Taking a Royal Caribbean cruise? Here's 10 top tips to think about!

If you're here, then there's a good chance that you're currently working to plan a cruise with Royal Caribbean. If that's right, then don't worry - you're in for a treat! Infact, Royal Caribbean are one of my favourite cruise lines - I genuinely believe that they offer something for everyone, regardless of whether you're looking for an action-packed vacation on the waves, something more relaxing, or a blend of both.

I've cruised on a range of Royal Caribbean ships, from Rhapsody of the Seas (one of the oldest ships in the fleet) to the much newer, grander and more innovative Symphony of the Seas (the huge Oasis class mega-ship), and a few other in between. To check out more from my adventures with Royal Caribbean, head over to my YouTube channel and head to my Royal Caribbean playlist - I've got so much to show you!

On that note, if you are on YouTube, I'd massively appreciate you coming over and clicking 'subscribe' on my channel - every single viewer and subscriber supports me with my goal of bringing you more content, and it's totally FREE for you to do!

Anyway, you're here to read about some of my 'top tips' for cruising with Royal Caribbean. I'll have more to come in future posts, but let's get started with 10 for now... Most of these tips should apply to all Royal Caribbean ships, so don’t worry if you’re cruising on one of the older/newer ships - you should consider these applicable to all ships in the fleet!

1. Book what you can BEFORE boarding the ship!

Before my first cruise, this one really surprised me - it's so much cheaper to book most things before you get onboard! I had assumed that the pricing would be the same once you’re on the ship, but in hindsight this cruise line tactic makes sense - you’re a captive audience once onboard, so of course it’s acceptable to charge extra for some things.

For example, if you're looking to purchase things like onboard wi-fi packages, or dine in speciality restaurants (the ones you pay extra for), then you'll want to listen up! For my cruises, I found that wi-fi was about 20% cheaper to buy before the cruise, but dining was MUCH cheaper to purchase in advance. It’s really easy to add things to your booking before you sail - just log into your account, and get shopping!

Also, another tip on this point - prior to your cruise, Royal will send through e-mails from time to time, which will often display 'sale' prices. Don't be fooled - I thought I could wait until these alleged 'sales' got even better, but that's probably not going to happen. If you get offered a discounted package, jump on it! 

2. Book your entertainment as soon as you get onto the ship!

This one will vary depending on which type of Royal Caribbean ship you're planning to cruise on. The smaller ships in the fleet will often only have one theatre venue onboard, but this isn't the case for the larger in the fleet. If you're cruising on one of the large ships, then you're going to need to think about which entertainment you'd like to head to on each evening of your cruise. 

Why do you need to think about it, I hear you ask? Well, if you don't get booked in for the shows you want to see, you might miss out! When I cruised on Symphony for example, you were able to book into specific shows once onboard the ship, so it's worth making this one of the first things you do when onboard, before the seats all book out! On these larger ships, you’ll find an entertainment overview in your cabin on embarkation day - this paperwork will tell you which shows are playing on which night, so take 10 minutes on your App to book before you head into the sunshine for that first sailaway!

My top tip in the world of Royal Caribbean entertainment? If your ship has an aqua theatre, try and get booked in for one of the shows as early as possible in your cruise! As these shows are performed while the ship is in motion, there's always a chance that the show will be cancelled. If you book for one of the first nights, you'll be rescheduled to later in the cruise. If you book to attend on one of your final nights onboard and the show gets cancelled, you'll probably end up missing out. Don't take the risk!

Just to confirm though - you don't need to book entertainment on the smaller ships - their theatres are generally much better from an 'accommodating a higher percentage of passengers' point of view, so you shouldn't have anything to worry about on there!

3. The balloon drop!

Here's an 'insider tip'! Usually on the first night of your cruise, Royal Caribbean will be planning to kick start your vacation with a balloon drop, usually in the main atrium (or promenade) area of your ship. In terms of timing of this, it'll usually be towards the end of your first night onboard, which I'd suggest would be somewhere around 10pm-11pm.

Don't worry - you'll really easily find the time of this drop in your daily schedule (the itinerary of events that you'll be able to view digitally on your Royal Caribbean App once onboard the ship, or you can ask your cabin attendant to have a paper copy delivered to your stateroom once you've boarded the ship!).

