A First Time Cruiser’s Review of Oasis! Spring Break Cruise 4/1-4/8

[lazydayz]

What a lovely family and a fun review. We loved the Oasis last September. And really, no lines!

 

Did a spring break cruise this March on Navigator with our three granddaughters and we found all of the lines. Luckily, ship was smaller than Oasis and the lines were not unbearable.

[FirstAnthem]

We looked all around the craft market they had there to get an idea of what we wanted, and planned on buying things after our excursion. The people were so friendly and nice, happy to chat and let us look around. My kids loved shopping in this atmosphere, with everyone’s crafts and wood carvings and souvenirs all laid out.

 

Here is Sophie buying a wooden elephant. Garfield, our new friend in Jamaica, is carving her name into it. Jack bought a wooden sword from him and got his name carved too. This was after the excursion, but I thought I’d include it here.

 

There were a lot of people on the excursion. We filled a huge bus and they had to get another bus for the overflow. Not our favorite atmosphere, but I get the sense that’s what ship sponsored excursions are like.

 

When we chose river tubing and adventure falls, we really wanted the adventure falls part of Good Hope Estate, but there wasn’t a way to just go there and do what you wanted. There is so much to do there! You had to pick an all day pass, or zip lining, or river tubing, and the adventure falls was included in that. Adventure falls is a huge, warm swimming pool, with a water slide and waterfalls and this beautiful set of low waterfalls that you can climb up and over to get to the big falls. I knew my kids would love this part. But the river tubing had to come first! Which was totally fine—we just really wanted time for both....you see where this is going?

 

The bus ride was awesome. Just driving through Jamaica, seeing farms and buildings and homes and the vegetation was so eye opening. And our driver was really funny, talking about the narrow roads, and if we get uneasy, please don’t change his name to Dear Jesus or Oh Crap. “My name is Leo!” The kids got a kick out of him.

 

Good Hope Estate is so beautiful. I wanted to stay there all day.

 

They got us set up with locker rental. I opted not to bring my phone on the tubes, but it was so calm I totally should have. So I have no pics of the actual tubing. We got all our stuff put away, and I sprayed almost an entire bottle of full test bug spray on the kids. Pre-cruise, when I was reading our paperwork, I spotted the word Zika. Uh, what now? Zika? I’m usually a natural product type of mom, but my kids were covered in DEET for this adventure. Hopefully the twitching will stop soon. ; )

 

The guides got us our life preservers and we started the very bumpy drive to the tubing area. It was on an open sided safari type vehicle. They guys were hilarious, hanging off the sides, whooping and hollering. Jack adored these guys. The people next to us in the vehicle were also from Rochester NY. Small world.

 

Once we were at the tubes, I got the sense that this wasn’t going to be the most efficient activity. The guys were messing around, being funny, taking their time dividing us into groups. I was laughing along, but slowly a little dread started creeping in....what time is it anyway? How long is this going to take?

 

They started cleaning off the tubes, singing songs....they aren’t in a rush here.

 

We finally started tubing. You are all connected and the guide of your group paddles to take you down the river. There are 10 tubes to a group. There were three groups. The Martha Brae river is so beautiful! Cool, clean water, the foliage is amazing, so much bamboo....it was gorgeous. But those tubes move S-L-O-W. And these guys are comedians, telling jokes, singing songs. They are really great. But at one point, we were sitting still while they were joking and talking together. And I, being the uptight northerner that I am, started looking at my watch! Visions of that beautiful adventure falls was slipping slowly away....

 

Reviews I had read before the cruise had a common theme....”we didn’t have enough time to enjoy everything...” “we would’ve liked to have time at adventure falls....”

 

These guys were totally in the moment, enjoying their surroundings. It’s true what they say about being on “island time”. I have to work on my ability to be on island time. I’m afraid it’s not in my DNA.

 

At one point we came to a swimming hole area where it was deep and you could get out of your tube and swim. Jack really wanted to. I wanted to stay in my nice cozy tube, but he didn’t want to get in alone, and I didn’t want to hold him back. The look on Steve’s face told me he was no way getting out and swimming. So I did it, for Jack. And for my Dad. My Dad passed away in January of this year. We were extremely close and his death has broken my heart. He was adventurous and fun-loving. Every vacation we took when I was a kid was full of adventure. He always got in the pool, got in the canoe, went on the rides. He would’ve gotten out of his tube for me. So I did it for Jack. And you know what? It was the best part of the whole darn day.

