What is the most challenging aspect of planning a Royal Caribbean cruise?

[Matt]

I'm thinking about doing a podcast episode about this question based on your answers: What aspect of planning a Royal Caribbean cruise do you think is the most difficult?
 

Picking the itinerary? Finding the right stateroom? Figuring out shore excursions? Eating enough honey stung chicken?

Thanks in advance (you all rock!)

[bcarney]

When we first started cruising it was itinerary.  I like "collecting" ports.

 

After that it was co-ordinating flights and trying to minimize costs and travel stress.

 

On our first two cruises with kids, finding the right staterooms was a concern.  On one we booked a rear corner on Adventure that was a wider but shallower room, which worked out well for having space for the crib.  On another we had a Family Suite like your recent Navigator cruise; it rocked, and we were lucky as they usually don't let those out for families of 4.  On our April 5 cruise we're going to "wing it" in a standard balcony room w/pull out sofa bed on Oasis and see how it goes.

 

Now on the Oasis cruise, the difficulty is here is excursions.  Partially finding ones that appeal to both myself and the kids, and partially finding one in Bahamas that fits that weird 7am-2pm on a Sunday stop.

 

All this said, if this is "difficulty" to suffer through, I guess I am truly blessed. :)

 

"The Real" Bill Carney

[Shawn]

For my family, the itinerary is probably the easiest. We pick the cruise based on the week that we can go and the ship available that is best for the kids. Ship selection will definitely get harder when the revitalization program is complete. The cabin selection is one of the more challenging aspects especially with kids of different ages. For our cruises coming up on Freedom, we struggled with what to do with having one daughter in a crib and the other needing a larger bed while keeping it affordable. In the end, we went with the two connecting promenade view staterooms. Shore excursions can also be a fun challenge especially if your getting away from doing excursions connected to RCL. Thankfully royal caribbean blog and other sites like tripadvisor help let you know that the operator is trust worthy and the excursion is fun and safe.

 

The best part of planning is seeing the daily compasses. This way I can create my bucket list of activities that I would like to check off and be on the lookout for while on the cruise.

 

One aspect I wish RCL let you pre-plan is babysitting services. It would be nice to be able to select a dining package for specialty restaurants on Allure next month. But unfortunately, we will have to wait and see if we can get a sitter at sea. We could always drop them off at Adventure Ocean & the nursery if need be.

 

But this is all fun to suffer through and helps start your vacation early! :)

[Don]

Getting the price right -- not difficult but requires patience & flexibility AND use of an on-line site with a user friendly search engine and offers unique incentives not available to typical travel agencies. Our method: one major bucket list trip per year, 3 out year options in the mix. Watch & track price ranges for the options; typical price, good price, & bargin price. When you see a bargin price, book it! Good price is usually an available fall back, rarely do we have to settle for typical price. "Price" includes incentives & other cost saving factors. For example, we always include pre/post cruise extension to experience embarkation & disembarkation ports. 2015 options include British Isles & Scandinavia/St Petersburg. For British Isles itinerary, a 2 or 3 night pre cruise stay is needed to explore London (very expensive). Scandinavian/St Petersburg Itinerary includes an overnight in Stockholm embarkation port, & a overnight in Copenhagen disembarkation port. You can use ship for pre/post hotel & food, and turn the slightly higher cruise price into a book it now bargin! 2015 dilemma -- British Isles is higher on the bucket list, but its also going to be more expensive. Oh, the joys of cruise selection -- did I say the choices were'nt difficult? The good news; any of the options are a good value -- emptying the bucket and seeing the World one voyage at a time! It's hard to mess that up!

[RoyalLaker]

I have to plan a cruise around my children's school schedule and my vacation blackout dates from Oct-Dec. Then I have to look at room prices compare 2 inside rooms to a D1 balcony or JR suite (I prefer mid ship location) for a family of four. Next I would look at Destinations and ship-class. Lastly the deal breaker would be airfare since I live on the Golden coast. 

[Marc]

Getting the price right 

 

I'd have to agree with this. I'm pretty good at picking the ship, itinerary, and cabin, but I'm pedantic about getting the best price I can. I've been very lucky with my cruises this year to have really great prices when I booked, but I still monitor the prices regularly just in case.

 

For my cruise coming up in two weeks, I've got a very decent price in a Promenade cabin. During these last few days, there have been some attractive pricing for oceanview cabins to which I could upgrade for free, but I'm sticking with what I have. Early this morning, there was a brief period when a Family Oceanview cabin became available for just $479/person for two people! If I could have snagged that upgrade, I definitely would have. Imagine getting twice the space in the cabin! Ah, well, it was gone before I checked the computer this morning.

