Amplified Oasis of the Seas Cruise Review

Ship Overview

Oasis of the Seas, Royal Caribbean’s original game changer, received a major update near the end of 2019. The newly amplified Oasis of the Seas is now even bolder and fresher than before with a number of enhancements.

Some of the additions include the re-branding of the outdoor pool bars to the popular Lime and Coconut bar and the addition of an Ultimate Abyss slide.

New to Royal Caribbean is the casual, specialty restaurant Portside BBQ. This restaurant on the amplified Oasis of the Seas offers fresh BBQ favorites like St. Louis-style spare ribs and chicken wings for a small up-charge.

Of course, you will still find all the features that you know and love on Oasis Class ships. You can enjoy a tranquil evening in Central Park. Or, you can feel like a kid again at the outdoor Boardwalk. This area is made even more lively with the addition of Playmakers Sports Bar and Arcade.

The traditional main dining room still offers personal service, and there are plenty of other casual eats like the new poolside El Loco Fresh and the Park Café.

Families will love the outdoor sports deck. This massive area includes a variety of activities for kids of all ages. Everyone can enjoy some mini-golf, two surf simulators, a sports court, twin rock climbing walls that are among the largest at sea, and a zip line. The best part is that all these activities are complimentary.

Not to mention, there are 4 pools and the Perfect Storm waterslides.

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Oasis of the Seas was the first to feature the outdoor entertainment area, the Aqua Theater, with a new signature production, Aqua80. In addition, there is a plethora of main theater entertainment, including the Broadway production of CATS, as well as an ice show and a comedy show.

With so much to do, see, and eat, what’s not to love about the Amplified Oasis of the Seas?

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Amplified Oasis of the Seas Cruise Review – Day 1

Cruising with Family

Like most cruises, we arrived at the homeport of Miami a day early. Instead of flying down, we drove from Fort Lauderdale after disembarking Odyssey of the Seas.

Spending the evening at the Hyatt Regency Miami, we waited for our family to arrive and enjoyed a low-key dinner in the Brickell area.

Sunday morning, we checked out of our hotel for 11 am. While our assigned embarkation time was not until 2:30 pm, we rolled the dice and attempted to get to the terminal early. We were cruising with our 9 year old nephew, so we did not know what to expect with all the added measures for unvaccinated kids.

Successfully securing two Uber XLs, we arrived at the terminal in about 15 minutes to find a small crowd already forming.

Checking our bags with a porter, we were directed to the family line. We watched with envy as the fully vaccinated line of cruisers quickly proceeded through the screening and check-in process.

It took about 30 minutes to get to the entrance where representatives checked our COVID tests and vaccination status. Then, we were directed to the testing area, which took about another 20 minutes. Proceeding upstairs, we were then able to complete the official check-in and security process.

We were then directed to a waiting area in the terminal, where we would anxiously await our nephew’s results. Luckily, just a short time later, he received his negative results.

All in all, the entire process took only about 75 minutes. For a holiday cruise with close to 1,000 children onboard, we chalked that up to a success.

Beating the Crowds

Stepping foot on Oasis of the Seas around 12:45 pm, it was a mad dash to get our entertainment reservations.

Given COVID restrictions, guests can not currently make entertainment reservations pre-cruise. Further, there are designated shows for “vaccinated” and “everyone”.

Reviewing the options, we swiftly secured all of the “family” show times. This included the Ice Show on night 7, the Aqua Show on night 3, and a few other main theater headliner acts. Of course, we also reserved the comedy show and CATS for ourselves.

With everything now in place, it was time to show off the ship. We last sailed on Oasis of the Seas in 2016, before the amplification. So, we were excited to see the updates too.

Even though it was relatively early, the ship was already quite busy. Too busy for our typical embarkation day photo and video tour. Thus, we took an abbreviated ship tour highlighting the major neighborhoods.

During the walk around the ship, we stopped at Adventure Ocean to register our nephew. Given the number of kids, they were only allowed to sign him up for 5 hours for the week.

Down to Deck 8, we then made a pit stop for lunch at Park Café. It is a day 1 tradition for me to grab a Royal Kummelweck sandwich.

