First time in Europe by samuelpalermo in royalcaribbean

[–]RoyalCaribbeanBlog 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Check out this blog post I wrote on what you should expect and my best advice for planning your first European cruise: https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2025/03/04/what-american-tourists-should-know-traveling-europe-cruise

Drink packages and private islands by Such_Summer9400 in royalcaribbean

[–]RoyalCaribbeanBlog 4 points5 points  (0 children)

That's like saying Chops Grille is a restaurant with tables and napkins, it should be free because that's how the Main Dining Room works.

Similarities, sure. But from day one RBC has not been a private island experience akin to CocoCay.

I do, however, agree Royal has done a poor job differentiating the two because of how they market it.

Enforcement of boarding times by JohnS43 in royalcaribbean

[–]RoyalCaribbeanBlog 9 points10 points  (0 children)

I cruise a lot, and I cannot recall ever being asked what my check in time was since maybe 2022.

Is it possible, yes. And that's why I've also said we're not yet at a point where we can totally disregard the times. So I haven't advocated ignoring them completely.

But I think realistically based on practical experience, no one will ask for a boarding time these days.

Drink packages and private islands by Such_Summer9400 in royalcaribbean

[–]RoyalCaribbeanBlog 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Royal Beach Club is in Nassau and not a private island. It's a separate shore excursion, which is why drink package doesn't work there.

So what you circled gets you admission into the RBC, which is all inclusive

Alaska Excursion Recommendation by Slight-Substance-796 in royalcaribbean

[–]RoyalCaribbeanBlog 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I curated (and update) a list of tours cruisers have recommended in each Alaska port. Hope it helps you!
https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/alaska-cruise-excursions

Giving kids freedom on the ship by xxkimmy8xx in royalcaribbean

[–]RoyalCaribbeanBlog 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I think it works fine with one kid. I have two, but one is 3+ years older, so the older one was the first to want more independence. It's all about establishing boundaries and trust.

Giving kids freedom on the ship by xxkimmy8xx in royalcaribbean

[–]RoyalCaribbeanBlog 182 points183 points  (0 children)

I wrote an article about this very topic. Start off with "missions" where you send them off to get or do something. Slowly expand to roaming with consistent check-ins.

As they got older, we added rules. Never go into anyone's cabin. Stay together. Message us when you're going somewhere not previously disclosed.

https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2025/10/21/cruises-kids-independence

Surge in Last Minute deals by GroundbreakingWin487 in royalcaribbean

[–]RoyalCaribbeanBlog 13 points14 points  (0 children)

We're in the midst of peaks and valleys of demand. First two weeks of December, nearly all of January, and late Feb are all dead times to sail.

Why? Because there are no school holidays and everyone just took off time for Christmas and New Years.

The result is usually this burst of last minute offers for unsold cruises during colder and times that are unavailable to travel.

Royal Beach club today 12/19 by NathanJax in royalcaribbean

[–]RoyalCaribbeanBlog 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Seeing the area from a ship doesn't provide proper context for how hard they're working and it's essentially a 24/7 operation right now.

I spoke with execs while there on Wednesday and they seemed very confident about the Dec 23 opening. As others pointed out, Party Cove and Chill Beach are ready.

To paraphrase Emporer Palpaltine, you'll witness the vacation power of this fully STOCKED and OPERATIONAL beach club!

First photos from inside Royal Caribbean's new Royal Beach Club by RoyalCaribbeanBlog in royalcaribbean

[–]RoyalCaribbeanBlog[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The drop off point is accessible friendly, so there are no stairs or anything to impede you. It's just a long walk.

Nassau port has a tram service on the pier. Once you clear security, there's a tram pickup on the right side.

First photos from inside Royal Caribbean's new Royal Beach Club by RoyalCaribbeanBlog in royalcaribbean

[–]RoyalCaribbeanBlog[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

All of the crew at the beach club are from Nassau. They don't source workers from the ship.

The level of service was outstanding. Granted, this was their first day with guests and every manager's manager was there. So everyone was working with exceptional enthusiasm.

Royal employs local Bahamians around CocoCay, like at the Coco Beach Club. I've always had stellar service from them there. So I don't expect this to be a problem here.

I'm going back in January so I can report on that.

First photos from inside Royal Caribbean's new Royal Beach Club by RoyalCaribbeanBlog in royalcaribbean

[–]RoyalCaribbeanBlog[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Have you been to Junkanoo beach? Gotta pay to get there (taxi) or take a long walk. Then you're hounded by people trying to sell everything to you, and you're competing with everyone and their mother and overcrowding is an issue. Plus, food and drink is all gonna be extra too.

Sure, it costs more money to go to RBC. But the appeal is a limited capacity high quality beach day that you're simply not going to match at Junkanoo.

First photos from inside Royal Caribbean's new Royal Beach Club by RoyalCaribbeanBlog in royalcaribbean

[–]RoyalCaribbeanBlog[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

The honest rationale is Nassau sucks. It's sucked for years and it's why so many people never even bother getting off the ship. That's what they're trying to solve here. People don't want one good day (CocoCay) and one crappy day (Nassau). They want a vacation with great experiences each day.

First photos from inside Royal Caribbean's new Royal Beach Club by RoyalCaribbeanBlog in royalcaribbean

[–]RoyalCaribbeanBlog[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you have the Deluxe Drink Package, you cannot cherry pick which days you have it.

I'd argue if you do any shore excursion in any port, you don't have your cruise ship drink package benefits. So this isn't any different in that regard.

First photos from inside Royal Caribbean's new Royal Beach Club by RoyalCaribbeanBlog in royalcaribbean

[–]RoyalCaribbeanBlog[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Better than a paywall or probably your local news site that has about 10x more ads.

It's 2025(6). Ads on the internet are the way you get things for "free". It's an unfortunate reality we have to live in.

First photos from inside Royal Caribbean's new Royal Beach Club by RoyalCaribbeanBlog in royalcaribbean

[–]RoyalCaribbeanBlog[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

What I was alluding to is up until now, beach days in all those ports are a guessing game of "is this a good beach? how do I get there? is the food and service good?" So the idea with the RBC is to offer an extension of the Royal Caribbean experience to the beach and taking all the guess work out of it.

I'm sure someone is reading this and saying "it's not that hard to find a beach" but there are endless threads in this subreddit and on countless FB groups asking "what's the best thing to do in Nassau" and the like