oasis-of-the-seas | Around the World in 80 Trips (Or Less)

Posts tagged ‘oasis-of-the-seas’

Florida 2026, Day 07

Day 7, Porto Plata, Dominican Republic

At breakfast in the main restaurant this morning, we meet Amanda and Chelsea and have fun travel conversations. Amanda is a Consultant and Chelsea is an RN. Walking back to our stateroom, I come across the marker in Central Park that marks the center of the ship!

The gangplank opens at 10 AM. We get off and walk the mile of docks and shops to get into the city of Porto Plata, Dominican Republic. Walking around the city reveals interesting sights and streets. It doesn’t appear safe to wander far from the tourist attractions. We have been told the same from people who know this area.

About a mile of walking brings us to the “Umbrella Street”, with a canopy of colorful umbrellas.

Next we find the “Pink Street”, ‘Paseo de Dona Blanca’ where every wall and doorway is pink.

We walk around a large plaza, inquiring about restaurants that serve Conch, having never tried this. All kinds of tourist activities are happening. A ‘cool’ ice cream store grabs my camera’s eye! Caribbean music plays from a small band in the square.

We come across a Cathedral and my camera drags me over for a couple shots. There is no tourist fee to enter this one.

We are told of a restaurant that serves Conch. After much searching, we find it and get seated. Then we are informed that they don’t have conch today. Bummer. So we search some more to no avail.

Back to the ship it is, but not before stopping for a couple of rum drinks to cool the body and soul! A fun pair of bartenders helps keep us entertained! We even find a shuttle that takes us the last mile of docks to our ship!

Back on the ship, we don swim suits and relax in a hot tub. With muscles relaxed, I dry off and walk to the back of the ship to watch us leave port. I find some empty chairs at the back of the ship and sit back. Not knowing what time we will depart, I actually fall asleep for an hour or so. The ship horns wake me as they announce our departure. I wait for the ship to turn around but it never does. The ship is too big to turn around in the harbor! This is the first time I have witnessed a ship back all the way out the channel into the open ocean before it turns around and gets underway.

Back in our cabin, we prepare for dinner in the main dining room.

Florida 2026, Day 06

San Juan, Puerto Rico (Day 4 on the ship)

We get up and actually have a leisurely breakfast in the buffet (the main restaurant was packed). The gangplank opens a few minutes before 10 AM. We manage to make it off the ship around 10:15.

It’s already quite warm but not unbearable. We’re in the port of San Juan, Puerto Rico. We head through the streets of Old Town and work our way up the hill to the Old Fort. The buildings are colorful as we walk. The Fort as we approach, reminds us of the Old Fort in Cartagena, Columbia. Stone and mortar with similar design elements. We even poke our heads into a church on the way up!

Great views from the top of San Juan. The Fort is similar to many South American Forts. Stone, brick and mortar.

We continue through the quaint streets and come across a couple churches which even the local police don’t know the names of! We look inside but don’t opt to actually go in and pay the tithe.

We bump into Austin and Olivia from our ship (lovers in the Pub!) at Las Palomas Park (Pigeon Park) where a pigeon lands on my shoulder and it takes quite a bit of shaking to convince it to fly away!

It is very warm today so, on the way back to the ship, we stop at a local restaurant and imbibe in a cold margarita. Back on the ship, we change and head for a cool water pool. The ships horn informs us that we are departing and I grab my cell phone (the only camera I am traveling with) and get some shots of San Juan as we depart. Back to our cabin to relax before dinner. A new folded towel animal greets us!

Dinner in the main restaurant tonight is very good. After dinner we go to a “Name that Lyric” game show, lots of laughs. Then to an Elton John tribute. We watch the “Rising Tide Bar descend and later rise.

Heading back to our cabin, I take a stroll through Central Park. I come across the Rising Tide Bar ready to descend and I ride it down.

Goodnight All! See you tomorrow!

Florida 2026, Day 05

At Sea

Day 5 (day 3 on ship) Today we have breakfast in the Buffet where I promptly find the Omelette Bar! Here, you don’t wait at the bar, but I am given a restaurant ‘beeper’ that sounds a signal when your omelette is ready. Tummy satiated, it’s off to explore this humongous ship.

What do you do when you come across a Merry-Go-Round on a cruise ship? Well, you ride on it, of course! Then a kid on a Zip Line flies overhead! We find the Aqua Theater in the back of the ship that we will attend later tonight. And a display showing how a Hobby Horse is made!

We find the “Ultimate Abyss” slide on the 16th floor near the back of the ship. It is a 10 story dry slide that drops you to the 6th floor in 30 seconds. So of course we have to ride it! It is a double slide so Elee and I race to the bottom. I barely eek out the win amid complaints that, “Mine wouldn’t start”, and “I got stuck at the beginning”, yadda, yadda, yadda, LOL. But it was nothing less than thrilling!

