Anyone flown over and cruised on Oasis of the seas?

We are looking to fly over to the US to do a cruise on Oasis in 2015, September.

Just looking for some hints on where to fly into (Fort Lauderdale or Orlando?)

Is it best to book through an agent or just DIY our whole trip?

I seem to be able to find alot cheaper prices then what I'm being quoted.

 

We will be staying on for a week after the cruise to do disney world and universal so any hints there would be great also.

Do we need to fly between Fort Lauderdale and Orlando?

 

Thanks!:)

That cruise is FLL to FLL, right?

 

If you are doing the cruise first then reckon best is fly straight to FLL or Miami, whichever suits from I guess Brisbane in your case.

Qantas flys Bris-LAX-Miami or you could do Bris-Syd-Dallas-Miami

I did it last year from Perth, but to a Celebrity Cruise.

 

If planning a few days pre-cruise, Miami South Beach is the place to stay, FLL is dull.

Miami to FLL Cruise Port (Port Everglades) is only about 45 mins by cab.

 

Orlando is around 320km from FLL . Amtrak train is twice a day but takes over 4 hours so maybe Air would be best, plenty of carriers doing this route, just over an hour flight.

Thanks, we are considering flying into Dallas (breaking there for a day) then over to Fort Lauderdale the day of the cruise. I might look to see if theres a price difference into Miami.

 

We basically prefer what ever is simpler so we aren't stressing out whilst on holidays.

We did this last November/December but we went to Orlando Disney World etc first. We flew Brisbane Sydney Dallas Orlando. Stayed in Orlando for 10 nights, then drove from Orlando to Fort Lauderdale the day before the cruise on Oasis, we actually did 2 x 7 nights cruises on Oasis, both western and eastern caribbean.

 

Airine was QANTAS to Dallas then American airlines to Orlando (codeshare with QANTAS)

After the cruises we flew JetBlue (I booked this myself) to Washington DC, then caught the Amtrak to New York. We flew QANTAS New York LA Brisbane.

 

The flight to Orlando was very looooonnngggg especially the sydney to dallas leg. If I did this again I would fly brisbane to LA, stay overnight, then LA to Fort Lauderdale or Miami. As another poster said the drive from Miami to FLL is about 40 minutes. I would not catch a taxi, too long. Car hire is very reasonable but don't get conned with them filling the car for you at the end of the hire, they rip you off re: the cost per gallon.

 

Are you doing 1 x 7 night cruise on Oasis? If so, choose wisely between western and eastern. Being from Qld and our beautiful islands, I think you would like eastern better, ie. Bahamas, St Thomas and St Maarten. the western cruise is OK but unless you go on an excursion in Mexico and Jamaica there's not much to see at the port and Labadee is just a beach owned by Royal Caribbean - beautiful with a great zip line but nothing compared to the whitsundays.

 

If you have more questions please just ask...

My wife and I did the opposite a few years ago.

The cruise finished in Fort Lauderdale and we hired as car and drove to Orlando via Kennedy space centre the roads are fantastic and to hire a car is not that expensive.

We stayed a few nights in Orlando ( could have stayed longer) then flew United to L.A then Qantas to Sydney

About 24 hours all up flying including time zone changes, but do able.

Also we could check 2x23 kg of luggage each on the return flights,

Based on my experience I would recommend flying to Orlando then do all the great stuff ( don't go during the vacation season) then drive to Fort Lauderdale/ Miami and relax on the cruise.

Cheers

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

I did something similar last year.

 

Flew to Orlando (via Dallas), spent a couple of days at Kennedy space, then a 7 Day Eastern on Freedom of the Seas. When we got back, we had 14 more days in Orlando for Disney, Universal and SeaWorld.

 

My tips would be:

- Book direct, but research thoroughly, we saw massive variances between hotel and flight costs.

- Hotels we booked through Booking.com - we went for an apartment style with a separate living/kitchen area which was very handy for us. Wasn't much more than a standard hotel.

- Car hire (cheaper than transfers/taxi's) we went with webcarhire - mainly because they included all of the insurances. And you do need the insurance because your travel insurance more than likely won't cover you over there. There are whole threads on whirlpool about this.

- Take your Aust GPS to save yourself about $12 per day, but buy or download yourself Florida maps.

- We did the Eastern because I really wanted St Maartens for the planes flying over the beach.

You will have a brilliant time - I would fly into Miami if u are cruising first and leaving from Fort Lauderdale. We went on Freedom to the Caribbean and it was fantastic. You can fly home from Orlando too. We also booked directly and saved several thousand. We also booked and loved Jet Blue airline. Fantastic service and baggage included. If you have spare time in Miami, a visit to the zoological wildlife foundation is worthwhile. Tourists can experience a lot of problems with taxis in Orlando - avoid the yellow cabs. We ended up hiring a car as it was much cheaper. Would also recommend home wood suites in Orlando - on international drive and less than $100/night for a one bed suite, with kitchen and breakfast and drinks at dinner. It is a fantastic place to visit, undercover tourist is a great place to buy discounted attraction tickets too. And If you have huge harry potter fans, stay overnight at the hard rock hotel and you get early entry and have the park on your own :)

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

We were living in Texas for 4 years just recently. Now back home in Australia.

 

We did a lot of cruises from Fort Lauderdale, and also Galveston.

