An Oasis in the Med- May 2024

[SquishTheWhale]

Hello dibbers! Less than two weeks until we board Oasis of the Seas in Barcelona so I thought I'd get a trippie started. I'll do it all on one thread as I find that easier to read, hope that's ok.
I'll give some pre trippie and itinerary information, and if anyone has any questions on the ship or destinations then let me know and I'll do my best when on board.

Ship: Oasis of the Seas
Sailing from: Barcelona
Itinerary: 7 nights Spain and Italy, with a 2 night pre cruise stay in Barcelona
Cabin: Ultra spacious interior

The trip is myself, my husband Gary, and our son Hiro who is 4. This is Hiro's first cruise but I think my 9th or 10th. 2nd on RCI, we did a 3 nighter on Indy back in 2018.

Planning and Organisation:
Well I am yet to start packing, which is killing me to wait but the weather in the Med is very variable at the moment, so I'm waiting until the last minute so I don't have to repack based on the forecast.
We booked this cruise back in late 2022 so it's been a long time coming, but also booking that far in advance we paid a decent price and I've only seen it dramatically increase since booking. We paid around £1900 for the cabin which includes tips (£85pp) and also included a 10% BLC discount. I think Hiro was free apart from tips and port taxes etc.
The ship has been showing as sold out for the last month. I'm currently waiting on a Royal Up bid but not optimistic seeing as its sold out, and the only category I have bid on is the ultra spacious ocean view as I'm not giving up my ultra space!
There's only a handful of the ultra spacious cabins on the ship, they sleep 6 I think and you need to book early if you want one.
We also booked flights almost as soon as they came out, and paid around £200pp return to Barcelona with luggage. This felt expensive but I was fussy on wanting Heathrow not Gatwick and decent flight times so had to go with BA.
The hotel is booked through Love Holidays- since booking I've heard some negative things about them, but had no issues. I contacted the hotel earlier this week and they have confirmed the booking and room type so all good. It was very much cheaper than elsewhere.

Having a 4yr old with us, I wasn't going to book lots of lengthy tours in port, and also the prices through RC for excursions are scandalous. The average Rome excursion is £200pp- so for a family of 4 you'd be looking at £800 for one day! That's not even the most expensive option. No way RCI. For the express train into Rome they are charging about £90pp- if you book the exact same train yourself its around 20euros pp. They are having a laugh. The only things I have pre booked (other than the cruise, flight and hotel) are:

Airport parking via Blue Circle meet and Greet T5
Palma aquarium tickets as cheaper in advance
Trains from Civitavecchia to Rome and back
Golf cart tour in Rome
Pre paid tips
Onboard arcade credit
Diet coke cooler for the cabin
20 photo package (the last 3 having been booked in the 2023 Black Friday sale)

Pre cruise admin

Pre cruise admin you need to do on an RCI cruise is pre booking shows- this typically opens around the 1st of the month before your cruise, so it should have been 1st April, however in our case it opened up around 90 days before, no idea why.
You also need to check in, I think it was at 45 days before. When you check in you select an arrival time to port so it's important to do it early- it opens at midnight in the time zone of the departure port, which ended up being 11pm here. I did it immediately and got 11am check in which I assume is the first slot. I have heard they aren't strict with the arrival slots but better not to risk it if you want an early one. Some people may not be bothered, but we have to leave the hotel at 10 so would rather just get on board asap!
Around 2 weeks before the cruise, the app will also update with a full entertainment and activity schedule- you can't book anything beyond the 4 main shows, but you can add others to your personal schedule. You can also see the MDR menus and the themes for each day.
For some reason our cruise is showing 3 formal nights which is odd, especially as one is on the Rome day which is a boarding day (the cruise is inter-porting). Very strange and I expect it to be removed. Even if you aren't boarding in Rome, the all aboard is 7.30pm and I expect a lot of people will be doing long excursions and not back on the ship early enough to make an effort for formal night. We'll see what happens.
Last thing I need to do is check in 48hrs before our flight so we can select seats for free (BA), although they are usually good with assigning families together anyway.

