4 Nights on Oasis: A trip report / cautionary tale

[LisaLisa87]

I returned on Thursday from a rare 4-night sailing on Oasis. This was her last sailing from Miami (for now) before repositioning to NJ. My sister and I decided a couple of months ago that it was high time for us to take a vacation together -- just the two of us -- and this short sailing checked all the boxes. The itinerary included two sea days with a stop in Cozumel in between. Not terribly exciting, but we figured the two sea days would give us ample opportunity to put our deluxe beverage packages to use! I was also excited to show my sister an Oasis class ship, especially since her last cruise was 15 years ago on an older Carnival ship in an inside room. We booked 50 days out, which is very last minute for me. The sailing was almost sold out, and we lucked into a great price for an ocean view balcony guarantee ($653/person including taxes/fees/port charges).

 

Our room wasn't officially assigned until 10 days out, but I was able to see it much sooner by adding my SetSail pass to my mobile wallet. The room number was after the dash separating the string of numbers. We were assigned room 14320, and at first I was concerned about noise due to the location under the mini golf course. It turned out to be a very quiet room, though. We never heard anything at all from above, and we were lucky and had quiet people on either side of us. Some may not have cared for being so far aft, but it didn't bother us at all.

 

Our vacation started with some travel drama. I live in northeast Florida, and although I initially planned on driving to Miami the day of the cruise, I ultimately decided to head down the day before and stay in a hotel nearby. My sister had booked a nonstop flight from Charlotte, NC the day of the cruise (you can see where this is going). I tried to convince her to fly in the day before, but she's a single mom and runs a small business, and she really wanted to minimize her time away (and her expenses). I totally get it, but...

 

Her 8:45am flight was delayed until 9:50, then 10:30, then 11:20, etc., etc. due to stormy weather in Miami that day and the evening before. In the meantime, I was sitting in my car in the garage at Terminal A. I figured I'd be there for an hour or so, until my sister's flight was in the air, and then board the ship. At this point we were under the impression that she would need to be in the terminal by 3:30pm, but I ended up going down and asking after the third delay, and I learned that the doors to the terminal are locked at 4pm. That turned out to be a really good thing, because her flight didn't finally take off until 12:45pm. And she had checked a bag. And there was construction around both the bridge and tunnel to Port Miami. 😱 To say I was sweating it out would be a huge understatement. I spent about an hour researching alternative options in case she didn't make it in time. I was not going to get on the ship without her, and I held on to my suitcase just in case. (Incidentally, the porters close down the belt for luggage at 2:30pm).My sister finally stepped out of her taxi from the airport at 3:45pm. We were quickly ushered into the terminal, where we were literally the only two passengers. It was surreal. We boarded quickly and went straight to our room to drop off our luggage, took care of our muster station check-in, and then headed up to deck 16 for a much needed drink! I think it's safe to say my sister will never fly in on embarkation day again. 

 

 

Next up: Our experience onboard, including meals, shows, and activities.

And later: Our day at The Cabana Beach in Cozumel, with photos.

[SilkySal]

I will say that I was glued to reading all of your first post on here! I was so afraid that your sis was going to be too late to board the ship! So glad you both made it! I was on the edge of my seat! LOL!

[Leeba25]

Wow she cut it so close! Lucky she made it there in time. Whew

[OCSC Mike]

Enjoyed reading about your planning and the great Portside vs. Playmakers debate. Looking forward to the rest of your review.

[LisaLisa87]

20 minutes ago, OCSC Mike said:

Enjoyed reading about your planning and the great Portside vs. Playmakers debate. Looking forward to the rest of your review.

 

Yes, that was a lively discussion! Next installment coming soon...

[TravelBluebird]

Oh my gosh! You seemed to maintain your calm while you waited; I would have been a nervous wreck!

 

Flew in day of just once many years ago, and had flight delays, and I never did it again, I did an entire video on why people should fly in the day before their cruise: 

 

Please excuse the goofy picture of me. Can’t wait to hear about the rest of your trip; I’m assuming//hoping it went more smoothly than embarkation day!  Also, I love sister cruises; I really should cruise with my sister again.

