Another Oasis review - 8/14/2022

[OnceAMarineAlwaysAMarine]

We were a group of 8 with a check in time of 10:00. We arrived at Port Liberty at 9:30 and got through the check in process easily. We had to sit in the waiting area for approximately ½ hour before they started the boarding process. We were on board by 10:45. At that time the Windjammer was not so crowded so we headed there for lunch. Our cabin (12308) was available to us at 1:00 and we met our wonderful cabin steward Sugi (Sugiyanto). The ship is very long and I think that next time we would book a cabin closer to the elevators. We had a cabin in the aft section and we are in our mid 70s so those frequent long walks to and from the elevators made us want to be closer to the elevators.

 

For the most part, we ate in the main dining room and once again had great waiters (Satish and Sweetson). The food was average for a Royal Caribbean ship but the one meal that stood out was the beef tenderloin. It was delicious. The Windjammer food was again typical of other Royal Caribbean ships. A less crowded option for breakfast was the Solarium Cafe. Sorrento's served up pizza all day and well into the night ( I think they closed up around 2:00 or 3:00 a.m.). I was only able to get a made-to-order omelette when we had breakfast in the main dining room. Johnny Rockets also had a free breakfast and that was good.

 

When you first get on-board be sure to make reservations for the Aqua 80 show. DO NOT miss this show. I was unsure that I wanted to go to it, but we went on the first night is was presented and WOW, was I ever impressed. This is the best show that I have seen on any cruise ship. I made reservations as soon as we boarded for all 8 of us, but somehow my reservation got lost. We went there 20 minutes before show time and got on the stand by line. We did not get seats and had standing room, but were really blown away by this production. We actually went again the following night to see it again. Once again we had to go to the stand by line, but this time we got seats. I would recommend booking this show on the first night it is available since it may be cancelled if the seas or wind are too rough. Once again I will repeat – DO NOT MISS THIS SHOW.

 

Another extremely impressive activity is the Royal Escape Room. Once again it books up fast so reserve it as soon as you can. The escape room is a mock up of the NASA mission control room and you have 50 minutes to try and solve all the puzzles to get a rocket launched. There are 12 people on the “team” all working towards the same goal. One entire wall is a video screen and there are six consoles for various functions just like the actual NASA control room. You need to find clues and use them to activate each of the six consoles. Once all six consoles are activated then the launch sequence begins and it gets going fast and is a lot of fun. We got the rocket launched with 3 minutes and 2 seconds left on our 50 minute countdown clock.

 

The reviews of CATS have been discussed over and over on Cruise Critic. I found that you will enjoy it if you like Broadway musicals and will not if you are not a fan of musicals. If you saw CATS on Broadway there was a lot of energy and movement on the stage that made it a lot of fun. The stage on Oasis is much smaller and that limited the amount of energy that could be generated by the performers. All of the performers in the production were excellent singers and dancers and we enjoyed the performance.

 

We had 6,200 passengers on our cruise and 2,200 crew members. It did not feel overly crowded most of the time, but the pools were very crowded, including the adults only pool in the solarium. It was also difficult to find a table in the Windjammer and the waiters were asking seated folks if they would be okay sharing their table in order to get seats for others. Many of the trivia games took place in the Music Hall which was not a very big venue.

 

Formal nights were on day 2 and day 6. As it typically is on Royal Caribbean, some people were elegantly dressed, most wore dressy clothes and some just ignored the fact that is was a night to be a little more dressed up.

 

The Rising Tides bar, which goes up and down between the Promenade deck and the Central Park deck was broken for a few days of our cruise, but they got it working again later in the week. The casino was always busy but we always were able to find open slot machines to play. For the first time on any cruise I actually came out ahead on this cruise.

 

On day 7 they had the Anchors Aweigh Parade in the Promenade. This was fun as all the entertainment staff put on a fun time. Also on day 7 they had a “Salute to the Heroes” in the Promenade, which was a tribute to all the veterans who were on the cruise. As a Marine Corps veteran, I thought this was very well done and I appreciated it.

