Anyone been on a cruise holiday?

Just got back from a Italian Mediterranean cruise on the Independence of the Seas, which was fantastic, 2nd time we've been on this ship. As far as a holiday goes it's amazing, great food, sights and plenty of activities. The Oasis of the Seas looks like a great ship, hopefully I'll be able to go on it in a few years. The level of service is top notch, can't fault it at all, they always seem to go beyond expectation.

One thing to bear in mind is the gratuity system for ships. RC now appear to be doing a $12 per day per guest which is automatically added to your account. We asked for this to be removed and opted for the envelope gratuity system which meant we paid what we thought was right. Not sure if you can do this in the US, our ship sailed from Southampton. Something to keep in mind when budgeting.

Balcony rooms are nice, but they come at a premium. We did a balcony room on our first cruise but this time opted for an interior promenade state room, which I really liked and didn't cost any more than a normal interior room. I think they do a similar room on the Oasis from what I've seen. They will overlook the main area in the centre of the ship.

For dinning you are usually put on a table with other guests, the same ones each night, it's quite nice and you get to know them by the end. Some people don't like this so you can ask for a table for 2 but I'd recommend a larger table with others. You will have several formal nights on board so make sure to bring a nice suit or tux :) there will be lots of areas to have photos done which you can then buy for $24.

Any questions feel free to ask.

Edit: Quite a lot of young people on the RC ships, we were on a table with a retired couple and their son and daughter in law who were the same age as me and my wife (27/28).
 
Ali195 said:
What's people view on the rooms? My manager said you def need a balcony but then how much time do you spend drinking/admiring from it? The med is cheaper thus upgrading is not a massive decision but the Carribean ones can push it quite high.
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Never had a balcony, always inside cabin or outside cabin with a porthole. The reason we choose this is because the only time we spend in the cabin is sleeping and getting ready for the evening. The rest of the time it's spent in the numerous bars, theatres, lounges or on deck. There is so much more to do on a cruise ship than a hotel. Of course there are some people who will want to spend time in their cabin, so a balcony would be a benefit. The only time I'd pay for one is on an Alaskan cruise.
 
We've been on Liberty of the Seas and Explorer of the Seas. We couldn't recommend Royal Caribbean enough!

The first cruise we did we set sail from Miami and sailed for two days then visited Haiti, Jamaica, Grand Cayman and Mexico. We had excursions planned for each place. The cruise was 7 days.

A couple of years later (2010) we did another caribbean cruise and visited Haiti again (this had changed quite a lot), Dominican Republic, St Kitts and St Thomas. This Cruise was 10 days this time and set sail from New York.

I'd say a 7 day cruise is enough days to appreciate everything, I was never bored once on this cruise but the 10 day one I was wishing it was a couple of days shorter. If you can, money depending, fly to America and stay a few days there and set sail from a port there like we did. Obviously it's expensive!

There's so much to do on the ships and you'll likely put on about 2 stone :p

Oh and a balcony is a MUST in my opinion, being able to sit out there and eat your breakfast whilst docking and seeing all the scenery is amazing. Makes the trip!
 
LiE said:
Just got back from a Italian Mediterranean cruise on the Independence of the Seas, which was fantastic, 2nd time we've been on this ship. As far as a holiday goes it's amazing, great food, sights and plenty of activities. The Oasis of the Seas looks like a great ship, hopefully I'll be able to go on it in a few years. The level of service is top notch, can't fault it at all, they always seem to go beyond expectation.

One thing to bear in mind is the gratuity system for ships. RC now appear to be doing a $12 per day per guest which is automatically added to your account. We asked for this to be removed and opted for the envelope gratuity system which meant we paid what we thought was right. Not sure if you can do this in the US, our ship sailed from Southampton. Something to keep in mind when budgeting.

Balcony rooms are nice, but they come at a premium. We did a balcony room on our first cruise but this time opted for an interior promenade state room, which I really liked and didn't cost any more than a normal interior room. I think they do a similar room on the Oasis from what I've seen. They will overlook the main area in the centre of the ship.

For dinning you are usually put on a table with other guests, the same ones each night, it's quite nice and you get to know them by the end. Some people don't like this so you can ask for a table for 2 but I'd recommend a larger table with others. You will have several formal nights on board so make sure to bring a nice suit or tux :) there will be lots of areas to have photos done which you can then buy for $24.

Any questions feel free to ask.

Edit: Quite a lot of young people on the RC ships, we were on a table with a retired couple and their son and daughter in law who were the same age as me and my wife (27/28).
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The cruise lines put A LOT of effort into the seating arrangements. When we went on Mariner of the Seas we were on our Honeymoon and every other couple was same age group and also honeyooners and one couple maybe 5 -6 years older who were on their 3rd anniversary.

It made for great conversation, met great people we all promised to keep in touch and never did (of course). I had to show those Americans how to drink... I don't remember much after making that decision and finding that getting extremely **** faced at sea means stepping off a ship the next day is very vomit inducing when the world stops gently swaying on the ocean.
 
