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


betatke1480

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5 hours ago, betatke1480 said:

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. 

Lol. He claimed that he was the only one who did that. I often wonder where he is now as I found out he left Anthem a while back. I would love to sail with him again one day.

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15 hours ago, betatke1480 said:

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. 

Haha, I wonder what she was thinking she she saw that order. Maybe that you had a sleepover? Or you guys are just really, really big fans of breakfast.

 

7 hours ago, betatke1480 said:

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

Hmm....

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Anthem pubs have food options that Oasis class pubs lack.  That's left over from the food options that "Michael's Pub" had when they were affiliated with Michael Schwartz on Quantum class. 

While Michael's Pub is no more, Quantum class pubs still have food and their own menu (from a small but dedicated pub galley).  That's why soft pretzels were available in the Anthem pub but not in the Oasis pub.  There is no pub galley in the back for Oasis class pubs.  

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Thanks for taking the time to post, we will be in our first Star/ATS in May.  Are any of the onboard activities (ship tour, Escape Room, etc) included in SC or maybe is the reservation process a little more flexible if we decided on something last minute or wanted to change?

 

 

 

 

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41 minutes ago, timm804 said:

Are any of the onboard activities (ship tour, Escape Room, etc) included in SC or maybe is the reservation process a little more flexible if we decided on something last minute or wanted to change?

Yes !!  All of the above !!  Cupcake decorating, sushi making also included.  Ship tours include bridge, galley and entertainment venue.  It is NOT the All Access Tour but it is good enough for $0$.  You can enjoy the Chef's Table, but they will charge you $25 per adult for the upgraded wine.  I know how stupid that sounds when you can get any almost wine any time you want it with SC, but them's the rules.  We had not done the Chef's Table in a number of years, but last Feb when we did our B2B SC cruises on Anthem, we did CT on the first cruise and really had a great time.  You will almost always meet some interesting people, and we did.  We asked them back to the Suite for a little mini-party (called the Genie and let her know what we wanted delivered) and it was really fun.

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Labadee arrival at 7 am this morning.  We were a little late getting cleared to get off of the ship.  We had breakfast in our room again, but a normal portion this time.  Smitha came and got us at 9 am, and we took the magic elevator down to the gangway and then headed to our Cabana, B2.  Water was a little choppy today, but other than that is was great.  The buffet was upscale, but not near what we had on Anthem in July.  There were the usual suspects in addition to lamb chops, ribs, steaks, and pork chops.  Of course my first drink was the obligatory Labadoozie.  

All aboard is 3:30 but we were back on board at around 2, got cleaned up and then got our 3 pm food delivery.  And Smitha must be trying to get us drunk because we had more shots of tequila, Captain Morgan, mudslide, lava flow, etc.  

Tonight is Giovanni's for dinner and then the Ice Show afterwards.  

A couple of observations:

Anthem in July was our first SC cruise.  Our genie was amazing, but he just had us and I believe one other family.  Smitha has us and 4 other families, and you can tell.  She is fantastic, and is very personable, but Shane was "everywhere", where as we don't physically see Smitha as much.  It is odd that they added 2 more SC rooms during dry dock, but still only have 3 Genies.  

Another thing is the room.  We had the loft on Anthem and the 2BR ATS on Oasis.  The room location and layout are great, but there are a few things that don't make it feel like "Star Class".  The furniture is outdated, and I wish it would have been upgraded during the Amp.  In the shower in the Master Bedroom, my head hits the ceiling, although I know that won't bother @Lovetocruise2002 and her hubby.  I know those are quibbles, but just observations.  I'm assuming this is part of why SC rooms on Oasis and Allure are so much less than Symphony and Harmony, even post amplification.  

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7 minutes ago, betatke1480 said:

So far I've only seen three, and Smitha said depending on the week she has 4 or 5 rooms, and previously I believe they only had 3-4 rooms depending on the week.  

