Janespup

Has anyone gone to Pearly Beach? Carnival has an excursion there which we are considering due to negative (rocky) reviews of Bamboo Beach. We wil have a 6 year old with us and just want to go to a nice beach with beautiful soft sand and blue water for a few hours. (Maybe get her hair braided, too)

Nachi Cocum is the place for you. Nice beach. Plenty of loungers with shade. Decent pool with swim up bar and hot tub. Snorkeling excursion available from boat nearby. No activities for children. They limit their guests to 100 per day! While other beaches could get thousands when several ships are in port. Decent lunch included.

We loved Nachi but we had no children with us. It has a nice beach. Water was a bit rough when we were there but that was the case at Mr Sanchos as well (we could see their beach from ours). There is a smallish swimming pool and a hot tub. With the minimum of 100 people per day, it does not get crowded. There were only 12 other people there when we went so we had great service and the place to ourselves!

Yes, all in all we did have a very nice cruise. I was merely pointing out some differences. As I said, the ship is beautiful. We did not ask for robes because we had brought our own, having learned, here on CC, that they are no longer provided automatically.

My friend, Christine, and I waited for almost year to go on this cruise of the eastern Caribbean, as her retirement celebration. As a first time cruiser, she had been concerned about sea sickness and how she would feel, being on a ship, at sea, with no land in sight. So we choose the Oasis, knowing that it was the biggest ship and really beautiful. We had fairly rough seas the first two nights (enough to close the beaches at Atlantis and churn up the waters at St Thomas and St Maartin). I thought the movement of the ship was minimal, but I am accustomed to it. Christine never felt nauseous or got sick, but felt pretty wobbly.

The Good:

What a beautiful, huge ship she is! I can't find fault with any part of her design. Everyone was quite friendly and attentive.

There were employees at the beginning of the guest services line (which never got very long), screening out the guests problems and, in many cases, solving them quickly. Many times, guests didn't have to even approach the desk.

Room stewards were prompt in taking care of the room, soon after you left the little card in your door, asking them to do so. Again, at night, the beds were all made or freshened, soon after we left the stateroom.

Lobster tails on the second dressy night were large and very good. Our waiter brought over a full extra dinner without our even asking. He also cut the meat out of the tails for us.

Our stateroom was on deck 8, three doors forward of the aft elevators. It was the perfect location for us! We loved being so close to the elevators. We loved being steps away from Central Park. We went to the Park café as soon as it opened every morning and brought coffee and fruit back to our cabins.

Central Park is empty early in the morning and it is really nice to hear the birds singing and crickets chirping (piped in).

They have umbrellas near every entrance to Central Park, even when you leave the restaurants.

The Solarium is beautiful with some shade and a great pool in the middle. It was refreshing, never crowded and had a wavy motion in it. The two hot tubs were also nice. I had never "reserved" a lounger on a ship before, and am one who believes that towels should be removed after a specific period of time. But, I learned after the first day that that would be the only way that we would ever get a lounger. So, early risers that we are, I brought our two towels up to the solarium on the last two sea days, at about 7:30-8:00 a.m.. Already, all of the choice semi-circular loungers were already spoken for. We had breakfast, did some morning things and were to our reserved loungers by 10 a.m.. Two hours in the sun, hot tub and pool is enough for us, so we relinquished our seats around noon on both days. A few of those semi-circular seats had still not been claimed by those who had "reserved" them though.

The Wipe Out Café, on deck 15, had omelettes made to order and self serve ice cream machines. It is not like the omelette station on Carnival ships, but served its purpose.

It was fun to watch people zip lining and surfing the flow riders.

We did pretty well at the casino. Both of us found several fairly loose slots which kept us busy most nights.

Dazzles has great live music every night. Different themes.

Our stateroom was only a few doors from Dazzles entrance and we never heard a thing!

The Bad:

There are no bathrobes in the closets.

They do not provide beach towels in the rooms as Carnival does. You get your beach towels up by the pool or Solarium and return them when you are done with them.

