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The Arizona Cruisers Invade the Western Caribbean on the Oasis of the Seas, May 9 – 1


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Another week of vacation has come and gone for the 10 Arizona Cruisers who participated in the Oasis of the Seas Western Caribbean cruise. I have written a pictorial review after such cruises the last two years when we did the Allure of the Seas, Eastern Caribbean in 2013 and the Jewel of the Seas, Southern Caribbean B2B last year. This cruise was two years in the making. Finally, after all the planning the time was almost upon us and we had a final planning party at my house in March, two months before the big day.

 

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The cast of characters, from left to right: My DH Steve, me (Ginny), Norine & Gene, Nonnie, Lisa & Steve, Gary & Gail. Missing was Nonnie’s son Greg who had to work that day.

 

Two lucky couples in our group, Norine & Gene and Gary and Gail were booked on a B2B, so they would be staying on the ship a week longer than the rest of us.

 

Finally, May 8 came along and we headed to the airport. Six of us were on the same flight and the others would meet up with us at the hotel when we arrived in FLL.

 

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Here are Nonnie and her son Greg waiting to board the SWA flight with us.

 

Once we landed in FLL we collected our luggage and went to the shuttle area where we got a complimentary shuttle to our hotel, the Hyatt Place in Dania Beach near the airport. When we went on the Allure we flew in two days early and stayed at the Hyatt Pier 66 near the port. That was nice, but pricier than the Hyatt Place. Since we only opted for a one night stay this time we were looking for clean, comfortable and affordable. We were not unhappy with our choice at all. Thumbs up!

 

Since we did not arrive into FLL until after 6 PM, and hoping to avoid any pre-cruise drama like we had two years ago (see the review) we decide to order pizza and enjoy it at the hotel. The hotel desk gave us the menu from a local pizza place and by the time we were all gathered we had hot pizza in the hotel’s indoor breakfast area and a relaxing time enjoying each other’s company.

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The next morning arrived and we were ready to head for the ship after a filling complimentary breakfast. The weather was nice, so we were able to enjoy it in the hotel courtyard.

 

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When we were on the Allure two years ago Lisa had prearranged for a company called Elite Shuttle to take us to the port. The service was superb. They sent two vans with trailers to take about 16 of us to the ship. So, she arranged for them again this year. She told them when she booked there would be 10 people and there would be a lot of luggage. We were lined up and ready to go when Elite pulled up with one van and no trailer. Looking at the luggage we knew there was no way we would fit!

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So, Lisa called the company and they responded by increasing the fee on her credit card for excess luggage! So, for Elite Shuttle – thumbs down. We actually managed to get it all into the 15 passenger van, but it was tight and the driver was very apologetic. We were impressed by his packing ability.

 

Soon we were on the way to the port and this beautiful sight came into view:

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Before I go any farther let me explain what this review will and will not include. I have very few food pictures. Sorry. Food is not my main focus anymore. While I enjoy cruise food, I have lost 85 pounds this last year (still losing!) and I am now more focused on the other aspects of cruising. I find that the people I am with and the places I go are the most important parts of travel to me. I know it is a big part of cruising to many, but there are a lot of other great reviews out there that do have a lot of good information on the food and dining experiences. We did not do many specialty restaurants,

 

I will not be scanning and posting complete Compasses. I may scan some parts of some at the end of the review if time allows. We had no children with us, so I know nothing about the children’s activities. There were very few kids on this cruise, but (for the most part) they were happy and fun to be around.

 

I plan to include a lot of pictures. This was a very relaxing trip for us. Since we had been on this class of ship before and to most of the ports we didn’t feel the need to “see it all”. Our excursions were all beachy and relaxing. So, if you like pictures of sand and sea, you will love this review!

 

Since we are a bit of an older group (ages late 40’s to late 60’s) and several of us have mobility issues I will point out accessibility issues that we encountered. I personally have a bad knee that went out on last year’s cruise and am now told that a knee replacement is in my future. In the meantime I use a cane for uneven terrains and walk and swim with a knee brace. I can walk forever on a flat surface, but steps terrify me! We even had a wheelchair in the group.

