sailing into an oasis for diamonds | 12.10.23-12.17.23 ~ oasis of the seas

[OCSC Mike]

8 minutes ago, asquared17 said:

don’t say that!! we’re back on her in less than two months!

Meant to mention this before... love that you sail for the ship and don't care about doing the same itinerary on the same ship so closely together.

We're doing the same thing on Wonder this summer about 5-6 weeks apart. Besides CocoCay, we try to do one actual excursion per cruise, and those will be different, so there's that. We'll likely even have the same exact specialty meals on the same days, lol.

I'm wondering if just enjoying one's standard routine is another early onset vintage tendency.

[ScottD]

10 minutes ago, OCSC Mike said:

Meant to mention this before... love that you sail for the ship and don't care about doing the same itinerary on the same ship so closely together.

We're doing the same thing on Wonder this summer about 5-6 weeks apart. Besides CocoCay, we try to do one actual excursion per cruise, and those will be different, so there's that. We'll likely even have the same exact specialty meals on the same days, lol.

I'm wondering if just enjoying one's standard routine is another early onset vintage tendency.

I really wish my wife would do this. I really want to try a Quantum ship out of NJ just to try a new class, but they all go to PDCC and Nassau, which we just did and she refuses to do the same ports so soon, even on a different ship, or line...I even suggested the MSC Meraviglia, BUT...same ports, with their private island obviously..so it's a nope. 

[asquared17]

we are at the airport and through security!!!!!!!!!!!!

waiting in the united club now before we queue up (yet again)

[SweetPea]

My day is just starting (don't act all surprised!), but i 'd @Neesa keeping track of your location and all your play-by-play updates @asquared17!

That doesn't sound like a great way to end your vacation. I sorta feel that all that stress may have wiped away the fun of the week!

Regardless, I'm glad you're at the airport, waiting comfortably in the United lounge. Don't be so rushed to get home to us. Weather sux here too!

P.S. Did we skip over the man overboard? I missed that!

Also, FLL/Port Everglades looks to have been much better. SIL disembarked there this morning. She also lives in FLL and her laundry was done by 10am.

P.S.S. Have you learned nothing about flying in winter, child? February?! You will never be able to explain that to me vs. Symphony in May/ June where you can easily drive. But also, I'm with you and @OCSC Mike Batman and i are looking at a B2B when Norwegian Aqua makes her way to NYC. And she is only doing Bermuda. So yeah, 5 nights to Bermuda, followed by 7 nights to Bermuda. Makes perfect sense. 

 

 

 

 

[jbrinkm]

The way I'm glued to this thread   (Is she gonna make it? Is she gonna make it???)

[asquared17]

we’re in line to board, folks!!!! 

(my carryon bags are truly a beastly affair)

[OCSC Mike]

2 hours ago, ScottD said:

I really wish my wife would do this. I really want to try a Quantum ship out of NJ just to try a new class, but they all go to PDCC and Nassau, which we just did and she refuses to do the same ports so soon, even on a different ship, or line...I even suggested the MSC Meraviglia, BUT...same ports, with their private island obviously..so it's a nope. 

Everyone has their preferences... happy wife...

I'm sure you'll get to try Quantum class eventually.

[asquared17]

1 hour ago, OCSC Mike said:

love that you sail for the ship and don't care about doing the same itinerary on the same ship so closely together.

give us an oasis class in the sun, and we’re happy. 

and i will always take a fourth port stop, even if we don’t get off (since we don’t typically get off) just so we have one less day at sea.

29 minutes ago, SweetPea said:

My day is just starting (don't act all surprised!), but i 'd @Neesa keeping track of your location and all your play-by-play updates @asquared17!

That doesn't sound like a great way to end your vacation. I sorta feel that all that stress may have wiped away the fun of the week!

@Neesa and my dad keeping me sane this morning with the pictures and updates of the ship and port FOR THE WIN. 

it was a strange week. i wouldn’t call it super relaxing with all the ALPHA ALPHA ALPHA calls and the man overboard. 

