Jump to content

Search the Community

Showing results for tags 'first cruise'.

  • Search By Tags

    Type tags separated by commas.
  • Search By Author

Content Type


Forums

  • Royal Caribbean
    • Royal Caribbean Discussion
    • Roll Calls
    • Royal Caribbean News and Rumors
    • Royal Caribbean Dining
    • Shore Excursions
    • Casino Royale
    • Live Blogs
    • Celebrity & SilverSea
  • Global Travel
    • Other travel
  • Community
    • People Connect

Find results in...

Find results that contain...


Date Created

  • Start

    End


Last Updated

  • Start

    End


Filter by number of...

Joined

  • Start

    End


Group


MSN


Website URL


Skype


Location


Interests

Found 12 results

  1. Suggestions? Things to do vs. don’t do on board? Super nervous about it.
  2. Hello everyone, My wife and I will be embarking on our first cruise this May and decided to go big or go home. 15 day Transatlantic cruise on Brilliance of the Seas (Tampa > Azorez > Ireland > Belgium > Netherlands). We have probably watched 100 youtube videos trying to be prepared. Have any of you done a transatlantic cruise around May? What kind of weather can we expect during the first half to Azorez and the second half near europe? How are the seas this time of year? (not that we can change our minds now anyways ? Thanks for your time, I look forward to getting to know the RoyalCaribbeanBlog members and plan on doing a "live blog" for our trip.
  3. I booked my first cruise with my 4 closest guy friends. I'm in the Army and stationed overseas. I am on Holiday Block Leave and this cruise is the highlight of my vacation. I'm super excited about my first cruise experience and I wanted to see/connect with others who are on this sailing. Feel free to message and reply if you are!
  4. Hello All, We are taking our first cruise on the Independence of the Seas in April (15-20) and stopping at CocoCay on April 19. All of the information I have seen is that CocoCay is getting a new look and will be ready in May. Is there any rumor about it being done late/on-time/early? Also is there an excursion that is recommended for there? It will be my wife and I and another couple with 4 teenagers. Thanks in advance, Kevin
  5. Yay! So I booked my first EVER cruise! I am booked on a 12 day Ovation of the Seas from Sydney around New Zealand! The itineraries were released this past week. Thanks to the many people who have posted on these forums as I have lurked and learned from you all! I chose Ovation and leaned toward RCL because of these boards and Ovation was the newest ship in the area (though I think Princess Majestic might be newer). As an aviation geek I can definitely tell the difference between plane types but, I didn't know much about cruising and ships but these forums helped heaps and I am still learning! So I wanted to share a perspective from a Noob when booking a new cruise and hope to share my experience cruising in the future! Negative reviews: There are bound to be some rough currents; meaning, there are ALWAYS going to be whiners and grumps that complain about everything so take these with a grain of salt Positive reviews: There are going to be some over the top fabulousness reviews where everything was awesome...can everything REALLy be THAT awesome...also take these with a grain of salt. Research what cabin you want BEFORE bookings come out. I knew what cabin I wanted based on what was above, below, to the sides and even based on foot traffic and those whited out areas (which I avoided). I booked a forward balcony and it was only 200 more on the TOTAL, not per night. UNFORTUNATELY, the cabin I wanted wasn't showing up online. I wanted deck 9 and there was only one for the whole deck 9 and sailings were just released! I wanted starboard side but had to choose the only deck 9 cabin on the port! (more on this below) BOOK EARLY! I am not using an agent as I like to be in control. I booked via rcl.com Gratuities: for our 12 night cruise gratuities were added on by my choice just before payment and were clearly stated if you wanted to pay now or later. I opted to pay now and just pay the minimum deposit. Gratuities were $222 per person. On the same page it asks for traditional dining which gave the choice of 1730 or 2000. We chose 1730 because we also want to have time to go to the buffet later at night, oink! There was an option for my time dining but seems too much hassle for our first cruise. Keep up on Sales! So the day AFTER we booked our cruise RCL started a new promotion and of course got an email. I took the advice from many on here and did a dummy booking to see if it was cheaper and sure enough it was $256 CHEAPER! I did what Matt and you guys said to do and called up on my lunch break and with no waiting the girl on the phone said yes it is cheaper and she changed it for free! YAY! BUT WAIT....I wanted a specific cabin and asked politely if it were available because it wasn't showing on the website. She said is was available and saw it was the same price category and SCORE! We were now on the starboard side! EMAIL DINING: I emailed dining about a 2 topper. (like the lingo?) They replied and said that things were loaded about 50 days before sailing! So I will request again later. Thanks again for all info on these forums. No question (no matter how many times I saw asked) went unanswered. Cheers!
  6. How do you carry your SeaPass card? I rarely have pockets and am use to the Disney Magic Band at this point so am looking for suggestions. We will be getting the deluxe drink package so do we also have to carry IDs (licenses/passports) to show we are of drinking age or does the SeaPass show that?
