My husband and I have traveled on 7 different cruise lines over the last decade, and we particularly enjoy Celebrity and Royal Caribbean. Though initially fearful of the mega-ships, we had such a good time on Allure of the Seas two years ago that we decided to book a cruise on its sister ship, Oasis of the Seas, for our 30th anniversary.

From start to finish, it was a wonderful trip. The day before the cruise we received word from Royal Caribbean that slow Customs lines for exiting passengers meant that embarkation would be delayed. We arrived at the port about 1:00 pm. We were a little anxious, but we found that having booked a junior suite entitled us to go into a separate check-in queue for suites. Incredibly, in less than 10 minutes we were on the ship, heading to our stateroom, #12636. We instantly loved the spaciousness of the room, with walk-in closet, tons of storage, and a great bathtub. In addition, our balcony had 2 chaise lounges, 2 chairs and a small table. The sofa was on the hard side, but our bed was quite comfortable. Randy, our stateroom attendant, introduced himself immediately, and we came to appreciate his attentiveness and attention to detail over the next week.

We opted for early assigned dining, but we wound up eating in the main dining room only on the first night and the two formal nights. On the other four evenings we tried 150 Central Park, Chops Grille, Giovanni's Table, and the Solarium Bistro. Meals were good to excellent everywhere; in fact, my husband enjoyed the steak in the main dining room and Chops Grille even more than the grilled Harris Ranch NY strip steak served at 150 Central Park. Read more