30 minutes ago, SweetPea said:

P.S. Did we skip over the man overboard? I missed that!

he was on the pier and fell out of his wheelchair, best we could discern. they rescued him, and the bystander who went in after him. i’m just hoping he was not one of the ALPHA ALPHA ALPHAs

32 minutes ago, SweetPea said:

P.S.S. Have you learned nothing about flying in winter, child? February?! You will never be able to explain that to me vs. Symphony in May/ June where you can easily drive.  

hahahaha i want to be warm on day one and i hate being in NJ in the cold dreary winter. may and june are turning into prime beach weather! 

we will be back on symphony in december!

27 minutes ago, jbrinkm said:

The way I'm glued to this thread   (Is she gonna make it? Is she gonna make it???)

i don’t want to jinx anything but we are queued up to board and assuming there are no air-shenanigans, we will hopefully make it home tonight before the grounding of all flights. 

[OCSC Mike]

1 minute ago, asquared17 said:

give us an oasis class in the sun, and we’re happy. 

and i will always take a fourth port stop, even if we don’t get off (since we don’t typically get off) just so we have one less day at sea

Amen!

[asquared17]

we’re on the plane!

AND we got overhead space (my fear)

and — small world — i saw this guy who was vaguely familiar to me and then i took a picture of him and sent it to my dad, who said “it might be so and so”

i wasn’t sure so i didn’t say anything

then when we lined up for boarding, i peeped the name on the tag and went “hey are you —?”

AND IT WAS!!

and they are the parents of one of my good friends!!!!! (i realize how that sounds — good friend and i don’t know her parents — but i’ve only known her since she got married almost ten years ago so i never knew her maiden name) 

this makes me feel so happy!!!

[Ampurp85]

I am so glad y'all was able to get on a flight home.

Safe travels

[Lovetocruise2002]

1 hour ago, asquared17 said:

we’re on the plane!

AND we got overhead space (my fear)

Phew!! 
and overhead space is becoming more and more of a concern these days. I am even contemplating paying for exit row seats just so that I can board with Main 1

[asquared17]

so now that we are in the air, more than halfway there (hopefully ) and i am reasonably certain my bags have made it — united says they were loaded on the flight, even if my air tags are like PSYCH , let me rewind a bit. 

 

this morning i was up at my usual 4:30, dying of heat because the AC was cut (i swear this is true and i dare someone to try and prove me wrong!!!) i dozed off an on until about 6, and then got up and moving. 

(so, not that dissimilar from a usual disembarkation morning )

we self carry off, so no need to put the luggage outside before we leave, which means we still have access to everything and don’t need to worry about juggling luggage. 

i would say there were probably more self assist people than i’ve ever seen before but who knows if that is really true or just seemed that way. 

our cabin steward helped us get to the elevator bank at 8am and we got an elevator down on the first try. 

i naively thought we’d just sit comfortably in chairs at cafe promenade until it was time to queue up, maybe get a leisurely breakfast from the windjammer, etc. 

oh how wrong i was

once off the aft elevators, we noticed there were already people queued up. at 8am. thankfully it was only starting just prior to the bionic bar and nearing the entrance to the MDR. no sooner than we had taken our spot in the queue, than we were moving along and being shuffled outside to the running track. 

we’d been staged on the running track for harmony, so it wasn’t a totally unfamiliar process, but i was surprised it was happening so early on. in hindsight, i got it; they couldn’t have us all blocking the way and needed to snake us along for safety reasons, but it was a lot of hurry up and wait. (which we knew/were prepared for.)

i was going to have us come down around 9 and call it good — super glad the little voice in my head had us down at 8am. 

we made friends with the family ahead of us — they were flying into pittsburg by way of la guardia out of miami.

we did not tell them of our deep loathing for miami, and felt a deep sense of camaraderie since their flight was due to take off just 20 mins or so after ours. 

the number of people who gave us deep and pitying looks when we told them we were on the 1:48 out of FLL to EWR was wild. (present company excluded, obvs. )

some people were flying into JFK after us and i wanted to be like — hey folks the farther north you go, the later your flights are, the more they may be rerouted or canceled…. like @ScottD said, we are due some serious wind and weather back at home. so we knew we’d be cutting it close, but felt it was better to at least TRY than move our flight and find it cancelled. 

surprisingly there was only one near-fight that happened prior to our exit (at least where we were) and mostly it was just everyone killing time on the extremely humid running track for three hours. 

