Oasis of the Seas TransAtlantic Voyage Through the Eyes of Art & Ellie

Art,

I also play MajJongg and noticed that most of the sets were incomplete.

Ellen

Hi Ellen; this is Ellie. I agree; the mahj sets were terribly disappointing. For a ship of 5,000, you would think they would have at least 5 or 10 complete new sets with racks. I also felt the "card room" on deck 14 was terribly undersized for the amount of people on board (relates to Art's comment about too little indoor space). To add to the noise and confusion in the card room, the ship also chose to use it as a computer room. At times the noise level was off the scale.

I noticed that many game players found unconventional spaces to play like the tables at the front of the spa and in other restaurants. My friends and I went to "customer service" asking for an alternate game room and they suggested the library. We went up there and in addition to not having any tables for games, everyone was doing what we suspected; READING!! We were then routed to the conference workrooms on deck 3 which had long rectangular tables which weren't appropriate. Perhaps it was cultural, but "CS" had no clue as how to help.

I found this trait frequently in all areas of concern as the cruise progressed. Art has been kinder than I in his evaluation. It took 3 days and finally contacting our suite supervisor just to get fruit in our room. Our room attendant told us "they had run out of fruit" and this was the 2nd day of the cruise. Would I try RCI again? Perhaps it's like having a baby; you eventually forget the pain & do it again anyway :)

Best,

Ellie

Two lessons that I will emphasize from this experience:

 

1. Don't sail on a ship right after drydock.

2. The Oasis class ships are primarily designed for sailing in warm weather where more indoor facilities are not needed.

 

Management also needs to do a better job of communicating with their passengers. We spoke to so many passengers, like ourselves, who did not know how so many things worked on the ship (like when we stood with several other passengers in a line outside of a venue and no one announced that people with reservations could walk in - no sign, no nothing.)

 

Will we take another voyage on the Oasis? That is a tough question. There are lots of positives. There is also lots of competition out there. It would probably have to be the right situation. We do lots of cruising and we are not ruling it out.

I like balanced reports where I can read the good with the bad and form my own opinion, so I've just loved your report.:D I do think there's a lot of merit in your points above, particularly #2. From all that I've read, the Oasis TA experience has been very different than a typical Oasis experience. That seems to be primarily because of the weather, but also because the staff has struggled with unfamiliar ports and situations that aren't usually encountered. As for #1, that was a decision my husband and I made quite a while ago, after reading of numerous problems and closures both right before and right after dry dock. We try to allow at least a month on either end when we look at booking a cruise.

For what it's worth, I'm a Royal Caribbean fan, and I think this Oasis refurb has been handled very poorly. I'll never understand the lack of communication and information, and it appears to me that the dry dock was overly ambitious for the time allotted. The paying customers are suffering through construction and closures because of it, and cruisers even a month after dry dock (like me) can't get a straight answer about what the status of the renovations will be when we sail.

While RCI is a solid mass market cruise line with strengths and weaknesses, I feel like they usually deliver a decent product and shine in the area of on-board customer service. That hasn't been the case for you, and I hope if you give Royal Caribbean another chance they can provide a better experience in that department!

Hi Ellen; this is Ellie. I agree; the mahj sets were terribly disappointing. For a ship of 5,000, you would think they would have at least 5 or 10 complete new sets with racks. I also felt the "card room" on deck 14 was terribly undersized for the amount of people on board (relates to Art's comment about too little indoor space). To add to the noise and confusion in the card room, the ship also chose to use it as a computer room. At times the noise level was off the scale.

 

I noticed that many game players found unconventional spaces to play like the tables at the front of the spa and in other restaurants. My friends and I went to "customer service" asking for an alternate game room and they suggested the library. We went up there and in addition to not having any tables for games, everyone was doing what we suspected; READING!! We were then routed to the conference workrooms on deck 3 which had long rectangular tables which weren't appropriate. Perhaps it was cultural, but "CS" had no clue as how to help.

