07/09 - Oasis cruise impressions (vs Princess)

[henador]

We (me, wife, and 16 yo daughter) went on the 07/09 Oasis cruise to Nassau, St Thomas, and St Kitts. We've been on two previous RCI cruises: a 7-nighter on Monarch back in 1997 and a quick 4-nighter on its sister ship in 2003 or so. Since then it has been Princess: 7-day Carib on Grand in 2008 or so, 12-day Med on Regal in 2014, and a 10-day Carib on Royal in Dec 2015. We like the itineraries on Princess better than Royal and that's why we've been on more Princess cruises. Anyway, that's our background for reference ... on with the impressions and comparison.

 

I've wanted to sail on Oasis ever since it came out but the prices for comparable rooms were always higher than on Princess ships. Back on Black Friday, I got email from Royal about their Oasis sale and jumped in. My little business had a good month and I was feeling cocky so I booked the Sky Loft suite on deck 17 (two floors == too cool!). After reading about Oasis here on CC and the Sky Loft suites in particular, I started having second thoughts about being stuck up on deck 17 because we would need to use the elevator to get anywhere. So, at some point along the way I changed from the SL suite to a Grand Suite (8260) even though I was concerned about noise being on main deck fairly close to the elevators. Turns out there was *no* issue with noise on deck 8. On Princess we always get the mini-suite so the Grand Suite on Oasis was a step up. We're not "Suite" type people but what the heck...

 

Boarding and Room

Boarding in FLL was no problem. About 20 people in the suite line ahead of us and it moved fairly quickly (I think junior suite people were allowed in this line as well). Got onboard and headed to our room. Wow, very nice. The Grand Suite is more of a square layout compared previous junior/mini suite rooms we've had. No more walking sideways past each other. The bathroom was also more square, with two sinks and a shower/tub. The location on deck 8 was perfect for getting to Central Park and the other activity areas. My sister and her husband were on the cruise in a Junior Suite a few doors down the hall. It was also excellent, with a more square shape as well and even a decent walk-in closet. They said it was, hands down, the best room they've ever had on a cruise ship.

 

The Ship

I loved the Oasis. It seemed like the new standard for what a cruise ship should be. It's not much longer than other big ships, it's wider, and RCI took advantage of that width to make the Central Park and Boardwalk areas open-top. That completely changes the cruise experience. The Aqua Theater in the back was fantastic. I did the Flowrider (fun!) and we all did the ZipLine (okay, but too short). The only complaint about the ship is that they don't have enough medium-sized theaters for events. For example, the Bingo game was in the Boleros lounge, which was way too small and not the right shape. Also, the Adult Comedy Club was small and that created lines and their associated aggravations (being Sky class we were able to get reservations ahead of others). I don't recall ever having getting into events on Princess Regal/Royal.

 

Onboard Entertainment

Excellent ... and as with "The Ship" above, sets a new cruise standard for us. We caught the evening Aqua Theater show a couple of days in and it was fantastic. We also saw the iceskating show later and it was excellent as well. The two comedians were funny, especially Threadgill(?).

 

Dining

We did the four-night specialty restaurant package and ate at 150, Giovannis, Sabor, and Izumi. Chops had a 1/2 price special on the first night so we ate there. We did the MDR on the second formal night. The food was fine, we liked Giovannis the best, but the steaks everywhere were almost always overcooked. We're not big eaters so the four night package was probably overkill. One important note, the free restaurants on Oasis weren't as good as the free ones on Princess Regal/Royal. For example, Sorrentos was basically just pizza while Princess's Alfredo's had pizza, calzones, and other nice items. Princess's International Café was also better than the equivalent on Oasis. Of course, food is highly subjective so ymmv.

 

Itinerary

Our destination for this cruise was Oasis itself. We only left the ship in St Thomas for the RCI Champagne Snorkel excursion to St. Johns. It wasn't good. There was a long "taxi" bus ride to the catamaran and limited time snorkeling. The snorkel location was poor quality, with just a small reef and not many fish. We were only in Nassau until 2pm and we heard many complaints about people spending large amounts of $$$ for Atlantis excursions. It was a Sunday and some sort of local holiday, so the Atlantis staff was only around at 11pm. Oops!

 

Staff

Maybe it was the size of the ship or the number of things available ... but the Oasis staff never seemed to know what was going on except for their particular area. Several times we would get conflicting information on what to do or where to go. As I mentioned earlier, some events were in inappropriately sized rooms. Also, it seemed like theaters/rooms were unused for many nights. On Princess, it seemed like they used every room all the time. You could always find something going on. Not so on Oasis. Very strange.

 

Elevators

Well, this one I got right. I had read a thread about elevators on Oasis here at CC and wondered why. Comments were "no problem, mon" ... but the elevators were a problem. Long waits and flaky service. I don't know how many times an elevator door would "ding" yet the elevator itself would continue right past the deck. Twice, the elevator we were on went into some special mode and either took us up to deck 16 or down to deck 3! Why, I have no idea. If we had stayed with the Sky Loft suite on deck 17 we would have been extra-frustrated by the elevator system, so being on deck 8 allowed us to use the stairs for the other main decks and simply walk out to the specialty restaurants in Central Park.

