Booked our 1st RC cruise & we have questions!

As the title says, we've gone and booked our first cruise on Royal Caribbean for Spring Break 2017. It was cheaper to get two staterooms (one balcony, one interior) for our family of four on Royal than it was to get one balcony stateroom on DCL for the same basic itinerary! We're not going to know what to do with all of the extra space (or money)!

Since it's our first cruise with Royal, We're hoping some of the experts on this board will be able to answer a few of our questions.

• What's the process for booking excursions?
• As first time Royal cruisers, how soon can we reserve our excursions?
• How does "My Time Dining" work? Should we try to switch to a fixed meal time? We are early eaters & will likely arrive at the restaurant when it opens. Should we be concerned about wait times with MTD?
• We'll sail on the Liberty of the Seas. What sorts of insider tips & tricks can you share? We were going on our 3rd DCL cruise before anyone introduced us to the All Hands on Deck platter. Don't want to miss out on good stuff like that with Royal.
• The itinerary takes us to two familiar ports (Cozumel and Grand Cayman), and one new port - Falmouth, Jamaica. Do you have any recommendations for Jamaican excursions?
• We're familiar with DCL's port arrival times process, does Royal have a similar process?
• What kind of kid activities do they have for teens? The boy will be 13 and the girl will be 17 at the time of sailing. Neither has been thrilled by the clubs on DCL, but they're curious as to what they can do on Royal.
• Does Royal have it's own version of Fish Extender groups?
• Do people decorate their stateroom doors with magnets on Royal?
• What are the adult-oriented activities available? We love doing things like music trivia on Disney, does Royal have similar games?

I think that's it for now. Thank you in advance for your help!

We're very excited to try out a new adventure. Between being able to drive to Galveston and the lower cruise cost, we're saving several thousands of dollars (thanks for the price increase DCL!).

Just finishing at work, so will write a proper reply later, but I've heard really good things about Liberty - we've been on Freedom and loved it. Just think, with those extra 1000's saved, you could do a little DL trip

We are sailing on LOTS for our first RCI cruise in August and looking forward to it, so subbing along to see the answers from experts. So far I've found the RCI website easy to use. You can do all your online check in whenever you'd like, up to 3 days before departure. I also love the fact they have drink packages, and I love the fact that you pay for them and excursions when you book them, so we have already paid for things that usually would hit when we cruise on DCL. The only thing I am waiting on is for the luggage tags to be available to print. They don't send them to you like DCL does, unless you sign up to have them sent for an additional $35.00 fee.

Nike4000 said:

As the title says, we've gone and booked our first cruise on Royal Caribbean for Spring Break 2017. It was cheaper to get two staterooms (one balcony, one interior) for our family of four on Royal than it was to get one balcony stateroom on DCL for the same basic itinerary! We're not going to know what to do with all of the extra space (or money)!

Since it's our first cruise with Royal, We're hoping some of the experts on this board will be able to answer a few of our questions.