 

I found this trait frequently in all areas of concern as the cruise progressed. Art has been kinder than I in his evaluation. It took 3 days and finally contacting our suite supervisor just to get fruit in our room. Our room attendant told us "they had run out of fruit" and this was the 2nd day of the cruise. Would I try RCI again? Perhaps it's like having a baby; you eventually forget the pain & do it again anyway :)

 

Best,

Ellie

Cruises. They

Hi Ellie,

We agree with you 100 percent. Customer service is nonexistent . We have also been given misinformation almost every time we ask a question. I tried to be as kind as I could be, but it is difficult to be kind.

I have been helping to teach Mah, but with no racks or dice it is challenging. We have taken many TA's and transpacific cruises. They were all far more prepared. On a Sydney to San Francisco cruise, the Maitre'd gave us a table to use every sea day. They cared about the passengers, but that was Princess. We have been disappointed by many things on this cruise. We are booked on the Quantum, but will probably cancel due to this experience.

Did you say that you are from the LA area? We are originally from LA. By the way, I also love the cold fruit soups.

Take care,

Ellen

We too are having mixed experience. We keep getting wrong answers to questions or worse, never told about things. It is our anniversary (we are in a GS) and not even a card - unless you count the card wishing us a Happy.Anniversary from Effey Jewelry and invited us to come buy! Our experience in the dining room has been poor, with the exception of one server for dinner who has made the effort to give us a nice experience so now we sit with her nightly. We have had the same male server 3X for breakfast and lunch. He barely grunts and goes missing for almost half an hour, while the table next to us has a server engaging with them, chatting and laughing. Luck of the draw, I guess. Out of three different room service orders, none were correct - which is not the norm on previous cruises.

I agree the shows have been great. Noticed at some that they aren't checking for reservations consistently, which leaves some with reservations unable to get in. Many venues, like Trivia and the CSI lectures are just two small so disappointing and just not worth the effort. I had to ask four staff before finding out (two days before cruise ends) that yes, There is a section of outside deck and a bar for gold card holders.

Communication just seems to be non-existent. I love RCI, and have another cruise in May - but this was supposed to be a very special retirement and anniversary cruise, but with the poor weather and lack of indoor venues, and customer service, it has been challenging.

Our cabin is lovely and quiet. Unlike some others, we have plenty of hot water and TV and internet, although spotty.

Sent from my KFSOWI using Tapatalk

Hi Ellie,

 

We agree with you 100 percent. Customer service is nonexistent . We have also been given misinformation almost every time we ask a question. I tried to be as kind as I could be, but it is difficult to be kind.

I have been helping to teach Mah, but with no racks or dice it is challenging. We have taken many TA's and transpacific cruises. They were all far more prepared. On a Sydney to San Francisco cruise, the Maitre'd gave us a table to use every sea day. They cared about the passengers, but that was Princess. We have been disappointed by many things on this cruise. We are booked on the Quantum, but will probably cancel due to this experience.

Did you say that you are from the LA area? We are originally from LA. By the way, I also love the cold fruit soups.

Take care,

 

Ellen

Hi Ellen - we're on the same ship so let's get together!!

Art & I are in room 12660, call please call & perhaps we can meet for a bite or a drink. Looking forward to hearing from you :)

Ellie

I was with a friend of mine that did a TA cruise on Legend last spring who said they had Mah Jongg sets on the ship for cruisers to use provided by Royal, not a fellow cruiser.

Just sharing this.

Art & Ellie......It's a shame that this Oasis TA sailing is your first RCI experience. Unfortunately there have been so many challenges to overcome, but, at the end of the day, it's a vacation, and both of you seem to be taking matters in stride. My husband and I have enjoyed RCI's product for years, and we feel that RCI typically excels in customer service. Certainly there are always times when that could come under fire, but, for the most part, we've been happy with RCI or we wouldn't keep coming back.

I hope you will give RCI another chance. I believe you won't be disappointed. Have a great rest of your cruise, and I hope Art's knee is better!

Art & Ellie......It's a shame that this Oasis TA sailing is your first RCI experience. Unfortunately there have been so many challenges to overcome, but, at the end of the day, it's a vacation, and both of you seem to be taking matters in stride. My husband and I have enjoyed RCI's product for years, and we feel that RCI typically excels in customer service. Certainly there are always times when that could come under fire, but, for the most part, we've been happy with RCI or we wouldn't keep coming back.

