Despite some of our snafooz that we ran into all in all it was a great vacation. Let's face it even your worst day on vacation is better than any day at work. Now that I know how Royal Caribbean works if I choose to ise them again I know what to do. Beautiful ship and lovely people.
Embarkation
3 out of 5
Contrary to most reviews I found Port Canaveral to be less than satisfactory. Other than one person named Joy, everyone else there was extremely rude. I had never been to that Port before nor had I had priority boarding and they treated you like you knew exactly where you were going and were very rude to you to have to explain anything. I did like having covered walkways to get to your shuttle especially since it was raining when we left. Port of Miami nothing was covered and we got soaking wet trying to get to your shuttle.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
3 out of 5
Went to the buffet about 4 times between the 3 meals. The food was not that good and very rarely was there a place to sit. They were also closed alot, like when you came back from an excursion at 4 and were hungry. There were only 2 places that were open regularly and there's only so much pizza one can eat. We did eat at the dining room once and it wasn't bad. In order to get good food I felt we had to spend the money to which I did. I received two free specialty dinners through AAA and the 3 of us ate at Chops Grill. This place was amazing. One of my sons is very picky and did not like anything on the menu so when we placed our reservations they arranged to get him chicken fingers from another place and had everything already arranged when we got there the night of our reservation. The filet mignon was perfect. We also ate at Sabor restaurant which was amazing as well great food and service. Sense I had a room on the boardwalk we got a free meal at Johnny Rockets and ended up eating there a couple more times.
Chop's Grille
5 out of 5
Amazing food and friendly staff. When I made our reservations I explained to the attendant that my son was very picky and did not like anyting on the menu including the kids. I asked if you could just come sit with us since I did not want to leave them alone but he said he could go get chicken straps from another restaurant and have it here for a reservations. When we got there the day of the reservation I started telling our waiter and he said everything was already taken care of in the chicken fingers were on their way. they went out of their way to make sure our experience was flawless. The filet mignon was incredible. Love this place.
Onboard Activities
4 out of 5
Lots of activities to do and my kids enjoyed them. I wish they would have been open for longer periods of times instead of short blocks. We did the FlowRider, Jacuzzis, Rockwall, zipline, ping pong and ice skating. The only issue we had was with the rock wall. Since we were on the boardwalk we were supposed to have a private, session, however we did not get any of our excursions or paperwork delivered to our room. I asked housekeeping the day we arrived and he brought me the excursions but that was it. The Super Bowl was playing the night we got there so I did not go down to the front desk to ask about the other items we were supposed to be receiving. When I went down and receive the paperwork the next day and try to go to the rock climbing wall to make a reservations she said it was too late we had to do it the day of boarding. I explained to her what it happened but it didn't seem to matter. The kids had a fun time anyways. I had also scheduled a private Flowrider session but that was also canceled due to not enough kids signing up for it. Despite the glitches we all enjoy the activities.
Entertainment
3 out of 5
We went to all the shows and enjoy them all. I had heard bad reviews about cats but myself and two teenagers actually sat through the entire thing and enjoyed it. The ice skating show was incredible. The one family comedy show they had was hysterical. I wish they had had more comedy shows other than the last night for under 18. There wasn't much to do for teenagers everything was basically for younger kids or adults. We went to a couple of trivia shows and we're looking forward to them but when we got there there was no trivia show going on. I guess they figured because of all the activities on top deck they didn't need to do any other activities to entertain teenagers. Norwegian always had trivia shows or game shows going on that even if you weren't participating in you had fun watching everyone else. Maybe if I went on a smaller ship they would have more inside activities for teenagers.
Comedy Live
5 out of 5
Although they only had one night of Comedy for family the guy was hysterical. My kids and I had tears running down our faces. His name was Nery Saenz and his website is "whatwasthatguysname.Com" how fitting. Lol I would pay to see him in a comedy club . LOVED HIM!!
Children's Programs
I had 2 teenagers so I did not participate in any children's programs. I must say reading the daily activities it did seemed like they had a lot of things going on for kids. I wish they had the same for the teenagers. We wanted to partake in some of their trivia games but felt out of place since they were all a lot younger.
Service and Staff
4 out of 5
Everyone was very polite and helpful. The waders even in the Windjammer when out of the way to make sure you had what you needed. The main dining room the waiter even cut the lobster tail out for my son. Our room Steward was very helpful and I loved his animal towels. On the first day he already knew our names and was asking us all the time how our day was. He was awesome!
Ship Quality
4 out of 5
It took us a couple of days to understand the ship but once we did we had no problems. The Oasis is a beautiful ship and I love the design. I like that you could go from having fun time at the boardwalk 2 walking through Central Park. Everything was clean and well kept. You would also find them washing the handrails with soap and water which I liked and add hand sanitizer everywhere. I never saw any dishes lying around they were always quick to clean up.
