Long Review Oasis of the Seas March 1-8 Family Vacation/Proposal - Aquatheater Suite

[SeaTeach]

Absolutely loving your review.

[Eng23]

Tom and I missed the sail away show in the aquatheater because we had to meet with the Royal Romance coordinator to work on the big event to be happening the next evening. I was sorry to miss my favorite dreamworks characters, especially puss and boots because we have a cat that looks like him. Our cat Evander is a rescue who was abused and has one ear and we kid that puss and boots wears a hat because he must really be Evander and hides his bad ear under the hat. : ) Anyway, my future daughter in law captured the event on film for me. We met with coordinator and made plans for set up of towel animals, champagne, chocolate covered strawberries, stuffed animals, of course the ring the next evening to be set up starting at 7pm. The following night would be a celebration dinner in chops with a cake and photographer and a congratulations to be printed in our compass copy for 3-March.

I missed the show but there were other opportunities to see the characters. The Dreamworks experience was done very well. This is not a character cruise and thus the characters are not walking all around the ship like you are in Disney world. There are shows, parades and photo shoots, but other than that we did not see them. They are there is you want them but they are not in your face all the time if you don't. Well done.

 

Love the Penguins!! They are my favorite DreamWorks characters!! :)

[michaelnixon]

My wife and I were also on this sailing. We were a few cabins away from you in 10712. What a great cruise. Thank you for sharing your pictures.

 

Michael and Amy

 

 

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Edited March 14, 2014 by michaelnixon

[EmpressofPurple]

 

Nice dress!!!

[transam84]

Thanks everyone! Glad you are enjoying the review. When I it I did not plan on it being this long but having such fun remembering events it keeps expanding and as long as people are not bored I will keep writing. :D

[js4rq]

Loving your review. Congratulations to Rob and Amanda!!

[Sophia2007]

I am enjoying your review! Thank you.

 

I would love to get my folks on a cruise, they refuse to go. Reading about how you are dealing with wheelchairs gives me hope that maybe someday I can get them to come.

[Mrsfabo]

The room was so beautiful wow they did a great job congrats to them

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[spm422]

I am loving your review! This ship is amazing, fabulous photos! congratulations!!

[lazeyey]

I am enjoying your review. Congratulations to Rob and Amanda.

 

I was on the same cruise as you. It was a lot of fun.

[Saracruise]

WOW, Great Review!!!

[MANDMTRAVEL]

Greate review and awesome pictures!!!

[transam84]

Good Morning Labadee!

March 3 dawned a bit windy and overcast and I was worried. We ordered room service and ate on the balcony. It was nice but windy. I was a bit concerned since this was our beach day. But by the time we fully docked and the wave runners came to greet it was sunny and warming up nicely.

[transam84]

Welcome Ashore!

After a nice breakfast on the balcony, Tom and I headed out with the moms around 9 AM, and Amanda and Rob met us a bit later.

For Labadee, as mentioned I contacted Israel ahead of time and he arranged for Barefoot Beach, Beach Cabana B2 for us. There was bit of confusion about taking our transport chairs on island. We originally thought we would get the beach wheel chairs but when exiting the ship, we were told we should take our own transport chairs. Turns out we should have utilized the beach chairs. We ended up bringing our chairs to the cabana but then storing them and using the beach chairs. Israel was so help he came out to the island to check on us. He is so attentive. He even stayed with my mom, when we had to leave for a tour.

[relaxatsea]

Loving your wonderful review and photos!

 

Thank you so much!

[transam84]

Entryway:

It has been quite a long time since we last visit Labadee and it sure has grown. So much to do!

[transam84]

Barefoot Beach:

We were taken to barefoot beach by a cart. As you know it is private access. We had gold wristbands. We were taken to our cabana. As noted we needed the beach chairs and had to carry the wheel chairs. B2 cabana is not accessed by a walkway, so if you have it and a wheel chair, don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Barefoot beach is nice; there is plenty of shade and lots of chairs if you don’t have a cabana. The entry into the water is full of shells so I would recommend beach shoes. I am glad we brought them along. The water is lovely and calm and clear though. We floated on beach mats for quite a while and it was very enjoyable.