• What's the process for booking excursions? Booking window usually opens up 90-100 days prior to sailing. However, unlike Disney, on RCL you pay when you book
• As first time Royal cruisers, how soon can we reserve our excursions? We always book onboard so we can use OBC.
• How does "My Time Dining" work? Should we try to switch to a fixed meal time? We are early eaters & will likely arrive at the restaurant when it opens. Should we be concerned about wait times with MTD? You pre-book your dining times for each evening (again, the window opens up 90-100 days before you sail). You can always change dining times once on board if you want to do something else that conflicts - i.e. excursion or show
• We'll sail on the Liberty of the Seas. What sorts of insider tips & tricks can you share? We were going on our 3rd DCL cruise before anyone introduced us to the All Hands on Deck platter. Don't want to miss out on good stuff like that with Royal. Nothing really over the top as far as food goes, but the Promenade Café is open 24 hours, and you can get small sandwiches and pastries any time the mood hits. Room service is free from 5 AM- Midnight, but there is a service charge between Midnight and 5AM
• The itinerary takes us to two familiar ports (Cozumel and Grand Cayman), and one new port - Falmouth, Jamaica. Do you have any recommendations for Jamaican excursions? Our kids did Dunn's River Falls and Tubing the last time they were there with their 11 and 15 YO boys and they loved it
• We're familiar with DCL's port arrival times process, does Royal have a similar process? Cozumel and Falmouth are very similar to Disney. GC is a tender port, and the routine depends on how many ships are in port. We usually give it an hour so all of the excursions get off (same process as Disney) and after that the tenders are fairly empty.
• What kind of kid activities do they have for teens? The boy will be 13 and the girl will be 17 at the time of sailing. Neither has been thrilled by the clubs on DCL, but they're curious as to what they can do on Royal. Flow Rider (surf simulator); Full sized basketball court; rock climbing wall; miniature golf; ice skating; and really good teen clubs.
• Does Royal have it's own version of Fish Extender groups? Haven't ever seen fish extenders hanging from doorways, but RCL has very active "Meet&Mingle" groups
• Do people decorate their stateroom doors with magnets on Royal? YES
• What are the adult-oriented activities available? We love doing things like music trivia on Disney, does Royal have similar games? RCL is a bit more adult oriented (especially for its late shows) than Disney

I think that's it for now. Thank you in advance for your help!

We're very excited to try out a new adventure. Between being able to drive to Galveston and the lower cruise cost, we're saving several thousands of dollars (thanks for the price increase DCL!).

Click to expand...

I put my responses in your post so they don't get muddled

eskimoinparadise said:

I put my responses in your post so they don't get muddled

Click to expand...

WOW! Thank you, that is incredibly helpful! We're very, very excited about this first foray into a new cruise line as a family. My DW tried out Carnival earlier this year on a sister's trip and had mostly good things to say about it. All of her dinner table mates on Carnival raved about Royal, so that's where we headed.

I did come up with some additional questions based on your responses:

• What are the "Meet & Mingle" events? Are those for single people?
• Sorry, I wasn't clear about the port arrival time question. I was referring to the initial embarkation. What's the process for getting on board before sailing? Do you get assigned a time when you can board or is it first come, first serve?
• What sort of activities do the teen clubs have?
• So, for MTD, you pre-select your preferred dining time? I'm totally confused by the My Time Dining thing & have yet to read an explanation that makes sense to me!
• My DW wanted me to ask how the spa is? We'll likely do a couples massage, are they pretty good?
• Any other tips or tricks we should know?

@eskimoinparadise I can't thank you enough for your answers.

DnA2010 said:

Just finishing at work, so will write a proper reply later, but I've heard really good things about Liberty - we've been on Freedom and loved it. Just think, with those extra 1000's saved, you could do a little DL trip

Click to expand...

@DnA2010 - I grew up in the shadow of the Matterhorn and spent most of my summers running around Disneyland causing trouble. I have zero desire to spend more time in the parks than I have to. Instead, I want to put that extra money towards an off-season cruise for the DW and I! A nice romantic getaway for just the two of us!

Nike4000 said:

WOW! Thank you, that is incredibly helpful! We're very, very excited about this first foray into a new cruise line as a family. My DW tried out Carnival earlier this year on a sister's trip and had mostly good things to say about it. All of her dinner table mates on Carnival raved about Royal, so that's where we headed.

I did come up with some additional questions based on your responses:

• What are the "Meet & Mingle" events? Are those for single people?
• Sorry, I wasn't clear about the port arrival time question. I was referring to the initial embarkation. What's the process for getting on board before sailing? Do you get assigned a time when you can board or is it first come, first serve?
• What sort of activities do the teen clubs have?
• So, for MTD, you pre-select your preferred dining time? I'm totally confused by the My Time Dining thing & have yet to read an explanation that makes sense to me!
• My DW wanted me to ask how the spa is? We'll likely do a couples massage, are they pretty good?
• Any other tips or tricks we should know?

