TeamTrom’s Vacation Review: Oasis of the Seas (10.29.16) plus More

[TeamTrom]

TeamTrom, I am loving your review. The Gambee comment was right on, and if you could have incorporated some of the parade horses he would have been over the top in excitement.

 

As for the towel animal I saw exactly what you saw. I would have been howling in laughter quickly followed by posting the photo here.

Thanks for following along. This is considerably more work than I had imagined lol. If I had stumbled across the parade I for sure would've taken pictures of the dancing horses just for him. He inspired me to do this in the first place. [emoji3] I hope you continue to enjoy reading along!!!

 

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[island lady]

The big Ft. Lauderdale boat show was last weekend, which could have been the reason

you saw all the yachts on the freighters.

 

Great review so far! Thanks for sharing! :)

[island lady]

If you look closely in the photo, you may notice something out of the norm about the decks... If you see it let us all know ;)

 

 

LOL!! That is actually quite common on many ships, and in fact some sky scrapers.

They purposely leave out deck/floor 13 since many consider it bad luck. :D

 

Bananas anyone??!! :p Actually it is pretty funny the ship offers bananas in

the WJ...since they are also considered bad luck on a ship/boat. ;)

And they are located next to the ketchup and mustard!! :eek: :p

Edited November 7, 2016 by island lady

[TeamTrom]

Day 3: Day at Sea

Woke up to the sun rising in a sky filled with clouds yet again.

 

 

We repeated our morning of breakfast in the Windjammer. We took this day to trying to learn our sense of direction(something I never achieved on this cruise) and get down the layout of the ship(something I also rarely got right lol, both of which are a surprise because I am generally very good with both). We visited most of the shops today and picked out some things that we were interested in buying provided we weren't broke at the end of our trip lol very few of which we ended up buying at the end. I was very interested in checking out the watch sale that was on this day. I am a very big fan of Citizens watches and was hoping to come away with one by the time we traveled home. I was disappointed with how long in advance they were advertising for this while it was what appeared to be ready to go. They had staff walking around telling us to wait around for the start but everyone was standing in the center of the roped off area just waiting... So finally I asked when we would be allowed to take a look and they said 30 more minutes. We decided this was far too long to wait and looked at it as if I was saving $$$. We decided on Johnny Rockets for lunch today. For a small $6.95 cover charge it is a pretty good value to try something different.

 

 

The servers here always seems to have a blank stare and were absent from smiles. Disappointing once I realized this but I overlooked it at first. I decided on a Cheeseburger, well because they are known for their burgers, and Wifey tried out the chicken melt. She regretted going outside of their specialty but between our onion rings and chilli cheese fries there was plenty to eat.

 

 

I really enjoyed my burger, reminded me of a Five Guys burger!

[TeamTrom]

From JR you get a pretty good view of the Boardwalk and what is on it. Here are a few pictures of what we took!

 

 

 

 

Just another one of their amazing neighborhoods that Oasis Class offers!!! We have plans set up today through CC to be a part of a Cabin Crawl. Wifey and I have never been apart of something like this and since we have never been in anything beyond an interior room before this cruise we are psyched to see different types of cabins in person. Now this is not your ordinary cabin crawl. There is something unique about this day because it is HALLOWEEN! With that in mind it was decided to make this a Trick or Treat style cabin crawl, so it is encouraged to come dressed in a costume and have a snack of some sort to hand our at your cabin. We had a great turnout and a decent number or participants offered one or the other... some even decorated their cabin. Here is our costumes, if you know of the current crave of Pokémon Go then this outfit may be recognizable to you!!!

 

[TeamTrom]

We were to meet at the Schooner Bar... Woo hoo so that means we get to run into Ramesh yet again. We ordered some drinks once we arrived. There was already a good amount of crawlers here and we have about 15 more minutes until it started. I would say that we came up with about 30-40 people in our party. There was a lot more people then I could have ever imagined. Since I couldn't get a good view of Ft Lauderdale Beach from the Solarium I stole this one from the menu!!!

