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Going on first ever cruise - tips please

7 replies

Topbird29 · 18/08/2024 22:13

Going on cruise next year- royal carribbean to the Greek islands in August. Is our joint 50th birthday year, so thought would push the boat out. Have DS13 and DS11 with us. Any top tips? Can we book excursions before, and if so, how long before? Or is that a first job when get on board? Are any paid activities pre booked before boarding (I.e. spa treatments?). Any tip re drinks packages etc? Thanks in advance.

OP posts:
steadywinner · 18/08/2024 22:20

I doubt you'll need to book excursions for the Greek islands. They're expensive compared to just hopping in a cab or on the bus to go to the nearest town from the port.

Have a look at the cruise critic website, they have pages dedicated to each cruise line and some helpful advice from people who've been on your specific ship/on the same holiday.

Have fun!

ChittyChittyBoomBoom · 18/08/2024 22:29

If you’re on Facebook, there will be a group for your particular sailing and one for your particular ship. You will be amazed at the wealth of knowledge people on these groups have!

I went on my first cruise last year - also a RC cruise to the Greek islands. I’d do it again in a heartbeat.

Drink packages - depending on how much alcohol you drink will depend if which package will be best for you, if at all. It might be cheaper to payg. All people in your cabin must have a package of some sort-it’s all or nothing. They ALWAYS have offers on. Apparently the Black Friday sale is particularly good.

Excursions-they can be expensive so depending on how confident/risk averse you are, it will be cheaper to arrange your own. You should be able to book via the RC app now I think-definitely don’t leave booking until you get on board. Its worth noting that if you book a RC excursion, the ship will wait if your return is delayed. If not……

Other bookings-about a month before you go, you’ll be able to book shows etc.

TheWoollybacksWife · 18/08/2024 22:51

You can book excursions before you sail. The Royal Caribbean app will list the available excursions for your holiday. I can't remember how soon in advance all the excursions are listed but some (if not all) will be there already. They are usually more expensive than booking something independently but you have the reassurance that if something goes wrong and you are delayed your ship will wait for you. Check the web page too as I seem to remember that some might be listed there and not on the app.

There is a website called WhatsInPort that gives a good overview of the various ports you will call at. It will tell you how far away the cruise port is from the various towns - eg Piraeus is a good distance from Athens and you will need some form of transport to get to Athens itself - other ports it may be possible to get off and walk into the port to see the attractions. It's not the most user friendly website but it is very informative. You can use the information to decide if you want to just mooch around, book an independent tour (eg Viator for hop on hop off bus tours) or use a Royal Caribbean official tour. Some of the tours sell out really quickly and we recently had a tour cancelled and only found out once we had boarded.

If you are flying in then Royal offer airport transfers. We've used these and combined them with a tour on the last day to squeeze the last drops out of the holiday.

You can book the spa on board if you want to. They always seem to have loads of availability - just beware of the up selling for products if that's not your thing. The therapists usually have stands in a couple of places around the ship and you can speak to them about treatments.

The drinks packages aren't cheap but it's useful to know everything is paid for and you aren't faced with a massive bill at the end of your holiday. There are enough free options if you don't think you'll cover the daily cost but premium fresh juice, a couple of specialty coffees, a couple of sodas, two glasses of wine and a cocktail each day soon adds up. The free stuff is filter coffee, tea, water, lemonade and iced tea. A cocktail is $14 or thereabouts and a glass of wine is $11. Coffee, soda and juice around $3-4. If one adult in the room gets a drinks package then both adults have to have it. You can't use one package to get everyone a drink.

We have never used the internet package. Our last cruise was Greece and Croatia and apart from the last day we seemed to be near enough to land to get a reasonable 4g signal.

A couple of weeks before you sail there will be some additional info on the app. Things like dress codes for the various nights. There will be a formal night and probably a white night and some casual nights. There has definitely been a reduction in the number of people in tuxes/evening dresses since Covid - but it's great to get dressed up.

Maddy70 · 18/08/2024 22:58

Look at "whats in port" website. See if you need to book excursions or cam get easily to places without

Topbird29 · 18/08/2024 23:43

Many thanks all. Will look at suggested websites this week and thanks for an idea of drink prices @TheWoollybacksWife, and to check out distance from port to the sights.
If we do go to a dressed up evening, what would be suitable for our boys to wear? Linen trousers/chinos and shirt? And they would prob just take sandals and trainers. Would they be ok in trainers?

OP posts:
TheWoollybacksWife · 19/08/2024 00:13

My DS wore chinos/shirt/converse at a similar age but I definitely saw a whole range of clothes and dress codes are not enforced as long as people weren't wearing swim wear in the evening in the main dining room.

There's a few cruise bloggers - Emma Cruises for example - they often post photos of themselves dressed up for the various nights.

Icanthinkformyselfthanks · 19/08/2024 00:16

No 1 tip is find the Facebook group for your cruise, there is bound to be one then find the Facebook group for your cruise company and ask away to your heart's content. Cruising is a fantastic way to holiday. Have fun!

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