When is Your Next Royal Cruise?

[branfam]

My husband and I are relatively new to cruising. We took a 3 night cruise to Bimini Bahamas last year on Carnival. This June we are taking a western Caribbean out of Galveston on Harmony of the Seas. It will be a big jump in length of cruise and in ship size and amenities for us.

 

[branfam]

My husband and I are relatively new to cruising. We took a 3 night cruise to Bimini Bahamas last year on Carnival. This June we are taking a western Caribbean out of Galveston on Harmony of the Seas. It will be a big jump in length of cruise and in ship size and amenities for us.

 

[bobbiwoz]

In August on Ovation of the Seas. Just booked shore excursions.

 

[Coconuts]

We just booked our second RC cruise for 8/8/24 out of Baltimore, Vision of the Seas, for 9 nights. It stops at Bermuda, Bahamas, and Coco Cay. 3 inside cabins for my crew of 6 and we're already arguing about who is bunking with who haha. I know it's an older, smaller ship without all the bells and whistles but we are all looking forward to a family vacation with all of us.

Our first RC trip was in 2021 on the Adventure of the Seas with 2 days at Coco Cay...that was awesome!!

 

[PrincessBelle39]

We have a cruise on Quantum of the Seas out of Brisbane in February 2025, going to Airlie Beach, Queensland.

In the meantime, we are trying our first Holland America cruise in June on the Koningsdam out of Vancouver to Alaska.

We do also have a cruise booked for November on Celebrity Edge out of Sydney to Tasmania, but I'm not sure we will make this. We booked this before we knew we were taking a trip to Canada and Alaska which is very expensive from Australia, so we may skip it and forfeit the deposit. We'll see how we go and if we can make it work.

 

[jacksdadcan]

While I was cruise shopping last weekend an extremely attractive price came up for 7 night in February 2025.

So... going Harmony next Feb for (another) birthday cruise!

 

[CAMinSC]

Alaska, Radiance of the Seas in May 2024!

 

[Sneaky3]

August- Allure of the Seas for a short 3 day
September- Icon of the Seas

Excited about both can't wait.

 

[dpswift]

August- Allure of the Seas for a short 3 day
September- Icon of the Seas

Excited about both can't wait.

Be sure to let us know your thoughts on the Icon. We are booked for the first week in November and I must admit I am a little nervous

 

[sarahcor]

September - Vision of the Seas out of Baltimore to Mass, Maine, St John, and Halifax
First time on Royal and the longest cruise I've ever been on so far, we are super excited!!

 

[SwissTravelingtoFlorida]

October 6 - Harmony of the Seas out of Galveston. First time cruising out of Galveston, first time being back in Texas since 1998 and first time on RCCL since 2003. So many reason for being excited!

 

[OKW Lover]

Just finished a RCL cruise on the Anthem of the Seas. Oddly enough I don't have another RCL cruise booked. But I do have 2 cruises on DCL booked.

 

[jenushkask8s]

October 19, 2024 - Icon (2nd time), Eastern Caribbean
February 10, 2025 - Utopia, Bahamas
September 20, 2025 - Oasis, Southern Caribbean
February 22, 2026 - Star, Eastern Caribbean

 

[kittylady1972]

TECHNICALLY not Royal...but their sister brand Celebrity. We did our first non-Disney cruise with them last month. We completed 5 nights out of Ft. Lauderdale on the Celebrity Reflection (May 27th to May 31st). If you were on the RC Allure, we visited CocoCay with you on 30-May.



Quick thoughts: The Reflection was a nice ship overall. I think there were 20 kids TOTAL on our cruise (exaggeration, but not many at all) and of course they were all in the pool on the Sea day but we didn't see too many otherwise. The 2 outdoor and one indoor pools were always a bit too crowded, but to just get refreshed we went to the indoor pool. Lots of adults activities happening (salsa dance lesson, line dancing, crew vs guest volleyball) but some of the indoor venues just didn't work well. Example: they had a gameshow one evening, really in a lobby area, seating was for MAYBE 20 people there so if you wanted to just watch, you sat at the nearby bar (full...seating for about 8) or you just stood around for an hour. BINGO one evening was in a small venue but at least there were seats. Karaoke was in a large bar/entertainment area in the rear of the ship, but seating was limited to actually see the stage (trivia was here one time also) and if you sat behind the bar you saw nothing of the stage. Just awkward. There was always music in the lobby area and at the pools, some good some not so good. Lots of seating in the sun, but the seats were SOOO close together on the higher decks so you could only climb onto a seat from the front. Not a ton of shaded areas overall.

Food was REALLY good though...loved the many selections of the buffet and how it was in stations. Fresh made pizza was always a winner, hand scooped and soft ice cream available most of the time. Evening buffet at 10pm had good selections also. Main Dining Room service was good...not great but good...and the food there was also very good...definitely they beat DCL in the food quality and selection IMHO.

