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

[Sunny AZ Girl]

Afterwards we headed back to the cabin. We had to spend some more quality balcony time before our Roll Call’s Cabin crawl at 12:30. On the way back to our cabin we spotted these birds about to take flight over Central Park from the forward elevator banks:

 

 

Corridor artwork

 

After awhile we headed down to Central Park to have lunch at the Park Cafe before the Cabin Crawl

 

 

We both had salads, which are pretty good at the Park Cafe. I had the roast beef sandwich on the Allure. Seriously, what does everyone see in them that makes them such a topic of conversation on these boards? They are roast beef sandwiches. A lot of bread. I have had just as good, actually better, in local restaurants. Has anyone ever been to the White Chocolate Grill in Scottsdale? The AZ Cruiser gals often meet there for lunch just for their roast beef sandwiches! Sorry, I got a bit excited there.... Anyway, I prefer the salads at Park Cafe. JHMO. The only problem I have is when I try to get the servers to only put wine vinegar or balsamic on my salads. They look at me like I have three heads and I often have to argue with them in order to get them to do it. (deep sigh)

[BillOh]

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.

 

I'm really happy you got to do this on this cruise!

[Sunny AZ Girl]

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

But it was your job to keep her upright! [emoji33]

[perfect match]

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.

 

Well, I guess that pretty much guarantees that I'd forget I had a Fitbit on and take it swimming! :eek: Thanks for the info. :D

 

Lisa, good for you for making it up those stairs to do the water slide!

[Sunny AZ Girl]

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.

Thank you, Bill! We missed both of you, too.

[BillOh]

The food was good. I had the Jerk Chicken (what else would you eat in Jamaica?) and Steve had a hamburger. Really??? I can't take him anywhere...

 

Ha, I was looking at the menu thinking the white cheddar cheese on the burger sounded good I think I was a bad influence on Steve.

[Sunny AZ Girl]

We met with the members of the Roll Call who were doing the Cabin Crawl and we headed out to see a nice variety of cabins. We started out in a Central Park balcony cabin. While the cabin itself was pretty identical to ours, the view was completely different

 

Cabin 11247 – Central Park View.

 

 

Cabin 11590 – OV Balcony

 

 

JS Cabin 6648

 

 

The next cabin was ours. You already saw that!

[Sunny AZ Girl]

We ended up in GS 11330, Norine and Gene’s cabin. I already showed you some pictures of that cabin, but here are a few of the nice Cruise Critic group we had on the crawl in the GS.

 

 

 

 

 

We finished up just in time to watch the Belly flop contest from the balcony. I actually took this picture from our balcony around the corner.

Edited June 1, 2015 by Sunny AZ Girl

[Sunny AZ Girl]

After the Cabin Crawl and the Belly Flop Contest Steve & I decided to go check out the areas we had not yet visited toward the bow. We walked past the pools.....

 

....and headed toward the Solarium. We passed the towel station with some creative towel animals.

 

The Solarium is beautiful. I think it is my second favorite area on the ship, after the Boardwalk. There is a cantilevered hot tub.....

 

....and a small pool.

 

I thought the small stream running throughout was beautiful.

 

I mostly like how open and airy it is, although it can get hot under that glass! I would think that if you plan to spend much time here on a sunny day you should also plan on taking a dip in the pool to cool off now and then.

 

There is a really good breakfast buffet in this area. We ate breakfast here only once. I wish we had been there more often. At night the buffet area is transformed into a for-fee restaurant, Solarium Bistro. I hear it is very good, although we never ate there. Next time.

[Klstaack]

After the Cabin Crawl and the Belly Flop Contest Steve & I decided to go check out the areas we had not yet visited toward the bow. We walked past the pools.....

 

....and headed toward the Solarium. We passed the towel station with some creative towel animals.

 

The Solarium is beautiful. I think it is my second favorite area on the ship, after the Boardwalk. There is a cantilevered hot tub.....

 

....and a small pool.

 

I thought the small stream running throughout was beautiful.

 

I mostly like how open and airy it is, although it can get hot under that glass! I would think that if you plan to spend much time here on a sunny day you should also plan on taking a dip in the pool to cool off now and then.

 

There is a really good breakfast buffet in this area. We ate breakfast here only once. I wish we had been there more often. At night the buffet area is transformed into a for-fee restaurant, Solarium Bistro. I hear it is very good, although we never ate there. Next time.

