We did allot less this time then on our previous sailing. We lucked out with perfect weather start to finish. Looking back I would have to say after 3 years the Oasis has gotten better. Food is a big part of cruising for me and the last time I tried several of the specialty restaurants, this time I stuck to the main dining room through out all of my dining, with a few stops in the Windjammer and a daily ration of the Park Cafe signature roast beef sandwiches. Many passengers ordered the the signature beef on the side and with there salads, great idea. I would say both Main Dining room and Windjammer have improved. I had an unfortunate incident with hair(s) in my omelet in the main dining room but the crew took it seriously. Some cook must have been POed about something. Our dinner waitress Xisu Xisu was the best we have had in 23 cruises, just great. On the other hand our cabin steward Kevin just sucked. He just did the very minimum to get by, it was a disappointment. I have done allot of cruising and sometimes you win and sometimes you lose its the luck of the draw, you can't let it ruin your vacation. We were also lucky to enjoy the company of several people at our late seating table as well as open seating dining. Again is it just me or is my dining assignment always messed up, I must not be the only one, on the first afternoon on-board I joined hundreds of people wanting to change the arrangements. The way it works is the assistant to the maitre d takes your Sail Pass card and you take a seat and wait for you to call your name. Worked well and they try to accommodate everyone, kudos. We lucked out with 3 other couples and I can't remember laughing so much at dinner with our new friends.

Embarkation was 45 minutes from out of the taxi to the cabin. Debarkation was longer but we were off by 10:30. I had pocket knife and they confiscated it at boarding but I recovered it with a claim check and my ID no worries. We always get a porter to debark as we have too much luggage but they sure are helpful to get through the maze of customs, I know all of us have wheels on our bags but for the price of one drink they can save allot of time and frustration.

Last tip, we had on-board credit of $200, if you pre-book on-line excursions and what not, that goes on your credit card not towards your on-board credit, so just make sure you use up your credit throughout your week as it does not get refunded at the end of your cruise. Not hard to spend $200 on a 7 day cruise just keep that in mind from the beginning. Somehow we ended up with a $6 bill at the end, crazy for 9 day vacation we spent $600 cash not including major expenses on the credit card. Read more