Oasis Review with pictures- July 20, 2013

[MbaLady]

I'm enjoying your review and pics! I'm not a photographer, but would love a jo-toes bag for my DSLR!

[Coolcruise02]

Great review and pictures!

[montgomeryfamily]

I'm really enjoying your review and the pictures are awesome! :)

 

I have a question about the shuttle at the Hampton Inn where you stayed. Was it a shuttle that was a large van, or was it a shuttle with a school bus type door (do you know what I mean?)

[destron]

Enjoying the fantastic review and pictures - i feel like im cruising already! :D

[hcat]

Great review and interesting photo perspectives...Can't wait to cruise Sept. 28th

 

I love the shot of you & your husband--was that from the ship's set ups on formal night or did you schedule a session privately?

 

Looking forward to more....

[usckatieh]

I'm really enjoying your review and the pictures are awesome! :)

 

I have a question about the shuttle at the Hampton Inn where you stayed. Was it a shuttle that was a large van, or was it a shuttle with a school bus type door (do you know what I mean?)

 

Hey guys! Thanks for your feedback! Anyone sailing soon is going to have a great time! We loved it!

 

About the shuttle, it was more like the school bus style shuttle van but I think that's to give them more room to load the luggage on a rack on the front. But the seats were nice and thick like tour bus seats. It probably took us between 5-10 minutes to get to the port- it was close. When we were waiting they had two large shuttles ready to go and ours only had us and another couple in it. It probably could have held 12-14 people. We disembarked super early so we took a taxi back to the hotel and I think it was just a $10 ride. It was very convenient. We were afraid the parking lot would be far away from the hotel since they offer long term parking but we were able to park RIGHT in front of the hotel door. I was really happy with our experience there.

[usckatieh]

Great review and interesting photo perspectives...Can't wait to cruise Sept. 28th

 

I love the shot of you & your husband--was that from the ship's set ups on formal night or did you schedule a session privately?

 

Looking forward to more....

 

Thanks! I was glad to get a good picture of the both of us because I am usually behind the camera. This set up was right in front of the main dining hall before dinner. There was sometimes a line of 2-3 families waiting but the photographers are pretty quick. We just waited in line, they scanned our seapass and took a quick series of 5-6 photos. If there was a family group, they'd take some of the whole family and then just the kids, etc. They also had photographers set up through the Promenade where you could do the same thing but with a different background or on the stairs- you just waited in line and they took your picture there too. You can have your picture taken as much as you like, and when you decided what to purchase, studio style portraits were $24.99 for an 8x10 and candid ones that they took on the beach or at port were usually $14.99. I budgeted about $40 for professional photos because I knew we could take a bunch on our own too and that's what we spent. You could go alot higher buying digital image packages and photobooks, but it's a great way to capture the memories, in my opinion. I think I saw some people having private photo sessions, and I imagine the booked those through the photographers on the ship.

[usckatieh]

I was going to post this at the end, but here goes- my packing suggestions. You can find packing lists all over CC, which really helped me decide what to bring, but here's what were glad we brought, things we should have brought and things we brought but didn't use...

 

Things I was glad I brought

· Highlighter- helped with picking activities on the cruise compass

· Lots of $1/5 bills for tips and exact change. I brought $50 in 1’s, $50 in 5’s and $100 in 10’s. We ended up with money left over but it was sure nice to have the exact amounts on port and be able to give each of our excursion guides $5’s because there were more than one guide most of the time.

· Watershoes- Both DH and I got Columbia Drainmakers specific for the waterfall climb (and because we do a lot of canoeing and kayaking) but they also came in handy for not slipping and sliding around the pool deck, kept my feet from being hot on the beach and they even washed clean of all the mud we brought home from Mexico. They offer rental water shoes too but I think the Drainmakers had better traction and they didn't hold water. Here's our shoes-

· Rashgaurd swimming top & lots of swimsuits and coverups- I could ride the flowrider without worrying about my top flying off and it was a great option for the waterfall climbing too. Whatever swimsuits you bring, you’ll probably spend most of your time in that and a coverup. DH was glad her brought 3 pairs of trunks so they had time to dry in between trips to the pool/hot tub. Here's the rashgaurd and tie-on boardshort I picked out well before our trip- my first "for cruise" purchase. :p

 

· Small cross body purses. I brought one black and one brown so wherever I went I threw my seapass and iphone (had to have my travel app!) in that and was ready to go. I also had a thin travel wallet with an adjustable strap so it could be worn under clothes as a beltpack or across the body on your shoulder. I kept money, credit card, seapass and copies of our passports in there under my shirt or skirt and I didn’t ever feel like I was flashing around the fact that I was carrying money. (I'm wearing the travel wallet in the photo above under the rash gaurd and the only thing you can see is the tan drawstring at the top where I could adjust the length.)

