Onboard Oasis Not Live. Non MDR Food Report

[Engineroom Snipe]

I am going to provide pictures and detailed descriptions of non MDR food per my promise to many faithful posters next week.

 

The good news, Windjammer has stepped up their offerings. Breakfast is very good. Not 2018 but MUCH better than my Oasis cruise last September, 2022.

 

Lunch has improved noticeably.

 

Dinner is good. Still want for more quality beef protein but improved.

 

Pictures and descriptions will be provided on a one week delay so I can do justice to the review and not take too much time from my current cruise.

 

El Loco Fresh, improved and moving in the right direction. So far, the worse thing I can find is extremely watery sour cream. Five out of six is not bad. At least an 8 out of 10.

 

In general, some stupid issues with trying to get a cup of ice without staff support. I will go into detail next week.

 

Sigh, Park Cafe had many misses so far this week. Hoping to find it improved before I leave.

 

All in all having a great cruise but not visiting Nest Cruise this trip.

 

Will post next Monday with lots of pictures so you can judge for yourself.

 

At Crown and Anchor event, about 2,000 repeat cruisers, cannot find a reliable number for total pax onboard yet. Seems less than last year.

 

 Aqua show was spectacular but very loud as reported by others.

 

Starboard stern vibration which gets more noticable with height. No stern vibration amidship or on port side.  A glass placed on a table will show a vrarion ripple. I could care less but not quite how this feels in a cabin in that area.

 

I am in forward inside cabin deck nine. Only one cabin to my starboard and I think it is empty. I have a private hermit cave. Very good steward.

 

Life is good.

 

I could be bias. 🤣

[KSprite01]

We too are on Oasis and noticed a bad rattling/creaking in our cabin as well. Hoping it’s better tonight if we’re going slower to Coco Cay. My 3 yo kept asking if it was thunder (she’s become very scared of thunder recently) and has had a hard time falling asleep as a result. Deck 9 a bit forward of the stern elevators. 
 

Agree aqua show was amazing!

[Engineroom Snipe]

Delayed posting from one week ago on Oasis out of Bayonne.

 

Arrived at about 9:50am on Sunday (9/3/2023) with personnel vehicle. Parking lots were not open until 10:30am. What a mess! Not enough people to direct cars waiting. VERY disorganized! And they are charging $5 more per day (parking was $25 per day and increased to $30 per day) and it was the worst I have encountered after five times at Bayonne. I will describe the police response as we were trying to leave today, at 7:40am, 9/10/2023, one week from now to keep it in context.

 

In parking spot by about 10:50am but yelled at by multiple attendants about where I should go but no one is there to help direct (AKA Disney World who has this down to a science).

 

Once we made it through the entrance way, the whole experience was completely different.

 

We had an 11:30am check-in time but walked directly into security lines at about 11:00am. Less than five minutes at boarding check-in and immediately processed for boarding with luggage in tow.

 

Checked into muster station immediately. In the Solarium and relaxing by 11:20am.

 

I relaxed with my wife and made a specific attempt to get a special sandwich from Park Cafe as promised for another prominent poster.

 

This is a picture of the second time I tried it on Tuesday which was identical to the first time on Sunday.

 

The presentation was great. Looks well cooked, juicy, and good to go.

 

The roll was great, 10 out of 10, the 30lb piece of beef looked perfectly cooked. The horseradish sauce was perfect.

 

I noticed something only chefs notice, the server, used a serrated knife and was using force to cut the slices thicker than I would expect, he was "working" at cutting the meat.  A good piece of beef should only need a good standard knife and be able to cut it wafer thin just gliding through.

 

My wife and I took the perfect roll tops off and bit the meat with our fingers because it would not separate cleanly. I have a good set of chompers. The bite was stringy. I would have given it a ten but it went down to 6.5 on that first bite. I could not bite a piece off of the meat without pulling the whole slice out in one piece.

 

This happened twice on our cruise as I wanted to make sure it was not just a "one-off". Identical each time. The meat tasted great, juicy, medium  to medium rare, well flavored, and so "chewy" I left pieces behind because they would not chew.

 

Not all is lost, at 12:10pm, I ventured into the Solarium Bistro and was pleasantly surprised. A posting for tomorrow.

 

🫢

 

Edited September 10, 2023 by Engineroom Snipe
typo

[CruiseMomTX]

My trick for being able to chew and enjoy those delicious sandwiches is to ask them to slice the meat very thin and then when I get to the table I mash the top of the sandwich down to kind of soften the bread, lol.  It works for me, oh I also take off the fennel seeds or whatever is on top of the bread as I don't like it. Looking forward to these on our Allure b2b a week from today!

