Oasis Review with pictures- July 20, 2013

[usckatieh]

I hope it's ok to respond to everyone in one post! :)

 

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!!!

That's hilarious! What a small world!

 

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:

 

Hi! Glad you like the photos- I took tons! We didn't spend too much time around the cove, but it seemed to be the best area for swimming. By the time we got to there at 11:30 it was pretty crowded on the beach, so we didn't even try to grab a chair or anything. We didn't stay too long. From what I remember the bottom was soft sand, the water was very calm and it gradually went from shallow to deeper which gave the kids plenty of room to play without going over their heads. A few people were floating out near the far markers so I'm not sure how deep it was there, but it was definitely less crowded if you didn't mind floating a little further from shore.

 

Let me see if I can get this photo from the water looking towards the beach to work (I just upgraded my bandwith with photobucket since it was giving me trouble!)

 

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.

 

Yes, my husband did the private lessons- in fact, he would have signed up for 2 but we ran out of time. At first I wasn't sure if that would be worth it but we watched a few lessons in progress early in the trip and it really does help to get a little extra practice time in, plus it's a blast. The did keep the boogie boarding side split the entire week for us except when they did lessons on that side. I think that really helped with the wait times.

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?

 

We stayed at the 12th St. hotel. I picked up the water bottles on sale at Walgreens near home because we drove (I think it was $2-3 for a 24 pack) but I did notice that the hotel is literally right next to a Big Lots- which is a discount store that I'm sure sells water as well, that you could walk to with no problems. I didn't check out the other stores since we just stayed there one night, but it looked to be in an area with some very close retail possiblities.

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!

 

I HAD to have a camera on the waterfall climb and I knew I didn't want to risk my big camera so I did some research and went with the Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS25. I choose it because of the size- I wanted something pocket sized, the decent price- I caught it on sale for $130, because it had optical zoom, it had buttons instead of a touch screen like some of its competitors which I've heard it harder to operate underwater, and it was shockproof so I didn't have to worry as much if I bumped it while climbing. The floating strap came in handy too because I could move it up or down my arm depending on what we were doing and just tighten it and the camera would stay cradled right against me. It really handled our abuse well- it got submerged, banged, covered in mud and still came out alive. I got a little hazy at Labadee from the salt spray on the jet skis but when we rinsed it with clean water, it took great images again.

Edited August 5, 2013 by usckatieh

[graphicguy]

Thanks....what a great review, and an even better looking couple!:D

[labeachcomber]

I hope it's ok to respond to everyone in one post! :)

 

Yes, my husband did the private lessons- in fact, he would have signed up for 2 but we ran out of time. At first I wasn't sure if that would be worth it but we watched a few lessons in progress early in the trip and it really does help to get a little extra practice time in, plus it's a blast. The did keep the boogie boarding side split the entire week for us except when they did lessons on that side. I think that really helped with the wait times.

 

I HAD to have a camera on the waterfall climb and I knew I didn't want to risk my big camera so I did some research and went with the Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS25. I choose it because of the size- I wanted something pocket sized, the decent price- I caught it on sale for $130, because it had optical zoom, it had buttons instead of a touch screen like some of its competitors which I've heard it harder to operate underwater, and it was shockproof so I didn't have to worry as much if I bumped it while climbing. The floating strap came in handy too because I could move it up or down my arm depending on what we were doing and just tighten it and the camera would stay cradled right against me. It really handled our abuse well- it got submerged, banged, covered in mud and still came out alive. I got a little hazy at Labadee from the salt spray on the jet skis but when we rinsed it with clean water, it took great images again.

 

I wonder how or why they decided to keep the divider in for boogie boarding? Now that I think about it though, our starboard Flowrider only had one of the two jets working. So I guess that's why. On Day 2 of our cruise, there was no stand-up surfing, only boogie boarding on the port side, and the divider was in place. I think they were trying to fix the starboard side but could never get it going. On Day 3, surfing was on the port side and boogie boarding back on the starboard side, but with only one of the jets, so essentially half the Flowrider. Which was fine, since you weren't really moving across the entire Flowrider. They said they were going to fix it Friday night so it would be ready for the next sailing. Guess it was fixed! I wonder if they always divide the boogie boarding as a general rule?

 

Looked at the Panasonic underwater point and shoot as well. We ended up buying the Canon D20, a little more expensive, I think around $290, but we are a Canon family and love the quality of pictures. So much fun having a true underwater camera. When we found out that a custom housing for our specific non-underwater point and shoot cost about $200, we thought we would just get an actual underwater camera. We saw a bunch of people fiddling with plastic boxes that they had to kind of squeeze really hard in order to get a picture. Love how hardy our camera is and it was a great purchase.

[montgomeryfamily]

Thank you for the information as well as the suggestion for the water. We will be sailing in a few weeks and your review and photographs have been great and made us so excited for our cruise.

