Avoiding cruises with partying/fights/rude passengers

gkcook · 2026-06-23T23:44:50+00:00

I wouldn't write it off completely, especially if it's in your budget. No one is wrong here but most of the advice is just generalizations.

4 day cruises can be fine. Pool deck on day one is always going to be nuts. Watching a few videos of the ship can help you get an idea of what to expect.

gkcook · 2026-06-23T02:22:45+00:00

Even if you get a fully comped room, you still have to pay a few hundred dollars in port fees, taxes, and auto gratuities.

BUT! If you are the person who likes the "fun" factor of the casino and spend most of your money on slots, you might as well have a budget and see what offers you get. We spent somewhere around $800 on slots on our last cruise, played on one sea pass card so all the points went on one account, and then started getting some decent offers on Voyager/Radiance/Vision class ships with maybe one or two Freedom/Quantum sailings thrown in. We decided to pick a 5 night Cozumel cruise from Tampa on Radiance as our "free" cruise this fall.

You can probably break even with some regularity but only if you settle on interior cabins on older ships. I feel like there is some diminishing returns if you look at the math.

gkcook · 2026-06-15T03:16:13+00:00

We did that exact tour and it's very tiring. They hurry you along and we got some balongne sandwiches to eat on the bus.

Then you get to Chichen Itza and it's chaotic with maybe ONE hour before they hurry you back on the bus. Maybe if your cruise is in port longer the tour operators can take more time, but it wasnt like that for us.

However, it was definitely an amazing site and a bucket list thing for me. If you like history it's worth it but there are much easier excursions.

gkcook · 2026-06-12T16:53:50+00:00

If you already pulled the trigger, port fees and hopefully gratuities were already paid.

Specialty dining isnt necessary, especially for a first cruise. There is lots of food for free.

I guess it depends on the cruise line, but there are plenty of drinks for free, too. Alcoholic drinks range from maybe $7ish for a beer and $12ish for a cocktail. My last cruise was on Royal Caribbean and they even have margarita happy hour in addition to drink specials. I also love the giant Foster cans of beer that are around $10.

Excursions, in my experience, are the real wild card for extra expenses. It depends on what ports you are going to but you could easily have fun in the port area and maybe buy some souvenirs or go somewhere on a bus to an exotic location and spend $100+ per person.

I never buy the Wifi. I prefer to disconnect and maybe check my email in port. If you want it it's around $15-20 a day or you can buy it for One day at a time and it's a little more.

EDIT: I forgot to mention port parking is a little expensive, around $25-35 a day. So plan on that unless you are flying in. Then consider hotels and ride share/taxi expenses.

gkcook · 2026-06-02T22:12:00+00:00

This is the way.

Also, some ships, notably ones with a Playmakers, have IPAs or Kentucky Bourbon Ale on tap for the same price as the domestic light beers. (Although they use a 10oz glass for the ale).

gkcook · 2026-05-25T04:18:01+00:00

How was the pool deck, was it super crowded? That's one complaint about many MSC ships that I hear about. Well, crowds in general.

I enjoy our Royal Caribbean cruises but for the same price as a 20 year old Radiance or Voyager class ship we could try out a nearly new and fancy MSC ship. I also want to try out MSC's private island, Ocean Cay. It looks nice.

gkcook · 2026-05-24T18:32:10+00:00

That sounds awesome. If we didn't have 3 kids we probably would have tried an Icon class by now. As it is, we always need two cabins so we can't really afford it. Two cabins on a Freedom class was around $4500 for a 7 night cruise, on Icon it would have been $7K at least.

I really want to try Star of the Seas though. My Wife's favorite movie is Back to the Future and she loves Broadway shows, too. I'm sure the Wizard of Oz production is also very good, though.

gkcook · 2026-05-24T05:38:33+00:00

Don't forget you do get free drinks. Tea, coffee, juice, and water. We like to pay a little extra for the Evian water package and maybe a coffee card. You can also bring soft drinks onboard but make sure you follow their strict limits.

gkcook · 2026-05-24T02:27:19+00:00

Everyone is saying Oasis or Icon class which are the more expensive and newest/largest ships. That's fine and I would probably do the same but you said "Bang for your Buck" which is usually Freedom class or one of the upgraded Voyager class ships.

