Oasis of the Seas Review - In Deapth

Well, it's been a couple weeks since my Oasis of the Seas cruise which left on June 1, 2013. So after some time for everything to soak in, I feel I am able to give a pretty fair review of the ship, accommodations, dining, amenities and ports of call.

Several years ago I remember being one of those people who was waking up every day and running to the computer to see the progress of the ship as it was being assembled in Finland. I can remember looking at the pictures and watching the videos dreaming of one day stepping foot on the ship. Fast forward to June 1, 2013, and the countdown finally came to an end as I found myself driving to Port Everglades, FL. for a week on this engineering marvel.

First thoughts upon seeing the ship at the pier were, as expected, astonished by the size of the ship. Jumping from Sovereign class to the Freedom class made my jaw drop when I stepped foot onto that ship. And again I found myself trying to comprehend the physical size of the ship. But that lasted only a few short moments before it was time to drop our luggage off, park the car and start the boarding process.

I arrived at the port at 11:00 am and was disappointed when I read "Boarding time 2:00 pm" as I purposely arrived early to take advantage of my first meal on board. Lunch. But that wasn't going to ruin my vacation. So after the speedy check-in process due to no lines (without having to use my membership status) it was time to walk up stairs to the seating area to wait for the next 2 hours... Or so I thought. It wasn't 30 minutes after being seated and the ship was ready for boarding. What a pleasant surprise.

Fast forward and we were dumped off in the Royal Promenade. Keeping Freedom of the Seas in mind, I immediately noticed the difference in width between the two ships. And after a quick stroll checking out the shopping which was to be available on board, it was time to head to the second of 7 Neighborhoods, the Boardwalk. Walking through the glass doors, you are immediately brought back to your days of childhood looking into all of the different mirrors which are used to distort your body into all kinds of goofy shapes, followed by the carousel and of course the fortune teller and candy shop. So after pretending to be 6 years old again, it was time to jump back to adulthood and head for Central Park.

Walking outdoors on deck 8, you are immediately greeted with lush foliage, including two massive planted walls which go all the way up to the Pool and Sports Deck. Throughout the entire cruise, I always found myself gravitating back towards this Neighborhood whether it be for a late night drink and music or just a mid day stroll through the park. After a look at the Specialty Dining options offered throughout Central Park, it reminded me what my goal was upon walking on the ship; lunch! After a swift glass elevator ride overlooking Central Park, I arrived at my destination; Windjammer Cafe.

After a nice lunch with the family, it was time to continue our exploration. The next area was the Pool and Sports Deck. Again, remembering what Freedom of the Seas was like, this once more gave another perspective of the size difference between the two ships. Between the two Flow-Riders, the 120 foot Zip-Line overlooking the Boardwalk, the Mini Golf Course and Basketball Court, I was struggling at trying to figure out which activity I was going to run towards first. Continuing towards to Forward section of the ship, you are able to look down into Central Park and across to the opposite side of the ship where you see the kids H20 Zone followed by 3 additional pools before entering another one of my more favorite hang out spots, The Solarium. This was definitely another area that was a nice retreat, especially late at night when looking to jump into one of those Hot Tubs we all love so much.

Now it was time to go check out the smaller areas of the ship including all of the entertainment venues, and the main dining room.The journey to the dining room is more or less just to see where our table is at. And as luck would have it, what is right past the elevators outside of our dining room? That's correct, Casino Royale. First things first, props to Royal Caribbean to making it a 50/50 casino. Not sure if that is something they are trying to do across the fleet but I sure did enjoy being able to spend some decent time at the tables without having to deal with the smoking. No offense intended to those who smoke. After a walk through the Casino, it was up to my room as it was now ready.

