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First time RC cruisers (hopefully live) Oasis review April 9-16, 2017

GadgetGod
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jjtt

jjtt

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Hi GadgetGod. We are taking our grandsons (7 & 6 year olds) on Oasis this summer. This will be their first cruise as well. Would like to hear about Adventure Ocean if your daughter goes there. Thanks for doing this review and enjoy Oasis.

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Biker19

Biker19

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The cruise planner was open for reservations at time of booking, over 6 months out (is that normal?)

It has become more the norm that reservations are available that far out - it used be closer in, like 90 days.

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GadgetGod

GadgetGod

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Thanks all- update forthcoming. Late night last night, flight was delayed and did not get to the hotel until close to midnight. Just heading to breakfast and meeting the shuttle.

 

 

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beccawes7471

beccawes7471

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Following, we just went on our 1st RCCL cruise 3/17 with our almost 8 year old daughter as well. We were on AOS out of San Juan. We have done Disney and HAL before with her, and also our now 17 year old son. She, and we, loved it, and everyone agrees we prefer RCCL over Disney and esp over HAL. Can't wait to here about your trip, thanks for taking the time to post!

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robyn206

robyn206

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Oasis was my daughter's first cruise as well, she had just turned 8, so very similar to your daughter, and she loved it! So much so, that we booked it again in 2014 (2 years after our first trip), and we are booked on Allure in July. I couldn't keep her out of the kids club, she loved hanging with the other kids so much, and having friends around the ship. Enjoy your family vacation! In my mind, as long as my daughter was happy, I was thrilled, and, honestly, I must not be a food snob because I've found the food enjoyable every time (I've been on Oasis 3 times, once without the child). All of the specialty restaurants and the MDR left me with zero complaints.

 

 

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Allyce21

Allyce21

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Have a great time! We literally just got off the Oasis about 5 hours ago! Had a great time!!! I'll also be giving a review of our trip in the next couple of days :)

 

 

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GadgetGod

GadgetGod

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Alright, will try to bring you up to date.

 

Travel from Connecticut to Orlando

Airfare at the 6 month mark was crazy high. $600+ RT/PP. I was checking Hartford and Providence, RI (under 90 minutes away). I was also checking Boston and New York (both about 2 - 2.5 hours or so away but also with a higher cost for parking, etc) I was hoping for sub $400/pp. As of 60 days out, I still had not purchased tickets, and I started to get worried, so just in case I reserved a rental car one way, as I figured that could be fun, and at only $250 a relative bargain. The rental car route we would still fly home. (driving down is more like vacation, driving home is no fun). But it turns out, at about 50 days out, the price of airfare dropped to $410 out of Providence and we were all set. We are using Jetblue down, and Southwest back. A week later, Southwest had a sale, so I canceled the return trip (on SW) and rebooked, savings another $40 per person, down to a final cost of $370/pp. Sweet. The Jetblue fare was the one bag included level (flex plus) so we can have 3 checked back down, and 6 back. I will pack a duffel for the return trip so we have more room coming home, and my garment bag is carry-on size.

 

So we met one final time with the house/pet sitter and showed her how to use house tech, alarm, AV, etc. Drove to Providence and did the standard park, shuttle, check in routine. The extra hassle of the longer drive is offset by just how easy this airport is. I have never had to wait more than a few minutes in security.

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GadgetGod

GadgetGod

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The night before - Airport Hotel

We were delayed with our flight and took off about an hour late.rough flight. We got our luggage and called for the hotel shuttle. Got to the hotel around midnight. I had already checked in on the Hilton app, selected our room and etc. I am gold level at Hilton, but at Embassy that does not mean much. Some free soda and chips. The shuttle tomorrow is scheduled for 10am. Not much to report. Decent hotel, hoping breakfast is up to normal Embassy standards. I like that they do made to order as opposed to the standard warming tray and muffins.

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GadgetGod

GadgetGod

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Boarding

So boarding was not as easy as it could have been. Got to the port around 11 am. Contrans was great, on time, comfortable, hassle free. I highly recommend them. We got in line and waited to board, it was about 75 minutes to get through security and another 30 minutes in the check-in line. We got on the gangway to board, and no movement, it was about 45 minutes from check in to get on the ship. Not sure why, my sister in law who was right with us up until they split us up so we could get the kids wrist band, was in her room before we were on the ship.

