jill wozhere

Thanks for this info, we have a similar situation... my son met a girl on our cruise and is thinking of taking her on the next cruise, in a year's time, but he's only known her a couple of weeks and it's a long distance relationship, so obvious risks in booking her on.

Hot tubs and children reminds me of when we stayed at a local resort once. I was in the hot tub and noticed a girl of about ten rearranging her one piece bathing suit and squirming about.. Not liking the look of it, I got out and went to the gym... a little while later my sons came in roaring with laughter, telling me how they were in the hot tub and another young man with them, saw something unusual... picked it up.... looked at it with confused curiosity ? , then squeezed it between his fingers, before then realising what it was.  I'm sure I don't need to tell you what it was... My sons thought it was hilarious that they had watched and seen the expression of this boy had squashed a lump of poop between his fingers!  I was just glad I got out of the hot tub when I did!  Needless to say no one wanted to go in the hot tub after that  ☣️, even though the cleaning staff were advised.... I'd rather deal with obnoxious drunks than a turd in the pool dun dun dun dun dun dun?  aaggghhhh! Shring, Shring, Shring!!!

For departure, you need to be on the ship 30 minutes before the scheduled departure.  If the ship leaves at 4 PM, all aboard is 3:30 PM.  But you need to be ready to board before that time, which is why@KristiZ suggested as much as an hour earlier (there can sometimes by a long line, or a wait for a tender).
In terms of getting off the ship, Royal excursions have priority once clearance is obtained.  After those groups have left, the others may disembark.  In my experience, this implies a wait of 30-60 minutes.  Tendering is a little slower, as has been stated.

So many variables can factor in, but here are a few:
The ship itself might arrive at port earlier or later than planned -- things like weather, availability of a pilot, delayed departure of a prior ship, etc, etc -- so the arrival times noted are always just a plan, not a promise If the ship has to clear customs in the port, getting off the ship can be delayed (or not -- if the ship arrives early, that helps sometimes) The bigger the ship, the longer it takes, generally if they can use more than one door for disembarking, that speeds things along Tendering will always take longer than walking off. Especially since people with Royal-purchased excursions will have priority for spots on the tender (as will some others like Key or Pinnacle or Suite guests, usually). Plan an extra 20+ minutes at least if you have to tender. The Cruise Compass will often give you an estimated time for the tender process Returning to the ship, you "must" be there at least a few minutes prior to All Aboard. HOWEVER, because things happen, most people plan to be there 15-60 minutes prior depending on their personal stress tolerance ?  I'm sure others will have more to say!

When we were taking our son to Uni at the Gong, we used Viator to book an excursion to the Australia Zoo, but this was after our cruise when we were on land.  The excursion operator kept to schedule.  On cruises, if all we want is ground transportation, we can find that on our own in port.  But if we are going on a long trip, such as 7 or 8 hours, we prefer Royal because of our faith that they will wait for our excursion to return.  So I would say it depends upon your trust with the 3rd party operator and whether the excursion allows 2-3 hours of extra time "just in case".   It also depends upon whether you really want a very specific excursion that Royal doesn't offer.  In the big scheme of things, I don't believe saving $10 on the excursion price is worth much, but doing something special I would otherwise miss might be worth a small risk.  Having taking about 30 excursions with Royal, I can recall two where there were traffic issues -- accidents on the highway that slowed our return to port.  In both cases we arrived at the port in plenty of time for "normal" re-boarding.  I like Matt's advice to consider both Royal and 3rd party operators depending upon your situation.

There's a good overview of pros and cons here: https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2015/07/09/first-time-cruisers-complete-guide-picking-the-perfect-shore-excursions

In my experience with jelly fish, locally in Western Australia, they are there sometimes, in their thousands and at other times no where to be seen.  I've been stung and I can tell you it's NOT NICE! Similar to being burnt. This is one thing I am worrying about for my upcoming vacation. 
I saw there is a product called Seasafe, a jelly fish repellent, but it has mixed reviews on it's effectiveness.  I would be interested if anyone out there has tried it and can give a review?  
I've swam with rays at Ningaloo Reef, Western Australia - (Man that is an amazing place!  Like swimming in an aquarium and hardly any people to bother you : ).  )  They have barbs, but I saw heaps as I snorkelled they did not bother me at all.  I'd swim with a sting ray over a stinging jelly fish any day!  
I have nothing to add about Coco Cay.  Never been anywhere even close to there.

