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We are a family of 4 who will be cruising for the first time (sons ages 24 and 18).  We are hoping to go in the week beginning August 19th

We cannot decide on which ship, which ports etc.

whether to it is worth to take the beverage package;

what excursions to do etc.

It is so overwhelming that I am almost ready to chicken out and go to an all-inclusive instead.. 

Any help would be most appreciated.

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These are all very valid questions and concerns, similar to what my wife and I experienced deciding on out first cruise. We sat down with an experienced travel agent and went through everything with her. A good TA with a reputable company can guide you through all the ins and outs so you can enjoy, rather than fear, the experience!

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I, for one, am not a huge fan of all-inclusives other than the fact that they are all-inclusive.  I'm not a big drinker and easily get bored.  I've done a few all-inclusives, and by the third day I'm ready to go home.  This has yet to happen on a cruise.  And because my wife and I are not heavy drinkers, cruising has always been a more affordable option for us when it comes down to dollars and cents.

Obviously, looking at the price differences between the two is an important starting point and include the cost of the beverage packages when making the comparison.  But also keep in mind that you will be able to visit different places unlike at an all-inclusive resort.  In addition, the entertainment tends to be better on cruise ships in my experience.  The food, for the most part, is comparable depending on the quality of the all-inclusive resort you're visiting.

Depending on the ship, there will be a lot of things for the family to do including ice skating, rock climbing walls, surfing simulators, and the like.

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Hi jqueen, welcome to our group!

I'm a fellow first-time cruiser, not departing on our first trip until the end of March next year. I can definitely provide some advice based on my own experience picking our first cruise, as I agree that it's pretty overwhelming!

The main advice I would give is to not try and figure this out on your own. i did it with my family and it caused far too much stress! It's my biggest "If I had it to do over again" bit of advice: Find a travel agent who specializes in cruising, and work with him/her to work through figuring out a good ship for your familiy that works with the time frame you'd like to go. The travel agents know the ships, usually know multiple cruise lines, and will work with you to narrow it down with a lot less stress. I didn't find Heather until after we had settled on this cruise and was just working with her for booking it, but then leveraged her a lot to pick a second cruise that we also booked for later in 2018.

I can highly recommend my travel agent, Heather. If you'd like her contact information, I can private message you the details. Full disclosure -- Heather is an agent for MEI Travel, which is a sponsor of this site. But she's very good, quick to respond to both emails and voice mails. Also, importantly in your situation, I think, she's fine with taking time on the phone to talk about ships, itineraries, cabin options, etc.

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Welcome!

Here's a good overview of picking a first cruise and itinerary. I think this will serve as a great starting off point: https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2016/01/04/royal-caribbean-itinerary-recommendations-first-time-cruisers

Don't worry about excursions until after you book the cruise. Ditto for the drink package.

The drink package can be a money saving value, but it depends on you.  Here's what to consider: https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2016/09/15/should-you-buy-royal-caribbeans-unlimited-alcohol-package

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Smaller ships won't be interesting to your 24 and 18 year old son. The Oasis and Quantum class have so many, many things for all ages to do. When you go on Royal's website, you can look under ships and review each ship in the Oasis and Quantum class. You can see the cabins, the dining options, the entertainment options, pretty much everything. In fact it is almost overwhelming but it helps you make your decision on the ship and the itinerary.

I find a 7 day cruise is a good start, it gives you enough time to see if you and your family really like cruising and to try all the different things on these huge ships.

As Matt said make your cruise reservation first and worry about beverages, dining and entertainment reservations when you book the cruise.

Candie

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6 minutes ago, firegal2539 said:

Smaller ships won't be interesting to your 24 and 18 year old son. The Oasis and Quantum class have so many, many things for all ages to do. When you go on Royal's website, you can look under ships and review each ship in the Oasis and Quantum class. You can see the cabins, the dining options, the entertainment options, pretty much everything. In fact it is almost overwhelming but it helps you make your decision on the ship and the itinerary.

Good point, Candie! I'd say consider Freedom class as well, since they have quite a bit going on for them and could be a bit less (potentially) overwhelming for a first-timer. Of course, @Matt did happen to write a whole article about Oasis vs Quantum for first-timers, so yeah... :3_grin:

One other thing I just remembered was pointed out to me in one of my first questions -- I was warned that an 18 to 20-year old might find it a little frustrating getting involved with ship activities. The teen-oriented activities cut off at age 17, so he can't get into the teen club at Adventure Ocean or other events on the ship geared to that social group. But the activities geared to adults generally are for people 21 and older and he may not be able to take part in those, either. This may not be as big of an issue on the Oasis or Quantum class ships, which are so much larger and have so much more going on throughout the day. I know you're planning to contact Heather, so ask her about that if you get a chance.