 

Suite Life

Being Sky Class or higher definitely has its perks. The Grand Suite room was fantastic and everything on the ship is made easier. You want towels, flash your card and take as many as you want (no check-out procedure). You want into a show or event or restaurant, no problem. Free internet for each guest in the room. Access to free drinks and snacks at the Coastal Kitchen. Access to the special suite area up front on deck 17 with padded lounges with prepositioned towels and private bar (almost no one was there, the bartender said that people usually discover it later on). We really didn't take advantage of all the perks until several days into the cruise. With the free drinks there I probably didn't need to purchase the Premium Package for drinks. I don't remember how much more the Grand Suite was compared to the Junior Suite but when you start adding up the perks it starts to make more sense ... or at least is less outrageous.

 

Overall

The Oasis gets two thumbs up from all of us. My ideal ship would be the Oasis but run by Princess so that the event theaters were appropriately sized and organized.

 

Edit: forgot to mention that the internet access on Oasis was fantastic. On Princess Regal/Royal it was ridiculous. If/when my computer could connect to their wifi the internet itself was dreadfully slow. Basically unusable. I need internet access to maintain my software business when I'm on trips. The internet on Oasis was effortless.

Edited July 17, 2016 by henador

[Clarea]

Nice comparison review, thanks.

[kevinyork]

Thanks for your review. Makes us look forward to our back to back in Feb 17 even more (despite being in a lowly Boardwalk balcony and not a suite).

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[henador]

Thanks for your review. Makes us look forward to our back to back in Feb 17 even more (despite being in a lowly Boardwalk balcony and not a suite).

I thought the Boardwalk balcony rooms were one of the coolest innovations on the Oasis (a great use of the wider ship). Far better than a true interior room.

 

BTW, my wife reminded me about the specialty Mexican restaurant, Sabor. I forgot to mention it in my main post. It was awful, from top to bottom. About the only thing I was looking forward to was the tableside guacamole ... but the waiter informed us that they didn't have any ripe avocados available?!? We could have packaged guac instead. No thanks! Service was poor, to boot.

 

I had read poor reviews of Sabor on CC but figured the posters were just complainers. Nope, it really is that bad. RCI should tear down Sabor and start over.

[molly361]

Thanks for the review- We were on board in May and hope to get back again in December

[Lordnlkon]

I thought the Boardwalk balcony rooms were one of the coolest innovations on the Oasis (a great use of the wider ship). Far better than a true interior room.

 

BTW, my wife reminded me about the specialty Mexican restaurant, Sabor. I forgot to mention it in my main post. It was awful, from top to bottom. About the only thing I was looking forward to was the tableside guacamole ... but the waiter informed us that they didn't have any ripe avocados available?!? We could have packaged guac instead. No thanks! Service was poor, to boot.

 

I had read poor reviews of Sabor on CC but figured the posters were just complainers. Nope, it really is that bad. RCI should tear down Sabor and start over.

 

 

We loved Sabor on the liberty when we sailed her in May. By far the best food on the ship.

[ksg]

Interesting comment regarding the St. Johns Catamaran snorkel. We did this excursion twice - in recent years, (2013 and 2015) and also did a similar one in 2002 - different outfit but same location for snorkeling.

 

The difference in the reef is astonishing. Years ago we had just about the best snorkeling ever - beautiful coral and tons of fish. More recently, drastic difference in quality. Way fewer fish and bleached out coral. Shocking and sad, really.

[Lionesss]

Question.

 

Did you get free drinks at the private suite deck with the cabanas?? The one above the pool, the private area. or.. You meant the suite lounge correct?

 

Beautiful review.

 

I too agree that there is something lacking with the staff on Oasis vs. Allure.

 

Allure much more friendly.

 

Thanks again.

[henador]

Did you get free drinks at the private suite deck with the cabanas?? The one above the pool, the private area. or.. You meant the suite lounge correct?

Yes, it was the suite lounge (the big room containing the Coastal Kitchen) that had the free beer, wine, etc. The bar on the private outdoor suite deck with the cabanas was not free.

[henador]

Forgot one other plus for RCI over Princess. I smoke a pipe and found that Oasis was more friendly than Princess. I could smoke in the outside area on Deck 15 and inside the casino bar (though not in the casino itself).

 

Princess, on the other hand, has become steadily more hostile to pipe smokers in the last couple of years and was one of the reasons for pulling the trigger on the Oasis cruise. On our June 2014 Med cruise on Regal I could smoke in the aft outside area. Not so on our Dec 2015 cruise on Royal. I was restricted to the awful, tiny Churchill lounge. There is *no* good reason for restricting me from the aft smokers area on Regal/Royal. Pipe smoke is far more pleasant than cigarette smoke, never mind cigar smoke!

 

If that's RCI's policy across their line then it would tip me in favor of RCI from now on.

[henador]

Ok, one more update. My complaint about the crazy elevator taking us down to the lower floor ... well, it might have to do with this thread:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2379218

 

That was the evening when the elevator got into "Security" mode and took us from Deck 16 down to Deck 3. Something was going on because there were a bunch of guys in white shirts. One walked in our elevator and used his key to get us out of that mode.