[firefly333]

I would have still cruised solo if my sister didnt arrive on time. Why waste the cruise totally since the money was spent. 

[LisaLisa87]

The cautionary tale component of this report is officially over! We ended up having a blast on the cruise, despite the unfortunate start.

 

I was in charge of planning since 1) I'm a neurotic Type A planner, and 2) I've been on both Allure and Harmony. My sister was happy to go along with whatever I came up with. Since we were only going to be onboard for 4 days, I really wanted to maximize our time and show my sister the best Oasis has to offer. So I decided we would skip both the MDR and WJ, and I booked a couple of specialty restaurants ahead of time so I wouldn't have to deal with making reservations after boarding. Good thing! Here's what we did:

DAY 1 (abbreviated due to late boarding)

After grabbing a drink at the Lime & Coconut, we headed back to the room to change into swimsuits, and then we got a couple of loungers near the main pool. The beach pool is my favorite, but it was closed for some reason.

Dinner: Solarium Bistro. We had a nice, low-key dinner here -- perfect after such a long, stressful day. New to me since we were on Harmony in 2018: the entrees were part of the buffet vs. being made to order. My chicken was still surprisingly good, though! I do think that the starters steal the show here.

 

 

Show: Aqua80. This is my new favorite aqua show. I was a teenager in the 80s, so the music was right up my alley. So fun!

 

Activity: Hush! Silent Disco. This was originally scheduled for 9:30pm in the Music Hall, but at some point it was moved to 11:15. I wasn't sure we'd make it, but we were still riding on adrenaline and we ended up having a blast!

 

 

DAY 2 - At Sea

Breakfast & Coffee: Park Cafe. There were very few people there, so we got our specialty coffees and food quickly and were able to get a table in the small outside seating area. I do like all the choices at the WJ, but the peaceful setting and lack of crowds are hard to beat.

 

Activities: We mostly just hung out on deck 16 on our first sea day. The weather was great, and we had no problem finding two loungers at about 9:45am. We could have been near one of the pools, but I like to look out at the ocean so we opted for deck 16. There were plenty of roaming servers, and we had no trouble getting drinks.

 

 

Lunch: El Loco Fresh. Yum! This was my first experience with this venue, and I really liked it. The pork carnitas in particular were fabulous. I appreciated that there was a beverage cart with a handful of beers and other canned beverages on the outside edge of the seating area, and I was pleasantly surprised to see Truly Pineapple (my current fave).

 

Dinner: 150 Central Park. We had a fantastic dinner here. I had been once before, on Harmony, so I knew more or less what to expect. I was disappointed that they no longer have the selection of 6 different types of salt, though. When did they stop doing that? The bread was very good and we had to force ourselves to stop eating it. We both started with their signature cucumber martinis, which were delicious. I had the pumpkin bisque and the tenderloin (for 1), and my sister went with the scallops and the lobster thermidor. We were both very happy with the food. The service was just so-so. Our server was relatively new, and it showed.

 

 

Show: Frozen in Time. Like the ice shows on Allure and Harmony, I thought this one was very good. The storyline is a little odd, but it was still entertaining. The sand artist was amazing and our favorite part of the show!

 

DAY 3 - Cozumel

Coffee: Park Cafe. We skipped breakfast because we were excited to start our day in Cozumel.

 

Activity: The Cabana Beach. I'll save our experience there for another post.

 

Dinner: Portside BBQ. I had posted here prior to the cruise, asking for help deciding between Portside and Playmakers for dinner. Thanks again to everyone who chimed in! I was excited to try this venue, and it didn't disappoint. I will say that the ordering process was somewhat frustrating. There were about 6 people in front of us in line, and it took each person 2-3 minutes to order. It seemed that some got in line without looking at the menu at all and needed a lot of help. Doesn't everyone study all the menus weeks before the cruise?? 🤣 I wanted to try a handful of things, so I chose the 2 cut Signature Combo. I went with the pulled pork, brisket, fries, and cornbread, with Banana Dream for dessert. I thought everything was great except the brisket, which was dry and a little fattier than I like. My sister ordered the spare ribs, cole slaw, and baked beans and enjoyed all of it. We both ordered a Portside Spiked Palmer as well, and we both liked it but found it a bit too sweet. All in all, a very positive experience, and I'd return in a heartbeat (although I'd order less food).

