Spring break is one of the most popular times of year to take a family cruise vacation. Kids are out of school, and it's not too hot and humid in the Caribbean yet.

This year, I'm taking my kids back on a spring break cruise on we're sailing for a week on Icon of the Seas, the biggest cruise ship in the world. That big size means there will be thousands of other passengers with us, as the ship can handle up to 7,000 passengers if they sell every bed onboard.

Even though it's spring break, you won't find the Panama City Beach vibe that would be reminiscent of "MTV Spring Break" in the past.  Royal Caribbean is a family cruise line, and while there are going to be thousands of kids, it won't be as crazy as you might otherwise assume.

Nonetheless, spring break cruises are not only going to be sold out, but quite busy. And with the great weather, there's going to be competition onboard and onshore for all the fun.

Here are some of the tips I've used to navigate the unavoidable crowds on a spring break cruise.

Take advantage of being early or late

One my top tips for crowds on any cruise is to avoid peak times for the things you want to do.

You'll find any Royal Caribbean ship is much quieter early in the morning and late at night, especially around the pool deck.

There's a definite flow to passengers and where they go throughout the day.  The Royal Promenade is usually quiet in the daytime, but gets busy at night.  The pool deck inversely is busy in the afternoon but deserted at night.

It's best to head to the pool or hot tubs early in the morning to beat the crowds that will descend later. If you can get to the pool before 9am to get a chair, you'll find plenty of choices.

Don't overlook the pool at night. Once 4pm hits, the pool starts to clear out with everyone going to dinner.

Thanks to daylight saving time, the sun is out longer and you can still get a few hours of fun in the sun in the pool with significantly less people around.  Or, just go for a night swim and enjoy a nearly empty pool or hot tub.

The fitness center is best to hit up in the afternoon or evening.  It seems everyone wants to get their morning workout in, so either go extremely early or wait them out and go later in the day when crowds are thinner.

This early or late strategy works at the Windjammer buffet too.

Try to go right when it opens in the morning, or later in the dining period to avoid long lines.

Use Royal Caribbean's app to pre-reserve

If it all possible, pre-book everything you need before the cruise begins.

The Royal Caribbean app allows you to book shows, dining, excursions, and more before the cruise begins.

On its biggest ships, being able to book show times and assure yourself of a spot is paramount. 

You can use the app to book dining and entertainment in advance so you don't miss out on popular experiences.

Pick less crowded alternatives to eat

Crowds for meals can be avoided if you're willing to eat at different places.

The peak times for meals on any ship are:

• Breakfast: 9-10:30 AM
• Lunch: 12-1 PM
• Dinner: 6-7:30 PM

Most ships have good alternatives that go beyond the buffet or Main Dining Room.

On Icon of the Seas, I'm planning to take advantage of a few great venues.  Aquadome Market is the food hall and it's legitimately one of my favorite places to eat on a cruise ship.  The Mediterranean stall is my go-to snack spot.

Then there are great grab-and-go packaged snacks at Pearl Cafe that my kids will eat, and I like taking them up to the pool deck too.

If you need your morning coffee, go to Rye and Bean instead of Pearl Cafe for a much shorter line.

On other Royal Caribbean ships, similar alternative venues include Solarium Bistro, Park Cafe, or Cafe@Two70.

Try the water slides on a port day

Easily the most popular activity on your cruise ship during a spring break cruise will be the water slides.

Instead of waiting in a gargantuan line, I'd recommend picking a port day to hit the slides.

Either identify a day you'll stay on the ship instead of doing a shore excursion, or make shore excursion plans that get you back onboard early and you'll find the lines much shorter for the water slides.

Icon of the Seas has a massive 6 slide waterpark onboard, and my kids will definitely want to hit that up at some point.  If they want dad to come along, it won't be on a sea day.

If your port day plans are already slammed, try to go when people are at dinner as an alternative. The pool deck clears out closer to 5pm.

Plan shore excursions wisely

The spring break crowds will extend to the places your ship visits too, as this is the peak of the Caribbean cruise season with many ships in port.

You'll want to pre-book shore excursions prior to ever stepping foot on your ship. Tours and day passes sell out, so don't leave it to the last minute.

Speaking of tours, I'd recommend researching private or small-group excursions so you can find options that won't be oversold.

If exploring a port on your own, leave early to beat the rush or wait until later when crowds start to thin out.

Piggybacking on the water slide tip earlier, don't be afraid to skip an excursion and stay on the ship instead. Staying on the ship during port days allows you to enjoy amenities with fewer people around.

Book a longer cruise if you want less kids

If you're looking to take a spring break cruise and want to lessen the amount of families onboard, I'd look at a longer sailing.

Royal Caribbean has always been a family cruise line, so there's going to be a lot of kids on any cruise. But there are less on longer voyages.

Certainly any cruise less than 6 nights will have many more families onboard.  In fact, the 4-night Bahamas cruises are typically the ones college kids book.

So try a 7-night or longer sailing to lessen the college party factor.

If you can find something even longer than 7 nights, you'll probably see a shift in the age demographic to something older.

Seek chairs near the ocean, away from the pool

I think a lot of people will say they want to have a view of the ocean, a gentle breeze, and somewhere to sit, and it does not need to be at the pool.

There are great spots with few crowds around the ship, if you know where to look.

On Icon of the Seas, there is fabulous seating outside of the 1400 Bar on the promenade deck.

Many Royal Caribbean ships have chairs on the outdoor deck that's on deck 4 or 5 and if you see more than five people here, that's a lot.

If you still want to be near the pool, I'd recommend chairs on the upper pool deck.

Every Royal Caribbean ship has two decks to the pool area, and the upper deck is always less crowded.  Moreover, if you walk further back or forward, there's many more chairs.

These are great spots to read, take a nap, or enjoy the ocean air.

Throw money at the problem and book a suite

I'm not going to lie, sometimes money solves problems, and the suite perks could be your ticket to less crowds.

Suites will cost much more than a standard cabin, but they get you priority boarding and access to reserved areas other passengers cannot go.

This is so helpful with the pool deck, as there's reserved seating in the suite area on Royal Caribbean ships.  While you will have to still compete with your fellow suite guests, there's far fewer of them.

On the big ships, there's an exclusive restaurant, Coastal Kitchen, which will ensure you don't have to battle the crowds for meals elsewhere on the ship.

To be clear, you don't have to spend thousands more in order to have less crowds.  It's simply an "easy button" if you have the means for it.

One of the questions we get asked most often is: When is the best time to book a cruise?

With cruise prices continuing to rise, the question has become even more crucial for many prospective cruisers. After all, no one wants to spend more than they need on a cruise vacation.

Like airfare, cruise pricing is dynamic, meaning fares fluctuate based on the basic principles of supply and demand. When demand surges and cabin availability declines, it’s natural for prices to increase. Conversely, an oversupply of cabins can lead to price drops, allowing for last-minute cruise deals, although these are becoming increasingly rare.

Currently, most of Royal Caribbean’s cruises are sailing at full capacity due to overwhelming demand. With fewer cabins available to book on a specific cruise, fares will continue to rise.

While we typically recommend booking your cruise as early as possible, we realize this isn’t always feasible. Depending on your schedule and budget, you might not be able to secure a deposit years in advance.

To better understand the best time to book a cruise, we utilized the historic pricing trends available for Royal Caribbean on Gangwaze. I took a deep dive into the fluctuations of cruise prices to find the optimal time to book your vacation.

Using data on Gangwaze, this pricing analysis looked at 12-month’s worth of data for both inside cabins and balcony cabins for cruising departing in March 2025, which likely includes increased demand for spring break itineraries. This allows us to have a full year of data to analyze historical trending and find meaningful insights. In this way, monthly pricing data from February 2024 to February 2025 was included for March 2025 sailings.

Gangwaze only includes a detailed trending graph without actual numeric values, so estimates were used for the monthly value. We selected 13 different vessels across Royal Caribbean’s fleet, from the largest Oasis class ships to the oldest and smallest Vision class ships.

Here’s what our analysis uncovered, including the best time to book your cruise to receive the cheapest price.

When is the cheapest time to book a cruise? Let’s take a look

There’s no magic formula for when the perfect time is to book a cruise. If only we had a crystal ball to see into the future and determine exactly when to secure a sailing at the best possible price!