 

Now on to the ship!

 

We arrived to the port around 11:15 AM, despite receiving e-mails and even phone calls from RCI stating that there was a mandatory Coast Guard Inspection and we should not arrive until 1:30 PM. Fine. Less of a line for us. Obviously, a lot of people were thinking the same as us as the place was buzzing when we arrived. Despite the organized mayhem curbside the check in process was quick and seamless. We were directed to the Diamond waiting area. I was going to take pictures of the waiting area, but almost as soon as we were seated boarding began and we were onboard before noon. In my Allure review there are pictures of the waiting area and it has not changed since then. It is spacious, clean and has restrooms, vending machines, a children’s play area and plenty of seating in air conditioned comfort.

 

While we boarded by noon we could not access our cabins until 1:00 PM, as usual with RCI. We met up with the group in Central Park. We knew from our past experience that we did not want to eat at Park Cafe or the Windjammer on boarding day. We ate at Park Cafe on the Allure on boarding day and it was a madhouse. There was no seating inside. We had to eat outside in the sweltering sun. And the Windjammer is always jammed on boarding day. We had planned to eat with Norine & Gene at Giovanni’s as others had reported it was a quieter option open for lunch the first day. Wrong! They are now using Giovanni’s for a special lunch for the B2B cruisers and it is not open to those boarding. So, we headed to the Boardwalk where the four of us decided to try Sabor’s and the others went to the Dog House.

 

Lots of room at Sabor!

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Making tableside Guacamole

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Here is possibly your one and only food picture! Steve and I split a chicken quesadilla and rice. There was plenty for both of us. Yummy!

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We were happy with a relaxing and satisfying start to our cruise.

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Cabins were open by the time we were done. We were anxious to see our cabin. We had booked two years in advance to get this cabin and now we were about to see it! We had cabin 11329, the very aft port side Boardwalk Balcony cabin with expansive views of the Boardwalk (our favorite spot on Oasis Class ships), the ocean, the Aquatheater below and the activities on the rock climbing wall and the zipliners overhead. Lisa and Steve were in the cabin next to us in 11327 and Nonnie and Greg were across the hall in an OV balcony. When we booked the cabin one of the reasons we were excited about the location was the public balcony around the corner from our cabin. We had visions of group parties out there and relaxing days watching the wake. Then “The Drydock” happened along with all of the hoopla about Dynamic Dining and other changes. But the one that upset us the most was the loss of “our” Secret Balcony! Well, Norine and Gene solved that problem and they booked the new GS 11330 for their entire B2B just so we could still have that balcony access! And just in case they were sleeping in, Gary & Gail booked the mirror image cabin across the way, 11730 for the week! We have nice (wealthy) friends.

 

We always enjoy that first glance of our cabin and this was just as exciting as the others. It meant our cruise was about to begin!

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The balcony held promise of a lot of great times ahead. The partition between our balcony and Lisa and Steve’s was already open.

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We were able to wave to Gary on his huge balcony across the way.

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We had a great view of the Boardwalk,

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And views of the port beyond the ship.

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We spent a lot of time on our balcony on this cruise. I will be posting more pictures of the ever changing balcony views as this review progresses.

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I'm so happy that I found your review. I've enjoyed your others. We're going back on Oasis for a western cruise at the end of August. Because we've done this itinerary 3 times already, I'm looking forward to reading about what you did.

 

Congrats on the weight loss! 85 lbs is amazing. Keep up the good work!

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After settling in, we headed up to Deck 16 where we were to meet up with other members of our Roll Call for an informal Meet & Greet near the flowriders at the Wipeout Bar. There was not a good turnout. I think that between the late boarding pushed by RCI and all of the activities available once onboard most of our planned activities were affected by low turnouts. However, we did meet with a few fellow Cruise Critic members and enjoyed bumping into them throughout the cruise!

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The Flowriders were fun to watch for awhile. People were already going strong showing much more talent than I would dare to ever try!

