Trip Report - Oasis Eastern 4/30/16 sailing Bill Oh's first cruise as Diamond

Welcome to my Oasis April 30th 2016 (Eastern) trip report. I am Bill traveling with my wife Gina from Columbus, Ohio. This trip was specifically to celebrate our 35th anniversary. We frequently cruise around our anniversary and have found this to be a great time of the year for several reasons. We are empty nesters in our mid 50s. Our cruise history in my signature will help explain our point of view that you will read a lot about here.

I am calling this a trip report and not a review because there are so many reviews of this ship out there, and believe me I enjoy reading all of them and I can find some value in all of them. That and the fact that I tend to not do some things that people like in reviews, I’ll call this a trip report! You won’t find compasses. I recognize their value to many readers, but I don’t keep them. You won’t see much food porn. Again, I recognize the value to many people, I just hate taking my camera to dinner. We don’t visit the kids club and I rarely use the on board internet.

My last trip report was from my 2015 Freedom cruise. The theme of that report sort of became Freedom vs Allure and I specifically picked Freedom to refresh my memory of that ship and to decide which ship was my favorite. It ended up being more of a comparison and I never did pick a favorite. My favorite ship? The one you are paying for that I get to sail on!

My wife’s favorite cruise beyond any doubt was our 2011 cruise on Allure Eastern Caribbean which was also our 30th anniversary. (Occurred while in Nassua). My wife loved it enough that we did the same cruise again in 2013. Being that this is a relatively big anniversary (35) my wife wanted to do this itinerary again. In late 2014 we began the planning for this cruise As the schedule has it, Allure is doing the western route this week so for 2016, we decided to give Oasis a try.

Perhaps the biggest thing I will miss about sailing on Oasis instead of Allure is going down to the beach on Saturday and watching Oasis sail by. We did that in 2013 and it was a great time and we met some great people. With the date and ship set, that did set off some comparisons between the two ships. In the 18 months or so of planning some of those differences went away or changed. About the time we decided on this cruise, Oasis was set for dry-dock/retrofit in Europe. The remodeled dining options and DYNAMIC DINING weighed heavily on my thoughts, but as you all know, that has gone away.

Since we usually have a 7 day cruise on a specific ship and date picked out each year, I tend to book on board each year for our next cruise. I had planned on booking this cruise while on Freedom in May of 2015. Looking ahead, in late 2014 this cruise was the last one on Royal’s schedule for Oasis out of Port Everglades. One of the rumors in 2014 was Oasis would go to China. I feared that if our cruise was the last one for Oasis out of Port Everglades that the final cruise prices would start to rise dramatically. So, at the end of 2014 I panicked and booked the cruise.

Early in January of 2015 I went to a local travel show and a RC rep assured me Oasis was not going to China. I think it was shortly after that we got the announcement of her going to Port Canaveral, so for the time being I canceled this reservation. (I’m glad I did, I ended up paying $800 less with whatever the eventual sale I booked under was! I used the $500 deposit to pay off my Freedom cruise.

At this point I am preparing my day to day report and yes, there will be plenty of pictures coming. I always try to look for something others haven't posted. I promise not to let this drag out more than a week! I'll try to get this all done in 2 or3 days.

The roll call for this trip was important to me and enjoyable. People that cruised with me (2 are still on B2Bs) feel free to chime in with opinions and thoughts.

I also enjoy the back and forth. If you saw something that contradicts what I say, by all means, I'll discuss it in a friendly way!

Hi Bill! Looking forward to your report!

Also looking forward to this Bill.:)

How’s this so far? 7 paragraphs and its still months before the cruise! Do you get the feeling you’re in for a verbose review?

Speaking of the reservation, I did find making this reservation an enjoyable process. When I booked a cruise onboard Allure it was an underwhelming experience. When I booked my Freedom cruise on Jewel I would say the process was a P.I.T.A. However, the way they run the next cruise desk on Freedom was 1st rate and how it should be done. So, as of May 1st, 2015 I was booked in a D1 balcony deck 12 starboard side.

As you can see, this is my third sailing on this class of ship and my 4th out of Port Everglades. I usually book my flights through SWA and they don’t become available for April until November. With my flights set I semi randomly picked the Embassy Suites on 17th based on available price and reviews here. I had previously stayed at the Hyatt Pier 66 in 2013. I liked it and would stay there again, but this time the Embassy Suites was about $50 cheaper and includes breakfast. The buffet breakfast at the Hyatt was $20 per person back in 2013. I’ve also stayed at the Roadway Inn at Dania Beach in 2011. That year it was fleet week and all the major hotels were booked. (lesson learned)

Others from our roll call also ended up at the Embassy Suites on 17th, so it would be convenient for our pre-cruise get together.

On a barely related note, we have been cruising 10 years! That means we had to renew our passports for this cruise. Back in 2006 it took 10-12 weeks to get them. This year the renewals came in about 3 weeks.