Yikes.  Imagine having to go from an ATS to deck 17 to deck 14 forward.  Hopefully they allocate them to minimize 1,000,000 steps per day.  

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1 hour ago, betatke1480 said:

A couple of observations:

Anthem in July was our first SC cruise.  Our genie was amazing, but he just had us and I believe one other family.  Smitha has us and 4 other families, and you can tell.  She is fantastic, and is very personable, but Shane was "everywhere", where as we don't physically see Smitha as much.  It is odd that they added 2 more SC rooms during dry dock, but still only have 3 Genies.  

Another thing is the room.  We had the loft on Anthem and the 2BR ATS on Oasis.  The room location and layout are great, but there are a few things that don't make it feel like "Star Class".  The furniture is outdated, and I wish it would have been upgraded during the Amp.  In the shower in the Master Bedroom, my head hits the ceiling, although I know that won't bother @Lovetocruise2002 and her hubby.  I know those are quibbles, but just observations.  I'm assuming this is part of why SC rooms on Oasis and Allure are so much less than Symphony and Harmony, even post amplification.  

Ugh! You just confirmed everything that I predict I will dislike about the ATS!  I will take solace in the face that my girls are super excited for that room though. And have always thought that OA and AL were outdated in decor. So disappointed they did not update furniture.

About the genies, I thought it was Smitha, Izzy, Allan, and Joyce right now? I know that Hugo left but she was back on. There were 4 since dry dock....

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4 minutes ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

Ugh! You just confirmed everything that I predict I will dislike about the ATS!  I will take solace in the face that my girls are super excited for that room though. And have always thought that OA and AL were outdated in decor. So disappointed they did not update furniture.

About the genies, I thought it was Smitha, Izzy, Allan, and Joyce right now? I know that Hugo left but she was back on. There were 4 since dry dock....

We've only seen Smith, Izzy, and Joyce.  Allan may be here somewhere.  I thought Smitha said she had 4 other families, unless I misheard her.  She's been great personality-wise.  On par with Shane in that regard.  Shane was just "there" when we were on Anthem.  Some of that could be having all of the GC activities and a lot easier to know where we were.  It could also be that there are just a lot more "zones" we could be at on Oasis.  It's been a good Genie experience, but just seems a little more like the standard experience.  Lots of food, and just having our schedule organized.  Nothing bad, just a different experience.  

Virginia loves the room.  She loves having her private space and she loves watching the divers. 

Also, be careful with the master bathroom sink.  The water pressure is very high.  

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9 minutes ago, betatke1480 said:

We've only seen Smith, Izzy, and Joyce.  Allan may be here somewhere.  I thought Smitha said she had 4 other families, unless I misheard her.  She's been great personality-wise.  On par with Shane in that regard.  Shane was just "there" when we were on Anthem.  Some of that could be having all of the GC activities and a lot easier to know where we were.  It could also be that there are just a lot more "zones" we could be at on Oasis.  It's been a good Genie experience, but just seems a little more like the standard experience.  Lots of food, and just having our schedule organized.  Nothing bad, just a different experience.  

Virginia loves the room.  She loves having her private space and she loves watching the divers. 

Also, be careful with the master bathroom sink.  The water pressure is very high.  

Noted about the sink. ?

And Allan is definitely there cause someone has him this week. ?

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55 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

I guess the question I would ask is....if you guys were able to find the soft pretzels TWICE, why hasn't Smitha been able to find them, too ??

She might be thinking only of the iconic pretzel shape. Might want to mention specifically what you found and where. 

Edited by SnickerTail
I'm going to blame autocorrect
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Labadee was super relaxing as always.  Last night was dinner was in Giovannis, and Star Class Food Coma is starting to set it.  It was tough to get through all of the food.  We had another "well-done" steak sighting with my MIL.  Can't take them anywhere.  

The carpaccio and the mozzarella di buffalo tasted quite good.  Dinner tonight took almost 2 hours, so there was a lot of waiting in between courses.  I also really wanted lemon sorbet, and they didn't have any.  