(seriously my hair is curled up all over again )

thankfully @Neesa and my dad were giving me the play by play because we couldn’t see anything from where we were with the lifeboats obstructing it all.

our boarding buddies phil and amy were also not that far behind us and we were able to catch up with them too  

when it finally was time to go, they scanned us out through the MDR — this was fine, an obviously well orchestrated — but i was STRUGGLING to get my four bags across the carpeted floor AND have my sea pass ready to scan. 

like the parting of the red sea, a third station opened when it was my turn, and i slapped my seapass down in triumph!! only to become concerned because instead of my picture, it was a giant faceless question mark. 

would they make me go back? did i need to go to guest services? was something horribly wrong?????

nonsense. 

it was my confiscated power strip that the officer urged me to retrieve from inside the terminal. 

….as if i was going back for that?!!!!!!!!! i kissed that sucker goodbye on boarding day and never looked back. 

just before we stepped off the ship was the final (well at least that we were aware of) ALPHA ALPHA ALPHA call and i looked back at J with wide eyes.

truly this was an eventful sailing.

once inside the terminal, only one elevator was working so we had to wait a small bit for that. then we made our way out through customs and saw they were just offloading some of the baggage, reinforcing my decision to carry off my 100+ lbs of luggage

we had a lane open up for us at customs, and then another to walk out, and then we were outside the building. i looked back at J and said “stay on me” like i was a fighter pilot in star wars, and did some ~maneuvering. 

the trickiest part of the morning was waiting for our uber, who was there in what seemed like seconds, but couldn’t be seen from where we were. 

our driver got us out of the there in no time at all, and while we did, in fact, do about 80 mph to get to the airport, he got us there safely, so i didn’t care. 

when we walked into the airport, the line for united was LONG. it was just about 11:50 at this point and i was concerned. 

but i’d changed things last month and was priority access, which meant we cut ALL. THE. PEOPLE. 

we checked our bags lickety split, and i handed off the still sealed bottle of evian in my carryon to the nice woman who had assisted us behind the counter; she seemed touched and was very thankful. 

then we headed for clear — and clear + TSA for me — and i was on the other side of security by 11:58am. 

looking back now — i can honestly say that was a new record for me. 

J came through just a minute or two behind me, and then we went to the club to regroup for about 30 mins. 

probably the most harrowing part of the morning was trying to figure out what to eat from the offerings in the small snack shop. (for those who care: a blueberry greek yogurt, large bag of popcorn, and cheese and crackers snack box.) remember, at this point, we were still bracing for the worst — anticipating delays or getting grounded because of weather in newark.

it was mid consumption of the bag of popcorn where i noticed my friend’s dad and kept staring at him (trying to be stealth) to see if he was who i thought he was.

little did i know, he was doing the same to me and told his wife as much.

there was some chaos that was only narrowly avoided when we queued up for pre-boarding, and that was when we discovered our new friends (old friends?) behind us. after we figured out that we all knew each other, they told us they were on odyssey and had to cancel their initial flight home, as they couldn't come into port on time either. 

they ALSO had a medical evacuation; skipped cococay for labadee, and had to go to puerto plata for the medi-evac. 

we were back a little farther than i prefer for boarding but managed to snag overhead space for our carryons and then sat down in aisles across. 

so far the flight has been relatively smooth. we have about 40 mins or so left and then we will be landing in the new terminal a!

i am still in shock at how relatively smooth today went, all things considered. there were so many near-misses and almost catastrophes, but somehow we are basically unscathed. 

hopefully landing is smooth and we are home in no time

[asquared17]

also if my airtags could stop alerting me that my large suitcase was left behind and last seen at the FLL airport, that would be great

[asquared17]

we have all the bags!!! 

we’re in the car, heading home!!!

