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Oasis of the Seas - March 11-18th, my Sunny review!

newdinndo
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newdinndo

newdinndo

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Traveling with a family of 8, FIL, MIL, SIL, BIL, niece, nephew my husband and myself. My husband and I honeymooned on Oasis 8 years ago and this would be our second time back, everyone else hadn't been on a ship this size before and it was the niece and nephew's first time cruising.

 

We arrived in Orlando late Friday evening, rented a minivan from National, holed up in a hotel for the night in Orlando and would make our way to Port Canaveral in the morning.

 

Saturday morning, after some hotel breakfast 6 of us and our luggage slammed into the mini with impressive packing skills to meet up with the FIL and MIL in Port C - first on the itinerary was a stop at Ron Jon's Surf Shop - after unloading a mortgage payment we headed to our hotel for the night prior the cruise on Sunday.

 

We stayed at the Country Inn & Suites - the place was abuzz with cruisers leaving on Saturday cruises and those of us anxious to get the party started for our Sunday cruise. We spent the day at the pool and in the evening took Ubers to Grills Seafood for some dinner and to watch Saturday sail-away. The niece and nephew enjoyed watching the fisherman cut up their catches for the day, after sail-away we headed down to Fishlips for a nightcap - side note...the Buffalo Shrimp is no joke...spiciest food I have ever eaten. Tasty but can lead to trouble...Yikes

 

Sunday we were up early, the Hubs and I walked over to the port area to see the ship - it was massive, dwarfed all other ships in port. After some breakfast and repacking we ordered up 2 Ubers and headed to the port. Side note #2 - Ubers in Port C and Orlando sort of suck, we had to order multiple times as they would never show up...we finally got someone to get us to the Port but the same thing happened when we arrived back the following Sunday...Once in Orlando we switched to Lyft and didn't have any issues then. Uber needs to get their stuff together.

 

Embarkation and Check-in:

Once our Uber finally arrived, we were about 5 minutes from the port, we arrived quickly and had to wait in a car line about 10 minutes before we could drop our luggage with the porter. Check in was a breeze, the guides told us where to go, and the waiting area was filling up quickly with cruisers. We arrived around 10:30/45 and were on the boat by about 11:15/30. The process was incredibly smooth and well ran (for us anyway).

 

Ship:

I've read over and over from previous cruisers how Oasis basically needs to be stripped to the bones and re-done (that's how I interpreted it) and I didn't see any issues with the ship nor did I see all the wear and tear people spoke about. The funniest thing I read was how people were so grossed out by the carpet...OK.....what do you expect when 6000 people/week are trampling all over it...I'm confused why it matters, are you laying on it, eating your dinner off of it? I don't know...but I didn't find issue with anything. In fact, my SIL and BIL's room underwent maintenance when we were in Labadee, they replaced the carpet in their room - so there :). ;)clear.png?emoji-wink-1685:DI digress - for us, I didn't see much wrong with the ship in regards to needing it overhauled.

 

Ports:

St Martin - we didn't have anything reserved, our plans were to head to Maho Beach for the morning and then head back over to the boardwalk to shop/eat/drink. We shared a van with 2 other couples to Maho and during the ride our van driver showed us all of the destruction from Hurricane Irma, it's sad, incredibly sad to see such a beautiful (and a favorite Island of ours) just in destruction. Hotels are shuddered, homes are gone, boats blown onto land, tipped over in the water etc etc. It's going to take a while for them to rebuild and it breaks my heart to see. Maho beach has lost a lot of sand, so it gets crowded quickly. We spent a few hours there and headed back over to the boardwalk. After some Johnny Cakes and Caribe's it was time to walk back to the ship.

San Juan - HOLY COW IT'S HOT THERE.....Whoa. I have naturally curly hair and it was massive when we returned to the ship :) We did a self walking tour to the fort, we arrived about 8:30 having no clue it didn't open until 9, so it was all we could do to find some shade to dry off. I'm not a huge history buff (in regards to forts) so after walking around for a little bit we headed back into Old San Juan to get something to eat and drink. On our way we passed by the Cathedral and went in to look - it's beautiful - I highly recommend seeing it. We grabbed a quick bite to eat and headed back to the ship (we were only in port until 2, so it wasn't much time to see anything more).

