Why I have to wait SOOO long to try the Oasis/Allure

[pseudochicken]

You know, I look at the Oasis class, I get really excited. I do with any new ship coming out, really. The Carnival Dream, the Norwegian Epic...

 

But a common FLAW exists with all of these new-builds and it has nothing to do with the ship at all...

 

The itinerary. OK, so the Caribbean is nothing new, but it is a staple of the industry and I am fine with going to the Caribbean during the winter.

 

But WHY, oh WHY must these new-builds have the most boring itineraries with only have 3 (three) ports of call that are the most visited ports in the Caribbean!!!??? :confused:

 

Nassau, St. Thomas, Cozumel, Grand Caymans? :mad: The most over-done ports in the Caribbean... Only the 5-10 year old ships do the interesting itineraries in the Caribbean. It's all fine and dandy that the ship is a "port unto itself" but I could not imagine having to deal with 3 sea-days on a 7 day cruise.

 

So now I will have to wait 4-5 years :eek: til I get to try out these ships.

 

:( ... :mad:

[uksimonusa]

You know, I look at the Oasis class, I get really excited. I do with any new ship coming out, really. The Carnival Dream, the Norwegian Epic...

 

But a common FLAW exists with all of these new-builds and it has nothing to do with the ship at all...

 

The itinerary. OK, so the Caribbean is nothing new, but it is a staple of the industry and I am fine with going to the Caribbean during the winter.

 

But WHY, oh WHY must these new-builds have the most boring itineraries with only have 3 (three) ports of call that are the most visited ports in the Caribbean!!!??? :confused:

 

Nassau, St. Thomas, Cozumel, Grand Caymans? :mad: The most over-done ports in the Caribbean... Only the 5-10 year old ships do the interesting itineraries in the Caribbean. It's all fine and dandy that the ship is a "port unto itself" but I could not imagine having to deal with 3 sea-days on a 7 day cruise.

 

So now I will have to wait 4-5 years :eek: til I get to try out these ships.

 

:( ... :mad:

 

A lot of the other ports are not big enough to take a Freedom class ship, let alone an Oasis class

[The Grumpus]

If there were more ports-of-call, someone would be complaining there's too many port days so there's no pleasing everyone.;) As far as I'm concerned, I won't run out of things to do on both Dream & Oasis.:)

[compuryan]

If ports are the big concern for you, then perhaps Oasis class is not for you, or at least not yet. Those ships are sailing into some of the ONLY ports in the caribbean that can handle their size, not to mention RCI is building two new piers just to accommodate them.

 

Personally, I have cruised the caribbean so many times that there's nothing new to see anymore, therefore Oasis is a bit more interesting to me.

 

I think this kind of ship only really markets to two kinds of people: those who no longer care much about the ports, and cruise newcomers who will be drawn in by number of activities, venues, etc. on board. They'll maybe enjoy the ports more, but at least the ports will likely be new to them.

 

Also, remember that Oasis/Allure have a LOT of outdoor spaces and that places some limitations on where they can sail and when as well. Needs to be at least warm and somewhat dry.

[pseudochicken]

I'm not so much complaining about it sailing in the Caribbean. I am complaining that there are only 3 ports of call. And those 3 ports of call are the lamest 3 ports they could conjure up.

 

And to those of you who would complain about not enough sea days:

STAY ON THE SHIP!!! Pretend like it's a sea day and stay on the darned ship. You can't pretend you're at a port of call, but it is sure easy to just stay on the ship and treat it like a sea day. So I really don't understand HOW anyone could complain about there not being enough sea days. That absolutely makes NO sense.

 

As you can see, I am actually quite bitter and angry about the situation... Sorry for my ranting. :o

[Pomperaugrr]

As you can see, I am actually quite bitter and angry about the situation... Sorry for my ranting. :o

 

Wow, you seem tense. I think you need a cruise! ;)

 

 

Eric

[pseudochicken]

Wow, you seem tense. I think you need a cruise! ;)

 

 

Eric

 

Agreed!!!

 

But no one else in my family wants to go...

[COMBOY]

I think this is the whole point of these ships as the destination in themselves. Personally I have no interest in sailing these ship at all. Both the Oasis or Allure have very limited port and sailing options. Only time will tell whether or not building these ship so large will be a boom or bust for RCCL. Huge risk as far I'm concern.

[msmayor]

Realize that in addition to the size constraints of certain ports, there's the distance factor as well. Most of the true southern Caribbean ports require more than 7 days to sail to/from out of MIA/FLL. Because a large segment of the cruise market can afford (both in time and $$) only a 7-day vacation, it limits the location these ships can easily get to and get back from.

