First Time Cruiser Home from Oasis of the Seas Western Carribean

[TMO3CCO1]

Can you share the name of the private tour company? :)

We used Courtney Taylor Tours. Marvelous Marvin was our guide! We emailed them to let them know kind of what we wanted, length in hours, and that it would just be the two of us. They emailed a price back to us and were very accommodating with everything we wanted. I payed a $20 deposit via paypal and the rest after the tour...plus tip. Hope this helps. They have a website you can google.

[TMO3CCO1]

Thanks. I just wanted to make sure there wasn't something I wasn't planning on. :p

No problem...it was my mistake! That is what I get for not looking up the title. ;)

[TMO3CCO1]

I enjoyed your review. Thank you. :)

Thank you! I wanted to give a little back to the community that helped me plan our first cruise....and I'm sure will be helping in the planning process of many more.

[TMO3CCO1]

This review deserves an A++!:D

 

We'll be sailing on the Oasis in September and you have answered so many questions I have had. I'm looking forward to reading more! Sometimes when I'm reading a review, I begin to feel like "I could be friends with her - she thinks the way that I do" - and this is how I feel about this report!

 

I'm so glad you loved your first cruise! There's no turing back now! You're hooked!

 

Awww...thank you! It is funny how you feel connected with this little community of people that you've never met but feel like you know better then the people your are around day to day.

 

If you have any questions, I can try to answer them for you!

[TMO3CCO1]

Thank you very much for the reply and the review.

 

I just learned something else too. I didn't know there was a soda machine either.:)

 

Bill

Yes, there is a special soda machine that has 100's of flavor combinations for your soda and water. You have to have the special souvenir cup to use the machine but if you don't have your cup you can get soda from the bars with your Soda Card.

[Peeker28]

I appreciate your review, we can't wait to go!! :p

[TMO3CCO1]

We did frequent Starbucks daily. It is my guilty pleasure. When I'm home I try to limit myself to Green Tea and an Iced Carmel Macchiato once or twice a week but I was on vacation so we indulged daily! :) For you other Starbucks lovers....Yes, you can use your gold card to pay for purchases but you can not redeem any of your "free" beverages on board. I didn't ever order tea or regular coffee so I can not tell you if they allow for the "free refill" to gold card members. They do have Frappuccino happy hour signs posted so I believe you could participate in the "happy hour" just like the land based Starbucks stores.

 

They do have the pastries for purchase but we just bought our beverage and enjoyed the pastries available for free in the other venues on the ship.

[TMO3CCO1]

I appreciate your review, we can't wait to go!! :p

 

 

I'm jealous and would love to be boarding again! I guess I'll have to wait! It really was a great time! The days flew by....there was so much we didn't get to do that we wanted to try but there just wasn't enough time. I can see why individuals opt for a back to back!

[TMO3CCO1]

The Champagne Lounge has complimentary Caviar and other treats nightly during the first seating of dinner in the dining room....but better than caviar they have Chocolate dipped Strawberries nightly starting around 8:45. We never indulged in the Strawberries because we had late dining and we were to full when we left the dining room.

 

The Viking Crown lounge has peanuts and/or trail mix they serve with your drinks. It is the perfect lounge to take in the sunset!

[33tekfan]

Our first port day was Labadee Haiti. We had decided that each of our port days should have a specific itinerary. One should involve a beach day, one should involve local culture and one should be adventurous.

 

In my research I decided Haiti should be our beach day, Jamaica should be culture and Mexico should be adventure. I knew I wanted a Cabana in Haiti but by the time I had researched all the cabana's were booked.

 

I posted on our roll call asking if anyone had any advice. Should I board the ship and see if I could get on a waiting list??? Well luck and a nice lady from MN were on my side. She had booked 2 cabanas. A beach and an over the water. She had decided she only needed one of the cabanas and she wanted the beach cabana because she had a 4 year-old daughter. She would keep both cabana's and on our second day we could meet at guest services where she would switch the OTW cabana into my name. I was so excited!!!! I really do feel like lady luck was with me. We found the OTW cabana to be a perfect way to spend our day. It was just the two of us. We relaxed, napped, swam, drank. We brought our ipod with a speaker and had music. The labadoozies were great. The food was good. It truly was a perfect day for us.

