Second time around on Oasis thoughts

[jwakeli]

Just completed the Oct 21st sailing on Oasis, with my wife and 2 kids (3 and 6).. some quick thoughts;

 

- Food was considerably better than I remember from 3 years ago, definitely better selection than our last cruise on Adventure.

- My time dining was a breeze to book and utilize, would recommend making reservations, seen long lines in the non reserved line every night.

- our waiters, room steward and generally all staff on board were mind blowingly awesome, gracious and kind.

- My oldest son loved Adventure Ocean, the AO team had him well engaged and he wished he could stay there 24/7!

- My youngest son is 3, however he has Down Syndrome so is not yet potty trained, much to my surprise and delight the nursery staff welcomed him with open arms even though he was above the age limit... they loved having him there and he loved it too. (They were so accepting of him and accommodating that it made us so proud to sail with Royal).

- Got a pretty bad sunburn in Labadee, but discovered Nellie's beach is so much calmer and less rocky/shelly than the main beach. Third time in Labadee so it is getting a bit tired for us.

- Jamaica was great! We did a day pass at Jewel Runaway Bay because weve been pondering doing an all inclusive there and wanted to test it out.. would definitely recommend it! Great service, food was outstanding and so much for kids to do ($99 per adult and $50 per kid including transportation).

- Cozumel is always a favourite for us, we always feel very safe there so we typically rent a veichle for the day and explore.

 

Overall this cruise was a much needed vacation and completely validated my "Loyal to Royal" attitude, we tried Carnival last Dec and it was a trainwreck (my opinion only) so was so glad to be back with Royal again. 

 

 

[reallyitsmema]

Glad you enjoyed your cruise.  Just so you know, Royal Caribbean will continue to allow your child to be grouped by ability, not age.  They also make exception to the toilet trained policy, even when he is ready for Adventure Ocean.  Here is a link that explains all they will do.

 

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/experience/accessible-cruising

[jwakeli]

1 minute ago, reallyitsmema said:

Glad you enjoyed your cruise.  Just so you know, Royal Caribbean will continue to allow your child to be grouped by ability, not age.  They also make exception to the toilet trained policy, even when he is ready for Adventure Ocean.  Here is a link that explains all they will do.

 

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/experience/accessible-cruising

Wow I never came across that page, thanks for sharing with me, was worried they were strict with the age policy when planning... he's the life of the party so we like having him interact with other children.

[Gatordad815]

Thanks for the review-we will be back on Oasis for our 2nd family cruise next week with our similarly-aged kids (5 & 3) and are very much looking forward to it! We loved it last time. It was nice to read your trip was great-particularly the nursery staff welcoming and accommodating your 3 year old!

 

Just out of curiosity, can I ask which ship the Carnival train wreck cruise was on? As Port Canaveral is our preferred port (by far), I’ve looked at Carnival Breeze several times, but so far have resisted the urge to book it....

[JaniceB]

Jwakeli getting ready to board the Oasis with a 3 year old, thank you for sharing your experience.

 

Gatordad815 I have been on the Breeze twice and never had a bad cruise on that ship.  I did not have any children with me so can't comment on the kids club.

 

[fla33023]

Hi - what's the age of your oldest son? We're taking my 8-yr-old on her first cruise and I'm thinking she'll love AO too. She loves group settings like summer camp and her after school program. That is so awesome to hear about your little one having a great time too. What a great feeling that must have been! It's all about the kids! 

[Robo1098]

That is really nice to hear that they welcomed your youngest son. Must have made the cruise much less stressful for everyone. Thanks for the other comments as well. 

[jwakeli]

On 10/29/2018 at 8:52 PM, Gatordad815 said:

Thanks for the review-we will be back on Oasis for our 2nd family cruise next week with our similarly-aged kids (5 & 3) and are very much looking forward to it! We loved it last time. It was nice to read your trip was great-particularly the nursery staff welcoming and accommodating your 3 year old!

 

Just out of curiosity, can I ask which ship the Carnival train wreck cruise was on? As Port Canaveral is our preferred port (by far), I’ve looked at Carnival Breeze several times, but so far have resisted the urge to book it....

 

Hey there, sorry for the delay in replying..  we were on the Fascination last November... it mainly was some security issues we had on a tender in Belize and some food quality issues... so shouldn't be an issue on Breeze. I am more than confident it was a one off and wouldnt steer anyone away from Carnival.. I just feel more at home on Royal is all.

[jwakeli]

9 hours ago, fla33023 said:

Hi - what's the age of your oldest son? We're taking my 8-yr-old on her first cruise and I'm thinking she'll love AO too. She loves group settings like summer camp and her after school program. That is so awesome to hear about your little one having a great time too. What a great feeling that must have been! It's all about the kids! 

 

My oldest is 6 and he absolutely loved it, he thought it was going to be like going to school when we talked about it so he was a bit skeptical at start, once he went once he was begging to go back as often as possible.

Edited October 31, 2018 by jwakeli
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[rinse82]

Thanks for the review.

 

We have been on Allure twice but will be on Oasis for the first time on November 25th.  We love Allure so I'm sure we'll also love Oasis.

 

Junior Suite on deck 7.  Will be our first time taking three kids (4 yo, 1.5 yo twins) 

[jwakeli]

1 hour ago, rinse82 said:

Thanks for the review.

 

We have been on Allure twice but will be on Oasis for the first time on November 25th.  We love Allure so I'm sure we'll also love Oasis.

 

Junior Suite on deck 7.  Will be our first time taking three kids (4 yo, 1.5 yo twins) 

 

Awesome! We really wanted a junior suite but our sailing was packed so just did a balcony room, turned out to be just enough space so worked out.

 

I forgot to mention in my review that using the luggage porters saved us a good hour wait in line for customs (could have been just one of those days and a one off but the line was enormous) spring for the porter if you can though helps with having kids who dont like lines haha

[rinse82]

1 hour ago, jwakeli said:

 

Awesome! We really wanted a junior suite but our sailing was packed so just did a balcony room, turned out to be just enough space so worked out.

 

I forgot to mention in my review that using the luggage porters saved us a good hour wait in line for customs (could have been just one of those days and a one off but the line was enormous) spring for the porter if you can though helps with having kids who dont like lines haha

 

Thanks for the tip - we have Nexus/TSA Pre-Check so should be okay with the airport lines

[cm071907]

I just wanted to chime in, as we were on this sailing as well (first time cruising with our 20 month old son) and completely agree with jwakeli's points. Our son has never been in a daycare type environment before so he was not happy with the drop-off experience. The nursery staff could not have been better. They assured us to go out and have a good time and when we would peek in a few minutes after leaving, we would see our son sitting in their laps playing with the phone and computer. 

 

Also, the food in ALL venues exceeded my previous Royal experiences. 

 

Finally, 100% get a porter at debarkation if you have children!!!