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Oasis of the Seas trip report
This promises to be long.... so grab a beverage or your choice and dig
in, or hit the "next" key and move on. As it turns out, I got two invitations to go on the Oasis of the Seas. I belong to a travel agent consortium and they were combining their yearly meeting with the first two day intro sailing departing on November 20. I accepted this invitation although I wasn't sure I would be able to go due to scheduling problems and frankly, I don't like traveling so far just for a two day cruise. But then, this was the OASIS and I really wanted to see her. Then... I got an invitation from Royal Caribbean to go on the second two day cruise. Again, scheduling problems. Bottom line is that I was able to go but only at the last minute and airfares were out of the question, so we had to drive. That added two days to each end of the trip so we ended up doing the consortium meetings and the original 2 night cruise and did not go on the second 2 night cruise. It worked out well. I won't bore you with details of the consortium meetings but I did manage to grab the ear of a few suppliers and have some interesting talks. The rep from Viking River Cruise Lines took 8 of us to dinner at the W hotel steakhouse... 954. It was excellent and I am very glad I wasn't paying that bill. They had a Kobe Steak on the menu for $235. We were a bit more restrained in our ordering. Pier 18 - the new cruise terminal at Port Everglades is everything they said it would be. Going through the doors, you can go left or right, immediately through security. If I recall correctly, there are 6 security stations on each side. Once past Security, you are in the main check-in area. The check-in desks are arranged in a "V" shape in the center of the room and there are 45 stations on each side. Flat screen TV monitors tell you which line to use, sorting people by which deck their cabin is on. We were on Deck 12 and there were 6 station for that deck. Once you go through the check-in procedure, you go up the escalator or elevator to a waiting area (assuming the ship; is not ready to board). There is seating there for 3000 people and a play area for children and a lounge area for Suite passengers. http://cruisemaster.typepad.com/phot...oasis-003.html http://cruisemaster.typepad.com/phot...oasis-005.html http://cruisemaster.typepad.com/phot...oasis-008.html At check-in, they take your photo right there so when you board the ship, all you do is put your sail and sign card in the reader and go. A LOT of the people working that day were new on the job. The Oasis was late getting into the pier that morning because of broadcasting for Good Morning America so we had to wait about an hour and a half before boarding the ship. Finally... we were among the first 50 people to board the Oasis of the Seas. I am not going to describe the ship or the various rooms. There have been a zillion conversations about this and another zillion pictures. If you would like to see the photos I took, look at http://cruisemaster.typepad.com/photos/oasis/index.html What I will try to do is point out some new things, plusses and minuses and general impressions. This two night cruise was to be a "soft opening" for the ship. This is where they operate at less then full capacity in an effort to get the ship and crew up to speed. There were only 2800 invited guests on this sailing so I felt pretty pleased to be a part of the first group. Aside from travel agents, there were a few Crown and Anchor people onboard. The criteria was that they had a minimum of 50 Royal Caribbean cruises under their belt... and it was announced that one couple had 150 cruises. Of course, being first has good points and bad. The good is that there were only 2800 people on a ship that will hold over 6000. We never saw a crowd, never waited in line for anything and since all the drinks were free and the bar staff was at full level, we never waited for a drink. I can only guess, but I don't think that this ship will feel crowded with a full compliment of passengers. There was a whole LOT of empty space with 2800 passengers..... it actually felt a bit strange at times. I expected the Oasis to "feel" huge and I was pleasantly mistaken. The concept of "neighborhoods" effectively creates smaller, self contained areas of the ship that have their own distinct personality. Surprisingly, the lounges and bars were pretty small, but there are a LOT of them all over the ship. Not everything on the ship was ready for us. The information manual in each cabin... wasn't there yet. Cabin service consisted of making the bed and changing towels, no ice service, no room service was available. The photo shop wasn't operational yet. They were working on the Aqua Theater. The cabin looks typical, but the doors to the cabin open outward into the hallway instead of inward into the cabin. The shower has a movable European