Expanded Oasis cruise review: February 18, 2018

[Cindy fan]

Yes I’m sorry you got separated at security. That’s completely unacceptable and scary. I would complain.

 

 

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Yes out of all the things that went wrong on this trip that is the only one that really upset us. We complained in the survey but I still think I need to find a complaints contact for the port itself.

 

 

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[Cindy fan]

We leave for our first Oasis trip in 6 days. I am in a wheelchair and really appreciate your detailed review and all of the insights you have shared. We did get an accessible room on the boardwalk, as I need the roll in shower.

 

When we sailed on Allure at Christmas one year, we too had issues with security at Port Canaveral. They made my dear mother-in-law do a stip search when she forgot her medical card that indicated she had a metal hip replacement. She was 85. Embarrassing and scary for her. I was in my wheelchair and insisted on staying with her. They did not make me leave. The did make the rest of the family meet us later. We told them to meet us by the Christmas tree and not leave without us. They made me take out my portable oxygen generator, and I told them they could not turn it off as I needed it to breath - they still disconnected the battery to 'inspect' it - so I had had no air for about 5 minutes - which was not big deal, but frustrating. This did not happen on our previous cruises out of Canaveral, and never out of Tampa or Lauderdale. I'm all for keeping the ships safe, but keeping us safe from little old ladies with wheelchairs and oxygen and nebulizers and replacement hips may be going overboard.

 

 

 

Wow. That is horrible. I work in health care and I can only imagine how dangerous their practices could be for someone. Hearing this reinforces to me that I need to contact the port. Maybe if enough people complain it will help that person who could not go 5 min without oxygen. That is also why I felt so strongly about writing this report. Hopefully it will prepare someone else for what may happen. Thank you for adding your story. Many handicapped or older people they need to fix this. I understand the need for security, but....

 

 

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[Cindy fan]

Enjoying your review. I’m glad to hear they can make other meals gluten free as my aunt is traveling with me and she is gf.

 

 

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Tell her to speak up and ask whether something is listed or not. My husband loves cruising because they are so good with food allergies.

 

 

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[Cindy fan]

Talking about the hallways and pushing the wheelchair makes me think about Central Park. We loved having a cabin on 8. As others on cruise critic have recommended, we used Central Park to move from the back to front of the ship. It is easier than pushing through the hallways and less crowded than other floors.

 

I also enjoyed sitting in central park and we enjoyed listening to the live music there in the evenings. My parents spent a lot of time there because they enjoyed the music and it was easy for my Mom to take my Dad to and from without needing us to help. I ended up liking Central Park so much, I bought a central park t-shirt.

 

 

 

 

 

[KmomChicago]

Great review. We're on with a teen in a few weeks (your kids look a lot like her friends here at home). Thanks for including their perspective!

[Cindy fan]

Here are some more pictures from Sunday.

 

 

 

 

 

[Cindy fan]

And a few more...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[accio_7]

Cindy, I’m loving your review, keep up the great work [emoji106]

 

(Btw, the Forums app no longer supports uploads from your phone, download and install Tapatalk if you want to use this.)

 

 

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[sabyphoto]

Tell her to speak up and ask whether something is listed or not. My husband loves cruising because they are so good with food allergies.

 

 

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She is pretty good about speaking up. I also put it on our reservation but they don’t always see that.

 

You mention Central Park below we got a balcony in there for our trip looking forward to looking out at all the greenery and the music.

 

 

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[Cindy fan]

She is pretty good about speaking up. I also put it on our reservation but they don’t always see that.

 

You mention Central Park below we got a balcony in there for our trip looking forward to looking out at all the greenery and the music.

 

 

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We loved Central park and would have enjoyed a balcony there. Being on the same floor as Central Park gave us the best of both worlds though.

 

Our waiters did not have the information that my husband was gluten free despite our mentioning it multiple times. It did not matter, they treated him very well. He was also able to eat off the regular stations in the windjammer. He is anaphylactic to gluten, however he can have small amounts of contamination without worrying. He is actually as bad or worse from inhaled pasta cooking. I know others have to be more careful due to contamination. I don't know how well someone with that degree of reaction would fare.

