live2beontheseas

On Oasis last month and we chose evening service and was told he would not come in the morning to do it.  In fact he showed me how to close it up.  Never pushed the issue as he kept complaining on how busy he was and how many kids were on board.

5 minutes ago, sabrefan15 said:

Just got back from a b2b on Oasis, April 23rd 7 day and April 30 4 day. Too bad Aqua show was cancelled for you as this is probably the best show IMHO on Royal. Pablo in Globe and Atlas was also very good. Unfortunately we had no tribute band at Music Hall, as a matter of fact Music Hall was closed due to private function every night on our 4 day. As for the food I agree with your review of Park Cafe. We had good service at Playmakers and also being from the Buffalo, NY area we felt the wings were pretty good, small but what should we expect for $25 for 50 wings. El Loco Fresh was good as long as it wasn't the premade burrito's. No specialty dining for me but I felt like Main Dining was fine. Portside BBQ was excellent. We had a room change after 1st cruise and had total different experience in cabin stewards. 1st cruise he asked if we wanted morning or evening service and we chose morning. As it was hot and humid we were taking 2 showers per day, he would ask if we wanted clean towels in evening as well. We said yes please but only received them once. On 2nd cruise we weren't given the option of when we wanted service but he did a good job. Had no problem with other passengers.   

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Did you get to see the show on you cruise?  We have seen on many other sailings and we like it for a change of pace from the usual production shows.  Never saw many people at Portside or Johnny's but glad you enjoyed.  Seems like there is a lot if difference between cabin attendants.   Some may be adjusting better than others to the changes. I think sometimes too that the mix of guests can have a bearing on the crew attitude.

On 5/1/2023 at 1:59 PM, PACrew said:

I agree with the OP on the room situation. These stateroom attendants appear to be working harder than before. Ours on our Harmony cruise (4/1-4/8) was nice but the guy never stopped and looked stressed to get it all done. I also think that if there is 4 in a room, they should make it a standard practice to open/close bed. 

 

 

I think the new amount cabins is hard on them.  When  your attendant meets you the first time and says there are so many kids on board and then says hi to your own, it leaves a bad taste in my mouth. 

On 5/4/2023 at 9:41 AM, Donsyb said:

OP couldn’t comment in the new menu on oasis - they said they didn’t eat in the MDR.

 

OP - did you try to switch to early dining once onboard?

We did  not try to switch.  In the past we were happy with WJ.  We probably should have looked to see.  WJ just needed some variety.

37 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

 

I had a great time, but I'm easy going

We are fairly easy going and definitely not high maintenance,  hard to be with 2 smaller kids as they are, but things were just so different from the Symphony.  My wife and I work hard so that we can afford to take our children on trips to experience different cultures, etc. (they have been to Mexico twice, two cruises and are going to Africa next year), but the value for the money paid just wasn't there in my mind.  We still had a good time and built some nice family memories, but I could see that the cuts happening currently are not the direction that I want my money to go currently.  I will of course keep my eyes open and hopefully we can find value in Royal again.

1 hour ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

we were in an inside cabin 2 weeks ago and our cabin attendant closed the sofa bed in the morning and opened it back up in the evening. So, it may be the attendant who just didn't want to bother.

I have read several review that stated steward would open or close the bed depending on the time for cleaning, but this guy just kept saying how busy he was and that there was so many kids on board.  Took him until day 3 and several reminders before he got bracelets for my kids.  We did not tip he extra as we felt it was the minimum he did.  By contrast on Symphony we tipped an extra $50 for all he did.

3 hours ago, MysteryKnight said:

This is a helpful review. Currently trying to book a cruise and Oasis is one of the ships we have been considering. The other two ships we are considering are Odyssey and Wonder. The food and dining is definitely a very importance aspect to the ship I choose so hearing how poor it was on Oasis is definitely a red flag and something I want to avoid. 

 

How did you feel about the crowds in general? Did it feel like it was always packed while walking around the ship? Did you have to wait in long lines for the buffer and other dining options? The crowds is one of my concerns with going on a big ship like this. 