Neither our waiters nor our cabin steward bothered to learn our names. On Carnival, I am always amazed at how they learn everyone's name so quickly. It is so nice to be greeted by name. We actually changed wait staff after two nights, simply because ours was too busy to accommodate us on the third night. The new waitress made it a point to learn our names and engage us in conversation. So, we switched to them for the rest of the trip.

The chairs in the dining room (American Grill) were so heavy that no one could move them comfortably. We wound up sitting too far from the table each time.

We made the mistake of going to the dining room for breakfast when Shrek and friends were there. It took 20 minutes to get a cup of coffee and another 20 minutes to get our breakfast. As this was our only time to have breakfast in the dining room, I do not recommend it.

Bingo is ridiculously expensive. $49 for a 9 game sheet (same sheet that is $20 on Carnival) and $59 for an electronic gadget that has 30 games loaded in it, which tells you how you are doing, and a three game sheet that you mark yourself. The girl at Bingo, Miss Paige, was very snappy to me when I asked a question. She actually turned her back on me as I was speaking and waved for her assistant to help me. So, we did not go back to Bingo. I have never given or written a bad review of an employee in my life. But Miss Paige was a main topic when I completed the RC survey after the cruise.

Central Park, at night, is pretty much just a lot of premium restaurants. Park café is closed and some of the restaurants have tables that take up a large section of the park.

Possibly because the beds were separated, the Superior Balcony Cabin we had seemed to be much smaller than what I am accustomed to. They say it is 182 sq feet but it certainly didn't feel like it.

We honestly chose our Magic cruise in irder to try Guy's new place! Love his burgers on other ships. I do hope it is on the Vista and is open longer!

Could someone please clarify for me the statement that there is now smoking on the aft part of the Magic? Does anyone know exactly where? I just booked an aft extended balcony on deck 7 and will change it if it is anywhere near smoking. Thanks.

Just got off the Oasis and it is a beautiful ship. I have not been on the Magic yet, but I am sure she does not compare with the Oasis. You probably do want to see the Oasis one time. I have to say though, that there is more than the ship and the ports to consider. In my opinion, the friendliness and service on even the smallest Carnival ship outshines that on the Oasis. You are treated like an individual on Carnival, an important guest. I did not get this feeling on the Oasis. Everything on the Oasis seemed to have a price tag on it. There were no free movies on the TV, like on Carnival. Bingo cost $49 for the same number of games that Carnival charges $20 for., etc, etc...This had been my first RC cruise and could be my last. Carnival has always welcomed myself and my family as one of their own. Just something to consider.

I just got off the Oasis and didn't see anything about an indoor theater or indoor movies. They did show two movies in the evenings on the big screens at the aqua theater in back of Boardwalk, Star Wars and the new Point Break. They had a few children's movies playing at some point, as well.

One thing that dawned on me a few days after we got home is what I feel is one of the biggest differences between our Oasis cruise and our Carnival cruises, other that the sheer size and design of the ship. And that is the age of the passengers. Not counting children (and there weren't very many of them), I would say that the average age of the passengers on our cruise was 60+. On our Carnival cruises, not counting the children, I would say the average age was more like 40. I am, admittedly, one of those older people, so I am not saying anything against them! I just feel that this difference in demographics could have created a more mellow vibe on the Oasis, than I am accustomed to on Carnival.

We just came off our first RC cruise and it was on the Oasis. It is a beautiful ship. If you want to go on her just to experience the ship, the Oasis is he one to choose. The Park Cafe is very convenient for coffee in the morning, if your cabin is nearby. Other than that, Central Park is a nice place to take a stroll but really just a lot of specialty restaurants. The Solarium s very nice because it has some shade and a very nice pool, where Magic just has the hot tubs on Serenity deck.

