Oasis of the Seas - Lessons Learned

Our cruise journey began from Port Canaveral, which has risen in popularity among numerous cruise lines, becoming the most utilized cruise port in the United States. Here are some of the cruise lines currently enjoying Port Canaveral's facilities:

• Carnival Cruise Line
• Disney Cruise Line
• Royal Caribbean
• Norwegian Cruise Lines
• MSC Cruises

To view the complete list of Cruise Lines utilizing Port Canaveral, visit the Port Canaveral Website.

Overall we had a fantastic time; The ship had a lot of interesting things to do and there were venues for everyone. There were varied food choices to accommodate all types of palates. You could choose healthy foods, vegetables and proteins or eat lots of carbs and desserts. There were quality shows that were unique and varied (everything from ice skating to comedy to broadway shows and even a show with high divers and acrobats). If you were to see these shows individually in your home town it would be very expensive. The level of talent was consistently very high. The list of activities each day was huge and is listed in the daily briefing paper. If you didn’t have fun on the ship you weren’t trying hard hard enough.

And without further ado here are the things that we learned while onboard the Oasis of the Seas.

• Embarkation:  Get there in the early middle of the boarding time. If you get there too early you’ll be waiting for a long time (the ship is being cleaned prior to allowing passengers to board). If you get there too late you might not get a reasonable parking spot. Be prepared to be seated and chill to wait for your boarding number to be called.
• The Oasis of the Seas at a glance:  The ship is so big that it takes time to learn your way around. We discovered new things even on the last day. There are a number of articles about getting around, so maybe surf Google for specifics? The majority of the interesting things are on levels 5, 6, 8, 15, and 16. Decks 15 and 16 are where you will find the hot tubs and pools, buffet dining. the Solarium is forward & the Windjammer is aft. Sports (Basketball court, mini-golf, zipline, ping pong and Flow Rider) are at the stern. Promenade mall area on deck 5, Gym on 5 and 6. Each of the elevator areas all have a good list (mounted on the wall) of what there is and where to find it.
• Debarkation:  Debark in the middle of the announced time frame, and keep in mind that the starting time may well vary, or be delayed. People who go early can wait in lines that queue up on the promenade deck and it can be very confusing. If you wait until the early birds escape it will be less hassle. We departed about an hour after the advertised wait time and it worked out perfectly.
• Shore Excursions:  Research each port and things to do before you go. The cruise ships have special deals with certain activities and sometimes won’t show you everything there is to do. We experienced the steepest zip line in the world because we did our own research about what was available on St. Maarten (the Flying Dutchman)
• Ship's Gym:  Crowds ebbed and flowed - The crowd ramps up in the morning and then falls off again. Go while people are generally eating if you don’t want the crowds. It was never too crowded to get a good workout.
• Taxis on a Caribbean Island:  These can take a while because the traffic gets thick and “we’ll get there when we get there, it depends on the traffic man!” Our kids left twice the amount of time needed and almost didn’t make it.
• Windjammer Cafe:  Don’t arrive before it opens. Wait for 20-30 minutes after it opens to avoid lines.
• Ship's Staff:  The staff doesn’t always know answers to questions outside of the area that they work in. Staff misinformation about reserving restaurants and other things, like whether there is a pool table on board.(there is not by the way).
• Communications with your Group:  It’s difficult to communicate with members of your party on board. Bring walkie-talkies, because it’s difficult to find people on board due to the ship size. Take a look at the advertisement below this area for the kind of device that we wished we had brought.
• Crowds:  Due to the number of venues, restaurants and activities we didn’t find the crowds to be any worse than any other ship we’ve ever been on.
• Shows:  Go ahead and go to a show even if you didn’t book it. They release the seating to people without reservation 15 minutes before they start. We never had a problem getting a seat.
• Casino:  When you win get up and walk away (LOL). Tables start at $10.
• Drinking Onboard:  You are allowed to bring two bottles of wine (per room). Bring your wine and if traveling with friends who don’t drink wine - have them bring two more for you!
• Water Bottle:  Bring a water bottle with you. You can fill it at any of the ship's "water stations" or use the cups they provide.
• Visiting Atlantis on Nassau:  Go there on your own. If you take the ship's excursion, it will get you there before the water park opens and you will have to wait for at least an hour.
• A fun night club: "Dazzles" (located aft on Decks 8 and 9 in between Central Park and the Boardwalk). Small dance floor, and an energetic band each night.
• Best things to do on the Oasis of the Seas: We would suggest that the pools are in our top five things to do. In addition; the Flow Rider, the Zipline, the Arcade, and the ice cream is free near the pool area on the opposite side of deck 15. The Entertainment deserves a special mention, as it was good and felt like we were at a Broadway Play.

Because the Oasis of the Seas is so large, and has so many different places where anyone in your group could find lounges to soak up the sun, what you really need (and what we wish we had brought with us) is a set of walkie-talkies portable radios that would allow anyone in your group to quickly locate anyone else.

