Oasis of the Seas - Semi-Live - Nov 7th, 2021

[billslowsky]

On 11/8/2021 at 8:36 PM, MountainHubby said:

When we got to Terminal A there was already a decent line. They have 4 lines for the various boarding time (1-1:30, 2-2:30, etc.). The back of the line kind of morphed into one long line and then people started splitting apart in the middle. 
 

 

12:35 Arrived in line

1:45 Through first screening (vaccination cards and Covid test results)

1:57 Through second checkpoint (last showing of vaccination/test results, passport, got wrist bands. If you didn’t upload a photo in the online checkin they will take one here)

2:00 In line for metal detectors

2:14 Boarding!

2:15 In our room (deck 6 room 278, right behind Playmakers)

 

Unobstructed water view!  That’s all I need!

 

 

Walked around a little to get our bearings (and most importantly, find the flow riders!).  

The muster check in was super easy. That said, there were still people that took nearly until sail away to complete it!  We hit the flow rider at about 3 and had an hour on the boogie board side almost to ourselves!  The instructors can’t hold your hands to help anymore but they give great instructions and had both of us doing spins in no time!

 

After sail away, with the obligatory soft serve, we grabbed a quick bite at the WindJammer so J could get the the Teen Club meet and greet. 

(James)

The teen club meet and greet was pretty cool. Twin juke boxes,one for outside and one for inside. There was a pretty wide selection of music. There were a ton of cool things to play around with, including two table top game consoles, 3 PS4 and I think 3 Nintendo Switches? Decently wide selection of games, Need for Speed, Super Smash, and tons others. Besides the video games there is a fooseball table, and ping pong. Don’t play pool on the first day when the ship is rocking, the balls roll around and it’s REALLY annoying.

 

Ran into some decent waves in the Straights of Florida and you could definitely feel the ship rocking!

 

I wish more people posted like this.  A lot of really good info not overwhelmed with stream of consciousness "observations".

 

Really good stuff here.

[canadian girl 77]

Still no laser tag?

[Oceansaway17]

4 hours ago, kmorg1234 said:

That much I knew, but I want to hear what the crew thinks about it!

 

 

crew never reveals things to passengers that often.

[Oceansaway17]

7 hours ago, moonltnite said:

I found it on this site:  http://www.blisscruise.com/Our_Cruises/Oasis_Nov_2021

They're doing the Eastern Caribbean itinerary. It says St. Kitts was changed to St. Maarten.  It's a fully-vaccinated cruise. They also have a requirement that cabins be double occupancy with "one male one female".  I checked into it further - and it's a "swingers" cruise.  

 

 

okay and whose job is it to make sure 1 male and 1 female in each room.  Seems odd requirement 

[moonltnite]

23 minutes ago, Oceansaway17 said:

 

 

okay and whose job is it to make sure 1 male and 1 female in each room.  Seems odd requirement 

From what I could tell, it's because it's a swingers cruise.  They only want male/female couples (as most other couples that are also male/female - only swing with male/female).   Some of the "theme nights" they have are kind of out there.  LOL   What also surprised me - is that on the travel site that books this cruise, they say "clothing optional in pools and on pool deck".  

[moonltnite]

Back on topic - thanks for posting all this info from your cruise!  We'll be on Oasis March 6th - and can't wait! 

[MountainHubby]

8 hours ago, tlund said:

If you still have Day 2's Compass, would you mind posting.  Trying to plan entertainment/dining for our upcoming cruise.  I see you posted Day 1 and Day 3, but not Day 2.  Thanks for posting all the good information. 

Sorry I missed this!  Here you go. 

[Cruise a holic]

Who is the concierge in the Suite and Diamond lounges?

 

Thanks

[MountainHubby]

11 hours ago, Cruise a holic said:

Who is the concierge in the Suite and Diamond lounges?

 

Thanks

Not sure, but I’ll see if I can find out for you!

[MountainHubby]

Perfect Day at Coco Cay?  Yes it was!  

It rains a bit just as we were getting ready to go, but stopped quickly.