This uncertainty can feel even more overwhelming when making a non-refundable deposit, particularly if you’re considering booking a cruise several years in advance. The idea of committing to a trip so far in the future without knowing how prices will fluctuate can make the decision feel daunting.

Because of this uncertainty, some people claim that waiting to book a cruise can be a good strategy to score a last-minute deal. This method was effective in the past, such as cruise lines dropping prices due to lower demand in the post-pandemic era of cruising. For years, this approach worked well, allowing for cruisers to capitalize on discounted last-minute fares.

(Average Interior Cabin Price Trending for March 2025 sailing on Jewel of the Seas)

Another advantage to booking your cruise closer to departure is the added flexibility it offers. Last-minute cruising also allows for more flexibility to ensure the itinerary actually aligns with your schedule, alleviating some risk for unplanned cancellations. Personally, I saved hundreds of dollars booking last-minute cruises in 2022 when sailings were dirt cheap!

On the other hand, many people now recommend booking far in advance as the better option for cruise planning. This strategy allows cruisers to lock in a lower rate with the assumption that prices will continue to rise overtime. Booking early also provides more options for cabin selection and proper budgeting, along with opportunities to either reprice or upgrade your cabin at a reasonable cost.

The numbers don’t lie: If you want to save money on your cruise, booking early is the way to go

To address this question, the initial phase of our analysis focused on examining pricing trends over the past 12 months. By studying historical price fluctuations, we aimed to determine which booking strategy ultimately results in the cheapest cruise fare for guests.

Our research included a detailed review of both balcony and interior cabin pricing across 13 different Royal Caribbean ships. The itineraries were scheduled to sail in March 2025. The objective was to uncover patterns in how cruise fares change over time and identify the most cost-effective booking approach.

The results are clear: if you’re holding out for a last-minute cruise bargain, you might want to reconsider.

According to our analysis, the likelihood of paying a higher fare increases the longer you wait to book your cruise. Reviewing data from a full 12-month period, we found that cruise prices generally trended upward over time, though there were some fluctuations, which we will explore in more detail later. While the data shows some fluctuation overtime, the overall trend indicated that fares steadily climbed as the departure date approached.

Most notably, between February 2024 and February 2025, average cruise fares increased an average of 42% across the 13 ships in Royal Caribbean’s fleet. Regardless of the itinerary or ship class, the trend was consistent across the board.

Balcony staterooms are more susceptible to price increases compared to inside cabins

Diving deeper in our analysis, we wanted to understand if cabin category contributed to price fluctuations in our data. When comparing balcony and interior staterooms, we found that balcony cruise fares had a more significant increase over the 12-month period.

On average, the data revealed that balcony cabins saw a price increase of 47% throughout the year across the 13 ships analyzed. In contrast, interior staterooms increased by only 35% for the same 12-month timeframe. But, the extent of the increase varied depending on the ship class.

Our analysis showed balcony cabins on Vision and Radiance class ships had a significantly higher price increase over the 12-month period. For example, the price for a balcony cabin on Brilliance of the Seas skyrocketed by 161% for one sailing in March 2025! Similarly, balconies on Vision class ships increased by nearly 50% for itineraries in the same month.

On the other hand, the cruise line’s newest and biggest ships have notably more balconies available to book. This leads to more stable pricing with an increase in supply. In this way, we see balcony fares on Oasis, Quantum, and Voyager class ships only had an increase of 32% during the 12-month period.

Because most cruisers prefer booking a balcony stateroom for their vacation, there is usually an increased demand for this stateroom type. However, older and smaller ships have far fewer balcony cabins available, leading to scarcity-driven price increases.

For this reason, Royal Caribbean’s newest and biggest vessels have far more balcony staterooms onboard. This strategy lowers the demand with more supply available. Compared to older vessels, there are significantly more balcony staterooms for guests to book on Icon, Oasis, and Quantum class ship.

For instance, the oldest ship in Royal Caribbean’s fleet, Grandeur of the Seas, only has 122 balcony staterooms of the 997 cabins onboard. On the other hand, the much newer Odyssey of the Seas offers 1,482 balconies to book among its 1,922 total cabins. This represents a jump from just 12% of cabins being balconies to an impressive 77%.

If you’re wanting to book a balcony cabin on one of Royal Caribbean’s older and smaller ships, you might want to lock in your price sooner rather than later. However, if you’re sailing on a newer cruise ship, you won’t need to stress as much with more balcony stateroom options available.

The lowest cruise fares tend to be available around 10 months before departure

Now that we’ve proven the importance of booking your cruise as early as possible, you might be wondering just how far in advance you should lock in your reservation. In my opinion, this was one of the most insightful and fascinating takeaways from the analysis!

While it’s not a guarantee, our findings suggests that the optimal time to secure the best price is 10 to 12 months before departure. In fact, about half of the itineraries analyzed showed their lowest fares 10 months out from the sailing.

Because of the cruise line’s dynamic pricing, the trends fluctuate substantially over the 12-month period. Most trends show a slight decrease in price from 10 to 12 months, followed by a steady and consistent increase over the next nine months.

Beyond the 9-month mark, prices for both inside and balcony cabins began to rise at a more predictable rate, showing a consistent upward trend as the departure date approached. Prices were often the highest within 1 to 3 months prior to the itinerary’s departure date. This illustrates why last-minute cruise deals have been hard to come by with the last year!

The steepest price hikes typically occurred between 4 and 7 months before sailing. For cruises departing in March 2025, the most significant price jumps were observed between August 2024 and November 2024.

Surprisingly, price increases slowed down as the departure date of March 2025 approached. In the final three months before the sailing date, cruise prices appear to stabilize, with only slight increases leading up to embarkation. This trend remained consistent across all cabin categories and ship classes in our analysis.

(Difference in Average Price by Months from Departure)

Why do we see this pricing stabilization right before departure? A key factor to consider is Royal Caribbean’s final payment deadline, which is usually 90 days before departure date.

After final payment, the cruise line has a better idea of how many guests will be cruising and which cabins are sold for a particular sailing. Less variability and uncertainty leads to steadier pricing and fewer fluctuations in the final months before departure.

If you’ve already booked a cruise before the 10-month mark, consider adding a reminder in your calendar to check if your cruise price has decreased. You can also ask your travel agent to do this for you. Based on our findings, you might be eligible for a reprice at a lower rate. If your sailing prices continue to rise, rest assured you locked in the lowest rate!

The biggest outlier in the dataset was Royal Caribbean’s newest ship, Icon of the Seas

No analysis is complete without examining the outliers in our dataset. Among the itineraries and ships we analyzed, Icon of the Seas stood out as a clear anomaly. As Royal Caribbean’s newest and biggest cruise ship, pricing on Icon of the Seas is less predictable and doesn’t align with the vessels.

When looking at the departure dates in March 2025, prices to sail on Icon of the Seas actually decreased from February 2024 to August 2024. One sailing showed a decrease of 42% in pricing during this timeframe. However, prices started to rise starting in September 2024 and continued increasing until February 2025.

Considering Royal Caribbean experienced record bookings and demand for Icon of the Seas, cruise fares were likely set higher than other ships in the cruise line’s fleet for March 2025 itineraries. When demand started to decline and cabins were not filling as anticipated, Royal Caribbean likely lowered prices to ensure cabins would continue to sell.

Those sailing on Icon of the Seas in the coming months should monitor cruise fares to potentially reprice for additional savings. This could also present an opportunity to upgrade your cabin for an affordable fare,

What other pricing insights can we gather from this data?

Our analysis unveiled other interesting tidbits about Royal Caribbean’s pricing trends over the last year. First, we see that Royal Caribbean’s newest ships are the most expensive, as expected.

However, we were surprised to see Wonder of the Seas was consistently the most expensive cruise ship to book in Royal Caribbean’s fleet for March 2025. The average cruise fare for an interior cabin on Wonder of the Seas was the most expensive in our dataset at $3,741, followed by Icon of the Seas at $2,146 and Symphony of the Seas at $1,899.

On the other hand, Royal Caribbean’s oldest and smallest ships were significantly cheaper. We see Brilliance of the Seas was the cheapest at $884 and Rhapsody of the Seas at $1,033 and Vision of the Seas at $1,098. Those looking to cruise on a budget should prioritize booking a Radiance or Vision class ship.

Read more: How much does a cruise ship cost to operate per day?

