Need your opinions. Caribbean July Cruises ( RCL-Carnival)

[CruisingTheCaribbean2015]

I am planning a family cruise for 12. Covering ages 12-84. I am down to the following for a July Cruise. Carnival Vista ( 8 day Southern) and RCL: Oasis of the Seas ( 7 day Eastern). We have never been on either ship. If you have, could you share your pro's and con's from your experience to help me make this decision. Nightly entertainment for my parents is a huge plus in the decision making process. Thanks All

[Ery]

The shows on Oasis are wonderful-

Oasis of dreams- outdoor high dive aerial show

Come fly with me- musical with a lot of aerial work - really well done

Cats- if you like the show it's great, I don't like cats - the show itself is depressing

Headliner and comedians change- they've always been good on our trips.

Frozen in time - ice show- wonderful!

 

Zip line, flow rider, ice skating, movies. Our friends with kids say they love the adventure ocean

 

 

 

We love st Maarten and st Thomas

 

We haven't done Carnival Vista, it is close to half the size , but it does have water slides

 

Oasis 229k tons with 6,200 passengers

Vista 134k tons with 4,000.

 

With size and passengers Vista may seem more crowded than Oasis.

 

We have done Oasis twice and Allure once, ships never felt crowded. We always had loungers, no waits in bars, dining or shows.

 

Our last trip on Dream we could find chairs by a pool, never hit to use the adult hot tubs, waited in lines everywhere (similar size ship with passengers count to Vista)

 

 

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[billybob57]

Lots of action on Carnival

More of a party ship for young families & twenty somethings

think your better off on Royal with the oldies

 

 

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[Ery]

Billy when was the last time you were on Oasis? We are 38 and 40 and the average age in our last two Oasis trips was 32-50, so sorry not oldies. There were plenty of families. Live music, dancing and fun until well after 3am in several areas of the ship

 

 

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[billybob57]

Referring to 84 years old.

You and the kids would enjoy Carnival

 

 

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[rjgdjg]

I've never been on Carnival, but I've been on Oasis, as well as its sister ship, Allure, and would highly recommend it for your trip. It has a ton to do and see for all ages, such as:

 

* Zip lining, rock climbing, full-sized carousel, water park, DreamWorks parades for the young folks

 

* The best entertainment at sea for the older folks--full-length Broadway quality shows, water shows with high diving, comedy shows

 

(Fyi, check with RCI; I believe I heard that "Cats" was being replaced with another Broadway show)

 

* 3 "neighborhoods," each with a different feel--Boardwalk has the carousel, candy store, etc., Central Park is a foliage-filled oasis adults love and Promenade is the hub of the ship for parades, theme parties and has a pub and 24-hour cafe that's great for people watching

 

In short, it's really a fun ship that everyone can enjoy. You can't go wrong with Oasis. -- Musing About Cruising

[Ery]

Cats just started in 2014, they do a five year contract on the Broadway show. We asked when we were on last month.

 

 

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[janetz]

The shows are the Oasis will blow the whole family away.

The ship offers so much.

It is the best choice for any age.

[kasil]

You might want to check the average high and low temps and percent humidity for the ports of call that each cruise visits. I don't know that I'd want to be too far south if there is potential for extremely hot weather.

[leaveitallbehind]

Referring to 84 years old.

You and the kids would enjoy Carnival

 

 

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Not many of them on RCI either! :rolleyes: You have your demographics completely wrong. You'll see that when you take your first RCI cruise later this month.

Edited November 22, 2016 by leaveitallbehind

[leaveitallbehind]

I am planning a family cruise for 12. Covering ages 12-84. I am down to the following for a July Cruise. Carnival Vista ( 8 day Southern) and RCL: Oasis of the Seas ( 7 day Eastern). We have never been on either ship. If you have, could you share your pro's and con's from your experience to help me make this decision. Nightly entertainment for my parents is a huge plus in the decision making process. Thanks All

 

Oasis - hands down IMO.

[mamasylvia]

We did a July cruise on Oasis in 2013 (celebrating our 25th anniversary July 30). It was fantastic. We saw most of the shows (don't think we managed to see the comic) - they were limited because of the venue but still enjoyable. DH really enjoyed an improv session where the performer got the audience to participate and taught a lot about doing improv.

 

What was surprising to me, given the 6000+ passengers, was that we never felt crowded. We were the only ones in the hot tub, the pools weren't crowded, there were usually poolside chairs available. We selected Anytime Dining and I wouldn't choose that again - turned out we were always starving by 6pm and we sometimes were warned of a 20-30 minute wait. So we either waited or went to another included restaurant. The Windjammer buffet was mostly okay but had a few stupendous dishes, like a mango custardy something that I could have lived on. (Was surprised I only gained 11 lb on the cruise!) I also did the Chef's Table (NOT included, roughly $90 but worth it) and was so inspired by the salmon poached in olive oil that I learned how to do it when I got home. ;)

 

One of the smart things I did was to rent a scooter. I can only walk very short distances and the ship is HUGE! DH, who normally hates spending money, agreed I should rent the scooter so he didn't spend all his vacation pushing me around the ship. If you do go with Oasis (actually, on either ship), if anyone in your party has mobility issues, consider renting a scooter. I cannot overstate the difference it made to both my independence and DH's ability to relax and enjoy himself.

 

ETA: forgot to discuss weather. It was definitely warm, so much so we didn't use the balcony much and shore excursions were a bit sticky - not many of the places we went were air-conditioned. But the ship itself was quite comfortable, once we found out that the room AC doesn't work unless the balcony door is COMPLETELY closed. (We accidentally didn't close it completely, it looked closed but apparently wasn't and our AC didn't come on.)

Edited November 23, 2016 by mamasylvia