 

When we got back to land, we walked up a rocky path towards adventure park. Is that a water slide I see??? I checked my watch—GASP. We had about 15 minutes left of the excursion!!! I knew it! So we had a fast forward version of adventure falls.

 

 

 

My Dad would’ve jumped off the waterfall, too

 

Waterslide was fun!

 

We had one time down the slide, one jump off the falls, and one climb through the terraced falls, and there was Steve with towels for us. We had to RUN to the bus. It was a little disorganized, and there were so many people piling onto buses to go back. Others were there zip lining and doing other things and we were all leaving at once. Not ideal. But we were thrilled with our adventure in Jamaica, so we were cool with it. Kind of. Haha. (I was still dreaming of the well-oiled, efficient Labadee....)

 

We got back to the port and the kids bargained for their souvenirs and had a great time shopping. Then we ran back to the ship because we had early traditional dining and we were late already. We told them the night before so they said it was completely fine.

 

We changed and ran to the dining room, to be greeted with a smile and a wonderful dinner!

 

After dinner we went to the diving show. We liked it, but didn’t really understand the plot, if there was one? I didn’t really mind that I didn’t get it. I liked the diving. The kids wanted to “get it” so they didn’t like the show as much as I did.

 

The couple behind us staring at the camera just crack me up.

 

Tomorrow is another sea day....

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[FirstAnthem]

Reallyitsmema—from what I remember, the conversation we had about celiac and the windjammer was about the fact that someone with celiac can’t safely eat from the gluten free buffet you suggested. I was never opposed to the Windjammer itself, I just knew my daughter couldn’t eat from the gluten free buffet safely. On our cruise, the gluten free buffet was in the middle of everything, and while it is separate, it is not well marked, so everyone was getting food from that buffet as if it was just a regular food station. That’s a cross contamination nightmare. The chefs were delightful in the WJ, and made my daughter contamination-free food from the kitchen.

 

 

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[beccaewert]

love reading this! Going on Oasis April 29th!!! Super excited

[accio_7]

FirstAnthem, the ship which was in port with the Oasis at Falmouth is the Disney Fantasy. :) She alternates between Eastern and Western Caribbean itineraries, next port for her was Castaway Cay.

[spacepotatoes]

Thanks so much for taking the time time to do this review! I’m loving it so far and you seem like a very sweet family.

 

We’re taking our kids on Anthem next August and even though hubby and I have cruised before, I feel like I’m planning our first all over again. It’ll be our first on Royal Caribbean and first with kids. I’m sure they’ll cramp our style too Your kids are older than ours (they will be 5 and 2 on the cruise) but it’s still helpful to read about a first timer’s experience. Looking forward to the rest!

[hawkinsh]

I am loving reading about your family trip and getting excited about mine. I can't wait to read the rest of the story. We will be on the Allure but looks like the same stops as you.

[FirstAnthem]

Day 5.....Sea Day!

 

This day began with another pair of lazy children and another pair of early bird, super fun parents. Steve got up early and got coffee and walked the ship. You never know what you will see around the ship in the early morning hours.

 

 

Maybe these photos are of one of you readers out there! And you can explain the bathrobes and party hats at 6:30 am!

 

 

Then I got up and we had breakfast together, which became our usual routine.

 

Not a bad breakfast view

 

By this time in the trip, Jack had all but given up on Flowrider and started climbing the rock wall more and more. There were still lines, but not as bad. He climbed in the mornings and afternoons and started getting pretty good!

 

 

Steve and Jack tried the Dreamworks trivia this morning. He was texting me looking for answers...I guess we should’ve brushed up on Dreamworks before the cruise—they only got one right!

 

Then came lunch in the MDR. We loved our lunches on Sea Days. The relative quiet in the dining room, it was easy for Sophie to order lunch, and the salad bar....I’ve been home for two weeks now and I’m still waiting for a nice waiter to hand me a beautifully tossed and dressed salad. Sigh.

 

 

We loved these windows. We were so close to the water, it was a nice feeling and so calm. The kids really looked forward to these lunches.

 

 

 

 

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[FirstAnthem]

The burgers in the MDR were fantastic.

 

Sophie’s customary gluten free shrimp risotto.

 

After lunch, Jack stalked Dreamworks characters and climbed the rock wall over and over. And over.

 

We still don’t know the purpose of this guy, but Jack wanted a picture anyway, of course!

 

We discovered the Rising Tide bar today. You don’t have to order anything to ride it. We got Jack a Shirley temple just to make it more fun (we didn’t have beverage packages).

