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

[asquared17]

4 hours ago, ScottD said:

I was really hoping for El Loco fresh breakfast last month on Oasis, but it never opened. I see that they use it like a mini buffet on other ships, but i don't think they even did that. Hopefully it actually is available for Breakfast now, that'd be aweome. 

ughhhhh it wouldn’t be the first time the cruise planner lied to us

i will definitely make a point of checking it out once we are aboard. i remember how devastated i was that it wasn’t open for breakfast. i guess we’ll see!

[OCSC Mike]

22 minutes ago, asquared17 said:

ughhhhh it wouldn’t be the first time the cruise planner lied to us

i will definitely make a point of checking it out once we are aboard. i remember how devastated i was that it wasn’t open for breakfast. i guess we’ll see!

I never ate there but it was very empty in the early AM on Wonder in June when I walked by. Thought it would have been a great spot if you're OK with the standard breakfast offerings with the lack of crowd and outdoor seating.

Hope they decide to open it for ya!

[JohnK6404]

We had El Loco Fresh for breakfast one day on Wonder just last week... I spoke to a crew member and he stated they open the breakfast buffet at 6:00 am on port days and 8:00 am on sea days...

I hope they open it up for you too on Oasis! Some pics:

 

 

[asquared17]

well if they've opened it on wonder, i can only hope they will open it again on oasis!!

ELF serving breakfast used to be one of the major sticking points for us with sailing oasis rather than the rest of the OA class, so i was sad when a few friends here had sailed on her within the last year and found it to be closed in the mornings.

great place to grab eggs and a hash brown if you need it quick and i love that it's outdoors/open air. we are not generally huge breakfast eaters to begin with - i usually frequent the park cafe for whatever the veggie egg wrap is and supplement with a yogurt for extra protein if need be, so it's not a deal breaker if ELF isn't open.

also we all know how much a fan i am of buffets, for germ reasons....

[OCSC Mike]

30 minutes ago, JohnK6404 said:

I spoke to a crew member and he stated they open the breakfast buffet at 6:00 am on port days

Ooh, never seen any actual breakfast venue open at 6am. I want to say it was 6:30am when we were on Wonder... which is when Park Cafe opened, my usual go-to for pre-breakfast. We wake up early enough some mornings that 6am food to go with my CL coffee might be nice. Thanks for sharing.

[asquared17]

also i've just done my daily check to see what cabins were left available in the suites category and suddenly the pano suites were GONE after holding strong for over a week. i got even more excited when i noticed that there were two junior suites left as the only category!

alas.... it was not our deck.

the hunt for red october our royal up bid continues.

[JohnK6404]

3 minutes ago, OCSC Mike said:

Ooh, never seen any actual breakfast venue open at 6am. I want to say it was 6:30am when we were on Wonder... which is when Park Cafe opened, my usual go-to for pre-breakfast. We wake up early enough some mornings that 6am food to go with my CL coffee might be nice. Thanks for sharing.

I completely missed the buffet when we sailed on Wonder last January! I had heard somewhere (either here or on YouTube) that they served breakfast. I got up early on a couple of days (around 6:00 am) to walk the ship to take pics and I noticed they were open a little after 6:00 am (no guests of course were eating yet). That's when I asked the crew member for their hours. I bet some days there could be a delay in opening, but at least for Wonder, that was their schedule.

[asquared17]

for those interested, i may have a driver for you if you’re ever in st. maarten. she’s great and currently taking us from the airport to the (windstar) ship.

we will not have internet aboard as i’ve been told it’s pretty spotty and rather exorbitantly priced. grateful to have landed safely and hope to be aboard and in the cabin soon. i will take lots of pics for a recap at the end

and i would love to eat (travel anxiety abating already!)

we are the only ship in port today, and i have seen my beloved holland house from a distance. my heart is happy. 

[asquared17]

THEY HAD TUNA SANDWICHES FOR EMBARKATION

[asquared17]

observations so far:

- this is one tiny dink dink of a ship. i already miss central park. the pool is basically a plunge pool and that’s it. for me, this isn’t a huge issue since i infamously refer to the pool on most royal ships as “the soup” — but is worth mentioning. 

