Oasis of the Seas Cruise Trip Report

[swwake]

We took a cruise on Royal Caribbean's Oasis of the Seas last week (June 19-26, 2010). This is RCCL's newest ship, with its inaugural sailing in December 2009. It also happens to currently be the world's largest cruise ship.

We just got off the ship Saturday, and I thought I'd post some comments about our cruise. I did a little bit of a "live" report (though not as good as one of Radio's or some of the others), which can be found here: Live report

Before we get started, I want to let you know that we may not be your typical cruisers (if there is such a thing). Our family is quite active, and very much into all boardsports (wakeboarding, snowboarding, surfing, skateboarding, Endoboarding - haha). We were on Liberty of the Seas in June 2007 and quickly became addicted to the Flow Rider stand-up. So, when choosing a cruise this year, the Flow Rider was a priority. You might notice that there were many things about Oasis that we didn't experience because a good bit of our time was spent at the Flow Rider. Maybe we're weird, but we thoroughly enjoyed our vacation.

Our cruise was planned as our annual family vacation and to celebrate our 18-year-old daughter, Katie's graduation from high school. We took along her 17-year-old best friend Caitlin and my 47-year-old cousin Kellye. I am 43 and my husband Chris is 38.

Unfortunately, when we booked the cruise, Katie had a previous obligation for Friday night, so I had to book flights in from Austin on early Saturday morning. This stressed me out during the entire pre-cruise planning. Even more unfortunately, Katie's obligation was canceled too late for us to change our flights to Friday without a cost of about $1000 for the four of us. (Kellye lives in Boca Raton and met us at the port.)

Our flight out on Saturday morning was at 5:30am. This meant we had to leave home at 3:30 to be at the airport by 4:30. This meant we went to bed around 12:30am and set the alarm for 2:30. Leading up to a very tiring first day aboard ship.

Our flight was not non-stop. We flew Delta and changed planes in Atlanta. The flight departed Austin on time, but there was a huge mess-up by Ground Control in Atlanta, and when we arrived, there were more planes on the ramp and taxiways than gates, so we had to literally taxi around the airport for 45 minutes. We had only 55 minutes between flights.

I knew that there were 2 later flights from Atlanta to Ft Lauderdale that would get us there in time to board by 3:30pm, but I was still stressed. If we missed our flight, so would everyone else who might be trying to make it to Ft Lauderdale, and the later flights might be full.

Ultimately, we pulled into the gate 10 minutes before our second flight left. Our departure gate was directly across from the arrival gate, so that was good. I ran off the plane and over to the gate to let them know the four of us were there. Chris stayed behind to catch the girls. Caitlin left her iPod in her seat and had to wait for everyone to deplane before she could go back, and the gate attendant at the FLL flight kept telling me she was going to release our seats to standbys. All I wanted was to be on Oasis.

Long story, short, we got on our plane and they held it for our luggage to transfer. Whew! We are on our way.

We taxied out on one of the world's busiest and most unorganized taxiways and were soon first in line for takeoff. Then we waited...and waited... and waited.

Finally the Captain came onto the intercom and said "well, we WERE first in line for take-off, but a light came on on the control panel and we can't get it to go off. Please wait for further updates while we check it out." Lovely.

What seemed like an hour later, but was only probably 10 minutes, he told us that the light had been fixed and we were now 7th in line. When we finally got to FLL, we were only 5 minutes behind our scheduled arrival time. Whew, again!

Next time, we WILL arrive a day early and stay in the port city. Lesson learned.

At FLL, our luggage arrived within about 10 minutes and we grabbed a cab to the Port Everglades terminal. As soon as we got around the airport garage, we could see the Oasis. At this point, I was doing my happy dance. So excited about this ship and this vacation.

We met Kellye just outside the terminal, dropping off her luggage, at about 1pm. The energy was phenomenal. Everyone was excited about getting on this ship.

Inside the terminal, we had a short wait at security (maybe 10 people in front of us), then we were off to check-in, where there were NO LINES. We had our Set Sail passes and passports, so check-in was relatively effortless. It took a few minutes to sort out the paperwork and have our Seapasses printed and matched to our photographs.

Then we were off to have our Welcome Aboard picture taken. I had read that this photo is a "must" because they use face recognition to tie to our Seapass cards for the entire party. This way all of our photos during the cruise are linked. More on that later.

