Lots of good tips Matt! We never buy a drink package and we don't feel as though we need to. Once we got to diamond Royal gives us each 4 drinks a day. Since we can't drink that many we ask for a water or soda and take it back to the cabin for later in the evening. The one luxury we always splurge on is a balcony cabin, because we find it so relaxing and spend time there when the pools and other areas are busy. You have to decide what will make your vacay feel special and what isn't worth it. Thanks for all the wonderful videos!
Thanks for all the fantastic tips Matt! My wife and I are more than happy booking inside cabins. I for one am a night owl, so I get back from daily activities late in the evening and pretty much am ready to hit the sack (of course outside of being in the cabin getting ready for my day). Also, I really appreciate it being pitch black which I prefer for sleeping. Yes, it's great having the view and extra space of a balcony, but I'd rather spend my time in other areas of the ship during the day.
Thank you so much for the tips, and for explaining that we TAs should not cost you extra money. So many people are afraid of being nickeled and dined when in fact we often save our clients money. You are doing great work on this channel, and you’re a great resource. Keep it up!😊
On the drink package: A lot of bloggers will do the whole "drink all day and count the cost to see if it's worth it" thing and end up endorsing the package because they have 15 cocktails over the course of a single day. I (and most other normal people) can do that for a day or two as well... but I genuinely cannot keep up that pace for 7-14 days straight. There are absolutely going to be days where I only have 1 or 2 alcoholic drinks, and probably also a few days where I have 0... so I always have to factor that into my decision as well. When you are considering a drink package, my advice is to just make sure you are thinking about the pace and tempo of your drinking over the ENTIRE length of the cruise. Not just the amount you can drink on your best day. Same applies to dining packages as well. I can eat like a horse for the first few days, but eventually my body calls it quits and I need to take a recovery day or two where I eat light at the buffet and completely skip the restaurants.
In terms of the drink package. My wife and I mostly uses it for soft cocktails instead of the hard liquor. We'll go hard here and there but mostly on things that are lighter. Also the premium coffee, tea and the water is a good way to abuse it.
Great video again Matt, really useful & informative!! If we decide not to buy a drinks package, where can we find out whats included for free?? Are there any particular areas on the ship we can only go too??
Good tips, Matt. On my last 7 night Western Caribbean cruise, I spent ZERO onboard during the entire cruise. The only add-ons I used were the internet package and bottled water (which I purchased ahead of time). I don’t eat in the specialty restaurants, I don’t drink alcohol or sugary beverages and I don’t play in the casino. I highly value the internet package and my interior staterooms. They are an oasis for me to relax. I definitely spend more time in my room than the typical cruiser, but I like it that way. Besides, we all have our own unique preferences, right?
1. No speciality dining 2. Book inside cabin 3. Don’t buy jewelry or watches 4. Bring medication 5. Don’t buy drink package 6. Bring your own alcohol 7. Book WiFi at midnight on first evening 8. Use free WiFi in ports 9. Drink alcohol in port 10. Drink of the day special 11. Loyalty offer discounts 12. Avoid casino 13. Reprice your drink package 14. Set daily budget 15. Prepay and have a fresh wallet 16. Travel agent 17. Book off-season 18. Don’t get off the ship in port
If you only want to splurge on one meal outside the MDR or Windjammer, I recommend the Chef's Table. Food was amazing and I found a favorite wine. Worth the extra $$$
Great tips Matt! After 6 cruises, I agree with all of those tips. I hope cruise number 7 will be a 4 day cruise out of Galveston. I don’t know the ship name, do you and do you recommend it?
Good video, but you missed a couple of your stand byes! 1. Book as early as possible 2. Keep an eye on last minute deals. While they are getting rare, they do still happen.
From a security standpoint I would avoid public wifi access in ports. I've done surveys of those access points and...trust me, they are FAR from secure (this is coming from a security expert).
I think my wife and I got lucky going back and forth at the jewelry shop on the cruise. Diamond necklace, diamond earring, opal earring and stud rose gold earring all for $5K flat. Originally started at 12,700K then down to 9K then 6.5K until we negotiate enough to get to 5K flat.
The best way to save is, enjoy what you can afford. As easy as that life is tooooo short Spend like your are dying tomorrow and save like you are living forever, this my motto in life. If you can afford it go for it, if too expensive just enjoy the free lemonade and tea and coffee. And yes specialty dining is nice if you can afford it why not? Again play it smart and enjoy life
Yeah, the casino is tough. Everyone always goes in it thinking they will hit it big. For me, out of 15 cruises, I've only been ahead from them, twice. But I make sure if I lose a certain amount, I stop all together. From each day and from the entire cruise all together.
If you like suites, you can’t get group rates. I shopped a bunch of TAs for a junior suite- none of them offered a better price or any offers than what I could get directly with RCI. I’ll keep trying, but I’m not holding my breath for a TA to save us money.