  7. Just found this website and joined to get some advice on our upcoming trans-pacific cruise in April 2018, departing from Sydney and ending in Seattle. We are cruising on "Explorer of the Seas" and the cruise duration is 23 days!. We don't intend dining in any of the "user pays" restaurants. Will only be dining in the buffet restaurant. We are teetotalers, so aren't interested in any alcoholic drinks packages. TIPPING From the Royal Caribbean website: Stateroom attendant USD 5.00 a day per guest Dining Room Waiter USD 3.75 a day per guest Assistant Waiter USD 2.15 a day per guest Head Waiter USD 0.75 a day per guest Would our tips be USD 11..65 x 2 = USD 23.30 per day? We should therefore budget around USD 535.90 for tips. Are we expected to leave an additional tip each day for our cabin steward over and above that advised above? BEVERAGE PACKAGE (Classic Soda Package) From the Cruise Planner for our cruise: Classic Soda Package USD 9.95 a day per guest At USD 20.00 per day this would be USD 460.00 for the duration of the cruise. Is tipping then an additional 18% (USD 82.80) on top of that total? Could anyone advise what the individual cost per soda would be? We would consume between 3 and 4 sodas a day. Does Royal Caribbean offer any discount soda packages? Does Royal Caribbean allow passengers to BYO their own soda drinks? If so, what would be allowed to be brought on board which would only be consumed in our cabin. Is there any restriction on whether soda brought on board is in plastic bottles or in aluminium cans? LAUNDRY FACILITIES As we will be on board for 23 days, are there laundry facilities on the ship whereby you can do your own washing and drying? What would be the approximate cost per load be to wash and to dry. We anticipate taking between 4 and 5 days of clothing, each which suggests we would need to wash and dry at least 5 times during the cruise.. ANY THING ELSE TO CONSIDER Is there any other "surprises" to be aware off with regard to possible hidden costs? Does anyone have any suggestions as to how we might be able to minimize our on board expenses?
  8. Good morning/afternoon/evening wherever you are reading this... "Only" 151 days until we set of on the Ovation from Sydney for our very first cruise - a 3 cruise back-to-back combo ending up in Singapore 27 days later. Excited is an understatement! I have so many questions and if I had not spent many hours looking through this wonderful site I would have many more! I hope somebody can help on the ones I still have and apologies if they are 'easy to find' elsewhere! 1 – How do we find where/when ‘formal’ dining nights will be? Wife starting to worry about what she needs to pack as we are limited to just 30kg each with Singapore Air! 2– Really struggling with decision on the drinks and wi-fi packages!! RC had a sale on last week BUT it stopped the day before our cruise!! They have some new bundles but still not sure if cost-effective for us. I am teetotal so refreshment package is most likely for me (but 27 x $30 is still a lot!). Wife likes a drink but looks like we may be best taking on 6 bottles of wine (2 per cruise) so she can have a few drinks that way, have the same refreshment package as me then just 'pay as she goes' for the drinks each day/night? What would experts say?! The new bundles are with dining or WiFi but they do not offer those add-ons to the refreshment package so no benefit for me! 3– Regarding the Voom Wi-fi packages, where they say ‘1 device’ or “2 devices” etc is it a case of just 1 or 2 devices at a time (e.g. login on cell but then log out and login on iPad etc) or is it restricted to a particular device? Basically if I pay for 1 device can i swap between gadgets?! 4– When we wake up in Sydney on the ‘change over’ days (23rd March and 26th March) do we HAVE to disembark or can we stay on board? I saw one post saying yes you have to but elsewhere saw different opinion. 5 - Balcony is 'obscured view' (top of a lifeboat) - anybody had that experience and did it spoil anything? 6 - Offshore excursions - not much choice on the RC lists - looking at some of theirs but also using Tripadvisor to find my own - anybody got advice/experience/tips for tours in Dunedin/Wellington/Napier/Picton in New Zealand, Brisbane/Darwin in Australia or Kuala Lumpur please?? Appreciate anybody taking the time to reply. Happy to have personal inbox chat with somebody if that is allowed on the blog! Thanks all. Barrie (Wales, UK)
  9. We are cruising on Independence of the Seas leaving out of Ft. Lauderdale on 12/26/16. Five nights - western Caribbean. Any tips for these first time cruisers, particularly in what to pack? I know all the regular stuff, but are there any things I might not be thinking of? For example, someone suggested extra hangers (that seems a little excessive) and someone else suggested a power strip or extension cord. Do we need to bring shampoo, soap, etc.? Any food tips for vegans? Thanks, Friends!
  10. Anyone going on this cruise Single ? What are the best things to do? I am not sure if I will be bored? Any help would be appreciated.
  11. I am wondering if anyone else suffers from there first cruise being there best cruise? It might be this way because you don't know what to expect and you are wowed by every thing you see and do on that first cruise. Our first cruise was The Serenade of the Seas as was my parents and my husbands parents. After that we all tried a different cruise line separately and were slightly disappointed. Could it be that The Serenade is just an awesome ship? Has anyone else experienced this phenominon? We have since been on several cruises that were excellent, but they still don't seem to quite measure up to that first one.
×
×
  • Create New...