"LIVE" from the Oasis of the Seas - February 21, 2015

[niksmom630]

Back and forth, port and starboard, up and down the stairs between 15 & 16....did I mention I was hell bent on seeing the Quantum? In any event, I'm sure I burned off every calorie I've consumed since Saturday!

 

Coming into St. Thomas .....

 

 

 

 

Well, I got my photo...wish the view had been a little better...😔

 

 

 

 

 

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[niksmom630]

These two were also ported with Quantum...

 

 

My current view....😄

 

DSIL and I may hop off briefly this afternoon to purchase the obligatory t- shirt, but for now we will just enjoy the deserted ship....

 

 

 

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[beancounterbeth]

That water is so blue in St. Thomas. Daydreaming and wishing I was there instead of snowing cold Oklahoma.

[cruzkitty]

Loving your beautiful pictures as I sit here at home, taking a "Snow Day", sigh..

[niksmom630]

My Time Dining Fiasco....

 

ok, I tried to go into my time dining with an open mind, even though it was NOT my preference. We had early dining reserved initially, but had to change to My Time after a reservation linking glitch.

 

Let me just say it is the worst dining experience I have ever had--at land or sea. I suspected they might need a day to iron out the wrinkles, so that's why we went to Sabor on Day 1.

 

When we arrived on Day 2 for our 6 p.m. reservations, there were long lines for both those with, and without reservations. And the lines did not move. When they did start moving, all the people behind us were being seated--even those without reservations. DH was irritated after about 10 minutes.It was not a good start.

 

We were finally seated 40 minutes later, and things only got better from there...

 

--Waiter literally shoved menus in our hands, no greeting, no "chef" recommendations..reappeared 15 minutes later to take our orders

--Asst. Waiter tossed rolls on our plates....I mean literally tossed....

--The wait staff decided that our table would be the holding area for the pepper mill....7 times they reached in between us to grab the mill to dispense pepper to another table, and then place it back on ours.

--table next to us dropped a knife and asked for a replacement. They picked up an extra place setting knife from our table and handed it to them. I'm sorry, that's just not even sanitary!!! 😝

--asked for extra butter. They took the full butter container from the table next to us. I guess they didn't need any more butter. 😳

 

We left before dessert, and I immediately spoke to both the main dining room manager, and then the Diamond concierge to voice my dissatisfaction with the MTD experience and request his assistance to secure specialty restaurant reservations around our already pre reserved shows for the remainder of the week

 

Need less to say, we got a call the next day from the dining room manager promising to "make it right" and told us to go straight into the dining room, and by pass the check in lines.

 

Last night we experienced the dining experience I am use to on RCI. So all is good with the world. I'n general, I have always been pleased with the customer service response to issues one may encounter while onboard, and they came through again.

 

I'm not a high maintenance person, and it really takes alot for me to complain, but at minimum I expected to be seated fairly promptly, to be greeted by a polite and personable wait staff, and not have food tossed at me.

 

So,, unless you have an inordinate amount of patience, I would avoid MTD like the plague. I now also understand why there is very limited traditional dining seating on Oasis. Traditional dining is now only offered on Deck 3, and both Deck 4 and 5 are strictly MTD.

 

My mini rant is now over!

 

 

More photos next....

 

 

 

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[niksmom630]

Mini golf

 

 

 

The ship was deserted today for quite awhile. Even the pools...I took most of my promenade and Boardwalk photos today..I upload those tomorrow...

 

 

 

There are about seven of the little alcoves just forward of the pool bar that look out over the port side of the ship. These are the best for catching an afternoon siesta...most of the chairs, ( loungers) in the solarium done have cushions.....

 

 

 

 

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[niksmom630]

Would be helpful if I posted the picture I was just referring to...

 

 

 

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[OfTheSeasCruiser]

My Time Dining Fiasco....

 

So,, unless you have an inordinate amount of patience, I would avoid MTD like the plague. I now also understand why there is very limited traditional dining seating on Oasis. Traditional dining is now only offered on Deck 3, and both Deck 4 and 5 are strictly MTD.

 

My mini rant is now over!

 

 

 

 

 

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And that is exactly why I am so very happy that I cleared the 6pm dinner waitlist for my May 23 cruise! :D

[LuCruise]

So sorry to hear about your awful MTD experience. Does that mean that 6pm is a bad time to book? I thought the busiest time was between 6:30pm and 7:30pm and earlier would be ok. That's not good to hear (as we will be on MTD)

 

PS -Great pictures as usual. Did you try the Zipline or FlowRider?

[niksmom630]

So sorry to hear about your awful MTD experience. Does that mean that 6pm is a bad time to book? I thought the busiest time was between 6:30pm and 7:30pm and earlier would be ok. That's not good to hear (as we will be on MTD)

 

 

 

PS -Great pictures as usual. Did you try the Zipline or FlowRider?

 

 

Thanks! According to the dining room manager, yes...6-7 is peak time, with many of the shows starting at 9. 7:30-8, it will die down. Last night when we got there there were another 20 people in line on each side again! I kindof felt bad bypassing all of them.😞

 

Who knows what tonight will bring, but I'm getting into my happy place first!

