw it super busy was the 1st day when people were lined up to get their roast beef sandwiches.

 

Boardwalk - very cool place, but very load. I would not want a balcony overlooking the boardwalk. My kids thought the carousel was cool and my daughter rode it many times. My husband and daughter ate at the hotdog place and thought it was pretty good.

 

Royal Promenade - this area was very cool, but could get very congested. They always seemed to have sales and that really clogged up the area. They would place all these items right in the middle and so it was difficult to get by people sometimes. There was always some "gotta have it" sale going on. I did not buy anything, but people seemed to be going crazy over the stuff.

[Ken Greco]

I was on the same cruise with you and I agree the Windjammer needs to be improved. But I found our service in the MDR was excellent. They prepared a special meal for my table of Indian food and make a beautiful cake that is a tradition with my family. I saw the production of "Cats" and loved it; but then again I am a New Yorker and love Broadway. I did not see the negatives you dealt with; they service around the ship was great for me.

[Ken Greco]

One more comment: Go and visit Central Park at night. It takes on a amazing look like you are walking thru a beautiful small town in Europe; love the live birds that have found a home there

[Hammergirl]

I was on the same cruise with you and I agree the Windjammer needs to be improved. But I found our service in the MDR was excellent. They prepared a special meal for my table of Indian food and make a beautiful cake that is a tradition with my family. I saw the production of "Cats" and loved it; but then again I am a New Yorker and love Broadway. I did not see the negatives you dealt with; they service around the ship was great for me.

 

Our service in the MDR was good as well. They food was eh. My steak was really good and cooked perfectly, but the rest was not to my taste. Our only really bad service was in Windjammer and the Coastal Kitchen. It just seemed the servers at most of the places were not happy. Most everyone else we encountered on the ship was very pleasant. Maybe an issue with that department on this particular ship?

[Hammergirl]

One more comment: Go and visit Central Park at night. It takes on a amazing look like you are walking thru a beautiful small town in Europe; love the live birds that have found a home there

 

It really is a beautiful place and so peaceful. I plan to visit it more on the next cruise.

[stickyshocker]

We arrived at around 11. We said next year we will sleep in. But this was FLL and next year will be Port Canaveral so it might be a totally different ballgame.

 

 

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Im also wary of the part where you disembark and get rude remarks from everyone, i thought Royal have a seperate line for priority?

[Hammergirl]

Im also wary of the part where you disembark and get rude remarks from everyone, i thought Royal have a seperate line for priority?

 

They had the line sort of split, but you walked right by the people standing in line. It was very uncomfortable, IMO but I don't know any other way for them to handle it.

[Cruise a holic]

Yes - don't get me wrong we had a fantastic time, which is why we booked again. All the positives highly outweighed the negatives.

 

We did not eat at any specialty restaurants. We tried, but concierge never got us our one reservation we requested. We ended up eating in the main dining room that night so it worked out fine. When paying $8000 for the cruise, I have a really hard time paying extra for eating in a restaurant.

 

I find that it is best to book your specialty restaurants yourself as early as you can. We already booked specialty restaurants for our March cruise. We took a package and prebooked a time for each. I believe they tell you which restaurants once you board. You can make changes once on board. We also booked all of the entertainment already-probably not necessary if you are in a suite, but we did. Thanks for the information. I agree that when you spend $8000, you shouldn't have to book specialty restaurants, but they are better! We also like breakfast (no charge) in Johnny Rockets.

 

Enjoy!

[justus3!]

You said you have a 12 year old son that went to the camp. My son is also 12 and we are booked for Dec, just wanted to know what was the age group of the kids he was put with and did the have like a gaming system for them to play in there? Also did you let him check his self in and out or did he just stay until you picked him up? Thank you for your help with this! Great review :)

Edited October 29, 2016 by justus3!

[Hammergirl]

You said you have a 12 year old son that went to the camp. My son is also 12 and we are booked for Dec, just wanted to know what was the age group of the kids he was put with and did the have like a gaming system for them to play in there? Also did you let him check his self in and out or did he just stay until you picked him up? Thank you for your help with this! Great review :)

 

So for the ages 12-17, they have a teen center, if you will. It is a large room that has 2 parts to it. One side they call the Library and there are seats to sit and hang out. There is also a computer. On this side of the room there is also a music room where kids can play instruments. Another part of the room has lots of tvs with all different kinds of video game consoles. Then the last part of the room (there is another entrance to this part of the room) has risers and it is where they play lots of games together as a group. Right next door there is Fuel, the teen dance club. Every night from 11-1am, they had a dance party.

 

The teen club is very different than Adventure Ocean for the younger kids. The kids in the teen center come and go as they please. There is no signing them in and out and no staff member keeps track of where they are. So that is something you need to be comfortable with if your child goes there. There were times were he and his friends would go to Sorrentos and grabbing a slice or two of pizza.

 

Having the Wifi package was a must us for as we could text and Facetime our son to find out where he was, if he was not in the teen room.

 

Here is a great video we found that really details all about the teen center. Zoe is still on the ship and you can see her doing all sorts of things, including being in the teen room.

 

http://www.cruiseweek.tv/oasis-of-the-seas

Edited October 29, 2016 by Hammergirl

[justus3!]

Thank you for the info. I heard something about the internet package being half off if you order it before the cruise, we will have to do that. We have a Boardwalk room so I hope it in not to noisy once it gets late 😜

[justus3!]

Is there anyway you could post a couple of the activity papers that they gave you each night with some of the thing the kids had going on in there groups to give us an idea or you can email them to me, if you can post them?

[Hammergirl]

Is there anyway you could post a couple of the activity papers that they gave you each night with some of the thing the kids had going on in there groups to give us an idea or you can email them to me, if you can post them?

 

 

I did not take any pictures....but I remember some of them. Which group are you looking for? Teens or explorers?

 

 

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[justus3!]

Oh that's fine then. I just wanted to see what activies they had them doing that my son may be interested in. I will look around on here and see if anyone copied the nihtly papers and posted them to get a look at ;)