Fantasy vs. RCCL Oasis?

[Blessed_wth_Triplets]

Hello! Went on our first family cruise with our four kids (12, 13, 14, 7) on the Wonder recently and had a nice time.

Loved: food, entertainment, Disney charm and service
Didn't love: pools or ports, ship wasn't super impressive

I am debating on trying the Oasis Eastern cruise for next year, or the DCL Fantasy - Western - although I didn't love Cozumel or Castaway Cay all that much - beautiful, yes, but felt it was better for little kids and didn't have any waves/ocean experience, if that makes sense.

Is the Oasis too big? How is the food? My husband and I were on a Mediterranean cruise on RCCL last year and the food wasn't very good and by the end of the week I couldn't wait for a decent meal. I would love to hear your thoughts and experiences. Thank you!

 

[ludari]

Hello! Went on our first family cruise with our four kids (12, 13, 14, 7) on the Wonder recently and had a nice time.

Loved: food, entertainment, Disney charm and service
Didn't love: pools or ports, ship wasn't super impressive

I am debating on trying the Oasis Eastern cruise for next year, or the DCL Fantasy - Western - although I didn't love Cozumel or Castaway Cay all that much - beautiful, yes, but felt it was better for little kids and didn't have any waves/ocean experience, if that makes sense.

Is the Oasis too big? How is the food? My husband and I were on a Mediterranean cruise on RCCL last year and the food wasn't very good and by the end of the week I couldn't wait for a decent meal. I would love to hear your thoughts and experiences. Thank you!

In January I sailed on my first RCCL cruise on the Anthem of the Seas which is part of the Quantum Class (I know that Oasis is a bigger ship) and before that RCCL cruise I have sailed on DCL 8 different times. I also was extremely happy with the price of my RCCL compared to DCL.
I didn't cruise with any kids but at least on the Anthem there seemed to be a lot of activities (surfing, skydiving, bumper cars, roller skating, etc) for kids and adults which Disney simply does not do. The Anthem also had better/bigger pools than DCL and their private island in Haiti did have waves although it did lack the charm that Castaway Cay has but the food on their island was not good at all IMHO.

The MDR restaurants on the Anthem where okay but I would have to say that Disney's food was better. I also tried many of the specialty restaurants on the Anthem and some where outstanding like the Chef's Table, Wonderland and Jamie's Italian (which was my favorite).
The Anthem was a very large ship in comparison to DCL ships and I have been on all of the Disney ships but I was able to learn the layout of the ship pretty fast and I had 12 days to get used to it.

I didn't like the store sales and the various stores pushing their wares that seemed to happen everyday and the entertainment was horrible. The service that RCCL provided was below what I was used to receive when sailing with Disney. If you are more interested in the ships destination, ship activities and cost saving than maybe you should consider RCCL. As for me the two most important things are the service and entertainment that have me sticking with Disney.

 

[Blessed_wth_Triplets]

Thank you for the feedback!

 

[soniam]

I haven't been on RCCL in a while or on Oasis. However, RCCL generally has larger pools. That was one of our complaints about Fantasy in 2014. As for the private islands, we have done Coco Cay and Labadee, Haiti, on RCCL and Castaway Cay on DCL. None of them had much wave action, but I guess Labadee has the most. Labadee bothers most people though. You are actually on the island of Haiti, so it's not really a private "island", and RCCL does not own it. If you go far enough from the main area, you will see armed guards. We didn't think it was that great. Castaway Cay is our favorite by far; however, the snorkeling on Coco Cay was really great, like comparable to Grand Caymen, just right off the beach. That's where we got hooked on it. I really like the RCCL prices; however, I think DCL offers a better kids experience, at least for our DS10. The dining rooms are more interesting, especially for kids, and the kids clubs are great. RCCL seems to have more physical activities though, like the flo-rider. DCL has awesome movies, and the shows are better. We usually don't like the shows but actually enjoyed some on DCL. Sometimes, the RCCL comedians are a little adult, which some may not like. I really like that there's not a casino on DCL, because that means no cigarette smoke. I am allergic to it. I don't mind gambling though. The drink of the day is usually better on RCCL. Remy probably beats any up-charge dining on the main cruise companies, maybe even some of the more upscale ones too.

EDIT: We plan on booking DCL Fantasy again for summer 2017 Western Caribbean 7 night. I would look at the excursion options for Eastern. We did Eastern before our son was born. I don't feel the activities at the ports are as kid friendly as Western Caribbean. It mainly seemed like shopping and rum boats; whereas, Western has the underground caves at Cozumel, snorkeling, Dunn's River Falls.

