Oasis 3/26/23 Notes

[djvcr]

Just back from a week on Oasis. Overall had a good time but it was packed. I don't usually sail during the spring and forgot how crowded it can feel with a lot of kids on board. 

 

Here are some observations about recent changes and some experiences..

 

• Overall new main dining room menu's weren't that bad. Did Chops + 1 to fill in gap on the two nights I didn't care for what was in dining room.
• If you order more than 1 entrée they will not serve two plates at same time. Wanted to share the chicken parm and they had to wait for one of us to finish before they could put the plate on the table and take one plate away. Same thing with lobster night, the tables on both sides wanted surf and turf so they ordered both steak and lobster but could only be served one at a time.
• The lobster is not much bigger than the old lobster, certainly not worth 16.95 if you want a second one.
• Line for El Loco Fresh was 45 min on both sea days. 1/2 the options are grab and go... the bottleneck is the nachos, people take forever on that step and there is nobody making their tacos to their left which holds up the line.
• Waiter spilled a soda on my back one night and the section manager gave me a laundry coupon for two items. It wasn't so bad that I couldn't finish dinner and mostly dried before I left.
• They never offer coffee with desert and just serve the desert. Did ask one night for coffee but was done with desert before coffee arrived.
• I ordered lemonade the first night and one night both head and assistant brought me 2 each along with a club soda and a mixed drink I ordered. I had more than enough to drink that night 🙂
• It was very difficult to get anything except for milk for coffee in dining room at breakfast/dinner or at specialty restaurant. When we order my partner says he wants milk for his coffee and I want cream or half and half. The waiter will say ok and come back with one container. We will ask what it is and they will say either milk or cream. We then would ask for the other one and they would say that is what it is or they would say it's milk. I would then ask again and say is there any other options for creamer other than milk and they will say they will go to the room service kitchen and ask. Yet if you go to the Cafe in the promenade, windjammer or even Park Cafe they have Milk, Skim and Cream out for the coffee.
• Park Cafe - No more egg in the "Royal Breakfast Sandwich", it is now just ham and cheese on an English muffin. I suspect the price of eggs has to do with this decision. Also they stopped giving out bags of chips at lunch time.
• For those missing the old Royal Breakfast Sandwich, we did Johnny Rockets twice for breakfast and it was pretty good and they serve a breakfast sandwich that you can customize. Both times it wasn't very busy and nice alternative to dining room.
• Elevators were either all 5+ floors above or 5+ floors above your location. How many can be on 15 at the same time even at the most random times.
• Once a day housekeeping - Had a Jr. Suite, he still did 2x per day but if we were in the room at 5pm he would knock every day and ask when we were leaving. On last night we told him 6pm and actually left at 6:15 but he never did the cabin.
• was told by Regalia Watches that they are no longer allowed to send "mail" to guests so they couldn't send out a notice for an event due to the change in schedule for housekeeping.
• Overall casino was super tight, there are a lot of new games onboard since I sailed in Sept. Since there were a lot more families on board the casino was pretty dead during the day and not very busy at night. On some sailings it is impossible to get on any machines in the evening. I feel like this is why I didn't do so well, not as much turnover in the slots. It still amazes me how many families will drag their kids through the smoking side of the casino to get to the theater. 
• The new non-smoking casino opened on Thursday for the first time in old Jazz on 4. There are 2 table games (roulette and blackjack I think) as well as slots and a small casino cage in the corner. Overall the room is not that large but all the slots are new. 
• Sailed in a Jr. Suite for the first time. Super impressed with the size and how much room there is to walk around and not bump into furniture. Wish the bathroom was a little bigger but the strangest part of the room is there is a nice curtain to block off the sofa bed area but there is no separate light control for that part of the room. The switches only operated the entire room and could not turn a light on just at the sofa area. We have been sailing in Grand Suites for the past few cruises and almost like the layout of the Jr. Better, I always find the "bar" in the Grand Suite to be a ton of wasted space but the bathroom is far better in the GS.
• They still haven't brought back their second aqua show or their other theater show. Not sure if we will see either come back at this point.
• Went to diamond lounge twice around 6pm and it was not very busy either night, likely again due to families. The 4 drinks for diamond at any bar really is a great perk. 
• The weather was perfect all week, not a drop of rain and temps mostly in the upper 70s to low 80s and not super humid. I was expecting it to be much more humid than it was. On the private island the sun got very strong but there was a nice breeze to offset it.
• Did walk off at about 7am and was at airport by 7:40 (even though my taxi driver drove the wrong way on a 1 way road to leave the port and got lots of honks from oncoming traffic). Fare was $46.00 to MIA.