The crowds were not bad bad I felt for a full ship.  We have been on Oasis class several times so we appreciate the many areas to explore.  WJ was always busy but that is to be expected.  Seemed like crowd was lighter just before 9am for breakfast.  Pool area was busy on sea days but we were always able to find a place to watch the kids in the splash area.  Lines for slides and abyss and flow rider were never too bad either.  Yes there is a lot of people around, but they are dispersed quite well.

I usually do not write reviews or post much as you can see, but rather use Cruise Critic to answer my questions about the current situation of cruising.  I feel compelled now though to write a review/comparison of our recent Oasis cruise on April 16^th; comparing with our Symphony cruise a little more than 6 months ago.   

A little background on my family.  This was my two daughter’s (8 and 7) second cruise (first being the Symphony) and my wife and I’s ninth I think.  We have cruised solely on Royal as I have never been able to find a comparable cruise/prices on other lines like Carnival or NCL.

Condition of Ship:

While I do understand that the Oasis is much older than the Symphony, it just was not up to par as the Symphony.   I know that it was refurbished in 2019, very close to when the Symphony came out, but it just does not have the sparkle.  There a noticeable rust on some of the metal parts of the ship (balconies, upper decks, etc) that I did not notice on the Symphony.  Room condition was actually quite poor for the standards that Royal usually sets.  Stains on the carpet, hard surfaces with scratched/dents.  Vanity chair looked like it was glued together several times and the bathroom needed a full overhaul (finishes coming off the metal fixtures, toilet with scratches and rust on the bottom of the entry and shower door.  Don’t get me wrong the cleanliness of the room and the whole ship was great, but there is a lot that needs to be torn out and replaced.  Now I do understand that the weather plays a role in a condition of a lot of the outdoor areas, but this stuff we just did not see on the Symphony.  And the room layout is far superior I feel on the Symphony.  There is also a severe vibration on the rear of the ship especially on the top decks.  Noticed when they were moving at full speed.  Was shaking quite a bit at El Loco Fresh.  Not too bad in our cabin in the back half on deck 11.

Entertainment:

I feel that I can compare the entertainment since both ships are Oasis class.  The aqua show was cancelled for our sailing which was a bummer and they tried to fill the void with a “variety” show of musician, ventriloquist and the high-wire part from the aqua show.  It was ok, but somewhat cheesy and a lot of people left the show.  I can still not understand how there are two production and two ice shows on the Symphony and not on the Oasis.  The shows on the Symphony were probably some of if not the best shows we have ever seen.  My kids enjoyed the content of them.  On Oasis you only have Cats, which was so weird and we could not understand what it was about.  The scenery never changed and there was little dialog to try to help you get the plot.  We have never seen Cats in any form and I hope too never again.  Not sure why there was not another production show like Flight on the Symphony.  Ronn Lucas was good and the girls enjoyed him.  We did not go to the Aeromyth as I did not think my girls would enjoy that type of music.  Ice show was comparable to Symphony, but I think that Symphony has more technical aspects.  I also wish that there would have been some type of family comedy show.  I think several years ago they did have on one evening in the main theater; this was before we had kids.  We just found ourselves somewhat bored on Oasis versus Symphony.  I think if they added another production show or kid friendly shows on the Oasis it would help to match the Symphony.