 

Its the biggest reason why cruises from the Northeast see even fewer ports. There just isn't enough time to 'make it' to most of the Caribbean.

[Gonzo70]

I'm not so much complaining about it sailing in the Caribbean. I am complaining that there are only 3 ports of call. And those 3 ports of call are the lamest 3 ports they could conjure up.

 

 

As someone already pointed out, the sheer size of the ship greatly limits what ports are available. It is not that these were the ports they could "conjure" up, but these are the ports that are willing and able to accommodate a ship the size of the Oasis.

 

I agree with the poster who said that Oasis will primarily attract people who are sailing for the ship itself (and not the ports) or new cruises excited about the concept of the Oasis (who likely have not been to the ports in the past). It is unlikely the Oasis and it's sister ships will ever sail to the more exotic/less travelled Caribbean ports as it is not feasible for them to do so.

[pseudochicken]

Well is the ship too big for San Juan? Couldn't they at least stick that in there? Or maybe Grand Turks?

 

San Juan at the very least must have a port that could handle the Oasis class.

[pseudochicken]

These wouldn't be the most attractive itineraries, but at least they would have more days at port:

 

Eastern Caribbean, 7-night

 

Day 1: Ft. Lauderdale

Day 2: Nassau, Bahamas

Day 3: Sea Day

Day 4: San Juan, PR

Day 5: St. Maarten/St. Martin

Day 6: St. Thomas, USVI

Day 7: Sea Day

Day 8: Ft. Lauderdale

 

Western Caribbean, 7-night

 

Day 1: Ft. Lauderdale

Day 2: Sea Day

Day 3: Ladabee, Haiti

Day 4: Foulmouth, Jamaica

Day 5: Cozumel, MX

Day 6: Costa Maya, MX

Day 7: Sea Day

Day 8: Ft. Lauderdale

 

Ships do similar itineraries already. This isn't anything great, but I would at least consider it with 4 ports and 2 sea days instead of 3 and 3.

[LEtue]

I think this is the whole point of these ships as the destination in themselves. Personally I have no interest in sailing these ship at all. Both the Oasis or Allure have very limited port and sailing options. Only time will tell whether or not building these ship so large will be a boom or bust for RCCL. Huge risk as far I'm concern.

 

I agree! And let's not forget that RCI wants you on board where you can spend some money and they don't have to pay port fees ;)

[msmayor]

Well is the ship too big for San Juan? Couldn't they at least stick that in there? Or maybe Grand Turks?

 

San Juan at the very least must have a port that could handle the Oasis class.

 

I don't know if San Juan is big enough, but remember...that means RC would need to be confident that enough folks would be willing to pay for flights to San Juan to embark in that port. I seriously doubt that their intention for these ships was to target the Puerto Rican population who would find it much easier to get to the ship than the average mainland US citizen.

[pseudochicken]

I don't know if San Juan is big enough, but remember...that means RC would need to be confident that enough folks would be willing to pay for flights to San Juan to embark in that port. I seriously doubt that their intention for these ships was to target the Puerto Rican population who would find it much easier to get to the ship than the average mainland US citizen.

 

If you noticed, I did not say San Juan would be the port of embarkation. It would merely be a another port stop on a typical 7 day journey.

 

Read my mock itineraries.

[FishOn55]

These wouldn't be the most attractive itineraries, but at least they would have more days at port:

 

Eastern Caribbean, 7-night

 

Day 1: Ft. Lauderdale

Day 2: Nassau, Bahamas

Day 3: Sea Day

Day 4: San Juan, PR

Day 5: St. Maarten/St. Martin

Day 6: St. Thomas, USVI

Day 7: Sea Day

Day 8: Ft. Lauderdale

 

Western Caribbean, 7-night

 

Day 1: Ft. Lauderdale

Day 2: Sea Day

Day 3: Ladabee, Haiti

Day 4: Foulmouth, Jamaica

Day 5: Cozumel, MX

Day 6: Costa Maya, MX

Day 7: Sea Day

Day 8: Ft. Lauderdale

 

Ships do similar itineraries already. This isn't anything great, but I would at least consider it with 4 ports and 2 sea days instead of 3 and 3.

 

Foulmouth??

 

Perhaps you meant Falmouth, Jamaica where RCCL is building a new pier to accomodate Oasis. Falmouth will be a new port and Oasis will be sailing there in Dec.,2010 so no need to wait 4 or 5 years! (at least you'll have one new port)

[emilygrace]

Think about the name that was chosen for this ship....the Oasis. It is supposed to be a destination in itself. The ports are secondary to the ship in this case.

