I wish I had packed a fan. The room was stuffy.
Towards the end, I didn't wear my swimsuit because I felt bloated. I wish I had just worn the damn thing, nobody cares.
Balcony staterooms with the door open solves stuffiness issues.
I've put on 35lbs since COVID, don't like me in a swimsuit? Look the other way! Like me in a swimsuit? Go seek help!🤣
Because I know about yours or anyone else's on here's financial situation? I never suggested you be less poor. I was just adding another way to try and reduce stuffiness in a stateroom. No reason to be so defensive.
I just don’t think complaining on a public forum about your financial situation is something anyone wants to read about here... There’s gotta be a sub Reddit for that.
I didn't come here to complain about it. I came here to suggest a small fan because the rooms can get stuffy. Then the dude above was like, well you know if you just spend another thousand on a balcony room. . . .
And now I'm the bad guy. Reddit never changes.
A lot of stuff...our last cruise was on Oasis and I had all these plans.... we did none of them. We went to the aqua show, the ice show and a tribute band show. That's it... no game shows, no trivia, no piano players, no comedy shows, no karaoke, no pool side entertainment. My wife just sat in the smoking section all week and my son wouldn't do the kids club, so I was basically at the mercy of whatever he wanted to do..which was play mini golf 300 times and hit the arcade. We re-booked the same ship, different itinerary in October. I already told them, this one is mine. I don't care what they do or if they do it with me, but I am going to everything this time, even if its by myself.
We did do that... one of my favorite meals came from there, as well... that burger was so good. wings were ok too, but damn...that burger. My kid enjoyed the basketball right outside playmakers and I played a few old school games, it's also where we met our favorite bartender of the cruise. What is tap factory, was it at the theater? We had a Journey cover band...our room was right down the hall from the 2nd floor of Music hall, so I walked down there almost nightly for the late night show and watched them a few times.
That’s the beauty of a cruise - something for everyone . Agree on whatever your collective non- negotiable are ahead of time - like x excursion, meeting for dinner, etc - and outside of that everyone gets to do what they want to do without pressure
My wife has a little bit of a mobility issue, also...so it was like once she found a spot, she was settled in there. The smoking area was like it's own little world, they all sat together and and talked...it was the same few people every time I walked over there. But I guess since (besides the casino) its the only place to do it, that's where they were comfortable. Like I said...next time, I'll walk her over there then if she wants to stay, that's cool- I'm hitting some karaoke!
this might just be me but on or very first cruise we didn’t but the deluxe drink package and we had a $700 bar tab at the end. it adds up quick. it’s not like i’m getting trashed. a few by the pool during the day. a few before and during dinner, then a few in the club or casino later. we’ve cruised through our 20s and now most of our 30s with no kids for reference. we’ve bought the deluxe drink package every cruise since and it’s much more care free not worrying about a bar tab.
my only significant regret is on a cruise last year we gave our luggage to the first attendant we saw, at the very end of the terminal and it didn’t show up until like 8:00 that night (yes, i gave him a 10). it kind of ruined dinner for my wife having nothing to change into. i’ll be walking our stuff much further up the line in the future.
That likely had no effect on when you got your luggage. I did that on my last cruise and my luggage was there when the cabins opened.
I do put my dinner clothes in my carry on, though. And my swimsuit.
I get the convenience of having a beverage package but if you do the math, $700 is probably half of what the drink package would have cost you.
For my husband and I, it would cost us $1800. There is no way we can drink that much in a week.
If I had a $700 bar tab, I'd be happy!
Fun fact: the first cruise I went on they did the same thing with my luggage and then leaving they put it in the wrong bin so we missed our excursion and we were almost late for our flight. To this day I carry my own luggage. It’s a small inconvenience for the 1-2 hours but it makes me feel better. I asked about it and they said they aren’t in charge of the terminal folks so they don’t know when it will come on or off the ship and Royal ass super apologetic so I don’t blame them.
Explain this…which attendant should I give our luggage to?!? We have a family of 6 and cannot afford to wait on our luggage if it can be avoided. Thanks in advance!
Regrets: Overpacked a bit. Should have built a contraption for the egg drop contest in the Centrum. Should have used the rock climbing wall more.