Started with a good breakfast at Johnny Rockets (big OJ’s alone are worth it!), got ready for Coco Cay. We got the water park passes ($70) and I think if you really enjoy water slides it is totally worth it. We lost count but probably rode out two favorites, Devils Peak and Dueling Demons, around 10 times each (plus a bunch of others)!  With 128 steps up to Dueling Demons and 231 steps to the top of Devil’s Peak, we figured we got in around 4,000+ steps today. When the teenager has to take them two at a time he whole day, it was a decent workout!  There were almost no lines, especially at the beginning, and at most 6 people toward the end. We were on shore around 9 and were done by about 2:30.

 

Tip: don’t carry your key card in your back pocket on the slides, even if it Velcro’s!  I lost mine a few times before I got smart and left it in our pack. You really only need it to get in and out of the water park area so don’t need to carry it around. We didn’t get a locker, just put our things on a lounger near the wave pool and they were fine. The water in the slides was nice and warm. The wave pool was definitely cooler, but ok once you got in. The ocean was pretty nice, and warmer than the wave pool. There are nice hammocks all around the island and plenty of lounge chairs on the beaches.

If only I could have gotten him to stay still here for an hour, maybe 2!

 

The food was decent, not great, but it was free and convenient (and let’s face it, we were there for the slides!).  They had burgers, cheese steak sandwiches, a taco bar, fruit, salads, bbq chicken, grilled corn, and of course, soft serve!  Funnel cakes at the snack shack (inside the water park) and pineapples were excellent!  
 

If you want to swim in the ocean, go across to South beach, or over to Chill Island (left as you get off the ship).  Better beaches and nicer water!  The little lagoon next to the lunch place was a bit murky and definitely more crowded.  

Chill Island area

South Beach was the busiest beach, with the floating bar, but was still mellow. 
 

Plenty of empty chairs at the wave pool. They got a little more filled as the day went on but not bad at all. 
 

There are beach wheelchairs and strollers for those that need. James wanted to ride in these!

 

Back on board we got a couple more hours of flowriding, then went to the main dining room for dinner. Our time on our cards was 5:30, but we showed up around 6 and our table was available. James had an amazing New York strip and I got the tuna. Both were excellent and the service was great!  After dinner James went to the teen club karaoke and I got a drink and relaxed in the Solarium. Almost no one there!!  

 

(James)Teen club karaoke, kinda lame. Only a few people went, the songs weren’t good, and people couldn’t sing. After the karaoke finishes, then you can go back to the main club area, and Play around. 

 

We then caught the late night (9-10) flowriding (you might be sensing a recurring theme here…) and it was so fun!  We almost had the whole hour to ourselves!  The flowriding staff (Christy, Gale, Marko, Charlise, Stephanie, Juan, and so many others I haven’t gotten their names yet) has been just spectacular!  They are so patient, helpful, and fun. 

 

(James) The late night flowrideing was awesome, the people were nice, and kept egging me on to do stupid things!

 

We grabbed some snacks from Park Cafe and headed back to the room to play some dice and to get ready for bed.

[MountainHubby]

Sorry for the random pics at the end of that last post.  I wasn’t paying attention!  The one is breakfast at Johnny Rockets (the “Works” and pancakes), the other is from South Beach. 

[MountainHubby]

The ship is fun to wander at night.
The upper decks are pretty deserted, most people are catching shows, dinner, and doing some shopping in the Promenade. The casino was packed every time I walked through there too. The park is nice at night!

 

We have done the Ultimate Abyss a couple times. It’s fun, but not as fast as it looks in the videos. It’s easy for anyone to do though, and not at all scary so don’t let anyone in your group be intimidated!

[MountainHubby]

Ok, I know I’m behind in the daily reviews, please accept my apologies!  I wanted to get some of the daily’s up though for those that are planning. 
 

Day 4 Daily

[MountainHubby]

Quick tip on using the Roy app. We have noticed, at least for the flowrider, that not all the times are shown in the Daily Planner section of the app (under the calendar). If you click on the ship icon (top left), and find things there you can see the schedules for the entire week. These seem to be pretty complete from what we can tell. 

[MountainHubby]

On 11/10/2021 at 2:53 PM, canadian girl 77 said:

Still no laser tag?

Best I can tell there is no laser tag on this ship. It’s not in the app anywhere and I haven’t run across it on board. If That changes I’ll let you know. 

