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Oasis - Awesome - My Picture Review


Aquahound

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I have never done a picture review, so I figured if there was any time to do one, it's of the Oasis.

 

First, to set the mood of my review, DW and I are mid-30s, huge fans of Royal Caribbean, and we love all classes of their ships....small to large. This was my first cruise on Oasis and my first cruise as a Diamond Plus C&A member. I'll try to touch on every thing I experienced, but if I miss something, be sure to ask.

 

Here goes....

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Despite reading of the ease of embarking and debarking Oasis, I was curious to experience, for myself, the crowds and madness of boarding this ship. I was pleased to see it would not happen. The terminal for the Oasis is huge and it handles people better than any other cruise terminal.

 

I was booked in a Junior Suite. All suites, including JS's, have a separate entrance in to the terminal building. We arrived at 10:30, went straight to a check-in counter, then straight upstairs to the waiting area.

 

The entire second floor of the terminal was the waiting area. At the head was a suites and Diamond Plus waiting area with cushioned sofas. Next was a Diamond row, and then a Platinum row. From there, around to the other side of the terminal was general boarding seating.

 

Embarkation began at 11:00.

 

Here is a great change.....they now take your photo at the check-in counter. This serves a couple purposes. The straight-on photo (opposed to the old style of looking down at the camera) is used for facial recognition for on-board photos. That, I will get to later. Also, you no longer need to take a security photo when first boarding the ship. This means no lines. Embarking this ship could not have been any easier.

 

Here is the suites and D+ waiting area:

 

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Here is the rest of the terminal. Notice how uncrowded it is. This is about 20 minutes before boarding:

 

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The terminal for the Oasis is huge and it handles people better than any other cruise terminal....

 

The straight-on photo (opposed to the old style of looking down at the camera) is used for facial recognition for on-board photos....

 

Embarking this ship could not have been any easier.

 

Agreed x 3. This embarkation was a dream. We didn't even have time to see the Platinum waiting area, they were that efficient in processing us. And now that you mention it, the straight-on head shot makes perfect sense to me now. :)

 

Thanks in advance for undertaking this photo review; I know a lot of folks will be interested and excited if they have not yet sailed her.

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Similar to Voyager and Freedom Class, you board this ship on to the deck 5 outdoor promenade. Upon entering, depending on which door you go in, you are either at the front or back of the Royal Promenade. I entered from the aft doors.

 

When first entering the Royal Promenade, the first thing I saw was the Rising Tides Bar. It is basically the center piece of the R.P. I knew at this point I was going to be in awe while exploring this ship.

 

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From there, walking forward, there was the Cafe Promenade, Cupcake Cupboard, Sorrentos, Globe and Atlas Pub, Boleros, On-Air Club, and many of the shops.

 

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A couple more shots of the Royal Promenade:

 

This is the view from the Schooner Bar:

 

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Here is the Cupcake Cupboard and Sorrentos:

 

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Cupcakes in the Cupcake Cupboard were $2.50 and they were delicious. They did periodic cupcake building classes, but I never took part in them.

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Good to see her again...love the photos so far Aqua. I can attest to the facial recognition as my hubby put it to the test! He shaved his moustache to after boarding and a flashing red light and siren went off when we came back from our excursion in St. Martin. It was straightened out very quickly, but was a bit of a shock at the time. LOL

 

Look forward to more of your review. :)

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From there, we walked up 3 stories to deck 8 in order to walk through Central Park. I really didn't know what to think of this concept when it was revealed, but I found it to be a very beautiful and relaxing venue. There were over 12,000 plants. Off Central Park was Vintages Wine Bar, Giovanni's Table, 150 Central Park, Chops Grille, Park Bistro, a Coach store, an art gallery, and a specialty photo studio.

 

This bar was also a nice touch:

 

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At this point we decided we were hungry...and with that comes my first complaint. I'm an idiot. I say that because more than one person told me to go to Park Cafe or Solarium Bistro for lunch on the first day. Did I listen? No. Instead, I went to the Windjammer because I wanted the traditional Honey Stung Chicken.

 

The Windjammer is a decent size, but it is not big enough for this particular ship. Some super-genius who needs to be fired thought it would be a good idea to only open one side of the Windjammer during the busiest rush. Not only was it hard to find a seat, but getting through the masses of people between the food stations was a little on the annoying side. It wasn't until we were finished eating both sides opened up. I swore off the WJ for the rest of the cruise. Sorry...no pictures of that fiasco. I did not want to temp myself with a hard object in my hand around some of those people.

 

I'll end this post with a good note. If you have access to either the Diamond Lounge or the Concierge Club....or both....it is now programmed on your Sea Pass card. No more separate cards.

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Next, we went and explored the Boardwalk. This is another venue I found a little humorous in the design stages, but it turned out to be one of my favorite areas. The Boardwalk had a free donut shop, a candy store, an ice cream shop, a build-a-bear shop, a clothing store, the carousel, the Shrimp Shack restaurant, Johnny Rockets, the rock walls, and the Aqua Theater.

 

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Next, we went and explored the Boardwalk. This is another venue I found a little humorous in the design stages, but it turned out to be one of my favorite areas. The Boardwalk had a free donut shop, a candy store, an ice cream shop, a build-a-bear shop, a clothing store, the carousel, the Shrimp Shack restaurant, Johnny Rockets, the rock walls, and the Aqua Theater.

 

 

Seafood Shack. ;) :p :D

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Rooms were ready at 1:00. I had Junior Suite 14632. I took a chance with this room under the pool deck because I wanted the views from the high deck. I was pretty lucky through the week. There was very little noise from above. I believe my room was under the forward part of the H2O Zone.

 

Room sizes were advertised as being slightly smaller than RCI's most recent classes of ships. I did not notice a difference in the JS. However, my parents were in a D balcony and the size difference was noticable. If anyone is familiar with the Solstice Class rooms, these rooms are designed exactly the same.

 

Here are a couple shots of my room. I was so happy to see RCI got away from those pink and green colors from Voyager Class:

 

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This is the walk-in closet:

 

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Oh well. Was there a full wall unit of shelves in your JS next to the desk like there is on Radiance class?

 

Yes, it went floor to ceiling. The picture of the safe and coffee set up was part of it.

 

This room had enough storage for a very long cruise. There were some drawers we did not even use.

 

One thing....the nightstands next to the bed had no drawers.

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Yes, it went floor to ceiling. The picture of the safe and coffee set up was part of it.

 

This room had enough storage for a very long cruise. There were some drawers we did not even use.

 

One thing....the nightstands next to the bed had no drawers.

Thanks. There seems to be light on the balcony also. Love the tall table. It's not only good for breakfast.........from the middle photo.:D

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