[Engineroom Snipe]

11 minutes ago, CruiseMomTX said:

My trick for being able to chew and enjoy those delicious sandwiches is to ask them to slice the meat very thin and then when I get to the table I mash the top of the sandwich down to kind of soften the bread, lol.  It works for me, oh I also take off the fennel seeds or whatever is on top of the bread as I don't like it. Looking forward to these on our Allure b2b a week from today!

I think thinner slices would have been much easier to bite. Enjoy your cruise.

[Engineroom Snipe]

Some good news from the Solarium Bistro last Sunday, September 3, 2023, on the Oasis:

 

The salad bar stepped up its game to include tuna fish, hard boiled eggs, black olives, feta cheese, tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, croutons, and more to include four dressings.

 

 

[Scottdalfonso]

so Solarium Bistro on embarkment day is the trick... got it! 

[Engineroom Snipe]

37 minutes ago, Scottdalfonso said:

so Solarium Bistro on embarkment day is the trick... got it! 

Some more pictures from embarkation day from Solarium Bistro.

 

I noticed that none of the descriptions get specific about the type of meat or fish. In most cases, the fish itself is very light and flaky so it is not salmon, sole, halibut, or a dense filet. I had to use my fork underneath the fish to pick it up. If I tried to "stab it" with the prongs, it would fall apart.

 

Overall, the offerings were good. The barbecue chicken was very good by itself. It was not drowned in some sauce and soggy. Some of these dishes were repeated later in the cruise.

[nelblu]

16 hours ago, Engineroom Snipe said:

Delayed posting from one week ago on Oasis out of Bayonne.

 

Arrived at about 9:50am on Sunday (9/3/2023) with personnel vehicle. Parking lots were not open until 10:30am. What a mess! Not enough people to direct cars waiting. VERY disorganized! And they are charging $5 more per day (parking was $25 per day and increased to $30 per day) and it was the worst I have encountered after five times at Bayonne. I will describe the police response as we were trying to leave today, at 7:40am, 9/10/2023, one week from now to keep it in context.

 

In parking spot by about 10:50am but yelled at by multiple attendants about where I should go but no one is there to help direct (AKA Disney World who has this down to a science).

 

Once we made it through the entrance way, the whole experience was completely different.

 

We had an 11:30am check-in time but walked directly into security lines at about 11:00am. Less than five minutes at boarding check-in and immediately processed for boarding with luggage in tow.

 

Checked into muster station immediately. In the Solarium and relaxing by 11:20am.

 

I relaxed with my wife and made a specific attempt to get a special sandwich from Park Cafe as promised for another prominent poster.

 

This is a picture of the second time I tried it on Tuesday which was identical to the first time on Sunday.

 

The presentation was great. Looks well cooked, juicy, and good to go.

 

The roll was great, 10 out of 10, the 30lb piece of beef looked perfectly cooked. The horseradish sauce was perfect.

 

I noticed something only chefs notice, the server, used a serrated knife and was using force to cut the slices thicker than I would expect, he was "working" at cutting the meat.  A good piece of beef should only need a good standard knife and be able to cut it wafer thin just gliding through.

 

My wife and I took the perfect roll tops off and bit the meat with our fingers because it would not separate cleanly. I have a good set of chompers. The bite was stringy. I would have given it a ten but it went down to 6.5 on that first bite. I could not bite a piece off of the meat without pulling the whole slice out in one piece.

 

This happened twice on our cruise as I wanted to make sure it was not just a "one-off". Identical each time. The meat tasted great, juicy, medium  to medium rare, well flavored, and so "chewy" I left pieces behind because they would not chew.

 

Not all is lost, at 12:10pm, I ventured into the Solarium Bistro and was pleasantly surprised. A posting for tomorrow.

 

🫢

 

We loved CP Cafe prior to the pandemic; however, it's happened too many times got a piece of beef and lots of fat that should have been trimmed off before placing on the counter.  We avoided nteh Cafe and ate mostly in the MDR or the WJ.  Also, on our August 20th cruise, no cans of sodas available at the Cafe--Unbelievable as they were not prepared.

[nelblu]

2 hours ago, Scottdalfonso said:

so Solarium Bistro on embarkment day is the trick... got it! 

