First time cruise! Oasis seven nights in carribean

[serenitygr]

We are taking our very first cruise in March- seven nights in the Caribbean on Oasis! We have balcony rooms overlooking Central Park, and chose dining at 5:30. It’s our family ( my husband and I, three kids 18, 21, 21), my mom (82, doesn’t get around too great but has done many cruises in her life so she is just excited to hang out), my brother and his wife, and our best friends in Florida. So for the most part all adults. We are very excited! Obviously I’m researching, but figured this was the best place to ask questions

Tell me absolutely everything I need to know, and even things I maybe don’t need to know!

I see where they offer many different “excursions” that cost extra. That also brought up the question regarding our day in CocoCay- are we allowed to do anything there without paying extra for the “water park package”?

Thank you for any and all advice and information!

 

[Frozen2014]

Don't miss the Aqua show. It's the best one we've seen so far.

Oasis is amazing...and has so much to do.
One thing that we missed when we went was Laser Tag as didn't realize we had to sign up or book (there's a stand by line but our kids didn't want to wait). Think sign up was when we boarded?

 

[serenitygr]

Don't miss the Aqua show. It's the best one we've seen so far.

Oasis is amazing...and has so much to do.
One thing that we missed when we went was Laser Tag as didn't realize we had to sign up or book (there's a stand by line but our kids didn't want to wait). Think sign up was when we boarded?

Good to know because our kids all want to do that!

 

[deadvc]

Which ports are you going to?

Good call having a fixed dining time - don't be tempted to switch to MyTime Dining. Royal doesn't do it well. Stick to the fixed dining time.

There's plenty of beach space and food on Coco Cay that doesn't cost anything extra. The water park/zip line/balloon/kayaks/etc are all extra cost but not required to have a great day. You can bring your own snorkel gear and not rent theirs to save some money. If it's going to be a busier day buying Beach Club access can be nice as long as it's not too expensive. You should be able to look up online somewhere what the Coco Cay schedule is, so you'll know in advance if there's one or two ships, and how big those ships are. There are limited tickets sold to the Beach Club so it helps keep the crowds down a little, has an upgraded lunch menu (filet, etc), and an infinity pool with a nearby bar overlooking the ocean. There is of course a private beach area in the Club area too.

Most things like shows, laser tag, etc need to be booked/reserved in advance on the app. There are usually standby queues to fill in empty spots if people don't show up but it's best to just have reservations, especially if you have a larger party. Smaller activities like trivia don't require booking though, you can just show up.

Drink packages generally require all adults in a stateroom to buy it. So even if one adult in the room drinks enough to justify the cost individually, be sure to account for whether all adults in the room combined are able to justify the combined cost. It's usually at least 6 drinks a day depending on what type of drink you prefer and the price you get for the package. Keep in mind too that's EVERY day, and the only port day that you'll be able to use your package on land will be Coco Cay. So if you go out and spend a full day in port two days, that's two days of less time on the ship to account for. I find the package hard to justify but YMMV based on your family's drinking habits.

Tips are charged each day to your stateroom for your room attendant and your MDR servers. Many people offer additional cash on top of this at the end of the cruise for both the attendant and the servers, and Royal provides envelopes to facilitate this. It's not required, but fairly common. You can make your own choice there, but just letting you know so you're not caught off guard when the envelopes turn up in your room. Also note that 18% gratuity will automatically be added to your bill when you buy drinks, so you don't necessarily need to add more on top. There can be some benefit to tipping a bit extra though if it's a bartender/venue you intend to frequent.

 

[sam_gordon]

First, as helpful as the Dis is for Disney, I don't think it goes as in depth for Royal. If you REALLY want to get all the information you might need, I suggest going to cruisecritic.com. Think of the Dis, but for Cruising. There's a section of each Cruise Line, Departure Port, Ports of Call, and pretty much everything else.

That being said, Oasis was our first cruise (just DW & I) in 2013. Pretty sure it's gotten modified since then, but it was very nice. Even thought they had ~6000(?) people on board, it never really felt crowded. There's a link to the review I did back in my signature.

Reservations should be available for all the shows, and are not generally required for most (they'll open up to those not holding reservations about 10-15 minutes before the show, but you might finding seats you'd like). The exception is the comedy show. It's an extremely small venue, so not many no-shows. Definitely make those reservations. You only need to attend one, as it's the same show repeated each night (except for whatever audience participation happens, if any).

Coco Cay is a wonderful beach day. You can spend thousands of dollars (cabanas, waterpark, etc) or nothing. I understand current rates for the waterpark are $200/pp. While it's a good waterpark, it's not worth that IMO. It needs to be ~<$75 for me to consider it. There are LOTS of free things to enjoy.

Drink package is another "do I or not" decision. The alcohol package is running about $85-90/pp/pd. Non-alcohol package is about $30-35/pp/pd. So, how much do you drink? Cocktails are around $14/each. While the official rule is "everyone over 21 needs to purchase the alcohol package if one in the room books it", there are LOTS of reports of people CALLING Royal, saying the 2nd person doesn't drink, and getting the non-alcoholic package for them. YMMV.