Freedom of the Seas was the first cruise I went on with a Balcony stateroom and I must say, I am never going back to an Oceanview or Interior. The selling point for me is the ability to enjoy your own private outside seating area. Works great for grabbing some fresh air and reading a few pages in your favorite novel while the other half is getting ready for dinner or any other occasion. Not to mention, some of the views to wake up to with when having an Oceanview or better can be breathtaking. At this point on Day 1, our bags were delivered to the room and it was time for departure from Port Everglades. As we left port, I took great pleasure in watching the service of my phone drop to nothing, then switch over to cellular at sea. It was now time to enjoy vacation and better yet, start the week long cruising lifestyle.

Oasis of the Seas - 7 Night Eastern Caribbean Cruise

Additional Posts will include the review of the food, the ports of call, on board entertainment and of course, more pictures!

Review Continued: Dining and Food.

With the cruise under way, it is time to do what most of us do a lot of on the cruises. Eat! I chose the 6:00pm dining time. Which it is a little early for my liking, it was the best suited for us given the shows I reserved online. My memory isn't good enough that I can remember what I ate at every seating, however, I did go to the Main Dining Room every night for dinner. Our table was 422, located on deck 4 which was the second level in the Main Dining Room. All 7 days of the cruise, Our wait staff did an amazing job with service. Before we left the Dining Room on the first day, the wait staff already had all of our names down pat. The service went from there.

The food served in the Dining Room was very good. However, given the 5 prior cruises I had been on to that point, I felt it wasn't quite the same as on some of the smaller ships. From what I remember from Freedom of the Seas, it pretty well matched the quality, taste wise, as the previous ships I had been on. Oasis of the Seas seemed to be just a hair under. Which, I would imagine is a given when you are pushing out dishes for almost 6000 people. I was also a little disappointed that we did not have Escargot or my personal favorite, Chilean Sea Bass. Escargot was not served due to there being an issue with delivery, so as a supplement they had Salmon and Crab Meat Gratin. Here are some of the dishes served in the Main Dining Room:

Duck Breast

Tiger Shrimp

The food available in other areas of the ship such as Windjammer Cafe, Promenade Cafe, Sorrento's, and Central Park were much like the other ships which is to be expected. Windjammer was usually very difficult to find a place to get a seat and lines were often backed up to the elevators with families waiting for a table to be available. Something that is going to be hard to avoid when having a ship with almost 6000 guests on board so with that in mind my frustrations were kept to a minimum. I had every intention of grabbing lunch at Izumi one day and Giovanni's Table on another, but given how busy we were and their limited lunch hours, we weren't able to make it. But there's always next time. All in all, I would rate the food at about 3.5 out of 5.

After the food came the entertainment offered on board the ship. When I booked the cruise, I also reserved all of the entertainment shows. Frozen in Time, Hairspray, Come Fly With Me, Oasis of Dreams and a comedy show. Of the shows I attended, they were all right on par with what Royal Caribbean usually delivers. Hairspray was put together very well and of course costume design was good, prop design also very good. Oasis of Dreams we only caught part of as we were all too busy not paying attention to time while in the Casino. However, what we did see was very well put together. The high diving at sea is pretty neat. Especially when someone dives off of the top tier diving platform by the massive Crown and Anchor Logo. Entertainment all together I would rate a 5 of 5.

The comedy shows we attended were very good. One thing I will not forget is one of the guys did the snowman dance from Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. That was by far one of the funniest moments on the cruise. And the comedians on board were also very very good. Comedy would be right up there with entertainment with 5 of 5 as well.

Stay tuned for pictures from the Ports of Call.

enjoying the review....keep it and the pix coming!

great start

Hey! Great review! I can't wait to travel on the Oasis in just 19 days! Thanks for being so detailed! Are there any events that I shouldn't miss?

Thanks for the Review! :)

Anxiously awaiting the rest of your review. We are on her November 2nd!

We are going in August need all the info I can get.

Hey! Great review! I can't wait to travel on the Oasis in just 19 days! Thanks for being so detailed! Are there any events that I shouldn't miss?

As far as shows go, I would definitely try to work in Hairspray, Oasis of Dreams (as well as a show called Splish Splash I believe. It's a Comedy Diving Show in the Aqua Theatre), the Comedy shows and Frozen in Time. And be sure to reserve them fast as seats fill up quick and it's very difficult to just show up for the show at a given time and get in.