[LandstromCruise]

4 hours ago, jbrinkm said:

The way I'm glued to this thread   (Is she gonna make it? Is she gonna make it???)

glad i wasn't the only one 

[ScottD]

Glad you got home relatively smoothly! Now you can relax and unpack while listening to the rain! 

[asquared17]

HOME SAFE!!!

first load of laundry in, but i will not be unpacking tonite, i am WIPED. 

 

amy (boarding buddy) texted me to let me know they were also home safe — she said we had a total of 10 ALPHA ALPHA ALPHA calls this week.

evidently, the most they’ve ever had on one cruise (at least on oasis). 

also one of the ALPHA calls from yesterday (in the windjammer) didn’t make it. and another one died — so two deaths this morning before we walked off today at 11.

i am grateful to be home in one piece. i hugged my parents extra tight when i saw them. 

thank you all for coming along this week — most especially today — i will be back with some final observations probably tomorrow. 

but for now, i am looking forward to sleeping in my own bed

[PPPJJ-GCVAB]

4 minutes ago, asquared17 said:

HOME SAFE!!!

first load of laundry in, but i will not be unpacking tonite, i am WIPED. 

 

amy (boarding buddy) texted me to let me know they were also home safe — she said we had a total of 10 ALPHA ALPHA ALPHA calls this week.

evidently, the most they’ve ever had on one cruise (at least on oasis). 

also one of the ALPHA calls from yesterday (in the windjammer) didn’t make it. and another one died — so two deaths this morning before we walked off today at 11.

i am grateful to be home in one piece. i hugged my parents extra tight when i saw them. 

thank you all for coming along this week — most especially today — i will be back with some final observations probably tomorrow. 

but for now, i am looking forward to sleeping in my own bed

sleep tight! 
Thanks for bringing us along …it’s the next best thing to actually being there and keeps us excited about our next cruise!  

[MaryS]

Glad you are home safe.  Vacations are fun but there is nothing like sleeping in your own bed.

[SweetPea]

Glad you are home safe and sound, but that's so sad about the AAA calls and casualties.

[Ampurp85]

OMG 10 AAA calls and two casualties....... I feel for those poor families and traveling companions. 

It crazy how sail away and disembarkation was eventful for you. You didn't leave until dark and then had to hustle back to port hoping you could catch your flight. I hope Feb is not a repeat. 

[jbrinkm]

So glad you made it! Hope you sleep well and have no drama in your life this week!

[DDaley]

Saw your arrival in a cool Instagram timelapse this morning! Glad you made it home safely.  

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C0_76IGrazb

[SweetPea]

43 minutes ago, DDaley said:

Saw your arrival in a cool Instagram timelapse this morning! Glad you made it home safely.  

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C0_76IGrazb

That takes parallel parking to a whole 'nother level!

[asquared17]

20 hours ago, MaryS said:

Glad you are home safe.  Vacations are fun but there is nothing like sleeping in your own bed.

AMEN!!! i was so happy to sleep last night, and starfish all my limbs without falling off the tiny bed

21 hours ago, PPPJJ-GCVAB said:

Thanks for bringing us along …it’s the next best thing to actually being there and keeps us excited about our next cruise!  

that's what i am here for!!! thank you for coming along!!

19 hours ago, SweetPea said:

Glad you are home safe and sound, but that's so sad about the AAA calls and casualties.

it was certainly the most eventful cruise i've ever had (even including The Fall)

18 hours ago, Ampurp85 said:

OMG 10 AAA calls and two casualties....... I feel for those poor families and traveling companions. 

It crazy how sail away and disembarkation was eventful for you. You didn't leave until dark and then had to hustle back to port hoping you could catch your flight. I hope Feb is not a repeat. 

i KNOW. that was truly wild. i feel so bad for the families, too.

looking back, you're right; embarkation and disembarkation were a true journey. i had blocked the after-dark departure and bad weather entirely. hoping like heck that february is our do-over on all accounts!!

