The Arizona Cruisers Invade the Western Caribbean on the Oasis of the Seas, May 9 – 1

[Sunny AZ Girl]

Great start.

 

Nice review.

 

Eagerly awaiting more.

 

Thanks for posting your travels.

 

Thank you, Sue! More on the way today.:)

[Sunny AZ Girl]

Here is a link to all of my pre-cruise & boarding day pictures, if you are interested!

[grandgeezer]

That night we took advantage of a 2 for 1 special at Chops. I enjoyed the meal there as usual. It was the only night we had dinner in a Specialty restaurant.

 

I had made reservations for “Oasis of Dreams” the first night, but we let that go and decided to enjoy the show from our balcony instead. I liked not having to rush from dinner to get prime seats. We already had prime seats!

 

 

 

I want to take a moment now to comment on the comfort levels of the Boardwalk cabins, especially our cabin. I really can’t comment on cabins in other locations or decks on the Boardwalk. When out on the balcony you can hear the sounds of the activities below. But with the doors closed the vast majority of the noise is truly blocked out. When there was a movie in the evening we could hear the bass and vibrations from the theater, but they were usually over by 11:00 PM. Also, you must keep your curtains shut if you are changing in your cabin as you can truly see well into the cabins across the way day or night, especially at night. I will go into that later! Overall, I loved it. I love my usual ocean view balconies, also. But these cabins are a unique feature on a unique ship and I am really glad we got the cabin. Great views are always available from both inside and outside the ship. What more could you want?

 

Good night. Tomorrow we have a wonderful and relaxing day at sea.

 

 

Great pictures, thanks for sharing. Do you happen to remember the name of the waiter in your Chops picture? He looks like a waiter we've had a couple of times on Celebrity, most recently last October on the Equinox. His name is Joe and he's from Peru,

[Sunny AZ Girl]

We woke up to a sunny day. We had our “Official Meet & Mingle” this morning at 10:00 AM in Jazz on 4. Breakfast was in the Windjammer. It was crowded with a line, but it went fairly quickly and they actually seated us so we did not have to search for a table. That was nice. But be smart. The TV’s in the cabins and information boards by the elevators all have an updated list of restaurants and just how crowded they are. I always used this feature on the Allure and never had a wait anywhere at all. The Windjammer is usually crowded in the morning, but not other venues such as the Wipeout Cafe or the Solarium Cafe. I love both of those breakfast venues. The Wipeout Cafe is where you can get cooked to order eggs and omelets. The Solarium Cafe is all healthy and fresh, Yummy!

 

We made it to the Meet & Mingle on time. There was a pretty good turnout. I think 100 people had signed up for it and I would guess about 70 showed up.

 

The Arizona Cruisers were there

 

So were a lot of our Roll Call friends

 

 

 

The event was hosted by the Assistant Cruise Director

 

Steve won a bottle of wine, which we saved for a celebration later with the Arizona Cruisers!

[Sunny AZ Girl]

We headed back to the Boardwalk. I think that is my favorite part of this ship. We love the colors, the activity and the food offerings. Here you can find the Dog House, Cups & Scoops, Candy Beach, Sabor and Johnny Rockets. The Dog House is Complimentary at all times and Johnny Rockets is Complementary for breakfast. All others have a charge, athough not high. We went to the Dog House for lunch with Norine and Gene while the others went to Johnny Rockets. Afterwards, we had a dessert from Cups and Scoops. Steve had his ice cream and I had a mini (about 3 bites – perfect size!) Red Velvet cupcake. Be aware that Johnny Rockets can only sit a group of 4 inside. It was getting a bit too humid outside for some, but we found that sitting in the shade across from the Dog House was just fine.

 

Scenes from the Boardwalk:

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Sunny AZ Girl]

Soon it was time for my favorite cruise ship activity – relaxing on my balcony! I took a book out on the balcony with me, but it was just too much fun watching the continuous show going on above, below and across the way. Steve and Lisa joined us on their adjoining balcony and we took it all in together.

 

It was a gorgeous day

 

The Zipliners were flying over our heads.

 

Below, in the Aquatheater we could watch the “Sexiest Man Contest” that was being hotly contested.

 

Lisa’s Steve finally went down to the Rock Climbing wall to give it a try. Gary was watching from his balcony, too.

 

He rang the bell!

 

Lisa did the zipline also, but I missed the picture.

 

Later the acrobats were practicing for the water show. I think I liked watching the practices more than the show. You could tell they were really having a good time together.

[cruisinrealtor]

Ginny - thank you god posting this pictorial review. We haven had one in a bit. We don't sail on her until January but this is getting me more and more excited. Can't wait for more.

