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The Oasis of the Seas, touted as the world’s largest cruise ship, really, really, really is—we mean really, the largest ship anyone’s going to see for awhile! Driving toward the parking lot at Terminal 18 in Fort Lauderdale’s Port Everglades—a terminal built specifically for this ship—this beautiful behemoth totally dominates the skyline as it sits regally at the pier, dwarfing it’s cruise line neighbors.

With more than 3,000 passengers coming aboard on this special day-and-a-half cruise to nowhere introducing Royal Caribbean’s newest addition to its fleet, it answered a lot questions about how effectively and efficiently this new terminal would be handling more than an anticipated 10,000 passengers during the disembarkation and embarkation procedures each week. And judging from what we saw, they’ll do just fine.

First off, there’s an army of attendants directing passengers coming and going and the ticket lines inside the terminal apparently move quite efficiently, as well. We say apparently because Royal Caribbean announced it wouldn’t start processing passengers onboard until 1 pm, so we deliberately timed our arrival for around 3 pm and still anticipated some chaos. Not so—the parking lot was almost full and the only passengers inside the cavernous terminal were a handful of other late arrivals. We went through the security and embarkation procedures very quickly and within a few minutes we were trudging up the gang plank. That’s one of the fixes Richard Fain promised at an Executive Q & A session the next morning—he likened the steep gangplank that snakes its way up to Deck 8 as a forced march and promised a quick adjustment.

Once onboard, we hurried to our stateroom to get organized. It was a little bit disconcerting, at first and agents should take note when booking for your clients. The stateroom was set up with two single beds which wasn’t a problem—the problem was that with a table in the middle of the two beds, the inside bed was pushed up so close to the closet, the average sized adult would literally have to stand on the bed to put the clothes away. It was an easy enough fix—we just pushed the beds together—but it shouldn’t have been set up like that in the first place.

The cabin itself was comfortable with plenty of storage area and the bath area was spacious with the cylindrical style shower stalls that make showering for magnificently proportioned people such as myself, a little less confining and claustrophobic. Bath amenities, however, were virtually nonexistent—a bar of soap and a shampoo fixture on the inside of the shower. But the really good part was the balcony overlooking Central Park, which is nestled in between two walls of balconied staterooms—324 of them—soaring up as high as 12 floors above it. The environment is both futuristic—floor after floor of chrome and glass reaching into the sky and anchored on either end by two huge glass walls stretching from Deck 8 to Deck 16—and park like as you gaze four floors down at the mosaic of colorful flowers and tile-like walkways and green trees—60 feet wide and 353 long—a true oasis in the midst of this huge ocean going vacation resort.

Within the park itself there’s five dining venues including Vintages Wine Bar which serves tapas, the Rising Tide—the world’s first moving bar at sea which takes guests from Central Park to the Royal Promenade deck and back—the Trellis Bar featuring the Crystal Canopy, plus a specialty store with Coaches handbags, a portrait studio and an art gallery. Here, too, are the specialty restaurants—Chops Grille, Royal Caribbean’s signature steak house with a $25 pp charge; 150 Central Park, the ship’s most exclusive restaurant at $35 per head; and Giovanni’s Table, an Italian trattoria at $15 per head. The Park Cafe serves up a great roast beef sandwich, as well as a make-your-own salad bar, soups and sandwiches.

Still another fun part of the ship is Boardwalk—an old time Coney Island look alike with the only carousel at sea, candy and donut shops, the old photo booths for the kids to squeeze into, an Ice Cream Parlor, the Seafood Shack, Johnny Rockets Diner and the Boardwalk Bar. There’s also the Star Pier and Pinwheels, a kids and teen retail store. At the end of the Boardwalk is the Aqua Theater that’s a regular sun and swim venue during the day, which turns into a water show venue in the evening with high diving and water acrobatic performances. Here, too, are two of Royal Caribbean’s rock climbing walls.

The Royal Promenade—always the heart of a Royal Caribbean ship—is the shopping, dining and bar/lounge central, where you’ll also find Guest Services and the Shore & Land Excursions offices. This is where the Rising Tide Bar lands and where you’ll find the Atlas Pub, the Schooner Bar, the Champagne Bar and Boleros Latin Bar. In the best interests of our readers, we did our best to try them all and they all come heavily recommended. Sorrento’s is a great pizzeria—go for the Florentine pizza, it’s delicious.

If the Royal Promenade is retail/services central, then the two-deck Pool and Sports Zone is Activity/Relaxation Central. There’s so many pools here—this area takes up the better part of the ship on the two top decks—it’s a wonder this thing doesn’t sink. It’s also where your thrill seeking clients can ride the zip line, nine decks above the Boardwalk. Or, you could sit at one of the four pool bars with a good book like a civilized person and look up every now and then, enjoying the terrified, why-am-I-doing-this looks on the zip liner’s faces as they careen across the ship. One of our favorite places in this area of the ship is the Solarium, two decks of pure relaxation with floor to ceiling windows looking out on the ocean and where you’ll find the Solorium Bistro—still another excellent dining venue that turns into a specialty restaurant in the evening. Here, too, is where you’ll find the FlowRiders, the surf simulator where you can catch a few waves, a basketball court, miniature golf, ping pong and more sun loungers than any other ship afloat—always a big deal on a cruise ship because there never seems to be enough.

For the family, there’s the youth Zone where kids 3 to 11 can enjoy the Adventure Science Lab, the Imagination Studio and the new Adventure Ocean Theater. Teens, too, have their own club and a variety of areas where they can hang out and meet new friends. The entire area offers dedicated spaces for age—appropriate groups and with a full staff of well trained professional to look out after the kids and get the most out of what’s offered.

The Entertainment Place is the place to be at night, of course. There’s elaborate, true Las Vegas style entertainment available at the main theater, but there’s also a lot of other smaller venues for those who prefer a more intimate entertainment experience. There’s Blaze, a hot nightclub that packs them in, Jazz on 4 is for music fans who enjoy a more low key experience, Dazzles is a club that runs the gamut from disco to Big Band sounds, while Comedy Live is still another small club with hilarious entertainment.  

To be honest, this ship is so big, it’s hard to get an in-depth look at everything that’s offered to your clients in just one day and a half. The Vitality at Sea Spa and Fitness was one such area we didn’t get to see too much of, but the fitness area is huge with all the latest exercise equipment, as well as spinning, Pilates, yoga and a new class called Kinesis which promises a full-body, no impact workout. There’s also the Vitality Café with a variety of healthy snacks, juices and smoothies, as well healthy, nutritious entrees for the strong-minded or for those wsho want assuage their guilt for multiple trips to the desert tables. The spa itself promises the most advanced spa and anti-aging therapies available, with couples massage suites and its Thermal Suite.  

Probably what guarantees your clients a truly unique vacation resort experience aboard this incredible new ship is not just the hardware and the gleaming, truly innovative environment—it’s goingn to be the crew and the service ethic. We’ve been on more than a few “new introductory” cruises such as this one and Royal Caribbean outdid itself staffing this ship. Virtually every crew person we were in contact with were experienced, professional, out-of-their-way helpful and virtually all of them were genuinely excited about serving onboard the Oasis.

Watch for an onboard review of Oasis with more information in an upcoming issue of Recommend.