We are returning to Carnival, though, as our experience on the Oasis just didn't match that on Carnival. I guess it depends on what you are looking for. We felt that the employees on Carnival were much more friendly. (We like being called by name and that didn't happen on Oasis.). The average age of adults on The Oasis when we went was probably 60-65, whereas Carnival's adult population is younger. We love the lido deck, Guy's, (There is a Guy's smokehouse on The Magic in addition to his usual), the selection in the buffet, the giant movie screen at pool area.

If you don't use the casino, $250 should be enough for taxis, tips and incidentals. The casino takes cash only at RC and charges 5% if you get it from your Sail and Sign card. So I would bring e tra for the casino if you plan to gamble at all.

Luggage valet, $20 per person, is great! You also have to pay, in advance, any baggage fees your airline charges. We have used it several times and never had a problem. We had to apply for luggage valet by Wednesday night, for use on Saturday morning. They bring you special luggage tags and your boarding passes for your flights on the morning of the last day. You put the bags you are going to check onto the airplane outside your door before 11 p.m. on last night and pick them up at the luggage carousel at home airport.

One more thing: They have frozen yogurt machine across from the children's pool on deck 15, and another (could be ice cream) inside the Wipeout Café. I don't know if they are available 24 hours though.

We just got off the Oasis and did your same itinerary. Feel free to ask any questions, but you may not like the answers. I have been on several Carnival cruises and went on this cruise because I wanted to see the Oasis. I am returning to Carnival.

To answer your question, the dressy nights are Sunday, after Nassau and Thursday, after a sea day. Thursday is lobster tail night. They were quite large, very good and the waiter brought out an extra full dinner for us. Don't hesitate to order two. Two appetizers as well, every night.

Some comparisons between this cruise and what I am accustomed to on Carnival:

While most employees were very friendly, no one went out of their way to learn our names, which they do on Carnival. By the second day, the cabin steward and waiters knew all of our names, but not on the Oasis. (And there were only two of us!)

Carnival has two bathrobes in every cabin but the Oasis didn't. I assume you could have asked for them but I had known this before, so brought my own.

Carnival provides those thick, large beach towels in each stateroom, which they replace whenever you want. Royal has towel stations by the pool and solarium where you sign out towels for your room. You return them when you are finished with them or if you want replacements.

You will see 3 towel animals in your cabin on your seven day cruise.

There are very few desserts on the Oasis buffet.

The pizza in Sorrento's is much better than the pizza on Carnival.

The tv was a huge disappointment and did not compare to Carnival's. I like to sleep with the tv on, and usually put on the channel that plays music. No such channel. The "map" channel is the same as Carnival's but it doesn't tell you the depth of the water, which is my favorite thing. I am always amazed when I see the the depth is 20,000+ feet! There are a few children's channels on the tv and a Spanish CNN. Also a type of CNN channel that has headlines running across the bottom but odd programming. There re no free movie channels, like on Carnival. You can rent a movie for $12. Everything on the tv seems to be an advertisement or a sales pitch.

The cabins are supposedly only 3 sq feet smaller than on Carnival but they seemed to be much more narrow...like 8 feet wide!

Bingo was horrendous! We tried it twice because I love playing it on Carnival, but skipped most bingo offerings. The price is ridiculous! $49 for the same 9 games you pay $20 for on Carnival. They also have a $59 package that gives you 30 games (instead of 9) but they are scored electronically...You don't even get to play them. They also give you 3 regular games in that package. The bingo patterns they choose, (4 corners, any straight line) had winners so quickly that you felt like you wasted your $59! One was won with only 6 numbers called.

Room service breakfast was quite good. Lunch was not.

We tried three of the soups at dinner, a seafood of some sort, the lobster bisque and a cream of mushroom. The mushroom was very good. The other two, inedible. The chairs in our dining room (The American Icon) were very heavy. No one seemed to be able to pull them in far enough. We made the mistake of going to the dining room for breakfast once, when the children's character breakfast was being held. It took 20 minutes to get a cup of coffee.

We only did that once.