Labadee - We spent the day at Columbus Cove - it rained off and on all day and remained cloudy for the whole day so we were in and out of the water. We didn't have any issues with the BBQ lunch, as we were perched right by the lifeguard stand and he was kind enough to tell us when it was ready. We walked back to the ship, with a quick stop in the shops for some souvenirs and back onto the boat.

 

Food:

Room service - we ordered breakfast the first few days, just breads, fruits and cereals are free, eggs and meat have a charge now - we managed to keep ourselves full until lunch without having to pay.

Windjammer - only ate there once for dinner - it wasn't that good, glad we only ate there once. Lunch - we only had 1 lunch here - it was fine, plenty of options, but was basically just buffet food.

Park Cafe - salads were great and refreshing from all the other heavy foods. The Krummelwick sandwich was tasty, as always, although I remember it being better the first cruise 8 years ago.

Sorrentos - the pizza needs more sauce....and needs to be cooked more, what is with the soft uncooked crust, leave it in the oven for another 5 minutes.

Wipeout Cafe - first...bless the hearts of those employees who work in there, about an hour after that place opens it's over run with kids, teenagers and just slobs....ice cream cones everywhere, plates all over, food on the floor....I would go berserk if I had to clean up after those people...Yikes. The food was a quick fix, burgers, hot dogs and fries, simple enough....I stayed away from the pizza because it was just gross.

MDR - we ate there every night but 1 and enjoyed it every single night. Weds night was the best meal I have had in awhile, we liked so many of the options we ordered 4 main meals between 2 of us - pigs for sure, but delicious as well! We did have an issue with the length of dinner - between the main course and dessert we waited on average 45 minutes, finally after the 2nd night we told Rodney (server) he needs to speed up the time in between, we won't be waiting that long anymore, on night 3 we were in and out of the dining room in 1 hour 20 mins..PERFECT. It remained quick the rest of the week (for a table of 8). Case in point, if you have an issue....ASK....it's more than likely a simple/quick fix.

 

Debarkation:

We decided to carry off ourselves. We left the ship about 7:45 am and walked right off. The line to go through security was long but kept moving the whole time. Without the issue of the Uber not showing up we would have been out of the Port within 30 mins, but we were at National to retrieve our van within an hour - quick and easy.

 

Bars/Drink service:

We had no issues. Francis on the pool deck was amazing - always hustling and knew all of our names within the first hour of us being on the ship. Many other bartenders knew our names as well, and it wasn't because we frequented them often, although I suppose it could have been, but many of them took the time to know our names and remember. It always blows my mind how they remember, I can barely remember what I wore yesterday. Dinner beverage service could be a little slow, but we rectified that by ordering a drink in the bar attached to the dining room before we would get sat, then we'd order another right away, so there was another on reserve.

 

Overall:

We had a great trip. The kids enjoyed the pools and hot tubs, we enjoyed the bars and drinks. We had 3 rooms overlooking the Boardwalk near the back of the boat, we opened our balconies and were able to move freely about all 3. Beatlemania was great, we watched it 2 nights in a row. Dazzles was fun the few nights we were in there and the music was great as well. I wasn't a fan of the cruise director, rarely saw him and when we did I just didn't think he had the energy needed for that size of boat. He was also brand new to the boat and islands. We had some of the best weather we've ever had on vacation that week, the cloudy skies on Labadee were actually a blessing! Like I said, fantastic trip, it was fun to be back on her after 8 years and make new memories with the family.

 

Sorry this is so long - I'm long winded....I'd be happy to answer any questions, if you have them!

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newdinndo

newdinndo

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Nice review! I went on oasis once in 2016 and will soon be returning in April this year! Question, which night was lobster night?

 

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

 

Lobster night is the second formal night - for our Itinerary it was San Juan (Thursday) since we were back on the boat at 2 pm.

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Cruisegirl6

Cruisegirl6

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Thank you nice review! I also was puzzled by the negative posts, I also got off the Oasis in November and didn't see any issues other posters have stated. We will be back on her in two and half weeks and in October and so glad to read your review and happy to know you had a wonderful cruise.