 

 

We created a monster with this discovery. It was the first of many rides....

 

Hmmm.....this day is seeming pretty boring! Haha. Maybe our MDR dinner will make it more fun. On this night, the chefs did a parade through the dining room. Everyone was clapping and they were dancing. It was priceless.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[FirstAnthem]

After dinner we had the most beautiful night walking on the top deck.

 

 

 

 

 

When we got back to the room, our room steward, Michael, had left yet another towel animal. I haven’t mentioned those yet! He left one every night. It was the highlight of the day. Tonight was a mermaid.

 

 

Another night we found this guy:

 

This monkey was our favorite one. We imagined Michael in our room giggling to himself hanging this up. The kids and I are always making up scenarios, little stories about people, imagining what they are thinking. Everyone has a story.

 

Sorry there wasn’t too much action or humor today. The port days were our highlights. Tomorrow is COZUMEL, so it will be an entertaining post!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[justKirbo]

I'm loving your report. We took our kids on the Liberty for spring break this year and had a ball. We'll probably stick with that smaller boat, but your trip looks like such fun.

[LBumb]

love your pics

[CLE2CRUISE]

I'm enjoying your review so far, your family is adorable! :) Looking forward to reading more.

 

 

I couldn't agree more. What a sweet group you make and I am enjoying this review thoroughly. Thank you for taking the time and sharing your positive attitude :)

 

Lisa N.

[cruisingnay]

What a fabulous review and such a beautiful family! I'm enjoying this adventure with you!

[CLE2CRUISE]

[quote=FirstAnthem;55874286

 

 

 

We discovered the Rising Tide bar today. You don’t have to order anything to ride it. We got Jack a Shirley temple just to make it more fun (we didn’t have beverage packages).

 

 

 

 

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Excuse me but I am a newbie also and have never been on this ship. Can someone tell me what The Rising Tide bar is and how it's a ride?

 

Lisa N.

[momofmab]

We were on the same cruise and I’m enjoying reliving it through your review!

 

We also went on the same excursion as you did in Jamaica, but ours left at 10:30 am and another left at 11:30 am, so I think guest services might have been telling you a little lie about them combining one tour into the 1:45 spot. We had plenty of time to do the tubing, water slides and adventure falls, and we’re back on the ship by 3pm.

 

We cruised with teen girls , so we didn’t have the issues with flowrider/rock climbing lines. The only times I felt the entirety of the 6,000 people were after the muster drill and on the pool deck during sea days [emoji4]

 

Looking forward to the rest of your review!

 

 

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[hyerpraise]

Thanks for the review. My wife and I go in June. What cabin number did you stay in?

[MandyMooToo]

Excuse me but I am a newbie also and have never been on this ship. Can someone tell me what The Rising Tide bar is and how it's a ride?

 

Lisa N.

 

I can try but my explanation probably wont be as good as a YouTube video of it! Basically it is a bar with glass walls about hip high or so. You step through a little door and have a seat at tables/chairs that are stationary and so many times a day (an hour?) the bar will rise up to the Central Park where you can then exit or ride it back down again. While the bar is up there is a water and light feature going on below in the spot the bar rests on.

[accio_7]

Can someone tell me what The Rising Tide bar is and how it's a ride?

 

Hey Lisa,

 

Mandy already answered your question, but here's a video of the bar in action from Oasis:

 

The Rising Tide bar is available on all Oasis-class ships, Oasis, Allure, Harmony, and Symphony of the Seas.

[CLE2CRUISE]

Hey Lisa,

 

Mandy already answered your question, but here's a video of the bar in action from Oasis:

 

The Rising Tide bar is available on all Oasis-class ships, Oasis, Allure, Harmony, and Symphony of the Seas.

 

 

Oh neat!! Like a giant elevator, kind of :) Looks like fun!

 

Thanks for the explanation and the video! That definitely helped :)

 

Lisa N.

[FirstAnthem]

Day 6 Cozumel!! Sorry for the delay in posts. Laundry, orthodontist appointments and that pesky daily occurrence called making dinner got in the way.

 

Cozumel Day started by docking while it was still dark, so we got an awesome first view of Mexico all lit up. It was really cool, and we almost got the kids to get out of bed to enjoy it.

