Oasis: Neighborhoods

Something totally unique about Oasis of the Seas is the division of various neighborhoods. They are whole separate areas that take you away from the sea and into a different world. We've already talked about the Royal Promenade although I neglected a couple eating spots here.

If your sweet tooth strikes, you can head over to the Cupcake Cupboard.

For a fee, you may try several different flavors of cupcakes throughout your week on board. I didn't feel it necessary to pay for these.

There's also Sorrento's, a pizza place. The pizza was just so so but it was pretty handy to pick up a slice and head across the way to enjoy a pint at the Globe & Atlas Pub.

You can also pick up sandwiches, cookies, and drinks at the Cafe Promenade. But, lots of ships have a Royal Promenade. Let's move on to new and exciting, yes?

On Deck 6, you'll find the Boardwalk. We already talked about that a bit but I wanted to show you more things there to enjoy in addition to the carousel, aqua theatre and rock climbing wall.

If fried shrimp is your thing, look no further than the Seafood Shack. Eating here is an extra charge and they also have a party here once during the week that you can pay to attend. John and I looked at the menu but were not interested in the fried offerings they listed. Not a fresh piece of fish among 'em. It still had cute decor though.

This is an overhead view of the Boardwalk from Deck 15 (I think.) Those are all balcony rooms overlooking the Boardwalk. They are cheaper than an oceanview balcony and in some cases, cheaper than an inside room but allow you to see daylight. Technically, the view doesn't change like it would over the ocean but they probably provide good people watching.

This was my absolute favorite part of the Boardwalk. It's the Donut Shop! Every day, they offered 6 different (free!) varieties of donuts. They also had specialty coffee drinks for purchase but I wasn't going for that. To prove to myself that I was trying to be healthy, I mostly only ate the top halves of the donuts I selected and threw away the bottom. Half the calories!

The Boardwalk also had several different stores such as a candy store, toy store, clothing shop and so on. I didn't purchase anything on the ship. PRICEY!

While the Boardwalk is full of fun, let's move on to some place a bit more serene.

Down on Deck 8 is Central Park.

 Yes, a park -- at sea. It's totally open air so when it's raining, it also rains in the park. Our stateroom was a balcony overlooking the park from Deck 11, Room 11185. It was the best deal with the best incentives I could find outside of paying for a lowly inside room. While I missed looking out at the ocean and seeing when we had docked in port, I thought the Central Park room balcony was quite serene. I read out there and had wine out there. It was lovely.

Here I am in the park at night. They lit it up all pretty.

In Central Park there is an art gallery (free champagne!), a Coach store, the Park Cafe (good for breakfast and lunch and a nice change from the buffet) the Trellis Bar, Vintages Wine Bar, specialty restaurants and the top stop for the Riding Tide Bar.

Oh! I forgot to tell you about the Rising Tide Bar during the Promenade section. You hop on a giant open-sided elevator of sorts....complete with a full bar, tables and chairs. Then, in about 18 minutes, you travel up 3 decks and get out in Central Park. Pretty swanky, right? These fountains are what happens down below when it's on the way up. I don't have a picture of the bar itself. Sorry!

Here we are at Vintages. This was my favorite spot for a drink. It has a great wine menu and a very attentive staff. You can also pay extra for tapas but we didn't do that.

There are 3 specialty restaurants in Central Park that you pay a flat cover charge to eat at. (Are you noticing a trend about the added fees?) We received a complimentary meal from the travel company. and made reservations for the steak house, Chops. Well, the night prior to our reservation, we decided to splurge and try the Italian restaurant, Giovanni's Table.

The food and service were incredible. We had amazing mozzarella and prosciutto bites, crab and corn ravioli and the most delicious steak. After the tiramisu and cannoli, we rolled ourselves out of there. Then we decided we were a couple of fat kids and had already had what would probably be the same steak as the next night and we ended up cancelling our Chops reservation. We both decided we could feel our arteries constricting. Sometimes, that healthy voice wins.

I know there are parts of the ship I'm neglecting but would you believe I'm tired of this tour? Let's go to an island instead!!

Oasis: Entertainment

OK, so we've eaten....again. Let it be known that you could never ever go go hungry on a cruise ship. Even the room service is included (although we did not take advantage of that this time.

Anyway, down on Deck 4 is the Entertainment Place!

Here is Studio B!

You can ice skate here if you want but I have weak ankles (not an excuse, just ask) so we were not interested in skating. If you want to skate, you have to wear long pants....just FYI.This is also where Quest takes place later in the week. If you haven't attended a Quest....just GO! You will laugh like you've never laughed before.

We did watch the ice show 'Frozen in Time' one time. It was cheesy but some of the jumps were impressive.

Also on Deck 4 is Casino Royale!!! Let the record show that I won $10 on penny slots. Unfortunately, John lost $20 on black jack so we did not come out ahead. But, it was a good way to kill a half hour. I wish I were more adventurous with gambling. Playing roulette for a couple hours would be fun....

High roller!

If you're looking for a laugh, look no further than Comedy Live! We made reservations for this show and it did not disappoint. I love comedy clubs! Some poor old lady was falling asleep in the front row. She was ridiculed big time. Sit further back if you don't want to be heckled.

Every night there is a show in the Opal Theatre that you should reserve ahead of time. They have the Broadway show 'Hairspray' which I LOVE! It's such a fun show. But, they also do other Royal Caribbean shows (boring) and the Love & Marriage show (Hilarious!)

Last but not least, a jazz club called Jazz on 4. Jazz is my least favorite music so we never went here. But....it exists if that's your thing.

You think you've been entertained? You ain't seen nothin' yet!

Oasis of the Seas, Part Two

When we last spoke, I was taking you on a tour of the biggest ship in the world! Let's press on, shall we?

There are several pools on the Oasis of the Seas - main pool, beach pool, sports pool, kids pool and the Solarium. Lots of hot tubs too, if that's your thing. There are plenty of lounge chairs but if you want a seat close to the pool, you'd better get there early. Likewise, if you think you're going to snag an umbrella at the beach pool, waking up with the sun is probably a good idea.

This is the only picture I got of the Beach Pool area. See the neat umbrellas? They gave a little shade which was nice. Otherwise, the chairs are in full sun. John will kill me for showing this picture of him chowing down on a fro yo cone. That's what he gets for not reading my blog.

This is part of the Kids Pool. Isn't it rad? There's also a mini lazy river in the back and water canons too. This ship was fun as an adult but it would be awesome for kids. Since we sailed in October, the kid number was lower than normal.

This is the Solarium. It's 16+ only so no kids running around being noisy. Although some of the drunk adults are just as loud as kids. All Royal ships have a Solarium and they're fabulous.....except for a big time flaw on this one. It's far too enclosed by glass. The others have a retractable glass roof and get plenty of air flow. This one does not retract. It was like a sauna in there!

Fruity drink overlooking calm seas on the most gorgeous day ever? Check!

We spent lots of time each day at the pool. You ARE in the Caribbean after all. But when we weren't swimming, I was being adventurous. Let's head over to the Sports Deck!

There are basketball courts, ping pong tables, two rock walls, a miniature golf course (That we never had time to play, dang it) and.....a ZIP LINE!

Look at my zip!

It's a short ride over the boardwalk a few decks below. 10 seconds or less and I was landing on the other end. The lines for this can be long. I would suggest getting there when their hours start for the day and you'll be zipping in no time.

The larger ships all have a Flowrider. Oasis has two! The Flowrider shoots water up at an incredible rate of speed and then you can surf on it or boogie board. I did neither. While I was waiting in line, I gathered tips from my fellow riders. They all assured me it was so easy, even the old fat man said so. The 60 year old woman in front of me did an awesome job. I had lots of confidence.

Then......I wiped out twice before I could even get down to the actual wave part. A staff member had to come help me. Actually, I was irritated he didn't help me from the start. It was clear I was struggling.

He suggested I try it on my stomach, which I didn't even know was an option. Sorry these are blurry. The lens fogged up in the humidity. But, I did it! Sort of.

To make wiping out all the more embarrassing, there are bleachers where other people can sit and watch all the Flowrider fun. That's where John took these shots from. Also, I recommend wearing a shirt and probably shorts if you have a two piece bathing suit. If you're a man, tie up those trunks. I saw a lot more crack than necessary on one of the guys. Not cool.

I'm glad I did it but I don't think I need to try the Flowrider again. I came away with bruised knees and bruised other areas too. That thing beat me up and also nearly drowned me. After my performance, John decided he'd stay dry.

OK - now that we swam and sported, let's eat!

On decks 4 and 5 you have the main dining room. I emailed Royal Caribbean ahead of the cruise to request a 2 person table. Typically, you will be paired with a table full of strangers. This can turn out fine, as in the case of our honeymoon cruise. We had wonderful tablemates and great conversation nightly. On our second cruise however, we had a bunch of duds. Our request was granted and we found ourselves at table 212.