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7 hours ago, JLMoran said:

 

One other thing I just remembered was pointed out to me in one of my first questions -- I was warned that an 18 to 20-year old might find it a little frustrating getting involved with ship activities. The teen-oriented activities cut off at age 17, so he can't get into the teen club at Adventure Ocean or other events on the ship geared to that social group. But the activities geared to adults generally are for people 21 and older and he may not be able to take part in those, either. 

My 18 (and then 19 the next cruise)  did have a hard time meeting people,  and mostly hung with me.  She did find someone on our roll call on cruise critic she met up with periodically but it is a tricky age for finding a niche on the boat.  The bigger ships will have more to do in general but she found things to do with me on both vision and freedom and really used the time to relax!   Jane

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Not sure what your limits are but we dont go on anything smaller than the Voyager class and like Firegal said anything less than 7 days.  When we first started cruising we went on some shorter cruises and it seemed like you were barely unpacked and the cruise was over.  For about the last 5 cruises we have been in nothing smaller than a Jr. suite.  The Jr.suites are bigger with walk in closets and bathtub type showers etc but I would suggest at least a standard balcony cabin. Like many have suggested it would be smart to find a good TA experienced in cruises to help you decide.  Whatever you decide,  just relax and take your time learning the ins and outs of cruising.  That is all part of the fun,  planning ahead.  Good Luck

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RE: drink packages... My wife and I are not big drinkers so we find most of the drink packages are not worth it for us. To this point, we've tended to stick with the basic "soda" replenishment package and we buy drinks/wine a la carte. I'm just not a fan of being locked into a daily $50-$70/person/day package from the date of purchase through the end of a cruise especially when you have days in port where you're off the ship enjoying excursions and not drinking so much.

That's just us... yeah, we're boring! :)

I do like what I've heard here on the forum in the past that sometimes RC will sell drink cards for either specialty coffee drinks or alcoholic drinks onboard that give you a set number of drinks per card (say 10) to use until the end of the cruise. That I would be very interested in! 

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13 hours ago, JohnK6404 said:

I do like what I've heard here on the forum in the past that sometimes RC will sell drink cards for either specialty coffee drinks or alcoholic drinks onboard that give you a set number of drinks per card (say 10) to use until the end of the cruise. That I would be very interested in! 

On a recent 4 night cruise I bought the Cafe Select card for 15 coffee drinks. My daughter and I used 14 of them...still a bargain off of the a la carte prices.

I did not buy the drink package, and did not miss it since I only bought four girly drinks and a couple beers while on board. I liked not having the feeling of needing to drink to get my money's worth.

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On 6/5/2017 at 11:48 AM, jqueen said:

We are a family of 4 who will be cruising for the first time (sons ages 24 and 18).  We are hoping to go in the week beginning August 19th

We cannot decide on which ship, which ports etc.

whether to it is worth to take the beverage package;

what excursions to do etc.

It is so overwhelming that I am almost ready to chicken out and go to an all-inclusive instead.. 

Any help would be most appreciated.

I would agree with what everyone is saying:  the bigger ships would be better for the 18 year old and work with a travel agent.  They'll help with everything including the shore excursions, but that's fun to research as well.  We did the drink package on our last sailing and it was worth it for me, not my wife.  I got the alcohol package and even with drinking a few mixed drinks during the day and wine at dinner, it was well worth it.  I liked being able to try the drink of the day and if I didn't like it, I didn't feel the need to drink it.  My wife got the package above soda but without the alcohol and the value was borderline.  She did have a few non-alcoholic drinks, had fresh oj every morning, and we both had a lot of bottled water.  It would have been a little cheaper for her to do ala carte but everything was already prepaid and to me that's worth some convenienc .   Two  other things to consider:  1)  beer or mixed drinks?  If you're only drinking 4-5 beers a day, no mixed drinks or wine, it's not worth it.  2)  Southern Cruise out of Puerto Rico?  someone else brought up drinking in ports (off the ship) and if you're on a Southern cruise that hits 5 ports during the week, that's a lot of time off the ship and less time to utilize the drink package since you'll really only have one day at sea.  But a western or eastern cruise with a stop at either Labadee or Coco Cay?, then that's probably three days at sea plus the RCI island where the drink package would be applicable too.  So you'll have a lot more time to make use of the package.

Don't stress too much, it'll be fun.

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