I agree with all of them but one. I do bus tours because I don't want to be left behind. If for some reason that happens I know the cruise line will get me back on the ship at their cost.
I usually agree. I always spend from on-board credit never out of pocket for extras. Last cruise there was bad weather and our jet ski tour was canceled, so we booked a few specialty restaurants with the credit. Now I must book Izumi Hibachi on every cruise.
Only time that I have done specialty dining is when it was comp. I find as a general rule, people who do the specialty dining is because they want an exclusive experience that they can brag about. Main Dining crew go above and beyond to make your meals special
@heydeereman1040 the main dining crew and experience are really good, but the food is nothing special. I've now experienced 2 specialty restaurants and can say that the food itself was far better than anything I've eaten in the main dining room.
We've bought the key on our last 3-4 cruises. Love the lunch. Cary on bag delivered to the room. I did 4 zip lines in 15 minutes during the key hours AND the debarkation breakfast was amazing! So not much more than just paying for WiFi if you hit the sales!
Obviously zoos are right off your list. Everyone should fly themselves and their kids to the seven continents to see the wild life. Much better for the environment.
@@bugwar5545zoos are totally different and have trained staff and the animals aren't forced. I've seen MANY dolphin encounters that are tiny and ran by people who clearly only care about profit
Me and the wife did our first RC cruise last year on the Independence and we’ve already booked a family cruise on the Freedom of the Seas in ‘25. We really enjoy the freedom class ships. Thanks for all your tips!
We actually looking doing the same take first cruise on freedom size ship. My mom dad sail lot with carnival on their smaller ships. Also think of Virgian voyages.
we got the key on our last cruise with our toddler and absolutely loved it! Getting on and off the ship was so fast on the first last day which made the day a lot smoother with a toddler. we also enjoy having a reserved time for activities so that we can go do something fun spend our entire time waiting in line our daughter was in the nursery
Just got off of voyager of the seas today, had a wonderful time, all thanks to your tour you made, watched the entire 49 minute video, and it helped me find some pretty cool areas!
I agree about the key however if price is not thst much different than wifi I like the perk not mentioned is booking of all shows before everyone else this ensures I get all shows on the days I want and the priority seating where I can get in before everyone else and get a good seat. Royal has more entertainment than anyone so I like this benefit versus being on that line hoping to get in lol
I have to give a little pushback on the bus tours advice, especially in Europe because it all depends on where the port is & and what you are wanting to do. It’s not uncommon for a city to be listed in the port name but you are an hour away from the actual city so a bus might be your best option. Basically you have to do your research before deciding whether or not to take a tour bus or other transportation. I used to live in Europe and have traveled throughout the region, not everything is in a city center or by a port city.
As someone that has been on several cruise ships all RC The extra stuff that was fun/worth it on the first cruise,isnt always gonna be worth it the more you cruise. but as you cruise more you learn what to get and what not to get or do. Its all part of the journey Me personally the speciality restaurants are not worth it more than once each.
Yep. Zoos are the most evil things on the planet. We should all fly us and our families to the seven continents, book a safari at each to look at the wild life there.
I agree with most of the suggestions. I do however like The Key. I agree that you can get most of it with a little planning but I found buying it during Black Friday its as cheap as a wi-if package. With two little kids I enjoy just walking up 15 minutes before a show to get a good seat.
Im an invictus watch fan, saw a beautiful watch on a Royal Caribbean cruise priced at $500, i didn't have the wifi package, so I could look up the price online. Told myself to wait till I get home, found the watch online for $99,I would never buy anything on a cruise ship.
We actually purchased the Key for our cruise coming up in February. Only reason we do it is because the price was about a $100 difference between the Key and the internet package. It was at 35% off. That is something I always look at is all the different sales that are put out.
Always buy dining package. The food is amazing in Chops. I would never miss that !! Avoid those crazy sales in the middle of the main walkway. Except maybe, maybe the t-shirt sale.
I agree with not buying the animal encounters like the Sea Lion encounter at Blue Lagoon. The actual time with them was 5 minutes or less and really not worth the price we paid. However, doing the boat rides in Alaska for whale/dolphin watching. Completely worth it. It's so much better seeing them on their own in the open water.
