12 Adults and 18 Children on the Oasis! 6/29/13 – 7/6/13

[alisatj]

My parents generously took me, all my siblings (5 of us), spouses, and our children on a family reunion cruise on the Oasis. My immediate family is me, dh, and four kids – 12, 10, 3, 3. The other children ranged from 8 months to 14 yo.

 

I read tons of reviews before going and appreciated each of them. I felt well prepared for what was in store. Still, I managed to learn a few new things and thought I’d share my experiences since I’d like to give back however I can J. Let me start by saying that I had a GREAT time and would happily do it again. My husband, on the other hand, says he’d never do it again with kids. I didn’t think it was that bad. But it wasn’t super easy either. So I’ll be ‘keeping it real’ with what I say here. Vacations are never the super-perfect experiences that we may want and hope them to be. We’re still real people living real lives and having real issues. So stuff will happen – whether you’re on vacation or not!

 

Most of my pictures are of my kids, so I don’t know if I’ll post any along the way. So, sorry, for the likely lack of pictures. Also, I'm going to do this categorically rather than chronologically. At this point there's no way I can remember what happened each day :p.

 

Arrival/Check-In

 

We stayed at the Fairfield in Ft. Lauderdale that offered a shuttle for $8/person and free parking at their lot for 21 days. So we decided to have dh drive us in our car, drop off me, the kids, and the luggage at the port. Then he’d drive back to the hotel and catch the shuttle back to the port. Seemed like a better plan than paying $48 for the six of us to take the shuttle.

 

Of course, we got a bit of a late start and ended up arriving at the port around 12pm. He was scheduled for the 12:45 shuttle. So we dealt with the traffic there, got dropped off, and he left the terminal around 12:20. He made it back to the hotel in time for the shuttle – but barely! In the meantime, I tried to keep the kids out of people’s way while we waited outside the terminal for him to return. (We did the same process when we finished the cruise. He shuttled back to the hotel and we waited for him to return. The porters were extra helpful and helped us load up the luggage while I loaded the kids.)

 

Once we were all together, check in was smooth and quick. We only brought birth certificates for the kids and everything was fine that way. We never had a need for passports for them. Dh and I did have passports though. We bypassed the photo people on the way to the ship and just headed on board.

[tlatrice]

How exciting! AND how wonderful of your parents to do that for you all!!!!

 

I'm following along, so keep it coming!

[alisatj]

The Room

 

We stayed in a family interior stateroom. It sleeps six – two twin beds put together, one pullout couch, and bunk beds. It was very difficult for all six of us to be in there together. That said, we only slept, showered, and changed there. We tried to spend as little time as possible in the room given the behavior of the 3 year old twins while we were in it. They were just too stir crazy to be in there for too long.

 

We boarded the ship around 1pm and went to our rooms almost immediately. The rooms were ready, the luggage wasn’t there yet, of course. When we came back later all of our luggage was there plus a couple of bags belonging to nearby neighbors. So we sorted all of that out. It looked like a neighbor had also received one of our bags since it was out in the hall and the rest was inside the room. Anyway, we had all our stuff in plenty of time to unpack and get to the early dinner seating.

 

I also am somewhat claustrophobic but don’t really have occasion to be in small spaces all that often. I hate caves and things like that. Turns out the ship made me a bit anxious. Walking down the long hallway to our room the first time made me start to feel a little panicky. And I didn’t want to stay in the room for too long – I started to feel trapped. The first night I woke up having something of an anxiety attack – worrying about where I could find open, fresh air. The problem subsided as the week went on though. I never had the problem again at night, but I also upped my dosage of Benadryl at bedtime to try to alleviate it ;).

 

Anyway, it’s just a word of warning for anyone who may have this sort of issue. You may want to see a doctor and bring along some xanax or valium if you have these sorts of fears. Or be sure to get a balcony room :).

 

The room had plenty of storage for all of us. Two big closets with shelving and one smaller closet. The desk had a 3 outlet power supply which was also plenty for us and our devices.

 

The steward took good care of us. We had two incidents of motion sickness with two kids and he was great about helping us to clean up the mess. We also brought back half the beach in our shoes one day and they quickly came with a vacuum when we called for help. He removed everything from the mini-bar for us. I did have to ask twice, but he did it the second time. He said he had to let the bar know what he was doing first. And he brought us ice a couple of times a day after we asked him for it. He made us two towel animals, too.