@eskimoinparadise I can't thank you enough for your answers.

Click to expand...

Meet & Mingle events are for anyone who wants to get to know other pax. If you go over to Cruise Critic there are a lot of forums on how it works and roll call threads for almost every cruise.
As for port arrival times, RCL does it like Disney used to do theirs before Fantasy and Dream came on line. You check in and get on board in the order you arrive at the terminal. No pre-set times. (Sanity may vary by cruise terminal)
Over on Cruise Critic there are threads with the Cruise Compasses (Navigators) for teens that should give you a good idea of what activities are going on.
MTD: You can either pre-select your dining time on line (can do different times each day if you like), wait and book times with the Maitre D' (either as soon as you get on board, or day by day), or just show up when you're ready to eat (usually a 10-15 minute wait on this option, depending on what time you show up)
Haven't done the couples massage, but DW has used the spa on both Disney and RCL, and for her, they're comparable. No Rain Forrest room on RCL, unfortunately.
Tips: There's a character parade in the Royal Promenade a few times during the cruise. Get seats outside the British Pub before the parade starts (it's where the parade starts/stops)

And, I completely forgot about the water slides.

eskimoinparadise said:

Meet & Mingle events are for anyone who wants to get to know other pax. If you go over to Cruise Critic there are a lot of forums on how it works and roll call threads for almost every cruise.
As for port arrival times, RCL does it like Disney used to do theirs before Fantasy and Dream came on line. You check in and get on board in the order you arrive at the terminal. No pre-set times. (Sanity may vary by cruise terminal)
Over on Cruise Critic there are threads with the Cruise Compasses (Navigators) for teens that should give you a good idea of what activities are going on.
MTD: You can either pre-select your dining time on line (can do different times each day if you like), wait and book times with the Maitre D' (either as soon as you get on board, or day by day), or just show up when you're ready to eat (usually a 10-15 minute wait on this option, depending on what time you show up)
Haven't done the couples massage, but DW has used the spa on both Disney and RCL, and for her, they're comparable. No Rain Forrest room on RCL, unfortunately.
Tips: There's a character parade in the Royal Promenade a few times during the cruise. Get seats outside the British Pub before the parade starts (it's where the parade starts/stops)

And, I completely forgot about the water slides.

Click to expand...

Again, thank you @eskimoinparadise for all of the helpful information! Your explanation of the MTD situation makes far more sense than anything I've read previously. It sounds pretty simple all in all. I'll definitely be heading over to check out the Compasses and Meet & Mingles. We'll have to set up shop outside of the pub for at least one of the parades. That'll be so much fun!

We're extremely excited to try out Royal. It's going to be a blast.

Nike4000 said:

• What's the process for booking excursions? Royal opens them up sporadically starting about 90 days out. if there is one you MUST do, book it up front and just pay. otherwise it may sell out. ( or do it on your own a lot cheaper
• As first time Royal cruisers, how soon can we reserve our excursions? they will start releasing them for booking in stages, your status has no bearing. very popular ones will sell out fast. about 90-120 days out, star watching for the notification that they are open to book.
• How does "My Time Dining" work? Should we try to switch to a fixed meal time? We are early eaters & will likely arrive at the restaurant when it opens. Should we be concerned about wait times with MTD? with MTD you show up when you want and will be stated with just your party by default. you do not HAVE to make reservations, but you can. you can also switch them around day by day to accommodate your plans.
• We'll sail on the Liberty of the Seas. What sorts of insider tips & tricks can you share? One of our favorites. be sure and check out Sabor. she recently got an overhaul with water slides but we haven;t shield her since then so dunno about any new and exciting stuff
• The itinerary takes us to two familiar ports (Cozumel and Grand Cayman), and one new port - Falmouth, Jamaica. Do you have any recommendations for Jamaican excursions? Stay very close to the pier if you do not book through the ship. Jamaica is NOT all that safe really.
• We're familiar with DCL's port arrival times process, does Royal have a similar process? yes, for the most part
• What kind of kid activities do they have for teens? The boy will be 13 and the girl will be 17 at the time of sailing. Neither has been thrilled by the clubs on DCL, but they're curious as to what they can do on Royal. they will be in the 'free form' teen group with no actual formalized activities per se. have them go the first night as that is when the counselors get a feel for what the kids that sailing are interested in doing,like organizing basketball games and whatnot. otherwise, they just tend to all hang out and do their own thing
• Does Royal have it's own version of Fish Extender groups? no although if you participate in a Cabin crawl (organized via the cruise critic Roll Call boards) some cabins being shown will offer a treat or two.
• Do people decorate their stateroom doors with magnets on Royal? not to the extent that Disney does.
• What are the adult-oriented activities available? We love doing things like music trivia on Disney, does Royal have similar games? there will be 3 or 4 different trivial daily, including few music ones. my personal favorite is wine tasting at Vintages