We got The Key for our next cruise but it was just about $10 a day more than the Wifi so it seemed worth it for the early check in. It's also for the special check in lane as well. If you add the cost of Chops lunch, we paid for Wifi and a chops lunch and got all that PLUS a special lane early check in and priority seating at shows.
We got the key on our last cruise and really liked having it. Special seating areas for shows came in handy. Not to mention thanks to some special needs, I now have priority boarding and disembarking which I needed.
I buy the key for every cruise, and I know that many of the benefits are on the first day, but for the right price, it is worthwhile for me. I've also been to Coco Beach Club and had a wonderful time. Once I get on the ship, the only money I spend is for bar tips (I buy the soda package), an extra tip for my room steward, (extra) specialty restaurant tips, and the casino.
There were 7 of us in our Icon of the Seas cruise 3/31 & WE ALL LOVED HAVING “THE KEY!” So totally disagree with you on that. And in one of the gift shops, I bought a spectacular pair of Gucci sunglasses that make me look like a Movie Star, as well as a stunning, black RC Icon sweatshirt. The tote bag/coolers with six beverages of your choice on sale pre cruise are wicked cool! Our group bought 3 of them! We also took the “All Access Tour” of the Icon. Well worth the price.
My husband and I have never purchased a drink package. We don’t drink that much . We are diamond members. We get four drinks a day and sometimes we don’t drink that however to buy a drink package to me you have to be drunk every day all day in order to get the value.. and if you just get the drink of the day, it’s cheaper and I think that’s much more reasonable.
I'm not buying the Key this time. It was ok but definitely not worth it. I'll probably not buy any excursions either. My husband wanted to stay on the ship the second day at port this last time. We may just check out the town and then get back on the ship. We'll see. I won't buy the escape room or the Royal lunch this time because we ended up not going. I guess we were really lazy and just enjoyed the solarium. I do want to make sure we get to Johnny Rockets this time and I would like to see the ice show next time. We liked having the deluxe drink package and we loved all the specialty dining!
Personally, LOVE the casitas. We actually intentionally reserved ours away from the pool area, enjoyed the complimentary alcoholic beverage (we book refreshment package, so we also had limitless mocktails delivered to us!), and just used it on a sea day to relax and read in a bed in the sun. I'm sure one could get similar value if you wake up early and get one of the circle bed-chair situations, but the outdoor bed was just a fun, nice luxury
A hand full of broken Arcade. On our Allure Cruise in November maybe two or three games worked between both Arcades. We had to go to Guest Services to get refunds for the games that would charge you even though they did not work or the balls were missing
I absolutely won’t buy a drink package. I’m not a teetotaler but i rarely ever drink alcohol, I no longer drink pop & the one coffee a day I do drink doesn’t come near covering the cost of the packages. On another note, the dining package all depends on the ship. Some ships just aren’t worth it but others have a lot of choices so it could be worth it.
Hideaway beach is another thing that I will not likely buy again. It was worth a try when it first opened a year ago when the price was a fraction of what it is now. But I think it is not much different from from the rest of the island. Umbrellas, beach chairs, water, sand, pools, bars, food, drink service, and DJ music, all the same. I found only three things that hideaway has you cannot get elsewhere on the island ... heated pool, empanadas and pizza. Oh, and it's also hard to find a quiet spot there - the DJ music is pervasive.
The coconut shrimp and ceviche were delicious! But yeah, I think we paid like $40/person last year and it’s so much more now! Until they lower the price, I won’t do it again. I also wasn’t crazy about the enclosed beach that didn’t offer much of a view.
We prepaid arcade credits for our 2 kids. We wanted to give them a budget so we weren’t shocked by all the individual charges on our sea pass. Majority of the games were broken. Because most of the games were broken the other games were busy. I thought we were smart by pre paying however we ended up wasting our money.
Of course your not going to buy the "Key" as a Pinnacle member you don't need those perks, Most of them you get for free. As far as the early on or off with the key, if you require wheelchair assistance, for get it. You'll get on or off with everyone else, the last cruise we were on we got to the prt at 11 (our Appointment) but couldn't get on till 1pm due to waiting for wheel cahir assistance. Since we can no longer afford RCCL with thier fare increase, I checked into MSC, But none of their U.S. Based ships have Handicap Balcony cabins.
I book the key everytime because I am a flowrider guy and generally during key times, there are 1 or 2 other key people there so I got a nearly private session for the cost of the key when I was going to purchase WiFi anyways
I agree these are personal choices. We used to buy art, but our walls are full now, so we don't need any. We won't buy drink packages. Instead, we'll buy single drinks as needed. I'll buy the internet package for my wife, instead of both of us. We don't do shore excursions because of the prices they want.
I've been on 93 cruises with 2 more booked for 2025. I've done specialty dining maybe 3 or 4 times. Not worth the prices. The last few years excursion prices are way too much. I am Diamond plus on Royal so I get 5 free drinks a day and 2 free days of wifi plus my cabin mate gets 2 free days which I use si on a 7 day cruise I'll get 4 free days. Sometimes I will pay for 1-3 more days. I am always looking for VALUE! I have no shortage of $$$ due to the fact I rarely, if ever, overspend.
The key is not a bad option, and I have been using it since it came out on multiple cruise. However, sailed recently on Utopia and had the Key. Well, there is no longer a key line at the port at Port Canaveral. Now they have an express lane that does not require purchasing the key. If RC makes this standard they are pretty much killing the concept of the key…. Sad, but it will be their own fault.
I totally agree with regards to excursions to view captive animals. With the exception of Gumbalimba Park at Mahogany Bay port in Honduras. Here they have monkeys living in the jungle that are rescues from people who tried to keep pet monkeys and gave them up. Parrots also wild in the jungle trees.
I appreciate your videos very much. The last cruise we did not do specialty dining and we were just fine. We don't do drink packages but did buy water. wondering if that's even necessary if I bring my water bottle? I research Viator and have done well with excursions with them . I do pick smaller groups. Thanks again and we cruise again in December (hoping to sneak another one in earlier!).
google can be your friend for pricing watches on a ship. Once we were on a cruise and my wife wanted to buy her mom a watch to send her from the cruise. I went to Amazon and it was $50 cheaper. Needles to say we ordered it from Amazon and told her it was from the cruise, which in a way, it was. I did order it on the ship and while standing in the watch store and the store clerk watched me do it lol
Read the fine print on those bus excursions. We were on an excursion where the round trip travel time was 4+ hours, with only 1.5 hours at the site. (A watch addiction?)
Definitely appreciative of this video as i have the hot air balloon in my cart and the key. Thank you just need help on spa deals should i wait for better deals on board or the prices shown are good enough.
The watch thing has always blown my mind. Hoards and hoards of people scrambling around discounted crappy watches. Looks like black friday in the Royal Promenade. I just have *never* understood that At ALL.
I totally agree The Key is worthless. I got it once and saw no perks or VIP treatment with it. On my last cruise I did buy a very expensive watch but I made sure to check out prices online and though they were cheaper once tax got added the price would be the same. I used my credit card which gives cash back, usually 2% on merchandise, but the watch got categorized as Travel so I got 3% cash back instead.
Definitely not buying the Key. The benefits are mostly only good for the first and last days of the cruise. I'm never buying the Ultimate Drink Package. I could never drink enough to make it worth my while.
You can say that again on the watches. I purchased a cheap maybe $40 or less watch only because the face matched a shirt I wear as a chauffeur and it always stops ticking after an hour or so. I could not get any resolution either.
If you prepaid for arcade credits, there is usually a deal. As a mother of three kids, I knew that it would go to waste. Come on, whatever game is there, my kids will want to play.
For the photos, do you have to get the photo package to get photos taken or can you buy them ala carte? Also, I’m going on one in February and we have 3 rooms. Do we each have to buy a package or just one room as long as someone from that room is in the photo (no matter if there 2,3, 4, etc people ) in the photo?
I never took the photo packages, the reason is they include way too many photos in front of a silly background that I could photoshop, its not the real thing, its dumb to take a picture in front of a canvas while on a cruise and pay for that.
I just wanna comment on what you said about buying watches I am Invicta watch collector you must know what you’re looking for to get a good deal for what you’re gonna be spending the example I have a grand diver that is number two The captain has number one you guys know what you’re looking for if you want to ship buying watches
Does anybody knows if royal Caribbean offer a ship tour? If yes do i need to do any booking? And which day do they offer it? Thank you Going to ensenada mexico and catalina Island on navigator of the seas in 3 weeks
They often do a behind the scenes tour of the ship, it does cost extra and usually it is listed in the excursions area of the app or website. It is usually on a sea day.
I agree with all of them but one. I do bus tours because I don't want to be left behind. If for some reason that happens I know the cruise line will get me back on the ship at their cost.
Second the bus tour
I agree. My bus tour was 30 minutes late, and the ship waited for us.
Drink packages, I just don't drink enough, especially since my wife has to buy one also.
I am going to stop looking and buying the "limited time specials" in the promenade. I just don't need any more things!
Five cruises in and I've never paid for specialty dining. I've always found that the included food is plentiful and good enough.
Agreed. We booked one specialty dining on our recent cruise and ended up not going lol
I usually agree. I always spend from on-board credit never out of pocket for extras. Last cruise there was bad weather and our jet ski tour was canceled, so we booked a few specialty restaurants with the credit. Now I must book Izumi Hibachi on every cruise.
Same
Only time that I have done specialty dining is when it was comp. I find as a general rule, people who do the specialty dining is because they want an exclusive experience that they can brag about. Main Dining crew go above and beyond to make your meals special
@heydeereman1040 the main dining crew and experience are really good, but the food is nothing special. I've now experienced 2 specialty restaurants and can say that the food itself was far better than anything I've eaten in the main dining room.
We've bought the key on our last 3-4 cruises. Love the lunch. Cary on bag delivered to the room. I did 4 zip lines in 15 minutes during the key hours AND the debarkation breakfast was amazing! So not much more than just paying for WiFi if you hit the sales!
👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾 I agree with not supporting captive animals. Happy New Year to every 🎉🎉🥂✨🥳
I too agree and was pleasantly surprised to hear your position on not supporting exploiting wildlife with captive animal tours.
Obviously zoos are right off your list.
Everyone should fly themselves and their kids to the seven continents to see the wild life.
Much better for the environment.
@@bugwar5545amen so sad
@@bugwar5545zoos are totally different and have trained staff and the animals aren't forced. I've seen MANY dolphin encounters that are tiny and ran by people who clearly only care about profit
Me and the wife did our first RC cruise last year on the Independence and we’ve already booked a family cruise on the Freedom of the Seas in ‘25. We really enjoy the freedom class ships. Thanks for all your tips!
We actually looking doing the same take first cruise on freedom size ship. My mom dad sail lot with carnival on their smaller ships.
Also think of Virgian voyages.
we got the key on our last cruise with our toddler and absolutely loved it! Getting on and off the ship was so fast on the first last day which made the day a lot smoother with a toddler. we also enjoy having a reserved time for activities so that we can go do something fun spend our entire time waiting in line our daughter was in the nursery
Happy New Year, Going on First Cruise in 1 day, Jan 4th. So I do Love all the ideas and advice. Super Excited 🎉
Just got off of voyager of the seas today, had a wonderful time, all thanks to your tour you made, watched the entire 49 minute video, and it helped me find some pretty cool areas!
I agree about the key however if price is not thst much different than wifi I like the perk not mentioned is booking of all shows before everyone else this ensures I get all shows on the days I want and the priority seating where I can get in before everyone else and get a good seat. Royal has more entertainment than anyone so I like this benefit versus being on that line hoping to get in lol
I have to give a little pushback on the bus tours advice, especially in Europe because it all depends on where the port is & and what you are wanting to do. It’s not uncommon for a city to be listed in the port name but you are an hour away from the actual city so a bus might be your best option. Basically you have to do your research before deciding whether or not to take a tour bus or other transportation. I used to live in Europe and have traveled throughout the region, not everything is in a city center or by a port city.
Europe is a continent, not a region. Would you like the Americas to be described as a region?
As someone that has been on several cruise ships all RC
The extra stuff that was fun/worth it on the first cruise,isnt always gonna be worth it the more you cruise. but as you cruise more you learn what to get and what not to get or do. Its all part of the journey
Me personally the speciality restaurants are not worth it more than once each.
Thank you for Advocating against captive animal tourist interactions.
Yep. Zoos are the most evil things on the planet.
We should all fly us and our families to the seven continents, book a safari at each to look at the wild life there.
Purchasing The Key makes my husband happy and that's worth it for me!
I agree with most of the suggestions. I do however like The Key. I agree that you can get most of it with a little planning but I found buying it during Black Friday its as cheap as a wi-if package. With two little kids I enjoy just walking up 15 minutes before a show to get a good seat.
Im an invictus watch fan, saw a beautiful watch on a Royal Caribbean cruise priced at $500, i didn't have the wifi package, so I could look up the price online. Told myself to wait till I get home, found the watch online for $99,I would never buy anything on a cruise ship.
Me too!
Why you gotta get the wifi
Woulda wayyyyyy more than paid for itself
Even at 75% off, you can usually buy anywhere for about $100. I was in a mall before Christmas and the Invicta store was “buy 3, get 5 more free”.
This is so accurate. I could not agree with your assessments more.
We actually purchased the Key for our cruise coming up in February. Only reason we do it is because the price was about a $100 difference between the Key and the internet package. It was at 35% off. That is something I always look at is all the different sales that are put out.
Happy new year, Matt! 12 months until our next RCL cruise!
Always buy dining package. The food is amazing in Chops. I would never miss that !! Avoid those crazy sales in the middle of the main walkway. Except maybe, maybe the t-shirt sale.
I agree with not buying the animal encounters like the Sea Lion encounter at Blue Lagoon. The actual time with them was 5 minutes or less and really not worth the price we paid. However, doing the boat rides in Alaska for whale/dolphin watching. Completely worth it. It's so much better seeing them on their own in the open water.
We got The Key for our next cruise but it was just about $10 a day more than the Wifi so it seemed worth it for the early check in. It's also for the special check in lane as well. If you add the cost of Chops lunch, we paid for Wifi and a chops lunch and got all that PLUS a special lane early check in and priority seating at shows.
We got the key on our last cruise and really liked having it. Special seating areas for shows came in handy. Not to mention thanks to some special needs, I now have priority boarding and disembarking which I needed.
I buy the key for every cruise, and I know that many of the benefits are on the first day, but for the right price, it is worthwhile for me. I've also been to Coco Beach Club and had a wonderful time. Once I get on the ship, the only money I spend is for bar tips (I buy the soda package), an extra tip for my room steward, (extra) specialty restaurant tips, and the casino.
There were 7 of us in our Icon of the Seas cruise 3/31 & WE ALL LOVED HAVING “THE KEY!” So totally disagree with you on that. And in one of the gift shops, I bought a spectacular pair of Gucci sunglasses that make me look like a Movie Star, as well as a stunning, black RC Icon sweatshirt.
The tote bag/coolers with six beverages of your choice on sale pre cruise are wicked cool! Our group bought 3 of them!
We also took the “All Access Tour” of the Icon. Well worth the price.
My husband and I have never purchased a drink package. We don’t drink that much . We are diamond members. We get four drinks a day and sometimes we don’t drink that however to buy a drink package to me you have to be drunk every day all day in order to get the value.. and if you just get the drink of the day, it’s cheaper and I think that’s much more reasonable.
Been to Coco key at least 5 times and never saw the balloon up!
I’ve never seen the balloon up either
Don’t buy a Rolex on their ships. They are “repaired”, which can be fine with proper documentation, except their lacks that.
I'm not buying the Key this time. It was ok but definitely not worth it. I'll probably not buy any excursions either. My husband wanted to stay on the ship the second day at port this last time. We may just check out the town and then get back on the ship. We'll see. I won't buy the escape room or the Royal lunch this time because we ended up not going. I guess we were really lazy and just enjoyed the solarium. I do want to make sure we get to Johnny Rockets this time and I would like to see the ice show next time. We liked having the deluxe drink package and we loved all the specialty dining!
Done 4 NCL and 1 Carnival (bad). First time RCL in April. We are looking forward to this.
Personally, LOVE the casitas. We actually intentionally reserved ours away from the pool area, enjoyed the complimentary alcoholic beverage (we book refreshment package, so we also had limitless mocktails delivered to us!), and just used it on a sea day to relax and read in a bed in the sun. I'm sure one could get similar value if you wake up early and get one of the circle bed-chair situations, but the outdoor bed was just a fun, nice luxury
A hand full of broken Arcade. On our Allure Cruise in November maybe two or three games worked between both Arcades. We had to go to Guest Services to get refunds for the games that would charge you even though they did not work or the balls were missing
I absolutely won’t buy a drink package. I’m not a teetotaler but i rarely ever drink alcohol, I no longer drink pop & the one coffee a day I do drink doesn’t come near covering the cost of the packages.
On another note, the dining package all depends on the ship. Some ships just aren’t worth it but others have a lot of choices so it could be worth it.
With the arcade, if you are gold or more and you child uses their card and you spend $50 you get $25 back.. it's a better deal.
For the drinks package is so expensive
your list is exactly like mine however i did order the “small” 6 bottles of water as i like having a small bottle of water at night by my night stand.
Hideaway beach is another thing that I will not likely buy again. It was worth a try when it first opened a year ago when the price was a fraction of what it is now. But I think it is not much different from from the rest of the island. Umbrellas, beach chairs, water, sand, pools, bars, food, drink service, and DJ music, all the same. I found only three things that hideaway has you cannot get elsewhere on the island ... heated pool, empanadas and pizza. Oh, and it's also hard to find a quiet spot there - the DJ music is pervasive.
The coconut shrimp and ceviche were delicious! But yeah, I think we paid like $40/person last year and it’s so much more now! Until they lower the price, I won’t do it again. I also wasn’t crazy about the enclosed beach that didn’t offer much of a view.
The drink package on RCCL. Too expensive
The drink package price has gone completely insane
We prepaid arcade credits for our 2 kids. We wanted to give them a budget so we weren’t shocked by all the individual charges on our sea pass. Majority of the games were broken. Because most of the games were broken the other games were busy. I thought we were smart by pre paying however we ended up wasting our money.
Of course your not going to buy the "Key" as a Pinnacle member you don't need those perks, Most of them you get for free. As far as the early on or off with the key, if you require wheelchair assistance, for get it. You'll get on or off with everyone else, the last cruise we were on we got to the prt at 11 (our Appointment) but couldn't get on till 1pm due to waiting for wheel cahir assistance. Since we can no longer afford RCCL with thier fare increase, I checked into MSC, But none of their U.S. Based ships have Handicap Balcony cabins.
I book the key everytime because I am a flowrider guy and generally during key times, there are 1 or 2 other key people there so I got a nearly private session for the cost of the key when I was going to purchase WiFi anyways
Next cruise this Monday on navigator of the seas
I agree these are personal choices. We used to buy art, but our walls are full now, so we don't need any. We won't buy drink packages. Instead, we'll buy single drinks as needed. I'll buy the internet package for my wife, instead of both of us. We don't do shore excursions because of the prices they want.
I've been on 93 cruises with 2 more booked for 2025. I've done specialty dining maybe 3 or 4 times. Not worth the prices. The last few years excursion prices are way too much. I am Diamond plus on Royal so I get 5 free drinks a day and 2 free days of wifi plus my cabin mate gets 2 free days which I use si on a 7 day cruise I'll get 4 free days. Sometimes I will pay for 1-3 more days. I am always looking for VALUE! I have no shortage of $$$ due to the fact I rarely, if ever, overspend.
The key is not a bad option, and I have been using it since it came out on multiple cruise. However, sailed recently on Utopia and had the Key. Well, there is no longer a key line at the port at Port Canaveral. Now they have an express lane that does not require purchasing the key.
If RC makes this standard they are pretty much killing the concept of the key…. Sad, but it will be their own fault.
I enjoy buying RCI merch. I have two hoodies, a lanyard and the photo albums :) I'd like to see what merch is currently on Indy
What am I absolutely not going to buy in 2025? Fare for a cruise.
yup on the same page with you, no more arcade credits also casita one and done.
I totally agree with regards to excursions to view captive animals. With the exception of Gumbalimba Park at Mahogany Bay port in Honduras. Here they have monkeys living in the jungle that are rescues from people who tried to keep pet monkeys and gave them up. Parrots also wild in the jungle trees.
Booked our first specialty restaurant, Giovani’s for lunch on our next cruise at a great sale price.
Would never consider buying a ring @ jewelry store on island or on ship
We never buy extras on board. No spec dining or drinks or whatever unless the package was included in the price.
