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

[Sunny AZ Girl]

Enjoying your review. We were on the Oasis for a B2B last January, and this

brings back great memories. This ship is truly amazing.

 

Congrats on your weight loss. You look beautiful and I am sure you feel very

healthy. Keep up the good work.

 

Good luck on the knee surgery when you choose to do it. I am recovering from total hip replacement. Five weeks out and starting to feel great and anxious to get back to my old self and the activities I love.

 

Awesome review as always!!!!!!!!

Thank you so much! I will keep on truckin' as long as I can. don't want to be in recovery while we are on the Panama Canal cruise in October as we will be doing a lot of touring then. I am glad you are doing better. You should be feeling like a new person soon.

 

Thanks to both of you! We are shade seekers also. I was glad to see on the webcam that our balcony is practically always in the shade, thanks to the overhang.

I am more of a shade seeker than Lisa, but yes, the overhang did provide us wth a lot of shade. It was very comfortable. And there was no blockage of the vew. I imagine the Deck 14 cabins would have had their views blocked due to the overhang.

[Sunny AZ Girl]

You said you had a Fitbit? So do I. How many steps were you averaging a day during the cruise?

I did 10,000 - 14,000 steps a day, which is more than I get at home. I work 12 hour shifts on my feet and still don't get that many! It was easy to do on the Oasis.

 

Loving your review. We leave on oasis a week from today.

As someone else said, don't miss the ship!:D Bon Voyage and have fun.:cool:

[Sunny AZ Girl]

Thanks for the review. How or where did you book the cabanas in Haiti? I don't see it on the excursion through RCI. thanks

 

Visit the Shore Excursion desk after you board.

 

Yes. When we reserved they were avalable as shore excursons, but now you have to book on board, which knd of stinks. Go straight to the clock tower in the Promenade where the shore excusions are located. I am one who likes to have everythng pre-arranged so I don't have to run all around the first day. But, f you want a cabana it looks as if that is what you have to do now days.

[Sunny AZ Girl]

This is such a great review! I'll be leaving on the Allure in 1 year, 201 days, 3 hours, 49 mins and 18 seconds. But I'm not counting!!

I love how you're not counting, LOL!:D

 

Thank you for following along.

 

I just got a fitbit for mothers day, and today will be the day to logg on and sinc it to my app on my phone.

 

You motivated me.

 

Gotta lot of reading to do.

 

It so hard to coordinate and learn these new technology the older you get.

 

Thanks

Go get 'em! Now that I am home I am tryng to walk as much as I did on the ship and it's not easy! It was no problem there. It's getting hot here now and walking outside when the sun is up isn't happening. So, either I have to buy a treadmill and figure out where to put it or join a gym.

[Sunny AZ Girl]

Loving the review. I can't wait for my first trip on Oasis in October!

 

The Oasis is an amazing ship. I love to sail on her. If the itinerary is the focus I prefer a smaller ship. But, for a relaxing get away week, this class of ship has it all. You can be busy all the time or just chill and people watch to your heart's content.:) One week is not enough. We did a lot more on the ship when we were on the Allure just trying to see it all. This time, I was able to relax more and just enjoy. There were parts of the ship we never got to, or just used the area as a pass-through on the way to somewhere else. You should probably read both this review, my Allure review and several of the other wonderful reviews on the board to get a full feeling of all this class of ship has to offer. Everyone who sails her could have a completely different experience than their neighbor.

 

I am going to church now. I am going to try to finish Day 4 and Day 5 today. At least that is my goal. Have a wonderful Sunday, everyone!

[CRUISING FROM SC]

You have made my day. We are on Oasis in 3 weeks in the cabin above yours. We have booked Rose Hall as well. I love seeing and reading all about it. Thanks for the tips. :)

[whitecap]

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 !!

 

You just can't wait to see us again, TLC535!!!

Edited May 31, 2015 by whitecap

[Yorkvillain]

I did 10,000 - 14,000 steps a day, which is more than I get at home. I work 12 hour shifts on my feet and still don't get that many! It was easy to do on the Oasis.

 

I agree. It is so easy on a cruise to hit your daily steps goal. At home I try to do 10K a day. On my next cruise I am going to shoot for 12K a day because of all the extra calories.

 

Do you have an Aria bath scale at home? They are great and sync up with the Fitbit APP on your smartphone. It logs your weight and BMI.

 

Congrats on your weight loss. You should be very proud of yourself.

 

And great review so far!