- my cabin is really beautifully appointed. the bathroom is OUTSTANDING. this is an ocean view room and it is richly done. the bathroom has TWO SINKS!! and a NON space tube shower!! it’s lush. the mosaic tiling in the shower reminds me of sky and star class suites. we are in the newer cabins, called the star ocean view. 

- there are delightful l’occitane amenities in the bathroom and i LOVE THEM  

- there is an open bridge policy aboard; basically you can go walk thru at any time unless the doors are closed off. i am eager to check it out later on.

- dining venues are much smaller (as expected) but the food so far has been good! i had a DIY salad in their version of the windjammer (aren’t you all proud of me?? i know @OCSC Mike will be ) and it was excellent - pic below. lots of good flavor with the veggies too, nothing bland or oversalted. a lot of plant based options too as indicated by the signage.

- there are LOADS of outlets and USBs on both sides of the bed  

- we did an in person muster drill but didn’t have to bring life jackets. there is a 5 minute video you must watch prior to the in person drill. i do miss the royal safety briefing way but — this is a way to ensure everyone is compliant and we leave on time

- we typically never buy packages but i got the all-in package since i’m a single supplement fare and it covers EVERYTHING. gratuities, drinks, wifi and i have some insane amount of shipboard credit that i won’t be using otherwise. 

some pics below!

[asquared17]

my beloved tuna; the corn was weird (i scraped it off) but the flavor was good. the olives were a nice touch. 

this is the yacht club; it is part library/part cafe promenade and a little bit crown and anchor society. there are some nice bites you can get as well as drinks, etc. this is where we got the tuna, also you can walk out front and go on the deck. 

the world’s tiniest pool

the poshest outdoor shower i have ever seen!! makes up for the small pool, in my opinion. i love it !

today is st. maarten day AND we are the only ship in port, so this place was a complete and total ghost town. i’ve never seen it this empty!! not a single store was open!

the last time J and i were here on harmony, there was also some kind of festival because they had a special food menu and i remember i got some delicious tacos that were not ordinarily on the menu at holland house. 

the sole occupant at the port

the rest of the pictures i’ll leave uncaptioned

but you should know that when i went to “reception” — their version of guest services, a small counter with two nice crew members — we were talking about what the package included and i lamented that i was a millennial that couldn’t be without internet for more than an hour or two when i was done, and logged in on the wifi, the crew member helping me said “not too much tiktok now!!” as i walked away

(you guys. i'm a total dinosaur. i don’t have tiktok.)

moral of the story: i may be outnumbered by vintages and the youngest person here — but clearly i fit in all too well. 

[OCSC Mike]

33 minutes ago, asquared17 said:

i had a DIY salad in their version of the windjammer (aren’t you all proud of me?? i know @OCSC Mike will be )

You get half credit for making a salad, but yes, so very proud.

[Ampurp85]

The salad looks good, but I am confused.......That two-room area is an ocean view cabin? You got all that nice space by your lonesome self?

[asquared17]

7 hours ago, Ampurp85 said:

That two-room area is an ocean view cabin? You got all that nice space by your lonesome self?

ALL MINE

one thing i will say i also miss about royal, especially the beast class that is oasis size — it is rare, at least during the off times when we sail, that you feel much motion. and if you do, it’s typically not sustained (except that first night on symphony last february). this ship is just under 13,000 tons, so we were feeling all of it. 

it wasn’t horrible, and we typically sail at night as there are no sea days, but i was thankful to have crashed early last night and slept through most of it. 

trying to shower was a bit comical

[ScottD]

Not me thinking the doorway was a big mirror in your room, not noticing that it was a completely different part of the room for almost 15 seconds. 

[asquared17]

there have been… some developments. 

however this is the most pressing worth sharing right now: 

 

[OCSC Mike]

Do vouchers work? I want to try that whole drink menu, lol.

[ScottD]

Is that...a 45 dollar cheeseburger?? 

[asquared17]

28 minutes ago, ScottD said:

Is that...a 45 dollar cheeseburger?? 

i guess it would be wrong to tell you it’s all in euros

55 minutes ago, OCSC Mike said:

Do vouchers work? I want to try that whole drink menu, lol.

hahahaha i wish

i had the lemonade (non alcoholic) since i knew we would be hoofing it back to the tender station.