Our analysis also shows that some cruise ships had more price fluctuation than others. For instance, Utopia of the Seas had the least amount of price fluctuation, followed by Harmony of the Seas and Adventure of the Seas.

In contrast, Odyssey of the Seas, Rhapsody of the Seas, and Vision of the Seas had the highest volatility in pricing. This is likely due to lower supply with few cabins available, leading to more pricing fluctuation over the 12-month period.

Bottom line: If you’re sailing on an older cruise ship, booking early is crucial to avoid rapid price hikes. This is especially true if you’re wanting to book a balcony cabin. On the other hand, newer ships offer more pricing stability. Booking 10-12 months out still secures the best deal in our findings, with 10 months from departure showing the cheapest time to book your cruise.

I just turned 30-years-old this month, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t taken my fair share of cruises over the last three decades. Last week, I sailed on my 51st cruise aboard Royal Caribbean’s Utopia of the Seas. Of course, I have a few more cruises already planned for this year.

Between personal and professional travel, I’ve been lucky enough to cruise more than I ever imagined. I took my first cruise at 4-years-old and continued sailing each year with my family while growing up.

My passion for cruising has only accelerated in the last decade, and I continue to prioritize cruising with my friends, husband, and parents. Whether it’s a quick weekend getaway or an extended voyage to a far-flung destination, each cruise brings something new to appreciate.

As someone who enjoys frequent travel, I’ve learned valuable lessons about maximizing my cruise budget. There are infinite opportunities to splurge on a cruise vacation; spending extra isn’t always necessary.

Here are my best tips for saving and splurging on a cruise vacation from a budget cruiser.

Save: Book an interior cabin

When booking your cruise, you’ll need to decide which cabin category you want to book. You might be tempted to spend thousands of dollars on a suite or balcony cabin, but I don’t think this is always necessary.

I prefer booking an interior cabin most of the time to save money. These budget-friendly cabins have everything you need for a comfortable stay, despite not having a window or balcony. Considering I book many port-intensive sailings, I hardly spend any time in my cabin anyway.

The only time I choose to book a balcony cabin is when I’m sailing on an especially scenic itinerary, such as Alaska, Iceland, and Norway. The views on these stunning sailings are an essential part of the experience!

Splurge: Choose your cabin’s location

For many years, I booked the cheapest cabin available onboard, which was often an interior guarantee cabin. Although you might save some money, you give up any control over choosing your cabin’s location onboard.

After losing the stateroom lottery location multiple times, I’ve sworn off guarantee cabins for the foreseeable future. Whether my cabins were below the pool deck or above the nightclub, many sleepless nights on vacation left my frustrated.

Instead, I splurge on choosing my cabin’s location to ensure my stateroom is in a quiet, convenient, and comfortable location. Not to mention, cruise ships are sailing at almost full capacity, meaning the leftover cabins available for guarantee reservations are often the least desirable ones. This is a gamble that I’m no longer willing to make!

Read more: Cruise ship extra costs worth splurging on

Save: Skip the drink package

One of the most expensive cruise add-ons you can purchase is a drink package. While many travelers consider it a must-have for their cruises, it’s something I rarely choose to purchase for my trips.

After splurging on Royal Caribbean’s drink package for the first time a couple years ago, I quickly realized the investment was not worthwhile. I struggled to drink enough throughout the cruise to break even, and I often felt pressured to keep ordering drinks to justify the cost.

Instead, I’ve started to bring my own wine onboard while cruising to save money. Unless you have the stamina to drink frequently and consistently for your cruise, I’d suggest saving your money and forgoing the drink package. You can often find cheaper drinks in port and take advantage of the option to bring wine onboard, making it an easy way to cut costs without sacrificing enjoyment.

The only exception I make is for Celebrity Cruises’ All Included cruise fare, which bundles a standard drink package and internet package in the price. Last year, I booked a 15-night Australia cruise through my MEI travel agent at a group rate, which included these perks. By choosing this option, I actually saved money compared to booking directly with the cruise line without any extras.

Splurge: Book specialty dining

For many years, I avoided spending extra on specialty dining. I was always impressed with the main dining room food on a cruise and never felt the need to splurge on specialty dining. However, with recent cost-cutting measures affecting the quality and variety of complimentary dining, my perspective has shifted.

Now, I genuinely appreciate the elevated ambiance and dining experience, especially when cruising on longer itineraries. I almost always book specialty dining while cruising and highly recommend others do too.

You might also be surprised to learn that you can negotiate specialty dining prices. On my recent sailings with Royal Caribbean and Celebrity Cruises, I saved anywhere from 30% to 50% by simply inquiring about a discount.

Cruise lines are eager to fill their specialty restaurants, so you can often see crew members promoting these venues throughout the ship. If you show some interest and insist that you’ll only dine at a discount, you’ll often be offered a lower rate, making it a great way to enjoy an upgraded dining experience without overspending.

Read more: Royal Caribbean loyalty match review

Save: Avoid the spa, casino, and onboard shops

Once you’re onboard a cruise ship, there are constant temptations to spend extra money. Onboard spending is extremely profitable for cruise lines; for instance, Royal Caribbean reported in its 2024 Q4 financial report that consumer spending onboard is significantly higher than 2023 levels, fueled by greater spending at higher prices.

For this reason, I steer clear of the onboard spa, casino, and shops so I am not tempted to spend money. It’s easy to spend extra when you can easily charge everything to your shipboard account.

Cruise ship spas are notoriously overpriced for the services they provide, and casinos make it extremely easy to spend hundreds to thousands of dollars. While onboard shops can be fun to browse, you’ll often find overpriced and poor-quality merchandise available for purchase.

Instead, I prefer spending my time onboard enjoying the included amenities and entertainment to save money. Your cruise will already feature activities, events, and shows at no extra cost. This allows you to have a fantastic vacation without blowing your budget.

Splurge: Interesting and desirable itineraries

While some cruisers prioritize the ship experience itself, others are drawn to cruises for the chance to explore new destinations and immerse themselves in different ports of call. As a world traveler, I am always looking for interesting cruise itineraries to visit new countries and destinations.

If you’re spending your hard-earned money and vacation time to go on a cruise, I recommend booking an itinerary that interests you. Don’t settle for ports of call that aren’t exciting. Unless you have unlimited resources and time, choosing a more desirable itinerary is always worth the extra cost to make the most of your vacation.

When you go on a Royal Caribbean cruise, there's all sorts of extras you can buy for it, and a few are must-buys that at one point I scoffed at.

I'm lucky that it's my job to try out different things Royal Caribbean offers in order to evaluate how useful it is.  After all, one of the most common questions I get from readers about anything the cruise line does is, "is it worth it?".

I prefer to mix up my repertoire of cruise experiences and I really try not to do the same thing on every sailing, especially when I'm on the same ship or going on the same itinerary again.

Over the years, I've come to truly love certain extras the cruise line offers and it's unusual if I go on a cruise and don't have all of them booked.

I came up with a list of four things I always buy now, even though I probably at one point wasn't sure I'd ever like it. But they turned out to be so good, that they have nearly permanent spots in my online shopping cart before I go onboard

Cabana rentals

Many years ago I tried my first cabana when my good friend, supporter of this site, and travel partner, Beci Mahnken from MEI Travel invited me to her hilltop cabana at Labadee.

Cabanas are available for rent during the day at either Perfect Day at CocoCay or Labadee, and they have a flat cost for up to a certain amount of people to use it.

I was so impressed by the furnishings, level of service provided, and privacy it included. When my kids were younger, it was the perfect base of operations for my family.

Royal Caribbean has slowly added more cabana types to different places across its private destinations.  Most recently, I tried the Hideout Cabanas at the Hideaway Beach Club.

This cabana is located within the adults-only area, and having your own plunge pool is just about my favorite thing ever.

The problem with cabanas is their popularity is no secret, and demand has been so high that prices have skyrocketed in recent years.

I admit I don't always buy a cabana, but I at least look.  I've found with some careful planning in advance, you can sometimes nab a cabana for a better price with the right sale.

Spa treatments

I asked my wife what's something she swears by now on a cruise, and her answer was the Vitality Spa.

There are all sorts of treatments you can buy at the spa, and she really enjoys going in for a massage.  It's a way to treat herself, as well as set herself up for a relaxing vacation.

I think the best approach is to pre-book online to lock in a good time and good price.  Plus, there's no issue with any sales push to book more appointments or longer ones.

