JLMoran

Other photos from the ship in Nassua

Day 2- Nassau
This was our 3rd time to Nassau this year.  We decided to stay onboard and explore the ship more since this was our first time on Oasis class.  The views were really beautiful from the ship.  We had a gorgeous view out of our balcony.  We ended up having lunch in the windjammer again which was less crowded since it was a port day.  We got a window seat and also enjoyed the beautiful view. 
I went to the gym in the morning and also really enjoyed the full walking track on deck 5, and the chairs on the back.  It is crazy that you only need 2.4 laps to equal a mile on this ship!   I walked a mile late in the afternoon and sat in the chairs at aft to enjoy the sailway from Nassau.  We departed early at 3pm on that day!  
Tonight was our dinner at vintages.  It started at 6:30pm.   We went to the diamond lounge first and then made our way to Vintages.  There was only us and 1 other couple at the dinner.   For each course, you chose between 2 items, and then you got the wine that was paired to go with that item.  I should have taken a picture of the menu, but for the first course I chose the octupus which was paired with Vilarnau Cava from Spain.  I love Cava and have had this wine before.   Many of the other wines were italian with a NAPA cab for the main course I ordered.  Course 2, I chose  lobster bisque paired with Nipozzano Chianti.  The beef for my main entree was slow roasted and paired with a cab, and then I got a chocolate molten style cake for desert paired with a port.  I liked the presentation of the Tiramisu my husband got much better, but overall I thought the dinner was a fantastic value and I really enjoyed the setting of the wine bar! 

So I am a little behind on this.  I promise to catch up on all of the posts after the cruise as this cruise has been unbelieveable!  I got a great deal on wifi today until the end of the cruise.  I am excited to have it for the last 2 sea days.  It kind of gave me the best of both worlds--- still had the ability to relax, disconnect, and enjoy the cruise, and still had wifi going into the final two sea days for 75% less than I would have paid at even the cheapest rate.  Tonight is thanksgiving and we are going to chef's table in the suite lounge,  but I also want to blog about the wine pairing dinner we did at Vintages on night 2.  It was $50 per person and I thought it was really fantastic!  It was only DH and I and one other couple!  The sommelier said they have only been doing them for 3-4 weeks now and they are now spreading fleet wide!
Until I catch up, I will leave you with a few photos of St. Maarten today!!!

More day 1 photos!  

DAY 7 - St George’s, Grenada

“Minute to Win It” was one of my favorite game shows.  So when I found out the Serenade had a version of it called “In 60 Seconds or Less”, I made sure I took part in it.  
They needed two volunteers for the first game so I was was quick to raise my hand to play.  At almost the same time as I did, two kids volunteered too.  I almost backed out to let them play but the game master did not want then playing against each other.  So there I was, lined up against an 11 year old kid. (I felt like a big bully)
The game was knocking cups off a table in 60 seconds or less with air from a balloon we’d inflated.
I was first to play. I managed to knock off 4 of 8 balloons before the time was up.
The boy was down to five cups at about 30-40 seconds on the clock. (I was thinking, “He’s not gonna do it... I don’t want a rematch... I’m gonna win—yeah!!!(with matching fist pump in my mind)”.  But he knocks off one more cup before his time was up.
No rematch ... it was declared a tie!
Here’s the funny thing... it turned out the boy was @bcarney‘s son.

Day 6 Dinner at Reflections

I was told I could see the Pitons on St Lucia at the port side so I went there at sail away.

I was just by myself at first but an announcement was given about two humpback whales sighted a few miles away.  The port side was filled up with people.

Oooops! No humpbacks... so I just took a picture of the sunset.

When we were on NAV last week we went to Sabor (sit-down restaurant).  Our favorite thing to get at Sabor is Queso Fundido.  It is so yummy.  Queso Fundido has been removed from the menu - at least on NAV.  Sabor is dead to me.

Ummm, if someone needs to buy luggage when they're already at the airport then I kind of feel like they're doing it wrong. ?
Have a blast! Remember, no matter where you are, it's 5 o'clock somewhere! ?

Tony, even though we were on NAV, our cruise experience with The Thanksgiving meal was the same as yours.  Absolutely inedible.  Dan NEVER complains about food.  He will basically eat anything and be happy about it but even he wouldn’t eat it.  There wasn’t one decent bite. Including the nasty pumpkin pie.  Truly dreadful. 

You mean "Type A, obsessive, build price checking into your daily morning routine" me?  This is not a good level.  I have a major problem. ??

