While vacations to Disney World and Universal Orlando are some of our favorite things in the world, we do — of course — enjoy other types of vacations, including non-Disney cruises!
While cruising has always been popular, the industry has exploded in recent years. As passenger numbers have climbed, so have the number of ships in each given fleet. However, as more and more first-time cruisers set sail, they’re seeing just how different certain lines are.
While my family and I love the times when we’re able to choose cruises on board one of the Disney Cruise Line ships, sometimes that’s not always the ideal choice for the times we’re able to travel. So for our latest cruising adventure, we decided to set sail aboard a new-to-us cruise line with Royal Caribbean.
Royal Caribbean has been cruising the seas for decades and is host to 29 ships making up its fleet (with even more on the way). Their innovative entertainment on board the ships, variety of excursions, customer service, and private destination (Perfect Day at Coco Cay) have earned their clients’ trust over and over again, and we thought it was the perfect time to see how well their offerings aligned with what we were looking for in a vacation. However, there ARE a few things that stood out to me that I wish I had known before deciding to cruise with Royal Caribbean.
Terminal Check-In Times Might Turn Into More Like Guidelines
Just like when sailing with Disney Cruise Line, the time you arrive to check in for your sailing at your chosen port is something you’ll need to choose in advance of your arrival. You can complete this fairly easily through the app 45 days prior to sailing. That being said, Royal Caribbean’s loyalty group for past sailings, called the Crown & Anchor Society, has tiered groups that allow its travelers the option to choose earlier arrival times (this isn’t too different from Disney’s Castaway Club).
Where this differs from Disney Cruise Line as Disney’s pretty strict about arriving for your check-in no earlier than the time you’ve chosen in advance (in fact, early arrivals are known to be told to leave and come back). In our experience with Royal Caribbean, once most of the earlier arrival travelers had already checked in (which was about mid-morning to noon), we were admitted through to check in at the terminal even if our arrival time wasn’t supposed to be until later. This could be super enticing if you’re someone who likes to get on board the ship, learn the layout, grab lunch, or hit the pool well before you sail away from port.
Multiple Guaranteed Staterooms For Families Could Quickly Become A Nightmare
Most of Royal Caribbean’s staterooms (minus the suites you’ll drop a pretty penny for) standardly hold up to 4 passengers per room. Since we exceeded that during this sailing, we needed multiple rooms, and when the opportunity to save a little by booking two guaranteed staterooms popped up, we took the gamble!
Let me preface this by saying ANYTIME you agree to take a guaranteed stateroom on board, this means the company chooses your assigned staterooms for you once everyone else has had their chance to book the rooms of their preference. We knew this going into it, but in the past, when we’ve sailed with Disney Cruise Line, they’ve done their best to keep us together as much as possible.
On this particular sailing, as luck would have it, our two staterooms were on the same deck but on totally opposite ends of the ship. This caused a lot of chaos the first few days, getting used to the layout of the ship and having to go up a few decks (we were all placed on deck 2 due to our room category) to walk most of the length of the deck to the other set of elevators and then back down again due to the ship’s layout. Yes, just because you’re booking guaranteed rooms doesn’t always mean they’ll be connected or nearby staterooms — you’re literally being fit in as there’s space available!
Print Off Your Luggage Tags In Advance
Disney Cruise Line certainly spoiled us by sending us neatly printed luggage tag stickers along with our final documents prior to sailing on their ships. Royal Caribbean — not so much. After you’ve made your final payment, done the online check-in, and submitted your port arrival time, you’ll get an email from Royal Caribbean with your final documents for your sailing. Tucked away in these documents is where you’ll find your luggage tags! These little guys will hold all of your stateroom information, your deck, and placement on the ship for where your checked luggage should be delivered to. Note that you do NOT need to tag a carry-on bag you plan to keep on your person as you board, which is where you’ll want to keep a change of clothes, swimwear, and your boarding documents and IDs.
Since you’re printing these beauties out on paper, which could be susceptible to the less-than-ideal weather elements, you might also want to opt to purchase reusable clear luggage tags to hold your printed ones.
Not EVERYTHING Needs A Reservation
I hate to keep harkening back to Disney Cruise Line, but there are so many things on board their ships to make reservations for that you could easily feel like you’re over-booking yourself! However, we didn’t feel that way when sailing with Royal Caribbean this time. Sure, there are a few things you’ll want to make reservations for, like dinner (even if you’ve selected My Time), certain shows, and popular activities like ice skating and laser tag on the newer ships that do accept reservations, but for the most part, you pretty much could walk right into an experience.
