Oasis of the Seas- Eastern Caribbean- Oct. 6-13, 2012

PRE-CRUISE: We flew into FLL on Friday and spent the night at the Hyatt Place Hotel- 17th St. Convention Center. Some of our group drove down from Tampa on Friday night and were able to park their cars at the hotel for the entire week by booking the hotels "Stay and Cruise" Package at a rate of $154.00. The hotel was very nice. The rooms were quite spacious, and there was a limited bar and food service available 24 hrs a day. Included in the room rate was a decent buffet breakfast. The hotel also had shuttle service to/from the airport and cruise terminal, however we opted to take taxis as you could see the ship from the room. The hotel was also within walking distance to many shops, bars and restaurants, the closest of which was an Outback Steakhouse.

EMBARKATION: We left the hotel via taxi at 10:30am and were at the cruise terminal within minutes. Check in was a breeze, and boarding began shortly thereafter at around 11am. As I was escorting a group, none of which had been onboard Oasis before, I had made arrangements with RCCL to conduct a tour of the different cabins and suites. We were met by an RCCL Rep in the Champagne Bar immediately after boarding and were taken directly to Deck 17 to view the Crown Loft and Royal Loft Suites before continuing on to the other cabin categories on the lower decks. Following the cabin tour, we stopped by Park Cafe for a quick lunch before our cabins were ready at 1pm. Park Cafe was quite busy, however we had no trouble finding seats outside Vintages in Central Park. Cabins were ready at exactly 1pm and our luggage was waiting for us upon arrival. Read more