RCL Oasis vs. Disney

[bbn1122]

I've never done the specialty dining on RCCL - the MDR and buffets have been sufficient for me. But I have not done "behemoth class" - only Radiance Class. The larger ships *might* have a suite-only dining room, but I've honestly not heard of that on RCCL. Celebrity, yes. They definitely have a suite-only dining room.

What I remember it as, access was to a special restaurant or it was complimentary, if you stayed in a suite. It was last year that I really was giving a real hard look at RCL. Bayonne port to Bermuda, but then DCL added Bermuda from NYC. DH and I are cruising DCL to Bermuda this October. Thanks.

 

[Dug720]

What I remember it as, access was to a special restaurant or it was complimentary, if you stayed in a suite. It was last year that I really was giving a real hard look at RCL. Bayonne port to Bermuda, but then DCL added Bermuda from NYC. DH and I are cruising DCL to Bermuda this October. Thanks.

I don't know - I'm not a suite girl. But I only remember seeing that Celebrity has a restaurant for the suite guests only (and then there is NCL and the "never have to see the commoners" Haven area).

 

[RRB]

First, this is not a bash RCL thread or pump Disney post. No price, destination, or excursion discussions since those have been beaten to death on here. It's an honest assessment of a recent 7 night Oasis cruise from a Platinum Disney cruiser + wife with 2 girls ages 9 and 15. Outside Balcony room deck 10. Total cruise +/- 20 or so on many lines.

Itinerary: 7 day to Southern Caribbean (St. Marten, Puerto Rico, Labadee (Haiti)

The Good:

• The pools - far more to choose from and not as crowded. We live in Florida so not a huge need for us.
• Dining Options - We didn't even feel like we were on a cruise but more a floating hotel at sea with local dining to choose from
• The ship - beautiful layout, central park is great, and easy sailing on rough seas. I cant say crowds were bad except at the buffets on board and on Labadee.
• Select shows - Ice skating show was fantastic, "Come fly with me" aerial acrobatic show was good/great.
• Adult relaxation area - think where the gym usually is on Disney (deck 4 on Oasis BTW), top deck, turned into an awesome eating and relaxation area with plenty of hot tubs and comfy lounge chairs.
• Gym - Free, nuff said. no views really since lower down but who really cares.
• Staff - for the most part, they were very helpful, great room attendant, servers in all dining areas, etc.
• Boardwalk activities - 2 times they had events with balloon making, face painting, etc. Helped a little as my kids were flat out bored.

Not so good:

• Aquatic show, a bit corny, felt embarrassed for the very talented swimmers and divers to have to go through the motions when not well, swimming and diving. Almost Monty Python level of odd.
• walk up dining options - almost all were bland basic fare. Hot dogs, pizza (weird options there), and sandwiches, AND they were not convenient to the swim deck at all. Want Pizza, 10 decks away, literally!. Want Hot dogs, same...made no sense. There was an option way back on the back by the wave riders but that was a hike.
• Buffet lines on Labadee - pretty much 75-100 people long from open to close, ran out of Mac'n'cheese early on in our line while another had plenty. Sorry, we are out. yep, not cool for the kids after waiting 30 minutes for food.
• Kids clubs were small and at full capacity every time we went. Not once did my 9 year old get to go.
• Scheduled activities didn't happen - what few non-drinking, non-merchandise selling activities we tried to go to, about half were no shows. This was mainly spa related stuff so YMMV.
• No slides- go figure?! Heard they were getting them in an upcoming dry dock but nothing to back that up.
• TV options - divided up by age. The 3-11 which should be for my 9 year old (yes, one channel per age group) played Glee constantly. That was not appropriate at all.

The Bad:

• The BEDS! good lord they were bad. the queen bed was bearable, the sofa fold out had zero mattress. More a pad than anything. My 15 year old will need a chiro visit. The bunk had a thin mattress only suitable for a child. We tried moving the teen (5'2") up there and her head and feet hit the rails. My family is vertically challenged so it's not us.
• Major gripe here - they closed the ice skating rink on 2 of the 3 sea days (only time open) because a group reserved it for another type of activity. The one day it was open sold out by 8 AM. see next item
• Officer(s) in charge of customer service - went to the desk to complain about the ice skating situation. They were not aware it was bought out by a private party, then no ranking person that could do anything would even talk to me. The poor junior guy actually at the desk had no clue how to handle the situation and basically took my name and room number. never heard back from them. My 9 year old was not old enough for almost all on board activities except the pool and this. Being closed meant one more disappointment.
• Activities - Here's where your families experience may vary...for us this wasn't a fun cruise. Most activities were geared for older teens and IMHO, boys. Rock climbing, zip-line, wave rider, whirl-pool type pool where your shoulders had to be like 5 feet. My 9 YO couldn't do any of those. Putt-putt and table tennis were it, though those only lasted so long. Kids clubs were full every time we went. Go download a daily planner from Cruise Critic and see for yourself.
• Other shows - Cats was both confusing and well, not suitable for kids at all; Beatles tribute show, again, my parents would have loved it. My kids wanted out of there ASAP; Comedians - adult level comedy, not for kids. They put on a comedy show where they tried to clean it up and it was still appalling at the language and discussion of hitting your kids being funny. So 3 of the nights were a disaster. With the bullet above and this, it sealed it for us. No RCL again...

