Willdra's Outrageous Oasis OTS October 21-28 Cruise

[madiaka]

Thanks for your review. I am interested in your opinion with a comparison of both ships as well. I’ve cruised Oasis and Allure and have Carnival Horizon booked for this summer. I love your reviews and have read most of them. They are very entertaining and help me get over my lack of cruising blues. 

 

My last Carnival Cruise was on Carnival Valor in 2009. It seems so much has changed since then and they have much more to offer now. 

[Trinam2]

8 hours ago, The Fun Researcher said:

Wildra, love your review!

 

Do you plan to do a compare/contrast versus the newer Carnival ships?  I think a lot of us would be interested in your honest opinion since you are a seasoned cruiser on Carnival... 

 

I would be particularly interested in:

 

• MDR food
• Other food options/quality
• Decor
• Public Spaces
• Entertainment quality and options
• Fellow cruisers
• Staterooms
• Overall impressions

Dan

I would be interested in the same questions.

[Grenouille21]

What a fun review!  I love your writing style; you seem to write the way you (probably) speak, which is a very difficult thing for most people to pull off.  Thank you so much for sharing your experience!  We will be taking our first journey with Royal on an Oasis class ship and I have been a bit worried about the size of the ship.  Not so worried anymore!  

[willdra]

On 1/3/2019 at 9:44 PM, mj said:

As always, I just love reading your reviews.  Enjoyed reading this one on the Oasis.  

 

Thank you! 😃

[willdra]

On 1/3/2019 at 10:16 PM, A&L_Ont said:

Wildra, loved reading about your neighbours, but I sure would not want to have to heard it first hand.😱

 

Didn’t love it as much as your smile though. Showed it to Lisa, my DW, and she agreed. When I’m on a cruise I smile a lot too. 

 

LOL 😂 thanks so much. It’s easy to smile on the Oasis, there’s lots to smile about! Those neighbor’s bread wasn’t baked in the middle. A mess. 😭

[willdra]

On 1/3/2019 at 11:33 PM, Sunseeker20 said:

Can i just say that this is the best review I have ever read! I usually skip the commentary and just look at the photos but you were so hilarious I was laugh crying the entire time😂 I love your outlook on life... much more positive than other posters! I wish I could meet you in person, you seem so awesome!

 

Thank you 😊! I really try to be happy, not crappy. 🤣🤣

[Sunseeker20]

2 minutes ago, willdra said:

 

Thank you 😊! I really try to be happy, not crappy. 🤣🤣

I see that haha! Do you have any other reviews I can read?

[willdra]

On 1/4/2019 at 9:21 AM, Magnetchief said:

A great review with wonderful photos thanks for taking the time to post this.

We were on the same cruise, I remember seeing you around the ship.

 

 

Thanks!😁 It was an outstanding cruise! 😊

[willdra]

3 minutes ago, Sunseeker20 said:

I see that haha! Do you have any other reviews I can read?

 

Yes, I’ve written a few, links are below. Read at your own risk. They’re wordy! 😜

 

[willdra]

On 1/4/2019 at 10:24 AM, katiel53 said:

Thanks for the great review.  You have such a fun outlook and I love your sense of humor.

 

Thank you! 😍

[willdra]

On 1/4/2019 at 10:54 AM, TravelGirlinDallas said:

Great review, so entertaining! I'm sad that your cruise is almost over.

 

Thank you! Hopefully we will be sailing again soon! 😁

[willdra]

On 1/4/2019 at 1:10 PM, Yvonne said:

Really enjoying your review and photos, we will be on the Oasis in a month.  I can hardly wait!

 

Thank you! You’re gonna have a wonderful time! 😄

[willdra]

On 1/4/2019 at 2:12 PM, Becoming said:

I've enjoyed your review and pictures.  Just wondering what kind of camera you are using?

 

Patti 

 

Thanks! I use a Canon Rebel T6, and I use Pixlr for editing. 😊. 

[willdra]

16 hours ago, Grenouille21 said:

What a fun review!  I love your writing style; you seem to write the way you (probably) speak, which is a very difficult thing for most people to pull off.  Thank you so much for sharing your experience!  We will be taking our first journey with Royal on an Oasis class ship and I have been a bit worried about the size of the ship.  Not so worried anymore!  