 

It is probably better to try and get your own flights arranged, cheaper and then you get to choose where to fly. If you can get the flight, go from Australia to LA and then connect to Orlando. Fly United through America, its a much nicer and reliable airline.

 

We have a holiday townhouse right near Walt Disney World that you could rent. Then drive down to Fort Lauderdale the night before the cruise and stay around the port. There are a lot of hotels there. We stayed at The Marriott, as you could see the ship sail out the night before (not sure if this happens now that Allure will be in Europe) Also stayed at the Holiday Inn, which is a bit closer.

 

This is the link to our holiday home http://www.homeaway.com/vacation-rental/p334354

 

If you need to know anything else, just ask :)

lownslow

 

Check out the accommodation being offered to rent from scotty_das - we stayed very close to this area in a similar type of accommodation and it was a 15 minute max drive to any of the disney parks and you should be able to get this at a very reasonable nightly rate.

We flew Qantas A380 from Sydney to LA (something appealing about flying the biggest plane to catch the biggest ship or almost the biggest ship), stayed in LA a few days, then AA from LA to Orlando (booked separately), Disneyworld onsite for 4 days, then Universal Studios and Harry Potter World for 2 days, then

 

we booked a limo from Orlando to Fort Lauderdale - for 4 people it was cheaper and more comfortable than flying and was door to door so you need to factor in not needing transport to and from the airport. It was also at the time of our choosing - at the end of a day of theme park rather than taking up one of the days.

 

We stayed in a hotel near the cruise port.

 

After the cruise on Oasis we took a taxi to Miami then flew from Miami to Nashville for a few days, drove to Memphis (because the flights between Nashville and Memphis were extraordinarily expensive I braved driving on the wrong side of the road - lucky the Nashville drivers are all wonderful polite people :) :) :) so I got used to driving before going to Memphis!)

 

Then we caught the amtrak train from Memphis to Chicago and the Californian Zephyr Amtrak train from Chicago to San Francisco (this is an iconic us train trip and we loved it!) We then flew AA to LA, stayed in an airport hotel and went shopping at the malls in LA before flying home. Qantas has a great luggage allowance compared to US airlines so we did this deliberately so we didn't have excess luggage charges within the US.

 

Happy to answer any questions. Have a great trip.

We travelled from Perth to Southampton in October to do the Transatlantic X on Oasis followed by the 5 day mini Caribbean cruise. We flew back by Raliegh / New York / Heathrow / Singapore...

in my opinion (and please this is my personal opinion). If you are going all that way from here why not book both cruises b2b. If you can try to get a suite above junior suite category but a balcony stateroom is fine.

We've been bitten by the Caribbean bug and really want to go back. If we go back and it's on Oasis/Allure we would try for a suite next time.

We also did a bus tour through Miami on the way to the airport, loved South Beach :-)

Cheers,

Nomes

We sailed on Voyager in May 2007. It was our first ever cruise and we loved it. I can't wait to see the upgrades bringing it inline with the bigger ships like Allure and Oasis. We have also been on Allure (twice) which is almost exactly the same as Oasis. Eastern & Western Caribbean cruises. We preferred the Western Caribbean. We visited Haiti, Jamaica & Cozumel. Doing a b2b would be fantastic, and something we wish to do one day.

Haiti was very pretty and relaxing. Jamaica we went on a tour to climb the Dunn's river waterfalls. That was amazing!!!! And after that a visit to the dolphins.

Cozumel we toured the island and visited the Mayan ruins.

We flew into Fort Lauderdale for our cruise on the Oasis. We flew with Delta to LAX and then with Alaska Air. Both were wonderful.

 

We stayed at Embassy Suites in Fort Lauderdale and requested a room overlooking the port. I got up at 5-30 and watched our huge ship sail in and it was wonderful. This hotel has a free full buffet breakfast and a managers special with free drinks for 2 hours each night. It is right beside shops and there is a trolley into the more touristy area.

 

We did the Western Caribbean and loved it. Labidee was a lot of fun and much more than just a zip line there. In Jamaica we did a tour to Bob Marleys Tomb and it was fantastic. In Mexico we swam with dolphins and had a mother and baby swim with us.

 

You will love the Oasis but be warned by dat 3 or 4 you will notice how much walking you are doing.

We did this last year but in reverse.had a month in orlando then had a one way hire car down to Fort Lauderdale.Stayed at a great hotel right on the beach called The Lago Mar for a few days before our cruise on the Allure.From the hotel beach we saw the oasis leave the day before our cruise, couldn't believe the size of ship.We liked the west over the eastern caribbean itinery,but sitting on that airport beach at St Maarten was a lot of fun.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Cruise Critic Forums mobile app

Did I hear you say...."fly in the day of the cruise"???????

That's a no-no in my books...especially as you are going half way across the world for this cruise.

Camp in Fort Lauderdale the night before as some hotels have a free shuttle to the dock. Very easy and very stress free !

 

BTW...we stayed at

Sleep Inn & Suites

1500 SE 5th Ave,

Dania,

 

and they had a free shuttle.

 

I seem to be able to find alot cheaper prices then what I'm being quoted.

If you're getting huge variation on cruise pricing, don't forget that some prices may not include prepaid gratuities and some will. Make sure you're not comparing apples and oranges. It seems to be quite a common mistake.