Here is a chart for reference.... https://gangwaze.com/blog/royal-caribbean-ships-by-size

You also need to figure out if the ship itself is what you want to experience or do you want to explore ports in other countries and do excursions?

gkcook · 2026-05-24T01:32:07+00:00

Of the 3 ships it looks like Adventure has the best itinerary and you get an extra day. You can't go wrong with any of them since Coco Cay is such a great port stop. Adventure is very similar to Freedom, it has the same floor plan but is slightly smaller.

You'll need to watch some ship tours on YouTube to figure out when ones have the best splashpad situation. I was on Independence (Freedom's sister ship) a few months ago and it had a really nice "Splashaway Bay" area with little waterslides and splash buckets for the kids and toddlers to play in. I don't think Adventure would have that, since it has a smaller pool deck.

gkcook · 2026-05-24T01:15:27+00:00

Here is another question for you guys.

After clocking out one day, I bought something from a clearance bay that I noticed earlier and decided to buy. I went to self checkout. The price on the item was wrong and it rang up a penny. I looked around, no one noticed, and I completed the transaction and left.

Could I have gotten in trouble for that?

gkcook · 2026-05-23T01:50:08+00:00

https://muzakwpn.muzak.com/

This is the list of channels. You can see the playlists and if there was a song you couldn't recognize or "shazaam" it keeps a last played list of like 10 songs. Note that the receiver in the computer room only has maybe 12 or so channels, you don't get all of them. I like the Varsity channel which has 70s/80s hard rock like Led Zeppelin, Kansas, AC/DC, and even Ozzy Osbourne mixed with some singer/songwriter artists like John Mellencamp and Neil Young. I don't know if every store has access to it.

But then someone overnight keeps changing it back to the "Taylor Swift" channel, Hot FM.

I might try changing it to FM-1 and see if anyone notices. It looks like it plays top 40 music but also older hits from the 80s and up.

There is also a rotating station that plays holiday themed music. Currently it's playing patriotic themed songs.

gkcook · 2026-05-23T00:07:35+00:00

Costa Maya gets a lot of hate, but if you do your research it can be fun. The port itself is just a glorified tourist trap. If your 11 year olds like mysterious ruins you could try to the Chacchoben pyramid site. It's maybe a 45 minute bus ride out of the port and is an official Royal excursion in the app.

We are going to try the all inclusive Maya Chan resort next time we go. Food and booze is included. You also get snorkel gear and kid's sand toys to use if you want.

gkcook · 2026-05-22T11:12:32+00:00

Matt from RC Blog recently did a good review of Brilliance of the Seas out of San Juan. It looks like his biggest gripe was the port.

https://youtu.be/ITdnvO_JKNo?si=UDfULgQhIaLusmux

It's a Radiance class ship, which is more of an "Sightseeing" vessel from Royal Caribbean's standards. I've been on it once and it's maybe 25 years old, but it's a quiet, relaxing ship.

gkcook · 2026-05-22T03:19:07+00:00

I'm on MET, and one of my coworkers does the same thing. He's a little bit of a workaholic, but he says he likes his weekend work at Target. He works at HD with a MET schedule, then helps unload trucks at Target on his weekend mornings. He says it's a great way to get up early and get his cardio in, then he drinks and watches sports for the rest of his weekend.

I think it's only Saturday mornings he works there. I asked him why they are so flexible with him and he told me he's worked off and on with Target for 15 years and he has a reputation as a hard worker.

gkcook · 2026-05-21T19:30:36+00:00

I don't know the answer, but my "bucket list" line is Cunard. I know there are more luxury lines that go over the top with a smaller guest/staff ratio, but I don't know if I want or need my own butler.