Panoramic Tour of St Lucia

 
 

Room Thoughts
Stayed in 8734, Two Bedroom Aqua Theater Suite.
Bedrooms themselves were not huge but adequate. Second bedroom would be a tight fit with four adults. Some design issues aswell with the second bedroom. Example access to the closest can be blocked by the door for the bedroom. Master bedroom didn't seem to have any obvious design flaws.
Living room was grand in size, maybe too big. Had a small round table that could sit four. Outside of the seating at the table the room had two chairs and a sleeper couch. Plenty of counter space under the TV and under the counter was the fridge and two cabinets with shelves. The room did have a design flaw, one cabinet under the counter could be fully opened due to a pole in close proximity. Fridge did a respectful job at keeping beverages cold and cooling down new ones. No noise issues from the rock wall. Keep on mind this is the primary rock wall used.
Balcony can be nothing but described as unique and large. Wraps around the room with no area being too narrow. Table with seating for six with plenty of space. Two loungers on the Aqua Theater side, two chairs with foot stools outside the Master bedroom. Counter right near the rock wall. Great viewing platform for the aqua shows.

Star Class Thoughts 
This time around things really shined. Other than one major problem (that was corrected) I was very pleased.
The night Chops was ordered for balcony dining I was told the venue was closed for a sellout private function with a fixed menu. Only requirement was the order needed to be put in and finalized that afternoon.
Ask and things will magically appear: Never had the opportunity to try the shrimp cocktail or grilled shrimp at Hooked. Request was made one evening for delivery after a show and they were waiting back in the room. I'll add Hooked's grilled shrimp are great.
This cruise was also used as an early celebration for my parents anniversary. The Genie had the pastry team make a custom cake from a picture she provided. Had to say it was a great cake. The Genie did show me a picture provided to the pastry team. While the cake wasn't an exact match, the idea was there.
Also the last night I had to say the level of unexpected service and guest dedication provided by our Genie was without words. The amount of time she spent just basically standing around and talking was just unexpected and very grateful.

Lying in bed shattered from a day of sightseeing and extreme shopping!  Honestly shopping with your wife when black friday sales are on should come with a government health warning, its not only bad for your bank balance but also your health being dragged into the same shop numerous times because they cant make their mind up. 
Took Uber from hotel in isla verde to old san juan at 8am cost for uber was $10 which is half the price of normal taxi, got back to hotel at 7pm 
Was strange walking about seeing sights for the first time but knowing about them from previous blogs. 
People were so friendly and helpful, food was delicious,  definitely a place i would revisit
cruise day tomorrow so my wife is sleeping after our tiring day, being a smoker last thing i do at night is go down and outside hotel when i want a smoke, problem is i have to walk past bar each time i do so im now on 12 pints a day
Tomorrow i finally get to experience everything i have read about, like a child at xmas dont think i will get much sleep tonight 

@Rimmit, just wanted to see if the final 3 sea days, plus your final analysis of how the ship compares to Royal, will be coming out some time in the near future. I know you and your wife both have day jobs, and with it being the holidays that just adds to the workload; but I just realized it's been almost a month now since the last update and, well, I kind of feel like the story was left on a bit of a cliffhanger. ?

Ummm, if someone needs to buy luggage when they're already at the airport then I kind of feel like they're doing it wrong. ?
Have a blast! Remember, no matter where you are, it's 5 o'clock somewhere! ?

That's a loooonggg sailing ?

There’s a master list of all blog members’ upcoming cruises that DocLC maintains here. It’s pinned as the first message in this forum.

Sadly I still have to look at it for Anthem GC.  I don't even think we can get into Sky Class on that one.  Too many YOLO moments. ?

My father was a pilot and he used to tell me that landings are nothing more than controlled crashes.  That is always a reassuring flashback when I am flying...

