The One with the In-Laws - Oasis Star Class - 2/23/2020

[betatke1480]

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.  

[Lovetocruise2002]

26 minutes ago, betatke1480 said:

I think it's interesting that @Lovetocruise2002 and I have a different Genie even though we will be in the same cabin.

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

[betatke1480]

8 more sleeps until our flight to FLL and it can't come soon enough.  Lots of stress here that I can't wait to get away from, as well as the high of 9F today...  Thinking of just hopping off in Cozumel and staying for keeps.  Lol.  

A little more info about this cruise for us, we're treating it as a "birthday" cruise for four of us.  Abby's is 2/20, father-in-law's is 2/27, mother-in-law's is 3/8, and mine is 3/18, so it's a good mix for all 4 of us.  Virginia just has to wait until Brilliance in October to celebrate her birthday, 10/13, with the RCBlog GC!

[Sweety]

Following.

[Andrew72681]

Following along. We’re one deck up this fall and the spate of recent ATS blogs is not helping at all with the anticipation and FOMO. Don’t know how I’m going to get through the 3 night on Oasis in April in a CP balcony. 

[SweetPea]

On 2/11/2020 at 3:55 PM, betatke1480 said:

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...

Ouch! Are you bitter? I think i would be bitter. 

[betatke1480]

1 hour ago, SweetPea said:

Ouch! Are you bitter? I think i would be bitter. 

Not bitter, but disappointed in my lack of ability to persuade...

[Lovetocruise2002]

2 hours ago, betatke1480 said:

Not bitter, but disappointed in my lack of ability to persuade...

You should have offered Patron.   Unless you are dealing with @Matt, he is hard to sway...lol

[missyandmishaps]

Following along, we'll also be on this sailing but only in lowly Sky Class! See you in the lounge!

[amanuel2992]

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

[mdgwow]

My husband and I are on this sailing also in an ocean view balcony room.  I will be following you as well.  

[betatke1480]

Less than 24 hours until our flight leaves.  Guess I should start thinking about packing...  I do love knowing that we have laundry services.  One of my favorite perks of Star Class.

[betatke1480]

And we're on our way!

[betatke1480]

As mentioned previously, the South Beach Food and Wine Festival is in Miami this weekend, so prices for hotels nearer to the cruise port were CRAZY expensive.  We flew into FLL via SWA and then Ubered to our hotel, the Hyatt House Miami Airport.  UberXL for 5 passengers and all of our bags was $80.  The Hyatt House is great.  We got a 2 Bedroom suite, so Abby and I are in one room, the in-laws in another, and Virginia is on the couch.  No pictures because we exploded our crap into the room, but you walk in and there's a full kitchen with a bar and 3 bar stools.  Then there is an "L"-shaped couch and TV.  On either side are the two bedrooms with en suite bathroom.  For all 5 of us the room was about $300, which for us all to be in one room is great, and we have a common area to share to watch TV.  

The hotel does have basic snacks in the bar downstairs, and is walking distance from a Publix, as an option for dinner or supplies pre-cruise.  There isn't a lot of restaurants nearby, but we used DoorDash for some Cuban sandwiches from Rincon Criollo, which were pretty tasty.  Tomorrow we have full breakfast included, so we're looking forward to taking advantage of that before we Uber over to the port.  

Landing was a bit dicey in FLL as there as a big wind shear right as we reached the runway, pilot on got the left side wheel down, and felt a little like we were about to flip and roll.  Luckily he saved it and we're alive to tell the story.  

I do have to remember to start taking pictures for the blog, and promise to do better once we start on our Voyage tomorrow!

[Ampurp85]

That's not a bad price for a hotel on a weekend night.  But I am glad you made it safely, did everyone clap for the pilot?

[Lovetocruise2002]

Glad you made it there safely!  

Just reading about that landing makes me nervous. Imagine if @Matt was on that flight?

[betatke1480]

Hotel was great for the night, and the free breakfast this morning was good. They had an omelette bar, waffles, scrambled eggs, etc. having been up since 7 am, we are restlessly waiting to go to the port. If Virginia had her way we would have left the hotel at 7:30. She was going around to all four of us saying “come on and get going. We need to get our taxi to the ship.”

We will probably leave here around 10 am and get to the port around 10:30 ish. Already planning what we will eat for lunch and what my first drink will be. We are leaning Playmakers for lunch and I’ll probably get my Kraken Lava Flow so that I’ll really feel like I’m on vacation. 
 

Virginia is currently in her “pillow car” driving us to the port. 

[betatke1480]

14 hours ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

Glad you made it there safely!  

Just reading about that landing makes me nervous. Imagine if @Matt was on that flight?