Edited November 12, 2021 by MountainHubby

[Another_Critic]

2 hours ago, MountainHubby said:

We have done the Ultimate Abyss a couple times. It’s fun, but not as fast as it looks in the videos. It’s easy for anyone to do though, and not at all scary so don’t let anyone in your group be intimidated!

We used it as a "elevator" whenever we wanted to go from the upper deck to the boardwalk.  🙂

[Merion_Mom]

On 11/10/2021 at 2:53 PM, canadian girl 77 said:

Still no laser tag?

The Royal Caribbean ships which have laser tag are:

• Mariner of the Seas.
• Navigator of the Seas.
• Independence of the Seas.
• Symphony of the Seas.

[canadian girl 77]

1 hour ago, Merion_Mom said:

The Royal Caribbean ships which have laser tag are:

• Mariner of the Seas.
• Navigator of the Seas.
• Independence of the Seas.
• Symphony of the Seas.

Is this a since the pandemic thing?

 

Their website has it: https://www.royalcaribbean.com/cruise-ships/oasis-of-the-seas/things-to-do/laser-tag-clash-for-the-crystal-city

 

 

This old article on Cruise Critic (https://www.cruisecritic.com/articles.cfm?ID=3226

says that

4. Play Tag, Laser-Style

Kids of all ages will love the heart-pumping fun of glow-in-the-dark laser tag -- Battle for Planet Z on Symphony of the Seas and Clash for Crystal City on Oasis of the Seas (and coming to Allure of the Seas in 2020) -- which take place in Studio B, when not in use for ice-skating.

[canadian girl 77]

7 hours ago, MountainHubby said:

Best I can tell there is no laser tag on this ship. It’s not in the app anywhere and I haven’t run across it on board. If That changes I’ll let you know. 

Thanks! The few post-pandemic daily calendars don't seem to show it. Maybe it's because the unvaxxed under-12s would want to play?

[MountainHubby]

I know they did a big retrofit of the ship in 2019 (someone please correct me if I’m wrong). It’s possible they removed laser tag then. 

[MountainHubby]

Day 5 Daily

[MountainHubby]

Day 6 Daily

 

[MountainHubby]

Day 7 Daily

 

[jmklade]

On 11/10/2021 at 3:13 PM, Oceansaway17 said:

 

crew never reveals things to passengers that often.

Sometimes they do.  We were on Adventure several years ago and got to know a few of the bartenders pretty well by the end of the cruise.  We talked about their past and current assignments and which ones they liked and which ones they didn't.  They all said the Asian market cruises are the worst for bartenders because they didn't drink as much therefore fewer tips.  

 

They ironically also said the housekeepers also did not like those cruises.

[MountainHubby]

Back to some reviews!

 

Day 3 - Sea day

I gotta say, sea days are some of my favorites!  

We ate breakfast at the main dining. It was good (but the OJ glasses at Johnny Rockets are bigger 😝).  Then we headed up to the flow riders for a bit. The kid is getting pretty good, and we’ll known by the crew!  We explored the ship a bit more, got lunch at the Wind Jammer, followed by a little more flowriding. 

 

We got on the rock wall after lunch.

There was almost no one there, a few small kids, so we just hung out with Casey (staff) and played around for a bit. The routes go from super easy to fairly challenging. we both made it up what they said was the hardest, but it definitely wasn’t easy!  Make sure you bring socks with you for the climbing shoes and you can’t be in wet clothes. The staff was fun and encouraging!  There are two walls but we have only seen one open. They stage some of the aqua show from the second so maybe are keeping it closed since we are only at half capacity?  We will try to look in the last couple sea days. Tip: make sure to only go to the rock climbing when the wall is in the shade. It gets too hot in the direct sun. My wife and other son said they nearly blistered their hands climbing in the sun on another trip!

 

We got seats for the 80’s Aqua show and it was awesome!!  The cast was amazing, the music was great (especially for a child of the 80’s), and it was just so fun!  I won’t spoil any of it for you, but it’s a must see. I will say that it was pretty loud, 80’s rock concert loud. If that’s not your thing, or you have small kids, you might consider some earplugs. 

 

Grabbed some pizza at Sorrento’s, which was pretty good! 

 

There are two large hot tubs just outside the Solarium. These are a great spot to relax, and usually weren’t to busy. If one he too many people in it, the second one was almost always available.