shower head, but you can not adjust the height of the shower head, it is in a fixed position. They do not have a clothes dryer cord in the shower, they have two hooks. They do have shelves and drawers in the bathroom, but of course they are small. They have a couple of outlets in the cabin, but they are located under the desk, which will make it hard for the handicapped or elderly people to reach. I don't know what they were thinking when they designed this but it stinks. Bring a 3-way plug and an extension cord or a power strip. http://cruisemaster.typepad.com/phot...oasis-214.html Dinner the first night was a mess. There was only one seating at 7:30 and dinner took almost 3 hours. I think this was he first full-scale seating they attempted and it showed. As we left the dining room, one service area looked like a bomb zone... a far cry from the neat and efficient stations you are used to seeing. The second night.... MUCH better! Service was almost as good as you would expect from a seasoned crew. Things like this do not bother me. I know how hard it is to get any new business up to full working speed, and a cruise ship isn't any exception. INNOVATIONS: Sail and Sign Cards - Your Sail and Sign card takes on a whole new importance on the Oasis of the Seas. Before your even leave home, you can make reservations for shows and dinner reservations online. You aren't issued any tickets.... you just show up when you are supposed to and ship's crew with hand held scanners scan your card and confirm your reservation. Very simple, very fast, nothing to it. All the muster stations for safety drill are in lounges. When you arrive, your card is scanned. You do not have to bring your life vest to the safety drill, in fact, there weren't any life vests in our cabin. They are all stored at the muster stations. Also, your muster station location is printed on your Sail and Sign card. This is the most pleasant way to do a safety drill that I have ever seen. You can also use your sail and sign card to purchase wine from a vending machine that is outside the dining room. http://cruisemaster.typepad.com/phot...oasis-125.html Also, on your Sign and Sail card is a number for your photos. Our number was 6-44 (tower #4, slot #44) You go to the photo shop, find your tower and slot number and your photos will be there in a folder. You find them instantly, no more looking through hundreds of photos for yours. INNOVATIONS - Interactive Information Displays. Near many of the elevators is a touch screen, interactive monitor display. On it, you can see on a deck plan where you are and touch the location of any venue on the ship and it will map directions telling you how to get there. You can enter your stateroom number and it will map out how you should get there. http://cruisemaster.typepad.com/phot...oasis-069.html http://cruisemaster.typepad.com/phot...oasis-070.html You can pull up the daily schedule. http://cruisemaster.typepad.com/phot...oasis-065.html You can check out how busy various restaurants are! Really... you can look at a graphic display that shows the occupancy level of every restaurant on the ship at that moment. INNOVATIONS - It appears that you will be able to access the internet on your TV in your cabin. This looks like the system already in place in a lot of hotels,,, the keyboards were in the cabins but the system was not operational yet. Add to that the WiFi capabilities of the ship and the internet "cafe" is almost unnecessary. Royal Caribbean is thinking that way, because the internet room is tiny, out of the way and has only 5 stations. The big ship is even more impressive because of small things. I was very happy and surprised with the amount of small details that I found in the design of the ship. There are small details on light fixtures, signs hidden in amongst the plants telling you what they are. http://cruisemaster.typepad.com/phot...oasis-152.html There are numerous hand-washing stations located outside of most of the eating venues and they are pretty attractive. http://cruisemaster.typepad.com/phot...oasis-165.html Small wonders... a number of displays that you view through special telescopic viewers. These are scattered throughout the ship; and are very interesting. http://cruisemaster.typepad.com/phot...oasis-122.html The Solarium is 2-stories tall with plenty of rattan chairs and ottomans, plus they have chaise lounges and those big, round seats tjat are big enough for two people, like they had on the Solstice. The Solarium has its own eating area, with turkey bacon, turkey sausage, grilled vegetables, and layered fruit/yogurt cups. Disappointments..... I have only two. I had expected to see a show at the Aqua Theater and didn't. They had it operational for the Good Morning America taping, but they drained the pool and there were a lot of construction-type people working on and in it both days. I also wanted to see the show "Hairspray" which Royal Caribbean has been touting... but they didn't run that while we were onboard either. If you hung in there through all this, there is one more photo I would like you to see. http://cruisemaster.typepad.com/phot.../magcover.html Getting off the ship Sunday morning was easy. They cleared the ship at 7:20 and we walked off. Since it was a two night cruise to nowhere, we only had a couple of light bags and there was no Customs to deal with. We were on the road by 7:35 and had an uneventful trip home. -- George Leppla Countryside Travel http://www.CruiseMaster.com Blog http://cruisemaster.typepad.com/my_weblog/ Facebook http://www.facebook.com/CruiseMaster |