Her favorite treatments are either the traditional Swedish massage or a hot rock massage.

I think a lot of people that cruise often have a few "traditions" that they do and it officially kicks off a cruise, and the spa is one for my wife.

Air2Sea

For years I resisted booking my flights through Royal Caribbean because I thought the service fee negated any perceived savings.

I was really wrong.

You can book a flight through Royal Caribbean after you have a cruise booked.  You can do it on your own or your travel agent can do it for you.

Last year I had a cruise booked that departed Panama.  I booked my own flight and paid for non-refundable air fare because I was certain I was going on the sailing.

Then Royal Caribbean cancelled the Panama Canal transit, and I thought the new itinerary was lackluster. So I cancelled the cruise I was certain I was going on, and ended up with a giant airfare bill.

If I had booked with Air2Sea, I would have been covered.

In addition, Royal Caribbean regularly subsidizes airfare to Europe and Alaska when you book in advance through Air2Sea.

For my upcoming European cruises this summer, I saved almost $2,000 by booking my flights with Air2Sea instead of directly with the airline. I was amazed how much I saved, because I always though booking directly was cheaper.

Did you know you can book a flight with Air2Sea and not pay a penny until your cruise final payment date? This is a huge advantage for families that want to budget out their trip and split up payments.

The Air2Sea website used to be more wonky to use, but it's gotten better recently.

For the money savings alone, I'll book my flights with Royal Caribbean.  Plus, it offers some protections too.

Royal Railway

When Royal Caribbean announced it was going to build an immersive dining experience, I thought I'd definitely try it once. I never thought it would join my "must-eat there all the time" list.

Royal Railway at Utopia Station is a simulated classic train car dinner, where you board a full-size replica train. Using technology, sounds, and even a little motion, it feels like you're transported to The Old West.

The implementation was great, and I thought they did such a good job evoking the look and feel of what a train car of that era looks like. 

Plus, the food is really good too and I could eat the braised short ribs, empanadas, and pretty much any dessert on the menu!

It wasn't until I got onboard and experienced it for myself that I truly got it.  I think when Royal Caribbean finally rolls out additional themes and menus, this is going to be a revolutionary restaurant.

Whereas I tried Empire Supper Club on Icon of the Seas and felt content, Royal Railway is something I wanted to go back to again and again.

If you're going to book a cruise, you might be better off with a sailing that has less time visiting an island or city.

Cruises are renowned for how convenient it is to visit multiple places in a single week. It almost feels magical how you can go to sleep and wake up in a different place.

What I've found after so many years of cruising on all sorts of ships is Royal Caribbean is getting really good at designing and building its vessels to be floating destinations. The result is it competes for your time with where you visit.

In the old days of cruising, sea days were seen as an escape to bask in the sun and enjoy a break from it all. While that's still the case, there's so much more to do on a ship than lay out on a lounger.

With so much to do on ships today, you'd be right to feel conflicted about wanting to try everything onboard versus what you can do on shore.

While there's nothing wrong with picking a cruise that has a lot of port stops, ultimately you get to enjoy your vacation the way you want to, and there's so much waiting for you on the ship.

Before you book your next cruise, here are 7 reasons I think you might want to avoid booking a cruise with lots of ports.

You'll feel more relaxed and refreshed

Exploring ports of call is a lot of fun, but it's also exhausting.

Have you ever heard the complaint, "I need a vacation from the vacation"? It means they had fun, but it wasn't the relaxing break they may have hoped for initially.

With more sea days, you can sleep in and more importantly, not exert yourself nearly as much as in a port of call. 

Most shore excursions involve early starts and plenty of physical activity. Even just going to the beach involves a lot of physical exertion, especially if you're in the ocean.

On a sea day, you have much more flexibility in how you spend your day. 

You could go to the spa for a treatment, read a book on deck, work on your tan, or enjoy time in the pool.

There's no question a sea day means you'll likely have much more time to take things easy.

More time to do all the things on your ship

Just looking at a Royal Caribbean cruise ship and you'll see all sorts of things you want to try, so more time on the ship allows you the chance to do it all.

This is especially true on the new ships, such as the Icon Class, Oasis Class, or Quantum Class.

You have just a few days on your ship, and there's no way to see, do, and eat everything you wanted to if you're on a port intensive cruise.

With next-gen ships like Icon of the Seas and Star of the Seas, Royal Caribbean is offering so much more than ever onboard.

These big ships have so much you can do onboard, such as zip lines, FlowRider surf simulators, water slides, rock climbing walls, and more. 

Icon of the Seas has an entire water park, you can feel like you're sky diving on Odyssey of the Seas, and experience the energy of an aqua show on the Oasis Class.

Plus there's so many more activities to discover on every ship during a sea day. There's sushi making classes, all sorts of trivia, or dance competitions.

Royal Caribbean doesn't offer nearly as many activities on port days because there aren't enough passengers on the ship to warrant it.

Fewer days docked means more time in the casino

If you enjoy gambling, then more sea days means more time you can do just that.

Royal Caribbean casinos can only be open when a ship is in international waters (except for CocoCay), so if you're on a port intensive itinerary, the casino won't be open for long.

This is more problematic on a day when your ship is in port late at night.  It takes some time for the ship to drop its lines, depart the port, and get out to open waters before the casino can open.

This is especially important for anyone that is counting on free drinks in the casino because they have accrued status within Casino Royale's loyalty program.

More sea days adds far more value for a nicer cabin

One of the most debated topics is if it's worth it to spend more on a balcony or suite, and if you have more sea days, the decision could be a lot easier.

If you have more time to spend in your room, that means more value from the price of nicer stateroom.

You'd have more time to spend on your balcony taking in the views, ocean breeze, and relaxing.  Reading a book on a ship balcony is another idea too.

Inside your room, you'll have more opportunity to hang out and enjoy the extra space this cabin affords.  

If you splurged for a suite, sea days are perfect for maximizing all the space and extra perks you get with a suite.

Not only do suites have more space, but you can use special suite-only amenities, such as the suite sun deck, suite lounge, Coastal Kitchen restaurant, and more.

One of my favorite suite benefits is to order food from the Main Dining Room to be delivered to your suite at no additional cost.

While booking a suite is always going to be expensive, I think it takes the bite out of the cost if you know you'll be able to fully utilize the suite and what it comes with.

Less days on shore means you can maximize a drink package

The price of a Royal Caribbean drink package is not cheap, but more time on the ship means more chances to get your daily value from it.

I believe a beverage package can absolutely save you money on drink costs, but it requires you to drink enough to make it worthwhile.  To that point, you need to be onboard for it.

If you're galivanting around in port, that's less time in the day to order a drink and "break even" on the drink package cost.

In my experience, it takes about 6 drinks a day to break even on a drink package, and the more you can space those drinks out, the easier it is to get your money's worth.

If you were on a 7-night Southern Caribbean cruise that has port stops all but one day of the cruise, that leaves you very little time on the ship considering you'll be ashore instead.

While many of the points in this article might be argumentative, there's no denying it's easier to make a drink package work for you if you have a lot of sea days instead of port days.

More chances to enjoy onboard restaurants

Just like the drink package, more time on the ship means more chances to eat at different restaurants.

The most port intensive itineraries are found in Alaska and Europe, and often the all aboard time isn't until the early evening.  If you're like, you'll want to eat a lot ashore in these amazing places and that means skipping dinner on the ship.

Royal Caribbean not only includes a great deal of food with your cruise fare, but they also offer specialty dining options at an additional cost to try.

You could buy a dining package to save money on specialty restaurants, and it's far easier to do that with a lot of sea days.

Depending on your ship, there are a lot of different restaurants to try out. I can't resist hitting up the sushi, Italian, or burger spots on any Royal Caribbean ship.

Heck, if you're on a ship like Icon of the Seas, there are more restaurants to try than days you're onboard for one sailing.

Kids get to make new friends

One aspect of cruising I always liked is it's the only kind of vacation where my kids actually meet other children and make friends.

The kids club on a Royal Caribbean ship is a win for parent and child alike.  

For the kids, they get to play games and meet other kids.  Most will be passing acquaintances, but sometimes they make a new friend for that sailing.

As a parent, dropping my kids off at Adventure Ocean was a great safety net.  I knew they would be cared for while having a good time.  Meanwhile, my wife and I could enjoy things onboard we wanted to do.

