Jump to content

Oasis of the Seas: 9-Night Eastern Caribbean, August 5th - August 14th


RockerDom31

Recommended Posts

Sorry for the late start on this one! We are currently winding down Day 4 of 10 on this cruise. Here are some highlights:

Background Info

  • It’s my wife and I on this cruise celebrating our 5-year anniversary (which was actually June 2022 but we had 2 weddings to go to at that time and we wanted this specific itinerary). We both have The Key and DBP. We are in a 2D Oceanview Balcony Stateroom. This is our second cruise. Here is our view of the balcony at sunset:

68143311029__B81C290B-43FD-46CC-AF4F-CB15E2098FF6.thumb.JPG.3b7d01e74d8e399133e243ffac627b94.JPG

  • Itinerary - Days 1, 2, 3 at sea…Day 4 Labadee…Day 5 San Juan, Puerto Rico…Day 6 Philippsburg, St. Marteen…Days 7, 8, 9 at sea. I believe this is a “one-off” sailing that only happens once this season on Oasis from Cape Liberty.

Getting on the Ship

  • Embarkation at Cape Liberty - we had arrived a little bit after 10am and there was already a very long line. We asked the port worker at the very front of the line where do Key members go and he let us in and we skipped the entire line! Inside, there was another section for Key members to check-in. Thanks to the excellent advice of @Matt and others, we had hard copies of everything - Seapass, Negative Test Results, and physical vax card - we spent less than 2 minutes at check-in (they verified docs and took pictures of our passports). Other families were struggling to pull things up on their phone - not a very good cell signal at Cape Liberty. We were on the ship by 11am, first drink in hand by 11:05am!
  • We did not do the Key lunch - we were having way too much fun in the sun to have a sit down lunch. We just grabbed and go from Cafe Promenade.
  • As expected, staterooms opened up at around 1pm.
  • I am a diabetic and needed to have a legit mini-fridge and sharps container (I filled out a special needs form 2 weeks prior and our travel agent checked with Royal to make sure it was noted in the reservation). I was only put on insulin about a month ago. When we arrived, the mini-fridge and sharps container were not in the room. Called Guest Services and got “we will check on that for you”. Meanwhile, I ran into our stateroom attendant and he took care of it. The “mini-fridge” is actually like a cooler for the car that plugs into the cigarette lighter port that holds 6 cans. It was cold enough and it worked. By the way - the mini-fridge that is in the cabinet of the stateroom is more so a wine cooler. Kept drinks cold but not cold enough for insulin.
  •  

Food

  • Both my wife and I are vegetarian and we have MTD. We’ve only been to the MDR once and we probably won’t be again. As was the case on our last cruise, the vegetarian options were the exact same dishes served at the Windjammer (we left MDR and went to the Windjammer directly afterwards and found our dinner there!). Plus, my wife and I are quick eaters - the MDR just wasn’t for us. We did order off the Vegan menu at MDR and the food was okay - just wasn’t our style. As a matter of fact, our favorite place to eat as of now is El Loco Fresh. We made our own nachos with cheese, beans, salsa, guacamole, etc. Food at Labadee was a bust for vegetarian - just some salads and rice and beans. Moral of the story is that if you are vegetarian on a cruise, you will definitely eat and you will not go hungry. However, just like on land, your choices are not as varied and numerous. So temper your expectations! For breakfast and lunch, we had a much better time at Solarium Bistro. Not as busy, still had a freestyle machine, and anything vegetarian we would have eaten at the Windjammer was present at Solarium Bistro (one morning, we went to Windjammer, ate a small plate, got annoyed with the how busy it was, and then enjoyed a very quiet and peaceful meal at Solarium Bistro.)

First Set of Sea Days

  • We did a lot of relaxing on these days - sunning out on the deck, taking naps in the stateroom, exploring the ship.
  • We also did some ship activities such as Trivia and Name that Tune
  • Booked our next cruise! The people at NextCruise was so helpful! Today, we booked a 9-nighter for June 2023 out of Cape Liberty on Liberty of the Seas that goes to Bermuda, Labadee, La Romana DR, and Puerto Plata DR. I have never seen this itinerary before so we just had to YOLO book it!

Port Stops Part I

  • Labadee
    • Wow the artisan market folks are insistent!! There are people there who are waiting just outside the market (by the amphitheater) who will take you back to your shop and carve your name on things so you are more likely to buy it. We did negotiate though and they accepted our offer. As far as the beach day itself, it was very nice and relaxing - even if 6000+ people are there with you. Plenty of chairs and umbrellas. There was a Royal Employee who saw us wandering around looking for chairs who set us up with 2 chairs under a tree. Tipped him a $5 as a thank you!
    • Some pictures:

IMG_3977.thumb.JPG.ec74ad2b4be9d39dc3967172c7b778c3.JPG

IMG_3996.thumb.JPG.0c8cae69c32b0a4997468ff4c424b099.JPG

IMG_4002.thumb.JPG.c3963cb74b7a5dcb5e2d6c0ba0677085.JPG

IMG_4003.thumb.JPG.c69b9672328853b5ac39598e659152e6.JPG

IMG_4004.thumb.JPG.2ed4e302291a0054901629c4903b2ab8.JPG

IMG_4010.thumb.JPG.11e532996008bb10e20a5b314d167fda.JPG

Random Observations So Far...

  • 6156 total passengers (2893 New, 1555 gold, 612 platinum, 310 emerald, 587 diamond, 254 diamond plus, 45 pinnacle). 
  • Masks - people had them, most people did not. But absolutely nobody cared if you masked up or not. I put one on every so often. All crew still had them on though.

Shout-Outs

  • A great big thank you to the MEI Travel team, especially our agent @Daniel W Daniel Wanderman!! Definitely the best travel agent we’ve ever had!
  • A great big thank you to @Matt and to everyone else on this blog and forum! My wife complimented me about how much I know about Royal Caribbean. We did our best on Crown and Anchor trivia!

Days 5-10 are forthcoming.

Thanks for reading!

Edited by RockerDom31
Fixed some grammatical/spelling errors, formatting, and added more details and pictures.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

15 hours ago, RockerDom31 said:

Sorry for the late start on this one! We are currently winding down Day 4 of 10 on this cruise. Here are some highlights:

*It’s my wife and I on this cruise celebrating our 5-year anniversary (which was actually June 2022 but we had 2 weddings to go to at that time). We both have The Key and DBP. We are in a 2D Oceanview Balcony Stateroom. This is our second cruise.

*Itinerary - Days 1, 2, 3 at sea…Day 4 Labadee…Day 5 San Juan, Puerto Rico…Day 6 Philippsburg, St. Marteen…Days 7, 8, 9 at sea. I believe this is a “one-off” sailing that only happens once this season on Oasis from Cape Liberty.

*Embarkation at Cape Liberty - we had arrived a little bit after 10am and there was already a very long line. We asked the port worker at the very front of the line where do Key members go and he let us in and we skipped the entire line! Inside, there was another section for Key members to check-in. Thanks to the excellent advice of @Matt and others, we had hard copies of everything - Seapass, Negative Test Results, and physical vax card - we spent less than 2 minutes at check-in (they verified docs and took pictures of our passports). Other families were struggling to pull things up on their phone - not a very good cell signal at Cape Liberty. We were on the ship by 11am, first drink in hand by 11:05am!

*We did not do the Key lunch - we were having way too much fun in the sun to have a sit down lunch. We just grabbed and go from Cafe Promenade.

*As expected, staterooms opened up at around 1pm.

*I am a diabetic and needed to have a legit mini-fridge and sharps container (I filled out a special needs form 2 weeks prior and our travel agent checked with Royal to make sure it was noted in the reservation). I was only put on insulin about a month ago. When we arrived, the mini-fridge and sharps container were not in the room. Called Guest Services and got “we will check on that for you”. Meanwhile, I ran into our stateroom attendant and he took care of it. The “mini-fridge” is actually like a cooler for the car that plugs into the cigarette lighter port that holds 6 cans. It was cold enough and it worked. By the way - the mini-fridge that is in the cabinet of the stateroom is more so a wine cooler. Kept drinks cold but not cold enough for insulin.

*Masks - people had them, most people did not. But absolutely nobody cared if you masked up or not. I put one on every so often. All crew still had them on though.

*Food - both my wife and I are vegetarian and we have MTD. We’ve only been to the MDR once and we probably won’t be again. As was the case on our last cruise, the vegetarian options were the exact same dishes served at the Windjammer (we left MDR and went to the Windjammer directly afterwards and found our dinner there!). Plus, my wife and I are quick eaters - the MDR just wasn’t for us. We did order off the Vegan menu at MDR and the food was okay - just wasn’t our style. As a matter of fact, our favorite place to eat as of now is El Loco Fresh. We made our own nachos with cheese, beans, salsa, guacamole, etc. Food at Labadee was a bust for vegetarian - just some salads and rice and beans. Moral of the story is that if you are vegetarian on a cruise, you will definitely eat and you will not go hungry. However, just like on land, your choices are not as varied and numerous. So temper your expectations! For breakfast and lunch, we had a much better time at Solarium Bistro. Not as busy, still had a freestyle machine, and anything vegetarian we would have eaten at the Windjammer was present at Solarium Bistro (one morning, we went to Windjammer, ate a small plate, got annoyed with the how busy it was, and then enjoyed a very quiet and peaceful meal at Solarium Bistro.)

*Labadee - wow the artisan market folks are insistent!! There are people there who are waiting just outside the market (by the amphitheater) who will take you back to your shop and carve your name on things so you are more likely to buy it. We did negotiate though and they accepted our offer. As far as the beach day itself, it was very nice and relaxing - even if 6000+ people are there with you. Plenty of chairs and umbrellas. There was a Royal Employee who saw us wandering around looking for chairs who set us up with 2 chairs under a tree. Tipped him a $5 as a thank you!

*6156 total passengers (2893 New, 1555 gold, 612 platinum, 310 emerald, 587 diamond, 254 diamond plus, 45 pinnacle). 

*The people at NextCruise was so helpful! Today, we booked a 9-nighter for June 2023 out of Cape Liberty on Liberty of the Seas that goes to Bermuda, Labadee, La Romana DR, and Puerto Plata DR. I have never seen this itinerary before so we just had to YOLO book it!

*A great big thank you to the MEI Travel team, especially our agent @Daniel W Daniel Wanderman!! Definitely the best travel agent we’ve ever had!

*A great big thank you to @Matt and to everyone else on this blog and forum! My wife complimented me about how much I know about Royal Caribbean. We did our best on Crown and Anchor trivia!

Days 5-10 are forthcoming.

Thanks for reading!

"We asked the port worker at the very front of the line where do Key members go"

RockerDom31,

I know this may sound funny but I'm new (relatively so) and I just want to know what a "Key" member is? How do I  become one?

Also, I hope you post something about San Juan. I'll be checking back. I have an interest in going there in the future and would be interested to know how you like it and what you did there. Have a GREAT rest of your trip!!

Thanks,

Al

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, My3rdAct said:

"We asked the port worker at the very front of the line where do Key members go"

RockerDom31,

I know this may sound funny but I'm new (relatively so) and I just want to know what a "Key" member is? How do I  become one?

Also, I hope you post something about San Juan. I'll be checking back. I have an interest in going there in the future and would be interested to know how you like it and what you did there. Have a GREAT rest of your trip!!

Thanks,

Al

You can purchase the KEY on the cruise planner.  It provides priority embarkation as well as a special lunch from Chops Grille…served in the MDR.  You get VOOM Surf and Stream for one device with it as well as the opportunity to drop off your carry-on bags to be delivered to your room.  I believe priority VIP seating at certain shows is one of the perks and a disembarkation breakfast.

Each person in the stateroom (age 6 and over) must purchase this and the cost is sometimes pricey…and it’s per day pricing.  But sometimes the price is just a few dollars more than the VOOM price so that is when it probably makes sense.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, PPPJJ-GCVAB said:

You can purchase the KEY on the cruise planner.  It provides priority embarkation as well as a special lunch from Chops Grille…served in the MDR.  You get VOOM Surf and Stream for one device with it as well as the opportunity to drop off your carry-on bags to be delivered to your room.  I believe priority VIP seating at certain shows is one of the perks and a disembarkation breakfast.

Each person in the stateroom (age 6 and over) must purchase this and the cost is sometimes pricey…and it’s per day pricing.  But sometimes the price is just a few dollars more than the VOOM price so that is when it probably makes sense.

We were going to get the Voom Surf and Stream internet package anyway. The two-device internet package price was around $20 pp/pd. I believe we paid $23ish pp/pd for the Key.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, RockerDom31 said:

We were going to get the Voom Surf and Stream internet package anyway. The two-device internet package price was around $20 pp/pd. I believe we paid $23ish pp/pd for the Key.

You got a good deal!  I was thinking about getting it on my upcoming 5 day cruise but the difference was $10/day per person and I didn't think $100 was worth what little else I would use it for.  Should I ever find a nice deal like yours...sure, why not?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you I'm going to get the internet anyhow you might as well go for the key, it does prove really helpful in terms of getting off getting on and even getting seats at crowded venues. 

And thanks to whoever posted, unfortunately I forget where, that your milkshakes at Johnny Rockets are taken care of as part of your four drink a day Diamond package. I don't drink, so this is really been helpful. 

Question to passengers on the Oasis now, I have never seen the trivia and music games so packed. Is it me or is it larger than normal?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 hours ago, StuartL said:

Question to passengers on the Oasis now, I have never seen the trivia and music games so packed. Is it me or is it larger than normal?

Yes! Trivia was either in the Music Hall or Schooner Bar - both of which lead to standing room only by the time the trivia started (and the music hall is 2 floors!)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@RockerDom31 Wow it's funny how I was looking at Cruisemapper to see where Oasis is today and noticed the 9 day itinerary currently happening.  Wow, this sounds like one hell of a cruise!  I'm kind of jealous.  I just love how it ends with 3 sea days in a row.  I noticed you didn't arrive in Puerto Rico until 2pm.  Were you able to enjoy it despite the late arrival?  Looking forward to my 8 day on Harmony this coming November to the southern Caribbean.  The June 2023 cruise sounds interesting.  

Enjoy the rest of your sailing!    

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 hours ago, Aron_Ross said:

@RockerDom31 Wow it's funny how I was looking at Cruisemapper to see where Oasis is today and noticed the 9 day itinerary currently happening.  Wow, this sounds like one hell of a cruise!  I'm kind of jealous.  I just love how it ends with 3 sea days in a row.  I noticed you didn't arrive in Puerto Rico until 2pm.  Were you able to enjoy it despite the late arrival?  Looking forward to my 8 day on Harmony this coming November to the southern Caribbean.  The June 2023 cruise sounds interesting.  

Enjoy the rest of your sailing!    

Thanks! The 2pm arrival time wasn’t bad at all. We didn’t do any excursions. We literally just aimlessly walked around Old San Juan - doing some shopping and sightseeing some of the historical buildings.

It was neat seeing the city at night from the ship. Pictures coming soon!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 8/12/2022 at 7:41 AM, RockerDom31 said:

Thanks! The 2pm arrival time wasn’t bad at all. We didn’t do any excursions. We literally just aimlessly walked around Old San Juan - doing some shopping and sightseeing some of the historical buildings.

It was neat seeing the city at night from the ship. Pictures coming soon!

 

(. . . . rubbing my hands anxiously)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 8/9/2022 at 5:03 PM, PPPJJ-GCVAB said:

You can purchase the KEY on the cruise planner.  It provides priority embarkation as well as a special lunch from Chops Grille…served in the MDR.  You get VOOM Surf and Stream for one device with it as well as the opportunity to drop off your carry-on bags to be delivered to your room.  I believe priority VIP seating at certain shows is one of the perks and a disembarkation breakfast.

Each person in the stateroom (age 6 and over) must purchase this and the cost is sometimes pricey…and it’s per day pricing.  But sometimes the price is just a few dollars more than the VOOM price so that is when it probably makes sense.

Did you have to wait until your boarding time selected in check-in?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Port Stops Part II

  • Old San Juan, Puerto Rico
    • Under the advice of the contributors of this forum and blog, we did not book any excursions for this stop. We literally just got off the ship and walked around. It hurt our feet a little! But it is such a beautiful, historic area. As far as I can tell, this isn't really a "beach day" unless you want to travel quite a bit away. This stop was from 2PM - 10PM. Some Pictures:

IMG_4019.thumb.JPG.0fda60f5a07765a873eee3b9b62f0ecc.JPG

IMG_4033.thumb.JPG.f7f3dc186d75704a99f082230047fc61.JPG

IMG_4042.thumb.JPG.beab99737163e3dab029e20685b3ec66.JPG

IMG_4045.thumb.JPG.573ffa6274fa9d91406206d435ef8d8f.JPG

IMG_4077.thumb.JPG.ff6ee943c4ff77f37ad36a8d2fc128cd.JPG

IMG_4078.thumb.JPG.7d3334ff77035e593ce5de3b444a1211.JPG

IMG_5432.thumb.JPG.7203b9a56456dde8d29464e33e194702.JPG

  • Philipsburg, St. Marteen
    • Excursion
      • This port stop was 9AM - 5PM. We booked a Royal Caribbean Shore Excursion from a Black Friday sale called "Kim Sha Beach Break". This was a 20 minute narrated bus ride to Simpson Bay, and then about 3 hours on the beach, and then a 20 minute bus ride back to the port. This excursion was conducted by Rendezvous Tours. We felt very well-taken care of and safe during the excursion. On the bus ride there, the guide had us fill out a seating chart (we were to sit in the same seats there and back) and anytime the bus door opened, she did count and check to make sure we were all on the bus. The tour guide wore a bright yellow shirt and stayed with us at the beach so if we had any questions, we can talk to her.
      • The beach was in close proximity to the Greenhouse Restaurant where they gave us lunch (included with the excursion) and let us use their clean private bathrooms. The food options were all meat so we asked our tour guide if we could have any vegetarian options. She spoke to the restaurant staff and she special-ordered black bean tacos for us - which was delicious! And filling. I don't remember all of the meat options - but there was one beef, one chicken, and two seafood options. The lunch included 1 drink (water, soda, or beer/wine) and there was a bar there if you wanted more to drink. Luckily, we brought several water bottles from the ship with us.
      • The excursion included two chairs but not the umbrella. That was an extra $5.
      • It seemed like the area of the beach was specific for our ship's excursion. There were three full buses (each one with their own tour guide).
      • Simpson Bay was very sea-weedy and not very enjoyable to swim in. We only spent a few minutes in the water. But it was very warm.
      • Some pictures from this excursion:

IMG_4091.thumb.JPG.2e9e0fada80aeacdec6fc9d2b04cffcd.JPG

IMG_4094.thumb.JPG.15c9fae4c999075eb67fc9ef55b37ef8.JPG

IMG_4107.thumb.JPG.3373da9844ca8709f0c928a3691a0090.JPG

  • After returning from the excursion, we were dropped off at the cruise port (interesting security note: an officer boarded our bus and checked all of our Seapass cards) with plenty of time to explore the shops.

Another post with the review of the last set of sea days coming right up!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Second Set of Sea Days (Days 7, 8, 9)

  • We did the same kind of activities as we did on the first set of sea days. Relaxing on the deck, doing some trivia and other games, and eating and drinking...a lot. Something different though is that we reserved a casita:

