THINKING About A Royal Cruise, Help?

[Texas_Buckeye]

So, in a nutshell....after THREE cruises with a different line, THINKING about trying A Royal cruise. Would like a suite, but unsure of amenities (only cruised Conceirge), dining rotation, etc. Will be a Western Caribbean (if available).

 

[OKW Lover]

We are platinum on DCL and Diamond Plus on RCL. We love sailing in the RCL suites (Grand Suite minimum, don't bother with Junior Suite).

Dining rotation is only a DCL thing. No such thing on RCL. In the Main Dining Room, you can book early seating, late seating or My Time Dining. MTD simply means you dine when you want to that day. Reservations are suggested. If you are sailing on one of the Oasis class ships, then you may not even darken the door of the MDR as suite guests have access to Coastal Kitchen for all meals. On a 7-night cruise we typically sail in a suite and book specialty dinners 3 nights.

 

[John VN]

So, in a nutshell....after THREE cruises with a different line, THINKING about trying A Royal cruise. Would like a suite, but unsure of amenities (only cruised Conceirge), dining rotation, etc. Will be a Western Caribbean (if available).

What cruise line with Concierge have you been on??? What amenities are you hoping for???

We are platinum on DCL and Diamond Plus on RCL. We love sailing in the RCL suites (Grand Suite minimum, don't bother with Junior Suite).

Dining rotation is only a DCL thing. No such thing on RCL. In the Main Dining Room, you can book early seating, late seating or My Time Dining. MTD simply means you dine when you want to that day. Reservations are suggested. If you are sailing on one of the Oasis class ships, then you may not even darken the door of the MDR as suite guests have access to Coastal Kitchen for all meals. On a 7-night cruise we typically sail in a suite and book specialty dinners 3 nights.

r.e. - - bold--- Thought Sky and Star Class had CC for all meals whereas Sea is only for Dinner.

 

[OKW Lover]

.e. - - bold--- Thought Sky and Star Class had CC for all meals whereas Sea is only for Dinner.

Yes, that is correct and I should have been clearer. That's one of the reasons my response mentioned a Grand Suite minimum. Grand Suites are Sky class.

 

[nancy drew]

So, in a nutshell....after THREE cruises with a different line, THINKING about trying A Royal cruise. Would like a suite, but unsure of amenities (only cruised Conceirge), dining rotation, etc. Will be a Western Caribbean (if available).

What sort of amenities are you hoping for? Royal has 2 levels of suite staterooms on most ships and 3 levels of suites on their Oasis class ships.

The first level is junior suite and that almost doesn't count as a suite.

The next levels include access to the suite lounge (with food and drinks throughout the day), access to the suite deck, and access to Coastal Kitchen if available. You also get free room service and priority boarding/disembarkation and VIP seating for shows and a few other benefits. The highest level of suite on Oasis class ships gets all of that plus free wifi, free beverage package, free unlimited dining plan, and a Genie who pretty much does whatever you want them to do, including having a meal from a specialty restaurant delivered to your room.

 

[ucf_knight]

We are platinum on DCL and Diamond Plus on RCL. We love sailing in the RCL suites (Grand Suite minimum, don't bother with Junior Suite).

Dining rotation is only a DCL thing. No such thing on RCL. In the Main Dining Room, you can book early seating, late seating or My Time Dining. MTD simply means you dine when you want to that day. Reservations are suggested. If you are sailing on one of the Oasis class ships, then you may not even darken the door of the MDR as suite guests have access to Coastal Kitchen for all meals. On a 7-night cruise we typically sail in a suite and book specialty dinners 3 nights.

Do you know if you are still able to order room service off the main dining room menu? We haven’t sailed in that level of room in some time and that was such a huge benefit for us. Especially for breakfast.

 

[OKW Lover]

Do you know if you are still able to order room service off the main dining room menu? We haven’t sailed in that level of room in some time and that was such a huge benefit for us. Especially for breakfast.