 

This post is not meant to be complaining, just highlighting some stuff that changed between my Sept 22 and March 23 sailing. Any cruise is better than a week at work and overall none of the above ruined the cruise in any way.

[Denversail]

Thank you for sharing! Happy to hear that you enjoyed your cruise!

[Mabel the Great..Dane]

 Fare was $46.00 to MIA.

 

Was this from Port Everglades?  We have an August cruise in Port Everglades but our return flight is out of Miami and I have been trying to research the best way to get there.

[teddybear231]

52 minutes ago, Mabel the Great..Dane said:

 Fare was $46.00 to MIA.

 

Was this from Port Everglades?  We have an August cruise in Port Everglades but our return flight is out of Miami and I have been trying to research the best way to get there.

 

Must be, because we just paid $26 from the port of Miami to Miami airport about 2 weeks ago.

[djvcr]

10 hours ago, teddybear231 said:

Must be, because we just paid $26 from the port of Miami to Miami airport about 2 weeks ago.

 

No, this was Miami port to MIA. That included the tip which I forgot to mention so the far was $38 or $39 maybe (I didn't pay, just know my partner asked for $4 back from 50). Also he didn't take highway all the way to the airport, at some point it felt like we were on local roads. The guy was very old and could barely speak English and asked us 4 times what airline and drove the wrong way down the road to exit the port so wouldn't be surprised if he was running the meter. We had a 10:30 am flight so we were glad to get there so early even if we got ripped off. Would have done Uber instead, and probably will the next time.

[Subman738]

On 4/3/2023 at 10:21 AM, Mabel the Great..Dane said:

 Fare was $46.00 to MIA.

 

Was this from Port Everglades?  We have an August cruise in Port Everglades but our return flight is out of Miami and I have been trying to research the best way to get there.

One god option is to take the Brightline train from FLL to the MIA airport. You would have to UBer or taxi from the cruise terminal to the Brightline station. We did this on our last cruise when we flew into FLL but we were cruising out of MIA. The train was quick and VERY inexpensive. They offer a free shuttle from the train station in Miami to the airport and it is not very far. I think our fare between FLL and MIA was $17.

[Biker19]

Just now, Subman738 said:

I think our fare between FLL and MIA was $17.

If one is going for cheap, Tri-rail is about a third of that and goes to MIA.

[LuCruise]

Good review and feedback.  We were on Oasis a couple weeks prior to you.

For MDR, I did ask for the Tortellini along with the lobster and got the same comment (i.e. he would bring the Tortellini when I finished the lobster).  I responded never mind then; however, in the end, our waiter was able to bring us both.  I guess it is at their discretion (and of course they don't want a bad rating...which we would never do anyways).

 

Same thing with El Loco Fresh, but it was a good lunch.

For Park Cafe, I remember it being really good on Symphony but on Oasis it was nothing special (so we just didn't bother).

 

That's good that you still got 2x housekeeping...most of the time. 

 

Agree, it's too bad they are missing the second aqua show and the other theatre show.

 

[Subman738]

1 hour ago, Biker19 said:

If one is going for cheap, Tri-rail is about a third of that and goes to MIA.

Agreed but Tri Rail made LOTS of stops between FLL and MIA whereas Brightline was the express route with not stops. About 45 min difference between the 2 in traveling time. 

[mrpie90]

On 4/3/2023 at 4:04 AM, djvcr said:

Just back from a week on Oasis. Overall had a good time but it was packed. I don't usually sail during the spring and forgot how crowded it can feel with a lot of kids on board. 

 

Here are some observations about recent changes and some experiences..

 