Dining is another sticky issue. There will be two "fixed" dining times (early - around 5:15-5:30 and late - around 8:30) along with MTD (make a reservation or just show up). However, shortly before the pandemic, they apparently changed how they do MTD, and you can't make a reservation until 6:45. They don't start seating people in MTD until the early diners clear out. If early diners are a no-show, they might put MTD there. There are reports of long lines waiting to get into MTD, because it's depended on how quick those early diners finish.

 

[lady9]

Cabanas on Coco Cay are nice if you can afford them, maybe split the cost? but an alternative to them are the beach beds found on all the beaches. You would need 3 with your party size as they are pretty strict with 4 per bed if everyone wanted to stay together. If you book them at the same time, they are likely to be right next to each other. They come with 2 loungers, 4 bottles of water and towels so you don't need to stand in line to get them along with 2 floating mats per bed. You don't need to rush off the ship in the morning either to claim a spot on the beach although there are plenty of free chairs. We just like to take our time getting off the ship in the morning and know we already have a spot as a "home base" for our group.

 

[starvenger]

If you're pre-purchasing anything - and you're going to get something like a drink or photo package, you should - the strategy is to buy it now to lock in a price, and if the price goes down later (it usually does on Black Friday, but not guaranteed) you can buy that and cancel your previous purchase.

For gratuities I personally would prepay them. The amount is the same whether you pay now or pay later, but there's a sticker shock that comes with the gratuity charge. It's not as if you won't pay - the crew works HARD for this, after all - but at $16 per person, per day, it adds up to a lot of money on your shipboard account.

Once onboard, there will be people pushing products and packages. Learn to recognize and avoid.

The Windjammer can get crowded for breakfast. The Main Dining Room has a sit down menu as well as a limited buffet. I think El Loco Fresh on the pool level may also have breakfast. But my favourite breakfast spot is Johnny Rockets on the Boardwalk, on a sea day. The breakfast food is pretty standard, but you can't beat the breeze and the views.

An oldie but a goodie - fly in the day before your cruise. You've got Fort Lauderdale and Miami as airport options, and many, many hotels to choose from. Flying in the day before helps mitigate the risk of flight delays, and if you happen to forget something, you can get to a store to replace it..

In Labadee, if you're not renting a cabana, take the Water Taxi to Columbus Cove Beach. It's more sheltered, and there are a lot less people there.

Falmouth is a long way from Ocho Rios and I would not recommend doing a Dunns River Falls excursion from there.

For further research, I'd watch some YouTube videos. Lots of vloggers who will give you a visual idea of what to expect.

 

[lady9]

We just got off Oasis of the Seas last Friday. Overall we loved it! Do not miss the Aqua 80 show-highlight of our cruise-make a reservation for it so you can all sit together. The theater is awesome with comfy chairs and not so comfy benches. Depending on how full your sailing is (ours sailed with 6,690 passengers!) standby guests for shows may not get seats together if at all depending on where you are in the line.

We chose 3 night specialty dining and if your budget allows, I'd splurge here. We ate at Giovanni's Table, Chops, and Iszumi's ($15 extra person, well worth it at hibachi table). Main dining room was meh in our opinion but others on our cruise enjoyed it. We thought Windjammer was good. Solarium Bistro was a nice place for lunch, fairly quiet and we could usually get a table when Windjammer was full.

Take a ride on Rising Tide bar. They had great bar tenders and just a fun little thing to do. The blueberry nojito (no alcohol $8.25) was really good! Wish we had discovered it before the last night.

We also did the escape room-Mission 18 with our friends. It is $40 a person. That was really fun! Instead of escaping a room, you have to complete a NASA mission. We all really enjoyed that experience and would do it again on another ship.

 

[Mousefan mom]

We are sailing on the Oasis in March 2024, just wondering when we can make reservations for the shows, etc.? How early do they open up?

 

[starvenger]

We chose 3 night specialty dining and if your budget allows, I'd splurge here. We ate at Giovanni's Table, Chops, and Iszumi's ($15 extra person, well worth it at hibachi table). Main dining room was meh in our opinion but others on our cruise enjoyed it. We thought Windjammer was good. Solarium Bistro was a nice place for lunch, fairly quiet and we could usually get a table when Windjammer was full.

Did you take any pics of the new MDR menu?

We are sailing on the Oasis in March 2024, just wondering when we can make reservations for the shows, etc.? How early do they open up?

I don't think shows will open up until after final payment at the earliest. Just check into the cruise planner every week, and it will pop up at some point.

(Because I'm a huge nerd, I will create a timetable in Excel to figure out when each show is, and then gameplan around that)

 

[lady9]

We are sailing on the Oasis in March 2024, just wondering when we can make reservations for the shows, etc.? How early do they open up?

The official website says 30 days but we were able to do it 45 days in advance for the 3 main shows, Frozen in Time (ice skating show, Cats, and Aqua 80). The comedy shows were 30 days.

 

[lady9]

Did you take any pics of the new MDR menu?

