Just Off Oasis - General Observations

[captainbuzzy883]

3 hours ago, SWACruising said:

 

That would get old quick. Our stateroom attendant was very new and really struggled. Did you get a Cruise Compass in your stateroom every night? Our attendant didn't really know what we were asking for so my son ended up getting a hard copy from guest relations every night. He told us everything was on the app which it kind of is but I'm old school and like the hard copy.

Yeah it was definitely awkward being squeezed between tables standing with our butts basically in the faces of people eating, and also having to dodge servers and trays the entire time while our table was found! By night 4 when I saw the host getting lost I just asked what our table number was and told them where it was, since the prior 3 nights we were sat at the same 2 tables each night.

 

The stateroom host was ok, just sort of did the basics though. No towel animals or anything, and small things that had been done before (maybe a Covid thing) like laying clothes nicely on the couch and papers straightened on the desk weren’t done. Even simple stuff like the closet door being left open. And I take pride in keeping my room pretty tidy but I was a little surprised about those. And no Cruise Compass any night, to the point I just figured they didn’t exist anymore. I wish I knew they did because I don’t always like having or looking at my phone on a cruise.

 

I don’t mean to sound too nit-picky. Overall it was a great time and I’d always take a cruise with minor service issues over being at work!

[PhillyTom]

What is current cost of beer (domestic), mixed drinks, and the fancy frozen drinks on Oasis?  Thanks for the info.

[Biker19]

14 minutes ago, PhillyTom said:

What is current cost of beer (domestic), mixed drinks, and the fancy frozen drinks on Oasis?  

The app shows the price of many drinks if you look at venues which serve them - remember to add 18% for total cost. 

[Suncoastsailors]

On 4/5/2022 at 1:30 PM, SWACruising said:

No, the machine wouldn't pay out the jackpot without a manager coming over. He needed a drivers license and SS# before he could pay out. I'm not a slot guy so this was a first for me. He said I would get a "W2" so I'm hoping it also includes what I donated to the casino this week. 😀

You will need to write to RCCL using a win-loss form to get your losses. This form needs to be notarized. We needed to do this a couple months ago. They also did not send the win-loss statement even with the form until I called. 

[travelhound]

We were on this sailing too. Loved just about all of it. Was so happy to be on a ship after two years of staying in FL. No offense to FL because I love it, but it's not the same as a cruise and a Caribbean beach.

 

We just ate in the main dining room every night except the first one. I agree with the wondering around to find a table thing. That host must have been brand new. Once seated though, our waiters were awesome. The food was good and we enjoyed the experience. In the future, I would make reservation for the MyTime dining. We didn't the second night and went at 6:45 when it opened and the line was insane. After that we got a few reservation here and there around 7:30 or 8 but by then there really isn't a line.

 

No laser tag but i think everything else is open. Loved the Aqua Show. Our first night was cancelled which bumped us from Cats so we never saw that. Have seen it on land, so not a big loss for us. We really enjoyed the ice show too. We went to the magic show the first night, which was enjoyable.

 

I didn't really notice the lack of staff except for no breakfast at Johnny Rockets and the Solarium food closed. I did hear one busser at Sorrento's say it was his first week so he probably wasn't the only one. Our cabin stew was good, very personable and we had towel animals all nights except two. He first said we weren't going to get paper compass copies and we said that was fine because it was all in our phones. Then about half way through he started leaving them. 

 

This is the largest ship we've ever done so I'm not sure how it runs with 2000 more people, but it was very comfortable this week. I asked the shore ex desk and they said 4102 people.

 

All in all a very nice week except for the marathon day at the FLL airport with our plane being delayed five times. Finally got home six hours later than planned at 12:30am Monday. After I saw all of the flights cancelled, I guess I'm glad we had a plane.

 

[D4]

On 4/7/2022 at 3:43 PM, travelhound said:

... All in all a very nice week except for the marathon day at the FLL airport with our plane being delayed five times. Finally got home six hours later than planned at 12:30am Monday. After I saw all of the flights cancelled, I guess I'm glad we had a plane.

 

Yes, you were very lucky you got home the same day.

