Spring Break on Oasis 3/31/12...paying it forward with info

[Song and a Dance]

I got such great info here to calm my nerves before I left I thought I'd at least put some info back into the CC universe. LOL!

 

As first time cruisers we probably have a different perspective as we're not comparing it to other ships or previous cruises. I do travel a lot with 3 kids by myself so we gravitate towards large resorts that offer lots to do AND have features that make traveling with kids by myself easier/nicer. Never having cruised, the Oasis seemed to be the closest to that. We were pleasantly surprised and indeed found it be very much an amazing large resort and enjoyed it! I’ll touch on some things I remember wanting info on before I left. Happy to answer any questions.

 

Embarkation - gets an A+. We arrived around 11:30am and were on the ship at 11:45. The check-in lines are divided very clearly by deck numbers which helps to spread out the crowd evenly. We walked right up - no waiting. I had my niece with me who has a different last name and I was asked for a notarized letter saying she could travel with me (which of course I had). Kudos to Royal Caribbean for following procedure and asking. (This letter would be critical on our return thru Customs and Border Protection btw where they grilled both me and my niece before letting us through!) One of the best pics we took all week funny enough was the group photo RCI photographers have you take in the terminal in front of a silly Oasis backdrop once you’ve checked in. :) The children's Youth Evacuation Plan armband table was just up the stairs inside the terminal. We stopped to get my niece (9 yrs old) an armband and then walked right onto the ship. We had done the online check-in process and had our printed and signed documents all ready so I say definitely come prepared. But it was amazingly fast with no time for the kids to get restless waiting which I like. Although I did notice that if you do have to wait to board for any reason, the large second floor waiting area has a play area - like a McDonald's indoor playground type thing - in one corner.

 

Did the Adventure Ocean Kids Program open house soon after getting onboard to register my niece. They hole punched her sea pass card and gave us a free AO lanyard. Short, orderly registration. One form, front and back. They gladly hole punched my 2 teen's sea pass cards at the same time for me. (I had brought plain lanyards with a snap off card section from home for them.) Adventure Ocean has their own daily schedule which our stateroom attendant left for us each night along with the regular daily compass. The Teen Compass is for the whole week and we picked one up when we boarded at Guest Services but the stateroom attendant also left us one of these a couple of times during the week just in case we'd lost it.

 

Mistake #1 - Planned to rent the ships iphones to keep up with my two young teens (13 and 14). When we boarded, I asked about them at Guest Services and was told to go down to Deck 4. Well because the staterooms are closed until 1pm, the hallways are closed off and locked. What I didn’t get (having been on the ship about 15 mins) was that you cannot cross from aft to front of the ship anywhere except on the royal promenade or the pool/sports decks with those doors locked. I’ll be honest – with all the excitement, we gave up trying to figure it out and decided to try again later when the hallways were open. At 2:30pm when I went back, they were already sold out. Get them when you first get on – they sell out fast.

 

Staterooms - get a B+. The kids and I were in 2 Central Park connecting rooms w/balconies. My niece and I were in cabin 10201 and my boys next door in 10199. For reference, these rooms are in the front half of central park, look directly across to Giovanni’s and look up to the quiet beach pool above. Good view of the park. Luggage was there by the time we finished lunch at 1:30. Very clean. Somewhat midway between the forward and aft elevators in terms of walking - a good location. CP Noise? - I found it to be very quiet in general. CP balcony doors have a special vacuum/sound proof feature to them. Once you seal the door (must be fully locked to seal) we heard little to no sound from the park below or the pool decks above. With the door unlocked and when out on the balcony it was still never loud in our case. I enjoyed it and with the kids I never felt like I needed to “shush” them when they spent time on the balcony because the park is not a super quiet area to begin with. View of central park at night was lovely - it's beautifully lit! People watching and evening music was pleasant. We got our ocean view fix on “secret” decks 11 & 14 or while up on decks 15 & 16 which have great views of the water all day. As far as privacy w/CP balconies – I just closed the sheers when needed. We still got plenty of light and had enough privacy from the cabins across from us. Actually only saw others on their balconies once while we were out on ours! Another observation - I think 10 is the perfect deck for CP balconies – not too high that you don’t enjoy the park and are possibly bothered by the pool deck above…but not so low that the people in the park are looking right onto your balcony.