Drinks...not a huge alcohol drinker but the few mixed drinks I ordered...not worth it. Exception was the martini bar...we had drinks there twice, all good and had some alcohol. We did not get a drink package of any kind, but we aren't soda drinkers anyway so if we wanted something we just ordered it. So glad for that. Not a lot of high quality alcohol selections anyway, I'm a hard cider drinker and never found that anywhere.

For the weird: We had 3 balcony staterooms in a row, right above the life boats. The first day, the glass on my son's balcony cracked...nobody around when it happened. He was in the middle, glass on both of our other balcony areas. It was cleaned up and repaired that evening...but that night while my husband and daughter were on our balcony, glass fell on them from above...and we heard another one break in our area later that evening. Glass remained on the lifeboat below us for the rest of the cruise (see below).

They did comp my son for the inconvenience with a specialty dinner. He told them he was with 5 others so we all had a nice specialty dinner one night. It was good...not the best but overall good. DCL wins on the specialty dining in terms of service and food quality.

Would we try them again? Probably. We are still considering a RC cruise now that the Baltimore port nearest us is open again, even though getting there without the bridge now is not nearly as convenient for us.

 

[mbizup]

Aug 10 - 16, 2024: Adventure
Apr 14 - 19, 2025: Voyager
Aug 17 - 24, 2025: Wonder
Nov 2 - 9, 2025: Harmony

We went a bit overboard booking in advance, but looking forward to them all!

 

[RangerPooh]

We just booked our first RC cruise on Wonder of the Seas for March 2025. Too many days to wait.

Question- does RC use an app like DCL for booking excursions and dining?

 

[starvenger]

For Wonder, you should be able to use the app for that. You can also book the stuff online prior to the cruise.

 

[HopperFan]

Completed my 4th RCI cruise a couple weeks ago. Honestly I didn't think I'd ever cruise after the last one but family wanted to do a short (my first less than 7 day) cruise to celebrate DS#1 40th Birthday. **He likes cruises, Disney and beach and they thought that would be most special. Allure, 3 cabins, 2 Ocean Balcony, 1 Central Park Balcony. 4 nights really is too short in some respects and was too long in other respects.

Our first cruise was Carnival and we had no idea what we were doing. Booked Balcony Guarantee and made out quite well. Been years but I'm still not interested in cruising Carnival again. Last 3 have been big boy RCI ships, Allure, Harmony and Oasis. They are all pretty much the same ship minus some amenities (like slides), decor and need of renovation. Our first RCI was Freedom with Promenade View room.

IF I were to cruise again I would probably try a new line. Crown & Anchor perks are MINIMAL so being a returning customers really isn't a big deal. But if you ask me today when my next cruise will be, I would say I am done cruising. I did not feel I got value for my dollar for many reasons.

** Original plan was DCL, same 4 night, PC, Nassau, Private Island. Once we got the quote to book I about choked. LOVE Disney but nothing prepared me for a quote 3x the RCI quote. Unless they drop their prices or we can grab a last minute mega deal (we can travel with no notice) then I guess we'll never experience DCL.

 

[Frozen2014]

Completed my 4th RCI cruise a couple weeks ago. Honestly I didn't think I'd ever cruise after the last one but family wanted to do a short (my first less than 7 day) cruise to celebrate DS#1 40th Birthday. **He likes cruises, Disney and beach and they thought that would be most special. Allure, 3 cabins, 2 Ocean Balcony, 1 Central Park Balcony. 4 nights really is too short in some respects and was too long in other respects.

Our first cruise was Carnival and we had no idea what we were doing. Booked Balcony Guarantee and made out quite well. Been years but I'm still not interested in cruising Carnival again. Last 3 have been big boy RCI ships, Allure, Harmony and Oasis. They are all pretty much the same ship minus some amenities (like slides), decor and need of renovation. Our first RCI was Freedom with Promenade View room.

IF I were to cruise again I would probably try a new line. Crown & Anchor perks are MINIMAL so being a returning customers really isn't a big deal. But if you ask me today when my next cruise will be, I would say I am done cruising. I did not feel I got value for my dollar for many reasons.

** Original plan was DCL, same 4 night, PC, Nassau, Private Island. Once we got the quote to book I about choked. LOVE Disney but nothing prepared me for a quote 3x the RCI quote. Unless they drop their prices or we can grab a last minute mega deal (we can travel with no notice) then I guess we'll never experience DCL.

Your crown and anchor status doesn't do much until you reach Diamond (80 points) . Then, you get 4 free drinks a day, a free photo, free day of internet, access to the Crown Lounge...which means free usage of the coffee machine (i.e., lattes and capacchinos) plus other things. The 4 free drinks is a big perk!

 

[HopperFan]

Your crown and anchor status doesn't do much until you reach Diamond (80 points) . Then, you get 4 free drinks a day, a free photo, free day of internet, access to the Crown Lounge...which means free usage of the coffee machine (i.e., lattes and capacchinos) plus other things. The 4 free drinks is a big perk!

Yeah, that is a lot of cruises so for me it just doesn't factor into our future cruises if there are any.