Continuing down to Deck 4, we stopped in at our muster station. We were able to complete the Muster 2.0 videos while waiting to board the ship, so we simply just needed to check-in at the physical station. This is such a vast improvement in this mandatory maritime process.

By this time, it was past 2 pm, and the cruise director had already announced that the cabins were ready. So, it was time to venture up to Deck 10 to drop off our gear.

We had a starboard side balcony cabin, 10598. It had an oversized balcony with a pretty standard interior setup. Our other family members had two connecting staterooms a few doors down the hallway.

When compared to the balcony cabin we had on Odyssey of the Seas, we did miss the additional storage areas above the bed.

Down the hall, we could see all of our luggage. So, I grabbed our bags, and we began to unpack.

We made plans to meet outside at the pool deck for 3:30 pm. This gave us just enough time to get all of our clothes and gear stored away.

Now, we were officially on vacation!

A Pretty Typical Night 1

Our dinner was at 5:30 pm, which meant we would not be able to watch sail away. Though, we did stay outside until around 5 pm.

While some of our family seemed to enjoy the waterslides, we started the vacation off with drinks from the nearby Lime and Coconut. The Lime and Coconut and Watermelon ‘Rita are our new favorite celebratory drinks.

With a quick touch up, we were down to the Deck 4 main dining room for 5:40 pm. Given it has been several cruises since we’ve actually had traditional dining, we forgot to stop by the MDR to find our table earlier in the day. Of note, My Time Dining is for fully vaccinated parties only.

After a couple of wrong turns, a waiter directed us to our table for 6.

Here, we met our waitstaff team of Adil and Carl. They introduced themselves and make sure they learned our names.

Having just had the night 1 menu on Odyssey of the Seas, I decided to try something different, the Caribbean pork chop. It had some flavor kick and was paired with traditional Caribbean sides. While I remember not liking this before, it ended up being a great alternative to the prime rib.

For the first night and a table of 6, dinner was surprisingly quick, finishing in about 75 minutes.

This evening’s show was a headliner at 8 pm. Getting out of dinner before 7 pm, this gave us about 30 minutes to kill.

So, we headed to Playmakers on the Boardwalk. This new addition is a perfect fit to this space. Grabbing a few beers, as well as playing some arcade games, we actually spent a bit longer here than we should have.

Getting to Deck 5 of the theater (the “everyone” section) about 20 minutes before show time, we could not find seats together. With every other row blocked for social distancing, seating is very limited in this area.

Given the number of families on this sailing, this was a bit frustrating. It was equally frustrating that staff did not monitor the seating once the show began. Thus, plenty of families filtered in late sitting in seats that were supposed to be blocked off.

The headliner this evening was Ronn Lucas, a ventriloquist. His show was fun, and he kept the audience engaged with his family-friendly act.

From here, we made our way to Majority Rules in Blaze. Unexpectedly, tonight’s version of the game was very adult. Not reading the crowd too well, we only matched on about 5-6 of the 10 questions.

While sis and her hubby headed off to karaoke, the rest of us called it a night.

While not as productive as our typical embarkation days, we still accomplished a good amount. More importantly, our family seemed to be having a good time.

Tomorrow was an 8 am call into Perfect Day at CocoCay.

Amplified Oasis of the Seas Cruise Review – Day 2

Trying to Play Catch Up in the Morning

Instead of a sea day, today was the ship’s first port of call. This would mark our fourth visit to Perfect Day at CocoCay in a little over a week. Of course, there are plenty of things to do, so we were still excited to be back.

Since this was our family’s first visit, they purchased tickets to the Thrill Waterpark. While I love this spot, I knew it would be busy with lots of families. So, we decided to pass.

Up at 6 am, I headed out for some photos and videos of the public spaces. Unfortunately, some popular venues were closed and others had cruisers in them already. Still, I spent about an hour capturing what I could.

By now, there was already a short line at the Café Promenade coffee shop. We still needed to pick up our Café Select Coffee cards, and of course, our morning lattes.

Back to the room, I showered and changed up for the day. It was a beautiful morning, and it wasn’t long until the island’s signature theme song was blaring over the loud speaker. We have arrived!

Back to Perfect Day at CocoCay

Meeting our family, we were among some of the first cruisers off the ship. Straight to the Oasis Lagoon, we secured six loungers poolside.

Before getting too comfortable, I headed to South Beach to get some video and photos of the area mostly empty.

Back at the Oasis Lagoon, it took until about 11 am for the area to fill in. Also, the swim-up bar got busy with thirsty cruisers looking to use their Royal Caribbean Deluxe Beverage Package.

Myself, Heidi, and her mom spent the next several hours just relaxing and enjoying the weather here. Her sister and fam made intermittent stops at the pool in between using the waterpark.

We decided to grab lunch around noon. With our strategically placed loungers, it was a quick walk over to the Snack Shack. You can’t pass up the island’s secret sandwich.

Around 2 pm, the Princess had hit her tolerance for the sun. Thus, we headed back to the ship and beat the rush. Feeling sun drained, we first stopped at Café Promenade for an afternoon pick-me-up.

Then, we just relaxed and did some blogging/social media until dinner.

Changing It Up for Dinner

Given the all aboard time of 3:30 pm, our 5:30 pm dinner did not feel too rushed. We had plenty of time to shower and change up. Tonight’s suggested attire was Caribbean, and I had just the right shirt for the occasion.

The MDR was much busier tonight. Certainly, more families were taking advantage of this sit-down restaurant for dinner.

Given our back-to-back sailings on Royal Caribbean, we both decided to try some different options for dinner again.

I went with the vegetable tempura for a starter off the vegetarian menu. The Princess did the potato soup. Mine was hot and fresh with three pieces of vegetables lightly battered and fried. The Princess approved of her option too.

For an entrée, I did the beef stroganoff. The sauce was not too heavy or creamy, with more of a mushroom base. I quite enjoyed this selection as well. Although, the Princess’ banana fosters dessert was the clear winner over my English trifle cake.

Adil and Carl were working extra hard, but dinner did take over 90 minutes tonight.

Can We Stay Up?

Tonight, we had the late adult comedy show at 11 pm.  So, we had plenty of time to kill.

With an unvaccinated minor in our travel party, our options for nightlife were limited. While the family headed back to the Boardwalk, we decided to grab drinks at the Schooner Bar. There was no performer at this venue currently, but we could hear the house band playing in the Promenade.

Catching up with the rest of our crew at Playmakers about 45 minutes later, we watched some Monday Night Football for a bit.

When our nephew was finally ready for bed, we headed to the logo shop while they headed upstairs. We were able to get a ship ornament of the amplified Oasis of the Seas to add to our collection.

We then decided to continue our “drink around the ship” at Boleros. Although, the Bob Marley tribute felt out of place for this venue.

When our family members re-joined us, we made our way to the pub. As luck would have it, the pub guitarist was starting up at 9:30 pm. Surprisingly, the pub was empty though. Maybe it was because it is a “vaccinated” venue or because the musician was certainly not the best we’ve ever seen.

After a few rounds of drinks and a few song requests, we made our way down to Blaze for our comedy show reservation.

Again, the venue was not very full. While the Princess wanted to sit in the back, sis found a table front and center. Of course, Heidi made sure to strategically place herself where the comedian could not see her.

The first comedian, Paul Ogata, was hysterical. His set covered a range of topics, from predictable comments about cruise ship cabins and cruising, to other jokes about his heritage and love. He did pick on a few members of the crowd, but thankfully, our table went unnoticed.

We have seen the second comedian, Dan Gabriel, at least once before on a cruise ship. He was just okay, with some jokes having really long setups.

Finished promptly at 11:45 pm, we all agreed to call it a night.

Related Post: What’s Included on a Royal Caribbean Cruise?

Amplified Oasis of the Seas Cruise Review – Day 3

Trip Planning While at Sea

We both awoke this morning to wind screeching through our balcony door. At some point during the night, our door must have become loosened by the exterior conditions.

As we prepared for the day, we realized we needed to complete some necessary online forms for an upcoming 2022 trip. Thank goodness the Princess remembered the deadline.

Grabbing our morning caffeine while getting ready, we headed to breakfast around 8:30 am with only part of our squad.