 

The connecting door is in the front of the room right as you enter and is right in line with the bathroom doors and crosses paths with the main cabin doors. It is an awkward jumble of doors if you’re opening and closing the connecting door. But it will stay open almost flat against the wall magnetically so we left it that way except at night. Room 10199 had beds by the closet and 10201 had beds by the balcony. When we arrived, both sets of beds were together as queen beds and the connecting door was locked even though we indicated differently in our reservation. There was a little sign on the bed letting us know if we'd like beds apart or the door opened they will have them done by turn down. I asked our stateroom attendant to separate all the beds and open the connecting door and to have the glass divider between our balconies opened. Everything was taken care of when we returned from the safety drill. Having seen the room both ways, I can say that with the bed as a queen by the closet, it was a little skinny, but perfectly fine. Once the beds were separated into 2 twins though the closet was a challenge.

 

TV has a family movie channel and a Dreamworks channel that shows kid friendly movies 24/7 practically. It came in handy late at night when people weren't quite tired enough for sleep yet.

 

Amenities/Bathroom - No bath products in the standard staterooms - but there was a little sign letting you know you could ask for them. Stateroom attendant was more than happy to fill both bathrooms with shampoo, conditioner, body wash and lotion when I asked. Both staterooms had robes. The bathroom was a comfortable size (I've had smaller in European hotels). At night, the bathroom light automatically stays on super low to make its own soft glow night which was very nice. There are 8 hooks and 2 towel bars for hanging wet things and a decent amount of space for toiletries – for 2 people - if you pack lightly and remember where you are - a cruise ship. The sink is low and very shallow but we got used to it. There is an outlet in the bathroom for shavers, a regular outlet underneath the desk, and another down low behind the bed. That's where I plugged in my tiny travel strip with USB outlets to charge electronics at night. I used my cell phone as a clock since what they provide is a clock on the face of the room phone which is quite frankly useless as it does not light up. One night when all four of us piled into my room to watch a late night movie on the Dreamworks channel I quickly realized that I would not be able to stay in one regular stateroom with all 4 of us. I am VERY glad I did a connecting room for the boys.

 

Crowds - gets a B. It only felt like there were 6000 passengers twice out of the entire week. Both times were when we got out of a show and were hung up in the crowds at the elevators. But crowds after a show lets out is not a unique problem to this ship. Doesn't this happen anywhere you go to a show on land? Always found seats to sun in...either by the pool or in other areas. Noticed LOTS of unused deck chair areas all over the ship. Since I rarely actually get IN the pool, I thought that the outlying chairs around decks 15 and 16 were much better. They had great sun plus great water views and were quieter than the busy pool areas. The pool deck also has what I would describe as very nice “cabana nooks” for shade and a perfect water view. We didn't wait more than 20 minutes for ziplining, flowriders, rock climbing or anything else popular. The kids tried everything at least once and were happy. They had people seating you in The Windjammer each time we went, so even with a party of 6 we never had a problem getting a seat.

 

TIP - Use the Daily Compass to stalk opening times of things like the zipline, rock climbing wall, flow riders, etc. and utilize any special teen or adult hours they list. This will give you the best shot at less waiting. If you don't get off the ship all day on port days like us, you'll find the hours are short and on and off throughout the day.

 

Kids/Teens Progams - gets a solid A We used the Adventure Ocean age group 9 - 11 every single day for afternoon and/or evening sessions. None of the kids are early risers so we never made it to morning sessions. My niece absolutely loved it. A few nights, she begged to stay for Late Night which is structured activity til 2am! :eek: (Bless those AO staff members) It was a little evening peace and quiet for me each night and great fun for her. My boys were in the 12 - 14 teen group. They happily picked a couple of daytime activities to do each day from their special Teen Compass but just aren't those social kids who want to hang out with a group all day and night. And that was fine. I had some quality time with them after dinner each night on the Boardwalk, on the Royal Promenade and we saw all of the shows which were VERY good. We also did other things together like we had a “family game night” in the ship's Card/Game Room playing board games of their choice and one night we checked out books in the ship's Library (yes my kids found and wanted to go in a library while on a cruise...don't ask me...I don't know...:rolleyes:). The teens appear to be well supervised inside their "Living Room" space and I was comfortable letting the boys go and hang out whenever they wanted since they were together (and I am not usually that relaxed about that sort of thing). The large area has spaces for music, wii, sitting areas, a dance club and is conveniently located right in the heart of the sports deck in the middle of all the action. Wipeout Café is located among the teen areas and so they have food, drinks and soft serve ice cream/yogurt right there as well in the afternoon. I think having everything in one compact area on one deck keeps teens from wandering all over the ship – and if this is deliberate planning, thumbs up RCI...for more than one reason.

