Oasis/Allure vs the rest of the fleet

[TwoTravelin]

As a side note, the safes will all be replaced and moved during the next month, I was told by a worker Onboard.

[OSUZorba]

I was on Oasis a week ago and ate at the Wind Jammer 4 or 5 times, got a table each time with no problem, including lunch on embarkation day. One time we did end up walking almost the whole way around to find a table, but we did find one. They would also open up the sushi resturant for seating in the morning. I thought the food in the WJ was better on Oasis than on Mariner.

[Ocean Boy]

I also disagree - I feel the Oasis/Allure give you the most 'bang for your buck' considering all the entertainment options. I went on a significantly smaller ship after the Oasis and all I could think about was the concentration of people and having to hunt for 45 minutes for a deck chair, the mediocre entertainment and the lack of things to do.

 

 

I have to agree that I am a bit concerned about this. I really like the Voyager and Freedom class ships and I am thinking about booking Navigator for next year because it is offering 8 and 9 day cruises with a decent itinerary. But I am concerned that after Oasis it just isn't going to measure up any longer. As you pointed out, Oasis/Allure bring entertainment to a whole new level. And for someone like me who likes to just walk and explore Oasis was a dream.

 

I just can't make up my mind on this issue.

[bajathree]

I have to agree that I am a bit concerned about this. I really like the Voyager and Freedom class ships and I am thinking about booking Navigator for next year because it is offering 8 and 9 day cruises with a decent itinerary. But I am concerned that after Oasis it just isn't going to measure up any longer. As you pointed out, Oasis/Allure bring entertainment to a whole new level. And for someone like me who likes to just walk and explore Oasis was a dream.

 

I just can't make up my mind on this issue.

 

I was on Liberty after Oasis and I will admit...it was a bit of a shock/let-down at first....kind of just kept saying...but on Oasis this....on Oasis that.... I think it kinds of depends on the itinerary and what you are looking for. If it's Caribbean and pretty much similar port stops than I think that moving down after Oasis Class can be somewhat of a disappointment....however if all new port stops or say a Med sailing which is port intensive than that brings a whole new adventure and is the ONLY choice anyways since there are no "super" ships across the pond.

[RaiderFaninNM]

"and they cheeped out on some details on Allure"

 

Like what?

 

Every post I have read on the Allure is they "fixed" some of the issues Oasis has being the 1st of a kind and the 1st of a kind is always in need of some fixes per say................?????

[Cruising89143]

]I also disagree - I feel the Oasis/Allure give you the most 'bang for your buck' considering all the entertainment options. I went on a significantly smaller ship after the Oasis and all I could think about was the concentration of people and having to hunt for 45 minutes for a deck chair' date=' the mediocre entertainment and the lack of things to do.[/b'][/color]

The ports I agree are a bit blah - but in all honesty; I get off the ship, look around the pier area ~have a couple $1 beers~ and head back to the boat. The Oasis/Allure could pull out of Port Everglades & drive around in circles 5 miles away from land and i'd be happy :)

 

Even after 14 days on these ships i'm still amazed at the things I haven't seen/done yet and am planning a winter/spring 2012 on the Allure (which I prefer over the Oasis - power outlets on the desk, iPhone docks, Rita's, Samba Grill, leaves on a Sun rather than Sat since I fly in a day before)

 

As for the prices - I sailed the inaugural for both - Oasis was under $1500 (initially was almost $2k but had price drops) and Allure was only $749 for insides.

 

That happened to us last year. We cruised twice on the Oasis and then went back to the Freedom. Even though we had cruised on the Freedom previously, we missed the Oasis. It was kind of a let down(dining and entertainment options). In the future if we cruise on a simple eastern/western Caribbean itinerary it will be on an Oasis class. I think if you're cruising for the itinerary more than the ship then it doesn't matter as much.

[isujim]

Hey Gordon I haven't talked to you in awhile. I see you are booked on the Ocean Princess.............from Allure to the Ocean Princess will be quite an experience.....LOL!! We did the Pacific Princess for two weeks in Alaska.......interesting cruise to say the least. Will be interested in your thoughts after you sail on the Ocean Princess.

