This review sees us fresh off 
Royal Caribbean’s Oasis of the Seas March 31st sailing! The Oasis of the Seas is the largest cruise ship on the waters. It and its sister ship Allure are only a few years old and have already commanded the attention of cruisers everywhere. They don’t seem to have any problems filling their 6000 passenger floating resorts and after spending 7 nights aboard this amazing ship I can see why. Simply beautiful. As first time cruisers we probably have a different perspective as we’re not comparing it to other ships or previous cruises. I do travel a lot with the kids by myself and we like large resorts and the such that offer lots to do AND have features that make traveling with kids by myself easier/nicer. For those reasons I chose the Oasis for our first cruise. The ship leaves out of Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale and cruise a Western Caribbean itinerary (which we did) or an Eastern Caribbean itinerary. It is very much an amazing large resort and accompanying “grounds” as I like to call it. I’ll touch on a few key issues and features those new to The Oasis of The Seas may be wondering about and some just from the perspective of cruising with kids. And of course I’ll give you the good, the bad and the best of it all.
The Ship: The 8th Wonder and the 7 Neighborhoods
Let’s take a very brief overview of the ship. And I say “very brief” simply because if you know anything about how big this ship really is…you also know that I’m really just scratching the surface here. There are many areas of the ship that I’m not even going to get to in this review. But the 7 main areas…oh I was all over them. Royal Caribbean refers to these 7 main areas of the ship as neighborhoods. And yes, it felt like neighborhoods – all with plenty to offer. Here we go:
The Boardwalk: An outdoor boardwalk area with a real working carousel and shops like an ice cream parlor, a candy shop and a donut stand.
There are restaurants like Johnny Rockets and play spaces for the smaller children to enjoy.
Royal Caribbean offers a reasonably priced soda package which I purchased for the kids. The package allows for unlimited refills of fountain soda products all week. The Boardwalk bar quickly became their favorite spot to get their special reusable mugs refilled. Refill the mugs…goto the donut stand or pop in the candy store…ride the carousel…a game of shuffleboard. Always a reason to be on the Boardwalk.
At the back of the ship and at the end of the Boardwalk, you’ll find the Aqua Theater – a state of the art show pool where they hold a magnificent dive/swim show featuring award winning divers, swimmers and gymnasts. You can also catch fun events here like the belly flop contest. The 2 giant screens in the aqua theater are also used to show outdoor movies several times a week
Central Park – A park at sea. No really…an open air park with trees, plants, park benches, restaurants, shops and lounge 
seating. A team of horticulturists are aboard to maintain the live plants as you sail.
The Royal Promenade – The hub of the ship. With shopping, restaurants, bars and nightclubs, this area of the ship is the main gathering place for events such as the Dreamworks character themed parades and parties. You’ll even find a Starbucks at sea here.
The Vitality at Sea Spa and Fitness Center – A full service day spa with salon, nail and body treatments including things like teeth whitening and botox. Included is a full service gym with fitness classes. Health consultations and seminars are offered throughout the week.
The Pool and Sports Zone – With 4 different main pool areas plus an adult only solarium there are plenty of spots to take a dip in the water or hang in a hot tub.
The sports zone include activities such as ziplining, Flowrider surf simulators, mini-golf, a full size basketball court, ping pong , video arcade, an ice skating rink, rock climbing walls and much more.
The Youth Zone – the Adventure Ocean youth program and Teen Programs.
The Entertainment Zone – The shows on this ship are of the best quality. You can see high flying stage shows, a Broadway show – Hairspray is the current show on Oasis – and an ice show. The talent is first rate as are the sets and costumes.
O.K. enough about the beautiful ship…Let the Royal Caribbean Oasis of the Seas adventure begin!