 

 

Incidentally, we never did make it to Playmakers. That's one of my few regrets from the cruise. I'll be on Harmony with DH and DD in September, but of course they don't have a Playmakers.

 

Show: Adult comedy. This show was in Blaze, on deck 4. We arrived about 25 minutes early and were able to go right in since we had reservations. There was a fairly long standby line to the right, and while I'm not 100% certain, it looked like most of those people were able to get in. The venue is bigger than it initially looks, although there are seats that have an obstructed view of the stage or no view at all. My sister and I enjoyed the show, and we both thought the opening comic was funnier than the headliner.

 

DAY 4- At Sea

Breakfast & Coffee: Park Cafe (again).

 

Activity: Once again we spent most of our time on the upper decks, relaxing and enjoying a variety of cocktails. We had no trouble finding loungers, and we chose a spot on the starboard side on deck 16. The day started out cloudy, but the clouds gradually dissipated and it was mostly sunny from about 11am on. I didn't see as much chair hogging as I was expecting. At 10am, we could have had loungers by one of the pools if we had wanted them. Even as late as 12pm, there were still plenty of available loungers on deck 16. Our sailing was sold out, but there were several groups that had events scheduled during the day, so that may have helped. The only things that were snatched up early were the colorful clamshell type beds. Many of those had towels and personal belongings on them when we set up for the day. My sister was able to snag the one next to our loungers in the late afternoon on our second sea day, and she was very content there for a couple of hours!

 

 

I had made reservations for the afternoon showing of Cats, but in the spirit of maximizing our time onboard, we decided to skip it. It has to be almost time for them to replace that show, doesn't it??

 

Dinner: I had asked my sister to choose a restaurant for our last night, and she opted for Giovanni's Table. I had made the reservation for 6:30pm well in advance, but I noticed in the app that it had been changed to 5:45. Definitely too early. I stopped by the restaurant, and while the maitre d' was not able to explain why the time had changed, he did offer to seat us at 7pm instead. We arrived a few minutes early and were seated right away. After we ordered wine, we were presented with a cheese and cured meat platter. I wasn't expecting that and it was a pleasant surprise! We both enjoyed it -- particularly the red pepper jelly, which was amazing. I started with the caprese salad, which was delicious, and then had a half portion of the carbonara pasta. My sister started with the calamari and then had the carbonara as well. Our server also brought us a half portion of the bolognese because it's his favorite. That was very good as well, but we'd eaten way too much food at that point and ended up skipping dessert. I would rate our dinner here as very good. We enjoyed the food and our server was a lot of fun.

 

 

After Dinner Activities: We didn't have a planned activity for our last night, so we decided to revisit some of our favorite spots. We started with a drink at the Trellis Bar since we were already in Central Park. Then we walked around the Boardwalk and people watched for a little while. Finally, we headed to the Schooner Bar for a couple of chocolate martinis. We had tried them at several bars around the ship, but the ones at the Schooner Bar were our favorites. The bartenders there really crafted them with care! After that, we headed back to our room to pack. We were planning on self assist disembarkation, so luckily we weren't under the gun to get our bags packed and out in the hall.

 

 

Up next: Our day at The Cabana Beach on Cozumel.

And later: Disembarkation and final thoughts.

 

Edited May 9, 2023 by LisaLisa87

[LisaLisa87]

13 minutes ago, firefly333 said:

I would have still cruised solo if my sister didnt arrive on time. Why waste the cruise totally since the money was spent. 

