pjack61

We were on Oasis last week booked early dining and there were 2 couples reservations linked. As soon as we boarded we went to the MDR to check our table and they did not have us together. I had to press to get a table together. They got us settled into an 8 seat table where the other guests never showed up. 
Just don’t assume, go there when you board. 

He is a good cruise director. We had him on the Freedom about 5 years ago. One of the better ones. 

We had a dinner for 6 with wine pairing for each course at the 150 restaurant (11 years ago on Oasis). That meal is memorable for all that were there. The service, the food impeccable and the wine it was worth every penny. The dinner for 4, this time was average at best. Service was below average. I was tempted to return my scallops and Caesar salad, probably should have. 

Roatan you need to make sure you are on ship time 1 hour ahead of Roatan time)

Prebooking and food menus were open on the Royal app about a month prior. 
we didn’t do the water slide or the Abyss slide they looked impressive though. 

Prebooking and food menus were open on the Royal app about a month prior. 
we didn’t do the water slide or the Abyss slide they looked impressive though. 

Yes, we were able to prebook Aqua, Ice and Cats. The rest of the shows ( mainly comedy club) had to be booked on the ship.  Cats was on the ship 11 years ago when we sailed. We walked out back then. 

Some observations after a week on Oasis of the Seas:

Ship is in good shape. Embarkation out of Terminal A in Miami was confusing, lacking simple signage, and the acoustics made it almost impossible to hear instructions from the RCI reps. Sea pass cards are now left in an envelope outside your cabin. Muster is done as you board ( very efficient and quick).

disembarkation literally took us 7 minutes to get from our cabin to ground transportation. Facial recognition used at customs with no declaration forms!

All crew and service was great! 
MDR food was very good. No corkage fee for bringing our own wine. Lobster night, as many as you could eat. 
150 specialty restaurant the scallop appetizer was almost inedible, the Caesar salad was not as good as the MDR version,but the filet and the desserts were very good. Just not worth the $150 for two!

Windjammer breakfast was average, scrambled eggs(or whatever that was) were inedible for me but plenty of fried eggs, etc. 

Windjammer lunch offerings above average. 
Locofresh (complimentary) was very good with fresh made flour tortillas and salsa all of the meats and other were great. 
BBQ joint, I got the 3 meat and 2 sides platter and it was almost enough food for 4. All smoked meats and the brisket was some of the best I’ve had ( I was shocked by how good it was).

Music venues all below average. Ventriloquist headliner was very good. Aqua show a must see amazing. Ice show worn out. Comedy shows booked up. 
We were on this ship 11 years ago and it’s still doing ok. 

Is there a shuttle that runs from the rental car return ( downtown Miami) to the cruise port?

We have been to Mr. Santos and Nachi. Santos we found to be livelier with better food and Nachi to be peaceful with slightly lower quality food. Drinks were good at both. Take your pick🙂. We will be returning to Cozumel 12/6 and going to Nachi. 

As of 11/12/22 the beers average around $8.00+ 18% gratuity😳

As of 11/12/22 the cost of cocktails is $14.00+ 18% gratuity = $16.52 !!

Lobster alive had no more than 10 chairs with one family there.
Boatyard just show up no reservations needed.

Just returned from a cruise and day at Carlisle Bay. We spent the day at Boatyard. Best quality lounge chairs. Relaxed, good music, good food, friendly people. I walked the entire stretch of beach and I can tell you that Lobster alive and Pirates cove had very few chairs out and handful of people at each. Harbor lights was busy but their lounge chairs and umbrellas were in rough shape but still a number of people there. We were very happy we spent the day at boatyard. 

$ 25 per person got us 2 lounges with umbrella, 2 drinks and taxi fare back to the ship. Recommend them. 

My favorite, a Smoky Rita.

jalapeno infused Reposado 

Mezcal

lime juice

chili salt rim

We were on Kdam last February and there was a daily, morning Bloody Mary special at the main pool bar, $6.00, unannounced.

We have sailed on both ships. The main differences would be the narrower promenade deck on the Kdam; the round showroom on the Kdam and the more modern decor on the Kdam. Both beautiful ships with the best cuisine and service we have experienced with 4 cruise lines.

