Royal Caribbean Cruise Review: Highlights, Tips, and What to Expect

In this episode of All Things Travel, Ryan and Julie, along with their friend Michelle, share their recent experiences aboard a Royal Caribbean cruise. Broadcasting live from Miami International Airport, they provide an in-depth review of their trip, covering what they loved, what they didn’t, and valuable tips for future cruisers. From the variety of activities onboard to the convenience of pre-cruise preparations, and the unique experiences at Perfect Day at CocoCay, they leave no stone unturned.

Key Takeaways:

• Cruise Highlights: Discover the top features of Royal Caribbean cruises, including diverse activities for all age groups, exceptional entertainment, and the newly introduced adults-only Hideaway Beach at CocoCay.
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• What to Watch Out For: Learn about some of the less favorable aspects, such as the complex ship layout and the loud atmosphere on the pool deck. Get tips on navigating these challenges to enhance your cruise experience.
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• Essential Travel Tips: Ryan, Julie, and Michelle offer practical advice on making the most of the Royal Caribbean app, selecting the right cruise length, and understanding the implications of different departure ports and itineraries.
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• Cruise Dynamics: Understand how the cruise length and pricing can influence the onboard atmosphere and how to choose the right cruise for your desired experience.

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Transcript

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Hello and welcome to All Things Travel. Julie and I, along with our good friend Michelle, just got back from a Royal Caribbean cruise. And today we're going to break down some of our favorite things, and tips for you today. not so favorite things, and travel tips for you today. This is being recorded live for you at the Miami International Airport, so you're gonna hear some things in the background, but that's part of the fun. Listen in with travel advisors and destination experts Ryan and Julie. I'm your travel professor, teaching you everything you need to know to have a magical vacation. And she's a Disney loving Maryland mom of three. and a specialist in family travel. Whether we're discussing incredible destinations, top vacation tips, or sharing personal stories, it's always all things travel. Before we get started, we want to let you know that All Things Travel has a new Facebook page we're really excited about, and we want you to be part of the fun. So hey, get on Facebook, look for All Things Travel Podcast. You're going to see our logo and we'd love for you to like and follow the page. All right, ladies, we are here in Miami international airport. This morning, we just got off of Royal Caribbean cruise line. It was a great couple of days, wasn't it? It was, I had so much fun. I think it exceeded expectations in some ways and left me wanting a little more in other ways, but I'm really excited to share with everyone, I just feel like a wealth of knowledge after that trip and also we just had so much fun together. We have our good friend Michelle here with us today. You've heard Michelle on many episodes. And so, Michelle, we had a great time on this cruise, didn't we? Yes, we did. Welcome back to the show. Let's give a little bit of an overview so you know what to expect coming into this. So Ryan, Michelle, and I each went through and we each wrote Three things that we've liked about Royal Caribbean. Two things that weren't our favorite about Royal Caribbean. And then we also each came up with a tip. And some of these may overlap. It's totally fine if they overlap. That just means we really liked it, we really didn't like it, or we really think you need to do that for your next trip. So, I'll go ahead and start with my likes. The one thing that I've always liked about Royal Caribbean is there is such a variety on board. So, if you are an adult couple, there are things specifically for you. If you have little kids or teenagers, there's activities specifically for them. If you're a group that wants to dine together, do activities together, there are spots and places to do that. They do a really good job of providing lots of activities for their guests. Michelle, what was your top like? My top like was actually the entertainment as well. So all the live music that they have all randomly throughout the cruise ship. The different nightly entertainment, broadway style type production type shows, the comedians and oh, the game shows. The game shows are always super fun. Yeah. I like that Royal Caribbean has those. I mean, so this is only my second cruise and my first one we know was with Disney because we talked about that on previous episodes. Yeah. But they don't have game shows. They do have trivia. They do have bingo. And they have Broadway productions. Everything is super, super family oriented. But calling back to what Ryan said about the variety, there's a variety in the shows and the entertainment as well. You would agree? Oh, absolutely. Yeah, it was, great having lots of different types of entertainment, even on a short three night cruise like what we just did. My top favorite thing about Royal Caribbean Cruise Line is Coco Cay. So we did get one day, a perfect day at Coco Cay. I'd never been there before. I'd been to Castaway Cay, which is Disney's private island. Perfect day at Coco Cay, or as they corrected us, Coco Cay. Perfect D at Coco Cay. Someone at the island said that to us. So this was my first time going there. And the thing that I liked about Coco Cay was that there really was something for everyone to do. I absolutely went into the cruise being like, Ryan, they, nickel and dime you at Coco Cay. You have to pay for everything. Nothing is included. And I feel like I walked away with a very different perspective on that. I felt there was a lot for little kids to do. Like you could take them to the beach or they had water parks for kids that were complimentary. And I think that was really your primary concern. Not so much for adults because you have a beach, you have a pool, you have the drink package. Adults can pretty much occupy that. Your focus was really, if I brought my family here, what would that look like? And you really came away with. Yeah, I