amanuel2992

Thank you so much for your blog. Loved it ❤️

I don’t blame you at all.The food is a huge part of why I love cruising.  We have changed rooms for this reservation 3 times.... we finally talked ourselves into star since we knew it would be an “adult cruise” and we also know that won’t happen again for another few years. Maybe we will cross paths onboard 😃

Today we were in Cozumel. There were 4 other ships with us at the International Pier, and I believe 2 more downtown. Empress was docked next to us and I wish I would have gotten a good picture, because that is quite the size disparity. It was very windy today and fairly chilly for Cozumel. All of the locals were wearing sweatshirts. 
 
First we went downtown to make a few must stops: COZ Coffee, Choclateria Isla Bella, and Sucré/Salé. All are in the same block, and are fabulous local places to frequent. After that we went to El Cozumeleño. 
 
Typically we would have gone to Nachi, but we thought we’d give Cozumeleño for Virginia since the pools are bigger. We got there a little later than we wanted, at around 10:45, but we were in port until 6:30 so we still had plenty of time. At check in, there was some confusion as to how many people we booked, even though it was clear on the paperwork I had, per instructions. All of us had to have our passports scanned, then they asked for the balance in cash or card, even though the paperwork clearly states no cash accepted. Then they kept one of our Drivers Licenses. There was very little information given, just a “pools are that way”. 
 
We went out to the pools and could not find any loungers. We finally found a couple of regular chairs over in a shaded area and snagged them. Soon the sun was covered by clouds, so there wasn’t a concern of sun or shade. The Gulf was very choppy, so no going into the ocean. Pool was cold, but that’s standard here. The facilities were clean, although there was a lack of a smoking area and it seemed like a RJ Reynolds convention must have been there as 70% were smoking all over the entire area. 
 
We sat for over an hour before we ever had a waiter come by and see if we wanted drinks, and any time we ordered, it took 20-30 minutes to get our drinks. The food at lunch was mostly “edible”. The American food looked very unappetizing. The Mexican food was not very good, the only decent items were the tacos, and the meat was well seasoned, but just a mix of chicken, beef, and pork all in one. The chips were stale and very thick. The guac was very bland and flavorless. The three of us went and ate first while my in-laws watched the table, and then we switched. When they went, they couldn’t find the guacamole and asked where it was and they were told that they shouldn’t be in the lunch area that they should have asked for guacamole from there waiter. All in all it was a pretty poor experience, and quite strange at that. Next time in Coz we will definitely be back at Nachi. 
 
We left the resort around 2:45 and headed back to the port to shop where Virginia got her hair braided. She’d been dying to have it done since she saw a couple of the girls do it on the Freedom GC. 
 
Back on board we relaxed for a bit and had Playmakers brought to the rooms for dinner so we could just relax. We had planned on eating it outside on the balcony, but it was too damn windy, so it was inside for us, and then watching the Aqua show from inside. (By the way, I think I’m at 4 buffalo chicken crunch rolls on the week. Probably my favorite item that I’ve eaten all week.)
After dinner since we were still on the room, our state room attendant completed turndown service while we were in the living room, and then she had Virginia help her with the evening’s towel animals, which was very sweet. 
 
Tomorrow is a sea day as we steam back towards Miami way too quickly. No big plans for the day except a bridge tour after lunch. 
 
 

Wow this trip was amazing. It went by pretty quick, Luciano was outstanding. He went above and beyond for us. We will request him again for sure!
Quick tip for anyone coming in this room before refurb( and possibly after) bring a towel clip for the downstairs blackout blinds they don’t close properly and let a ton of light in. Also we said goodbye to champagne bar, we really loved it there. 
 
Izumi was delicious on this ship. I also added some photos of the desserts from the tapas menu at Vintages! 
 
So genie update, Anna is leaving Allure tomorrow to go to Quantum, they need her there so Agostina came back onboard Thursday and we got to say hello to her. Upon meeting Anna she was just so friendly and personable, it was nice to get to meet her. Lexi was beyond excited to see Agostina again. It was a really neat trip and thank you all for following along. 

 

Thank you all!
 
So we met Luciano! He is super nice and helpful. He took us straight to our room. Lexi had to be the first on and she couldn’t wait to hang out with him. 
Big difference we noticed between the RLS on Harmony and Allure.... the carpet downstairs. However the room is so nice and clean. 
 