Food:

As I know this topic is always subjective I will preface by saying the my family and I and nowhere near foodies.  Our dining out consists of places like Red Robin, Chili’s, occasionally the Cheesecake Factory and our local “Chinese” buffet.  We are not fine dining in the least.  The food on Oasis was the worst that I have ever encountered on any of our cruises and was much worse than 6 months ago on the Symphony.  I could not believe how much has changed in this time.  I will say pizza at Sorrento’s was fine and similar to Symphony as was the Park Café, but I did notice that they were not toasting sandwiches to order like on the Symphony, but they were under a lamp and crew just grabbed them.  We went to Playmakers for the first time and the food was “meh”.  The onion rings were good, garlic fries were a little soggy and not like the steak fries from Red Robin and the wings were ok.  I will add that we live in the Buffalo, NY region and are spoiled as to true chicken wings.  The ones at Playmakers were a little small and over cooked, but the sauce was tasty.  I do appreciate that they included blue cheese, but people, please stop with all the ranch for wings.  All the tables around us asked for extra ranch.  People, blue cheese is for chicken wings and ranch is for salad.  We had lunch at Giovanni’s Table and it was not like we had had on cruises before.  I felt the flavors were a little bland.  Chicken picatta lemon sauce had no lemon flavor and the garlic “prawns” were not that strong.  And they were not prawns they were shrimp.  I remember several years ago they were actual prawns that you had to remove from the shell.  It left us with a “meh” feeling.  Glad I did not pay full price as I do not feel it is worth the money.  We did not go to the main dining room as I had selected my time and I did not understand that it doesn’t start until 6:45, much to late for my kids.  I should have taken early dining as the menus looked nice and had enough choices for my family.  This was our first time eating at El Loco Fresh and it is great.  I would steer clear of the burritos as they were too many beans for my liking but all the meats were flavorful and the nachos with all the toppings you wanted was a treat.  Kind of upset we passed this up on Symphony.  They are always very busy but the line does move reasonable fast.  Be careful though as it can get windy and you may lose your chips.  That leaves us with the Windjammer, which was pretty bad in comparison to the Symphony.  There are several stations that are missing on the Oasis, like the nightly ice cream and show cooking stations.  Breakfast was decent, but the number of selections has definitely dwindled in the last 6 months.  And I do not know why they cannot cut up the fruit.  Some days it was nicely cubed and others it was just sliced rind and all.  Not really the way I want to eat my pineapple.  I would stick with the fired eggs or the omelets as the scrambled some days were more like “soup”, very runny and no flavor.  I missed the packaged yogurts as my girls enjoy them; but all that I saw was the parfaits with a fruit jelly.  They was not even fresh fruit in them that I saw.  Dinner was abysmal when compared to the Symphony.  There was little variety.  1 station with breads and salad bar.  Another with Caesar salad and other pre-portioned salads that looked like the same every night.  Then you had the American station that most flocked to that had the same every night with a few rotational items.  The last station said Asian, but there was usually always Indian food and only what I would classify as Asian a couple nights.  Then you only had burgers, dogs and chicken fingers.  It seemed like they had larger bowls of food so they didn’t need to have as much variety.   The quality and flavor were just not there and I rated it quite low on my cruise survey.  One good thing was that we usually had very little trouble finding a table as compared to the Symphony and the staff cleaned off tables much faster than on Symphony.

Service/Crew:

It was very evident that there are staff cuts/hiring on the Oasis especially with the cabin service.  We knew that we would be down to one service so that was not a surprise.  The surprise was that I had to pick a time to have the service and we needed to make sure we were out of the room.  When the steward introduced himself to us, he had a clipboard that he was filling in times for everyone’s service.  We told him that we wanted evening so that he could get the bed ready for the girls and he was like “oh good” as I have no room for service in the morning.  He seemed so spent and overworked.  He did was he needed to and nothing more.  Not very pleasant and professional; always calling me “man” when passing in the hallway.  He knew our names.  He instructed me on how to close up the bed because he said that he would not come in the morning to close it up.  Staff in Playmakers were slow and uninterested.  We had to wait a while before we got menus and then almost immediately were asked what we wanted.   Other staff around the ship were cordial but not nearly as friendly as the Symphony.  They all seemed like they were super busy and over-worked.  Windjammer staff was nice and quick too clean tables and sports staff were pleasant and patient when my girls did those activities.