 

At first I thought I would, but I changed my mind as the day went on. I go on 2-3 vacations per year with my DH and DD, but my sister is seldom able to get away. I started to imagine how it would feel for her if she jumped out of her taxi after 4pm and was not able to enter the terminal... and then to watch the ship sail away with me on it! I just couldn't do that to her.

[LisaLisa87]

DAY 3 - Cozumel

 

DH, DD, and I have sailed more Eastern itineraries than Western, so we've only been to Cozumel twice. Both times we went to Nachi Cocum. We had great experiences both times, so I originally planned to go again with my sister. She mentioned at one point that she wanted to snorkel, though, so I researched other options. I ended up sending her links to two snorkeling tours via boat plus The Cabana Beach, which is part of Chankanaab. She really liked the idea of having a cabana for the day AND getting to snorkel, so I went ahead and booked. I don't recall reading about Cabana Beach in this forum, but I was able to find a little info in the Cozumel port of call forum. Most of what I read was positive, so I felt good about our choice.

 

A couple of logistical notes before I go on. During daylight savings time, Cozumel is one hour behind Miami/ship time. Be careful because your phone will adjust to local time automatically if you're on the ship's wifi (or when you take your phone out of airplane mode when you get off the ship). I knew to change a setting on my phone so the time would not automatically adjust, but I still messed up! We got off the ship when my phone (and watch) said it was 9:05am. We then walked through the port area to the taxi stand and got in a taxi a few minutes later. When I asked the driver to take us to Chankanaab, he politely informed me that they weren't open yet. Doh! It was 8:05am local time when we got off the ship, and Chankanaab doesn't open until 9am. He offered to take us on a short tour of the island, which we were happy to take him up on. As part of the tour (at our request), he took us to a small local place where we could grab a quick bite. After seeing a few more points of interest, he took us to the main entrance of Chankanaab.

 

 

There was a desk to check in just inside the entrance, and then we were escorted to Cabana Beach (about a 5-7 minute walk). My first impression was very positive. The area was nicely laid out and there were only a few other people there. There are 12 cabanas, and I think 5 of them ended up being occupied that day. I had reserved #9, and I liked that location a lot. I think I'd probably choose that one again unless I was with a group. In that case, I'd choose #1 which is one of the two VIP cabanas and comes up with some extra amenities. The base cost for the standard cabanas is $95 and includes a fruit platter, guacamole, snorkel gear. and towels. There is also a $17 "access fee" per person. That fee includes full admission to Chankanaab. So for my sister and me, the total cost for the reservation was $129. Keep in mind (and I know this will be a deal breaker for many people), that price does NOT include food and drinks other than the fruit and guacamole.

 

 

 

 

 

We asked for our fruit platter and two bottles of water right away, and when we finished with those we decided to do some snorkeling. The owner had stopped by to chat with us, and he recommended that we check out the reef that paralleled the shore and then swim out to a small buoy to see a couple of sunken statues. There are metal steps leading into the water, so it was pretty easy to get in. I would rate the snorkeling as very good. We saw tons of different fish and I was sad that I had forgotten to pack my underwater camera. Apparently there are sea turtles and rays on occasion, but we didn't see any on either of our outings.

 

 

 

After snorkeling the first time, we ordered a round of drinks and our free guacamole. All of it was delicious. I highly recommend the Mezcalina Pepino (pictured below). The menu was pretty extensive, and not long after we polished off the guacamole we decided to order lunch. I got the mahi tacos and my sister went with the shrimp tacos. We were both very happy. Aside from the two orders of tacos, we ordered three rounds of drinks and three bottles of water apiece. Our food & beverage total for the day was $83.50 ($105 including the tip for our server). So our grand total for the day was $234 or $117 apiece. More expensive than one of the all inclusive beach clubs for sure, but it was worth the price to us. We let our server know that we wanted to leave at 4pm local time, and they had a taxi ready for us. We were able to leave directly from Cabana Beach without having to trek back to the main entrance.