Ports of Call: Nassau, Bahamas (New Providence)

The first Port of Call for this Marvel at Sea on the Eastern Caribbean is Nassau, Bahamas (New Providence). As 4 of the previous 5 cruises to this point I had been on went to Nassau, I already knew where I was and was not going to go to. Arriving on Sunday at 7:00am and leaving at 2:00pm has it's downfalls. With arriving that early on a Sunday most of your shopping is going to be closed until 9:00am at the earliest on Bay Street. So those of you early birds who like to be first in line at the Gangway to get on the island don't rush it here. It had been about 5 years since I was last in Nassau so there were some changes I observed immediately.

First off, many of you probably remember the old straw market which caught on fire many many years ago. After the fire a "circus tent" was put up to house the then, current Straw Market. Well, it has changed again and there is now a very nice looking building which is now home to the Straw Market. This did nothing to alleviate the crowdedness of your common Straw Markets but I'm sure the people who make a living there enjoy a solid roof above their heads now. Those who have never been to Nassau you should take a walk through as you can usually haggle for some decent priced gifts and souvenirs.

Entering Bay Bay street, nothing much has changed here. Everywhere you look there are jewelry stores, watch stores and gift shops. So if Duty Free and Tax free watch, jewelry and alcohol shopping is your forte, here is where you need to be once the shops are open for business.

Directions to Bay Street for those who have never been are simple. Oasis will dock and once off of the Ship follow the Pier to Festival Place. You will walk through Festival Place (which also has gift and souvenir shopping) and exit on Woods Rodgers Walk. To your right is one of the famous Senior Frogs and straight ahead are a few other shops like Sharkeez and of course the Straw Market. You can walk straight ahead down any of the side streets or through the Straw Market. Once on the other side, you are on Bay Street. Total Distance is 1/2 to 3/4 of a mile from the ship Gangway.

Many beachgoers or (shoppers not wanting to go to Bay Street) also have options. My recommendation would be to take a ferry boat to Paradise Island and after a short walk you will arrive at a public beach next to the world famous Atlantis Resort. The ferry tickets can be purchased at a small kiosk directly across the street from Sharkeez. Total price is $4.00 per person each way. The ferry's are locally owned and operated and run approximately every 30 minutes from both Nassau and Paradise Island. Once your 15 minute narrated tour is over and you are on Paradise Island, you will follow the walk way to your left and up the side of a bridge. You arrive at the intersection of Atlantis Bridge and Paradise Beach Drive. Once at this intersection, go to the right and follow Paradise beach Drive. You will come up to a shopping area on your left which is where I usually go. You will find surf shops, higher end jewelers and other shops like Piranha Joes. Following this shopping area will lead you directly to the Atlantis Resort for additional shopping, gambling or just to look around at the hotel if you'd like. You can go to the waterpark at the hotel for an additional charge. By following Paradise Beach Drive (instead of going to the shopping area) you will be led to the public beach.

But always keep in mind you will have a short time in Nassau and always allow for extra time to travel back to the ship. So if you only plan on going to the beach, then my suggestion would be to get off the ship as early as possible and head to a beach. Your only downfall is the ferry to paradise island does not start running until 9:00 am.

Many excursions are also available through Royal Caribbean at this island or you can be adventurous and hop on the city bus which can be like a theme park ride. Last time I rode the city bus it was $1 to Cable Beach and $1 back to Bay Street.

All in all, Nassau as a Port of Call is not a bad place to go and there is a lot of work going into it. Again, the Problem you have is your short time in port and it's made even shorter since it falls on a Sunday and most things are closed until later in the day.

As promised, pictures:

Bay Street - Everything still closed. lol

Atlantis outdoor Shopping Center - Most opened at 10:00am.

More pictures from Nassau and Paradise Island to come.

Looking forward to more! I'm booked on Oasis, eastern, in just over two weeks. I enjoy reading all I can, even though we've done this same route many times. We probably won't bother getting off the ship in Nassau this time.