[transam84]

Cabana B2:

It was a beach cabana as noted. When we arrived at 9 am I was a little concerned because it seemed to be in full shade and I like the sun on the deck. But by late afternoon the deck was in the sun. This cabana was in a good location. It was on the beach but very close to the water. I like the location very much. It faced the ship and the view was amazing. We had a chest with 4 large bottles of water and he brought us more later in the day. We ended with so much water, I brought 4 large bottles back to the ship. There are nice furnishing and a fan. We had a very nice attendant and he brought us beach mats and offered us snorkel equipment. There were plenty of towels in the cabana. We were on a tour when lunch opened and our attendant brought the mom’s each a plate of food and desserts from the buffet. We ate in our cabana. The cabin was the only thing made this beach possible for the moms and I would do it again in heartbeat. Bravo Royal Caribbean! Bravo Israel Sanchez!

 

To give you some idea of proximity to water. I am standing very close to the edge of water to take this picture.

The interior

 

The Deck

 

Our Neighbors

[transam84]

Activities:

We reserved the wave runner tour for me, Tom, Rob and Amanda for 11AM. Rob and Amanda had the Dragon’s Breath Flight Line at 2PM.

Wave-runners: The wave-runners are accessed at Buccaneer’s Bay. It is a short walk from Barefoot beach. When we arrived we checked in. We had taken this tour many years ago and really enjoyed it. Tom and Rob were driving and me and Amanda passengers. We purchased lanyards for our sunglasses. If you take this tour be sure you wear sunglasses and they have a lanyard. We got a locker for our stuff. You can go barefoot or wear beach shoes. No flip flops, obviously. We got our life jackets and all riders had a vest with straps for passenger to hold on to. And this turned out to be very necessary, more in a minute. We had a short safety briefing/ movie. There were 10 wave runners per tour, a lead and chase vehicle. We were asked our experience. Both my son and husband have ridden many times. We have a house at the Jersey shore and a boat and my husband and I have boating licenses. I am telling you this for context. They then asked for volunteers to be in front and explained the front machines go the fastest. My husband and another woman volunteered for front. I was fine with this since we have ridden before and as noted we are boaters. The woman had her own wave runner and was very experienced (reckless is more the word) and so we went second. My son was 5th. Before we left he explained that we were free to go “full throttle”. Hmmm…that is interesting I thought, a tour that allows riders with potentially little experience to go “full throttle”. But I thought this is tour, we really can’t be going “full throttle”…. I was wrong…We all pushed off from the dock and were given numbers to take off. And take off we did at break neck speed. We had to cross of rough area with big waves to get to a calm shore and I was screaming and crying the whole way. I thought I was going to fall off I was being thrown so much. I was scared for Rob and Amanda, since Amanda had never ridden. We were going so fast and at one point we even lost sight of our lead and the woman in front. When we caught up at the half way pause point, my husband asked to switch positions because I was so scared. Others people were also a bit upset. It seemed only the woman who has a wave runner and thought it so funny she fell off the previous week was having fun. We were put in position 5, but this was only slightly better. I have never been on a “full throttle tour” that was not billed as one. I wanted a nice sightseeing tour and what I got was a crazy, full throttle race. I don’t mind going fast, but not full throttle the whole time. So please be advised if you book this tour you will be going fast, very, very fast, scary fast. Amanda told us after the tour that she was really scared and the woman in front of them almost fell off. So while it was a somewhat cool experience and we got some great pictures I don’t think I would book this tour again.

Zipline: At 1:30PM Rob and Amanda went over to the zip line. It turns out that the weight limit was reduced to 160lbs because it was windy. Didn’t seem that windy to us, and even our attendant was surprised but apparently on the mountain it was windy. So my son could not go. Please be aware that they change the weight limit according to conditions and they are very careful about it being windy which it often is. At least they got to zip line on the ship : )

[transam84]

Bye Bye Labadee. It was fun!

 

Tonight we go to dinner at Chops and celebrate the engagement!

Edited March 14, 2014 by transam84

[Nami]

I love this review :)

Edited March 14, 2014 by Nami

[js4rq]

Beautiful photos... more please!! :D

[transam84]

You asked for more...you got it!

 

Congratulations Rob and Amanda!