could see my kids doing this and we wouldn't have to pay extra for it. Correct. If we didn't want to now they have that massive water park thrill islands, and you do need to pay extra for that. But I think there's plenty to do without doing thrill island. Now, maybe it's your favorite. third time at Coco Cay, and you've done all the complimentary stuff, maybe then you do Thrill Island. My second like of Royal Caribbean in general, not just this cruise, is the preparation is so easy. For instance, as soon as you book your cruise, you can get online, you can do your excursions, you can buy your tickets. Your drink packages, you can buy your specialty dining, you can buy your Wi Fi, and you're all set. You know you've purchased those things, you're done. And then once your reservation is populated into your cruise planner, then that goes directly to the app, and you can start using the app. You use the app, to get ready for your cruise with registration. Use the app certainly during your cruise. They make it very easy to provide you all the information that you need to know that you're comfortable going on your cruise. I think Royal Caribbean does a really good job of that. I would agree especially if a novice cruiser. I very much agree. I think that I really like that everything became available early. So, Michelle, what was your second like? My second like was also Perfect Day at Coco Cay. But I guess to go in a little deeper, you guys convinced me to pay the extra charge for Hideaway Beach, and it was well worth it. the extra charge. Yeah. To have the private beach area and we even had our own food options swim up bar, the infinity pool overlooking the beach area. Well worth it. Yeah, definitely. If you're adults only. Hideaway Beach was, was awesome. And we mentioned Coco Cay so much because that is Royal Caribbean's private island, so a ton of their Caribbean cruises go there. And now even celebrity cruises go there. In fact, we had a celebrity cruise ship while we were there. So just to give you a little more information about Hideaway Beach. Hideaway Beach is their new adults only area. As Michelle said, there is dining there, there are multiple bars entertainment going on. They have swim up cabanas you can book. They have swim up cabanas that you can book extra, there's a huge beach just tons of stuff there. And, once you purchase admission, you have access to everything except the private cabanas. And for us, it was only 38 a person for the day, which we all felt was more than reasonable based on what all we got. Absolutely. Yeah. Julie, what was your second like for Royal Caribbean Cruise? I liked the big, splash pad that they had on board. There's like huge water playground. Royal Caribbean calls it It's usually Splashaway Bay and they have another name on it for it on some of their other ships. But on ours we had Splashaway Bay I thought that was great. My kids would love to go in there. you can't take kids with diapers anywhere on a cruise ship in the water. That is not for kids with diapers. But Royal Caribbean does have on most ships a separate area for those kids. That's right next to Splashway Bay. So you can easily have your little, little ones in that baby area and your kids in Splashway Bay, and they're right next to each other. I just really liked that they had that option and that it was pretty separate from. the main pool and the adult pool my last lake of Royal Caribbean, and I think this is more because I was just on Icon of the Seas a few months ago, is Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines does a great job of innovating, meaning they're always looking for the next thing whether it's directional based elevators where you can program what floor you're going into, and it will cut down your wait time, whether it's new types of dining, whether it's new activities on board, they are always looking to push the boundaries to not make it the best cruise, but make it the best vacation. I've heard their president talk about the fact that, other cruise lines are not our competition. Going to Disney or an all inclusive resort is our competition and we really want to create an experience for families that can compete with that. Michelle, what was your third like of Royal Caribbean? Third, like was not the departure day, but the departure experience. It was so easy. We just basically ate breakfast this morning and walked right off the ship. And it is very helpful that we all had passports because the birth certificate line was outrageous. And if you had a passport, you just basically walked right out the door with a little screening picture taking as you're going. And that was pretty much it. Yeah, it was super easy. Super easy. For my third, like I'm going to mention the food that was on board. So with Royal Caribbean, you have your main dining, your signature dining, and a lot of quick service options. And this is something that surprised me. So Ryan knows, and Michelle knows, I'm, Michelle and I were on the same page about this a little bit, and Ryan was trying to calm us down before the cruise, that we thought. that you have to pay for all these extra food, you have to pay for all this extra food that you might want. And it really didn't feel like that at no point in the cruise that I feel like I want to eat that and I can't because I have to pay for it. Now we did do one signature dining experience and we were okay paying for that because of the experience that we did have at that signature dining. Yeah, but we wouldn't have had to do that. We didn't have to do that, correct. You could have easily gone to quick service, you could have gone to main dining, you could have gone to room service. So I liked that there was a lot of food options included more than I thought. Absolutely. So let's talk about some of the things that we didn't like as much again, using this cruise as an example, but Royal Caribbean cruising in general so, Julie mentioned not paying for extra dining. I will say one of the things that I always caution people with a cruise is Know how much it's going to cost you to get off of a cruise and with Royal Caribbean There are certainly things if you want to add some convenience or if you want to add some special experiences You are going to be paying extra for that Very few things do I think that the price point doesn't match the experience? So I don't want to say that But keeping in mind how much