Jump to content
Cruise Critic Community

Live Value Cruising Review of Oasis of the Sea 2/6/22 - 2/13/22 Plenty of Pictures!

BennyBrun

By BennyBrun,
in Royal Caribbean International

 Share

Recommended Posts

BennyBrun "Live from...." Rare

BennyBrun

Posted
  • Author
Posted
10 minutes ago, MissKathy107 said:

I’m pleasantly surprised that they have escargot in the MDR. On NCL, you can only get it at their speciality French restaurant, Le Bistro. 

That’s how Royal rolls lol…yeah NCL … all that “free” at sea stuff they “give” away, they have to control the cost some where 😂 

  • Like 1
  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
BennyBrun "Live from...." Rare

BennyBrun

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Day 2 Adult Comedy…

 

Heres the biggest laugh of the evening… the “bouncer” at the door said to me this is for 18 and Over only and was not going to let me in plus you need a reservation.  I said I am really old 😂 and would like to go stand by, she asked for my key to looked up my age and she started the OMG laughing and let me through without a reservation 😝 

  • Like 4
  • Haha 11
Link to comment
Share on other sites
RoperDK

RoperDK

Posted
Posted

Enjoying your pics of Windjammer and MDR dinner.  We are mostly Carnival cruisers looking for a new home.  We gave up on the Carnival buffet and MDR and chose different options. I know you recently cruised on Mardi Gras.  Can you share your comparisons?   

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
perfect match Holiday Sharing Rare

perfect match

Posted
Posted

Coco Cay looked beautiful. While I still think I prefer the island as it was before the “enhancement”, with the exception of the addition of the pier, I still do think it’s beautiful! Wish I’d been there with you today. 🏝

 

I love that you got carded going to the comedy show. It used to happen to me a lot, well into my 30’s. I used to hate when that happened. Now, I’d be thrilled! Now if someone thinks I’m younger than I actually am, they’re my new best friend! 
 

Sounds like you’re doing a great job of making this a bargain cruise. Good for you! We do most of our cruises without a lot of the extras, and don’t feel like we’re missing out on anything at all.

  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
BennyBrun "Live from...." Rare

BennyBrun

Posted
  • Author
Posted
48 minutes ago, RoperDK said:

Enjoying your pics of Windjammer and MDR dinner.  We are mostly Carnival cruisers looking for a new home.  We gave up on the Carnival buffet and MDR and chose different options. I know you recently cruised on Mardi Gras.  Can you share your comparisons?   

Each cruise line operate and market themselves differently and I always go by the motto that nothing is free.  What you pay for is what you get in return.  Mardi Gras is beautiful with lots of entertainment at Grand Central.  They also provide a lot of self serve food outlets that are outstanding.  They shine at providing the fun, festivities and show stopping entertainment.  Their bar scene is phenomenal!!  They work their crew to the bone and their crew to passenger ratio is terrible so the service is very basic, not warm and welcoming but that is reflected in their pricing.  If you are looking for loud non stop entertainment and you are okay with pizza, fried chicken ( I love that chicken) self serve options then Mardi Gras is the ship for you.  Royal’s Oasis class ships offers the fun and excitement but focuses on sports, big production shows.  They do also offer Central Park for the fine dinning and a more relaxed environment and overall the crew makes an effort to make you feel welcome and would at least try to go above and beyond to make you happy.  The food is great overall but they don’t have anything that stands out on the complimentary side like Street Eats on Mardi Gras or Shaq’s chicken where it is really good.  Royals MDR is good and the service is better than Carnival but I have to be honest the food tastes better on the Mardi Gras.  If only Carnival can improve on the service and increase the crew count but then so will their cruise fare.  So if you are looking for a better service experience at the buffet and MDR then Royal will be better than the Mardi Gras on the Oasis class ships.  Of course if you are looking for even better service I would look at Celebrity but the downside is that there will be less OMG entertainment options on Celebrity.

 

You have to think about what you want more out of a cruise line and decide which one will be better for you.   Forget about the free stuff they offer unless it’s OBC.  That’s just noise and distraction.

  • Like 5
  • Thanks 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites
BennyBrun "Live from...." Rare

BennyBrun

Posted
  • Author
Posted
56 minutes ago, perfect match said:

Coco Cay looked beautiful. While I still think I prefer the island as it was before the “enhancement”, with the exception of the addition of the pier, I still do think it’s beautiful! Wish I’d been there with you today. 🏝

 

I love that you got carded going to the comedy show. It used to happen to me a lot, well into my 30’s. I used to hate when that happened. Now, I’d be thrilled! Now if someone thinks I’m younger than I actually am, they’re my new best friend! 
 

Sounds like you’re doing a great job of making this a bargain cruise. Good for you! We do most of our cruises without a lot of the extras, and don’t feel like we’re missing out on anything at all.

