Oasis of the Seas - Photo Review

[jennat]

It was dinner time. We headed to the main dining room to eat. We had anytime dining, which although pressured to make reservations for, we never did. I was thinking, why would I want anytime dining and then want a set time to eat. I kind of get it now.

The Oasis is (but I'm sure doesn't HAVE to be) a scheduled type of cruise. I think this is what we were having trouble getting used to. To see the shows, you need to make reservations (I think you can probably see them without reservations but it is mentally challenging ..what's playing when, can I get in, if I do this will I miss that). At least to my little brain. There are so many shows and let me tell you, you want to see them. They are fabulous. We normally are not big "show" people. In fact, very rarely do we go to shows and if we do, they are last minute decisions. We also don't usually eat in the main dining room. I just hate to lose 2 1/2 hours to eating. Anyway.....

there were 11 of us and we got sat right away. It was a perfect round table, right at the edge of the balcony and we had a wonderful waiter. The kids were fantastic (it's nice that they are old enough to really enjoy being with them at dinner) and the company was great. My son left the table and asked how I liked it. I mentioned something about how is was good but the time allotment was big. He commented back that he loved it because it was good quality family time. I passed out.

 

 

 

Dinner was good. The pork medallions offered on the first night were many people's (at our table) favorite meal of the week.

 

After dinner we had reservations for Hairspray. I have heard several people say it was really loud (including my parents). It didn't bother me and I thought it was absolutely amazing. I loved it. It was, IMHO, a much better caliber of entertainment than you usually find on ships. It was like they cast the show rather than fitting the cast into a show, if that makes sense. The character "Penny" was incredible. I would highly recommend this show.

 

 

 

[BillOh]

Yeah....but wouldn't it have been great if I hadn't made a typing error.

 

Should have read:

 

To hold you over until

it's your time to cruise.

 

 

I did see that, but appreciated the sentiment enough to read it as intended. I am making notes of your extensive comments about the Hilton for our next cruise out of Port Everglades. When we sailed in May, there were 6 ships in port, I think 3 of them were doing TA runs and it was "fleet week" so there was a lot of activity and the only hotel we could get was the Roadway Inn at Dania Beach, which was more than acceptable, but more like what you would expect along an interstate highway.

[sdouglas]

Another excellent review with photos and commentary :D.

Especially since we are supposed to get more snow tonight, I can just pretend I'm on the ship as I keep looking at the pics.

 

Keep them coming.

[teamdavis]

Awesome review!!!! 3 more months for us!!

[jennat]

After the show we went up to our "private deck" and watched the water show....Oasis of Dreams....

 

 

 

 

 

The cast was amazingly talented. Divers, acrobats, synchronizzzzzzzzzzzz (oh sorry, I feel asleep) synchronized swimmers....

Talent aside, I would put this show under, things that make you go hummmmmm....

 

I am not cerebral enough to understand what it is about, apparently or I just didn't care enough to pay attention. It was a tad odd with frogs, etc. We would, however, see this show many more times during it's run due to the location of our balcony. You just can't get enough of the diving. They put the "credentials" of the divers on the screen. There is some real talent and accomplishment out there. One thing I love about the diving and the ice skating is that these people who dedicate their lives to these sports have an arena where they can continue to do it. How great for them (and for us).

 

Well this was a very long day that absolutely flew by.....it was sadly time to go to bed. Who am I kidding......hello bed, nice to meet you, I hope to be spending quality time in your embrace. There is no sleep like sleep on a cruise ship. Now turn out the lights and rock me to sleep!

 

 

 

[jennat]

 

 

 

 

 

[jennmaybe]

I don't believe I have any pics of Central Park at night. The only time we were out there at night was formal night when we ate at Chops. These are great pics of out there! I need these too......:)!

[jennat]

I don't believe I have any pics of Central Park at night. The only time we were out there at night was formal night when we ate at Chops. These are great pics of out there! I need these too......:)!

 

They are on their way in addition to Day 2 and 3.

Send me your pics too!!!

[jennat]

We forced our selves out of bed at 9am. Boy was it hard. I usually get up at 6 am so I don't know what the problem was. Not that normally I am excited to get up a 6, raring to start my day. I do it to get the kids up for school, but still.

Anyway, we crawled out of bed and headed down to Johnny Rockets for breakfast about 9:30. It is a nice alternative for a free breakfast. I had a breakfast sandwich. It was good.

 

 

The meet n mingle was at 11:30 which I think is a terrible time. It really breaks your day up. Anyway, we got back to the cabin, the kids took off and I put on my swimsuit eager to go and hang out at the pool.

Well I looked out my balcony and saw this.

So I had to stop and watch it. So good and fun. I could watch this every day but ended up only catching glimpses of it as the week went on.

