bayportkat

We currently have an ocean view balcony room on Anthem of the Seas. We got the Royal Up email recently and while I know it is an individual decision, I would love some advice/opinions as to what may be worth a bid. We have a great price and are ok staying in our balcony room, but hav never stayed in a suite. It is an anniversary trip so we are considering a Junior Suite or Grand Suite bid.  My husband has the soda package and I have the refreshment package. We don’t drink. We purchased the internet package and enjoy some of the shows.  We usually eat in the main dining room for dinner and wherever works out for lunch. We only get off the ship at CocoCay-are thre any suite benefits there?

Any information you can share on amenities or advice regarding suites would be appreciated.

On 10/26/2023 at 3:52 PM, cruiselvr04 said:

We have adjusted to once a day as long as it’s evening service.  That said, it less for more.
 

 My biggest issue with once a day is the trash is overflowing from latitude cups and other trash and I really dislike dirty dishes/glasses in the cabin. There’s no room to put them in a balcony or lower. Sometimes I get irritated and put them outside the door which I also dislike but I’ve decided that’s what I’m going to do with them from now on. Otherwise the tiny table becomes a Jinga tower. 

 

We were on Oasis over the summer and I took my dishes to find a place to put them as I don't like leaving them in the hall. I saw someone with a cart with dirty dishes and asked if they could take them- they did, but told me next time it is easier to leave them in the hall, so that is what we did for the rest of the trip. It seems as though that is acceptable and recommended.

44 minutes ago, Another_Critic said:

I wonder if they offloaded a deceased military member/veteran at the port?

There was an Alpha call earlier and we saw a fire truck and rescue truck pull up by the ship. I was worried that may have been it. Will be keeping the family whoever they may be in my prayers. 

Just pulling away from Port Canaveral on Oasis, sitting on my balcony, and Taps was played over the speakers. Never heard that before on a ship and was wondering if anyone knows the meaning?

Just a heads up that the prices at Portside BBQ on Oasis have gone up as of this week. Inam on a B2B and was a but surprised yesterday!

Thanks for all the info!  I am on a b2b on Oasis now and was hoping you can help me.  My family is joining us next week and asking what the special dress nights are. I honestly haven’t paid attention. I know there is White night and Caribbean. Is there anything else that you recall for me to tell them?  

1 hour ago, mac_tlc said:

In the spirit of research, I was at the Freestyle machine near El Loco Fresh:

 

 

 

I took my daughters mimosa cup, which was empty 😜, and placed it in the machine and hit “water” and the dispense button. This was the message:

 

 

 

Seems like you can get a cup for just water.

El Loco Fresh was not yet open so I could not complete the assignment 😂😂. Still have a day and a half left!

 

 

 

mac_tlc

You are the best!  Thanks so much!  I will save my cups from the first leg of our trip for those in the group who are water drinkers to make it easier for them. Enjoy your last couple of days!!

Not sure if you know the answer, but can you get water from the Freestyle machines?  I remember in the past you could (without a soda/drink package), but feel like on our trip last summer, it wasn't an option anymore.  

7 hours ago, mac_tlc said:

A few pictures of Oasis and Labadee from the Windjammer. Yah, I know I said earlier that I was not going to the Windjammer, but at 12:30 we needed food (😂) and Portside BBQ, Boardwalk Dog House, Johnny Rockets and Playmakers don’t open until 2:00. 
 

At least it wasn’t crowded and we found a seat in the back.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the real reason we stayed on board —- a pool with almost no one in it !!

 

 

My favorite way to spend a port day!  In the empty pool!!  Hoping for many people to get off the ship in both ports the next two weeks!!

This is interesting to know. But you would only be able to use the cup-not get soda in the dining room or at the bars since the soda package is not attached to your card, correct?

Getting more excited every day as we get closer to our cruise!  Did a lot of people get off at Nassau and Port Canaveral?  Our plan is to stay on board and I am curious as to how crowded it will be on the ship. I know every sailing is different but wondering how it is on your sailing.

We splurged for a cabana at the Oasis Lagoon. Hoping it is a nice day for us. We have a larger group than usual and wanted a landing place for everyone. So glad I did it with 2 ships in port that day if I looked it up correctly. Never been there with 2 ships!

Thanks!  I guess we will have to make some adjustments to some plans.  When I look at the menus in the app (only listed on Main Dining Room 5 at this point) it says early is 5:30-5:45.  I assume it will change sometime this week.  Enjoy your trip!!

I am so excited to follow this live!  We board on Sunday when you disembark!  I have a question about the MDR- when we signed up it was listed at 5:30, but I have heard that it is now 5pm.  In the app, I see it as 5:30 in the menu section and 5:00 in my personal planner.  Do you know if dinner is at 5 or 5:30?  I am really hoping they are flexible and we can eat at 5:30 if they changed it after our booking.

2 hours ago, Boz575 said:

You could book private on our Oasis sailing three  weeks ago. We opted for the private lesson time, much cheaper at $79 pp. I think the private 1 hr session was about 550. They were both in the CP about a week before sailing. 