 

We were on your cruise and the cruise before that.  We fly from a small regional airport so we always have 2 flights each way.  Knowing there can be flight problems, we flew in March 18 for our March 20 Oasis cruise.

 

About 10:30pm on April 2, after I put the luggage outside our cabin, I received a text that our April 3 flight out of Miami was cancelled.  I stayed up until 2am trying to get rebooked.  Because of the massive airline  cancellations, the estimated wait for a phone callback from American was 8 hours and the estimated wait for a chat was 2 hours.  So I could only rebook from the options it offered me in their app.  The earliest flights we could get were Tuesday (instead of Sunday) and every option had 3 flights instead of 2 flights.  Every option except one had insanely tight connections such as 39 minutes.  I rebooked the only option that had one hour connections, but that’s still tighter than I ever book.  Then I booked a Miami hotel for 2 nights.

 

Our first flight Tuesday went fine, but the second flight going to Dallas sat on the tarmac because of storms around New Orleans.  The captain said planes were being spaced out farther than normal over the storm area and we’d take off about 45 minutes late.  He said we could use the WiFi while we were still on the ground to reschedule connections.

 

The earliest option in the app to get to our home airport was in 2 days or we could fly to an airport about an hour away from our home airport the next day.  I chose the second option and we spent the night at a hotel near the Dallas airport.

 

We finally got home Wednesday.  We rented a car one way to get home from the airport that was an hour away.

 

We were thankful the 3 night travel delay happened on our way home.  Even though we flew in for our cruise 2 days early, if those same delays had happened on our way to Miami, we would have missed our first cruise.

 

 

[Jenjer]

Hope you don't mind if I ask about your UDP How much was it per person? did it include hibachi or was that a extra charge?    Did you feel as if it was a worth it? 

 

We are looking into booking after 2 years with no cruises too. 

[SWACruising]

1 hour ago, Jenjer said:

Hope you don't mind if I ask about your UDP How much was it per person? did it include hibachi or was that a extra charge?    Did you feel as if it was a worth it? 

 

We are looking into booking after 2 years with no cruises too. 

 

There were 4 of us, two adults and 2 teenagers. We paid $167pp plus gratuity. It was very much worth it for us and I don't see us cruising on a bigger ship without it.We ate dinner every night in a specialty restaurant. Chops x2, Giovanni's x2, 150 Park Central, Izumi and Izumi Hibachi. Had lunch at Chops 1 day and used it quite a bit for lunches or snacks at Playmakers and Port Side BBQ.

 

The Hibachi was an extra charge of $10pp but with that, you could order anything on their menu without additional charge.

 

If you plan to just go to specialty restaurants, it's a no brainer. When you include the other venues throughout the day it is a great deal. 

[pat1975]

Did you use Adventure Ocean?  Do you need to reserve time slots?  We are sailing next week.  Thanks for the info

[SWACruising]

12 minutes ago, pat1975 said:

Did you use Adventure Ocean?  Do you need to reserve time slots?  We are sailing next week.  Thanks for the info

The kids did not. I was a little disappointed with the teens club. My 13 year old son was looking forward to meeting some friends and planned to attend the first night teen mingle but it never appeared on the activity sheet and when we went by around 7, it wasn't open. After that, he never went back. Not sure if it was a staffing issue or just bad timing on our part.

 

I didn't see anything about signing up so it may be back to normal.

Edited April 10, 2022 by SWACruising

[travelhound]

On 4/9/2022 at 7:55 AM, D4 said:

Yes, you were very lucky you got home the same day.

 

We were on your cruise and the cruise before that.  We fly from a small regional airport so we always have 2 flights each way.  Knowing there can be flight problems, we flew in March 18 for our March 20 Oasis cruise.

 

About 10:30pm on April 2, after I put the luggage outside our cabin, I received a text that our April 3 flight out of Miami was cancelled.  I stayed up until 2am trying to get rebooked.  Because of the massive airline  cancellations, the estimated wait for a phone callback from American was 8 hours and the estimated wait for a chat was 2 hours.  So I could only rebook from the options it offered me in their app.  The earliest flights we could get were Tuesday (instead of Sunday) and every option had 3 flights instead of 2 flights.  Every option except one had insanely tight connections such as 39 minutes.  I rebooked the only option that had one hour connections, but that’s still tighter than I ever book.  Then I booked a Miami hotel for 2 nights.

