First super ship!!!
Oasis of the Seas Cruise Review
Contributor Level:
Purser
Cruises: 4-6 cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 33
7 Night Western Caribbean (Miami Roundtrip)
Sail date: January 26, 2020
Ship: Oasis of the Seas
Cabin type: Inside
Cabin number: 7133
Traveled as: Couple
Reviewed: 4 years ago
Review summary
Amazing, a little everything for everyone!!!!!!!!!!Embarkation
Easy peasy! You give all your information prior online (so no paperwork to sign before embarkation), give a time that you’ll arrive.. well we arrived early and they had no problem taking us. Took a picture of us right before walking on the ship, a crew member greeted you throughout the embarkation port, and right away the ship had everything operating for you to enjoy while the crew got everything ready.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
Honestly? I wasn’t 100% impressed with the cooking, but the food selection in general was nice and super diverse. Breakfast was always either just fresh or still warm, hostesses always walking around the windjammer giving you more juice, water or coffee and even pastries. The only issue was with dinner, it seemed the actual cooking was lacking, almost trying to steer you to not go the complementary route and go eat at the specialty restaurants. (Which is understandable, but I don’t like eating straight fat on my steak either). Did not choose to go the specialty food route, we ate at either the main dining room or chose to go to the windjammer.
Onboard Activities
So, there is ALOT and I mean. A L O T. To do. The only things we did not do were the laser tag, the rock wall, the escape room (which was $20 pp). There’s a zip line, 2 wave simulators, 2 rock walls, an ice skating rink, like 6-8 pools, the new renovations (the abyss and 2 water slides)
But... the only thing I did not like about some of the activities were the limited use of them. The ice skating rink was only operational for public use either in the super early morning, or right before the ship left when in port (and it was first come first serve). Understandable, but it’s the fact that every single little thing needed either planning or a reservation to do, that it was hard to plan a bunch of things during your day.
Entertainment
*MAKE YOUR RESERVATIONS AHEAD OF TIME LIKE THE TIME THEY ALLOW YOU TO ONLINE. IF YOU DONT HAVE A RESERVATION YOU WAIT ON A LINE FOR FCFS AND ITS NOT GUARENTEED YOULL SEE THE SHOW YOU WANT.
The first night we booked Aqua 80s, but they had a technical difficulty and had to reschedule to another day. It happened that the day they rescheduled to, we had the comedy show planned and when we tried to reschedule that every other booking was taken up and we could not reschedule until the day before we left at almost 11pm. I was a little upset being that I booked all my reservations almost a month before sailing... but it worked out in the end.
1.) GO SEE AQUA 80S!!!!! It was absolutely phenomenal. We sat in the 3rd row “splash zone” and we did get very wet during the performance. All the performers were amazing, synchronized, and got you very very engaged and focused.
2.) comedy shows were very very funny. Short, but funny. we were laughing the entire time, but they would end the set when you felt like they were going to continue with the skit.
3.) CATS. If you don’t know the story of the broadway musical, you might not enjoy the show. It’s very quirky, strange, and the entirety is a musical.. no dialog, they sang everything. But the performers again, very good and in sync and even went into the audience and was very interactive and stayed in character (yes acted like cats lol)
Service and Staff
Lito was our stateroom steward and he was very sweet and always accommodating. Always asking how our day was and making sure our room was always stocked with towels and made nice and clean.
Zanelle and Harley were our waitress and waiter and honestly? She was SO sweet and made you feel like you two were friends for years. Makes conversation with you like you’re another coworker but keeping it professional. A couple nights we couldn’t sit in her section because of how busy it was, but she and he were always very sweet and made our experience there nice
Ship Quality
I’m only giving 4 stars because although the ship looked amazing, and the bathrooms were always kept clean (always someone in there straightening things up), I will say that there were minor things about the ship in general that.. didn’t work? Elevator buttons would be pressed but not functional, touch screen in elevator would skip floors or not work when touched, and the pharmaceutical/convenience vending machine broke down the 2nd day (and no other place on the ship sold the items in their stores, so if you didn’t pack them prior you had to get those items in a port) with a 150M upgrade, you’d think they’d put some of that money into their technical things and not just One-Upping the other ships with super cool slides and aesthetics as a wow factor.