We find our way to the “Royal Promenade”, a shopping and entertainment ‘street’ that runs most of the length of the ship on Deck 5. It is impossible to even tell you are on a ship! We find a bar on Deck 6 that overlooks the Promenade and order a couple of drinks while we sit and people watch. Before we know it, a Pirate Show begins among the people milling about and approximately 30-40 entertainment crew put on a show that takes up 100 yards of the Promenade, full with pirate ship props and shark fins floating along the floor. Costumed swashbucklers of all kinds perform to the crowds delight and it seems that by random luck, we have positioned ourselves perfectly to observe the festivities!

We are overlooking a set of fountains that sprays water through colored lights while the pirate show takes place all around it. Elee steps away for a few minutes to use the facilities and when she returns, she exclaims, “When did the Fountain turn into a Bar?” I had been so busy focusing on the show that I never noticed a full on bar, the “Rising Tide Bar”, had dropped down upon the fountain from Deck 8! It turns out that it drops and rises several times per day and you can go in the bar while it is in motion!

The show concludes and a couple arrives with a travel version of the game, “Rummy Cub”. They invite us to join them and we play a round of the game. Our latest new friends, Donna and Randy, from Fort Lauderdale and Philadelphia and quite congenial and friendly.

We wander around more of the ship, even the elevator wells are something to look at! We end up in our cabin where we don our swim gear and kick back in a hot tub on Deck 15. After which we find a bar in the Promenade hosting a Travel Trivia game. We join in the game and don’t do as well as we thought we would but it is fun anyway. The bar is offering Happy Hour Margaritas and we imbibe some more!

We have already made dinner reservations in the Solarium Bistro where, true to their word, Maitre de Salem and Chef Alicia make and serve us complimentary Filet Mignon. Waiter Adhi from Bali takes great care of us and the meal is fabulous! Tonight, Elee joins me and we go back to the Globe & Atlas to listen to the guitar player, Ana. We take up residence at a table for 4 and before long, a brother and sister, Chris and Angie from Minnesota join us and we have another fun evening making more new friends!

At 10:30 PM, we attend the “Aqua 80” show in the water theater at the back of the ship. We made reservations for this show at home before we even left. This show is comprised of high flying aerial acrobatics and high diving from 6 stories up, all while the ship is in motion! Spectacular athletes perform all kinds of aquatic stunts and a few of them even fly over and behind the audience on aerial trapezes!

It is now midnight and tomorrow is a Port Day, so back to our stateroom we go!

Florida 2026, Day 04

Nassau, The Bahamas

Day 4 (day 2 on the ship). We need to meet our tour in the ‘terminal’ by 9 AM. We have breakfast at a Cafe on the ship, it turns out to be Starbucks! (yuk!) Then it’s off the ship and the usual walk into the terminal.

We take some fun shots in and around the terminal area while we look for where to meet our tour guide. It turns out the meeting place is back near the ship!

Our guide walks us to a ferry boat and it’s a 30 minutes boat ride to Rose Island. We ride by what appears to be mansions (probably only summer homes of the rich and famous!) Mega yachts everywhere we look! The water is a fantastic aqua blue-green and there are tourist boats galore! Today we are going to swim with pigs!

The island is tropical and scenic. We are pointed towards a lookout tower on top of the island and we walk the short 50 yards and up about 30 steps to the top of this narrow strip of land. We are told the Pig Adventure will start soon so we head down to the beach, a short 3 minute walk from the top! We are told to walk out into the surf and are each given a plastic cup full of sliced carrots. “Release The Pigs!” We hear a guide shout and sure enough, about 50 pigs come running towards us in the water. We have been given a skewer along with the carrots and told to feed them using the skewer as the pigs have teeth! The Pig Adventure lasts about 15-20 minutes, LOL, after which everyone gets to hold a baby pig. Elee gets in line to hold a pig whereas I, having grown up in farm country, don’t see the alure of holding a pig! A pretty island guide, Lauren, spots us and comes over to chat. She offers to get us some rum drinks but Elee misinterprets her offer and tells her we are heading to lunch.

The beaches are beautiful and the people are friendly. Lots of American, UK and Caribbean music play over not too loud speakers. The day is very pleasant and not hot. The ocean is warm and comfortable. Lunch is rice, fried plantains, fish fingers and Mac & cheese. Throw in a couple Bahama Mama’s to sip on and we are on Island Time as birds and chickens visit us hoping for a dropped morsel or three!

Looking out over the ocean, a sandbar off the beach glows in the sun!

I bump into Lauren and she tells me to wait here and she snags me a strong rum punch! She is probably hoping for a nice cash tip but, alas, I have no cash on me to give! A service lady from the restaurant stops by and chats, Samara. Probably hoping for the same thing as Lauren. I take note to have a little cash on me from now on! Back to the dock and onto the ferry for the ride back.