Fellow Passengers:

We saw some of the worst behaviors I have ever witnessed by a select few passengers.  I will say that this was a relatively small groups and most we encountered we pleasant and friendly.  I think that maybe they need to have a video on cruise etiquette that you watch before you leave like the muster station one.  Some of the stuff I would not expect from people on land either.  Windjammer etiquette was just silly at times.  Picking up food with hands, cutting in line for one thing they want; well, hey I am waiting in line too for one thing like a responsible person.  We ever say a lady put a baby on the condiment table while she got her ketchup or whatever.  And the water bottle filling is ridiculous.  Big signs say not to do it and yet there are always people doing it, are they that ignorant.  Use a cup to fill your bottle like I do.  People not pulling in chairs so others could get by and some even taking things off table that someone else had put there to hold table so they could use it.  Surprisingly elevator etiquette was quite well, no unsupervised kids that we encountered.  Shows were a different story.  People coming in late, waving their hands in the dark so that they could show someone where they are (makes not sense to me), and standing up during the show.  Loud talking during performances or being on their phone.  Why are you there if you are going to be on your phone the whole time.  Unsupervised kids my kids’ age that have no patience or consideration on the mini golf and when asked to wait they look at you with a blank stare.  I know there can be a language barrier, but when this is just basic stuff that no matter what nationality you are is universal.  Again these behaviors were limited and have happened on every cruise we have taken, but they seemed more extreme this time.  It is funny when my kids ask why adults were doing these things as we have raised them to be courteous and polite in public.

I really hope that things turn around the other way for Royal.  We really love their ships and amenities but I just don’t think the value for the money is there right now.  Their prices are really getting out of hand even with all their “promotions” and loyalty discounts.  My kids want to go on Icon, so hopefully in a few years things will be back to the good old days (not likely) and we will have a great time like we used to.

Please feel free to ask me any questions and I will do my best to answer them.

Dodgestang-

Thank you very much for your reply.  I certainly hope for the later level of attention.  Not that I am looking to be waited on hand and foot, but we are in the best room of the ship ( only because the prices was great).  If you remember, can you let me know how it goes for you.  We leave May 11 so I would think it may be the same concierge, but who knows.  Did you ever ask the concierge for stuff that was not included in the suite perks and did they deliver?

Tried to search but didn't find much on this.  My family and I are staying in the Royal Suite in May and I was looking for people's experiences on this room.  We have been in suites on Oasis Class ships and know there are different perks then other ships.  What interests me is being escorted on the ship.  Do they take us from the waiting area of the terminal  just take to the gangway or directly to our room or dining venue (we will be arriving at the terminal around 10:30)?  There is no free wifi correct?  (Kind of a bummer and don't understand why).  Did you feel like you got even more personalized attention then the other suites would get?  Also, is there any activities that are in the room for young kids?  My daughters are 4 and 5; thinking of like coloring books, jigsaw puzzles or cards.  If not, can we ask for stuff like that.  Finally, the suite seating for the Windjammer is in the specialty restaurants, but can you still use the buffet or only the table served menu for the restaurant and is it for breakfast and lunch or only breakfast.  Thank you in advance for all you help.

Thanks for the replies.  We will not be staying at a hotel so can't use their shuttle.  I understand that airlines will take seats for free but I hate to bring them for a 10 min ride to the port.

Cruising for the first time with our 4 and 5 year old and looking for either good or bad recommendations on a shuttle company from airport to port.  One that provides child/booster seats.  We will not bring them along  because of the short distance to the port.  We would have just taken a taxi but I see they cannot transport without the seat.  South Florida Shuttles comes up a bit, but there reviews aren't  all spectacular.   Really want someone that will be there fast to pickup and also have return service after the cruise.

here is a video from 11640 on the Allure. Pretty much the same I would imagine. We had a great time and wad quite a splurge from our usually balconies. Have a great time. May have to cut and paste link, sorry.

We had a C & A sail away party on the Oasis this past October when leaving Labadee. The event was only for top level members. We were also in a suite and had a separate welcome reception in the Viking Lounge on the first sea day.