 

 

We were the cabin that would get to start to crawl so we led them to our cabin. Only about a third of our group could be in the cabin at a time so we waited in the hallways while everyone took their turn. Being from Ohio we made a treat that Ohio is very fond of there and well known for! Buckeyes!!! For those of you that do not know what these delicious candies are they are peanut butter balls dipped in milk chocolate. They were a hit, everyone seemed to enjoy them. Next Cabin was what I believe is a grand suite. It is the same size in length but double the size in width of my cabin This room put mine to shame. The balcony was HUGE!!! Or so I thought, but we will get to that later. You get a little peak into some of the costumes that we were able to enjoy.

 

 

Next was an interior Central Park View and this was a far cooler room than I had anticipated.:cool:

 

[TeamTrom]

The next room is a cabin that I can only describe as amazing. I'm not 100% sure of the the Category name but something along the lines of a Aqua Theatre balcony/suite type of shin dig lol It was an extremely oversized cabin with a seperate living space from the master bedroom. The balcony was a wraparound balcony that gave you the perks of a boardwalk balcony, a portion of balcony that gave a perfect view of the Aqua Theatre along with a very generous ocean view balcony as well. I'm fairly confident that this balcony alone was larger than my cabin...

 

 

 

 

 

[TeamTrom]

This Boardwalk view cabin was decorated very well. Some of these rooms were decorated very well, you could tell the effort that was involved. You all deserve a round of applause.

 

 

 

Their view was incredible!!!

 

 

[TeamTrom]

There were more rooms involved then what I have shown but they were repetitive in some capacity besides for the family cabin that had an additional set of bunk beds with a setup to sleep 4 comfortably. Still fun to check out with the group in a party atmosphere. The final two cabins were identical besides for the view. We saved the best for last with the Loft Suites on the private deck 17. Both of these room had a loft style cabin where it was the same width and similar length of my cabin but was two decks high with a staircase leading to their Loft style bedroom. This room had a significantly nicer bathroom then any one I have had in any home of mine lol

 

 

 

 

[TeamTrom]

During the Cabin Crawl we met a very nice young woman name Jennifer around our age and her mother, Mona . We talked with Jennifer for the majority of the Cabin Crawl and then at the final cabin ended up meeting her dad, David, as well. Despite looking like fools in our childish costumes we stayed in their cabin long after the crawl had ended and had a very entertaining conversation. We really enjoyed their company and this was far from our last time together. We ended up spending so much time talking they ended up being late to their dinner at Coastal Kitchen, lucky for us Izumi couldn't be reserved til 715 so we were good to go. After going our separate ways we ended up getting ready for dinner then making our way to Izumi on deck 4. If you have dinner at the Hibachi side you get seated at a table that wraps around a flat grill surface for the chef to do their work. It seats around 10 or so. Here the chef is making an endless pile of fried rice...

 

 

That rice was probably the best part of the meal, it truly was good. We also ordered a spicy tuna roll, probably one of our favorite classic style rolls. This is what was left when I remembered to take a picture

 

 

Haha it was pretty good, we forgot to take a pic until it was finished. You can also see the variety of sauces that they offer for you to dip your foods in. None of which were memorable. I ordered the scallops and lobster and Wifey ordered the filet and lobster. I thought the lobster was good while she thought it was too salty, I enjoyed the scallops and didn't like her filet at all. The flavor was not there for me. Here are similar photos of our dinner as I had of our roll.. or lack thereof lol

 

 

 

We have hibachi at home at a fair rate. We often go to a local place that has a great deal for lunch so hibachi is a common meal for us. Sadly this made this meal extremely ordinary. While the food was good it was no better then what we are used to so the totality of it was disappointing. My recommendations for anyone considering going is that if your haven't been to another hibachi restaurant or if you haven't been back in a while then give it a try, otherwise don't expect something much different than your used to. This meal ran up until the time that we got into our swim suits, enjoyed the hot tubs until we went off to bed.