 

Jim

[Cruising89143]

Hey Gordon I haven't talked to you in awhile. I see you are booked on the Ocean Princess.............from Allure to the Ocean Princess will be quite an experience.....LOL!! We did the Pacific Princess for two weeks in Alaska.......interesting cruise to say the least. Will be interested in your thoughts after you sail on the Ocean Princess.

 

Jim

 

Hi Jim. That will be an experience. Going from a 225,000 ton ship down to one around 30,000 tons.:) This cruise is more about the itinerary than the ship but it will give me a chance to try the Princess product which we are looking forward to.

[isujim]

Hi Jim. That will be an experience. Going from a 225,000 ton ship down to one around 30,000 tons.:) This cruise is more about the itinerary than the ship but it will give me a chance to try the Princess product which we are looking forward to.

 

I think you'll enjoy the Princess product...........we have basically made the switch to princess, although we weren't a fan of the small ship and probably won't ever go that small ever again. I hope you'll choose another ship sometime to really judge. We still have a Royal Caribbean cruise this fall and then two more booked on Princess. RC still has a lot of product and services they do better but Princess does a lot of good things as well and is running on average is a little less expensive, which is important to this retiree.........:rolleyes:

Oh and get to the casino early..........their aren't many machines or tables on those small ships:)

 

Good to talk to you.

[Cruising89143]

I think you'll enjoy the Princess product...........we have basically made the switch to princess, although we weren't a fan of the small ship and probably won't ever go that small ever again. I hope you'll choose another ship sometime to really judge. We still have a Royal Caribbean cruise this fall and then two more booked on Princess. RC still has a lot of product and services they do better but Princess does a lot of good things as well and is running on average is a little less expensive, which is important to this retiree.........:rolleyes:

Oh and get to the casino early..........their aren't many machines or tables on those small ships:)

 

Good to talk to you.

 

Thanks Jim. I have read that both cruise lines are more alike than different. Seems to be the case with more and more cruise lines today. It seem that the lines that separate them is getting thinner by the year.

 

Good talking to you too. Take care.

[compman9]

The Allure [Oasis] is the best ship in the World.

 

However, the experience is less like a cruise than any other ship I have been on.

 

It's basically a giant mall with great facilities.

 

I did see the sea once or twice though ;)

[hazeleyez3]

Just came back from Allure and sailed Oasis last Fall. Wanted to share my thoughts on these vs the rest of the RCL fleet with regard to price value.

 

First let me say the new ships are definately unique and very well done as as most of the RCL ships.

 

Question : Are they worth nearly double the price?....

 

Well one time perhaps. Going forward my family will stick the the less expensive ships. The only real advantages to the big ships are extra shops (nothing worth buying though) and the water shows... Are these factors worth such a huge price bump... up to you. The rest of the accomodations are on par and not really different.

 

The ports for the monsters are not the best... Jamcia is always an argument but the new port is still under construction and will be just a mall full of expensive company stores when finished. Right now, just a handful of street vendors... The tram ride through the 'historic town' is a joke and based on the armed police escourt and very nervous guides, not that safe.. (every time we slowed for traffic they all got visably nervous...) Haiti is a nice 'private beach with rides' but that is really it... And everyone goes to Cozumel... The smaller ships have a much better variety of ports. The big ships are constrained by their size...

 

Also the buffet on the big ships is rather disappointing in terms of not enough room, smaller selections and on Allure, the food was always cold... Oasis did not have this problem so mark this up to a staffing problem. Actually all of the food on Oasis was notably better. Guess this reflects a management issue in the kitchens. On the other RCL ships, the buffets have a lot of variety, sushi all the time etc... just better. Most importantly, enough seating... Allure had repeating announcments asking people to clear out of the buffet to make room...

 

I will say that if you are choosing between Allure and Oasis go for Oasis. The shows are better, and they cheeped out on some details on Allure aside from the food I mentioned. Nothing that would make one stay away, just if they are sitting side by side, take Oasis.