Though the Windjammer is not usually our first choice on a Royal Caribbean cruise ship, we were with a picky 9 year old.

Grey Skies Ahead

Finished with breakfast, we could see clouds on the horizon. Unfortunately, the rest of the morning and early afternoon would be mostly overcast. Though, the Captain did manage to avoid rain.

Of course, this did not stop me from staking claim to some chairs near the beach pool. Nor did it stop our nephew from using the pool and hot tub.

The rest of the crew joined up around 11:15 am. Somehow, we convinced our brother-in-law to do stand up surfing on the FlowRider.

The aft of the sports deck was very busy. There were queues for everything, including the FlowRider surfing.

Signing his waivers, he did not let the other obviously experienced riders scare him away. After a few instructions from the staff, he was able to hold his own for a bit.

The Moons of Pluto

Next on the agenda was lunch at the casual Mexican restaurant, El Loco Fresh. This newer venue is on Deck 15 in place of the old Wipeout Café.

With the ship at somewhere near 70% capacity, we could feel the 4,200 other passengers, and nearly 1,000 kids, especially on this sea day.

After lunch, we made plans to meet up with the family for the Who Wants to be a Caribbeanaire game show at 3 pm. This gave us some time to grab afternoon coffees and some photos before getting to the Music Hall. It also gave them time to drop our nephew off at Adventure Ocean.

This cruise game show included 5 questions, with the grand prize being a Royal Caribbean logo cap. Two of our family members were randomly selected to play, with one fairing much better than the other.

In all fairness, the questions were all over the place, with some very hard, like the moons of Pluto?!?!

Following the game show, we strolled over to Central Park. The next flight of the Rising Tide bar was set to leave in a few minutes. Perfect! We hopped on and grabbed a round of drinks as part of our Oasis of the Seas bar crawl. Unfortunately, there is no longer a signature menu here.

Tonight, we had reservations at the specialty restaurant Giovanni’s Table. Being formal night, the Princess was adamant that we get a few family photos. So, we made the decision to head back to our room to get ready.

Our family grabbed their little one and headed to Harry Potter trivia.

A Hard Day’s Night on Oasis of the Seas

The promenade was quite busy by the time we arrived. With a sea of families dressed up for formal night, we were only able to successfully get pictures from two of the studios.

In fact, we were still to dinner about 5 minutes late.

Having just eaten at Giovanni’s Italian Kitchen, we were interested in comparing the two restaurants. This one is certainly more formal in terms of décor and menu selection.

Sampling several starters, entrées, and desserts, dinner took us over two hours tonight. Among some of the table’s favorites were the carbonara, the buffalo mozzarella, and the gnocchi.

Tonight’s show was the Beatle Maniacs in the main theater. Our family opted to change into something more casual, while we remained in our formal attire and listened to some live music in the Promenade.

Given the fiasco of Night 1, we kept our eye on the Royal Theater entrance. Once families began queueing up, we walked over, and the doors opened soon after that. The rest of the crew met us shortly after.

While these bands all seem to blend together after a while, the show was entertaining, with the artists performing a series of different songs across the fab four’s career.

Tomorrow was our next port of call in St. Thomas. Although the ship was not docking until noon, our nephew fell asleep at the show, so we all just decided to call it a night.

There was plenty of time for us to enjoy everything Oasis of the Seas offers.

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Amplified Oasis of the Seas Cruise Review – Day 4

A Late Port of Call

Pre-cruise, our group of 6 booked a shore excursion visiting Drake’s Seat, the Pirate Museum, and Magen’s Bay. This was everyone else’s first visit to St. Thomas, so they wanted to get a general overview of the island.

Given the COVID restrictions, unvaccinated individuals could only leave the ship on a Royal Caribbean shore excursion. Further, the tour options were fairly limited. Thus, this was the best we could do with what we had available to us.

Given we had the entire morning, we took our time getting ready. I got up to get some coffee and a few photos.

We were able to drag everyone else out of bed and down to Johnny Rockets for breakfast right before the closing time of 9:30 am. It was pretty busy, so I wasn’t sure if they would actually seat us.

The officer managing the area said they could accommodate our party in two separate tables. Given the timing, that was fine with us.