#2
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Oasis of the Seas trip report
"George Leppla" wrote in message ... The Solarium is 2-stories tall with plenty of rattan chairs and ottomans, plus they have chaise lounges and those big, round seats tjat are big enough for two people, like they had on the Solstice. The Solarium has its own eating area, with turkey bacon, turkey sausage, grilled vegetables, and layered fruit/yogurt cups. Was the solarium completely enclosed? Or was it like on the Voyager class where it's covered but not enclosed? --Tom |
#3
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Oasis of the Seas trip report
Tom K wrote:
"George Leppla" wrote in message ... The Solarium is 2-stories tall with plenty of rattan chairs and ottomans, plus they have chaise lounges and those big, round seats tjat are big enough for two people, like they had on the Solstice. The Solarium has its own eating area, with turkey bacon, turkey sausage, grilled vegetables, and layered fruit/yogurt cups. Was the solarium completely enclosed? Or was it like on the Voyager class where it's covered but not enclosed? http://cruisemaster.typepad.com/phot...oasis-057.html http://cruisemaster.typepad.com/phot...oasis-060.html Partially enclosed. Solid windows from floor to ceiling all the way around, but parts of the ceiling are open. -- George Leppla Countryside Travel http://www.CruiseMaster.com Blog http://cruisemaster.typepad.com/my_weblog/ Facebook http://www.facebook.com/CruiseMaster |
#4
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Oasis of the Seas trip report
Thanks for the report.
I imagine it was a great cruise considering it was about 46.6% capacity. I wonder what the reports will be like when they have around 6,000 passengers. |
#5
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Oasis of the Seas trip report
George Leppla wrote:
This promises to be long.... so grab a beverage or your choice and dig in, or hit the "next" key and move on. As it turns out, I got two invitations to go on the Oasis of the Seas. I belong to a travel agent consortium and they were combining their yearly meeting with the first two day intro sailing departing on November 20. I accepted this invitation although I wasn't sure I would be able to go due to scheduling problems and frankly, I don't like traveling so far just for a two day cruise. But then, this was the OASIS and I really wanted to see her. Then... I got an invitation from Royal Caribbean to go on the second two day cruise. Again, scheduling problems. Bottom line is that I was able to go but only at the last minute and airfares were out of the question, so we had to drive. That added two days to each end of the trip so we ended up doing the consortium meetings and the original 2 night cruise and did not go on the second 2 night cruise. It worked out well. I won't bore you with details of the consortium meetings but I did manage to grab the ear of a few suppliers and have some interesting talks. The rep from Viking River Cruise Lines took 8 of us to dinner at the W hotel steakhouse... 954. It was excellent and I am very glad I wasn't paying that bill. They had a Kobe Steak on the menu for $235. We were a bit more restrained in our ordering. Pier 18 - the new cruise terminal at Port Everglades is everything they said it would be. Going through the doors, you can go left or right, immediately through security. If I recall correctly, there are 6 security stations on each side. Once past Security, you are in the main check-in area. The check-in desks are arranged in a "V" shape in the center of the room and there are 45 stations on each side. Flat screen TV monitors tell you which line to use, sorting people by which deck their cabin is on. We were on Deck 12 and there were 6 station for that deck. Once you go through the check-in procedure, you go up the escalator or elevator to a waiting area (assuming the ship; is not ready to board). There is seating there for 3000 people and a play area for children and a lounge area for Suite passengers. http://cruisemaster.typepad.com/phot...oasis-003.html http://cruisemaster.typepad.com/phot...oasis-005.html http://cruisemaster.typepad.com/phot...oasis-008.html At check-in, they take your photo right there so when you board the ship, all you do is