Embarkation – gets the first grade… an A+
We arrived at Terminal 18 in Port Everglades around 11:30am. Porters immediately took our luggage at the curb and directed us inside. A friendly representative was just inside to further direct us, although the check-in lines are divided into very clearly marked deck numbers. We walked right up to a representative – no waiting. There were 6 of us in 3 different cabins and the woman gladly processed us all together. Within 10 minutes we had checked in, taken pictures and received our sea pass cards and had taken a group photo with RCI photographers. We headed upstairs to the second floor waiting area where we stopped at the children’s Youth Evacuation Plan armband table (as part of Royal Caribbean’s safety plan, children under 12 must wear life boat station bands so that they can be taken to the same life boat station as the adult they’re traveling with in the event of emergency). We were so excited… it seemed like a long time, but it was an amazingly quick and orderly 15 minutes from curb to the time we made our way onto the ship. I should say we had done Royal Caribbean’s online check-in process and had our printed and signed documents all ready. No time for the kids to get restless waiting anywhere. Although, I did notice that if you do have to wait to board for any reason, the large second floor waiting area has a play area – like a McDonald’s indoor playground – in one corner.
TIP #1 – Use Royal Caribbean’s website for online check-in well before your cruise. There are MANY things you should fill out and sign up for online before your cruise to get the best experience aboard the ship. I will touch on this again but I mention it here because the check-in process is VERY fast when you’ve checked in online.
Once aboard – First things first – we went to guest services to pick up the special kids and teen program daily compasses and then down to Deck 3 to the Main Dining Room to check into our dining room table (we had 1 seapass without the table listed on it). Very quickly resolved. Then we headed up to deck 14 to register my niece for Adventure Ocean – the kids program – they gave us a free lanyard to put her sea pass card on. The kids wear them everywhere to make it easy. Short, easy registration. They gladly hole punched my 2 teen’s sea pass cards at the same time for me. (I had brought plain lanyards from home for them.)
TIP #2 – Mistake #1 I made…we didn’t remember to go rent the ship’s special iphones for my teens to be able to communicate with me when they went to hang with the teen program. These are modified phones that operate only on the ship’s network and have gps capabilities as well as texting and voice service from one unit to another phone on the ship. That way you can keep in touch on the ship where your own cell phones would be costly to use. Anyway, by the time we remembered (around 2pm) they were already sold out. If you want an iphone go get them right when you get on the ship. It bothered me not having any way to get in touch with the boys when they went off by themselves but we worked it out along the way by setting up some meeting times and places to check in with each other.
TIP #3 – Staterooms on this ship do not open until 1pm and your checked luggage can arrive at your room anytime between 1 and 3pm so pack a carry on! At the very least you’ll need a good sunscreen. Also throw in a change of clothes or sun hat if you think you’ll need it, any medicines you’ll need or even a book or Kindle for sitting on one of the sun decks (15 or 16) to relax and enjoy the sun if you get there early and don’t want to walk around. We carried on a small bag with sunscreen, hats and toiletries with extra room to stuff in the sweat jackets we had been wearing once it got hot.
Staterooms – get a B+ Our cabins were 2 Central Park connecting rooms w/balconies. Central Park is one of Royal Caribbean’s famous “Neighborhoods” on the ship. It is literally an open air park in the middle of the ship…with live plants and trees, park benches, restaurants, shops and seating areas. Beautiful. It’s hard to remember you’re on a ship! My niece and I were in cabin 10201 and my two young teen boys in 10199 next door. Both rooms overlook the park and receive sunlight from the ship’s open middle design. Rooms were ready and luggage was there when we finished lunch at 1:30. Very clean. Very quiet. Somewhat midway between the forward and aft elevators in terms of walking – a good location. To address the noise questions that surround Central Park or Boardwalk cabins – these balcony doors have a vacuum/sound proof feature to them. Once you seal the door (must be fully locked to seal) you can hear little to no sounds from out in the park below. With the door unlocked and of course if you’re out on the balcony you are going to get sounds from the the park but that’s the ambiance and charm we wanted. For us, the noise concerns were unfounded.