Unfortunately, it was not available to us all week of the August 20th sail.  It was set aside for Kosher reasons.  What made it bad was that not only the Solarium was not available to the general population but a section of the WJ was reserved to autistic children, handlers and parents.  It was a bit of an inconvenience to get a table in the WJ during the busy breakfast and lunch times. 

 

By the way, the sail seemed at the max in the number of Paxs on board.  Lots of children.  It was a hot week, and the pools were at 3 times the capacity posted, in the afternoon on sea days.🤣

 

PS.  Was glad to see an omelet and eggs to order station for breakfast in the WJ.  Not available on previous Oasis sails.

Edited September 11, 2023 by nelblu

[Engineroom Snipe]

3 minutes ago, nelblu said:

.🤣

 

PS.  Was glad to see an omelet and eggs to order station for breakfast in the WJ.  Not available on previous Oasis sails.

 

This was WJ later on Monday Lunch, September 4.

 

Fruit is cut for breakfast but sliced in sections at lunch. Better variety this year, The pineapple and watermelon were very good the whole week. The cantaloupe was good but sweet some days and ok on others. As you can see, some plates are almost the same from Solarium lunch day before.

[Engineroom Snipe]

Breakfast was our favorite meal onboard. The yogurt area had multiple nut toppings, minced honeydew, watermelon, and pineapple. Salmon was good. I enjoyed the large cut chunks of fruit. Bacon was cooked well but sausage was a hit or miss. Some days good but two days were dry, almost freezer burn. I only tried one piece of bacon and sausage on most days. Precooked omelettes looked "wet" and had liquid surrounding them on serving tray.

 

Omelettes could be made to order.

 

We arrived early and on most days, had our largest meal at breakfast.

 

Pictures were taken over multiple days. You get the idea.

 

Staff were doing their best to keep things clean and clear tables ASAP for new arriving guest.

 

 

[OCSC Mike]

Love the included food review, thanks for sharing. Most food reviews seem to focus on MDR and specialty and I eat way more at the other venues.

 

If I do a semi-live report on Wonder in March it will likely include similar reviews... I'm just not big on pics on general so not sure if forcing myself to take them will seem like a chore or not. We'll see...

[Engineroom Snipe]

20 minutes ago, OCSC Mike said:

Love the included food review, thanks for sharing. Most food reviews seem to focus on MDR and specialty and I eat way more at the other venues.

 

If I do a semi-live report on Wonder in March it will likely include similar reviews... I'm just not big on pics on general so not sure if forcing myself to take them will seem like a chore or not. We'll see...

I had to make an effort to take them as I try to disconnect from technology and focus on quality time with my wife.

 

I have a few more to go. I am doing a bit each day as I have time. I went to Park Cafe specifically to get a Jamaican wrap as well as the specialty Roast Beef sandwich for you.

 

I will provide pictures of the jerk wrap in my next post, what a disappointment. I went to local supervisor at Park Cafe and he just kind-of shrugged his shoulders. I went to C&A Loyalty ambassador with it on my plate. I think the ambassador was embarrassed.

 

This is when a picture(s) say everything.

[OCSC Mike]

13 minutes ago, Engineroom Snipe said:

I had to make an effort to take them as I try to disconnect from technology and focus on quality time with my wife.

 

I have a few more to go. I am doing a bit each day as I have time. I went to Park Cafe specifically to get a Jamaican wrap as well as the specialty Roast Beef sandwich for you.

 

Just enjoy your cruise, but I appreciate it. I'm not picky. My Kummelwecks on Wonder were good. Yes, the meat can be a bit chewy but it tasted good. I'm a fan of the paninis there as well; don't see many others mention them. Unless they're under-pressed (my wife and I always ask to for them "extra crispy" with mixed results), hard to screw up what's essentially a grilled cheese (the Cuban is my favorite).

 

I only grabbed that jerk whatever wrap b/c it was prepackaged and I wanted something to toss in the cooler. It was fine... wasn't expecting a ton from a pre-packaged wrap I put in my cooler for half a day.

 

I don't mind being on my phone a bit while we cruise but it's often while we're not actively spending time together (like she may be reading a book next to me in the Solarium so we wouldn't exactly be chatting or while she's on the track for her early morning walk and I'm having my early morning cappuccino). I'm just not a picture taker so, like you said, it would take effort... and I don't want to be efforting during a cruise, lol. I'll likely give it a shot and stop if I find it's becoming annoying.