You'll find that HAL ships in general, have 55+ cruiser norm. You will be the life of the ship if you're in early 50's. We are sailing the Koningsdam next week, it will be our 10th cruise and 3rd with HAL. We have sailed 3 times with Princess, 3 times with Royal Caribbean, 3 times with HAL and one time with Norwegian. HAL has the best service in our opinion and Id rank them top in food.

Half moon Cay is awesome. It is the best beach you'll see in the Caribbean. the amenities are great, plenty of lounge chairs for everyone, powder sand and lots of fish, great service, good BBQ lunch all included except soda and alcohol.

Grand Turk is another great beach day, literally 300 feet off the ship, you are in a nice lounger and Margaritaville is just a few steps away. we will be walking down the beach 10 minutes to a place called Jacks shack which is awesome with free lounge chairs, not as crowded.

Costa Maya has a fairly nice cruise port area with pool...but the rest not very nice, I'd stay on the ship here.

My wife and I were on the 8 day sailing 2/18/17 thru 2/26/17. Here's our observations:The ship was in great condition. Stateroom 2598 was in great condition and our room attendant, (Sandi) was probably the best we have had in 9 cruises.I had the Deluxe beverage package and never had any up charge, stuck with topshelf spirits, never any issue. Tip your bar staff with every order. Your name gets into the system quickly and the other bar staff take care of you, I observed this alot. If you like margaritas, make sure you try a 'smoky-rita' phenomenal.Food quality for the past 6 months or so, on this forum, has been an issue on FOS. I can tell you that we experienced excellent menus, and above average food quality at the MDR and Windjammer for dinners and lunch...breakfast?... well, you know, they gotta make there money somewhere.All service, everywhere in the ship was suberb, best in 9 cruises. Cruise director Michel from Naples was the best in our 9 cruises...he is a professional entertainer in his own right. Entertainment was ok. Did the BOGO at Sabor and Giovannis:Sabor experience: stale chips, below average guacamole, dry carnitas, excellent appetizers and the best Red Snapper dish I have had anywhere( and we are foodies), desserts uninspiring. 2 of the best margaritas i have ever tasted ( avocado, yep...and the sweet and spicey) overall the Snapper dish was worth the cost of the whole meal.Giovannis experience: uninspiring seafood soup, good caprese, average ceasar salad, then...the waiter forgot to place our pasta order and delivered our entree. Tenderloin fantastic and the chicken breast blabbity blah was average. Desserts uninspiring. our pasta course was delivered to our room the following evening and the gnocci was so overcooked it had become a potatoe mash, inedible. The other cappelini dish was excellent. Again, the quality of the tenderloin entree was worth the cost of the meal.Overall great ship we would sail again.

My wife and I will be on this cruise as well! Our first on FOS. We have sailed on Allure and Oasis which are similar in size to FOS. I can tell you that even in moderate high seas, we felt no movement on those 2 ships, just amazing!

Couple of port stop recommendations: Labadee, get off early and go to Columbus cove on the far right as you get off the ship, its the best area for beach and relax.

St Maarten, the best excursion we have ever done (8 cruises) was Captain Bob's island tour and snorkle. It is an all day excursion for around $125 per person and includes excellent lunch and unlimited beer/ soda. Sailing around St Maarten on a speedboat and getting to incredible snorkle and beach stops was just incredible!

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g147347-d2083816-Reviews-Soualiga_Destinations_Boat_Tours-Philipsburg_Sint_Maarten_St_Maarten_St_Martin.html

Enjoy your cruise!

Does anyone have pictures of the FOS bar menus?

We just spent 2 nights at Pier 66. We booked because of price and the water taxi stop at the hotel. When we arrived we saw that Pelicans Landing is closed for Construction until furhter notice....in other words the water taxi stop was closed as well as the restaurant! Other than that we had a lovely stay it is a beautiful place. Great food for room service too. Dont miss the huge Banyan tree on the west side of the main building!

My wife and I sailed on Oasis last spring and we looked forward to sailing on the sister ship Allure and we had a great time.

Highlights:

All shows were incredible oceanaria, ice games, blue planet, Chicago. All high end production.

Room attendant Dominic, awesome.

Cruise Director Ken the best.

Windjammer food was the best we have had in (6) cruises. We do not eat there often, but were so impressed by the lunch and dinner offerrings on this cruise that we ate there 4 times for dinner. MDR dinner first night was good, prime rib was phenominal.

Park central roastbeef and make your own salad, delicious.