 

 

Prior to the cruise I made arrangement to have an announcement put in our compass. I also made reservations for Chops for the third night, anticipating the 2nd night engagement. We like food, but are not foodies. So, Chops seemed a better fit for us the 150 Central Park. As part of the Royal Romance package we received an hour of private photography. Since the photographers are not allowed in state rooms, we need to pick another location for the engagement photos. We thought Chops and Central Park would be perfect.

Central Park

So before I go into the celebration let me digress a bit and take you through Central Park. I think this is one of the most amazing features of the Oasis class ships. You forget you are on ship when in this neighborhood. And it is so peaceful and we never found it crowded.

So From the Top!

 

Now for a walk in the park!

[transam84]

So no review of Central Park would be complete without a comment on the famous roast beef sandwich from Park Cafe. OK, yes it is really good, IMO. And I am not a real beef eater. After the 3rd day we took to having one of these for lunch every day. Park Cafe in general is nice place to get lunch. The make your own salad station looked very good, although I must say I was too busy eating the roast beef to try it. I did try the Jerk pork wrap and it was pretty good. Not good like the roast beef :D but good.

 

So now on to the engagement celebration!

[thjeepster]

Activities:

We reserved the wave runner tour for me, Tom, Rob and Amanda for 11AM. Rob and Amanda had the Dragon’s Breath Flight Line at 2PM.

Wave-runners: The wave-runners are accessed at Buccaneer’s Bay. It is a short walk from Barefoot beach. When we arrived we checked in. We had taken this tour many years ago and really enjoyed it. Tom and Rob were driving and me and Amanda passengers. We purchased lanyards for our sunglasses. If you take this tour be sure you wear sunglasses and they have a lanyard. We got a locker for our stuff. You can go barefoot or wear beach shoes. No flip flops, obviously. We got our life jackets and all riders had a vest with straps for passenger to hold on to. And this turned out to be very necessary, more in a minute. We had a short safety briefing/ movie. There were 10 wave runners per tour, a lead and chase vehicle. We were asked our experience. Both my son and husband have ridden many times. We have a house at the Jersey shore and a boat and my husband and I have boating licenses. I am telling you this for context. They then asked for volunteers to be in front and explained the front machines go the fastest. My husband and another woman volunteered for front. I was fine with this since we have ridden before and as noted we are boaters. The woman had her own wave runner and was very experienced (reckless is more the word) and so we went second. My son was 5th. Before we left he explained that we were free to go “full throttle”. Hmmm…that is interesting I thought, a tour that allows riders with potentially little experience to go “full throttle”. But I thought this is tour, we really can’t be going “full throttle”…. I was wrong…We all pushed off from the dock and were given numbers to take off. And take off we did at break neck speed. We had to cross of rough area with big waves to get to a calm shore and I was screaming and crying the whole way. I thought I was going to fall off I was being thrown so much. I was scared for Rob and Amanda, since Amanda had never ridden. We were going so fast and at one point we even lost sight of our lead and the woman in front. When we caught up at the half way pause point, my husband asked to switch positions because I was so scared. Others people were also a bit upset. It seemed only the woman who has a wave runner and thought it so funny she fell off the previous week was having fun. We were put in position 5, but this was only slightly better. I have never been on a “full throttle tour” that was not billed as one. I wanted a nice sightseeing tour and what I got was a crazy, full throttle race. I don’t mind going fast, but not full throttle the whole time. So please be advised if you book this tour you will be going fast, very, very fast, scary fast. Amanda told us after the tour that she was really scared and the woman in front of them almost fell off. So while it was a somewhat cool experience and we got some great pictures I don’t think I would book this tour again.

Zipline: At 1:30PM Rob and Amanda went over to the zip line. It turns out that the weight limit was reduced to 160lbs because it was windy. Didn’t seem that windy to us, and even our attendant was surprised but apparently on the mountain it was windy. So my son could not go. Please be aware that they change the weight limit according to conditions and they are very careful about it being windy which it often is. At least they got to zip line on the ship : )

 

 

Do they give you a refund if it's too windy?

 

We already scheduled our time for our allure cruise next month.

 

Thanks!!!

 

Great review!

Edited March 14, 2014 by thjeepster