Our Seapass cards included our names, some code numbers, our muster station code, the My Time Dining indicator, and our photo binder location. Also, those with the Coke package included a Coca Cola logo. Katie's card had an M2 (Minor 2 for 18-20 year olds) and Caitlin's had an M1 (Minor under 18). Lots of info on those little cards!

So off we went up the escalators and onto the gangway. By the way, to this point, everything was immaculately clean, and there was lots of room in the terminal. Still, no lines.

Next up - first impressions onboard.

 

[Kteacher]

great trip report so far!

 

[swwake]

great trip report so far!

Thank you! Thanks for joining in! I promise I will have pictures!

 

[ontariomonkey]

Can't wait to hear more. How do you pronounce Kellye?

 

[swwake]

After walking up the zig-zagging gangway, we arrived on the outside of the promenade deck, walking backwards (clockwise) around the jogging track. The first thing we noticed was the lifeboat capacity. We were thinking maybe they would hold 150 or so people. Not so...

A few steps later, we turned right and arrived on the Royal Promenade. This was an overwhelming feeling. Finally on the Oasis. Finally on vacation. All the bright, shiny, pretty colors. So much to explore and so much to do.

First, we found our way to our Oceanview Balcony stateroom #9606 to drop off our carry-ons and change to swimsuits. The cabin is mid-ship, a little forward. It's a D2 category, right behind the first hump. Our balcony was angled and a little oversized. We were on the starboard side, which proved to be wonderful at the ports. We loved the location because it was a few floors up from the Promenade (Deck 5), one floor up from Central Park (Deck 8) - where Park Cafe is, and a few floors down from the Solarium and pool decks 15 and 16. We used the stairs most of the time.

A photo of our stateroom:

Next, we explored the Promenade a little.

This photo is from the forward part of the ship, near the elevators and Bolero's. That's Mondo Coffee Bar in the foreground, the On-Air Club and The Shop in the background.

Then we headed to the Park Cafe for our lunch. We walked right in, no lines. Here we were introduced to the famous roast beef sandwich. The man slicing the roast beef posed for me.

The sandwich was very good. I am not a roast beef eater, so I can't say it was the best or worst in the world, but I enjoyed it. Others in our group got a chicken salad (maybe it was build-you-own?) and a ham sandwich. I was pretty excited about the flavored waters.

Although after a couple of days of these, I felt like they were too sweet and I stopped drinking them, in favor of bottled water.

Incidentally, before the cruise, I ordered an 8-pack of Evian water for our room. I put Chris, Katie and Caitlin on the coke plan. I think Chris benefitted from this, but Katie and Caitlin averaged about 1 Coke per day, so I overpaid for this. Who knew the teenagers would opt for tea over Coke? The bottled water came in handy. There were two cold bottles in the mini-bar fridge in the room, which we would grab and replace with our purchased waters. By Tuesday we had drunk all of our bottles, so we purchased another 8-pack. It was nice to have the bottles to walk around the ship, and to take ashore.

Kellye and I shared a mid-level wine package. We ended up having 3 bottles left on Friday, which Kellye was able to take home with her. Not sure if this saved much or not.

Also, I ordered a 4-pack of cupcakes to be delivered to the girls' room. They only ate 1 of them. It was a neat thought, but there was so much else available onboard, and they were rarely in their room.

Next post, I'll add more details about our stateroom.

 

[eliza61]

Thanks for the pictures. we're hoping to do this cruise maybe in 2012. Next year we're in WDW and DLP

 

[Curtis McCrea]

Great review! I'm enjoying the photos.

 

[lucas]

Oh boy! The Oasis of the Seas!

Great report! I'm loving it! We have been on the Explorer and the Voyager of the Seas, we live in South Florida and I really want to try the Oasis.

I read you have to pre-book which shows you want to see and when, prior to the cruise. Is that what ya'll did? It seems it would be hard to make all those decisions before the cruise. On the Voyager and Explorer I really loved going to the ice skating shows. Can't wait to see if you got to see the show on the Oasis.

Thanks for posting your report. Can't wait to read more.

 

[marypoppinswannabe]

I have a friend who went on the inaugural (sp?) cruise back in December. He came back with some fabulous pics of it. He loved it!!!

 

[swwake]

Thanks for the pictures. we're hoping to do this cruise maybe in 2012. Next year we're in WDW and DLP

Oh I highly recommend this ship! If for 2012, also consider Allure. For some sailings, the price is actually a little lower than Oasis!

Great review! I'm enjoying the photos.

Thanks so much! I have more photos!

Oh boy! The Oasis of the Seas!

