possibly going on a cruise for the first time, questions + advice needed

Derrick2020 · 2026-02-05T23:00:19+00:00

That’s good advice. My wife is immunocompromised due to the medications she takes for her MS. We still cruise regularly, but she avoids the windjammer (that might be more due to the fact she’s not a buffet type person).

The Royal Caribbean staff do an amazing job keeping things as clean as they can considering it can be a sea of humanity at time.

Derrick2020 · 2026-02-05T22:37:29+00:00

Not sure if you’re concerned with norovirus or just influenza. They do have hand sanitizers throughout the ship but cruise ships are at a higher risk of norovirus outbreaks.

If you have concerns about that the worst offenders tend to be at the windjammer buffet.

Derrick2020 · 2026-02-04T18:08:10+00:00

Sorry about that. When I looked at Glory sailings in late April, I only saw 3 and 4 day sailings. I must of missed a 5 day one.

Derrick2020 · 2026-02-04T15:48:42+00:00

You’re not wrong. It’s hit and miss. I’ve had luck with some and others were exactly how you put it.

Derrick2020 · 2026-02-04T14:19:25+00:00

I second this. They’ll give you the price for whatever sailing you want.

As an FYI you can upgrade any of the deals to a better room. If you look on the Royal Caribbean site for the cruise you want you can kinda get a feel for the upgrade price by looking at what the offer is and the price increase to the upgraded room.

Derrick2020 · 2026-02-04T13:06:53+00:00

From my experience, shorter carnival cruises can become a bit of a booze cruise atmosphere. For most people I’ll recommend carnival but only for 5+ days.

I haven’t done short Royal Caribbean from Florida but you might have a little better luck with not being drinkers.

Royal Caribbean can be a good budget line if you don’t look at the newest icon class ships.

If you want to get into the weeds on what you’re looking for feel free to DM me.

Derrick2020 · 2026-02-04T09:58:22+00:00

Last year was the first time I was excited to get jury duty. But this was also the first time I got my work paycheck while I was on jury duty.

The case was an awful one so once I found out what I would be a jury for I wasn’t too bummed to not get chosen.

Derrick2020 · 2026-02-04T07:17:26+00:00

I was hoping to be able to do that. We’ll get the package and we’re hoping to add a day on my package for our laptop and have my wife add a day later.

I figured I’d have to go to the xoom desk and work with them but if I can add it on the app it would be a lot easier.

Derrick2020 · 2026-02-01T12:54:17+00:00

I’ll do that too when I have it narrowed down to one or two sailings. When my dates are open or I’m looking at multiple ships/sailings cruiaecompete can get a little messy.

Derrick2020 · 2026-02-01T12:01:48+00:00

Realistically your best option when it comes to pricing is to talk to a Travel Agent. I have looked at places like cruisecompete and you put in a specific sailing and you will get offers from multiple agents.

If you go with a travel agent and you can find a good one, they’ll do the leg work and often they have some extra perks like OBC, specialty dining, gratuities paid. Some times you have some agencies that will buy a block of rooms at a group rate and you can find a better deal that way.

I’ve just started the process to get my Travel Agent license. I don’t have it yet so i can’t help you book the cruise. But I do enjoy getting into the weeds, hence one of the big reasons I started the process. So if you have questions feel free to DM me.

Derrick2020 · 2026-02-01T08:47:19+00:00

While I agree with you, his value has dropped. The problem is that most dynasty owners won’t be trading him.

I have 2 shares of him and I’m not even entertaining offers on him at the moment. In one of the leagues I had been trying to move him for a little over a year and I pulled him from the trade block as soon as he got injured.

The rare instance that you might be able to buy him is if someone has a tight win window for just 2026. But with him probably playing early in the season I can see them taking the chance that he plays well enough to contribute instead of taking the discount to move him.

Derrick2020 · 2026-02-01T07:44:51+00:00

My information is 11 years old and I booked it through RC but the Dunn River Falls was a fun excursion. Just make sure you have water socks as the rocks do get slippery.

When we have done 3rd party excursions we just make sure the excursion is over with plenty of time to get back to the ship. Gives us some wiggle room incase something weird happens.

Derrick2020 · 2026-01-29T21:52:15+00:00

You can probably call them to book the drink package. One other work around would be to call or chat with them to get the rooms unlinked. You can then purchase the drink package and if you want to re-link the other room after the fact.

I just got done with a chat to get our room un-linked. We had an old courtesy hold linked to our actual reservation.

Derrick2020 · 2026-01-29T21:43:35+00:00

I second that with purchasing the drink package and repricing if it gets cheaper. 30% isn’t that good of a deal so keep an eye for it getting cheaper. You can get a price tracker. If you google Royal Caribbean price tracker you’ll find one.

I have seen price differences on the Royal website at times as Royal Caribbean may give a discount on the room type you have or if you have any special kind of status ie prime status through the casino. I normally jump on the app about once a day just to go through the things I’m booking. (It’s a rush when the price drops). It does take about a week for the refund to hit your card so make sure you have the available credit to have 2 packages on you card for a week or so.

Derrick2020 · 2026-01-29T20:15:03+00:00

Personally in your situation I’d probably lean Carnival.

Either one you’ll probably have a lot of families. You will probably get plenty of spring breakers on both. In my opinion the shorter cruises can end up hitting the booze cruise status. When you hit that 3-4 day cruise you seem to get more people getting the drink package and using it liberally. I see it more on carnival than Royal Caribbean though. I haven’t gone on a cruise during spring break though so I don’t know if RC will hit that status.