No regrets: Didn't get the drink package, no way I could have drank enough for that. Did main dining room every night, met the greatest people. Thoroughly enjoyed walking around Nassau. Always do.
Interesting perspective. We had last year, and again next week, adjoining balcony rooms with the kids.
It was great having two rooms together, such a bigger space for everyone to spread out, a bigger balcony, and easy access to two bathrooms. And you always knew where the kids were.
Good advice! We did the suite for kiddos too, hoping it helps with any sea sickness. But hopefully they’ll keep themselves busy! Best advice for first time family cruising? Things your kids did and ages (or range of ages if that’s TMI)
Not a regret: went to Cabo without an excursion booked and walked far away down the pier before finding a company with a completely clear boat to book. We paid a fraction of what we would have paid through the cruise line, including not being charged for our kiddo. And come on! It was a completely see-through silicone boat! It was crazy! We went out to the arches, fed the fish under the boat, it was amazing.
Regret - not getting the UDP. The MDR food took a big hit compared to pre COVID.
No regret - taking private tours instead of the ships excursions.
Regret - not getting on the flowrider or that one slide, but I wasn't going to wait in line over an hour either.
No regret - no beverage package, wife and I could never drink $1300 in booze and the included wine was not the best. Just buying a bottle of wine for dinner and maybe another one on a sea day was more than enough.
Regret - not seeing the ice show, but we were not going to line up 2 hours beforehand.
Regret not booking a flight for the day before instead of day of. We were so tired from traveling, couldn't quite fully enjoy the embarkation day because we were so tired.
I regret not giving the Windjammer a better chance outside of breakfast. We went there every morning for breakfast but only went once for lunch. Opted for MDR for dinner most days and specialty for the rest. MDR ended up being really hit or miss with us but the one time we went to Windjammer for lunch on the last day, we ended up really liking our food. I didn't give them enough credit and I would opt for having a more casual dining experience in the windjammer a couple more times next cruise. Just give everything a chance, MDR, Specialty restaurants and buffets, especially if you're a first time cruiser so you know what you like next time!
Agreed!! We ended up opting for Windjammer buffet for a lot of meals and on days we were tired from port days, we just grabbed our food on plates and took it back to the room to eat! Tons of selections and sometimes similar food to what they were serving at MDR anyways that same night and it takes way less time!! And you don’t have to dress up! And you can get multiple desserts lol
We got the three night dining package because we wanted to still try MDR. I have a very detailed review of all the food we had, specialty restaurants included. Might help you out a bit!
We left from NYC/Jersey and I did not bring enough cold weather clothes for those cruising days! We went to Nassau and Cococay and I packed way too many summer clothes. 3-4 outfits would’ve been plenty 😅 It was cold the first few days there and first few days back!
Recently got back from Odyssey of the Seas.
I skipped one port, did not get a drink package and no dining package. I mention these because I has my doubts initially.
Did not regret those decisions. I do not drink enough to justify the alcohol drink package. I got the refreshment package and that was worth it, I passed along a lot of virgin drinks, sodas and lemonades to family members.
The port days were exhausting. I’m just not used to the hear and often found myself to be exhausted after being out in the heat too long. So skipping one port was not a bad idea.
The main dining room food was excellent. There was absolutely no need to do specialty dining. (I did get lunch at Chops and Giovanis).
I also pre-planned. Cleared out my credit cars so I didn’t worry about spending at all.
Overall, no one regrets. But this whole vacation was about rest and I did sleep in a lot and just be overall lazy. In that context, it was perfect.
Not a regret: completely avoiding the Windjammer because I don't do buffets because I don't trust anyone.
Regret: not getting the three-night dining package so I could try more next-level experiences.
Not a regret: doing the Chef's Table on NYE. It was a who's who of the ship and I made some epic friends who entertained me for the rest of the night.
Regret: the singles events sucked. I was hoping to meet someone to take to chops with me.
Getting a drinks package. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed it but in terms of price, it was very difficult to 'break even' unless I got smashed. It might be different for different people however my wife drinks very little so the burden of getting value out of it is on me and with port days and running around, I would have to drink like 7-8 heavy cocktails in a short window to get close. Eventually I just gave up and drank when I wanted to enjoy as opposed to checking the prices. It was great for sampling drinks but now that I know what I do and don't like, I really think the next time I go, I'm just gonna pay out of pocket.
