Oasis of the Seas

I felt this ship was way too big and carried too many passengers(about 6500) for comfort. Friends had chosen it,and we wanted to go with them. It would not have been my choice. We waited months to hear if we could be seated with them. RC kept telling u it would be no problem, and it still never showed up on our itinerary. We were told to just check with the maitre'd on boarding. They put us at two tables of four,instead of one table of eight. We were assured it would be changed after the craziness of the first night. They kept promising the manager would talk to us. He never did. One night we ordered room service to be delivered between 8-8:30 because we were going off ship. We waited til 9. It never arrived. The line for room service was constantly busy,so we never spoke to anyone. We finally ran up to the buffet.

We spent way too much time waiting for elevators which were always full,or never stopped on our floor,or sometimes when they did-the doors never opened. There were never enough chairs on the deck. The eight of us never sat near each other on any day on a chair by the ice cold pools.Some days I had to circle the whole area twice to find one empty seat. Children were in every jacuzzi, in snorkel gear,with life jackets on, doing somersaults, with no parental supervision. A woman was so drunk in a pool, that she puked,and ten minutes later ,the pool was reopened. We had to stand around time after time at the Windjammer and Solarium buffets looking for a place to sit for two people. My friend had gotten her coffee and creamers and laid it down on a table,and went to grab breakfast, and when she returned, people were sitting in her seat. They handed her the coffee,and said "Here, is this yours?"  People were ignorant at the buffet. One person had the nerve to take 10 lobster tails,(as I counted out LOUD, very loud) and there was a long long line waiting. When I got there , there were two left,and the people in line in back of me waited a long time for them to replace them.

The cabin was nice, we had a balcony overlooking the water, which was very relaxing. Had a lot of fun at the game shows and trivia contests.However, for winning, same as last year,they gave away a yellow highliter marker .Really? One night for winning,I did get a paper fan advertising Malibu Rum. For the price of this cruise, they could at least give a free drink coupon. The entertainment staff was great.

The water show was fabulous. My friends didn't get to see it because the weather was too windy,and they never had a make up night. We never saw Come Fly With Me due to mechanical problems. Also Cats was not shown in the same theater for whatever the problem. The Frozen on Ice show was also great. It was the only time the eight of us got tickets together for anything. Book your show times immediately after booking your cruise. We were unable to book the comedy show,but they did have an open one Saturday night,I guess for the people who hadn't had the opportunity to see it. They comedians were very good. The headline singer was fabulous! Do not miss his show. We had a great waitress in the dining room.Very personable,and she knew all our names and likes very quickly. We were off to the side,so the two nights they had big to-dos with the wait staff in the large area,we only heard the announcements,but never saw what was going on.

For snacks, the pizza place and hot dog place were always open. We grabbed a sandwich for lunch one day in the free coffee shop place,but it was all bread and a slice of roast beef. We ended up getting a slice of pizza after it. The rising bar was fun.I wanted to go on the carousel, but it was never opened every time we went down there. Last cruise we really enjoyed the guitarist that was in the pub. This time, even though he was listed in the flyer every night, when we went,he was never there. Maybe he was on vacation or something. We did love Chester at the piano bar, and were there most nights. I was surprised to see he used canned music (synthesizer,drum beats, etc)along with his piano playing.  This isn't typical for a piano bar pianist. 

We weren't able to spend the day in the Bahamas due to weather conditions. The ship kept going and we docked in San Juan from 4-10 pm. So we missed a beach day. We had a great day at Coki Beach in St Thomas,and another beach day in St Maarten at Mullett Bay. Unfortunately,the waves and riptides prohibited us from getting into the water that day. But the weather is nobody's fault.

I think I am done with cruises. Next vacation will definitely be at an all inclusive resort on an island.