[Sunny AZ Girl]

That evening before dinner we decided to stop into the Diamond Lounge for a glass of wine and appetizers. There was not a huge crowd and we were able to find a place to sit with no problem. That was not always the case. Some nights were jammed. Other nights, not so much. This was the first formal night and I really thought it would be busier. Here is a picture I took of the actual lounge when we stopped in earlier in the day, before breakfast.

 

At breakfast they served an assortment of deli meats, cheeses, fruits and breads. Since I usually avoid processed meats and breads due to their high sodium levels we skipped that and decided to go to the Windjammer instead. Before dinner they served a nice appetizer selection of hot and cold appetizers and we got into the habit of stopping each evening for a few minutes. Here is the view out the window of the Diamond Lounge. Again, it is my favorite view, just from a little different angle.

 

We had decided as a group to skip the first formal night as the guys were rebelling en masse about wearing suit coats anyway. So, we went to the Windjammer for the “Seafood Extravagaza”. They do have lobster tails off to the side and some shrimp and a few other seafood items scattered around, but an extravaganza it is not. I would not bother to do it again. It was quite disappointing. The lobster was tough and overcooked. Nothing was very amazing. If I were to skip formal night again I would go to a specialty restaurant instead.

 

Later we had reservations for “Cats”. I have seen the poor reviews, but I liked it. The singers were good. The girl who sang “Memories” was amazing. You really have to be familiar with what is going on with this show. Research the story line a bit, go get the DVD and watch it at least once to be able to appreciate it. The sets and costumes were as good as on Broadway. I could not take photos during this show, but here is the set before the show started.

 

At intermission they had a photo session for anyone who wanted to get on stage and have their photo taken.

 

As others have reported, the show picks up a bit in the second half. So don’t be like 50% of the crowd and leave at intermission. The best is still ahead!

 

Sidenote: For any of the shows, get there about 30 minutes early if you have reservations. That way you will be able to choose your seat. Some seats are blocked by poles and they were usually the ones left open just before the standby line was let in 10 minutes before the show would begin. If you are not there before the 10 minute mark you may not get in at all if it is a popular show & showtime. Later shows usually had room for everyone. If you do not have reservations you may get in, but your seat choice will be limited, For the comedy show, without reservations you will probably not get in at all due to the intimate (aka: small) venue size.

 

That evening Steve and I set out on what was to be our nightly routine, walking the jogging track. Keep to the right if you are walking. Runners to the left. And it is a one-way track. Go the right way, please! I would walk about 1 ½ miles every night, while Steve did about 3 miles.

 

 

Our comfy bed was calling us. The next day we were looking forward to our over-the-water cabanas on Labadee!

 

Here are the rest of my Day 2 pictures.

[Sunny AZ Girl]

Great pictures, thanks for sharing. Do you happen to remember the name of the waiter in your Chops picture? He looks like a waiter we've had a couple of times on Celebrity, most recently last October on the Equinox. His name is Joe and he's from Peru,

No, I'm sorry. I don't remember his name. I'm pretty bad about that. He was good, though.

 

Ginny - thank you god posting this pictorial review. We haven had one in a bit. We don't sail on her until January but this is getting me more and more excited. Can't wait for more.

You are welcome. January will be here before you know it!:cool:

[AZ Karaoke Girl]

Here is a picture of me doing the zipline the first time. The second time, Ginny planned to get me doing the zipline overhead while getting Steve doing the rock wall below. She missed my zip across because she taking pictures of Steve but I'm grateful to have all the shots of Steve doing the rock wall cuz I missed it.

 

We loved our balcony next to Ginny & Steve. I did get woke up a couple times by the loud things happening at the theatre below but that wouldn't prevent me from getting this location again. I just happened to be very tired and went to bed early A LOT! :D As for seeing the stars, I agree with Ginny that the boardwalk lights are always on and not really a good location to see stars. I would recommend a ocean view balcony instead for that.

[Sunny AZ Girl]

Thank you for posting the shot, Lisa! I was hoping you would do that. [emoji4]

[Sunny AZ Girl]

Way back in August or September, 2014 I was surprised to see that excursions were open on this cruise already. The Nellie’s Beach cabanas were able to be reserved! So, our group quickly chose two cabanas for 8 of us, as Nonnie is not a beach person and she had not yet convinced her son to go along on this cruise with us. At that time it was advertised as having full access to the suite beach’s (Barefoot Beach) upgraded buffet. At that time none of us were in suites. Gary & Norine upgraded to suites after the drydock and suite conversion. Then in October the deal was changed and the upgraded buffet was off the menu, so to speak. I e-mailed RCI and received back a confirmation that we would still have full access to the upgraded buffet since we had reserved our cabanas prior to October, 2014. I printed the confirmation and sent a copy to Norine as we would be sharing our cabana with them. Whenever you get a confirmation of any kind, print it and take it along. We were glad we did.