 

Food - gets a B+ . We thought the food was good. Nothing spectacular...but good, decent, hearty meals. We ate dinner in the MDR every night but one. Our MDR waiters get an A++ as they went above and beyond to keep the kids happy. We ate at Izumi one night. The kids enjoyed doing the hot rock cooking at the table and the food was very good. Snacking – we frequently grabbed something from Wipeout Café since we were usually on the pool/sports deck. The kids had late night snacks of free fries from Johnny Rockets (we were never charged for just fries) and Ice Cream Sodas from the Ice Cream Parlor on the Boardwalk. Kids tried the donuts, can’t tell you about that except that they ate them. We ate in the Windjammer for breakfast and lunch almost everyday and the kids were happy eaters with the large selection and the views it gave us. Tried Johnny Rockets for breakfast one morning – yuck. Tried Solarium Bistro for breakfast – I enjoyed the healthier selections, but the other five hated it. Too healthy for them so much so that they stopped in Windjammer for some “real bacon” and hash browns afterwards! LOL! Tried room service breakfast for fun. The menu is confusing and poorly written so we got A LOT of food we weren't expecting. Food came right on time – wasn’t impressed with taste. They called to check to see if I was happy with it and all I was that the mentioned that the menu was a little confusing. Well they apologized profusely and sent up a plate of chocolate covered strawberries with an apology card a few hours later! I thought that was great customer service. Room service snacks late at night were fast and good. (and btw...secret... you can order little bags of Lays potato chips from room service even tho it's not listed anywhere for you crunchy cravings people like me).

 

Speaking of Customer Service – another solid A. Everyone we encountered on the ship had excellent attitudes. They acted as if they were happy to be there, happy to help us and were lovely to the kids.

 

The Ports of Call & Excursions - gets a C. Hhhmm...I have to say this...we were SO overwhelmed with the quality of what there was to do onboard we didn't seem impressed with the crummy stops along the way! In all fairness, we had decided ahead of time that we wouldn't spend alot of extra money on too many excursions and just enjoy the ship our first time out. And that's what we did. We did get off at each port though. On our first stop we got off and did a few hours of beach, water play in the kids aqua park in Labadee, Haiti. Overcrowded. They don’t make sure that those people taking up all the beach chairs in the kids water park area have tickets for the aqua park so there was NO place to sit while the kids played in the water. In Falmouth, Jamaica we did about 45 mins of afternoon souvenir shopping and the kids were happy with that. We got back on the ship and enjoyed having it to ourselves. Cozumel, we took a short tour of the San Gervasio Mayan ruins and then continued on to a beach resort for a few hours of fun in the sun and water. Quickly discovered only my oldest was interested in the Mayan Ruins. The beach they took us to after was a far better beach situation than our Labadee experience but the water was pretty dirty and my niece wouldn’t even get in. Next time I will book a snorkeling excursion at the request of the children. :rolleyes:

 

To wrap it up: Oasis of the Seas Spring Break: gets an A -

 

The Good: Fast, easy, efficient check-in. Good food w/plenty of dining options for all meals. Clean, comfy accommodations. The Boardwalk & Central Park = unique and fun. Easy on and off procedures when you dock in the ports.

 

The Bad: There are a few tiny things I'd tweek maybe like the bed placement by the closet is just dumb to me, but really the only thing I can think of to "complain" about is that it was hard to get an elevator at times with the number of people aboard.

 

The Best of it all: Plenty to do for ALL ages every day. Quality kids and teen programs. Great customer service on the entire ship. Broadway quality stage shows that everyone enjoyed. Much better value for the $$ compared to our usual resort choices.

 

Would and have already booked again!

