Ahoy there cruisers.
We're going to tell you there's seven things we really wish we knew before sailing with Royal Caribbean.
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So number one is carrying on drinks.
Yep you heard me right.
You can carry on a certain amount of drinks.
If there's somebody in your cabin over the drinking age, which there always probably will be,
you can take up to two bottles of wine or champagne per cabin under 750 ml or less.
You can also take on soft drinks or water either 12 cartons standard cans or bottles as well.
If you take on anything over this unfortunately they're going to be confiscated from you when you check in
and then given back it to you at the end of the cruise.
This is a great way to serve as a little bit of cash
and it means you can have a nice glass of wine in your cabin before going out.
But make sure you do only consume these in your cabin.
Otherwise you'll have to pay a corkage fee on the bottles of wine.
Well corkage fees have been known to be charged and then not charged.
So there's about 50% chance whether or not you're going to be charged.
But when you are boarding please remember to pop those drinks into your hand luggage.
Because if they are in your main suitcase, which the porters handle, they will be taken out.
So you've got to have them in your hand luggage when you board.
I always go for one with the highest amount of alcohol to make the most.
Good tip.
That's an alcoholics tip.
I just love it.
It's pre drinks in the cabins. My favorite thing.
So when you're getting ready to go out for your meal and enjoy your evening on board.
Looking forward to the theater and all of the different activities.
You can have a few drinks in your cabin.
Pop it in your fridge if it's white wine or champagne.
Ask your room server for a corkscrew.
He will happily give you one for free or she will happily to give you one for free.
Fantastic, it does save you a lot of money.
Even if you're on the drinks package| it's still quite nice to do.
Number two is to make the most of the cruise planner before you sail.
We didn't use this as much as we should have on our last cruise and it's fantastic.
On the cruise planner you can plan things such as shore excursions, dining, entertainment and activities on board.
You can basically book everything on there.
Your drinks packages, all of your activities, everything.
It's a really cool.
It's got a calendar view on there as well.
So it shows what you've got booked each and every individual night.
In terms of shows, activities, entertainment and shore excursions.
It's a really good utility and as David says, you booked all of your little extras in there.
It's really nice as well your login it tells you how many days you've got to go.
But you can really plan your cruise in depth.
So it's usually a lot cheaper to book things on the cruise planner before you even get onto the cruise.
So you can pair things like your gratuities off.
You can book restaurant packages and drinks packages
and they are much cheaper on there than once you get on the ship.
Also of there's always really good deals.
Every six weeks or so, Royal Caribbean shakes up the deals on the cruise planner.
Giving things like; buy one get one free offers, 10 or 20% percent off certain things.
So keep your eyes peeled.
If you're in Australia, Canada or the USA.
You can book anything you want and then cancel it if you see a better deal.
So say you've had 10% offer a meal package, then you see they're offering 20% the next week.
Cancel that first one and book the new package and get the better discount.
Individual restaurants are usually the same price on the cruise planner as they are on the ship.
But it's cheaper to buy a dining package before you go.
Yes, you buy a set of meals may it be three meals or five meals and you get a good little discount on there
and it gives you a chance to try all them amazing specialty restaurants.
So tip number three is all of the extra charges.
Now this isn't anything unusual with Royal Caribbean.
This goes for most cruise lines now.
There's lots of extras and up charges.
Things like speciality restaurants, shore excursions, even things like gratuities.
All extra money that you've got to take into consideration when you book.
So when you book your cruise it is the best price.
It doesn't usually include things like gratuities and shore excursions and speciality dining and spa treatments.
All of these are extra charges.
You'll see a lot of people talk about "nickel and dimeing" these days.
It seems to be the thing that everyone says.
But like Ben said most cruise lines do this.
There'll be a lot of up-sell opportunities while you're on board as well.
So don't be shocked if people are asking you to buy dining packages or spa treatments.
Or the stores that are trying to lure you in to spend some money because that's what they want you to do.
That's how they keep the entry price of the cruise so low.
Is by all these extras the charge when you're onboard.
But don't feel obligated to buy anything/
There are plenty of free places to eat and drink and enjoy the activities.
So you don't have to pay as much.
It's all up to you how much you want to pay.
All we say is when you are planning your cruise.
If there is some activities that you want to do.
Just factor that into your budget before you sail.
Because these are all optional extras,
it means that you're not paying for stuff you don't use.
So for example, we're not really spa treatment people are we.
So we don't pay for the spa.
That's fine.
At the moment gratuities are coming in at $14.50 per person, per day for a regular cabin
and they're $17.50 for the grand suite or above per person, per day.
So please take these into consideration.
You can always peer prepare these gratuities before you even get onto the cruise.
Which we recommend because then once you get on board you know you've paid all your gratuities off.
And as we said there's an 18% gratuity charge on things like individual drinks if you haven't got the package.
Spa packages, speciality dining and all of that jazz.
So you've got to take that into consideration as well.
Number four is all about the dining options available on Royal Caribbean.
Wow we were really took a back about about how much choice there really was on board.
Not just paid for extra choice.
I'm talking about the included dining as well.
Of course you've got your buffet
but don't forget some special things in the buffets such as the chocolate fountain
that's a real treat that shows up on certain days.
They will do that throughout your cruise.
And also some of the special themed buffets as well that they'll do throughout the cruise.