 

I hope you will give RCI another chance. I believe you won't be disappointed. Have a great rest of your cruise, and I hope Art's knee is better!

Be careful you will be labeled a cruiseline cheerleader.....overall I have to agree with you. Should some things on this cruise that they are on have been better prepared for, yes. Should people have been given information that PERHAPS not all of the venues will be open for use on the sailing -- some people will say Yes and others No.....I do believe that their should have been some type of 'alert' given to people when they booked this cruise that was coming out of a short drydock when extensive work was being done on the ship. But I don't believe the cruise line needed to be more specific as the cruise itself got close to the sail date.

Has every cruise I have been on with Royal (which has been the only cruise line I have been on) been perfect. No.....but the little issues were overshadowed by a great vacation filled with fun things to do. Was every meal perfect, no -- but then again I don't get every meal in a land restaurant as perfect -- some restaurants I don't return to, for various reasons.

Overall RCI provides very good customer service, expecting perfection -- isn't what is likely to happen....but close to great or at least very good (overall) is reasonable.....at least for me, I have gotten that.

The main complaints seem to be centered around

1. Boarding in Rotterdam and Southampton and

2. Customer service on the ship.

The passenger loads on this class ship are greater then any other cruise ship afloat. RCI has it down pat when sailing closed loop trips out of the purpose built terminal at Port Everglades, runs like a smoothly oiled machine in that spot which the pax will see at the end of this trip.

From what others say on this thread, a large portion of the front desk staff rotated over to the Quantum in Europe and the replacements are taking a few days getting up to speed. Also frustrating.

Plus large parts of the ship are still being re-built.

Sounds like somebody didn't think everything thru and planned too much stuff to be done in too short a time frame.

I wonder what will happen to Allure in 2015 when it goes thru the same cycle?

The main complaints seem to be centered around

 

1. Boarding in Rotterdam and Southampton and

 

2. Customer service on the ship.

 

The passenger loads on this class ship are greater then any other cruise ship afloat. RCI has it down pat when sailing closed loop trips out of the purpose built terminal at Port Everglades, runs like a smoothly oiled machine in that spot which the pax will see at the end of this trip.

 

From what others say on this thread, a large portion of the front desk staff rotated over to the Quantum in Europe and the replacements are taking a few days getting up to speed. Also frustrating.

 

Plus large parts of the ship are still being re-built.

 

Sounds like somebody didn't think everything thru and planned too much stuff to be done in too short a time frame.

 

I wonder what will happen to Allure in 2015 when it goes thru the same cycle?

Too many people responding to this thread made more of the boarding issues than the OP actually wanted to make of them...and the OP mentioned that in one of his responses.

Some of the customer service issues on this cruise seem to be poor planning (on ROyals part) and over expectation on cruisers parts. That makes for a tough combination, when it comes to service expectations.

I can't be sure of the staffing issues mentioned regarding crew assignments to account for poor answers to cruiser needs -- that shouldn't happen. It is Royals responsibility to make sure crew on board can handle cruiser questions.

Not having Mah Jongg sets on board for people to use -- is unfortunate, yet other ships have had them....so maybe something was missed; in the big picture of what they were trying to do in drydock, this would seem small -- except if you were the one who wanted the Mah Jongg set to use.

Stuff happens in the best of situations.

I booked this cruise through vacations to go which is a huge cruise outlet and spoke to my travel person there who said they were not informed at all that any construction was going on.

I have added photos from around the ship, including our Grand Suite, fitness center, Boardwalk and more still to come.

 

Thanks for the pics! I am traveling on the Oasis in Feb 2015, and cannot wait!! Please keep posting!

Very nice pictures.

Thank you for posting.

