Royal Caribbean cruise

[Anna2111]

Never cruised before. Just put deposit for a west Mediterranean cruise in July on harmony of the seas Royal Caribbean. 2 adults , 17 and 12 year old.
Just getting cold feet - has anyone been on a RC or similar style cruise over the last year or so ? Just envisaging crowds, unruly kids and possibly drunk adults. Hoping to be presently surprised!

Thank you !

We did the western Mediterranean cruise with them in 2023. Our DS were 12 and 15 then. It was great!

There were some busy crowded bottleneck areas but also plenty of quieter corners. We really enjoyed playing the board games on the deck, was a big hit with the boys. Sun deck was heaving on the sea day though.

I didn’t see any drunken behaviour.

I’d recommend joining on one or two RC FB groups and plan what to do on each port so you can make the most of these stops. For instance if you are visiting Santorini, you need to plan as otherwise you will spend two hours queuing for the cable car under a scorching sun.

WendyFromTransvisionWamp Thank you- that’s reassuring to know. I think it’s one of those things - you won’t know until you try it! I’m glad there are quiet areas too. Our rooms overlook Central Park which looks quiet. We are going to la spezia, Rome and naples. Do you have any tips for them ? Thank you

So jealous. It will be fab. Some places might get busy, like the buffet, but it's all very well organised. I never saw drunk adults or unruly kids. Just people enjoying their holiday.

KerryPippin- that’s reassuring! I guess thousands of people cruise per year so a few negative reviews are not many in comparison!
Looking forward to it. Any tips for cruising / ports much appreciated! Thank you !

This ships currently (or shortly) in dry dock for some big renovations. You’ll have a lovely updated ship to experience your first cruise. It has a very short season here before heading back off to the Caribbean. Enjoy!

We’ve done several RC cruises in Europe, never seen drunkenness, badly behaved children or anything like that. There are quiet areas, busy areas for leisure time, the buffet gets very busy at breakfast on port days and queues to disembark can take a while.

Definitely find a FB group for your ship or your cruise for lots of tips and info. Rome is a long way from the cruise terminal (45 mins or so IIRC) and you need to plan to get the best out of the day but in Naples you walk off straight into the city so that’s easier, but it you want to go to Pompeii or Herculaneum need to think about how you’ll do that. Haven’t been to La Spezia. It is likely to be VERY hot on shore.

Yeah, RC doesn’t attract the boozer crowd. There are cheaper cruise companies where you can drink yourself blotto 🥴

You already got some advice but I’ll jot down mine here.

Rome is about one hour from the port. But definitely worth a day trip! If you book excursions through RC, and it’s late coming back, they will guarantee you’ll get back on the ship. But RC excursions are always more expensive than the private local ones.

Naples, as already stated, you can just walk to the city as it’s right by the port. Head towards the Centro Storico area, not the main train station. Naples is a very marmite city, I personally love it, been three times and wish to go again. But it’s very hot and smelly in summer.

While there you could do a day trip to Capri but it’ll be very busy there too. Or Sorrento depending on how much time you have at port. Pompeii and Herculaneum are very interesting and can be easily visited by train from Naples. But again, very hot and you are likely starting to wilt after one hour..

La Spezia, I can’t advice as I haven’t been there.

But honestly, no need to worry, you’ll have a great time. Just make sure you do some planning! I know someone who went onto the same cruise after us, didn’t plan at all as they thought they just swan out and mooch a bit. They missed out a lot.

Thank you everyone for all the reassurance and tips. I know it’s going to be super hot so may not do a lot of sight seeing.
palma - cathedral and beach
la spezia - I know you can go to Florence / pisa/ cinque de terre it depends how hot it is !
rome- planning to take an early train and come back early
naples - would love to see capri but would maybe need an excursion - however it does look like it will be crowded.
We want to have a relaxing holiday and tbh the kids don’t really like sightseeing in hot sun so it’s trying to find the balance !

You could always skip one of the ports (I’d suggest La Spezia) and spend the day in the gloriously empty pools when everyone else is out sightseeing 😉

Capri, you do not need an excursion there. You can just walk around the main square and also take the bus to Anacapri.

I've been on a few RC cruises. Each cruise usually has a Facebook group set up so you can chat to others and your DC can make friends.

We are doing a similar itinerary on another RC ship this summer. I’m limiting our sightseeing due to the heat so we will do:

La Spezia- morning Pisa trip
Marseille- head off the boat ourselves for a wander
Mallorca- wander around Palma for tapas and sangria
Barcelona- Camp Nou for the football obsessed

Haven’t decided on Rome.

Culturally it’s not the type of cruise people take to get ranked up on- there’s cheaper ones for that. One difference is they run kids clubs up until 18 and they are used- normally the first day or two for teens to meet then they just hang out. Obviously a lot less illicit teen drinking than if you were at a eurocamp or something.

The first day is very busy because less venues are open and people board early to start their holiday and wait for their rooms so I personally prefer to board a bit later but I find after that people disperse really well and it doesn’t feel too crowded.

Hope you have a great time OP!

I just did one with my friends in the Caribbean with RC. Very organised, didn’t notice unruly kids running around or drunk people misbehaving