Great report! I'm loving it! We have been on the Explorer and the Voyager of the Seas, we live in South Florida and I really want to try the Oasis.

I read you have to pre-book which shows you want to see and when, prior to the cruise. Is that what ya'll did? It seems it would be hard to make all those decisions before the cruise. On the Voyager and Explorer I really loved going to the ice skating shows. Can't wait to see if you got to see the show on the Oasis.

Thanks for posting your report. Can't wait to read more.

I have been on Sun Viking (old RCCL ship in 1983) and Liberty of the Seas, along with a handful of Carnival ships. This was our favorite ship so far.

You can make reservations for shows online ahead of time, but it's not mandatory. They also have stand-by lines at all the shows. We booked our cruise late (<60 days out), so there weren't many options left for the shows. I did pre-reserve them. I think the standby line for the comedy show had more people than available seats the night we saw it. Other than that, I don't think there were problems getting into shows without reservations. 10 minutes before show time, they release all reservations. We also had one show reservation that we ended up not attending. More on that later...

 

[dicar123]

Oh I'd LOVE to go on this boat! Can't wait for the rest of your report!

 

[OhMari]

I vacation last August on Freedom of the Sea.
I'm excited to read your TR from The Oasis.
I thought the home port was in Tampa, or did it just go there for it's first voyage.
We ordered water too and the 4 of us split a case of water, I think there were 24 bottles.

 

[Kteacher]

Great photos. I was thinking of booking the Oasis,but decided to do the Enchantment out of Baltimore.I flew a lot this year,and the thought of driving to a port was very appealing!I'm still thinking of booking the Allure or Oasis at some point though

 

[wdwmom2]

Thanks for your TR and photos. What a ship!!!!!!

We are sailing on the Allure March 2011. Can't wait!!!

 

[Aimeedyan]

Thanks for posting this - I'm interested to hear more about your trip!

 

[Kimberly]

Love the pics! Thinking about surprising my parents with sending them on a cruise with RC in April or May of 2011.

 

[4nana]

Thx for sharing, sounds like beginnings of some wonderful times on a very impressive ship ! Our sweet kids gifted us a cruise on the Liberty for our 45th Ann. last year and that D2 balcony cabin is indeed awesome . There are some great rates out for Oasis and Allure DH & I are scoping out to celebrate our big # birthdays fall 2011. Can't wait to read more of your report and see pix!!

 

[fireworks fan]

Great report so far. Thanks for sharing. We took our first cruise this past December, and I am ready to try some more!

 

[lucas]

I vacation last August on Freedom of the Sea.
I'm excited to read your TR from The Oasis.
I thought the home port was in Tampa, or did it just go there for it's first voyage.
We ordered water too and the 4 of us split a case of water, I think there were 24 bottles.

The Oasis home port and first voyage was from Fort Lauderdale. Same will be for the Allure of the Seas. Fort Lauderdale had to build a special massive terminal to accommodate the ships. It was quite the show when she sailed into Fort Lauderdale for the 1st time.

For anyone who has parked at the terminal in Fort Lauderdale, was it hard to find a parking spot? I'm afraid once the Alllure is here, the parking will be impossible.

 

[swwake]

We were in stateroom 9606. As I mentioned, this is on Deck 9, a little forward of mid-ship, just behind the first hump on the Starboard side. It's a D2 stateroom, and has an oversized, angled balcony.

To me, the room didn't feel noticeably smaller than the Liberty of the Seas (we were in an aft corner stateroom on that ship). We had our bed set up "together", which means it was as one bed, instead of the two twins. Supposedly it was smaller than a King, but it didn't really feel smaller than our king at home.

Our bed was closer to the bathroom, not the balcony. Here is another photo:

The bathroom was on the left as you entered. Switches are on the outside (which doesn't make much sense, actually). The shower was on the left as we entered. It's a rounded shower with two doors that slide and meet in the middle with a magnetic hold. There is a handheld showerhead which is anchored high (we never pulled it down and used by hand). A wire shelf for toiletries had wires too widely spaced to hold the shampoos, etc. without them falling over. There was a nice little pipe running across the corner that was useful for placing a foot when shaving my legs. Shower was good and hot and had a consistent temperature, for the most part.

Two towels, two hand towels, two washcloths, and a bath mat were provided. Also, shampoo, conditioner, shower gel and lotion in travel sizes, along with a shower cap and a "face soap" bar. There was also a shower gel (I assume?) dispenser on the shower wall.