The irony here is we still managed to have a great vacation despite the RCL letdown because we just spent time together wandering around talking and people watching. The ports were some of our favorites and would do that on Disney again in a heartbeat.

Cheers!

Thanks for the report. Very helpful for those considering the Oasis. Question - it is such a huge ship and there are so many cruisers, how does the "feel" of the Oasis compare with the DCL ships? One thing we are seeing with DCL is they are not going bigger than the Dream Class ships. I assume they feel that that there is a loss of intimacy (for the lack of a better word) in bigger ships.

 

[starvenger]

People have called Oasis class a floating resort. It’s an apt description. Definitely a different “feel” compared to the traditional cruise ship.

 

[mevelandry]

I really hope the OP is right because my brother and his family are joining us on our DCL cruise in May. Last year, they (without kids) did a cruise on the Oasis and loved it and if DCL doesn't measure up by comparison - I'll never hear the end of it!

For what it's worth, I don't doubt DCL will hold it's own. I sailed RCL once and although it was nice, we didn't have any itch to cruise again. After our first DCL cruise, the entire family couldn't wait to get back on one of their ships.

I wouldn't worry too much. While the ship in itself may not have the big wow effect they would be expecting (While I have not tried the Oasis yet, I've seen videos and that ship is hard to beat IMO) the "Disney Magic" usually runs in full effect during the first DCL cruise. The entertainment will be different than what they've known and for many people, "different" is a good thing.

I think it's always good to prepare the people you travel with by explaining to them what will be different between the two experiences. That's what we are currently doing with my FIL and MIL as we'll introduce them to Carnival when their first cruise was with DCL.

 

[FSU Girl]

What time would you go to the kids club that it was full? We are sailing over 4th of July with a 9 year old who will love the kids club so I want to make sure she'll be able to get in.

 

[starvenger]

OP mentioned that it was last week, so Spring/March Break for a lot of kids. I'm still kind of surprised that it was full to capacity, but then I've not been on a March Break vacation in a very long time, so I've no point of reference other than the "one of the busiest days of the year at the airport" stories that pop up.

July will probably be busy, but should still be fine.

 

[buzzrelly]

Totally out of subject question: What's inappropriate in Glee? I remember the show to be quite family friendly... (And Cats?)

Sometimes watching them as an adult they don't seem bad, but when you watch them with your children, you see them in a new light. Just a few examples, I grew up watching Grease and Vacation as a kid, but when I showed them to my kids, I was a little squirmy embarrassed at some of the scenes, and hoped my kids didn't pick up on it.

Also, my DD 14 just binge-wached both Friends and Glee and watching with her, I was kind of like, yeesh Glee definitely has inappropriate topics for a 9 year old. I don't think OP is wrong about that. But, to each his own, I guess.

 

[Dug720]

OP mentioned that it was last week, so Spring/March Break for a lot of kids. I'm still kind of surprised that it was full to capacity, but then I've not been on a March Break vacation in a very long time, so I've no point of reference other than the "one of the busiest days of the year at the airport" stories that pop up.

July will probably be busy, but should still be fine.

True... Still, it is surprising they would allow more kids on than the clubs would accommodate.

 

[starvenger]

I think a lot of things we watched as kids would be considered inappropriate for kids now. That said, if my kids wanted to watch something like the Degrassi series, I'd have no issue letting them. Maybe even tell my older daughter why her middle name is Caitlin

True... Still, it is surprising they would allow more kids on than the clubs would accommodate.

"Sorry Billy, there's not enough room at the kids club. We have to leave you at Port Canaveral/Everglades/Miami. We'll be thinking of you at 150 Park Cafe though. See you in a week!"

 

[Snowwhyt]

For a 15 year old, nothing. She binged watched it on NetFlix and my wife and I were fans. The episodes playing though were not for a 9 year old, at least mine. Rocky Horror picture show tribute and another about rape. Not gonna happen.

RE: Cats
It wasn't that it was inappropriate as Glee was, but the jump for her from Disney cruise shows to Cats was a leap. She kept asking me what the heck they were saying the first 20 minutes. After the first 30, half the crowd had left.