We've had 9618 a couple times and it was great. Mid ship, close to the elevators and an unobstructed view in both directions from the balcony. The one on the other side if the ship would be the same.

We were on the Oasis in Oct and had three referrals that we got with the Diamond balcony discount and an OBC from our TA. I would call again to see if you get a different answer.

We got back from the Oasis last month with 7 cabins booked. Several had never been on a cruise before and were in awe. We did book shows together and did a few dinners too, but with so much to do, we often broke up into smaller groups. But we did still get together to discuss how are day was. Don't stress yourself trying to get everyone together though because you will drive yourself crazy. Have fun and go with the flow.

We had the full menu that they have had for years on the Oasis in late Oct. Maybe it was continental because it was a 3 day cruise?

I guess I'm in the minority here on Chops. We did not feel it was worth the $35pp charge as the meat was an issue for everone in our party. Two had their steak under and the other two of us had a tough and flavorless porterhouse. I will say the apps and desserts are great though. The steak at Giovannis was very good and cooked perfectly. Although this won't help you on the Explorer. Just my 2 cents

Here is a mini review (ok not really) of our cruise on the Oasis 10/26/13. This was our eighth cruise (all with RCCL), and third time on an Oasis class ship (last 2 years we were on the Allure). So this will be a review and comparison to our Allure cruises.

If you get notice not to reach the terminal before noon, ignore it. There was no issues getting through the terminal and we were there by 11. Can’t compare Royal’s check-in to other cruise lines but they are extremely efficient at Port Everglades. We were in a suite so we had priority check-in, but others in our group whom we arrived with took very little longer than us. Everyone in the terminal was friendly and boarding went smoothly. Maybe it’s just the port, but for the amount of people they have to embark/disembark, it is the best we have ever encountered.

So we boarded at around 11:45 I think and this year I noticed there was no one welcoming us with drinks. Last year on the Allure they had champagne and a couple other drinks they were handing out when we boarded. We then headed to the Windjammer to fill our bellies. Food selection and quality was as it was in previous years, but there seemed to be a lot more salads and less meat selections and definitely not a lot of seafood. They are probably trying to cut costs with starches and veggies. We didn’t frequent the Windjammer too much, a few times for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Your best bet is breakfast for selection, but get there before 9, it gets busy fast.

Other places we tried for breakfast was the Concierge Lounge and Johnny Rockets. Both of which were the same quality as last year on the Allure. We never got to the Solarium or the Park Café for breakfast even with our best intentions. Also, we never got room service breakfast.

While on I am on the food subject, take this for what it’s worth since I know it’s subjective, but the quality was not as good as previous years we felt. We definitely felt there was some cost cutting measures to try to get you to go to the specialty restaurants. We only ate with our group in the dining room on the first formal night and at least half of us ordered off of the alternative menu as there was nothing appealing on the main menu. I settled on the ravioli which were good, but not exciting. Two others ordered the prime rib I think and it was a little grizzly and not top notch. Many in our group have not cruised before so they thought the food was great, but for us, who have cruised almost yearly on Royal, we have seen a decline. Giovanni’s Table was an exception though as the food was flavorful and yummy, although the service was something else. It started out good, but as it got busier our waiter ignored us more and more and we ended up being late for our show, even with a 2 ½ hour buffer. Johnny Rockets was also very good and the service was also fantastic. This could have been because there were only 3 tables filled. I’m not sure if this is new or not but from 6-9pm they have a 2-for-1 cover charge which makes it really worth it; this was not offered last year on the Allure. Possibly they were trying to get business because the Boardwalk was pretty dead once it got dark. There was hardly anyone ever at the Seafood Shack that we saw. Park Café was great from food to service to drinks. They seemed to have a much larger variety then they did last year. Wished we could have stopped more often but there hours close kind of early. I will close with the food with a not so great experience. We treated my in-laws to dinner at Chops because they are both on the Atkins diet and we felt they could get there meat fix there. For the now $35 cover we were hoping for a great evening. I will say the service was spot on; it was the food that wasn’t. Apps were all good but the steaks were not. The waiter told me and my father-in-law to get the porterhouse as the strip was too tough. So we did and both ladies got the fillet. So the meal comes and the steaks look great, the ladies cut into theirs and they are both under done. Know I will say my wife likes her meat well done and my mother-in-law mid-well. They had butterflied the fillet to get it to cook through but it was still under, opposite to Giovanni’s where my wife’s steak was perfect. So they had to send them back. Both my father-in-laws and mine steak was cooked right (med and mid-well) it was just chewy. Now, I don’t order steak much so I did not think it was too bad. So we are having a hard time cutting it and about half way through the waiter sees this and asked if the meat is all right. I was pretty full so I said it was ok, but father-in-law asked for the strip because he wanted something flavorful and tender. The waiter resisted and said he would get him a fillet, but he wanted the strip, so waiter gives in and brings him a strip. It comes out and it was pretty good he said. I had a piece and it was so much more flavorful and tender than the porterhouse. Desserts there were very good and they let us take back extras; they were definitely the highlight of the meal. So for us the $35 pp was not worth it as the meat was not the shining star.