Cabin / Stateroom
4 out of 5
The cabin was smaller than other balconies I've had but it was nice. My son liked that the couch pulled out to a full size bed. I love that the balcony looked over the boardwalk and it was great to watch some of the shows a second time from our balcony. We also watch the Super Bowl for our balcony onto the big screen, awesome! I picked this particular balcony because not only did I get the inside view of the boardwalk but I could also see the ocean and views of the islands from my balcony as well. The cabin was very clean and I even made a comment how impressive it was that even though they have a lot of people comeing in and out every week there's never any stains on the carpets. I would definitely recommend this balcony.
Ship tip
If you have any excursions or supposed to get any on ship benefits and they're not delivered to your room on the day you arrive go immediately to customer service. When we arrived there was nothing in our room for any of the excursions or benefits we were getting. I did inquire about them and the steward brought the excursion tickets later that night but not the benefits paper.. I had never cruised with Royal Caribbean before and just thought they did things differently. Had the Super Bowl not been on I would have went down to the desk myself that night. Because I didn't have the paper showing all the benefits I got from being on the boardwalk I missed out on scheduling the private session on the rock climbing wall. I went to customer service the following day but it was too late to schedule the rock climbing as the paper states you must do it on the first day. The paper they give you was not very clear as to where you went to schedule things so I wasn't sure once I did get it if I went to the place to schedule or if there was a certain desk that handled everything . For all the benefits you go to each place separately and schedule your activity / dining. Also everyone must be out of their room at 8:15 a.m. the day you leave. They left a detailed paper as well as an 8-minute segment to watch on the TV as to how to disembark but not once gave the time that you had to be out of the room that morning. Thank goodness our steward told us the night of that we had to be out and to wait in our designated area for the remainder of the 2 hours that we had been scheduled to leave.
Great port kids and I had lots of fun. We did the aqua Park, water slide and the coaster as well as relaxed. My kids like that the attendant at the water slide enthusiastic about showing the kids how to go down the waterslide the fast as possible. Couple of times we went down so fast we almost went up and over the sides but it was all fun. The coaster was amazing and they must do!! You definitely have to get and all day pass because going down once just is not enough. The food on the island was good and there were plenty of chairs even though after all our activities we got to the beach late. I did not go to the market because of all the reviews I had previously read and when we went to go get something to eat we were bombarded from numerous people around the market. I figured it would only be worse once we walked into the market so we did not go. I would have loved to of purchased items from there, and I did get a Labadee t-shirt aboard the ship, but it's a shame I didn't feel comfortable going to the market. If they would just let up a little bit people would buy a lot more.
Jamaica was my favorite Port I absolutely loved it! We went to Dunn's River Falls and The Grotto caves. The Falls are a must do it was incredible! Because you go in a group and you help each other along the climb get to know each other a little bit and you find you run into each other a lot on the ship. I did not feel pressured from the guys that helped us up but they were so awesome I wanted to give them a tip. You can purchase a video at the end that is $40. The video shows everyone in your group not just your individual group. But since you get to know these people fizik lime and on the ship it's fun to see their expressions as well on the video. I found the video was worth it. Still shots a great but having an actual video showing you climbing the falls was awesome. The caves we're incredible as well. Our guide made it very interesting engaged everyone. Unlike in the states we have to stay on a set path he was like you want to explore go ahead climb through the rocks look at everything. The shops in Jamaica we're great as well. I did not feel pressured to buy anything they might have followed you around a little bit and asked if they could help you with anything but they didn't pressure you to buy so I ended up buying a lot. Can't wait to go back to this port again.
I've been to this port before but this time we did snuba diving and swimming with the Rays. If you enjoy snorkeling you will absolutely love snuba diving! We had never done it before and it was absolutely amazing! I know other reviews head scuba diving is easier than snorkeling and they were absolutely right. I was worried if the kids and I would catch on but it really is simple. Being underwater for the whole time swimming with the fish was awesome. Can't wait to do it again. Swimming with the Rays was okay I thought we were going to get more time to interact with the Rays than we did but the time we had was fun. I did not care for the snorkeling portion that came after. They wanted everybody to stay in the group which there was about 15 of us. Have you ever tried snorkeling with that many people and staying in a group it is very difficult. Not only was I constantly having to look up to make sure I was in my group because he would yell stay in the group if you there it away but you found you are getting kicked by other people and you are kicking other people. It was an enclosed area they should have just let everyone snorkel around in different areas. Not sure why they didn't maybe there's a reason and I just didn't know. Their pictures were okay. I think they were so busy trying to get everybody done in a timely manner to move along to the next thing that they just snap photos without waiting for people to be ready. Overall we had a good time though. Did lots of shopping. My kids loved when they told everyone to get on top of the chairs. I saw it was a drinking place but didn't realize how much of a drinking place so if I had to do it again I would not have went there for dinner but it was fun nonetheless.
This went pretty smoothly but like I said in my previous comment they were not clear as to when everybody had to be out of their rooms. We did have to wait a couple hours but I didn't mind sitting in the Promenade area. We never heard the announcements for our numbers so I had to keep going up and checking the screens to see what numbers have been called.
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