I didn’t get a chance to see it before the enhancements I started when they were half way through.  It’s a beautiful and relaxing place.  Much better than NCLs island.

 

I don’t get caught up in the FOMO.  I do it because I want to do it not because I think I am going to miss something.  I enjoyed MDR this week as much as I did with UDP.  The only difference is that the server has more time with you at specialty restaurant so it is more pampered experience.  The food selection was great at MDR and I have no complaints and loving it!  I also liked my snack selection up at Windjammers too 😂 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
RoperDK

RoperDK

Posted
Posted
11 minutes ago, BennyBrun said:

 If only Carnival can improve on the service and increase the crew count but then so will their cruise fare.  So if you are looking for a better service experience at the buffet and MDR then Royal will be better than the Mardi Gras on the Oasis class ships.  Of course if you are looking for even better service I would look at Celebrity but the downside is that there will be less OMG entertainment options on Celebrity.

 

You have to think about what you want more out of a cruise line and decide which one will be better for you.   Forget about the free stuff they offer unless it’s OBC.  That’s just noise and distraction.

Thanks for your comparison.  I have cruised on Carnival for 20 years and I used to love the experience.  Good food, good service, loads of fun, and a fair price.  We are giving Royal a fair shake again and revisiting Princess.  Would love to try Celebrity, and probably will, but can't shake the feeling that we will be bored.  Appreciate your live reviews.  So much great info.  Thanks again!  

  • Like 1
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
binro01 "Live from...." Rare

binro01

Posted
Posted
39 minutes ago, RoperDK said:

Thanks for your comparison.  I have cruised on Carnival for 20 years and I used to love the experience.  Good food, good service, loads of fun, and a fair price.  We are giving Royal a fair shake again and revisiting Princess.  Would love to try Celebrity, and probably will, but can't shake the feeling that we will be bored.  Appreciate your live reviews.  So much great info.  Thanks again!  

I sailed on both Princess and Celebrity. Very similar vibe. I like Celebrity over Princess mainly because of the new ships.
 

I also did a few Carnival and NCL cruises.

 

So far my laid back cruise company is leaning to Celebrity, but I will not pass up Princess if the price is right.

 

For a more up beat cruise I use to lean to NCL but they got so expensive. I then went to Carnival but the service and specialty dining was meh.
 

So now Im giving Royal a try after 20 years. 

  • Like 2
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
BennyBrun "Live from...." Rare

BennyBrun

Posted
  • Author
Posted
53 minutes ago, RoperDK said:

Thanks for your comparison.  I have cruised on Carnival for 20 years and I used to love the experience.  Good food, good service, loads of fun, and a fair price.  We are giving Royal a fair shake again and revisiting Princess.  Would love to try Celebrity, and probably will, but can't shake the feeling that we will be bored.  Appreciate your live reviews.  So much great info.  Thanks again!  

You are welcome.  As you might know I just came off the Apex and truly enjoyed the ship and that pampered feeling.  I knew the entertainment would light but I went to the solarium a lot during the down time and relaxed.  Their Solarium is not like Royal’s it’s a nice relaxing space with no bar, just the spa cafe.  Again all about what you want to get out of your cruise.  I like them all but I do have my least favorite line.  Lol!

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
BennyBrun "Live from...." Rare

BennyBrun

Posted
  • Author
Posted
12 minutes ago, binro01 said:

I sailed on both Princess and Celebrity. Very similar vibe. I like Celebrity over Princess mainly because of the new ships.
 

I also did a few Carnival and NCL cruises.

 

So far my laid back cruise company is leaning to Celebrity, but I will not pass up Princess if the price is right.

 

For a more up beat cruise I use to lean to NCL but they got so expensive. I then went to Carnival but the service and specialty dining was meh.
 

So now Im giving Royal a try after 20 years. 

I also like Princess but Celebrity got me!   Although I am interested in trying out Princess’ newest ship!

 

oh NCL NCL … they got expensive for no good reason at from the cruisers perspective.  They want the cruisers to burn those FCC pure and simple and in the process hand over more money.  It’s so obvious that they were so “generous” to hand out FCC with crazy bonuses and we thought wow that’s so nice of them only to find out that they raised the price through the roof for the same thing now and then devalued the “free” at sea offers.  Carnival / Royal handed out some FCC bonuses but not to the extent that NCL did and their prices have been slightly higher but not almost double like NCL but I digress!

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing
  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • Special Event: Q&A with Laura Hodges Bethge, President Celebrity Cruises
      • ANNOUNCEMENT: Set Sail on Sun Princess®
      • Hurricane Zone 2024
      • Cruise Insurance Q&A w/ Steve Dasseos of Tripinsurancestore.com June 2024
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Cruise Critic News & Features
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...