18 hours ago, jbrinkm said:

So glad you made it! Hope you sleep well and have no drama in your life this week!

PLEASE @ GOD for this!!!!

5 hours ago, DDaley said:

Saw your arrival in a cool Instagram timelapse this morning! Glad you made it home safely.  

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C0_76IGrazb

omg how cool!! i love this!!

4 hours ago, SweetPea said:

That takes parallel parking to a whole 'nother level!

every time i watch a ship dock, i think of how i am a failure at parallel parking i did it once for my driver's test and then every once in a blue moon, i get the angle right and have it on the first try. (very few times)

otherwise, i am OUT of there and will park blocks away to avoid it

[ScottD]

like I mentioned earlier,I work on a port where huge container ships dock..if I'm there when they arrive I STILL  sit there and watch in awe at how they spin them around and slide them right into the pier. It's really amazing

[asquared17]

WOW.

it took me a week to decompress from all of the final 24 hours worth of cruising shenanigans. (also work was insanity.)

but, it wouldn't be a liveblog if i didn't do a recap at the end

 

PROS:

• despite our being on maybe the most diverse sailing i've ever encountered -- demographic and cruiser familiarity wise -- it was a really respectful sailing. there was not a lot of shoving or pushing, children were all well behaved, elevator shenanigans were extremely limited, if at all noticed.
• our cabin; 12232 was our junior suite on the port side.
  • to be honest, i typically prefer cabins on the starboard side because you tend to find the view there, but it was peaceful and quiet. we had neighbors, but they were (repeating, but worth it) not too loud and always quieter in the evenings.
    • there was a TON of space in the cabin. all the nooks and crannies!
• coastal kitchen; the host at CK got us in for dinner almost every night. we could have gotten a standing reso for the week if i hadn't foolishly thought we'd want to eat later. (more on this later)
  • the food and service were excellent every night and it never once felt overcrowded or rushed. in fact, we are usually out in 45 mins for our dinners and we definitely stretched to more of a 75 min dining time. it was kind of nice.
• the ship; despite being the oldest ship in her class, oasis remains clean and tidy.
  • the gnomes were in central park!
  • public bathrooms always smelled and looked clean, and the public areas of the ship were spic and span!
• VINTAGES
  • not us but the actual vintages; roman and sherman in the vintages bar always had a fresh bottle of champagne and frosty cold glass to pour it into. if you know me, you know much i love my bubbles and you know how important a cold glass is to me.
    • this was a huge callout on harmony, since their glasses were not cold, and they were stacked above the warm sanitizer, which made the bubbles go flat very quickly.
• the crew; everyone on board was so friendly and kind. it was a busy sailing (more on that later) but the crew were outstanding. there was always a smile to be had and friendliness all around. for this reason (among others) i am excited to be going back on her in about a month or so.

CONS:

• the weather
  • i know, i know. this isn't really something that the crew have any control over but i have never sailed with such bad weather before. we didn't get sun until the last day, or day and a half and it was never consistent. i am used to maybe one or two bad days, but a WEEK of poor weather was... totally uncharted territory for us. i would prefer not to repeat that, if at all possible
• The Happenings
  • y'all.
    • TEN (10) ALPHA ALPHA ALPHAs.
    • 2 deaths
    • one medical evacuation (resulting in a delayed EVERYTHING.)
    • and one man overboard?!
      • WHAT EVEN WAS THIS SAILING?!?!
      • LIKE SWEET LORD.
      • i am so sad for the families impacted and grateful that we were fortunate enough to get home on time (more on that later) but HOLY COW. i've never been on such an eventful sailing before!?!?
        • to be quite honest, i hope i never am AGAIN.
• disembarkation;
  • okay so. all things considered.... it could have been MUCH WORSE.
    • BUT.
    • MY LORD.
    • standing in line for three hours outside on the running track on deck 5 turned my hair into a limp floppy mess. we were all damp and bedraggled.
    • we did make our flight!!!! it was legit NINE minutes from curb to clearing security at FLL. (and this is why i LOVE FLL)
      • to be fair, i had upgraded access through united, tsa precheck and clear -- but this would have NEVER EVER happened in miami. ever.
    • i later found out they closed the airport DOWN due to flooding shortly after we left.
      • ....let's all just take a moment to reflect on that, shall we????
        • (again.... how the HECK did we even get home that day?????)