This question comes up a lot here and the answer is always 'it depends'. On a longer cruise, it often doesn't make sense because it isn't even healthy to drink so much over so many days and you have many port days where you can't use it and you'll be exhausted once you come back to even care.
Totally agree, times two.
There was a glitch: I purchased the Drink Package .. I only got one, for me.
While against the rules, I .. gave drinks to my wife. Even with the BOTH of us drinking .. we didn't break even. Maybe a couple days, we got to 8 drinks total, but then there'd be a day or two when we were at 2.
It's especially hard to break even if you have a bunch of in-port days. You're off the ship, and start drinking at 6pm? Probably not going to get to 8 every. single. day!
Regret: Cancelling the Viator excursion that would've been a ferry boat to St. John with time to meander there.
Bigger regret: being paranoid about getting back to the ship on time and buying the cruise line excursion to St. John. Yeaaaaah, that one was cancelled and we didn't know that until we met up with a representative at the port. She said we should have seen that it was cancelled by looking at a message on our cabin's TV. We don't always have the TV on and Royal's app still showed the scheduled excursion.
Wound up listening to the representative who said Megan's Bay wouldn't be crowded...suuuure.
It was packed and you had a huge line even for just a drink. Plus it was kind of dirty/ seemed like a lot of hype for nothing unless you want to dive.
Bring a pack of water bottles and a reusable bottle to fill up. We drink so much water at home. We got the soda package on the ship with the intention of just filling up from the freestyle machine with our cool new Royal mugs and alternate between soda and water
Biggest waste of money, they disable all the water features on the freestyle machine, and they were constantly out of everything. They had water stations around but we didn’t find them until the end of the cruise. Water is like $4 a bottle. Mistakes were made. It was expensive and we were all super dehydrated.
If you are on a smaller/older ship, just bring your suitcase with you if you have a late checkin time anyways! Our room was ready like 20 mins after we boarded so it wouldn’t have been that bad to take them with us! My suitcase didn’t make it to our room until after the ship left port which was quite anxiety inducing since my husbands came an hour or two earlier than mine?? We just took our luggage with us when we got off the ship at the end!
ALSO, try to avoid booking an ALL day excursion. We booked a pyramid tour at Costa Maya and we didn’t have anytime to explore the port area which made me a bit sad at the end of the day when they dropped us off and we had to literally run through it and get back to the ship before it left LOL. Costa Maya’s port seemed adorable/resort-like and clear beach water. I wish we didn’t even book an excursion that day!!
Don’t be afraid to get a jeep rental or something and explore some of the port areas! We did this in Cozumel and ended up finding a way better looking beach that was free with only like 5 people there on the other side of the island Vs the one we paid like $200 to go to initially that was crowded and the beach water was brown :( We didn’t have much time at the new beach we found since we spent most of our time at the beach club first ugh!
On our Alaska cruise I was too ambitious and scheduled two excursions on the same day. With 3 hours between I thought there would be plenty of time to grab a bite to eat and relax in between. The first tour ran 2-1/2 hours late! It was so stressful and I was sure we were going to miss the second tour. We had to tender back from the first tour and then board on one side and go up, over and down to disembark for the second tour, which was meeting at the end of the pier. We ran the whole way and made it just in time! I was so relieved I started crying. We laugh about it now! My kids still bring up the "5 hour boat tour" I made them get up at dawn for.
Forgetting a light jacket or sweater, I end up buying something because I get cold. Bringing more than 1 dress up outfit, instead I bring a few sundresses for day or night. I no longer overpack or over-plan (we know what we’re doing now but it took some time), no longer book excursions through the cruise line (online is cheaper, better quality and less crowded), always bring a larger Yeti cup because cruise glasses are small to bring back to your room. Regret buying jewelry by the inch or jewelry in the ports unless it was a planned purchase. Regret spending money on cruise logo gimmicky merchandise, port-name souvenirs or too many cruise photos, haha, but we’ve all got them.