 

And no, I don't like heights, so the zip line was a definite NO for me....I'm also not particularly graceful, and don't need any injuries with three days remaining! I may try mini golf tho! 😂

 

 

 

 

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[LABCHICK]

Thanks! According to the dining room manager, yes...6-7 is peak time, with many of the shows starting at 9. 7:30-8, it will die down. Last night when we got there there were another 20 people in line on each side again! I kindof felt bad bypassing all of them.

 

Who knows what tonight will bring, but I'm getting into my happy place first!

 

And no, I don't like heights, so the zip line was a definite NO for me....I'm also not particularly graceful, and don't need any injuries with three days remaining! I may try mini golf tho!

 

 

 

 

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So sorry to hear about your bad experience with MTD. We have used it on 6 different cruise and have never had this happen. Our first time using it was on the Oasis and had a great time. We usually go around 6p.m. and have a reserved time with the same wait staff. Hope things so better for the rest of your cruise.

[sunset7]

Are you able to use the crown and anchor minutes on your device if you don't

have the internet package? Or do you still use one of the computers located on the ship. Thanks

[joandian]

Thanks for the great review so far. We are booked to sail on March 7 and your info has been a big help. So far I've changed my D+ amenity, bought my husband a drink package ( figured that would be cheaper), decided that the nights we do the MTD we will eat late and plan on eating breakfast at Johnny Rockets.

 

Keep it coming. I probably have more changes to make :D

 

Thank You!

 

Jo

[Clarea]

Are you able to use the crown and anchor minutes on your device if you don't

have the internet package? Or do you still use one of the computers located on the ship. Thanks

You can use your own device with your C&A discount/minutes.

[sunset7]

Thanks for the quick response. We will look into it further when we board Oasis on Saturday!

[Sunny AZ Girl]

I am so glad we were assgned back to our originally booked Early Seatng after Dynamic Dining was scrapped. There are 8 of us linked together for dining, and I thnk MTD would be a nightmare on the Oasis.

 

BTW, we had MTD on the Jewel with a group and it went well. We also have MTD on the Jewel in October, but there are just 4 of us together, so I hope once again it will go well.

[BecciBoo]

I think they all need to go take lessons from sister company Celebrity.

 

We loved Celebrity Select dining....never a wait or line and the best food we've had in many a cruise. No dining service issues whatsoever on Reflection.

[maggieq]

Your review is great. So much so we are actually thinking of booking our May cruise on oasis eastern route. We had the best time eastern itin in August of 2014 and February of 2013.

[APDMOM]

Thank you for sharing your MTD experience. We have the same issue with one reservation on early dining (3 people) and another (2 people) on MTD. If we don't get the other 2 on early dining, we will just leave it as it is. We can take turns with early dining and just wing it in the other restaurants. I'm still hopeful they can get all of us on early dining...

[MAJPLO]

Can you tell me if the wave pool has been open with the current running?

 

Thanks for the MTD info. Time to call the TA and get on the traditional wait list! Yikes!

[triplover]

Thanks for the review!

 

Can you tell me if you still have the compass from night four what was the menu name for dinner that night? Maybe ****ake or was Basil? I am trying to plan a night to book a specialty restaurant and this would help me decide if you have the name or remember it. Thanks!

[niksmom630]

I am so glad we were assgned back to our originally booked Early Seatng after Dynamic Dining was scrapped. There are 8 of us linked together for dining, and I thnk MTD would be a nightmare on the Oasis.

 

 

 

BTW, we had MTD on the Jewel with a group and it went well. We also have MTD on the Jewel in October, but there are just 4 of us together, so I hope once again it will go well.

 

It seems as if the consensus is that MTD does work well on other ships. The dining room manager has effectively let us self seat ourselves at the same table each evening. They are really going all out to please us. Last night they brought us Champagne and provided all 5 of us the Chops filet at no charge. The wait staff we have now are wonderful! 👍

 

 

 

Can you tell me if the wave pool has been open with the current running?

 

Thanks for the MTD info. Time to call the TA and get on the traditional wait list! Yikes!

 

 

Wave pool? Do you mean the flow rider?

 

Thanks for the review!

 

 

 

Can you tell me if you still have the compass from night four what was the menu name for dinner that night? Maybe ****ake or was Basil? I am trying to plan a night to book a specialty restaurant and this would help me decide if you have the name or remember it. Thanks!

 

 

Last nights menu (Day 4) was Shiitake....it's not one of the best menus, so a good night for a specialty restaurant.

 

 

 

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[niksmom630]

Welcome to Day 5! We have our tour with Bernard's today, and we're really looking forward to it.

 

Here are some pics from St. Thomas yesterday. We stayed in the Crown Bay Area..there are a few shops....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[niksmom630]

I was capturing some ship photos and then I caught this guy out of the corner of my eye...almost didn't notice him!

 

 

Love these flowers...

 

 

We spent the morning on board enjoying the deserted ship

 

 

 

 

 

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[niksmom630]

Leaving St Thomas...

 

 

 

Central Park early this morning, as I was up trying to catch the sunrise...

 

 

 

Pool deck

 

 

More later!

 

 

 

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