[amybeth4]

Chicken, there are a couple of things you don't seem to be getting. Perhaps, for now, these are the only ports that would be willing to accommodate Oasis. None of her ports will be tender ports...they're all docks. So right there the Oasis class ships are limited.

 

Also, for at least the first year, people are going to look at the ship as the destination, not the ports.

 

Finally, and this is most important, an "at sea" day is NOT the same (not even CLOSE) as a day in port where you just stay on the ship. All the stores and the casino are closed and there are hardly any activities going on. It's not terribly exciting to be on a ship that's sitting in a port.

[Powriv]

I was on the Carnival Glory this past April and during our port visit in St Maarten there was plenty of construction going on to build a new dock for the Oasis, so give RCCL time and they will have some different ports of call

[DocJohnB]

A lot of the other ports are not big enough to take a Freedom class ship, let alone an Oasis class

 

ahhhhhhhhhhh my friend,

 

That is the problem with these behemoths.

 

I honestly don't think the cruise lines look past the bottom line.

 

A few years back we were in St. Maarten along with (I believe) about 10 or more other cruise ships. That beautiful island just could not handle it.

 

Can St. Thomas handle the Oasis? Sure. The Oasis and the Epic? Probably.

Three of these behemoths at the same time . . . . your call. . . . I don't think so.

 

10 years or so ago you could have 5 ships in St. Maarteen and they were dealing with 10k "guests". Now put the Epic, Oasis and say the Solstice in on the same day with a couple of other. Overwhelming? It is.

 

Sure, they can build the docking facilities and they are. Just not looking at the "BIG" picture, IMO.

[tbear2762]

ahhhhhhhhhhh my friend,

 

That is the problem with these behemoths.

 

I honestly don't think the cruise lines look past the bottom line.

 

A few years back we were in St. Maarten along with (I believe) about 10 or more other cruise ships. That beautiful island just could not handle it.

 

Can St. Thomas handle the Oasis? Sure. The Oasis and the Epic? Probably.

Three of these behemoths at the same time . . . . your call. . . . I don't think so.

 

10 years or so ago you could have 5 ships in St. Maarteen and they were dealing with 10k "guests". Now put the Epic, Oasis and say the Solstice in on the same day with a couple of other. Overwhelming? It is.

 

Sure, they can build the docking facilities and they are. Just not looking at the "BIG" picture, IMO.

 

I agree with you. As it is how many of you that enjoy a particular port check ahead to see how many "guest" will be in that port. One most remember that the most memorable destinations are also the tinyest and therefore the least able to handle the crowd. I for one don't like to feel like a grain of sand in the midst of a beach full if you will. Also most all complain about the amount of time one spends tendering to and from the port. For that reason RCI has told many ports to either build a port of forever be passed by the Oasis. Grand Cayman is one that has as far as I know has refused to build a dock. I was in on a recent Captian's q & a where he told us that GC wanted to know why the Oasis was skipping them. RCI told them they would only be going to ports where they could dock. With the ship's double occupancy of 5400 add a few families of 3 or 4 and you could easily be looking at 8100 people. I can almost promise that you would be the one complaining because it was more than an hour after you got to port and then gues what the boat left without you cause you didn't get back in time. Miami wouldn't even invest the funds required to upgrade their port hence the Oasis home port being Port Everglades. I hope that chicken can see that it is not just RCI's refusal but these ports and logistics. I personally wish that the Mariner was still in PC but many people wanted a Freedom class ship and they got that. I for one can't afford a Freedom class ship so I have been forced to look elsewhere for a 7 day cruise. We must chose what suit our needs the best.

[msmayor]

You know, I look at the Oasis class, I get really excited. I do with any new ship coming out, really. The Carnival Dream, the Norwegian Epic...

 

But a common FLAW exists with all of these new-builds and it has nothing to do with the ship at all...

 

The itinerary. OK, so the Caribbean is nothing new, but it is a staple of the industry and I am fine with going to the Caribbean during the winter.

 

But WHY, oh WHY must these new-builds have the most boring itineraries with only have 3 (three) ports of call that are the most visited ports in the Caribbean!!!??? :confused:

 

Nassau, St. Thomas, Cozumel, Grand Caymans? :mad: The most over-done ports in the Caribbean... Only the 5-10 year old ships do the interesting itineraries in the Caribbean. It's all fine and dandy that the ship is a "port unto itself" but I could not imagine having to deal with 3 sea-days on a 7 day cruise.

 

So now I will have to wait 4-5 years :eek: til I get to try out these ships.

