Taking my first Royal Caribbean cruise....Any advice?

I took a 5-day cruise with Royal Caribbean (ship: Majesty of the Seas) this past October, and it was fantastic! The food was excellent (the Midnight Buffet was the only let-down; it looked beautiful but wasn't as tasty as it looked), and the crew was friendly and professional. We had an interior room which was small but accomodated the two of us just fine. The bathroom was *tiny*, though! The beds were in need of new mattresses too :(

I don't know if this is your first cruise (it was for me), but watch out because the expenses add up *quickly*! (i.e., drinks, photos, shore excursions, etc.) In fact, I would reccommend that you wait until you get to each port and then head out on your own instead of signing up for excursions through the cruiseline. You'll find most --- if not all --- of the very same trips/activities available through the locals in port for about half of what you'd pay through Royal Caribbean. (the only time this wouldn't apply is if you visit a private, RC-owned island and want to go parasailing or jet-skiing or the like... then you *have* to go through RC to do so)

Have a great time on your cruise!

Our family takes frequent cruises. The Royal Caribbean line is more formal than the Carnival line.

The RC line offers more "refined" events and less "frat house" type events.

The food was good and the service was exceptional. My mother fell in love with the piano player. However, my children were bored.

As with any cruise, you will pay a premimum for booking shore excursions with RC. Do some research and you can book directly with local providers and save some $$$s.

RC's photographers are everywhere! Purchasing these photos will cost you about $20 each.

The soda cards are a good value however you will likey get ignored at the bars when you try to get a soda. The bartenders don't get a gratuity when filling your soda order and they take bar orders first.

Speak up quickly if your cabin steward does not meet your expectations. We waited until the end of our last RC cruise to express our distress about the cabin steward's lack of attention and we were still "forced" to tip her.

The Royal Caribbean line is undergoing some serious problems with a nasty bug called Norovirus. It is an intestinal illness that is real bad for a few days. The ships must be basically scrubbed with bleach constantly and this does ruin the cruise fun for everyone.

Take along a lot of Imodium, hand sanitizer, and you should be okay.

Personally I would choose the liberty just because it is a newer ship and likely to have more amenities. Balconies are nice but you need to think about how many days at sea you have and how busy you think you will be? Will you really be in the room often enough to enjoy the balcony? If you don't think you will truly get use out of it then don't waste the money, it can be better spent elsewhere. As far as the ship rocking, you never know, some days you feel it other times you don't. There are a lot of variables that play into that and isn't something you can always predict. To be on the safe side buy seasickness pills, you can get them from your local drugstore. Bonine (aka meclizine, antivert) works well and is what doctors prescribe but is actually available over the counter.

Have a good time!

Take enough money (prefereble a credit card such as visa) for all the extras and tiping and more.

Dont overpack. Storage in most cabins (except some suites) are cramped. Also check out the rules of (if you fly) the airline regarding luggage.

Get on royal carrebians home page and find out what shore excursions there are on your cruise. Try to prebook your favourite ones or book them on arrivial to the ship since there are limited tickets on some of them.

Every morning read the "newspaper" that comes under your door (or is delivered any other vay) every night. It informs you what is happening and where. Johan

Well if you can before i would go I would get passports but if that is out of the question then make sure that you have all of your birth certificates copies are okay, if you dont get one, and then have picture IDs, like drivers licenses, and for the kids have a picture ID of them like their school IDs, if their old enough because they will ask for them, and they will ask for everything and passports for kids are only good for 5 years so consider that if you want to get them, and I dont know a whole lot about Royal Caribbean but i hear that it is a pretty fun cruise lines and they have lots of things to do and the rooms and food are great. Other then that just prepare and make sure you have everything like money, credit cards, ids, stuff to do, etc. Have fun. Bon Voyage.

We just returned from a trip on Legend of the Seas earlier this month. It was my 4th cruise and I absolutely loved this ship. Nice balance of social activities and quiet time. Plenty of deck chairs available, great service, great food.

If you're going to Costa Maya, I would recommend taking a taxi to Mahahual for the day. Visit the Cat's Meow and say "Hi" to George! Great margaritas, beach, and coconut shrimp.

Enjoy!

You should visit Trinidad & Tobago, the 1st is an industrial capital of the Caribbean, the latter is a major tourist capital.

my advice is prepare to have a great fun.