Oasis of the Seas

Oasis of the Seas is the original. STX Europe delivered her at Turku in October 2009 for roughly $1.4 billion, and she entered service that December as the largest passenger ship ever built, by a margin that made the previous record look incremental. Everything Royal Caribbean has done since at the top of its fleet descends from this hull. She held the size title, with her sister Allure, until Harmony passed them, and the class as a whole held it until the Icon ships arrived in 2024.

Being first is also her problem, and the 2019 refit is the story of solving it.

What she introduced

The idea that made the Oasis class work was cutting the ship open. Instead of one enclosed hull, she has a split superstructure with two open-air canyons running down the middle: Central Park amidships, planted with real trees and around twelve thousand plants, and the Boardwalk aft, ending in the AquaTheater with its diving platform and deep pool. Balconies face inward into both. It means a ship of this size has interior cabins that are not interior and a promenade that is not a tunnel.

The seven-neighborhood structure (Royal Promenade, Central Park, Boardwalk, Entertainment Place, Pool and Sports Zone, Youth Zone, Vitality Spa) is the other half of the idea, and it is why a ship carrying 5,602 guests at double occupancy does not feel like a stadium. It is worth being clear that she has seven of them. The Suite Neighborhood is a Wonder of the Seas feature and it is not aboard here, and none of the Icon-class attractions are either.

The engineering footnote worth keeping: her funnels telescope. On October 31, 2009, on her delivery voyage from Finland, she retracted them and passed under the Great Belt bridge in Denmark with less than two feet of clearance, helped along by the squat effect at speed.

The 2019 amplification

By 2019 she was ten years old and three younger sisters had been built with things she did not have. Royal Caribbean spent $165 million over 63 days that autumn, the largest refit the company had done at that point, closing the gap.

She got the Ultimate Abyss, the ten-story dry slide off the aft deck, and the Perfect Storm trio of waterslides: Typhoon, Cyclone and Supercell. She got Splashaway Bay for small children and a rebuilt Caribbean pool deck with the Lime and Coconut bar, casitas and in-pool loungers.

The dining and drinking list changed more than anything. Portside BBQ, Royal Caribbean’s first barbecue restaurant, debuted on this ship. So did Spotlight Karaoke, the line’s first dedicated karaoke venue, with a main stage and two private rooms. Playmakers went in with its wall of televisions, along with El Loco Fresh, Sugar Beach and a Bionic Bar. The Music Hall, an idea borrowed from the Quantum ships, took two decks. Laser tag and an escape room went into existing space, the AquaTheater got a new show, and cabins were added on deck fourteen, which is why her tonnage is now 226,838 rather than the 225,282 she was measured at on delivery.

What she did not get is a hull change. The cabins are 2009 cabins with 2019 finishes, the Royal Promenade is narrower than on the later ships, and the Central Park planting is smaller than what Wonder carries.

Where she actually sails

Short Bahamas runs, mostly. Fort Lauderdale is her main base and Cape Liberty in Bayonne takes the rest, with trips of three to nine nights and four the usual length. The calls are Nassau and Perfect Day at CocoCay, with a handful of longer Caribbean sailings mixed in.

That is a great deal of ship for a long weekend, and it is deliberate. On a four-night CocoCay itinerary the vessel is the destination and the ports are scenery. If you want a week of real Caribbean calls, she is currently in the wrong program for you.

Who she suits

Families and groups who want the Oasis-class experience and would rather not pay the premium the newest hulls command. She has the neighborhoods, the AquaTheater, Central Park and the full slide inventory, and she costs less than Wonder or Utopia for the same idea.

She does not suit anyone who wants the newest thing; she is seventeen years old and the parts of her that were not touched in 2019 show it. She does not suit people looking for quiet or for a destination-led cruise. And on a three- or four-night sailing with 5,600 guests aboard, the good shows and the good tables are booked out well before you board; if you dislike planning your vacation in advance, this is the wrong ship on the wrong itinerary.