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Fleetweek was in town and Deck 16 was the perfect location for a Bird’s Eye view of a visiting aircraft carrier.

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After awhile we went to the Wipeout Cafe as some in our group (aka my DH Steve) seemed to be in dire need of a soft serve cone.

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The Wipeout Cafe is one of our favorite spots. We like the casual food served, the fresh eggs in the morning, the flavored waters available and of course, the soft serve! But my favorite thing there is the view.

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Thanks for doing a review! We have one more week to wait... I look forward to the rest of your report and pictures!

 

I'm so happy that I found your review. I've enjoyed your others. We're going back on Oasis for a western cruise at the end of August. Because we've done this itinerary 3 times already, I'm looking forward to reading about what you did.

 

Congrats on the weight loss! 85 lbs is amazing. Keep up the good work!

Thank you for the nice comments. I am glad you are enjoying it so far.:) It is encouraging to see someone is reading.

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I'm reading because I love your reviews. Your Jewel review was very helpful with my planning for our last cruise. I don't have any plans to sail on the Oasis but your reviews make me feel like I am on vacation with you so I am following along just because...

 

Congratulations on your weight loss - what an impressive accomplishment.

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Muster drill was at 4 PM. We had our muster in the Aquatheater. Afterwards we headed back to Norine & Gene’s cabin next to our’s for sailaway. They had hung the Arizona Cruiser’s banner already and we were ready to go!

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GS 11330 is spacious, carved out of the old “Secret Balcony” that we had looked forward to sharing with our friends.

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The bathroom configuration is a bit odd with an elevated tub and shower, but they didn’t seem to have a problem with it.

 

Soon we were all assembled on the huge balcony and were on our way!

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There was a sailaway party in the Aquatheater

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And we sailed out into open water on our way to Labadee, Haiti.

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That night we took advantage of a 2 for 1 special at Chops. I enjoyed the meal there as usual. It was the only night we had dinner in a Specialty restaurant.

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I had made reservations for “Oasis of Dreams” the first night, but we let that go and decided to enjoy the show from our balcony instead. I liked not having to rush from dinner to get prime seats. We already had prime seats!

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I want to take a moment now to comment on the comfort levels of the Boardwalk cabins, especially our cabin. I really can’t comment on cabins in other locations or decks on the Boardwalk. When out on the balcony you can hear the sounds of the activities below. But with the doors closed the vast majority of the noise is truly blocked out. When there was a movie in the evening we could hear the bass and vibrations from the theater, but they were usually over by 11:00 PM. Also, you must keep your curtains shut if you are changing in your cabin as you can truly see well into the cabins across the way day or night, especially at night. I will go into that later! Overall, I loved it. I love my usual ocean view balconies, also. But these cabins are a unique feature on a unique ship and I am really glad we got the cabin. Great views are always available from both inside and outside the ship. What more could you want?

 

Good night. Tomorrow we have a wonderful and relaxing day at sea.

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I'm reading because I love your reviews. Your Jewel review was very helpful with my planning for our last cruise. I don't have any plans to sail on the Oasis but your reviews make me feel like I am on vacation with you so I am following along just because...

 

Congratulations on your weight loss - what an impressive accomplishment.

 

Thank you, Robyn. appreciate the vote of confidence and I hope I don't disappoint.

 

And thank you for those who have commented on the weight loss. I still have a long way to go, but I am over half way there! Whoot!:D

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I'm really enjoying your review. While I have a bit of a long wait until it is our turn on Oasis, I am enjoying learinig as much about her as I can while I wait. I like the direction your review is going as your plans for your cruise sound very much like what ours will be. We even have the same taste in cabins. We are booked in 10327. I can't wait to see the changing views from your balcony! :D

 

I also want to congratulate you on your 85 lb weight loss! That is a wonderful accomplishment! Keep up the good work!

 

I will be following along here, and I expect to go read your other reviews when I'm done with this one. I have already added a note to remember to keep the curtains closed when needed for privacy!