[shonandsuzie]

Thanks for sharing your experiences and tips! I loved your details! :)

 

I wondered about the shampoo, etc... Were the lotion, shampoo, etc individual travel sized ones or the filled "wall mounted container" types?

 

Amenities/Bathroom - No bath products in the standard staterooms - but there was a little sign letting you know you could ask for them. Stateroom attendant was more than happy to fill both bathrooms with shampoo, conditioner, body wash and lotion when I asked.

[Song and a Dance]

Here are a couple things I forgot to take/wish I had on the cruise:

 

A laundry bag for all the kids dirty laundry - the clothes ended up in huge piles on the closet floors and around mid week I started shoving them into the empty suitcases under the beds to get them out of sight! Maybe just me...but it drove me nuts.

 

A beach bag - I didn't realize I'd have to take towels from the ship for each of us off on each excursion....so I didn't really pack anything that big to carry stuff in. Luckily my boys had one backpack between them from the flight and we ended up shoving all 4 pool towels and sunscreen in it for Haiti and Cozumel.

 

More long sleeves - I knew it would be hot as heck during the days in the Caribbean so we were prepared for that. But not having been on a cruise ship before I didn't know it would be WINDY as all get out when we tried to enjoy the upper decks late at night. :p We all needed at least one windbreaker or something and I would have liked to have some sweaters for myself.

 

Socks - you need at least one pair of closed toe shoes for ziplining and socks for ice skating and rock climbing. I had packed socks for the kids...I had to steal a pair of my teenagers socks. He would die if he knew mom was wearing his socks...:rolleyes:

 

A highlighter - I had read this 1000 times on these boards! Take a highlighter everyone said. Why do I need a highlighter, I'll be fine I said. Needed a highlighter. I was circling activities left and right on our main daily compass, the adventure ocean 9 - 11 year old's compass AND the teen compass every day and it would have been ridiculously easier to do (and to read) if I had only listened to everyone here and brought a highlighter! I only have about 30 in my kitchen drawer...

 

A more comfortable dress for formal night - OK this is solely my fault. I didn't try my dresses on before I left. And lo and behold...the 2nd dress literally didn't even zip all the way. And with only kids in the room to help you get it zipped...well I wasn't about to go there. I hear you laughing now. Whatever. I ended up decidedly too casual that night but oh well. Ladies...try your stuff on and make sure that old dress you pull out of the back of the closet will be forgiving by mid week of the cruise. UGH :mad: (only have myself to be mad at...but thought I'd share)

[Song and a Dance]

Thanks for sharing your experiences and tips! I loved your details! :)

 

I wondered about the shampoo, etc... Were the lotion, shampoo, etc individual travel sized ones or the filled "wall mounted container" types?

 

You're welcome!

 

I forgot to mention that there IS a wall mounted shampoo dispenser in the showers which we did not use...kind of creeps me out to have kids using stuff I can't even see...

 

They bring 4 little "hotel" sized bottles of lotion, shampoo, conditioner and shower gel. Very nice scent and we were all fine using them.

[we like it hot]

Welcome to cruising!! Glad you had a great time. God bless you to take 3 kids with you, by yourself :) I hope you have the 'cruise bug' now

[PathfinderEss]

Thanks for your review, glad you had a great cruise.

[Familygoboston]

Here are a couple things I forgot to take/wish I had on the cruise:

 

A laundry bag for all the kids dirty laundry - the clothes ended up in huge piles on the closet floors and around mid week I started shoving them into the empty suitcases under the beds to get them out of sight! Maybe just me...but it drove me nuts.

 

A beach bag - I didn't realize I'd have to take towels from the ship for each of us off on each excursion....so I didn't really pack anything that big to carry stuff in. Luckily my boys had one backpack between them from the flight and we ended up shoving all 4 pool towels and sunscreen in it for Haiti and Cozumel.

 

More long sleeves - I knew it would be hot as heck during the days in the Caribbean so we were prepared for that. But not having been on a cruise ship before I didn't know it would be WINDY as all get out when we tried to enjoy the upper decks late at night. :p We all needed at least one windbreaker or something and I would have liked to have some sweaters for myself.