Nice tan lines!

The service was impeccable but the food was just so so. The menus have been revamped in recent years but there were several nights we struggled to find something we really wanted to order. One of the standouts was Thanksgiving dinner on the last night. THAT was tasty. All the soups we tried were good as well. We had the late seating at 8:30 pm and while dinner can take awhile if you have a large table, we zipped in and out of there since it was just the two of us. Our servers knew what was up.

After you've stuffed yourself silly, it's time to go have some more fun right?

Right.

But I think that's a story for another day.

Recipe Reblog: Butterfinger Popcorn

Raise your hand if you still have candy left from Halloween? I erred on the conservative side in the amount of candy I purchased in case we didn't have many trick or treaters. We ended up with 35 kids! That's pretty good for our little house that's tucked all the way back in the neighborhood and for the weather being terrible. Still, we had 15 Butterfingers leftover and I did not want to sit there stuffing my face like a fat girl.

Enter.....

Butterfinger Popcorn: This recipe comes from Six Sister's Stuff and it was GOOD! Chopped up mini candy bars, although I suppose you could use regular size too. Microwave popcorn, melted butter and marshmallows. I ended up pressing it into a 9x13 pan and we all grabbed chunks as we liked. It never hardened and held a rice krispie treat-esque consistency. Luckily, we had John's parents in town to help us eat it because I would have eaten the entire pan. DELICIOUS!

Bad Monkey

Source

I needed a beachy read that didn't take much thought so I picked this up at the library before we left for the cruise. Yes, I could have loaded it on my Kindle but I didn't think the beach/pool would be very Kindle-friendly. Plus, it's hard to read in the sun.


Good Reads' Synopsis: "Andrew Yancy--late of the Miami Police, soon-to-be-late of the Key West Police--has a human arm in his freezer. There's a logical (Hiaasenian) explanation for that, but not for how and why it parted from its owner. Yancy thinks the boating-accident/shark-luncheon explanation is full of holes, and if he can prove murder, his commander might relieve him of Health Inspector duties, aka Roach Patrol. But first Yancy will negotiate an ever-surprising course of events--from the Keys to Miami to a Bahamian out island--with a crew of equally ever-surprising characters, including: the twitchy widow of the frozen arm; an avariciously idiotic real estate developer; a voodoo witch whose lovers are blinded-unto-death by her particularly peculiar charms; Yancy's new love, a kinky medical examiner; and the eponymous Bad Monkey, who earns his place among Hiaasen's greatest characters with hilariously wicked aplomb."

What I Thought: This was just okay for me but it was exactly the kind of mindless read I needed between people watching and enjoying some rays up on the pool deck. If you're a Hiaasen fan, you'll probably like this. It has his typical humor and likable protagonist. If you've never read him before, probably best to start elsewhere.



Rating: * * 1/2

October Running Round Up

Another month of running is in the books. I know you probably don't really care how many miles I ran each day but it's my blog and it keeps me honest. So there!

Oct 1: 4.2 mi TM in 35:52, 8:52/8:36/8:21/8:15/1:45
Oct 3: 3.1 mi in 29:16.....Sore!
Oct 6: 7 mi TM in 63:35, 9:05 avg pace
Oct 8: 5 mi TM in 42:57, 8:35 avg
Oct 13: 6.5 mi TM in 59:37
Oct 14: 2 mi TM in 16:52
Oct 15: 4.2 TM in 37:13, 8:56 avg,tired legs
Oct 20: 3 miles at sea!
Oct 27: 6 mi TM in 55:51, 9:18 avg
Oct 28: 4 mi TM in 34:10, last mi. 8:14
Oct 30: 4.4 mi TM in 39:58 9:23/9:07/8/53/:8:48

49.4 miles

I just eked in under 50 miles and I'm okay with that. I just didn't have 5 miles in for that last run. I was out of town a lot and I'm pretty proud of myself for running once on vacation. It is the longest running track at sea. Only 2.4 laps to a mile. Since it was down on Deck 5, you didn't have to hop over the lazy bones lounging in the sun either. All other ships have their tracks up on the pool deck. The track had this motivation for me too!

Here's John lapping all these people in flip flops! 

OK, so we took that later in the week after we had already completed our run.

Anyway......November is off to a good start so I feel good about wrapping up the year strong. I'm attempting to up my miles a bit this month in anticipation of turkey day.

Lace up, everyone!

Oasis of the Seas, Part One

Well, it's November. It's also been more than a week since John and I disembarked from the greatest ship in the world, Oasis of the Seas, with Royal Caribbean.