 

 

Sneak peek into Day 4: Port of Costa Maya/Adventure Park Maya Lost Mayan Kingdom and the “Secret Party”

I must admit that I am a bit of a thrill seeker and the description that RCI has made this a must do for us. “Make a splash in Costa Maya with a spectacular day spent sliding, ziplining and swimming your way around the action-packed Mayá Lost Mayan Kingdom waterpark. With nearly 5 hours of free time in the park and nine different waterslides, you’ll discover plenty of adventure for the whole family at this theme park inspired by the ancient Mayan culture of Mexico. Thrill seekers might brave the Kamikaze slides, take a spin around the Hidrowhip or zoom down the 60-foot mat slide. For a birds-eye view of the park and Caribbean Sea, strap up and whiz across two zipline courses, totaling 3,000 feet of lines complete with a ropes course and suspension bridge. Take on the dizzying twists and turns of the Kukulcan zip coaster, or head to the Teen Park for some scaled-down aquatic fun. Those looking for some relaxation will find it while floating on a river tube through the jungle-lined lazy river or at the natural cenote swimming hole. You can enjoy it all with the convenience of roundtrip transportation to and from port.” At $89 per person I see this as a bargain and have high expectations going into this.

Additionally, we are booked to go to the Prohibition Party or otherwise known as the “Secret Party”. Some people search for but never find this party while others it seems to fall into their laps, consider me a part of the latter.

[njm5378]

The next room is a cabin that I can only describe as amazing. I'm not 100% sure of the the Category name but something along the lines of a Aqua Theatre balcony/suite type of shin dig lol It was an extremely oversized cabin with a seperate living space from the master bedroom. The balcony was a wraparound balcony that gave you the perks of a boardwalk balcony, a portion of balcony that gave a perfect view of the Aqua Theatre along with a very generous ocean view balcony as well. I'm fairly confident that this balcony alone was larger than my cabin...

 

 

 

 

 

 

This was our room. For those following along this was an A3 One Bedroom Aqua Theater Suite, cabin 11330. We loved the views and the extra space. We were traveling with our two girls so it was a nice fit for our family. We did not like the lack of storage space for the 4 of us. The bathroom was not an issue for us but could be for some as it is only accessible through the bedroom and only has a single sink. We also decided that if it were just my wife and I we prefer the GS or CLS but this was perfect for the kids. Great to meet all those on the cabin crawl, we were glad to take part.

[PattiRedRabbit]

Sean I am really enjoying your review! It is as if I am back on the ship again. It was so much fun meeting you and your wife.

 

 

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[easyboy]

Like your photos. Enjoying following your review.

[TeamTrom]

This was our room. For those following along this was an A3 One Bedroom Aqua Theater Suite, cabin 11330. We loved the views and the extra space. We were traveling with our two girls so it was a nice fit for our family. We did not like the lack of storage space for the 4 of us. The bathroom was not an issue for us but could be for some as it is only accessible through the bedroom and only has a single sink. We also decided that if it were just my wife and I we prefer the GS or CLS but this was perfect for the kids. Great to meet all those on the cabin crawl, we were glad to take part.

 

Thanks for offering up your cabin for the crawl, it really made a great impression on me and Wifey. We ran into you and your two girls more so than anyone else on board. Two very well behaved kids and very talented on the flo-rider. Thanks for following along!

 

Sean I am really enjoying your review! It is as if I am back on the ship again. It was so much fun meeting you and your wife.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

 

I am glad you are enjoying my review. I hope that I can reread it over and over again to relive it myself. It was a blast meeting you as well. Thanks for all the work you put in on the cabin crawl, sail away party and talking us into the Prohibition Party. Had a great time!!!

[TeamTrom]

Like your photos. Enjoying following your review.

 

Thanks a lot. A ton of work is going into this lol

[TeamTrom]

Day 4: Port of Costa Maya/Adventure Park Maya Lost Mayan Kingdom

As has been the norm, we wake up and snap a few pictures of the horizon with clouds filling the skies.

 

 

As we got closer to port we could see the pyramid that is the Lost Mayan Adventure Park, if you look closely in this picture you can see it too. It is the strangely shaped structure dead center of this photo. Besides for some radar towers it is the tallest object off the coast of Costa Maya.