Day 12 - Sea Day Continued
After getting Virginia from Adventure Ocean, we just decided to go to Windjammer for dinner.  There was turkey on the menu, along with plenty of desserts and sides.  Everything was ok, but it was pretty relaxing for once because there weren't many people in the Windjammer.  After dinner, V went back to AO, and Abby and I went to pack.  Then we headed to the Centrum for the parade of flags, which is always one of my favorite things.  Then it was to bed early so we could be up early the next morning for dreaded disembarkation.
Day 13 - The final day
We awoke pretty early, at around 6:00, as the ship had been quite the rollercoaster all night.  Nothing too extreme, but a constant barrage of waves coming from the east, and we were heading north.  I got ready and headed to the shops on deck 6 to pick up our liquor from Nassau, and then threw it into the one suitcase we left in the room.  It was off to Chops for breakfast, and to meet the concierge for our express exit from the ship.  
The port had the same number of customs lanes open for Enchantment as they did for Oasis, but obviously it went much quicker with Enchantment.  We were off the ship, with our bags, by 8:30.  Then we had to wait on our pre-booked shuttle to the airport.  
We got to MCO by 10:45, checked in with SWA, and then grabbed a snack before heading through security.  The line was very short for PreCheck, and we were through in about 2 minutes.  We like to eat at Cask and Larder in the SWA portion of the terminal, so we grabbed a late lunch there before boarding.  
The flight was mostly uneventful, with some turbulence throughout.  It got a little harry close to landing.  We were probably 200 ft off the deck on approach when the pilot baled out and circled again.  There was some pretty strong rain coming down, and they had detected a wind shear.  I don't mind flying, but landings are always an anxious time for me.  Adding rain, wind, and turbulence to that really amped up the anxiety.  Virginia also picked this time to start fussing about wanting to be home.  
Finally we landed safely, and V decided that was the perfect time to fall asleep.... Bags all showed up with no issue.  The first Uber we booked cancelled on us, and then I saw him pick up another ride... Got a rescheduled Uber and headed home.  Pizza was ordered on the ride home, and arrived shortly after us.  Then it was time to check out in front of the TV for a while, and put off unpacking until the next day.  
 
Final Thoughts
- This was almost too much for us.  I think we'd have been ok with back to backs on the same ship, but having to pack, unpack, launder, and repack in the middle for the changing of ships took it out of us.  
- We didn't do any trivia or anything on Oasis, but when we wanted something to do on Enchantment, they didn't have anything scheduled.  The last sea day was pretty sparse with activities, which was kind of a let down.
- The noise bleed in our room on Enchantment was really bad, especially being in a Grand Suite, from both above and next door.  
- Chops is better on Enchantment, so was the Windjammer.  Overall though, the variety of specialty restaurants on Oasis was great.  
- If we are cruising with Virginia, I think we will have to be Voyager or Freedom class and above only.  She loved Adventure Ocean on Enchantment, but I think if we were on her for another day or two, she would have gotten tired of it.
- We are really looking forward to Anthem for 9 nights, to experience another new ship, as well as new ports and a new embarkation port.
Thank you all for following along.  Hope you all enjoyed.

I clearly can’t keep up as I just submitted day 3 on day 5.  I’m going to try to get you some pictures tonight and possibly my random thoughts as I write them when I get a chance.  Then I may finish this tomorrow on our way home. 
day 4 we were in Jamaica.  We just walked the pier.  Here is the daily planner and dining option.  Note: Playmakers for breakfast and no Johnny Rockets. 
Playmakers
Playmakers has been a huge hit and packed every night.  I was skeptical when we first embarked.  Tennis and soccer were being shown on a Saturday.  College was hoping to see her school’s football fame as it was on ESPN2.  We didn’t don’t ask but assumed no football feeds.  Later,  ESPN, ESPN2, sky sports and Prime one (I believe that was showing a Fox Feed)  .  No problem with seeing NFL games (also shown during the day at the pool). Evenings at Playmakers have been packed and I see quite a few people purchasing food.  Mr. Ski and I disagree about the food.  He thinks it’s a great price for really good nachos and wings where I think most food especially snacks should be included.
 
 
Breakfast has been crazy on board.  A small buffet was set up at Playmakers on days 4 and 5.  Johnny Rockets is not open for breakfast.  Playmakers breakfast set up:

Day 3 Labadee

Ship in port from 7:00 -3:30? I don’t know what time the all aboard time really is.  Captain said 3 but all the cruise compass and boards at disembarkation said 3:30.  Its the little things that were very confusing.  I can say they were getting us off the beach at 2:40 but on our way back a zip line tour was in the truck headed up to the top.  
 
So we had the dragons flight zip line at 7.  The time changed from 7:30 to 7 and here is the notice we received.  

Mr Ski, College and Football couldn’t get off the ship until 7:15 and they were back onboard by 8:15.  They loved it.  Mr Ski and Football had to stay in the ‘landing’ position the entire way down.  Mr Ski held on with one hand and filmed with the other.  College was in ‘torpedo’ position half way then she was to go to landing.  There was one smaller child in the group who was told to stay ‘torpedo’ the entire way down. 
 
Then we took the water taxi to Columbus Cove with our beach bungalow.  IMO the bungalows are the way to go if you have kids who like playing in the sand.  Sand very smooth, beach uncrowded.  The crowds were significantly less than when we were on Harmony when fights almost broke out over the lack of space.  
Never seen this before for bungalows.  I never did it and there wasn’t any issues.  
Here is the MDR menu 
 
For those who like to plan: