Oasis of the Seas Review
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Our family of four--wife 49 ( I am the writer of this review), husband, 54, daughter, 15 and son, 12--returned recently from a thoroughly enjoyable New Year's cruise aboard the Oasis of the Seas, our first Royal caribbean cruise!! Because our family had such a good time, we would not hesitate to book a future cruise aboard this ship or its sister the Allure. We have cruised 7 times before since 2005--3 on Celebrity, 2 on Disney, & 2 on Princess. This ship stopped at three ports--Nassau, Bahamas, St. Thomas, and St. Maarten but the true destination was this huge but accessible floating city.
FT. LAUDERDALE HOTEL the night before cruise: Since we arrived from San Francisco (JetBlue--no complaints) after 11pm the night before our cruise, we slept in and did not check out of Homewood Suites by Hilton until after 1pm Saturday. Homewood Suites was fine with a helpful staff but our room on the top floor--#501--had poor water pressure and it took about 10 min to get hot water for the first shower. Each room had a separate bedroom (queens are not true queen-sized but full beds) and full kitchen. I can't comment on the included breakfast buffet since we slept through it. Otherwise, the hotel was clean and well maintained. Since there was no eating establishments near the hotel, we grabbed an energy bar and decided to have our first meal on the ship--big mistake!
EMBARKATION: We hired a Taxi van to take us to the port. It cost less than $20 for 4 persons. TIP: Don't use the shuttle offered at any hotel; it costs $11/pp--$44 total! Since we did not arrive at Port Everglades cruise terminal until after 2pm, we encountered NO traffic. Our taxi driver said before 1pm, it was a nightmare getting into the port. We were on the ship in 15 minutes after dropping off our luggage to the porters--Tip these hard working people please!
Cabin Review
Boardwalk View Stateroom with Balcony
CABIN--#8311 & 8313--We booked 2 cabins overlooking the Boardwalk in the aft section. Deck 8 is 2 decks above the actual Boardwalk and close to the Aqua Theater. We never had noise issues but we could hear the activities at the rear of the ship in the afternoon and evening but since we never retired before midnight it wasn't an issue. I was able to enjoy naps in the late afternoon. The cabins were pleasant and very well maintained. Our room attendant Brian Carvalho from India did a great job tidying our cabins 2x a day. He fulfilled our requests for extra clean glasses and towels and ice every day. He always had a smile and answered all our questions. Please provide an extra tip your room attendant since they work so hard!We were glad we booked 2 cabins because I don't know how 4 persons could have fit into one stateroom. To be honest, we usually book junior or mini suites on other cruises so the cabin was smaller than we re used to. We had the option of opening the common door between our cabins but chose not to because we wanted to give ourselves and our teens some privacy. The partition between the 2 spacious balconies was removed so we could access our cabins from the balcony anytime. (You can also ask for an extra key card at guest services for your children's room.) Once my husband and I got used to the size of our stateroom (8311), it was fine. I had no issues with the close placement of the closet to the bed (larger cruisers may) but our kids' cabin--8313--had the sofa next to the closet and the beds closer to the balcony and that seemed a better configuration. The closet was adequate for my typical over packing although we needed more drawer space. Our large luggage easily fit under the bed. The queen size bed was quite large since it felt more like a moderate king. It was very comfortable but the pillows were thin. Luckily 4 pillows were provided per cabin. Bring your own pillow as I do when I travel anywhere. The colors of the cabin were in tasteful blue and soft gold. The pretty framed wall art depicted photos of plants or sea life. The flat screen TV was easy to operate although the recent movie offerings were costly--$9.99 to 11.99 per 24 hours. Other cruise ships offer this for free. The bathroom was small but fine if only one person uses it at a time. The shower stall has a nice round design and had outstandingly good water pressure. Sometimes my hubby had to kick me out of the shower since I loved the hot water and strong water pressure so much! The bath towels were of good thickness. Only bar soap and a dispenser of shampoo was offered. We didn't mind since we always bring our own sulfur-free toiletries. No robes were offered (suite guests only) so I was glad I brought mine. The AC was good and easy to adjust, but, as on every ship, be patient because it is always a bit warm on the first day until the cargo doors are closed and the ship gets underway. The balcony was very spacious and it was fun to eat breakfast overlooking the Boardwalk. My husband was dying to have a nightly cigar on our balcony but that was prohibited. (He had to go to the pool deck to smoke in the popular area that also had a nice bar for smokers.) Cabins near the Boardwalk are conveniently located to the forward/aft elevators. Our aft location made it easy for the kids to access the kids clubs/pools/buffet on the upper decks above. We liked being on Deck 8 since we were on the same deck as the lovely Central Park specialty restaurants.