put your sail and sign card in the reader and go. A LOT of the people working that day were new on the job. The Oasis was late getting into the pier that morning because of broadcasting for Good Morning America so we had to wait about an hour and a half before boarding the ship. Finally... we were among the first 50 people to board the Oasis of the Seas. I am not going to describe the ship or the various rooms. There have been a zillion conversations about this and another zillion pictures. If you would like to see the photos I took, look at http://cruisemaster.typepad.com/photos/oasis/index.html What I will try to do is point out some new things, plusses and minuses and general impressions. This two night cruise was to be a "soft opening" for the ship. This is where they operate at less then full capacity in an effort to get the ship and crew up to speed. There were only 2800 invited guests on this sailing so I felt pretty pleased to be a part of the first group. Aside from travel agents, there were a few Crown and Anchor people onboard. The criteria was that they had a minimum of 50 Royal Caribbean cruises under their belt... and it was announced that one couple had 150 cruises. Of course, being first has good points and bad. The good is that there were only 2800 people on a ship that will hold over 6000. We never saw a crowd, never waited in line for anything and since all the drinks were free and the bar staff was at full level, we never waited for a drink. I can only guess, but I don't think that this ship will feel crowded with a full compliment of passengers. There was a whole LOT of empty space with 2800 passengers..... it actually felt a bit strange at times. I expected the Oasis to "feel" huge and I was pleasantly mistaken. The concept of "neighborhoods" effectively creates smaller, self contained areas of the ship that have their own distinct personality. Surprisingly, the lounges and bars were pretty small, but there are a LOT of them all over the ship. Not everything on the ship was ready for us. The information manual in each cabin... wasn't there yet. Cabin service consisted of making the bed and changing towels, no ice service, no room service was available. The photo shop wasn't operational yet. They were working on the Aqua Theater. The cabin looks typical, but the doors to the cabin open outward into the hallway instead of inward into the cabin. The shower has a movable European shower head, but you can not adjust the height of the shower head, it is in a fixed position. They do not have a clothes dryer cord in the shower, they have two hooks. They do have shelves and drawers in the bathroom, but of course they are small. They have a couple of outlets in the cabin, but they are located under the desk, which will make it hard for the handicapped or elderly people to reach. I don't know what they were thinking when they designed this but it stinks. Bring a 3-way plug and an extension cord or a power strip. http://cruisemaster.typepad.com/phot...oasis-214.html Dinner the first night was a mess. There was only one seating at 7:30 and dinner took almost 3 hours. I think this was he first full-scale seating they attempted and it showed. As we left the dining room, one service area looked like a bomb zone... a far cry from the neat and efficient stations you are used to seeing. The second night.... MUCH better! Service was almost as good as you would expect from a seasoned crew. Things like this do not bother me. I know how hard it is to get any new business up to full working speed, and a cruise ship isn't any exception. INNOVATIONS: Sail and Sign Cards - Your Sail and Sign card takes on a whole new importance on the Oasis of the Seas. Before your even leave home, you can make reservations for shows and dinner reservations online. You aren't issued any tickets.... you just show up when you are supposed to and ship's crew with hand held scanners scan your card and confirm your reservation. Very simple, very fast, nothing to it. All the muster stations for safety drill are in lounges. When you arrive, your card is scanned. You do not have to bring your life vest to the safety drill, in fact, there weren't any life vests in our cabin. They are all stored at the muster stations. Also, your muster station location is printed on your Sail and Sign card. This is the most pleasant way to do a safety drill that I have ever seen. You can also use your sail and sign card to purchase wine from a vending machine that is outside the dining room. http://cruisemaster.typepad.com/phot...oasis-125.html Also, on your Sign and Sail card is a number for your photos. Our number was 6-44 (tower #4, slot #44) You go to the photo shop, find your tower and slot number and your photos will be there in a folder. You find them instantly, no more looking through hundreds of photos for yours. INNOVATIONS - Interactive Information Displays. Near many of the elevators is a touch screen, interactive