The one thing you’ll probably be most surprised to learn DOESN’T need a reservation is one of the selling points that tipped my teens over to sailing with Royal. The innovative FlowRider that brings the sensation of surfing and boogie boarding on board select Royal Caribbean ships doesn’t need a reservation, BUT it can form a pretty long line.
Due to its popularity, it’s an easy activity to target for sail away day and port days as other folks are venturing off the ship, and while you don’t need a reservation, kids will need a waiver signed and in some instances an adult watching them while they’re getting their surf on (did I also mention it’s a FREE activity?)
There Are MULTIPLE Themed Nights
Listen, Royal Caribbean certainly doesn’t turn down an opportunity to throw a good party, and our 5-night sailing was no exception! If you THINK you’ve already packed sufficiently for your cruise, be sure to go back and browse your daily planner in the app, which will tell you about any planned themed nights while you’re on board!
During our sailing, there were so many great opportunities to dress up and dance the night away between a 70’s disco party, AND 80’s rock night on the Royal Promenade, a formal night, and (informally) the avid Royal Caribbean cruisers also knew which night to dress in all white.
You Have 3 Different Options For Main Dining
Royal Caribbean likes to keep things pretty easy going, so while you can choose to commit to a preselected time to dine for first or second seating in the main dining room (unless you’re skipping it altogether in favor of the buffet or signature dining experiences), you also have an option for My Time.
My Time dining allows you a bit more flexibility in when you plan to do dinner each night, around your activities, rather than preselecting a more rigorous schedule when your kids just want “30 more minutes” in the pool before finally getting out for the day. However, the name is a bit misleading!
You see, while My Time allows that flexibility in when you choose to dine, if you happen to have any idea of when that might be in advance, you’ll want to go into the app and make a reservation! I know — I just said flexibility, but hear me out, if you show up to main dining for dinner without a reservation time at all (even with My Time selected) you’ll be treated as a walkup and will be given a return time from the time you tried to do dinner.
Save yourself the extra hassle, and when you’ve got a ballpark idea of when you’ll head to dinner, even if it’s days or hours in advance, make sure you’ve reserved that preference in the app or you could find yourself hungry and having to wait even longer than you expected.
Certain Onboard Activities Have Dress Codes
Active sailors, listen up! If you’re looking to participate in physical activities on board a Royal Caribbean cruise ship, you may have a dress code to adhere to. No, we’re not talking anything too fancy, but most of the physically demanding games and experiences to participate in onboard will require closed-toed shoes or sneakers (preferably with socks). As an avid flip-flop wearer, I almost had to sit out a game of laser tag with the rest of my family, but thankfully didn’t have to because of a split decision to pack my tennis shoes, which paid off later.
Also, if you’re planning on ice skating (yes, they have ICE SKATING on some ships!), you’ll need shoes AND long pants before you’re cleared to skate. This, unfortunately, isn’t an experience I can tell you about because that’s definitely one thing I didn’t think to pack on a sunny Caribbean vacation.
Adults-Only Areas Start At Age 16
Yeah, this one’s pretty straightforward, but we were surprised to learn that the adults-only areas (which are common across most cruise lines) classify “adults” for these spots as young as 16.
This would apply to places like the Solarium, adults-only pools and hot tubs, and general deck hangout spots that were for the older crowds exclusively.
If You’re Used To An All Day Kid’s Club, You Won’t Find That With Royal Caribbean
My kids ironically LOVE spending time away from their parents while cruising (as they’ve put it to us, they’re “on vacation, too”). So if your kids are used to kids’ clubs and teen hangouts that can keep the fun coming all day long, you’re in for a different experience with Royal Caribbean.
The kids’ clubs on board Royal Caribbean are found within Adventure Ocean and are sectioned off by age groups, from tiny tots and toddlers all the way to teens. While admittedly the older teen group has a bit more flexibility to come and go with their activities, the younger children will have select hours to check in AND out multiple times a day. So, if you’ve booked that specialty dining for a late dinner at 9 PM and don’t want to rush through or pay an hourly rate past 10 PM for pickup, you’ll want to make sure of the breaks Adventure Ocean takes throughout the day and rearrange your schedule accordingly.
Overall, we had a great time as a family sailing with Royal Caribbean, and we felt like we had a nice introduction to what their cruise ships have to offer. We’re already planning our next Royal Caribbean cruise on a different ship with a different itinerary, if that tells you anything, so you’ll have to stay tuned to see which ship we choose to sail on next!
We’re constantly talking about the changes in all kinds of travel to keep you informed with the most updated information. Be sure you’re following along with us at AllEars so you don’t miss a thing!
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Which of the major cruise lines is your favorite to sail? Tell us in the comments!
definitely Royal Carribean