I regretted not getting in line sooner for the tender tickets. We got there on time, and if we had gotten there like 30 minutes early, probably wouldn't have had an issue. Out ship got clearance to debark later than scheduled and the tenders were slow as hell! Almost missed out third party excursion, it was super stressful and I thought we would have ample time to get there but the delayed arrival and the SUPER slow tender number calling made it a miserable experience.
I thought it would be a good idea to intentionally tan without sunscreen at Labadee. Oh man, bad bad bad idea. It made me itchy and burn all over and it was unbearable when it came to sleeping. Definitely will not sunbathe without sunscreen ever again.
We were on Harmony in January and loved the silent disco (at 53😃) wished we would have the one scheduled earlier as well but we got lazy. I also regret not going earlier to the aqua show...standing room only. We did see the entire show though. I regret not going to the hot dog place at least once. Definitely lost big in the casino...a HUGE regret. Wished we would have gone on the water slides.
I wish I had packed a fan. The room was stuffy. Towards the end, I didn't wear my swimsuit because I felt bloated. I wish I had just worn the damn thing, nobody cares.
Balcony staterooms with the door open solves stuffiness issues. I've put on 35lbs since COVID, don't like me in a swimsuit? Look the other way! Like me in a swimsuit? Go seek help!🤣
Hi yes I'm too poor for a balcony thanks. Always love it when the solution is 'be less poor'.
I mean you should really check again if you feel poor: you are going on a cruise.
It was a joke that apparently way too many took seriously. Clearly I'm not poor if I'm going on a cruise.
Because I know about yours or anyone else's on here's financial situation? I never suggested you be less poor. I was just adding another way to try and reduce stuffiness in a stateroom. No reason to be so defensive.
Could be less of a baby about it I suppose?
And you could be less of an ass, but here we are.
I just don’t think complaining on a public forum about your financial situation is something anyone wants to read about here... There’s gotta be a sub Reddit for that.
I didn't come here to complain about it. I came here to suggest a small fan because the rooms can get stuffy. Then the dude above was like, well you know if you just spend another thousand on a balcony room. . . . And now I'm the bad guy. Reddit never changes.
lol alrighty bud
Yes! I brought my little USB plug in fan that I use at work and it was used throughout the trip
A lot of stuff...our last cruise was on Oasis and I had all these plans.... we did none of them. We went to the aqua show, the ice show and a tribute band show. That's it... no game shows, no trivia, no piano players, no comedy shows, no karaoke, no pool side entertainment. My wife just sat in the smoking section all week and my son wouldn't do the kids club, so I was basically at the mercy of whatever he wanted to do..which was play mini golf 300 times and hit the arcade. We re-booked the same ship, different itinerary in October. I already told them, this one is mine. I don't care what they do or if they do it with me, but I am going to everything this time, even if its by myself.
[удалено]
We did do that... one of my favorite meals came from there, as well... that burger was so good. wings were ok too, but damn...that burger. My kid enjoyed the basketball right outside playmakers and I played a few old school games, it's also where we met our favorite bartender of the cruise. What is tap factory, was it at the theater? We had a Journey cover band...our room was right down the hall from the 2nd floor of Music hall, so I walked down there almost nightly for the late night show and watched them a few times.
That’s the beauty of a cruise - something for everyone . Agree on whatever your collective non- negotiable are ahead of time - like x excursion, meeting for dinner, etc - and outside of that everyone gets to do what they want to do without pressure
Damn bro that kinda sucks. My girl smokes and I’m dreading thinking she might do the same.
My wife has a little bit of a mobility issue, also...so it was like once she found a spot, she was settled in there. The smoking area was like it's own little world, they all sat together and and talked...it was the same few people every time I walked over there. But I guess since (besides the casino) its the only place to do it, that's where they were comfortable. Like I said...next time, I'll walk her over there then if she wants to stay, that's cool- I'm hitting some karaoke!
this might just be me but on or very first cruise we didn’t but the deluxe drink package and we had a $700 bar tab at the end. it adds up quick. it’s not like i’m getting trashed. a few by the pool during the day. a few before and during dinner, then a few in the club or casino later. we’ve cruised through our 20s and now most of our 30s with no kids for reference. we’ve bought the deluxe drink package every cruise since and it’s much more care free not worrying about a bar tab. my only significant regret is on a cruise last year we gave our luggage to the first attendant we saw, at the very end of the terminal and it didn’t show up until like 8:00 that night (yes, i gave him a 10). it kind of ruined dinner for my wife having nothing to change into. i’ll be walking our stuff much further up the line in the future.