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Gatordad815

Gatordad815

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Thanks for the review! Loved reading it! We will be on our first family cruise in early May & very much looking forward to being on the Oasis!

 

If you don’t mind, I’d like to ask about the Country Inn & Suites as that’s where we have reserved. My impression is that, although not fancy, it’s recently renovated & perfectly adequate for one night pre-cruise. Was that your impression as well?

 

Also, you mentioned you walked to the cruise terminal to check it out. Is the walk easy? We will have our vehicle and we are parking at the hotel for the duration of the cruise. We will probably shuttle over, but it may be easier for my wife & kids (in car seats) & everyone else on the shuttle if I just drive them over and drop them off with all the luggage, park back at the hotel, then shuttle/walk/Uber back on my own. My hope is the shuttle will work easily for all 4 of us & our 800 bags, but I’m curious if it’s an easy walk just in case dad gets stuck with drop-off duty? Seems Uber isn’t a great option from your experience...

 

Thank you for the input!

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jcc1025

jcc1025

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Thanks for the review. We have sailed on her three times and loved every one. We have sailed 17 times and this is our favorite class. Regarding negative reviews, on these boards you will always find someone with negative comments. I am always amazed that they continue to sail. If this is not you ship, cruise line or vacation type, move on. Over the years I have run into so many people on ships that believe when they buy a ticket they act like they bought the ship. Sometimes things happen, no business does it on purpose, who works or owns a business that does not make mistakes and upsets a customer now and then? I always enjoy the journey and love the experience and this is our favorite class of ship.

 

 

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klb1978

klb1978

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Thanks for the review! Sounds like you had a fantastic cruise. We are doing this exact itinerary in September and are SO excited. Like you, we are cruising with a group. Many of which have never been on a ship like Oasis class. Also the first cruise that the kids will remember (my son is 5 now but was 7 months when we last cruised) Thanks for the suggestion on the cathedral in San Juan. I will add it to the list of places to checkout. Such a short stop there so I’m certain we will just do a walking tour as well. Did it seem like a fairly safe port? We’ve never been there before. I do wish we had more time there.

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newdinndo

newdinndo

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"If you don’t mind, I’d like to ask about the Country Inn & Suites as that’s where we have reserved. My impression is that, although not fancy, it’s recently renovated & perfectly adequate for one night pre-cruise. Was that your impression as well?"

 

Yes, I would say it's recently been renovated. The continental breakfast area was quite large and provided a decent selection. The rooms were nice, we were in a 1 bedroom suite with a pull out couch - which my husband and I had to sleep on for the night - thankfully it was only 1 night as I would say it was no larger than a full bed. But the room was nice with a Fridge, TV, Microwave and the bathroom was nice enough for us. The pool area is large and the lobby is nice as well.

 

"Also, you mentioned you walked to the cruise terminal to check it out. Is the walk easy? We will have our vehicle and we are parking at the hotel for the duration of the cruise. We will probably shuttle over, but it may be easier for my wife & kids (in car seats) & everyone else on the shuttle if I just drive them over and drop them off with all the luggage, park back at the hotel, then shuttle/walk/Uber back on my own. My hope is the shuttle will work easily for all 4 of us & our 800 bags, but I’m curious if it’s an easy walk just in case dad gets stuck with drop-off duty? Seems Uber isn’t a great option from your experience..."

 

After discussing the length of the walk last night with my Husband he thought maybe it took us 45 mins, where I didn't think it took but 30...so I guess it can be a little tough. The road you'll have to cross (on foot or in car) can get very busy and is large (4-5 lanes) so it can get a little dicey running across those lanes, especially when traffic is humming at about 60+ mph (we walked quite early before much traffic, but it would take an Uber a good 5 mins before he/she was able to pull onto the road later in the morning). We didn't have much luck with Uber - but I think a cab would be a good option, just might be a little more spendy. They do offer a shuttle, but make sure you reserve your spot as I would assume they fill up fast. Hope that helps?