 

We were on deck 11 forward. This was a good location for us since the Adventure Ocean, gym, and solarium are also forward. It was a pretty good hike to the MDR and the aqua theatre though. Sometimes we’d cross the ship via central park, other times we’d use the promenade. We rarely went all the way down to deck 4 when going to the MDR since that meant walking through the casino and that’s not the easiest thing with little kids who are distracted by lights and sounds ;). And the smoky smell still somewhat carried over to the non-smoking side.

 

We didn’t feel much movement until towards the end of the week. For a couple of days the rocking was quite noticeable. It was actually causing the closet doors to move back and forth. We had to stick some towels in them to stop the banging noise in the night. My parents were just down the hall, though, and said they weren’t feeling any movement. On the morning that we docked in the Bahamas I also heard a lot of cranking type noises. I assume it was related to docking the ship. It woke me up, but no one else in the room seemed to be bothered by it.

[Familygoboston]

Wow! I'm up for adoption by the way!

 

I can understand your DH a feelings - many people would find vacationing with 30 people a lot to manage!:eek: We just had 18 here in Maine for a family reunion and i was wrung out. ;)Im anxious to ear how it worked out! Thanks for your review:D

[alisatj]

Adventure Ocean

We went and got all the kids signed up for the program right after boarding. We got a cell phone when we signed them up – I guess they just give them out for parents of 3 yo’s since my relatives with 4 yo’s didn’t get one. It came in handy to have since we could use it to keep in touch with each other throughout the ship. AO called us once on it when ds was melting down one night and they couldn’t deal with it any more. Lack of sleep, anyone ;)? The kids also got their seapass cards punched and put on lanyards for free. That was a nice perk.

 

We took the 3yo twins to AO just about every day, I think. They seemed to have a good time there and got excited about it. They had a different theme every day and kept them busy. I think they liked Superhero day the best though. Anyway, I was very pleased with the service they provided there. We’d usually drop them off in the morning while I went to the gym. Then they’re closed from 12-2 so we’d take them swimming and have lunch. Then we’d do a short nap. We had them stay after 10pm one night while we went to the comedy improv show. We picked them up around 11:15 and were charged for an hour - $12. My husband tried to tip the girl there, but she said she couldn’t take it. And if she did it would go to the general fund.

 

When the kids get there, they have them take off their shoes then go over and wash their hands immediately. So they were obviously trying to control the spread of germs. But they didn’t really monitor the hand washing b/c I watched my kid try to get away without using soap.

 

They offer Family Time Dining where AO comes and picks up your kids from dinner early. We asked our waiter about where/when to meet the AO staff and he had no clue what we were talking about. So we called AO on our handy-dandy cell phone and found out. They meet the kids in the MDR at the main entrance on deck 4. They wait up in the seating area inside the dining room – so don’t look for them in the hallway outside – they’re not there J. They come at 6:40 and will wait until about 6:50 to take the kids back up to AO. It was a really nice service and allowed us to finish our dinners with just the adults in the evenings. The AO staff didn’t show up the last night though. We’re not sure why that happened. We tried to call them, got no answer, and then took the kids up ourselves. It’s quite a hike from the MDR to AO and back to MDR! So that made us really appreciate their picking up the kids for us.

 

Our older kids never really used the program. 10yo dd went once with some cousins and said she didn’t like the other kids there. Then she never went back. I think they just really enjoyed having freedom on the ship and were happy to be out and about finding things to do and pizza to eat ;).

[tlatrice]

Our older kids never really used the program. 10yo dd went once with some cousins and said she didn’t like the other kids there. Then she never went back. I think they just really enjoyed having freedom on the ship and were happy to be out and about finding things to do and pizza to eat ;).

 

Sounds like my son. He and his friends that he met onboard passed thru AO a couple of times but never stayed. They said most of the times the kids in their age group weren't there (he was 12 during our cruise). He enjoyed walking around with his newfound buds. :D

[Annette0325]

Glad to see your review. I will be traveling on the Alure in Oct. with my family of 10 adults and 10 kids ages 6 months, a 1 year old, a 3 year old, a 4 year old, a 6 year old my nephews are 11, 12, 16 & 17. so as you can see a wide range of ages. So I was excited to see your post and am enjoying reading it.

