Family of Five Spring Break on Oasis.

[VPIcruiser]

We have 3 kids, 12 yo boy, 11 yo girl, and 7 yo boy. We have been fortunate to cruise 1-2 years. It was our youngest’s ninth cruise. We were on Allure last spring break, but this was our first time on Oasis.

 

We stayed the night before at the Courtyard, which was comfortable. When the man dropped off the rollaway bed, he apologized because it had been stored folded over. But, no worries, it was fine for our 12 yo.

 

We got to the terminal around 10:30 and after a short wait to get into the parking garage, check in was quick. This was the first cruise in long time where we had to sit and wait to board the ship. We probably waited about 20 minutes.

 

Once on board we headed to Park Cafe. We all really enjoyed the food there. We ate. several lunches and breakfasts there.

 

After lunches, the kid did the FlowRider.

 

My husband and I had the deluxe beverage package. He went every morning at 7 to get us speciality coffee at Park Cafe. Then we had a couple of beers during the day, wine with dinner and sometimes a jalapeño margarita.

 

This is a Stella but the bartender, at the Flowrider bar, put it in this silly glass (well, plastic).

 

With the 3 kids, we have always stayed in a family ocean view, but this year we graduated to two balcony staterooms. and loved them. They were not connecting, but the steward opened the balcony door for us. My husband ordered baby monitors for the cruise. We could hear everything in the kids’ room and we could talk to them by pushing a button on our monitor.

 

Our steward was awesome. He did a great job all week. The regular size balcony room seemed tight with two twin beds and the sofa bed made up, but the kids didn’t mind. They fell asleep really quickly every night since they were going to bed until after 10.

 

I think one of my favorite things this cruise was reading my book on the balcony.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[lbjen]

Were the baby monitors on the WiFi?

[VPIcruiser]

Were the baby monitors on the WiFi?

No, they just worked because the cabins were near each other (side by side).

 

My husband did buy the Voom package for the week. He thought he might check in with Work, but he didn’t. He just surfed the internet.

[VPIcruiser]

The kids started most days on the Flowrider. The older two did a group lesson on the first morning. With 8 people in the group, they didn’t get very many turns. Our oldest was able to join the advance standup sessions so he was motivated to get up early in the mornings and go.

 

On the first sea day, it was the higher tier welcome back party at the aqua theater. It was nice because we saw some of the performers from the aqua show and their amazing tricks. I am glad we went to the party because our aqua show was canceled because of rough seas and we missed the rescheduled show.

 

On two afternoons, my husband and kids went ice skating. The Oasis has a great way of doing the sessions. You can show up when they start handing out tickets and request your preferred time.

 

 

We enjoyed seeing the ice show one night. The headliner show was Wild and James, comedians/jugglers. Our boys really loved it. I probably enjoyed it more because I was sitting between the boys and they were laughing so hard. They continue to quote the one comedian who was pretending to be the captain.

 

One thing we all loved was all the live music on the ship. The bands were all really good and we enjoyed listening to them in the various venues.

 

The younger two went to kids club two afternoons and I think 3 nights. The 12 yo went to the 12-14 yo group the first night. He enjoyed playing dodge ball but he didn’t go back except for one other night.

 

 

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[lbjen]

No, they just worked because the cabins were near each other (side by side).

 

My husband did buy the Voom package for the week. He thought he might check in with Work, but he didn’t. He just surfed the internet.

 

Thanks, just wanted to double check, we had those kind of monitors when our kids were younger, I wasn’t sure if they worked with all the metal walls!

[LuCruise]

Following along. We were on Allure 2 years ago (that long ago already?) . Amazing ship! Looking forward to reading more.

[Clarea]

Thanks, just wanted to double check, we had those kind of monitors when our kids were younger, I wasn’t sure if they worked with all the metal walls!

They would probably work through one set of metal walls, but not much more!

[lbjen]

They would probably work through one set of metal walls, but not much more!

 

That’s what I figured!

[VPIcruiser]

Our first port was St Martin. When our youngest was 13 months, we were looking for a boat trip to do with all the kids and we found Random Wind through Cruise Critic. We loved it so much that we did a second day sail with the them the next year. Our youngest was their youngest kiddo to do the trapeze swing when he was 25 months old. Last year when we were back in St Martin again, we sailed with them for a third time. They lost that beautiful sailboat in the hurricane, but now they have an awesome catamaran.

 

The week before Easter was their first week back in business and we had an awesome day.

 

We jumped, dived, and flipped off the side of the boat and used the kayak and standup paddle board.

 

We enjoyed their lunch of curry chicken, rice, and salad. They served cookies for dessert. The adults enjoyed some adult beverages while the kids tried Shirley Temples and virgin daiquiris.

 

At the second stop almost everyone tried the Tarzan swing. One of the ladies onboard was 78 and she broke the women’s age record for the swing.