 

They had a Hush! Silent Party in the Promenade which was a little strange if you were not participating. You are provided with headphones to hear the music and dance to it. If you are walking by you see lots of people dancing but do not hear any music. The tribute band on this cruise played the music of the Eagles. We did not attend so I cannot comment on that performance. There is a carousel on the Boardwalk, a zip line, and a miniature golf course available.

 

On our first stop at Port Canaveral we stayed on board and expected a reduced volume of people on the ship, but that was not the case. The pools were still extremely crowded as was the Windjammer. Our second stop was at Cococay which was great. The Oasis Lagoon pool is immense with a swim up bar. Our grand-kids loved the water park and the beaches were very nice. There were plenty of lounge chairs all over the island and lots of umbrellas to give you some shade. We were the only ship at Cococay, so that may not be the case if there are two ships in port. Our last stop was at Nassau where we had two other ships in port with us (Freedom of the Seas and Carnival Escape). We generally do not care for Nassau so we opted to take an excursion to Blue Lagoon Island. We were there on our last cruise and enjoyed it. Unfortunately it has gone down hill since then. They do not have enough lounge chairs and the food they had for lunch was absolutely terrible. Everything was cold. We got in line on the pier for the excursion to Blue Lagoon Island and the ferry they had filled up and they added a second ferry, which also filled up. The excursion guide told us to wait here and another ferry will be here soon but then a different excursion guide told us to move further down the pier where there would be yet another boat. We finally got on that boat and were underway to the island. This was a very disorganized excursion, which is unusual for Royal Caribbean.

 

You could tell at times that the ship was short-staffed, but the crew on the ship was incredible. They all worked so hard and were very pleasant at all times. This is usually the case on Royal Caribbean ships.

 

All in all it was a great cruise, good weather, beautiful ship with a great crew. The cruise director was Mitch. He was funny and did a good job at the shows. Personally I think I prefer the somewhat smaller ships but if you are going on Oasis there is just so much going on and so much to do that you will not be bored.

[mk-ultra]

I'll heartily second the Aqua80 show.  Hands down some of the best entertainment I've ever had on a ship.  If you're an '80s music nerd (my high school generation) there are a lot of pleasant surprises -- it's not all just mainstream pop.

Edited August 23, 2022 by mk-ultra

[Sunshine3601]

Thank you.  We will be boarding Oasis this coming Sunday.   We have sailed this class before but will be our first time on Oasis.   

We have early TD and hope to be on deck 4 or 5 for mdr.

 

[maggieq]

49 minutes ago, mk-ultra said:

I'll heartily second the Aqua80 show.  Hands down some of the best entertainment I've ever had on a ship.  If you're an '80s music nerd (my high school generation) there are a lot of pleasant surprises -- it's not all just mainstream pop.

My favorite prior to cruising on oasis this year was hiro from the symphony.  Loved aqua 80 😊 

[mafig]

Really enjoyed reading your review.  Thank you.💘

[loving2cruise]

Excellent review, thank you for sharing your thoughts.

 

I was on the same cruise last week, and enjoyed it SO much!!  It was my fist time on Oasis....what a GREAT ship!!

 

I seemed to have missed the escape room somehow though....didn't know it existed..lol

 

[blade3]

We are an older couple and do not have app availability.

Did  you make your show reservations with the RC app or was there another way once onboard?

Also, where was the waiting area if you arrive before 10:00. Then how do you line up? 

[wezie]

Great review.  I have a few questions.  Did you park in Cape Liberty?  If so, how was it and how much was it?  Do they really start boarding that early?  What is done for the muster drill? Where do you go for show reservations?  How about dinner reservations?

[robmtx]

Good writeup, and pretty much on par for that ship and itinerary (more and more people staying onboard in Port C).

 

Expecting the 3rd/4th occupancies to drop way off shortly too! Many schools start up next week, and most the following week. While there are always kids aboard a ship, I expect the return of school to drop passenger counts below 6,000 in the next two weeks. Parents like to take their kids out of school to cruise, but usually not their first week!

