What A Ship!

Royal Caribbean International's "Oasis of the Seas" is the newest and world's largest cruise ship ever! It is 3 football fields in length, twice the width of their next biggest ship, and 18 stories high. It is just amazing! This was the 6th time that Oasis of the Seas has sailed and the 1st cruise of the new year. The Osmond Brothers show was the first celebrity show on the ship.

On Monday, January 4th, Wayne and I left home at about 4:00 am, drove to the Salt Lake City Airport and met Merrill, Mary and Jay to fly to Dallas for a layover before flying to San Juan, Puerto Rico. After having to change gates 4 times in Dallas and meeting Steve Mason and his friend, Paula, we finally flew to San Juan, Puerto Rico and arrived at around 8:00 pm. There was supposed to be someone waiting at the airport in San Juan to take us to the San Juan Water and Beach Club to stay for the night, but they were no where to be found. After Merrill and Jay making multiple phone calls we finally gave up, loaded all our luggage and jumped in a Taxi van. We really appreciate Terri Shoemaker for sending us a detailed schedule and itinerary at times like this or we wouldn't know when or where we are supposed to be.

The hotel was white, had only blue neon lights with white sheer drapes everywhere. They were either trying to make it look like the sea or an eerie modern design. Wayne and I went directly to our rooms which were decorated in the same decor but comfortable and went to sleep. We all met in the lobby the next morning at 9:00 am and flew out of Puerto Rico to St. Thomas, Virgin Islands to embark the "Oasis of the Seas."

It was Wayne's turn for the suite this cruise, which I love because there is a balcony facing the sea attached to the room which we can relax on while we read or watch the ship arrive and depart from the ports. After boarding the ship and getting settled there was a rehearsal and sound check with the cruise orchestra in the main showroom. The Brothers weren't excited to hear that there were 2 shows that night at 8:30 and 10:30 pm. We were all exhausted - especially the Brothers.

We were blessed with a good sound man on the ship, which makes or breaks the show, so everything went pretty smoothly except when they started singing "Through the Years." The film didn't start so they stopped singing while Wayne told a few jokes to fill in some time and soon the film was running and they were back to "Through the Years." That night we sailed to St. Maartens and after everyone had a day at St. Maartens The Brothers did another show that evening at 7:30 pm. Now they could relax for the rest of the cruise.

Thursday they filmed a TV interview at noon with the cruise director, then we spent the rest of the day checking out the ship while we were sailing all day to the Bahamas. Friday we spent the day at the Bahamas. We enjoyed a long walk into the city, Nassau to check everything out and tried to finish seeing everything on the ship. The cruise director said that if we spent a whole week checking out the ship we wouldn't be able to see everything.

On the Oasis there is a Central Park where the center of the ship opens to the sky which features lush, tropical grounds with flower gardens and trees, an original, handcrafted carousel, rock climbing walls, zip line, flow riders, ice skating, sports court, swimming pools, hot tubs, golf, table tennis, spas, workshops on scrapbooking, jewelry making and towel folding demonstrations, library, trivia games, yoga, water aerobics, body sculpt sessions, art and photo galleries, bingo, family festival, karaoke, card & game room, game shows, casino Royale, night clubs, medical facility, retail shops, fitness center, TV and online services, caricature drawings you can have drawn of yourself, jogging track, wedding chapel, Jewish Sabbath Services, Catholic Mass, teeth whitening, Restylane treatments, production shows, movies, seminars, night clubs, comedy shows, parades, water fountain shows, soccer shoot out tournament, etc. There are all kinds of dining, music and dancing options: jazz, latin, rock, classical, easy listening music, Boleros, seafood restaurant, Asian cuisine, Johnny Rockets, donut shop, ice cream parlor, bars, buffets, steak restaurant, cupcake cupboard, cafes, dining rooms, etc. There are even separate activities and areas for babies, toddlers, children and teens. These activites are all on board the ship. Shore excursions, scuba diving, snorkeling, shopping and other various tours are available at each port. I don't know what else there could possibly be that's "new" on future ships. I'm going to post some pictures on Wayne's website for you all to see. It's pretty amazing!

We spent the night cruising to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. After departing the ship the next morning it took us about 13 hours traveling with a lay over in Atlanta, Georgia before arriving home. It was fun but exhausting trip! The biggest surprise was that my computer that I lost over 2 weeks earlier was finally done traveling around the world and was waiting for me in the Lost and Found at the Salt Lake City airport!