Breakfast took quite a while, as some of our family’s order seemed to disappear. Looking back at it now, I guess this was a foreshadowing of what was to come the rest of the day.

Johnny Rockets is complimentary for breakfast, but the menu has changed since we last sailed on an Oasis Class ship back in 2018.

With breakfast finally over, we meandered the ship for the next hour or so while the rest of the family headed back to their cabins.

With the ship slowly approaching the pier, we returned to our room to pack up for our 5-hour island tour. Given the beautiful weather, we were ready for a full day ashore.

Where Is the Driver?

Arriving at the theater, the designated meeting area for the tour, it did seem a bit disorganized. Honestly, since the cruise re-start, this has been the trend across most of the cruise lines.

After checking-in and receiving our sticker, it took about a half hour before our tour was called to head ashore. With a bit more confusion, we were finally directed to the tour operators who collected our tickets and gave us a wristband. We were then escorted to safari buses.

Dividing our group into a few different buses, we finally met our driver, BJ, and were ready to start exploring.

Taking some rather sketchy backroads, we arrived at our first stop, the world-famous beach, Magen’s Bay. During the ride, our driver provided no narration or island overview. Once we arrived, he claimed he took a shortcut to give us more time at the beach.

Giving us just over 2 hours, we were instructed to meet back in the parking lot for 3:30 pm to continue the rest of our tour.

We found a section to the left of the entrance that was somewhat less crowded to set up shop. I rented some beach chairs while our nephew headed straight to the crystal-clear water.

Sunny and warm, with a signature rum punch in hand, it was one of the better days we have spent at this beach. With four cruise ships in port, it was busy but not mobbed.

Getting to the meeting spot right on time, it appeared everyone was there. Well, everyone but our driver. Asking a few other taxis, they all said he would be arriving soon.

When 5 minutes turned into 20 minutes, and our driver had still not arrived, we were all starting to get annoyed. A few more taxi drivers were making calls and reassured us that he would be here soon.

Over an hour later, another taxi driver finally said he would take us back! A collective sigh of relief went through the crowd.

And so, we began our drive back to the ship. Or at least that is what we thought. When the driver started heading to the downtown cruise terminal, we tried to get his attention to alert him that we needed to go to Crown Bay.

That is when he informed us that we were actually getting dropped off at the Pirate’s Museum. While we all just wanted to get back to the ship at this point, it appears the company was going to try to salvage the remainder of the tour.

Honestly, no one was really feeling it, so when our third driver of the day arrived, we were all more than eager to get going.

We finally made it back to the ship around 6 pm, well after we were supposed to be back. So, any attempt at our 5:30 pm dinner was now officially lost.

Testing Out the New Additions to Oasis of the Seas

After stopping in a few shops on the way back to the ship, we decided to grab some food at the new Portside BBQ.

This casual up-charge restaurant was already on our list of things to try on the ship. The timing and circumstances seemed to indicate that tonight was the night.

After a quick touch up from our beach day, we were up to the Deck 15 restaurant by 7:15 pm. We placed our order at this quick service venue and found seats. As luck would have it, there was even live acoustic country music.

I went with one of the signature combos. Trying to be good, I did just two cuts, with spare ribs and sausage. Of course, I had to try some smoked chicken wings on the side. The Princess opted for the smoked turkey sandwich.

The food was fresh, hot, and full of flavor. While similar to Norwegian Cruise Line’s Q Texas Smokehouse, I thought the food here was much better. I also appreciated the quick service style.

We were finished with our meals rather quickly, but we stayed around to listen to the end of the musician’s set.

Out of the restaurant by 8 pm, we had some time to spare before our 9:30 pm Aqua80 reservation. Wanting to ensure we secured premium seats, we headed to the Boardwalk early.

Our family played some of the arcade games, while we grabbed a few drinks from the Playmakers bar.

When a line started forming at the Aqua Theater, we grabbed our drinks and got in queue. We were let into the venue shortly after and were able to score center seats in an ideal location.

We have to say Aqua80 is one of the best shows currently on a Royal Caribbean ship! That is saying something, as we are always big fans of this cruise line’s entertainment.

