Live from ... Oasis of the Seas (Photos, First Impressions, Vignettes)

[cps10]

Is the zipline done by setting up a reservation or just wait in line?

 

When we got on the ship on Thursday, we went up to the zipline to find that there was no times available for the activity. Of course, we were only on for one night, so that was to be expected. Perhaps on a 7-day cruise it will be better in terms of availability.

 

Regardless, sitting in line for what amounts to a 5-second ride isn't my idea of using time wisely.

[cps10]

Did Royal Caribbean forget to design an Internet cafe onboard Oasis of the Seas? The set-up that exists -- two small, inside cabin-sized windowless cubbies with a half dozen terminals apiece -- is the most appalling Internet facility I've seen on a cruise ship since Internet access was first introduced.

 

The ship does have wireless; if you want to make much use of the Internet I'd suggest you bring your own laptop/device. You do have to access a terminal to start your wireless connection and good luck with that. Three different times today I visited one or the other of the hideous Internet rooms and because access was free, computers were always occupied and there was no way to even get set up.

 

Also, god forbid if you have a problem or a question or as I saw today the printer runs out of paper. There's no staffing there (I remember this strategy from Independence of the Seas and thought it was a bad practice then). And there's no phone to call anyone for help. You have to leave your terminal presumably and go downstairs.

 

This is truly a bush league Internet set-up and there's no excuse for it.

 

--Carolyn Spencer Brown, Editor in Chief

 

This was certainly a problem for us on Thursday night as well. Fortunately, we found one of those cubbies just by chance looking around the ship. When we tried to sign up for Wi-Fi, it kept telling us "Come Back Later" on the screen. We didn't know what to do since there was nobody available to help. We just on a whim decided to see if our user name took when back at the room, and it did. So we had the access. It was not as slow as I expected, but if you are going to be on Oasis and plan on using it alot (ours was free for the pre-Inaugural), I recommend a laptop as well, and you should find the cheapest package possible, even if you are purchasing 150 minutes or so. It's just more value than to try and get into the Internet cubbies as Carolyn mentioned.

[uncleboo]

please post menus and daily activity programs

 

 

did anyone have the cupcakes?

 

how much were they?

 

how much is it for ake decorating

 

 

thanks

[cps10]

I hope u mention this issues to the powers that be (if u come across them again before you debark the ship):) especially the "bad attitude" of the manager.

 

 

I am hoping that we get comment cards about our experiences. Whereas the ship is amazing, there are some little tweaks that the powers that be need to know about. We found it extremely odd that we weren't allowed to keep our SetSail cards where we usually keep them for souvenirs. Another thing was that we never received a final statement for our purchases onboard. Thirdly, the counter space in the bathroom in the Balcony cabins was virtually non-existant. There were a few others, but I don't want to continue blasting when the experience overall was very good.

[nursewurmy]

I have a couple of questions. On the voyager class spa they had something I think they called a princess slipper do they have that on this ship? Do they have couples rasual? what about the wow phones? do you know what the costs will be?

 

Becky

[GotDrums]

I am hoping that we get comment cards about our experiences. Whereas the ship is amazing, there are some little tweaks that the powers that be need to know about. We found it extremely odd that we weren't allowed to keep our SetSail cards where we usually keep them for souvenirs. Another thing was that we never received a final statement for our purchases onboard. Thirdly, the counter space in the bathroom in the Balcony cabins was virtually non-existant. There were a few others, but I don't want to continue blasting when the experience overall was very good.

 

You were not allowed to keep your SetSail cards which are tied to one of your own credit cards?

Thats very odd.

Ive always kept my SetSail cards plus the fact that this in itself is a very active credit card that pulls from my very real money.

When did they take your cards from you?

Just curious

Thanks

Tim:cool:

[cps10]

One thing that we really thought was unique - and we have asked about this from cruise lines for what seems like forever - was the organization that Oasis has when it comes to buying those pictures in the Photo Gallery. On our Crown Princess sailing, it seemed as though pictures would get lost in the shuffle when you knew that you were going to purchase them near the end of the cruise, and you find yourself searching for hours to retrieve them. We have asked people if they could just take all of our photos and put them in a binder and we would purchase what we want at the end of the cruise. Their answer? Typically "no" or even emphatically "no". We had one guy on Carnival Victory tell us that it was impossible because it is against the Photo Gallery policy. Really? Policy? Are they serious?