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After dinner we went back up to Adventure Ocean to get Virginia and head to the Ice Show.  Smitha met us with our seats, drinks, and popcorn.  We were sitting in the first row on the side, which was uncomfortably close, but was with a purpose.  Smitha brought Virginia a tiara, and for those that have not seen the Frozen in Time show before, it's the Hans Christian Anderson fairy tales on ice.  During "The Ugly Duckling", Virginia was one of the girls in the swan on the ice, and she absolutely loved it.  She kept saying she was so nervous, but she did great.  Genie moment made!

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Today is Falmouth, so we will probably just walk around in port for a bit then come back on the ship and hit the pool.  Tonight, dinner is in Portside BBQ so I can't wait.  

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4 hours ago, betatke1480 said:

Tonight, dinner is in Portside BBQ so I can't wait.  

Interested to know after tonight if you think it's worth forgoing a "specialty" meal for dinner at Portside or if in the future you'd just have lunch at portside.

Also, even though it sounds like you are from the wrong side of Missouri, how it shakes out. Having not been out to KC for work in over a year I can still taste the ribs from Q39 in my memory.

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1 hour ago, Andrew72681 said:

Interested to know after tonight if you think it's worth forgoing a "specialty" meal for dinner at Portside or if in the future you'd just have lunch at portside.

We thought about this a whole lot for our sailing in two weeks.  In the end, we chose to do Port Side BBQ for dinner on our last night, possibly out on the balcony.  Here was our logic:

1) Dinner has more food options than lunch at Port Side.

2) Food Coma will most definitely have hit hard by Day 7 so it's a safe day to skip any other specialty.  It will be hard to eat Chops and Giovanni's by Day 7.

3) Port Side BBQ makes for a nice, casual meal for the balcony.  I prefer things like Chops, 150, Giovanni's in the restaurant.

We'll still do lunch at Port Side as well earlier on in the cruise.

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As I write this I’m sitting on my balcony watching Aqua80 again. #poorme

I really want to know what shoes they were so I can buy them as water shoes for the beach. 
 

we got off the ship for about an hour today and walked around the port, and then we did my favorite thing to do in Falmouth or Nassau: enjoy the pool on a much more empty ship. My MIL definitely took advantage of the $18 DX today. 
 

Around 3 pm it was back to the room for snacks. Chips and Guacamole from El Loco Fresh, and more tequila!  Smitha definitely read the survey and I get at least one tequila shot in the room every day, plus captain and Diet Coke for Abby, milkshake for Virginia, and then one or two random drinks. Today was a Kraken Colada and a Sexy Ocean. It was nice watching @Matt periscope while taking a shot and eating guacamole. 
 

Dinner in PortSide was pretty good. God Bless actual brewed iced tea!  Between the 4 of us we got pretty much everything except the brisket and turkey leg. We will have to get those for lunch. the chicken wings and burnt ends were good. While not “traditional” burnt ends, they were very good. Sliced turkey and sausage link were dry. Mac and cheese was just ok. BBQ beans were phenomenal. Cornbread was also pretty good. Skip the brookie and get the Banana Dream. It’s amazing. 
 

flavor wise, Portside was very good.  I consider myself a barbecue connoisseur, living in STL and having lived in Memphis for 4 years, and it’s serviceable. As mentioned, some was dry, but flavors were all good. I wish there was a better system for paying and getting your order. It took some time. I think it would be a fine replacement for another restaurant if you have the UDP and are trying to cut down on food coma. They offer takeout, and it or Playmakers are my choice for balcony snacks and food. 
 

I also think Portside and Playmakers are the two best value props if you don’t have a dining package. I am in love with the buffalo chicken crunch rolls at playmakers. And we had the Campfire Cookie in the room tonight. You should get one. 

