TOUR HIGHLIGHTS

Well, you don’t access ALL areas, but then that would take all day, possibly longer! What you do get on Oasis of the Seas is a visit to the restaurants, galley, I-95 corridor, food and drink stores, engine control room, laundry and bridge. It’s a comprehensive overview of many of the key areas of the ship, but we would have liked a bit of information about the crew areas to be included.

All aspects of the tour discussed here relate to Oasis of the Seas, other tours on other ships may have different itineraries.

PRE-TOUR

Before you can go on this tour, you have to sign a waiver because you are leaving the public areas of the ship. These are checked as you wait for the tour and you MUST date the form for the day of the tour, even if you filled the form in a day or two before.

Your guide will then dispense audio devices so that you can hear them during the tour. These clip over your ear, a little loosely, but serve their purpose well enough. With the formalities done, your tour can begin.

ON THE TOUR: RESTAURANT AND GALLEY

Our first stop was the restaurant, here the guide hands over to a member of staff for that area who can provide more detailed information (this occurred at each of our stops). In the restaurant, they showed some of the napkin folds they use, how the reset the tables and provided the amazing stat that your table could have been completely reset before you’ve even exited the restaurant!

When preparing up to 60,000 meals a day, you can imagine the kitchens are kept pretty busy. We visited late morning and saw huge amounts of vegetables and what must have been several cows worth of beef being cooked ready for lunch.

This is also where all the bread on board is made, from the rolls and other bread at dinner to the pizza bases in Sorrento’s and all pastries etc. for the Windjammer and other outlets.

ON THE TOUR: I-95 AND THE STORES

I-95 is the nickname for the large corridor that runs the length of the ship. This is the only part of the tour where you are not allowed to take photographs, though why was not explained. Photos are free to take at all other stages of the tour. The corridor is quite spectacular, stretching off into the distance, quite wide and bustling with the crew going about their duties.

At the stores, the man in charge spoke about how they cater to the cruise; for this cruise, which left from the US, it had to be catered completely from the USA. If they did bring any food onboard during the cruise for any reason, and it wasn’t used before the cruise returned to the USA, it would have had to be destroyed.

He then showed us three different stores, the first contained fruit and vegetables, huge amounts of fruit and vegetables! The second was a freezer, stocking shrimp and other seafood, we didn’t hang around in there as it was -21°C or -6°F and finally a drink store, with alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks to meet the demands of the passengers.

ON THE TOUR: ENGINE CONTROL ROOM

Before we could visit the engine control room we had to be security screened. It was never really explained why this was necessary, nor what it achieved, but they went over each person with a wand. Once this was done we were shown into a room with monitors covering the walls, these showed many graphs and diagrams that are probably all very important, as well as images of the six engines on the ship.

The employee in this section explained at a high level some of the stuff on display and also explained how the ship was so manoeuvrable, it doesn’t have a rudder, and rarely needs a tug to dock, as it has three azipods holding the propellors which can rotate 360°, this together with powerful bow thrusters allow it be finely controlled.

It was also explained that unlike the fuel in your car, or an aeroplane, the fuel for the ship is like bitumen and has to be heated to over 100°C or 212°F before it can be injected into the engines.

ON THE TOUR: LAUNDRY ROOM

With 8,000 people onboard, the laundry department is critically important, it’s not just the sheets and bed linens that come through here, the towels, both cabin and pool towels, crew uniforms and loads of laundry that passengers want cleaning all adds up to a mountain of laundry.

To help with this, the ship has enormous washing machines, including one called the tunnel that was about 20 feet (6m) long and washes and dries the clothes automatically. A machine that accepts sheets in one end and irons them smooth as the run through the machine and even a machine that can dry and iron a shirt by blowing hot air through it.

Despite this, a lot of people work long hours in the laundry to keep the passengers, and crew, in clean linens, towels and clothes.

ON THE TOUR: THE BRIDGE

The final stop is the bridge, and you have to go through the same security screening as for the engine control room, why we needed checking again was not explained. On entering the bridge, the first thing you will probably notice is the panoramic view, floor to ceiling windows, set at an angle, allow for one of the best views on the ship.

You can also go right to one end of the bridge and look all the way down the side of the ship. These are the points where the ship is widest and are used when arriving and leaving a port so that the bridge team and see what is happening and control the bow thrusters.

As we were at sea, there were just three officers on duty and they were happy to answer questions and explain some of the duties, but the real attraction here was to be in the nerve centre of the whole ship and take in the view.

HOW TO BOOK THE TOUR

This tour can only be booked as an excursion through Royal Caribbean as it takes place onboard the ship. Available dates for the tour vary, but it is generally done on Sea Days which means you won’t have to miss out on exploring a port to enjoy this excursion.

From your reservations page on the website or through your Crown and Anchor account, you can go to to the excursions section and find this tour. You can enter the number of tickets you want to purchase and your tickets for the excursion will be in your stateroom when you board the ship.

WHAT TO BRING WITH YOU

As the excursion takes part onboard the ship and wholly indoors, the only essentials to bring are:

• Your signed and dated waiver form, you will not be allowed to take the tour without it.
• Water: The tour lasts for almost two hours, so you may want to take a bottle of water with you.
• Camera! You’re allowed to bring cameras and phones and there will be lots of opportunities for photos and videos.
• Sturdy, closed-toe, shoes are required for this tour as you will be entering non-public areas of the ship.
• Not something to bring, but there are no toilet facilities on the tour, so best to go beforehand.

CHECK-IN

You need to arrive at your assigned meeting point on the ship around 10-15 minutes before your tour is due to depart. Check your excursion tickets to identify the precise meeting point for your tour.

WAS IT WORTH IT?

This tour is quite expensive, but we were happy with the value it provided. We would have liked to see some more about how the crew live and to have gone out on the helipad, which is not generally accessible on Oasis of the Seas. However, the entire tour was interesting and showed how much work goes on, unseen by the passengers, to keep everyone fed, watered, laundered and ensure the ship keeps to its itinerary.