Here is a link to Amazon to help you search for walkie-talkies that would take care of your group communication needs, click here to do a search on Amazon. You should consider only the "long range" type of wireless radio, because the ship is so large.

Advantages

• Huge amount of things to do and see
• Lots of shows and venues each night
• Difficult to get bored when there are so many activities
• More of everything - food options, more pools, more activities, more places to hang out, restaurants.
• Large gym and walking track (2.4 laps around the ship equals one mile)
• Crowds are controlled by having so many choices, people are spread out across the ship
• Large casino
• Crowds dispersed nicely
• There are 14 cabin categories available; the largest is the "Royal Loft Suite" at 1,599 square feet with a 879 square foot balcony. The smallest are the "Q category" 140 square foot "interior cabins". For a complete description of all cabins and sizes click here

Disadvantages

• More difficult to meet people because you don’t really see anyone twice due to the size of the ship.
• More people (if you don’t like more people).
• Ship size precludes getting to all locations due to it’s size.
• Sometimes it was crowded getting off the ship and larger crowds on shore due to the number of people onboard.
• Staff doesn’t know answers to questions outside of the area they work in.
• Ship overall size is somewhat overwhelming.
• Can be difficult to find your group, or to find a seat or lounge.
• Popular areas are always going to be crowded, it is essential to get there as early as you can.

The Kudos

• No saving (or reserving) chairs (signs everywhere!).
• Towels tracked (by your Cruise Card) so people don’t leave them on chairs.
• Staff is very accommodating and pleasant.
• The ship is very well kept, clean.
• Comfortable rooms and beds.
• Crowds managed nicely in the buffet.
• Rooms/bathrooms are well designed. There is room for everything you need.
• Food is good. There are lots of choices to accommodate all types of palates. You can choose healthy vegetables and proteins or eat lots of carbs but the flavors were nice at the buffet. The biggest downside is the crowd. We think the food is several steps above Carnival Cruise line food.
• Royal Caribbean says; If a pool chair is left unattended for more than 30 minutes with no signs of any guests returning, ship's crew will remove any belongings and place them in the lost and found. This is a valid attempt to preclude "chair hogs".

The Nits

• Price of drinks are incredibly high, example; The bars do not have bananas, but if you wanted a banana daiquiri they will make it for you if you bring them the bananas. Two banana daiquiris for $34 (even though they were good) seems way pricey! We don’t drink enough to warrant the drink package so we ended up really not drinking much at all due to the cost.
• A lot of things cost extra and if you didn’t want to pay extra it reduced the number of things to do.
• No internet packages for less than a day makes it too costly to indulge. Currently their "Voom Surf Voyage" option is priced at $15.99 per day/per device. The issue (besides being expensive) is that the internet connection is via satellite and is subject to weather conditions and is not very fast.
• Not being able to bring water on board is annoying - although water on the ship was fine and many of the "water stations" could accommodate a water flask.
• Staff misinformation about reserving restaurants and other things like whether there is a pool table on board. Staff know about the areas they work in, but not necessarily other areas of the ship.

• It’s difficult to communicate with members of your party on board. The Royal Caribbean app for your phone should have a messaging (perhaps SMS) function to allow families to communicate better even if they don’t purchase internet. Yes there is a phone system for cabin-to-cabin voice or messaging, but if your party is out on the deck somewhere, you have no way to reach them, so you have to search for them. There were many times when we didn’t find our family members all day long. To be completely fair, there does seem to be a product being developed by Royal Caribbean that will use RFID to locate members of your group, called WOW Bands. We were not offered this on the Oasis of the Seas, so it isn't clear whether or not the service is operational. Update: And now Royal Caribbean is backing away from the WOW Bands and going with a new App called "Excalibur". Click here to read their press release and their thinking behind it.
• Internet - it would be nice if they had packages by the hour or half day rather than full day only.
• Please continue those high quality shows!

• Try to relax and lose the stress of it all in the first day. It will take some time to get used to the ship and where to go but try to lighten up and enjoy the process of it all. Take a break from technology and social media. Disconnect from your devices and relish the opportunity to truly be present and unwind.
• Specialty Dining; We took advantage of the Royal Caribbean "buy one - get one" (BOGO) dining option which allowed us to eat at specialty restaurants two nights in a row for the price of one. It had to be used in the first two nights (depending on who you spoke with) but was very much worth it. Apparently not as many people book the first two nights so this is a good deal and worth it if you plan to do specialty dining.
• Make show reservations early even if you want to change your mind. However - go ahead and try to go to a show even if you don’t have reservations. They release the venue to people without reservations 15 minutes before the show starts and most shows seemed to have space.
• Check to see if you have the international cell phone package with your provider prior to leaving. That way you can use it when in port and likely pay less than what the ship would cost you for internet. For example the AT&T family plans offer a $10 per day international option for many countries and locations. We used it in St. Maarten.
• Research destinations before you get there. It’s difficult to research on board as the ship information about a destination is geared toward the ships offerings. If you want to see things the ship doesn’t offer you should research before you go. We did the Steepest zip line in the world based on research prior to getting off of the ship.
• If you have a Starbucks addiction bring your Starbucks gold card - it will work on the ship.
• Go to the gym early or while everyone else is eating at the traditional breakfast time.
• Don’t forget to relax! Remember, relaxation is personal, so find what works best for you. Whether it's soaking up the sun, indulging in a spa treatment, or simply enjoying the peace and quiet of your balcony, a cruise can be the perfect escape for rest and rejuvenation.
• Royal Caribbean now offers a number of cell-phone Apps to facilitate your communications needs. Click here to read the Royal Caribbean article about their Apps.