Anyway I think that's all the pre cruise prep- please let me know any questions or things you'd like to know about the ship or ports!


Itinerary and Index (I'll update with links to the correct page when live):
Day 1: Travel from Heathrow to Barcelona
Day 2: Barcelona
Day 3: Boarding Oasis
Day 4: Palma
Day 5: Sea Day
Day 6: La Spezia
Day 7: Civitavecchia for Rome
Day 8: Naples
Day 9: Sea Day
Day 10: Return to Barcelona and travel home

[vampiress88]

Have fun

[SquishTheWhale]

Cruising with young kids

Thought I'd just make a separate post about cruising with young kids, as it may be of interest to some but not most. As I've mentioned this is Hiro's first cruise but I'm confident it will be fantastic for him! He loves swimming, exploring new places and eating and all of those boxes will be ticked. He's quite clingy so I don't expect him to go to the kids club, but that's fine, I'd never force him although we'd appreciate some down time by ourselves.

As we plan to eat in the MDR each night I've bought some bits to keep him entertained at the table. We'll have the tablet and his headphones too but would prefer to keep that in reserve rather than having to use it every time.

Things I've bought to keep him occupied on the plane and during meals:

Travel tray to keep colouring pens etc together on the plane
Stickle Bricks
Sticker stamping books
Drawing tablet
Kids digital camera
Various cheap fidget toys, hot wheels, colouring books etc
Kids insulated water bottle, in case its very hot
Magnetic letters for the cabin as he can stick those to the walls.

We'll also be bringing his own blanket as he isn't used to sleeping with heavy adult duvets, a blow up pool noodle to help with creating a bed guard, a little blow up padding pool to make a bath in the shower, an ID bracelet for ports (not sure if he'll agree to wear), and a stroller so he doesn't get exhausted walking around in port. Plus the usual kid essentials like calpol, plasters etc.

I've made and printed a cruise diary with pages for him to fill in on each day and little activities to complete- not sure if he'll be up for doing it, but it would be a lovely record of his first cruise.

Travel
As we plan on using taxis I needed a car seat and settled on the Trunki Boostapack.
You can actually fit quite a bit in the backpack element of it so we'll be using it as his hand luggage.

They are suitable from age 4 and will take the stress out of trying to find transport with a car seat.

If anyone else has any brilliant tips for travelling or cruising with kids then throw them my way please!

[SquishTheWhale]

Originally Posted by vampiress88

Have fun

See more...

When are you off, isn't it around the same time?

[Kcstyle]

excited for this! we are on the same boat and journey end of July!

thanks for the pre cruise tips - Ive added to my to-do list as we want early checkin

Any ideas how we can check if we are on early/late or anytime dining as i cannot remember what i booked!

[SquishTheWhale]

Originally Posted by Kcstyle

excited for this! we are on the same boat and journey end of July!

thanks for the pre cruise tips - Ive added to my to-do list as we want early checkin

Any ideas how we can check if we are on early/late or anytime dining as i cannot remember what i booked!

See more...

I think until you get your boarding documents through it'll be on your booking confirmation, don't think it says anywhere on the app!

Early dining is 5.30 and I think late is 8.30. My time dining starts at 6.45.

We've gone with early as that's the only early enough one for little kids!

[vampiress88]

Originally Posted by SquishTheWhale

When are you off, isn't it around the same time?

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Yes. 9 days and counting.

[SquishTheWhale]

Originally Posted by vampiress88

Yes. 9 days and counting.

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Hope you'll be doing a trippie, want to hear all about it!

[2point]

Sounds excellent.

Love the Oasis class of ship. Just watched the Ben and David vlog about the refurbished Oasis. Great timing to get on it nice and fresh.

[SquishTheWhale]

Originally Posted by 2point

Sounds excellent.

Love the Oasis class of ship. Just watched the Ben and David vlog about the refurbished Oasis. Great timing to get on it nice and fresh.

See more...

I just watched that too! Getting me very excited. Going on an Oasis class ship has been a travel goal for a long time for me