Oasis of the Seas - 3/12/17

Great cruise! Entertainment was really good even though Cats is a longgggg show. Production is great for Cats, but maybe time for something new. Journey tribute band "Absolute Journey" was fantastic! Food was really good. We ate at all of the speciality restaurants and were really impressed. The Solarium Bistro was nice and laid back. Maybe the best lamb chops I've ever eaten! Ate in the main dining area (American Icon) twice using My Time dining and was seated immediately.The food was surprisingly good both times here...I thought on par with some of the speciality restaurants. The key to problem free fun on the Oasis is to make reservations for EVERYTHING in advance. Dining, shows, etc. My advice is to do this online weeks or months before your cruise. That way you have the time to cross reference port stops, excursions and shipboard activities and make reservations to allow you to see and do almost everything. It worked out great for us! Take the time to do this and you'll have a great experience. Port stops:

1. Labadee, Haiti - good beach day and lots of activities. Typical lunch buffet with burgers, jerk chicken, ribs, etc. You can walk everywhere, but trams also run full time.

2. Falmouth, Jamaica - Most excursions are a 45 minute bus ride to Ocho Rios or a little closer to Montego Bay. We booked an excursion through RCL to Konoko Falls and Mystic Mountain. Fairly nice time, but if there are multiple ships in port be prepared for a longggg wait to ride the chairlift up the mountain. The falls were beautiful and not a bad climb. Not as high as Dunns River Falls. You can also walk up beside the falls on a safe wooden stairway.

3. Cozumel, Mexico - Always a great time for us! We went to Mr Sanchos beach resort about 10 minutes from the port. Not an RCL excursion. We booked online after reading reviews. We highly recommended. Took a taxi from the port ($17 for one way. 2 of us, but if you find someone else going you can split the fare 4 ways) to Mr Sanchos. You can either purchase an all inclusive for $55 per person which includes all drinks (alcohol & non-alcohol) all you can eat food (very large menu) lounge chairs for beach, kayaks, etc. or you can just do everything al la carte. We chose the all inclusive and don't regret. You'll be greeted by one of the many staff members who will set up your beach chairs, take your orders and bring you food and drinks all day long. Just tell them you'll take care of them at the end of day and all is good. Service was FANTASTIC. For $20 we virtually had a private butler. Beach is super clean and nice. Pools were great with swim up bars. Spa onsite with prices that make the ships spa prices look like extortion! Some great hammocks and lots of tiki huts. If you get there early you can get a tiki hut to yourself with your beach lounge chairs right in front. We got there at 8:30 AM, but it does get significantly more crowded as the day goes on, so tiki huts tend to get snatched up.

When you are ready to leave there are taxis lined up right outside the entrance and it's $17 back to ship. Easy to find riders to split the fare with. No problem getting back to the ship on time.

Oasis is a great ship. Never felt crowded even though nearly 6000 people on board. Always could find a lounge chair at pool. All of the staff interaction we had was great! Nothing negative to report. We were in Boardwalk Balcony stateroom 10719. Great view of Aqua Theater and activity on Boardwalk.