First time cruising - room service & more

[cdnliving]

Hello Seasoned cruisers. I am hoping you can help me with some questions......What is generally offered on the room service menu?

Is there fruit? What are the hours during which one may order room service? Must you do it well in advance? Is there a fee charged (aside from the gratuity)?

With regards to the drink card that one may purchase - where does one do this? How much is it generally? Are drinks such as iced tea and lemonade included?

Sorry about all the questions.. ...really appreciate your help! Thanks...

[firefly333]

Hello Seasoned cruisers. I am hoping you can help me with some questions......What is generally offered on the room service menu?

Is there fruit? What are the hours during which one may order room service? Must you do it well in advance? Is there a fee charged (aside from the gratuity)?

With regards to the drink card that one may purchase - where does one do this? How much is it generally? Are drinks such as iced tea and lemonade included?

Sorry about all the questions.. ...really appreciate your help! Thanks...

 

Since I dont know which cruiseline, I can only give general answers which may differ on a particular cruiseline.

 

Room service is generally free and 24/7, but there are some items which have a cost on some cruiselines you may order. Carnival has cold breakfast items you can order, RCL has some hot items you can order for breakfast for instance.

 

Iced tea is free on every cruiseline. Lemonaide is free on RCL and I think Carnival. Carnival also had punch I think and you can order espresso and capacino in the dining room free on Carnival. Juice is free at breakfast, only a couple in the buffet, but the dining room menu has more choices.

 

When you first board they will generally offer a soda card, if you dont get it right away, Id skip it. The good thing is they give you a nice insulated cup. I like my Princess cup lol. Im not a big soda drinker, some think the card is worth it. If you have a refrigerator, some like to take extra juice at breakfast and put it in the refrigerator for later. Princess has refrigs, newer Carnival does too. Disney has good things on their room service, like ice cream bars that are only from room service and a nice cheese tray.

 

They will leave you a pillow menu at night when they do turn down. If you want breakfast, just fill it out and leave it outside with the delivery time if you like to be woken up with coffee and whatever. I dont want to be tied to a clock, so I go to the buffet where I can see whatever is going on and then come back to get my sister later for a real breakfast. We like going to the dining room rather than eating in our room if we have time. Carnival has eggs bendict in the dining room. We enjoyed the RCL french toast last time in the dining room.

[cb at sea]

Re: sodas--if you don't buy the soda card, you can still buy soda, by the can! This is a great option for those who only drink soda once in a while! (There's no way I'd drink3-4 sodas per day, making the soda card not worth it to me!)

If there is something you want that is NOT on the room service menu, just ask! If they can do it, they will. No charge for the food, but you should tip the kitchen staff who delivers it, depending on how much they have to carry!

[cdnliving]

Thanks everyone for the great replies. I see that one of the things one can buy from the gift menu is a fruit basket - for around $30. We love having fruit in our room for snacking on...so is it safe to assume then that fruit and cheese platters would not be on the room service menu? We are sailing with Royal Caribbean...

[cruiserking]

Thanks everyone for the great replies. I see that one of the things one can buy from the gift menu is a fruit basket - for around $30. We love having fruit in our room for snacking on...so is it safe to assume then that fruit and cheese platters would not be on the room service menu? We are sailing with Royal Caribbean...

 

 

The $30 cheese platter on the gift menu is probably very nice but you can easily have cheese and crackers sent up to your cabin for no charge. The cheese platter you mentioned is meant as a Bon Voyage type thing. You can certainly order it, but, you may as well have fresh cheese sent daily. You can also take a stroll up to the Lido and grab some cheese there as well.

 

Happy Sails,

Cruiserking

[ehfl]

On RCCL, room service is free. You can order pretty much anything....if it's not on the menu, just ask.

[ehfl]

On RCCL, room service is free. You can order pretty much anything....if it's not on the menu, just ask.

[piemom9397]

RCCL has a good fruit tray on their room service menu. My kids loved their pizzas & the cookies of the day. The one caveat is that we had to wait 45 minutes for delivery, which I guess is par for the course on a ship with 3100 pax!

[Sheffie]

Thanks everyone for the great replies. I see that one of the things one can buy from the gift menu is a fruit basket - for around $30. We love having fruit in our room for snacking on...so is it safe to assume then that fruit and cheese platters would not be on the room service menu? We are sailing with Royal Caribbean...

 

 

As well as just getting some from room service, you can go to the Windjammer and choose your own fruit to bring back to your cabin. I sure wouldn't spend the extra $$ for the fruit tray. Those little items add up!

[Senoj84]

Hello Seasoned cruisers. I am hoping you can help me with some questions......What is generally offered on the room service menu?

Is there fruit? What are the hours during which one may order room service? Must you do it well in advance? Is there a fee charged (aside from the gratuity)?

With regards to the drink card that one may purchase - where does one do this? How much is it generally? Are drinks such as iced tea and lemonade included?

Sorry about all the questions.. ...really appreciate your help! Thanks...

 

On Carnival room service is free. You can tip the person that brings you the food. If you want a soda from the room service menu it's usually like $1.25 or so. There is fruit on the menu and it's usually cold food served for breakfast and lunch and dinner. Like bagels, muffins, cereals, salads, shrimp salad, cake, cookies and wraps.

[trish1c]

To me there is no sense in getting a fruit basket that you have to pay for. There is fresh fruit at every buffet 24-7. Even when the buffet is "closed" between meals, there is always something open & someone will always get you an orange, apple or banana.

[ILoveScotland]

We almost always have Room Service Breakfast and have found on NCL, RCCL and HAL that if what we want isn't on the menu we just ask for it, and it's delivered.

 

Yes, the food is free, but remember to tip the steward who brings it as this is an extra service not covered by the standard tips. I didn't know that the first time we cruised and am retroactively embarrassed even though I can't do anything about it.

[newbiecruiser09]

Yes, the food is free, but remember to tip the steward who brings it as this is an extra service not covered by the standard tips.

 

Are there prices listed for room service or how do you determine how much to tip? We are 1st timers and don't want to undertip.

[ILoveScotland]

Are there prices listed for room service or how do you determine how much to tip? We are 1st timers and don't want to undertip.

 

No, there are no prices. Just tip whatever you think seems fair. I usually tip $3 or $4 but no more and perhaps less if you've only ordered something simple.

 

All of that means take lots of $1 bills for these tips.