[Cindy fan]

Cindy, I’m loving your review, keep up the great work [emoji106]

 

(Btw, the Forums app no longer supports uploads from your phone, download and install Tapatalk if you want to use this.)

 

 

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Thank you.

 

I am just doing pictures using my computer.

[Cindy fan]

Great review. We're on with a teen in a few weeks (your kids look a lot like her friends here at home). Thanks for including their perspective!

 

 

They enjoyed it, but surprisingly, it was not their favorite cruise. I think that had more to do with the ports than the ship however. There were also very many teens on board. They are good friends with each other and did not like being separated into two groups. They had liked the Eastern Caribbean ports more on our previous Caribbean cruise. My daughter particularly missed junk food. They enjoyed the freedom of having the coke cups, being able to go to Sorrentos or other snack venues, and made multiple root beer floats.

 

I took pictures of the teen guides, but they are not the best and I did not take covers and I am not sure which is the older teens and which is the younger.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Cindy fan]

Tuesday, my mom and I got up early, had our usual pre-breakfast at Park Cafe and then went to the port side, forward area of deck 14 to go to the sundeck. Turns out we would have been better off on deck 5 aft as they back in to Labadee. We still were able to take some nice pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Cindy fan]

As we left the ship and started down the pier, I realized I had forgotten the tickets for our bungalow and parasailing. Again, we made the mistake of separating and this time it was my own fault. The rest of my family continued to Labadee with instructions to meet me at the bungalows. The boat was not running at that point. However, they all thought we were in a cabana and went to the cabana area, only to be told we had no reservation. They want back to the entrance area to wait for me.

 

In the meantime, I had returned to the cabin, picked up the tickets, and disembarked. It had been a half hour and by then the boat was running. I decided to take the ferry to Colombus Cove to save time. The ferry ride was great and I went straight to the Bungalows. (as a side note, pushing a wheelchair on the path from the ferries to Colombus cove would be challenging as it is a cobblestone path) When I arrived at the bungalows, my family was not there. I went ahead and checked in for our bungalow and they do not assign them in advance. 5/8 were already claimed. I picked number 5 as it was close to a break in the ropes behind the bungalows. My Dad was able to go straight from the path to the bungalow through the break in the rope.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Cindy fan]

I checked to make sure we had water and towels and took a few pictures. There were 6 of us so I asked for more towels and water and received them without any difficulty.

 

At this point I was starting to worry about my family. Before that they might have just been slow/ at the bathrooms, but now it was getting late. I wondered if my family had gone to the cabanas, so the attendant for the bungalows radioed them. They were not there. He also radioed to check on the status of the parasailing as it was windy and the boats for parasailing were packed next to the cabana beach area. Parasailing was cancelled and we already had our refund credited to our account by the time we returned to our cabin.

 

I was just about to set out looking for them when my husband and daughter appeared on the trolley. They then left again to go get everyone else. It would be more than 45 minutes before they returned. Taking the trolleys is not fast as only the short trolleys go all the way to Colombus Cove. The whole family finally made it to the bungalows around 10:15.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Cindy fan]

We pretty much stayed at the bungalow and swam all day. We ate lunch right when it opened at 11:30 and had a very short line. Lunch and the bathrooms were a very short walk from the bungalows. My dad had to walk as the paths were not hard enough to push him in his wheelchair. Lunch was fine, nothing spectacular, but not bad. Large variety and we all found something we liked. By the time we left the lunch area, the line was long and there were no tables available.

 

 

 

 

[Cindy fan]

By mid afternoon, it was extremely windy and they had also closed the zip lines and at one point they pulled in some of the inflatables in the water park area. The cushions and swim mats were getting blown away and it was hard to keep the sand out of your face. The curtains in the bungalows helped a lot, but you had to hold them down. We started to get ready to leave the bungalows with about an hour to spare. They called us a golf cart to take us to the front. I wish we had ridden the tram. They crowded us all on plus another family. We were three per seat and we had to hold my dad's wheelchair on our lap. We gave the bungalow steward a tip, but we did not give him or the cart driver as much as we had planned on.