Cons: Often a bit more expensive, sometimes crowded
Pros: Super easy -- no searching out the meeting spot somewhere off ship, sometimes exclusive access (like to a museum that is closed to the general public that day)

It is usually a lot less crowded on the excursions which because we like to snorkel is important to us.  Also usually less expensive.  For our zipling we were able to do more tricks than the ship excursion allowed. I always make sure they have 5 star reviews and are a reputable company.  Their reputation relies on them getting you back to the ship in plenty of time so we never worry about being late getting back to the ship.

The ship won't leave without you if your RC excursion is tardy in returning to the dock on time.

Although not on a cruise ship and not a terrible incident, your story reminded me of when I was at the casino, watching my husband play roulette.  I was standing next to a woman and another man came up and stood on the other side of her.  He started some chat up conversation with her and she was happily chatting back to him, so seeing he had a warm reception, he asked her if she's like a drink... "Oh yes, thank you... I'll have a Southern Comfort and Coke?" He bought the drink and carried on chatting as she sipped on it. "Are you here on your own?" He inquired, honing in on his target.  "No, she casually replied.  "I'm here with my boyfriend", pointing to a man playing roulette beside my husband ?.  I thought to myself that the guy must be so annoyed he bought her the drink before he asked the question of if she was with anyone and a spirit drink at casino prices!  Also I thought it was very wrong of her to accept the drink and not put him straight on her situation.  In her defence however, he did offer the drink with no pre-stated expectations from either party.
Getting back to your situation, it's always nice to be complimented.  Three drinks isn't quite enough to start seeing someone ugly as handsome, so I think you can feel confident that she really thought you cute. ☺️
 
 

I actually have one ARI from my first trip, but it was humorous rather than scary or annoying. I was sitting outside Vintages on Freedom ahead of the Captain’s meet & greet, enjoying a glass of red while waiting for the family to finish getting dressed and primped for first formal night. The line started forming and a live band was playing, one woman was clearly well into her cups, a martini glass in one hand and happily singing along to the music. I couldn’t help but grin since she was having such a fun time, had to ask just how many of those she’d had.
She held up three fingers, laughed, then left the line and came right over to me; told me I was really cute and asked if was I actually sailing by myself. I pointed to my wedding ring (that was in plain sight since I was holding my wine glass with my left hand) and politely told her sorry to disappoint, but I was actually waiting for my wife and kids. She pouted, then went back into the line to wait for her turn to meet the captain.
There was an older couple sitting at the table next to mine. I looked over at them after the woman had left, and they shook their head in wonder at the exchange. The wife asked how on earth she missed my wedding ring, I just shrugged and said, “Three martinis.”
Ok, it was funny and honestly kind of flattering too. Assuming I wasn’t on the receiving end of “beer goggling”. ?

Probably more chance of incidents involving alcohol on land at all inclusive hotels or walking down any main street in any city on a Saturday night. 
Every passenger on a cruiseship is there to enjoy themselves so chances of incident are a lot less than on land where people will argue with anyone about the most trivial things. 
 

Out of many, many cruises I've only been subjected to two alcohol-related incidents.  One was a drunken family having a slap-the-shit-out-of-each-other disagreement poolside (which security quickly took care of -- not sure what they did after escorting them away).
The other was was just creepy.  Extremely drunk guy at a blackjack table decided to start harassing a female friend of mine that was on the same trip, but in a different cabin with her husband.  She's got purple hair in dreads and tattoos.  She's also an IT exec at a Fortune 10.
Guy starting making all sort of insinuations and sexual innuendo hinting that he'd like to, "make her straight."  He also cussed out the dealer any time he busted.  The dealer just took it -- so I went to the pit boss and said, "this guy is being an asshole to your dealer and other guests."  All they did was move him on to another table.  That kinda pissed me off.  Definitely pissed my friend off.  She told him straight to his face to shut the F up.

I’ve never had a problem on a cruise ship other then walking in heels after sharing a martini sampler with my husband ?.  We did run into an interesting situation on a train to Windsor recently though.  Thousands of people packed themselves onto the same train as us to get to a rugby match.  They were all in costumes and I had to stand, hugging my husband because there was no space.  The guys next to us were a friendly bunch though and were trying to finish a shopping bag full of Fosters before their stop.??. We wished them well and were a little jealous.  Looked like fun.  

