First Ever Cruise

[1Cruiser1]

Hi all,

 

My girlfriend and I are going on our first ever cruise at the end of January.

 

We are on Allure of the seas sailing to Perfect Day, Bahamas, Cozumel & Costa Maya.

 

We are lucky enough to have the drinks package along with a balcony room.

 

Hoping the weather is warm mid 20’s or higher as we are based in the UK and it’s Baltic!

 

Thanks

[Nick D]

Awesome. Me and my girlfriend are going on our first cruise in December. 

[bhageerah]

Welcome to the boards and happy cruising to both of you!  Word to the wise, you both may want to start looking at future dates that you may want to sail.  If you are anything like most, then you will be hooked by the time that you get off of the ship and will desire to book another!!

[Nick Musial]

Welcome to the cruising community! Weather in January at Perfect Day is usually going to be above 20 degrees, probably closer to 23 or 24, on average, in Mexico is likely to be a little warmer than the Bahamas as it's a little further south. I agree with bhageerah, you should probably get started on booking your next cruise too!

[RickinSTL]

Welcome to the group! We just went to Cozumel last month.. loved it! 

 

[1Cruiser1]

Thank you for all the replies.

 

We are so excited.

Will it be warm enough to snorkel?

[bhageerah]

I know that temp can be a personal thing but we have been on several cruises in December and have been to all of the above during that time of the year, and we snorkeled in all of them!  I can not give you an exact temperature but it was pleasant and even the kids had a great time! 

[Nick Musial]

I think more often than not it’s warm enough for me to snorkel. There was one year where it was closer to 21 or 22 degrees and we still went in the water, though it was a bit chilly when we got out. I consider 16c to be the cutoff for shorts and sandals though if that gives you any indication for my temperature preference. 

[hayley_bopp]

Yay! Another Brit on the message boards! I'm from Coventry.

We're cruising on Allure over Christmas and I'll be Live(ish) blogging so look out for that to help pass the last few pre-cruise days.

We've been to Mexico, Costa Maya at Christmas, before and we thought it was hot and went on a snorkelling trip. 

[1Cruiser1]

Cant wait to read all about it Hayley.

 

I'm looking forward to visiting Costa Maya!!

[Dan Curtis]

It will be plenty warm for you all, especially if you're coming from a northern state someplace, I,agree with others, you will be hooked and like so many of us, can't wait to,cruise again, especially in the winter, enjoy and welcome to the cruising fanatics.

[1Cruiser1]

How good is the discount if you re-book on board?

At the time of booking we managed to secure $1000 off due to an online sale.

 

 

[sabarwolf]

Allure is an awesome ship. Have a great time!

[AshleyDillo]

1 hour ago, LJM9504 said:

How good is the discount if you re-book on board?

At the time of booking we managed to secure $1000 off due to an online sale.

NextCruise (the on-ship venue for making new bookings) doesn't really give discounts.  They use the same pricing anyone can pull up on Royal's site and all of the current sales are whatever is being offered.  The benefit with NextCruise is that you can sometimes get a little bit of onboard credit when you make a booking through them. They used to offer reduced deposits as well but that is becoming more and more rare.  

http://www.royalonboardsales.com/#seeoffer  is where you can check the current offer before you sail, along with all the tiny print with the terms and conditions.  If you do use them, just make sure you fully understand what you are booking and have it clarified whether it's refundable or non-refundable, etc. 

[1Cruiser1]

31 minutes ago, AshleyDillo said:

NextCruise (the on-ship venue for making new bookings) doesn't really give discounts.  They use the same pricing anyone can pull up on Royal's site and all of the current sales are whatever is being offered.  The benefit with NextCruise is that you can sometimes get a little bit of onboard credit when you make a booking through them. They used to offer reduced deposits as well but that is becoming more and more rare.  

http://www.royalonboardsales.com/#seeoffer  is where you can check the current offer before you sail, along with all the tiny print with the terms and conditions.  If you do use them, just make sure you fully understand what you are booking and have it clarified whether it's refundable or non-refundable, etc. 

Thanks that's great information.

 

When it comes to gratuity we have declined the use of our card.

 

We would much rather pay in cash rather than on an account - is this possible to do?

[AshleyDillo]

1 hour ago, LJM9504 said:

We would much rather pay in cash rather than on an account - is this possible to do?

Yes.  You just indicate that you want to set a cash account up when you check in for the cruise.  You will be required to visit guest services to pay off your balance once it reaches $300 or $500 (depending on cruise length) in order to charge anything further to your onboard account.  Then you will need to settle up at the end of the cruise at Guest Services or you will not be allowed to disembark.  At that point you can pay off your balance with a card or with cash.

[KristiZ]

10 hours ago, LJM9504 said:

When it comes to gratuity we have declined the use of our card.

We would much rather pay in cash rather than on an account - is this possible to do?

If you are asking if Royal will removed the automatic gratuity from your account and let you tip only in cash, the answer is no. You can pay your SeaPass account balance with cash rather than a credit card, yes, but the gratuity charges will be processed through your SeaPass account. 

Hope that makes sense!

[1Cruiser1]

On 11/6/2019 at 11:53 PM, KristiZ said:

If you are asking if Royal will removed the automatic gratuity from your account and let you tip only in cash, the answer is no. You can pay your SeaPass account balance with cash rather than a credit card, yes, but the gratuity charges will be processed through your SeaPass account. 

Hope that makes sense!

That’s great info.

 

Is it possible to remove gratuity from my account? Do I just speak to guest relations on board? I prefer to tip as I go so it’s easier to manage my money. Thanks for your help.

[KristiZ]

40 minutes ago, LJM9504 said:

Is it possible to remove gratuity from my account? Do I just speak to guest relations on board? I prefer to tip as I go so it’s easier to manage my money. Thanks for your help.

According to this very old thread, it is: 

 

 

Personally, I pre-pay gratuities as a way to manage my expenses. Then I can have that cost out of the way ahead of time. (You can call Royal and have pre-paid gratuities added to your cruise.)

 

[1Cruiser1]

Thanks for the help.

 

We are due to check in at 11am. Is it an easy enough process? We’ve done the online check in.