monitor display. On it, you can see on a deck plan where you are and touch the location of any venue on the ship and it will map directions telling you how to get there. You can enter your stateroom number and it will map out how you should get there. http://cruisemaster.typepad.com/phot...oasis-069.html http://cruisemaster.typepad.com/phot...oasis-070.html You can pull up the daily schedule. http://cruisemaster.typepad.com/phot...oasis-065.html You can check out how busy various restaurants are! Really... you can look at a graphic display that shows the occupancy level of every restaurant on the ship at that moment. INNOVATIONS - It appears that you will be able to access the internet on your TV in your cabin. This looks like the system already in place in a lot of hotels,,, the keyboards were in the cabins but the system was not operational yet. Add to that the WiFi capabilities of the ship and the internet "cafe" is almost unnecessary. Royal Caribbean is thinking that way, because the internet room is tiny, out of the way and has only 5 stations. The big ship is even more impressive because of small things. I was very happy and surprised with the amount of small details that I found in the design of the ship. There are small details on light fixtures, signs hidden in amongst the plants telling you what they are. http://cruisemaster.typepad.com/phot...oasis-152.html There are numerous hand-washing stations located outside of most of the eating venues and they are pretty attractive. http://cruisemaster.typepad.com/phot...oasis-165.html Small wonders... a number of displays that you view through special telescopic viewers. These are scattered throughout the ship; and are very interesting. http://cruisemaster.typepad.com/phot...oasis-122.html The Solarium is 2-stories tall with plenty of rattan chairs and ottomans, plus they have chaise lounges and those big, round seats tjat are big enough for two people, like they had on the Solstice. The Solarium has its own eating area, with turkey bacon, turkey sausage, grilled vegetables, and layered fruit/yogurt cups. Disappointments..... I have only two. I had expected to see a show at the Aqua Theater and didn't. They had it operational for the Good Morning America taping, but they drained the pool and there were a lot of construction-type people working on and in it both days. I also wanted to see the show "Hairspray" which Royal Caribbean has been touting... but they didn't run that while we were onboard either. If you hung in there through all this, there is one more photo I would like you to see. http://cruisemaster.typepad.com/phot.../magcover.html Getting off the ship Sunday morning was easy. They cleared the ship at 7:20 and we walked off. Since it was a two night cruise to nowhere, we only had a couple of light bags and there was no Customs to deal with. We were on the road by 7:35 and had an uneventful trip home. Nice review, George, and you're looking pretty nifty on that magazine cover. Ermalee |
#6
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Oasis of the Seas trip report
On Thu, 26 Nov 2009 10:20:09 -0600, George Leppla
wrote: This promises to be long.... so grab a beverage or your choice and dig in, or hit the "next" key and move on. George, We couldn't make it ( Actually just felt overwhelmed with Thanksgiving and turning around to drive 5 hours to FLL) So you have provided the next best thing to being there. Thank you! I am not sure that I will find myself there any day soon, but I have clients who will probably love it! Joseph Coulter Joseph Coulter Cruises and Vacations www.josephcoulter.com |
#7
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Joseph Coulter
www.josephcoulter.com Joseph Coulter, what's going on with your website? ost of it isn't working for me. I get the 404 error |
#8
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Joseph Coulter
On Sat, 28 Nov 2009 19:45:40 -0500, frijoli wrote:
www.josephcoulter.com Joseph Coulter, what's going on with your website? ost of it isn't working for me. I get the 404 error It is under construction but the main page works for me in Firefox and IE. I appreciate the feedback however. you might try http://downunderanswers.josephcoulter.com just for kicks! Again thank you for the heads up. Joseph Coulter Joseph Coulter Cruises and Vacations www.josephcoulter.com |
#10
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Joseph Coulter
Joseph Coulter wrote:
On Sat, 28 Nov 2009 19:45:40 -0500, frijoli wrote: www.josephcoulter.com Joseph Coulter, what's going on with your website? ost of it isn't working for me. I get the 404 error It is under construction but the main page works for me in Firefox and IE. I appreciate the feedback however. you might try http://downunderanswers.josephcoulter.com just for kicks! that doesn't work either did you mean, http://adventuresdownunder.josephcoulter.com |
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