 

Our first flight Tuesday went fine, but the second flight going to Dallas sat on the tarmac because of storms around New Orleans.  The captain said planes were being spaced out farther than normal over the storm area and we’d take off about 45 minutes late.  He said we could use the WiFi while we were still on the ground to reschedule connections.

 

The earliest option in the app to get to our home airport was in 2 days or we could fly to an airport about an hour away from our home airport the next day.  I chose the second option and we spent the night at a hotel near the Dallas airport.

 

We finally got home Wednesday.  We rented a car one way to get home from the airport that was an hour away.

 

We were thankful the 3 night travel delay happened on our way home.  Even though we flew in for our cruise 2 days early, if those same delays had happened on our way to Miami, we would have missed our first cruise.

 

 

What a horrible end to a trip. After I heard all of the problems people had, I was grateful to get home the same day, even if it was early the next morning. I met someone who was supposed to be on the 7am back to Minneapolis and he said there was nothing for two days and that's back to a major airport. What a complete mess. Glad you eventually made it home eventually and you're right about it being at the end. In the many hours we sat in baggage claim waiting to be able to check our luggage, I watched the greeters from Carnival, NCL, and Princess get people to their transfer busses. Unfortunately, there were some people they were waiting for that never showed up. I heard them talking about delayed flight.

[travelhound]

1 hour ago, pat1975 said:

Did you use Adventure Ocean?  Do you need to reserve time slots?  We are sailing next week.  Thanks for the info

 

Hope this isn't too late for your cruise...

 

Our daughter used the kids' club that last two days. She's 11 so she was in the group they had for 6-12. I've seen them have 9-12 or 12-14 breakouts, so I'm guessing the age range is dependent on the number of kids for the week. Our week didn't seem to have a lot of kids, more Steelers fans than kids. 😁 

 

We did sign up the first day so she was registered but I'm not sure if you even need to do that. They have a morning session from 9-12. Then again from 2-5. Then an evening session, I think may 7-10 with 10-12 for $7/hour. You just show up, no reservations. I suppose if they reach capacity they would turn people away, but that never happened to us.

 

Our dd wasn't going to go because it was 6-12 and she had to wear a mask. She meet someone who was going because their parents were doing the escape room on the second to the last day. She liked it so much so wanted to go back whenever she could. So, I'd say she had fun.

Edited April 10, 2022 by travelhound

[pat1975]

24 minutes ago, travelhound said:

 

Hope this isn't too late for your cruise...

 

Our daughter used the kids' club that last two days. She's 11 so she was in the group they had for 6-12. I've seen them have 9-12 or 12-14 breakouts, so I'm guessing the age range is dependent on the number of kids for the week. Our week didn't seem to have a lot of kids, more Steelers fans than kids. 😁 

 

We did sign up the first day so she was registered but I'm not sure if you even need to do that. They have a morning session from 9-12. Then again from 2-5. Then an evening session, I think may 7-10 with 10-12 for $7/hour. You just show up, no reservations. I suppose if they reach capacity they would turn people away, but that never happened to us.

 

Our dd wasn't going to go because it was 6-12 and she had to wear a mask. She meet someone who was going because their parents were doing the escape room on the second to the last day. She liked it so much so wanted to go back whenever she could. So, I'd say she had fun.

I saw that they have to wear masks which isn't a problem for our kids.  They wore them so long in school that they don't care anymore.  When we went in sept. 21 we had to make reservations.  Thanks for the update.

[travelhound]

2 hours ago, pat1975 said:

I saw that they have to wear masks which isn't a problem for our kids.  They wore them so long in school that they don't care anymore.  When we went in sept. 21 we had to make reservations.  Thanks for the update.

In general I think you'll have a better experience over last September. However, they are adding more capacity every week so maybe you'll miss the smaller crowds. We had 4100, which seemed just about right. Not sure how up to 2000 more would have felt.

 

Our dd wore a mask through the end of the school year 2021 and this year it was optional. She's gotten used to not wearing one so puts up resistance now. She seemed ok with it as the price to pay for the kids club.