The shows were pretty good, but we did prefer some of them better on the Allure. It was like a 50/50 split. Aqua show was better on the Allure as was Blue Planet. Ice show and Hairspray we enjoyed more on the Oasis. The singing and dancing was good for the other shows, but they just did not seem to have the wow factor that Blue Planet did over Come Fly With Me. The comedy show was super funny and the comedians really got the audience involved. The quest was kind of a bummer as it seemed that more people were there to watch than participate, but it was still very interesting. Love and Marriage was ok, but they need to get some new questions to try to trip the people up. They have the same set for every cruise. Also, I will say that we personally did not like Dave the cruise director. He just kind of annoyed us with his G’day Oasis bit, that got really old by the end of the cruise. Not as funny or visible as like Ken and Allan who are some of our favorites.

I won’t talk too much about the ports. Labadee was a great day, warm and sunny. Mother-in-law and I parasailed (first time) and we really enjoyed it. We only wished we were able to see the island and ship more and we were far out in the water. Jamaica we did nothing as the tours were so long because of the travel time associated with getting to either Montego Bay or Ocho Rios. So we just shopped around but the prices seemed very high compared to two years ago when we were there. In-laws did the trolley tour and said it was ok. Not too much to see except for a few historic buildings and a lot of shacks. Cozumel we have been to many times but we did the Dolphin Encounter, the same as we did nine years ago for our honeymoon. It was a nice time and we got to interact with the dolphins quite a bit, but they DO NOT allow cameras with the dolphins anymore. Not sure when they stopped, but we were able to the last time. Even though I had asked the excursion lady and she said yes (honestly though the paper said you couldn’t). But they will sell you the photos they take for about $35 each or all for $157 with the exchange. Quite a rip-off in our opinion. Chankanaab is a very nice park though and the sea lion show was cute and there are a lot of walking paths and gardens, a spa, restaurants and plenty of snorkeling. All in all a nice place to spend the day.

So much for a mini-review. I will say in closing that I think everyone enjoyed themselves and many that hadn’t cruised before are now hooked. I think it was because of the ship with so much to do. I will say that the wife and I prefer the Allure for the shows and the food options (Samba and Rita's) and also a very slight edge to the staff and ship cleanliness. If you have any questions please ask. Below is a link to photos we took, only a few, as we have many of the Allure and the ports already. Also there are the Cruise Compass’s, our Diamond benefits and other stuff. I also have the excursion booklet that I did not post as it is a lot of pages to scan, but if someone wants it I can do it.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/11217621@N06/collections/72157637665638093/

A quick question. we are in an owners suite and are looking to book a cabana obviously on the reserved Barefoot Beach. We have some other couples travelling with us that are not in a suite. Will they be able to join us in the cabana in the suite guest section? What is the max number of people you can have in a cabana. Thanks.