Five Things We Hated About Our Cruise
If you read my previous post, you know that we just took a cruise on the Oasis of the Seas.
We got back from our seven-day cruise on November 5th at six something in the morning. We were waiting for the announcement that we could leave the ship. Since it seemed to be taking a while, I decided to grab some food. Before I could leave the room, D saw people going off the ship and said, “Let’s get the hell out of here.” Within thirty minutes we were off the boat, back on land, and in the car. We were free.
We did not enjoy our cruise as much as we thought we would. Previously, we had only cruised with Carnival and only on smaller ships. This cruise was a Royal Carribean cruise and was on one of the five largest cruise ships in the world: Oasis of the Seas. So, what could have possibly gone wrong? Why were we SOOOOO excited to get out of dodge? What are the five things we hated about our cruise? Keep reading.
There Were Too Many People With Nothing To Do
Oasis of the Seas is a beautiful ship. Check it out. People were taking pictures everywhere for every day we were there. The problem? A big ship means that there are over 6000 people looking for something to do. And there was not much to do. The main things that gave you something to do were the art auctions (which were standing room only) and the shows. Even the days at sea (we had three of them) didn’t have many activities. So, we spent a bit of time being bored. Not exactly what you are hoping to be on a cruise.
You Need Reservations For Everything
When I say everything, I mean everything. Do you want to go to the shows? They were all booked by Day 2 on the ship. You want to eat in “Your Time Dining”? Need a reservation. Do you want to go ice skating? We didn’t, but we would have needed a reservation.
We underestimated how much there would be to do on the ship and did not make any. Everyone went to the shows because there wasn’t anything else to do that didn’t cost extra.
For the “Your Time Dining”, you needed a reservation. If you did not have one, especially on formal night, you would stand for 30 minutes waiting for a table. If you were extra lucky, like we were, they would realize that the line for no reservations was getting long. Their solution? Make another line right next to the first and have people alternate. So now you have people who have been waiting there for 45 minutes alternating with people who have been waiting for 10. Then if you are REALLY lucky, when it’s finally time to seat you they will say that the dining room is full and take you upstairs to the other dining room to eat there. Then forget about you for 15 more minutes before you are finally able to eat. Safe to say, that wasn’t my best experience on a cruise.
We did get a reservation for the next formal night and only had to wait for 15 minutes for a table, so improvement there. Had to make it in person because if you called the number, it just rang for 10 minutes.
In the end, we ate in the dining room three times.
The Food In the Dining Room Was Bad
Now, I know food is a very opinion based topic. What I think is terrible will not be the same as everyone else. That said, I think a lot of people would have been disappointed with the dining room food. Mashed potatoes were hard and cold and creme brulee burned. The meat was overcooked. All the nine yards.
The crazy thing is the buffet, called Windjammers, served the same food and it was all better. It’s like they sent the tasty batches to the Windjammers deck and the bad ones to the dining rooms. Once we figured that out, we went to Windjammers from then on. Or we went to the pizza place and ate there. There was also a hot dog place that D tried. They had two cafes that mainly served sandwiches and one area on the pool deck that seemed like a smaller Windjammers. Aside from that, they were all Speciality Restaurants. That brings me to the next thing.
There Was More Specialty Dining Than Regular Dining
The majority of the dining on the ship was an extra cost. All the exciting areas of the ship (the Park, the Boardwalk, and the Promenade) made sure to have a lot of Speciality Dining options. The Park was almost entirely specialty dining. Some of the places were not too bad in price. $15-20 for two people. The higher end restaurants were closer to $70-150 for two people though. They also had a package you could buy so it would cost less if you planned to eat at these places a lot, but that would have been an extra $330, and you would still pay more on top of that. It felt like the goal was to get you on the ship to spend even more money.
To put this in perspective, the cruises we had been on previously were mainly free dining with two to three other options that cost extra. One of the options was under $10 per person, and the other was a Steakhouse. That’s it. No extra costs or anything.
They Never Let Us Know What Was Going On
In previous cruises, when you make it to one of your ports or there is an issue on the ship, they announce to the passengers what’s happening. Not the case here.
Here you had to find out for yourself when the ship was docked in port. We knew we were anchored, but there wasn’t an announcement to let you know that you could leave the ship.
There also wasn’t an announcement to tell us that we were going back to St. Thomas after we just left. It turns out there was a medical emergency which D found out when some people mentioned it in the elevator. How they found out? Talking with some crew members upstairs.
Also, as I mentioned earlier, there was no announcement to let us know we could leave the ship as well. This probably worked out there since we were able to slip out pretty quickly. Even took the elevator.
The only announcement we did hear was in Nassau. The captain came on to let us know that there was a computer error and now they didn’t know who was on or off the ship. We had to wait about 2-3 hours in our rooms for them to count everyone on the ship, so they didn’t leave anyone behind. Then we had a medical emergency after that, and we waited for the ambulance as well. We ended up spending four hours extra in Nassau. We didn’t mind that at all. Shit happens. We get it.
It did seem unique to our ship. We were next to another Royal Caribbean ship, and they had announcements going on to let people know they could leave the ship. Just wish we got even a tenth of that for the rest of the cruise.
The Air of Superiority
This was the worst part of this cruise, so I saved it for last. Did you know that the Oasis of the Seas is the largest class of ship on the seas? Did you also know that Oasis of the Seas is one of the five largest ships in the ocean? Well, we do. We’ll never forget. We were told ten times a day every day for seven days. We couldn’t escape it.
They told us in the dining room when, in the middle of the dinner rush, they brought out the entire team of chefs to congratulate themselves on the excellent food during the cruise. You already read my view on that. They took 30 minutes to do it.
They told us during the art auctions. The only reason they were able to get this particular painting is that they were the Oasis of the Seas. Nevermind that we saw the same piece on a much smaller Carnival cruise a year ago. That happened a couple of times.
We heard it at the buffet, the pool deck, the boardwalk, on a flashing sign on the Promenade, and the daily newsletters. It was everywhere. It was a very proud feeling. They believed it, and you were going to believe it too.
We ran into a few people who mentioned that they preferred the smaller Royal Caribbean ships. Why? They felt it was a nicer experience. The ship was quieter, the staff was friendlier & happier, and it wasn’t built up as much. I am inclined to agree with them. That was our experience on our previous cruises, and it’s a shame that it wasn’t one on this cruise.
What did you think? Did you have a similar experience cruising? Have you been on Oasis of the Seas? Let me know.
P.S.- Going to be doing a part two about what we liked as well. There was some good about the cruise. It just didn’t outweigh the bad stuff.
I’ve never been on a cruise ship that big but my wife and I are pretty convinced we don’t want to cruise again after our Alaskan cruise. To me the ships are too crowded and the food is large quantities of very average fare. We prefer small portions of exquisite food and that was not to be found. I know a lot of people love cruises but we’ll fly to our destinations from now on and avoid being packed on a ship with so many others. But then we are not typical, we don’t like large cities either.
Welcome back! 🙂
I totally get it. There is freedom in flying to your destination and being able to do what you like. Plus you eat much better food. We are planning on limiting cruises in the future so we can do that as well.
We’ve been doing cruises partially because it’s easy (we live in Florida, and we’re surrounded by cruises), but also because it’s freeing. My phone doesn’t work on cruise ships so I actually end up relaxing. The same thing can be attained from going out of the country though. We’ll still cruise in the future, but not on this ship. 🙂