I woke up just as the sun was coming up and went outside to vlog. Unfortunately I didn’t whisper and the kids and Kevin were woken up by my talking.
I love getting to see the start of the day. In the olden days (pre fibro) I would have headed down to the beach. But at least I could see and enjoy it from our room.
Around 9am we all got ready and headed to the hotels breakfast (which is included in the rate). I had a bagel and potatoes.
And Kevin was excited to do the make your own waffles – which he loved doing the last time we stayed here.
We then headed back to the room where I had some time watching YouTube – was nice to catch up on some videos as I’ve really missed “my friends”.
Then at 11am we checked out of the hotel and drove the short distance to Port Canaveral.
First glimpse of the ship – it is HUGE – 220,000 tonne – it was the largest cruise ship in the world, until it’s sister ship took the title by being slightly bigger.
We unloaded our luggage from the car (except for the 2 suitcases packed full of souveniers. There was already quite the crowd to board the ship and it took a bit of time to get through security and then check-in. So lucky we had the scooter for Athena.
Finally it was photo time and then onboard Oasis of the Seas. And boy what a ship she is. Photos really don’t capture it all so be sure to watch the videos when they are eventually posted.
First up was a LONG wait at guest services to get additional cards for the rooms so we can all get into both cabins. By the time we were done it was 1pm and were just heading to our cabins when they were available.
The kids cabin – they did get the bed separated into two as Athena is such a messy sleeper.
And our cabin. I was pleasantly surprised with it as I heard lots about how small it was (and we were coming off two cruises in Junior suites) but I felt it was well set up, with lots of storage, and totally comfortable for 2 people.
We also have a decent size balcony as we are on the hump (I had chosen this room for that reason) but miss having a sun lounge and a rear facing cabin (all of them on this ship are suites).
The bathroom was a lovely surprise – nice and roomy and a much better set up than we’ve had before. Love that it has a night light.
We even had some cookies waiting (there were 6) because we are now Diamond Club members.
After getting a settled we set off to Windjammers for lunch as we were pretty hungry by now. I started with a very yummy potato and leek soup.
Then had a salad, mashed potatoes and corn cob.
We then had a little explore around the ship.
And Kevin and Christy did the zipline. Christy enjoyed it and did it twice. Kevin didn’t think it was worth the hassle of getting in and out of the gear (but then he did a great zipline tour in Alaska).
Love how the main pool has a beach like area with “sand” and umbrellas.
The solarium pool has some really comfy sunlounge and couches looking forward.
The beautiful Christmas tree on the Promenade.
At 4pm we had muster (luckily inside – but I missed out on a seat). Then shortly after it was sailaway. Athena and I had such a difficult time getting a lift after muster (because of the scooter) so missed out on getting our traditional sailaway virgin pina coladas :-(.
We chose to stay on our veranda (though the kids didn’t hang around too long).
I got comfy as said farewell to Orlando (for the next week).
We had managed to get early seating for dinner – which was at 5.30pm in the Silk dining room.
I have to say the selections have been reduced and I’m now only left with one vegetarian entree and one vegetarian main (for my US friends that is one vegetarian appetizer and one vegetarian entree). So tonight I had mushroom soup – which was delicious.
And a polenta cake – which was alright – but not really what I was feeling like.
After dinner we went for a stroll in Central Park (yes, here on the ship with real plants) only to find it had been raining.Then it was back to our cabin where I stayed on hold for ages trying to track down a missing bag (the one with our snacks/chocolates leftover from Bonnet Creek that we didn’t want to leave to melt in the car). We went down to Guest Services to look for it but couldn’t find it. We’ll follow up again tomorrow.
Kevin and I were pretty tired so opted for an early night while the kids headed off to the teen area.
Gorgeous morning! I adore waking up to the sound of waves. The ship is huge! I like how the bed is near the window in your room. The zip line sounds like fun.