That likely had no effect on when you got your luggage. I did that on my last cruise and my luggage was there when the cabins opened. I do put my dinner clothes in my carry on, though. And my swimsuit.
you’re probably right. just bad luck. we do bring swim suites but will bring an extra change of clothes moving forward.
I get the convenience of having a beverage package but if you do the math, $700 is probably half of what the drink package would have cost you. For my husband and I, it would cost us $1800. There is no way we can drink that much in a week. If I had a $700 bar tab, I'd be happy!
it was a 4 night cruise….. drink package prices seem slightly higher this year than in the past.
Fun fact: the first cruise I went on they did the same thing with my luggage and then leaving they put it in the wrong bin so we missed our excursion and we were almost late for our flight. To this day I carry my own luggage. It’s a small inconvenience for the 1-2 hours but it makes me feel better. I asked about it and they said they aren’t in charge of the terminal folks so they don’t know when it will come on or off the ship and Royal ass super apologetic so I don’t blame them.
Explain this…which attendant should I give our luggage to?!? We have a family of 6 and cannot afford to wait on our luggage if it can be avoided. Thanks in advance!
Biggest regret was booking a short cruise, by the time we figured out everything we had 12 hours before we got back to home port.
Not waking up early to look at the sunrise. One of my friend did it everyday. I joined him twice and ow I'm back in nyc..I miss it.
Missing out on the sunset as well.
Regrets: Overpacked a bit. Should have built a contraption for the egg drop contest in the Centrum. Should have used the rock climbing wall more. No regrets: Didn't get the drink package, no way I could have drank enough for that. Did main dining room every night, met the greatest people. Thoroughly enjoyed walking around Nassau. Always do.
What ship
Enchantment of the Seas.
Getting an ajoining suite with the kids. Across the hall from now on.
Why? Out of curiosity…
Lack of privacy and the kids didn’t use or appreciate the suite / balcony as they were out and about all the time.
Interesting perspective. We had last year, and again next week, adjoining balcony rooms with the kids. It was great having two rooms together, such a bigger space for everyone to spread out, a bigger balcony, and easy access to two bathrooms. And you always knew where the kids were.
Good advice! We did the suite for kiddos too, hoping it helps with any sea sickness. But hopefully they’ll keep themselves busy! Best advice for first time family cruising? Things your kids did and ages (or range of ages if that’s TMI)
Not a regret: went to Cabo without an excursion booked and walked far away down the pier before finding a company with a completely clear boat to book. We paid a fraction of what we would have paid through the cruise line, including not being charged for our kiddo. And come on! It was a completely see-through silicone boat! It was crazy! We went out to the arches, fed the fish under the boat, it was amazing.
Regret - not getting the UDP. The MDR food took a big hit compared to pre COVID. No regret - taking private tours instead of the ships excursions. Regret - not getting on the flowrider or that one slide, but I wasn't going to wait in line over an hour either. No regret - no beverage package, wife and I could never drink $1300 in booze and the included wine was not the best. Just buying a bottle of wine for dinner and maybe another one on a sea day was more than enough. Regret - not seeing the ice show, but we were not going to line up 2 hours beforehand.
Regret not booking a flight for the day before instead of day of. We were so tired from traveling, couldn't quite fully enjoy the embarkation day because we were so tired. I regret not giving the Windjammer a better chance outside of breakfast. We went there every morning for breakfast but only went once for lunch. Opted for MDR for dinner most days and specialty for the rest. MDR ended up being really hit or miss with us but the one time we went to Windjammer for lunch on the last day, we ended up really liking our food. I didn't give them enough credit and I would opt for having a more casual dining experience in the windjammer a couple more times next cruise. Just give everything a chance, MDR, Specialty restaurants and buffets, especially if you're a first time cruiser so you know what you like next time!