 

After Norine & Gary both reserved the suites they attempted to get us the Over the Water cabanas on Barefoot Beach by e-mailing the concierge several weeks prior to the cruise. But they were informed that the Over the Water Cabanas at BB were all gone at that point. We decided to keep our Nellie’s Beach cabanas rather than settle for the Beach Cabanas at BB. I am sure they are fine, but we really wanted the Over the Water ones.

 

So, we were very excited to know that we would have cabanas waiting for us that morning. It was a beautiful day and we could see Labadee from our balcony as we enjoyed our room service breakfast.

 

On our first night out we heard an “Alpha” call. Steve was coming back from searching out his late night “cocktail” (aka:cookies) when he saw the ship medical personnel taking someone from Deck 6 to the Medical Center on a gurney, wearing an oxygen mask. We never did find out what happened, but soon after we docked in Labadee there was an announcement that if you want to disembark early to do it then as there was going to be a helicopter landing for a medical evacuation and disembarkment would be delayed after that until the helicopter had cleared. So, off we went! We wanted to be first there for the cabanas as we did not want to end up with the cabanas with the ladders going into the water. Since one person in each level had some sort of mobility issue we wanted to be sure we had accessible cabanas. While Gary & Norine had gone to the suite concierge to explain the issue, we were going to be sure it would end up ok.

 

The dock is very long. There are beach style wheelchairs available for people who needed them. I do believe Norine took advantage of one. They are free, but the people pushing them are working for tips.

 

 

We almost made it down the dock before we were stopped as the helicopter was landing. We had to wait until the helicoter had landed on the walkway and the prop had stopped turning before we were allowed to walk past it and onto the beach.

 

 

 

I asked one of the officers standing there where they would be taking this person. While she could not offer specifics, she did say that the usual place for people to go from Labadee is the Dominican Republic. OK, not US standards probably, but I am sure it is way better than any facilities offered in Haiti.

[alocsin]

Excellent review -- I'm hanging on every word because we will be on Oasis in November. Thank you.

[alocsin]

One question: did they have a Chocolate Waffle breakfast in the main dining room? If so, what day?

[Sunny AZ Girl]

Once past the helicopter we were directed to the golf carts that would escort us the cabana area. We were greeted by our cabana attendant who led us to our two side by side cabanas. We had no reason to be concerned or to doubt the ability of the concierge! We were given the first two cabanas on the left facing the water (or on the right as you look from the water). They shared a ramp that went right down to the beach and then just a few steps into the water. Our view was unimpaired by the fact that we were not actually hanging over the water like some of the other cabanas. The only negative was that some people felt it was a public ramp and were using it to get to the top of the beach. But really, it was only a few and not a big negative.

 

Our view

 

Nellie’s Beach:

 

 

We loved the cabanas! They were worth every penny. We had a great attendant who made sure we were well equipped with water, beverages of all kinds, & enough floating mats for everyone. We tipped him $20 a couple, plus a bit more for exceptional service.

 

[Sunny AZ Girl]

The water was calling us and pretty soon we could not ignore it anymore. We were floating on our mats and lovin’ life!

 

Here is our group of cabanas from the water

 

And the other Over the Water Cabanas on the other side

 

In the back left you can see some of the regular Beach Cabanas. They are at the back of the beach and behind a short wall.

 

 

There is not much in the way of snorkeling. Here is about all there is to see:

 

As noon approached the beach began to fill up, but we were still isolated in our own little world and did not feel the crowds at all.

[Sunny AZ Girl]

When the lunch line opened around 11:00 our attendant came to get us for lunch. Here is where we were glad we had printed out those confirmations for the upgraded lunch. Even though we were promised the wristbands would be in our cabins in the letter, they were not. Our attendant knew nothing about it. We gave him the confirmation letter and he disappeared to talk to his supervisor. He returned a few minutes later with wristbands for BB entry. Even though Gary & Gail and Norine & Gene could access the BB area with their gold cards the four of us in the “cheap seats” could not get in without the wrist bands.

 

The upgraded buffet was nice in two respects. First, it was closer than the regular buffet – no need for a golf cart to be called. Second, it had nice shrimp skewers and steak that were not available in the regular buffet. I liked the steak especially. They were small, thin pieces, but not overdone, pink in the middle and tasty. I am sure that is hit or miss. We were sent over early so the line would not be too long, plus my Steve had Zipline tickets at 1:30.

 

The Buffet

 

Barefoot Beach

 

The zipline is right over there!

 

When Steve left for his zipline adventure I took some more pictures of the area around our cabana

 

The low wall that goes behind the Over the Water Cabanas and in front of the Beach Cabanas

 

An interesting sculpture behind our cabana

[smeck]

Here is a picture of me doing the zipline the first time. The second time, Ginny planned to get me doing the zipline overhead while getting Steve doing the rock wall below. She missed my zip across because she taking pictures of Steve but I'm grateful to have all the shots of Steve doing the rock wall cuz I missed it.

