For our large ship cruising adventures, we choose to sail with Royal Caribbean. There is one main reason for this….. their loyalty program.
For us, the one thing we find disappointing is that they don’t sail out of Melbourne which means any time you want to sail, you have to fly somewhere. For us, it kind of limits the number of times we will cruise as we would otherwise be booking weekend getaways for a couple of nights just because we could leave work on a Friday night, head to the dock, jump on board for a weekend getaway and come back on Monday. I’m sure plenty of people in New South Wales and Queensland do just this!
That leads to the positive. Why haven’t we changed? I am a big fan of their loyalty program. I have compared it with other companies and just feel for the level we are at and what Royal Caribbean offer, I think they support their return travelers better than the others.
I would highly recommend you consider this, even if you are looking at your first cruise as nights on board count so if you’re going to go, you may as well make it count and get closer to a level where you will be able to save some money or receive some additional entitlements.
This is not a paid post and is my opinion only but I would recommend you do some research on loyalty programs as they can make a difference. You can check out Royal Caribbean’s program here. For us, we are now receiving free drinks (limited menu but perfectly fine) from 4pm to 8pm every night of the cruise, there is the diamond club lounge we frequent most days and we are very close to getting some other cool benefits such as tours around the ship. Even something as simple as the day of free internet can be fabulous (especially when you’re on a Christmas cruise and you want to ring home to say Merry Christmas to everyone).
Of course as I write this post (in 2021) they also have a special for double points per night until September 2022. A great way of increasing your cruise credits and working your way up the loyalty scale! Double points are normally only reserved for guests in suites (which are obviously the more expensive rooms).
Then we look at the ships. They are HUGE! They have a broad selection of things to do onboard. Even their smaller ships are a considerable size and just cater for so many things. Depending on which ship you’re on you’ll have theatres, ice skating rinks, bumper cars, sporting courts, the flow rider, iFly, numerous bars, multiple restaurants, mini golf, kids clubs, pools (including adult only areas), spas, rock climbing walls. The list can go on.
Another thing that I like about Royal Caribbean is their list of inclusions. I have heard stories from friends who have travelled with other companies about little extra charges for things like ice creams. With Royal Caribbean you have the main dining hall which is included in your cruise fare. This is a table service area and one of our favorites as we like to avoid the crowds. There are buffets and cafes if you want to stop by and just grab something to eat. The Windjammer is the main buffet. While I’m not sure how this might change after COVID (my guess is it will stay but maybe they will serve you instead of allowing everyone to be touching all utensils to serve themselves) the actual buffet is huge, has a variety of meals and is part of the fare. The kids love it (and many adults too) because you can just eat until you’re sick! So you are pretty much covered for food without having to pay anything additional (unless you want to and want to dine at one of the specialty restaurants). Drinks are an added extra. Having said that, if you are on a bit of a budget and you’re looking to not spend too much onboard, you can get water, hot chocolate in the mornings (actually possibly even throughout the day in the Windjammer if you asked), coffee, lemonade (USA style) and usually an iced tea sort of thing. You don’t have to spend a heap of money unless you choose to. Lastly, the ice cream machine is free. Well for every cruise we have ever been on with them. Sometimes we have been able to make our own cones but the last ship they restricted the ice cream machine to certain times and had a staff member do it (I’m assuming with COVID this is likely to be a feature everywhere if they continue it).
So meals are covered, there are enough activities onboard to keep you entertained and there are shops to browse. What else? Well, there are the shore excursions. Sometimes we have paid the cruise company for a shore excursion, other times we have used locals to take us to a place of interest and sometimes we just hang out at the beach where we dock. Again, it doesn’t have to be expensive but if you have something specific in mind, there are plenty of options.
One little hint I will throw out there in this post is that sometimes Royal Caribbean will include room credits in their deals. Keep an eye out for these as well. Sometimes they are worth it and sometimes they are only being offered because the price of the cruise is relatively high. It’s worth paying attention to pricing. If the deal is good and includes room credit, I love it. I like to use the room credit for something I may not otherwise spend money on. I’ve used it in the past for a photo package (where you pay an upfront fee to have all downloads of all photos taken by the cruise photographers throughout the trip), internet usage (this can become quite expensive, especially if you want to stream – which of course the kids do) and I’ve even used it to buy a necklace on board when we realised we were getting to the end of the cruise and really just didn’t need to spend it on anything. Alcohol, of course, is always an option. Some of the ships even have robotic bars so you key in your order to a tablet and the robot makes it for you. It’s fun. Room credits are also a common feature onboard if you book another cruise.
Another thing we really like about cruising is the ability to jump on board, unpack and not have to re-pack again until it’s time to disembark. When you’re cruising from small island to small island it’s a nice way to be able to see a variety of places without having to constantly pack and unpack every couple of days as you move from place to place. On a side note here, one of the downsides of cruising (in my personal opinion) is that if you’re visiting a larger place, such as New Zealand, you are limited to where you can get to in just one day that the ship is docked so you may not get to see too much of the country. I like it for a quick introduction but for larger countries, I would also prefer to cover it on land to ensure I haven’t missed anything along the way.
Regardless of which cruise company you choose, you will be able to find plenty to do onboard. You just have to look!
Things to consider?
When deciding on who to said with, I would really recommend doing some research to see what / who works best for you and what you’re hoping to get out of your holiday.
Not everything is going to be wonderful for everyone.
Large ships can hold more people. The pools can be crowded and you may have to line up for things like the rock climbing, the flow rider and if you happen to be on Ovation during school holidays you may want to get to the bumper cars early. If you’re hoping to find a quiet spot away from people, it may be difficult. I’d avoid the customer service desk on day 1 if you can as it will also be quite busy.
Small ships can be more expensive (they still need to make their money and there are less people onboard to spend it).
Target groups that a company market towards can be different. There are some companies that will target more party goers and may offer the option to purchase a ticket in a shared room (where they match you with someone else of the same sex etc) others might restrict too many kids etc. Make sure the company you are looking at is catering to your needs.
If you miss the start of the cruise, you miss the cruise. This can add some anxiety in if you’re flying on the day of departure and your flight gets cancelled. Our advice, always take the first plane you can in the day. Give yourself time, just incase or get there a couple days earlier and see the sites of the city before boarding. This also applies if you’ve decided to do your own thing when they dock at different places. If you’re not on their shore excursion, make sure you give yourself enough time to get back as they don’t need to wait for you!
I’m going to add getting sick in this section but not for the reasons that most people talk about. People often talk about outbreaks on ships such as gastro and obviously COVID-19 is a big topic as well. Personally, while we have been on ships where they have said there are gastro outbreaks we have never had a problem. Wash your hands and don’t let the kids be too grotty (e.g. tell them to keep their mitts out of the food) and you’ll help keep everyone clean. Are we worried to travel after COVID? In short, no. We have a cruise booked and we’re hoping that they are allowed to sail later this year so we can go on it. The reason I’m putting getting sick here is actually for general things. On our last cruise, my kids got a little sick (not gastro, just normal kid sick) which means taking it easy and therefore possibly not getting off the ship when it docks. There is not much you can do about it and the ship leaves that day so you just miss out. The ship is like a big tour. If you can’t go with the tour on that day then you can’t catch up later. It is what it is. I’d also recommend not having a hang over the morning of docking days as you will lose time trying to get out of bed!
All in all, we like the big ships. They can be busy but it’s like a small city. We really feel that cruising is such a laid back and easy holiday for the family or just together. It’s nice to get away, no stress and just relax.