 

 

Our excursion started at 8 am, so we had to be on the pier by 7:45. When we were looking for our spot, I saw a huge group of people and thought “surely that can’t be for one excursion.” Well, yes it was and SURPRISE! It was for OUR excursion. There were hundreds of people on this Fury Catamaran and Beach Party excursion. Hundreds. When I had read reviews of Fury before the cruise, almost all the reviews were excellent, so I felt confident. I should have paid closer attention to the “okay” reviews that complained about the crowding on the excursion. Lesson learned. (I learned so much on just this one cruise. I guess that’s how it goes—you take a chance with stuff and don’t really know what you need to know until you actually do it. Then you learn for the next cruise!)

 

While we were standing in line waiting for the catamarans, a dog was brought through our line to sniff bags. I’m assuming he was looking for fruit? Or maybe just food? Not sure about that, but it was amazing to watch him. This was actually our kids’ favorite part of the excursion LOL! The dog sniffed some kind of contraband in a lady’s bag behind us. He stuck his head all the way in her bag then sat down and looked right up at his handler. She gave him a treat and they took the lady out of line and took out whatever it was she wasn’t supposed to be bringing into Mexico! When the dog sniffed everyone else’s bags he just gave them a quick sniff, like he barely acknowledged the bags, but he zeroed in on this lady’s bag big time. It was amazing. I’d like to watch that dog all day, hard at work. So would my kids!

 

The catamarans finally pulled up, as the group swelled. I guess the reviews that said the excursion was crowded were spot on. But we were in Mexico!! We were still excited. We filled three catamarans. Yikes. We had around 130 people on our catamaran alone.

 

The crew on this boat was A+. I loved these guys. I wanted to go home with them and meet their families. They were that wonderful.

 

We got a safety briefing on the ride to the snorkeling site. They explained what we had to do with the life preservers and snorkeling gear. We brought our own gear. Shared snorkeling gear? Yuck. I have sanitation issues.

 

Here we are on the boat with 130 of our new closest friends

 

Once we got to the snorkeling site, they tried to get us off the boat as orderly and efficiently as possible. They kept saying “every minute you are on this boat is a minute you are not in the water!” Oh geez, people, hurry up! I didn’t expect snorkeling to be stressful!

 

Once we were in the water, I understood what the reviewers meant by crowded. We spent 45 minutes that felt like 10 being kicked by people’s flippers. I also spent that time trying to keep track of my kids in a swarm of people that all looked exactly alike. It was a little chaotic. We did see a few fish, and it was really cool because snorkeling in general is really cool, and one of my favorite activities. But we were instructed to stay by the white buoy. They never said why, they just kept telling us to stay by the white buoy. So the whole time all I heard was “AMIGOS! THE BUOY! STAY NEAR THE BUOY!” But if you stayed near the buoy, you were packed in a group not able to really snorkel. It was like people soup!

 

They had a photographer on board who would take your photo underwater. I really wanted one of these photos. You had to be proactive to get your photo done. He wouldn’t necessarily come find you. Your group needed to be together. So I worked hard to get us together, then get his attention. I’m glad I did. It’s a cool photo.

 

He had fish food that he threw out to attract the fish. When you were just snorkeling, there was not this abundance of fish!

 

All of a sudden we heard “AMIGOS! BACK TO THE BOAT!” What?! Already?! Sigh.

 

On the way back in, the same photographer was up on the boat, ready to take pictures of families as they came in. Again, you had to make sure your group was together and you had to make eye contact or wave your arm to make sure he saw you. I worked hard at this! We got a good photo:

 

 

Once back on the boat, we were going to head to a beach for a beach party, apparently? The crew started handing out drinks on board. They were so nice and friendly and accommodating. They really wanted you to have a good time.

 

Once at the beach, we were the first catamaran there. We didn’t realize then that two more full catamarans would be coming. So we thought this would be the extent of the people on the beach. So at that point, it was fantastic. We had our choice of beach chairs, and the inflatable aqua park was empty at that point. There were cigarette butts and bottle caps, etc, in the sand, but whatever—we were in Mexico!

 

We swam right out to the inflatables in the water. Jack was most looking forward to this part. If I can give you one piece of advice it is this: work out at the gym regularly before you do an excursion that includes an inflatable water park. The water is deep, so you swim out to the things, then pulling yourself up on the platforms and up the rope ladders to get to the slides or the trampoline or whatever obstacle you choose is taxing. It is not easy. I work out at the gym 4-5x a week. I’m in pretty good shape. After two obstacles I was tired! Just that climbing and swimming in the ocean between obstacles—whew!