And whether they make friends or not, Adventure Ocean is a lot of fun.

You can register your kids for Adventure Ocean on the first day, and then easily drop them off every day and night.

If you suddenly had the idea to plan a spring break cruise, it's probably too late by now.

As we're just a few weeks away from the start of Spring Break vacations, many families are gearing up to escape to a warm, sunny cruise in the Caribbean.

While there are still some cabins left on select ships, you're probably in for a rude awakening when you get a quote.

"It's expensive and limited availability," is what Sharla Manglass, a travel advisor with MEI Travel, said about spring break options.

She, and many travel agents, are getting swamped with new requests for a spring break cruise. 

Families that are trying to book a cruise with just weeks left until their sail date are running into the reality of the nature of the cruise industry today.  Cruise vacations are seeing record demand that have resulted in higher prices across the board.  

Royal Caribbean Group President and CEO Jason Liberty told Wall Street analysts recently, "We're seeing really good demand trends from Europe, as well as obviously the U.S."

While Ms. Manglass is happy to price out what's left, she knows before the quote is generated it's probably not what the client is looking for.

"It's not to say there is nothing available, but picky cruisers might not be happy with what is out there." 

She gave an example of what many families are looking for in their quote, "If you have a family of 4 or 5, a single room isn't likely going to be available, nor will connecting rooms."

Compounding the problem is going to be logistical considerations to get to and from the cruise.

"Another consideration is that flights are going to be expensive this late in the game," Ms. Manglass explained. "The cost of both flights as well as paying for a cruise in full at the same time won't work for most people's budget."

Start planning spring break next year instead

If you're locked out of a spring break cruise this year, now is the perfect time to get avoid this problem next year.

"If someone contacted me asking to book a cruise for this year's Spring Break, I’d offer to look, but it might be better to look for the summer or spring break next year."

The single best strategy for getting on the ship you want at a price you like is to book as early as you can.

The mistake new cruisers make is waiting too long to plan a cruise, and the result are few ships and high prices.

Booking a cruise in 2026 now, means you'll have so many more choices in the ship, stateroom, itinerary, and almost certainly lower prices.

With demand so high for cruises, prices are only going up from here.  Booking now locks in the price and gives you much more time to pay it off before the final payment date.

As an example, a cruise booked for March or April 2025 would require full payment of the cruise immediately because it's past the final payment window of 90 days.  So even if you found a spring break cruise for this year, you'd have to shell out the entire cost up front.

But if you booked a 2026 spring break cruise, you could reserve one with just a deposit. Then you could make payments between now and 90 days prior to the sail date, or pay it all later when you reach the final payment date.

Big savings if you book next year's cruise now

An example of the pricing difference if you book this year or next year can be found in looking at Adventure of the Seas.

Adventure sails from Port Canaveral on March 14 in both 2025 and 2026, offering a 6-night Caribbean cruise in both years.

If you tried to book an inside cabin for 4 people in 2025, there are no inside cabins left that can accommodate that size.

For comparison, two adults in an inside cabin on the March 14, 2025 sailing of Adventure of the Seas starts at $2,135 if you book a guarantee cabin or $2,509 if you choose a specific cabin.

Even if you select your own cabin, there are just five rooms left to book and the price goes up if you don't want a room on deck 2. 

However, if you opt for the same cruise on Adventure of the Seas on March 14, 2026, the options are much better.

There are still inside cabins left for 4 people in a single room, plus many other cabin categories.

For that two adults in an inside cabin idea, the price starts at $1,463 if you let Royal Caribbean pick the room location, or $1,657 if you pick the room location.

That's over 50% less to book a spring break next year compared to this year. With that $852 in savings, you could use it to pay for airfare or a host of other vacation costs.

After I book a cruise, there's a sense of euphoria with all the excitement, but it's also when I start planning things out.

While you could probably book a cruise and do nothing else extra and still have a good vacation, I never leave things to chance. I always go through my checklist of important things to do before a cruise begins.

There are some very obvious things to do before any vacation starts, such as reserve a spot in the kennel, book a flight or hotel, or put in time off from work.  But I think there's more than that most people should be doing to avoid an easily avoidable issue later.

In all my years of cruising, I've found the most common problems tend to be ones that are avoidable with some early planning. You can't plan around every possible situation, but you can avoid the biggies.

With that in mind, I wanted to share the 14 things I always do before a cruise vacation so I can leave my house prepared for a great time.

Verify my passport is up to date

You can't go on any cruise without the proper travel documents, so the first thing I do is double check my passport is valid.

Not only does my passport need to valid today, but it needs to be valid when I go on the cruise. Be sure to double check the expiration date is well beyond the cruise you just booked.

I'm a major proponent of booking cruises very early, and sometimes I'll book a cruise up to two years in advance.  So it's critical my passport will be valid.

You don't need to have a passport for most sailings from the United States if you're a U.S. citizen, but I'd recommend everyone get one anyway. 

If your passport is going to expire, get the renewal process going immediately. Most of the time it's quick, but you don't want to discover your passport is invalid for travel the week before your cruise begins.

Find the perfect shore excursion for each port

Like many people, I love to go on a cruise for the places I'm going to visit.  The last thing I want to do is show up to a port and try to wing it, especially if it's somewhere I've never been.

I think a lot of people get excited for the places their ship will visit, and there's a myriad of choices of what you can do in each one.

I'll start researching shore excursion options right around 6 months before the cruise begins.  It doesn't make a lot of sense to do that any earlier because a lot of tour options may not even be available to book yet.

Sometimes the choice of what to do is obvious.  If my cruise stops in Antigua, I'm automatically going to look for a great beach to visit.

But if my cruise goes to Hamburg, Germany or Halifax, Nova Scotia, I'm going to need to learn about what there is to do before I book a tour.

If you have no idea where to start, I'll google "best things to do in ____" or I'll go to YouTube and do a similar search.  Sometimes I'll add "day trip ideas in ____" to ensure the results are ideal for a cruise ship visitor.

Royal Caribbean offers its own assortment of shore excursions, and that can also be a starting point for finding a tour.

No matter which tour I book or if I book through the cruise line, I always make sure I have a plan in place before my ship sets sail.

Buy any cruise add-ons and start tracking the price

One truth within Royal Caribbean is it will cost less to buy a drink package, WiFi, shore excursion, or spa treatment if you pre-book it before the cruise begins.

I'll log into the Cruise Planner website right after the cruise begins and book anything I know I want, such as a specialty dining package.

There's two reasons I pre-book immediately.

First, it will be cheaper than if I wait to buy it on the ship. Royal Caribbean runs sales quite often, and I can always re-price them if there's a lower price later.

If you spot a lower price, just cancel your purchase and then re-book at the lower price.  It's simple and quite effective.

Second, things sell out way quicker than they used to.  This is probably because Royal Caribbean has gotten much better at alerting its customers to what you can pre-purchase.

Things that always sell out include:

• Shore excursions
• Dining packages
• Royal Railway reservations
• Cabanas at Perfect Day at CocoCay or Labadee

It's a good idea to book what you know you need and think you need.  You can always cancel any of it up until a couple days before the cruise begins.

Make my dining arrangements

Before I step aboard my cruise ship, I want my dinner plans to be in place so I'm not scrambling for where to eat later.

If you booked My Time Dining, then you'll want to make reservations ahead of time in the app or website.

Thanks to the update in Royal Caribbean's dining packages, you can pre-book restaurants.

Buy a travel insurance plan

No matter if I go on a cruise or someone on my team does, we always sail with travel insurance.

You can buy a travel insurance plan immediately after you book a cruise, and it's a solid investment to protect you and your family for unforeseen situations.

In all reality, you probably won't need the insurance, but it's so helpful if you do need it.  And considering travel insurance for one trip is fairly inexpensive, I think it's well worth buying.

Join a roll call

For any cruise longer than a weekend, I'll join a roll call for that sailing.

There's almost always a Facebook group for each sailing, and it's a way to not only meet people on your cruise, but learn helpful information along the way.

The truth about any Facebook group for a sailing is you're going to encounter know-it-alls, complete newbies, wrong information, and fun stories.  But it's worth it simply for the opportunity to see what others are planning, be alerted to changes quickly, and otherwise get excited for the cruise.