Definitely the diciest landing I’ve had. Pilots were standing on the jetway as we got off and several people were congratulating them on getting us down safely. 

[GregD]

Have a great cruise. Sailing on her next year also in the ATS, so this will help me prepare.

[RickinSTL]

Have a great cruise.. Ill be at the Battlehawks game at the dome... So Jealous aren't you? lolol 

[Floski]

Today's the day!!   

Have a great cruise!   

[SweetPea]

Happy sail day!!

 

 

[MLH]

We have sailed Star before and miss it.  thanks for doing the live blog.  We are booked with some friends for our 30 anniversary.  It is my friends husband's first cruise and he will be blown away.  I am going to have him ready our blog.

 

If you like Kraken try the Zacapa rum on your lava flow.

[betatke1480]

2 hours ago, RickinSTL said:

Have a great cruise.. Ill be at the Battlehawks game at the dome... So Jealous aren't you? lolol 

Ka-Kaw!

[betatke1480]

Left the hotel at around 10 and we were in our room by 10:35. We barely had time to snag a glance at the propellers in Terminal A. Smitha was waiting for us at the suite lounge, so we didn’t even have a chance to stop there. Sandwiches and desserts were brought to the room, as well as a birthday cake for Abby. 
 

we also celebrated with champagne on the room. Then it was off to explore the ship with my in-laws. Lunch at playmakers. The buffalo chicken crunch rolls were the best thing we had. The rest of the food was good, but those were the favorites. Had a Michelob Ultra. Then off to the New Adventure Ocean. We ran into a teacher that Virginia had on the Anthem GC last year. The teacher is in the 6-12 year old class and told Virginia if she wants to move up from 3-5 she can.  We are going to play it by ear and see what she wants. 
 

after registering for AO we walked the pool deck then grabbed the first Kraken Lava Flow before a trip down the Ultimate Abyss. Much slower than expected, but was fun. 
 

I’ll come back and add pictures later. Now back to get more to drink before Muster Drill. 

[SweetPea]

I've heard great things about the crunchy chicken at Playmakers. Covered with SC, I'm guessing? 

 

Are you staying up for the balloon drop?! 

[betatke1480]

27 minutes ago, SweetPea said:

I've heard great things about the crunchy chicken at Playmakers. Covered with SC, I'm guessing? 

 

Are you staying up for the balloon drop?! 

Everything was covered at Playmakers for SC. 
 

probably not staying up for the balloon drop. 
 

after Muster Drill we grabbed a drink at Schooner Bar. We were delayed out of Miami due to an Alpha call and an ambulance needed. Now we’re going and beat the Norwegian Encore out of port since it had to turn around. Heading to Izumi for Sushi tonight and we can’t wait. Then watching the Aqua80s show from our balcony at 10:45. 
 

 

[Andrew72681]

Have a great trip. If you get a chance would love a tour video of the room. Most of them online seem to be from Oasis’ early years. 

[Ampurp85]

Maybe its FOMO but that bed looks comfy. I can't wait to try Playmakers, as I am all about that bar food life....really I just looove fries.

[Lovetocruise2002]

3 hours ago, betatke1480 said:

Heading to Izumi for Sushi tonight and we can’t wait.

What?! You know what Night 1 is right??!

[betatke1480]

1 hour ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

What?! You know what Night 1 is right??!

While I agree the CK Filet is the best filet, I'm not a huge beef fan, so we were totally in on Izumi.  

[betatke1480]

Having not edited any of these photos, here we go.  

Dinner was in Izumi on the Sushi side.  There was only one other couple in the entire Sushi side.  Both hibachi tables were full.  Easy to tell that few people know about specialty dining on the first night.  

Smitha came by while we were at dinner and asked what we wanted for snacks to eat during the Aqua80s show.  We finished dinner early and made it back to the room to watch the 8:30 show.  When we came in off of the balcony we had our snacks of chips and nachos, plus more chocolate covered strawberries (up to 12 so far), and our drinks.  Even though we asked for hard liquor, Smitha had our drinks delivered for the show.  One let down was not getting soft pretzels.  Shane, our genie on Anthem, had them pulled from the pub.  We asked Smitha for them since Virginia is a huge fan, and she wasn't able to get any to our room.  We'd even asked about them pre-cruise, so that was kind of a bummer.  As soon as Virginia came back to the room from Adventure Ocean, she was immediately asking for soft pretzels, so it's a big time bummer around here on that front.  

The 8:30 show was very good.  They took a couple of elements out due to the wind.  Oasis is a ship that you can rarely feel any movement.  Not sure if it's because we are all the way aft, but the seas are definitely rocking tonight.  It's cold and windy on the balcony, and the ship is moving enough to rattle the hangers in the closet, which is quite a bit for Oasis.  

