CruisingNewb

That depends on your definition of "boy". I am a 40 year old boy. I am allowed to wear shorts anywhere on the ship as long as my wife says okay. Seriously though, if you, or your boys, don't go out of your way to wear something truly offensive, Royal has a pretty easy going and liberal way of applying its dress code. Overall, Royal wants you to have fun too.

Thank you. Honestly, its none of anyone's business except for the IRS' how much money I make or can afford to spend anywhere like tipping. But when it really comes down to it, I have always felt guilty about things like maid service, even the gender affixed term "maid," and I further guilt trip my family into putting things away, throwing trash away, and pre-making the beds, so that it is less work for room attendants. Its not altruism, its not being a martyr, its just my selfish motives. I don't know how many times I used to say "if I made more money, I would tip better," and as I made more money, I just didn't. After I got married and had kids, I realized that saying such things was just lip service, didn't set good examples to my family, and it didn't do anything for me, personally. Now, I say again, even polite and sincerely-interested conversation goes a long ways with those in the service industry, that is a good start.

Cart prices on UDP stayed the same after sale expiration on ONE occasion for me last year. This simply meant I was lucky and by no means the benchmark to start throwing things in the cart to expect paying sale prices after expiration.

That is one perspective. I usually and preemptively give smaller tips early on because my mother was once a hardworking maid and my sister-in-law once worked on a cruise ship. I know that in many cases, even an extra dollar or two, especially in the aggregate, mean so much to an attendant who might be from a country where wages are below US standards. So when I give preemptive tips, its not for purposes of ensuring good service, its really my selfish way of easing my own conscience.

It's up to you and what you can afford, what you think the atendant deserve above the tips he/she will already get, and whatever else you take into consider when thinking about additional tipping. So far, the advice given is excellent, but generally personal. Personally, I take $300 USD cash just for extra tipping for any cruise over 5 nights. In Alaska, our stateroom attendant greeted us right away and gave us extra personal service. I tipped him $20, then each day, I left $5 on the bed. On the last day, I gave him $50 plus a care package of things we bought at port (ie: cup ramen, chips, cookies, sunscreen, etc.) On our 3 night cruise a few months later, the stateroom attendant was nice but didn't really go above and beyond. I tipped him $20 at the end of our cruise. He was super happy. My blanket answer is that I do not know of any stateroom attendant that wouldn't be happy with an extra tip or two. I am somewhat certain that they would apprciate anything. Last thought: People think of tipping in terms of money. And yes, money tends to be king. But, another way you can show appreciation might include: conversing with the person or leaving the room a little less messy than you normally would. We really try not to make extra work for anyone in the service industry. This goes a long ways too. On our Alaskan cruise, I struck up conversation with the Baristas at the cafe on a daily basis. They would tell me how they missed their families but enjoyed working on a cruise ship, etc. These people rarely get to have conversations with people other than their crewmates for months and months at a time. I know that the BAristas both told me they only get to talk to their families a couple of times a month. They both thanked me for chatting with them daily. It made my day, I hope it made theirs' too.

Northstar breaks down all the time. They said it was broken when we went on the Ovation, but they apparently fixed in time for embarkation. Then it broke the next day. It was up and running again a day later. Just keep on checking.

Letting time to do the cooking is how restaurants with smart chefs avoid hard boiled eggs with the dark, almost gray outer yolk. Its the best way to hard boil eggs!

Its a rule. JK

One of the first things when you get on board, after getting an alcoholic drink and making dining reservations, is to reserve shows and activities. Not all activities need to be reserved. For Ovation, reserve the free iFly and Northstar for earlier in the cruise than later. If you feel like the free versions merit another go around, pay for a second ride. The paid Northstar goes 360 degrees around the ship whereas the free Northstar only goes up and down. Honestly, I feel like I didn't need the second time on the Northstar but we got it for free anyways. The free iFly is like 2 minutes of tube time after a 15 minute orientation and suiting up. The paid iFly gives you an additional 60 seconds. If you have logged enough time on iFly, you can pay for advanced sessions. Also, be sure to get the times for Bumper cars. Its free and you cannot reserve it, but it is SUPER FUN. We did it twice. Loved it. The lines are long and depending upon how many cars are broken, the wait can be pretty long too. Flowrider is another free activity that can get long lines. Problem in Alaska is that unless you are lugging around extra towels or wearing a wetsuit, you are waiting outdoors in line, in the cold, and with the sea breeze. Simply put, its cold waiting in line. My suggestion is to go on a port day. Do your port activities early, get back to the ship and enjoy the Flowrider on an emptier ship. I do not recommend Flowrider on sea days because the location of the flowrider and the ship cruising makes it a bit chillier due to the extra breeze. For the shows, I cannot remember but I thought that only Pixels required a reservation. Both shows are great.

Yes. and Yes. The potatoes, depending upon when you go, and like @WAAAYTOOO mentioned, can be bad. I don't know what ethnicity or nationality you are, and don't know if you are open to try, but Ovation of the Seas has Congee. Its rice porridge. Next to the congee is a toppings bar. The Congee is not seasoned and pretty plain. In Asian cultures, congee is the go to food for upset stomachs. You can top a bowl of congee with some of the vegetables they have at the bar, tofu, etc... Very tasty and fits in the parameters of what you are looking for @Cindy58

Oh one more thing! Totally forgot... If you are at Pike Place and need a place to sit and eat the delicious food items you bought, there is a hidden seating area on the second floor near or in Post Alley. I cannot remember exactly where, but its not hard to find. There are potted plants and flowers and its really quaint and charming. Hardly seen anyone sit and eat there other than us.

Are you talking about the piece of shrimp fried with some lattice type coating? If so, it is one per person, and everyone in our group got one. I don't know if this counts as a single appetizer with 4 servings of 1 piece of shrimp or a single appetizer with a single shrimp. I do recall that I liked it very much.

First, let RCCL know of your dietary restrictions ahead of time. Second, when you are seated and the waiter comes, he/she will typically go into a pre-written script saying something like, let me order a variety of dishes for you. Make sure you let the waiter know ahead of time that you want to choose by yourself or that you have dietary restrictions. We just let the waiter choose for us. Third, most, if not all of the appetizers, are sharable depending upon your party size. For instance, the smoked deviled eggs come with 3 deviled eggs, but the tuna cones are 4 pieces (if I remember correctly). So if you allow the waiter to choose for you and someone cannot eat one of the dishes, then hopefully that person can enjoy one of the other dishes. My experience is that RCCL is very responsive to dietary restrictions and needs.

Walk-in lunch at Chops is less risky on port days. Highly recommended.

I am all for planning ahead and checking all of the boxes on the checklist. On the other hand, I am also for doing the bare-minimum and letting each experience be new and surprising. Finding yourself in the middle of this spectrum might be a good balance. In 2023, it is easy to pre-plan and get so ahead of yourself that once you are on your first cruise, the mystery, allure, and adventure may be quite diminished. For example, on our first cruise, we barely looked at any deck plans and we didn't know where anything was except for our room, the pools, and the buffet. This allowed us to discover things on our own and I still remember the fun in that. Our most recent cruise, we memorized nearly every detail of the ship and knew exactly what we were going to do, when we were going to do it, and how. Afterwards, we realized that we missed out on some things that we passed by daily because we were so laser focused. To the OP: one month out, you can stop planning and just make sure you have the necessary things to at least get on board the ship (ie: documents, luggage, cash and credit cards...) Relax and have fun.

Another thing to consider: I rarely drink alcohol. In fact, I drink a couple glasses of wine a year, a glass or two of scotch a year, and maybe 2 beers a year. Yes. That is more more than 6 or 7 alcoholic drinks in ONE YEAR. LOL BUT--when I am on a cruise, something magical happens. I drink. Not a lot, but I drink. 3 or 4 cocktails, 1 glass of wine, and 1 beer per day? What is it that makes this happen? Is it the fact that subconsciously I am trying to recoup the cost of my DBP? Is it the fact that I don;t have to drive home after drinking? Is it the fact that I am simply on vacation? I dunno. Now, I also drink about 6 to 8 tall glasses of water a day, 3 coffees/lattes a day, and maybe a soda per day. This is when I am not on vacation. On a cruise, my daily regular beverage consumption changes only slightly. I end up drinking a little more water and maybe one less coffee. If I based any costs of alcohol consumption based upon my regular daily habits, I simply would not choose the DBP. But like I said, something magical occurs when I board a cruise ship. More Kraken Rum please!

From SeaTac to Pike use the light rail. Taxi's and Ubers run the risk of traffic and are more expensive. From Pike to Pier 91, Uber. With luggage, you will need a mid-size Uber and it will cost a little more. Think we paid $35. At Pike, and surrounding area, if you walk down to the ocean front, next to the Ferris Wheel, there is a a really fun ride called Wings over Washington. If you have been to Disney's California Adventure and ridden Soaring over California, its basically the same ride but Washington themed. We really loved it. Near Space Needle, first take the monorail its really neat. Once there....you can get so much done in this ONE area. Chihuly Garden, Space Needle, Museum of Pop (we really recommend!!!!) Yeah, there are a TON of things to do, see, and eat in Seattle, but for one day plus half a day when you disembark, Pike Place Market and the Space Needle area is pretty much what you can, and should do.