 
I will post photos of my in laws owners Pan in just a bit. 
 
lexi is already in the hot tub playing and we are waiting on lunch. 

We have made it in the port and we are checked in. Waiting on Luciano now 😁
 
 
The tree was still up so I thought I would put a photo up! 

I have stayed in both the 2BATS and the Royal loft on deck 17 on Allure and we had different genies for both and I don’t feel we saw our genie anymore in the RLS than we did in the ATS. I felt I had way better service, room steward and food delivery on deck 17 but I’m not sure if that was genie related or room related. 

Araceli was everywhere too.  And that was on Harmony.  You would never have guessed that she had other families.  From what I've been hearing this week from you and others, I have a feeling she is going to hard to replace, just like Shane.

We are doing playmakers for embarkation day lunch.

Hey,
We normally ask for specific foods delivered to the room or if we want to have a family gathering in one room. We did ask to have a private ice skating session and it was going to be close to $400.... so we ended up skipping it. We haven’t really asked for a ton of stuff mainly just food and activities. We also had a private mixology class set up on the rising tide but it was our final sea day so we decided to pass on it and hang by the pool. 

Excited to be following along. I hope you all have a wonderful cruise. Smitha sounds amazing from everything I keep reading about her! 

I don’t blame you at all.The food is a huge part of why I love cruising.  We have changed rooms for this reservation 3 times.... we finally talked ourselves into star since we knew it would be an “adult cruise” and we also know that won’t happen again for another few years. Maybe we will cross paths onboard 😃

I don’t blame you at all.The food is a huge part of why I love cruising.  We have changed rooms for this reservation 3 times.... we finally talked ourselves into star since we knew it would be an “adult cruise” and we also know that won’t happen again for another few years. Maybe we will cross paths onboard 😃

I know what you are thinking.  January 2022?  Did I read that right?
In order to secure a great price on one of only two Star Class Ultimate Panoramic Suites on Oasis I booked this a couple of months ago when the itineraries where first released.  Within minutes of them going public I secured the 2nd of these two suites in the name of research and, well it seemed like a good excuse to book a cruise.
That's nice and all but why start a blog now?
I am so tired of @Matt beating up on my fellow Canadian @Lovetocruise2002 even though we all knew he has the record for starting a cruise blog the longest before any sailing in the history of these boards that I had to step in and take action.   So back off Matt!
Seven hundred and twenty nine days.  
Itinerary as it stands today includes Puerto Plata, DR, St Thomas USVI and San Juan Puerto Rico.  
This may be my only 2020 update.  I'll do my best to update this blog at least once in 2021.  
Until then, let it be known I hold the record for the longest pre-cruise early blogging award!

Haha. I have a theory on that one. Ask me in November over some Patron shots and I will share. 😉

With the obvious lack of Oasis Star Class blogs recently, I thought I'd step up and do one as well.  The more the merrier, right?
Stealing from @Lovetocruise2002 for formatting:
Who’s Going?
Me, wife Abby, and 5 y/o Daughter Virginia, along with Abby's mom and dad (the in-laws).  It will be the in-laws first cruise in over 20 years, so going on an amplified Oasis will be quite the culture shock for them.  
Flight
Flying from STL to FLL the day before via SWA, then taking an Uber/Lyft to Miami to spend the night.  
Pre-Cruise Stay
Looking at hotel rooms, we were planning on staying at the Intercontinental, but rates were outlandish.  $500+ per night per room.  I couldn't believe that certain members of the Blog group would stay there at that price, so I was confused.  I did some research, and that weekend is the South Beach Food and Wine Festival, so everywhere was booked or crazy expensive.  So instead we are booked in a 2 bedroom suite at the Hyatt House near MIA for almost 50% of that rate, and for all 5 of us.  
Itinerary
This 7-night, Western Caribbean sailing, brings us to Falmouth, Cozumel, and Labadee.  No plans in Falmouth.  Cozumel we have El Cozumeleno booked, and in Labadee with have cabana B2 booked. 
Cabin
2 Bedroom ATS on deck 9 for us, we will try to keep it nice for you @Lovetocruise2002.  The in-laws are booked in a JS down the hall from us.  RCCL sent an email about 3 weeks ago saying that they overbooked JS for this sailing and offered to go to a Balcony room for $300 OBC and a full refund of the second passenger in the cabin.  We paid for this cruise as a Christmas present for them, so I pushed like hell for them to go to the standard balcony, but unfortunately they had already been on the blog and youtube looking at cabin information and were dead set on the JS...
Pre-Cruise thoughts
We are beyond excited to see the newly amped Oasis of the Seas.  It's the only Oasis Class we've been on, and that was in November 2018.  I'm very excited for all of the slides, the escape room, and the prospect of actual brewed iced tea at Portside BBQ.   No pre-cruise purchases because it’s Star Class, but I did snag the DX for my in-laws at $18/day.   Looking forward to checking out the new Adventure Ocean, even though Virginia will probably be bummed out that @Matt's daughters won't be there too! I think it's interesting that @Lovetocruise2002 and I have a different Genie even though we will be in the same cabin.  We have Smitha, whom I've heard great things about, but apparently it would be hard-pressed to go wrong with any of the Genies on Oasis.  Smitha has been great so far.  We got our initial email from her 1 day after our survey, on 1/7/20, and had a provisional schedule worked out about 3 days later.  