 

Socks - you need at least one pair of closed toe shoes for ziplining and socks for ice skating and rock climbing. I had packed socks for the kids...I had to steal a pair of my teenagers socks. He would die if he knew mom was wearing his socks...:rolleyes:

 

A highlighter - I had read this 1000 times on these boards! Take a highlighter everyone said. Why do I need a highlighter, I'll be fine I said. Needed a highlighter. I was circling activities left and right on our main daily compass, the adventure ocean 9 - 11 year old's compass AND the teen compass every day and it would have been ridiculously easier to do (and to read) if I had only listened to everyone here and brought a highlighter! I only have about 30 in my kitchen drawer...

 

A more comfortable dress for formal night - OK this is solely my fault. I didn't try my dresses on before I left. And lo and behold...the 2nd dress literally didn't even zip all the way. And with only kids in the room to help you get it zipped...well I wasn't about to go there. I hear you laughing now. Whatever. I ended up decidedly too casual that night but oh well. Ladies...try your stuff on and make sure that old dress you pull out of the back of the closet will be forgiving by mid week of the cruise. UGH :mad: (only have myself to be mad at...but thought I'd share)

 

Great, useful review with lots of excellent tips! I always bring a fold up beach bag, and you are right, it gets a work out...I never thought about mentioning it for newbie cruisers!

 

Ok, I had to laugh about your dresses. Im just imagining which is worse; people looking down their noses because you are too casual, or looking down their noses because all your insides are hanging out the zipper in the back :p:D. LOL!

Sounds like you all had a great trip! Thanks for taking the time to write a review.

[Niquein99]

Thanks for posting such a thorough review! I also travel as a single mom with my son during Spring Break, so I really appreciated your insight and tips! :)

[Song and a Dance]

Great, useful review with lots of excellent tips! I always bring a fold up beach bag, and you are right, it gets a work out...I never thought about mentioning it for newbie cruisers!

 

Ok, I had to laugh about your dresses. Im just imagining which is worse; people looking down their noses because you are too casual, or looking down their noses because all your insides are hanging out the zipper in the back :p:D. LOL!

Sounds like you all had a great trip! Thanks for taking the time to write a review.

 

 

I mean...yes, it is very funny now! I quickly decided that it wasn't the end of the world and our cruise had been wonderful up until that point so why let that rain on our parade. I even let my 13 year old wear his face paint to dinner too that night. (oh the horrors! :eek:) LOL! Surprisingly we saw a very wide spectrum of "dressiness", if that's a word, so it wasn't so bad. But we loved the ship and definitely have the cruising bug! I sail again in July without the kiddies (yay me!) and we also booked onboard for the week after Christmas! Can't wait to get back!!! :)

[Song and a Dance]

Thanks for posting such a thorough review! I also travel as a single mom with my son during Spring Break, so I really appreciated your insight and tips! :)

 

You're welcome. Happy to answer any questions you may have if you think of anything. :)

[BillOh]

Crowds - gets a B. It only felt like there were 6000 passengers twice out of the entire week. Both times were when we got out of a show and were hung up in the crowds at the elevators.

 

Excellent job for a first time reviewer/cruiser. I tend to get something out of just about every review including yours. Your above point was something I addressed in mine, but it applicable to a lot of ships.

 

On Allure if you left say the Aqua theater and wanted to go to your cabin which may be in the front of ship you either have to go up then walk back or walk back and then up. Doing the later takes you to lesser used elevators. While people are waiting for an elevator your moving closer. Often we would take the stairs one level and then walk to another area of the ship after getting out of a show. This worked well for us when we booked a show that ended right about the time our dining was starting. We made it. But I tend to study deck plans and figure out my routes ahead :o

[Song and a Dance]

Excellent job for a first time reviewer/cruiser. I tend to get something out of just about every review including yours. Your above point was something I addressed in mine, but it applicable to a lot of ships.

 

On Allure if you left say the Aqua theater and wanted to go to your cabin which may be in the front of ship you either have to go up then walk back or walk back and then up. Doing the later takes you to lesser used elevators. While people are waiting for an elevator your moving closer. Often we would take the stairs one level and then walk to another area of the ship after getting out of a show. This worked well for us when we booked a show that ended right about the time our dining was starting. We made it. But I tend to study deck plans and figure out my routes ahead :o

 

Thanks! Agreed...It took about 3 days to feel like I totally knew the ship front and back and after that we got pretty quick at figuring out some "tricks" to getting to places faster.