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Here I am, enjoying a relaxing afternoon aboard the world’s largest cruise ship.
The pools and hot tubs — all 21 of them — are filled with revelers basking in the sun-baked joy of a day at se
a. The theaters and clubs — all 11 of them — are being readied for a nearly non-stop night of entertainment. And the restaurants — all 23 of them — are starting to serve cocktails and orders of cocktail shrimp alike by the thousands.
And what about me? Oh, I’m talking a walk in the park.
Central Park, to be exact. That’s what the cruise line behind the Oasis, Royal Caribbean International, has dubbed this small but bucolic patch of green aboard the high seas. It’s something of a conceit, of course. Calling this Central Park is like calling a small-town two-lane bridge the Golden Gate. And yet, the elements are certainly in place: the trees and ornamental plants, the elegant park-side shops and restaurants. I suddenly find myself stopping in a wine bar, sipping on a Spanish red and taking in the view from the patio.
And that’s when it hits me: The Oasis of the Seas isn’t merely a huge ship — a city at sea, if you will. It’s whatever fantasy you want to make it, from a pool party to an urban park.
It’s also a gamble of unprecedented proportions. At a time when the travel world is still reeling from the financial setbacks of the past year, Royal Caribbean has dared to unveil something bigger than big. Let the facts speak for themselves: With a weight of 225,282 tons, a height of 16 passenger decks and a length of three football fields, the Oasis, based at Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale, dwarves any cruise ship currently afloat by 50 percent.
Its price tag? A cool $1.4 billion.
And if you’re student of cruise history, consider this: By weight alone, it would take five Titanics to equal one Oasis. Chances are if Jack and Rose — of cinematic Titanic fame — were traveling on the Oasis, they’d probably not be consummating any shipboard romance. With the Oasis’ 6,000-plus-passenger capacity, the pair would be lucky to even bump into each other on any of the ship’s 24 elevators.
“We wanted to create something that was game-changing,” explained Royal Caribbean Chairman Richard D. Fain during a press conference on my two-day November “preview” sailing.
But as it turns out, Fain wasn’t really referring to size — or the almost ridiculous amount of “stuff” on board, from a carousel for the kiddies to an “elevator bar” that travels up and down while passengers sip their drinks. If anything, Oasis’ bulk can be a turnoff: As I was driving up to the ship’s Port Everglades mega terminal, built with the Oasis in mind at a cost of $75 million, I couldn’t help but think the vessel looked like one of those ungainly circa-1960s South Florida condos attached to a ship’s hull — a floating testament to size over style.
But don’t judge a ship by its “cover,” so to speak. The real game-changing aspect of Oasis is its radical departure from traditional cruise-liner design. Most ships have something of a dead zone in the middle — the space is largely given over to windowless interior cabins sold on the cheap. But Oasis’ vast width made it possible to re-conceive the interior, leaving space for… a park.
Yes, Central Park occupies most of that middle, opening to the sky so that the ship’s interior is transformed into a different kind of exterior — meaning one without an ocean view, but an exterior nonetheless. To some degree, that same concept is echoed in the Boardwalk area, another interior-turned-exterior space — in this case, with a carnival-esque theme (carousel included). For passengers, that means many “interior” rooms come with a view.
I should know. My 11th-deck cabin was one such room. OK, it was still a cruise-ship cabin, meaning a fairly tight affair, with space for a bed, desk, two-seat couch and bathroom, but no leftover room for, well, breathing room. But it had a small terrace with a view of — you guessed it — Central Park.
But what to do once you step outside of your room? To some degree, Oasis doesn’t change the traditional cruise menu of entertainment and activities — it just piles on.
Want to work your way up a rock-climbing wall or surf on a “wave rider” machine? On many ships, you’d be lucky to find one or the other. Oasis offers both climbing wall and wave rider — two of each, in fact.
Feel like catching a show? On many ships, you’d have your pick of a musical production or… a musical production. Oasis gives you the choice of a Broadway extravaganza (Hairspray), an ice-skating spectacle or an outdoor aquatic show. And did I mention the comedy and jazz clubs?
At some point, it all starts to blur, which probably explains why I took refuge in the familiar — say, the ship’s fitness center (number of treadmills: eight gazillion) and casino (number of slot machines: ditto). OK, I made up the gazillion part, but you get the point: There’s a lot of everything to do.
And a lot of everything to eat. Like many cruise lines, Royal Caribbean has followed the trend of offering diners many “upgrade” (meaning surcharge-able) options beyond the traditional inclusive buffets and formal dining rooms. But again, the choices aboard Oasis extend that idea every which way. There are restaurants specializing in steak, seafood and Japanese and Italian fare. There’s a gourmet eatery — 150 Central Park — that offers an eight-course tasting menu designed for serious foodies. There’s even a cupcake bakery!