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newdinndo

newdinndo

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Thanks for the review. We have sailed on her three times and loved every one. We have sailed 17 times and this is our favorite class. Regarding negative reviews, on these boards you will always find someone with negative comments. I am always amazed that they continue to sail. If this is not you ship, cruise line or vacation type, move on. Over the years I have run into so many people on ships that believe when they buy a ticket they act like they bought the ship. Sometimes things happen, no business does it on purpose, who works or owns a business that does not make mistakes and upsets a customer now and then? I always enjoy the journey and love the experience and this is our favorite class of ship.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

 

100% agree, who pays all that money over and over to just whine and complain! Doesn't seem worth it. Of course, not every little thing is perfect, but the good far outweighs the bad.

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newdinndo

newdinndo

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Thanks for the review! Sounds like you had a fantastic cruise. We are doing this exact itinerary in September and are SO excited. Like you, we are cruising with a group. Many of which have never been on a ship like Oasis class. Also the first cruise that the kids will remember (my son is 5 now but was 7 months when we last cruised) Thanks for the suggestion on the cathedral in San Juan. I will add it to the list of places to checkout. Such a short stop there so I’m certain we will just do a walking tour as well. Did it seem like a fairly safe port? We’ve never been there before. I do wish we had more time there.

 

We arrived in port about 7 am so bright and early and we left the ship shortly after that and walked (just two of us) to the Fort, we were in alley's, streets with no one else on them, areas that we for sure seemed lost and felt no issue with safety. In fact, we passed by many locals who smiled and greeted us. Everyone seemed friendly. With the ship as huge as it is, you'll run into fellow cruisers as well, and look just as lost as them...Nighttime might be a different story, but with the sun shining we had no issues. Hope you have a fantastic trip!!

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antnjen

antnjen

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Thank you for taking the time to review! We are travelling on Oasis for the first time in June, and I was getting a little worried after reading some of the other reviews. I guess some people are just wired to be too picky! My family is looking forward to an awesome week on what sounds like a beautiful ship!

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newdinndo

newdinndo

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Yeah an Oasis review that is positive! Thank you for sharing your cruise. Did the kids go to the kids club?

 

The youngest (8 or 9 <---yikes, I don't even know;p) did attend one activity for about an hour and said he had fun. It was funny because within that hour he made a few friends that when they'd see each other on the ship they'd say "hi" to each other. There were always a ton of activities that would go all hours of the day into the night - I would assume the kids that did attend, had a good time!

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Gatordad815

Gatordad815

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"If you don’t mind, I’d like to ask about the Country Inn & Suites as that’s where we have reserved. My impression is that, although not fancy, it’s recently renovated & perfectly adequate for one night pre-cruise. Was that your impression as well?"

 

Yes, I would say it's recently been renovated. The continental breakfast area was quite large and provided a decent selection. The rooms were nice, we were in a 1 bedroom suite with a pull out couch - which my husband and I had to sleep on for the night - thankfully it was only 1 night as I would say it was no larger than a full bed. But the room was nice with a Fridge, TV, Microwave and the bathroom was nice enough for us. The pool area is large and the lobby is nice as well.

 

"Also, you mentioned you walked to the cruise terminal to check it out. Is the walk easy? We will have our vehicle and we are parking at the hotel for the duration of the cruise. We will probably shuttle over, but it may be easier for my wife & kids (in car seats) & everyone else on the shuttle if I just drive them over and drop them off with all the luggage, park back at the hotel, then shuttle/walk/Uber back on my own. My hope is the shuttle will work easily for all 4 of us & our 800 bags, but I’m curious if it’s an easy walk just in case dad gets stuck with drop-off duty? Seems Uber isn’t a great option from your experience..."

 

After discussing the length of the walk last night with my Husband he thought maybe it took us 45 mins, where I didn't think it took but 30...so I guess it can be a little tough. The road you'll have to cross (on foot or in car) can get very busy and is large (4-5 lanes) so it can get a little dicey running across those lanes, especially when traffic is humming at about 60+ mph (we walked quite early before much traffic, but it would take an Uber a good 5 mins before he/she was able to pull onto the road later in the morning). We didn't have much luck with Uber - but I think a cab would be a good option, just might be a little more spendy. They do offer a shuttle, but make sure you reserve your spot as I would assume they fill up fast. Hope that helps?

 

Yes this definitely helps! The hotel will be just fine and I’ll definitely be vigilant about getting the shuttle booked for all 4 of us. Thank you for the reply!

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