 

Examples... our balcony cabins on Allure had safes so small you could not get camera, phones and wallets in without really cramming.. forget a netbook or jewelry boxes... Really suprised me they would cheep out on this item.. can't have saved enough money to make all of the security hassles, of not allowing people to lock stuff up, worth it... Even cheeper, they only have one curtain rod. We really like closing the shear curtain and leaving the heavy open. On Allure they are attached on the same rod so open and close together... That had to save them an entire dollar per cabin... In our Oasis cabin they were seperate...

 

These are just a couple of examples. There were more. Almost like they built Oasis, it came in over budget a bit and on Allure looked to clip a bit here and there...

 

Other thoughts:

 

Chicago the show on Allure SUCKS!!!! Seems like they picked the absolute least expensive show they could possibly produce and did it... Hairspray was much better on Oasis. Sad thing is the performers on Allure were really quite good, it was the 'production' that was bad. One evening the singers from Chicago sang in the aqua and were really good. Too bad the sound tech up mixed the band volume so much you could not hear them very well over the band. I mentioned this to the dep cruise director and he got a look like 'not again' and said he was pass it along. :rolleyes:

 

The 'eco-show' Blue Planet or something like that, is done in the main theatre near the end of the trip is really good. Mixes performers from all of the other shows together in a nice way.

 

The shops have almost NOTHING TO BUY... Jewelry shop have very high end prices on real trash... other shops also had nothing.... Oasis had a decent camera shop, Allure did not even have that... Art auctions are gone... to many lawsuits I would guess... Better things on the smaller ships. The new monsters are slim pickings... maybe they think you will be broke after buying the tickets... :D

 

Anyhow, just wanted to put this out. I have sailed most of the classes of RCL ships from the little to the new monsters. Like them all. My 2c is that a ride on one of the new monsters would be nice but if you are dollar constrained, save your money, take one of the pre-Oasis ships and you will have just as good of a time and have $1000+ to spend on activities...

 

 

Thank you for your review. It's always nice to read reasons why people may like or dislike something -- gives me another perspective on what might be attractive to me.

 

Luckily, we didn't run into a huge price difference (actually, if you include the incentives we are receiving from our TA it is less than the Freedom, and the Carnival Miracle we were originally booked on).

[edbk35]

Are these two RCI MEGA ships in the same category as far as size as the Disney Dream and Fantasy??

[Cruising89143]

Are these two RCI MEGA ships in the same category as far as size as the Disney Dream and Fantasy??

 

Not even close.

 

Oasis and Allure are 225,000 tons.

 

Dream is around 130,000 tons and the Fantasy is even smaller tipping the scales at just over 70,000 tons.

[annsailing]

Just came back from Allure and sailed Oasis last Fall. Wanted to share my thoughts on these vs the rest of the RCL fleet with regard to price value.

 

First let me say the new ships are definately unique and very well done as as most of the RCL ships.

 

Question : Are they worth nearly double the price?....

 

Well one time perhaps. Going forward my family will stick the the less expensive ships. The only real advantages to the big ships are extra shops (nothing worth buying though) and the water shows... Are these factors worth such a huge price bump... up to you. The rest of the accomodations are on par and not really different.

 

The ports for the monsters are not the best... Jamcia is always an argument but the new port is still under construction and will be just a mall full of expensive company stores when finished. Right now, just a handful of street vendors... The tram ride through the 'historic town' is a joke and based on the armed police escourt and very nervous guides, not that safe.. (every time we slowed for traffic they all got visably nervous...) Haiti is a nice 'private beach with rides' but that is really it... And everyone goes to Cozumel... The smaller ships have a much better variety of ports. The big ships are constrained by their size...

 

Also the buffet on the big ships is rather disappointing in terms of not enough room, smaller selections and on Allure, the food was always cold... Oasis did not have this problem so mark this up to a staffing problem. Actually all of the food on Oasis was notably better. Guess this reflects a management issue in the kitchens. On the other RCL ships, the buffets have a lot of variety, sushi all the time etc... just better. Most importantly, enough seating... Allure had repeating announcments asking people to clear out of the buffet to make room...

 

I will say that if you are choosing between Allure and Oasis go for Oasis. The shows are better, and they cheeped out on some details on Allure aside from the food I mentioned. Nothing that would make one stay away, just if they are sitting side by side, take Oasis.

