I have wanted to go on a 'mega' ship since Oasis debuted and the price was always too much of a premium for me. We live close to Fort Lauderdale and get great last minute deals all the time. This is how I usually decide on which ship/cruise line to go on. I want to go sometime and I keep an eye out for a great deal to the ports we want. We usually book only a few weeks in advance. The ship is always secondary. This is why we have no big status with any line as we have been on all the major lines with about 20 cruises in total. On this cruise our parents had already booked it with a few of their friends, so we checked into it. Again it was much more expensive for a balcony cabin than other ships, but the family was going, I was going to have to suck it up if I wanted to be on this ship. The Jr Suite was only a few hundred dollars more then the balcony when we were booking as the balconies were almost sold out and this was still three months before the cruise. I was impressed that a cruise going to places that were recently ravaged by multiple hurricanes was almost sold out and it did wind up selling out of all suites, and balconies. So we booked a guarantee for the Jr Suite.

Then we waited to see which cabin we would be booked in. Well, upgrades do happen. We were upgraded to the Royal Family Suite. It may be being renamed the Grand Suite Two Bedroom, as I saw it listed that way in the future cruise videos. Yes we were upgraded from a Jr Suite to a two bedroom suite three weeks before the cruise date. Now that was one heck of an upgrade for us. Jr suite does not have any real perks, but this upgrade was to a 'real' suite. Priority boarding, priority debarking at ports, lounge with drinks and food, private dining area, private sun area, seating at all the shows without reservation, except comedy show, and free internet streaming. The show seating was great, best seats in the house without reservation and just show up. The priority debarkation was very nice. From our room to the car in about 25 minutes, but I have read of people who did close to the same without the suite perk. I am not sure I would pay for it as the suites do carry a premium price and as you see earlier I am cheap or a bargain shopper, but I must say that the suite perks are pretty sweet. The priority boarding was not necessary as the embarkation was very smooth, large area, and there were no lines at 12:30. The lounge was nice with upscale buffet food and drink. Limited bar selection during the day and full bar at night. Get your free drinks here, soda, alcohol. Very nice place to eat on the first day. The views were amazing with the two story windows.

We had already purchased the alcohol package and would still have purchased it even though we could get almost anything we wanted at the lounge bar at any time. The reason we would purchase it again was the convenience. There would be no way I would be going to the 17th floor every time I wanted a drink, and we drink. Plus the bottled water, specialty coffee (not Starbucks), fresh juices, and soda. Though we do not drink soda, I did have two and enjoyed being able to, even though I could of had free soda in the lounge. A nice latte or cappuccino after dinner was great and an iced coffee in the afternoon was a plus. We always stocked up on bottled water and had plenty in our room, though the tap water was really fine and any of the soda machines could fill up your own cup with water. I was just nice to walk around with a bottle of water and head off the ship with a few bottles. As i said, we drink, so we always get a great value on the drink packages on all the cruise lines. The online discount pre-cruise and around the holidays promos was a huge discount on the price. We got 20% off the regular on-ship price. Read more