 

Anyway, to make a long story short - Oasis has YOUR photos organized in binders that you can look up. They found our names/cabin number and brought us to a specific binder that was intended to house all of our pictures during the cruise. I felt like our crusade was finally successful - that RCCL had been the only cruise line to listen. :)

[cps10]

You were not allowed to keep your SetSail cards which are tied to one of your own credit cards?

Thats very odd.

Ive always kept my SetSail cards plus the fact that this in itself is a very active credit card that pulls from my very real money.

When did they take your cards from you?

Just curious

Thanks

Tim:cool:

 

 

Tim - that is correct. They took them as we debarked from the ship yesterday afternoon. When my wife finally got enough steam into her ears, she finally asked a couple of people in the terminal about it. Both of their responses, "I Don't Know".

 

I felt like I was watching that scene from "Fast Times...." with Spicoli and Mr. Hand.

[LisaGoeke]

Anyone get a chance to check out the Diamond Lounge...or to take some pictures of it?

[eroller]

The Voyager/Freedom Class has very extensive spa facilities but no thermal suite. I believe that OASIS does have a thermal suite.

 

Does OASIS still offer free, separate men's and women's sauna and steam rooms?

 

On the Voyager/Freedom Class the sauna and steam offer a window to the sea. If OASIS still has these facilities I don't think there will be any window based on the positioning of the spa (forward and low).

 

I see the cardio area does have the large portholes, but no more beautiful sea views from high atop the ship.

 

Ernie

[hylasgirl]

First time that I have seen this chart. Good to have.

 

 

This states the Coffee Bar is complimentary also and I doubt that is right.

[GotDrums]

This states the Coffee Bar is complimentary also and I doubt that is right.

 

I saw that as well that the Mondo Coffee bar is complimentary.

Perhaps they were only refering to the food and goodies such as pastries.

I would doubt that specialty coffee would be free.

Peace

Tim:cool:

[Oasis of the Seas]

I was wondering the same thing. Their website says breakfast is complimentary.

http://media.royalcaribbean.com/content/en_US/pdf/Oasis_Restaurants.pdf

 

Thanks for the handy chart ... which is accurate according to crew onboard. So Johnny Rockets is FREE for breakfast, and $4.95 for lunch/dinner. Secondly, the Seafood Shack is $8.95 for both lunch and dinner (closed for breakfast).

[Spring]

Have not seen any pictures of the Diamond Lounge, Concierge Lounge or the Viking Crown lounge, any out there.

[catlady27]

Have not seen any pictures of the Diamond Lounge, Concierge Lounge or the Viking Crown lounge, any out there.

 

 

Also pictures of the Solarium Pool, Comedy Club, Schooner Bar, Views our of the Viking Crown lounge, pictures of the chapel (vow renewals soon to come), Spa and Fitness Center, view from the Loft Suites (center back, that's the room we have for Sept.) Is deck 4 still open all the way around for people to walk around? What deck is the running track on? Basically, less pictures of plants and more substance :) please:D

[cps10]

I have a picture of us IN the Viking Crown Lounge, but it doesn't have a wide view of the lounge itself. We weren't allowed in the Diamond Lounge or the Concierge Lounge because we weren't in that class. Didn't make any sense since it was an agent sailing, but oh well.

[cps10]

Here are a couple of the Solarium pools...

 

We also have a couple of the Comedy Club that don't show the entire club, as well as Schooner Bar. The ones in Schooner Bar are a little dim because it seemed they turned all the lights down on the boat at night. We do have a few of the Spa and Fitness as well.

[avalon1025]

The Voyager/Freedom Class has very extensive spa facilities but no thermal suite. I believe that OASIS does have a thermal suite.

 

Does OASIS still offer free, separate men's and women's sauna and steam rooms?

 

On the Voyager/Freedom Class the sauna and steam offer a window to the sea. If OASIS still has these facilities I don't think there will be any window based on the positioning of the spa (forward and low).

 

I see the cardio area does have the large portholes, but no more beautiful sea views from high atop the ship.

 

Ernie

 

Hi Ernie, just off the ship. Gym seemed like an after thought. In the bow, no real views. There is a small for fee thermal suite but no steam or sauna. Also only maybe 4 showers and 20 lockers in a small Mens locker room. When we asked we were told the space was reallocated to more treatment rooms...more revenue. Most of the gym has no windows. there is a slippery glass staircase that looks like an accident waiting to happen. Equipment is good! Overall reminded my of the older ships with the spa and gym in the bowels of the ship

[TrishOB]

Here are a couple of the Solarium pools...

