My View: First Semi-Live From Oasis - The Cruise that almost didn't happen!

[DiamondDiva]

Thanks for the great reporting in such a timely and thorough manner. We leave on Oasis soon for our first "HUGE ship " cruise ( have done many others, but never this large) and we learned so much from you. So glad you got to go and that your husband's health continues to improve.

[kevdad]

Teens:

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Do you know if these schedules are for ages 12-17, 15-17 or ? Thank you for the great information. I've enjoyed following along.

[crewsweeper]

Hi, crewsweeper! Unfortunately, my guess is that the sports pool is only dubbed that way due to water aerobics and volleyball games :) It actually looks a bit smaller than the main pool. It is also frequently covered early in the morning. I estimate it is about 25 feet in length.

 

 

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Thanks. Sorry about your DH. Hope he gets better soon. Appreciate all your tips and tricks and menus here. Assuming I can test out okay, I'll have a go at the rock wall and the zip line for him in January;).

[APDMOM]

Do you know if these schedules are for ages 12-17, 15-17 or ? Thank you for the great information. I've enjoyed following along.

 

Hi, kevdad! Our son is 12 and this is the program they left in our room. I realized when I got home that this seems to be only for 15-17 year olds. There is another live thread right now. Maybe they will be willing to post that program for you. I even knew there were two programs back in March when we were on Freedom, but it slipped my mind while on Oasis. I was definitely in vacation mode :D

 

Here is a link to mchin's current semi-live review:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2509459&highlight=oasis

[barkleytaylor]

Hi, kevdad! Our son is 12 and this is the program they left in our room. I realized when I got home that this seems to be only for 15-17 year olds. There is another live thread right now. Maybe they will be willing to post that program for you. I even knew there were two programs back in March when we were on Freedom, but it slipped my mind while on Oasis. I was definitely in vacation mode :D

 

 

 

Here is a link to mchin's current semi-live review:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2509459&highlight=oasis

 

 

 

We sailed the Oasis may 7-14 last month. I'm surprised at how different your cruise compass activities were in such a short time.

Different movies,trivia themes etc.

 

 

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[PlanetX]

Thank you for sharing the kids and teen schedules, APDMOM! My wife and I were just talking about what our kids (4 and 16) would be able to do on Oasis when we're onboard in August...and not an hour later, your posts show up! Thanks for the awesome review, tips and pictures!!

[lawstuff]

Did your son participate in the teen program? If so, did he like it? Our son will be 12 when we cruise and I'm a little concerned about him being lumped in with the teens.

 

Your review was amazing and very helpful in planning our trip in April.

 

 

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[APDMOM]

Did your son participate in the teen program? If so, did he like it? Our son will be 12 when we cruise and I'm a little concerned about him being lumped in with the teens.

 

Your review was amazing and very helpful in planning our trip in April.

 

 

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Hi, lawstuff! He did not participate. Sorry I can not help you there. Hopefully, others will give their input. :)

[APDMOM]

We sailed the Oasis may 7-14 last month. I'm surprised at how different your cruise compass activities were in such a short time.

Different movies,trivia themes etc.

 

 

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That is interesting, indeed. I bet they have a large bank of trivia options so that people don't get too used to the same trivia. I thought they had a good variety of movies. We do not watch movies a lot, and did not participate, but there were many options for different interests.

[mchin]

Hi, lawstuff! He did not participate. Sorry I can not help you there. Hopefully, others will give their input. :)

We are on Oasis now and my 12 year old DD will be participating in thed teen club periodically over the week. Will post on activities and things that she does.

 

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[APDMOM]

Thank you for sharing the kids and teen schedules, APDMOM! My wife and I were just talking about what our kids (4 and 16) would be able to do on Oasis when we're onboard in August...and not an hour later, your posts show up! Thanks for the awesome review, tips and pictures!!

 

Glad I could help! Enjoy planning your cruise!

[lawstuff]

We are on Oasis now and my 12 year old DD will be participating in thed teen club periodically over the week. Will post on activities and things that she does.

 

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Thank you so much! Have a wonderful time!

 

 

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[kevdad]

We are on Oasis now and my 12 year old DD will be participating in thed teen club periodically over the week. Will post on activities and things that she does.