· Sticky notes to leave messages for our stateroom attendant. We had asked for ice the first day but didn’t see it, so we left a polite reminder the second day…

· Sweater/shawl for shows/dining room- the ship was never cold but I felt more comfortable with something to put over my shoulders

· Bandaids for blisters

· Clear over the door shoe organizer- I felt like our room was so organized all the time with minimal effort

· Case of waters- the water in the tap never really felt cold enough to drink

· Cream sunscreen- we brought the spray kind too, but after seeing a very red gentleman on Labadee with what looked like white graffiti streaks all over his back, we decided that we were going to use the cream. If you use the spray, just remember to rub it in and tell whoever sprays your back to run it in too- ouch!

· Aloe- we slathered ourselves with sunscreen religiously but our table buddies were glad we had some when they got a bit of extra sun

· Bug spray- I read that there was a moderate malaria warning in Haiti and there were tons of mosquitoes on our Cozemel excursion. A little bug spray at least gave me more piece of mind.

· Shampoo/ Conditioner- There’s only shampoo in the dispenser and I brought my own just to be safe.

· Nightlight- that came in handy because even with a balcony it gets pretty dark in the room at night

· Tums & Air freshener for bathroom- J

 

Things I wish I had brought

· Zantac (expensive on the ship!)

· Binoculars- I didn’t think we’d need them but there was a lot of times at port I would have liked to see something closer and we stopped to the ship to check on a small boat in between Cuba/ Florida and binoculars would have been cool to have then. The boat was unoccupied but we’ve heard that happens frequently.

· Nail clippers

· Laundry detergent sample- I would have liked to freshen up my swimsuit in the sink but I forgot to grab this

· Soap- DH said his skin didn’t feel quite the same with the ship soap

 

Things I brought but didn’t use

· Didn't use power strip because there were three outlets on the desk by the tv, but I see where it would be helpful if you had multiple electronics charging.

· Heels- we like to walk around after dinner and seeing how slippery the decks can get with a little water, I opted for some fancy flats. Some of you other ladies may be more adventurous, but I like to play it safe

· Ponchos- fortunately it was clear the whole trip

· Clock for the room- we used the wakeup call for an alarm and the phone had the time on it

· My maps of the ship and reference of what was on each floor- the screens near the elevators had the cruise compass and all the restraints listed at the touch of a button and then it would show you right where to go. Super helpful.

[usckatieh]

DAY 3 - Labadee Day

We took our time leaving the boat for Labadee, Royal Caribbean's port in Haiti. Labadee was the port I wasn't really sure if we would love because I wasn’t really interested in sunbathing or the zipline, but it ended up having the most beautiful scenery and our exursion turned out to be alot of fun!

Leaving the boat

 

The rockier beach close to the entrance

 

I like palm trees

 

 

 

We had decided on a Jet ski tour for our Labadee excursion.

 

Note- Something I didn’t know was that they print excursions tickets for you and leave them in your room and you need to bring those with you when you leave the ship- somehow I missed that. I figured that since it was a RC owned port, they could just scan our seapasses or something, but bring them along. The tickets also have printed instructions on them about where you meet for your excursion- something else that had given me anxiety while planning the trip. Everything was easy to find so don’t worry! J

 

After a jet ski safety briefing, DH and I jumped on our ski and followed the leader into the middle of the ocean. The water was a little choppy but amazingly clear.

 

Our jet ski group-

 

Headed back to port-

 

We could see jellyfish swimming around but the leader said they were mostly harmless. We drove about 5 miles along the coast, past reefs and sandbars for about an hour. We saw the local fishermen rowing their boats. The ride was a little rough due to some waves and the wind but all and all it was a lot of fun and we got to see some really neat parts of the island.