 

 

 

A couple of last notes about Cabana Beach. While we really enjoyed it and would return, I think it could be better. Some of the furniture seemed really worn, and we didn't like the fact that the two lounge chairs were nailed down. The owner was nice, but not as informed as he should have been. He asked what ship we were on (Oasis was the only ship in port) and what our all aboard time was. Seems like he should have had that info? Also, a woman stopped by just after we arrived with a massage price list (very reasonable), but we never saw her again. Obviously we could have gone looking for her but we just forgot. I think my sister would have gone for it if the woman had stopped by again. None of these things would prevent me from going back, though, and DH, DD, and I are seriously considering it for our Harmony sailing in September.

 

https://thecabanabeach.com/

 

Next up: Disembarkation and final thoughts about the ship, our room, service, etc.

 

 

 

Edited May 10, 2023 by LisaLisa87

[Mum2Mercury]

11 hours ago, LisaLisa87 said:

 ... I think it's safe to say my sister will never fly in on embarkation day again ... 

Yikes, so glad your story had a happy ending!  

 

We're close enough to drive, but -- as we were headed for our very first cruise -- we were delayed literally for HOURS on the interstate; I mean, we were all out of our cars walking around talking to strangers.  Finally we learned that a tractor-trailer truck had turned over on the interstate and burned!  Every time we're on that interstate, we talk about how fortunate it was that we were headed for the Days Inn instead of the ship that day!  We are true believers in the idea of arriving a day ahead.

[Georgia_Peaches]

Thanks for the review and great pics!  So glad your sister made the cruise!

[c-leg5]

Thanks for your review. 
 

As you say there aren’t many reviews for Cabana Beach but I have seen several people asking about it recently. I think some would appreciate you copying your review to an existing thread on the Cozumel board.

 

It is a pity with the short port hours that most cruisers don’t really have time to enjoy the facilities of Chankanaab despite having to pay the access fee but I understand most choose it for quiet relaxation and snorkeling.

[superduper123]

Great and helpful review! I've enjoyed reading.

[LisaLisa87]

6 hours ago, c-leg5 said:

As you say there aren’t many reviews for Cabana Beach but I have seen several people asking about it recently. I think some would appreciate you copying your review to an existing thread on the Cozumel board..

I’ll do that. 🙂

[Scottdalfonso]

Thanks for the review! In October, we are staying in 14300 which is DIRECTLY below the mini golf... your room looks like its toward the end of the mini golf\ walk way behind the flowrider, so I'm hoping ours is just as quiet... I can't imagine it being TOO loud under mini golf!  One thing we regret about our last trip on Oasis in February was missing portside BBQ, we will NOT be doing that again this time around! 

[LisaLisa87]

I remembered after posting about our day in Cozumel that my sister had a couple of photos of our breakfast spot on her phone. We went in blind on the recommendation of our driver, but I googled the place and it gets really good reviews! Our food plus a large bottle of Coke and a bottle of water came to a whopping $6 USD. 😃

 

 

[c-leg5]

22 minutes ago, LisaLisa87 said:

I remembered after posting about our day in Cozumel that my sister had a couple of photos of our breakfast spot on her phone. We went in blind on the recommendation of our driver, but I googled the place and it gets really good reviews! Our food plus a large bottle of Coke and a bottle of water came to a whopping $6 USD. 😃

 

 

Thanks always looking for a good taqueria.

[LisaLisa87]

Disembarkation and Final Thoughts

 

At some point on day 3, I noticed a banner in the app letting me know I could choose how/when I wanted to disembark. I ignored it, thinking I'd deal with it the next day. Well, when I opened the app the next day, I was surprised to see that we had been assigned to group 62, departing at 9:30am. I did not have the ability to make changes. That was definitely not going to work for my sister as she had an 11:47am flight out of MIA, so we headed down to Guest Services to get an earlier time. We were told when we got there that as long as we were planning to take our luggage off the ship ourselves (which we were), we could disembark anytime from 7-8:30am. If RCI will be handling your luggage for you, make sure you watch the app and choose a time as soon as you're able!