 

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Looking forward to hearing all about it! We will have two 12 year old sons on the Oasis in December and I'm excited to hear what they could be doing.

[APDMOM]

We are on Oasis now and my 12 year old DD will be participating in thed teen club periodically over the week. Will post on activities and things that she does.

 

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Thank you, mchin! I linked your live review :)

 

Enjoy your week on that amazing ship! Wish we were still there!

 

 

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[APDMOM]

I finally got most of my pictures ready to post, after a stormy day with many interruptions (literally thunderstorms)! I will be posting many pictures over the next couple of days.

 

We had been counting down to this cruise for about 14 months, and were greatly relieved to see the countdown clock trickle down to:

 

 

I love using the countdown app on my phone and ipad (countdown+). Right now, it is telling me that we have 164 days until our next cruise!

 

 

 

 

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[APDMOM]

I will try to mark tips, but the app does not allow for much creativity. If I remember, I will edit tips to make them bold/red.

 

I have already shared our boarding experience, and will just add: We decided to eat in Park Café, like on our previous Oasis cruise. It was still quiet when we arrived, but it gets really busy. As mentioned, they did not have the panini for boarding day lunch, so I hopped down to the Boardwalk to grab our son a Hot Dog:

 

 

I am glad to report that they did have panini on subsequent days, both for breakfast and lunch! I will post a few pictures later of food that we enjoyed.

 

 

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[SherriZ366]

We had an excellent, albeit completely different, experience leaving today. In total, we were a party of 8 with 2 groups of 4, 2 cars, and 2 from the group had just done a B2B. Short version... we had a lot of luggage and 2 cars parked on 2 separate floors. My BIL and I were going to get our 2 cars to bring down to pick-up but the porter who brought our 12 or so suitcases out of the terminal suggested letting him bring the whole cart up to the 2nd floor of the garage where it's less congested. So I went with my BIL to get his car from the 3rd floor and showed him where I had parked on the 2nd so he could re-park right next to me. After a short wait for the porter to get up the elevator, he loaded everything into the appropriate cars and (after a generous tip that we all agreed he earned) we were on our way.

 

We had an admittedly complicated configuration of cars, people, and luggage, so it might not be the way to go for others (I'm used to my wife and I packing light and wheeling our suitcases right off the ship) but I figured I'd share anyway.

We have sailed out of Terminal 1 three four times (2 or 3 on FR and one on OA). The first time we disembarked, DH went to the car and drove back and traffic was a nightmare. People who were waiting to pick up passengers were parked 2 and 3 across. So the next time, we got a porter, got through customs easily and then had him/her take us up to our car. Even if the porter had only taken us to the landing for our parking deck floor, it would have been easier than waiting for DH to circle back with the car because of the traffic. I had a couple of paragraphs on this situation with some suggestions for the Port employees (giving them ticketing authority etc.) that I put in my post-cruise survey. I followed it up with a conversation with the post-cruise desk and maybe it is less chaotic now if RCI has been working with the Port Authority.

[APDMOM]

On to our room-with-a-view: 12729

 

This was our second time in the same room. I personally like the overhang and protection it offers from the rain and sun. DH decided he wants to be on a lower deck next time, so we are booked in 10327 next year... stay tuned for 74 weeks and 5 days (thank you, countdown+) for a review on that experience :D

 

As for 12729... the pros:

*Great views of all the action, the ocean, limited sunsets or sunrises.

*Relative low pricing, when purchased early - compared with oceanview balconies.

*The perks that now come with a boardwalk balcony:

 

 

The cons:

*It is a long walk from the stairs!

*The noise is REAL, y'all. And I am not southern, so you know I am serious when I say "y'all". This cruise was worse than the previous one on Oasis. The sound people had the music extra loud. After a couple of days, it got MUCH better during movies, but the shows are loud. Fortunately, it usually ended around 11 p.m., and the boardwalk was relatively quiet during the morning. We can handle it, considering the financial savings of Boardwalk vs Oceanview balcony. We do prefer the oceanview balcony though.