 

:( ... :mad:

 

 

 

 

These wouldn't be the most attractive itineraries, but at least they would have more days at port:

 

Eastern Caribbean, 7-night

 

Day 1: Ft. Lauderdale

Day 2: Nassau, Bahamas

Day 3: Sea Day

Day 4: San Juan, PR

Day 5: St. Maarten/St. Martin

Day 6: St. Thomas, USVI

Day 7: Sea Day

Day 8: Ft. Lauderdale

 

Western Caribbean, 7-night

 

Day 1: Ft. Lauderdale

Day 2: Sea Day

Day 3: Ladabee, Haiti

Day 4: Foulmouth, Jamaica

Day 5: Cozumel, MX

Day 6: Costa Maya, MX

Day 7: Sea Day

Day 8: Ft. Lauderdale

 

Ships do similar itineraries already. This isn't anything great, but I would at least consider it with 4 ports and 2 sea days instead of 3 and 3.

 

If you noticed, I did not say San Juan would be the port of embarkation. It would merely be a another port stop on a typical 7 day journey.

 

Read my mock itineraries.

 

So wait...in your very first post you refer to Nassau, St. Thomas, Cozumel, and Grand Cayman as "The most over-done ports in the Caribbean" and make it sound like you DON'T want to keep going there...that you want to go to new places...yet these "mock itineraries" you suggest include all those stops?

 

Seems to me you just want more ports, not so much different ones.

 

As others have said, ships like Oasis and Epic are being built as destinations...designed for a cruiser that wants to stay onboard and spend money THERE. These companies aren't building these ships to just drop folks off and spend all their cash OFF the ship, and that's what a port-intensive itinerary will do.

[pseudochicken]

ahhhhhhhhhhh my friend,

 

That is the problem with these behemoths.

 

I honestly don't think the cruise lines look past the bottom line.

 

A few years back we were in St. Maarten along with (I believe) about 10 or more other cruise ships. That beautiful island just could not handle it.

 

Can St. Thomas handle the Oasis? Sure. The Oasis and the Epic? Probably.

Three of these behemoths at the same time . . . . your call. . . . I don't think so.

 

10 years or so ago you could have 5 ships in St. Maarteen and they were dealing with 10k "guests". Now put the Epic, Oasis and say the Solstice in on the same day with a couple of other. Overwhelming? It is.

 

Sure, they can build the docking facilities and they are. Just not looking at the "BIG" picture, IMO.

 

I see your point about ports not being able to handle the volume of passengers. But surely, if San Juan had a port big enough for the Oasis, a stop there during a 7 day trip would be fine. San Juan being a city could surely handle a large volume of cruise toursists.

 

So wait...in your very first post you refer to Nassau, St. Thomas, Cozumel, and Grand Cayman as "The most over-done ports in the Caribbean" and make it sound like you DON'T want to keep going there...that you want to go to new places...yet these "mock itineraries" you suggest include all those stops?

 

Seems to me you just want more ports, not so much different ones.

 

As others have said, ships like Oasis and Epic are being built as destinations...designed for a cruiser that wants to stay onboard and spend money THERE. These companies aren't building these ships to just drop folks off and spend all their cash OFF the ship, and that's what a port-intensive itinerary will do.

 

Funny, msmayor...

 

TWO times now you have failed to read the entirety of my posts. PLEASE READ COMPLETELY.

 

I SAID that I would at least consider going on the Oasis if it had 4 ports of call instead of just 3. EVEN if those ports included were the lame ones, like Nassau, St. Thomas and St. Maartin.

 

Were you EXPECTING me to type in Antigua, Dominica and St. Lucia!? I know that those ports are unable to handle a ship of that size, let alone how many passengers that would mean for the island. So I didn't include them.

 

I could handle 3 days at sea on a 7 day cruise, but most of my family could not. I enjoy the ship out in the open water, but I definitely prefer days in port, and my family and the people I would cruise with certainly could not handle it.

 

To me, a cruise is about the destinations, aka ports of call not the ship. I don't care if the Oasis is considered a destination in itself, it really is NOT.

[msmayor]

 

To me, a cruise is about the destinations, aka islands. I don't care if the Oasis is considered a destination in itself, it really is NOT.

 

Then the ship shouldn't matter to you, so I don't understand the fixation with why Oasis/Epic doesn't sail your preferred itineraries. If its the ports that really matter, just find a ship that meets your needs. They do exist.

[amybeth4]

 

 

To me, a cruise is about the destinations, aka ports of call not the ship. I don't care if the Oasis is considered a destination in itself, it really is NOT.

 

Okay this is NOT a flame...it's a legitimate question. If, unlike most of us, you DON'T consider Oasis/Allure to be the destination in and of itself, WHY would you want to even bother cruising them?? You seem to care a LOT more about the ports, so just go on any ol' ship to the ports you want to go to.

 

:confused: