Highlights of Oasis 1/23 - 1/30

Just got home from a relaxing week on the Oasis. We had been on Allure a couple years ago and had high expectations. There were very few problems all week and overall I'd give the cruise a 9 of 10!

From car to Roast Beef in Central Park Cafe was a very organized 45 minutes. Balcony Oceanview cabin 6690 was in an ideal location-- near rear elevators and quiet. 6th floor is a quick staircase to everything we really used except the pools and Windjammer Cafe.

Windjammer was never overly crowded and everything was pretty good except the awful scrambled "eggs." Our large group took up two tables for the 6 pm dinner in the main dining room and it happened to involve two different staffs. We switched tables and combinations nightly yet both sets of waiters knew our names and needs. Excellent food and service all around. Chops and Sabor were both very good diversions but there is no need to leave the MDR.

If you haven't done so sign up for the Meet and Mingle and organize a cabin crawl. It was a trip highlight to see a variety of suites and standard cabin types. Thanks to everyone who organized and opened up their homes.

Shows, ports, and the highlight of the trip coming next...

Thanks for your review.

Glad you had a great time.

Safe travels.

...the shows were all amazing. We have been on many cruises, visit Vegas, and have seen numerous Broadway and London shows. Considering cruise stage restrictions we were very impressed. 12 of the 14 in our group stayed for all of Cats and many were brought to tears by Kate Moore as Grizabella when she sang Memories. It is a great play for singing and ballet quality dancing. Just don't go in with huge expectations around the plot.

The Oasis of Dreams Aqua Show is perhaps the most impressive thing I've ever seen. Up there with Springsteen from the second row and Siegfried and Roy in Vegas.

For some sing along guitar fun visit the Globe and Atlas to see Jimmy. Headliner Corey London was excellent but limited to 45 minutes. We couldn't even get a seat and stood but wanted it to go on.

Come Fly With Me was also excellent. Great acrobatics and tumbling. Love and Marrage and Quest were fun but a bit tired (maybe I'm old.) We did enjoy some dirty stuff-- the Adult Comedy show was hysterical. The two headliners were funny but the overweight host had us rolling. We didn't get reservations but arrived 45 minutes before and just got in.

There was a medical emergency on board so last night's Frozen in Time show was performed while we were racing at 22 knots into bumpy seas en route to a 5 minute docking in Nassau. I counted 3 stumbles and 5 complete falls from the skaters. Still impressive and entertaining. The sand sculpture artist was the highlight.

No major problems with lounge chair hogs at any of the pools. You couldn't always be exactly were you wanted but could always find a chair. Being that it was after Christmas and before Spring Break there were not too many kids on board. Probably 500-600 instead of 2,000+ in the summer. Wait service was good at the pools and we took full advantage of the drink package. In fact other then not always having someone's favorite wine and an occasional wait, we liked the bar service throughout the ship.

Activities, ports, and the highlight of our trip next...

Thanks for taking the time to share.

Thank you for a very informative report. Much appreciated.

Sent from my Galaxy Note 3 using Tapatalk

There is so much to do on Oasis class ships. When we did Allure last time we ice skated, flow rode, and zip lined. This time on Oasis we played basketball, volleyball, putt putt golf, but mostly just read by the pool. When it was cool or windy the Solarium was perfect. On hot days the beach or sport pool was crowded but nice.

The casino staff was very friendly and well trained. We avoided too many slot machines because they can literally mix the odds against you. Sadly we lost some money at Blackjack where they can't do much to hurt you. Most tables paid 3:2 on Blackjack. When you play craps you can tell how sharp the staff is. They were really on the ball and helpful. Again it was pretty disappointing that we never made real progress. Win, lose, win, lose, lose. One guest did win $30,000 on a slot machine, but most folks didn't seem to be winning.

We've been to Nassau so many times that we don't normally get off the ship. This time we were going to scuba dive but it was cancelled due to strong winds, and generally grey weather. St. Thomas is a beautiful port and we enjoyed the Kayak, Hike, and Snorkel excursion. A good mix of exercise and fun with perfect weather 28c or 82f and light breezes.

St. Maarten was an adventure. Again the wind was back and a two tank scuba dive was the plan. Four of us headed out for a three hour tour. The weather started getting rough and the tiny ship was tossed. The young lady in our group turned green and fed the fish. Once we got under water everyone felt better. However upon asending she proved that you can throw up into your regulator while under water and not drown. Dive number two was equally challenging just to get on and off the boat. The dive shop and boat was well run. Thanks to our dive master Austin.

So what was the highlight of the whole trip? I didn't really like pianist Tonya in the Scooner Bar too much but last night I was outvoted. We sat quite close to her and she started out slowly to be polite. Then seven lead actors from Cats walked in including Kate Moore mentioned earlier. As the evening wore on they all moved around the piano and Tonya got smart. She pulled out an extra mic and passed it around.

Since some of the cast is changing out tomorrow they were all there celebrating. We spent the next hour and a half with amazing singing (and very good piano playing I have to say). Since it was the last night of the cruise most everyone was gone by midnight, and we were basically given a private show until 1:15.

We woke up at 7:45, quickly dressed and wheeled our bags off the ship by 8:15 with only a short line on deck 5. Didn't seem like 5,000 - 6,000 people at all... Until we got to customs where the lines were worse than a new ride at Disney World on spring break.

Overall I'd say RCL still has a great mix of quality and fun with the best ships. :)

I guess RCL earnings come out in the morning. We contributed to the best of our abilities.

Thanks for taking the time to post your review.

Thanks for your review. I can hardly wait until it is our turn to sail on her!

Glad you enjoyed the cruise.

Keith

RCL missed their 4th quarter revenue estimates and will open down 6% at $77. That is quite a drop from the high of $103. (I guess we didn't spend enough)