Our decision to cruise on the Oasis of the Sea was not because of where it went but because of the ship itself. We have been to all three ports---Nassau, St. Thomas and St. Martin before.
I had concerns about the size of the ship and the number of passengers (5200) but curiosity overcame me. I’m glad my wife and I selected the Oasis. What follows are some observations about our experience on the ship.
BOARDING
How do you easily and hassle-free board the passengers on a ship this large? RCI has it figured out. We arrived at the terminal at 11:oo a.m. and by l1:45 after some paperwork processing and a brief wait in a cavernous waiting area we were on board the ship. RCI was able to do this despite one of the two gangways usually used for boarding not useable because of damage. A very impressive start to our cruise.
We went immediately to the buffet and had lunch. We then toured the ship waiting for the cabin decks to be opened which they were by 1:30.
THE SHIP
It is immense. An obvious statement but even after spending much time over the previous months looking at the brochure and reading other reviews of the Oasis I was not prepared for how large it is.
Your first impression as you board is the Royal Promenade which is really like a small mall with eating places (including a pizza spot and a casual coffee shop) , shops (too many for me, not enough for my wife but still more than she was expecting based upon previous cruises we have taken), bars (including a sports bar where we watched part of NFL play-off game until my wife threatened to start her spending spree early in the nearby shops) and the ship’s guest services area.
The Royal Promenade is overlooked on the next deck (deck 6) by the entrance to the Boardwalk which is the Oasis’s version of an ocean amusement park complete with a merry-go-around, beach oriented shops, and eating places (including a Johnny Rockets as well as a sea food place, an ice cream parlor and a donut shop). At the very end of the Boardwalk which is also the Oasis’s stern is the open air Aqua Theater where we enjoyed several shows. To each side of the Aqua Theater are rock climbing walls and overhead is a zip line. We found ourselves often in this area in the afternoon and evening.
Central Park is located on the next deck and once you are there it is hard to imagine you are on a ship. It is open to the sky and has a feeling of being in a park like setting. There are several restaurants here including a steakhouse (Chop Grille), a bar and several shops including a Coach boutique and an art gallery. We really enjoyed the ambience of this area.
Topside consisted of numerous pools including one large area just for small children, a miniature golf attraction, two Flow Riders for would be surfers and several hot tubs. There were many areas for sun tanning. Our favorite area here was the Solarium which was at the bow and was a partially glass enclosed sunning area and healthy eating restaurant for adults only. We spent most of our cruise day mornings there.
DINING
The food we had while it was not exceptional was fine. When you have 5200 people to feed that is a reasonable performance. We ate breakfast and lunch in the buffet restaurant except one misguided morning when at my wife’s behest we tried the healthy menu at the Solarium. My wife enjoyed it; I went down one deck to the buffet and got real food.
We ate two dinners in Opus which is the main dining room. We were “My Time” diners and were able to dine when we wanted and to have a table just for two. The two days we ate in Opus I reserved a time that morning for us without any problem. One night I had really good prime rib. The other night featured Italian food and I has rigatoni with chorizo sausage, bell peppers and corn mixed together and doused with olive oil. I liked it! The desserts we had in Opus were like desserts elsewhere on the ship----not memorable and in the case of baked items kind of dry.
Our special dinner was in Chop Grille which is an extra charge ($25 a head) restaurant. We ate here for my wife’s birthday and I am not allowed to disclose how old she is ( she is my old lady however as she is 6 months older than I am—talk about robbing the cradle). My experience with ship steakhouse places on Princess and NCL ships has not been good. However, Oasis’ Chop House was a very good experience.
The other four nights were in the buffet restaurant which had a good and changing choice of dishes each night.
SHOWTIME
There are multiple venues for shows and entertainment on the Oasis. Many of the bars have live music at night. On deck 4 there is a Jazz Club and a Comedy Club. The casino which is large is also on this entertainment deck.
The main theater featured a version of “Hairspray” which since we have seen it on Broadway as well as the movie we passed on. This was also the location of an acrobatic production show come “Come Fly With Me” complete with signing and dancing. We found it to be only mildly entertaining. On our last day in this venue the ship’s Captain gave a very interesting presentation about the Oasis followed by a question and answer session.
The Aqua Theater featured one main aquatic show which was very well done.
There is also on the ship an ice skating theater (which was our disaster drill station). We did not attend any of the ice shows which we understand are aimed at children.
OUR CABIN
Was small! As we usually do we had a cabin with a balcony. On this ship we had a cabin on deck 14 (specifically 14208). I had heard that RCI cabins tend to be on the small size compared to other ships. I heard right. There was barely any room between the foot of the bed and the wall. The shower was a round affair with sliding doors. My wife and I are of average size so we managed OK except when we dropped the soap. . A plus size person would have a very difficult time fitting in the shower and once in I don’t know how they would wash certain parts.
We love spending time on our balcony but on this cruise we had smokers next door who also loved spending time on their balcony to smoke which is permissible. I think it would be a good idea to have smokers on one side of the ship and non-smokers on the others.
HOW DID IT GO WITH ALL THOSE PEOPLE?
It went very well. We never felt crowded during meals and there were always deck chairs available although perhaps not in your first choice of location. The only time we felt crowded was in St. Thomas when everyone decided to leave the ship at the same time. RCI deserved a pat on the back for making this large ship feel smaller despite the large number of guests.
THE PORTS
We did not take any excursions as we have done so in the past on these islands. Nassau and St. Thomas were devoted to shopping for a birthday gift for my wife. As it turned out, she got a birthday gift in both places which was not part of our original agreement. She got a nice bracelet in Nassau and an even nicer diamond ring on St. Thomas. I got the pleasure of paying for them and multiple offers of water and other beverages at each store we visited while my wife conducted an inventory review.
St. Martin, the third port, is a place we visit at least once a year for land-based vacations. We got a cab early in the morning and went to Orient Beach for a few hours and had lunch as is our custom at Andy and Cheryl’s Restaurant there. We have gotten to know the owners over the years so we had a nice lunch and reunion. After lunch we got another cab and went to Phillipsburg, the Dutch capital.
In Phillipsburg my wife wanted to go to A Touch Of Gold where years ago she got a very nice ring. She wanted the jeweler there to inspect the ring and clean it which they very nicely did. We left to go to the new Hard Rock Café on Phillipsburg’s boardwalk. Just as we got there I heard a gasp from my wife. One of the diamonds on the ring which had just been cleaned was missing and apparently had fallen off once we left A Touch of Gold. We went back to the store and they were very apologetic and said they would replace it and re-inspect the ring. Two hours later the ring was as good as new. Hats off to A Touch of Gold jewelry store!
CONCLUSION:
A great vacation on a wonderful ship. We intend to take another cruise on the Oasis’ sister ship the Allure of the Seas which was launched last month.