 

 

We went to breakfast at the Windjammer, surprise, surprise. And once again I thoroughly enjoyed myself there. Our excursion was 15 minutes after we were scheduled to port so we knew we had to be ready to get off once we docked so we weren't late. We walked down towards the gangway and were all funneled to Studio B with a delay in clearing customs. We grabbed a seat near the entrance so we could get out of their quickly once allowed. We waited there for about 20 minutes and that pushed us beyond our meet time but that did not create a problem at all because of course each excursion waited patiently for everyone to arrive. Once off of the ship and after we walked to the end of the pier you are given nice clear direction on which way to head.

 

 

This port looked about as new a port as I have ever seen. They are currently working on upgrading their port right up front by adding a location for a sting ray and dolphin encounter. You can see the area that has some construction going on right here

 

[TeamTrom]

Once everyone was gathered at the excursion meet location we were led through port to the taxi location. We first come up on this very cool tribal welcome party. There was local tribal music being played and a group of people were doing some sort of tribal dance, I hope it was to make the rain clouds go away! The pictures do not do it justice because this truly was an experience.

 

 

They seemed to be dancing around this one who was dressed differently than the rest and appeared to be the leader.

 

 

We walked through the area with all the shops like any other port but the shops all looked to be fairly newer, with very up to date signage.

 

 

It was a very short walk to the taxi location which was also where the transportation was to the adventure park. They had these large occupancy trailers being towed behind a truck to take you to and from the park. We were told that in the morning a shuttle would run every 45 minutes and that in the afternoon one would be by every 5, so whenever you wanted to leave there would be one to take you back.

 

[stickyshocker]

Day 4, oh boy this' gonna be good[emoji16]

[TeamTrom]

The ride over was a very quick one. Maybe a 10 minute ride at most. There wasn't much to see but some undeveloped areas but we did manage to come up with this picture.

 

 

Once we arrived this friendly face was there to greet us. I really enjoyed her makeup.

 

 

As soon as you walk through the front gates you come upon these crates. One of which is moving because a monkey is inside trying to break loose. ;)

 

 

You get a real jungle experience from start to finish. You can tell from the photos just how complete this park really is from head to toe. I think they did a great job!

 

Edited November 8, 2016 by TeamTrom

[TeamTrom]

Day 4, oh boy this' gonna be good[emoji16]

 

I have a goal to do 1 cruise day recap per day, so with going back to work for the first time tomorrow I wanted to get a head start tonight on day 4. Sadly that means that you will have to wait til tomorrow for the rest ;) I hope you can hold on just a little longer

[TeamTrom]

Walking up to the Pyramid this is one of the views. Here you can see the two largest slides this park has to offer.

 

 

They were both incredibly fast and intense. My knee length swim shorts was transformed into a speedo by the time I was finished with the slide from the force of water, not comfortable so we only rode these slides once. You get to all of the attractions from this one structure. Very cool of them to do that, leaves the walking to as minimal as possible. The inside of the pryamid was multiple levels, each had the entrance to either slides, ziplines or some had both. This is a look from the bottom level, you can get a basic idea of what the layout was.

 

 

Although we did not try this out here is a view of the lazy river.

 

 

One positive from the lack of sun was that the park was never crowded. It was still warm out, mostly in the 80's through the day so the water felt nice but there was never a long line. The large variety of activities seemed to help too, the lines were dispersed nicely. You can see here that you only had to wait a couple minutes to get on this slide and the same goes for all of them.

 

Edited November 8, 2016 by TeamTrom

[TeamTrom]

We started our adventure by doing the zip lines, we figured it was best to do that first and get wet later hoping the sun would come out. You get all equipped with your zip lining gear. It is pretty lightweight so we had no troubles walking around the park in it. We took the elevator to the top level where you get to see the layout of the park and see the Quick Drop which is basically a bungee jump through the center of the structure all the way to the bottom.

 

 

 

I would have loved to do this but apparently this cost extra. We did not run across any other activities that were extra but it was disappointing that this was. Here is a little bit of a look of the Zip Coaster, some of the Lazy River and some of where you end one of the Zip Lines.

 

 

In case you couldn't see the "landing pad" for the zip line here is a better look

 

 

Yes that is a water landing zone. Little did we know that we will be getting drenched at the end of the zip line course lol oh well it was starting to get hot anyways!!!