Happy pre-Valentines Day!

The all access tour is not free.  They do offer a star class only bridge tour that is complimentary though.

I will be on that cruise too and am about to pull the trigger on the $96 UDP because I know Sabrina's fabulous blog will get me wanting specialty dining! We are only doing a OVB this time so no Coastal Kitchen for me (YET!) 

Oh I am the same way on the hotel. I had that issue on my January cruise and almost missed getting a room where we wanted 😩 but it all worked out in the end. 
 
 
Thank you so much. From what I have read all of the genies onboard Oasis are fabulous! It’s going to be our first cruise in a long time with just the two of us. We always take Lexi or one set of our parents. 

@Lovetocruise2002 one month out!!!! I’m so excited for you. When your onboard can you find out if Izzy or Smitha will still be there in the beginning of May? We are going to do the short 4 day on 5/3/2020... so I’m extra excited about your blog!

Would it surprise you if I told you I always prefer to style my own hair. I even prefer me over my hairstylist.  Hopefully she is not reading this...🤣

The more the merrier. Honestly though, I only started it now cause I did not want to back track with all the pre-cruise Genie stuff. I like to just blog it as it happens. 

You can count on that!  I will be having lunch and dinner there at some point and that Spiked Palmer might be calling me.

How did this one come about? 
You know there’s always a story to these things. 
Two years ago, in February 2018, I stumbled upon a “Star Class savings discount”.  If you have followed my blogs before, that is how we ended up booking our first Star Class cruise that we took last March 2019.  Well, what I did not mention before, not even to Hubby, was that I grabbed two bookings at that time.  One for March 2019, and one for March 2020.  Oops.  Have I ever mentioned that these cruises just book themselves?! 😁
The idea behind doing that was I knew Oasis would be ‘amped’ by then, the price point (with the savings) was good, and if we did not find value in Star Class on the first try, then we would just downgrade the sailing in March 2020 to Sky Class.  No harm, no foul.  If you know me, and the suite snob that I am, you’re probably laughing by now, because really, those two bookings were solidified once I said, “YOLO! Book it!”  As you know, we loved Star Class the first time around, so now the challenge became, “How do I break this to Hubby?” 
I am proud to say that I am raising true cruise addicts as it was my daughters who devised the plan.  We waited until November, which is my birthday month, and conveniently just before final payment was due.  True to nature, Hubby was once again at a loss as to what to get me for my birthday.  You can predict the conversation that followed.  After a combination of bargaining away birthday and Christmas presents, and logically pleading my case, Hubby spoiled us yet again by agreeing to another Star Class sailing!  Woohoo!
This sailing is quite special to us in several ways.  You all know that I am #TeamOAclass and it was this ship that started that love for us, many years ago, in 2009.  Not only did we sail Oasis of the Seas first (among that class of ships), but we were fortunate enough to sail her out of Port Everglades on her inaugural sailing.  At the time, that sailing was an “Oasis” to us too in that it was our first getaway cruise from our kids since becoming parents of two.  I still remember the awe and wonder, stepping onto that Promenade, and later discovering the Aqua Theater, and Central Park.  There were no blogs at that time (or none that I had discovered), but if there was, I would have echoed what others have already said, Oasis class was special and in league of her own, and we were completely in love. 
So here we are, a decade and soon to be three months later, about to set foot again on a ship that is near and dear to our hearts, desperately needing a break from our daily lives, and in Star Class style.  What more could a Stubborn, Canadian Scorpio ask for?  We are truly blessed. ❤️