4. Think about dress code - plan what you're planning to wear!

If you've cruised with a number of different cruise lines, you'll appreciate the importance of understanding the dress code requirements for your upcoming cruise. Some cruise lines, Cunard for example, require you to wear smart attire on the majority of nights and formal on a couple, but Royal Carribean are much more informal and relaxed. Although there will be a 'dressy' night on your cruise, there's really no obligation to take part. Yes, you can dust off your favourite dinner suit or gown and strut down the promenade, but you're also going to feel 'at home' wearing a pair of chino's and a t-shirt.

My advice here - if you're planning to take part in formal night, plan your outfit in advance. With the more formal lines, you'll be able to purchase spare bowties/cufflinks etc onboard, but I'm not convinced this would be the case with Royal. If you need it, take it! Also, don’t worry too much about either getting involved with formal night or not - from my experience on a variety of Royal ships, enough people do (and don’t) that you’re not going to stick out either way. In short, don’t worry - ‘you do you’ applies here!

5. Think about where you're visiting during your cruise - if you're desperate to see something in particular, BOOK IT with the cruise line via a Shore Excursion!

Ok, if you follow me on YouTube (I hope you do at this point…!), you'll know that I'm not a huge lover of official cruise line excursions. I often find that they can be really expensive for what they are, and can also limit how much time you get to spend somewhere before you're herded on to the next part of the day trip.

However, you're potentially going to be visiting some ports where the demand to see some attractions will be HIGH, and booking through the cruise line might be your best bet at getting to see it for yourself. For example, if you're cruising in Europe and really want to see the Sistine Chapel, good luck if you're planning to head from the ship to join the Vatican queues independently - the cruise line excursions will often skip the lines and head straight in! Another example is Alaska - cruising to Skagway offers you the chance to experience one of the most famous train rides in the world, but it was fully booked by the cruise lines on the day that I visited, and so I missed out!

In short, sometimes it can help to pay the extra, in order to be sure you secure the experience, rather than taking the huge risk and potentially not being able to tick that item off of your bucket list during your cruise!

6. Plan to eat at the buffet!

Some people won't like this one, but I must recommend that you check out the food schedule up at the buffet (this is usually called the Windjammer on Royal Caribbean ships). On first glance, this is just any normal buffet, but the reality is a little different when you look a little closer throughout your cruise.

Each evening, the food offered for dinner will completely change, and is often nothing like what was available the night before. For example, if you enjoy things like Indian or Chinese food, there's a strong chance that there'll be themed nights at the Windjammer offering exactly these types of food. My 'insider tip' is that the Indian food I've eaten on ships is among the best I've ever had - there's something to be said for the fact that so many of the crew are often from India - you're eating the food that they love from their home country!

7. Know where you're allowed, and where you're NOT!

This tip might sound a bit of a strange one, but it's important that you acknowledge and respect the rules re: where you are (and aren't) allowed during your cruise. For example, any corridors or doors marked as 'crew only' or ‘no access’ must be strictly avoided - don't be one of 'those' passengers who wants to peep through the crew only doors to see what's behind them - leave them alone! The same applies in the public areas as what you’d expect on land - you're not welcome in service areas (for example, behind the bar or on the crew side of the buffet counters).

It's important to note that, when you book your cruise, you enter into a passage contract (sometimes also called a 'passenger charter' or something similar). Within this charter/contract, there are a number of rules relating to guest conduct, and this will usually cover the fact you need to stay out of crew areas. If you don't want to adhere to this, then you'll be risking breaching your contract, giving Royal Caribbean a reason to offload you at the next port - don't bother - it's not worth it!

On the topic of respecting ‘where you’re allowed to be onboard’, if you're travelling with kids, then rest assured that the kids clubs are pretty well policed. If you're an adult, then you're not welcome at the kids clubs, for obvious reasons - you’ll have more fun in the spaces onboard designed for the adults! These child-focussed areas of the ship are under constant CCTV surveillance, and that's the only cameras that are permitted - don't go into these spaces to take pictures - it's just not appropriate. It's one of the reasons that my ship tours on YouTube usually miss out the kids clubs - it's not worth the risk in my opinion!

On the subject of kids, Royal Caribbean offer some of the best ships on the ocean. However, there are some places where little ones just won't be allowed to spend time while onboard. The most obvious example is in the dedication ‘adult-only’ deck spaces. For example, if you're planning to use the Solarium on your ship, then you'll need to make sure the kids are at the kids club before you do, as they won't be able to enter here. There's also usually a minimum age for using the hot tubs, and you can see this on the warning signs beside the tubs themselves.

The final place that your little ones won't be allowed is the onboard casino. This is one that Royal Caribbean are pretty strict with - children can access the casino to walk through, but they absolutely cannot stop and watch gaming taking place, and they cannot stand with you while you play (even if they are your 'good luck charm', ha!).