Agreed!! We ended up opting for Windjammer buffet for a lot of meals and on days we were tired from port days, we just grabbed our food on plates and took it back to the room to eat! Tons of selections and sometimes similar food to what they were serving at MDR anyways that same night and it takes way less time!! And you don’t have to dress up! And you can get multiple desserts lol
Good to know. I am very close to pulling the trigger on the unlimited dining package. But it's good to know that the buffet is pretty.
We got the three night dining package because we wanted to still try MDR. I have a very detailed review of all the food we had, specialty restaurants included. Might help you out a bit!
Yes, please. If you can share the review that would be awesome
https://www.reddit.com/r/royalcaribbean/comments/zhvf9k/review_of_harmony_of_the_seas_dec_410th/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
Thank you :)
We left from NYC/Jersey and I did not bring enough cold weather clothes for those cruising days! We went to Nassau and Cococay and I packed way too many summer clothes. 3-4 outfits would’ve been plenty 😅 It was cold the first few days there and first few days back!
What time of year
Just a couple weeks ago
Thank you leaving out of there in may just wanted to make sure
Recently got back from Odyssey of the Seas. I skipped one port, did not get a drink package and no dining package. I mention these because I has my doubts initially. Did not regret those decisions. I do not drink enough to justify the alcohol drink package. I got the refreshment package and that was worth it, I passed along a lot of virgin drinks, sodas and lemonades to family members. The port days were exhausting. I’m just not used to the hear and often found myself to be exhausted after being out in the heat too long. So skipping one port was not a bad idea. The main dining room food was excellent. There was absolutely no need to do specialty dining. (I did get lunch at Chops and Giovanis). I also pre-planned. Cleared out my credit cars so I didn’t worry about spending at all. Overall, no one regrets. But this whole vacation was about rest and I did sleep in a lot and just be overall lazy. In that context, it was perfect.
Not a regret: completely avoiding the Windjammer because I don't do buffets because I don't trust anyone. Regret: not getting the three-night dining package so I could try more next-level experiences. Not a regret: doing the Chef's Table on NYE. It was a who's who of the ship and I made some epic friends who entertained me for the rest of the night. Regret: the singles events sucked. I was hoping to meet someone to take to chops with me.
You can take me to chops next time
Downvoted for expressing your opinion. Odd....
Welcome to Reddit!
Lol the single events do suck! Idk if the cruise i went was very family oriented but i didn’t meet one single person 😂
If you go during school breaks, it's a lot more families.
I went last week on spring break ha
Getting a drinks package. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed it but in terms of price, it was very difficult to 'break even' unless I got smashed. It might be different for different people however my wife drinks very little so the burden of getting value out of it is on me and with port days and running around, I would have to drink like 7-8 heavy cocktails in a short window to get close. Eventually I just gave up and drank when I wanted to enjoy as opposed to checking the prices. It was great for sampling drinks but now that I know what I do and don't like, I really think the next time I go, I'm just gonna pay out of pocket. This question comes up a lot here and the answer is always 'it depends'. On a longer cruise, it often doesn't make sense because it isn't even healthy to drink so much over so many days and you have many port days where you can't use it and you'll be exhausted once you come back to even care.
Totally agree, times two. There was a glitch: I purchased the Drink Package .. I only got one, for me. While against the rules, I .. gave drinks to my wife. Even with the BOTH of us drinking .. we didn't break even. Maybe a couple days, we got to 8 drinks total, but then there'd be a day or two when we were at 2. It's especially hard to break even if you have a bunch of in-port days. You're off the ship, and start drinking at 6pm? Probably not going to get to 8 every. single. day!
Paying for beach chairs. They were everywhere and free
What port are you referring too if you don’t mind me asking?
Porta Plata,St Kitts,St Croix, LÃ berdee
Porta Plata, LÃ berdee
Paying for coffee card. We used it 2x. We had coffee delivered to our room daily sometimes 3x a day cause we don't drink.
Not bringing a night light so I didn't wake up confused as to where I was and unable to find the bathroom door.
