Oasis of the Seas Cruise Trip Report

[swwake]

After dinner Sunday night, we had reservations for the 10:45pm Oasis of Dreams show at the Aqua Theater. We got there at about 10:15 and got some pretty good seats, a little to the right side, but in the lounge chairs (i.e., we didn't have to sit on the hard wooden benches with no backs). We were up high enough not to be in the splash zone, a little to the right as you face the stage.

Here are some photos (sorry, Barbi, no good shots of Jes - we didn't know to look at him at this time).

Richard Spacey was our cruise director. We were told that this was his first week on the Oasis alone (the previous week, Ken Rush was onboard with him). Here he is introducing the show.

More show photos:

I enjoy a good show, but I am not very good at interpreting the story lines, especially when they are a little vague. The story here was of the lady in the orange dress/swimsuit. She started by sitting in the upside-down umbrella. I think this was supposed to be a dream of hers, where she discovered all sorts of characters.

The diving was amazing. There were three different levels of diving platforms, if you don't include the side of the pool, which would make 4. The pool was similar to the one used in "O" at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. Sometimes it's a pool, sometimes it's a hard floor. Pretty amazing, and I'm glad none of the divers accidentally bonked their heads during "floor time".

There were also acrobats who used the trampoline to do some amazing stunts. One of my favorite was where they would land on their backs, then bounce up toward the platform at the back of the theater and look like they were just casually walking up the side and onto the platform.

We all thought this was a great show, and I would rank it in the "Not to be missed" category. After all, the Aqua Theater is part of what makes Oasis so innovative.

I remembered that on Saturday when Chris and I had lost track of time before dinner, we had been out on the Boardwalk watching the performers in rehearsal for Oasis of Dreams. We were amazed at what they did and it made us appreciate the actual show even more.

That afternoon (Saturday), we had also noticed that the "balloon man" was missing from the front of Johnny Rockets. This is a very famous statue, which is used in a lot of Oasis's marketing materials, and we were disappointed to find him missing. That afternoon, I tried to get a bartender's attention at the Boardwalk Bar to ask, but couldn't. Later in the Cruise, Chris asked a bartender and they said he was out for maintenance. So I guess he was getting a little plastic surgery.

Next up: Midnight at the Oasis (Sorry, couldn't resist.)

 

[OhMari]

When we were on Freedom our Cruise Director Alan, something said, he was going to Oasis. Do you think they change off, or Alan didn't work out on Oasis.
The closest I got to our Cruise Director, was the last day, when I paid $10 and got a t-shirt and walked a few laps around the deck for the Miracle Network.

 

[swwake]

When we were on Freedom our Cruise Director Alan, something said, he was going to Oasis. Do you think they change off, or Alan didn't work out on Oasis.
The closest I got to our Cruise Director, was the last day, when I paid $10 and got a t-shirt and walked a few laps around the deck for the Miracle Network.

The original cruise director for Oasis was Ken Rush. I think he was our CD on Liberty of the Seas in its early sailings back in '07. Ken's last week was the week before our cruise, then he moved on, where he will be the CD for Allure of the Seas. I assume he has to go do the transatlantic with Allure before its inaugural sailing in December. I am not sure how long Richard Spacey is onboard, but I have heard they do 4-8-month rotations.

 

[swwake]

It was now Midnight at the Oasis, after the show. Chris and I decided to head over to the Schooner Bar to visit our new friend Paul O'Shea.

He's a real crowd-pleaser, with a list of songs people can choose from and request. Many are sing-alongs. He also does Piano Man nicely, complete with harmonica. There are barstools around the piano, and we noticed the same group of people seemed to sit around the piano every night. By the end of the cruise, Paul would sing some songs with back-up singers, or have a second mike to do a duet with a passenger. Lots of fun.

From the Schooner Bar, I snapped a picture of the Rising Tide bar midway on one of its trips up or down.

Back in our room, we were welcomed by an elephant. Our normal cruise buddies are friends Bryan and Melissa, who happened to introduce us in the beginning. Since they couldn't make it on this cruise, we brought them along in spirit. Here they are with Mr. Elephant.

We finished our last drinks of the evening out on our balcony, and watched the Carnival Dream as she cruised alongside us.

Then, it was off to la-la land, anticipating our first Sea Day and a full day of riding the Flow Rider. Or would it be?

 

[Dancegrl624]

Loving your report so far! My friend took a cruise on the Oasis of the Seas and she just loved it!

 

[Flossbolna]

Thanks for the wonderful report! What an impressive ship! I really enjoy experiencing it through your eyes!

 

[Irin997]

Loving your report! Makes me want November to come even sooner!