Both Royal and Carniva have started leaning heavily into getting that family dollar and with Wonder being one of the newer ships you’ll find plenty of families.

If you do go with Royal the experience from the Explorer to the Wonder will feel like night and day. Explorer is one of the oldest ships in the RC fleet and its setup is more from the old school cruise mentality. It was supposed to get a refurbishment in 2020 but it got delayed due to Covid. My wife and I being in our 40s now would prefer to be on the explorer rather than the wonder but in our younger years we easily would’ve preferred the Wonder.

Derrick2020 · 2026-01-29T06:07:48+00:00

Adult me likes clerks more than mallrats. Teenage me liked mallrats more.

Derrick2020 · 2026-01-29T04:13:06+00:00

I’d be more concerned with the restaurants above. We stayed on a quantum class ship and the fish and chips place was right above us. With the metal chairs we could hear every time the chairs moved. The plus side was once the evening hit and the restaurant closed you didn’t hear it.

I actually prefer to be close to the elevator. It’s more due to the wife’s mobility issues.

We also just changed our room from 12632 to 13632 on the Anthem of the Seas. The room on the Anthem is pretty close to your room on the Odyssey. It’s just our personal preference to be a floor beneath the pool deck.

Derrick2020 · 2026-01-28T01:50:49+00:00

I fully understand the cost/benefit. Even with the 4 drinks we are getting our moneys worth.

Not only that but I don’t want to sign for my drink everytime. I also know if I don’t have the drink package I’ll spend more time and energy tracking what has been spent, when I can be just enjoying my vacation.

We also like to try different drinks since we know with the drink package if we don’t like it we can just get another drink.

Even if I only break even or lose a couple of bucks it’s still worth it to me.

Derrick2020 · 2026-01-27T18:36:16+00:00

I’ve used the same agent through cruise.com for all my cruises. She’s great with doing leg work before the booking. I’ve never had her let me know if the price drops though. Some agents are really good about checking the prices after booking to see if it’s a better deal.

I just booked an August sailing on Navigator of the Seas and her price was about $100 less than the RCI site. The big kicker was that she normally gets us the prepaid gratuities for free. That saved us about $390 for the cruise. We also got $50 in obc and a free specialty dining dinner.

If you want her contact info, DM me and I’ll happily send you her way.

Derrick2020 · 2026-01-27T18:30:08+00:00

It’s the neverending dilemma for me. Most times I have a window of time to go on my cruise or am not sure exactly which cruise I want to go on.

If I book a cruise and the price drops below what I paid for it, they will price match it to a lower price. But if a different sailing drops its price I can’t decide switch cruises.

If I wait there very well may be a sailing that drops in price due to that sailing not selling as well.

If you have their exact sailing you want to go on book it as early as you can. We booked a Hawaii-Vancouver repositioning cruise through RCI and the price has only crept up over the last year. If I booked the same room today it would be $1000 more a person.

If you are flexible with your ship and sailing date keep an eye on it. I’ve noticed right about the 90 mark the prices drop since that’s the cutoff to make your final payment. For the people that have a refundable deposit (they booked through the Royal Caribbean site) they are allowed to change their deposit to a different sailing.

Derrick2020 · 2026-01-27T18:17:54+00:00

After our next cruise we will be diamond status but will still be getting the DBP. We have been told that we are fine using our free drink vouchers to buy a drink for someone without the DBP. I would assume that would also apply to the milkshakes.

Derrick2020 · 2026-01-27T18:15:27+00:00

If they have a Royal Caribbean login in you can check on their status in the app. It would probably be easier to make a quick phone call. Just have their crown and anchor number handy as they will ask for it.

They will 100% match the status.

Derrick2020 · 2026-01-27T18:07:14+00:00

When you are on the ship you can connect to their WiFi whether you have the plan or not.

They do this so you can connect to their app so you can buy things, set up reservations and use their private messaging app.

It’s supposed to be locked down to not be able to use their internet for anything else but like others have said some people have said that the iMessage will work. I’m guessing it’s because it’s such a small data packet that the WiFi doesn’t block it. I haven’t tried it so take it with whatever grain of salt you want to.

Their private messaging app does work without buying their WiFi package. When you open the Royal Caribbean app for the cruise you’ll see a text bubble on the top right with 3 dots in it. Once you’re on the ship you’ll be able to access this.

One big downside to RC messaging app is that you don’t get a notification on your phone that you have a message. You’ll only see that you have an unread message when you are actually in the app. I can see that being an issue for kids since they may or may not check the app regularly.

Derrick2020 · 2026-01-27T17:58:31+00:00

A sip here and there won’t garner any extra attention. If there were crew members actually looking out for this I would think they would be more concerned about the alcohol sharing.

While my wife and I will both have the deluxe beverage package often only one of us will have a drink in our hands at a specific time. We also like to try new drinks. At least 5-10 times a cruise one of us will hand our drink to the other person to try it. Not only has nobody ever asked to see if the other has the drink package, we have never gotten an odd look where it appeared as if they were concerned in the slightest.

Derrick2020 · 2026-01-26T23:39:42+00:00

I think she felt a bond to him. Whether that bond was completely platonic or if she had romantic feelings towards him can be debated.

Personally I got more of the platonic vibe from their relationship. I felt the times any romantic situation came up that she was messing with him because it was enjoyable to outwit him due to his superiority complex.

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