 

We did leave the cabana for some shopping in both the market areas. The Haitian booths are very aggressive. At first it was fine but by the time you reached the end it wasn't fun. I had one lady that kept grabbing my arm and pulling me back to her booth. She really wanted me to buy a hat. I think part of the problem is every booth has the same items. The people at the beginning are making more sells than those at the end or middle so they become more aggressive. Also each booth is split in half so if you buy from one side of a booth then the other side sees this and wants you to buy from them too. In a way it is sad because you can't buy from everybody so I found it to be a bit stressful. I wanted to help everyone. I learned this isn't the market for me.

 

We met a couple on our last cruise who call the Haitian market "Running the Gauntlet", and now we call it the same thing! We had a few folks ask what they should do in Haiti and our only response was "Stay away from the market". It's too bad, really - I think they are making a bad name for themselves.

[TMO3CCO1]

We met a couple on our last cruise who call the Haitian market "Running the Gauntlet", and now we call it the same thing! We had a few folks ask what they should do in Haiti and our only response was "Stay away from the market". It's too bad, really - I think they are making a bad name for themselves.

 

LOL..that is so true. I hate to admit but I found a group of people in front of me I ducked in behind to get out.:eek: It really is too bad. I think I would have actually bought more items if they would just let me look at what I want to look at.

 

I wonder if anyone knows how they get their products?

[Familygoboston]

Just came across your review! Enjoying your thoughts about Oasis! I like the idea of planning an adventure day, beach day and culture day, great way to take in a little of everything the Caribbean has to offer for new folks!

My daughter agrees with you about the sticky bread pudding, she loved it!

[brookmill18]

The Champagne Lounge has complimentary Caviar and other treats nightly during the first seating of dinner in the dining room....but better than caviar they have Chocolate dipped Strawberries nightly starting around 8:45. We never indulged in the Strawberries because we had late dining and we were to full when we left the dining room.

 

Was this just in the regular lounge? These kinds of things are the one reason I think of doing late dinners, but then it's so hard to fit in shows!!! TOOO many things to do on board!

[brookmill18]

The Champagne Lounge has complimentary Caviar and other treats nightly during the first seating of dinner in the dining room....but better than caviar they have Chocolate dipped Strawberries nightly starting around 8:45. We never indulged in the Strawberries because we had late dining and we were to full when we left the dining room.

 

Was this just in the regular lounge? These kinds of things are the one reason I think of doing late dinners, but then it's so hard to fit in shows!!! TOOO many things to do on board!

[TMO3CCO1]

The Champagne Lounge has complimentary Caviar and other treats nightly during the first seating of dinner in the dining room....but better than caviar they have Chocolate dipped Strawberries nightly starting around 8:45. We never indulged in the Strawberries because we had late dining and we were to full when we left the dining room.

 

Was this just in the regular lounge? These kinds of things are the one reason I think of doing late dinners, but then it's so hard to fit in shows!!! TOOO many things to do on board!

 

Yes, this was just in the Champagne Lounge. It is impossible to fit it all in. We didn't do half of the items on my little checklist. If we would have there wouldn't have been time to just enjoy the moment. We would have been frazzled, running from one end of the ship to the other. I finally had to just tell myself there will be another cruise.

[TMO3CCO1]

Just came across your review! Enjoying your thoughts about Oasis! I like the idea of planning an adventure day, beach day and culture day, great way to take in a little of everything the Caribbean has to offer for new folks!

My daughter agrees with you about the sticky bread pudding, she loved it!

Thank you for the kind words! I can't wait for our next cruise!

[rpettus]

We used Courtney Taylor Tours. Marvelous Marvin was our guide! We emailed them to let them know kind of what we wanted, length in hours, and that it would just be the two of us. They emailed a price back to us and were very accommodating with everything we wanted. I payed a $20 deposit via paypal and the rest after the tour...plus tip. Hope this helps. They have a website you can google.

 

Thanks :cool: