Holidays on the Utopia of the Seas | What did we think? How to maximize your cruising experience?

We embarked on the Utopia of the Seas for a 4-night cruise to the Bahamas during the holidays in 2024. It's a giant cruise with ~7000 people on board!
We had a fun time and built stronger connections as a family over the 5 days on the cruise, and would love to share our experience, tips & tricks that hopefully will be helpful for anyone who plan on doing the same itinerary on popular dates.
****Before the cruise****
📋 Download the Royal Caribbean App on your phone after you book your cruise! apps.apple.com...
📋 Check your app regularly, especially a couple months leading to your cruising date to fill out onboarding information AND start reserving for popular shows/activities!
Some activities can only be reserved on the cruise e.g. spa, massages etc.
When we checked the app, all the show tickets were gone! :( But don't worry, they usually will allow first-come-first-serve for people who don't have tickets. So you'd need to line up before the show and wait till people with tickets get in first.
****During the cruise****
📋 If you don't plan on purchasing the internet on the ship, you can use the Royal Caribbean App to text your parties on the ship for FREE!
📋 During Sea days, be sure to turn your phone to airplane mode to avoid accidental data usage (Roaming fees are usually really expensive!)
📋 Be sure to book certain services (like Spa) and activities on the first day because the popular times (like at sea days) are usually booked up quickly!
📋 We had a hard time finding tables at the buffet because of the big crowd! So plan accordingly and avoid most popular times for breakfast/lunch. You may also have breakfast/lunch at the dining halls (check with your dinner waiter/server for open times) if you want to avoid the crowd.
📋 There are inside balcony rooms facing the Central Park and the board walk. I think that it might not be a good option if you prefer more privacy or quiet stay because it gets pretty loud with live music and shows.
📋 Getting off the ship on Port days are pretty easy. You don't need to carry passport. The ship card is all you need to enter Nassau and back.
📋 It might be a good idea to bring an ID/badge strap to the cruise because you will need your ship card for everything including paying for drinks or products, so carrying them around in a badge holder will free your hands up and not worrying about losing them.
You can also buy the straps on the ship but they were like $15 each.
📋 Because of the large number of people on the ship, disembarking the ship took a while. It might be easier to pack your big luggages and put them outside of your cabin the night before getting off the ship, so that they will be picked up and taken to the designated luggage area after you get off the ship.
Overall, we enjoyed our experience but it might not be the best out of all the cruises that we've been too mostly because a. It was just too crowded in my opinion and b. since we and the kids are not fans of water slides, we found it to have less variety of fun activities (e.g. on Odyssey of the Seas there were bumper cars and laser tags, and we were able to reserve those activities more easily).
Hopefully these tips are helpful for you to consider. Thanks for watching!
If you have similar/different thoughts or experiences, welcome to share with us in the comment!
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