4 hours ago, ScottD said:

Not me thinking the doorway was a big mirror in your room, not noticing that it was a completely different part of the room for almost 15 seconds. 

boy are you in for a surprise when i do a proper recap/compare contrast later things have taken a turn… for the better.

[jbrinkm]

1 hour ago, asquared17 said:

there have been… some developments. 

 

8 minutes ago, asquared17 said:

boy are you in for a surprise when i do a proper recap/compare contrast later things have taken a turn… for the better.

Ahhh I can't take the suspense!

[ScottD]

7 minutes ago, asquared17 said:

i guess it would be wrong to tell you it’s all in euros

So...like a 50 dollar burger!! lol....phew.  

 

8 minutes ago, asquared17 said:

oy are you in for a surprise when i do a proper recap/compare contrast later things have taken a turn… for the better.

Oohh...I'm intrigued now! 

[Lovetocruise2002]

Truffles!!!! At least that's what I think it is lol

[asquared17]

8 minutes ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

Truffles!!!! At least that's what I think it is lol

you are correct!!!!!

[Ampurp85]

I know the development and I am waiting extra hard too for everything to be fully revealed

[ScottD]

Moved to  a suite? 

[asquared17]

well i figure now that our flight is delayed and we're stuck in the barbados airport, this is as good a time as any to catch you all up.

 

the good

• the crew
  • they were absolutely great. with a pax count of about 250 on board (max capacity i believe is over 300 something), the crew really make a dedicated effort to get to know you and your preferences. it reminded me a little of star class personableness (is that a word? forgive me, i am sleepy) but not paying for a star class fare.
  • MDR staff was a step above the royal MDR experience for sure, and that tracks, given that they're not making food for thousands of people per seating. there is only one dining room aboard, and two other smaller dinner venues, so they spread us out well.
• accomodations
  • my original cabin was richly appointed and was as nice as it looked in the pictures. i was delighted that for a standard cabin, there were two sinks in the bathroom. even the shower was larger than normal, and outfitted with bright accents and new hardware. the updating of the bathrooms was part of the updating initiative they did a few years back and it looks great. every cabin aboard has an updated bathroom.
  • this is one area where they surely have royal beat.
    • my second cabin -- more on this later -- was absolutely OUTSTANDING. you will all love the pictures.
•  the itinerary
  • the ports were really nice; we happen to LOVE st. barts, and that is not somewhere you get to go when you are on a beast/mega oasis class ship. while i only got off in st. barts, the other stops were pretty to look at and visit. last time we visited les saint, we saw tons of goats and the most beautiful beach/rock formation. i will try to include those pictures after this.

the bad

• HVAC
  • the ship desperately needs to go into drydock -- and she will, next spring. one of the issues that is widely known, is that many of the cabins don't have a system that can keep up in the caribbean heat. my parents have sailed on her twice already and have had issues with this. i run HOT, so it became apparent very early on, that the common areas, the stairwells, and many portions of the ship were not able to keep up with the humidity and heat outside. i found myself often wishing for the bracing cold of an ice skating rink aboard a royal ship just to cool down.
• motion
  • she's tiny. the ultimate dink dink, if you will. i think the star pride is just over 10,000 tons. in comparison, you have oasis class at 225,000+ and even radiance class at over 90,000. having a smaller ship means you can nook into those nice ports like st. barts, but it also means that you feel. every. little. thing. as someone who is prone to motion sickness, this was tough for me. the good news is, we were sailing mostly at night. the first half of the cruise, we didn't leave until very late, and i was usually asleep by that time. but the back half of the trip, we sailed before sunset, and i found it difficult, especially last night, as we were buffeted by 32 mph winds.

