Couple of Questions about Royal Caribbean

[RedLightVegas]

I've only cruised Carnival before and we're now jumping to test the waters out in another brand.

I plan on doing a day or two of TOTAL relaxation on this cruise. We booked this trip for the boat alone (for the most part)

 

Does RC offer the discounted spa packages throughout the cruise like they do on Carnival or is it better to pre-book all packages?

 

Are there any extra surcharges in the dining room?

 

Is it better to pre-book dinner reservations?

 

Do they have the formal nights? (What other dress up nights might they have?)

 

Everything is the same with the Sail and Sign right? You connect your onboard card with your debit card and they do one solid charge at the end for your bill?

[suezyq50]

RCCL offers spa specials the first day. I have seen other port day specials.

In MDR: You can order a special steak that has a surcharge. Fairly new to RCCL. Speciality dining also has surcharge.

We did pre-book dinner reservations.

They do have formal night. Depending how many nights sailing your sailing as to how many formal nights they will have.

Everything is connected to Set Sail Pass. OBC will be applied with one final bill at end of cruise.

[jackretired]

You only need to pre-book speciality dining.

For the MDR, you have a choice of early, late, or My Dining Time. I always picked early, till my last cruise forced me to late. When the cruise ended, I changed all of my future cruises to late. If you stick with early or late, then you will not have any problems with going to the shows.

[jackretired]

Sign up for the meet & mingle.

 

Go to Tea Time and have some bread pudding.

 

Do NOT do the blackjack tournament.

 

When you first board, check your table in the MDR.

 

Eat in the MDR when ever possible.

 

Go to the shows.

 

Do trivia, but ask other people to join your team.

 

Do Love & Marriage.

[cb at sea]

Tips are NOT charged to your account, unless you tell them to. The default is cash on the last night to your attendant, waiter, ass't. waiter and head waiter. If you decide to do My Time Dining, you will have to either pre-pay the tips or add them to your account...whenever you book that option.

[EngIceDave]

As someone who has done quite a few Carnival cruises and then did our first RCCL cruise on Freedom of the Seas earlier this year and I am going on Allure this wednesday, I will say that you'll be very happy for the most part.

Most policies are similar, and let common sense prevail.

 

But let me go a little off your questions and say that while I still like Carnival, as I am sure you do, you'll notice a step up in elegance and ambiance. Carnival's loud and almost obnoxious color schemes will not be seen on Royal. The color palette on Royal is more subdued and luxurious. The overall feel seems to be a step up.

Most people will say the food seems a wee bit better on Carnival, and with this I agree, but on everything else, Royal does seem to exceed expectations or at least what you're used to.

 

You will be happy with your choice to try something new

[39august]

There are no spa "packages" for the week, tho' there are daily specials and some of these offer 2 or 3 services for one price. Best specials are on port days. The only other charge in the dining room, (besides the afore mentioned special steak if you chose) is for sodas or alcoholic drinks. Many folks think you should book specialty restaurants before boarding. I have never done so and have never had any problem waiting till on board to book. Yes, there are two formal nights on a 7 night cruise.

[The C]

I would like to forewarn anyone using debit cards its different than charge cards.

 

Most hotels/resort systems do not differentiate and treat your card as a charge given a major logo (Visa/Mastercard).

 

The problem becomes your bank. Typically with RCCL they operate differently than hotels. For example, I currently work for a major hotelier. When we swipe ANY credit card we authorize for room, tax, plus $50 per day (up to 250 max) as a security hold. We additionally use a running hold on your card. RCCL does differently. When you check in at the port and they swipe the card, it does nothing but a card check. A card check is running the number against an algorithum (sp sorry) to make sure its a valid possibility (I forget how, but all credit cards in the world when the numbers are put together in a particular formula it gives a specific number. All card issuers follow it, and its why when you give a fake number to most systems that dont check a monetary amount in advance they still know). It doesn't actually run an amount to the card. Later each night as you make purchases they authorize your card for your purchases. I know this to be true for RCCL as I once gave them my card and it had my rental car on it. Since the rental hold wasnt released, I had no available money. I didn't have my Seapass deactivated for purchases until that night.

 

Basically either way its done, the problem is with debit cards your bank determines how it will treat a running authorization. Some banks treat it as multiple holds. Some banks adjust the amount as the hold changes. For banks that show it as multiple holds, when the charge settles it could settle as multiple charges. Some banks dont do it as a hold at all, they show it as a debit from the account. End of story, make sure you know how your bank will treat it, not nice to get stuck out on the seas unable to access your money, or have to eat a nice bill to talk to bank.