Random thoughts from the day:

AO check-in is super easy now, and Virginia loved the new set-up.

Izumi was fantastic, as usual.  

While we love the room, it is disappointing they didn't update the SC rooms during the dry dock.  After having been in SC on Anthem, Oasis just feels dated in styling.  Also, we loved the loft for the large amount of space it gave us, and miss having the two stories, but the private bedrooms and a true "living room" are really nice.  

The Aqua Theater show is amazing.  Having not seen Aqua80s before, it is a big upgrade from Oasis of Dreams.  Also, watching from our balcony gives you a completely different perspective of the talent and "guts" required to do some of the things they do.  Also known as a "big box of NOPE" from me on some of these things.  

I will say the noise is a little loud in the living room, but in the bedrooms it isn't too bad.

I did a room tour, but the file is too big to upload.  Perhaps I'll upload it on dry land.  

[CGTLH]

37 minutes ago, betatke1480 said:

One let down was not getting soft pretzels.

Long shot of memories from Symphony in May... Recall Chops at lunch having pretzel sticks/bread in the bread basket. Same with Mariner at lunch. Can't find any dinner bread offering photos.

No clue if Oasis might do the same. Worth a shot.

Ones on the left and right were the pretzel offerings at Chops on Mariner

[AshleyDillo]

I recall seeing pretzel twisted breads in Windjammer for lunch on the Oasis..so there may be hope.  Not sure where else they have soft pretzels on the ship!

[betatke1480]

They did have soft pretzels in the Windjammer last night, so that helped a little. I’ll have to check the pub tonight and see if they have any. 

[Vangrizz]

Love the pictures of the Aqua show, and the view from your room is amazing.

Quick question...The front few rows of the theater seem very empty compared to the rest of the venue which seems quite full. Are they reserved seats? Bad seats? Splash zone? Just wondering if there is a drawback (or limitation) to sitting that close.

[betatke1480]

25 minutes ago, Vangrizz said:

Love the pictures of the Aqua show, and the view from your room is amazing.

Quick question...The front few rows of the theater seem very empty compared to the rest of the venue which seems quite full. Are they reserved seats? Bad seats? Splash zone? Just wondering if there is a drawback (or limitation) to sitting that close.

They are definitely in the splash zone, and it was quite windy and chilly last night. 

[GlassSlipper]

If you find the soft pretzels, please let us know where.  My 11 year old loves them!  It will be his snack of choice when we are on in a few weeks.  In the ATS 9th floor-super excited!

[betatke1480]

Today has been a sea day and it’s been pretty lazy so far. We learned a valuable lesson about communication. We emailed our breakfast order to Smitha last night, ordering 6 scrambled eggs and 6 fried eggs to split among 4 of us. This morning, 12 plates of food arrived... we had 6 full orders of scrambled eggs with bacon, sausage, and hash browns. Plus 6 of the same with fried eggs. Whoops. 
 
After breakfast we went to the pool. Virginia was bummed she couldn’t go on the big water slides since she’s not tall enough, but she did the smaller one. 
 

Lunch was at E Loco Fresh and it was very good. The line was long but moved quickly. Everything was very tasty. We can back to the room, hoping there wouldn’t be any more food, and there wasn’t thankfully. That was until the doorbell rang at 2:45 and in came two trays of food plus kraken lava flow, captain morgan, anejo tequila, milkshake, and two unknown alcohols...  Food coma here we come. 

Now it’s time to get cleaned up for dinner.  Tonight is formal night and dinner in 150CP, then off to One Sky at 10:15  

Top Tier event was today and I watched the replay to get numbers  

157 emerald

316 diamond

187 diamond plus 

41 pinnacle

Top Cruiser: 8551 points  (Super Mario)

 

 

[betatke1480]

150CP was delicious for dinner. I forgot to get pictures, but it was very good. I had the scallops and halibut. Abby had the pork belly and duck. MIL had pumpkin bisque and lobster thermidor. FIL had bisque and beef tenderloin (medium well, the savage!). Dessert was the fried cheesecake. 
 

I miss the salts, but the garlic butter bread is amazing!  
 

After dinner was One Sky. Smitha met us there and took us to our reserved seats. The show was ok. It was interesting to see what set pieces they reused from Come Fly With Me. The singing wasn’t great, but the acrobatics and dancing were quite good. 
 

We were really confused by the towel animals left for us. Pretty sure one is a rabbit and have no idea about the other. 
 

tomorrow we have a cabana in Labadee. B2, our favorite. It will be interesting to see how the buffet differs from July in Anthem as I know the Anthem CK manager took pride in making it more upscale.