After a stroll through town, a visit to the Straw Market, and a less-than-worthwhile visit to the Pirate Museum, we headed back to the ship. We had no desire to visit Paradise Island. We did want to visit Potter's Cay for some native flavor but our ship arrived at 7:00 am and left at 2:00, which didn't allow much time for activities, espcially when we didn't want to try for an early 7:00 exit. We did not do any excursions.

Nassau

We shopped in town and got better prices (Ballerina's) than on the ship for the specific jewelry and watches we wanted. Then took an open-air jitney bus tour (booked independently - $25/person), which is highly recommended to get a flavor for the entire island. Especially interesting were the mountain top views of the cruise port, Magens Bay, Red Hook, and St. Croix (on a good day -- ours was hazy) and the roller-coaster narrow roads with crazy motorcycle drivers.

The Crown Bay port (for big ships) is not yet well developed and had few shops. A short taxi ride into town ($4/person) solved that problem.

We didn't have time to sample any native food in restaurants on the island. Wish we had. I would have liked to stay about 48 hours instead of the 8 hours or so.

St. Thomas

This was the favorite of our ports (Nassau, St. Thomas, St. Maaren). 

We booked a tour (Bernard's Tours) online before our trip and thoroughly enjoyed seeing the entire island, including the French side. We made a one-hour lunch/shopping stop in Marigot, the French-side capitol. Very enjoyable. Another extended stop was at a beautiful beach resort. And another at a duck pond around which there were dozens of friendly (eat out your hand) iguanas.

However, the highlight of the tour was a one-hour stop at the famous Sunset Bar & Grill at Maho Beach to watch giant airliners land low over the beach at the international airport, and watch people hang on to the fence as planes took off. 

Our driver, John, had a cooler in the van with complimentary refreshments which included soda, water, beer, and his own rum punch (the best). 

Unfortunately, the tour was so long that we didn't have time to shop in downtown Philipsburg before returning to the ship. Maybe next time. However, there were a number of good shops at the cruise pier.

St. Maarten

Great location for balcony room, Deck 11, forward, starboard side (for watching port arrivals/departures/activities).

Room was smallish but not a problem. Plenty of closet space, lots of hangers, bag storage space under bed. Bathroom smallish, but functional and not a problem. Rooms were very quiet, even off the elevator hallway.

Air conditioning system and controls worked very well. Beds were very comfortable. Only two electrical outlets "hidden" under side of desk.

Nice large flat-screen TV. Decent channel selection.

WiFi operation in room was terrible. Could get connection only about 10% of time.

Toilet malfunctioned once. A call to services got it fixed in about 10 minutes.

- We were a bit surprised at amount of ship movement felt in our room (forward, deck 11) during a day and a half of sunny but windy, lightly swelling seas -- more than the three hours on the Freedom last year.- From our perspective, the Oasis was much more crowded than the Freedom last year.

Oasis of the Seas Review

Oasis of the Seas - Magnificent Ship

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Superior Ocean View Stateroom with Balcony

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