I will say do research on the watch deals cause I just finished a cruise and i bought a Star Wars themed Citizen watch and buying it on ship i saved $130 than if I bought it online!
i’d much rather get the refillable coca-cola cup then a whole drink package. because most of the drinks make my stomach horrible. it saves almost 1000$ too
Matt, is a junior suite ever worth the money? It lacks most of the suite features, but costs more than a ocean-view balcony suite which isn't much smaller. Is the only benefit of a junior suite bonus loyalty points?
So let’s say you book the cruise and 2 months later the same cruise is less money. What would you do in this scenario or would Royal Caribbean only let you reprice within 48hrs
RC will give you the difference back in on board credit, if it's before final payment date. If it's after final payment date, then you won't get anything.
I paid for my entire cruise in full and the price continued to drop. I called 4 times in total and they just kept crediting my credit card each time. In total I got over $1400 per room back.
Question about waiting until midnight to purchase the WiFi package: even though you are only paying for 6 days instead of all 7, would it still cost more? Only reason I ask this is because the website says it costs $21 per person per day before the cruise and $29 per person per day when onboard. According to my math, that would mean that the pre-cruise price for 7 days would be $147 and the price when purchasing 6 nights on-board would be $174. Is this true, or does Royal bluff when they say the price is higher on-board?
Specialty dining is way better food than the rest of the ship. We save by going for lunch. The Chops filet in the MDR is not as good as the actual restaurant, although better than the strip steak of the regular MDR menu. We've been on Harmony and Mariner, and our favorite meals were specialty. Included food is not all bad, and you can find something decent most of the time. But in our experience, there was a lot of mediocre to sift thru. Many disappointments to get to the good stuff.
Has anyone done a deep dive on purchasing artwork on a ship? I figured this was an anachronism, but there are lots of people who are into this and I saw people carrying large pieces off the ship.
I haven't myself, but I've attended the art auctions and they tell you at the begining that the frames and shipping etc is all combined in at the end of the auction price. I'm not sure if that means what you bid is all of that included, or just the bid and then you have to add on all the rest. However, with that being said I assumed they package and ship them to you, and that I wouldn't be walking off the ship with them.
From what I've read most of these "paintings" auctioned on cruise ships are machine-produced reproductions (basically a copy produced by a fancy ink jet printer) that aren't worth much. On occasion the auction company hires artists to paint some brushstrokes on these reproductions to make them look more like original paintings. In essence you're buying a poster. I suppose you could call it a "print" if the artist is famous and the reproduction process is good. There's nothing wrong with buying posters - I buy them myself. But it's unethical to try to pass off these machine-produced copies as valuable original paintings. The auction company has been sued by buyers who thought they were buying valuable original artwork and discovered when they returned home and had their "paintings" appraised that these "paintings" weren't worth much and that the frame was worth more than the "painting." IMO to have auctions of this stuff is ridiculous. The company should be honest in explaining just what the artwork is and just sell them at a reasonable markup. If the artist is good (and famous) and the reproduction process is good the artwork could possibly be worth a few thousand. I bet that the stuff sold on cruise ships is worth a fraction of that. But I don't want to harsh your mellow! If you like some art auctioned on a cruise ship, you can afford it, and you don't expect it to be an original artwork that will increase in value over time, have at it! But please don't spend thousands on this stuff!
Lots of good tips Matt! We never buy a drink package and we don't feel as though we need to. Once we got to diamond Royal gives us each 4 drinks a day. Since we can't drink that many we ask for a water or soda and take it back to the cabin for later in the evening. The one luxury we always splurge on is a balcony cabin, because we find it so relaxing and spend time there when the pools and other areas are busy. You have to decide what will make your vacay feel special and what isn't worth it. Thanks for all the wonderful videos!
love this qe are the same splurge on the balcony peaceful to get away from the pool areas
Thanks for all the fantastic tips Matt! My wife and I are more than happy booking inside cabins. I for one am a night owl, so I get back from daily activities late in the evening and pretty much am ready to hit the sack (of course outside of being in the cabin getting ready for my day). Also, I really appreciate it being pitch black which I prefer for sleeping. Yes, it's great having the view and extra space of a balcony, but I'd rather spend my time in other areas of the ship during the day.
I'm with you. I tend to enjoy views from the Windjammer or the back of the ship more than I do when I have a balcony.
My first cruise is coming up and super excited. Watching all sorts of videos on the ports of call and the ship itself.
Getting a refreshment package for my Wife and taking 2 bottles of wine onboard saves about $300 a cruise! Thanks for the tips Matt.