 

The ship was huge, but the way it’s sectioned into neighborhoods makes it easy to manage. Once we got our bearings, it was easy to navigate. Plus they have lots of interactive maps all over to help find stuff. The only “problem” was there wasn’t enough time to do everything. I’m sure the designers planned that to keep us coming back! 😜😉 

[Becoming]

53 minutes ago, willdra said:

 

Thanks! I use a Canon Rebel T6, and I use Pixlr for editing. 😊. 

 

Thanks for the info!  I've got a Canon point and shoot and took 1100 pictures on Allure back in October.  I haven't "graduated" to your class yet!  Enjoyed your photography skills!

 

Patti 

[oddly excitered]

C'mon Wildra, you know we need a comparison in your wonderful words! Who wins, Royal or Carnival?

[willdra]

Debarkation

 

We woke up at 7 am on eviction day. After we showered and dressed, we went down to the American Icon Restaurant on Deck 3 to eat breakfast while we waited. When we got down there at 7:50 we saw on the screen that our tags were called already. We decided to skip breakfast. We like to hit the road ASAP when we drive, plus I needed to hit Ron Jon again. To exit, we went through the Opal Theater on Deck 5. We walked in, and the door on the left was open for us to just walk right out. Alright, kick us out quicker. Security was setup out on the running track scanning peeps off of the ship. We walked off at 8 am. After that, we went to luggage claim. They didn’t have the carousels. Luggage was stacked neatly in each section. W found a porter to escort us out. We were on the shuttle by 8:20 and at our car at 8:30. All in all it really was one of the smoothest debarkations ever. #Bittersweet.

 

 

Final Thoughts (Or my 1.5 cents)

 

Ship: Oasis is absolutely wonderful. She doesn’t show her age at all. Royal Caribbean has done a fine job keeping her up to date. The neighborhoods are brilliant, and they win with all of the bells and whistles (Flow Rider, Zip Line, Ice Skating Rink, Aqua Theater, Rock Climbing Wall, etc. etc. etc.). They do lose a few points tho for the lack of laundry rooms, no mid ship elevators, and no 24 hour self-serve ice cream (I actually think it's a maritime law to offer 24 hour ice cream. I'm looking into it). 

 

Décor and Public Spaces: Oasis has more Public Spaces, and the ship is spread out. This could either be good or bad, depending on what was going on. There are lots of quiet places, active places, bars, and places to just be. If you have FOMO, this may not be your friend. Each "Neighborhood" is sorta isolated from the others. Carnival does a great job of drawing you to the crowd in the "Lobby". There have been lots of times when we were just passing thru, but we paused to see what all of the laughing, clapping, dancing, and or singing was about. #nosy. Décor on Carnival's Vista and Horizon is clean and fresh. Oasis was as well, and I'm sure that the Symphony and Harmony are even more spectacular.

 

 

Food: Carnival wins this category for us. It's tough to beat Guys Burger Joint, Blue Iguana, Sea Day Brunch, Mongolian Wok, and Alchemy Bar. To be fair, we liked all of our food choices on Oasis, and we didn’t go hungry (W is never doing that anywhere). I also liked having the drink card on Oasis to sample some of the drinks on the last few days. I now know for sure that the drink package would totally be wasted on me. I kept forgetting to get them. That also meant that no drink was calling my name. Except for the Labradoozie. (Makes plans to visit Labadee again). To us, the Main Dining Room food is better on Carnival also. The lobster, shrimp, and desserts specifically were just ok on Oasis. We were not wowed. Nothing was bad, we just wouldn't call it for a second date.

 

 

Entertainment: We missed having a lit (for lack of a better word) Cruise Director. Or even one that we could identify in a lineup. Or who had a pulse. They just add so much to the experience. Carnival has that one in the bag. I'm  giving Carnival the win for their Comedy Shows and activities like the Motown Trivia Party, Lip Sync Battle, The Sail Away Party, and Electric White Night. On Oasis, we really enjoyed Oasis of Dreams and Frozen In Time, but that Variety Show needs to go sit in the corner and rethink its whole entire life. The Comedy Show only had 2 Comedians, and maybe only 2 different shows.