Hot dog stand what a great place, fresh baked hot dog buns, 7 offerings all excellent! If I were 20 years younger i could have camped there!

Stops in St Thomas, avoid the crowds, find the ferry to water island, rent a golf cart ( kellys carts) cruise around the 600 acre island, then drive right up on the Honeymoon beach at " Christy's" i think that was the name, great food, beautiful beach, quiet, friendly. 6000 cruisers on our ship and there were about 50 at this beach...nice, will not dissapoint.

St Maarten, did the Bob Cass speedboat tour. This is amazing and worth double the cost. Lunch is all fresh island bbq, fish or chicken with red beans rice. Snorkeling at tinttamare and the sea turtles, awesome. Snorkeling at creole rock the best snorkel spot for us so far! 3 more remote beach stops and pinnel island, jumping waves on the atlantic side, Maho, flying at 70 knots the last 5 miles! Book this!

Lowlights

Samba Grill was awful, and i am guarded in my criticism, but the meat was tastless, the pork, lamb, sausage all over cooked. This is not close to the quality specialty restaurant that we are used to on Royal, Princess or HL.

Giovannis...seafood soup was just awful, and I hate to say this, but I literally took one bite and had to push it aside...and I am a seafood lover. Salad average.

Bread, tastless. Crustini appetizer excellent, gnocci average at best, lamb chops were best part of the meal, but the accompanying side of sauteed spinach and squash was very bitter and was a complete disconnect with the lamb. Desserts average. These were our only 2 specialty dinners on the cruise and they were both a dissapointment, and Im being kind...although waitstaff always good.

This has been mentioned recently in other allure reviews, but we noticed a general " sadness, overworked, attitude" and pop up smiling now and then.

We have not seen this so comprehensively before in our 5 other cruises. This is not to say that everyone had this " malaise" ther were occasional happy staff, especially our room attendant.

In spite of the lows, this was still an excellent cruise and we loved it!

My wife and I sailed on Oasis last spring and we looked forward to sailing on the sister ship Allure and we had a great time.

Highlights:

All shows were incredible oceanaria, ice games, blue planet, Chicago. All high end production.

Room attendant Dominic, awesome.

Cruise Director Ken the best.

Windjammer food was the best we have had in (6) cruises. We do not eat there often, but were so impressed by the lunch and dinner offerrings on this cruise that we ate there 4 times for dinner. MDR dinner first night was good, prime rib was phenominal.

Park central roastbeef and make your own salad, delicious.

Hot dog stand what a great place, fresh baked hot dog buns, 7 offerings all excellent! If I were 20 years younger i could have camped there!

Stops in St Thomas, avoid the crowds, find the ferry to water island, rent a golf cart ( kellys carts) cruise around the 600 acre island, then drive right up on the Honeymoon beach at " Christy's" i think that was the name, great food, beautiful beach, quiet, friendly. 6000 cruisers on our ship and there were about 50 at this beach...nice, will not dissapoint.

St Maarten, did the Bob Cass speedboat tour. This is amazing and worth double the cost. Lunch is all fresh island bbq, fish or chicken with red beans rice. Snorkeling at tinttamare and the sea turtles, awesome. Snorkeling at creole rock the best snorkel spot for us so far! 3 more remote beach stops and pinnel island, jumping waves on the atlantic side, Maho, flying at 70 knots the last 5 miles! Book this!

Lowlights

Samba Grill was awful, and i am guarded in my criticism, but the meat was tastless, the pork, lamb, sausage all over cooked. This is not close to the quality specialty restaurant that we are used to on Royal, Princess or HL.

Giovannis...seafood soup was just awful, and I hate to say this, but I literally took one bite and had to push it aside...and I am a seafood lover. Salad average.

Bread, tastless. Crustini appetizer excellent, gnocci average at best, lamb chops were best part of the meal, but the accompanying side of sauteed spinach and squash was very bitter and was a complete disconnect with the lamb. Desserts average. These were our only 2 specialty dinners on the cruise and they were both a dissapointment, and Im being kind...although waitstaff always good.

This has been mentioned recently in other allure reviews, but we noticed a general " sadness, overworked, attitude" and pop up smiling now and then.

We have not seen this so comprehensively before in our 5 other cruises. This is not to say that everyone had this " malaise" ther were occasional happy staff, especially our room attendant.

My wife and I are at Pier 66 as well getting ready to depart for the Allure!