Click to expand...

Nike4000 said:

WO

• What are the "Meet & Mingle" events? Are those for single people? anyone who signs up can attend. minimum of 25 to have one scheduled. great way to meet fellow cruise critic members, score some cheap trinkets as a giveaway and snag a few ranger cookies.
• Sorry, I wasn't clear about the port arrival time question. I was referring to the initial embarkation. What's the process for getting on board before sailing? Do you get assigned a time when you can board or is it first come, first serve? with the new terminal, the rumor is you must abide by the time listed on your set sail pass, unless you are in a Suite, in which case you can show up whenever. unless there are issues with the debarkation, they usually open up the gates to check in by 9, 930 with boarding starting about an hour later.
• What sort of activities do the teen clubs have? very few organized ones unless the kids who show up the first night ask for any.
• So, for MTD, you pre-select your preferred dining time? I'm totally confused by the My Time Dining thing & have yet to read an explanation that makes sense to me! pretty much yes. we like to split the difference between early and late seating so we tend to make our reservations for about 630/7. the flexibility however lets you make changes daily to accommodate port calls or any stuff you want to do on board. think of it as showing up to a land base restaurant without reservations. while most of the time you will be seated quickly, a very large party or during the busiest times may have to wait.
• My DW wanted me to ask how the spa is? We'll likely do a couples massage, are they pretty good? don't waste the money. very overpriced and the hard sell afterward is very off putting. seriously unless you have a LOT of on board credit to use up, skip this entirely
• Any other tips or tricks we should know? soda is NOT included in the fare. you can get a couple of different packages , one that is soda only and that has the travel mug with the chip like the Disney Resort Meal plan has(plus fountain soda from the gun only in any bar or lounge). another is any non alcoholic drink including virgin cocktails. the second one also includes bottled water

@eskimoinparadise I can't thank you enough for your answers.

Click to expand...

hint: do NOT head to the Windjammer for lunch. Instead go to the Promenade on Deck 5. one end of the shops has the Promenade cafe with small sandwiches and panini, and the other end has Sorrentos. it's okay pizza.( not great but not terrible either) eat as many cheesecake lollipops as you can stand, as well as the key lime tartlets.

Mrsjvb said:

hint: do NOT head to the Windjammer for lunch. Instead go to the Promenade on Deck 5. one end of the shops has the Promenade cafe with small sandwiches and panini, and the other end has Sorrentos. it's okay pizza.( not great but not terrible either) eat as many cheesecake lollipops as you can stand, as well as the key lime tartlets.

Click to expand...

