Live Review Oasis Of The Sea 1/30/2022 - 2/06/2022 Virtual Cruise Plenty of Pictures.

[BennyBrun]

The time has come for another virtual cruise on Oasis of the Sea.  It will be fun, upbeat and most importantly A LOT of pictures.  I originally was going to start this thread on 1/30 but the nor’easter for the NE/E region had other plans!

[SNJCruisers]

Following....of course.  Do you have the UDP this week or next?  

[loupana]

Nice looking forward to this...

[BennyBrun]

24 minutes ago, SNJCruisers said:

Following....of course.  Do you have the UDP this week or next?  

Thank you my fellow APEX cruiser!  I will have UDP this week and regular dinning next week to see the difference and to eat a little less on week 2 of the cruise 😂 

[BennyBrun]

The original plan was to fly in on 1/30 because I figured that if there is an issue there are 3 different flights I can take and still be on the ship but the Nor’easter had a different plan.  Up until Friday morning I was pretty confident because the airlines were canceling flights on Saturday and some Friday evening, BUT while I was getting tested on Friday an alert came through and BAD NEWS, Sunday morning flight cancelled and rebooked for Sunday night.  Well that is not going to work, so I quickly got Delta on the phone and the wait time went from 26 minutes to 52 minutes to 96 minutes and it was 3PM by the time the agent picked up the phone.  All flights are cancelled Saturday out of NY/NJ/CT/PHL so the only option left was Friday night LGA connecting through ATL to West Palm Beach.  The agent picked the 7:55PM departure out of LGA and 10 something departure at ATL for PBI.  I didn’t really check because I now have to get ready and literally fly out the door to make the 7:55 flight so I thanked the agent and hung up the phone. ( NYC traffic is horrible add in snow alert it’s a mess.)  I started to check in on the app while getting ready and noticed oh oh the agent booked for SUNDAY NIGHT … WHAT!  I quickly rang Delta back but now the wait time is 3 hours.  We shoved all the suitcases in the truck and decided to drive to Newark airport first to deal with an agent face to face to solve this issue.  It is now 4:30 PM.

[BennyBrun]

We got to Newark airport and the agent said all flights out of Newark are sold out for Friday so the best they can do is book LGA to PBI west palm beach (all other airports sold out for Friday evening).  As the agent was reissuing the tickets I got an alert the 7:55PM LGA is delayed and we will misconnect, but I kept quiet and let the agent reissue the ticket and then I told agent about the misconnect.  The agent then put us on the Saturday flight for PBI as a back up in case we really misconnect.  I thanked her and we flew out the door and started our drive to LGA.  The time is now 6PM.  Yes it takes a long time to reissue tickets!

[BennyBrun]

Surprisingly there was not a lot of traffic and we got to LGA at 7:15PM.  By now the flight delayed again until 9:59PM so we had time but we knew we would misconnect.  Knowing that ATL is Delta’s hub as long as we can get there we will have options so I asked the check in agent to short check the bag to ATL and not to PBI.  I told her that we will misconnect in ATL and I rather pick up our luggage by ourselves and check in again the next day vs relying on Delta to reunite the luggage with us along with 1000s of misconnected luggages.  She agreed plus she said we could have better options tomorrow morning any way because other people might have missed their connection and MIA flights will have seats .💡💡. 

[BennyBrun]

There were two ATL flights left the 7:55 delayed until 9:55 and the 8:59 delayed until 10:30 but by 8:30 Friday night they canceled the 8:59 flight and people were upset very upset and I understand because I know what’s at stake.  People were trying to rebook to my flight but it was completely sold out and the standby list was ridiculously long.  Finally we were able to board, deice and took off to ATL.

[BennyBrun]

We landed at ATL Saturday morning 1AM.  I immediately went to the help desk and lined up with other travelers to try to rebook.  It took a while but I was able to get two seats to MIA on Saturday morning at 11:15 AM.  We picked up our bags from baggage claim around 3 AM and we tried to look a hotel but it was all sold out.  So we found a place by the USO/Chapel and camped out along with 1000s stranded passengers.  That was line at 4AM by 5AM they canceled more flights including an earlier MIA flight which rattled my nerves.

[BennyBrun]

I did manage to find a Starbucks outside security, and waited for it to open.  We could not go through TSA because we still have to check bags and we did not want our bags checked in too early so it sit around and be forgotten.  It feels so good to have Starbucks at 5:30AM when you got no sleep no food and running on adrenaline!

[BennyBrun]

We finally got onboard for our flight by 11AM but we went into technical issues, boarding pass won’t scan, then while they were loading luggages the luggage tags won’t scan, then they put two people in the same seat but I was so tired I was drifting in and out just hearing the announcements.  Finally we were ready to go and we touched down at MIA 2:05PM.

