I had a great time sailing on the world's largest cruise ship for 7-nights, but I couldn't help but notice others onboard made mistakes that could have been avoided.
It's not my job to correct anyone on the ship, but the cruise writer in me naturally notices when these faux pas' occur. I assume it's like how a marketing executive might always internally critique how other businesses advertise.
Some of these mistakes are typical for first time cruisers, while others are ones that anyone could have made. Regardless, I wanted to highlight these so you can be aware of them now to avoid making them yourself!
Here are the six mistakes I saw other cruisers make while I was on Royal Caribbean's Star of the Seas this past week.
The gym had so many people not knowing the rules
I try to take advantage of the fitness center on any Royal Caribbean ship once or twice per sailing because their equipment is so much better than my home gym.
I pre-booked a fitness trainer to help guide me through a workout, but he had to talk to no less than five or six other guests in less than an hour about the gym rules.
The number one mistake guests made was not wearing the proper footwear. Royal Caribbean's rules are anyone in the gym must be wearing shoes. Flip flops, sandals, Crocs, or Uggs don't count as acceptable footwear.
Proof Matt was in the fitness center
This rule is in place for safety reasons, and each of these people were asked to halt their workout and go put on shoes.
The other mistake were underage guests using the gym. The fitness center is for adults, although teens may use it.
In the cast of teens, they need to get a permission paper signed by their parent authorizing them to use it under the guidance of their parent.
Younger kids are not allowed to use the gym.
I think some people missed the ship in one port
On our visit to Costa Maya, Mexico, it's clear half a dozen passengers either were late or missed the ship.
We had odd hours in port, 7:30am to 1:30pm, so while it's not typical port times, it's not an excuse for ignorance.
As the all aboard time came and went, Star of the Seas blew its horn multiple times and then there were two different announcements over the public address system asking certain people to go to Guest Services if they are onboard.
Being left behind at a port is probably one of the worst cruise mistakes you can make, so the key is to manage your time closely.
I always plan to return to the port at least 1-2 hours before all aboard time to assure any traffic or bathroom breaks do not make us late.
Also, be sure to set your phone or watch to ship time. I turn off automatic time zone changes on my phone to prevent confusion with this.
If you're ever confused what time it is on the ship, the Royal Caribbean app always has the time in the top corner.
Paid too much for the drink package
When I see a passenger buying a Royal Caribbean drink package on the ship, I shake my head in disbelief because of how much they overpaid for it.
I don't have a problem with anyone buying a drink package, but it costs significantly more on the ship. Like almost double.
There are so many sales and opportunities before the cruise begins to buy a drink package at a discounted cost that there's simply no excuse for waiting to buy it onboard.
I suspect many that do purchase it on the ship might either do so impulsively or after they realize they do indeed want it to cap their drink spending. Everyone's allowed to change their mind, but if you're on the fence about it, go ahead and pre-purchase it and save yourself hundreds of dollars later.
Skipped Surfside because they didn't have kids
If you sail on Icon of the Seas or Star of the Seas and avoid Surfside completely because you don't have kids, you are missing out on some great food options!
I get it, you think Surfside is just for families and young kids and you're imagining the IKEA ball pit room multiplied by a factor of 10, but it's worth going there for the restaurants.
Pier 7 is vastly underrated as a great and inexpensive specialty restaurant.
Considering you can pre-book brunch there for just $8 and kids under 12 eat free, I think it's worth a reservation. Plus, they have some really good food choices you can't get elsewhere.
Equally compelling is Surfside Eatery. It's considered the "kids buffet", but they have a lot of food adults would want too.
On embarkation day, they had a much less crowded buffet with lobster and filet mignon!
Lost out on casino free play
Did you know Royal Caribbean's casino gives everyone a few dollars to gamble for free?
It's just a few dollars, and it's meant as an incentive to get you in the casino and try your luck. They're hoping a few spins is enough to compel you to put your own money in too. But with the right amount of self control, you might hit it big.
Plus, if you gamble with your free play in the first 48 hours of the sailing, you get a bonus free play of an additional two dollars.
You're right to think it's not a lot, but I'll take free money to gamble with any day. It's "use it or lose it".
One person flagrantly cheated the service animal rule
One family on my cruise almost certainly cheated Royal Caribbean's service animal allowance and it bothered me so much because their selfish act not only is wrong, but it diminishes the important role real service dogs serve.
To be fair, I don't know for a fact this dog wasn't a service animal, but the vest the dog had on was just about the cheapest "vest" I've ever seen. Plus, on some days it didn't have the vest on at all.
I also noticed the dog was leading the person on the leash and consistently sniffing around as it walked.
I could be completely wrong, but it left me (and others) in disbelief this was a service animal. This isn't the first time I've seen a so-called service dog on a ship and doing things service animals shouldn't be doing.
Emotional support animals are not allowed, and neither are regular pets. I love dogs, but the rules are in place for a reason, and buying a service animal vest on Amazon doesn't make your pet a service dog.