Another point I would like to make on this topic: Your life's station at the time you cruise shouldn't be the limit of how you perceive your vacation to be. When we were first married, my wife and I took a 3 night cruise for our first vacation. Barely out of lawschool and my wife just having become a CPA, we had no money. The cruise was $203 a person per night. We saved up and made it happen. Aside from pre-paying tips, we did not spend a dime on the cruise other than the fare. We did not even get off the ship at port. We drank the free "juice," coffee and free water. We had one free alcoholic drink voucher for each night. We ate at the MDR and Buffet. Honestly, it was the most memorable cruise were went on. Fast forward to last year. We took 2 cruises last year. After the first one, where I bought the DBP and UDP for my family, pre-bought blankets, souvenirs, upgraded our room, etc...Yeah, I paid a pretty penny, I realized that maybe it was overboard (pun is intended). SO our second cruise of the year we did the 3 restaurant dining and paid for alcohol ala carte. Still fun, but realizing I spent at least 15 minutes a night staring at the TV to check my daily purchases, spent 30 minutes each morning at Guest Services to pay off those purchases from the day before, etc, etc....I think going all out was much more relaxing. I admit, now, I act way more boujie than I should and want to be pampered. So, when anyone asks these types of questions, I can only give my opinion based upon my station in life now. Not rich or anything, but able to afford some pampering. Yes, the drinks packages are worth it....to me.

YEs. You have two great points here. 1. The strap causes friction either on your clothes or your neck. Gotta find a comfortable one. 2. Yes, once sitting, the tendency is to remove it.

Okay...I realize how shallow my response was in terms of usable substance. Lanyards are great. Even if our bathing suits have pockets, when we are at the pool(s), my particular lanyard allows me to carry wife's seapass, her id, my seapass, my id, one credit card, and some cash and receipts. When we step out of our room to visit the bar or restaurants on board, I don't like carrying my wallet. I also have one of those front pocket Ridge-style wallets that have a transparent single card slot and lanyard attachment. It is bulkier but is my everyday wallet. Point is, I can attach it to my lanyard strap if I need other cards. My kids, for some reason or another, choose to pack pants and shorts with no pockets whatsoever. They like doing their own thing and lanyards allow them to carry around pre-loaded seapass cards. When we were in Alaska, I carried my lanyard around my neck and to the side like a sling style bag. Concealed it under my coat. Safe and light travel tip.

Wife never uses her lanyard. I use my lanyard all of the time. Kids use theirs too. Is it convenient? YES! Is it necessary? No.

Perhaps. My point is that if you drink alcohol and plan to drink other drinks, there will be days that you barely drink and days where you binge drink. Ultimately, the question is, if pure economics is involved, these things are truly not worth the money. Not even when you factor in overhead and labor. I can make my own drinks, cook my own meals, and enjoy my pool at home while watching the History Channel and National Geographic about the Bahamas at a much more economical manner. But then, is it vacation? Is it pampering yourself? What are you paying for when you go on a cruise? The experience? At the end of the day, these questions about whether something is worth it should be more towards the personal aspects rather than the economic aspects. Drink packages may be worth it for some, not for others. But defining "worth" is the issue.

These types of questions get asked all the time. I get it. Let me ask you guys this: Do you ever go to all-you-can-eat or any type of buffet restaurants? For example, not that I have been to one since a teenager, but Red Lobster used to have $20 unlimited shrimp dinners. Those shrimp they serve are typically 31/40 count shrimp. This means a pound of shrimp yields 31 to 40 shrimp. A restaurant can get a pound of 31/40 count shrimp for about $4 a pound or less. Each serving dish of shrimp at Red Lobster gives you about 8 shrimp. Ok, here is the math: A person pays $20 for unlimited shrimp. Each serving portion is 8 shrimp. 5 servings is about 1 pound. After 5 servings you ate $4 in shrimp. In order to break even, you must eat at least 4 pounds of shrimp. Same concept applies to buffets. A low end buffet that costs $20 a person would require that person to eat at least 5 plates of the highest end meat cuts offered to break even. My question: Why is everyone so fixated on the math? If you don't do the math to eat out at a restaurant, don't bother doing the math for the beverage packages.

And that lesson would be....alcohol first, pool injury second, that way alcohol has numbed your body and the injury doesn't hurt as much.

I was not trying to lecture anyone. I am sorry you felt that way. Again, this forum is a fan forum and although bad experiences and issues for improvement are great to discuss, if a post is somewhat one-sided, I try to advocate and offer my opinion for the other perspectives. This is how robust discussions occur in my opinion and goes a long ways for the forum, fans, and potential new cruisers. Lastly, I never meant for any of this to be a pissing match. I always assume there are people with more experience, intelligence, wisdom than me. I try to give deference when due. But what I will NEVER do is to take someone else a notch down for the sake of proving my point, or to offer opinions/suggestions. I apologize and will leave the post for you to vent.