The morning of our last day on the Oasis arrived with mild tears from our girls who either didn’t want to get up or were missing their new friends from Adventure Ocean already. We arose around 7:45am and dressed quickly. We discussed our breakfast options for that day (Windjammer, Park Cafe, American Icon Dining Room) and decided to avoid the buffet altogether and head to the dining room.
We had only traveled once before with children on a Royal Caribbean ship prior to sailing on the Oasis of the Seas. Our trip on the Enchantment of the Seas, one of RC’s older ships had a modest kids area which the kids thoroughly enjoyed. Royal Caribbean is one of the most popular family friendly brands so i had anticipated that the kids facilities would be in line with the audacious standards of the Oasis of the Seas.
The third day of our cruise aboard Royal Caribbean’s Oasis of the Seas was a sea day; we were slowly making our way back to Fort Lauderdale and would be arriving the next morning. We slept in a bit, thanks to the perpetual darkness of our inside stateroom. Today we decided to go to Johnny Rockets for breakfast and skip the Windjammer. As much as we loved the food offerings there we wanted to avoid the inevitable crowds. Johnny Rockets serves complimentary breakfast every day so we figured we’d give it a try, though we are not typically fans of diner food.
Giovanni’s Table is a family style Italian restaurant located in the Central Park neighborhood on Royal Caribbean’s Oasis of the Seas. We had originally made reservations just for Hubby and myself to have a quiet dinner there but we were not aware of the limited hours at Adventure Ocean on Embarkation day. Fortunately we were able to adjust our reservation immediately when we boarded and were able to add the girls. Giovanni’s table is one of the few child friendly specialty restaurants aboard the Oasis of the Seas.
Our second day on the Oasis of the Seas began in a leisurely fashion. This was our first time staying in an inside cabin as a family and we realized inside cabins are perfect for families with kids who “rise with the sun”. Our youngest is an early riser, almost always. The lack of natural light in the cabin allowed her to sleep in until 8 am and get much needed rest from her extended night of excitement the day before. The boat was docked in Nassau for the day.
We were able to board the Oasis of the Seas late morning and since we were relatively early boarders we had lunch quickly at the Windjammer and registered at Adventure Ocean. Afterwards we headed down to the Boardwalk area because our youngest wanted to ride the carousel. Royal Caribbean really did an excellent job of creating a boardwalk atmosphere; my Hubby who spent his childhood in Brooklyn, remarked at how they captured a taste of the Coney Island experience.
One of the perks of working from home and being a homeschool family is that we are blessed with a lot of flexibility in our days. As you can imagine, this totally works for our spontaneous travel style! We’d heard a lot about the Oasis Class of ships by Royal Caribbean, the largest ships in the world. In October we came up a unique opportunity for a 3 day cruise aboard the Oasis of the Seas, which usually runs 7 day cruises year round from south Florida. We discovered the cruise two weeks before sailing and were able to book an inside stateroom at a good price (travel agent perks FTW). It seemed like a perfect opportunity for us to experience the incredible ship and see for ourselves if it lived up to the hype.
Our last full day on the Disney Dream started with breakfast in the Enchanted Garden restaurant. Our entire crew made it this time; we had spoken so highly of our breakfast there the day before that my in laws decided to join us. We were seated promptly and then allowed to proceed to the buffet. The restaurant, not surprisingly, was much busier on this morning since we were at sea and everyone was having their meals, somewhere on the ship. Despite the slight crowds the staff kept the buffet lines moving smoothly and were attending to the tables very well. Our server took our breakfast beverage orders and we also placed orders with him for custom omelets from the kitchen. We ate well and enjoyed a relaxing meal together.
On our recent Very MerryTime Cruise on Disney Dream we were able to take a private tour of Nassau with Cheryl’s Bahama’s Private Taxi and Tours. We wanted to spend a few hours on the island, sight seeing and learning about the history of the islands. As homeschoolers this was a perfect opportunity to use our vacation time as a learning opportunity and we considered it a field trip of sorts 🙂