 

Our kids are disappointed that our cruise next year doesn’t include a stop in St Martin.

 

There were a few local people on the catamaran with us (captain, first mate, and another guy just out for a fun day). It was fascinating (and sad) to hear their stories of the hurricane and aftermath.

 

Diane, the owner of Random Wind, was onboard also. We first meet her on our first two trips with them, when she and her kids were living on the sailboat. She and her kids now live in VA but she was on the island helping to relaunch the business. She said most of their business before the hurricane came from resorts, but the resorts haven’t reopened yet and all their business is now from the cruise ships. Everyone onboard with us was from the Oasis.

 

 

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[toyman55]

Thanks, just wanted to double check, we had those kind of monitors when our kids were younger, I wasn’t sure if they worked with all the metal walls!

 

The walls between cabins are not necessarily metal. Most baby monitors work on the same frequencies as wireless phones. I think they were the 49, 902 MHz, and 2.4ghz frequencies. So their range is about the same as a wireless home phone. More than enough for cabins fairly close to each other.

 

When we go on a ship, we use the FRS and GMRS radios to keep in touch since cellphones don't work out of range of cell towers. They can communicate pretty much between any two points on a ship. One time, we were on the ship and the kids were on shore on an island excursion, about 15 - 20 miles from the ship, and we were able to talk to them.

[mensch1836]

Hi, enjoy your review,

When do they hand out tickets for ice skating and does everyone have to be there who wants to skate.

[storknurse13]

We are a family of 5 sailing in October on Allure. Great to hear your adventures and reports on excursions!

[JustmySyd]

The kids started most days on the Flowrider. The older two did a group lesson on the first morning. With 8 people in the group, they didn’t get very many turns. Our oldest was able to join the advance standup sessions so he was motivated to get up early in the mornings and go.

 

On the first sea day, it was the higher tier welcome back party at the aqua theater. It was nice because we saw some of the performers from the aqua show and their amazing tricks. I am glad we went to the party because our aqua show was canceled because of rough seas and we missed the rescheduled show.

 

On two afternoons, my husband and kids went ice skating. The Oasis has a great way of doing the sessions. You can show up when they start handing out tickets and request your preferred time.

 

 

We enjoyed seeing the ice show one night. The headliner show was Wild and James, comedians/jugglers. Our boys really loved it. I probably enjoyed it more because I was sitting between the boys and they were laughing so hard. They continue to quote the one comedian who was pretending to be the captain.

 

One thing we all loved was all the live music on the ship. The bands were all really good and we enjoyed listening to them in the various venues.

 

The younger two went to kids club two afternoons and I think 3 nights. The 12 yo went to the 12-14 yo group the first night. He enjoyed playing dodge ball but he didn’t go back except for one other night.

 

 

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Thank you for the wonderful reviews and photos. We are taking our grandchildren girl 11 and boy 7 to Oasis in July - Western Caribbean. Do we need to book the flowrider? our 7 yearss old boy is small, about 47" is he allowed on the flowrider. Do we need to book online all the activities like flowrider, ice-skating and broadway shows?

[topnole]

They would probably work through one set of metal walls, but not much more!

 

A couple years ago my folks had an aqua suite and we were in a BW balcony (3rd or 4th) down and we could leave the monitor in their foyer with their door open and it worked. It is a higher end Motorola monitor so maybe that makes a difference.

[lbjen]

What a great report from St Maarten, it’s good to see businesses up and running again. Hopefully the resorts will be back soon too.

[Grandma Dazzles]

Thank you for the wonderful reviews and photos. We are taking our grandchildren girl 11 and boy 7 to Oasis in July - Western Caribbean. Do we need to book the flowrider? our 7 yearss old boy is small, about 47" is he allowed on the flowrider. Do we need to book online all the activities like flowrider, ice-skating and broadway shows?

Your grandson is not tall enough for the flow rider. RC website says 52" to use a body board and 58" to use flow board.

[VPIcruiser]

Hi, enjoy your review,

When do they hand out tickets for ice skating and does everyone have to be there who wants to skate.

Hi. They will post it in the cruise schedule what time they start handing out ice skating stickers for the day. Not everyone has to be present to get the stickers.

[VPIcruiser]

Before, the ship left St Martin, the cabin made an announcement warning everyone that the seas would be a little rough that night. The aqua show was canceled that night and the ship was rocking somewhat in the waves. I kept waking up thinking out excursion in San Juan would be canceled, but it wasn’t. We had booked privately with Caribe Aquatic Adventures.

The boys and my husband were planning to snorkel but it was too cloudy to see anything. My daughter and I did scuba but it was “a low visibility drive”. Karen was great though and it was a great refresher drive for my daughter and me. Here she is holding a little starfish, called a serpent starfish.

We did see lots of fish and this spiny puffer.

 

We enjoyed our balconies while sailing away from San Juan.