[alisatj]

Glad to see your review. I will be traveling on the Alure in Oct. with my family of 10 adults and 10 kids ages 6 months, a 1 year old, a 3 year old, a 4 year old, a 6 year old my nephews are 11, 12, 16 & 17. so as you can see a wide range of ages. So I was excited to see your post and am enjoying reading it.

 

You'll have a great time :). My older kids loved having time with cousins that they don't see that often. And they loved the freedom that the ship gave them. They felt so grown-up ;).

 

In your group, the 1yo may be the one needing the most help. My brother with a 2yo was the one who struggled the most. It was just a hard age to be on the ship. If the other families can help out with watching the littlest ones during naps and at bedtime, it really helps those parents be able to get out and have a better time. Grandma did some babysitting in the evenings and older cousins also helped out when they could.

[alisatj]

The Gym/Track

I used the gym and/or the track on all the sea days and the Bahamas port day. I generally take classes at the gym at home but could not fathom putting out $25 for one spin class when I pay $33 a month for all the classes I want at my gym. So I stuck to the equipment and the track. It was good enough. I had frequent trouble with the touch screens on the ellipticals and treadmills not working though. And I noticed others around me having the same trouble. Most of the time the machines have a second way to activate features though so I was able to work around it. I did watch one woman not be able to use a bike though b/c the screens wouldn’t work right and neither did the other option.

 

The schedule listed 4 yoga classes ($12 each) to be held on the helipad throughout the week – each at 8am. So I signed up for the first two. I went the morning of Day 2 and it wasn’t held there due to bad weather. We had class on the promenade in the latin dance club instead. Not exactly what I was hoping for. The class itself was decent though. The next day’s class also was not held on the helipad due to wind. I didn’t go to that one. I signed up for the other two classes later in the week, but never made it due to late nights out. They don’t charge you for the class until you go there. So if you miss a class, you won’t be charged. The sign up says they’ll charge 50% for no-shows, but the trainer told me otherwise a and I found the trainer to be correct. I was only charged for the class I attended.

 

I liked the track and enjoyed the scenery as I went around and around ;). I tried to use it one day when we were in port but the crew was having some sort of training drill and it was closed for about an hour. So be aware that may happen to you. The chairs at the very back of the ship were great for relaxing after a run and watching the wake of the ship. They were also great for people watching as everyone boarded from ports. I did not get to watch any runners though – I was hoping for a great show!

 

One day as I was finishing up and stretching in the gym, I caught a portion of the How to Increase your Metabolism seminar being given by one of the trainers. She spent a bunch of time talking about all these different toxins in the body and water retention causing weight gain. The talk culminated in her sales pitch for a body composition analysis - $35 per person or $50 per couple. So she never really talked about how to increase your metabolism. She mostly talked about why people are overweight and have slow metabolism.

[DragonOfTheSeas]

I am impressed that you cruised with 3 yr old twins. Good for you!!

 

We have twins [they are adults now]. That would have been a struggle to manage them on a cruise.:eek: I hope you had lots of help.

[jjtimes2]

The Gym/Track

I used the gym and/or the track on all the sea days and the Bahamas port day.

 

I liked the track and enjoyed the scenery as I went around and around ;). I tried to use it one day when we were in port but the crew was having some sort of training drill and it was closed for about an hour. So be aware that may happen to you. The chairs at the very back of the ship were great for relaxing after a run and watching the wake of the ship. They were also great for people watching as everyone boarded from ports. I did not get to watch any runners though – I was hoping for a great show!

 

Thank you for your review! DH and I will be on Oasis in August. I was curious about the track. I'm a power walker (can no longer run thanks to no cartilage in right knee and bad back and hip due to scoliosis) - can you walk on the track without getting run over by the joggers/runners?

[alisatj]

Thank you for your review! DH and I will be on Oasis in August. I was curious about the track. I'm a power walker (can no longer run thanks to no cartilage in right knee and bad back and hip due to scoliosis) - can you walk on the track without getting run over by the joggers/runners?

 

Oh, yeah, you can definitely walk out there! There were plenty of walkers and I didn't see anyone getting plowed over :p. The track does narrow in some places but everyone was considerate of each other. I would say, though, that it's hard to walk/run next to someone. Because of how it narrows in some places, you would end up blocking the whole track. So you do need to be conscious of that.