IMG_5466.thumb.JPG.3f3c09cf62f1ae4586a117c7df425e1e.JPG

  • It was kind of nice to have a "home" so we didn't have to fight for chairs on the deck. However, we probably should have spent the money on getting a beach bed or tent at Labadee than having the Casita. We had it from 9PM - 6PM but probably only spent a total of 3 hours in it. There was a "call" button to ask for a casita attendant for drinks but we weren't that far from the bar anyway. It did include a fruit plate and bottles of water. We put the rope up anytime we left it so that people didn't claim it as their own. For those wondering, it was about $150ish for the reservation.
  • We did do a Captain's Q&A session in the Royal Theater. It was pretty neat. The Captain (I think it was "Captain Tore", I probably misspelled his name) will most likely retiring once this session is up - he has been working the seas in various capacities (not just with Royal) for 40+ years. The most interesting fact I learned - the Oasis clears the Verazzano Bridge by just 40 feet!)
  • Last Sea Day picture at night:

IMG_5492.thumb.JPG.dfb86855e3c70f116fccc257b2672749.JPG

Disembarkation Day:

  • Sad day indeed. But all good things must come to an end. We had three suitcases with us and we left two in the hallway the night before. We kept an empty suitcase for the last set of dirty laundry and all of the toiletries. Since we were Key members, we got special Key luggage tags - not a numbered tag like everyone else. We also got a special breakfast in the MDR. We ordered a veggie omelet, a bran muffin, and hash browns which were all delicious. Probably the same exact breakfast we would have gotten anyway but without any of the crowds. We were on Deck 4 and there were probably only 4-5 families there with us so it was definitely a more peaceful way to end the cruise.
  • Leaving the ship was easy. There wasn't a long line to get off the ship and once we did, there was a special Key section for the luggage (next to the Suites section). Since we used passports, they used facial recognition for customs (I'm assuming it was because we used passports because there was a separate line for "birth certificates").

Other Thoughts and Last (Maybe) Impressions:

  • Overall, this was a vacation that went very well for 98% of it (all thanks to all of you! 😀). The 2% that didn't go right were very minor issues and was fully expected (lack of a variety of vegetarian food options, a bit of buyer's remorse for the casita).
  • Of the 10 day cruise, it rained for a total of 25 minutes. Very lucky!
  • Absolutely no rough waves whatsoever. Very lucky!
  • The comedy show in Blaze was amazing! Very 18+ though so be warned.
  • We did not watch Cats. We're dog people! lol.
  • Music Hall is a very nice venue. It's two floors and both floors have a bar (the top floor bar is not always open though).
  • Prepaid gratuities but gave an extra $50 to our stateroom attendance.
  • We did not tip additional to any wait staff (we only did MDR once) or bar staff (The DBP includes an 18% gratuity).
  • We tipped the excursion tour guide $20
  • Because of some sunburn, we bought some Aloe from the vending machines on the ship. It cost $15.99! But we got about $13 refunded in port fees for reasons that I do not know. So the final portfolio bill was $1.65.
  • This was the best of both worlds - a nice/new-ish big ship and a unique itinerary. Nothing wrong with the Bahamas-Coco Cay itinerary that Oasis usually does from Cape Liberty but we have been to the Bahamas multiple times before. This went into the decision of NOT going on Oasis next summer - we decided on Liberty because it offered a more unique itinerary (Bermuda, Labadee, two different DR ports).
  • Covid Thoughts: ::Knock on wood:: Both my wife and I haven't had symptoms (and therefore do not feel the need to test). There were a few reports on Facebook of people having to quarantine on the ship (unfortunately, for one family it was on Day 2) and people testing positive once they got home. Interesting observation that I'm not sure if this was Covid-related or not...on Anthem in August 2019, we had to put a card in a slot to be able to turn the lights and AC on. But on Oasis, the stateroom attendant told us to never touch the "master switch" that turns on the lights and AC (there was no card slot). I'm assuming this is part of the airflow improvements? Or maybe Oasis was this way all along and it had nothing to do with the Covid improvements? Overall, we felt pretty good about how Royal handles the health aspect of things. Me being a teacher and my wife working in a congregate day program setting, we felt more comfortable walking around the ship than our own workplaces. There was always crew cleaning and disinfecting. I do wish that there was SOME sort of airflow in the elevators. I don't believe there to be any air exchange besides the door opening and closing.
  • The most random encounter on this trip - running into one of my students in an elevator! Never saw them again after that haha.

I'm sure I missed some details so if anyone has any questions, please feel free to ask! Thanks for reading!

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...