 

 

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[VPIcruiser]

I meant to mention in the previous post that we enjoyed talking to Karen and husband about all their years living and working in Puerto Rico. He was a commercial diver and had some fun stories. It was also unbelievable to hear them talk about life after the hurricane. They were without power for five months. So even though the water conditions were not what we had hoped for, it was still a nice 1/2 day spent with Karen and her husband.

 

 

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[VPIcruiser]

Thank you for the wonderful reviews and photos. We are taking our grandchildren girl 11 and boy 7 to Oasis in July - Western Caribbean. Do we need to book the flowrider? our 7 yearss old boy is small, about 47" is he allowed on the flowrider. Do we need to book online all the activities like flowrider, ice-skating and broadway shows?

 

You do need to book all the shows online. You can probably do that now.

 

You can book flowrider lessons for the older one, but she doesn’t have to do a lesson. She can just go when it is open and wait in line.

[JustmySyd]

Your grandson is not tall enough for the flow rider. RC website says 52" to use a body board and 58" to use flow board.

thank you

[JustmySyd]

Thank you. Tried online but not open for booking yet.

[VPIcruiser]

We booked this cruise in November and could only get my time dining. On day one, I went to the dinning room and asked for first seating. I had to wait a few minutes for my turn. Thankfully, we were able to switch to early seating on deck four. This worked out great for us. We love having early seating and the same servers all week.

 

We have eaten at the speciality restaurants in the past, but this cruise we decided to just eat in the MDR for dinner.

 

We had great service everywhere on Oasis. The dinning room staff did an awesome job. I was not always excited about the menu selections, but we enjoyed all the food we ordered. I think my favorite entree was the vegetable korma.

 

Our kids won’t eat from the kids menu. They love ordering and eating off the main menu. One night out youngest ate two entrees: the tiger shrimp and the lamb chops. He ate every bite off both plates. Our daughter ordered seconds of the tiger shrimp and ate everything.

 

The kids were disappointed about no cold soups. Our oldest told our waiter that he missed the cold soups and for nights 3-7 there was a cold soup at the table for the kids as soon as we sat down.

 

We ate lunch in the main dining room all three sea days. The menu is the same all sea days but that meant the kids ordered strawberry bisque all three days. The buffet for lunch does change and it was very good.

 

I didn’t eat in the windjammer this cruise. The one day my family ate there, I went to the Dog House.

 

 

I never made it to the gym this cruise, but we always took the stairs. It is often faster to take the stairs and my husband and I like the exercise. Hopefully, the stairs helped me burn off all extra calories I was consuming. The kids accept that they have to take the stairs. They took a glass elevator once for the fun of it.

 

We were on deck 8 so everything seemed pretty convenient to walk up or down to.

 

One afternoon, my husband, oldest son, and I walked two miles around the promenade deck. I love the view from the back of the ship.

 

 

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[Woodmnky]

Sounds like a good time. Thank you for sharing.

 

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[kelleigh229]

We booked this cruise in November and could only get my time dining. On day one, I went to the dinning room and asked for first seating. I had to wait a few minutes for my turn. Thankfully, we were able to switch to early seating on deck four. This worked out great for us. We love having early seating and the same servers all week.

 

We have eaten at the speciality restaurants in the past, but this cruise we decided to just eat in the MDR for dinner.

 

We had great service everywhere on Oasis. The dinning room staff did an awesome job. I was not always excited about the menu selections, but we enjoyed all the food we ordered. I think my favorite entree was the vegetable korma.

 

Our kids won’t eat from the kids menu. They love ordering and eating off the main menu. One night out youngest ate two entrees: the tiger shrimp and the lamb chops. He ate every bite off both plates. Our daughter ordered seconds of the tiger shrimp and ate everything.

 

The kids were disappointed about no cold soups. Our oldest told our waiter that he missed the cold soups and for nights 3-7 there was a cold soup at the table for the kids as soon as we sat down.

 

We ate lunch in the main dining room all three sea days. The menu is the same all sea days but that meant the kids ordered strawberry bisque all three days. The buffet for lunch does change and it was very good.

 

I didn’t eat in the windjammer this cruise. The one day my family ate there, I went to the Dog House.

 

 

I never made it to the gym this cruise, but we always took the stairs. It is often faster to take the stairs and my husband and I like the exercise. Hopefully, the stairs helped me burn off all extra calories I was consuming. The kids accept that they have to take the stairs. They took a glass elevator once for the fun of it.

 

We were on deck 8 so everything seemed pretty convenient to walk up or down to.

 

One afternoon, my husband, oldest son, and I walked two miles around the promenade deck. I love the view from the back of the ship.

 

 

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Our kids never order from the kids menu either. On our last cruise I think they ordered 2 caprese salads each and escargot. But then again caprese salad was their choice for Christmas breakfast as well!

 

 

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