 

We loved our balcony next to Ginny & Steve. I did get woke up a couple times by the loud things happening at the theatre below but that wouldn't prevent me from getting this location again. I just happened to be very tired and went to bed early A LOT! :D As for seeing the stars, I agree with Ginny that the boardwalk lights are always on and not really a good location to see stars. I would recommend a ocean view balcony instead for that.

 

Even then the ships lights prevent a good viewing.

[Sunny AZ Girl]

Steve was excited to try the Dragon’s Breath Zipline, the longest zipline over water in the world. Our attendant called a golf cart for him in plenty of time to get to the meeting place near the end of the line. Once there he found out that due to high winds there was an extra weight limit placed on the line that day. He was really glad that he has also lost weight (40 pounds and is now on maintenance) as no one over 200 pounds was allowed on the zipline that day as it was already going really fast. The extra weight would make it just go faster. He saw several people turned away who had reservations. They were refunded their money of course, but it was a disappointment for them.

 

Once the excursion started they were taken to a practice area where they did a short zipline at a low level. After that they were taken to the real zipline. The road was bumpy and curvy.

 

First went on the harness.

 

Then came the walk up to the take-off platform.

 

The view from the top. It’s a long way down!

 

Down over the waves – Incoming!

 

The landing area

 

This guy made it ok

[TheShayQueen]

Awesome review so far! I was on this sailing as well and I love reading other people's experiences, so I will be tuning in often. Great pics too!

[Sunny AZ Girl]

On the way back from the zipline they passed one of the buffet areas for those of us in the cheap seats who were not lucky enough to reserve a cabana before the rules changed....

 

And the flea market where the locals sell their wares. While I like to support local trades and I seek out handcrafts whenever we travel, I learned a long time ago to avoid this area. I don’t like to be abused, pushed and pulled in an effort to get me to buy. From comments I overheard on the way back to the ship things have not improved.

 

When Steve returned I was taking a bit of a “cabana nap” listening to the beat of a distant drum and the sounds of the surf. Heaven. Steve didn’t want to leave, either. As a matter of fact he was mumbling something about the ship just picking him up when it returned in two weeks, but I suspected he may get hungry before then. We had the two cabanas to ourselves, so we just sat and relaxed as watched the beach crowds grow smaller and smaller.

 

After a while we had to head back in order to meet the others for our 6PM dinner. We suspected that swim wear would not be appropriate in the MDR, so we began the treck back to the ship.

 

There were Haitian performers entertaining us when we arrived. They also work for tips. I figure if I can afford to cruise I can part wth a dollar here and there. We bring a LOT of $1 bills, and we stll ran out!

 

Upon returning to our cabin I went out on the balcony while Steve was in the shower for a last glimpse at Labadee. I saw that the hang glider who had been with us from the beginning was still with us and also longing to return to that little piece of Paradise called Labadee.

[TLC535]

Hi Ginny...Thanks for the great review & photos, can't wait for our turn aboard Lady "O" next April :D

 

and CONGRATS on the weight loss !!

[Sunny AZ Girl]

On the way to dinner that night we caught a glimpse of Central Park through the aft elevator lobby.

 

The aft elevators:

 

Sidenote: This class of ship has absolutely the least crowded elevators of any class of ship we have sailed. They are smart elevators and have a star that you push that will take you to the disembarkment deck, although, that is often one deck above where you actually disembark. If you cannot take stairs, there is ONE set of elevators that will go all the way down to the deck you want. That is not the one we first tried. I would say to ask the attendant, but there is a good chance that he/she will be clueless, which was a common theme we ran into on this ship. So if one bank does not work, try the other. Otherwise, the elevators only seem crowded at peak times, like after Muster, after a show or when a ship first arrives in port. If all of the elevators are full and you want to go down, go up first, then go down. As I said, the elevators are smart and a truly full elevator won’t stop for you anyway. Also, the forward elevators are less crowded than the aft. I shouldn’t tell my secrets. And please....don’t try to push into an elevator when people are trying to get off. Let them off first. It’s the polite thing to do. Of course, the people reading this are not the people who are guilty, so the bad manners will continue (deep sigh).

 

Back to the review.....

 

We passed the Champagne Bar.

 

I loved the artwork on the ship.

 

The Headliner that night was song impressionist Finis Henderson. He was really quite enjoyable.

 

Later, from our balcony we enjoyed the Fountain Show. It was set to music and was a nice romantic ending to a wonderful day.

 

Tomorrow we will in Falmouth, Jamaica where we have another water themed day planned.

 

Here are all my photos from Day 3 - Labadee

[Sotermarler]

Beautiful pics! Looks like you AZ gals and guys had a great trip! :D

[sailor05]

Loving this review! You're doing a great job of writing and posting awesome pics! I'm so over the food pics. Looking forward to our turn in 3 weeks;)