FINAL OBSERVATIONS:

• the crew on oasis are veterans.
  • even the newer crew members were just really friendly and great; but there was a general sense of seniority and hey we know what we're doing here vibe in the best way.
    • which, honestly, is pretty great, considering how many emergencies occurred that week.
• the last 24 36 hours aboard.
  • i will never forget sitting in the solarium and hearing the captain tell us that we were going to be late back into port the next day. or the subsequent panic while i tried to rationalize if i would be better off moving our flights, or rolling the dice; and what it would look like if we couldn't make it home at all.
  • while it was nice not to wake up at 5:30 on disembarkation morning, there was an eerie sense of being that entire time; like a ghost or a person who had overstayed their welcome.
  • oasis, we love you, but we have to LEAVE. <-- was literally my tagline the entire time.
  • by the grace of god, there were no major disturbances (at least where we were). a fight ALMOST broke out next to us but somehow was diffused. when i tell you it could have been much worse, it really really could have.
  • even our disembarkation neighbor/buddies were all nice and friendly. everyone was sharing their observations and where were on cruisemapper, etc. it was nice to have some grace about it since we were all terrified that we were going to miss our flights.
  • i've also never seen such a large group of self assist cruisers EVER.
  • despite corralling us off the ship through the MDR (that was a new one), the disembarkation itself was really smooth. much better organized than our time aboard harmony.
• we were shot.
  • i don't ever remember being this tired on a cruise before. J and i were both wiped. i think we really need the down time and the shorter days and insane workloads have been getting to us. we are already telling each other that the next cruise can't come soon enough.
    • i do regret that we missed the aqua show, but again; we would have never made it. thankfully, we can see it in february!
• we found the best spot for the pool deck
  • and you best believe we will be taking those seats again

 

 

also:

 

YA GIRL IS NOW DIAMOND PLUS!!!!!!!

HUZZAH!

good thing too, because i miscalculated J's count and she is is ONE MEASLY POINT AWAY from diamond. it's because we did the 6-nighter on the demon ship last december... oh the regrets that i have.

 

anyway all of this is just in time for me to start the new liveblog!!

[asquared17]

for my side hustle, i spent the last 14 hours wrapping gifts for my client and... i would like to collapse now.

 

my wrapping station:

[asquared17]

oh and how could i forget the BEST part of our vacation????

seeing @WAAAYTOOO while in cococay!!!!!!!

literally the silver lining on the cruise from hell doomed sailing

[OCSC Mike]

17 minutes ago, asquared17 said:

ONE MEASLY POINT AWAY

I shouldn't complain b/c it was a last minute bonus cruise that got us there but I've been staring at 173 since last month and it's super annoying!

[SweetPea]

Congrats on Diamond Plus!! 

You've started your blog for February already? I feel like you're showing restraint here! 

[She Sails Away]

Holy smokes! I just now caught up on this blog and read it all the way through… This is incredible. What a horrible sailing and to have all of those emergencies and two deaths?? I mean…
 

A sobering reminder that cruising isn't always palm trees and margaritas. So glad you made it home safely and that you shared all of this with us. So so much to learn from you here. You are a wonderful person and it shows through your writing.

[asquared17]

1 hour ago, She Sails Away said:

Holy smokes! I just now caught up on this blog and read it all the way through…

i'm so glad you made it through this ride!!

it was definitely the most eventful sailing we've ever had -- i will be happy if we don't have a single ALPHA ALPHA ALPHA on this next one

i am very grateful for our community here, and everyone's patience and support with me as everything unfolded. couldn't have done it without you all!