The dining reservations and some activities became available in December of 2015. We booked our anniversary night at Chops and the Cupcake class for one of the final sea days for Gina. The entertainment reservations became available 108 days out. On both of my Allure cruises, the show reservations opened up 45 and 60 days ahead of the cruise. The 100 days seems to be the new norm for both ships.

Speaking of shows, there have been many threads regarding CATS here on cruise critic. I went in with an open mind, but I must say this show was offered 3 times on our cruise and two of those were mid day on Sea days. I was not going to give up daylight in the Caribbean to see this show, but we got the reservation for the one night they offered it. This occurred during our late seating time so we knew we would be skipping the MDR at least twice.

I also went ahead and booked the soda (pop) package with the Freestyle machines. The Freestyle machines on Allure in 2013 were a disaster and it was our first time using them. Other reviews would indicate that it was just a bad week, so I look forward to trying them again on Oasis. We had no problems with them on Freedom in 2015. I mentioned not taking food pics, but if I had encountered as many broken or empty Freestyle machines, I was going to take pictures!

Well, the Freestyle machine report is mostly good. I had no problems getting Coke Zero. On the very last day one machine in the Windjammer was nearly empty, but that was the only problem. Note: In 2013 there were 7 Freestyle machines I could access easily on Allure. That didn’t include the one in the teen area. This year on Oasis there was no Freestyle machine in the Wipeout Café. Instead there were 2 softserve cone machines.

BTW, the worst part of my cruise, I think was there was no soft serve machines available on the pool deck this week except for the 2 in the Wipeout Cafe. We adapted and got over it, but I missed it.

With the flights, hotel, and shows booked, I concentrated on the excursions. I booked a dive through the ship in Nassau. Being that Oasis is only in port such a short time, I figured with a dive I better go through the ship. Fortunately, the dive operator for Royal is Stuart’s Cove which gets excellent reviews.

For St Thomas we decided to revisit one our first ever excursions by reserving the BOSS through Royal. If you don’t know what it is, I’ll include a picture. Its basically an underwater motor scooter with a big air bubble helmet that you put your head in. Here is Gina and I riding the BOSS back in 2006.

We planned a beach day for St Martin. After seeing the 747 land at Maho in 2014, I didn’t feel the need to go back there. We decided to spend an entire day at Orient beach, one of our favorite beaches. I followed closely the events that included the tearing down of many businesses on the beach here in 2015 and the government built replacements which resulted in some mostly peaceful incidents in March of this year. Things seemed normal by April so we went with that plan for excursions.

Since we were flying out on a Friday, and not sailing till Saturday I booked a flight out of Columbus for 10:45am. I know from years of experience that this and many airports can be crazy on Friday morning from 6am to 9am. I could have taken a direct flight at 8am and been in FLL by 10:30, but I took the later 1-plane change via Atlanta and arrived successfully in Fort Lauderdale at 3pm. All of the flights were on time and nothing of note occurred. When I arrived at the airport I called the Embassy Suites and asked about a shuttle. They said it was $9 per person. I figured a taxi wouldn’t be much more so I declined. I was right. The fare from the airport to the hotel, which was probably only about 2 miles was $17 plus tip and we got there in 5 minutes at that time of day.

Our room was ready and we were at the pool by 4pm.

See the couple under the waterfall? They would be our first incident of the cruise. Since they are not cruise critic members I think I can tell you about them. After being cooped up in an airplane for a few hours I was swimming some relaxed lengths of the pool and they kept running into me despite my efforts to avoid them. Later I found out why. They were avoiding the hotel security as they weren't guests there. They were locals enjoying the pool. After they ignored security for a few minutes, the Hotel security got about 5 people to back him up and they escorted this couple out of the ground. That was our big excitement. After drying off and enjoying the free cocktail hour we got ready for a pre-cruise dinner/drinks with our new roll call friends.

Loving your trip review so far and can't wait to read more...thanks for posting this!

Kathy :)

Loving your trip review so far and can't wait to read more...thanks for posting this!

 

Kathy :)

Wow, you have a long wait till you board Oasis! May I ask what part of PA you are from?

We do have a long wait until we board Oasis ...we booked Oasis while we were on Freedom about 3 weeks ago so we're looking forward to sailing on her. I've read a lot of good reviews about Oasis. We're originally from outside of Philadelphia where we spent most of our lives but 2 years ago we moved out to the Lancaster area and love it out here. :)

Kathy

Great start Bill! Looking forward to hearing about your adventure!

Jumping on this thread....Looking forward to our Oasis cruise 9/16

We do have a long wait until we board Oasis ...we booked Oasis while we were on Freedom about 3 weeks ago so we're looking forward to sailing on her. I've read a lot of good reviews about Oasis. We're originally from outside of Philadelphia where we spent most of our lives but 2 years ago we moved out to the Lancaster area and love it out here. :)

 

Kathy

I'm originally an Erie native, far from where you are yet still in PA.

More updates tonight after work. My lawn in 2 foot high!

I'm looking forward to a vicarious cruise experience to keep me satisfied till June 11.