 

[engle]

I sailed the Oasis and have also been on 6 DCL cruises. I LOVED the Oasis. Yes it's big but not too big. We always had something new to see and do. And the great food options endless...stay out of the mdr and do specialty restaurants and other included food options. We found the food on par or better than DCL although Palo still ranks as the best cruise specialty restaurant I have ever eaten at. We love cruising so we always have a great time. Like I said we LOVED the Oasis but we go back to DCL because the smallness is nice...seeing the same people and getting to know staff.

 

[jenf22]

Here is a very long trip report that may help you. I did not write it, but I've looked through it and it has me sold on an Oasis-class cruise sometime in the future!

http://www.disboards.com/threads/sh...ce-aboard-allure-of-the-seas-9-18-25.2810383/

 

[kstaack]

Here is the trip report from our last trip on Oasis of the Seas. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2222382

I love the Oasis class ships. They are huge, and have tons of activities. I highly recommended checking them out.

 

[mystifyny]

We have been on 4 Disney cruises and now 3 RCCL cruises. We were just on the Oasis over Easter. Here are my thoughts. Disney by far has the better product. With that said it is 50-100% the price difference better? Not so sure.

If you booked the Oasis you would definitely have a good time. But knowing what I know now about the Oasis I would have picked a different cabin location. We had booked a boardwalk balcony room because of the uniqueness of it. It was nice but I think I would have had a different cruise experience if I booked an ocean view balcony. On a 7 day cruise I think we went 3-4 days without ever seeing the ocean. The Oasis has the most Ocean view Balcony's Where the fantasy has a lot of windows. So if you are near the shops or walking to dinner there are windows everywhere where you can see the ocean. The Oasis everything happens inside the ship unless you are on the pool deck.

Also the rooms are a lot smaller. We had a cabin that slept 3 and most of those cabins have the couch that turns into a bed. The bed is the size of a full size bed so the son loved that however when the bed was out you only had about 1 1/2 inches between the dresser and the bed making it impossible to get to the balcony unless you crawled over the bed. It really was not Ideal.

As far as the food goes we opted to try 3 of their specialty restaurants. I don't think I will do that again. The food in the MDR was on par and the extra costs were not worth it to us. To be honest the Disney MDR choices for the adults was a bit better. RCCL had lots of Duck and Lamb. However my son liked the food on RCCL a lot better. Every night he got a steak and plain noodles with a plate of carrots and broccoli. My son is 10. On the Disney cruise he wanted plain noodles and he had a hard time just getting that. So Rccl was a lot more accommodating for him. As for the buffets Disney won that hands down.

RCCL does more nickle and diming than Disney so be prepared for that.

When we book the larger RCCL ships again I would go for an Ocean view Balcony room with a Pullman bed. Because when I am on a cruise I would still like to see the ocean every day! I believe if I had that I would say Disney and the Oasis would have been a lot closer in the comparison.

 

[runskyhy]

I sailed the Oasis and have also been on 6 DCL cruises. I LOVED the Oasis. Yes it's big but not too big. We always had something new to see and do. And the great food options endless...stay out of the mdr and do specialty restaurants and other included food options. We found the food on par or better than DCL although Palo still ranks as the best cruise specialty restaurant I have ever eaten at. We love cruising so we always have a great time. Like I said we LOVED the Oasis but we go back to DCL because the smallness is nice...seeing the same people and getting to know staff.

Agree with all of this. There is a link to a summary of our Oasis cruise in my signature. Have a great vacation!

 

[tinkerone]

Here is a GREAT review by Gambee on his recent trip on the oasis. Tons of pictures. His reviews are very complete so take a moment to look.
http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2337996

We have a cruise booked on Oasis (our first) for this coming October. Haven't stepped aboard her yet but looking at all the reviews, and to be honest, the price difference, we have booked a b2b on her for next October. I'm excited to try something new.

 

[kstaack]

I agree with some of the nickel and diming comment. However, Disney does the same thing....its just included in the cost of your cabin. So this way you only pay for what you want.

I however disagree with the comment on the main dining room. I think the food in the main dining room is ok, but in my opinion I would much rather spend the extra money on the specialty restaurants. Specialty restaurants are head over heals better than the food in the main dining room. On our next cruise with Royal I have already decided that I will never be going to the main dining room.

I also agree....its hard to actually see the ocean on this cruise ship. So book a room with an ocean view.

Read my review on cruise critic. It has lots of pictures and my opinions about almost everything.