Just got back from one in the first two weeks of June, Iceland and Norway, it was great, up to you how much you spend, shot of whisky $7, pint of beer of bottle$5.50, we spent just over $300.00. The drinks package would have worked out at $1400.00.
Crew, meals room service were real 5 star service. I will be doing it again. One other point, we paid just under £4000.00 (with balcony) for the 2 of us, sounds a lot but if you stay in a 5 star hotel for two would probably work out more.
 
We racked up a ridiculous bill for drinks (there weren't in a package deal at the time), drinking champagne cocktails every night wasn't wise :p It was our honeymoon though so meh.
 
It's very easy to spend on board, you just hand over your sea pass card which is linked to your credit card. Dangerous!
 
LiE said:
It's very easy to spend on board, you just hand over your sea pass card which is linked to your credit card. Dangerous!
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Indeed. Appletini's aren't cheap :D

24 hour room service is great too, we ordered everything on it one night with some friends. Oh dear.
 
bobuk said:
Just got back from one in the first two weeks of June, Iceland and Norway, it was great, up to you how much you spend, shot of whisky $7, pint of beer of bottle$5.50, we spent just over $300.00. The drinks package would have worked out at $1400.00.
Crew, meals room service were real 5 star service. I will be doing it again. One other point, we paid just under £4000.00 (with balcony) for the 2 of us, sounds a lot but if you stay in a 5 star hotel for two would probably work out more.
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We did Norwegian Fjords on the MSC Opera for £1250 for four of us (2 year old and a 4 year old), sailed from Southampton.
 
A few pics from the Independences of the Seas.

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Was on Liberty sailing out of Barcelona last week.

I plan to do a detailed review with pics and vids at some point, but it's suffice to say that I will be cruising again in the future for sure! :D
 
Pookie Bear said:
My brother in law works on the Liberty and I'm sailing on her starting this weekend! Very excited :)
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What's your stateroom number?

It's often faster to walk to the front elevators if you need to go up or down loads of decks than waiting for the aft elevators.
 
krooton said:
Was on Liberty sailing out of Barcelona last week.

I plan to do a detailed review with pics and vids at some point, but it's suffice to say that I will be cruising again in the future for sure! :D
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Looking forward to reading your review. My wife and I are thinking about going on a cruise round that area.
 
Pookie Bear said:
We won't find out until we get there - we're on a friends/family list.
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Ah, must be a GTY stateroom, does your online check-in not give any indication? I would have thought you would still need to print off your bag-tags ahead of time.
 
Ali195 said:
Some suggestions based on your experiences would be fantastic.
Me & my gf wish to go on a cruise holiday Sept this year but as I’m fairly clueless when it comes to destinations (I've only been to HK & Germany in 28 years of life) & the costs involved (up to £1500pp, 9 day), I want to make the most of it.

In my mind I see a tropical paradise with amazing beaches, lots of fun ship activities, endless eating, drinking & generally lying out in the sun reading a book.


Now I had my sights set on that new ship Oasis of the Sea which travels to:
Fort Lauderdale, Florida - Cruising - Labadee, Haiti - Falmouth, Jamaica - Cruising - Cozumel, Mexico - Cruising - Fort Lauderdale, Florida or.....

San Juan, Puerto Rico - St Croix - Philipsburg - St John's, Antigua - Castries - Bridgetown - San Juan, Puerto Rico. BUT my gf worries it'll be full of American families buying expensive watches, and she would probably be right.
I guess in the end if these cruises are soo much fun it’s impossible not to enjoy then we'll be fine.
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i LOVE cruises!!!


never been on oasis of the seas, but heard its amazing. I wanted to go on it when ti was in europe but the ports werent very good (naples and rome only)

i want to do the bermuda and caribbean one. I thnk thats the explorer that goes there though rather than the big ships.

Ali195 said:
What's people view on the rooms? My manager said you def need a balcony but then how much time do you spend drinking/admiring from it? The med is cheaper thus upgrading is not a massive decision but the Carribean ones can push it quite high.

We spotted one the ships at Southampton last weekend while visiting IOW, was gutted not to be on :)
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ive sailed in an inside and a balcony, and havent missed the balcony when didnt have it. there is SO MUCH to do on the ships that i was never in the room anyway other than to sleep and get changed.

Andybtsn said:
Liberty is an excellent ship.
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yes! i have been n the liberty a few tmes, then went on the adventure, and missed so many of the thngs that are on liberty but not AoS. I wish id done it the other way around!

Im booked on the inaugural sailing of the Quantum of the Seas. only 15 months to wait!!!
 
krooton said:
Ah, must be a GTY stateroom, does your online check-in not give any indication? I would have thought you would still need to print off your bag-tags ahead of time.
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All of the check-in information has been handled by her brother - he took all our details and sorted it all out - all we need to do it turn up on time! She's done this before (on the Allure, in the Caribbean) - she didn't know then either! I'll find this thread once we're back on dry land and confirm where they stuck us :)
 
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