 

So we got on around 1:30 and went to the room, dropped off our carry-on bags and got lunch Park Cafe. Very good roast beef sandwich and the wife was very happy with her salad,

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GadgetGod

GadgetGod

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Room Review.

Though our cruise history is short, we have stayed in a wide range of rooms. On Carnival, we had an inside room, and spent little time in the room. On our HAL Transatlantic we had a suite, and enjoyed time on the balcony (we had breakfast on the balcony almost every day.) It has been long enough since our HAL cruise, so I don’t have the “I can never not get a suite again” feeling.

 

I have high hopes for the Boardwalk Balcony. It is fairly far aft (third in from the end) and has a decent view of the aqua theater and water. My SIL are on one side, and my MIL is on the other. We had the dividers opened between the balconies. The balconies are fairly small, smaller than I thought they were in my mind.

 

We got the ‘bed next to closet’ layout. I see what people mean, accessing the closet is a little hard. On the plus side, we are using the couch, so it is nice to have the “extra” room around the couch at least during the day.

 

The room is in decent shape, no complaints as to the condition, But the room is small for 3 people, with the couch made up there is no room. Very hard to move around at all, tried to write in bed, but no go. RIght now I am on the balcony writing in the semi dark on my daughters laptop, the keys do not light up so typing is a little hard. Squeezing between the desk and the couch to get outside was near impossible, I will give it a chance as we progress but my initial impression is I think we will need a bigger room in the future,

 

The cabin steward is great, Gave him $50 when I introduced myself and family. He has been very helpful, Extra pillows, wine glasses, ice, wine opener, etc. BTW he was able to open up the dividers between the balconies.

 

Bathroom

The bathroom is fine, limited storage, Glad I brought an over the door shoe holder for storage.

 

Storage

Room storage is limited. Not many drawer. We may have over packed. Lots of hangers which helped. Could use at least double the closet space.

 

Mattress

 

The Mattress is great, no complaints at all.

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GadgetGod

GadgetGod

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BTW, the port security metal detector must be cranked up to high, I go through metal detectors with some regularity with travel and court visits. I have the procedure down, and I tripped it at the port. First I figured it was the Amex, since it's metal. Nope, and back through I go, turns out it was my wallet, which has a RFID blocking layer built in. I have had that wallet in my pocket with dozens of scans, this was the first time it set off the detector.

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GadgetGod

GadgetGod

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Technology

 

 

I am a big fan of technology. When I travel I always carry at least some tech with me. In the months leading up to my cruise, there was a thread or two about people having problems syncing their apple watch or fitbits, and wondering about the use of chromecast/fire stick/roku on the ship. I suspect that the syncing issue had to do with people switching into airplane mode, and then forgetting to turn the Bluetooth and wifi radios back on. I am traveling with an apple watch, my wife wears a fitbit, and I always travel with an Amazon fire stick for TV. I will also play with a travel router to see if I can link the fire stick through the router, since that setup would be the same as you would use for a chromecast or Roku. So I will monitor and report on any syncing issues on the BT devices and also report on the use and setup of the travel router and Fire Stick.

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GadgetGod

GadgetGod

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Setting up a Fire Stick on the room TV

With the unlimited internet, my goal is to set up a Amazon fire stick in the in room TV. I travel with a fire stick because of the availability of a proxy screen which allows you to use it in hotel rooms that have splash screen prompts (like the requirement to enter your last name, room number, rewards #, etc.). I also brought a cheap universal remote if I need it. Here’s how that setup went.

 

I had a little trouble at first, the cheap universal remote i took, did not play well with the tv. I was able to get it to power up the tv and control the volume, but not the source control. I think is due to cheap nature and age of the remote, not the inability to control the tv.

 

Switching to plan two I unplugged the HDMI that RC was using and plugged in the amazon fire stick. Set up was the same as any hotel, just follow the screens like you would on your phone or computer when getting online. Within 5 minutes, I was able to stream movies. So on to the next test, movie server and chromecast.

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