Sea Ya

Like many of you...Love reading the review and the comments from other cruisers on the Oasis TA. Like I have I said before...we got caught up in the Hype of sailing on the Worlds Largest Cruise Liner doing a TA. I thought...WE HAVE TO DO. So when we were on the Freedom in April 2013, I remember talking to the Future Cruise Consultant and got caught up in more hype. So we were one of the first to book. YIPPEE! But after 7 months of pondering and thinking about it...the same question came up......Would the Oasis be DONE with the dry dock or would there still be work to be done on the sailing. Maybe sailing for 10 years and talking to cruisers and reading CC.....the answer was....Not the right time to do Oasis. Plus the fact that there was one port in 12 nights, I looked at it like going to Las Vegas, staying at the Bellagio Hotel but never leaving the hotel for 12 days. So we are very happy we jumped ship and moved over to the Adventurer OTS. Yep, not the Oasis, and yes we have heard the recent problems with the health of the ship...but still excited.

The true reviews and the Good and Bad will come in the next few days when the passengers get off and start reviewing their experiences. I know with our experiences on 2 other RCCL TA's, the Prices were very inexpensive....so you almost said who cares about the quality of the food or the service....we are traveling cheap to see the world. But I know that what were going to pay for our B1...we had cabin 11729, So like many of the posters...I would expect a little more from RCL then what they are receiving. Hopefully RCL will read all of the comment cards that everybody should fill out and do some good PR work to win back the Excellent Cruise Experience that most of us are use to.

Will keep reading this thread the next few days to find how the last couple of days turn out. Thanks Art and Ellie for the great review and pictures. If you try another cruise on RCL, Since we have nothing on the West Coast, Try the Navigator OTS.... Pricing and Itinerary and the ship are all great. And not as far to go to Florida.

Have a great Sunday aboard the Oasis! :)

Mike

Too many people responding to this thread made more of the boarding issues than the OP actually wanted to make of them...and the OP mentioned that in one of his responses.

 

Some of the customer service issues on this cruise seem to be poor planning (on ROyals part) and over expectation on cruisers parts. That makes for a tough combination, when it comes to service expectations.

 

I can't be sure of the staffing issues mentioned regarding crew assignments to account for poor answers to cruiser needs -- that shouldn't happen. It is Royals responsibility to make sure crew on board can handle cruiser questions.

 

Not having Mah Jongg sets on board for people to use -- is unfortunate, yet other ships have had them....so maybe something was missed; in the big picture of what they were trying to do in drydock, this would seem small -- except if you were the one who wanted the Mah Jongg set to use.

 

Stuff happens in the best of situations.

There are a few Mah Jongg sets, it is just that they are not complete.

It seems that everything on board is not working correctly. For example, I

turned on the TV to check my schedule. Every item was incorrect. Tonight, my dining time was wrong, and it showed Cats at 9:15. If we went by the TV, we would have been 45minutes late for the show. Many times my dining and show times were off. Menus are not available online as advertised. Many times, restaurant availability is not available . Show reservations could not be made online if you already attended a Headliner show, because their system was not set up to handle more than one reservation. No thought was given to the passengers. They were only concerned with their dry dock.

On the positive side, the entertainment is terrific and the food is pretty good.

We have been on many other cruise lines leaving from many countries, and they cared enough about their passengers to make sure things went smoothly.

Hi Ellen - we're on the same ship so let's get together!!

 

Art & I are in room 12660, call please call & perhaps we can meet for a bite or a drink. Looking forward to hearing from you :)

 

Ellie

Ellie,

Mark and I are in 14676. I will call you. We just returned from Cats, another great show.

Ellen

There are a few Mah Jongg sets, it is just that they are not complete.

It seems that everything on board is not working correctly. For example, I

turned on the TV to check my schedule. Every item was incorrect. Tonight, my dining time was wrong, and it showed Cats at 9:15. If we went by the TV, we would have been 45minutes late for the show. Many times my dining and show times were off. Menus are not available online as advertised. Many times, restaurant availability is not available . Show reservations could not be made online if you already attended a Headliner show, because their system was not set up to handle more than one reservation. No thought was given to the passengers. They were only concerned with their dry dock.

On the positive side, the entertainment is terrific and the food is pretty good.

We have been on many other cruise lines leaving from many countries, and they cared enough about their passengers to make sure things went smoothly.