[Bryce G.]

Choosing the low price vs. extra on-board benefits. It's always a hard call.

[monctonguy]

It's the flights for me. I could travel anytime of the year, am very flexible for the ports and itinerary but its the cost of flying from Canada to anywhere in the US.

 

Flights can be close to $1000 return, so even with a great deal or option for an itinerary that I want to cruise, the flights make it very hard to make this happen.

[DiviFIlus]

Ditto on the flights - flying from the west coast of Canada to Florida can often be as much as flying to Europe! Our cruises are all two week minimums to justify to the time and cost of getting there....

[Don]

Ditto on the flights - flying from the west coast of Canada to Florida can often be as much as flying to Europe! Our cruises are all two week minimums to justify to the time and cost of getting there....

Europe has floated to top of bucket list--so same view on cruise length, min 10 day, 12-14 better, with 2 or 3 days pre for the embark port City. On our May Barcelona trip airfare is 50% higher than cruise fare -- we always do inside cabin & got a really good deal on this one. A tad more expensive than driving to Port Canaveral. Even a good airfare is still very pricey. Doesn't preclude bucket list trips but can influence which option we pick -- usually have 3 options. It will become bigger problem as we empty bucket & have fewer or only one option. Always find it hard to believe you can spend less on cruise fare w/ 5☆dining, entertainment, etal for 12 day cruise than the 6- 8 "Hour" flight to get there -- something wrong with that picture!

[George]

For me, it's definitely choosing excursions.  I can't begin to guess how many hours I've spent scouring Cruise Critic reading reviews on excursions.

[KeithnRita]

Our challenge is finding a cruise to our liking from a port we can drive too. It's to much of a hassle to fly from our little city and it's also very expensive. :(  :( 

Our next challenge is finding the same stateroom on a ship we can book for a B2B cruise with different itineraries for each week. We just finished a 7 day cruise on the Serenade out of NOLA last month and while aboard we made the challenge a little easier by booking a B2B for New Year 2015 and the week after and in the same stateroom! The first week is the W Caribbean and the second week is Key West and the Bahamas. :)  :) 

[Matt]

Our next challenge is finding the same stateroom on a ship we can book for a B2B cruise with different itineraries for each week. We just finished a 7 day cruise on the Serenade out of NOLA last month and while aboard we made the challenge a little easier by booking a B2B for New Year 2015 and the week after and in the same stateroom! The first week is the W Caribbean and the second week is Key West and the Bahamas. :)  :) 

 

That back to back sounds great! I'd love to do a B2B sometime.  Please let us know how it goes!

[KeithnRita]

That back to back sounds great! I'd love to do a B2B sometime.  Please let us know how it goes!

We've done a couple B2B's on other cruise lines. They are twice the fun!  ;)  ;) 

[greenline627]

First thing is where to go and when. Second would be what kind of cabin to get and getting the best price.I am not a experenced cruiser as most here but i check all the sites that offer cruises AAA and any other place I can find but I have booked last two through  Royal Caribbean and got good deals. Last two we booked suites because we like the extra room and we both need to see outside.  Planning what to do when you dock takes some thoughts also because you only so much time at each port. Planning is half the fun for a cruise. My wife and I only wish we would have started cruising a long time ago instead of flying everywhere. We both hate flying anymore. we live close to both Baltimore and New York or New Jersey so we can drive to the port.

[cj9200]

For me it is what to do off the ship.  Excursions take up a lot of time and can put a special stamp on the trip if it goes right or be a negative if it doesn’t.  I had non-cruise trip excursions where when I was done, I said, “meh.† Since they were multi day stays, it wasn’t a big deal but if it was my only day in a port, it would kill my time ashore.  I also am on the look out for hidden gems like Matt’s experience at the Cantina.  I enjoy seeing the local flavor of a port.  The problem is finding them.

 

For my daughter it was should I take an internship and cancel the cruise or not take it and have a week of fun?  She chose poorly (in my opinion) and took the internship, so we had to cancel.  It is with a marine science school and is an exciting opportunity for her.  Rotten kid.  I need a cruise and we may end up taking a get out of town trip near the end of the summer.

[trainer.stan]

I think the worst part is getting from our home to the Overseas Passenger Terminal, hire car prices doubled over the last 3-4 years; trains can be a problem if there are delays; aircraft has the addition of long expensive taxi fares as well as the price of the expensive flight.  But it is worth it in the ultimate end.