 

[swwake]

Loving your report so far! My friend took a cruise on the Oasis of the Seas and she just loved it!

Thanks. It is a great ship and was a great vacation!

Thanks for the wonderful report! What an impressive ship! I really enjoy experiencing it through your eyes!

Oh thank you! I try not to be too corny.

Loving your report! Makes me want November to come even sooner!

Thanks. What are your dates? Eastern or Western?

 

[Mickey's Minion]

oops, double post

 

[Mickey's Minion]

What a wonderful report. You actually inspired me to go and book a cruise.

Hopefully you will post more pics???

 

[Piglets Mommy]

Thanks for this great report! I can't wait to read more! We just got back from a 7 day Eagles Cruise to Bermuda on HAL Veendam. While we had a great time, and are now hooked on cruising, I am not so sure that HAL is the line for us, unless it is another special event cruise like this one. I am loving your report, because as a Disney lover, we are most likely looking for similar things.

 

[DMickey28]

Thanks for the report!! I am loving it. I can't wait to go on Oasis (or a sister ship) Our last cruise was on Freedom in October 2008 and we didn't care for Freedom. Too much like Adventure and that class but just more people. I am excited for Oasis because it's so different.

Did you feel it was super crowded? That is what we didn't like about Freedom ... sure they added a few extra feet of public space here and there but so many more rooms that every place we went felt super crowded.

Can't wait to read more.

 

[swwake]

Thanks for the report!! I am loving it. I can't wait to go on Oasis (or a sister ship) Our last cruise was on Freedom in October 2008 and we didn't care for Freedom. Too much like Adventure and that class but just more people. I am excited for Oasis because it's so different.

Did you feel it was super crowded? That is what we didn't like about Freedom ... sure they added a few extra feet of public space here and there but so many more rooms that every place we went felt super crowded.

Can't wait to read more.

You're welcome. We sailed Liberty in 2007 and we felt that Oasis was less crowded than we felt on Liberty. Liberty was a unique experience for us, though, because it was the first sailing after a Norovirus epidemic, and lines were longer because they were having to take measures to make sure everything was sanitized.

We loved Liberty, but I bet even though you didn't like Freedom, you will love Oasis.

 

[swwake]

Oops! I missed a couple of replies.

What a wonderful report. You actually inspired me to go and book a cruise.

Hopefully you will post more pics???

Thanks and WOW! Well, I know you'll enjoy your cruise. What cruise line/ship? When will you go? Yes, I have more pictures, but they are dwindling down, since we took most of the ship photos early in the cruise.

Thanks for this great report! I can't wait to read more! We just got back from a 7 day Eagles Cruise to Bermuda on HAL Veendam. While we had a great time, and are now hooked on cruising, I am not so sure that HAL is the line for us, unless it is another special event cruise like this one. I am loving your report, because as a Disney lover, we are most likely looking for similar things.

It's easy to get hooked, isn't it? Did you find HAL to be a much older crowd? Do you have kids and were there many kids onboard? I think you're right, we probably have similar tastes in cruises.

 

[swwake]

Monday morning I woke up before Chris and checked the Cruise Compass for the Flowrider times. We hadn't been worried about getting up early for the Advanced session because:
1) I was intimidated and afraid I couldn't get up on my own
2) We knew we'd have all day (9-6) to ride, based on looking at Compasses from previous sailings.

Well, here's what the Compass said:
FlowRiders (no portside FlowRider today)
Advanced Stand-up Surfing 8am-9am
Stand-up Surfing 9am-11am
Stand-up Surfing 4pm-6pm
Boogie Boarding 11am-4pm

It was 9:30 by the time I got my swimsuit on and I was NOT a happy camper. Chris didn't want to get up, but I was on this cruise to ride the FlowRider, and I was going to maximize my time. So I grabbed a quick breakfast somewhere (like a banana) and checked in at the sports desk for my wristband. I asked Stephen (the sports desk staff) why they were only running one FlowRider, and he said "because they are filming a commercial on the other one". Now, I was even madder. Why couldn't they film while we were in port? Or at night? And to top it off, Stephen told me that they planned to film again on Thursday (the next Sea Day), limiting the time yet again.

So I rode from about 10 to 11, then I ran a couple of errands. First, I stopped by the On-Air Club, where they were selling the Live the Oasis book from 10:30 to 11:30. I picked up a book and its two accompanying lanyards. This book is only $12.99 and is a really nice keepsake. It has beautiful pictures and lots of trivia about the ship. It's designed to be a scavenger hunt, with six "trails", each trail having four "clues". Once you answer a trail's clues, you bring the book and your answers to the On-Air Club at designated times and receive a button for your lanyard. They also had daily Live the Oasis trivia contests.