I appreciate your videos very much. The last cruise we did not do specialty dining and we were just fine. We don't do drink packages but did buy water. wondering if that's even necessary if I bring my water bottle? I research Viator and have done well with excursions with them . I do pick smaller groups. Thanks again and we cruise again in December (hoping to sneak another one in earlier!).
google can be your friend for pricing watches on a ship. Once we were on a cruise and my wife wanted to buy her mom a watch to send her from the cruise. I went to Amazon and it was $50 cheaper. Needles to say we ordered it from Amazon and told her it was from the cruise, which in a way, it was. I did order it on the ship and while standing in the watch store and the store clerk watched me do it lol
The only thing I wanted to buy on my cruise was a bathrobe, and they didn't have any 😢. I really needed one too!
The first good example of what you should buy
Read the fine print on those bus excursions. We were on an excursion where the round trip travel time was 4+ hours, with only 1.5 hours at the site.
(A watch addiction?)
Definitely appreciative of this video as i have the hot air balloon in my cart and the key. Thank you just need help on spa deals should i wait for better deals on board or the prices shown are good enough.
Not buying the key this year. We always do but I have a shorter cruise in 2025 and got a great deal on a combo of Voom and refreshment pkg
I always buy art that I like and get a good price
The watch thing has always blown my mind.
Hoards and hoards of people scrambling around discounted crappy watches. Looks like black friday in the Royal Promenade.
I just have *never* understood that At ALL.
Happy New Year 2025
I totally agree The Key is worthless. I got it once and saw no perks or VIP treatment with it. On my last cruise I did buy a very expensive watch but I made sure to check out prices online and though they were cheaper once tax got added the price would be the same. I used my credit card which gives cash back, usually 2% on merchandise, but the watch got categorized as Travel so I got 3% cash back instead.
Definitely not buying the Key. The benefits are mostly only good for the first and last days of the cruise. I'm never buying the Ultimate Drink Package. I could never drink enough to make it worth my while.
Deluxe drink packages are not our add on any longer
You can say that again on the watches. I purchased a cheap maybe $40 or less watch only because the face matched a shirt I wear as a chauffeur and it always stops ticking after an hour or so. I could not get any resolution either.
If you prepaid for arcade credits, there is usually a deal. As a mother of three kids, I knew that it would go to waste. Come on, whatever game is there, my kids will want to play.
For the photos, do you have to get the photo package to get photos taken or can you buy them ala carte? Also, I’m going on one in February and we have 3 rooms. Do we each have to buy a package or just one room as long as someone from that room is in the photo (no matter if there 2,3, 4, etc people ) in the photo?
Matt, for research purposes, can you please buy the Golden Chalice?
Invictus watches are shitty watches. I would go with Tag heuer or Breitling
I definitely wouldn’t get the Key in Australia as you do not get priority boarding here with it.
I never took the photo packages, the reason is they include way too many photos in front of a silly background that I could photoshop, its not the real thing, its dumb to take a picture in front of a canvas while on a cruise and pay for that.
00:08: "Up Next!"
How about pin collecting?
Matt - can I use a Starbucks gift card I got for Christmas on my Mariner of the Seas Cruise in Feb? I'll be looking for your answer......UP NEXT! Thx
Yes, dedicated Starbucks aboard the Mariner
The arcades are soft compared to what we had in the arcade back in the early 2000s these today kids have no clue!
I just wanna comment on what you said about buying watches I am Invicta watch collector you must know what you’re looking for to get a good deal for what you’re gonna be spending the example I have a grand diver that is number two The captain has number one you guys know what you’re looking for if you want to ship buying watches
I have never met anyone who bought “The Key”.
👍🏻
You are so right
Don’t buy chops girls every single day only do it on Days you’re not going somewhere
Personally I’ve never been on a royal carribian ship but I really want to I’m tired of just being on carnival
I want to sail on either icon of the seas or wonder of the seas
@@ryanhammond9044 So did I till I saw the prices.
Does anybody knows if royal Caribbean offer a ship tour? If yes do i need to do any booking? And which day do they offer it? Thank you
Going to ensenada mexico and catalina Island on navigator of the seas in 3 weeks
They often do a behind the scenes tour of the ship, it does cost extra and usually it is listed in the excursions area of the app or website. It is usually on a sea day.
@@Kerby80 thank you
I honestly 100% agree with you. I don’t like captive animals. Will not support them.
LOL Yes Video game room was trash
The watches are no good
wasted words.
Royal Caribbean sucks
Finally, someone of reason doesn't kiss ass and speaks the truth.
Invicta watches are garbage, I would never buy them.