Edited May 31, 2015 by Yorkvillain

[Sunny AZ Girl]

I agree. It is so easy on a cruise to hit your daily steps goal. At home I try to do 10K a day. On my next cruise I am going to shoot for 12K a day because of all the extra calories.

 

Do you have an Aria bath scale at home? They are great and sync up with the Fitbit APP on your smartphone. It logs your weight and BMI.

 

Congrats on your weight loss. You should be very proud of yourself.

 

And great review so far!

No, we have a regular digital scale. I enter my weight manually. When that goes I will defintely look at the Aria.

 

And for those interested - I wore my FitBit every day. Actually, I have a FitBit Zip because I don't like things on my wrist. At work I am constantly washing my hands and if moisture gets under the band it is really irritating. I did not synch the FitBit all week until I was off the ship. My phone was locked in the safe. As soon as got off I synched it and the whole week was there. But I could see on my FB exactly what I was doing. I didn't enter my calories into MFP while on the cruise after day 1. It was just too hard to keep up with. I just tried to use my best judgement. I did have a net gain of 2.5 pounds, but am back to my pre-cruise weight now. I am very sodium sensitive and I actually lost almost 5 pounds in my first 24 hours back home. I tried to avoid thngs I knew were higher in sodium and drank a ton of water but there is no way to avoid it completely. The good news is that my ankles did not swell up like balloons as usual. That was a win for me.:)

 

And thank you for the encouragement.:cool:

Edited May 31, 2015 by Sunny AZ Girl

[Sunny AZ Girl]

After a while we went back to the Lazy River. The river meanders through the beautiful landscapes of the resort. Seen are some of the remnants of the old Sugar Mill that this resort was built on.

 

 

There is also a swim up (tube up?) bar for those who like a cold beverage while floating around.

 

After awhile the water slide grabbed Steve’s attention and he had to give it a try. There was a long winding staircase to the top of the slide, so it was out for me.

 

 

And he brought his selfie stick along for the ride....

[TLC535]

You just can't wait to see us again, TLC535!!!

 

 

You know it Jon ;):eek::D

 

 

Thanks so much Ginny for the Rose Hall info & photo's as it is our plan for next April...I can hear that lazy river calling my name ;) and love that it has a "float up" bar :p:D

[denamo]

Ginny,

Loving your review. We were fortunate enough to be with the AZ Cruisers on the Allure. Your group is really an awesome bunch of people! The cabin crawl that week was the best we've ever done.

 

Love you sharing your weight loss adventure. It's encouraging. I even looked online at fitness trackers. Sounds like a good way to go.

 

We have had to put cruising on hold for a bit since DH has had some health issues. We are to countdown day for a defibrillator implant. After that, we'll see how things are going.

 

Thank you so much for this review. If we can't get on a cruise ship currently, it's nice to live vicariously. :)

[Sunny AZ Girl]

All too soon it was time to head back to the ship. The Resort For a Day staff told us to be at the entrance at 4:30 PM. They will take you back to the ship two hours before you need to be back on board to allow for shopping with plenty of time to get back on the ship before the deadline. The bus was on time and we headed back.

 

This was our most expensive excursion and we all asked ourselves if it was worth it. Our consensus was - probably. The Lazy River was great. The food and drinks were very good. The beach, not so great for swimming and not as pretty water as Labadee. Our time was limited for the price. Our port time was 10:30 AM to 6 PM. It was about a half hour drive to get there. So, we really only had about 4 hours there. Would we do it again with those port times and prices? Probably not. But as I said, I for one was glad we did it this time and very glad we did not pay the higher prices to go through the ship. We felt safe with Resort For a Day and the vehicle was clean, comfortable and in good repair.

 

On the way back I had the ocean side view from the bus. We passed some nice homes and serene waterfront.

 

 

When we arrived back the driver brought us much closer to the entrance of the dock area than on our way out earlier in the day.

 

We meandered through the cruise line created port area, but really did not take any time to shop. We had 6 PM dinner and we were anxious to meet with Nonnie, Greg and the others to relive our day. Nonnie had not been feeling well and we wanted to check on her and Greg had done a zip line excursion through the ship. We were anxious to hear all about that, too!

 

 

There were more street entertainers as we passed through the shop area.

[perfect match]

Enjoying your review. We were on the Oasis for a B2B last January, and this

brings back great memories. This ship is truly amazing.

 

Congrats on your weight loss. You look beautiful and I am sure you feel very

healthy. Keep up the good work.

 

Good luck on the knee surgery when you choose to do it. I am recovering from total hip replacement. Five weeks out and starting to feel great and anxious to get back to my old self and the activities I love.