The buffet on deck 16 was pretty good. They had real fried eggs for breakfast every day except the last day. You can get omelettes made to order at the Wipe Out Café on deck 15.

We were on deck 8 which I feel was the absolute best location. We were able to get coffee every morning at the Park Café, within minutes of waking up. They made great made-to-order salads and had those delicious signature roast beef sandwiches.

The solarium is so much nicer than the adult area on the Carnival ships! It had a nice, small restaurant, shady areas and a wonderful pool with small waves in between the hot tubs.

Our Oasis of Dreams show was cancelled for our performance and rescheduled for the last sea day at noon. But it was cancelled again because there was rain in the forecast. Frozen in time was very good. Come Fly With Me was a kind of cirque du solei show, good, but not in comparison to others we have seen in Vegas. We choose not to see Cats. There was always something going on at night, either on the Promenade deck or in one of the bars. Dazzles had very good live music and dancing every night. The slots in the casino were quite loose, for us, at least.

Overall, the Oasis is a beautiful, huge ship. It rarely seemed crowded. Everything was very well organized.

We bought the VOOM package for two devices, at $15 per day, $105 for the week. You could attach 10 devices to the same VOOM account if you wanted to. Only two can be logged on at the same time, though. You would have to go to http://www.logout.com with the device you want to deactivate and then can sign in with another. This gave us internet, texting whomever you wanted, etc. if you are only interested in texting the people who are on the ship with you, you would all download the free app Whatsapp? Then you can text each other and not pay for VOOM. Cellular service is ridiculously expensive on the ship. Check with your provider to find out what they charge for international minutes before you decide to place a call from a port.

Unless you have an excursion you want to do, take the 2:30 or earlier. If you have the Oasis deliver your luggage to FFl and then retrieve it at your home airport, (luggage valet, $20 fee), your flight has to be after 12:00, noon. We left the Oasis lasr Saturday and had to stall in order to remain on the ship until 8:30. Rooms have to be vacated by then. We were through customs and at the airport before 9:30. 5 hours to kill!

I was very disappointed in their hot dogs. The Coney Island dog did not resemble anything I have had before. (And I am from New York, love hot dogs and have had Coney Island hot dogs) They did not have the onions I like, but tasteless fried onions instead. I cannot speak for any other of their choices as I did not go back after first disappointment.

Thank you!

We had fairly rough seas Saturday between Ft. Lauderdale and Nassau, enough so that the beaches at Atlantis were closed because of rough water on Sunday. The rough seas persisted through Sunday night. When we went to Megan's Bay, in St. Thomas on Tuesday, the water was fairly calm, in my opinion though I had never been there before. There were small waves. with small waves. The problem was getting out of the water. There was a drop of about 18 inches of soft sand a few feet beyond the shoreline. Many people of all ages and physical condition had difficulty getting out of the water because they couldn't maneuver the soft sand slope. People fell. People had to be helped out of the water. Everyone near where we were sitting was talking about the situation and watching as others struggled to get out of the water.

My question, for frequenters of Megan's Bay is: Is this normal? Is this beautiful beach flawed by an unmanageable drop? Or was it due to the rough water? Is the bay usually flat, with no waves and no drop? I have another cruise planned for next April and it, too, goes to St. Thomas. I would really like to know if I should expect the same unpleasant conditions.

Thank you in advance for any helpful insight.

Is there shade at Megan's Bay, in St. Thomas? Does anyone know if you can rent a clamshell there?

Thank you both. Second question: For slot machines, do I just put sail and sign card ongo machine to access $, or do I go to cashier first?

Great! Thank you all for responses!

Am I crazy to be considering bringing a Brita pitcher onboard in order to filter water? Water and coffee is really all that I drink and I don't want to pay $47 for a dozen bottles of water.

Hello all, I was wondering how I should go about connecting to the wifi I have pre-purchased for Oasis next week. Do I have to go to Guest Services or can it be done, somehow, on tv in cabin?