Edited by perfect match
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I'm very much enjoying the review - especially all the photos. A quick question, have all the "secret balconies" now been taken over by GS? Or are there still one or two available for the general public?

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All of the secret balconies were changed into suites. The only public balconies are on the upper deck.

 

 

 

We had 11330 for 2 glorious weeks.

 

 

 

Norine

 

 

Good to know thanks :-). As a solo traveller with a modest budget I'm unlikely to ever be able to afford a suite so I guess it's the public areas only for me :-)

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Great start! Looking forward to another one of your wonderful reviews. We will be on Oasis for Thanksgiving so I am looking forward to seeing all of your port beach trips.

 

Congratulations again on your weight loss and wishing you continued success.

 

Barb

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Enjoying your trip report very much

 

I've got a long wait ahead of me until I cruise the Oasis in Dec. 2016 & this helps me while I countdown the days

 

I'm also going to check out your other reports - can't wait

 

Kudos on the weight loss :)

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I'm really enjoying your review. While I have a bit of a long wait until it is our turn on Oasis, I am enjoying learinig as much about her as I can while I wait. I like the direction your review is going as your plans for your cruise sound very much like what ours will be. We even have the same taste in cabins. We are booked in 10327. I can't wait to see the changing views from your balcony! :D

 

I also want to congratulate you on your 85 lb weight loss! That is a wonderful accomplishment! Keep up the good work!

 

I will be following along here, and I expect to go read your other reviews when I'm done with this one. I have already added a note to remember to keep the curtains closed when needed for privacy!

Thank you for following along! And yes - f you are doing anything that you would not want an audience, keep the curtains closed! Lisa and I had quite a show one night (possbly intentional). I geet get to that later in the review.:rolleyes:

 

And thank you for the weight loss compliment. Despite my best attempts I did gain a few pounds back on the cruise, but they are gone now and am on my way to a goal of losing 35 more pounds before our Panama Canal cruise in October. My Fitness Pal App and a Fitbit are all I have used. (calorie counting and exercise)

 

Great review so far ... I'm keen to see more of the ship

More pictures coming!:)

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I'm very much enjoying the review - especially all the photos. A quick question, have all the "secret balconies" now been taken over by GS? Or are there still one or two available for the general public?

 

All of the secret balconies were changed into suites. The only public balconies are on the upper deck.

 

We had 11330 for 2 glorious weeks.

 

Norine

Thank you for answering the question, Norine. Please feel free to jump in here and add any comments. Also, pictures are welcome! I didn't get as many pictures of your cabin as you probably did.:)

 

Any of the Arizona Cruisers on this cruise are encouraged to jump in here also! This is a wonderful group of friends. They are there whenever I need a frend, encouragement, someone to celebrate with and a shoulder to cry on. I am blessed by them.

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Were the lights ever turned off at the Aquatheater? I just wondered if it ever got truly dark so you could see the stars.

No, I don't think so. The best place for stargazing was probably on the Sun Deck, forward on Deck 14. I never got there at night, so I don't know for sure how dark it is, but they usually keep the lights low around the bridge for navigation purposes.

 

Great start! Looking forward to another one of your wonderful reviews. We will be on Oasis for Thanksgiving so I am looking forward to seeing all of your port beach trips.

 

Congratulations again on your weight loss and wishing you continued success.

 

Barb

The beaches were great! I will go into each one in depth.:cool:

 

Thank you for the encouragement.:)

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Enjoying your trip report very much

 

I've got a long wait ahead of me until I cruise the Oasis in Dec. 2016 & this helps me while I countdown the days

 

I'm also going to check out your other reports - can't wait

 

Kudos on the weight loss :)

You wll love the Oasis! Seriously, the similarity of the Allure and the Oasis from our two trips were almost the same, so you can also get some good ideas by looking at the Allure review, too. The decor is different, but not that much.

 

I'm enjoying your review so far. You do really great reviews. :)

Thank you, Nancy. That is quite a compliment with all of your cruise experience. I hope you are doing well.

Edited by Sunny AZ Girl
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