Written by Kim
We were so lucky to get to spend a week with our moms on Oasis. It was fun to spoil them with top of the line accommodations and genie service. We were reminded of things that make us very similar to our moms and where as we’ve grown we’re different. Many times throughout the week Alex would say “apples don’t fall far from the tree”. After a while he or I just needed to say apple and we had a good laugh. Our moms are very different but enjoyed each other’s company. My mom talks to everyone and knows everyone’s life history. Mom G is much quieter. We built so many great memories on our trip of a lifetime.
I’ll take a few moments here to summarize our experience including specifics about the suite and genie experience which was new to us. It was great with the moms but was a bit overkill if it were just Alex and I.
Embarkation / disembarkation – the genie service was definitely a step up here. There is a special zone to drop your luggage with separate porters. Unfortunately the porter when we arrived was no where to be found so I loaded the luggage on the cart. The port staff was a bit in a panic because we were Star Class but no one actually helped they just kept saying there was separate staff to deal with us. That was a bit odd. We communicated to our genie through the What’s App app but when in the departure building there was no service so we waited a few minutes until Leticia arrived. She escorted us directly to the suite and explained all the perks we should expect. Disembarking was amazing. She arranged for a porter to come to our room in the morning and get our luggage, escort us to the elevator where she had an elevator locked out to take us to Deck 5 where a wheelchair assist came to help Mom G off the ship. From room to car was about 20 minutes. It was a perfect ending to a perfect cruise. We arranged to meet Heather to meet us at Costco to pick up my mom so we could head directly to South Jersey to Brady’s christening. Our timing was perfect just as we finished getting gas at Costco Heather pulled into the parking lot.
The Genie experience – our genie, Leticia, was amazing but at times the special treatment made you uncomfortable. She arranged all our dinner and show reservations. She arranged room service of coffee and/ or breakfast each morning and drinks with snacks every afternoon. If you wanted lunch or anything else in the room she would arrange. She called us every morning when she started at 9 to see how we were and would text any questions or thoughts using What’s App. She kept tabs on us in conjunction with our room steward, Karina, and would sometimes pop in whenever we were on the ship to check on us. For all shows she would reserve us seats and we would cut any lines to go to our front row seats (unless we chose other seats like the comedy show where we didn’t want front row). As soon as we were seated she would have a bar server come and bring us any drinks we wanted. She would meet us at dinner every night and ask about our day, confirm plans for following day or accept changes or additional requests. Overall it was exemplary service but over the top of it were just Alex and I who are seasoned cruisers. Plus we normally have our friends, Dee and Patty who do more than half our organizing (maybe I need to tip them!).
Star Class – Star class gives you some nice perks on top of genie. You get unlimited specialty dining, Coastal kitchen, suite lounge, suite deck, internet for every guest, beverage package, escape room, free gratuities, and robes of course. There are probably some other things I overlooked. For us unlimited specialty dining was great but a lot of food. We didn’t learn till later in the week to have a lighter lunch at Coastal so we could enjoy our dinners more. We enjoyed Coastal kitchen most mornings for breakfast and a few lunch and dinners. We liked that venue because it was never crowded and food was similar to MDR from years ago. On our last few cruises we’ve seen declines in MDR. The drink package was nice but usually our 5 free drinks from Diamond Plus benefits are sufficient. I found myself getting more cappuccinos because of the drink package. We normally buy internet so it was nice for that to be included. Overall for 4 passengers in a suite you’d probably get value for the perks but for 2 of us we could buy many of these perks for less than the up charge on the cabin price. The price was not cheap. I mentioned to our moms I got to experience something we never would have done without them likely.
The Aqua Suite – the 2 bedroom Aqua Suite was amazing. The master bedroom was like a junior suite with a tub in the bathroom and tons of storage. The other bedroom was like an interior room with a full bathroom out in the hallway. The living room / dining room was very large and could have slept 2 more people on pullout sofa and another single sofa / bed. The balcony was fantastic and wrapped all the way around the suite with doors from both the master and common area. There were 2 loungers, several chairs / stools and a big table and chairs our on the balcony. Good thing we love the Aqua show on Oasis because they practiced endless and we heard the music and counting over and over as they rehearsed. They performed the show about 5 times and it was loud in the suite when the show was on so would be difficult if you had a little one who needed quiet to sleep because some shows started at 10:30. Overall the suite was gorgeous and quite a treat with our moms but way too much if it were just Alex and I.
Until next time….
Nice post.