 

We stopped and took a few pictures at Adrenaline beach and bought a few souvenirs, before walking back to the ship. The waves were huge on the Adrenaline beach side and it was completely deserted. I would have liked to walk out to dragon's point, but we decided it was probably closed.

 

 

 

 

[nmstevens]

I wrote a review and while it became very long, it did not include everything I would like. I am going to attempt a longer, more detailed review here. I may or may not include pictures. I am not sure how to upload them. We did take over 100 on our cell phones.

 

Who did I travel with?: My husband (43, software test engineer), myself (44, SLP), my parents (seniors, Papa is in a wheelchair on vacation, but can walk shirt distances), my daughter (15, artistic, intravert), my son (13, obsessed with programming and playing video games)

 

We live in Western NY and flew to MCO from BUF Friday night before our cruise due to paranoia over the weather. The flight was fine and we actually arrived early. We were out of the airport and at dinner at Cheddar's within an hour. No trouble picking up our car from Hertz (there will be more on this later).

 

We enjoyed Cheddar's for dinner (chosen because my Father, a notoriously picky eater, loves chicken pot pie. He said it was the best chicken pot pie he has ever eaten.) The rest of us also enjoyed our dinners.

 

We then drove to the Residence Inn Cape Canaveral without any difficulty and checked into a very nice 2 bedroom suite. Perfect for my extended family.

Can't wait to read all of your report. I am also from Buffalo and leaving 4/7 for my first Royal Caribbean Oasis cruise.

[Cindy fan]

Can't wait to read all of your report. I am also from Buffalo and leaving 4/7 for my first Royal Caribbean Oasis cruise.

 

 

 

Hopefully I will finish before you go. During the week I don’t have much time.

 

Have a great time.

 

 

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[nmstevens]

I am excited to read this! I am from wny also ( Cheektowaga) and am cruising on Oasis for the first time in April. I have cruised with my Disney snob group 6 times so alittle nervous they don't have complaints.

[Midwestgal]

Loving this review and it’s making me want to go on Allure or Oasis . I am totally hooked on the Oasis class of ship after only one cruise on her.

[KmomChicago]

They enjoyed it, but surprisingly, it was not their favorite cruise. I think that had more to do with the ports than the ship however. There were also very many teens on board. They are good friends with each other and did not like being separated into two groups. They had liked the Eastern Caribbean ports more on our previous Caribbean cruise. My daughter particularly missed junk food. They enjoyed the freedom of having the coke cups, being able to go to Sorrentos or other snack venues, and made multiple root beer floats.

 

I took pictures of the teen guides, but they are not the best and I did not take covers and I am not sure which is the older teens and which is the younger.

 

 

 

Aww, thank you so much! This is the first time I have ever seen anyone post the teen programs! I really appreciate it. I have only the one and she is pretty quirky - the more kids to choose from, the better chance she'll find someone on her wavelength. Love your review and pics!

[Cindy fan]

I am excited to read this! I am from wny also ( Cheektowaga) and am cruising on Oasis for the first time in April. I have cruised with my Disney snob group 6 times so alittle nervous they don't have complaints.

 

 

Hello fellow WNY'er. Have you dug out from all the snow?

 

Hopefully they can go in with realistic expectations and allow themselves to enjoy it. I love Disney and love HAL and went into the cruise pessimistically. However, we had a great time. Were there issues?: yes. Do I prefer HAL?: yes. Did I have an amazing cruise?: absolutely.

 

Have fun.

[Cindy fan]

Loving this review and it’s making me want to go on Allure or Oasis . I am totally hooked on the Oasis class of ship after only one cruise on her.

 

Completely agree. I would go again in a heartbeat.

[Cindy fan]

I just finished sorting the pictures off my Mom's camera. She had a couple of good ones of the wind at Adrenaline beach.