Aqua80 is a high energy, adrenaline-filled production. From the talented dancers, acrobats, synchronized swimmers, and high divers, the show kept delivering more impressive feats. The mixture of popular 80’s tunes were even harmoniously paired with the acts.

Finishing up right around 10:30 pm, it was a standing ovation all around.

Tomorrow was Thanksgiving. We had an another excursion planned during our visit to St. Maarten, so we decided to call it a night.

Related Post: Guide to Royal Caribbean Ship Classes

Amplified Oasis of the Seas Cruise Review – Day 5

Back to St. Maarten

Given the limited options for families, sis booked the Kim Sha beach break with Royal Caribbean. We had initially told her we were going to try to book a zipline adventure on our own. Upon further investigation, it was not scheduled to be open the day our ship was visiting port.

Thus, we would end up joining them. However, the cruise line sponsored shore excursion was already sold out by the time we tried to book. So, we planned to take a taxi out to the beach and meet up with them later in the morning.

I was up around 7 am to get our usual coffees from Café Promenade. I could already see the ship backing into the port in Phillipsburg. Shockingly, there were no other ships here with us today.

Local authorities cleared the ship at 8 am. We waited for the first wave of cruisers to leave in order to get our remaining videos and photos.

Along with getting the necessary shots, we grabbed a quick breakfast at the Solarium Bistro. Essentially, this vaccinated-only venue is a smaller version of the Windjammer buffet.

Another Beach Break?

Making sure to stay on ship’s time, we were off Oasis of the Seas by 10:30 am. The port was empty. So, we had no trouble securing a taxi for $8 a person to the beach.

Hitting a bit of traffic, we arrived in about 25 minutes. Finding our family, we rented chairs from the nearby bar. It was sunny and hot, but there was a slight breeze. With an umbrella and some shade, it was tolerable for the Princess.

Honestly, the beach was smaller than I anticipated. Good thing there were not more ships in port, as we certainly would not have gotten these prime loungers.

Now, this is how every Thanksgiving should be spent!

Our taxi driver, Cadet, was set to meet us back at the same time the family’s tour was scheduled to depart.

Leaving a little before 2:30 pm local time, we were back to the port without any issues.

This gave us plenty of time to enjoy more of the gorgeous St. Maarten weather. We first grabbed a light lunch at El Loco Fresh.

Somehow, we were able to find loungers on the starboard side of the main pool. While this is the smoking side of the ship, we did not smell any smoke from our seats.

Here, we relaxed until about 4 pm. I also called home to wish my family a Happy Thanksgiving from the pool deck of a cruise ship.

Happy Thanksgiving from Oasis of the Seas

Gathering our group, we joined the masses heading down to the main dining room around 5:30 pm for Thanksgiving dinner. We were not the only ones planning to enjoy a traditional turkey dinner on this holiday.

Despite the crowds, Adil and Carl did their best to provide the same high-level of service.

Essentially, everyone opted for the turkey dinner, even me. Dinner was just right, even down to the pecan pie with vanilla ice cream.

Our hardworking dining team was still able to get all three courses served by 7 pm despite how busy they were. This gave us two hours before our reserved headliner show tonight.

With our nephew in tow, we headed to the Bionic Bar. This location is one of the only lounges that allows unvaccinated guests.

Giving our family a brief overview of how this “robot bar” works, they ordered a few drinks. With non-alcoholic drink options as well, it was clear our nephew was thoroughly enjoying the experience.

While it was time for him to retire for the night, we moved on to the Pub. Getting a round of drinks here, we waited for the rest of the fam to return. As showtime approached, they decided to bail.

With just mom in tow, we headed off to the Royal Theater.

Certainly, the headliner, Stephani Parker, had a powerful voice. She sang most of the popular Whitney Houston songs that you would expect. However, it would have been great for the show to have more personality, as opposed to just a series of hit songs.

With the show over by 10:30 pm, we opted to call it a night. Yes, it was another early night on the cruise.

Upon return to our cabin, we were greeted with this guy wishing us a Happy Thanksgiving!

