Any fellow Disney cruisers tried RC Oasis of the seas?

[Chandra C]

So as we were leaving the port after getting off the Wonder in March, the shuttle driver pointed out the oasis of the seas to us as it was in port at the time. I just put a deposit on a 4 night cruise on the Dream for my 3 year old daughter and myself in September. I decided just to check prices on Royal's website and we could do 7 nights for less than the cost of our 4 night on Disney! I've read comments that there are up charges and they nickel and dime you, so I've been afraid to venture out to try anything different. We've only cruised twice and both times have been with DCL. Would love to hear thoughts or experiences on this, thanks

 

[Trera]

We have not been on a RC cruise yet but have some friends that have done it and they really enjoyed it. We might try it when our DD gets a little older and wants more to do than princess meets and the oceaneer club/lab.

 

[tinkerone]

We moved our DCL butts to RCCL's Oasis last November and loved it so much we have rebooked a b2b for this fall. Much like you, we had only sailed DCL and were very afraid to go anywhere else because we had heard the same thing. We found the comments to be really unfounded, there is not as much 'nickel and diming' as some like to claim. We saved almost $2000 however we did have to purchase a pop package if we wanted one and that cost us about $150. Most everything else was the same as DCL. If you want specialty dining you paid for specialty dining just the same as you do on DCL, the difference being there were more options to choose from. If you want candy you buy candy, just the same as on DCL. If you want a souvenir you pay for it, just the same as DCL. There are more balcony choices as well. We loved the central park balcony as we could sit out in the evening and hear crickets (piped in) and music (string quartets) and the low lighting, it was all very relaxing. Our next cruise we have booked a Boardwalk balcony (which includes the pop package free). There are always ocean view balconies as well, what ever your choice is. Dinning rooms are beautiful and we loved My Time Dining, not being locked into a specific time. They have luggage valet as well if you fly, there is a charge for this while DCL does include. Still, saving so much money this never bothered us.
The adult areas are truly adult areas and very relaxing with its own restaurant. Can't talk about the children's clubs as we don't have small ones.
I think that you will be very surprised and pleased if you try this ship. There is life outside of DCL, as we have discovered, and your dollar can go a lot further. Happy travels.

 

[samily]

We have been on Royal a few times (but not Oasis class) and the only thing I noticed that you are charged for differently than DCL is soda and late night in the kids clubs. The other things that they charged for were similar to what DCL also charges for (specialty restaurants, premium ice cream shop, bingo, etc.). Royal just had more of a variety to choose to pay for extra for (frankly, this applies to some of the other cruise lines we have tried as well).

The free drinks that were included on Royal were lemonade, a couple of flavored waters or fruit punch- these seemed to change everyday, water, milk, coffee, tea, etc. and juices in the am. Soda was extra - I think it was around 7.00pp per day and less pp for kids.

Also, on Royal I believe the kids clubs hours were a little more limited than on DCL (if I remember correctly they closed for an hour or two at lunch and dinner).

If you are into the characters and all that, obviously DCL can't be beat but as our kids have gotten older we have found we enjoy other lines as well (they still love DCL but like to try new things too).

 

[Tractortom]

A few years ago, my wife and I took a week long trip on Allure of the Seas, out of Ft. Lauderdale, which is a sister ship to Oasis. We had an inward facing balcony cabin, overlooking central park. My impression is, that the ship is too darn big! Yes, there are LOTS of places to eat and drink, and lots of decks full of pools and the like, but because there at 5000 passengers on the ship, you have to have a reservation for everything. If you want to drop into the comedy club, you better have a reservation, if you want to see the show at the main showroom, you need a reservation, if you want to do just about anything, you need to have a reservation, and they do check. The decks around the pools are mobbed in good weather, there are lines for photos that go on for miles on formal nights. I was not too happy with it. The thought of an inward facing balcony was cool, but you couldn't use the thing as it was always too hot out there, because it doesn't get any breeze.

After that trip, we decided to stay away from the mega-ships and stay with the mid sized and smaller cruise ships. We cruise on Fantasy in February and it is about as big as we want to go.

Tom in Okeechobee

 

[minorthr]

We recently booked a RCL 7 night cruise for late 2018 with a group of people. We have only ever done disney and there are a few things that have surprised me so far.

#1 the fact that you have to pay for excursions before you go. This is kind of changes the way I need to save
#2 I totally understood you needed to pay for soda and water or buy a drink package. What I was completely unprepared for was the price. My wife and kid do not drink soda at all and I barely drink it so a soda package doesn't make any sense. If we go with the refreshment package which includes coffee, water juices and non alcoholic drinks for 3 people for a 7 night cruise its $644 which is insane. Since you can not bring water like you can on DCL if I want a case delivered to the room it is $80 which makes disneys $35 seem like a bargain.

now that being said even if I add the $644 drink package I'm still about $1200 cheaper then DCL. So we will see.