By this time it was 10:45 or close to 11:00 and I decided I really didn't have time to go to the pool so I was going to find my dad and hang out with him for 45 minutes. We met up at Dazzles and watch a dance class. I think it was ballroom or something but it was so cute. There was a group of Asian men and women and the guys were totally into it, practicing in the aisles and with each other. It was nice to see (but also kind of funny).

Looking out onto the Boardwalk from Dazzles

 

 

 

Soon the meet n mingle started. Boy was it packed. Which was funny because there weren't a lot of people chatting on the boards but I think something like 125 people signed up. I guess I just don't understand why you would go to something like that if you didn't get into the roll call. My parents showed up and they didn't get on the boards so I asked my mom. She said because she knows people that will be there are social and she likes to meet people. That's as good of an answer as any.

Didn't much matter because there was no "meeting" and there was no "mingling". A cruise staff picked up a microphone and proceeded to go deck by deck, forward and aft and tell us every room in the building. She then drew names from a hat and gave out prizes (quite nice ones too, like each person got a hat, a door dry erase thing and 30 min of comp time). When she was done, everyone got up and left. To be fair, a couple of people sitting by Jen and me chatted but most people just left. Things that make you go hummmm.

We are starting a list:

 

1. people in robes

2. Oasis of Dreams

3. people who go to a meet n mingle and don't meet n mingle

 

I thought maybe since it was lunch time I would have lunch with my folks. Mike was going to go to on air for the football game with all the boys (and Jen). They wanted to see the parade first. Now, normally, my motto is find out where everyone is congregating and go somewhere else. Seems to work. But being the flexible, easy to get along with, all around great gal that I am, I bent and went to see the parade. We found a table right on the mall in the Cafe Promenade and got waited 30 minutes or so to watch the magic. What we should have been ready to watch, however was the girls big butt who came and stood directly in front of the table about 5 inches from my moms face. Nice. Add it to the list "hummm" list. What is wrong with some people?

We stood and watched characters walk by and Richard Spacey get the crowd going. I have to say, I LOVE that guy! He is hilarious to me. There were characters on top of the Cupcake store, a lady hanging on a hoop and lots of bright colored costumes.

 

 

[ALSEAU]

Great review! Thanks for the pictures.

 

 

I know everyone has loved your family T- shirts including myself. How exactly did you make them yourself? What site did you use? Where/How did you get the design? Maybe you could go into more detail after you are finished with your review?

[jennat]

 

I think I already put this but there was only one game on and the guys were disappointed about which one it was. Didn't stop them from sitting there all day. Apparently, there was some additional entertainment when a drunk girl (remember it is the middle of the afternoon) threw up all over the place. We can pretend she had the stomach flu...

 

My parents and I went to the Dining room for lunch. I learned on the Alaska cruise that the dining room has an amazing salad bar on sea days. Maybe this is new, or maybe just new to me but I love it. Fresh with lots and lots of ingredients.

 

After lunch I was going to finally try and get to the pool. It was around 2 o'clock by now. I grabbed my stuff and set out to find my friend Karin who was already there. I looked and looked and looked for about 20 minutes. There is a lot of ground to cover and and lot of bodies and a lot of bodies who need to be covered now that we are on the subject. (smile) I have never seen so many "girls" trying (and in some cases succeeding) to escape. And let's just say the little ones are happy where they are. I kid you not. Someone could loss an eye.

Finally I gave up trying to find K and sat down in the overflow of the pool. it was so nice and relaxing, just people watching and listening to the music. This is probably one of my favorite things to do on a cruise. Sit at the pool, preferably with friends, have a beer and laugh and talk.

 

At around 4 I thought I should get back to the room. We had 5:30 Ice Show reservations and then 6:30 Chops reservations.

 

I thought the ice show was as great as usual. Some of the stuff they did was amazing.

 

 

 

[jennat]

 

The "guest entertainer" was, as usual, absolutely amazing. I can't tell you what they did, simply because you can't put it into words and not sound crazy and I usually do "crazy" enough on my own without trying to add to it, so I will just give you this visual.

 

 

I know Jen went to the show the next night and there were 5 falls, but tonight, everything went off flawlessly.

 

We headed over to Chops to meet Jen and Mike (btw we are Jen and Mike and they are Jen and Mike, just to make things confusing)

The sun was setting and it looked gorgeous over the aquatheater.

 

 

 

The food was fantastic. I had the French Onion Soup, a filet and the Red Velvet cake. That desert, I have to say, was fabulous!

I always think that Chops is worth the money. It was a lovely dinner.

[jennat]

 

 

 

we posed for some pictures. Jen and Mike outshined us in their formal wear. We must have lost the memo (likely story)

 

Walked around a bit to try and burn off some of the food we consumed.

 

 

[jennat]

 

 

 

 

 

[jennat]

We ran into these kids in the hall.

They looked vaguely familiar.

Wait, I think that is my daughter.

I hadn't seen her in so long, I almost forgot what she looked like.

 

 

Jen and Mike come to the dark side and traded out their beautiful clothes for comfy ones. That's my kinda thinkin'!