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Amplified Oasis of the Seas Cruise Review – Day 6

Exploring the Sports Deck

The last two days of this Amplified Oasis of the Seas cruise review were sea days. This gave us enough time to test out everything the ship offers.

We slept in until 7:15 am, when I headed out for our usual coffees. After getting ready, we rounded up the family for breakfast in the Windjammer.

After breakfast, it was off to the sports deck where we enjoyed a game of mini-golf. This took us to essentially 10 am, right when the Ultimate Abyss opened.

After the short overview from the staff, our nephew and I were among the first to ride this slide. Unfortunately, his mom and dad were wearing tank tops so couldn’t ride.

Our nephew was bummed that he was not able to ride the zip line as he was too skinny. Oh well, there’s always next time.

By now, it was close to 11 am and many of the loungers by the pool were already claimed. Still, we were able to find a few seats in the sun on Deck 15. We even scored one of the sofa beds near the Lime and Coconut bar.

With devices in tow, we spent over 2.5 hours outside just lounging, while some of the family enjoyed the waterslides.

Next up was lunch. Against our better judgement, they suggested the buffet. To our surprise, it was not too busy. We were able to find a table of 6 without much effort.

I stuck to some of the Asian inspired options, which is my favorite in cruise ship buffets. I went a bit light, as tonight was lobster night in the MDR.

An Unusual Afternoon at Sea

The Princess decided she had enough of the sun, so we opted for a few indoor activities. First, we made a pit stop to grab some lattes from Café Promenade.

While waiting for the rest of our family to drop the nephew off at Adventure Ocean, we peeked into the logo shop. I may have grabbed a $10 t-shirt. You can never have enough cruise wear, right?

Typically, we don’t participate in many trivia sessions or game shows, but our family enjoys these activities. So, we did. The invisible movie poster trivia session was occurring in the Spotlight karaoke lounge.

For once, this was a game show I could get into as a movie buff. With many of the clues pretty easy, almost everyone had a near perfect score.

While the rest of the fam headed back to the room to relax, we grabbed a drink from the Trellis Bar as part of our drink around the ship.

This took us to about 4 pm. Needing to get ready for formal night, we returned to our cabin.

A Longer Than Expected Night

We convinced our family to take a few additional photos during this second formal night. Let’s just say that none of us were overly impressed with the photos from the first formal night.

Equally as crowded, we successfully completed two photo stations before it was time for dinner, including a Christmas backdrop.

For this lobster night, I tried to go easy with just a double order. Right away, Adil told me that he would bring 3. Okay, I am not going to pass up the offer.

However, he actually gave us a total of 7 lobster tails for just me and my brother-in-law. They were warm and well-seasoned. In fact, it was among some of the best lobster I have had on a cruise ship!

Waddling our way out of dinner, we returned to our nephew’s new favorite “robot bar”. We stayed here until it was time to make our way to the Royal Theater for tonight’s production of CATS. Only three of us would be attending this show.

To our surprise, Royal Caribbean had reconfigured all the Deck 4 seats. Obviously, they did not account for all of the unvaccinated children on this sailing. So, they had to make more seats available to accommodate families attending the shows.

Unfortunately, this forced us to sit outside of our traditional theater seats.

When a child started whining about 40 minutes into the show, I didn’t blame him. The two of us usually agree when it comes to entertainment on cruise ships. This production is one example where we differ.

Heidi enjoyed the performance. Me, I think it is rather dull. Even with the new, shortened 90-minute version of the production, I still wasn’t won over.

Out of the theater by 9:45 pm, we made a plan to meet sis and B-I-L at the Schooner Bar. Here, we stayed for close to two hours. Along with listening to the piano player, we recounted what we did and didn’t like about the trip.

In fact, this was the first night where we actually exceeded our Diamond drink vouchers!

Finishing up close to midnight, we said goodnight to the family.  This was the latest night of the entire trip!

Related Post: Guide to Royal Caribbean’s Crown and Anchor Society

Amplified Oasis of the Seas Cruise Review – Day 7

A Lazy Morning at Sea

Perhaps it was the two weeks of cruising, or the late night last night, but we were both pretty tired this morning. So, we took our time getting ready and grabbed a light breakfast from Park Café.

