I have been looking in to booking the Oasis for the last couple of weeks and I am really disappointed in what I have been reading about the Oasis, the 225,282 ton, 1,186 foot beast of a ship from Royal Caribbean. The Oasis is the first in the Oasis class join by her sister Allure of the Seas. Read some of the poor reviews below.
By: DELHIGURUÂ Date: 4/12/15
We embarked from Fort Lauderdale and since we were staying in their VIP sky loft suites, our checkin was very smooth, Overall, the granduer of the ship gets a 10/10. Truly a masterpiece. However, service levels dip alarmingly to 2/10 because there are just too many passengers on board (close to 6000 pax and 2000 crew)and hence, service has to suffer. The food was terrible, just terrible. No creativity and most of the times it was too bland. It was like mass produced. Only in 1-2 of their signature restaurants in Central Park was the food good but overall, the quality of food in their main dining rooms or the cafes was horrible. I am not being finicky or anything but seriously, it was bad. Food 1/10. The sky loft suite which we stayed in (on the 17th deck) was brilliant, very comfortable but I think RCCL has missed a trick from the penthouse suites of Norwegian Cruise Lines which are smaller but definitely cozier and more comfortable. Having said that, I would give our sky room Loft Suite an 8/10 or maybe even an 8.5/10. The icing on the cake of this cruise ship was the casino host. Being one of the high rollers and being used to slightly being pampered in most casinos of the world, this casino host ensured we will never travel a RCCL ship ever in our lives. 7 days we played in the casino, some of the highest stakes possible, and not even 1 cup of coffee were we offered on the house (forget any drinks). When we asked the casino host on the 3rd day about this, she was like sorry, you have to play more to have anything comped. On the last day of our cruise she calls us and says “would you like your casino card?”..I replied “why now, on the last day?”..she haughtily said “if you dont want it, fine” and banged the phone down on me….smile…truly an inspirational moment for me on the RCCL oasis of the seas..now overall advice to everyone, there is lots to do on the ship but dont expect the service levels of smaller ships…the kids in our group had a ball of a time, the teens were not to be seen…the pools, the shows etc were very nice but definitely, will not go on this ship again due to terrible food, bad impersonal service and the worst casino host in the world
Posted By: Sharon F Posted: 6/28/15
Sailed last year on same cruise and were blown away by how wonderful it was so booked the same cruise for our daughter’s college graduation present. From start to finish we thought we had stepped on the wrong cruise. Not sure what happened during the last year but the ship was poorly run, staff unhappy to be there and no one took responsibility for anything.Dining reservations were messed up and we were yelled at for not making them properly. Never mind that I called RCCL at least a half dozen times prior to cruising to ensure that our party would be seated together. The yelling and blaming us for the shortcomings started as soon as we boarded and have not ended more than 3 weeks later.
Booked connecting staterooms, but could not get anyone to unlock the connecting door for two full days. When we requested it, guest services told us they “had more important things to attend to.” When it was finally done we were told it would have been done earlier (it was after 8:30 at night) but our do not disturb sign was on in the morning. We left our room and removed the do not disturb sign prior to 9 am. I know this because we had ordered room service for breakfast to be delivered between 8:30 and 9 so that we could get off the ship in time for our excursion, but room service never showed.
All staff in the dining rooms told us how anxious they were to get off the ship, that they hated being on the ship. Last year they all told us how much they loved it. Clearly management and management style have changed or else all the good employees have been culled for the newer ships. After the connecting door debacle our room steward was angry with us and left the trash can in the middle of the room, took dirty towels off the floor and placed them over our clothes that were hanging on hooks, he would not leave us extra towels and was down right rude. The new policy regarding towels at the pool is also ridiculous. I have a bad back and requested two extra towels to prop my legs up to relieve pressure but was told I could only take two at a time and could not get others until these were returned. Often the stations were closed or had huge lines. Upon speaking to customer service, after waiting in a huge line, we decided to remove the gratuities from our room and that of our children’s room. We were assured that it would be done. Because of problems with the photographer we could not wait in line to take care of it on the day of departure (we were already an hour late because the photographer did not take care of things that were promised) but we did not receive the credit on our credit card until more than 3 weeks after the cruise and numerous phone calls. No one can accept responsibility and no one has authority to make things right. We were offered a small credit from the cruise and when the certificate came it was smaller than what was promised to us in writing and for only 2 of the 4 of us (there were 7 in our party) that requested the refund. The customer service land side said they can not do anything more than what the cruise can do and the cruise says they don’t have authority to call customer service when we get off. What a racket…. no one cares.
We will not be taking a RCCL cruise again.. by the way have been cruising with them for 32 years since our honeymoon but apparently they do not care about customer satisfaction or loyalty.
Posted By: Bird82Â Date: 4/15/15
Never again will I sail with Royal Caribbean. They are amateur, unpolished, and couldn’t care less. All I will remember from my experience is lines of people for everything. From the start at the port lines to get on the ship. Lines to go to the Windjammer, Park Café, Guest Services, Main Dining Room, towel station (both to pick up and to return towels), bars to get a drink or water. Seas of people everywhere. Packed elevators. Also their stupid elevators have a major glitch. We tried to go to the gangway and it would take us one or two decks away and then shoot back up to deck 16. It did this twice before we finally got off on deck 12 and took the stairs.Park café needs to be 4 times bigger for as many people as they stuff on this ship. No seats to be found in Park Café. When there are available tables they are covered in the previous guests dishes and when I kindly asked a waiter to clear the table he told me one minute and then walked away not to be seen again. We just ate at the table with other peoples dirty dishes and glasses. Several food venues kept running out of silverware and coffee mugs.
They are short staffed at every bar and the bar servers are very unfriendly. The Vitality bar was the worst. Absolute worst servers there and they need two full time servers instead of one. I blame the management and leadership in the company. Never once did I see managers or officers look at what was going on so they could coach their employees on how to do their jobs properly or add employees to the schedule.
The food was lousy. I would rate it overall as a 3 out of 10. Windjammer food reminded me of really bad hospital food. We came across many things that were broken on the ship. The lockers in the men’s locker room in the Vitality Spa are mostly all broken. The temperature controls for the showers in there are broken too. The showers would get scorching hot and I could not make them cooler.
I spent a lot of money for this cruise vacation and I came away extremely disappointed. They are making way too many cut backs. They need to improve the quality of the food and add additional staff all over the ship. They also need to cap the number of guests. They just can’t keep up with or accommodate 6,000 plus guests. I was expecting great food. I was expecting Hilton/Marriot caliber service and what I got was Motel 6 level service and hospital food. They got me once, but they will never see me again. Eventually people will get wise to them and stop sailing with them. They have pretty much ruined cruising for me. Maybe way way down the road I will give cruising another chance with a different company, but Royal Caribbean will not see another penny from me ever again
These are just a couple of the reviews that we have found. Check out this link for more the reviews and stay tuned to Cruise Hive as we have reached out to Royal Caribbean and will update if and when we hear back on this matter and what they plan to do to help with the service on this massive ship.