Great pics! :D

Looking forward to more! I'm booked on Oasis, eastern, in just over two weeks. I enjoy reading all I can, even though we've done this same route many times. We probably won't bother getting off the ship in Nassau this time.

 

Great pics! :D

I think the next time I get on an Oasis class ship it will be Allure of the Seas and I will do the Western Caribbean again. I also think on that one I may do mostly Specialty Dining to give those a shot and see what they are all about. Only time I plan on going to the Dining room would be for Formal Nights.

Thank you for the comments so far guys and gals. More will come but not right now as I am currently at work. So for now, keep waiting. :p

Patiently please.

Enjoying the review including your photos.

Keith

Great review and pictures!! :):)

Port of Call: Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas USVI

After a fun filled day at sea after leaving Nassau, we arrived at our second Port of Call on our Eastern Caribbean Cruise on board Oasis of the Seas. I slept solid most of the night up until about 5:00am when my room lit up and the sound of thunder cracked loud enough engineers would have been able to hear it working in the engine room with earplugs in. After falling back asleep for a couple hours I was waking up again and getting ready to begin my day as we approached St. Thomas.

Walking out onto my balcony I was greeted with a misty cloudy morning. However there was a pretty unique sight to be seen. Not sure if this random spit of rock is named or not but this is what I saw:

That was definitely a very unique sight to be seen and by far one of the sight seeing highlights from this cruise for me. So after spending about 10 minutes switching from a 18-55mm lens to a telephoto lens and back it was time to eat then be on our way.

But as luck would have it, it decided to rain on us. So after returning to the room to grab a case for the camera, we were on our way to the gangway. After exiting the ship, it was a 300 meter dash to a building to get out of the downpour that consumed us and wait for our excursion to begin. At this point I was really not looking forward to the open air vehicle. lol

For this Island, I booked the St. Thomas Panoramic Drive. The tour included several stops along mountain roadways that overlooked both harbors to where Oasis of the Seas was docked as well as where Carnival Dream was docked. After a surprisingly dry ride up the mountain roadways, overlooking both ports as well as Magens Bay, we arrived at a place called Mountain Top. And again, luck was not on our side so our view was not so spectacular. A brief gift shopping leg was done here as well as an opportunity to grab one of those "world famous banana daiquiri's" which was actually pretty good, it was time to get back on our vehicle and start the descent which ended on Veterans Drive.

A ton of shopping can be had here like most cruise destinations. We walked the length of Dronningens Gade (Main Street) checking out all sorts of shops to include Tiffany & Co, Little Switzerland and anything else you could imagine. After all the walking around, you could imagine we worked up a hunger so it was off to find food. We decided on The Greenhouse which was near a very neat antique shop that sold all sorts of antique nautical items.

With lunch behind us, our Island Tour completed and shopping finished for the day, we found a taxi and got a ride back to Oasis for about $5.00. Not bad for 4 people but we gave the lady a little extra as I felt $5.00 wasn't worth the headache she had driving through that mess they call traffic. Once back at the pier where Oasis was docked we did some looking around at those shops as they were now open before boarding the ship.

I don't feel I can give a 100% fair rating on St. Thomas as I said before, we were dealing with on and off rain and at points torrential downpours. But keeping that in mind, the Island does have a lot of appeal to me. I felt there was plenty of shopping and even though there were a ton of people in the area it didn't feel crowded walking down the streets or inside any of the stores. There was no wait when getting lunch at The Greenhouse. One thing though is the bathrooms, assuming you can find a public one can be scary. So I hope you can hold it! But I would rate the Island at about a 4 out of 5.

Here are pictures from our day in St. Thomas:

First Overlook Stop. So sad I couldn't see this in the sunlight. I bet it makes for a beautiful sight.

Second overlook stop; Overlooking Magens Bay.

My girlfriend Jessica and I.

What you are supposed to see:

What we actually saw:

And with that, I will go ahead and conclude this part of the review. I have almost 4 gigs worth of pictures so choosing them is not easy to do. If there are any specific requests for other pictures in the shopping area, of either of the ships in port or anything else, feel free to post and I will post some up for you guys.