 

[tinkerone]

Oddly enough, we never found the Oasis to be to big. If anything, we found the pools on DCL to be 'mobbed' as they are so small and so few. We never felt that on the Oasis at all. Also, as I stated earlier, we loved our central park balcony cabin and did not find it to hot or that we didn't get a breeze. I have also heard that if you book an inside balcony you will see into others cabins and they into yours. Again, not something we experienced. Making reservations for shows was not a deal breaker either, there is a wait line for those without reservations and some of the venues are much bigger than DCL's so loads of room. The comedy club is the exception to that rule as the room is rather small and intimate, which is probably what they were going for. Their water show 'Oasis of Dreams' is an amazing show that you will not soon forget, spectacular.
Anyways, your going to get some who like it and some who don't. We all have different experiences and just having different group dynamics will also sway our thoughts. Its going to come down to what you feel is best for your family. Just don't let less than stellar comments make up your mind, weigh it all out.

 

[DynamicDisneyDuo]

We haven't done the Oasis but did do her sister ship, the Harmony of the Seas. As mentioned above, it's difficult to just drop in on a show. You have to have reservations for practically everything. The venues are small for the amount of passengers and they often only have a couple showings of each show so it's a tight squeeze.

They had a fair amount of Character appearances scattered throughout the cruise and they never seemed all that busy to us. Adults only cruisers like DW and I got more funny looks on RCI when getting character pictures than on DCL.

Their gratuities are also a little bit higher and structured differently. Part of your gratuity goes to positions that DCL doesn't include, like the people cleaning stairwells and public areas, etc...

RCI is now rolling out an across the board charge for room service. Their non-MDR options also tend to close a lot earlier than DCL's.

The food was slightly better in the MDR than Disney. There seemed to be a bit more variety as well. The upcharge restaurants were also more varied than DCL.

I found the service to be about the same as DCL.

 

[tinkerone]

We recently booked a RCL 7 night cruise for late 2018 with a group of people. We have only ever done disney and there are a few things that have surprised me so far.

#1 the fact that you have to pay for excursions before you go. This is kind of changes the way I need to save
#2 I totally understood you needed to pay for soda and water or by a drink package. What I was completely unprepared for was the price. My wife and kid do not drink soda at all and I barely drink it so a soda package doesn't make any sense. If we go with the refreshment package which includes coffee, water juices and non alcoholic drinks for 3 people for a 7 night cruise its $644 which is insane. Since you can not bring water like you can on DCL if I want a case delivered to the room it is $80 which makes disneys $35 seem like a bargain.

now that being said even if I add the $644 drink package I'm still about $1200 cheaper then DCL. So we will see.

I've saw lots of people leaving cases of water with the porters. I asked one person and apparently they just slap a luggage tag on it and it gets to your room. I asked again on CC and they all said there has never been an issue so it might be something you want to try. You can also get coffee, tea and juices at some places without having the package. I'd rather have a package myself because I don't want to bothered to have to hunt down a drink when I want one. I love having bottles of sparkling water in my cabin.

 

[tinkerone]

Their non-MDR options also tend to close a lot earlier than DCL's.
.

That was not our experience on Oasis. Windjammer (the buffet) was open till 8:45, Café Promenade was open 24 hours, Sorrentos Pizza was open till 3 AM. Some of the specialty stuff was open later to however there was a fee for those.
I forgot about the new room service fee, thanks for mentioning that. I believe RCCL is the second cruise line to roll that out. I will not be at all surprised when the rest start, after all, when one gets away with it they all sneak it in. Lol.
Their continental breakfast, I believe, is still free from room service so at least there is that.

 

[Trera]

A big draw back for us is that we like Port Canaveral as it is very convenient to our house in Orlando and makes getting to and from the port quick and easy.

The Ports in Lauderdale and Miami are 3.5-4 hours away which is not great when travelling by car with a 4 year old.

 

[Scraptographer]

We have sailed both DCL and RCCL several times. There are definitely trip reports that compare the two lines which I read before we cruised RCCL for the first time - I think if you Google Shrek vs Mickey you will find a very popular review. We have sailed both Allure and Oasis and found those experiences to be similar. I also have a comparison trip report in my signature block I think.

 

[tinkerone]

A big draw back for us is that we like Port Canaveral as it is very convenient to our house in Orlando and makes getting to and from the port quick and easy.