I doubt if Royal crew deliberately put incomplete Mah Jongg sets on board the ship. They probably were the sets that were on the ship before dry dock....blame previous cruisers for destroying the sets...and not letting them know about it, if they found a set that was incomplete. Should the staff take inventory of the sets, maybe....they may not know what a complete set was supposed to have.

I have been on ships where the TV for scheduling wasn't working perfectly....and now we will hear from those that blame the RCI computer department on this....yes it is a problem, but it isn't life threatening....it is inconvenient....that is why the cruise compass is the better resource and calling the quest services desk when their is something that doesn't make sense.

Some things can happen on ANY cruise; perfection isn't easy to achieve, I don't expect it...in this life.

Like many of you...Love reading the review and the comments from other cruisers on the Oasis TA. Like I have I said before...we got caught up in the Hype of sailing on the Worlds Largest Cruise Liner doing a TA. I thought...WE HAVE TO DO. So when we were on the Freedom in April 2013, I remember talking to the Future Cruise Consultant and got caught up in more hype. So we were one of the first to book. YIPPEE! But after 7 months of pondering and thinking about it...the same question came up......Would the Oasis be DONE with the dry dock or would there still be work to be done on the sailing. Maybe sailing for 10 years and talking to cruisers and reading CC.....the answer was....Not the right time to do Oasis. Plus the fact that there was one port in 12 nights, I looked at it like going to Las Vegas, staying at the Bellagio Hotel but never leaving the hotel for 12 days. So we are very happy we jumped ship and moved over to the Adventurer OTS. Yep, not the Oasis, and yes we have heard the recent problems with the health of the ship...but still excited.

The true reviews and the Good and Bad will come in the next few days when the passengers get off and start reviewing their experiences. I know with our experiences on 2 other RCCL TA's, the Prices were very inexpensive....so you almost said who cares about the quality of the food or the service....we are traveling cheap to see the world. But I know that what were going to pay for our B1...we had cabin 11729, So like many of the posters...I would expect a little more from RCL then what they are receiving. Hopefully RCL will read all of the comment cards that everybody should fill out and do some good PR work to win back the Excellent Cruise Experience that most of us are use to.

Will keep reading this thread the next few days to find how the last couple of days turn out. Thanks Art and Ellie for the great review and pictures. If you try another cruise on RCL, Since we have nothing on the West Coast, Try the Navigator OTS.... Pricing and Itinerary and the ship are all great. And not as far to go to Florida.

 

Have a great Sunday aboard the Oasis! :)

 

Mike

I do hope all problems are resolved before my Feb 14 sailing! I'm sure all the construction should be done by then (I hope), but I am baffled as to why they would leave dry dock and sail with passengers if construction was still going on? Everyone paid for a complete vacation, not a "half-done" experience. RCCL has always proven to be top notch with customer service, so that baffles me. Oh, well, I do hope you all still enjoy your TA cruise experience and I will be looking for more posts.

BTW--I am new to checking and commenting on these comment boards, but I joined as a member to Cruise Critic in Feb 2014. The problem is, I do not see myself listed in the members list. Is there something else I should be doing? I also want to list all my cruises--do I just type them in somewhere? Please don't laugh--as I said, I am new to this, and not the most computer savy person there is! :)

It took until the last day, but we finally got weather good enough to have a "real" sunrise. There were probably about 10 passengers out at 7:00 AM waiting with their cameras. We were rewarded. Now you will be too.

Here is a sample:

I doubt if Royal crew deliberately put incomplete Mah Jongg sets on board the ship. They probably were the sets that were on the ship before dry dock....blame previous cruisers for destroying the sets...and not letting them know about it, if they found a set that was incomplete. Should the staff take inventory of the sets, maybe....they may not know what a complete set was supposed to have.

 

I have been on ships where the TV for scheduling wasn't working perfectly....and now we will hear from those that blame the RCI computer department on this....yes it is a problem, but it isn't life threatening....it is inconvenient....that is why the cruise compass is the better resource and calling the quest services desk when their is something that doesn't make sense.

