Oasis Class Ships

[monkeyinhat]

Thanks for my answers 👍🏻

[Alter Ego]

On 11/17/2018 at 8:26 PM, Ourusualbeach said:

If you are looking at a sailing late 2019 or 2020 Oasis will be fresh out of drydock.

 

And it is therefore possible that the Broadway shows listed for Oasis and Allure will change post drydock.  Restaurants too - highly probable to say goodbye to Giovanni’s (and probably Samba too.)

 

I may have missed if the OP mentioned what dates they are looking at.

[island lady]

Solarium Cafe has some "sort of" outdoor seating on Oasis, as it has parts of it open to the pool up there.  One of our favorite little restaurants.  Not so crowded, healthy selections, and not as noisy.  🙂 

 

Of course the best outdoor seating areas outside of the WJ are on the four Radiance sisters.  Love that aft area. 

[John&LaLa]

3 minutes ago, island lady said:

Solarium Cafe has some "sort of" outdoor seating on Oasis, as it has parts of it open to the pool up there.  One of our favorite little restaurants.  Not so crowded, healthy selections, and not as noisy.  🙂 

 

Of course the best outdoor seating areas outside of the WJ are on the four Radiance sisters.  Love that aft area. 

 

Great place to look down on the aft balconies. 😎

 

 

Edited November 25, 2018 by John&LaLa

[island lady]

11 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Great place to look down on the aft balconies. 😎

 

 

 

OMG...Now that really made me laugh, you peeping Tom you!!   Just who is that beautiful woman you are spying on John? 

 

She does not look happy!!  LOL!  Love "the face".  😄 

[Ocean Boy]

39 minutes ago, island lady said:

Solarium Cafe has some "sort of" outdoor seating on Oasis, as it has parts of it open to the pool up there.  One of our favorite little restaurants.  Not so crowded, healthy selections, and not as noisy.  🙂 

 

Of course the best outdoor seating areas outside of the WJ are on the four Radiance sisters.  Love that aft area. 

The selections don't seem quite as healthy these days as they were in the past but still one of my favorite places especially for breakfast for both noise and crowd reasons.

[KmomChicago]

On ‎11‎/‎21‎/‎2018 at 8:21 AM, Floridastorm said:

You left me laughing for 10 minutes. My thoughts indubitably. My only reservation with sailing on these Oasis Class ships is the Disney World aspect with all of the kid stuff. However, I can see by some of the replies that much of the fair is geared towards adults. The ships are probably large enough that the adults can go about their business without ever encountering the Kid's stuff up front and personal.  

 

You don't see kids in the Solarium, of course, except for eating at the Bistro which doesn't really attract a rowdy teen type clientele.  As others have mentioned Central Park is generally quiet and peaceful through the Park Café, like the Solarium Bistro is open to children but not really where they gravitate.

 

One thing I found. Even through the Solarium is for adults, it gets quite full on sea days. If you don't care for the ports, do what I did one day and find yourself a nice padded lounger while everyone else abandons ship.  I darn near had the whole place to myself for a couple hours in the morning and had a glorious sunny, luxurious nap there until I disembarked to meet my family ashore.

 

Kids are all over the place on the top deck, particularly aft by the basketball court, mini golf, Zip Line and Surf Riders, in the Wipe Out Café, the arcade and the Living Room teen lounge area.  One of the pools is a big splash pad spot for really small children and obviously you know who's going to be there all the time.  The Boardwalk area is geared toward young 'uns as well and you will see just about everyone passing through the Royal Promenade at all times of the day and evening.

 

We've only done Oasis and it exceeded our expectations in almost all aspects.  I could happily have spent a month on board and can only hope we'll be able to do it again one day or any of the others in the same class.

 

 

[Goofyfanatic]

Have done allure and harmony. By far we liked harmony better. Although I was not impressed br Grease on harmony but thought Mama Mia was as good as on broadway. 

[Biker19]

6 hours ago, island lady said:

 

OMG...Now that really made me laugh, you peeping Tom you!!   Just who is that beautiful woman you are spying on John? 

 

She does not look happy!!  LOL!  Love "the face".  😄 

His better half seems to posing.

Edited November 25, 2018 by Biker19

[island lady]

16 hours ago, Biker19 said:

His better half seems to posing.

 

Nah...really?  😉  Laura is photogenic to say the least...even when she is summoning up Ms. Sourface.  😄  Or maybe the Casino was not kind her to that day.  😮 

[John&LaLa]

15 minutes ago, island lady said:

 

Nah...really?  😉  Laura is photogenic to say the least...even when she is summoning up Ms. Sourface.  😄  Or maybe the Casino was not kind her to that day.  😮 

 

We were in Stockholm,  I asked her to look annoyed that someone was spying on her.

 

Or maybe she was annoyed that I kept taking her picture. 😉

Edited November 26, 2018 by John&LaLa

[island lady]

2 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

 

We were in Stockholm,  I asked her to look annoyed that someone was spying on her.

 

Or maybe she was annoyed that I kept taking her picture. 😉

 

Yeah, I kind of figured that.  😉  I thought it was a cute set up.  

[mek]

On 11/23/2018 at 12:30 AM, monkeyinhat said:

Sorry to but in.   Booked Oasis for way off.    Can adults ride carousel 

is there’s zip line charge?