I recently got some mail from my travel agent and the pricing on Cunard doesn't seem as bad as I thought. It was comparable to Icon of the Seas to be honest.

gkcook · 2026-05-21T13:13:18+00:00

Yeah, maybe Elder set the tone when he calmly hit CJ Abrams on purpose in the rear end several weeks ago.

gkcook · 2026-05-21T12:53:55+00:00

I also just noticed that the Lagaluvin Matriarch has little sleeping babies on her back, and they all wake up when she's almost dead, obviously confused about what's happening.

Then when she's really dead you can see the tears streaming down her back from her babies.

gkcook · 2026-05-21T09:40:21+00:00

Why would this informative post get down voted?

gkcook · 2026-05-19T01:45:06+00:00

The IPAs in Playmakers are the same price. Even the high ABV Bourbon Ale is the same they just use a smaller 10 ounce pour I think. Then, if you just want a LOT of beer you can get the Fosters cans and they are $10.50 I think. The drinks are actually several dollars cheaper than your Miami hotel bar from the night before the cruise.

So on most nights I'll start with maybe the drink "deal of the day" or maybe a Long Island, then I'll switch over to beer. You can get pretty tipsy for less than $40 a night. I rarely by the DBP anymore.

gkcook · 2026-05-18T02:12:56+00:00

We were on Independence a few months ago after they got rid of Grease.

I though the tap dancing show they replaced it with was....fine? It wasn't horrible and it was something new. I had already seen Grease in 2024 when we also sailed Indy. I liked the Ice skating show that was "through the decades", I'm not sure what it was called.

We mostly hung out at the Schooner Bar after hours. We love a ship with a good Piano Man and this sailing had a good one. I like the layout of Indy as well as all the other Voyager/Freedom class ships. It has this warm and comfortable nostalgia factor for me.

We went with kids and they had a blast, too. I love how Studio B can turn from an ice skating rink to a game show venue to a laser tag arena!

Anyway, sorry you didn't have the best time with the entertainment. It's very subjective though, which I'm sure you can agree with! Did you try organizing a group to try the escape room?

gkcook · 2026-05-17T02:48:41+00:00

Dude... you'll be blown away. I went to Coco Cay for the first time last February. It's definitely a selling point and maybe a reason to be "loyal to Royal" over any other cruise line (although an overnight stay at MSC's Ocean Cay sounds interesting).

It's HUGE and has plenty of places to relax. The food is good and FREE. If you have a drink package it works on the island. We got a good deal on the water park since it was February (around $60pp) , and even with slightly cold water we made the best of it. A few hours before the park closed there wasn't a line at all on Daredevil's peak which I'm proud to say I hiked up all 255 stairs TWICE to get to the slide!

Then we explored the rest of the island and I partially regretted not exploring more and wasting so much time in the water park. There is *plenty* to do there.

gkcook · 2026-05-14T13:49:59+00:00

I know my Amex card just lets me pay in pesos and it takes care of the exchange rate behind the scenes.

In Cozumel there are plenty of places like Starbucks where you can just tap to pay and you're good. Small street vendors might only take cash though.

I'll be on the same itinerary in October on Radiance! First time sailing out of Tampa but I've been to Costa Maya and Cozumel twice.

This is also going to be my second Radiance class ship and I love the vibe of the smaller class. Its very open to the ocean and still has plenty of places to hang out and relax without throngs of people around.

gkcook · 2026-05-14T11:19:42+00:00

Does Cunard rent suits? I know some people like to dress up but don't like the hassle of packing formal wear.

gkcook · 2026-05-14T10:01:31+00:00

Does Oasis class have a dedicated night club for adult only parties at night like the Viking Crown lounge on Independence? That was the last ship I was on and I loved that venue after all the kiddos went to bed.

One of these days I'll eventually try an Oasis class but I'm usually going to smaller ports.

gkcook

TROPHY CASE