[Engineroom Snipe]

5 minutes ago, OCSC Mike said:

 

Just enjoy your cruise, but I appreciate it. I'm not picky. My Kummelwecks on Wonder were good. Yes, the meat can be a bit chewy but it tasted good. I'm a fan of the paninis there as well; don't see many others mention them. Unless they're under-pressed (my wife and I always ask to for them "extra crispy" with mixed results), hard to screw up what's essentially a grilled cheese (the Cuban is my favorite).

 

I only grabbed that jerk whatever wrap b/c it was prepackaged and I wanted something to toss in the cooler. It was fine... wasn't expecting a ton from a pre-packaged wrap I put in my cooler for half a day.

 

I don't mind being on my phone a bit while we cruise but it's often while we're not actively spending time together (like she may be reading a book next to me in the Solarium so we wouldn't exactly be chatting or while she's on the track for her early morning walk and I'm having my early morning cappuccino). I'm just not a picture taker so, like you said, it would take effort... and I don't want to be efforting during a cruise, lol. I'll likely give it a shot and stop if I find it's becoming annoying.

I took all of the pictures last week and I am using no vacation time adding the commentary this week. Just a bit delayed.

 

I went to the Park Cafe at around 5pm on Monday, the 4th, to get a "snackeral". I saw the prepacked wraps in the display so I asked for a QTY 2, one for my wife and one for me. The server quickly snaps up one finger, "Only 1 at a time." She then does not go into the case to get the prepackaged wrap (which looked to be at least 8 inches long, more than enough to cut in half and share for a taste). She goes behind the counter into a small refrigerator, and drops this on a plate.

 

I used my sea pass card to indicate how small the piece was.

 

I saw multiple people in front of me ask for two and three Kummelwecks on one plate for one person and I could not get more than one piece of wrap which smaller than the long side of a sea pass and less diameter than the short side.

 

The manager that I talked to about it just shrugged their shoulders. I guess this was their policy.

 

I was not even hungry but there seems to be no rhyme or reason to some of the policies that are enforced.

 

The Park Cafe seemed to be out of ice every time I wanted to fill up a cup. I went a few times during the first two days and was able to get ice about 1 out of 2 visits.

 

I did not go back after the third day. Park Cafe was only one floor down from my room so I really wanted to make it work. I would not need the elevator to visit.

 

Needless to say, they got a "0" on my guest evaluation.

 

 

[OCSC Mike]

2 minutes ago, Engineroom Snipe said:

I saw the prepacked wraps in the display so I asked for a QTY 2, one for my wife and one for me. The server quickly snaps up one finger, "Only 1 at a time."

 

Oh wow. On Wonder the case is open (like the grab n go section of a supermarket or gas station). You take them yourself... and can obviously take as much as you want.

 

Very bizarre policy on Oasis given you can ask for a ton of anything else as you mentioned.

[Engineroom Snipe]

3 minutes ago, OCSC Mike said:

 

Very bizarre policy on Oasis given you can ask for a ton of anything else as you mentioned.

 

That is the perfect word to describe the scene, it was bizarre. I almost thought at first the server was just joking with me. It did not make any sense and the Loyalty Ambassador agreed with me.

[OCSC Mike]

1 minute ago, Engineroom Snipe said:

 

That is the perfect word to describe the scene, it was bizarre. I almost thought at first the server was just joking with me. It did not make any sense and the Loyalty Ambassador agreed with me.

 

I don't remember ever being given a limit on anything at a quick-serve included venue. You can special order a whole pizza at Sorrento's, you can ask for a stack of cookies or multiple pastries at Cafe Promenade, never tried to order a ton of Park Cafe sandwiches at once but you can obviously order at least 2. What the heck is so special about the pre-made wraps?

[KSprite01]

There were 6486 passengers onboard

 

Agree on small Park Cafe portions, though at least they asked me how many I wanted. I said one, not knowing the pesto, prosciutto Brie sandwich would be 50% smaller than the display one!

[nelblu]

3 hours ago, Engineroom Snipe said:

I took all of the pictures last week and I am using no vacation time adding the commentary this week. Just a bit delayed.

 

I went to the Park Cafe at around 5pm on Monday, the 4th, to get a "snackeral". I saw the prepacked wraps in the display so I asked for a QTY 2, one for my wife and one for me. The server quickly snaps up one finger, "Only 1 at a time." She then does not go into the case to get the prepackaged wrap (which looked to be at least 8 inches long, more than enough to cut in half and share for a taste). She goes behind the counter into a small refrigerator, and drops this on a plate.