Also, you've got Sorrento's pizza which is yummy pizza all included in the cost of your cruise.
The Cafe Promenade or Cafe 270 which serves sandwiches, salads, snacks and even breakfast items.
So these are fantastic extra free options,
That we didn't really know about until we got on board.
And for speciality dining well wow!
There is a huge choice as well.
We really recommend trying at least one or two because there are some fantastic restaurants on board.
Things like Jamie's Italian, Wonderland, Chops Grill, Giovanni's table, loads!
From Asian cuisine - Italian - magical gastronomy.
There's something for everybody.
So we really do recommend that you try as many as you can.
And these are not all big books sit-down restaurants.
There's also smaller places where you can get as quick bite.
We were actually really surprised by "Fish and Ships" on Independence of the Seas.
Oh so good!
It wasn't overly expensive.
I think it was about $7 for fish and chips.
And it was a real nice treat.
And for food allergies and dietary restrictions the cruise lines are really good with this now.
We've seen really good sections in the Royal Caribbean buffet with gluten-free and things like that.
When you get on board go find the head waiter and let him know your dietary restrictions or anything you don't eat
or can't eat because of allergies.
They will do the best, the kitchen staff.
To feed you as well as possible.
On boarding day you'll find the Maître d'hôtel and the culinary team
located somewhere throughout the ship.
So ask at guest services and it's usually in the main dining room.
That's where you can go for anything related to food any questions, queries
or if you'd like to change what type of dining you have.
But trust us.
You are going to be spoiled for choice.
There are so many different dining options on Royal Caribbean ships.
Number five.
We really wish we knew how addictive it was going to be to sail with Royal Caribbean.
Absolutely genuine here guys.
We love Royal Caribbean.
We've had the most fantastic holidays with them.
We've had three different holidays now
and we really loved being on a Royal Caribbean ship.
Just because there is so much to do.
There's so much to eat.
There's so many good things going on all the time.
Trivia, live music, Broadway shows, amazing food, lovely cabins, lovely crew.
You just really need to know how addictive this is before you start.
Because we didn't think we'd loved cruising before we started now we are completely and utterly hooked.
We are!
They always said that the best way to get rid of the cruise blues is to book another cruise
and it is true because we do find ourselves doing that a lot.
If you would like to book another cruise while onboard.
There will be the "Next Cruise" desk.
These will offer you special offers and promotions to lure you and entice you to book your next cruise there and then
But we always say; Compare these with prices online
and it's good to have an idea of what cruise you'd like to do
before you do go and chat to the "Next Cruise" people.
If you have booked with a travel agent -
they can then transfer that booking to your travel agency.
That brings us on to tip number six.
Which is booking.
We really recommend booking as early as possible.
Royal Caribbean put their cruises online and for sale up to two years in advance.
Trust us guys, ninety-nine percent of the time the earlier you book the cruise,
I know it's ridiculously in advance, the cheaper you've going to get it.
Because this is when it's all about supply and demand
and obviously there's a lot of supply and not as much demand right at the beginning.
The more and more they sell, the price tends to go up.
Unfortunately last-minute cruises are really not as much as what they used to be.
So you're not going to find them really fantastic deals as much as you used to.
Just because Royal Caribbean is super popular.
If you do get a good deal you're not going to get the good choice on cabins and itineraries.
Things like that.
So we do really recommend booking as early as possible.
If you're in the USA, Canada or Australia.
You have the benefit, much better than we do in the UK,
where you can reprice your cruise if you book with Royal Caribbean.
Up to 90 days before your cruise.
So you have booked it right two years in advance
and the price drastically drops for the same cabin
or same cabin type
90 days before.
You can ask Royal Caribbean to reprise your cruise.
Unfortunately we don't get that here in the UK.
Complete ripoff Britain.
Yes we moan about this all the time.
Unfortunately you'd have to cancel your cruise, lose your deposit and rebook.
If you have paid a £50 deposit, a reduced deposit rate, it still may be cheaper.
So tip number seven is about the dress code onboard Royal Caribbean.
Before we cruised we thought we were going to be tux and tails every single night.
And that's completely not true.
During the day you can wear pretty much whatever you like.
Shorts t-shit, summer ware or winter wear it for the winter cruise and swimwear around the pool.
On an evening it's pretty casual.
Trousers and a t-shirt you can get away with.
Unless it's the formal night.
But don't be scared of the formal nights.
They're not as strict as you'd imagine.
You can get away with a nice pair of chinos and a shirt.
You don't even have to wear a tie or a jacket or anything like that.
Ladies it's the same.
You can get away with a the nice dress or a nice pants suit, trouser suit, blouse.
Wherever.
What you'd normally go out for dinner with.
It really isn't strict.
Don't be scared of it.
Formal night is usually one on a three to five night cruise.
On a seven-day cruise you'll usually find two formal nights
and then 14 nights or more cruises, oooh! super lucky people,
There's up to three former night.
Do not be scared of them.
And if you don't want to get involved with them these dress codes are only stuck to the main dining rooms.
So you can go to the buffet or eat somewhere else and you don't have to get dressed up.
Well that's it for this tips on Royal Caribbean show.
If you have any tips for us that you'd like to share with us please leave a comment below.
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Cruise captain this week is Amy!
Ahoy!
So that's it till next time.
Happy cruising!