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With so much written and spoken about the new
Oasis of the Seas, I just want to express some
personal and very subjective thoughts and experiences of
the Oasis' first revenue sailing - a 4-night "Labadee
Extravagaza". After staying overnight in a hotel in Fort
Lauderdale we took a cab to Port Everglades' Terminal 18
which was recently renovated to handle the sheer amount
of guests of the Oasis class ships. I was anxious to see
if RCI managed to handle check-in process well. And what
a nice surprise: no lines anywhere and taxi to jumping
onto the bed in our stateroom in a fantastic 17
minutes.
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Central Park |
Central Park |
Resident of Oasis' Pool Deck |
Light detail at Dazzles |
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You board the ship through deck 5 and enter directly into
the Royal Promenade. And here the WOW begins! The spaces on
Oasis definitely are bigger! Although I was expecting a lot,
I never thought the dimensions were that much
increased compared to the Voyager Class. The width of Royal
Promenade, Central Park and Broadwalk is amazing!
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Central Park in full bloom |
Vitaly Spa Café |
Gym |
Schooner Bar |
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Cabin 9633 is a large outside cabin with a window into
Central Park on Deck 9. Unfortunately the window left quite
some room for improving to the cleaning crew. Space
in drawers and bathroom was sufficient but the room to move
around the beds especially when separated proved tight. All
staterooms come equipped with a large flat screen-interactive-TV.
Online services were good though the ship still had some
problems with the internet connectivity during the first
days. And finding a public internet terminal was extremely
difficult. RCI provided a few tucked away tiny rooms with
four or five computers each, but no real Internet Cafe as
seen on other ships.
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Wipeout Café |
Leaving Ft. Lauderdale |
Main Pool |
Sports Pool |
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Talking about food. A big topic on this ship as there
are literally countless options. Windjammer proved a little
crowded during the first one or two days until the
passengers discovered other venues. Like breakfast at Johnny
Rockets sitting open-air in the Boardwalk and watching the
people going by. All with friendly attentive
service. Or the Bistro at the Solarium. A casual buffet spot
by day which becomes a wonderful white clothed place at
night for a served dinner. The 20$ charge is more than
appropriate and I predict this venue will be very popular
once the word is spread. Unfortunately we had no chance to
check out some other specialty restaurants as due to the
short cruise they were all fully booked early - lesson
learned: next time we'll book it online well before the
cruise.
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Rising Tide Bar |
Central Park |
Atrium |
150 Central Park |
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Dazzles at night |
Chops Grille |
Viking Crown Lounge |
Giovanni's Table |
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A word about the main dining room Opus. It is a beautifully
appointed room spanning three decks - still it doesn't feel
that huge. We took the chance to check the "My time Dining"
concept just recently introduced by RCI and providing
guest the top level of the dining room with an open seating.
Still table reservations are taken each day it was a
relatively chaotic start the first night followed by
a rushed four-course dinner in 38 minutes. We tried it again
the forth night and both had very much improved,
organization as well as service.
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Vintages Wine Bar |
At Sea |
Sailing towards Labadee |
Solarium |
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...and beverages: Our aim was to have a drink at every
served bar on the ship. And it looks like we
almost succeeded. We were busy: WipeOut Bar, Mast Bar, Sky
Bar, Deck Bar, Pool Bar, Solarium Bar, Trellis Bar, Viking
Crown Lounge, Dazzles, Broadwalk Bar, Bar at SeafoodCheck,
Blaze, Casino Bar, Schooner Bar, OnAir Bar, Vinatges Wine
Bar, Rising Tide Bar, Globe & Atlas Pub, Boleros to name
some... There are bars for all tastes and moods. But I want
to specially mention Boleros where the two most entertaining
yet professional bar tenders were working I have seen on all
cruises done so far.
