We are frequent cruisers and were requested by friends who live in Florida to join them on the Oasis to the Western Caribbean. We were not really excited about the ports because have seen these multiple times and visiting Labadee Haiti, Jamaica and Cozumel are nothing new for us. We flew into Fort Lauderdale a day in advance to cut down the risk of getting stuck in a Blizzard in MA. We stayed at the Sheraton at the airport which was close enough to the port and they had shuttle service and the price was reasonable. We flew in early and were checked in around 10AM so just dropped our bags off and headed to the Hard Rock Hotel for a little gambling. We enjoyed the Hard Rock and had a nice lunch before heading back to the Sheraton. Our friends were coming in from Orlando on a train which was delayed so they arrived around 6PM. We decided to eat at the Sheraton's hotel bar, not anything special.

We took a hotel shuttle for $11 a person to the port. The ship sent us emails in advance telling you what time to arrive. It did not take long to get registered but once we got on the ship it was confusing. So many many people heading in various directions and we could not find anyone to tell us where to go so we headed to our room and when we got to the area saw the large sign letting us know the rooms were not available until 1PM. It would have been nice if there was someone to let us know before we headed there.

Dining - we had anytime dining because when we booked our cruise that was all that was left. We ate at the dining room twice, both times we were disappointed, service was painfully slow. One of these times was breakfast. I asked for grapefruit juice and was told there was an extra charge, seriously grapefruit juice. I ordered an Omelet and was told it would take 45 minutes, that's a long time for your mail. We also had dinner and it was the worse service I've ever encountered. It took an hour to get our appetizer once we ordered it. I don't even remember if we liked the meal because the service was so bad. Read more