It's the behemoth on the left

17 glorious decks of food and fun! But let's back up a bit, shall we?

Yes, we went to Europe in May for our 5th anniversary and it was, hands down, the best vacation in all of my 30 years. But if you know me at all, you know that the travel bug starts itching on the flight home. I simply NEED to plan more trips. The weather being less than ideal in Europe prompted John to agree to a tropical location for a fall vacation. Initially, we considered and priced all-inclusives in Mexico. The value is greater than a cruise. However, we also had terrible weather when we went to Cancun in 2011 so we got cold feet just before booking. A good sale came along on CruCon, a cruising sale site, and it didn't take a whole lot of convincing on my part to tell John to open the purse strings a bit and go whole hog.

In a flurry of phone calls to book, the sale was ending at midnight and you cannot book online (which is ridiculous), we snapped up a Central Park view balcony room with pre-paid gratuities, specialty dining voucher and complimentary spa service on the biggest ship in the world for a song.

While the Western itinerary is always cheaper, the Eastern itinerary is much preferable.

Source

We stopped at both St. Thomas and St. Maarten on our honeymoon aboard the Adventure of the Seas, but love both spots so we did not mind repeating. Nassau was a new port for us. Much research ensued, typically, to find the best options for what to do in each port. Cruising on the Oasis carries the added research of booking your shows ahead of time. Most ships do not require reservations for shows but carrying 6,200 passengers, the Oasis is not most ships. Reservations are free but an absolute must. You can make them on board but you likely will not get your first choice of dates/times and you might be shut out of some shows all together. For instance, the comedy club is the smallest venue on the ship and sold out every performance. You can attempt the standby line but there are no guarantees.

Moving on........

We flew out of Cleveland because of free dog sitting and I used points on the return flight, which was nonstop. If you've never cruised before, you'll hear horror stories of flying in the day of embarkation and missing the ship if your flight is delayed. You'll be duped into paying at least double to book your ticket through the cruiseline because they'll "hold the ship" for you. Do not believe this. Book the air on your own. If you're really a nervous nellie, fly in a day early. You'll still save money even if you incur hotel costs.

An uneventful flight to Ft. Lauderdale by way of Baltimore and we were soon at our hotel, Hyatt Place 17th St. Convention Center. I got a decent price on Booking.com and it was walking distance to several restaurants and a Total Wine. This was important because you are now allowed to bring on 2 bottles of wine per stateroom. Hooray!

This is getting a bit wordy. Let's move on to EMBARKATION DAY!

We arrived at the port by 11:00 AM. They text and email and tell you that under no circumstances should you arrive at the port until after 12:30. This is also a lie. Boarding usually begins at 11:15 am, give or take. You wait in chairs until it's your turn, which happens quickly. I think we were on board by 11:45 AM. You paid for that first day on ship. Take advantage of it!

These are the gangways of embarkation. Then you are ON THE SHIP!

You enter on Deck 5 crossing over the running track and winding up in the Royal Promenade. Here you'll find shops, bars, clubs, Starbucks, karaoke bar, sports bar, Guest Services and a whole lot more. It's much wider than the RP on other classes of ships. it's also one of the only decks in which you can walk from forward to aft and back without having to go into the room hallways.

We spent a lot of time in the Royal Promenade, specifically hanging out in the Globe & Atlas, an English pub. It was the best place for beer on the ship. You can only drink so many pina coladas before you need a brew.

There are lots of other places in the Royal Promenade but let's move up to Deck 6, shall we? Here you'll find, the Boardwalk.

The Boardwalk is in the center of the ship but is open air above and aft. Here you'll find the carousel, ice cream shop, donut shop (yum!) Seafood Shack, Johnny Rockets, a bar, a couple stores, two rock climbing walls (two!) and the aqua theatre. Lots to see here folks. Not to be missed

The carousel is free to ride and runs just about all day long whenever you want to mount up. Yes, I made John ride it with me. Don't let him fool you. He was smiling the whole time too.

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This is the aqua theatre where we saw the show, Oasis of Dreams. It's a combination, diving, synchronized swimming, aerial arts show. The front rows are considered a 'splash zone' but we opted for the loungers further back. It's best to try to reserve this show for the first night if you can. It's weather dependent so if the seas are a-rockin', the show is cancelled. I liked the divers best. Very impressive!

We have so much more to discuss but this post is quite long already. We haven't been to the pool decks, dining room or Central Park. I guess that's a story for another day.......