If you do decide to go to the Windjammer (buffet), go towards the back. Everyone (especially newbies) congregate in the front which is always crowded. It usually takes pax a day or so to realize that the WJ actually has four buffet areas (mirror images of each other on both sides of the ship), and most of the seating is in the aft sections. Also, unlike Disney, the WJ is open every evening for dinner, and usually serves the same entrees that are being served in the main dining room (along with an expansive buffet). So if you decide not to eat in the MDR (or your kids decide they have better things to do than sit around for a sit down dinner) the WJ is a good option. We often see ship's officers (including the Captain on occasion) and entertainers dining there in the evenings.

Another option (small cover charge) is Johnny Rocket's up on deck 12 aft.

The three specialty restaurants: Sabor (Tex-Mex Deck 3), Giovanni's Table (outside the main entrance to the WJ and better IMO than Palo), and Chop's Steakhouse (also outside the WJ) are all worth the cost. I wouldn't book any of them until you get on board, because RCL usually offers discount packages to those restaurants once you are on board.

Oh my gosh! Between @eskimoinparadise and @Mrsjvb I'm starting to feel prepared for this trip. Thank you both for all of the wonderfully helpful information.

Is the Promenade Cafe included in the cost of the ship? Or, is it like Johnny Rocket's, Sabor, et al - charging an additional fee?

We've already decided to only do 1 soda package (I'm the soda addict) and our alcohol consumption is so low that there's no way we'd ever get value out of any of the alcohol packages. I was not aware of the 2nd soda package, the one that includes non-alcoholic drinks. Would that also include virgin pina coladas? If so, my wife might force me to upgrade to that - she averages a virgin pina colada per day on the cruise.

My kids will be extremely happy about the clubs. My son loathes the required activities on Disney. He just wants to hang out and play some video games with other kids & every time he gets locked into a game, it seem like the club starts a mandatory activity. I'll make sure both of them get in there on embarkation night to throw their votes in.

Again, thank you very, very much! Keep the 411 coming! Love it!

Promenade Café and Sorrento's are both included (FooFoo Starbuck's coffees are extra). Bring travel mugs for coffee. It's brewed 24/7 at Promenade Café. One cautionary tale regarding video games: Even if you restrict charging privileges on your kids seapass (KTTW) cards, they use it to play arcade games, and they can still add $$ to play even with no charging privileges elsewhere on the ship. If they want to ice skate, make sure they bring a pair of long pants (and socks). You can pre-sign their activity waivers when you do your online check-in, so they can do the surf simulator, ice skating, and rock climbing.

eskimoinparadise said:

Promenade Café and Sorrento's are both included (FooFoo Starbuck's coffees are extra). Bring travel mugs for coffee. It's brewed 24/7 at Promenade Café. One cautionary tale regarding video games: Even if you restrict charging privileges on your kids seapass (KTTW) cards, they use it to play arcade games, and they can still add $$ to play even with no charging privileges elsewhere on the ship. If they want to ice skate, make sure they bring a pair of long pants (and socks). You can pre-sign their activity waivers when you do your online check-in, so they can do the surf simulator, ice skating, and rock climbing.

Click to expand...

Okay, that's great info to know! Do the kids clubs have video games? On Disney they have Wii, Xbox, and others. My son has avoided the true arcades beyond a few bucks we've spent visiting as a family.

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

Nike4000 said:

How does "My Time Dining" work? Should we try to switch to a fixed meal time? We are early eaters & will likely arrive at the restaurant when it opens.

Click to expand...

My Time, IMO, was intended to let people dine when they want. But then they found that long lines happen. So you CAN make advance reservations. If you know you're going to want to dine at 6pm each day, just arrange that.

If you can't arrange it before you board, when you board head to the MTD desk outside the dining room and make arrangements then.

Our first time on Freedom we were just going to show up and wait in line, but changed our minds for the first night. Arranged for a time, then came back and arranged the rest of the evenings, too. Each night there was a decent sized line for the MTD people who hadn't pre-arranged a time. I was glad to walk by that line each night.

And by arranging it that first day, we were seated in the same section with the same server each night, which was nice.

Nike4000 said:

As first time Royal cruisers, how soon can we reserve our excursions?