Our view of central park at night was lovely – it’s beautifully lit! People watching and sounds were pleasant and we never felt “disturbed” or robbed of our water view balcony experience. These interior neighborhood balcony cabins 
aren’t for everyone, but because there is so much to do we found we just didn’t spend enough time in the cabin during the day to want or need an ocean view balcony. We went up to the upper decks several times on the rare occasions the kids wanted to look out on the water. We also found that we had amazing water views every time we ate in The Windjammer Marketplace as well. To address the privacy concerns with interior neighborhood cabins – we found that with the sheer curtains closed on the balcony doors we still got plenty of daylight and had enough privacy from the cabins across from us. Only once did we even see others on their balconies while we were out on ours. For us, the privacy concerns were unfounded. It’s just the same as staying in any nice hotel with balconies…I found it no different.
The connecting door is in the front of the room right as you enter. It is a nice convenience but in an awkward maze of door openings. The hall doors, the bathroom doors and the connecting door are all in the same space making for a bit of congestion at times. Obviously the benefit of the door outweighed this small negative. The ship’s cabins are built in modules and every other stateroom is set up the opposite way – Room 10199 had beds at the front of the room by the closet and 10201 had beds at the back of the room by the balcony. Living between both for a week, I can honestly say I don’t get this design choice. Having the beds by the balcony definitely make getting into the closets easier and open up the room. It’s what knocked my rating down from an A but it still wouldn’t be a deal breaker for me. When we arrived the beds were together as a queen bed and the connecting door was locked. There was a little sign letting us know if we’d like beds apart or doors opened they will have them done by turn down. I asked our stateroom attendant to separate all the beds and open the connecting door and if we could get the glass divider between our balconies opened. Everything was taken care of just as he promised when we returned from the muster drill.
The others traveling with us were in stateroom 10218 which was a short walk down the hall and was an Oceanview Balcony room. Quick mention because it was the same exact room as mine except for the…you guessed it… ocean view balcony. Since RCI allows passengers to smoke on the ocean view balconies we could smell smokers on the balcony next door…sooo between our whole group, the more expensive ocean view balcony was only used twice the entire cruise. But it was a lovely view of the water at all times.
The TV is a flat screen with a decent variety of channels as well as a special online system. The children enjoyed having the Dreamworks channel each evening as they retired to their beds exhausted from all the days activities. I was happy they were happily entertained as they drifted off to sleep each night while watching a free movie! I used the special online tv system to book a dinner reservation and order room service. Also found the personal calendar feature useful – it shows all your prebooked show times, specialty dinner reservations and port times and you can add other things you book onboard like spa appointments. And with 2 teens and my 9 year old niece with charging rights on their sea pass cards I loved being able to religiously check my account charges on the tv just like the systems they have in hotels.
TIP #4 – Speaking of charges…Mistake #2 – forgetting to deactivate the 9 yr old’s sea pass card upon arrival so she couldn’t make any charges. I highly suggest you do this first thing at guest services.
Amenities/Bathroom – No bath products in the standard staterooms – but there is a little sign letting you know you can ask for them. Our stateroom attendant was more than happy to fill both bathrooms with shampoo, conditioner, body wash and lotion when I asked. Both staterooms had nice robes. The bathroom was a comfortable size (I’ve had smaller in European hotels) and the light automatically stays on super low to make its own soft glow night lite at night. They’ve thought of the need for extra hooks for wet swimsuits and pool towels to dry and there are multiple hooks and towel bars and a decent amount of space for toiletries if you pack lightly and remember where you are – a cruise ship. The sink is low and shallow but we got used to it. Everything worked as it should, water was hot with good pressure. No complaints in general. Like European hotels, the only outlet in the bathroom is for shavers. But there’s an outlet just underneath the desk and the area is meant to be a vanity with its large lighted mirror and blow dryer drawer. There is another outlet just behind the right bottom corner of the bed. That’s where I plugged in my tiny travel strip with USB outlets to charge electronics at night. I used my cell phone in airplane mode for a clock since the only clock is on the phone and is quite frankly useless as it does not light up.
Staterooms Summary: Instead of the good, the bad and the best I’m just going to say that overall, I was happy with the price versus the quality of accommodations of the standard balcony stateroom. I gave it a B+ rating because I wish cabins didn’t have beds in front of the closets and perhaps the staterooms could be a tiny bit larger. Perhaps. But I was comfortable in a lovely, clean room that had a decent amount of storage for 2 people and a decent sized bathroom with adequate storage and hooks for hanging things to dry. I would (and already have!) book again.
TIP #5 – If you have connecting cabins or 2 or 3 in a row next door to each other, you can ask your stateroom attendant to open the dividers between the balconies if you’d like.
The Rest of the Experience:
Crowds – gets a B+ The major concern everyone out there seems to have about traveling on the largest ships in the world was unfounded in my opinion. Yes, there are 6000 passengers but it only felt like there were 6000 passengers twice out of the entire week. Both times were when we got out of a stage show and were hung up in the crowds at the elevators. Crowds after a show lets out is not a unique problem to this ship. Doesn’t this happen anywhere you go to a show on land? Once again, not a deal breaker. Always found seats to sun in…either by the pool or in other areas. Noticed LOTS of unused deck chair areas all over the ship. RCI did a great job putting enough deck seating in every available space. Since a good percentage of people will rarely actually get IN the pools (me included) I’d suggest that the outlying chairs around decks 15 and 16 have great sun plus great water views all the way around and were nicer to sit in than the busy pool areas for us. Adults also have the kid-free Solarium to sun and relax in. At times we did want to be close to the kid’s H2O splash zone while my niece played there and only on the very last day (a sea day) did we have a hard time finding 3 chairs together where we could supervise her play there. Finally chose a little table by one of the many bar areas nearby instead and that was still just fine. We didn’t wait more than 20 minutes for ziplining, flowriders, rock climbing or anything else popular. The kids tried everything at least once and were happy. They had people seating you in The Windjammer Marketplace (the other major dining area on the ship besides the main dining room), so even with a party of 6 we never had a problem getting a seat. I think there are so many different places people can be at any given time that you don’t encounter massive crowds or lines like expected. I was pleasantly surprised.
TIP #6 – Use the Daily Compass religiously to check opening times of things like the zipline, rock climbing wall, flow riders, etc. and utilize any special teen or adult hours they list each day as needed. This will give you the best shot at less waiting.
Kids/Teens Progams – gets a solid A Yes it was spring break when we went which equals A LOT of kids and teens. Although they were clearly there, it was never really an issue for us personally. I think it’s because they have lots to keep them busy and Royal Caribbean is smart to keep them mainly occupied in one or 2 areas of the ship. For my niece we used the Adventure Ocean age group 9 – 11 every single day for either the afternoon or evening session or both. None of the kids are early risers so we never made it to morning sessions. My niece absolutely loved it. Even on port days she would beg to go after dinner for the evening session. It was a little evening peace and quiet for me each night and great fun for her. My teens were in the 12 – 14 group. They happily picked a couple of daytime activities to do each day from their special Teen Compass but just aren’t those social kids who want to hang out with a group all day and night. And that was fine. I had some quality time with them after dinner each night on the Boardwalk, on the Royal Promenade, at various pre-booked shows or doing other things together like playing board games in the ship’s Card Room or looking at books in the ship’s Library (yes my kids found and wanted to go in a library while on a cruise…I don’t know… don’t ask). The Teen Compass had a lot of fun things scheduled and no doubt my 13 year old will be all over the teen evening activities next year when we go. The teens appear to be well supervised inside their “Living Room” space. The large area is stocked with spaces for music, wii, sitting areas, a dance space and is conveniently located right in the heart of the sports deck in the middle of all the sports, pools and flowrider action. They even have food, drinks and soft serve ice cream/yogurt right there at a small eatery called the Wipeout Cafe. I give both the Adventure Ocean and the Teen programs high ratings because for the first vacation ever all of the kids had a wide range of age appropriate things they could choose from ALL DAY LONG. Normally my young teens are left with either babyish choices or overly athletic (which they are not) choices and are bored after the first few days. Not so here. Have to pat Royal Caribbean on the back. This is a big part of what we look for in a vacation spot.
OK now I’ll just touch on a few of the basic things you may want to know:
Food – gets a B+ We thought the food was good. Nothing spectacular…but good, decent, hearty meals. Suffice it to say we ate a lot of food and the adults wished we had worked out. We had 6pm dinner each night in the Main Dining Room. We enjoyed the food and service there so we ate there every night but one. We ate at Izumi’s the Asian specialty restaurant one night just for fun for the kids. The kids enjoyed doing the hot rock cooking at the table and the food was very good. There are a lot of choices of eateries on the ship. We appreciated them but had a good dining room experience each night and just didn’t feel the need to eat dinners anywhere else. We had late night snacks of fries from Johnny Rockets and Ice Cream Sodas from the Ice Cream Parlor both on the Boardwalk and did not mind paying for these two little treats as everything else we ate was included…and they were both very good! We ate in the Windjammer Marketplace for breakfast and lunch everyday but one. Tried room service breakfast just for fun once. The menu is confusing and poorly written so we got A LOT of food we weren’t expecting. But the food came right on time and tasted fine. They called to check in to see if I was happy with it and I mentioned that the menu was a little confusing. They apologized and sent up a plate of chocolate covered strawberries with an apology card attached a few hours later! Great customer service.
Main Dining Room – gets an A There are many places to eat on this ship. Quite a few are free (included) and quite a few for a cost. The benefit of eating in the main dining room at a set time each night is that you sit at the same table and have the same waitstaff every night. This quickly became a nice part of our day. Our waitstaff were incredibly accommodating, catered to the children’s needs and quickly learned all of our tastes. We looked forward to seeing them and felt bad the one night we didn’t eat in the dining room for dinner. You can select several different meal options on The Oasis. 2 of them are set dining times – first sitting is at 6:00pm and second sitting is 8:30pm. I chose the early sitting because I didn’t think the kids would be able to wait til 8:30 to eat.
Customer Service – gets a solid A Everyone we encountered had excellent attitudes. They were happy to help us and lovely to the kids.
The Adult Activities – gets an A From line dancing to disco parties on the Royal Promenade or an afternoon of scrap booking or a late night in one of the dance clubs or karaoke…or even an art auction…there is no shortage of things to do.
The Ports of Call & Excursions – gets a B – Hhhmm…I have to say this…we were SO overwhelmed with the quality of what there was to do onboard we didn’t seem to care too much about the stops along the way! We decided ahead of time that we wouldn’t spend extra money on too many excursions this time and just enjoy the ship. And that’s what we did. On our first stop we got off and did a beach, water play day in the kids aqua park in Labadee, Haiti. Overcrowded, but decent. This is Royal Caribbean’s private part of Haiti and they served buffet lunches and drinks. In Falmouth, Jamaica we did a little afternoon souvenir shopping and the kids were happy with that. In Cozumel, Mexico we took a short tour of the San Gervaiso Mayan ruins and then continued on to a beach resort for a few hours of fun in the sun and water. It was HOT and probably too long for us…but all in all decent. Each time we were only off the ship for a couple hours and were happy with it. Next time we will book some snorkeling excursions at the request of the children.
TIP #7 – Using the Royal Caribbean website book all of your excursions and show reservations online ahead of time. That way your reservations are loaded right onto your seapass card which is scanned at the door as you enter the venue and you’re guaranteed a seat. With this many people onboard you’ll want to have a little more of a guarantee if you really want to see something. You can book shows on the tv system once online…but I didn’t have any luck when I looked into changing a show time…everything was sold out.