 

Some things can happen on ANY cruise; perfection isn't easy to achieve, I don't expect it...in this life.

Amen! I am a firm believer that your vacation is what you make it. If you go in expecting everything to be perfect, you will always be disappointed!

I have been on ships where the TV for scheduling wasn't working perfectly....and now we will hear from those that blame the RCI computer department on this....yes it is a problem, but it isn't life threatening....it is inconvenient....that is why the cruise compass is the better resource and calling the quest services desk when their is something that doesn't make sense.

The cruise compass will not have personal information in it like the interactive TV does. There are some people that use the TV daily to check what times they have booked for dinner, shows, etc.

It took until the last day, but we finally got weather good enough to have a "real" sunrise. There were probably about 10 passengers out at 7:00 AM waiting with their cameras. We were rewarded. Now you will be too.

 

 

Here is a sample:

Absolutely wonderful. Art, would it be OK if I copied a few of them for my screen saver?

Andrew

Amen! I am a firm believer that your vacation is what you make it. If you go in expecting everything to be perfect, you will always be disappointed!

Very well said.

But, I feel for the impact the incomplete construction had on some cruisers.

Hope they still had a great experience.

Sea Ya

I doubt if Royal crew deliberately put incomplete Mah Jongg sets on board the ship. They probably were the sets that were on the ship before dry dock....blame previous cruisers for destroying the sets...and not letting them know about it, if they found a set that was incomplete. Should the staff take inventory of the sets, maybe....they may not know what a complete set was supposed to have.

 

I have been on ships where the TV for scheduling wasn't working perfectly....and now we will hear from those that blame the RCI computer department on this....yes it is a problem, but it isn't life threatening....it is inconvenient....that is why the cruise compass is the better resource and calling the quest services desk when their is something that doesn't make sense.

 

Some things can happen on ANY cruise; perfection isn't easy to achieve, I don't expect it...in this life.

Hi Paulette - this is Art's finance Ellie. I agree that having few and incomplete mahj jong sets is not life threatening, but it is "pleasure threatening". Taking a cruise is an optional luxury experience on which we look forward to indulging in our favorite activities, be they wall climbing, surfing or mahj jong.

Most cruise lines attend more to their Bridge players and we mahj players are accustomed to fending for ourselves. All we require is a set and a card. We bring our cards from home, but the sets are heavy and not easily included with our luggage. I called RCI prior to departing & the woman I spoke with checked with her manager and said there were NO SETS. I posted this on CC and another woman had spoken to her concierge and was told there were plenty of sets on board, so I left mine home.

We found 4-5 incomplete sets on the first day, and sets missing tiles and/or racks are not useful. It may be a cultural thing; perhaps the person checking inventory has no familiarity what makes a complete set, but I tend to agree with Ellen who said Princess cared about their PEOPLE and put them first. Making certain all is in order for passengers should be their primary concern.

Ellie

.

Amen! I am a firm believer that your vacation is what you make it. If you go in expecting everything to be perfect, you will always be disappointed!

I don't want to write too much but just one thought. I for example do most of my cruises with a different cruise line but used the opportunity of the transatlantic to experience the oasis class of ships. And from what I heard a lot of other guests are from a similar background.

Now a transatlantic and the weather have its own challenges and a dry dock as well so I don't expect perfection but what I expect is efforts and creativity when it gets difficult.

Of course I can know that the TV reservation system is crap and call guest services, go down there and get a printout of the real reservations and this is what I did. But wouldn't it be much more appropriate if they send us an information message of the unreliable times in the itv system via the itv mail message instead of the crappy advertisement mails every day? Or even print it out and send it to each stateroom on their own without the guests having to do anything?

Same with the departure information video we all should watch. They don't seem to be embarrassed to just show the regular 7 day video which tells us that we will disembark on Saturday. How much effort would it have been to get the cruise director together with the departure officer yesterday and record a new one with some words about the actual cruise we are on.

Of course I enjoyed the vacation and had a good time. But there are lots of companies who want my money. Why should I give it to those who make no effort to deliver more than the standard and show no will to get creative in difficult situations to wow us guests as they print on all marketing material.