Click to expand...

When they let you. I can reserve excursions now for our December cruise. But with Royal you PAY when you reserve. Which is awesome for the cruise b/c you aren't getting smacked with those charges then. But it's weird to pay for it x months before you board.

Nike4000 said:

Do people decorate their stateroom doors with magnets on Royal?

Click to expand...

Yes. But not to a great degree.

Nike4000 said:

Does Royal have it's own version of Fish Extender groups?

Click to expand...

No because there are no "fish" to hang things from.

Nike4000 said:

What are the adult-oriented activities available? We love doing things like music trivia on Disney, does Royal have similar games?

Click to expand...

Yes. I keep finding that it's held in lounges that are very close to the smokey casino, though, and I'm hyper-sensitive so I can't do that. If Liberty still has a library, though, you might find some trivia sheets in there to do.

Nike4000 said:

What are the "Meet & Mingle" events?

Click to expand...

It's a CruiseCritic thing. If you're a member there join your group/cruise thread, and then you can attend the event if they have it.

Nike4000 said:

Sorry, I wasn't clear about the port arrival time question. I was referring to the initial embarkation. What's the process for getting on board before sailing? Do you get assigned a time when you can board or is it first come, first serve?

Click to expand...

Theyll send you an email "get here at this time", but get there around 11am anyway if you wish and you can likely get onboard. They aren't as strict as Disney.

Nike4000 said:

I was not aware of the 2nd soda package, the one that includes non-alcoholic drinks. Would that also include virgin pina coladas? If so, my wife might force me to upgrade to that - she averages a virgin pina colada per day on the cruise.

Click to expand...

It's called Replenish.

Stuff from the espresso kiosk (Lattetudes is likely the name) on the promenade...freshsqueezed OJ *in the morning*, Tazo tea from the espresso kiosk), spring water, sparkling water (Pellegrino usually), soda (if Liberty has the Freestyle machine then you use your soda cup at the machine...if they don't then you show your card at bars/restaurants and you get fountain soda there), and virgin drinks.

Like pina coladas. It's about $20/day including tip (prepaid) for Replenish. A virgin PC is about $5. So if that's literally all she'll want, it's not worth it.

Description of packages! http://media.royalcaribbean.com/content/shared_assets/pdf/menus/beverage_packages.pdf

I actually can't make any but the Evian package work for me. I get the package with 12 one-liter bottles of Evian, it's delivered to the stateroom the day I request it (day 1 for me), then I buy my one latte a day out of pocket, and I'm good. I get beers if I want them. And I come in under the cost of even Replenish.

Now what my family does spend money on is at Ben&Jerry's. We have started padding the budget for that; DS has it for dessert every night, and DH and I have it sometimes. Although we like the food (we're vegetarian) on Royal a bit more than on Disney, the desserts are *in our opinions* atrocious for the most part. So we have really good, extra-cost, ice cream for our dessert. Tip 'em a bit and by day 3 they are giving much bigger scoops than they were on day 1. Or at least that's just what my son gets.

Nike4000 said:

My son loathes the required activities on Disney.

Click to expand...

Required? DS hasn't found them to be required on Disney (in Oceaneer's Club/Lab). He says there's not much to do in there if an activity is happening, but there are always videogames.

But on Royal in the *kid* club the activities are what is happening. For my son he likes that.

BUT BUT BUT! This doesn't apply to your family (or mine anymore since DS's birthday) because your kids aren't in the *kid* clubs. They are in the teen clubs now. And I have ZERO experience in those yet because we haven't sailed since DS turned 12.

eskimoinparadise said:

Even if you restrict charging privileges on your kids seapass (KTTW) cards, they use it to play arcade games, and they can still add $$ to play even with no charging privileges elsewhere on the ship.

Click to expand...

