LIVE From the Oasis of the Seas - Sailing 17 September 2011 (Saturday)

[Trainman-2]

It's time to head down to the gangway...

 

 

More to come...

[ILuvCruisin']

Have a great time!

 

this is one port I have not been too as a cruiser and am anxious to chk out as I have taken many missionay trips land trips here and really want to see them grow at this port....

 

look forward to seeing Falmouth thru your lenses...

[goouchjac]

Trainman – 2

 

I hope your day in Falmouth will be more enjoyable than mine. We were on Oasis earlier this month. I thought the prices were ridiculous in most of the shops in Falmouth. Ray-Ban glasses on the ship started at $120.00 and those I saw in one of the shops started at $200.00. The exact same purse I saw on the ship for $30.00 was around $60.00 in one of the shops. I bought a beer from a street vendor and the small bottle was $5.50. I am use to getting bargain beer in port not paying more than on the ship.

 

As for kids in the CL – the first night of the cruise there were several. Two little girls ran around the entire time they were in there until one of them fell and started screaming and finally her mother went to pick her up. After that we came much later and did not experience any children except for one little boy who was extremely well behaved. One of the ships personnel (he was involved with the Chef’s Table) told us there had been some challenges since the new policy started.

 

Judith

 

Not surprised to hear about the jack up in the prices,,I am pretty sure all theports do the same thing when the ships are in:eek:

[yj2cute]

My experience on Allure: the cooler was free with the purchase of 8 beers. If you want to refill the cooler, you'll get 8 beers for the price of 7. Price depends upon the type of beer selected.

 

Of course it could be different on each ship, if the ship has them at all.

 

Does anyone know if you can mix beer types or do they have to be all the same? Also, is this reusable from cruise to cruise? Can it be brought on a different cruise and used?

[metairiegal]

Great review! Hope you are having a wonderful time. We will be sailing on the Oasis in November.

[QTMichele]

Does anyone know if you can mix beer types or do they have to be all the same? Also, is this reusable from cruise to cruise? Can it be brought on a different cruise and used?

 

Yes, you can mix and match in any combination. The price is based upon the price of the individual bottles of beer. I don't see why you couldn't bring on the cooler for future cruises - there's no way to know.

[texascat]

thank you so much for the live review...we are on this itin on Oct 9th on the Allure!

[bigeagle12]

Another GREAT review.

 

Another PRE-FAB port .. how sad :mad: .. but at least it has to be better than docking at Ocho Rios.

[Familygoboston]

If you look at the first several photos above you will see something that looks like a red Pirate Ship.

 

Here is a photo of it across the roof tops after we docked

 

 

I don't know it what I see is a high rise trampoline or a sun shade but I am going to investigate it if I can get to it.

 

Interesting?

Looks to me like a "show boat";) What I mean is that they might be going to offer an excursion where there is a pirate encounter/activity/show, so that net is for the actors who will "fall" during their "battles". We have seen these kinds of activities offered in other water side locales. Sometimes you actually go on the cruise (complete with "cannons" going off etc) Sometimes it's just a show shoreside. Given all the complaints on CC about "not enough to do in Falmouth", this may be another option:confused:

[Lorey2007]

We are docked in Falmouth!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Did you dock on the port or starboard side?

[dreamer976]

Hello and congrats to Trainman and Judith!!!! Only my second time "cruising along" with your live reports and enjoying it immensely. I would be honored to someday actually be aboard with the two of you.

 

Enjoy your cruise and keep those posts and pictures coming. . . yes, even the food porn ones.:D

[wolfcathorse]

Could you please find out the initial cost and to refill. I'm not sure if this is available on the Freedom but I hope so. One of our party only drinks beer. Thank you so much.

 

I bought one on Majesty Sept 2010, then by December 2010 they were done with the promotion. It was the cost of 8 beers plus tax (we were still in Miami) plus gratuity for a total of $41.76. That's $33.95 for the cooler with 8 beers, $5.09 for gratuity, and $2.72 for tax. I got my receipt out to verify. You can only put Bud products in it and they didn't care if we took it over to CocoCay or not. We took it to CocoCay with some bottled waters, cokes, and 4 beers. The bar servers all wanted to sell us the 8 beers to refill it as the 8 beers would be sold at a 25% discount.

 

Like I said, by my December 2010 cruises, I took it with me and I had to pay for the cost of 8 beers, no discount.

[LBumb]

enjoy your day in falmouth. excellent photos so far.

[Trainman-2]

We had a Fantastic Day ashore in Falmouth today!

 

Of course the terminal area is still under construction but plenty was complete and there were unlimited opportunities for us to spend our hard earned money.

 

I am unable to upload photos at this time, sorry but photos will have to wait until later tonight or early tomorrow morning.

 

We walked down the gangway, across the pier, and we were in the shopping zone. Falmouth is very convenient for handicapped! Everything is right there.

 

I visited the Pirate Ship and got lots of photos.

 

We are headed to the CL, then dinner in the MDR, and then ABBACADABRA, which is the headliner show in the Opal Theater.

 

 

More later everyone...

[ddmac58]

Congrats to you and Judith! Glad you had a nice day in Falmouth. I must be one of the few who enjoyed this port even in March when it was just barely built enough to allow us to stop there. I enjoyed the people so much more than Ocho Rios. They were so excited to see us, everyone thanked us for coming, they had a band play for us as we arrived and departed, dancers performed all day. We had a great time. They didn't have any of the shops built and occupied so I can't comment on prices for the shops, however the street vendors were very reasonable and willing to bargain. If you would like to see what it looked like in March compared to what you saw today check out my Falmouth pictures: http://community.webshots.com/user/Debstamps :D

[workingboy]

Trainman: Enjoy dinner and the show. Its amazing how far the port has come since we were there in February. Then it was really a construction site!!!!