 

This is the first picture that I have seen of the beach pool with the umbrellas....on our last cruise on the Allure most of them were ripped and had holes in them. I was hoping this was not going to be the cases on Oasis. I have been searching for a recent picture and I'm so happy to have finally found one. Thank you!!

[Quilting Queen]

Ginny I forgot about some things we did (blame it on old age).

 

We ate breakfast in the Solarium 2 or 3 times. It seemed to be all health foods, even the turkey bacon. We had breakfast in the dining room twice. I remember seeing some chocolate stuff on the menu one day because I had a chocolate shake with my french toast. I usually had an omelet. We ate at the Wipe out cafe a few times. Since we were on Oasis for a B2B we at almost all the venues.

 

Since DH likes to spend time in the casino we missed a lot of things on the ship with the other AZ cruisers.

 

I haven't put my pictures in my computer yet. New computer and have to download my camera software. Being retired I have no time limit on doing things so I procrastinate a lot.

 

Norine

[Sunny AZ Girl]

My computer locked up on me last night and I wasn't able to post the last section of Day 5. I am at the doctor office now and waiting to start some maintenance chemo, so I will post it and more later. It may be later in the day or maybe tomorrow depending on how I am doing, but I haven't forgotten. Are you all still with me?

[BillOh]

Im still here. Day 5 is the specific reason I picked Freedom over Oasis for the western.

[cruisevv]

My computer locked up on me last night and I wasn't able to post the last section of Day 5. I am at the doctor office now and waiting to start some maintenance chemo, so I will post it and more later. It may be later in the day or maybe tomorrow depending on how I am doing, but I haven't forgotten. Are you all still with me?

 

Definitely and looking forward to more of your wonderful photos. Hope the chemo treatment goes well.

 

RE your review, thank you for the wonderful looking into the aft Boardwalk Balcony cabins. It seems like the best of both worlds - view of the sea and the boardwalk.

[AZ Karaoke Girl]

Steve & I and Gary did not participate in the cabin crawl. The parade was happening and it sounded like a lot more fun.

 

I will attempt to attach a picture of two from the parade after work tonight.

[Sunny AZ Girl]

Well, I 'm not feeling great, but good enough to work on the review some more, if my computer will cooperate. [emoji4]

[Sunny AZ Girl]

Ginny I forgot about some things we did (blame it on old age).

 

We ate breakfast in the Solarium 2 or 3 times. It seemed to be all health foods, even the turkey bacon. We had breakfast in the dining room twice. I remember seeing some chocolate stuff on the menu one day because I had a chocolate shake with my french toast. I usually had an omelet. We ate at the Wipe out cafe a few times. Since we were on Oasis for a B2B we at almost all the venues.

 

Since DH likes to spend time in the casino we missed a lot of things on the ship with the other AZ cruisers.

 

I haven't put my pictures in my computer yet. New computer and have to download my camera software. Being retired I have no time limit on doing things so I procrastinate a lot.

 

Norine

Thank you for your input, Norine! Your added week adds to the base of what I can offer here.

 

Im still here. Day 5 is the specific reason I picked Freedom over Oasis for the western.

Yes, but sea days on the Oasis Class are absolutely necessary, or you will certainly feel as if you have left way too much unseen and undone! As it is, I still feel as if there are so many things I wanted toexperience that I did not. I never did make it onto the Rsing Tide Bar. I think I got it in on the last night of the Allure, though.

[Sunny AZ Girl]

Definitely and looking forward to more of your wonderful photos. Hope the chemo treatment goes well.

 

RE your review, thank you for the wonderful looking into the aft Boardwalk Balcony cabins. It seems like the best of both worlds - view of the sea and the boardwalk.

Yes, the Boardwalk balconies do seem to offer the best of both worlds, especially the ones closer to the aft. And it is a unique feature to the Oasis Class ships.

 

Steve & I and Gary did not participate in the cabin crawl. The parade was happening and it sounded like a lot more fun.

 

I will attempt to attach a picture of two from the parade after work tonight.

Thank you, Lisa. I appreciate the input. Different experiences will give a more complete look at the ship.

[Sunny AZ Girl]

From inside the Solarium we could see the wings over the bridge and there were people out there! We never saw this area on the Allure, so we decided to find the way out there. To get there you go way forward on Deck 14 and follow the sign to the Sun Deck...and we were there!

 

It had a great view of the helipad and the same vision of the ocean that would be seen from the bridge.

