Sea ViewsFrom President and CEO, Adam Goldstein

Lisa Bauer - Senior VP, Hotel Operations

Well the big story on Oasis today is the weather. We hit some pretty severe storms, and the word from the bridge is that we have at least 60 mph winds fairly regular and some waves at least 49 feet! The amazing thing is how well the ship is handling the weather. I heard someone say this is the worst weather this ship would encounter in 20 years time. Lucky me that I have the privilege of being onboard to experience it. Surprisingly, I am usually very susceptible to sea sickness, but I attended all my meetings today, my staff meeting/conference calls with Miami, and basically was fine. I’m shocked. (Unfortunately, we were meant to open Cupcake Cupboard today, but the ladies from there were a little under the weather, so that is on the agenda for tomorrow now).

Last night we had the grand opening of the casino and had a Crew Casino Night. It was really fun. 100% of the profits from last night go to the crew welfare fund onboard. I’ve never seen a casino so busy. I definitely contributed at the craps table. We had some issues with the slots and the response time on the automated tickets, so we are working through that currently. We have another crew casino night on Saturday, so hopefully all will be working well. The casino on Oasis is 75% larger than Freedom Class, and the bar is really cool, because it isn’t set up like a pass through bar as it is on other ships, but it is now the center of the room. I sat there for awhile last night and it was really a great gathering space for everyone to either meet, or to tell how much they won or lost. I was so thrilled with how engaging the casino staff was to everyone. They asked everyone’s name, and wished us all good luck, and always used our names when we were betting.

Today we also officially opened Vintages Wine Bar. There are so many cool things about Vintages on Oasis. In addition to the outdoor seating, we are also introducing a “tapas” style” menu. Guests will be able to order from a very robust menu of small tasting at a la carte pricing. We had a sampling of all the offerings, and I must say that I had to cancel dinner plans tonight because the tastings were definitely enough food for dinner. Offerings range from Gazpacho to olives, to homemade guacamole to queso manchego to an amazing array of sweet delights for dessert. I would actually prefer this for a dinner for an evening, because the selection is so great. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the wines at Vintages. Tonight several of us sat at the wine tasting table that features a very large bottle of Caymus special select Cabernet Sauvignon. Caymus created two of these bottles exclusively for Royal Caribbean. One is onboard, and the other will be part of a charity auction next fall. I couldn’t believe it when my team told me that the bottle onboard actually would hold almost 750 bottles (yes bottles) of this yummy Cab. I think sitting at this table enjoying a nice glass of wine will be a guest highlight for sure.

So while I did very well with the weather today, I am sorry to report I didn’t make it to the gym. I tried to do my pilates with my exercise ball in the room, but to say that was disaster is an under statement. So let’s see what tomorrow brings us. If it isn’t smoother sailing, I will have to go see my good friend Captain Bill and have a serious discussion