I found if a child was going to watch the musical they needed to have first heard the poems and discuss them with an adult. It helps them understand each character a little better and makes the show flow a little better for the younger mines.
So for younger kids to understand without the character development prior to arriving at the show, I can see how it would be very difficult. Although there’s no sexual violence language issues that I can remember. I took a five-year-old foster child and he enjoyed the show, after a good deal of preparation explaining the characters and the poems

 

[Dug720]

I think a lot of things we watched as kids would be considered inappropriate for kids now. That said, if my kids wanted to watch something like the Degrassi series, I'd have no issue letting them. Maybe even tell my older daughter why her middle name is Caitlin


"Sorry Billy, there's not enough room at the kids club. We have to leave you at Port Canaveral/Everglades/Miami. We'll be thinking of you at 150 Park Cafe though. See you in a week!"

I meant DCL will not allow more kids on board than the clubs will accommodate. So if the limit for one of the clubs is reached, it will show as sold out for anyone with kids of that age in the party.

 

[starvenger]

I meant DCL will not allow more kids on board than the clubs will accommodate. So if the limit for one of the clubs is reached, it will show as sold out for anyone with kids of that age in the party.

Oh, I knew what you meant. Just having fun with it.

If I were to guess I'd say that Royal and other cruise lines don't have a hard cap like that. Maybe they go by a metric that says X% of kids will actually use the kids club, but obviously we're in the dark about that.

 

[OrcaPotter]

My family had a similar experience on the Oasis last June. We had a good time, but it definitely convinced us why we prefer DCL. Sure, it has more pools, but other than using them on a port day, we found them just as packed as on DCL on a sea day. Funnily enough, on DCL even in June we would be able to find deck chairs in a shady spot after a short search on sea days. On Oasis, on the sea days I timed that it took over 30 minutes to find a suitable location. Food options were inconvenient, the solarium was boiling hot (must be much nicer in winter), and finding ocean views to lounge in front of not from our balcony was difficult.

Knowing how the ship works now, I feel I would be better able to enjoy the mega ships a next time. Still, if I can manage the cost of DCL it is still what I prefer. Right now for my family, which has mobility issues, sailing out of Port Canaveral is preferred and that continues to give DCL an additional edge.

 

[pezgirlroy]

I recently watched a show on netflix called Mega Food that had an episode on the food on the Oasis. It was very interesting. I couldn't get over how much food there was (and that there was an entire room devoted to bananas). The ship also just looked massive.

 

[starvenger]

I recently watched a show on netflix called Mega Food that had an episode on the food on the Oasis. It was very interesting. I couldn't get over how much food there was (and that there was an entire room devoted to bananas). The ship also just looked massive.

If that's your thing, Discovery Channel Canada has a series called Mighty Ships / Mighty Cruise Ships. A lot of it is basically PR but you do get some insight into some of the cruise ships and cruise lines. I will warn you, however, that it will probably make you want to get on a cruise ship right away.

 

[pezgirlroy]

If that's your thing, Discovery Channel Canada has a series called Mighty Ships / Mighty Cruise Ships. A lot of it is basically PR but you do get some insight into some of the cruise ships and cruise lines. I will warn you, however, that it will probably make you want to get on a cruise ship right away.

I was just so fascinated by how all of the food is kept and prepared. I said to my husband "you have to watch this it is so interesting how they do all of this". He looked at me like I was crazy and said have you forgotten that I was a cook in the navy (on big ships) for years.

 

[tink1970]

He looked at me like I was crazy and said have you forgotten that I was a cook in the navy (on big ships) for years.

 

[jd99]

Also platinum on DCL and tried Allure 2 summers again. Our experience is almost identical to yours - though we had less good things to say about dining and were able to take advantage of Rock Climbing, ZipLine and Waverider which we loved. I did a live daily blog post on our Allure sailing and it is funny to read now because we LOVED it the first couple of days and each day's review is just a little less positive. It was more after we returned and reviewed our overall experience that we decided RCL wasn't for us - because we were busy having as great a time as we could - much like you. But since that sailing, we have done a couple more DCL cruises and now we appreciate all the little things even more - things that perhaps we used to take for granted! - so it was great to stray to just know how good we have it with the mouse and how it is indeed worth a few extra bucks.

 

[babyberger]

I've never done the specialty dining on RCCL - the MDR and buffets have been sufficient for me. But I have not done "behemoth class" - only Radiance Class. The larger ships *might* have a suite-only dining room, but I've honestly not heard of that on RCCL. Celebrity, yes. They definitely have a suite-only dining room.

Unless it has changed, the Oasis class does not have a seperate dining room from suite guests. We could however order from the main dining room menu and have it brought to our suite and we did many nights and it was fabulous

People have called Oasis class a floating resort. It’s an apt description. Definitely a different “feel” compared to the traditional cruise ship.

I definitely feel the same way. We have sailed Freedom, Oasis and Allure. When we switched to Disney we were shocked how different they felt from RCCL. I did not feel like I was walking into a mall on DCL, not better or worse, just different. We did miss some of the Oasis class features like Central Park and the Aqua Theater (we had an Aqua Theater Suite and got to watch the shows from our balcony) but really have loved our DCL cruises and since we made the switch for food allergies we will not be switching back to RCCL anytime soon.