 

Examples... our balcony cabins on Allure had safes so small you could not get camera, phones and wallets in without really cramming.. forget a netbook or jewelry boxes... Really suprised me they would cheep out on this item.. can't have saved enough money to make all of the security hassles, of not allowing people to lock stuff up, worth it... Even cheeper, they only have one curtain rod. We really like closing the shear curtain and leaving the heavy open. On Allure they are attached on the same rod so open and close together... That had to save them an entire dollar per cabin... In our Oasis cabin they were seperate...

 

These are just a couple of examples. There were more. Almost like they built Oasis, it came in over budget a bit and on Allure looked to clip a bit here and there...

 

Other thoughts:

 

Chicago the show on Allure SUCKS!!!! Seems like they picked the absolute least expensive show they could possibly produce and did it... Hairspray was much better on Oasis. Sad thing is the performers on Allure were really quite good, it was the 'production' that was bad. One evening the singers from Chicago sang in the aqua and were really good. Too bad the sound tech up mixed the band volume so much you could not hear them very well over the band. I mentioned this to the dep cruise director and he got a look like 'not again' and said he was pass it along. :rolleyes:

 

The 'eco-show' Blue Planet or something like that, is done in the main theatre near the end of the trip is really good. Mixes performers from all of the other shows together in a nice way.

 

The shops have almost NOTHING TO BUY... Jewelry shop have very high end prices on real trash... other shops also had nothing.... Oasis had a decent camera shop, Allure did not even have that... Art auctions are gone... to many lawsuits I would guess... Better things on the smaller ships. The new monsters are slim pickings... maybe they think you will be broke after buying the tickets... :D

 

Anyhow, just wanted to put this out. I have sailed most of the classes of RCL ships from the little to the new monsters. Like them all. My 2c is that a ride on one of the new monsters would be nice but if you are dollar constrained, save your money, take one of the pre-Oasis ships and you will have just as good of a time and have $1000+ to spend on activities...

 

 

Thanks for all the information. I am sailing on the Oasis May 28, 2011. I know that the price was a little higher than some of the ships, but I just wanted to cruise on this ship at least once. I am going to make myself have a wonderful time, because this is my vacation. I do thank you for telling us like you saw it.

[Ocean Boy]

Thanks for all the information. I am sailing on the Oasis May 28, 2011. I know that the price was a little higher than some of the ships, but I just wanted to cruise on this ship at least once. I am going to make myself have a wonderful time, because this is my vacation. I do thank you for telling us like you saw it.

 

I don't think that you are going to have to try very hard to have a wonderful time.

[Friend100]

Not even close.

 

Oasis and Allure are 225,000 tons.

 

Dream is around 130,000 tons and the Fantasy is even smaller tipping the scales at just over 70,000 tons.

 

Just a minor clarification. Disney Fantasy will be the same size as the Disney Dream. You may have mixed up with the older Magic or Wonder.

 

Even the Freedom-class and the Voyager-class ships are bigger than these 2 new DCL ships size-wise.

 

Price-wise is a different story. :(

[Cruising89143]

Just a minor clarification. Disney Fantasy will be the same size as the Disney Dream. You may have mixed up with the older Magic or Wonder.

 

Even the Freedom-class and the Voyager-class ships are bigger than these 2 new DCL ships size-wise.

 

Price-wise is a different story. :(

 

Sorry, actually thought that they were referring to Carnival ships. I only saw Dream and Fantasy in the post. Also the names of Carnival ships.

[Gadget45]

Thanks for your insight. I haven't cruised on Oasis/Allure yet but your description was matching what I was inferring through research. The O/A's 7 day 3 port itinerary seemed chintzy compared to the 7 day 4 port itinerary that I'm used to out of PTE or TPA on Princess/Carnival. I've found discounted prices on the other lines to be about 30-40% less (not half) for my preferred cabin type.

 

Given this class is much more expensive, makes fewer port stops and ports are underdeveloped it looks like you really have to like what you find aboard these ships to get good value. Since you never quite know that until you've been aboard and because we have friends pushing us to go with them on O/A I suspect we'll go. I also suspect it will be the only time though.