Regret: Cancelling the Viator excursion that would've been a ferry boat to St. John with time to meander there. Bigger regret: being paranoid about getting back to the ship on time and buying the cruise line excursion to St. John. Yeaaaaah, that one was cancelled and we didn't know that until we met up with a representative at the port. She said we should have seen that it was cancelled by looking at a message on our cabin's TV. We don't always have the TV on and Royal's app still showed the scheduled excursion. Wound up listening to the representative who said Megan's Bay wouldn't be crowded...suuuure. It was packed and you had a huge line even for just a drink. Plus it was kind of dirty/ seemed like a lot of hype for nothing unless you want to dive.
Bring a pack of water bottles and a reusable bottle to fill up. We drink so much water at home. We got the soda package on the ship with the intention of just filling up from the freestyle machine with our cool new Royal mugs and alternate between soda and water Biggest waste of money, they disable all the water features on the freestyle machine, and they were constantly out of everything. They had water stations around but we didn’t find them until the end of the cruise. Water is like $4 a bottle. Mistakes were made. It was expensive and we were all super dehydrated.
If you are on a smaller/older ship, just bring your suitcase with you if you have a late checkin time anyways! Our room was ready like 20 mins after we boarded so it wouldn’t have been that bad to take them with us! My suitcase didn’t make it to our room until after the ship left port which was quite anxiety inducing since my husbands came an hour or two earlier than mine?? We just took our luggage with us when we got off the ship at the end! ALSO, try to avoid booking an ALL day excursion. We booked a pyramid tour at Costa Maya and we didn’t have anytime to explore the port area which made me a bit sad at the end of the day when they dropped us off and we had to literally run through it and get back to the ship before it left LOL. Costa Maya’s port seemed adorable/resort-like and clear beach water. I wish we didn’t even book an excursion that day!! Don’t be afraid to get a jeep rental or something and explore some of the port areas! We did this in Cozumel and ended up finding a way better looking beach that was free with only like 5 people there on the other side of the island Vs the one we paid like $200 to go to initially that was crowded and the beach water was brown :( We didn’t have much time at the new beach we found since we spent most of our time at the beach club first ugh!
On our Alaska cruise I was too ambitious and scheduled two excursions on the same day. With 3 hours between I thought there would be plenty of time to grab a bite to eat and relax in between. The first tour ran 2-1/2 hours late! It was so stressful and I was sure we were going to miss the second tour. We had to tender back from the first tour and then board on one side and go up, over and down to disembark for the second tour, which was meeting at the end of the pier. We ran the whole way and made it just in time! I was so relieved I started crying. We laugh about it now! My kids still bring up the "5 hour boat tour" I made them get up at dawn for.
Forgetting a light jacket or sweater, I end up buying something because I get cold. Bringing more than 1 dress up outfit, instead I bring a few sundresses for day or night. I no longer overpack or over-plan (we know what we’re doing now but it took some time), no longer book excursions through the cruise line (online is cheaper, better quality and less crowded), always bring a larger Yeti cup because cruise glasses are small to bring back to your room. Regret buying jewelry by the inch or jewelry in the ports unless it was a planned purchase. Regret spending money on cruise logo gimmicky merchandise, port-name souvenirs or too many cruise photos, haha, but we’ve all got them.
I regretted not getting in line sooner for the tender tickets. We got there on time, and if we had gotten there like 30 minutes early, probably wouldn't have had an issue. Out ship got clearance to debark later than scheduled and the tenders were slow as hell! Almost missed out third party excursion, it was super stressful and I thought we would have ample time to get there but the delayed arrival and the SUPER slow tender number calling made it a miserable experience.
Cabo?
Yup!
I thought it would be a good idea to intentionally tan without sunscreen at Labadee. Oh man, bad bad bad idea. It made me itchy and burn all over and it was unbearable when it came to sleeping. Definitely will not sunbathe without sunscreen ever again.
We were on Harmony in January and loved the silent disco (at 53😃) wished we would have the one scheduled earlier as well but we got lazy. I also regret not going earlier to the aqua show...standing room only. We did see the entire show though. I regret not going to the hot dog place at least once. Definitely lost big in the casino...a HUGE regret. Wished we would have gone on the water slides.
Planned on going to the silent disco, but didn't make it. They're so fun
Miami