In the middle of February, island hopping. Is it a decent cruise line? Is there a dress code for dinihg and lounging?
Royal Caribbean is a good cruise line. No dress code for lounging. For dining - no tank tops for men, no bathing suits in dining rooms. Check out boards.cruisecritic.com.
I was on a Royal Caribbean cruise in 2009. At the time it was the largest ship…Liberty of the Seas. It was beautiful and awe inspiring. It was our first cruise and it’s really a floating resort. The dining room was spectacular and the meals very good. We were impressed. I have to say that I think if you can sleep in and stay up later that is the best. We are morning people so had a difficult time doing that. Several good shows later that we were too sleepy to go to.
We had one formal night during the week. We were grumbling having to take fancy clothes, but it turned out to be a lot of fun and even our boys liked it. It was fun walking in the promenade later and seeing evetyone so dressed up…a nod to the golden days of cruising.
There is no room in the bathrooms. I purchased a over the door shoe holder for 20 shoes. It was a lifesaver in the bathroom. Held everything from toothbrushes to curling irons. I think we used most of the pockets. They don’t cost much at Target orvWalmart. I also took Ginger Pills and whenever a bit of nausea started, it stopped it.
Join cruise critic…I learned so much!
Yes, another vote for “the other” CC … cruisecritic.com. 
We have cruised twice on Princess, once on Carnival, and once on RCCL this past May; we’re booked on another RCCL cruise for June 2017.
One major difference is that RCCL ships do not have self-service laundry rooms on their ships. There are laundry and dry cleaning services that you can pay for, but they are expensive. Every cruise we’ve been on, except the RCCL one, I’ve done a load of laundry mid-cruise. Especially important if you are flying and trying to keep your suitcases to a minimum, or if you are going to hot and sweaty places like the Caribbean. So, bring some hand washing laundry soap and some clothes pins to hang things around the bathroom to dry.
I’ve never been on Royal Caribbean but I have been on other Caribbean cruises: Celebrity, Princess and Holland America. You can finds lots of info on Cruise Critic as well as on Fodor’s. As the ship will visit several islands, some of the stays will be relatively short, some longer. I never would recommend taking one of the pricey excursions that the ship will be busy trying to sell you. For the most part you can easily explore on your own.
I am visiting CruiseCritic but would alos love to hear your experiences. What I hear from you is already very helpful. Thank you so much.
I really liked our RC cruise- better than Carnival, for sure. I think you will be pleased. Light clothes and a sweater for over-air conditioning…
We did a ten day cruise out of Baltimore a couple,of years ago…might have been nine days. It was fabulous…really fabulous. We went the second full week on January. Lots to do on the ship. I think the have discontinued stopping at Samana in the DR…which was truthfully awful. But every other stop was terrific.
Food was fabulous…and lots of choices. Clothing was generally casual. On the dress up nights in the dining room, I just wore a dress and jacket instead of slacks. Nothing fancy, and nothing formal.
We were traveling with 17 others…we did trivia, the married game, karaoke, jewelry making, dance lessons, spinning. A couple of us got massages and manicure/pedicure in the spa. We had SO MUCH FUN!
We cruise RCCL fairly often, and we really enjoy it. Our preference is for the larger Oasis-class ships-you never run out of stuff to do, and you barely feel the ocean. It really recharges our batteries (all four of us-me, H, and our 17 & 16 yo daughters).
Like some others, we love to dress up for formal night, and H and I will often go out dancing because the nightclubs are not too crowded early in the evening (we’re morning people and are out cold by midnight).
We also love to get up at dawn, go to the top of the ship, and do some crossfit or yoga, just the two of us, as the sun comes up, then hang out in the adults-only solarium and eat some delicious spa food and a good cup of tea. It is really sybaritic.
Most cruise lines charge extra for certain things and do other things to encourage you to spend. Check into those before you leave to make sure you don’t feel ripped off.
Hopefully you won’t have as many kids in February but they seem to get a fairly high percentage of kids on their cruises due to their climbing walls, wave machines, etc. etc. My take (2 prior sailings): Plus-- Good food, assortment, and nice presentation, entertainment, staff, nice ships. Minus-- High % of kids, small (standard) cabins.
Sure, you CAN spend on extras…but you don’t have to spend on extras…at all.
I didn’t mean to imply otherwise. It just seems to be a common complaint on the internet from first time cruisers.
I enjoy cruising -but if you aren’t expecting to pay for a soda card or for there to be a jewelry sale or art auction on every deck -then it may take you by surprise.
Sometimes part of the cruise agenda is to do sightseeing without changing hotels. (That was the case for our Western Med cruise). It does become important to research the shore excursion costs. For example, Rome is far from the coast. Our day trips (including bus, tour guide, fabulous lunch) were over $200 per person. Similar for Florence and Pompei/Sorrento days. Luckily we knew this was part of the deal. (On Cruise Critics, you can find alternative group options, but for our first trip we wanted assurance that “the boat will wait for you”).
This year we took a Carribean Cruise. It was for vacation / relaxation. We intentionally wanted ports that were easy for self-touring.
You will have fun. Most of the Caribbean you really don’t need to spend money on tours if you don’t want to. I’ve cruised Celebrity, Disney, Carnival, Princess and RC. They are all surprisingly similar. The dining room on a Caribbean cruise will be full of sundresses on the women. Men seem to stick with polo shirts and khakis and a sportcoat on “fancy” nights. I like to have the beverage packages only because I like ending the cruise and having paid for everything so no surprise on my credit card. Many of the lines are giving some on-board credit that can be used for the “special” dining rooms and I’m hoping you got some of that when you booked! The longest cruise I’ve ever done is a 15 day Panama Canal cruise. The shortest was a quickie 4 day to the Bahamas one year for a break from the snow.
The online discussion forums are quite lively, the most likely has been mentioned. It is a good place to search for very specific information about the ship you are booked on and the cruise line in general.
I’ve never been on a cruise but H and D1 went on the cruise that leaves from Baltimore. They had a room with a little balcony and it was somewhat spoiled by other people smoking on their balconies with smoke flying into their faces. I think some cruise lines have sad that now you can’t smoke on balconies or out the window so that may be worth looking into.
If you don’t like the smokers (and we don’t) try and get a balcony room as far forward as you can-the stench blows downwind, and if you’re the first cabin, you don’t get any.
You can also call the steward and complain, but it’s always effective (you’re not supposed to smoke on the balconies on RCCL).
Thank you for all helpful tips. I am looking forward to the trip!
Cruise Critic website took a bit to learn how to navigate. But is ever so helpful. I especially liked “Roll Call” section, where the crowd who will be on exact ship/dates shares tips. Wow, some people have been on soooo many cruises! (sometimes exact same ship/itineary) They have great advise. For our two cruises we got together at prearranged place/time onboard.
^^argh, was typing from my phone on my last post. Meant to say “not” always effective. It’s hard for the stewards to catch the smokers. The cigar smokers are easier to catch, though, they say.