 

 

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[APDMOM]

The room location under the overhang:

 

 

The room layout:

 

 

 

This time, DS preferred to sleep on the couch:

 

 

Last year, he preferred the bunk (same room):

 

 

 

 

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[APDMOM]

The bathroom: Oasis class has fewer storage options in the room and bathroom, so I pack the over the door organizer:

 

 

 

 

 

Upon arrival, we saw this contraption on the door: Imagine our conspiracy theories, considering the recent thread about an "incident" on Oasis where some cabin door had apparently been locked with a padlock. (Theories were kept to ourselves for personal entertainment purposes only)

 

 

Come to find out - it is an assistive technology device for the hearing impaired. It was removed sometime during the week.

 

Since our muster station map is posted in the picture too, I will move on to the safety briefing: What a breath of fresh air! It was a bit of an unexpected change in the routine. Instead of the traditional "briefing", we had a humorous video of the evacuation procedures and rules. I did not think it took away from our ability to understand that an evacuation is a serious event, or that the rules are important. Rather, this humorous presentation helped my ability to focus on the information, as well as enjoy this necessary start of the cruise. I sure hope the "naysayers" don't ruin this WOW experience!

 

By the way: Our muster station is in the Aqua Theater.

 

 

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[APDMOM]

For additional tips and information about the room, I am cheating by quoting my previous review of Oasis:

Packing Tips:

 

Before we leave home, we always take a picture of each piece of luggage that will be checked in at the port. This way we have a picture, should one get lost. I also cross pack a few sets of clothes for each family member in our two main suitcases. If one gets lost, we are not stranded without much to wear.

 

I read a great tip to pack magnetic hooks, which really helped save space on the counters. I hung our hats there, and also the wet swimwear. There is no laundry line in the shower on Oasis (like on other ships) to dry swimwear, so this really helped:

 

Another way to dry clothing is to pack clothing pegs - we only use it during the day. It was never windy on our balcony, so it was safe to hang the swimwear with the clothing pegs:

 

 

[APDMOM]

Storage space in the cabin:

 

Cabinets to the left of the dresser, top and bottom:

 

 

The top drawer of the dresser has the hair dryer. The other two drawers are very deep. The large door holds the mini bar. It cooled very well! We put our Wine in there, and the bottle was chilled after a few hours.

 

 

 

 

Note: The mini fridge (more of a wine cooler) is now empty upon arrival. This is a great change!

[APDMOM]

LOL! My cruise budget is coming through strongly in these pictures. I still wear the same clothes... I brought the same pajamas and a lot of the same clothing as two years ago!

 

More storage next to the bed and inside the closet:

 

 

 

Tip: You do not have to slide the closet door shut all the way. There is a rail that catches it, and closes it softly. That way it will never slam.

I found there was adequate storage in the closet:

 

 

The safe is definitely smaller than others we had, but we stored our iPad and iPad Mini, as well as cash, phones, and passports. You just have to turn and angle the regular iPad a bit.

 

Time for a break. Coming up later today: Tips about the bathroom and your luggage...

[APDMOM]

A little more cheating from my previous review:

 

Where to store the luggage...???

My advice is to bring suitcases that are more flexible so that you can store them under the bed. Our largest suitcase was 10.5 inches deep and easily slid under the bed. We were able to store 4 suitcases and 2 carry-ons under the bed and never had to deal with them again until packing up. I did see some people store their hard shell, inflexible suitcases on the balcony, since the could not fit under the bed. So, if you like to keep the suitcases out of sight, bring the softer ones that fit under the bed.

 

The verdict on the bathroom:

Despite the smaller size with less shelf storage, I loved it! Here are the things that are great:

1. A shaving bar in the shower for the ladies.

2. A nightlight! Yes, when the main bathroom light is turned off, there is a nightlight shining - no more getting blinded in the middle of the night.

3. The setup made the bathroom feel more spacious than the ones on Freedom of the Seas.

 

Tip: I still put a rag in the soap dish, because the razor and soap can still fall through the holes.

 

There are plenty of American standard outlets for our needs. They have 3 above the counter and one under the counter by the dresser. There is also one behind the bed, but we never used it. There is one European outlet under the counter.

 

[APDMOM]

That is all the 'cheating' I will do by quoting my previous review, as I did not take many room pictures this time. If you want more ship related tips, just click the link here:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2224751&highlight=oasis