The only other bit of advice I would give is to be careful with which entertainment you're choosing to take your kids to. Most of the entertainment onboard will be aiming toward the family market, so you should have nothing to worry about. However, there will be some more 'adult' performances, so just exercise common sense here. For example, going to the comedy club at 11pm is probably going to be a bit more 'risky' than a show at 7pm - again, just use common sense!

We’ll cover kids clubs later in this post, so don’t worry - Royal Caribbean will have you fully taken care of in this area!

8. Do your research before your cruise!

This is a really important one, in my opinion. It's also an easy one to sell to you if you're still reading this post - you're already doing it!

It's a really short one for me to explain - you've spent a lot of money on this cruise - make sure you do plenty of research to make the most of your short time onboard the ship. Come over to my YouTube channel - I've got lots of resources on there to help you, and keep an eye on this website - I'm constantly adding more to hopefully help you plan the best cruise yet. In other words, stay tuned - sign up now to receive my latest news FOR FREE!

Also, on the point of research, you should check out the deck plans for your cruise ship before you board. This will help you get familiarised with the ship before you see it in the flesh. These are really easy to find - just search the name of your ship on Google. For example, searching 'Navigator of the Seas Deckplan' on Google will offer you the plans for Navigator - just replace with your ship name!

9. Loyalty - join the Crown & Anchor Society!

Ok, you're not going to be given free cruises after booking your first cruise, but you'll get nothing if you don't even bother joining the programme! If you've never cruised before, or if you haven't joined the club before, then it's such a good idea to do so.

Not only will you work your way 'up the ladder', but you'll receive additional benefits in return when you do so. There are also some pretty nifty ways to climb the ladder faster than the usual '1 point per night spend onboard' rule. If you're travelling solo (in ANY grade of cabin) you can expect to score DOUBLE points, and staying in Suites will score you additional points, too. With Royal Caribbean, you can expect to receive onboard discounts relatively early in your cruising career, in addition to daily free drinks, complimentary laundry, and a whole host of other perks as you build your status over the years to come!

If you'd like to learn more about the 'Crown & Anchor Society', head over to Royal Caribbean's website - click here to go straight there!

10. Travelling with kids? Use the kids clubs!

This one's easy! Royal Caribbean famously offer some of the best kids clubs at sea, and they cater all the way from very young children, all the way up to young adults. There's so many activities on these ships which I'm confident most people would rather take part in without the kids present - for example, how relaxing would it be to spend a few hours relaxing in the onboard thermal suite, or booking yourself in for a massage and just ‘switching off’ for a while?

The good news is that the kids clubs are so famously known for being excellent, so your little ones will be in very safe hands with specially trained crew members! The club itself is usually called 'Adventure Ocean', and is split into 3 groups: Aquanauts, Explorers and Voyagers (these are split by age range):

• Aquanauts: ages 3-5

• Explorers: ages 6-8

• Voyagers: ages 9-12

Children over 12 are then able to take part in activities designed specially for them, and are also welcome to spend time in the teen lounge - the location for this varies depending on which ship you're planning to cruise on!

If your children are too young to join one of these groups, then you've got another option - there's a 'Royal Babies and Tots’ programme (called 'AO Babies' on some ships) - this category is for diaper/nappy-wearing children who are too young for the main programme. During certain times, parents can come and play with their children in a 'safe space', or they can come and drop off their young ones to be looked after by specially trained early childhood staff. If you'd like to 'stay and play', this is totally free of charge, but opting for the drop off option for your youngest children will incur a $6 per hour fee (before 6pm), and $8 per hour (after 6pm).

The best thing about the whole kids programme from Royal Caribbean is that daytime and evening activities are totally included in your base cruise fare (I know - great value, right?!). If you would like care after 10pm, then any children attending Adventure Ocean (or the similar clubs on some ships that don't have this branded title) can join a 'late night zone' until 1am for a fee of $10 per child, per hour.

Hopefully you've found this list useful in helping you to plan your upcoming cruise with Royal Caribbean. If you've enjoyed this today, then please do come over to YouTube and subscribe to my channel - this massively helps me out!

Also, if you have found this post useful, then you can show support through a one-off pledge using the 'Buy me a coffee' initiative. This allows you to pledge support of around the cost of one cup of coffee. If you do go for this, thank you SO much!

Wherever you've joined me from today, thanks for being here. Have a great day today, and have the best cruise when your embarkation day arrives!