 

Crew: The waiters, stewards, and staff are usually pretty cool with us, so it was nice to have that continue. I feel like everywhere we go, there will be peeps who love their jobs and those who should never be allowed to communicate with the public (keep 'em in the bell tower). This one's a draw.

 

Staterooms: Another draw. There wasn’t a major difference in the actual Staterooms. The only thing that may nudge Oasis ahead, would be the freakin' awesome nightlight in the bathroom. That really is a touch of excellence. The Neighborhood Balcony is also noteworthy. Loved the amenities included, and being able to feel like we were outside, but not exactly. Weird. Good weird. But weird.

 

Other Passengers: We pretty much keep to ourselves and are masters at minding our own business (I have to remind W sometimes). At the end of the day, or first thing in the morning, the passengers were the same. There are some great ones, and some who are the Kings and Queens of Team Terrible Choices. Either way, as long as they aren't slamming their heels into our only good pinky toe, yelling at their s.o. at 3 am, blasting their music at 3 am, or having "relations" on their neighborhood balcony at any hour, we're straight. That's not too much to ask. Right?

 

Pre-Cruise: Even tho no one asked, I must say that our Roll Call on Social Media before this cruise was on life support. I'm not sure if it was more of a "mature" audience, or just an off group, but it was strange not to have tons of notifications from everyone getting excited and asking questions about the cruise. Perhaps I was the only one lost in the sauce. Figures.

 

Before I go, I have to hand it to Royal Caribbean on their app design. There was so much to do and look at before we left home. There were menus, activities, deck maps, and tons of other content to keep me busy until sail away! This was where most of my questions were answered. I think the only thing that we missed was the message feature from Carnival's app , but since W and I were together most of the time, it really wasn’t necessary.  Carnival's online check in was better tho. RC was upgrading theirs right as I was going thru the process, and it was off. Plus they don’t send your Boarding Docs until around 30 days before sail date. I was low key worried that I did it wrong.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We will definitely sail an Oasis Class ship again. I am actually trying to talk W into going Platinum on RC too. It would be sweet to be Double Platinum!

 

TTFN!

 

 

[Trinam2]

Wildra, Thanks for your fantastic review! I am a loyal Carnival girl myself and your take on the Oasis really resonated with me. What amenities were included with the neighborhood balcony? I was offered an upgrade to one and it said “ Dine and Drink”? Just curious since you had one if you know. I look forward to your next review! Do you have another cruise planned yet?

[Bradison]

W is obviously a Cincy guy.  Where is he from in Cincinnati?

[MzShae]

Thanks for the review! I've only been on Carnival ships, but your review has really got me interested in RC. 

[willdra]

59 minutes ago, Trinam2 said:

Wildra, Thanks for your fantastic review! I am a loyal Carnival girl myself and your take on the Oasis really resonated with me. What amenities were included with the neighborhood balcony? I was offered an upgrade to one and it said “ Dine and Drink”? Just curious since you had one if you know. I look forward to your next review! Do you have another cruise planned yet?

 

Here are the amenities that we received. We really only used the soda package tho. I don’t know if we were supposed to request the other stuff. I didn’t notice anything about it in the cabin, and we were too lazy to find out. 😜 

 

We we are still looking for our next cruise, it takes me forever to decide! 

[crusinthrough]

Thank you for taking the time to write a review.  I recognized your screen name from your Carnival reviews.  As always, I was entertained while reading.  I think the new CC website has slowed down roll calls.  FB has also deterred traffic away from CC.  Glad you gave RC a try. 

[oddly excitered]

Thank you Wildra! Thank W for us too!

[Trinam2]

7 hours ago, willdra said:

 

Here are the amenities that we received. We really only used the soda package tho. I don’t know if we were supposed to request the other stuff. I didn’t notice anything about it in the cabin, and we were too lazy to find out. 😜 

 

We we are still looking for our next cruise, it takes me forever to decide! 

Thanks 

[The Fun Researcher]

Wildra,

 

Thank you for having the guts to do the Carnival vs Royal comparison.  That always has the possibility of being contentious but you did a great job with it. I appreciate your perspective!

 

Dan

Edited January 8, 2019 by The Fun Researcher