 

[OnceAMarineAlwaysAMarine]

12 hours ago, blade3 said:

We are an older couple and do not have app availability.

Did  you make your show reservations with the RC app or was there another way once onboard?

Also, where was the waiting area if you arrive before 10:00. Then how do you line up? 

They have a desk set up in the Promenade in front of Boleros where you can make all your reservations.  It is a small black podium with two or three RCCL employees standing next to it.  It is not labelled so you may have to ask if you don't see it.  Go there early before the lines get long.  Make sure you book Aqua 80!!!  We used the APP and it was very easy.  Before 10:00 there is a line outside the terminal waiting for the doors to open. The waiting area after you check in is inside the terminal.  The check in procedure is very quick if you have completed the online check-in on the RCCL web site or on the APP.  They have rows of chairs and they will instruct you on where to sit.  Those with priority boarding are put in a separate area.

[OnceAMarineAlwaysAMarine]

11 hours ago, wezie said:

Great review.  I have a few questions.  Did you park in Cape Liberty?  If so, how was it and how much was it?  Do they really start boarding that early?  What is done for the muster drill? Where do you go for show reservations?  How about dinner reservations?

We did not park at Cape Liberty this time because we had 8 people in our group.  We used a limo service to get us to the port.  When we got back to Port Liberty at the end of the cruise, they started letting people off the ship at 6:45 and they scheduled our departure for 7:15.  Since they get everyone off so early, they are able to start boarding the next cruise earlier.  I believe our boarding started at around 10:30 for the priority boarding group and we were on board by 10:45.  There is no longer a muster drill.  You watch the safety briefing on your phone using the APP or you can view it on your cabin TV.  After viewing it you must go to your muster station to check in and confirm to them that you have watched the safety briefing.  The easiest way to get show and dinner reservations is by using the APP.  In the APP, tap on ENTERTAINMENT and then (at the top) tap on SHOWS AND EVENTS to make your reservations.  If you have linked reservations you can reserve for everyone in your group.  To get dining reservations tap on DINING at the bottom of the APP to make your reservations.  If you do not have access to the APP then (if you want to book as soon as you board) you will need to go to the reservation desk outside Boleros. It is a small black podium manned by two or three crew members.  They make reservations for you using their tablets.  Go early to avoid long lines at this desk.

[blade3]

Thank you for replying to my questions!

[bmc alabama]

We sailed on Oasis back in January and while it wasn't maybe one of our favorite ships, we all said how good Aqua80 is.  I agree, it's one of the best shows (along with maybe Duel Reality on Virgin) at sea...

[jaygatsby27]

On 8/23/2022 at 5:25 PM, OnceAMarineAlwaysAMarine said:

We were a group of 8 with a check in time of 10:00. We arrived at Port Liberty at 9:30 and got through the check in process easily. We had to sit in the waiting area for approximately ½ hour before they started the boarding process. We were on board by 10:45. At that time the Windjammer was not so crowded so we headed there for lunch. Our cabin (12308) was available to us at 1:00 and we met our wonderful cabin steward Sugi (Sugiyanto). The ship is very long and I think that next time we would book a cabin closer to the elevators. We had a cabin in the aft section and we are in our mid 70s so those frequent long walks to and from the elevators made us want to be closer to the elevators.

 

For the most part, we ate in the main dining room and once again had great waiters (Satish and Sweetson). The food was average for a Royal Caribbean ship but the one meal that stood out was the beef tenderloin. It was delicious. The Windjammer food was again typical of other Royal Caribbean ships. A less crowded option for breakfast was the Solarium Cafe. Sorrento's served up pizza all day and well into the night ( I think they closed up around 2:00 or 3:00 a.m.). I was only able to get a made-to-order omelette when we had breakfast in the main dining room. Johnny Rockets also had a free breakfast and that was good.