 

Are they heated?

[cps10]

Are they heated?

 

That I am not sure about. Maybe the Editorial staff will be able to shed some light on that.

 

Also - re: glass staircase in the Spa...my wife was terrified of walking down it, because you can't really tell where the breaks in the stairs are. Aesthetically nice looking, but practically a potential disaster.

[cps10]

Hi Ernie, just off the ship. Gym seemed like an after thought. In the bow, no real views. There is a small for fee thermal suite but no steam or sauna. Also only maybe 4 showers and 20 lockers in a small Mens locker room. When we asked we were told the space was reallocated to more treatment rooms...more revenue. Most of the gym has no windows. there is a slippery glass staircase that looks like an accident waiting to happen. Equipment is good! Overall reminded my of the older ships with the spa and gym in the bowels of the ship

 

 

Here is a picture of the glass staircase in the Vitality Spa. Again, great to look at, but you could stumble because vertically, you can't see where the steps break. More dangerous going down than up. Was humorous to people-watch here to watch how careful they were.

[High Hair High Seas]

Awesome restaurant chart (see link above)! Thanks for the tip.

[Oasis of the Seas]

What a pleasant surprise to find Wi-Fi on my Delta flight back to New York -- and then find out it's FREE Wi-Fi! It's being subsidized onboard the airline's crafts as a holiday promotion by eBay. More airlines should offer this; you can take away my meals, my ability to check bags without selling a first-born and even my dignity, but please don't take away my ability to update Facebook and Twitter.

 

Back on topic, the take off from Fort Lauderdale was spectacular as I had a perfect view of the port (19A, window seat on the left side of the plane). Oasis was docked perpendicular to Emerald Princess (113,000 tons, 3,114 passengers), which certainly looked smaller in comparison -- but Silver Shadow (28,258 tons, 382 passengers), across the way, may has well have been a tug boat or tub toy! Holland America's Westerdam (85,000 tons, 1,848 passengers) was well overshadowed, too. Even as we ascended into the air, Oasis of the Seas remained a massive presence on the waterfront.

 

Awesome view for folks flying in and out on Sundays, for cruise trips or otherwise. I wish I'd had my camera handy....

 

--Melissa Paloti, Managing Editor

[kk99]

Hi Melissa,

Thanks for all of the pictues and videos. When you get a chance, please post up on the thread I started for cabin information. I plan on doing a spreadsheet for everyone,so to help future Oasis cruisers. I'm sure you had the time of your life! Here's the link http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1093515

 

Thanks, Kelcie

__________________

[cps10]

What a pleasant surprise to find Wi-Fi on my Delta flight back to New York -- and then find out it's FREE Wi-Fi! It's being subsidized onboard the airline's crafts as a holiday promotion by eBay. More airlines should offer this; you can take away my meals, my ability to check bags without selling a first-born and even my dignity, but please don't take away my ability to update Facebook and Twitter.

 

Back on topic, the take off from Fort Lauderdale was spectacular as I had a perfect view of the port (19A, window seat on the left side of the plane). Oasis was docked perpendicular to Emerald Princess (113,000 tons, 3,114 passengers), which certainly looked smaller in comparison -- but Silver Shadow (28,258 tons, 382 passengers), across the way, may has well have been a tug boat or tub toy! Holland America's Westerdam (85,000 tons, 1,848 passengers) was well overshadowed, too. Even as we ascended into the air, Oasis of the Seas remained a massive presence on the waterfront.

 

Awesome view for folks flying in and out on Sundays, for cruise trips or otherwise. I wish I'd had my camera handy....

 

--Melissa Paloti, Managing Editor

 

Melissa - when we were boarding on Thursday (day before you), we saw the Independence of the Seas, which did from Federal Highway, look like a tug boat. Just the frontal view of the Oasis was so wide that it looked like a great white shark getting ready to attack. Even the Celebrity Equinox - the largest ship of the fleet - looked almost like a casino boat going out for an overnight to Nassau. And we all know that this is impossible!!

 

I know that Carnival Miracle was in when you got there on Friday, but not sure if there was another Celebrity or Holland ship in there at that time.

 

Congrats on the Wi-Fi, my feelings exactly. However, we only got DirecTV yesterday on our JetBlue flight back to Charlotte, which was good too, since College Football was on!!

 

Attached is the frontal view of Oasis as we were driving into Terminal 18 on Thursday to embark. Look how wide she is! Not the best photo since it was from the car, but gives you an idea of how much wider this ship is than the others.