The Ports in Lauderdale and Miami are 3.5-4 hours away which is not great when travelling by car with a 4 year old.

Oasis sails out of Port Canaveral.

 

[Trera]

Oasis sails out of Port Canaveral.

Good to know!

 

[HappilyEverAfter80]

After 4 Disney cruises we are going on our first Royal Caribbean - Anthem of the Seas. Going with an open mind...
If we like it we hope to book on Oasis class next. Now, we could have gotten a better deal on Oasis 7 night than we did on Anthem 5 nights.. but we wanted to depart from NYC.
You can for sure get better prices with Royal although their newest ships are closer in price to Disney.
I have never done a trip report but I may do one on the Anthem, especially from the point of view of someone who only cruised on Disney.

 

[elvispursley]

For those who did RCCL Oasis (and sister ships), how soon did you have to make the reservations for the shows? Did you have to make them before you boarded? Or did you reserve them once on board (e.g the same day)? Had no idea that you had to reserve shows, but for our family that seems to "plan" everything, we wouldn't mind this--would be nice if you could reserve your seat ahead of time so you wouldn't have to grab a seat 45 minutes before show time I really liked the look and size of the jr. suites but would love to have connecting suites, but on the deck plans, doesn't appear to have too many. And like many have mentioned on previous threads, their website STINKS!!!

 

[mevelandry]

So as we were leaving the port after getting off the Wonder in March, the shuttle driver pointed out the oasis of the seas to us as it was in port at the time. I just put a deposit on a 4 night cruise on the Dream for my 3 year old daughter and myself in September. I decided just to check prices on Royal's website and we could do 7 nights for less than the cost of our 4 night on Disney! I've read comments that there are up charges and they nickel and dime you, so I've been afraid to venture out to try anything different. We've only cruised twice and both times have been with DCL. Would love to hear thoughts or experiences on this, thanks

I haven't but I want to try it!!! Did you watch the Sea Cruisers vlogs they made about the Oasis on Youtube? It looks amazing!!!

I don't believe in nickel and diming. I see that as "having options".

It's not RCCL but for me , trying Carnival has opened my eyes to a new and different experience in cruising and turns out I loved it. Right now, I am booked on the Vista and for 300$ less than my 3 night on the Wonder (Bahamas) inside room, I get an inside room for 6 nights (Western Caribbean) in a Cloud 9 spa room who gives us full access to all spa amenities (jacuzzi, thermal showers, Saunas, Hammam, warm chairs and a private salon with an amazing view) and we get bathrobes, slippers and Elemis shampoo, conditioner, shower gel and soap in our room on a "private deck" (only 40 rooms)... !!!

 

[sammydent]

We haven't sailed Oasis of the Seas, but we sailed Allure which is the sister ship to Oasis and we LOVED it. As PP said, you will pay for soda, but that only cost 4 of us around $150. We stayed in a suite, 7 day E Caribbean and it was significantly less than our 7 day on the Fantasy in a veranda room.

 

[tinkerone]

For those who did RCCL Oasis (and sister ships), how soon did you have to make the reservations for the shows? Did you have to make them before you boarded? Or did you reserve them once on board (e.g the same day)? Had no idea that you had to reserve shows, but for our family that seems to "plan" everything, we wouldn't mind this--would be nice if you could reserve your seat ahead of time so you wouldn't have to grab a seat 45 minutes before show time I really liked the look and size of the jr. suites but would love to have connecting suites, but on the deck plans, doesn't appear to have too many. And like many have mentioned on previous threads, their website STINKS!!!

Its about 3 months out when you start to make reservations however this seems to vary. You just go into your reservation, much the same as you do DCL, and book what you want. If you have My Time Dining you can book times for that in advance as well. We don't sail suites but I think they don't have to book times, they have a special section for them and all they have to do is show up. Not sure if that goes right down to Jr. Suites or if it is the larger ones though.
We didn't find making reservations a bother, it just helped me understand what the ship offered.

 

[tinkerone]

We have sailed both DCL and RCCL several times. There are definitely trip reports that compare the two lines which I read before we cruised RCCL for the first time - I think if you Google Shrek vs Mickey you will find a very popular review. We have sailed both Allure and Oasis and found those experiences to be similar. I also have a comparison trip report in my signature block I think.

I've just started reading your review (I love reviews) and so far it is very entertaining. I can't wait to read on. You must live somewhere near us as your three airports are our three airports as well. We have never flown out of Montreal but have looked at it several times. Maybe next time. JetBlue is getting a bit on the expensive side (out of Syracuse) with the exchange add on.