I did not take any pictures of the menus. We only went twice. Italian night which was OK. I had the pasta with bolognese sauce which was bland and chocolate cake which was good. Then on the 4th of July they had a special menu. I had a honey spiced fried chicken with sweet potato fries. It was fine but nothing to brag about. I chose strawberry shortcake for dessert. It was not what I expected. It was plain white cake with a strawberry gelatin in between the two layers. It was so dry. I ate two bites and passed on the rest. The menus were available in the app a few days before we sailed. We were able to schedule the specialty dining on days we didn't think we wanted to eat in the MDR.

 

[starvenger]

Oddly enough, plain white cake with strawberry gelatin makes it sound like a Hong Kong-style strawberry shortcake. Which is fine but not what I'd associate with cruise dining.

 

[sam_gordon]

We are sailing on the Oasis in March 2024, just wondering when we can make reservations for the shows, etc.? How early do they open up?

I'm reading 60-90 days out. I'm also reading that the app doesn't show everything but the web planner does. No experience yet (our cruise isn't until July 24), just something I've read.

 

[lady9]

Oddly enough, plain white cake with strawberry gelatin makes it sound like a Hong Kong-style strawberry shortcake. Which is fine but not what I'd associate with cruise dining.

Especially because it was July 4th! I was expecting a shortcake with fresh strawberries and some whipped cream! It could totally have been my fault though for not reading the description of the dessert in tiny print. I left my reading glasses in my cabin. But seriously, who thinks strawberry shortcake would be like that?

 

[John VN]

We just got off Oasis of the Seas last Friday. Overall we loved it! Do not miss the Aqua 80 show-highlight of our cruise-make a reservation for it so you can all sit together. The theater is awesome with comfy chairs and not so comfy benches. Depending on how full your sailing is (ours sailed with 6,690 passengers!) standby guests for shows may not get seats together if at all depending on where you are in the line.

We chose 3 night specialty dining and if your budget allows, I'd splurge here. We ate at Giovanni's Table, Chops, and Iszumi's ($15 extra person, well worth it at hibachi table). Main dining room was meh in our opinion but others on our cruise enjoyed it. We thought Windjammer was good. Solarium Bistro was a nice place for lunch, fairly quiet and we could usually get a table when Windjammer was full.

Take a ride on Rising Tide bar. They had great bar tenders and just a fun little thing to do. The blueberry nojito (no alcohol $8.25) was really good! Wish we had discovered it before the last night.

We also did the escape room-Mission 18 with our friends. It is $40 a person. That was really fun! Instead of escaping a room, you have to complete a NASA mission. We all really enjoyed that experience and would do it again on another ship.

DSIL was on that cruise and said never again for Oasis. TOO crowded and food was in comparison to a 12 day Mediterranean she did a month ago..

 

[lady9]

DSIL was on that cruise and said never again for Oasis. TOO crowded and food was in comparison to a 12 day Mediterranean she did a month ago..

We would go again on an Oasis class ship. Oasis of the Seas was the first ship in this class. Our friends have been on other ships in this class and said the designers learned a lot and made modifications that make the public areas much better. It was a packed ship. We have our own pool at home and avoid swimming on cruise ship pools as they never look clean to me and I don't enjoy being bumped into because they are so crowded. There were things we didn't get to do because of the crowds but we didn't let it`ruin our trip. I'm sure if you sail at a less crowded time your experience would be different.

 

[HopperFan]

If you want to have some fun (adults only so your crew works) go the THE QUEST show. First time we went we didn't tell the guys what it was. They loved it! Usually late at night, fills up fast so get there early. Basically a scavenger hunt - Let's Make A Deal style.

We've been on Oasis and Harmony, next year Allure. I love that size ship - never felt crowded, lots to do, something like 21 bars, lots of dining options.

LOVED Oasis Dining Room and staff, Harmony was a basic disaster ... at dinner time. Both were great for breakfast and that is our plan next year. Breakfast in dining room. wherever for dinner. Both ships on embarkation we got there early and went straight to Solarium Bistro and had lovely lunches without crowds. Once sailing that place stayed busy.

MUST MUST plan a few stops in the Park Cafe (Central Park) for the Roast Beef Sandwiches. It was like a daily thing for us as a snack.

 

[John VN]

We would go again on an Oasis class ship. Oasis of the Seas was the first ship in this class. Our friends have been on other ships in this class and said the designers learned a lot and made modifications that make the public areas much better. It was a packed ship. We have our own pool at home and avoid swimming on cruise ship pools as they never look clean to me and I don't enjoy being bumped into because they are so crowded. There were things we didn't get to do because of the crowds but we didn't let it`ruin our trip. I'm sure if you sail at a less crowded time your experience would be different.

Our cruises (DW and I) on Oasis in 2016 Jr. Suite and 2018 Crown Loft were without issues other than loss of power for a short time in 2018. We told DSIL that she and family would likely enjoy the ship as we did BUT didn't work out that way. We are now trying to get DSIL to cruise our current Cruise Line of Choice since 2019 and fairly certain she would find this on OK.

 

[starvenger]

The Quest is nuts.