Thank you so much for the tips, and for explaining that we TAs should not cost you extra money. So many people are afraid of being nickeled and dined when in fact we often save our clients money. You are doing great work on this channel, and you’re a great resource. Keep it up!😊
On the drink package:
A lot of bloggers will do the whole "drink all day and count the cost to see if it's worth it" thing and end up endorsing the package because they have 15 cocktails over the course of a single day.
I (and most other normal people) can do that for a day or two as well... but I genuinely cannot keep up that pace for 7-14 days straight. There are absolutely going to be days where I only have 1 or 2 alcoholic drinks, and probably also a few days where I have 0... so I always have to factor that into my decision as well.
When you are considering a drink package, my advice is to just make sure you are thinking about the pace and tempo of your drinking over the ENTIRE length of the cruise. Not just the amount you can drink on your best day.
Same applies to dining packages as well. I can eat like a horse for the first few days, but eventually my body calls it quits and I need to take a recovery day or two where I eat light at the buffet and completely skip the restaurants.
In terms of the drink package. My wife and I mostly uses it for soft cocktails instead of the hard liquor. We'll go hard here and there but mostly on things that are lighter. Also the premium coffee, tea and the water is a good way to abuse it.
Great video again Matt, really useful & informative!!
If we decide not to buy a drinks package, where can we find out whats included for free?? Are there any particular areas on the ship we can only go too??
Good tips, Matt. On my last 7 night Western Caribbean cruise, I spent ZERO onboard during the entire cruise. The only add-ons I used were the internet package and bottled water (which I purchased ahead of time). I don’t eat in the specialty restaurants, I don’t drink alcohol or sugary beverages and I don’t play in the casino. I highly value the internet package and my interior staterooms. They are an oasis for me to relax. I definitely spend more time in my room than the typical cruiser, but I like it that way. Besides, we all have our own unique preferences, right?
Our first cruise is 57 days away and I can’t wait!!
Good stuff that applies on many cruise lines, not just Royal. Thanks Matt!
You always have the best info Matt.
1. No speciality dining
2. Book inside cabin
3. Don’t buy jewelry or watches
4. Bring medication
5. Don’t buy drink package
6. Bring your own alcohol
7. Book WiFi at midnight on first evening
8. Use free WiFi in ports
9. Drink alcohol in port
10. Drink of the day special
11. Loyalty offer discounts
12. Avoid casino
13. Reprice your drink package
14. Set daily budget
15. Prepay and have a fresh wallet
16. Travel agent
17. Book off-season
18. Don’t get off the ship in port
If you only want to splurge on one meal outside the MDR or Windjammer, I recommend the Chef's Table. Food was amazing and I found a favorite wine. Worth the extra $$$
Book your cruise early and re-price often 👌🏼
Great tips Matt! After 6 cruises, I agree with all of those tips. I hope cruise number 7 will be a 4 day cruise out of Galveston. I don’t know the ship name, do you and do you recommend it?
Thanks Matt for the updates 👍
Good info like always Matt!!
I'm a diamond member and with the discount on balcony rooms it's cheaper than an interior to have a Central Park balcony. Pretty good deal in my book.
Are you able to see these specific prices if you sign into your account?
@@_shonneri I had to call and compare prices. They don't show on the website.
Woww good to know! Thank you!!
Also whenever you see a sale call and get a reprice especially around the week of thanksgiving
Thanks for the info
Good video, but you missed a couple of your stand byes!
1. Book as early as possible
2. Keep an eye on last minute deals. While they are getting rare, they do still happen.
Good call!
Great tips Matt.
Liked the Wifi hack. Just do not forget to redeem your free internet first if you are diamond or above.
From a security standpoint I would avoid public wifi access in ports. I've done surveys of those access points and...trust me, they are FAR from secure (this is coming from a security expert).
Use a VPN. If you travel with a notebook, VPN software (not free versions), should already be installed 😊
I think my wife and I got lucky going back and forth at the jewelry shop on the cruise. Diamond necklace, diamond earring, opal earring and stud rose gold earring all for $5K flat. Originally started at 12,700K then down to 9K then 6.5K until we negotiate enough to get to 5K flat.
If you buy expensive jewelry or watches on the ship, there may be import duties as well as taxes to pay as you return home.
Me and my wife just booked a 14 day transatlantic by doing interior room and letting them pick the room we saved a few grand!
The best way to save is, enjoy what you can afford. As easy as that life is tooooo short
Spend like your are dying tomorrow and save like you are living forever, this my motto in life.
If you can afford it go for it, if too expensive just enjoy the free lemonade and tea and coffee.
And yes specialty dining is nice if you can afford it why not?
Again play it smart and enjoy life
I love your videos but where did the intro jingle go? I loved it!
Progress!
Yeah, the casino is tough. Everyone always goes in it thinking they will hit it big. For me, out of 15 cruises, I've only been ahead from them, twice. But I make sure if I lose a certain amount, I stop all together. From each day and from the entire cruise all together.