• Overall new main dining room menu's weren't that bad. Did Chops + 1 to fill in gap on the two nights I didn't care for what was in dining room.
• If you order more than 1 entrée they will not serve two plates at same time. Wanted to share the chicken parm and they had to wait for one of us to finish before they could put the plate on the table and take one plate away. Same thing with lobster night, the tables on both sides wanted surf and turf so they ordered both steak and lobster but could only be served one at a time.
• The lobster is not much bigger than the old lobster, certainly not worth 16.95 if you want a second one.
• Line for El Loco Fresh was 45 min on both sea days. 1/2 the options are grab and go... the bottleneck is the nachos, people take forever on that step and there is nobody making their tacos to their left which holds up the line.
• Waiter spilled a soda on my back one night and the section manager gave me a laundry coupon for two items. It wasn't so bad that I couldn't finish dinner and mostly dried before I left.
• They never offer coffee with desert and just serve the desert. Did ask one night for coffee but was done with desert before coffee arrived.
• I ordered lemonade the first night and one night both head and assistant brought me 2 each along with a club soda and a mixed drink I ordered. I had more than enough to drink that night 🙂
• It was very difficult to get anything except for milk for coffee in dining room at breakfast/dinner or at specialty restaurant. When we order my partner says he wants milk for his coffee and I want cream or half and half. The waiter will say ok and come back with one container. We will ask what it is and they will say either milk or cream. We then would ask for the other one and they would say that is what it is or they would say it's milk. I would then ask again and say is there any other options for creamer other than milk and they will say they will go to the room service kitchen and ask. Yet if you go to the Cafe in the promenade, windjammer or even Park Cafe they have Milk, Skim and Cream out for the coffee.
• Park Cafe - No more egg in the "Royal Breakfast Sandwich", it is now just ham and cheese on an English muffin. I suspect the price of eggs has to do with this decision. Also they stopped giving out bags of chips at lunch time.
• For those missing the old Royal Breakfast Sandwich, we did Johnny Rockets twice for breakfast and it was pretty good and they serve a breakfast sandwich that you can customize. Both times it wasn't very busy and nice alternative to dining room.
• Elevators were either all 5+ floors above or 5+ floors above your location. How many can be on 15 at the same time even at the most random times.
• Once a day housekeeping - Had a Jr. Suite, he still did 2x per day but if we were in the room at 5pm he would knock every day and ask when we were leaving. On last night we told him 6pm and actually left at 6:15 but he never did the cabin.
• was told by Regalia Watches that they are no longer allowed to send "mail" to guests so they couldn't send out a notice for an event due to the change in schedule for housekeeping.
• Overall casino was super tight, there are a lot of new games onboard since I sailed in Sept. Since there were a lot more families on board the casino was pretty dead during the day and not very busy at night. On some sailings it is impossible to get on any machines in the evening. I feel like this is why I didn't do so well, not as much turnover in the slots. It still amazes me how many families will drag their kids through the smoking side of the casino to get to the theater. 
• The new non-smoking casino opened on Thursday for the first time in old Jazz on 4. There are 2 table games (roulette and blackjack I think) as well as slots and a small casino cage in the corner. Overall the room is not that large but all the slots are new. 
• Sailed in a Jr. Suite for the first time. Super impressed with the size and how much room there is to walk around and not bump into furniture. Wish the bathroom was a little bigger but the strangest part of the room is there is a nice curtain to block off the sofa bed area but there is no separate light control for that part of the room. The switches only operated the entire room and could not turn a light on just at the sofa area. We have been sailing in Grand Suites for the past few cruises and almost like the layout of the Jr. Better, I always find the "bar" in the Grand Suite to be a ton of wasted space but the bathroom is far better in the GS.
• They still haven't brought back their second aqua show or their other theater show. Not sure if we will see either come back at this point.
• Went to diamond lounge twice around 6pm and it was not very busy either night, likely again due to families. The 4 drinks for diamond at any bar really is a great perk. 
• The weather was perfect all week, not a drop of rain and temps mostly in the upper 70s to low 80s and not super humid. I was expecting it to be much more humid than it was. On the private island the sun got very strong but there was a nice breeze to offset it.
• Did walk off at about 7am and was at airport by 7:40 (even though my taxi driver drove the wrong way on a 1 way road to leave the port and got lots of honks from oncoming traffic). Fare was $46.00 to MIA.

 

This post is not meant to be complaining, just highlighting some stuff that changed between my Sept 22 and March 23 sailing. Any cruise is better than a week at work and overall none of the above ruined the cruise in any way.

How is the Ship looking in general.

thinking of booking for later on in year.

[djvcr]

1 minute ago, mrpie90 said:

How is the Ship looking in general.

 

Ship looks great considering she is the oldest but she did get Amplified so all of the public spaces are fresh. She might be my favorite and I have sailed multiple times. I like that it has Playmakers and the BBQ place and El Loco Fresh. The aqua show also has more diving than some of the newer shows and a good 80s soundtrack. The staterooms could use a refresh but its not like paint is chipping and stains on carpets, just the older cabin decor vs Harmony/Symphony/Wonder. Overall a great ship, and I have another sailing booked for Oct on her.

[teddie]

Nice review.  Thank  you!

Teddie