 

stray observations

• embarkation/disembarkation
  • this was a fairly smooth process from start to finish. it wasn't the full port of miami/port everglades building with the photo ops and the crazy xrays and the masses, but it moved very quickly and personably. the crew that helped get us aboard were also on the sailing with us, so we saw them throughout the voyage.
  • our luggage was delivered fairly quickly. we were offered to surrender our carryons too, but elected to keep them. (which i then hauled aboard myself)
  • the entry/exit to the ship was one set of fairly rickety wooden stairs. it's my understanding that if you cannot climb them yourself, they will carry your wheelchair up... but i would be nervous to do that. so if you're going to get off/on... make sure you can get yourself on and off.
• tendering
  • we only docked at two ports (not counting our departure from st. martin and our arrival at bridgeport today), so it required tendering ashore. now i don't know about y'all, but given my disposition to motion sickness, tendering is not high on my list of things to do. the water taxi at st maarten is about my comfort level when it comes to smaller vessels -- and that's in the cove of the shore, so it's hardly rough.
    • st. barts was the only time i tendered on and off and it was choppy. not as choppy as it was the first time i did it three years ago, but choppy nonetheless. and i was not interested in tendering elsewhere. the other tenders were not as bad from what my parents reported (much closer distance than st. barts) but i was not here for it. and that's okay; i knew it was coming going in and i was happy to stay aboard and read in the sun.
• food
  • i am not sure how to classify this one,  because it's a bit controversial to me as food is so subjective to many and royal food is not what it used to be, like many of us can attest to.
    • the fruits and veggies were great. i had one to two salads a day and they were always fresh and tasted wonderful. a few times they prepared pasta and always had options on hand for my mom, who is gluten free.
    • if you have a special needs diet, they can and absolutely WILL accommodate you. each night, the head waiter would bring out the following night's menu so my mother could make selections and not have to worry about consuming food that she would not be able to eat.
    • i sometimes struggle on cruises because i don't eat red meat or pork. every once in a while, i will have a hot dog (and you'd best believe i had them on this trip, out of necessity more than anything) but i mostly stick to white, mild fish, or chicken when it comes to any kind of animal protein. you all know how much i love tuna fish on a cruise, and i am always down for a pasta dish of almost any kind. no pasta was served for the first four nights, so i struggled a little.

• accommodations (part two)
  • i will spare you all the details that led to this auspicious event, but i wound up moving cabins to the owner's suite (there are two) in the aft of the ship on deck six (of eight).
  • every morning, we would have room service delivered and my parents would come up from their cabin for us to have breakfast as a family.
    • this was a real treat, as i often find breakfast one of the hardest meals to eat on a cruise when not sailing in a suite. typically, J and i are up at different times and then racing for the seats on the sundeck. the jammer is always a zoo and we are loathe to relinquish too much time in the sun to eat in the MDR for breakfast. usually we split off at different times to the park cafe (me) or the solarium (j).
  •  there were two bathrooms!
    • this was also nice because there was on attached to the master bedroom and a half bath in the main living room space; we used this often since we would get popcorn and snacks delivered for sailaway and we would just hang out. this way there was no rush or waiting for the bathroom.
  • it was one of the few cabins with a full balcony!
    • most of the cabins have a french balcony; so you're able to get maybe a foot or so out. this was more of a standard balcony, with a great view.
  • THE CLOSET
    • I DIED FOR THE CLOSET.
    • it was well lit, and doubled as a vanity area as well with a soft bench. i had plenty of room for my clothes and other items
  • the bed was actually pretty comfortable so i wound up deflating my air mattress pad on the second night.
  • OUTLETS EVERYWHERE
    • how many times are you fighting over outlets or using an adapter to get more plugs out of one little spot? there were outlets and multiple USB ports all over the cabin and it was really wonderful. i never had to fight to charge anything.

 

all in all, i am glad i did it because it was a trip for my parents' 39th anniversary, and we haven't cruised/traveled as a family since the last cruise we took departing from barbados... on seabourn odyssey in february 2020. we were overdue for a family trip and my dad and i love to cruise, so it was nice to be with someone who loves sailaway and watching ships come in as much as he does. i get my love of cruising from him, for sure.

that said... i missed being on a bigger ship.

it was often a challenge to find food since their version of the jammer had reduced hours (to me) - 7:30-9 int the morning, 12-1:30 for lunch and then they were not always open for dinner. that left the star grill on the pool deck for burgers and hotdogs.

i would have gotten tuna more than not, but there seemed to be issues keeping the tuna... cold. and i had seafood twice that was just ~off. while that could happen to anyone (and my mom's, thankfully, was fine) -- i was NOT about to take any chances. i missed the park cafe, where everything was grab and go and COLD. i missed sorrentos for a quick slice of pizza if my dinner was lackluster.

bigger ships are just better for me, and we are low key enough that i don't think we feel the crowds too often anyway. we tend not to take up too much on the entertainment (and we didn't do so onboard this ship, surprise surprise), and we are in for the night pretty early.

we depart for oasis in three weeks from tomorrow (!) so its going to be a swift turn around back to civilization and i am HERE for it!!