[usckatieh]

After our jet ski excursion, I wanted to make sure I got to swim in the Caribbean at least once, so we headed over to the sandy beach at Columbus Cove- the other beaches were a little rocky for swimming and I’m pretty sure Columbia has a net to keep the jellies out because we didn’t see a single one on that beach.

 

Panoramic on the waterproof camera (not the best quality but you get the idea) from in the water, looking toward the boat-

 

We took a quick dip in the warm blue water and then headed back to the boat so we could enjoy some time having the ship all to ourselves.

 

First, we had a quiet lunch at Windjammer. I loved that you could overlook the ocean while eating your lunch!

 

Labadee from the boat. Columbus Cove is the area in the middle by the white floaties and the jet ski dock is near all the red roof buildings.

 

Since the boat was still pretty empty, we decided to check the Flowrider. This was high on my must-do list and we found that on the sea day they were blocked for private lessons at 9:00 when they were supposed to open- I guess that’s subject to demand- and it got very busy once it did open. On Labadee day there wasn’t much of a line so I tried boogie boarding and I slide a lot from side to side but I did pretty well all-and-all. I was even able to get up on my knees and show off a bit. Boogie boarding really wasn’t too difficult and tons of fun so I suggest giving it a try.

 

 

The Flowrider- they have surfing on one side of the ship and boogie boarding in two lanes on the other. This is the line on a slow day. I saw people of all ages having a great time on here!

 

Diving in

 

They encourage you to show off (I think that's how the keep the turns shorter)

 

A few tips- you need a wristband which indicates that you’ve signed your waivers before you ride the Flowrider so don’t hope in line until you have one- the desk is right in between the two Flowriders. Ladies, as I mentioned in the packing tips just be sure to wear a sturdy swimsuit or a shirt over your top and dudes tie those shorts tight. That water blasts out at 30 mph, so you’ve been warned. J DH wanted to try his hand at the surfing side but you had to wait about 20 minutes in line to get a shot at it (and that was much harder to get a hang of than boogie boarding) so he signed us up for private lessons on day 5.

[usckatieh]

Dinner at MDR was smart casual so DH wore his linen suit. After dinner, we took a ride on the Rising Tide bar- also on the must-do list.

We got on at Central Park and floated down over 15 minutes to the Promenade floor.

Here's a few night photos-

 

Boardwalk at night- the big window straight ahead with the purple lights is Dazzles night club. It has an awesome view.

 

I LOVE Central Park

 

 

 

We decided to turn in early but ended up ordering room service before bed. Milk and cookies in bed at 10pm- that’s what I call My Time Dining!

[usckatieh]

DAY 4 - Jamaica

Once they announced on the PA that we had the ok to leave for Jamaica, we joined the masses who were piling into port.

 

Falmouth view from the balcony (I need to clean those dust spots off my sensor!)

 

We chose Green Grotto Caves and Dunn River Falls tour for Jamaica. It was pretty easy to find our tour group since the place them all under tents with signs just as you pass the shopping area. We loaded the air-conditioned bus to head to Green Grotto cave. The tour guide gave some fun and interesting information about Jamaican culture and landmarks as we drove the half hour to the cave. The cave had some impressive roomy interior spaces but the tour was about average with other cave tours in excitement. It was also hot and humid even in the caves but they provide punch at the end which is nice.

 

Next stop was Dunn’s River Falls. The falls were amazing! Our excursion leader led us to meet our Falls guide at the front of the park. If you don’t want to climb the falls, you’ll be able to watch the group most of the way from a boardwalk that goes along the falls. First, we walked down to the beach with beautiful blue water and this is where the waterfall ended.

 

 

On the beach looking towards the falls.

 

We started climbing there with our group of about 40 all hand-in-hand helping each other up. The cool water felt so good on the hot day. The deepest the water came was waist high in the pools. I had purchased a waterproof camera just for this excursion so we took pictures as we went along (the falls guide actually offered to take a few pictures of the DH and I as we went along).

 

One of the set of falls looked a little intimating but once you tried it, it wasn't too bad.