 

That evening was the second formal night and we were ready for the Fisherman’s plate! It had one lobster tail, which was pretty good. There were no shrimp as before. Our guys had rebelled before the cruse and said that they were not bringing formal wear or even suit coats on this cruise. So we compromised and they went “Arizona Formal” and wore dress shirts with bolo ties. I thought they looked pretty handsome.

 

Norine & Gene:

 

Lisa and Steve:

 

Nonnie & Greg:

 

Steve & me:

 

Gary and Gail opted for MTD on this cruise.

 

My Steve was almost in hot water with me when early in the cruse he realized he left his dress shirt at home. Really??? Accidently??? Oh well. No biggie. I told him to go buy one in the gift shop. When he looked for one all he could find were $200 shirts! So, after a moment of panic he thought of talking to the tuxedo rental people and they rented him two shirts for $12.00. You can’t beat that!

 

That evening we had nothing planned. The Movie Under the Stars was “Into the Woods” which I had wanted to see because of the cast. The movie was disappointing to me. I know many people love it, but I thought that Walt Disney would be turning over in his grave, JMHO. It was just creepy. Our menfolk had left to do whatever men do at the first hint of a chick flick on a cruise by themselves. I think that in the case of my DH soft serve and cookies were involved. Lisa and I stuck it out on our balconies, though. At some point I looked over to the cabins across the way. I asked Lisa, “Do you see what I see?” She said, “Yep.” I was kind of in shock and it took me a moment to really realize what was going on. This kid about 14 – 16 years old had apparently come out of the shower and was flipping his you-know what all around. It did seem as if was intentional due to his mannerism. I have been working in the medical field for over 40 years and was not impressed. We looked away, but were not sure if we should call security or go put a post-it note on the cabin door for his Mom. So please people, shut the curtains on these cabins and instruct your kids to do the same!

 

Good night. Tomorrow we have one last beach day in Cozumel!

 

Here are all of my Day 5 Pictures.

Edited June 1, 2015 by Sunny AZ Girl

[denamo]

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

 

 

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.

 

Thanks so much. Hope you are doing well following your chemo. And, yes...Bill was great to keep things lively and making it a memorable roll call. Never been on one that much fun.

 

Bill...if you are reading this, today we were getting in our car and the car next to us had an Ohio license plate that read UNIV TX. We were puzzled and the lady actually was getting in her car. Told us she had been moved to Ohio for a job, but got back to TX as soon as she could. :) I actually thought of you in Ohio. ;)

Edited June 2, 2015 by denamo

[Sunny AZ Girl]

We woke up another sunny day in Cozumel. The weather was windy, but otherwise it was perfect our entire trip. We could see the port and a shopping area from our balcony:

 

 

It was 8 AM ship time and 7 AM local time when we arrived. Since we had reservations at Nachi Cocom which did not open until 9 AM local time, we had time for a leisurely breakfast in the Solarium Cafe. I had my first experience with Muesli. Although it was very good it was a bit of a shock as I was expecting something hot like oatmeal, but this was ice cold. I soon figured out that was how it is supposed to be served and just pretended I was eating healthy pudding.

 

While returning to our cabin to meet the other Arizona Cruisers we noticed people rushing to leave the ship and the DOWN elevators were jammed. We had an UP elevator to ourselves. Remember my earlier hint about going up to get down and vice versa? At any rate, you are in port for quite awhile. If you do not have to leave immediately to meet a tour it is often best to wait a half hour or hour before leaving the ship to allow the elevators and disembarkment area to clear out.

 

One more glance out our balcony and we noticed a long line of people getting on a boat right near our ship. We realized that this was probably the ferry taking tours to the mainland. When we were last in Cozumel back in 2005 we took that ferry on a tour to Tulum. Great tour, if you have never done it, BTW. But, it is HOT, so make sure you take a tour that includes a snorkel or beach stop like we did. But I digress.

 

Since we went straight from the ship to the ferry and got back just in time to board last time we never really saw or experienced Cozumel, so this time we wanted to stay on the island. So, the 8 of us headed off the ship at 9:15 ship time in search of another day at the beach. Nonnie was staying on the ship and Greg had a dolphin excursion planned

 

The Carnival Sunshine was docked next to us already. She has an impressive waterslide.