On the boat ride back I found my first pair of lovers. Those of you who read my blog might know that I always look for lovers all over the world!

We arrive back at 2:30 PM. We know we need to be back on the ship by 3:30. John’s Rum Distillery is a 10-12 minute walk. I researched this place at home and you can bottle your own rum for $20 per bottle. So we walk there, wearing Elee out. But we each fill and seal a bottle. We ask for a taxi ride to the ship. A taxi picks us up in 5 minutes. He only takes cash which we don’t have. He takes me to an ATM and I manage to get money. We get to the Port with 12 minutes to spare. But ours is the furthest ship. Luckily for us, several other passengers are walking with us to the ship. We get there just in time and all is good. We are not the only Mega Ship in port today!

Back on the ship we soak our feet in a pool. The ship’s horn makes us jump as it begins to leave port. I climb out and get some photos of the port as we leave. As the ship leaves port, we see a peninsula island that is one that Royal Caribbean owns and their own resort! We chose not to go there as RC charges in the vicinity of $175 per person to spend the day on their private resort!

Then it is back to our cabin to nap and shower and get ready for dinner. We find our first folded ‘animal’ towel that our Room Steward left for us!

We eat in the Solarium Bistro where we made reservations. It’s served buffet style. Some of the food is fabulous but some falls short. For some reason we don’t understand, the manager approaches us and asks us how everything is. We had not even said much except between ourselves. So we gave him an honest critique of the food, both good and bad. The manager sends the chef out to talk with us. We are mildly surprised but we give the chef the same critique we gave the manager. The chef claims to take our suggestions. Also, the chef insists we return for dinner tomorrow and promises to cook us a premium meal! I think I know where we’ll eat tomorrow!

We order wine to take to the show in the big theater and they give it to us in theater ready glasses (acrylic). We readily find seats in the theater and settle in for a great song and dance performance. We are extremely impressed with the caliber of the show and especially with the stage animatronics. Best we’ve seen on a cruise ship. I am uncertain of the ship’s policy on taking photos during the show, so I hold off for now.

We retire to our cabin but the night is not over. There is a Caribbean Party in the Royal Promenade which is like a city street in the middle of this huge ship! Here I find my second pair of lovers, Austin and Olivia, lovers in the pub! Austin from Minnesota and Olivia from North Dakota. They met in Ashley, ND in college!

I go down and find a great spot in the Globe and Atlas Pub, an Irish Pub in the middle of the party! The atmosphere is electric and not one person is unhappy. Considering there are at least 1000 people in the vicinity, I cannot see an unhappy face.

This Pub has its own entertainment with a guitar player starting soon so I relax and have a glass of wine as I listen to the show all around me. Then it’s back to the cabin for the night!

Florida 2026, Day 03

A really big boat!

Day 3: We wake and walk to breakfast at the same breakfast food truck of yesterday. Here we order ham and cheese croissants, mine with scrambled eggs. We now meet Debbie and Jeff from Minnesota and have a fun chat. We order an Uber and it arrives at 12:30. It’s less than 5 miles to the ship but it takes almost an hour. Sure enough, as we were warned last night, there is a marathon in the area today and traffic is snarled. We had heard about it from Stefan from Quebec who also dined with us last night.

Our Uber driver, Tomas, is pleasant and gets us to the ship around 1:30 PM. We have an easy time boarding and we are on Royal Caribbean’s Oasis of the Seas in no time. Now to get to know one of the largest cruise ships in the world. Passenger capacity is about 6400. We’ll definitely be getting our steps in! We have a Stateroom with a balcony overlooking “Central Park” in the interior of the ship!

The ship is enormous! Somewhere along the lines of 12 swimming pools, water slides, 2 surfing pools, countless restaurants and bars, theaters galore including the 3 story theater in the front. Shops and stores.

I get some photos on deck of parts of the ship and the harbor as we depart Fort Lauderdale. I must point out that this is my first trip without a camera. I am only using my new iPhone 17. It will be interesting to see the caliber of images I capture.

We choose to have dinner in the main restaurant. We wait in line and are soon escorted up two levels to our table. Dinner consists of crab cakes, escargot, prime rib, and cheesecake for dessert. Decadence! We book a comedy club for later and continue to tour the ship. There are countless activities to do on the ship, but reservations are needed for most of them, even the free ones.

Tomorrow will be the first Port Day. We will add the Bahamas to our growing list of places visited. Got to get up early so I’ll bid you good night! Enjoy some photos of the ship with the surfing pools, a miniature golf area, an outdoor BBQ/Smoked Meat Restaurant, antique car, swimming pools and even the, “Bionic Bar” where robots will mix you a drink!