If you like suites, you can’t get group rates. I shopped a bunch of TAs for a junior suite- none of them offered a better price or any offers than what I could get directly with RCI. I’ll keep trying, but I’m not holding my breath for a TA to save us money.
I personally buy the drink package just to avoid a bill at the end. I pre pay as much as possible.
thanks for the tip on coupons for crown and anchor. I'm diamond
We got 14 days booked at 114 a day for two and pretty happy
The soda package isnt too bad.
I will say do research on the watch deals cause I just finished a cruise and i bought a Star Wars themed Citizen watch and buying it on ship i saved $130 than if I bought it online!
Best way to save money on cruises, sail with MSC... I'll pay triple to go with RC 😅
i’d much rather get the refillable coca-cola cup then a whole drink package. because most of the drinks make my stomach horrible. it saves almost 1000$ too
Yup, and it can be used not only at the Freestyle machines but to get free refills of soda or seltzer at any Royal bar.
Matt, is a junior suite ever worth the money? It lacks most of the suite features, but costs more than a ocean-view balcony suite which isn't much smaller. Is the only benefit of a junior suite bonus loyalty points?
It’s worth the money when it’s not much more than a balcony
@@RoyalCaribbeanBlogThanks!
So let’s say you book the cruise and 2 months later the same cruise is less money. What would you do in this scenario or would Royal Caribbean only let you reprice within 48hrs
RC will give you the difference back in on board credit, if it's before final payment date.
If it's after final payment date, then you won't get anything.
I paid for my entire cruise in full and the price continued to drop. I called 4 times in total and they just kept crediting my credit card each time. In total I got over $1400 per room back.
Question about waiting until midnight to purchase the WiFi package: even though you are only paying for 6 days instead of all 7, would it still cost more? Only reason I ask this is because the website says it costs $21 per person per day before the cruise and $29 per person per day when onboard. According to my math, that would mean that the pre-cruise price for 7 days would be $147 and the price when purchasing 6 nights on-board would be $174. Is this true, or does Royal bluff when they say the price is higher on-board?
This is a great question, anyone know the answer yet?
Specialty dining is way better food than the rest of the ship. We save by going for lunch.
The Chops filet in the MDR is not as good as the actual restaurant, although better than the strip steak of the regular MDR menu.
We've been on Harmony and Mariner, and our favorite meals were specialty. Included food is not all bad, and you can find something decent most of the time. But in our experience, there was a lot of mediocre to sift thru. Many disappointments to get to the good stuff.
Has anyone done a deep dive on purchasing artwork on a ship? I figured this was an anachronism, but there are lots of people who are into this and I saw people carrying large pieces off the ship.
I haven't myself, but I've attended the art auctions and they tell you at the begining that the frames and shipping etc is all combined in at the end of the auction price. I'm not sure if that means what you bid is all of that included, or just the bid and then you have to add on all the rest. However, with that being said I assumed they package and ship them to you, and that I wouldn't be walking off the ship with them.
From what I've read most of these "paintings" auctioned on cruise ships are machine-produced reproductions (basically a copy produced by a fancy ink jet printer) that aren't worth much. On occasion the auction company hires artists to paint some brushstrokes on these reproductions to make them look more like original paintings. In essence you're buying a poster. I suppose you could call it a "print" if the artist is famous and the reproduction process is good. There's nothing wrong with buying posters - I buy them myself. But it's unethical to try to pass off these machine-produced copies as valuable original paintings. The auction company has been sued by buyers who thought they were buying valuable original artwork and discovered when they returned home and had their "paintings" appraised that these "paintings" weren't worth much and that the frame was worth more than the "painting." IMO to have auctions of this stuff is ridiculous. The company should be honest in explaining just what the artwork is and just sell them at a reasonable markup. If the artist is good (and famous) and the reproduction process is good the artwork could possibly be worth a few thousand. I bet that the stuff sold on cruise ships is worth a fraction of that. But I don't want to harsh your mellow! If you like some art auctioned on a cruise ship, you can afford it, and you don't expect it to be an original artwork that will increase in value over time, have at it! But please don't spend thousands on this stuff!
I’m not a non drinker but I can’t see me drinking even 5 to 6 alcoholic drinks a day. BUT I can consume 5-6 diet Dr. Peppers a day. 😊😊😊😂😂😂
Hi Matt! Do you edit videos yourself or have a team? I’m an editor and would love to help you if you’re interested
We have a team, thanks
@@RoyalCaribbeanBlog I appreciate your quick response
Plenty of down sides to agents. May cost you more than you save. Long stories.
YES, Save money and your health DO NOT GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
Once again you delivered very good information you go way and be on to save people money and have a wonderful beautiful cruise 🛳