Although the sheer size of the ship intimidates many passengers, I absolutely loved all the extra amenities and options. The Oasis is so massive that it feels like you are at a large hotel or resort rather than on a ship. We never felt the movement of the ship. When we booked our cruise, we did not even look at the ship's itinerary. We just wanted to experience the ship and the Oasis did not disappoint. Our 7-night Western Caribbean cruise left from Ft Lauderdale, FL and visited Labadee, Haiti, Falmouth, Jamaica and Cozumel, Mexico. The ship is doing something right as each sailing is fully booked our captain told us and on our cruise there were 150 passengers on back-to-back cruises.

As recommended by RCCL, we pre-booked online all our reservations for dinners and shows. I have to admit it took some time for me to do all this but it was well worth the effort. Our cruise document, Guest Ticket Booklet listed a summary of all our reservations in a neat format so we had no trouble knowing where we should be each day. I just added in everything else we wanted to do daily on the same page once we were onboard. You can wait to make reservations on the interactive TV in your stateroom but you may not get the times that you want. It also helps if you sign the waiver ahead of time for Zip Lining, ice skating, Rock Climbing Walls or the Flow Riders.

We parked at an offsite parking lot and arrived at the terminal before the ship was cleared for boarding so we waited 15 minutes for the process to start. It was done very orderly starting with those occupying suites followed by repeat passengers at descending award levels. Within ten minutes we were onboard. We chose to eat at Sorrento's, a pizzeria rather than try finding a table in what we knew would be a very crowded Windjammer Buffet Restaurant. There was no line here and we were able to order pizzas with our choice of toppings. We sat at a small table and people watched until our pizzas were brought to us. Afterwards, we had a snack at the Cafe Promenade (opened 24 hrs.) We then toured the ship until our stateroom was ready at 1PM. Read more