Stay tuned for the next Port of Call; Phillipsburg, St. Maarten. We were fortunate enough to finally have that big ball of light in the sky we know as the sun. :)

Port of Call: Phillipsburg St. Maarten

The final Port of Call on the Eastern Caribbean is Phillipsburg, St. Maarten. Upon waking up on the day of our final Port of Call, I was excited to see we finally had some sun. To this day, the first 4 days were filled with cloudy rainy weather. Through the Pre-Cruise Planner offered through Royal Caribbean's website, I booked the St. Maarten Island Tour. The tour lasted approximately 3 hours and went from the Dutch side of the Island (St. Maarten) to the French side of the Island (St. Martin). Much like the tour in St. Thomas, there were several lookout stops along the tour as well as a stop in the French Capitol of Marigot.

But before the tour which was to begin at 12:30pm, we walked from the John Craane Cruise Terminal where Oasis docked to the Dutch Capitol of Phillipsburg. The walk was only about 15 to 20 minutes. Directions are as follows: Exit the Cruise Terminal and follow Juancho Yrausquin Blvd north(left) until you come up to Island Water World which is right behind a gas station on your left hand side. There is a small walk way which has a Bridge over a small canal that will lead you to the Boardwalk for those of you who want to go to the beach. Shopping can be found along the boardwalk, however, most of the stores are located on Front Street. After arriving at the Boardwalk, any of the side streets to your right will lead you directly to Front Street.

For those who don't like to leave the Cruise Terminal, there is also several shops at the Port. Much like St. Thomas, I feel I can't give a totally honest comparison between St. Maarten and St. Thomas because we couldn't ask for better weather in St. Maarten. but St. Maarten was my favorite Port of Call on this cruise and I would rate it a 4.5 out of 5.

And here are some pictures from that wonderful day.

All of the above are just of Phillipsburg. As I said before, I have nearly 4 gigs worth of pictures so I will post them throughout the life of this thread.

With this concluding the Ports of Call we headed back onto the Oasis of the Seas for our final 2 days at sea. Pictures and a breakdown of the areas I liked to spend most of my time at are to come.

Hope everybody is enjoying the review so far.

Enjoying your review greatly! Oasis may be our next to book so anxiously awaiting more info.

Enjoying your review greatly! Oasis may be our next to book so anxiously awaiting more info.

Thank you very much.

Everything else from here on out will be ship specific such as more detailed information on the neighborhoods, entertainment venues and of course pictures. Saving the best for last. :D

Nice review and great pictures! We were on the Oasis the week after you for the Western Caribbean sailing and really enjoyed the ports. We tentatively booked the same itinerary for next July but may switch it an Eastern itinerary. Great hearing about your take on the ports. Thank you!

Nice review and great pictures! We were on the Oasis the week after you for the Western Caribbean sailing and really enjoyed the ports. We tentatively booked the same itinerary for next July but may switch it an Eastern itinerary. Great hearing about your take on the ports. Thank you!

I remember disembarking the ship and looking all of you guys waiting to board. How I envied everybody starting their cruise when mine just finished. :(

lol.

Glad you are enjoying the review as well. I've done the Western on Freedom and I think my next Western may be on Allure. :cool:

Will be on the Oasis on July13...can't wait...

I remember disembarking the ship and looking all of you guys waiting to board. How I envied everybody starting their cruise when mine just finished. :(

 

lol.

 

Glad you are enjoying the review as well. I've done the Western on Freedom and I think my next Western may be on Allure. :cool:

I had the same feeling at the end of our cruise. Only thing that helped was knowing I have a future cruise to plan and look forward to!

Since you have done both itineraries, which do you prefer? Right now I can't imagine enjoying the eastern more than the western but that's probably because I'm still reliving our sailing :D;)

Will be on the Oasis on July13...can't wait...

It is definitely worth the wait. Do you have anything planned in either of the Ports?