 

We followed signs to the cab area where we were quickly able to get a cab fitting us all. I don’t remember the exact price, but I think the large cab was around $32, or $8 per couple each way. Maybe one of the others can jump in here and correct me if I am wrong.

 

The ride was around 20 minutes to Nachi Cocom. We arrived just as it was opening and we were greeted by a lovely staff member who took our group picture right away.

[Sunny AZ Girl]

Nachi Cocom is a private, all-inclusive beach club. It is not a resort or a hotel, but a beautiful beach, a nice pool, good food and drinks and wonderful service. They limit admission to no more than 100 people a day. If you are on a ship as large as the Oasis or there are several ships in port that day I would recommend you make reservations online in advance to avoid disappointment. It is the perfect place for a relaxing day away from loud music, wet tee shirt contests and spring break crowds. If those are what you are looking for in a beach day you have come to the wrong place. You need to go down the beach a bit to Mr. Sanchos or one of the other lively beach bars. There are plenty of options in Cozumel for all sorts of days in the sun. Just do some research and find the one that fits your desires for the day best. We like a relaxing day, and this place was perfect for us.

 

We looked towards the beach and this is what we saw:

 

There were other people there early too, but we were quickly led to two palapas next to each other with 4 chairs under each.

 

I doubt if there were 100 people the entire day.

 

You could see the livelier beach bar, Mr. Sanchos with all the water toys down the way:

 

This is the life!

 

[Sunny AZ Girl]

Our waiter was very attentive. He kept us well supplied with beverages of all kinds. I am not a drinker, but I had two Dirty Monkey’s. Oh my, they were good! When lunch was available he brought us menus and Steve and I split an order of nachos, grilled shrimp and a quesadilla. There was so much food my first reaction was that it was a shame it would go to waste, but it did not....Before I knew it, that huge tray was empty.

 

The water was wonderful. There were mild waves and soon most of us had dived in. You could see people out enjoying water sports. Some equipment was available for rental.

 

 

Norine had a beach massage.

 

And after lunch Gene & Steve found a place to take a siesta.

 

They do offer snorkeling by boat out on the reef, but if you have knees like me you would know that a boat like the one docked at this pier would never work.

 

So, Steve and I donned our snorkel gear and did find some pretty fish near some scattered submerged rocks in the roped off swimming area.

[Sunny AZ Girl]

More snorkeling pictures:

 

 

 

Here is why you always wear water shoes, no matter how sandy the beach! I learned the hard way a few years ago.

 

 

As the day wore on we changed location to the pool with a swim-up bar

 

 

When we were ready to leave we told our waiter and within a few minutes a cab was waiting to take us back to the ship. Thumbs up for this day.

[Sunny AZ Girl]

On the way back to the ship we stopped to pick up some gifts for our girls. That was the only shopping we did on this trip.

 

Senor Frogs was still hopping! This port is known for “pier runners”, or people that stayed a little too long at Senor Frogs. I didn’t hear of us leaving anyone behind here, although I did hear we left at least two people behind in Jamaica.

 

After we returned to the ship we got cleaned up and stopped in the Diamond Lounge for our appetizers and wine. (I think those nightly stops were where those two pounds came from!) Then off to our 6 PM dinner. Our assigned table was in the Grande (2nd level). I am surprised at myself that I never took any pictures of that dining room. But for those who are wondering how the dining room transformation for the Dynamic Dining concept impacted the dining experience – it didn’t. Really, I didn’t notice a big change, except for the exchange of the crystal chandelier that I believe was there and the new chandelier in its place. I preferred the crystal look, but here is a picture of the first level of the dining room (American Icon) from the balcony in the Grande. I do like the artwork in the picture.

 

Our reservations for that night were for the Production Show, “Come Fly With Me”. This one by far the best production I have ever seen on a ship. The special effects and acrobatics were so well timed that I kept poking Steve in the ribs and saying, “How do they do that? Here is just a glimpse of what we saw. Pictures can’t do it justice as the effects and timing just cannot be captured by a still camera.

 

 

 

 

Tonight was The Quest at 11:30 PM. Really??? I think they make it so late to weed out us old folks and to make sure all of the participants have had plenty of time to consume the appropriate amount of alcohol. It worked with us. Plus we have already seen it so many times and it never really changes a lot. So, after our nightly walk we headed back to the cabin and to bed. Tomorrow is our last full day on the ship and we did not want to be too tired to enjoy ourselves.

 

Here are all of my Day 6, Cozumel photos.