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Main Pool |
Full speed ahead |
Blaze Nigthclub |
Looking up from the Royal Promenade |
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Jogging Track |
Boardwalk |
Johnny Rockets |
Rising Tide Bar |
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The Neighborhoods: I have to admit that I was skeptical
about the concept of the different neighborhoods RCI talked
about so much. I have to say they work very well. Different
areas to go to according your preferences and moods. From
the upscale and serene atmosphere in the Central Park to the
street live on the Royal Promenade or the never ending
activities on the sports deck with its flowriders, zip-line,
minigolf and more.
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Royal Promenade |
150 Central Park |
Rock climbing wall |
Aqua Theater |
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Aft terraces |
Royal Promenade |
Opus Dining Room |
Flowrider |
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The Shows: The main showlounge is not much different to
others on the high seas and guests who have sailed the
Voyager class ships will feel familiar with Studio B. The
shows provided here were of the very high quality RCI is
known for. But most spectacular is of course the brand new
AquaTheater. Placed at the stern end of Boardwalk it is
equipped with the largest pool of any ship with a depth of
5,4m. The show -which was in jeopardy of being shown on this
early cruise as training lacked due to bad weather conditions
on the crossing to the States- was simply amazing!
And taking into account that finishing touches were still
missing I can only highly recommend this venue for any
future passenger. Lights, music and the artistic performance
of the divers was fantastic!
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Aqua show |
At sea |
Central Park at night |
High above Central Park |
Labadee: Many readers will know Labadee, RCI's private
retreat on Haiti. Oasis of the Seas was on this trip the first ship
ever to dock at the purposely built pier which is just a few steps from the nice tropical beach area.
Still not really used to the humidity and heat we
decided not to take any adventurous activities and
enjoyed a nice swim in the Caribbean Sea and a cool
drink. How nice it was to think of the loved ones at
home in snowy cold Europe.
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Viking Crown Lounge at night |
Studio B ice show |
Busy times at Bolero's |
Docked at Labadee |
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Comedy Central |
Quiet corner on deck 15 |
Flowrider |
Café Promenade |
Other thoughts: The ship itself is beautifully decorated
in general. With so many different styles and places it
is only normal that one individual will run into places
which he/she doesn't particularly like, but you can
just walk around the corner and have
multiple other venues which match one's desires. Same
goes for the thousands of pieces art onboard. Still I
want to mention my personal favorites: throughout the
whole ship there are "binoculars" installed. When
looking through them you will see completely different
3D-pictures. Lots of fun trying to discover all of
them. Does anybody know how many there are? Oasis of
the Seas is an extremely stable ship though some
vertical shaking is felt through its structure. The
funnels unleash lots of smoke and according to captain
Wright the reason for sailing with the exhaust pipes
down is a test to reduce creation of smoke particles.
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Champagne Bar |
Bridge Wing |
Izumi Asian Restaurant |
Quiet night out on deck |
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RCI has been known
since its beginning for having music running in all areas but the
cabins. While certainly true it never bothered me - until Oasis. There
are places where the music -sometimes combined with the overall noise-
was too loud. The Guest Services facility is located across the Rising
Tide Bar where the noise of the water installation below the bar makes
it very loud, as example. Another aspect I would like to mention is
temperature control. There are areas where it seems the
air-conditioning
is not working at all and around the next corner you freeze away.
In general I have to say it was a fantastic trip on a magnificent
ship. RCI once again showed a lot of imagination, innovation and the
will to provide a wonderful cruise experience to its guests. The
bits and pieces I have mentioned which leave room for improvement
should not be overrated and I am sure RCI is working on them hard.
For the inaugural sailing of a ship of this significance and
dimensions they did a great job! At the end of the day cruising is
all about choices and Oasis offers more than any other ship out
there and all that with a definite wow-factor. Applause!
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York Schreiber is a 32-year old European with a background in shipbuilding
before turning to aviation and embarked on 20+ cruises including five inaugurals on
diverse lines/ships.
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