 

 

We got our specialty coffees at Park Cafe and headed down to deck 5 a few minutes before 7am and got in line. There were maybe 60 people in front of us as we waited for the ship to be cleared. There was a short delay before we were cleared, but we were still off the ship by 7:30. I have a passport and there was no line as they were using facial recognition. My sister was traveling with a birth certificate and DL, so she had to wait in line a bit. That line moved pretty quickly since it was early. I think I waited outside for 7-8 minutes before she joined me.

 

Just when I thought we were finished with lines, I noticed there was a line of people waiting for the elevators in the parking garage for Terminal A. There was someone facilitating so that line didn't take long, and then we were getting in my car! The parking cost $112. Incidentally, someone in the FB group for our sailing said that those who ended up having to park in Lot J were not charged.

 

I dropped my sister off at the airport and then got on I-95 North and headed home. Thankfully my sister's flight was on time, and she had a much less stressful return trip.

 

Despite a less-than-ideal start, my sister and I had an amazing time. While 4 days is not nearly enough time to fully experience an Oasis class ship, we did manage to do the things that were most important to us. Here are some of the highlights as well as a few regrets:

 

Highlights

-My sister making it to the terminal in time to board!!

-Her reactions to the ship. Some examples: She had never had a balcony cabin and was ecstatic when she saw ours. She thought Central Park was the coolest thing ever. She didn't know anything about the Rising Tide bar and got a huge kick out of it. She had never heard of silent disco and had an absolute blast there. I could go on and on. It was so fun seeing it all through her eyes!

-Aqua80

-Our time lounging on deck 16, ordering every cocktail we could think of

-The time we spent at the Schooner Bar (A+ for the chocolate martinis!)

-Our day in Cozumel

-The service. We were happy with the service pretty much everywhere. Except for the first day just before sailaway, we never had trouble getting a drink. Our servers at dinner were mostly great (although, as I mentioned, our server at 150 CP was just okay). Our stateroom attendant, Gede, was amazing. We only had a few small requests, and he took care of all of them quickly. We saw him coming and going a lot, and he was always ready with a smile and a kind word.

 

 

Regrets

-We never did make it to Playmakers. We ended up eating at El Loco Fresh for lunch both sea days because we were too lazy to get fully dressed and go down to deck 6!

-We tried all three water slides, but we didn't get to Ultimate Abyss. I definitely plan to remedy this one on Harmony in September.

-I thought it would be fun to have a glass of wine and maybe a snack in Vintages, especially since my sister is a big wine drinker, but we just didn't have time.

-We also never made it to Boleros, which is unfortunate because they have a few cocktails that I love.

 

So all in all, pretty minor stuff. For the most part, we were really happy with how we chose to spend our time. We were able to experience a lot of what the ship had to offer and still found plenty of time to relax. My sister has the cruise bug now, so hopefully we'll be planning another soon!

 

Thanks for reading along! I'd be happy to answer any questions if I can.

 

 

Edited May 10, 2023 by LisaLisa87

[depplep]

That's funny you mentioned the 6 courses of salt in 150 as we still talk about that to this day, 8yrs. later. We can't remember what we ate that night but we remember the salt!

[LisaLisa87]

21 minutes ago, depplep said:

That's funny you mentioned the 6 courses of salt in 150 as we still talk about that to this day, 8yrs. later. We can't remember what we ate that night but we remember the salt!

 

Yes, it seemed like overkill at the time, but it certainly was memorable! For anyone who didn't get to experience this, here's a photo from the Royal Caribbean Blog:

 

 

https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/category/category/150-central-park

 

[depplep]

Ah man, good times! I never use salt for anything other than french fries so I thought this was weird and unnecessary, but it was sooooo good on that bread!

[ocean sounds]

I enjoyed your trip report.  Wow, your sister had a close call!  Thanks for the information on your Cozumel excursion 

[mcgore83]

Great review!  Thank you for sharing!

[Missusdubbya]

Lovely review, thank you!