[alisatj]

I am impressed that you cruised with 3 yr old twins. Good for you!!

 

We have twins [they are adults now]. That would have been a struggle to manage them on a cruise.:eek: I hope you had lots of help.

 

They were pretty tough to handle. They're the main reason that my husband says 'never again with kids'. The big kids really entertained themselves and were enjoyable to be with. the 3 yo's, however :rolleyes:...

[endobaby]

Great review so far...:D:D

[alisatj]

So I'm getting there bit by bit :)...

 

Entertainment

 

I think we saw all the big shows. I enjoyed Hairspray. The headliner was eh. My parents said they’d seen him do the exact same show on a different cruise line earlier in the spring. So I guess he gets around. It was a Motown flavored concert.

 

The Oasis of Dreams show in the aqua theatre left me scratching my head. I couldn’t figure out what story they were trying to tell. They seemed to just have a list of tricks they wanted to do and then tried to string them all into some storyline. I don’t think it worked. The tricks were pretty impressive at times though. I got there just before the 9:30 show started and didn’t have any trouble finding a seat without a reservation. This was the only show I went to w/o a reservation though. I also went alone – so it was easy to find a single seat. It may have been harder to do with a group.

 

The ice show was nice. It’s based on the fables of Hans Christian Anderson, however only the beginning of the show is narrated. I would have liked to have some narration as they switched from story to story just sort of summarizing each one so you knew what was going on. I couldn’t tell what some of the stories were at certain points.

 

No one fell when I saw it. My daughter watched it again later in the week and she said there were two falls. There was definitely more movement in the ship that day. I can’t imagine trying to do all those spins and jumps on a moving surface.

 

I went to see the two comedians in Comedy Live at one of the later night, adult shows. AJ and Al. They were both pretty funny. I preferred one over the other and my husband was exactly opposite. So I guess it depends on what you like in a comedian J. They had a family friendly show in the opal theatre on the last night. I didn’t go to that one, but my kids said they liked it.

 

We also went to the Comedy Improv one night in Studio B. That was fun to watch too. My brother and my husband both got involved in it, so that made it more fun for us. Dh got to go up and do sound effects for one sketch and my brother was wearing a kilt - so that made him fodder for some jokes :D.

 

Dh, my brother, my sister in law, and I went to play Majority Rules in Comedy Live. It was on the raunchier side in terms of material and questions. It’s a game where you are in teams, they ask questions, and whatever the majority of the teams answer becomes the ‘correct’ answer. So if you give that majority answer, then you get a point. They also gave out random creativity points. The first question was, “What would you like to say to your mother in law?” Our team answered, “Thank you for the cruise” and we got a bonus point for being so nice J. And in the end, the four of us won! So that was pretty funny. We were the ones giving ‘cleaner’ answers, but we prevailed J. The prize was a bottle of champagne. We were expecting key chains after having been to the Quest on a previous night.

 

We attended the Love and Marriage show and thought it was a lot of fun. The older couple definitely stole the show. I thought Amy did a great job hosting, as well.

 

Dh and I also went to the Quest. It was pretty hilarious. The things people will do! It started at 11:30 and didn’t end until 1am. It was a lot longer than I expected it to be. The audience was really into it and we had a good time with it. One of the quests was to bring her something with the RCI logo on it. Someone brought down a sweatshirt with the Allure written on it and Amy stopped and harassed her about it. She said they call it their ‘stepsister’. It was pretty funny J. Again, I enjoyed Amy as the host.

 

Come Fly With Me was good. The best part was the Russian aerialists.

 

My husband went to Battle of the Sexes in the Aqua Theatre. I think he mostly thought it was silly and actually participated in one game since no guys were volunteering.

 

We went to the Sailaway Party in the Aqua Theatre on day 2 when leaving the Bahamas. It was mostly crew singing and dancing with Dreamworks characters. It was just okay.

 

One day we were on the boardwalk when they started showing Annie in the Aqua Theatre. That was kind of cute to have in the background. It didn’t look like anyone had actually come to sit in the chairs and watch it though.

 

Dd went with grandpa to see The Croods in 3D in the Opal Theatre and enjoyed that. Dh also caught part of The Hobbit in there one afternoon. He said it looked really good there in the theatre.