Yes. It's the one icky thing that Royal does, and it's necesary to know IMO. You can restrict charging for everything else, but they can still fill their seapasses with arcade money. UGH. This hasn't been a problem with our son, but I'm not crazy enough to not put a "yet" on that sentence. He's a good kid, but I've seen good kids make less than brilliant decisions before! He knows that there will be huge consequences, though, should he do that. We do generally fill his card with $50 arcade money for the 7 night cruise, and so far taht has worked.

Oh, the first night in the arcade generally has an hour of Family Time. This means they turn the basic games on for free play. So I can play Donkey Kong and die instantly but not have to pay for that. Look for the time in the Compass when you board. It's not some big official activity, it's casual.

eskimoinparadise said:

If they want to ice skate, make sure they bring a pair of long pants (and socks).

Click to expand...

Yes.

If YOU want to ice skate, bring long pants and socks.

bumbershoot said:

My Time, IMO, was intended to let people dine when they want. But then they found that long lines happen. So you CAN make advance reservations. If you know you're going to want to dine at 6pm each day, just arrange that.

If you can't arrange it before you board, when you board head to the MTD desk outside the dining room and make arrangements then.

Our first time on Freedom we were just going to show up and wait in line, but changed our minds for the first night. Arranged for a time, then came back and arranged the rest of the evenings, too. Each night there was a decent sized line for the MTD people who hadn't pre-arranged a time. I was glad to walk by that line each night.

And by arranging it that first day, we were seated in the same section with the same server each night, which was nice.



When they let you. I can reserve excursions now for our December cruise. But with Royal you PAY when you reserve. Which is awesome for the cruise b/c you aren't getting smacked with those charges then. But it's weird to pay for it x months before you board.



Yes. But not to a great degree.



No because there are no "fish" to hang things from.



Yes. I keep finding that it's held in lounges that are very close to the smokey casino, though, and I'm hyper-sensitive so I can't do that. If Liberty still has a library, though, you might find some trivia sheets in there to do.



It's a CruiseCritic thing. If you're a member there join your group/cruise thread, and then you can attend the event if they have it.



Theyll send you an email "get here at this time", but get there around 11am anyway if you wish and you can likely get onboard. They aren't as strict as Disney.



It's called Replenish.

Stuff from the espresso kiosk (Lattetudes is likely the name) on the promenade...freshsqueezed OJ *in the morning*, Tazo tea from the espresso kiosk), spring water, sparkling water (Pellegrino usually), soda (if Liberty has the Freestyle machine then you use your soda cup at the machine...if they don't then you show your card at bars/restaurants and you get fountain soda there), and virgin drinks.

Like pina coladas. It's about $20/day including tip (prepaid) for Replenish. A virgin PC is about $5. So if that's literally all she'll want, it's not worth it.

Description of packages! http://media.royalcaribbean.com/content/shared_assets/pdf/menus/beverage_packages.pdf

I actually can't make any but the Evian package work for me. I get the package with 12 one-liter bottles of Evian, it's delivered to the stateroom the day I request it (day 1 for me), then I buy my one latte a day out of pocket, and I'm good. I get beers if I want them. And I come in under the cost of even Replenish.

Now what my family does spend money on is at Ben&Jerry's. We have started padding the budget for that; DS has it for dessert every night, and DH and I have it sometimes. Although we like the food (we're vegetarian) on Royal a bit more than on Disney, the desserts are *in our opinions* atrocious for the most part. So we have really good, extra-cost, ice cream for our dessert. Tip 'em a bit and by day 3 they are giving much bigger scoops than they were on day 1. Or at least that's just what my son gets.



Required? DS hasn't found them to be required on Disney (in Oceaneer's Club/Lab). He says there's not much to do in there if an activity is happening, but there are always videogames.

But on Royal in the *kid* club the activities are what is happening. For my son he likes that.

BUT BUT BUT! This doesn't apply to your family (or mine anymore since DS's birthday) because your kids aren't in the *kid* clubs. They are in the teen clubs now. And I have ZERO experience in those yet because we haven't sailed since DS turned 12.