Cabin / Stateroom
The inside cabin was perfect for unloading, sleeping, and we managed to share the shower lol. I would highly recommend bringing your own toiletries because they only provide a shampoo/body wash combo (not the best for your hair) and one bar of hand soap. Over all though, we utilized all the storage spaces, had room to put our luggage bags aside, sit on the couch for breakfast or watch some tv and sleep. Beds are honestly a not one size fits all for comfort.. some like their beds soft and squishy and some like them firm. They were pretty firm but with a mattress topper, the pillows were very soft and squishy which I liked. I fell asleep nice, stayed asleep and didn’t wake up stiff which was good enough for me!
Ship tip
Only buy drink packages if you plan on drinking ALOT. And I mean multiple times a day a lot. Drinks don’t fetch an arm and a leg, it’s cheaper to buy wine by the bottle than by the glass.. also, We managed our stateroom account with cash that we didn’t even have to add to.. yet we still managed to purchase a few drinks here and there, a bottle of wine that lasted a few dinners, purchased multiple items on the ship, and managed to take money home. Plan your reservations WAY ahead of time because they book up very fast and some reservations are limited. There is a lot to do on this mega ship, and things to do were also limited in time and or availability so plan accordingly and know it’s okay if you don’t complete absolutely everything. Enjoy the fact you’re on a cruise and vacationing and going to paradise.
Thumbs up
0
Ports of call
Cozumel was absolutely beautiful! We arrived on a very warm day (when the weather was going back and forth) so we got lucky! Our excursion was to go to Chankanaab park to do the dolphin and manatee interaction (I bought the excursion on the RCCL site when it was Black Friday and paid almost $40 less than the onboard price!) when we got to the park, we were able to upgrade our tickets to the dolphin push/swim and get all the pictures we wanted for an additional $75 a person. It was a steal! The dolphins were so cute! All the pictures were digital and downloaded right to my phone, plus we were gained access to their VIP eating area buffet that overlooks the dolphin cove. We skipped the sea lion show, but instead took some pictures with some exotic birds. Afterwards we still had about 3 hours left before the ship expected us, so we went to a little beach area and snorkeled. We took a shuttle back to the port provided by the excursion, did some shopping (I feel the locals here were more friendly) and got back on the ship with an hour to spare.
We did the dual excursion with the Green Grotto Caves and Dunn’s River Falls. Best. Excursion. Ever. The tour guides (channel and Garret) were very nice and informative with showing you around the island prior to the falls. And the falls itself is a series of about 10-20 waterfalls that you have either the option to climb up with your group, or just wade in one of the pools and admire the beauty. It’s definitely made for people that have the endurance to climb and get soaked. The guides for the falls were so friendly and got you involved and kept you asking for more. Again, the vendors were slightly pushy and after the falls they take you through a vendor area.. unless you plan on buying anything, do not give them any interaction because THEY TRY TO FOLLOW YOU. Bf gave one a high five and almost chased us down. It’s understandable that they make their money by tourists but it’s kind of distasteful when they act like sharks.
Labadee (Cruise Line Private Island)
By far the most beautiful island to look at. Went to deck 16 and the views were absolutely breath taking, very mountainous and lush with green everywhere. Only issue is.. the port is small. It’s owned by RCCL so the portion they own is very small and limited, and just like in every Caribbean island the vendors were pushy and in every sight. But if you don’t give them any attention and just walk straight and say no thank you, they leave you alone. Big bonus though is that the cruise line set up a buffet type lunch that ran until a couple hours before leaving the port, and it was right by the shuttle bus and beaches. Very relaxing and the beach was absolutely beautiful. The picture is from Columbus Cove. Little snorkeling area that was filled with sea life. Sand felt like clay, water clear and refreshing.
Disembarkation
Our disembarkation was delayed at first due to a rumor from customs (about that darn virus), but once that opened up everything was super smooth and we were out of the ship and out of customs in basically 20min.
If you pack a lot of things, check your bag in the night before to pick up outside the ship. If you pack light, bring them with you and leave early in the morning to beat the super big rush of everyone waiting. Oh and the windjammer was open from lime 5:30am to 8:30 with warm breakfast!
Traveler Photos