 

I used my sea pass card to indicate how small the piece was.

 

I saw multiple people in front of me ask for two and three Kummelwecks on one plate for one person and I could not get more than one piece of wrap which smaller than the long side of a sea pass and less diameter than the short side.

 

The manager that I talked to about it just shrugged their shoulders. I guess this was their policy.

 

I was not even hungry but there seems to be no rhyme or reason to some of the policies that are enforced.

 

The Park Cafe seemed to be out of ice every time I wanted to fill up a cup. I went a few times during the first two days and was able to get ice about 1 out of 2 visits.

 

I did not go back after the third day. Park Cafe was only one floor down from my room so I really wanted to make it work. I would not need the elevator to visit.

 

Needless to say, they got a "0" on my guest evaluation.

 

 

You think that’s bad, on my February Antjem sail, I was dying for a good tuna salad sandwich or wrap. They used to have them in the WJ, but not available since the end of the pandemic. 
I went to the 2x70 cafe and saw on their menu board that they had the tuna wraps.  I asked for one and anticipating a wrap in the area of 4 inches.  My face dropped when they gave me a plate with a wrap thst was a bit over an inch. When the server saw my expression she added another to the plate. 🤪Simply unreal. 
 

By the way, the WJ had something like seafood salad, however did not look appetizing as it was swimming in something called mayo. 

[Engineroom Snipe]

1 hour ago, KSprite01 said:

There were 6486 passengers onboard

 

Agree on small Park Cafe portions, though at least they asked me how many I wanted. I said one, not knowing the pesto, prosciutto Brie sandwich would be 50% smaller than the display one!

WOW! I did not feel like there were so many onboard. School was in session so maybe there was just a bit less activity on the top  decks. The casino was full every time I went past.

 

At least I was not hallucinating on the sizes. The display food looks SO good but nothing compared to what was on the serving plate.

 

😬

[Engineroom Snipe]

42 minutes ago, nelblu said:

You think that’s bad, on my February Antjem sail, I was dying for a good tuna salad sandwich or wrap. They used to have them in the WJ, but not available since the end of the pandemic. 
I went to the 2x70 cafe and saw on their menu board that they had the tuna wraps.  I asked for one and anticipating a wrap in the area of 4 inches.  My face dropped when they gave me a plate with a wrap thst was a bit over an inch. When the server saw my expression she added another to the plate. 🤪Simply unreal. 
 

By the way, the WJ had something like seafood salad, however did not look appetizing as it was swimming in something called mayo. 

I did quickly mention that I did see chunk tuna and chunk hard-boiled eggs sometimes at the salad bars. They had black olives the first two days and then they disappeared.

 

My wife and I agreed after trying the "sliced" and "cubed" cheddar cheese that it was definitely Velveeta. Like the Black olives, it disappeared after two days and we never missed it.

 

My server was like, "NO wrap for you!" Like the parallel universe in the Seinfeld episode.

🤥

[nelblu]

12 minutes ago, Engineroom Snipe said:

I did quickly mention that I did see chunk tuna and chunk hard-boiled eggs sometimes at the salad bars. They had black olives the first two days and then they disappeared.

 

My wife and I agreed after trying the "sliced" and "cubed" cheddar cheese that it was definitely Velveeta. Like the Black olives, it disappeared after two days and we never missed it.

 

My server was like, "NO wrap for you!" Like the parallel universe in the Seinfeld episode.

🤥

On the 5th day of the Oasis August 20 sail, suddenly bananas disappeared from the WJ breakfast.  Got a hold of a supervisor and asked if he could get me a banana.   He said sure and a few minutes later he brought the fruit to my table.  Bananas were there on the 6th and 7th day.  I don't get it.😆

[KSprite01]

35 minutes ago, Engineroom Snipe said:

WOW! I did not feel like there were so many onboard. School was in session so maybe there was just a bit less activity on the top  decks. The casino was full every time I went past.

 

At least I was not hallucinating on the sizes. The display food looks SO good but nothing compared to what was on the serving plate.

 

😬

Yeah Francis (suite concierge) who gave me the number said there were some late opening schools and that next week was much fewer kids/lower occupancy. We missed 1.5 days of school to go (our school calendar shifted a week later than prior years, after camps were already planned. Camps didn’t want to extend another week so we planned our vacation then in part to deal w the lack of childcare (daycare was closed Tuesday as well).