Of course, more choices don’t always make for better choices. I’d be lying if I said I was overly impressed with the ship’s food or entertainment — at least based on what I could sample aboard a two-day cruise in which many activities were not offered and many specialty restaurants were fully pre-booked. At best, the fare in the formal dining room was on par with what I’d expect in a solid though hardly spectacular hotel restaurant. (But I did like having all the smoked salmon you could eat at the breakfast buffet.)
As for the shows, well, let’s just say the 10 minutes I spent watching a bunch of skaters dressed up as chickens doing some kind of funky chicken ballet on ice was time I would have rather reserved for trimming my toenails. (But I do wish I could have seen the genuinely engaging Hairspray).
Perhaps the real joy of my two-day cruise was that I managed to work in as much as I did, including attending other press events, hitting a few bars and even working in a brief afternoon nap. But here’s where Oasis also excels: Despite its sheer size, Oasis makes it easy for a passenger to move around. There’s a genius to the layout of the ship, with its seven “neighborhoods” that group key activities and destinations together.
There’s also a genius to the fact the ship has navigational tools at every turn. Step off the elevator and you’ll find a large interactive board that offers simple, concise directions to anywhere on the ship (including your cabin) and that even tells you what restaurants are currently open (and how long the wait times are). The end result is that a very big ship starts to feel very manageable.
That may be driven by necessity. Those who board Oasis, which starts offering seven-day Caribbean itineraries this month, will end up spending lots of time on the ship, whether they want to or not. That’s because there are only so many ports of call that can welcome a vessel of this size. In short, traveling on the Oasis isn’t about the destinations as much as the journey itself.
Then again, isn’t that the true ideal of cruising? There are faster ways to see all the ticky-tacky Caribbean destinations you want than to board a behemoth of a boat. At heart, cruising is about fantasy — the notion of partaking of the pleasures of the land in a setting at sea. Oasis extends that concept in a bold new way, playing mind games of a most quixotic sort with its passengers at every turn. Is a park still a park when it’s “moving” at 20 knots?
Perhaps I’ll need another trip aboard the Oasis to find the answer.
OASIS BY
THE NUMBERS
5 Number of Titanics it would take to equal one Oasis (by weight)
7 Neighborhoods (Central Park, Boardwalk, Youth Zone, Entertainment Place, Pool & Sports Zone, Vitality at Sea spa/fitness center, Royal Promenade)
16 Passenger decks
22.6 Cruising speed in knots
23 Restaurants/cafes/coffee bars
200 Light bulbs on the carousel
1,380 Seats in largest theater (Opal Theater)
1,524 Square footage of Royal Loft Suite (largest ‘cabin’ on the ship)
2,706
Staterooms
6,296 Passengers (maximum)
9,300 Works of art on display
WANT TO SAIL ON THE OASIS?
Based at Fort Lauderdale’s Port Everglades, Oasis will be offering two types of itineraries in its inaugural year.
From now through April, the ship will offer a seven-night eastern Caribbean itinerary with stops in Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas; Philipsburg, St. Maarten; and Nassau in the Bahamas.
Starting in May, the ship will offer a seven-night western Caribbean itinerary, with stops in Labadee, Haiti, and Costa Maya and Cozumel, Mexico.
Though prices vary with each sailing, accommodations start at $729 (per person, double occupancy) for an interior cabin and run as high as $34,376 (per cabin) for a deluxe loft suite.
For more information, call Royal Caribbean at (866) 562-7625 or go to royalcaribbean.com or oasisoftheseas.com . Or talk to your travel agent.
MEET THE LOCAL CREWMAN!
Laszlo Turos, 40, Delray Beach
His job: He’s the landscape specialist responsible for designing and maintaining Central Park. (Previously, the Hungarian-born plant and tree fanatic worked at landscaping companies throughout South Florida.)
The particular challenge: Keeping 12,000 plants alive and healthy in this unique setting is no small task — there’s really nothing to compare with this floating park elsewhere in the world. ‘It’s an ecosystem of its own,’ he explains.
His favorite feature aboard the Oasis: Turos is so consumed by his job that he says he doesn’t have time to see much else on the ship. ‘I’m Mr. Central Park,’ he says.
Square footage of Royal Loft Suite (largest ‘cabin’accommodations on the ship)
2,706
Staterooms
Cabins
6,2965,400: Passengers (maximum)
9,300 : Works of art on display
Welcome to the Oasis of the Seas!
I’m the king of the world!