In addition, you can join one of the Royal Caribbean Blog roll calls and virtually meet people on your sailing.

Check the dress codes

There will be suggestions of what to wear most evenings in the Main Dining Room, and you should check what they are before you sail.

Don't get too wrapped up in dress codes, because they're suggestions and rarely enforced.  But it can be a lot of fun to get dressed up on a cruise.

While I think the days of people wearing black tie clothing is passé, so many families love to get matching outfits to take photos onboard.

Or if you're sailing over a holiday, now is the time to get that embarrassing St. Patrick's Day beer belly shirt that my neighbor Kenny loves to wear.

Buy all those things on Amazon for my trip I said I'd get

If you're like me, you read a blog post or watch a video about how helpful a certain travel accessory or item is to have and think, "I should get one for my next cruise."

Well, now is that time!

I've left for too many cruises to realize at the airport or hotel I forgot to bring that one thing I wanted to try.

There are all sorts of essentials to bring on a cruise, so consider this your reminder to actually buy them.

Go to the bank to get cash

I'll go to the bank about a week before my cruise begins to have a certain amount of cash with me.

I never have cash in my everyday life because I rely on credit cards, but cash is useful on a cruise.

There are a few times it comes in handy:

• Tipping porters in the cruise terminal
• Gambling in the casino
• Taxis in port
• Tipping bartenders and waiters

How much cash you need really depends on your cruising style.  There is an ATM machine onboard if you truly underestimate your needs.

Complete online check-in

As soon as you can check-in for your cruise online, you should do it.

Royal Caribbean opens the check-in window opens 45 days before a sailing.

First and foremost, you can get a check-in time slot for the time to arrive at the cruise terminal. While check-in times are rarely enforced these days, it's still worth getting one.

Then, you should complete all the steps in the check-in process by using the Royal Caribbean app.  

Completing check-in online saves you time later in the terminal.  When I get to the terminal, I don't want to waste time standing around. I want to get on the ship!

Plus, it might get you a faster way onto the ship!

Add my SetSail pass to my wallet

After I complete online check-in, I add the SetSail pass to my Apple Wallet.

I learned this lesson the hard way a few times, where inexplicably the SetSail pass doesn't load on embarkation day within the Royal Caribbean app.

It's a weird bug, but it happens. But if I have the SetSail pass added to my digital wallet, it works every single time. Plus, it's faster to load when I need to show it.

Pre-book shows

Royal Caribbean allows passengers to book select shows on Icon, Oasis, or Quantum Class cruise ships before the sailing and it's totally free.

This allows you to get into a specific performance at a certain time and it makes planning your evenings a lot easier.

Plus, most shows will sell out and you'd have to wait in the standby line if you don't have a reservation.

You can usually book shows up to 30 days before the cruise begins from the Cruise Planner or Royal Caribbean app.

Watch a video ship tour

Whether I've been on the ship or not, I'll watch a cruise ship video tour on YouTube in the days before the cruise begins.

Part of the rationale is to learn about what the ship offers, and it's also to just get excited about the trip.

We have a lot of full ship tours on the Royal Caribbean Blog YouTube channel, each of which provides visuals of the ship and detailed commentary about everything to expect.

Print luggage tags

Last, but not least, I'll print out luggage tags and affix them to my luggage.

Luggage tags are necessary for getting your bags delivered to your cabin.  You give them to the porters and they take them onto the ship.

You can print the luggage tags by logging onto Royal Caribbean's site and accessing your online cruise documents.

Certain nights of your Royal Caribbean cruise will have a theme to them, and you might want to pack your suitcase accordingly.

Each night of your Royal Caribbean cruise will typically feature a unique theme or attire suggestion. These themed nights create a vibrant, fun atmosphere onboard and help set the tone for the night. Picture a Caribbean-style celebration, a Greek toga party or a throwback to the 80s with music, dancing and costumes.

In addition, one of the most popular themed nights is formal night, known as “Dress Your Best” on Royal Caribbean. On this night, guests are able to dress to the nines with elegant attire. For formal night, you can expect to see evening gowns, cocktail dresses, suits, and tuxedos. 

Themed nights will vary significantly based on your particular ship and itinerary. Longer itineraries will normally have multiple themed nights, while Royal Caribbean’s shorter itineraries might only feature one or two. Certain ships might have specific themed nights or parties that you won't find elsewhere, such as the Toga Party on Royal Caribbean's Utopia of the Seas. 

According to the cruise line’s website, sailings with four or more nights will have themed nights onboard. Royal Caribbean states that specific themed events, including dates and times, might not be available until you board the ship. You can expect to find the themed nights communicated in the Royal Caribbean app or onboard in the daily Cruise Compass.

Even if you can’t see the themed nights beforehand, we have are a few strategies to help you plan ahead and pack appropriately. Here’s what you can expect for Royal Caribbean’s themed nights onboard your cruise and some of our best tips to plan accordingly.

How can I find the themed nights on Royal Caribbean before my cruise?

Finding the themed nights for your Royal Caribbean cruise ahead of time has never been easier. First, you should check the Royal Caribbean app for information about your sailing a few weeks before your embarkation date. Download the Royal Caribbean app to your phone and login to see your specific sailing.

Around two to three weeks before cruising, you should be able to see specific activities for your cruise. Scroll under the “Daily Planner” section to preview the hourly details and event descriptions. 

Navigate to the dinner time slot, around 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM, and look for the “Tonight’s Attire” event. You should be able to see the evening theme for each night of your itinerary. You can swipe through every day in the daily planner for a full preview of your cruise.

In addition, if you go under the “Helpful Hints” banner on the home screen, you can typically see the nightly attire displayed here for your cruise. In fact, if you look at your Day 1 overview, Royal Caribbean provides a general outline for what to pack for evening attire. We recommend checking the app before packing for your cruise to ensure you don't miss out on any of these themed evenings onboard!

What if my sailing is further in the future?

If your sailing is still several weeks or months away, you can still use the Royal Caribbean app to get an idea of the themed nights on your itinerary.

By checking your ship’s current sailing, you can see the daily planner and anticipate what to expect for your cruise. This hack works best for ships sailing on routine itineraries, such as Icon of the Seas, but you can still get a good idea of what to expect for each night. 

Here's how to do it:

1. Open the Royal Caribbean app
2. Go to the Profile tab (the icon of a person in the top-right corner)
3. Select the option to ‘Select a different cruise’
4. Scroll down to the bottom where it says ‘Don’t see your cruise?’ and tap ‘Let’s add it now.’
5. Choose ‘Browse Ships’ and select the ship you will be sailing on
6. Select a sailing date that includes either today or the following week
7. Select an itinerary with a duration similar to yours

After this, the Royal Caribbean app will load the itinerary you selected and allow you to browse through the daily planner for events and activities. You should be able to find the current itinerary’s themed nights in this way. Cruise ships operate on a routine schedule usually, so you can likely anticipate similar themes during your cruise.

You could also look online for past Cruise Compasses that were posted online by prior guests. Take a look at our Cruise Compass page, where we try to upload past Cruise Compasses as often as we can from other cruisers. Your itinerary or cruise ship's Facebook page could also be a good resource for this. By looking at older Cruise Compasses, this allows you to get an idea of activities and themed nights on your cruise ship based on earlier sailings.

What themed nights can I expect on Royal Caribbean?

While you might not have the exact themed nights before embarkation, Royal Caribbean tends to have the same themes across its fleet. To be prepared, you should plan to pack a variety of evening attire for your Royal Caribbean cruise.

That said, there’s no need to stress about your outfits! In general, Royal Caribbean’s main dining room leans towards the more casual side these days. Here’s a breakdown of the cruise line’s most popular themed nights, along with descriptions of what to expect for each.

Formal - Dress Your Best

Almost every itinerary will feature at least one formal evening, known as “Dress Your Best” on Royal Caribbean. The cruise line encourages guests to embrace a more glamorous and chic look for these evenings. Formal attire includes cocktail dresses, evening gowns, tuxedoes and suits.

These black-tie outfits are intended to reflect elegance and sophistication. In addition, some itineraries could feature a “Dress Your Best or White Night” attire where guests can choose to wear white or formal wear. 

To help guests prepare, Royal Caribbean provides general guidance on the number of formal nights to expect on its website. The guidelines are based on the length of the cruise, along with the typical schedule you are likely to find onboard. 