To wrap it up: Oasis of the Seas: gets an A –
The Good: Fast, easy, efficient check-in. Good food w/plenty of dining options for all meals. Clean, decent accommodations. The Boardwalk. Central Park. Easy on and off procedures when you dock in the ports.
The Bad: There are a few tiny things I’d tweek about this ship as mentioned along the way in the review, but really the only thing I can think of the “complain” about is that it was hard to get an elevator at times with the number of people aboard. Really…such a good trip overall I’ve already booked again.
The Best of it all: Plenty to do for ALL ages every day. Quality kids and teen programs. 4 star customer service on the entire ship. Broadway quality stage shows.
Good value for the $$. Would and have already booked again! I’ll have another review for you in July from the point of view of adults cruising without kids!
GETTING THERE:
Ok last spring break we took the red eye flight across country when we flew to Disney World. I’m sure I said I would NOT do that again. Because of school obligations, we couldn’t leave on a flight that departed before 8pm anyway soooo…yes…stuck on a redeye again folks. Here’s the thing…the red eye serves its purpose. When the boys were babies and I flew cross country with them I LOVED that red eye. Sleeping kids on a 5 hour flight is always preferable to screaming, busy or antsy kids on a 5 hour flight. But now that they’re older…eh…it’s not so worth it. By the time you get on the plane and get up in the air it only gives you about 4 hours to sleep and then you’re robbed of the rest of your night. The next day – the mix of trip excitement, lack of sleep and 3hr time loss…face it – your children are just a little insane the entire day and you’re just making your head hurt for no reason. But luck was not on my side. We had no choice. So we did it again. Just telling you the story so you get a vivid picture in your head when you’re deciding your bright idea of booking the red eye is brilliant. It’s not.
Most people will fly into Fort Lauderdale airport but the limited direct flights at decent hours made that a NO for me. I want these kids on a direct flight if I can get it. In the end we flew into Miami International because the flight times and prices were much better and simply took a pre-booked shuttle to the Embassy Suites 17th street in Fort Lauderdale. Easy. 30 min ride from MIA to the Fort Lauderdale/Port Everglades surrounding area.
The Shuttle report: GO Airport Shuttle
The Good: Easily booked online ahead of time. On the arrival the driver was waiting as promised in baggage claim with a sign with my name, he loaded up our luggage and we piled into a large comfy shuttle van.
The Bad: On the return, the pickup from the cruise ship was not quite as nice. Although right on time, the driver wasn’t quite on top of it and definitely not customer service oriented. It all turned out fine, but my point is that we certainly had a much better driver coming than going.
The Best of it all: Found this company to be on time and reliable which takes the worry out of traveling to an unfamiliar area. Competitive rates. The vans were comfy and spacious for 6 passengers and there was plenty of room for all of our luggage.
Rating = A- . Inconsistent customer service but reliable pickup and transportation outweighs that. Peace of mind that my ride is gonna show and get me where I have to be is what’s most important when I’m in an unfamiliar place. I would definitely book again.
Value = $$ good rates for a family/group of 6 people. Would use them for 2 or more people.
The Hotel report: Embassy Suites 17th Street
The Good: Clean, good sized 2 room suites. Great hot breakfast selection that includes a made to order omelet station. Shuttle to port and breakfast included in “cruise package”. Nice outdoor area, pool and koi pond where the kids can watch them feed the fish. Lots of shopping within walking distance in case you need to pick up something.
The Bad: Getting an elevator down at checkout time = long wait.
The Best of it all: 8 min ride to Port Everglades on their no hassle shuttle. Kids got breakfast they liked, a clean, decent place to rest, and something to do to kill time in the 6 hours between our flight landing and the time we could board the ship. Views of Port Everglades and the cruise ships from the public balconies.
Rating = B. Good customer service, above average hot buffet breakfast, clean and convenient to port for cruise travel. I would book again.
Value = $$ – The suite slept 6 so we only needed one room. This made it a great rate for a family/group of 6 people.
edit. your. life. 