Nautical flush toilet required the lid to be down in order to flush, which is a good thing if you keep your toothbrushes in the bathroom (otherwise - yuck!!). Facing the mirror, there were at least 3 shelves on the left side, plus a little drawer. Under the sink was a cabinet with the trash can on the inside of the right door. Two glasses with paper caps on the shelf. There was also another shelf next to the sink cabinet under the shelf. Two hooks high to the right of the sink, two towel racks and three hooks on the back of the bathroom door.

In my opinion, this was lots of storage for a bathroom. I did not even use the over-door shoe holder I brought.

In the stateroom, the closet had sliding doors that opened in both directions. On the left, about 6 shelves, one holding the small safe. On the right, the closet had two robes in it for our use. There were about 15-20 hangers. There was also a fold-down lower closet rod (which we didn't use) and a shelf high above the top closet rod.

Entering the room, just past the bathroom on the left (the outside of the closet) was a floor-to-ceiling mirror. Opposite that was a floor-to-ceiling storage unit that had a shelf and two "bins" (for lack of a better word). I stored my brushes in these. They had wires across the bottom, so they weren't solid.

Bed to the left, with nightstands on both sides. Each nightstand had a shelf below and a lamp above. Plenty of under-bed storage for suitcases, backpacks, and we stored our box of bottled water there.

Here is another photo:

Past the bed, the sofa (sleeper in this room) was on the left. An oval table in the middle with a trash can underneath. On the right was the vanity.

Large, flat screen TV would pivot. Above the TV was a long shelf that initially held the keyboard, remote, and two bottles of water. Below the TV, plenty of counter space. There was a shallow drawer with a perforated bottom (which held the blow dryer), then two additional drawers. The large door to the right of the drawers had the minibar behind it. This was a small, stocked refrigerator, and the fridge door was attached to the cabinet door so both opened simultaneously. I never checked out what's inside, other than the two bottles of water that we would swap out with our purchased water so we could have cold. I think I remember seeing some Perrier and some nuts in there.

This picture shows how it all was laid out:

A chair was at the vanity, looking into a mirror, which was flanked with tall lights. The switch was to the left. The vanity counter curved in toward the cabinets on the left. Below the shelf were all of the outlets. We had read that an extension cord was needed, and we brought a 7-foot one but never needed it. Partly because both the MacBook and my Chi flat iron have very long cords. But even with the short cord of the blow dryer, I didn't need an extension cord.

To the left of the vanity were narrow upper and lower cabinets. The upper had 3 shelves and the lower had 2. I stored my makeup and costume jewelry here so I didn't have to do hair and makeup in the bathroom, sharing space while my husband showered.

Blackout curtains and light sheers flanked the sliding balcony door, which had a mechanism that allowed it to be locked into place at any point of open/closed. Outside were two chairs and a high table. The partitions between cabins are half fixed and half can be removed by the cabin steward for socializing with your friendly neighbors. We didn't know our neighbors so we didn't have ours removed. These are frosted glass.

I thought the room was adequate in size with reasonable storage. We didn't use all of the storage, but it should be enough for anyone who is efficient in unpacking. Our only complaint was that all balconies are acceptable for smoking and we're not smokers. Thus, the smoke filtering over from the balcony next door bothered us. We like keeping our balcony door open, even while we sleep (I know they don't like this on the cruise line), but we weren't always able to do this due to the smoke.

Also, to be noted, in order for the A/C to work, the sliding door must be closed AND in locked position. I think this is really good for conserving energy. Many times we came back to the cabin wet after the pool or flow rider, and the A/C made the room too cold. We would immediately open the sliding door to warm up.

We left a $5 cash tip for our room steward on Day 2 with a note saying "thanks for taking care of us on our vacation". This must have meant nothing to him. While our room was always made up or turned down when we returned to it, we never felt that we received any type of personalized service, and there were at least two times that it was obvious that the bathroom had not been cleaned at all.

By contrast, our kids had Room 10577 with a Central Park View Balcony, and their room steward went above and beyond every minute of every day. She even got to know me and called me "Mom".

The kids' room was much like ours. The same size and layout. The only difference was the bed configuration. Their beds were left separated for them, and the sofa was opened at night. Although this room was rated for 3 guests, the sofa sleeper could easily have slept 3.

This might have been a boring post, but hopefully gives insight as to the room and storage. We found it very comfortable and really wouldn't change a thing (other than losing the smokers next door ).

Questions?