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I understand that. I did the same for a year.

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It was nice meeting you at the M&M. We found a soft serve by accident, it was next to the kid's pool against a wall near a pool bar on the same deck as the Wipeout. I took a couple of pictures of you at the Marriage show. You should have won. LOL

It was nice meeting you at the M&M. We found a soft serve by accident, it was next to the kid's pool against a wall near a pool bar on the same deck as the Wipeout. I took a couple of pictures of you at the Marriage show. You should have won. LOL

I hope you will share them!

Looking forward to your report. We were just on Allure and I love hearing other people's experiences on same ship or sister (well, any Royal cruise).

Happy anniversary! What a special one.

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Enjoying your trip report so far - we will be doing the Eastern on Oasis in August except we stop at St. Kitts and not St. Maarten

Keep it coming!

As mentioned a couple of times, the last year of the roll call was full of useful information. When the final plans were being made the subject of a pre-cruise get together came up. I think it was Grumpus (Fred) who suggested Duffy's Sports Bar that was within a 100 yards from the Embassy Suites.

While our gathering wasn't efficiently organized, it was a great time at a great location. It had a good, but possibly typical sports bar food menu. It also had great happy hour drink pricing. Overall its a nice place. Besides the drinks my wife and I shared a great burger and wings. The waitress did a great job of serving us and all of our separate checks. I highly recommend this place and will definitely be back.

Pictured aboce are 3 of the 4 most active roll call members. Left to right Redsxgrl28, The Grumpus, and Emmy.

Here is a photo of the "Northern Hemisphere" end of our roll call.

The "Southern Hemisphere" consisted of Kayla14 and his friends. He was from Australia and his friends from New Zealand. We would see all of these people throughout the week and we enjoyed that very much.

Following! Would love to book a cruise on Oasis!

When we checked in at the Embassy we inquired right away about the port shuttle. We paid for it ($9 per person) and were told that shuttles ran every 30 minutes starting at 9am. We were also told that there would be signs in the lobby with each ship’s name and to line up by the proper ship name. I believe there were 4 ships in port that Saturday, Oasis and Navigator along with Carnival Conquest and a HAL ship. The hotel was definitely crowded with cruisers that night. I heard from a few of the hotel personnel that getting an elevator in the morning could be a trying experience as 1 or 2 people with luggage could fill an elevator. The hotel had 5 elevators in the square.

I normally try to get to the port around 11 here at Port Everglades. When I was enjoying the nice breakfast I got a good view of hour many excited cruisers were there. I had planned on going down to the lobby around 10am and catch the 10:30 or 11am shuttle. But the warnings about the elevators and seeing all the cruisers in the lobby we headed downstairs around 9:40 and were first in line for the Oasis shuttle. Shuttles for the other ships came and left before more people joined me in line for Oasis. But by 10am we were on our way! One of my many cruise day traditions is getting a photo of the first siting of the ship. My seat in the middle of the shuttle and the unexpected route the driver took prevented that. His route did get us to the ship faster, so no complaints from me!

We checked our bags and went in through the now familiar terminal. We headed to the check in area for decks 6,10, an 12. There were about 10 people in line, but we went to the upper tier line and checked in a little faster. We were just moments from an event that I could say I waited a year for, perhaps 9 years. This was our first cruise as Diamond members and I can say I was definitely talking about it to friends, and family including my wife. I’m sure I said as we got in line that I was anxious to se DIAMOND on my Sea Pass card. I was happy to see it. Check in went pretty well till the agent told us where to go to get to the waiting area. My wife spoke up and asked if she needed to take our photos? I’m glad she did that so we didn’t have to come back later! That would have ticked me off. It certainly would have upset my boarding plans.

I proudly kept my seapass card in hand and showed it to the agent who directed us past the Suite/Pinnacle and Diamond plus areas.

We happily took our seats in the Diamond section. On my two previous Allure cruisings we went directly to the Dog House and then to the beach pool. On my 2nd Allure visit I became one of the many fans of the Park Café’s roast beef sandwiches. Say what you want, but we like them and had always gotten a couple every cruise. Previously as Platinum and Emerald I didn’t think we could get to the Park Café before it got crowded As Diamond I suggested to my wife we could go directly there and have little or no wait, so that is what we did.

That plan worked out perfectly. Boarding started very close to 11 and by 11:15 we were on the ship and enjoying our lunch.

At this point I saw another member of our roll call, Max’s Mom whom had just finished a long cruise on Indy and had joined us. I’ve enjoyed many of her reviews and I stopped to say hello.

Before we knew it we were up on the pool deck and enjoying the beach pool. This is another of our cruise traditions. We would hang their till the rooms were ready.

Above is my wife, the queen of the beach pool and that is the one T-shirt that I have taken on every cruise so far.

Following , taking this route on Allure in Nov

following..living vicariously ..tell max's mom hello for me..or she may be following your posts

Following along! Oasis is a great ship, and I'm looking forward to hearing about your experience.