15 things you wont regret buying on a Royal Caribbean cruise!

Beach bed at CoCo Cay? I can’t rationalize $1000 for a cabana when I paid $1700 for the whole cruise

Idk why but when ever I go on a cruise I have an addiction watching these videos a month before and a month after

Let me ADD to the ROYAL UP UPGRADING YOUR CABIN. We were assigned a cabin 2 floors directly above the carousel. We upgraded to an ocean view and let me tell you, I wrote that check for the upgrade with HUGE SMILE on my face!! I was having anxiety attacks thinking I was going to spend my 7-night cruise having to listen to carnival music from the carousel all the time!!! Now I know I can drink my morning coffee on the balcony listening to the ocean pass by rather than having an undying urge to SMASH A CLOWN!!!

I’ve cruised with a balcony room twice, and just got back a couple days ago from a cruise with an inside stateroom. It was so easy to find a quiet lounge bed in the shade with a free ocean view (Freedom of the Seas, Deck 12) that I don’t think I’ll do a balcony room again. We only used the room for sleeping and showering. Plus the quality of sleep is SO much better in a dark inside stateroom.

I have to disagree about the specialty dining packages. I didn't see one that was worth the money. Especially considering that I got filet mignon and lobster in the main dining room included in my ticket price.

I have never cruised in a balcony room and probably never will. I like to be out and about on the ship and there are SO MANY free places to sit and enjoy the view that I don't need that in my room. The savings also allows me to add on some of the other things on this list while not going over budget.

I always get a ship shirt. And when I go to a new island or port I get a shirt there too. I am going to keep the front or back of the shirts as I pull them from my wardrobe. Then make a quilt from them someday so I can remember all the great times I had.

Recently I bought the photobook package for $150.00 and love it - on Anthems OTS in Oct 2023. Every night I dressed up and took pictures with photographers stationed everywhere onboard - they will upload the pictures to my file and I got to pick the ones that I like. The photobook was delivered within 4 weeks and I really enjoyed it. I can pick over 30 pictures to be printed on a photobook. Well worth the money.

Definite YES to insurance. We were about to travel from Europe to Galveston when the covid test for one in our group of five came up positive and we had to quit the trip. Insurance refunded everything (apart from the premium itself). Without we would have lost almost ten thousand $!

The rule of thumb with packages is that you have to think about how realistically likely you are going to use them. I went on a cruise and I decided not to get a drink package or specialty dinning package and I decided the excursions while I was on the boat. Yeah, I had one alcoholic drink, ate from a specialty restaurant once because it was a dinner and entertainment thing and had got pop from the vending machine a couple of times, yes those individual things had a extra price tag attached, except for the excursions, I think I paid a lot less overall then I would if I had the drink and specialty dinning packages. The things I did pay for I enjoyed and there was never a time when I woke up in the middle of the night and thought, why didn’t I just pay for those packages. My goodness there was so much food, there was no need to ever worry about going hungry or missing out. You can’t eat everything anyway, so you pick what you feel like. Spend the money where it counts, to me that was fantastic excursions, I loved the tours, the boat rides and the beach. I didn’t buy expensive jewelry, or art , but there was gold by the inch and splurged on a camera. People always say, when I come back, but here’s the thing, you may never be back, so do the stuff you want to make memories out of.

Instead of two adjoining balconies, get one, and an inside room directly across. Teach them how to dial your room, and do surprise checks the first night. You'll feel better knowing they're not going out on the balcony at night!

I am ALL ABOUT my balcony. I sit by the ocean all night long. it's the best ever. a cruise without a balcony isn't the same.

I have used the insurance on one of the cruises, I had a blood clot, they even called to see if we had any hotel bills and restaurants bills. They were going to pay for everything but we ended up staying with my parents when we got off the ship when we got back to Florida. So it is definitely worth buying the insurance!!!

We usually do an ocean view and tried a balcony on 3 cruises. 1 balcony was tiny and too sunny but nice to have. The other 2 were really shady and spacious. We loved having that privacy! We spent so much time on the balcony and didn’t have to be bothered looking for a nice spot on the pool/sun decks.

Chops Grille for sure! It has always been such a wonderful treat for us and something we so look forward to each cruise.

Royal Caribbean has the best customer service & I will always cruise with them for that reason!! I had an issue on a past cruise. I emailed the President/CEO and he called me personally the very NEXT day to help!!! 💜I was 100% impressed!!!

Mine was my first zipline on Cocoa Cay! I got it as a birthday present to myself on Black Friday! I loved it so much I bought it again for my next cruise!

I got 20 minutes into this video wondering how I knew your voice. Used to listen to you on WDW today. Glad to find you again Matt and great tips!

Great stuff, Matt. I always pre-pay gratuities - after all, it's the same cost either way and this way I get it out of the way and it's done. Same with travel insurance. Compared to other "add-ons," it is so ridiculously inexpensive and you can't put a price on peace of mind, especially in these times. And I always book a balcony, even though it might cost a lot more. My very first cruise was an inside cabin and I never did it again. That's a dealbreaker. It's balcony or nothing for me. One tip I might add to your advice on souvenirs is to watch for sales. I just got off a cruise that put most of the t-shirts on sale on the last day for 70% off, or buy one get one, etc. They rarely run out of items so I would recommend waiting until the end of the cruise if you can.

Just did an Owner’s Suite and the UDP. Fantastic! But I only gained 3.5 lbs on a 7-nighterDoing the same thing next Christmas and already bought the UDP for the other seven family members going with us.