klb1978

We are on Oasis now. We were nervous about what to do in St Marteen! After our visit no question ... Take a water taxi to the beach. Walk down to Holland House (several recommended it). It was perfect. $25 for 2 chairs 4 Drinks. Bathrooms. It was awesome!our favorite spot!!! We did walk there and that was a little iffy... but we were fine. No one bothered us! People super nice!! Beach not trashy at all. Def take the water taxi! We have a 10 year old. He loved it. He and his dad also got on the jet ski.

This is very helpful and reassuring! I think we will do this. I agree on the walk as my husband and I walked that route several years ago and I wasn’t a fan. We will take the water taxi. I have heard others suggest Holland House too.

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=93

I posted on there as well but I find that site doesn’t move quite as much. I will look a bit more at some of the previous posts so I can get more information. Thanks so much

I was there 3 weeks ago. The water was clean and clear and the temperature was perfect.

 

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That’s great to hear! Thanks

With verizon it's $0.50 to send $0.05 to recieve a text. And of course there's no way to pick which texts you receive. No data plan on cruise ships as far as I'm aware.

 

Without buying voom you're stuck with notes and voicemails on room phone which both require a trip to the room unless you pay per text.

 

You guys can go over the compass the night before and pick certain things for everyone to meet at or a time and place. That's what I did with friends I met on it. We'll do the trivia tomorrow at 1 or meet at the car in the promenade at 11. For the friend I was cruising with we kept a white board in the room with aprox plans that worked on us meeting up more often then not.

 

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Good idea to review the compass together the night before! The cost for texting isn’t horrible but like you say you can’t pick and choose what texts you receive.

our family is traveling on Oasis in September. We have 10 people total, with four being kids (ages 3,5,6,7) We would like to do a beach day in St Maarten but not sure which one is best. For sure something with amenities such as restrooms and food. Hoping for a beautiful beach that’s not too far of a taxi ride. Originally we decided on Great Bay but I’m reading varying reports of pollution so not sure if this is a good choice for us. I get anxiety with low flying planes so Maho is for sure not on my list 😬 Any help greatly appreciated!

Take the water taxi to Great Bay Beach. It's a 5 minute boat ride. $25 gets you two beach chairs, an umbrella, and 5 beverages. There is also access to bathrooms and spotty wifi

 

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This was our initial plan but I’m reading varying things regarding pollution and this beach. We might still take our chances, but I was just trying to see what other options there are.

What’s the best way to keep in touch with family that’s sailing with us? Ideally I’d love to be able to text but none of us plan to get the internet package. On Disney we had phones we could use (ship provided) but not sure Oasis has anything like that. We are all on deck 8 but not all in a row. I know we can obviously leave messages on the doors but hoping to find a way to get in touch without having to always go back to room. Thanks!

Side note I have T Mobile and others in our group have Verizon I believe. Not sure if cell carriers offer any plans for cruising.

our family is traveling on Oasis in September. We have 10 people total, with four being kids (ages 3,5,6,7) We would like to do a beach day in St Maarten but not sure which one is best. For sure something with amenities such as restrooms and food. Hoping for a beautiful beach that’s not too far of a taxi ride. I get anxiety with low flying planes so Maho is for sure not on my list 😬 Any help greatly appreciated!

Hi! For 2 people, it was either $32 or $36- they told us one price first then it ended up being another. We were in a van type taxi with at least 6 other people. I think a group of 10 would definitely fit- there might be different pricing for larger groups so it might be cheaper. I think the beach would be fine for kids, but there aren't really any amenities that I saw. There was just that Rosie's tent that sold food, and the only bathroom I saw was a porta potty (I had to use it and it was kind of gross). There are probably beaches with more amenities, so you might want to ask on the St. Maarten board if you haven't already.

Again very helpful information. Your pictures of this beach are stunning but given the lack of amenities it sounds like this probably isn’t a good fit for us. I’ll do more research.

Thanks for this review! We are doing Eastern on Oasis in September with our family. Can you tell me about what the cost of the taxi to Mullet Bay was? We have a group of 10 people so not sure if we can all get in one big van or something. Do you think this would be a good beach with kids? We have four kids ages 3, 5, 6 and 7. Are there restaurants and bathrooms there? Thanks again

Hi Tegl :)

 

There is a child lock near the top of the balcony door, similar to the lock below.

 

Have a wonderful, safe voyage!