[stickyshocker]

I have a goal to do 1 cruise day recap per day, so with going back to work for the first time tomorrow I wanted to get a head start tonight on day 4. Sadly that means that you will have to wait til tomorrow for the rest ;) I hope you can hold on just a little longer

 

I ain't goin' anywhere, this entire review is where it's at, 5 yrs from now I can always go back and relive our 1st Oasis cruise thru your eyes, speaking of which I haven't even expressed my gratitude yet for all this hard work..so THANK YOU!.. I GoPro'd all the way, so anytime any of the boys and girls demanded some pictures, I just simply log on and show 'em all that it's in here. Take your time, I don't want this review to end quickly the way our cruise have.

 

xs: Wild Guess, you and your SO were in Johnny Rockets prior/during the Belly Flop Contest, are you??

[TeamTrom Wifey]

We started our adventure by doing the zip lines, we figured it was best to do that first and get wet later hoping the sun would come out. You get all equipped with your zip lining gear. It is pretty lightweight so we had no troubles walking around the park in it. We took the elevator to the top level where you get to see the layout of the park and see the Quick Drop which is basically a bungee jump through the center of the structure all the way to the bottom.

 

 

 

I would have loved to do this but apparently this cost extra. We did not run across any other activities that were extra but it was disappointing that this was. Here is a little bit of a look of the Zip Coaster, some of the Lazy River and some of where you end one of the Zip Lines.

 

 

In case you couldn't see the "landing pad" for the zip line here is a better look

 

 

Yes that is a water landing zone. Little did we know that we will be getting drenched at the end of the zip line course lol oh well it was starting to get hot anyways!!!

 

Here's a better shot of the landing zone because a picture can't quite do it justice!

 

Edited November 8, 2016 by TeamTrom Wifey

[TeamTrom]

There were 12 zip lines split between two courses (you zipped to one tower, hopped off the line and right back on another line. Basically no wait time) and one zip coaster (sorry, no good pictures of the coaster, but it was very cool). In all, it took about 2 hours to get through all the zip lines.

 

So once the zip lines were out of the way, we headed straight to the water slides.

 

 

Most of them were in sets of two so Wifey and I raced down one (spoiler alert: I won), then back up the tower to switch.

 

 

This was one of the coolest slides out there. See that big tunnel thing? Yeah, at the bottom of the slide you are sent into a huge funnel where you swirl around a few times and are then dropped straight down into a pool at the bottom. I’ve seen a slide with a similar concept in the states, but it’s in a tube and the funnel is horizontal, not vertical, so you slide out instead of straight *falling* out.

 

 

(and here’s a video of what it’s like at the very bottom: )

 

Now this slide… is the infamous “green slide” we’ve been talking about for days (another poster saw we went to this park and had to mention this slide. It was that memorable!) So here’s our story: We’ve done a few slides, working our way up the pyramid to hit all the slides before we ended our day and on one level there were two slides. Slide #1 had about 10 kids waiting in line. Slide #2 had… zero. No one at all. I’m all “Let’s go on the one with no line!”, Wifey, being a bit more cautious, asks the guy “Why is no one over here? What’s wrong with this slide? Is it horrifying?” The guy smiles and says “No! It’s not that bad!”

He opens the rope gate to let me into the slide and I’m about to just go for it. It’s a dark tunnel slide so I can’t see a whole lot of what’s in store for me but, what’s the worst that could happen? Wifey, however, looks over the side of the building and the look on her face made me pause. I look too and well, the slide is a *little* steep. Like about a foot into the slide it turns STRAIGHT down.

 

 

We both start laughing, considering what it might have been like to have no idea and just all the sudden falling. We both still go, but let’s just say some inappropriate words may have left my mouth when I dropped. It was like a literal freefall. Your body does not touch the slide for a few seconds. This thing was INTENSE! Wifey went too, with more screaming and less cussing. She comes out awkward laughing and holding her elbow which she apparently hit to the point that it bruised during the slide. I asked her if she had her arms crossed like she was supposed to and she said “I DON’T KNOW! Did you see that slide? I almost died!” hahaha

We did the last few slides but none, thankfully, were quite as intense or memorable as that one!

Edited November 8, 2016 by TeamTrom