 

will upload pics when we get home to high speed internet

[asquared17]

owners suite pictures!!

technically all the cabins onboard are considered suites. 

but not all of them look like this…

main room when you walk in. there were TONS of cabinets and storage and drawers. i barely used a fraction of it. 

balcony!!

primary bedroom very comfortable bed!

walk in closet of dreams

still the walk in closet. you can see the bathroom at the door — the closet and bathroom were at the back of the room.

the bathroom was A DREAM. 

[asquared17]

i apologize in advance for any duplicates!!

sadly i did not take nearly enough food pictures…

the flowers were fresh from st. martin

this was a small shot of the MDR called amphora, where we ate dinner every night.

i didn't get a shot of their version of the windjammer, but it was much smaller than anything we would be used to on a royal ship, and laid out in a bit of perimeter of a square formation, if that makes sense.

spaghetti carbonara - they had this one night on the menu and then made it fresh for us one night (off menu) as well. i picked out the bacon

fresh fruit in the suite every day - you could eat what you like and they would refresh as needed.

spaghetti round two

goat cheese souffle -- this was INCREDIBLE.

lobster night with parm risotto

final sailaway prosecco

yesterday, in port at bridgetown

azamara pulled in behind us!

[WAAAYTOOO]

What is that soup ?  It looks yummy

[asquared17]

2 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

What is that soup ?  It looks yummy

the soup was a potato + roasted garlic -- but they had at least two soups every night and they were all outstanding!!

this one was delicious as well!

[Ampurp85]

That suite is on point. But I also can't wait for the oasis sailing.

[asquared17]

SAME.

i am ready for my tuna sandwich and champagne from vintages, @Ampurp85 

[asquared17]

the next two weeks are going to be insane for me work-wise, so i will do my vitamins and preliminary packing today... here we go again!!

[OCSC Mike]

3 minutes ago, asquared17 said:

the next two weeks are going to be insane for me work-wise, so i will do my vitamins and preliminary packing today... here we go again!!

It beats not having another cruise until March.

[Neesa]

16 minutes ago, OCSC Mike said:

It beats not having another cruise until March.

Or June!

[asquared17]

i guess now is a bad time to bring up that we go again AGAIN in february….

[OCSC Mike]

32 minutes ago, asquared17 said:

i guess now is a bad time to bring up that we go again AGAIN in february….

Nah, enjoy, I did squeeze in one last month and I have 3 booked between March-July so I'm not complaining given that we historically only cruise twice/year or so. I'm appropriately thankful for my increased booking in the short term.

Besides, some of yours are traitor cruises. This isn't WindstarBlog dot com or MSCBlog dot com ya know.

[AshleyDillo]

2 hours ago, asquared17 said:

i guess now is a bad time to bring up that we go again AGAIN in february….

I feel this. I have 2 casino comps to try to figure out where to squeeze them in. Woe is me

[asquared17]

so quick update; i think our hopes for royal up are officially dashed, as the sailing no longer shows up online when you search for december cruises on oasis i believe we have entered fully sold out territory??

you guys will laugh; i ordered a new weighted blanket since the one i had was so small and kept slipping off. bezos has gotten way too much of my money this week.

i had ordered a new dress for the trip but it came in the mail today and is quite terrible, so that will be going back.

in other news, however, i am excited about being able to check two free bags now on the way down and back... you know i am not packing light

[asquared17]

update:

today's ghost booking revealed that there are suddenly FOUR (4) grand suites up for booking!!!

PERHAPS WE WILL WIN OUR RU BID!! (also RIP my credit card if we do though after this month)

15 days to go!! WILL WE GET IT FRIENDS???

time will tell...

[staring wistfully into the distance]