 

This was probably the most stressful travel experience on record, but we fly a lot for work/leisure so we knew what to expect and what the agent expect from us.  You have to stay calm when asking someone for help and keep the tone of the voice low.  Have alternate flight plans ready so you suggest your itinerary to the agent during irregular operations and remember that the nicer the calmer you are the better the results.  The “ I will never fly Xxx airline” during irregular operation while you are trying to rebook is not going to help you!

 

Also I am glad that I purchase my own airfare because if I had gone through Royal air, I would have to rely and them to deal with Delta I can guarantee that we would not be in Miami right now.  You have to be proactive with your flights if you want to get to where you want to go!

[BennyBrun]

Pre Cruise Hotel Stay

 

Unexpected but surprisingly the prices were very reasonable for last minute booking like 30 minutes before arrival.  We picked the AC Marriott Airport West Doral.  It’s newish, airport shuttle and comfy beds plus you are across the street from great dining options and authentic Cuban /Latin food near by.

 

Waiting for the shuttle.  It runs once a hour.

[maggieq]

Wow, what an experience.  May your cruise on oasis make all that stress go away.   I do have to ask if you tried United or Jet Blue to get to FL?

[BennyBrun]

19 minutes ago, maggieq said:

Wow, what an experience.  May your cruise on oasis make all that stress go away.   I do have to ask if you tried United or Jet Blue to get to FL?

On this trip it would not have mattered.  Almost all flights canceled out of my area.  This was bad and I think our passengers count might reflect some cancellations due to the flights cancellations!

[FionaMG]

I feel stressed out just reading this! I hope you have an amazing cruise to make up for it.

[BennyBrun]

29 minutes ago, FionaMG said:

I feel stressed out just reading this! I hope you have an amazing cruise to make up for it.

Hahaha… thank you!  It was testing my airline recovery skills during irregular operations and how to come out semi whole.  In this case made it out of the storm into Miami a day before.

[BennyBrun]

Pre Cruise Hotel- AC Marriott 

 

Very clean very modern very comfy.  It is in the same lot as the Fairfield Inn Suites West Doral Airport two polar opposites.

[BennyBrun]

Pre Cruise Hotel - AC Marriott 

 

Very close to City Place … I felt like I was on a cruise ship but on land!  Different types of restaurants and bars!

[BennyBrun]

Pre Cruise Day-

Instead of going a trendy restaurant, we opted for good comfort Cuban / Latin Food.  Plus after the travel day we had we were in no mood to dress up.  El Rinconcito Latino Doral hit the spot.  The portion was large and the food was tasty!  That roasted pork with onions and fried pork skin crumbles was out of this world! It was worth the walk!

[Squappie]

My wife and I are just a few blocks away at the Courtyard Airport West Doral. Headed to the cruise terminal at 10:45 in the morning. 

[BennyBrun]

7 minutes ago, Squappie said:

My wife and I are just a few blocks away at the Courtyard Airport West Doral. Headed to the cruise terminal at 10:45 in the morning. 

That’s on the way to El Rinconcito Latino Doral! Hope you guys had a great day and well rested for the Oasis tomorrow!!!  

 

[chill6x6]

I'm enjoying your review!

That definitely looks like my kind of place to eat!

You are giving me some great ideas....we will be on Oasis in almost exactly two months!

[SNJCruisers]

Whew!   Your calmness and flexibility when confronted with the ultimate speed bump allowed you to reach MIA ahead of time.  Bitter pill to swallow regarding the price of the hotel but they had you over a barrel and your options were limited.

Looking forward to your review and opinions regarding the UDP this week.  When you're on your backend, we'll be on our front end of our B2B on the Mardi Gras.

[BennyBrun]

1 hour ago, chill6x6 said:

I'm enjoying your review!

That definitely looks like my kind of place to eat!

You are giving me some great ideas....we will be on Oasis in almost exactly two months!

That is a great place to eat.  Just don’t over order.  The plate comes with two sides and it really does feed two!  If you want to be close to authentic Cuban / Latino food, then Four Points Doral and Aloft Doral is right across the street along with McD and Wendy’s.

[BennyBrun]

12 minutes ago, SNJCruisers said:

Whew!   Your calmness and flexibility when confronted with the ultimate speed bump allowed you to reach MIA ahead of time.  Bitter pill to swallow regarding the price of the hotel but they had you over a barrel and your options were limited.

Looking forward to your review and opinions regarding the UDP this week.  When you're on your backend, we'll be on our front end of our B2B on the Mardi Gras.

It’s going to be Fun for ALL.  There’s going to be ALOT of food pictures!!!  I intent to visit as many places as possible as many times as possible!