[Familygoboston]

Great review! I especially like your details about how things work- such as the photo CD and the elevator. These may not seem like important details but when you have a husband like mine who suffers from " delayed vacation mode" for about the first 24 hours, you can see my need to know when to grab his arm and say" honey, step away from the panel and stop punching the number!":o

Also, thanks for all the references to where to catch the games on TV ( I think I'm loving that tv in the hot tub!)

Ok- im ready for Labadee!

[jennat]

Okay, my girlfriend just called an corrected me. She said that I did in fact lie, again! The Wipeout Cafe (which I swear was never open) was in fact open, at least on sea days from 12-3:30 and from 3:30 to 5:30. It is listed in two separate sections of the compass, just like that so when I looked I just saw the one with two hours. Sorry for the misinformation.

She did go on to comment, and I don't think this is only Royal Caribbean, that she was extremely frustrated with the hours the restaurants kept. For example....when she got back on the ship after Jamaica at 5:30 they went to the windjammer to get some food. It was closed. They went to the Wipeout Cafe...closed. They went down to the Park Cafe and it closed in 5 minutes. She stated that there should be somewhere to get food when you get back on the ship besides finger foods and pizza.

My dad had similar frustrations one day while everyone was in port.

I think they are aware that there is food available. No splitting hairs, please. Yes they could have paid at Johnny Rockets or ordered room service. But it would be frustrating to go to this venue and then that one and then that one and continually strike out.

I have noticed on a lot of ships, that the Windjammer or comparable on different ships is closed for an hour or an hour and a half after all aboard. I always thought that was kind of strange.

Anyway for what it is worth.......

[maryanne356]

Where did you get those Oasis t-shirts?

[BonTXNY]

Love, love your review. The pictures, your humorous comments make it shine! Waiting for more...........I've never been on the Oasis but have read tons of reviews with lots of pictures. Each review brings something new to the table. Yours certainly does that. If I ever have the luck of boarding the Oasis I'll be such an expert but by that time the Oasis will be as old as the Monarch :eek:

[Duzzy]

Great review and wonderful pictures!

[negrilbride]

I'm having so much fun reading your trip review! I hope there is more soon!

[jennat]

Ladabee!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[jennat]

We had read about Labadee and decided that the best course of action (who talks like that) for us was to head down to the right. We eventually wanted to make our way down toward where the Aquapark was, thinking the kids might enjoy that.

When we initially got off the ship, we stopped to pose for the obligatory pics and then got on our way. It is a little confusing (for us) when you get off. You can follow the side walk immediately to the right, which will take you exactly where you don't want to be.

 

 

 

You have to walk straight for a while, around the hill on the right and then turn.

Look for this sign.

 

We were headed toward what used to be Barefoot Beach (now that is reserved for exclusive use so we were looking for the beach that those of us in "steerage" could use).

We walked and walked and walked. I can't believe how much Labadee has changed since we were here in 2003. For me it is a question of how much do "improvements" improve. We loved Labadee so much last time that there is a mural of it painted on my bedroom wall. It really has lost that open, unoccupied "island" feel. There are lots of buildings, etc on it now.

As soon as hubby gets home, I will post some comparison photos 2003/2011.

 

Didn't stop it from being beautiful though. So we are still walking. Sean has decided to emulate the locals on the islands we have seen and use his head to transport things. I don't think he has really gotten the hang of it yet....

 

 

[jennat]

 

When you get there, there are some local people who will get your chairs for you. Bring some $1bills off the ship. I didn't and felt like an idiot. Thankfully others did. I think it goes like this. The chairs are free but it costs for them to get them for you. And you can't get them for yourself.

 

So, back home, we had this amazing idea. Let's bring our own rafts, you know those blow up kind and use those instead of paying $15 a raft. We can leave them for someone else when we are done.

 

Brilliant right? Let me explain to you how this played out. First of all, what a great deal....we got them for $3. Whoooppppeee! Ever heard the old adage, "you get what you pay for?" I'm pretty sure it was first coined by a person who had an idea, bought a $3 raft and attempted to blow them up.

It was hilarious (read: miserable) blowing those rafts up. It took, literally 30 minutes to blow one raft up. At one point one of the local men offered to do it, Sean gave it to him and after a while, he brought it back saying he couldn't do it (read: feeding my family is important but not worth blowing this piece of crap up). But did we give up and just be content to float in paradise with just salt water and our body fat. NOOOOOOOO!

Poor Sean had to blow up so many rafts that I'm pretty sure he lost consciousness several times. Finally, the rafts were blown up.

 

 

 

Ahhhhhhh, paradise.

 

 

You can't tell by this picture but I'm pretty sure Jen and Mike were just laughing at us at this point. I think I heard the work "suckers" but maybe it was just the lack of oxygen.

[msuspartanbigten]

What a great review! Loving it!!