 

Awesome review as always!!!!!!!!

 

My second total hip replacement is 1 week from tomorrow. Doing the right one this time, left was done 5 years ago. I can't wait to get it done so, like you, I can get back to doing the things I love. In the meantime, living vicariously through Ginny and the AZ Cruisers is helping me get through until surgery day. Sounds like you are doing great with your recovery. :cool:

 

Thank you so much! I will keep on truckin' as long as I can. don't want to be in recovery while we are on the Panama Canal cruise in October as we will be doing a lot of touring then. I am glad you are doing better. You should be feeling like a new person soon.

 

 

I am more of a shade seeker than Lisa, but yes, the overhang did provide us wth a lot of shade. It was very comfortable. And there was no blockage of the vew. I imagine the Deck 14 cabins would have had their views blocked due to the overhang.

 

I am glad to hear there will be some shade on the balcony. Although I am a bit of a sun seeker, I have been afraid that our balcony would be too hot to enjoy, and I know DH is going to practically live out there! OK, I probably will, too. :D

 

Can your Fitbit be worn in the water? I do spend as much time as possible staying wet, and I can just see me going in with the Fitbit still on. :eek: I was considering taking my old school pedometer on our recent Indy cruise to count my steps, but it never made it into the suitcase. Honestly, on that sailing I probably wouldn't have worn it much anyway with all the hip and knee problems I was having.

[alocsin]

Can your Fitbit be worn in the water? I do spend as much time as possible staying wet, and I can just see me going in with the Fitbit still on. :eek: I was considering taking my old school pedometer on our recent Indy cruise to count my steps, but it never made it into the suitcase. Honestly, on that sailing I probably wouldn't have worn it much anyway with all the hip and knee problems I was having.

 

Here's what the Fitbit website says about Fitbit One, which is the model I have:

 

The Fitbit One is not waterproof, but it is rain, splash, and sweat proof. It should not be worn while swimming.

[Sunny AZ Girl]

After dinner we headed to Comedy Live for the Comedy Show. Our comedians that night were Dan Wilson & Rodney Laney. They were both very funny and truly not offensive as some comedians can be. I enjoyed myself.

 

I cannot emphasize enough the need to make reservations in advance for this show. The venue is small and it is almost always full. It is worth the effort.

 

As we were waiting for the doors to open I was able to get some shots of the surrounding venues on Deck 4, which is the main entertainment area on this ship.

 

Artwork:

 

Jazz on 4 where our Meet & Mingle had been held

 

The main theater, The Opal Theater

 

After the show we headed up to the Promenade as we had one more very important performer to see in On Air. On the way we stopped to watch the Rising Tide Bar make it’s ascent up to Central Park

 

When we got to the On Air Club we walked in to find an unexpected celebrity performer:

 

But the real Star of the show was our very own LISA – AZ Karaoke Girl performing for an enthralled audience!

 

After Lisa performed it was getting late and Steve & I still had to do our nightly walk on the running track. So we bid good night to everyone and headed out. It is so peaceful out there. It is a great ending for a busy day. But we were glad we had no early commitments the next day. We would be enjoying another day at sea and have even more opportunity to explore the ship.

 

Here are the rest of my Day 4, Falmouth Jamaica pictures. Included are a selfie video of Steve going down the water slide at Hilton Rose Hall and a not-to-be-missed video of Lisa’s performance! My camera is not a dedicated video camera, so any hiccups are my fault, not hers.

[AZ Karaoke Girl]

Lisa, where’s your tube????

 

I have natural floatation devices and a lot of fat that floats so Lisa doesn't need a raft. :D One of my favorite songs is Pontoon "Floatin' is all I wanna do" so I just float and don't want a raft. Every picture you see (including Labadee) I am just in the water without the aide of a raft. That lazy river will carry you very quickly so I passed all the people on rafts and went very fast. It was a blast. As I said I thought we overpaid for our day at Hilton Rose Hall but I did really enjoy that lazy river and didn't want to get out. I went down the slide one time but due to my muscular dystrophy, there was no way I would climb that winding stairway a second time so once is all I had in me. I probably would not have attempted the climb if my DH had not convinced me that I needed to try. I'm glad I did. It was a blast.