[jmf123]

Did you dock on the port or starboard side?

 

I would say starboard, as Trainman took the photos from the stern as the Oasis backed in. :)

[MarkRichard]

Thank you Trainman for posting all you do,,,,we sail on October 1st and this is getting us even more excited. :D

[C & L]

Trainman,

 

Could you find out if the balcony dividers can still be 'removed' to allow for families/people to move between staterooms?

 

Keep getting different answers. Some people coming off cruises after August said they saw dividers pinned back, others stated that you couldn't be done. Could you get the official word on that?

 

 

Thoroughly enjoy your postings (as well as Radio when he does his live blogging). Both of you have such a knack for posting information and picture taking and entertaining CC readers.

 

Thanks!

[Ginnyfyr]

Thank you so much for sharing your cruise with us. We just got off of Allure yesterday. The Allure is an amazing ship but much to big for us. We had a D1 oceanview balcony cabin and the cabin was the smallest we have ever had. We missed the feel of being on the ocean and the little touches that RCCL seems to have done away with. We went the entire week and never did meet our cabin stewart. We ate dinner at Giovannis Table and it was the worst specialty restaurant we have ever experienced. The tables are so close together and it was just about as loud as our local PF Changs. The couple sitting next to us had flip flops, tee shirts and shorts on. The food was excellent but it certainly wasn't the special atmosphere we are used to at Portofino. We didn't even bother staying for dessert. We expressed our displeasure to the hostess as we left, not that she seemed to care. My husband inquired to the hostess as to why they allow people in flip flops and shorts in and she told him that they are more relaxed than they used to be.

 

We were going to do a family cruise next October on Allure for my 50th birthday but we changed it to my favorite RCCL ship, Freedom. Looking forward to the rest of your trip.

 

We had dinner at Giovanni's Table last week on the Oasis and were about as impressed as you guys were. It was very crowded and loud inside so we asked to move to an outside table so we could at least talk to each other without shouting. Outdoor seating was much nicer, but the service was sooo slow - I think they only had one waiter for all the outside tables. It was a good 45 mins before our appetizers arrived, and then we had no cutlery - that didn't come for at least another 15 mins! We felt the food was just so-so...I regret spending $40 on that meal. Fortunately that was our worst dining experience on board and all of the other meals more than made up for it. Can't win 'em all, I guess!

[hondarr9]

We had dinner at Giovanni's Table last week on the Oasis and were about as impressed as you guys were. It was very crowded and loud inside so we asked to move to an outside table so we could at least talk to each other without shouting. Outdoor seating was much nicer, but the service was sooo slow - I think they only had one waiter for all the outside tables. It was a good 45 mins before our appetizers arrived, and then we had no cutlery - that didn't come for at least another 15 mins! We felt the food was just so-so...I regret spending $40 on that meal. Fortunately that was our worst dining experience on board and all of the other meals more than made up for it. Can't win 'em all, I guess!

 

Wow. We loved Giovanni's, and my family is Italian! We actually enjoyed it more than Chops. We had great service. Maybe that makes all the difference?

 

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

[Trainman-2]

Did you dock on the port or starboard side?

 

The Starboard (Right) side of the ship was tied to the pier and was in full sun all day.

[Razl]

We had dinner at Giovanni's Table last week on the Oasis and were about as impressed as you guys were. It was very crowded and loud inside so we asked to move to an outside table so we could at least talk to each other without shouting. Outdoor seating was much nicer, but the service was sooo slow - I think they only had one waiter for all the outside tables. It was a good 45 mins before our appetizers arrived, and then we had no cutlery - that didn't come for at least another 15 mins! We felt the food was just so-so...I regret spending $40 on that meal. Fortunately that was our worst dining experience on board and all of the other meals more than made up for it. Can't win 'em all, I guess!

But we, and our friends, enjoy having a good time and love Giovanni's from a year & a half ago. People where showing up in shorts then too. But the food was great and we could relax and have a great time without having to tone it down. Sounds like it still is our kind of place.

 

GREAT JOB JIM! Sounds like we'll have fun in Falmouth. Good it hear it's HC friendly. Want to take the trolley tour around town that Radio talked about on his LIVE review in May. Tell Judith we said HI!

[Razl]

The Starboard (Right) side of the ship is tied to the pier and was in full sun all dat.

I'll get to enjoy the view on this trip but we're taking the Voyager on Dec and we'll be on the port side for that one. Oh well, it's never too late to change. LOL ;)

[Ginnyfyr]

Wow. We loved Giovanni's, and my family is Italian! We actually enjoyed it more than Chops. We had great service. Maybe that makes all the difference?

 

But we, and our friends, enjoy having a good time and love Giovanni's from a year & a half ago. People where showing up in shorts then too. But the food was great and we could relax and have a great time without having to tone it down. Sounds like it still is our kind of place.

 

Better service would have definitely improved our experience, perhaps enough to overlook the food that was didn't really feel was "wow" enough for a specialty restaurant. On the other hand, we absolutely loved Chops and were going to make a second reservation when we realized we could just go to the MDR and get the Chops filet mignon for $14.95 each, lol. Our little blip of an experience at GT certainly didn't make our break our cruise and we still had a great time...to each their own!