Unfortunately I don't know. We always did breakfast in Coastal Kitchen. I doubt we even looked at the room service menu.

 

[Texas_Buckeye]

Thank you, everyone, for the kind response.
We are looking at either a Grand Suite or Aqua Suite (?).
I have cruised Conceirge on DCL and was HOPING for something similar. We loved the Hyatt and luggage retrieval, along with the transportation TO the port. The return left alot to be desired.

 

[John VN]

Thank you, everyone, for the kind response.
We are looking at either a Grand Suite or Aqua Suite (?).
I have cruised Conceirge on DCL and was HOPING for something similar. We loved the Hyatt and luggage retrieval, along with the transportation TO the port. The return left alot to be desired.

Both DW and I feel that our experiences with DCL Concierge and RCCL SKY while on board are not comparible . RCCL is far and away the winner with the amenities offered AND at a lower price.

 

[starvenger]

The thing going from about DCL to just about any other cruise line is that DCL doesn't have much variety when it comes to ship size. So you need to take that into consideration when looking at ships.

Royal's bigger ships are newer and thus have more tech versus their smaller ships, and the prices will vary as you might expect.

if you've got kids, I think that you'll almost certainly want to go Freedom, Oasis or Quantum class, as there is simply more for them to do. If you live in Texas around the Gulf, Allure is supposed to be sailing out of Galveston in the near future (I think 2021), so something to think about.

 

[cutigerlady]

Our first suite cruise is booked for September on MOS. We have sailed on MOS and Harmony and my kids loved both over Disney! We found there was so much more to do on the ship and the waits were either minimal or none at all.

We also liked that you can add on the extras that are important to you without being in a suite. So for example we had the KEY with many of the priority features. We easily booked cabanas at Coco Cay.

On the Harmony we ended up on a Western because of a hurricane and really enjoyed it!

 

[frank808]

Do you know if you are still able to order room service off the main dining room menu? We haven’t sailed in that level of room in some time and that was such a huge benefit for us. Especially for breakfast.

As long as you are sailing in a Grand Suite or higher, you can order from the MDR menu during the same time that the MDR is open.

 

[Texas_Buckeye]

Thanks all!
We haven't "pulled the trigger ", still trying to figure things out. Hoping to sail out of Galveston. Plan on flying in the day before. Looking for someplace to stay that offers airport transportation then figuring out how to get to the port. Contacted Royal last week, received a "can" response that someone will get in touch with me. Still have not heard from them! Ugh. Strike one, Royal.
I know that they are a lot cheaper, however, if I can't get questions answered, in a timely manner, is it really worth it? I know, it's my decision and I have to decide if the lack of response is the only "downside ".

 

[starvenger]

I wouldn't talk directly to Royal. Better to go through a TA, like the board owners or a local cruise specialist.

 

[DisMommyTX]

I usually book all travel myself, but most cruises are worth going through a TA. We always get extra booking perks like obc, free gratuities, specialty dining, and it's less work for me.

 

[starvenger]

And the TA can usually answer the questions you have, plus figure out the airport transfer plus accommodations if that's what you're looking for.

 

[Mikamarii]

I also recommend using a TA for cruises. We got hooked up with one through expedia a couple years ago and have used her several times since. They've always offered an onboard credit in addition to whatever Royal has been offering. We recently booked two inside stateroom for a Baltic Cruise next summer. Through the TA, Expedia had a group booking that was over 1000$ less total than what Royal was advertising for the same refundable rate. Plus it came with 100$ credit per room. You lose nothing by using the TA. We still make all other arrangements on our own (dinners, shore excursions, drink packages, etc). If we see a price drop I just screenshot, email to her, and she calls to get the lower rate.

 

[Texas_Buckeye]

I guess I'll try a travel agent. Nothing to lose! Lol
Did check my voicemail today and had a message from a gentleman at Royal. He left me his name, number, and extension. He's off on Sunday and Monday but stated he's willing to answer my questions. So, the "strike" I gave to Royal is taken off the board.