[Annette0325]

Thanks, It should be a great time with us. It's going to be my husband and I, also our two sons and their wives and our 5 grandkids. Then also going is my sister, brother and their families that's how we end up with 20. I know you were on the Oasis and we are going on the Alure but was wondering about the Family Time Dining where AO comes and picks up your kids from dinner early. How does that work? We have the 6pm early seating. To get that do you have to have a set time or do you have to do the my time dining? Was wondering if they will have that on our ship or not. Just was wondering a little about it so I can let some of my family know. Thanks

[alisatj]

Thanks, It should be a great time with us. It's going to be my husband and I, also our two sons and their wives and our 5 grandkids. Then also going is my sister, brother and their families that's how we end up with 20. I know you were on the Oasis and we are going on the Alure but was wondering about the Family Time Dining where AO comes and picks up your kids from dinner early. How does that work? We have the 6pm early seating. To get that do you have to have a set time or do you have to do the my time dining? Was wondering if they will have that on our ship or not. Just was wondering a little about it so I can let some of my family know. Thanks

We had traditional seating. Our travel agent 'signed us up' for family time dining, but I don't think that really mattered. They just need to be registered for Adventure Ocean before trying to use Family Time Dining. The AO staff came to the MDR on deck 4 at 6:40 and waited until 6:50. Then they walked all the kids that came back to AO. When we dropped them off with the AO staff, they just wrote down the kids' names and room numbers so they could officially check them in when they got back upstairs.

 

I'm pretty sure Allure has the same service.

[cruisingwithtwins]

I will be cruising with just my husband and our 3 year old twins. I am hoping they enjoy AO as I plan to send them there quite regularly as they are a handful.

 

How nice of your whole family to go on vacation together. None of ours wanted to go.

[VPIcruiser]

Thanks for the review. We will be on the Allure in August with one 3 y.o., a 6 y.o., and an 8 y.o. We were on the Freedom the past two years and loved it. We used the in-cabin babysitting most nights and it worked out great but it was expensive. This year, the youngest will be old enough for AO so we plan on letting the kids stayed up late a few nights.

[tlatrice]

This review is SO making me want to be on a ship RIGHT NOW!

[Annette0325]

thank you alisatj not sure how to make it post (show) what you said in the previous post. Will check into the my family time dining Thank you again for posting a great review.

[alisatj]

Thanks to those reading along :). I hope you find it helpful!

 

The Food

I’m a vegetarian, so take my review of the food with that in mind :) I found my favorite food spot to be the Park Café. The salad bar at lunchtime was great and they had veggie paninis. They also have a build a bagel bar in the morning for breakfast. My dd liked that one. Park Café was good for ‘take out’ sorts of items. They had parfaits, fruit cups, sandwiches, etc all pre-made in cases so it was easy to take and go in the plastic containers.

 

I also liked the Solarium, but didn’t really find any wrap/crepe thing that I really cared for. My family didn’t like it there much, so I didn’t get many chances to go there.

 

I tried to stay away from the Windjammer as much as I could. I’d often just have some fruit there with my family and then eat elsewhere later by myself. The kids liked it there for breakfast. There were plenty of things there to suit all their tastes. One morning when we arrived we were seated in Izumi which I guess they were using for overflow. That was kind of a pain to go back and forth between the two restaurants. But we definitely got good attention in Izumi since there weren’t that many people in there and lots of servers.

 

We ended up getting the kids lunch at the Wipeout Café several days. It was easiest to just wrap them up in towels after swimming and let them eat right there in the deck chairs. Fries, hot dogs, and ice cream, what more could a three year old want ;)?

 

We ate in the MDR every night – the early seating. We had the 30 of us divided between 3 tables in the room off to the side of the big room in the MDR on deck 4. The seating worked well for us and we rotated among the tables each night. The waiters put up with us and all the kids and were incredibly patient with everything. They made an effort to have the kids fed by 6:40 so that they could leave early for Adventure Ocean. Sometimes it felt a bit rushed trying to get the fed and out, but it usually worked out okay. It would be nice if AO came just a bit later, but their evening hours start at 7 so I understand why they have to come when they do. They’ve got to be on the other end of the ship by then!