• 3-5 Night Cruises - (1) Formal Night: Usually on Day 2
• 6-Night Cruises - (2) Formal Nights: Usually on Day 2 and 5
• 7-Night Cruises - (2) Formal Nights: Usually on Day 2 and 6
• 8-10 Night Cruises - (2) Formal Nights: Days vary
• 11-14 Night Cruises - (3) Formal Nights: Days vary
• 15+ Night Cruises - (3-4) Formal Nights: Days and number vary

Casual

During your cruise, most evenings will feature casual attire in the main dining room. Royal Caribbean encourages guests to wear relaxed, comfortable outfits on these evenings for a laidback atmosphere. In my experience, casual night is very flexible, with most outfits being acceptable as long as they adhere to Royal Caribbean's dress codes.

Casual night is designed to be easygoing - you're on vacation, after all! Casual attire includes jeans, polo shirts, sundresses, and blouses. The cruise line also prohibits shorts for dinner in the dining room, although these are allowed for breakfast and lunch. Additionally, swimwear, tank tops and bare feet are never allowed in the dining room on Royal Caribbean.

Occasionally, casual nights may also include a themed element. For instance, Utopia of the Seas has its famed Toga Night onboard. For the evening, this theme is called “Casual or Toga Night," in which guests have the opportunity to bring out their inner Greek god or goddess with their “most elegant toga to celebrate the occasion." 

Smart Casual

One step above casual wear is smart casual; albeit a very small step. Royal Caribbean describes smart casual attire as elevated typical dinner wear. Smart casual could include collared shirts, dresses, skirts, blouses and pantsuits. The cruise line also encourages jackets, sports coats and blazers as a “nice touch” to outfits.

Again, in my experience, this is loosely followed by Royal Caribbean cruisers onboard, allowing for plenty of outfit flexibility. While some passengers enjoy dressing up a bit more, most opt for attire similar to what they would wear on casual nights.

Tropical / Caribbean Night

Along with casual night, Royal Caribbean’s itineraries will usually feature at least one tropical or Caribbean themed evening. The cruise line describes this as, “Dress casually, but with a tropical twist. This is the reason you brought those floral-patterned shirts!”

If you’re heading to the Caribbean, be sure to pack a Hawaiian shirt or tropical pattern attire for this evening. Tropical night is also common on itineraries outside of the Caribbean, so don’t hesitate to pack Caribbean-themed clothes on other destinations too.

For certain cruises, you might see tropical night paired with Red Night as well. For this theme, guests are encouraged to wear bold and vibrant red outfits - or they can stick to the classic island-inspired attire too. Red Night is more common on Royal Caribbean’s newest ships, such as Utopia of the Seas or Icon of the Seas.

White Night

Another popular theme night on Royal Caribbean is known as White Night. For Royal Caribbean, guests are encouraged to dress in their best white attire for this evening. This could include white collared shirts, linen pants, blouses, polo shirts, or dresses. The more white you can incorporate into your outfit, the better!

As mentioned previously, sometimes Royal Caribbean will pair White Night with Dress Your Best night. This provides an opportunity for cruisers to showcase their elegant white attire on formal night. In addition, there is often a white-out party in the evening where all party-goers don their best white outfits.

This theme has skyrocketed in popularity, with many guests eagerly participating in the white night theme. As such, don’t hesitate to pack your best white outfit!

70s/80s Night

Decade-themed parties are also very popular on Royal Caribbean cruises. These themed nights can be usually coupled with casual nights, in which guests have the choice to be casual or “get groovy” with their outfits.

For this evening, guests have the option to wear retro-inspired outfits for certain decades (usually the 70s or 80s) or stick to casual staples, such jeans and dresses. On this themed night, you can also expect a fun decade-themed party at some point in the night. Don’t be surprised to find the promenade packed with groovy cruisers dancing the night away.

Royal Caribbean has big plans for new ships and destinations you can book between now and 2028.

One thing that sets Royal Caribbean apart from other cruise lines is their consistent push forward with new ships, private beach expansions, and exciting itineraries.

In fact, there's so much going on with announcements, expansions, and reveals that it's difficult sometimes to know what is opening and when.

To make things easier, here's a concise look at all the big projects Royal Caribbean has up its sleeve in the coming years.

Star of the Seas

Opening: August 31, 2025

The second Icon Class cruise ship is nearly complete, and ready for launch in summer 2025.

Star of the Seas will have her inaugural sailing August 31, 2025 from Port Canaveral, Florida, and it's the cruise ship meant to follow-up the tremendous success of Icon of the Seas.

Just like Icon, Star will offer 7-night cruises to the eastern and western Caribbean. In fact, there will be a lot of similarities to Icon.

Royal Caribbean has not revealed every single detail about Star yet, but you should expect a ship that looks very similar to Icon.  

Some quick differences about Star of the Seas compared to Icon:

• The ships will be exactly the same size, meaning Star will not be bigger
• Back to the Future The Musical will be the featured show onboard
• There will be a few facial recognition cabins
• There will be a family dog on Star
• Surfside will be enhanced to appeal to slightly older kids
• The Supper Club will have a Chicago theme
• There will be one additional hot tub
• The Pearl is being enhanced
• A new restaurant in Surfside to replace Pier 7

You can expect Star of the Seas to build on what made Icon good, and add a few tweaks of its own.

Royal Beach Club Paradise Island

Opening: December 2025

Royal Caribbean is working on its first ever private beach club experience, available exclusively to its passengers.

Royal Beach Club Paradise Island is a shore excursion beach day owned and operated by Royal Caribbean, and it's located in Nassau, Bahamas across from where the cruise ships dock.

Unlike Perfect Day at CocoCay or Labadee, entry costs extra and it's all-inclusive.

If you buy a pass, you'll be able to enjoy the pools, beaches, live music, island-style barbecues and more. The plan is to create, "the ultimate beach day," for anyone that goes there.

Think of all the best features and ideas from CocoCay, tweak them to be better, and combine it all in one place.

No word yet on pricing, but passes will go on sale beginning in the spring of 2025. The club itself will open sometime in December 2025.

Icon 3

Opening: 2026

The unnamed third Icon Class ship will enter service in 2026, and we know very little about what will be different about it.

One thing that's clear is Icon 3 will be the first opportunity for holistic changes compared to Icon.  Icon and Star both began construction around the same time, so the basic plans for both had to be the same.  With Icon 3, there was more time since the launch of Icon to include fundamental changes.

Royal Caribbean's Product Development team has hinted at changes that might be coming to Icon 3, but we will have to wait and see what they are.

There's no information yet on where this ship will sail from, its name, or any distinguishing factors.

Royal Beach Club Cozumel

Opening: 2026

Royal Caribbean announced plans to build its second beach club, with it being located in Cozumel, Mexico.

Just like the one in Nassau, Royal Beach Club Cozumel will be available exclusively for cruise ship passengers and no one else. It will open sometime in 2026.

We don't know where Royal Beach Club Cozumel will be located, as the cruise line has not revealed where the site of it is located.  

I've heard rumors of a potential takeover of an existing shore excursion beach, but nothing firm.

The driving plan behind this beach club is to offer great beach, pool, food, and service. 

Admission into the beach club will include access to swim-up bars, pools cabanas to rent, snorkeling, kayaking, restaurants, and street markets.

Royal Beach Club in South Pacific

Opening: 2026 or 2027

Royal Caribbean has pivoted from building a Perfect Day experience in Vanuatu to a beach club idea instead.

Details have been limited, but the line has confirmed a shift in plans to go with a new, unannounced beach club project.

Instead of Perfect Day Lelepa, there should be something more akin to Royal Beach Club Cozumel or Royal Beach Club Paradise Island.

In 2024, Mr. Bayley said he expected this beach club to open in 2026 or 2027.

Icon 4

Opening: 2027

In 2024, Royal Caribbean announced it ordered a fourth Icon Class ship, with options to build a fifth and sixth Icon Class ship. 

Just like Icon 3, we know no details about it at all.

Perfect Day Mexico

Opening: 2027

One of Royal Caribbean's most ambitious plans is to open a third private destination for its passengers, and this one is in Mexico.

Perfect Day Mexico will be double the size of Perfect Day at CocoCay, and it's going to be big. They've acquired about 220 acres of land.

It will transform Costa Maya, and encompass everything we love at CocoCay, but more of it.