[Cupcrazy]

Great review! I'll be on Oasis in 2 months. I can't wait, and your review just makes me want that day to come sooner

[jv_nyc]

Thank you for the awesome review and the tips on an underwater camera!

[mrlddst]

Loving your review! I have a whole year and two weeks left before I cruise Oasis...I don't know how I'm going to make it :(

[cruisegirl1976]

Love your review

[usckatieh]

DAY 5 - At sea fun day

The hour long morning Zumba in the Promenade with the cruise director, Amy was a great way to start the morning of our 2nd sea day! The moves weren't too tricky but you still ended up breaking a sweat.

 

I had considered ice skating today but when I went to look at the rink it was rather small and crowded (and DH wasn't so interested in that idea) so I decided to climb the wall instead. That was fun! I have some experience with wall climbing and I found the wall to be challenging but not too difficult. They had some pretty good handholds and the gentleman that was running the climbing wall was quick to yell up advice and encouragement if you seemed like you were getting stuck. To add a little fun, they have a bell you can ring when you make it to the top and they even had some lower bells for the kids to ring as they did a smaller climb.

 

Getting started

 

Ringing the bell

 

A view from the top of the wall. It was taken from a balcony adjacent to the top- I'm personally glad that I didn't look down!

 

Another do-not-miss is the International Belly flop. Hilarious! We watched from the 11th floor which was a little high but we had a good view.

 

Extra points for the towel cape

 

Strange enough, the skinny guy won but it made sense because he has the best jump and splash. He won a trophy and a bottle of wine. Look at that flawless flopping form.

 

(Semi-)Syncronized Splashing

 

Some tips about the balconies- my DH isn’t a huge fan of sitting in the sun and I couldn’t talk him into going early to score seats in the shade at the Aquatheater, so when we’d catch shows, we’d pop into one of the balconies on the back of the ship to watch instead. We’d go up to the 11th or 12th floor and talk all the way to the back and there would be a glass door with chairs set up and usually no one else there. It was a little high vantage point but it would have been a great place to watch disembarkation from as well!

[usckatieh]

The 2nd sea day was also the 2nd formal dinner at MDR- lobster night! We would finish one plate and Ricky would bring out another lobster so there was no shortage of food. After dinner, our table buddies, Rebecca and Eric, joined us walking around looking for picture opportunities. There were ship photographers everywhere with pre-setup shots on formal night so if you’d like your picture taken there’s no shortage of options, but since we’re both photographers we decided to have a little fun on our own. We took some nice ones of each other and some goofy ones.

 

Hubby

 

Picture of me on the Boardwalk- playing with the camera settings

 

We talked Eric into joining Nathan at Flowrider lessons and there was a spot available so after we changed clothes, we met them at the sports deck. The lessons were $60 and they included 1 hour of time for 8 people. You could do boogie boarding or surfing or both. Surfing seemed to be much trickier than boogie boarding but the lessons are a great opportunity to test stances and have some fun. In the regular Flowrider line, you fall down and you have to wait in the long line to try again but in the lessons, you got to try, fall down, get coached by the trainers and then try one more time before it was the next person’s turn. It made it much easier to learn. The guys got some good time standing up over the hour lesson. Everyone cheers for each other and the coaches give a lot of advice so it was a really positive atmosphere.

 

Here's my husband catching some waves

[usckatieh]

DAY 6 - Cozemel

Mexico was an adventure! Sadly, we got a message the night before Cozemel (after the excursion desk was closed) that our Coba Ruins trip was canceled due to lack of participation. This was disappointing because with all the research we did about the ruins, that had become one of the things we were really looking forward to, but we were not going to be deterred from having fun so we went to the desk in the morning and he said there was room on the dune buggy excursion so we chose that one for 1:00pm.

 

We had a lot of time until then so we enjoyed having the boat all to ourselves again. I wanted to hit the beach, but our dune buggy excursion was supposed to stop there, so we decided to go shopping for some things for the kids in port instead. We found some cute little drums and bracelets. We have no experience shopping overseas and we ended up being led up to one of the upstairs flea market shops. Nothing had a price on it and when he found a blanket that looked like one he had as a kid in California, the gentleman said the price was $38. DH knew that the same blanket was about $10 in California so he talked him into taking $20 for it. As we walked through the rest of the port shops we saw just about the same blanket marked $5. We chalked it up to helping the local economy. J

 

I try to be positive about most things, but truthfully our Dune buggy excursion ended up a bit of a flop. The tour desk had said it would be “dune buggy racing” with a stop at a cave and at the beach. I like to look on the bright side but I’m going to try to be as honest as possible about this excursion to hopefully save other people the headache we had.