We only saw Smitha once today  We didn’t need her to get off the ship today since we didn’t have an excursion  She stopped by the room around 5 just to check in on us and told us she probably wouldn’t be seeing us at dinner since we were up on 15 and she had her other families, and that we were planning on eating at an in between time, which we understood.  She also had us down to go to the adult comedy tonight, but we had told her to cancel that so we could watch Aqua80 again as it was rescheduled from Day 2.  

So far the Aqua80 show has been packed every time.

Tomorrow is a sea day as we steam to Cozumel. We will probably try to hit up some trivia and we are doing the escape room in the afternoon. 

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9 hours ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

We thought about this a whole lot for our sailing in two weeks.  In the end, we chose to do Port Side BBQ for dinner on our last night, possibly out on the balcony.  Here was our logic:

1) Dinner has more food options than lunch at Port Side.

2) Food Coma will most definitely have hit hard by Day 7 so it's a safe day to skip any other specialty.  It will be hard to eat Chops and Giovanni's by Day 7.

3) Port Side BBQ makes for a nice, casual meal for the balcony.  I prefer things like Chops, 150, Giovanni's in the restaurant.

We'll still do lunch at Port Side as well earlier on in the cruise.

Please lmk if there are any issues with having Izzy deliver PS BBQ to you on your balcony. We are going to do that as well. Not on our balcony, unless i plan to live on the edge and eat ribs in the hot tub, but definitely at the dining room table. 

 

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3 hours ago, SweetPea said:

Please lmk if there are any issues with having Izzy deliver PS BBQ to you on your balcony. We are going to do that as well. Not on our balcony, unless i plan to live on the edge and eat ribs in the hot tub, but definitely at the dining room table. 

 

On Oasis in December we had Joyce order BBQ from port side and have it delivered to the suite.  It was passable, for me, but I thought the macaroni and cheese was awful.  I had pulled pork and Dan had the brisket. Without a doubt, the brisket was better of those 2. The pork was pre-sauced and I am actually not much of a BBQ sauce fan.  I prefer my pulled pork au naturale.  Next time I intend to try it on site. I think it will be better, fresh.

Speaking of the hot tub, we never even turned ours on.  I was afraid I would kill myself getting in/out of the thing and it seemed as if it might take forever to fill....the truth about which I will not know, since I never tried.

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8 hours ago, betatke1480 said:

We only saw Smitha once today

Might be worthwhile to mention this on the post cruise survey.  Not a knock against Smitha, but the fact the Genies on Oasis seem to be spread too thin.  This seems like the common consensus among the other SC people sailing with you this week who have the other Genies. 

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46 minutes ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

Might be worthwhile to mention this on the post cruise survey.  Not a knock against Smitha, but the fact the Genies on Oasis seem to be spread too thin.  This seems like the common consensus among the other SC people sailing with you this week who have the other Genies. 

Yeah, everything has been taken care of, and when we send her an email it's handled quickly.  But as you remember from Anthem, Shane was literally everywhere, so it's quite a big change.  I'm sure some of it is the physical distance between SC rooms, and that they don't seem to have grouped the genies geographically as @twangster alluded to earlier.  I would think they would give one Genie ATS, one the UPS, and then two on Deck 17 or something similar.  Instead I know the we have Smitha, and Izzy has the room below us and one across the way.  I have no idea what other rooms Smitha has, but I'm sure she's putting in a lot of miles.  

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16 minutes ago, betatke1480 said:

But as you remember from Anthem, Shane was literally everywhere, so it's quite a big change.

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.

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I agree with Twangster, that a great deal of her “rare in-person-appearance” is probably due to the location of the ATS.  I have noticed a distinct reduction of in-person Genie visits when we have been in ATS.  Should you be penalized b/c you are so far away ?  Of course not but in practicality, it’s a long haul all the way back there.  ...and there are 6 such SC suites on the O class.  That’s a lot of hiking. But I will say, even when the Genie missed us in the suite, he would find us at least twice during the evenings when we were out. It kind of evens out.
 

To be honest, Dan hates the Genie interruptions so he’s just as glad when they don’t just “pop by”.

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