 

Unsure about the making reservations for shows.   Part of the cruise appeal when we started was the no hassle of reservations.

Yes, adults can ride the carousel.  I have never done the zip line, but I don't recall having seen anything about a charge for it.

 

If you don't want to make reservations you can stand in line and close to the start of the show people without reservations are let in.  I personally wouldn't suggest because seats can be hard to find,  it but many were doing it.  Also, if you make reservations, you can usually change days/times early on in the cruise.  I suggest you make reservations for the ice show and the water show for the first few days of the cruise because if the weather gets dicey later in the cruise, you won't miss the shows if they get canceled.

[KmomChicago]

Zip line has no charge, just a line. It is a very, very short zip line. Like a ten second ride.

 

Reservations are critical if you want to see the Aqua show, ice show, and comedy shows.  Do the aqua show the first night of the cruise while the ship is still in fairly shallow water as high winds and rocking cause cancellations.

 

I understand people want to just relax and wing it on vacation, but if you went to New York City, for instance, and shows were a priority for you, they'd have to be scheduled in advance.  It's the same here. If you aren't much worried about whether you see any shows, don't plan, but in Chicago entertainment on this scale would cost a fortune, so we are very happy to get our reservation times in place so we don't miss anything.  This, for us, is "reduces" the cost of the cruise as we factor the value in to the equation.

 

We saw many people turned away from both the Aqua show and the comedy show.   In fact, we failed to show up for our Comedy show 10 minutes ahead of our reserved show time, and when we arrived just before the show started, there was a long line out the door (40 or 50 people). The staff hollered, "anyone else with reservations?"  We raised our hands and they waived us up, and the entire line audibly groaned. We got almost the last seats before they started letting in the line. Fewer than ten of those folks got seats.

 

The main show lounge is quite large so the chance of getting in to the headliner show without a reservation is pretty high, though as others have mentioned it would be last choice of seating and you might be climbing over a lot of people to get to a pair of seats far inside some high row.

 

For Cats on Oasis, the show is not especially popular and typically does not fill up.  We did make a reservation for it, however, and arrived when the doors opened for front row seating.  The show is very long - about 3 hours.  A large percentage of people leave at intermission.  It's very well done, but it's sort of the same thing, over and over.  Lithe people in catsuits singing and dancing expertly.  Too much of a good thing, I guess, when the ship offers so many other temptations and diversions.

 

To my surprise, my husband enjoyed Cats so much, we did the opposite of others and returned to a later showing at intermission to sit through the second act again, this time from the balcony, which was quite empty.

 

Lastly, don't forget Splash. Typically offered only once, during the afternoon of one of the sea days, and can't be booked ahead.  Fun little show in the Aqua Theater.  You'll find the time in the Cruise Compass.  The Aqua theatre has two kinds of seats: comfy chairs, and hard benches, in alternating rows. If you show up early you may snag the former, later you are stuck with the latter, which is still better than not seeing the show, but a significant downgrade.

[vacationlover_mn]

We didn’t do reservations for the comedy show on Harmony, and there were 3 of us. Not only did we not get seats together, the seats were awful.  

[2chiefs]

On 11/25/2018 at 1:56 PM, KmomChicago said:

<<<SNIP>>>

One thing I found. Even through the Solarium is for adults, it gets quite full on sea days. If you don't care for the ports, do what I did one day and find yourself a nice padded lounger while everyone else abandons ship.  I darn near had the whole place to myself for a couple hours in the morning and had a glorious sunny, luxurious nap there until I disembarked to meet my family ashore.

<<<SNIP>>>

 

 

We do the same thing.

T

[Floridastorm]

We're about ready to book the Allure transatlantic Ft. Lauderdale to Barcelona. Looking at only an Ocean View as that is the type of cabin that we like and can afford without breaking the bank. We're not into inside cabins at all and we don't really utilize a balcony very much. Also the possibility of having noisy neighbors in the balcony next door. Surprisingly there have been many positive reviews of the Allure along with a very few negative. However, most of the reviews have been for Caribbean cruising which can be quite different than a TA. I don't think I would take an Oasis class ship in the Caribbean as I'm sure it would be more of a party and kids type of cruise than a TA would be. Thanks to people giving their reviews, which have been for the most part comprehensive, I feel that I know pretty much what I need to in taking this ship on a 13 day trip.

 

We are very senior citizens that just enjoy the ocean, eating some decent food that my wife doesn't have to prepare, having a couple of cocktails, watching the various shows and music in the clubs, and possibly meeting some interesting people. I am hoping that the formal nights are not too formal as we're from Florida and most Floridians discarded their suits and formal wear after the civil war ended. We like to be comfortable at all times.

 

Anything additional that can be provided, about the Allure specifically and TA generally, would be most appreciated either pro or con. 😎

[Clarea]

2 minutes ago, Floridastorm said:

 ...

Anything additional that can be provided, about the Allure specifically and TA generally, would be most appreciated either pro or con. 😎

 

Reserve all the shows in advance.

[vacationlover_mn]

On Oasis class, we prefer a midship room, near the stairs/elevators, so that we have less of a hike to get places 🙂