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Wow! Oasis All-Access Tour And More

polymedia

By polymedia,
in Royal Caribbean International

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polymedia

polymedia

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Just off Oasis yesterday and all I can say is Wow! It's an engineering marvel that something that huge can move the way it can. it just dwarfs everything in port.

 

Here's a mini-review with the highlight of the All-Access Tour at the end.

 

THE SHIP: Oasis is pretty awesome and something that everyone who loves cruising should try at least once. That said, most people that I spoke with on board preferred the Freedom class (as do I), but almost all of them were returning to Oasis for a second or third time, so there's something that was bringing them back.

 

THE FOOD: The complimentary food was a notch down from other ships, IMO. I had no problem with it and could always find something that worked, and I gained too much weight so it couldn't have been that bad. Didn't eat at any of the specialty restaurants so can't say about them.

 

THE ITINERARY: Falmouth, Labadee, and Cozumel. Done them all before many times so no big deal. Did the plantation tour in Jamaica which was pretty good. Paradise Beach again in Cozumel.

 

THE SHOWS: Didn't see any. Had reservations but football got in the way. Speaking of which, it was pretty wild to watch the NFL with only the sound of the stadium and no commentators. Actually liked that.

 

THE ENVIRONMENTS: Pretty cool, but I can't say I spent much time in Central Park or the Boardwalk. Central Park is a marvel though. It's definitely worth seeing, and very peaceful. It would be better if there were more private spaces.

 

WHAT I MISSED: I really missed a true promenade deck. I know there are places on Decks 5 and 7 aft and I used those, but it's not the same. Luckily I had a balcony room which I used a lot, but when you want to get out of the sun sometimes it wasn't as easy as going over to the shady side of the promenade deck.

 

WHAT I HATED: Too many little kids under about age 6, a lot of them untamed, most of them screaming at one time or another. One day I moved around the ship just trying to get some peace and quiet and it seemed like everywhere I turned was another infant wailing away. This was so much worse than any previous cruise I've been on.

 

THE ALL ACCESS TOUR: Definitely the highlight for me. I initially thought that $150 was a bit much to spend, but then I thought, "If you're going to do it, better to do it on the biggest ship on the ocean." I'm so glad I did.

 

We first toured the Aqua Theater and got an idea how that all works, then went to the galley. This was guided by the head chef from 150 Central. I especially liked the roll machine that could make 4,000 in an hour (the bakery was just amazing)!

 

After that we did the storage rooms led by the provisions officer that was very interesting (the ship uses a staggering amount of everything you can think of - 15,000 lbs of beef, 16,000 lbs of chicken, 1,000 lbs of lobster, 20,000 bottles and cans of beer, for instance).

 

Then we went to the laundry, which was again an amazing operation. Most of the crew were on break at that time so we didn't see much in action, but we did get to see the giant machines that would take freshly washed bedsheets or tableclothes and dry and fold them in one go - at 500 an hour. Again, washers and dryers of staggering proportions.

 

We then went to the engine control room where we were given a very long presentation by the chief environmental officer. This place is just staggering in the amount of activity, although it was maned by just one person, who's constantly juggling alarms and phone calls (I'll post pictures later). We had to be escorted by security for this, and I noticed that entry was by retina recognition.

 

After that it was off to the crew quarters. We went to the crew mess, which was basically just like the Windjammer except for no windows, then to one of the 3 crew clubs. Everyone seemed quite happy with being there, I must say, especially those that had been on other ships previously.

 

One interesting tidbit was that the crew get to see the exact same shows as the guests. Whenever you see a sign about the theater or club being closed for a "private event," that's usually code for crew only. Most of these happen after midnight though.

 

Finally we ended up on the bridge (after another security scan) where a 2nd office gave us a great overview of how everything worked and was quite generous in answering questions. At this point, the bridge was being controlled by just 3 members of the bridge staff (besides our guide), a first officer in the command chair, a second officer and a lookout.

 

We were given a look at the wing control for docking, and the safety control console at the back of the bridge. The captain then appeared for any additional questions and to pose for pictures.

 

All I can say is that, for me, the All Access Tour was well worth the money.

 

THE VERDICT: I'd have to say that this was one of my favorite cruises. Like others I spoke with, I'll go back to the other classes for now, but I'm pretty sure that I'll return to the Oasis class again sometime in the future.

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tinatark

tinatark

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We were on the same sailing. There were a TON of kids - including several with us! 2 year old twin girls + a 9 year old! I didn't hear the captain's entire speech - did hear that we had 6001 passengers.

