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Oasis Thanksgiving - Mini Review


masonpips

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I have to confess I copied my format from our last year Oasis and the year before Freedom reviews and am cutting/pasting in this year’s info!

 

Friday

Left TUL, flew through HOU (Southwest, no plane change) and into FLL on time. Grabbed bags, taxi to Gallery One (Hotwire win) and checked in. Had a room on the 7th floor and was able to see the port (if you squinted REALLY hard and looked through 2 buildings). The hotel was awesome. Had a mini-kitchen, a separate living room and a bedroom. Huge bathroom, GREAT shower.

 

We walked over to the Galleria for a snack and then to Publix and CVS. Super location. Walked down to the beach and took a few pictures. Went to dinner at Franco & Vinnie’s. It was awesome. Great service, good pizza and really yummy baked Ziti. Back to the hotel and to bed by 9:30 (we were tired from traveling and the recent time change!)

 

Saturday

I woke up at 6 (LOL) and went for a run. It was fabulous! Ran over to the beach and both south/north along the ocean. Took GREAT photos and really enjoyed it.

 

It was partly sunny/cloudy and we left the hotel about 10:00, arrived at port and were out of the taxi quickly and seated in the Diamond waiting area about 10:50. Check-in took a little longer this year than last, but I think more people are figuring out to arrive early! I know you've read it before, but Port Everglades and RCCL have this DOWN. Awesome.

 

They made an announcement that the Coast Guard was doing a drill/audit and would delay boarding (~groan~). But, boarding started at 11:36 and that was about 30 minutes later than last year.

 

I ran to Studio B to make comedy club reservations (score, Wed at 10:30) and DH went to the Excursions deck to waitlist 4 more for the Dolphin Swim (got Observer only, but it was fine) and then 8 for the Discover St. John sail thing.

 

By then Park Café was PACKED so we went to Wipe Out. I had a pretzel dog (delicious) and mini nachos. We wandered around again (knew the ship pretty well given we had cruised last year) and our rooms were open about 1:30 (late due to Coast Guard).

 

We had a balcony (11676) and an inside (11677). Worked out awesome and we had no issues w/room. Ricardo was our steward, he did a great job.

 

Our SIL/BIL and their kids arrived about 2 or so (had driven down from Ocala) and we greeted them in the Promenade, got them Park Café and just showed them the ship.

 

We had a pre-meet for our rollcall board at 3 at the FloRider, it was great to meet everyone early on the first day! Muster was in the AquaTheater (awesome) and we had 3 of our 4 bags before muster and the 4th right after.

 

We did late dining at 8:30 which we decided (again) we vastly prefer to MTD. MTD has always seemed harried and rushed and confused. We had Urban and Jovie. Urban was efficient and pleasant but that’s about it. No real chatting or hanging outbut he did a good job. Jovie we hardly even talked with but she got the drinks down right and it was great. Absolutely no clue who our head waiter was.

 

We ate in Main Dining every night except Thanksgiving (having tried turkey meal 2 years ago and finding it ~meh~). Overall food was VERY good and I LOVED the new desserts (and menu). Still not a fan of the Tiger Shrimp night so we will skip that in future.

 

We had breakfast 2 times in WJ, once I had a pastry from Promenade, once a pastry from Diamond Lounge, once we had room service (good). Didn’t eat one day due to being stuffed from night before and didn’t eat on last morning.

 

Lunch we had in WJ twice, JR once, Izumi once, Park Café and then nothing the 2 days we were at port doing stuff.

 

We visited the Diamond Lounge (moved to Blaze) every night except the last one. The bartenders were great and Carolina was VERY personable. We don't really use any "services" there except the cocktail hour! I did have cappuccinos there most mornings too.

 

Oasis of Dreams was canceled due to winds so after dinner we wandered and went to bed pretty early since we had an EARLY excursion Sunday.

 

Sunday

We had the Dolphin Swim (4 kids) and Observer (4 adults) though RCCL at Blue Lagoon. We got off the ship, got armbands (the kids were clueless and thought we were going to the beach to “swim”). Rode the ferry over and when we were directed to the “animal encounters” they started to clue in.

 

It was AWESOME.

 

All of the adults were impressed by the island, the trainers, the facilities, the interaction with the dolphins and the ENTIRE experience. A definite HUGE win for all. The kids were in the water for 45 minutes to an hour. They had 10 in each group and they got to pet, dance, feed, etc. with the dolphins (who at times would say “that was a horrible dance” and blow water at them), kiss and hug too. Then the foot push. It was AWESOME. Highly recommend.

 

Back to ship for WJ late lunch and hangout. Formal dinner was tonight and the majority of the ship dressed up. Dinner was good.

 

We received the invitation to visit the helipad for sail away and we liked it! Drinks were served and Puss in Boots came out for photos. It was WINDY as crap but it was fun and beautiful sailaway.

 

Monday was at sea.

We did typical at sea things (it’s all a blur) and this was Tiger Shrimp night (blah) and Love & Marriage. Ricky Matthews was our CD. He was “different”. First of all, SUPER tight clothing at all events. I thought he was funny in a different way and had TONS of energy. But Love & Marriage was ALL him, he answered everything (they used white boards) and the couples never left the stage. I think a lot of the humor was lost in that format.

 

Tuesday was St. Thomas.

We had booked the ferry directly through RCCL so we didn’t have to worry w/so many ships in port. We met outside the ship at 10:30 and ferried to St. John. We sat up top and the “history” lesson was good but TOO LOUD (my God, it must have been set on SUPER high volume).

 

Once we got to St. John we bailed on the “rest” of the tour (to cruise along the beaches) and grabbed a taxi to Trunk Bay. Had never been there. It was beautiful but WAY smaller than I expected. And the people renting snorkeling equipment were SLOW. We ate burgers and assorted things there, all good.

 

Grabbed a taxi back to ferry area, did a little shopping and had a beer/snack at the Tap House (exact name??). Took ferry back (RUM PUNCH). Super fun. Since we were on ship time and St. Thomas/St. John don’t observe DST it was PITCH black by the time we got back. We had never had an excursion like that so it was kind of fun/different.

 

Wednesday was St. Martin.

We caught a taxi (Taxi for Jesus to be exact, Susie was the driver) to Orient Beach. We ended up at Kon Tiki because of the water sports (kids did trampoline and parasailing) and it was great. We saw about 5 topless women (4 of which never should have considered it and the kids were DYING w/laughter) and several “banana hammocks”, most of who also could barely be seen due to the stomachs hanging over their “suits”. Dying w/laughter again.

 

Everyone had a blast and it’s on our list to return to next year

 

Thursday/Friday were at sea.

Both days had SOME sun (it was really cool on this trip, the Captain (who we really like Patrick) kept saying we were going through “cold fronts”) so had pool time, the kids and our ILs did “stuff” (ice-skating, flash mobs, etc). We had Giovannis for dinner on Thanksgiving. The food was really good but the filet wasn’t the best I’ve ever had (still good, but not fantastic). Service was good (we had an 8:30 seating and the place had a total of 130-140 total that night, spread over all hours, usually it’s about 200 they said) and we had to RUSH our guy to get out by 11 so we could go to Quest.

 

Quest was more high energy than I’ve seen (Ricky did a great job with this) but seemed a little long to me too. A LOT more music in-between actual Quests and crazy.

 

Friday we had Izumi for lunch (EXCELLENT) but didn’t realize it was such a limited menu. Still good, but I’d do dinner instead next time, more options

 

We opted for taking our own luggage off so we packed Friday night kind of at leisure.

 

Saturday

Set the alarm for 6:00 a.m. We left the room about 6:40 I think and we were off the ship and through Customs by 6:50. Simply amazing. We then had to wait until 7:35 for our SFT driver (they didn’t answer when we called and we had arranged for a 7:15 pick-up. Finally heard from driver at 7:22). We were at PBI by 8:25 tho, so plenty of time. Flights were both EARLY (busiest weekend of the year says who?) and we were out of TUL w/our luggage 14 minutes after our flight was supposed to touch down!

 

Overall thoughts:

The ship looked as good as last year. Liked our oceanview balcony WAY better than Boardwalk. LOTS of motion last 2 days (“cold fronts”) but in a fun way where you could actually TELL you were on a ship.

 

Service was VERY good to excellent. Staff was friendly and helpful. Food was good to excellent. The towel attendants were AWESOME. We had no issues w/towel charges or turn-ins, etc. It's a PITA but was handled the best I've seen on Oasis.

 

Since we had family booked with us, we did “Favorites” every night at dinner and went around the table talking about our favorite thing from the day. MUCH laughter. The last night we did an overall “Favorite”. This was AWESOME w/the kids (highly recommend to others to try) and it could be as simple as “the dolphin adventure” to “laying by the pool knowing I’m on a cruise” (that was me). The kids would try NOT to repeat each other (except for the dolphins, lol) and some nights would have 2-3 things. Very fun and a great way to recap!

 

We rebooked onboard (already had Radiance reserved for Alaska) for Independence for next Thanksgiving The biggest draw for that one was 8 (EIGHT) nights and a new port (St. Kitts) for us!

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Since we had family booked with us, we did “Favorites” every night at dinner and went around the table talking about our favorite thing from the day. MUCH laughter. The last night we did an overall “Favorite”. This was AWESOME w/the kids (highly recommend to others to try) and it could be as simple as “the dolphin adventure” to “laying by the pool knowing I’m on a cruise” (that was me). The kids would try NOT to repeat each other (except for the dolphins, lol) and some nights would have 2-3 things. Very fun and a great way to recap!

 

 

great idea...have done a Thanksgiving cruise with family before and loved it...did the cruise this year with just me and my mom; had a great time, but a Thanksgiving cruise with a family group is a special experience :)

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Enjoyed reading your review. We were on your ship and apparently spent alot of time at the same places. We were at the flowrider for the kids to meet on Saturday. We also had Urban and Jovie and I agree with your review. I really liked Urban but not super talkative. Jovie was very efficient but didn't talk at all. We went to Love and Marriage and my aunt and uncle were the couple married 49 years on stage. It was their highlight of the week. They had never cruised before so didn't know what to expect but thought it was great fun. I agree with your review of Ricky. I liked him but I have had better on past cruises. He did take over the whole Love and Marriage, I think it is funnier when the couples say more. We did Junkanoo beach in Bahamas, private tour in St. Thomas through Sunny Liston, went to Coki beacause we wanted to snorkel. It was great snorkeling but beach was way to crowded and I wouldn't go back there again. St Martin we had a private tour with Bernard. This was the second time we have used him and it is always great. Took us to Maho and Mullet. Beautiful beaches, waves were extreme but we had a great time. Sea days were fun, I would have like more sun and less waves but still good days. DH and SIL both were in the Belly Flop contest. Husband got 3rd place. Kids thought is was fun to laugh at dad. Went to Quest and brough things along to help out the team. Great fun as always. We also ate at Izumi on Friday for lunch and I thought I recognized you from the blog but wasn't sure so didn't say anything. One of the cast memebers of Hairspray (Link) was from my very small home town. Ottumwa, Iowa. My parents still live there and were hoping all week to meet him. They finally got to talk to him the last night after the Comedy Club. He was there watching. Very small world. His grandmother lives 3 houses away from my parents and his father used to work for my father and used to be my school teacher in middle school. They loved getting to meet him and have already called all of his family members to say hi . It was an amazing week spent with my 18 family members. Can't wait to get to do it again.

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