This was our 3rd cruise but our first with Royal. Our first cruise was what I would consider an old puddle jumper doing 4 days out of Tampa. Our second was a week on Norwegian’s newest ship which was bigger and had far more to do. This time I wanted to do something different and after hearing how grand the Royal Caribbean ships were, we booked our cruise on Oasis. I asked a friend who has cruised on every cruise line and he said "try Oasis and if you don't like it then cruising is probably not for you." He said they had all the activities, the large size and all the amenities you could possibly want in one ship.

We included- me (54) my hubby (60), my daughter age (23), my daughter age (33), grandson (15), grandson (8), granddaughter (1) and relative (57). We booked 3 ocean view midship balconies in anticipation of possible seasickness which several of us are prone to. In light of the fact that we have been known to get dizzy riding even the ferry, we put on patches the night before our cruise and ignored the "the ship is so big you won't even know it is moving" admonishments. By the way we were glad we had the patches but more on that later.

We drove all of us wedged into our Honda Pilot down to Ft. Lauderdale the night before and checked into Hampton Suites Airport Cruise South. The Hampton was great, huge 2 room suites and a great hot breakfast the next morning. The kids were thrilled with the fresh free chocolate chip cookies upon check in. No better way to start a vacation than on a sugar high. Read more