It will have "an all-new, thrilling waterpark; jaw-dropping pools and beaches; restaurants, bars and more spots for all tastebuds; music; and more."

More details will be revealed in Spring 2025.

Oasis 7

Opening: 2028

There's still at least one more Oasis Class ship to be constructed.

Royal Caribbean placed an order for Oasis 7, with delivery sometime in 2028.

Oasis 7 will enter service about 4 years after Utopia of the Seas did, and that gives the cruise line all sorts of time to implement every tweak, enhancement, and new idea they can come up with from all of the Oasis and Icon ships combined.

Discovery Class ships

Opening: Unknown

Plans for a smaller cruise ship class are still in the rumor phase, but there's been a few hints over the last year.

Royal Caribbean International CEO Michael Bayley has alluded and even mentioned the Discovery Class ships as an idea the cruise line has to build a new generation of smaller ships to replace the fleet's aging Vision Class.

Nothing official has been announced, and there have been no orders placed with any shipyards yet.

It's been primarily something mentioned with a wink or a nudge, but there's been enough talk among Royal Caribbean's top executives that it sounds like it could be a reality.

No matter how often I cruise, there are certain things about a cruise vacation that I look forward to each time I sail.

I'm privileged enough to be able to cruise a lot each year. While going on a ship that often might reduce some of the overall excitement, once I get within a few days of my next cruise, I start to get excited about what I want to do onboard.

I think part of what makes a cruise so much fun are some of aspects of it that you just can't find elsewhere. Or at least, things I'd never do elsewhere.

As I'm writing this, I'm getting ready to head on my next cruise in a few days.  With that in mind, I came up with a list of things I'm really looking forward to trying, doing, and eating.

A break from the routine

Like any vacation, I think getting away from the usual pace of life is a welcome change.

As soon as I step onboard the ship, I my entire outlook on my day changes. There's no thinking about errands I need to run, bills I have to pay, or grocery shopping.  It's like a magic button is pressed to completely alter how I think about my day.

Having a departure from normalcy is something I get more of on a cruise than on land, and that might be because I feel more connected to home while on land. Sure, there are TVs and I have the internet package, but I'm not paying as close attention to that on a ship.

There's something about waking up in a new place each day, having meals prepared for you, and meeting new people that makes a cruise feel so much more different than "real life".

Ironically, this break from the normalcy is probably what makes re-adjusting to life after a cruise so difficult. You get adjusted to cruise life and then are hit the "post-cruise blues" that much harder.

All sorts of activities

I might not actually go to many of them, but I love peruse all the activities Royal Caribbean offered each day.

The Royal Caribbean app lists what you can do on each day, and they really pack a lot into what you could do. This is especially true if you go on one of the bigger ships.

Someone once described a cruise as "summer camp for adults" and I think that's such an apt description because of there's a printed (and digital) list of what you can do.

All of the activities are optional, but I like having the choice. From trivia to scrapbooking classes, pickleball tournaments, and cocktail seminars, I’m always impressed by the variety of programming available onboard.

I like to browse the schedule to see what jumps out at me, and sometimes I may simply pull up the app once onboard and see what's happening now and find something to do based on that.

Visiting foreign ports

The thing that got my hooked on cruising to begin with was visiting different countries, and that's still a big appeal for me.

Not all my cruises take me somewhere exotic, but I do enjoy the opportunity to visit different places. 

As I've cruised more, I've been able to visit more places and it's an incredible feeling to pull into port and be able to explore.

When I went to Europe last summer and got to visit Spain and France for the first time, I couldn't get enough of it.  I've gone to places I probably would not have on a land trip, and I got to check a number of places off my bucket list.

International cuisine

There's so much great food on a Royal Caribbean ship, but I always gravitate towards the international foods when I eat onboard.

I usually head to the Windjammer buffet for my welcome aboard lunch on embarkation day, and I guarantee you my plate has Indian curry on it.

Royal Caribbean has really good Indian food in the Main Dining Room too, and the options change every day.  My personal favorites are aloo gobi or the chicken korma. 

Sometimes at dinner in the Windjammer, they'll have the Asian stir fry cooking station, which is something I could also eat just about every day.

While I'll eat plenty of other food too, the international foods are something I seek out on every sailing.

Music around the ship

One thing Royal Caribbean does better than other cruise lines is their focus for live music.

No matter which ship you sail on, there's going to be quite a few musicians onboard to perform for you.

There's a pool band, Schooner Bar piano player, violinists, guitar players, and potentially even more on the bigger ships.

Sometimes I like to bring my laptop and enjoy a cellist play music while I work.  Other times I head to the bar to enjoy music I can sing along with. That ability to find live music all day is something very akin to cruising.

Enjoying all the service

When you don't have to cook or clean, I think most people would take that and that's exactly one of the best things about going on a cruise.

The night before we depart for the cruise, I joke with my wife, "this is the last meal for a week we have to plan!" and it's a real sense of relief.

Of course, the stateroom attendant makes a big difference too. It's so nice having someone else tidy up the room and make the bed every day.

Going back home after a cruise and going back to cooking and cleaning is a cruel reality.

Seeing crew members

The crew onboard any ship are always quite friendly, and they add a dimension to my vacation I simply don't get on land.

I enjoy the opportunity to get on any ship and see if there are any crew that I might have met on a previous sailing. If you're new to cruising, this might seem strange, but it happens a lot and it's a welcome opportunity.

Certain crew members stand out for their level of service, and I've gotten to know a few of them over the years. It's great to see their smiling face again, and hear about how things are going for them, both on the ship and back at home with their families.

If you haven't done this yet, I recommend talking with crew members when you have the chance. Many have interesting stories and anecdotes to share, and it's not often you can speak with people from all over the world.

Catching a perfect sunset

No matter how often I cruise, I'm a sucker for a beautiful sunset, and there are no shortage of them on a cruise ship.

It's an incredible sight when you see the sun approaching the horizon and the bold and bright colors start to interact with the ocean below.  

If there aren't many clouds, I'll head up to the pool deck to catch the sunset on most days.  I think the upper pool deck is always best, but if your ship has a helipad, that's a great place too.

Be sure to bring a cocktail or glass of wine with you to fully enjoy the ambiance.

Enjoying time with friends and family

My kids always ask me before any cruise we go on who we know that is also going onboard, and that's because they know cruising with friends is better.

Taking a cruise with loved ones or your pals is a great way to foster the bonds that keep you together.  I'll cruise any day with friends or family, but probably wouldn't do the same on a land vacation because I'd feel much more obliged to be "joined at he hip" with a land trip.

On a ship, there's time to hang out, but also do your own thing without feeling like you're abandoning them.

Plus, going on a cruise where I can see friends is the perfect way to catch up.

Having a few drinks every day

I really don't drink much alcohol at home, but I do enjoy a few drinks on a cruise ship.

Whether I buy a beverage package or take full advantage of my daily Crown & Anchor drink vouchers, I look forward to an evening drink or two.

I'll usually start out with my favorite drinks:

• Lavaflow with Kraken rum
• Bloody Mary with Titos vodka
• Kraken rum and coke
• Belvedere vodka, muddled lime, soda water (Thanks Jeanie and Steve for this one!)
• PB&J Old Fashioned

As the cruise progresses, I also like trying new drinks. Royal Caribbean's Food & Beverage team takes pride in developing new menus that go beyond the stereotypical tropical drinks, and I appreciate that.

A little bit of gambling

I also enjoy going to the casino during my cruise for some entertainment.

Gambling is risky, so always gamble responsibly.  To that point, I bring cash with me that is my limit on what I'm willing to lose.  In fact, I go in expecting to lose all my money so there's no delusions on my end.

I've found Royal Caribbean's casino is like an adult video game arcade. The allure of winning money while being social with friends is a fun aspect of the experience.

My wife and I will usually head down once a day to gamble a bit, and it's part of the fun of going out for the night with dinner and a show.

Getting to work outdoors

The reality is on any cruise I go on, there's a work component to it because of this blog.

To that point, I like I get to change up where my "office" is located.  

Weather permitting, I'll take my laptop and head up to the pool deck, outside promenade deck, or my balcony.  It's nice to get the sea breeze, a little bit of sun, and a general change from my office at home.

If I'm at Perfect Day at CocoCay, I love going to Captain Jack's and working from one of the tables. There's a lot of shade and drink service too!