Any fellow Disney cruisers tried RC Oasis of the seas?

[mevelandry]

A few years ago, my wife and I took a week long trip on Allure of the Seas, out of Ft. Lauderdale, which is a sister ship to Oasis. We had an inward facing balcony cabin, overlooking central park. My impression is, that the ship is too darn big! Yes, there are LOTS of places to eat and drink, and lots of decks full of pools and the like, but because there at 5000 passengers on the ship, you have to have a reservation for everything. If you want to drop into the comedy club, you better have a reservation, if you want to see the show at the main showroom, you need a reservation, if you want to do just about anything, you need to have a reservation, and they do check.

Good! Honestly, I prefer the idea of having a reservation. During our cruise last week, for the first two nights shows on the Wonder we ended up with last row seats when arriving 30 mins before the show. On the last night which was Frozen night, we arrived 45 minutes in advance. When they opened the doors it was total chaos! We ended up in the middle of the theater but it wasn't a relaxing experience on our way to get there.

 

[Lita]

We sailed on the Oasis this past February and while it was nice, it didn't wow us. We would rather spend our money on a DCL shiphat we would enjoy much more.

When my 7 year old daughter first saw the kids clubs, she started crying because it looked like school and this was supposed to be vacation. We did try to prepare them with YouTube videos of the clubs, but she wasn't feeling it. It looks like a basic daycare facility and they loved the DCL kids clubs. She ended up enjoying it okay, but it wasn't her preference. My 9 year old enjoyed it but not as much as Disney. I didn't like having to pay in the evenings. Also, the clubs do close during the day. We learned this the hard way when we booked spa appts during their closed hours. Be sure to double check the kids club schedule if you want to do adult only activities.

Dining: The dining options were boring to me. It was on par with Golden Corral. I felt that the quality of the non-upcharge food options are much better on Disney. The Windjammer had no seafood options except for paella and salmon. I was used to the variety of food options and quality in Cabanas such as, lamb chops, crab, various shrimp options, sushi and etc. The dessert options were very limited. I did like that they had Indian options. The MDR food was very boring. We found the DCL MDR menus to have more variety and better quality. You can get better quality cuts of meat on DCL with no upcharge. For example, filet mignon on the Oasis had an upcharge in the MDR it is a regular option on DCL.

We went to most of the shows and we enjoyed them. We did leave Cats mid-way through, but we were tired and it was our first night on the ship. I don't have the endurance to sit through a show that long on a ship. For the remaining shows (aqua, ice skating and etc.), we found the performers to be very talented, but the shows did not really tell a story. I felt that I was just there watching them do these neat things, but it was hard to keep my attention because they were not telling a story. Disney has the art of storytelling down. That is what they do.

We felt like while we had a nice trip on the Oasis, it didn't do it for us. For now, we are sticking with DCL.

 

[mevelandry]

For example, filet mignon on the Oasis had an upcharge in the MDR it is a regular option on DCL.

I was on the Wonder last week. Haven't seen Filet Mignon on the menu but there was a Chateaubriand (which is a nice cut)... ?

With all the money you save on RCCL cruise vs DCL, you can definitely afford the upcharge...

 

[Hope Palmer]

So as we were leaving the port after getting off the Wonder in March, the shuttle driver pointed out the oasis of the seas to us as it was in port at the time. I just put a deposit on a 4 night cruise on the Dream for my 3 year old daughter and myself in September. I decided just to check prices on Royal's website and we could do 7 nights for less than the cost of our 4 night on Disney! I've read comments that there are up charges and they nickel and dime you, so I've been afraid to venture out to try anything different. We've only cruised twice and both times have been with DCL. Would love to hear thoughts or experiences on this, thanks

We have cruised just about every major cruise line out there, including Disney and have found RC to be our cruise line. We have two boys, currently ages 15 and 14, who also like the RC cruise line better than Disney. Although Disney was very family oriented, RC fits our needs better. My husband and I have been on the Oasis alone as well as with our boys. They love the RC activities better than the Disney activities. The ship is beyond huge yet we never felt crowded. Food is served somewhere on the ship 24 hours a day and as for being nickled and dimed... that is your choice. We do not drink alcohol so that was not a problem. We ate to our hearts content, did no excursions and just enjoyed the ship and one another. And, we got our moneys worth! I cannot praise RC enough. My cellphone was stollen on the cruise and the RC staff did everything in their power to help me find it. They also let me use the ship to shore phone, for free, to contact anyone I needed to contact. (my hubby is the one who had my phone when it was taken so he did compensate me quite nicely with a Michael Kors bag) As for overall cost of the RC cruise, we can do a Grand Suite for 7 nights for less than a balcony on Disney.

 

[Lita]

I was on the Wonder last week. Haven't seen Filet Mignon on the menu but there was a Chateaubriand (which is a nice cut)... ?

With all the money you save on RCCL cruise vs DCL, you can definitely afford the upcharge...