 

Looking back from the top of the set of rocks shown above

 

By the time we got to the top, it looked like we were in a rainforest. At the end of the climb, they try to sell you a video that includes shots of everyone as their climbing for $40. I was tempted but we didn’t bring much cash. Once on the bus, someone mentioned we probably could have bartered on the price of the video. Climbing the falls was probably one of the top highlights of our whole trip so I'd highly recommend trying this excursion if you're in Jamaica.

 

 

Leaving Jamaica

[cruzegurl104]

Your pictures are great! Looking forward to reading more!:)

[usckatieh]

After dinner, we watched the Oasis of Dreams diving and swimming show from the 7th floor balcony. The strength and skill of the divers/acrobats was amazing. I probably took way to many pictures of the show but I was super impressed.

 

 

We watched from the balcony at the end of the 7th floor and from our view you could see the divers moving things

 

 

Flying

 

The Aqua Theater- the next photo of a diver doing a jump from a handstand is from the platfrom at the top right of this photo- yipes!

 

 

From the highest point- it just makes you cring to watch it!

[bostonfred]

salivating over your pictures..will be on oasis in Nov...how would you describe Columbus Cove..was the sand soft,water calm, how crowded,any shade..GRACIAS:cool::cool:

[2coolbreeze]

I've been on 8 cruises and this was great info for all

[firstcruiserDB]

I don't believe it! For some reason, I read your Oasis review today. I don't usually read them, as our next ship is the Jewel. While looking through your pictures of sail away from Ft. Lauderdale, I SAW MY HUSBAND!!!

 

We took a land vacation this summer, and we stayed at the Lago Mar Resort just north of the rocks. My husband walked down to watch the Oasis sail out! I never dreamed I'd see a picture of him!!

 

Thanks.....It was so cool to see! Your review was great, and it brings back good memories of our Oasis sailing a few years ago!

[labeachcomber]

This is a great review! We were on Oasis just one week before you, so this post and the pictures bring back very recent memories!

 

Noticed that your husband did stand-up surfing on the Flowrider at night. Was this one of the private lessons? Next time we're on this great ship I'll definitely consider doing it. Also saw that for the starboard Flowrider for boogie boarding they had the divider in your pictures. Was it like this the entire week? It was like this for the first day for us because one of the Flowriders was getting fixed. I personally wish they would have divided the boogie boarding the entire week, since people can stay on there for as long as they want if they're not willing to try any tricks. At least this way, the line is half as long.

[MMOMOM]

Fabulous! Loving your review still! :) To BostonFred .... we were at Columbus Cove and really lucked out ... got there late and were just 'looking around' and one of the attendants came up and got us 2 lounges .... put them RIGHT ON THE EDGE OF THE WATER UNDER A PALM TREE!!! It was AWESOME!! And, the sand was fine ... the water beautiful ... one of our best port days ... just 'lazing around' .... a really perfect day! :)

[montgomeryfamily]

Your photographs are so terrific! And I am really enjoying your review.

 

Thanks for the info about the shuttle. We are planning to stay there and it is helpful to have the info as my call to the front desk for info didn't get clear answers.

 

On your packing list, you mention the case of water. Did you pick it up locally or did you bring it with you? I wondered what types of stores, etc are close to the hotel. They said several were within walking distance, but I couldn't get a clear answer on what that means. Is there something adjacent or directly across the street, or a block away or did you notice?

 

I just realized that there are two Airport Hampton Inns. One is at Stirling Road, Hollywood and the other is 12th St., Ft Lauderdale. At which one did you stay?

Edited August 4, 2013 by montgomeryfamily

[lakemurraykid]

We were on the Oasis this past October and will be again in September. Seeing your photos makes me wish our cruise was sooner. Thank you posting your review.:)

[polyesther]

I appreciate and embrace your OCD tendencies.:D Love the review so far.

 

Me too! I'm glad I am not the only super OCD person in the world who pre-plans their vacation outfits also. :p

[Irish Lads Mom]

Leaving in 4 weeks on the Oasis! Following because your tips/organization is top notch!

[Cruzin-K]

Great review (and I love your husband's hats :D )

 

I'm going on the Allure next year so I'm devouring all info on the Oasis/Allure that's put out here on CC. I can't wait!

[MommysVaca]

Wondering what kind of waterproof camera you purchased for your trip. If you have a second, can you let me know what you went with? Thanks in advance!