 

Once we met our group in port, we all took vans from the port to the Adventure Center. We spent about a half hour waiting around and eventually got through the inefficient process of putting down $2 for the goggles we were issued. After about 45 minutes of killing time in the heat, we finally hopped in our dune buggies. The seats were still covered in mud and the helmets were wet from just being hosed out (or so I hope).

 

My DH being the thrill seeker he is hit the first puddle at full speed and we were covered with a wave of mud. I’m not afraid of getting dirty so that part was fun.

 

Selfies- Before and After

 

But unfortunately, as we rolled single file down a road through the jungle, the buggies kept braking down so we spent a lot of time stopped and waiting and even when we were rolling it was stop and go- a far cry from “racing”. We also had to stop and wait several times to let other groups squeeze by on what is really a one-vehicle road. We made one of the scheduled stops at Jade Cavern which was a small water filled cave. At the stops before they offered us some “bottled water” after which most people had already drank, they mentioned that the water came right from the cave water that we were in front of. :eek: That immediately made me and some of the other guests rather uncomfortable. You think you’re drinking bottled water and then he dips the bottle in the cave water and says “look its clear!”

 

The cavern/ water hole

 

Some people went swimming in the cave but I wanted to wait until we hit the beach before I peeled off my mud-soaked pants. Unfortunately, because of all the delays, we never made it to the beach they mentioned. The excursion was supposed to have us back to port at 4:00 but by 5:30 we were still on the trails, this time stopped because the couple behind us brakes went completely out (at least they yelled “incoming!” before the slammed into the back.) Nathan and I were getting a little nervous because the ship set sail at 6:30. We finally got to the end of the trail about a half hour before set sail and we were a little concerned about being “those people” running back to the ship, we didn’t get to rinse off much before hopping the vans back to port. Since we were rushed, we still wore most of the mud all over our faces and clothes.

 

Here's what we looked "cleaned up"

 

It was hilarious the look on people's faces as the group of 10 or so of us walked back to the ship. This is one of the last security guards- he was speechless

 

I wish we could have seen the beach in Cozemel but we sure have an interesting set of pictures to go with the story that we do have.

[MMOMOM]

Great fun and great memories! :)

[CruisinAg]

Great review. I love the perspective of first timers! Looks like youre having a blast. The pic of you in front of the carousel is awesome!

[MrFunInTheSun]

Great review and pictures. Thanks for sharing with us!

[usckatieh]

After we took the best shower of my life after that dune buggy adventure, we decided to try dinner at Chops, the specialty restaurant in Central Park. It was a $30/person surcharge but the food was amazing! I was expecting a Longhorns style dinner and we ended up with much closer to a Ruth Chris experience. I had a giant 10 oz. filet and the Chocolate mud pie was delicious. The couple next to us got the crème brulee and it comes to your table complete with the flames! They said it was delicious. The one in the main dining room was tasty as well but there’s something dramatic about your food arriving on fire that you didn’t get in the MDR. We even got to meet Captain Patrick as he walked through and chatted with the guests during dinner. Chops gets a big thumbs up from us! :D

Edited August 6, 2013 by usckatieh

[beej]

Thanx for the review. We sail in 80 days, which is 79 too many, and can't wait. It will be my first time on Oasis, so this is really a great way to get acquainted with the Big Girl before hand

[iuki]

Absolutely LOVED your cruise report! I give it an A+++++

Thanks for sharing.

[veronicavick]

Cruising for the first time on the Oasis the 17th of August.... Your review is awesome and so looking forward to it.... The pictures are great. Thanks for sharing.

[sarajean]

Your pictures were really great.

Going on the Oasis in 4 1/2 weeks.

soooooo excited.

[cruzegurl104]

Can't wait to read the rest!!

[Canadian Tyler]

Great review and pics!!

[Hobbitmomma]

Loving your review. We're on Oasis with same itinerary in a little over a week. Where did you get that camera bag!! I love it. I'm always looking for something new and not as obtrusive as the big cross shoulder bag I have. Thanks!

[IrishLassie]

Loving your review & also the "tips" you gave early on. Thanks for taking the time to post. :D

[terboo]

I'm a photographer too :) Your camera bag is super cute. Where did you get it?

[usckatieh]

Loving your review. We're on Oasis with same itinerary in a little over a week. Where did you get that camera bag!! I love it. I'm always looking for something new and not as obtrusive as the big cross shoulder bag I have. Thanks!

 

I found the camera bag at www.jototes.com. It was less than $100 which is great compared to the similar Kelly Moore bags. It seemed really well constructed and it fit my SLR with zoom lens, an extra wide angle lens and a flash and had some cool zipper pouchs on the inside and outside. I was really impressed with the quality for the price. It's big but it looks cute and it doesn't scream "I'm carrying around an expensive camera!" :) Have fun on your trip!