 

We found the inflatables to not be in great shape, lots of patching with duct tape, some holes. But that’s to be expected with the amount of use they get!

 

Once we did a few obstacles, the other two catamarans had pulled in and yowza it was crowded. Hundreds of people descended on the aqua park and the beach and it was like Disney World at Christmastime.

 

Jack stayed with the aqua park despite the crowds, but Sophie and I decided to try a kayak. We love kayaking. Love it. And ocean kayaking especially. But the area we could kayak in was pretty small. And it was within the same buoys as the aqua park (lots of staying in buoys in this excursion). So again, it wasn’t the relaxing kayaking communing with nature experience we wanted. But Sophie had fun, so I was happy. Then we grabbed a couple floating mats and floated in the sun for awhile. But again, it was in the same area as the aqua park and the kayaking, so the whole time I was floating, trying to relax, all I heard was “OH MY GOD, LEFT! LEFT! DON’T HIT THOSE PEOPLE ON THE MATS!”

 

We met Steve and Jack back at the chairs. Jack tried out a hammock, and we took a few pics.

 

 

Jack was posing us like the ship photographers do! So funny.

 

 

 

 

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[FirstAnthem]

All of a sudden, we heard, “BOAT #3! TIME TO GO!” Can we pretend we aren’t boat #3 and hitch a ride on 1 or 2? It went so quickly. We wanted a couple of more hours. So we reluctantly trudged back to the catamaran.

 

On the way back to the port, we were inside the catamaran just chilling out, enjoying the ride.

 

Well, Jack was kind of enjoying it haha

 

The drinks started flowing again and they started playing music. We wanted to go up to the outer deck, but the kids didn’t want to. They were getting really good at cramping our middle-aged, adventurous cruising style. We went up to the outer deck without them. We were in Mexico! Opportunity is knocking, kids. Get a grip!

 

So we went up, took some pics....

 

 

And then the dancing started. Opportunity knocking again! We had a great time dancing with the crew:

 

 

The kids pretended they didn’t know us. Steve and I had a fantastic time and made some great memories.

 

Once back at the pier, we went back to the boat for lunch because it was easiest for Sophie. While we were eating lunch, Steve and I told the kids that after lunch we were all going to change clothes and take a cab into town for some sightseeing and shopping. Jack groaned, and tried to pull his “I want to relax on the balcony listening to my audiobook” routine, but we weren’t having it today. We consented in Haiti, but this was our last port stop, the cruise was coming to an end, and we wanted to see more of Mexico. So that’s exactly what we did!

 

It was exciting leaving the port and getting out on our own. Before the cruise, I was scared at the thought of doing any type of excursion that wasn’t through the ship. I feel more confident now, and in the future, we will do some excursions on our own.

 

We got a cab easily right outside the port area. They are there waiting for you.

 

We are in a real cab in Mexico! It’s pathetic how worldly we are not.

 

We had such a great time exploring the downtown area in Cozumel. We only stayed on the one main street, and we saw a little park/square area, but it was enough for us to feel like we really saw some of the area, a new place, a new perspective.

 

LOOK! A FOUNTAIN!

 

 

 

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[FirstAnthem]

 

 

 

We got some great souvenirs in a couple of shops, and loved seeing the shops on one side and the ocean on the other. It was hot as blazes, but we didn’t mind. It was snowing at home, so any sun and warmth was okay with us.

 

 

Jack posing us like photographers do

 

The water here was like blue Gatorade

 

Up next, our fantastic dinner at Giovanni’s!! I’ll post that tonight!

 

 

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[FirstAnthem]

Momofmab—omg I cannot believe guest services did that! The last thing we wanted was a 1:45 excursion. Which is why we chose the 11am. I’m so glad to hear someone got to enjoy Adventure Falls! But so disappointed our day turned out so rushed. If we ever end up back in Jamaica, I will figure out how to spend time at Adventure Falls!

 

 

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[rkkunk]

Hi, just started reading your review. Great job![emoji1303] Thanks for doing this.

We have been fortunate to be able to go on Oasis class ships when there weren’t so many kids and the lines were still longish but not super bad. So sorry that you had so many crowds. That is certainly frustrating when trying to enjoy vacation!

So glad to hear that RCCL was so great with your daughter and her celiac. What a relief for you.

There are 3 of us in our family. My DH, my son, and myself. We also did the jet ski excursion on Labadee. Guess who rode by herself? I had never driven a jet ski before so I was really nervous about it. It was so much fun! Once you get the hang of it. No problem!

 

 

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