Additional charges - drinks, tips etc - Royal Caribbean vs P&O

[MusingAboutCruising]

(Regular poster with a name change.)

I'm looking into booking a cruise for a special occasion for me & my DP. I've never been on one before and am trying to get a handle on all the additional charges. Currently, I'm weighing up 2 similar Med cruises: one with Royal Caribbean and one with P&O.

I was all set to book the P&O cruise until I found out about the formal evenings. (We're not really black tie people - DP doesn't even own a tie! That said, we might enjoy going a bit formal once or twice but don't want to feel like we have to do anything, we just want to be able to relax.)

This led me to Royal Caribbean (which seems more laid back) and I was almost ready to book with them until I found out about their drinks packages. Apparently, they are $65 (US) per person per DAY for alcohol and $26pppd for teas, coffees etc. We're not big drinkers but, assuming I've understood correctly, this will massively increase the overall cost. (We're already looking at booking the cheapest, inside room to keep the costs down.) Gratuities are an additional $14.50pppd, ie. approx £310 total. (This is on top of the booking price and before excursions.)

So, I'm back to looking at P&O. I've spoken to them and they've assured me that you don't have to go to the formal dos - you can just be smart-casual in the buffet if you like and smart jeans are fine there. I think their drinks packages/prices seem OK. Gratuities are an extra £6pppd - approx half RC's price.

I'm leaning towards booking with P&O but, have I missed anything? I don't want to book and then discover a whole load of additional extra charges or that I could have somehow reduced the cost 'if only I'd known...' (whatever).

If anyone has experience with any of this, I would very much welcome your advice.

Ventura has UK sockets in the cabins, so invest in a multi-USB charger for your camera etc. Worth their weight in gold as they tend not to have many empty sockets.

The ship is also completely cash free. You register a credit card on boarding and everything is then charged to your room via your key card (in sterling, so no need to worry about X-rates).

Wow! Some brilliant advice here, thank you.

I saw some battery operated nightlights in Poundland and thought about it, but just hate buying plastic stuff like that. We will take a torch though.

I'm worried about the room choice now. Think I might contact them to ask about it.

Why worried about the room choice? An internal cabin is fine. I've been in a few. It's a good way to save money, too. The only time I've found it a hassle is one time I was in an internal cabin that had bunks! Yes! As I have said, I love cruising and this was a 3-night one a mate found a serious bargain for but the trade off was there were 4 of us girls in that room. LOL. We did fine but I'm glad it wasn't longer. You can also ask your stateroom attendant to put one of those egg-crate type toppers on your mattress if you find it too hard (I have had to sleep on those couches that fold out as beds on several cruises and these toppers are excellent).

If you don't like the idea of a battery-operated night light, one of those battery-operated candles works well, too, and you can use it loads at home.

I now have trouble falling asleep so I bring a tabletop fan along for white noise on cruises now, and silicon earplugs.

There is a P& O Cabins FB page where you can ask if anyone has stayed in Ventura cabin X123. There is usually someone who can post a picture of the actual cabinnornone just like it.

The reason I'm worried about the room choice is because it's high up. I get travel sickness and stressed this to the agent and he advised this cabin for that reason. I'm now reading that it's best to be lower down, near the centre of gravity.

As a fellow ship loving (severe) travel sickness sufferer I'm always advised low down midships is the place for the least movement. However don't go so low down tbat you're near the engines because they create vibrations all of their own! I've done four transatlantics on this advice.

@SadieHH - Thanks. Yes, that's what I've been reading.

That's true, Sadie. See, I like white noise and vibrations so I go for the first passenger deck above the gangway but midships because the anchor makes a hella racket when it's dropped in port, it can shake the walls even! But it's really far forward and I don't like forward rooms, anyway. The other advantage to such a room, besides being cheaper, is that you have opportunity to increase steps/exercise on board ship and also get on and off at port easier as you don't have to queue for the lifts (and you can usually only use 4-8 lifts to get on and off port as you don't have access to the entire deck where the gangways are). But of course, you cannot get a balcony room, you wait longer for lifts if you want them and it can be noisy.

I think your room choice is fine. It's really not a rough ride at all on a cruise ship in good weather.

Definitley look on the websites mentioned.

Definitely lower down for less movement- suspect your agent was just trying to sell a more expensive cabin

Re tips- waiting and cabin staff work for almost zero salary and rely on the tips. I always pay at least the minimum amount, and more if I think the service has been above good.

Went with RC and didnt take the extra packages. We drink water with meals anyway and there were squash macnines with orange juice. I am sure there were self serve coffee machines too. They automatically add a service charge so if you prefer to tip in person you have to go to guest servicss and tell them to remove it.

We just didnt gomto formal night, went to one of the self serve areas instead, tooo much of a faff for my liking

Ive been on Ventura ( and aurora and going on azura in September) it was a lovely holiday.
You dont need to worry about dressing up if its not your thing. In fact this time as it is a 7 night only cruise we have decided to leave the formal stuff at home and just be smart. On the formal nights we shall eat at the fab buffet instead.
If you like singing ( dont have to be any good) join the choir, they sing together on sea days and give a short concert at the end of the cruise.
Have a great time.

Oh and you can remove all service charges at reception on the last day and just tip who you want.

P and o are removing the tips from May 2019

Not sure if anyone's mentioned it (if they have, sorry!), but you can take as much drink on board as you want on P&O I think.

We've only sailed Royal Caribbean so have been restricted to the one bottle of wine per person rule, though may have smuggled some spirits on board using rum runners before! And we didn't end up in the naughty room - woohoo!

You're not supposedly allowed to take water on board either but we brought a still sealed crate of 24 bottles with us on one cruise. Stuck a luggage label on it and hey presto it arrived in our cabin!

I hadn't realised P&O were so strict on dress code. I knew they didn't let you in the restaurants if you don't comply but the bars as well?? That's a bit too much for me, and we do the formal nights. The Americans wouldn't like that. In the US they'll often dress formally for dinner then get changed back into their casual wear after on RCI!

We love cruising but as we've only done RCI we're now scared to try another line just in case it doesn't compare!