 

Our friend did the all access tour - we have done it on Princess, so we kind of compared notes. He loved it. He's an engineer so that stuff was really interesting to him! We went to some places on Princess (Print Shop, Anchor area) he didn't visit, and I'm sure there are places RC took him we didn't visit on Princess!

 

I agree about the food - it really was sub par. Pizza seemed a little better than it was before, main dining room - meh... we won a dinner for 2 at the steakhouse - it was good, but I am glad I didn't pay $40 pp for it!

 

Our young adults - 18, 20, 21, 21 - LOVE the Oasis. I still think the ship is just too big for the crew to do anything with excellence.

 

My fitbit worked overtime last week! My steps for each day ranged from 9600 (almost 4 miles) to 17.5k (almost 7 miles!)!

 

Sorry -I almost hijacked your thread!

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holula

holula

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We were also on the same sailing. First time on Oasis. I think it's a very insular ship but it didn't stop me booking another cruise on Harmony for next year. :) (We also booked Freedom.) Nine of my previous cruises have been on Disney so to me it was kid-lite. :) I also agree about the food. It wasn't bad, it was just kind of there. I enjoyed the roast beef sandwiches at Central Park, and also their breakfast bagels though. I think other than Chef's Table (which I loved), the best meal I had was at Johnny Rockets. Chops didn't wow me like I was hoping. Cagney's on NCL was much better IMO, and it's cheaper too.

 

The all access tour looked really interesting so maybe I will do it next time now I've read your review! It sounds like I would enjoy it.

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LincolnLog

LincolnLog

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THE SHOWS: Didn't see any. Had reservations but football got in the way. Speaking of which, it was pretty wild to watch the NFL with only the sound of the stadium and no commentators. Actually liked that.

 

I have a question about this. Were they only showing the national games like Sunday night and Monday night football? Or did they also show regional games on Sunday during the day?

 

And why do you think there was no sound from the commentators? I wonder why they would have a different feed on the ship then just the network broadcast?

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polymedia

polymedia

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I have a question about this. Were they only showing the national games like Sunday night and Monday night football? Or did they also show regional games on Sunday during the day?

 

And why do you think there was no sound from the commentators? I wonder why they would have a different feed on the ship then just the network broadcast?

 

This was all the games including the Thursday night game. It's probably due to a licensing issue. In other words, it would cost RCL more money for the full broadcast.

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tinatark

tinatark

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Cats = painful! Although the photo with the main cat at halftime (sports analogy, lol!) was cool.

 

Comedians were HILARIOUS - although we couldn't get reservations online - tried stand by several times and finally got in at 9 p.m. on the final night. We did attend the welcome aboard comedy show - kind of a primer for the other shows.

 

Promenade was generally a madhouse- especially when they had parades and sales.

 

Missed the disco inferno street party on Thursday (I think it was then) - really wish we had been there - LOVED it on the LOS in December!

 

Skipped the Frozen in Time ice show - saw it before... Hans Christian Anderson nursery rhymes... Blah

 

Loved the Headline show - Come Fly With Me.

 

Saw the dive shows before - skipped the regular one, saw the "comedy" one this time. They also have a couple of short fountain shows out in that area.

 

We always go to the farthest area of the beach on Labadee. Usually some dance cast members are over there, too - not super congested, and food is very close. I give the Haitian band members as much fruit as I can carry from the buffet. This time I had a couple of promo sling bags I had brought aboard - filled them. You have to be discreet. The guys were so thankful!

 

Took us a lot longer than usual to get off the ship - we had an 11:40 flight - got 8:45 am luggage tags - I think they were closing the lines for customs - backing up the disembarkation lines on the ship? We got into the customs line around 10:15- I found a guy who worked the area - told him about our flight - he bumped us up - we were at the cab line around 10:30.

 

Cab driver tried to charge us $30 to get to the airport - 4 of us plus luggage. We said no, signs everywhere said metered trips... finally told him "turn on the meter" and he did it begrudgingly! Makes me wonder how many people say "Okay".

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Clarea

Clarea

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With recent changes to some of the dining, can someone explain how it is now working...is there a main dinning room still?

Still a main dining room, but the three decks are decorated differently now. Deck 3, decorated as American Icon, is for My Time. Decks 4 and 5 are traditional. All decks have the same traditional MDR menus that change every night.

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idjaffe

idjaffe

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Still a main dining room, but the three decks are decorated differently now. Deck 3, decorated as American Icon, is for My Time. Decks 4 and 5 are traditional. All decks have the same traditional MDR menus that change every night.

 

Thank you.

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