I carried my book around the ship in my backpack during the day for the rest of the cruise, but we never found the time to do even one trail. I guess I'll have to take another cruise on the Oasis!

After this errand, I stopped by Guest Services to express my disappointment about the limited FlowRider time. The lady I spoke to said she understood, but couldn't offer any remedy. She suggested that I might talk to the staff at the sports desk to see if they could offer anything. (We were already committed to and paid for a group lesson session for that night for both Chris and me, but I was wondering if they might throw in another lesson to give us more time.) In the end, I was too shy to ask for this from the sports staff, because we had gotten pretty friendly with them. But we did talk to them about our disappointment, and some of them tried to help us out with a little additional coaching when they saw us on the FlowRider. By the end of the week, I got over it, but I have to say this one one of the three disappointments for us for the week (2 being no Makers Mark on the ship, and 3 being very few clocks onboard).

I found Chris back in the cabin, and he and I went to the Business Center on Deck 14 with my computer to try to figure out why we were getting an error trying to access the internet. Being Monday, we both needed to check email for work. We got that worked out and called the girls, who had just woken up, and all decided to meet at the Windjammer for lunch.

At 11:30 or 12, we found it really easy to find an open table for 5 at the WJ. Also, the food wasn't so bad. This contradicts what I have heard from others. We all relaxed and enjoyed our lunch, each taking turns checking email and Facebook, and of course Cruise Critic, and planning out the rest of our afternoon.

After lunch, Kellye went to the pool to lay out, Chris and I went to run the track for 30 minutes, and I'm not sure where Katie and Caitlin went. After our run, Katie met us at the gym for some weight training, and we finally met up with Kellye again around 3pm.

I can't remember what happened after that, but I'm sure Chris and I were on the FlowRider by 4pm and we had a lesson at 6:15pm, so we didn't leave it until 7:15pm.

For the 6:15pm lesson, they had two groups. There were 16 registered, but only 10 of us showed up. 6 wanted to boogie board only, 2 wanted to start boogie boarding and learn stand-up, and Chris and I were the only ones wanting all stand-up. So they sent the first 6 over to the other FlowRider and left the last 4 of us to our own. For the first 30 minutes there were just 4 of us, then when none of the original missing 6 showed up, they brought 2 over from the other side, making it an even 6 on each FlowRider. We got LOTS of time in, but by the time the hour was over, we were sooo exhausted!

We went back and showered and got ready for Venetian Feast at dinner.

This was a fun night in the MDR because the waiters sang and everyone twirled their napkins. Rather than Reggae, Donnel sang O Sole Mio to us. Here he is serenading Katie with the pepper mill microphone.

And, serenading Kellye

(sorry, this post is light on pictures, so I'm including some fun ones)

And my favorite shot of Donnel with the girls

Italian Gangstas

After dinner, the girls wanted to check email and Facebook again. I am posting this shot so you can see a little bit of how the sofa sleeper looks unfolded. It really is quite big and could sleep more than one person. The girls said it was comfortable.

I don't remember what we did the rest of the evening - probably visited Paul O'Shea at Schooner Bar and maybe hopped by Blaze. That may have been our casino night too, but I'll save that story for another post.

Before bed, Chris suggested that we order room service breakfast for all of us to be delivered to our cabin the next morning, to make sure everyone was up, dressed, and fed before our tour in St Thomas. So we selected a variety of items from the menu and hung it on the door.

And, at some point, it was off to sleepville with another new friend.

Tomorrow: St Thomas, and a tour guide from our hometown - sorta

 

[swwake]

Oops! I forgot to mention that once we got online in the Windjammer, I did send an email to Royal Caribbean complaining about the FlowRider time. I got a response back the next day that was really nice, saying that they understand that the FlowRider is a big draw for Oasis class ships and that they will report the concern to management at the Sports Desk. They also thanked me for my loyalty to Royal Caribbean.

That was the last I heard, but I was satisfied to receive a personal response. At least I feel like they listened and heard what I had to say.

Also, I hate to sound like a complainer, because our family really isn't that type. We typically go with the flow, but we seriously selected this ship because there are two FlowRiders and our time wouldn't be as limited as on a Freedom Class ship. I was thinking at that point that we could have saved over $1000 by just booking Freedom or Liberty for our vacation instead of Oasis. And I mentioned that in my email to RCI.

Again, I got over it, and it did not ruin our vacation.