That is what we wanted. The private 1 hour since there are several of us. It was fully booked several weeks out from our sailing-I didn’t even know that was possible!  The week before I will be one the ship as well and there is a lot of availability, but the group that wants it is on the second week of my b2b. I will ask as soon as I board to see if there are openings that weren’t listed on the app

2 minutes ago, Scottdalfonso said:

Don't be concerned. I've seen many reviews of Oasis cruises from the past month and most of them are way more positive than not. Just saw multiple posts on facebook about last weeks sailing and how amazing it was. Everyone will have different views, and honestly people going on a cruise for the first time will most likely love everything about it- it's the people that have 25 cruises to compare every little thing to that seem to be the ones complaining the most. I went in February and LOVED it, and will be back in exactly 2 months and I CAN NOT WAIT.  By the way, flowrider doesn't get "pre booked" If there was anything available for pre-booking on flowrider, it would have been lessons or private sesssions. The flowrider itself is something you fill out waivers for, then get in line as much as you want all week to do it

Thanks!  We are repeat cruisers and usually book the flowrider for an hour of private use since the lines are always ridiculously long in the hot sun for a single ride. That was always done on board on past cruises but it appears to be in the pre-book section now. I am just hoping they have more availability once on board. 

Wondering if anyone on Oasis recently bought and used the Wow band. We are cruising soon and wondering if they are worth it. We just cruised on Princess and the medallion is great, but can be used for everything so you don’t even get a card. Wondering if the wow band is worth it if you need to carry the card anyway?  Also, I saw it mentioned that you can get it programmed to open other room doors in your party (family of 5 in 3 rooms). Is this accurate?  May be worth it to not carry 3 cards around. Thanks for any input you can share!

20 minutes ago, mac_tlc said:

I will probably do a LIVE thread from the Oasis when we board this Friday, although it will not be as detailed as the one I did on Jewel in Norway last month. I'll try to answer any questions you may have.

 

mac_tlc

I will definitely be following!  Is your trip a 9 night?  We leave on Sunday 8/13 so I am guessing between now and then there is a 9 night to make the switch from Friday to Sunday.  I hope you enjoy your trip!!  I am curious to hear what drinks are offered in the Freestyle machines as it seems to change a bit each time we cruise.

On 7/30/2023 at 4:11 PM, Loracpin2 said:

Be prepared. We sailed her in late June. With the exceptions of most importantly spending the week with Family and fantastic room steward and MDR wait staff, I cannot say one positive thing about the overall sailing. 

Now I am getting more concerned about our upcoming B2B!  There have already been a few things, like prebooking of the Flowrider being sold out, reduction of services and several reviews that have me concerned!  I am going to keep my expectations low- just looking for a relaxing time and hope I didn't steer my family to the wrong cruise!

I just noticed that the Flowrider is available to book prior to our cruise, but is sold out.  Does anyone know if there will be more availability once we get on the ship?  On past cruises, we haven't been able to book in advance so I didn't realize it would be an option and obviously missed it.  Thanks for any information you can share.

3 minutes ago, SPacificbound said:

You should have a notarized letter from your husband giving you permission to take your son out of the country. Your husband should have a notarized letter from you giving him permission to take the other two children OOTC.

Thanks- the other two children are adults (over 18), so we only need the one letter but thanks for thinking of that- as I didn't think of needing the letter for the 10 year old!!

I am cruising out of Bayonne in a few weeks with my 10 year old son for a B2B, but my husband is staying home and joining us for the second week, along with my other 2 children. Would I need any documentation for this? We all have passports and the same last names. Never would have occurred to me to even think about this until I saw this post. Just want to be sure I have correct documentation. 

We have found that 2 connecting rooms are often a similar price or just slightly higher for our family of 5 and well worth the cost.  It is definitely worth looking into.  Also if you have good travel agent, see if they have any deals that they know of that may reduce the cost.  

3 hours ago, MLBFan24 said:

 

 

• Princess ships can enter Glacier Bay National Park (along with Holland America and NCL)
• Glacier Bay National Park rangers board the Princess ship and do narration during the route

 

I'm sure there are more advantages, but these two come to mind first. Of course, Princess has its disadvantages too, but if we're strictly talking about enjoying glaciers on your itinerary, Princess has the advantage.

 

And once again, Royal Caribbean is my favorite cruise line, so no bias haha

We are just home from a cruise on the Royal Princess and Glacier Bay and the park rangers were amazing.  My mom is a Princess cruiser, while we are mostly Royal, so I was a bit concerned about how we would like it (haven't cruised Princess for 20+years) but the cruise was worth it for Glacier Bay alone!  

There were definitely things we didn't love about Princess, but a bunch we did as well (they still have 2x cabin service!).  

11 hours ago, sargemrs said:

Oh, that’s great to know.  I looked at the app but couldn’t see exactly where to input all of that information.  I already have their cabin numbers, but I have to have all the other information as well?

Just scroll down on the Your Upcoming Cruises screen and at the bottom it says”Don’t dee your cruise? Let’s add it now”. Then put in last name, date of birth and reservation number. If you don’t have that information, I guess you would have to ask your travel agent if they have all the reservation numbers and they can take care of it.

If using the app to request towels, or ice, etc, do you have to wait around the room for someone to bring them like in a hotel?  That will be very frustrating if that is the case. We like fresh towels on vacation for every shower (or they are still wet from the previous shower!).