Hot tubs and children reminds me of when we stayed at a local resort once. I was in the hot tub and noticed a girl of about ten rearranging her one piece bathing suit and squirming about.. Not liking the look of it, I got out and went to the gym... a little while later my sons came in roaring with laughter, telling me how they were in the hot tub and another young man with them, saw something unusual... picked it up.... looked at it with confused curiosity ? , then squeezed it between his fingers, before then realising what it was.  I'm sure I don't need to tell you what it was... My sons thought it was hilarious that they had watched and seen the expression of this boy had squashed a lump of poop between his fingers!  I was just glad I got out of the hot tub when I did!  Needless to say no one wanted to go in the hot tub after that  ☣️, even though the cleaning staff were advised.... I'd rather deal with obnoxious drunks than a turd in the pool dun dun dun dun dun dun?  aaggghhhh! Shring, Shring, Shring!!!

Hot tubs and children reminds me of when we stayed at a local resort once. I was in the hot tub and noticed a girl of about ten rearranging her one piece bathing suit and squirming about.. Not liking the look of it, I got out and went to the gym... a little while later my sons came in roaring with laughter, telling me how they were in the hot tub and another young man with them, saw something unusual... picked it up.... looked at it with confused curiosity ? , then squeezed it between his fingers, before then realising what it was.  I'm sure I don't need to tell you what it was... My sons thought it was hilarious that they had watched and seen the expression of this boy had squashed a lump of poop between his fingers!  I was just glad I got out of the hot tub when I did!  Needless to say no one wanted to go in the hot tub after that  ☣️, even though the cleaning staff were advised.... I'd rather deal with obnoxious drunks than a turd in the pool dun dun dun dun dun dun?  aaggghhhh! Shring, Shring, Shring!!!

Dogs are the best.  I love my dogs and I already have pangs of regret at the thought of having to leave them for two weeks.  It would be lovely to have your dogs with you everywhere, but sometimes it is in everyone's best interest, including their own, to leave them at home, with a reliable carer.  I wouldn't consider bringing them on a cruise.  I think they would be better off at home.  We live on a farm, so they have lots of company and room to move about and sleep inside in their nice warm pet beds.  

Likewise, other than a few loud or annoying people.... have not seen any major incidents over 6 cruises. 
The good thing is if you are around some annoying drunks... the ships are big enough with enough things going on... you can usually find another place to go hang out with more of the fun drunks. :-)
 

I have a great story involving a drunken passenger but I can't post it. It would be quickly deleted because it's quite lurid. And it occurred on  a Disney ship too!

Having been on the same cruise as you...I can attest there were a few "loud" moments...but definitely nothing that was outlandish or physical.  Except for that one nameless woman who wouldn't leave Paul alone, and CLR had some words with her at the Quest.  Put the group of us together and you'll hear a lot of "RockyTop" etc. which I guess could be annoying to others around who are trying to enjoy the music.  ? But it's all in fun! 

We’ve been on 20 cruises in total. The first 6 were on another cruise line. We stopped cruising with that line partly because there were to many intoxicated people and we like to drink! Along with being loud there would be lots of bad language, inappropriate drunk behavior and we saw a number of fights.
 
One time in particular about 15 years ago  on a cruise, sitting at a bar in evening talking with a really nice older couple probably in mid 70’s. The woman shook a little and had previously had a stroke. Some drunk guy came up he over heard her saying to me that in her day she had been a looker, she was still quite lovely. He immediately started hurling insults at her calling her an old hag! I was shocked at such appalling behavior. It was really upsetting. 
In our 13 cruises with Royal Caribbean we have seen people who probably shouldn’t have had so much to drink. Never have we seen any offensive behavior, fights or anything we’d deem inappropriate. 

I’ve only been witness to a single alcohol fueled event on a cruise. It was a fist fight between family members during a chef’s table dinner. It was very entertaining & security stopped it after a few punches were thrown and the chef watched in horror. After security hauled off the family there was only 4 people left at the table. In a strange twist, RC bought us all multiple rounds of drinks before we ended the dinner. 

My wife would have been in trouble, I love me a Guinness! ?

13 cruises and can only recall one incident that wasn't even an incident ... guy was so drunk he was sleeping in the schooner bar. Security was professional, spoke to him, and escorted him to (I assume) his cabin.
As others have said, people might get loud but that's the alcohol, everyone needs to be heard over the next person, or cannot hear themselves. LOL!
As a comparison, 5 minutes into a land trip to London where some soccer event just ended there was a fight in the street between the people in front of us, who were causing trouble ...  we quickly turned around to not be in their radius.