• Royal Caribbean allows its passengers to bring up to two bottles of wine per cabin onboard on embarkation day. Each bottle of wine may be up to 750ml in size and should be brought on in your carry-on luggage. This would allow you to save money on drinks.
• If you plan to drink frequently, then get the drink package. However, if you don’t plan to drink at least 4-5 drinks per day, the drink package would be too expensive. Members of our family group did obtain the drink package and they felt that they saved money by doing so.
• Parking at Port Canaveral; it is worth paying the money to park right next the ship. The last thing we wanted to do when we disembarked was to wait in another line. Yes, there are less expensive parking lots further west on route 528, but the Royal Caribbean parking garage isn't that much more expensive.

The following statistics came (in part) from our friends at Cruise Critic.

• The Oasis of the Seas is 1,184 feet long, 208 feet wide, has a 30 foot draft and is 213 feet high above the waterline. In comparison, the original Panama Canal locks are 110 feet wide and 1,000 feet long. Even the new Panama Canal locks are but 180 feet in width, so clearly this ship will probably never be found in the Pacific Ocean - unless it goes around either Africa or South America!
• The ship contains 3,300 miles of electrical cables -- roughly the width of the U.S.
• The ship has the longest jogging track at sea; one lap around the track will be 0.43 miles – 2.4 laps will equal a mile.
• 110,231 pounds of ice cubes are made daily.
• Central Park has 12,500 plants, 62 vine plants, 56 trees and bamboo.
• The AquaTheater pool is 17.9 feet deep and is one of the largest pools at sea, it is in fact, the deepest pool of any cruise ship in the world.
• The unique Rising Tide bar – the first ever moving bar at sea – is an engineering feat that allow vacationers to enjoy a cocktail as they slowly ascend and descend three decks, between Royal Promenade (deck 5) and Central Park (deck 8).
• 4.7 million pounds (564,000 gallons) of fresh water are consumed every 24 hours.
• 5,070,632 lbs. (2,300 tonnes) of water in 21 swimming pools and whirlpools.
• The ship has 7,000 works of specially commissioned artwork.
• There are 20 chefs, 222 cooks and 102 sanitation and cleaning culinary crew.
• All breads and pastries are made fresh onboard. The bakery has a machine that makes 4,000 rolls an hour.
• Consumption in an average week: 15,600 pounds of beef; 16,000 pounds of chicken; 18,000 pounds of potatoes; 8,000 gallons of ice cream; 10,200 bottles of beer; 86,400 eggs; 45,000 pounds of fresh fruit; 62,000 pounds of fresh vegetables; 2,225 bottles of wine; 3,500 bottles of water; and 18,000 slices of pizza.
• Royal Caribbean (RCCL) now has constructed a total of 6 ships for the Oasis class; Harmony, Allure, Symphony, Oasis, Wonder and Utopia of the Seas (as of March 2024). The Utopia of the Seas will be launched in June 2024.

Throughout this narrative, we will make comparisons between Norwegian & Royal Caribbean where it would be appropriate. If you would like to read about our cruise on the Norwegian Epic, click here - or - Click here if you are interested in a comparison of the Norwegian Epic and RCCL Oasis of the Seas dimensions & specifications.

• There are a certain number of people that feel that the Oasis class ships are "too big", however, we did not find that to be the case. We felt that the size of the ship allowed for a wider separation of crowds. For example, at meal times, with so many choices, no one place was over crowded. Yes, if the ship were to anchor and ferry passengers ashore, the size of the ship would cause huge delays in getting off & on. But every port we visited had good docking facilities that could accomodate the Oasis of the Seas.
• Bigger ship means more entertainment and a much larger gym than you will find on the smaller cruise ships.
• Do your own due diligence for excursions in each port. Royal Caribbean is only going to advertise/talk about excursions to places they have arrangements with. This is not a "negative comment" it is just a reminder that you might miss out on something in a port that you could have had fun at.
• Our balcony cabin was very comfortable and a decent size. The bathroom had a "real" shower door and the hot water was plentiful. Our cabin attendant was very friendly and told us repeatedly that if we needed anything to just let him know.