[Sunny AZ Girl]

I have natural floatation devices and a lot of fat that floats so Lisa doesn't need a raft. :D One of my favorite songs is Pontoon "Floatin' is all I wanna do" so I just float and don't want a raft. Every picture you see (including Labadee) I am just in the water without the aide of a raft. That lazy river will carry you very quickly so I passed all the people on rafts and went very fast. It was a blast. As I said I thought we overpaid for our day at Hilton Rose Hall but I did really enjoy that lazy river and didn't want to get out. I went down the slide one time but due to my muscular dystrophy, there was no way I would climb that winding stairway a second time so once is all I had in me. I probably would not have attempted the climb if my DH had not convinced me that I needed to try. I'm glad I did. It was a blast.

 

I didn't know you went down that slide! I'm impressed. Here's a picture of the stairs:

[Sunny AZ Girl]

Thanks so much Ginny for the Rose Hall info & photo's as it is our plan for next April...I can hear that lazy river calling my name ;) and love that it has a "float up" bar :p:D

Yes, that bar looked like quite a popular spot! Fun.:)

 

Ginny,

Loving your review. We were fortunate enough to be with the AZ Cruisers on the Allure. Your group is really an awesome bunch of people! The cabin crawl that week was the best we've ever done.

 

Love you sharing your weight loss adventure. It's encouraging. I even looked online at fitness trackers. Sounds like a good way to go.

 

We have had to put cruising on hold for a bit since DH has had some health issues. We are to countdown day for a defibrillator implant. After that, we'll see how things are going.

 

Thank you so much for this review. If we can't get on a cruise ship currently, it's nice to live vicariously. :)

That was a great cruise and a very fun Roll Call! We can thank Bill for a lot of that. He really kept us going.

 

Sorry to hear about your DH. It takes a lot of guts to get older, doesn't it? I hope you are all back cruising again in no time.

Edited May 31, 2015 by Sunny AZ Girl

[Sunny AZ Girl]

I am glad to hear there will be some shade on the balcony. Although I am a bit of a sun seeker, I have been afraid that our balcony would be too hot to enjoy, and I know DH is going to practically live out there! OK, I probably will, too. :D

 

Can your Fitbit be worn in the water? I do spend as much time as possible staying wet, and I can just see me going in with the Fitbit still on. :eek: I was considering taking my old school pedometer on our recent Indy cruise to count my steps, but it never made it into the suitcase. Honestly, on that sailing I probably wouldn't have worn it much anyway with all the hip and knee problems I was having.

What she said below::D

 

Here's what the Fitbit website says about Fitbit One, which is the model I have:

 

The Fitbit One is not waterproof, but it is rain, splash, and sweat proof. It should not be worn while swimming.

I actually had my Fitbit Zip clipped to my swimsuit top in Cozumel when I got out to about waist deep and realized it was there.:eek: Just in time I had to hustle it back to the beach. The rest of the time I was pretty good about pulling it off before getting into the water.

[Sunny AZ Girl]

We woke up on Day 5 to a beautiful day at sea. The ocean was calm and the sun was shining. I was glad to see my hang glider friend was still with us.

 

 

We were meeting some of the Arizona Cruiser’s for breakfast at Johnny Rockets. I tried to let Norine & Gene know that was where we were going, but they had already left for the Suite’s Lounge for breakfast. OK, I don’t feel sorry for them. The cheap seats got JR. LOL. BTW, breakfast is complimentary at Johnny Rocket's.

 

Afterwards Steve and I headed forward to the Fitness Center where we went every morning on the Sea Days to walk the treadmills. It is a nice Fitness Center and not crowded. It is on Deck 6. You can enter from Deck 5 via stairs from the jogging track via stairs or from Deck 6 through the spa. We went through the spa.

 

Gail was right there with us on the second treadmill down from Steve. As you can see, it was not crowded at all at that time. We are not early risers by nature and when we do rise we stare blankly at a cup of coffee for at least 20 minutes before we show any sign of life. So, no crack of dawn fitness for us!

 

[BillOh]

Since we did not arrive into FLL until after 6 PM, and hoping to avoid any pre-cruise drama like we had two years ago (see the review)

 

Whatever do you mean?:confused: Glad to see your review. Looking forward to seeing Oasis next year and your view.

[BillOh]

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.

 

Ginny, you can really see the weight loss in this picture, congrats! I'm enjoying the pics, sort of wishing we went with you, but we sure enjoyed Freedom again.

[BillOh]

Were the lights ever turned off at the Aquatheater? I just wondered if it ever got truly dark so you could see the stars.

 

As an avid astronomer, I can tell you. NO, you will never see the stars you think you should see 500 miles from anywhere. Cruise ships look like a Disney light parade all night long.

[trev71]

Thanks for sharing. I love the Oasis hope to go back some day soon :)