 

[Doe]

Thanks for this great report! I can't wait to read more! We just got back from a 7 day Eagles Cruise to Bermuda on HAL Veendam. While we had a great time, and are now hooked on cruising, I am not so sure that HAL is the line for us, unless it is another special event cruise like this one. I am loving your report, because as a Disney lover, we are most likely looking for similar things.

We also just got back from sailing HAL. We went to Alaska on the Oosterdam. Just have to say if you haven't been to Alaska that Disney starts cruising there next summer and Alaska is amazing!

It's easy to get hooked, isn't it? Did you find HAL to be a much older crowd? Do you have kids and were there many kids onboard? I think you're right, we probably have similar tastes in cruises.

I'm not the poster you were quoting, but our experience a couple weeks ago on HAL Oosterdam was out of the 2098 guests on board there were only 200 kids ages 17 and under and I never saw more than about 15 at any given time. As far as the ages of guests on our cruise go, we are a 40 & 44 year old couple and never felt like we were the only ones our age.
For us this cruise was to get away and relax and I would say HAL is a very relaxing, but not boring cruise line. I'm loving reading your trip report and keep telling my husband about it. That's the kind of cruise he'd like to try next.

 

[Irin997]

Thanks. What are your dates? Eastern or Western?

Western (I think...Cozumel, Costa Maya, & Labadee) Nov 13-20

 

[swwake]

I'm not the poster you were quoting, but our experience a couple weeks ago on HAL Oosterdam was out of the 2098 guests on board there were only 200 kids ages 17 and under and I never saw more than about 15 at any given time. As far as the ages of guests on our cruise go, we are a 40 & 44 year old couple and never felt like we were the only ones our age.
For us this cruise was to get away and relax and I would say HAL is a very relaxing, but not boring cruise line. I'm loving reading your trip report and keep telling my husband about it. That's the kind of cruise he'd like to try next.

That's good info to know. I have always had the impression that it was a much older crowd. This might give us incentive to try HAL sometime. Do you think we could talk them into adding a Flow Rider?

Western (I think...Cozumel, Costa Maya, & Labadee) Nov 13-20

That should be a fun itinerary. Labadee had changed a lot since we were there in 2007. I saw that they added a pier and even a roller coaster! Cozumel is very fun and has lots of options. I don't know much about Costa Maya. Hope you'll have a great trip! I'm sure you will.

 

[swwake]

Before we move on, a short story and a suggestion for RCCL.

One of the nights we were on the ship, we decided to take Katie to the casino for her first gambling experience. On Royal Caribbean, you can gamble in the casino at 18. We've always promised Katie that we'd take her to Vegas for her 21st birthday, so I was looking forward to teaching her a little blackjack.

Chris sat down first base at a table, and had Katie sit next to him. He bought in for $100 at a $10 table, and gave Katie some chips to play. She was a little nervous, but she listened carefully and bet her first hand at the beginning of a shoe. Voila! Blackjack! That's my girl!

Well, this surprised her, but she was still nervous. I sat down and Chris stood up, and Katie played about 5 more hands. She was winning, but she didn't like the fast pace, and didn't feel comfortable watching "all that money" come and go. She asked a lot of questions and really entertained the table (but if we had been at a serious high roller table, they would have been annoyed - thank goodness we weren't!). At that point, the stress was getting my frugal little Katie and she had to stand up. She was winning, and she just wouldn't play anymore. Her last words as she left the table were "Mom, I don't EVER want to go to Vegas!"

We thought it was funny, but it did surprise us. Katie is smart and she knows how to play blackjack. She also knows that we would never bet what we couldn't afford to lose. I think it was just the opportunity cost that was getting to her. (I could spend the same money somewhere else with less stress and KNOW I would get something in return.) Maybe she'll grow into it, but if she doesn't I'm fine with that too.

On another note, I made several show reservations and My Time Dining reservations for every night of our cruise. Before we left, I printed out our calendar, so I could keep up with our reservations. But I was surprised that we didn't receive an itinerary at check-in with our reservations for the week. I think that would be a good suggestion for RCCL.

I spent the first three days constantly checking my printout that I had brought with me, making sure we weren't missing any shows. About the third day, Katie told me "it's on your TV". Well, we're not really big TV watchers at home, and we REALLY don't watch TV much on vacation. So by Day 3 we hadn't even turned our stateroom TV on.

The next time we were in the cabin, we turned on the TV and lo and behold, there is a "personal calendar" for each person in the room. It lists all of your reservations, and keeps track as you add/delete reservations as the week goes on. Wow, it would have been nice to know to look for this!

That's it for now. I'll try to do another, longer update tomorrow. I've started P90X in the evenings and it is literally kicking my butt!