Oasis of the Seas Review
First Time Cruiser Review of Oasis of the Seas & Cruising
Rating by category
Additional details
I hope this review is useful to those who have never cruised before, and who are considering a first time cruise on Oasis.
A little background on us: we've (my husband and I) traveled all over Mexico and the Caribbean, and in the last five years we've stayed mostly at all-inclusive resorts, generally adult-only ones in Mexico. So this review will naturally be a comparison of our cruising experiencing compared to a resort vacation. Sorry, can't help it! We are in our late 40's/early 50's and traveled with my sister and her teen daughter. We were all first time cruisers, except for my sister, who had cruised on Carnival back in the early 90's.
We originally were going to take a short Carnival cruise to see if we had sea legs. That short, inexpensive cruise morphed into Oasis of the Seas. In addition to simply enjoying a cruise experience, it was a dress rehearsal to see if we had sea legs for a possible Mediterranean cruise next summer. We discovered we had sea legs, but... we won't be taking that cruise. For various reasons.
Cabin Review
Central Park View Stateroom with Balcony
We had a mid ship Central Park cabin, deck 11, 11617. I think we made the right choice with this cabin, and we chose it because we were afraid of being seasick looking at the ocean while moving. Good move on our part: looking at the ocean was a bit disorienting, and looking at Central Park helped us tremendously. Plus at night, the Park is the prettiest venue on the ship.
Our cabin was small, but cozy, clean, and very well appointed. Our bed was near the closet: my sister's cabin 11615 had the bed near the balcony. Lots of closet space, and a small safe that would fit an iPad but not anything more than a notebook. I am a fairly thin, normal woman, and the shower was very narrow. I expected that so no worries. But it is really small, if you haven't ever been on a cruise ship. One downfall of our location is the noise during the day. If you are seeking peace and quiet on your balcony, forget it. The pool deck is 4 decks above you if you are on Deck 11 and it is noisy during the day. Very noisy. Announcements, a calypso band, kids yelling, games. This was the thing I disliked the most about the cruise: the pool deck (more on that later). I loved the balcony in the early AM and at night. 11617 is next to the plant wall on one side, so... only neighbors on one side. The plant wall has, well, plants and they don't make noise.