We tried to invigorate ourselves a bit by taking a walk on the jogging track. This really is a nice area to get some morning exercise away from the busy pool deck. The views aren’t too bad either!

Eventually, we made our way up to a shaded area of the pool deck. There were no empty loungers to be found, but we grabbed a table and some chairs.

Here, we relaxed while our nephew got in his last rides on the waterslides.

All along, the Princess planned to grab lunch at Playmakers Sports Bar and Arcade today. Well, being the Saturday after Thanksgiving, that turned out to be a bad idea. With plenty of college football fans who had the same plan, the place was packed.

With some stalking, we did eventually get a table after about 15 minutes of pacing around the restaurant. Securing one of the outdoor high tops, we settled in for a close to two-hour lunch.

We ordered a couple rounds of drinks, and of course, some munchies. These included onion rings, nachos, chicken tenders, and chicken wings.

While the food items do cost extra at Playmakers, we were fine paying the small fee for the atmosphere and tasty menu items.

This longer than expected tailgate lasted until almost 3:30 pm.

This meant we had to forgo the late day Star Wars trivia in lieu of packing. Before heading back to the room, we stopped for the obligatory iced lattes.

With three suitcases, one already full from our previous trip, making sure they were all under 50 pounds took some maneuvering.

Although none of us were hungry for dinner after our Playmakers feast, we wanted to say goodbye to the main dining room team who took care of us all week.

Calling it Quits Early on the Last Day

Dinner tonight was well-paced as usual. Tonight’s menu was not the typical Day 7 menu, as we had turkey on Thanksgiving.

I couldn’t pass up the Asian pork tacos and the garlic tiger shrimp. Thinking I went light tonight, Adil came back with an entrée that was a heaping pile of shrimp. Of course, he let me know he made the plate himself.

After dinner, we headed to our nephew’s new favorite place, the Bionic Bar. While we find this bar gimmicky, it appears kids love the robot bartenders.

For the last night of the cruise, we made reservations for the Ice Show at 9:30 pm. Though, some of the family decided to call it an early night. I guess a week of eating and drinking was taking a toll on them. What amateurs!

Not ones to ever miss a show, we decided to continue on until showtime. Leaving the Bionic Bar, we found our way up to the Music Hall. This was the last bar on our unofficial pub crawl.

While sipping our drinks, we listened as the band, Midnight Avenue, played everything from the Backstreet Boys to Amy Winehouse and Coldplay. It was certainly a diverse set.

As 9 pm rolled around, we headed down to Studio B to ensure good seats. We were stunned to see a rather empty venue. Again, we were forced to sit in a specific vaccinated section, as most of the ice rink was reserved for “everyone” seating. But, aren’t we everyone too?

While we have seen this production in the past, we did enjoy Frozen in Time. The show features several fairy tales of Hans Christen Anderson.

Normally, we would end our cruise with a final drink at the Schooner Bar or the late-night comedy show in the Royal Theater, but instead, we headed back to our room.

The two weeks of cruising were finally catching up with us.

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Amplified Oasis of the Seas Cruise Review – Disembarkation

Finally on Our Way Home

The alarm was set for 6:30 am. As usual, I grabbed coffees from Café Promenade. I made sure to thank Oliver and the rest of the team who took care of us all week.

Back in the room to change up and prepare for a day of travel, we waited until our luggage tag number was called around 7:55 am.

Grabbing our remaining suitcase, we were ready to disembark for the third time in two weeks.

The checkout process went smoothly. We only waited a few minutes to get an elevator. Once on deck 5, it took about 15 minutes from scanning off the ship to getting an Uber. Again, the automated facial recognition stations keep the flow of cruisers moving efficiently.

Then, it was off to the Miami airport. We did have to wait around a while as our flight was not until 2:30 pm.

Finally saying goodbye to family, whose flight wasn’t until 4 pm, we headed through security and towards our gate.

Even though we board on time, there was a delay. So, we didn’t land back in Boston until after 6 pm. All said and done, we were finally home around 7:30 pm.

For the Sunday after Thanksgiving, the travel could have been worse.

With no trips planned in the month of December, we have to wait until January for our first trip of the New Year. How are we going to make it that long?

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