I definitely can afford the up charge, but we love all things Disney and felt that we prefer the overall experience of the DCL vacation vs a RCCL vacation. I checked recent menus on the Disneycruiselineblog.com and they had some better cuts of meat and I recall seeing filet mignon. We just left the Oasis cruise feeling underwhelmed. I understand that some people may feel that they can get what they want out of a trip on Royal or on other lines, but we are not there yet. We prefer DCL and that is what we are going to sail until we get sick of it (if we do).

 

[Lita]

For those who did RCCL Oasis (and sister ships), how soon did you have to make the reservations for the shows? Did you have to make them before you boarded? Or did you reserve them once on board (e.g the same day)? Had no idea that you had to reserve shows, but for our family that seems to "plan" everything, we wouldn't mind this--would be nice if you could reserve your seat ahead of time so you wouldn't have to grab a seat 45 minutes before show time I really liked the look and size of the jr. suites but would love to have connecting suites, but on the deck plans, doesn't appear to have too many. And like many have mentioned on previous threads, their website STINKS!!!

The earlier the better. The reservations fill up as you get closer to the sailing date. We were able to make our reservations in December i think for our February cruise.

 

[Lita]

For those who did RCCL Oasis (and sister ships), how soon did you have to make the reservations for the shows? Did you have to make them before you boarded? Or did you reserve them once on board (e.g the same day)? Had no idea that you had to reserve shows, but for our family that seems to "plan" everything, we wouldn't mind this--would be nice if you could reserve your seat ahead of time so you wouldn't have to grab a seat 45 minutes before show time I really liked the look and size of the jr. suites but would love to have connecting suites, but on the deck plans, doesn't appear to have too many. And like many have mentioned on previous threads, their website STINKS!!!

We were in a Jr Suite and while they were not connecting, they were adjoining and we could go from room to room through the balcony. Just have to ask the stateroom host to open it up for you.

 

[elvispursley]

That great to know! Makes me more apt to book the jr. suites. I love how big the balcony is for those rooms! DH absolutely refuses to have any other room type but an outside veranda/balcony and I want a little more space with 5 of us (and MIL traveling with us )

 

[FigmentSpark]

Were you able to leave your balcony doors open on the Oasis or did they also have a policy of closing the doors so a wind tunnel isn't created when the hallway door is opened?

 

[DnA2010]

We've been on Oasis and then on the Fantasy - while we loved our cruise on the Fantasy, we didn't feel it was worth the money...our VGT in the off season was double that of our Oasis cruise...
We found our stateroom host better on Oasis as well as our MDR servers were much better on Oasis and we found the food more interesting and flavourful on Oasis. We liked the shows equally, and although we had reservations (I liked being able to plan ahead) there was always lots of room in the stand by.
DD loved both clubs and liked that there was a bit more structure with activities on Oasis. We didn't like all the computers on the Fantasy in the clubs.
We never found Oasis crowded, despite being full.

Oh and the pools- we couldn't believe the lack of pools on the Fantasy and there was no way my DD was getting in the kid soup of bobbing kids in life jackets staring at the screen. We did love the Aquaduct and Palo.

I hope some day we will do DCL again but reality is I don't see it in our future - we'd rather do more travel for the money

 

[DnA2010]

We recently booked a RCL 7 night cruise for late 2018 with a group of people. We have only ever done disney and there are a few things that have surprised me so far.

#1 the fact that you have to pay for excursions before you go. This is kind of changes the way I need to save
#2 I totally understood you needed to pay for soda and water or buy a drink package. What I was completely unprepared for was the price. My wife and kid do not drink soda at all and I barely drink it so a soda package doesn't make any sense. If we go with the refreshment package which includes coffee, water juices and non alcoholic drinks for 3 people for a 7 night cruise its $644 which is insane. Since you can not bring water like you can on DCL if I want a case delivered to the room it is $80 which makes disneys $35 seem like a bargain.

now that being said even if I add the $644 drink package I'm still about $1200 cheaper then DCL. So we will see.

Ummm why are you even considering the packages If you don't drink pop? Just buy by the glass if you need- that is an option. We brought on water with no issues.

 

[minorthr]

Ummm why are you even considering the packages If you don't drink pop? Just buy by the glass if you need- that is an option. We brought on water with no issues.

Im not considering them now. I was considering the refreshment package for the coffee and water but Im not spending $640 for it. Ive seen a lot of people say they have brought water on board with no issues so we will try that with the expectation it may not make it on board.

 

[mevelandry]

From what I understand, there are water, coffee and lemonade available for free at least in the dining room but feel free to correct me if I am wrong.

On Carnival, I don't buy packages, But I buy enough on board credit to cover drinks and sodas that I might drink outside of the dining room.

 

[John VN]

Our November 2016 Oasis cruise with a last minute upgrade to Jr. Suite was a Dream. The ship size did not bother us although a gentleman we met in an elevator complained that he would never Oasis cruise again because of the size. Not soda or alcohol drinkers so package not an issue neither are the other nickel/dime charges since the pricing is so much lower than DCL.