Yes. It's the one icky thing that Royal does, and it's necesary to know IMO. You can restrict charging for everything else, but they can still fill their seapasses with arcade money. UGH. This hasn't been a problem with our son, but I'm not crazy enough to not put a "yet" on that sentence. He's a good kid, but I've seen good kids make less than brilliant decisions before! He knows that there will be huge consequences, though, should he do that. We do generally fill his card with $50 arcade money for the 7 night cruise, and so far taht has worked.

Oh, the first night in the arcade generally has an hour of Family Time. This means they turn the basic games on for free play. So I can play Donkey Kong and die instantly but not have to pay for that. Look for the time in the Compass when you board. It's not some big official activity, it's casual.



Yes.

If YOU want to ice skate, bring long pants and socks.

Click to expand...

Thank you very much @bumbershoot - that is some spectacular information! I'm adding this to our pre-cruise prep work. Definitely good to know all of this stuff. We won't feel like total noobs on day 1 now.

keep in mind that drink packages may NOT be shared. so even slipping the wife a virgin PC or two off of your package is frowned upon and you can be cut off with no refund and be charged for every drink you have consumed up to that point.

Mrsjvb said:

keep in mind that drink packages may NOT be shared. so even slipping the wife a virgin PC or two off of your package is frowned upon and you can be cut off with no refund and be charged for every drink you have consumed up to that point.

Click to expand...

Oh my, that seems like a very extreme position on something that is almost pure profit to Royal. I highly doubt that if I let my daughter have a few sips of my Sprite they'll completely cut me off and charge me for the soda. My guess is that they have bigger issues to worry about that me sharing a soda with a family member. Plus, I'll likely be on the wrong end of the package anyway as I don't drink that much soda on cruises. I'm getting it more because I'm lazy and don't want to have to sign every time I want a drink, carrying the cup around will be enough of a hassle.

Nike4000 said:

Oh my, that seems like a very extreme position on something that is almost pure profit to Royal. I highly doubt that if I let my daughter have a few sips of my Sprite they'll completely cut me off and charge me for the soda. My guess is that they have bigger issues to worry about that me sharing a soda with a family member. Plus, I'll likely be on the wrong end of the package anyway as I don't drink that much soda on cruises. I'm getting it more because I'm lazy and don't want to have to sign every time I want a drink, carrying the cup around will be enough of a hassle.

Click to expand...

Your seapass card will have a little logo on it that indicates the package you purchased, so you don't have to carry the cup around with you to get fountain sodas (We had one for our grand son on our last cruise, and he never carried the cup around - he just went up to the nerest bar and got a glass of soda). As for getting "cut off", while that may technically be true, we've never seen it happen. I suppose if you really abused it, but the freestyle machines are on a timer, and you can only get one drink at a time, so it is really difficult to abuse the package.

eskimoinparadise said:

Your seapass card will have a little logo on it that indicates the package you purchased, so you don't have to carry the cup around with you to get fountain sodas (We had one for our grand son on our last cruise, and he never carried the cup around - he just went up to the nerest bar and got a glass of soda). As for getting "cut off", while that may technically be true, we've never seen it happen. I suppose if you really abused it, but the freestyle machines are on a timer, and you can only get one drink at a time, so it is really difficult to abuse the package.

Click to expand...

I was not aware of the logo on the card, that sounds cool. Yeah, I have zero intentions of abusing the package and would expect Royal to have some leniency if I were to share a drink or two. Besides, each soda probably costs them a total of around thirteen cents, hopefully they're not so desperate for funds that they closely monitor the package.

its called Integrity and doing the right thing regardless of the possibility of being caught. Royal is VERY lenient in that they do NOT make EVERYONE in the cabin buy a package.

all it takes is for EVERYONE to 'only share a drink or two' for the dollars to add up, causing a ripple effect.