1st Time Cruiser - Liberty of the Seas Feb 23, 2020

[Heather3711]

Hello all!  I just booked my first cruise for Feb 23, 2020 and I'm so excited and nervous at the same time.  My husband and I (both new to cruising) will be celebrating our 15 year Wedding Anniversary and this is our gift to each other.  I have never done a cruise so I'm doing all I can now to research and plan, plan, plan.  

I do have 1 question though, when can you start booking your dining, beverage, activities stuff for the ship?  On my cruise planner it keeps saying that I can't reserve this yet.  Is it because: 1) I'm too far out from cruise date (almost a year away) or 2) I haven't paid for my cruise yet in full (I've only put down the deposit right now). 

 

Thanks in advance and I look forward from learning,reading everyone's posts on here so I can get as much information as possible to help make our cruise fun and worry free. 

 

~Heather

[WAAAYTOOO]

Heather, welcome to the cruising world !  You will find so many kind and helpful people here.

Most likely, the reason that you cannot yet access any of the reservation options is b/c you are still too far out.  I cannot yet access anything beyond 12-31-2019.  All of my 2020 cruises are still "blacked out".  I'm certain that this has to do with pricing.  My guess is they still don't know what they are going to charge for their 2020 extras. Unfortunately, even the free options in the Cruise Planner (like shows, if your cruise will allow for reserving shows....not all do and My Time Dining reservations) are caught up in this nonavailability.

It does NOT have anything to do with whether or not your cruise is paid in full,  Even before you have reached final payment, options will become available for you to book dining, drinks, shows, etc.  When will that  happen ?  Wow...there's the real tough question.  There is no real "rule" about such things but you can expect that these reservation options will open up at LEAST 90 days prior to your cruise.  I've had them open up as far out as 200+ days but that is rare.  Lately, it has been more in the 120-90 day range.d

Check prices frequently and do lots of research.  It will make the waiting that much more painful !  

[Matt]

13 minutes ago, Heather3711 said:

I do have 1 question though, when can you start booking your dining, beverage, activities stuff for the ship? 

The short answer is "it depends".  

Basically, there is no set time when pre-cruise purchases open up for every sailing. I answered this question a bit more in-depth here: https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2016/07/23/first-time-cruisers-when-can-i-prebook-entertainment-dining-and-more-my-royal-caribbean

[Heather3711]

Thank you Matt & WAAAYTOOO! 

 

Thank you for answering my questions! I appreciate the comments and the link; will definitely look at that.  I'm used to planning trips to Disney World but planning a cruise is a new thing for me.  I'm sure I will have more questions as I start to do more research and will ask if I don't see the topics covered on here.   I look forward to planning and dreaming this year about my cruise next Feb! 

 

 

[Todd W]

welcome aboard.   We've all been there with the First Cruise jitters.    These forums are a wealth of information to help out with your questions.    I have as much fun planning as i do on the actual trip.   

[JLMoran]

Welcome to the forums. You picked a great first ship to sail on! I did my first cruise on sister ship Freedom of the Seas (same class of ship) last April, and was where you are now a bit over a year ago.

You've gotten some great info from the others on this this thread already. I'll just add that with over a year to go, you're in a great position. You can take your time finding the excursions and other things as they become available, and spread out the purchases so your credit cards aren't crying "Uncle!" in any given month.

Also, don't feel you have to wait for the best sale price to buy a certain thing, or that when you see the first good sale that you need to get everything at once; Royal offers several sales in the Cruise Planner throughout the year, so if your monthly budget doesn't let you buy all the excursions or all the on-board packages at once, you won't miss out. And if you find something you bought earlier is at a better price later on, you can easily cancel it and re-buy at the better rate.

[melski94]

55 minutes ago, Heather3711 said:

  I'm used to planning trips to Disney World but planning a cruise is a new thing for me.  

As someone who is a Type A WDW planner, planning for cruises is so much easier!  In fact you don't have much to plan!  Read Matt's blogs for first time cruisers as there are tons of information on it. 

The only thing to really look at right now is shore excursions.  You don't have to book them through the ship if you feel comfortable.  There are lots of reviews on this site and on TripAdvisor about excursions.  If you plan on going 3rd party, you don't have to make arrangements usually until about 90 days out.

Start keeping an eye out for sales come October and Black Friday for things like internet, beverage packages, etc.  Hopefully some of those items will become available to purchase by then.  

You don't have to pay your cruise off in full until 90 days before the cruise.  Make sure you put this date plus a week before in your calendar so you don't forget to pay!  RC may or may not send you a reminder and it is on you to remember to pay.  You can book things on the cruise planner well before you pay in full.

[BTE]

Welcome. I just joined the blogs recently as I hadn't been on a cruise in awhile & everyone here is great in helping & providing valuable insight!

[JohnK6404]

As mentioned above, there appears to be no set time frame for the ability to make reservations on the Cruise Planner. We were able to make our dining reservations (set reservation times in MDR, make specialty restaurant reservations, etc.) last year in March 2018, 14 months ahead of our 5/19/19 departure on Allure. We were shocked that they opened it up so soon! We did have the option to purchase drink packages and make reservations for excursions also around that time, but held off to wait for upcoming cruise planner sales.

I would definitely log in periodically to see if it opens up early... you may be pleasantly surprised. We are now just under 4 months from departure and the only feature that is not available (which is the norm from what the more experienced cruisers have mentioned on the forum) is making the entertainment reservations (shows, etc.).

This will be the first RC cruise that we actually have to make reservations to be safe... all of the smaller ships we've cruised on to date (Majesty, Explorer & Liberty) automatically assigned your show times by muster station, etc.

I'm not sure if that changed across the fleet and on Liberty (we cruised back in 2015 on Liberty)... I've been told that's the case on Oasis & Quantum class ships (recommended to make reservations).

Most importantly, congratulations on your 15th wedding anniversary and have a great time! My wife and I cruised for the first time on our honeymoon (15 years ago this year!) on Disney... that's when we caught the cruise bug!!!