it costs to get off the cruise when you're thinking about your overall Royal Caribbean cruise Julie, what's one of your dislikes? I didn't love the layout of the ship. I can't tell you how many times Michelle and I went back upstairs or back downstairs or this way or that way. We just could not figure out the layout of the ship and part of that is because it was a three night. But part of it is also because the way that their promenade is set up, it's multi level and the promenade is on many ships. So it's kind of like if you're on this deck, you may not be able to go across or there's a theater in the middle. You can't go across the deck, just the layout of the ship was just really cool. Just a little complicated to me. It was almost like there was too much to do. So one of my dislikes is actually, and I don't know if this is dependent on the ship, there were no toiletries. We had a, there was one bottle in the shower and it was, A hair and body wash a 2 in 1. A 2 in 1. So if you are particular about your shampoo and conditioner, make sure you have it with you. If you are particular about having conditioner. Yes. Now, I did end up using it and it works. My, my hair did fine. But if you're on longer than a three night, I would suggest bringing your own shampoo, conditioner, body wash, whatever you want. And there wasn't lotion. I mean, there was none of those like extra little amenities that, that I assumed would be in the bathroom. We, we kind of walked in the first day and we were, you open the shower, you're like, there's nothing in here. Where is everything? And it wasn't like there was a spot on the ship to buy that stuff. No. Ryan didn't notice, so we thought we'd share. I noticed that there weren't things that I expected, like at a hotel, but no, it didn't bother me like it did you. Ryan was like, I don't really have much hair to wash, so this is fine. My second dislike is the fact that we took a three night cruise on Royal Caribbean. The programming and the focus of those types of cruises, especially with it being a Friday to Monday cruise, really lent itself to more of a party vibe, which was okay at certain times, but it was also there when we didn't necessarily want it. The type of adult programming, which we really liked. There was really much a focus on that. The groups of people that were on board, a lot of bachelor parties, bachelorette parties where on other cruises, you might have a. Celerium that's a little relaxing. This one wasn't. Oh, this Celerium was the opposite of relaxing. It was rocking. And if you don't know, the Celerium is the adults only area. It typically has a pool, a bar, sometimes it has a cafe in there. There's usually lounges. It's usually a really nice place to relax. So speaking of that, Julie, what's your second dislike when it came to the cruise? Oh gosh, it was loud. I mean it was loud when you were out on the pool and I don't mean like in our stateroom but if you were up on the pool deck It was loud. The pool deck, I liked how it was divided. You had Splash Away Bay in one section for the kids. You had a main pool in another section with a movie theater screen. And then you had the solarium, the adults only section. But it just felt like, like walking from one to the other It was so loud. I would not have spent any time on the pool deck relaxing. Nothing about that was relaxing. And there were times that Ryan and I, not so much Michelle, she's a busy buddy, Ryan and I were looking forward to relaxing in the solarium and then it was like, oh, it looks like people soup. But you know, maybe you're going for that people soup vibe. I don't know. That could very much be you. On a three night cruise with Royal Caribbean, the programming that is available, And the price point that it is is, lends itself to a different vibe that you might get on a certain dynamic. On a three night Royal Caribbean vacation, The pricing and programming will attract a specific dynamic. That may not be what you're looking for in a cruise. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. If somebody is thinking about Royal Caribbean as a cruise option, what are some tips that we have for them? My top tip is get familiar with the app. The app is awesome, especially once you book your cruise and your information is in there. You can use that app for all sorts of things before, during, and after. And during, and even after your cruise to learn about Royal Caribbean, to learn about what you need to do for your cruise. And a bonus with that is, if you are sailing Celebrity Cruise Lines, because they are sister companies, the apps are very similar, if not pretty identical. So once you master one, you've mastered both. Julie, what's your top tip for Royal Caribbean? So, again, limited experience, but, And Ryan can kind of toss in some experience with his previous Royal Cruises, but would be to enjoy the pools and the solarium early in the day, if you want a lower crowd and a little bit of a softer vibe. Yep, absolutely agree. Michelle, how about you? I think that you need to consider the length of the cruise, the port that you're departing from, as well as what ports you're visiting when choosing your Cruise option those things will influence the target guests that Royals going Definitely, so we went out of Miami We noticed we had a lot of bachelor bachelor parties, which is absolutely fine. It's the perfect choice for that Yeah, I think, I think it's, I think it's great. One of those is an awesome option because so much is included. However, just know that going into it. We had so much fun on this short cruise being together as friends. We learned a lot as travel advisors. We spent some time helping each other with our businesses, learning about all inclusives, which we'll talk about in a, later episode. So overall, it was just such a fun time. And Michelle, as always, thank you so much for being on All Things Travel. Thank you for having me. It's been a blast. Thank you for being our friend. You want to plan a trip to an amazing destination, but don't know how to get started? As your travel advisors, we work with you to create a customized itinerary for your vacation and take the stress of planning away so you can focus on the fun and creating memories. You can reach me at Julie at creating magic vacations. com. You can reach me at Ryan at creating magic vacations. com. We look forward to talking to you next week on all things travel.