 

The food in the MDR really left me underwhelmed. Many of the dishes I ordered came in a casserole dish sort of airplane food style. It came on its own, no sides. The pasta dishes were better than some of the others – very small portions there though. The moussaka was probably the least appealing dish – none of the veggies in it had any distinct flavor. The eggplant parm was also rather mushy and taste-free. Hopefully the meat dishes were better.

 

The desserts were pretty good though. There was one with angel food cake, berries, and yogurt that was like eating a cloud. I had two of those :). The white chocolate mousse was also good. I had several sherbets which I also liked – orange, pineapple, and lemon.

 

My brother had a flourless chocolate cake as part of a sampler dessert one night that he really liked. He told Emile, the head waiter, how much he liked it and said they should serve it every night. My brother’s a bit of a character, shall we say, and talked about the cake in a much more descriptive, forceful way than I have here. Anyway, for the rest of the week, Emile appeared to present my brother with flourless chocolate cake for dessert. Sometimes it arrived with one slice on three different plates. Sometimes it was 3-4 slices on one platter. But there was always a fun display by Emile each night.

 

The best cookies I found were at the Promenade Café - anything of the chocolate variety. I took my 3yo’s there some afternoons after naps for cookies and they loved their treats! They had chocolate cookies with white chocolate chips that were good. And the mudslide cookies were great too. The other cookies (chocolate chip, oatmeal, coconut) were all crunchy. The chocolate ones were the only ones that were ever soft. My husband also had a chocolate dessert at the Park Café that he said was really good and went back for seconds on.

 

I kind of liked the pizza at Sorrento’s. Dh said it was like frozen pizza at home and he might have been right. But I very rarely eat pizza so it was a treat for me. They had a Florentine pizza that was my favorite. They generally had cheese, pepperoni, one veggie special, and one meat special each day. We found ourselves getting a snack there most days. You can grab pizza there then head across the hall and get dessert/cookies at the café.

 

I never tried the doughnuts on the Boardwalk – I’m not really a doughnut person. My kids had a bunch of them though :).

 

We didn't do any specialty dining. I didn't pay extra for anything I ate. Grandpa did take the kids (in small groups) to Johnny Rockets for lunch several days. The kids had a great time and grandpa said the burgers were great. It was a nice treat for them.

[alisatj]

The Pools

 

We mainly used the H20 zone with the little ones. It was never so crowded in there that it felt cramped. The kids always had room to move around and run. We usually didn’t have much trouble finding seats and places for our belongings either. There was usually an AO staff member there kind of monitoring things. Like making sure diapered babies stayed in their own area.

 

The beach pool usually looked pretty crowded as did the main pool. I was surprised by how small the pools were given the size of the ship and the number of people on board. But this was my first and only cruise experience, so this may be the norm. I spent some time in the Solarium one evening thinking I’d try out the cantilevered hot tubs but they were both roped off as closed for maintenance. So I guess they close them at night – I don’t know what time for sure though.

 

The ice cream machines near the pools were hit and miss. The consistency of the ice cream was often off – too runny and mealy. Sometimes you’d catch a nice batch though. I found the machines in the Wipe Out café to work more consistently. My kids didn’t really seem to care though and were happy to eat all sorts of ice cream cones on a daily basis :).

 

The towel check out thing can be a bit tricky. With everyone’s towels looking alike it was difficult to make sure we only left with the towels we had checked out. I understand the reason for the checkout program, but with masses of people with identical towels, I don’t think people should be penalized for missing towels – someone probably just picked theirs up from a chair mistakenly. I would imagine there are towel thieves as well, but I think accidents are much more frequent and likely.

[finiansbay]

I'm loving your review. Not only is it informative, but I love your relaxed, positive attitude, not to mention your discipline. You go to the gym when, as the mother of 3 yr old twins, no one would fault you for sitting in a beach chair with a romance novel given the opportunity.

[lrn2cruise]

Wow! Reading your opening of your review is enough for me to understand some of the difficulties that you and your husband had on this cruise. I understand how you still had a good time though too.

 

Taking 3 year old twins and being with 6 people (4 kids) in an inside would be tough for anyone. :D

 

Who can pass up a cruise that is given to you, so Heh!

 

If you ever get the opportunity to cruise again, I would go for at least a window, a Promanade room or a balcony. The Promanade rooms, I believe are considered inside.

 

Bless you and your husband for taking your 4 kids. I am sure they will have great memories of this vacation.