 

When you first get on-board be sure to make reservations for the Aqua 80 show. DO NOT miss this show. I was unsure that I wanted to go to it, but we went on the first night is was presented and WOW, was I ever impressed. This is the best show that I have seen on any cruise ship. I made reservations as soon as we boarded for all 8 of us, but somehow my reservation got lost. We went there 20 minutes before show time and got on the stand by line. We did not get seats and had standing room, but were really blown away by this production. We actually went again the following night to see it again. Once again we had to go to the stand by line, but this time we got seats. I would recommend booking this show on the first night it is available since it may be cancelled if the seas or wind are too rough. Once again I will repeat – DO NOT MISS THIS SHOW.

 

Another extremely impressive activity is the Royal Escape Room. Once again it books up fast so reserve it as soon as you can. The escape room is a mock up of the NASA mission control room and you have 50 minutes to try and solve all the puzzles to get a rocket launched. There are 12 people on the “team” all working towards the same goal. One entire wall is a video screen and there are six consoles for various functions just like the actual NASA control room. You need to find clues and use them to activate each of the six consoles. Once all six consoles are activated then the launch sequence begins and it gets going fast and is a lot of fun. We got the rocket launched with 3 minutes and 2 seconds left on our 50 minute countdown clock.

 

The reviews of CATS have been discussed over and over on Cruise Critic. I found that you will enjoy it if you like Broadway musicals and will not if you are not a fan of musicals. If you saw CATS on Broadway there was a lot of energy and movement on the stage that made it a lot of fun. The stage on Oasis is much smaller and that limited the amount of energy that could be generated by the performers. All of the performers in the production were excellent singers and dancers and we enjoyed the performance.

 

We had 6,200 passengers on our cruise and 2,200 crew members. It did not feel overly crowded most of the time, but the pools were very crowded, including the adults only pool in the solarium. It was also difficult to find a table in the Windjammer and the waiters were asking seated folks if they would be okay sharing their table in order to get seats for others. Many of the trivia games took place in the Music Hall which was not a very big venue.

 

Formal nights were on day 2 and day 6. As it typically is on Royal Caribbean, some people were elegantly dressed, most wore dressy clothes and some just ignored the fact that is was a night to be a little more dressed up.

 

The Rising Tides bar, which goes up and down between the Promenade deck and the Central Park deck was broken for a few days of our cruise, but they got it working again later in the week. The casino was always busy but we always were able to find open slot machines to play. For the first time on any cruise I actually came out ahead on this cruise.

 

On day 7 they had the Anchors Aweigh Parade in the Promenade. This was fun as all the entertainment staff put on a fun time. Also on day 7 they had a “Salute to the Heroes” in the Promenade, which was a tribute to all the veterans who were on the cruise. As a Marine Corps veteran, I thought this was very well done and I appreciated it.

 

They had a Hush! Silent Party in the Promenade which was a little strange if you were not participating. You are provided with headphones to hear the music and dance to it. If you are walking by you see lots of people dancing but do not hear any music. The tribute band on this cruise played the music of the Eagles. We did not attend so I cannot comment on that performance. There is a carousel on the Boardwalk, a zip line, and a miniature golf course available.

 

On our first stop at Port Canaveral we stayed on board and expected a reduced volume of people on the ship, but that was not the case. The pools were still extremely crowded as was the Windjammer. Our second stop was at Cococay which was great. The Oasis Lagoon pool is immense with a swim up bar. Our grand-kids loved the water park and the beaches were very nice. There were plenty of lounge chairs all over the island and lots of umbrellas to give you some shade. We were the only ship at Cococay, so that may not be the case if there are two ships in port. Our last stop was at Nassau where we had two other ships in port with us (Freedom of the Seas and Carnival Escape). We generally do not care for Nassau so we opted to take an excursion to Blue Lagoon Island. We were there on our last cruise and enjoyed it. Unfortunately it has gone down hill since then. They do not have enough lounge chairs and the food they had for lunch was absolutely terrible. Everything was cold. We got in line on the pier for the excursion to Blue Lagoon Island and the ferry they had filled up and they added a second ferry, which also filled up. The excursion guide told us to wait here and another ferry will be here soon but then a different excursion guide told us to move further down the pier where there would be yet another boat. We finally got on that boat and were underway to the island. This was a very disorganized excursion, which is unusual for Royal Caribbean.

 

You could tell at times that the ship was short-staffed, but the crew on the ship was incredible. They all worked so hard and were very pleasant at all times. This is usually the case on Royal Caribbean ships.

 

All in all it was a great cruise, good weather, beautiful ship with a great crew. The cruise director was Mitch. He was funny and did a good job at the shows. Personally I think I prefer the somewhat smaller ships but if you are going on Oasis there is just so much going on and so much to do that you will not be bored.

Thanks for taking the time to review the cruise. i heard the last couple of weeks have been at max capacity and max kids, but im hoping they will be back in school next week.  

[robmtx]

23 minutes ago, jaygatsby27 said:

Thanks for taking the time to review the cruise. i heard the last couple of weeks have been at max capacity and max kids, but im hoping they will be back in school next week.  

Most NY and NJ schools starting this week or next. I know parents will easily pull their kids out of school for cruises, but I just feel like they're less likely to do so on the first day, or first week of school. That seems too important lol.

 

[figment9999]

Thx for the great info.

 

Question; which nights do they present the CATS show?

[FamilyCruiserUK]

Thanks for the review. Roll on feb for our two weeks on oasis from Miami.

[jaygatsby27]

3 hours ago, robmtx said:

Most NY and NJ schools starting this week or next. I know parents will easily pull their kids out of school for cruises, but I just feel like they're less likely to do so on the first day, or first week of school. That seems too important lol.

 

yes, missing the first day of school is stupid.  kids kind of look forward to it in a perverse way. 

[jaygatsby27]

2 hours ago, figment9999 said:

Thx for the great info.

 

Question; which nights do they present the CATS show?

i think its the last 3 days including an afternoon show on day 7.

[OnceAMarineAlwaysAMarine]

2 hours ago, figment9999 said:

Thx for the great info.

 

Question; which nights do they present the CATS show?

Here is the show schedule for Oasisis on the 8/14/22 sailing.

1 hour ago, FamilyCruiserUK said:

Thanks for the review. Roll on feb for our two weeks on oasis from Miami.

[kidz_rn]

Great review.  Much thanks. We sail on Sept. 18. Certainly hope you're correct about fewer school-age kids . . . and also no hurricanes, please! 😂

[Roybthered]

Great review, did you get a limo from NY over to Cape Liberty and back? if so can you recommend them as we sail (3 adult and 1 child) for 16th Oct. We have an overnight stay in NY on the 15th and are looking for transport to and from the port out of NY.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Roy

[meadowlander]

6 minutes ago, Roybthered said:

Great review, did you get a limo from NY over to Cape Liberty and back? if so can you recommend them as we sail (3 adult and 1 child) for 16th Oct.

Carmel Limo & Dial 7 are recommended car services.

[robmtx]

15 hours ago, kidz_rn said:

Great review.  Much thanks. We sail on Sept. 18. Certainly hope you're correct about fewer school-age kids . . . and also no hurricanes, please! 😂

I think there's a Kids-Sail-Free promo, but also I think that's for kids 12 and under, so it wouldn't be appealing to parents with teens. Knowing about the promo for this Sunday's sailing, I expect to see some elementary kids on board. There's ALWAYS gonna be some kids on a Royal Caribbean ship, despite any school schedule! Lots of home schooled kids will be "learning at sea" lol...

[OnceAMarineAlwaysAMarine]

3 hours ago, Roybthered said:

Great review, did you get a limo from NY over to Cape Liberty and back? if so can you recommend them as we sail (3 adult and 1 child) for 16th Oct. We have an overnight stay in NY on the 15th and are looking for transport to and from the port out of NY.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Roy

Sorry, we got limo service from central Long Island using a local limo company.