 

 

 

 

 

:)

Which ship is this on? We are traveling on Oasis and I’m hoping they have this as well! Thanks 😊

I think typically Kids Sail Free excludes peak times like summer. Hopefully for your sake I’m wrong but I feel like that’s what I’ve seen. We were able to take advantage of that promo when it ran this Spring for our upcoming September cruise. Saved a ton as we have a total of four cabins and four kids sailing.

We had one of those cabins on Allure. I don’t remember feeling like my view was obstructed at all. I can confirm that one side of your balcony will be slightly deeper than the other. It’s not a huge difference, but the balcony is in fact slightly larger. Enjoy your Allure cruise 😊

Looking forward to following along on this review! We are doing a family cruise in September with our 5 year old son. My brother will be there too with kids ages 3, 6 and 7. While we don’t have anyone with Celiac, it will be nice to hear more about kids programs/ cruising with kids. Our cruise is also on Oasis.

So excited for this live review. We are doing a family cruise on Oasis in September. My son will be 5.5 years old at time of sailing. We’ve had long 5 year hiatus from cruising . Literally counting the days until we sail. Enjoy your cruise and thanks for letting us tag along! ( hope your daughter enjoyed Magic Kingdom! We live here in Orlando and are also huge fans of the mouse )

I suppose the promotions might seem fake to some, but then others win big. For instance my mom booked 4 cabins sometime last year for our upcoming Oasis cruise in September. I noticed the kids sail free promo roll around and encouraged her to call (we had two cabins with kids). She was reluctant but in the end she called. Twenty minutes later she had saved herself $2500 over four cabins 😳😳 Even the two cabins without kids had a price drop. Needless to say she was quite pleased ;) So while obviously some “sales” are bad for some, they can be very very good for others.

Our September Oasis cruise became available as well! I got a couple scheduled but struggled with one. I tried logging out and back in but now it’s just not working at all :/ Not a huge fan of the website “upgrade” I think I booked the aqua show for the last night available. Am I going to regret that?? We are traveling with younger kids so the 7:30 times were so much better for us and this was the only way I could get it all to coordinate.

They take the kids to the CLOSED section of the windjammer. We peeked in on our almost 5yr old. There were maybe 20 kids with staff in the completely empty windjammer. They could choose pizza or chicken nuggets and fries.

Ok this makes a lot of sense! Logistically taking kids to the Windjammer seemed like a nightmare to me, but I have never eaten there at night so had no clue one side was closed. I totally understand how they handle this aspect now. Thanks!

Thank you everyone for your input. It’s all very helpful to me. I’m hoping the kids will consider trying it out. Are there a lot of kids that take advantage of this? Do you feel like they bring enough staff to transport them to the ship? I’m probably a worry wart but it makes me nervous having someone else take my child throughout this huge ship but I’m sure they have it down to a science!

Yes I did see that option for dropping them off in AO earlier and then they eat in Windjammer. I’m not sure that would work for the 3 and 5 year old in our group but it is a nice option for older kids for sure. Our son is 5 and I’m just not sure he’d be comfortable doing dinner in Windjammer without us. But I think we might try the other option a night or two!

Ah ok yes you are correct that it says My Family Time Dining! So it sounds like we are all set given we are in early seating :) We have cruised Royal several times, but first time since having our son so we are brand new to the kids activities. He’s not sold on kids club but I’m hoping he’ll try it a little at least. Maybe he’ll be ok with it if the cousins go too. Thanks as always for the quick response. Love CC :)

we are cruising Oasis in September with family. I was looking at the compass for the kids program and it mentions that they will expedite dinner and pickup kids outside the dining room and take them to kids club. It mentioned MyTime dining. We are signed up for early traditional seating for dinnner. Can I still take advantage of this aspect of the program or do we have to be doing MyTime dining? We have four kids in our group ages 3- 7 and I thought they might enjoy the option of going to the kids club vs the long drawn out dinner in dining room. Thanks so much!

We prefer bed by the balcony. Although our upcoming cruise on Oasis it’s by the closet :/ I was a bit bummed at first to learn this, but oh well! My mom booked the cruise and wanted connecting rooms. Not going to argue with the lady paying the bill ;) Seriously though we are just thankful and thrilled to be going on a cruise after a five year hiatus! My mom is awesome and we can’t wait for our upcoming family cruise

This is fantastic! Thanks so much for taking the time to scan all of this information. We are doing this exact itinerary in September so very helpful. It’s our first cruise with our 5 year old so I’m especially excited to see the information on the kids program!

I would also love to know if there have been any updated knowledge on the photo package. We are traveling with a group of 10 in September and I considered buying but wanted to make sure it would include group pictures as long as I am in the photo