Royal Caribbean International announced its complete lineup of ships will be sailing by spring 2022, with Ovation of the Seas heading down under on December 13 for domestic cruises from Sydney and Grandeur of the Seas cruising from Bridgetown, Barbados. The line offers a variety of cruises, from short 3-4 day trips to the Caribbean or Bahamas to week-long trips that offer longer trips.
Guests must arrive at the port no later than 60 minutes prior to the published sail time. Royal Caribbean International keeps guests updated on any itinerary changes due to weather or other circumstances before sailing and on board the ship. Guests can change or cancel their show reservations online up to 4 days prior to their cruise start date, but once onboard, cancellations must be made at least 4 days.
Pre-cruise testing is no longer required for sailing on any of Royal Caribbean’s sailings. All guests must have the earliest check-in time available (usually 11AM) and the ship has many passengers already on board. Final payment of the balance must be received at Royal Caribbean’s offices at least 75 days prior to the sailing date for 1 to 4 night cruise vacations.
Sailing on Royal Caribbean Cruise Tours features 7-night cruises, while Alaska Cruise Tours range from 2 to 6 nights. Royal Caribbean has typically removed ships from service between 20 and 30 years, with Song of Norway being one of the 27 ships removed from service.
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What happens if you are late to board a cruise?
What to do if you miss your cruise ship. When the crew realizes that there are passengers who didn’t reboard the vessel, they will leave those passengers’ passports with port staff so they can travel to the next port if it’s in a different country. Some cruise lines collect passengers’ passports upon embarkation, while others will go into the passengers’ stateroom to find the documents. So it’s a good rule of thumb to keep your passport somewhere obvious—on the desk or the room safe—so it’s easy for the crew to find.
When you miss a ship at a port of call, go to the port staff first. Each cruise line has a port agent who can help. The line’s agent can hand over your passport and can help you contact your ship to make arrangements to meet up in the next port.
The next call should be to your travel insurance provider. “During a travel disruption, contact your provider’s 24-hour assistance team as soon as you can,” says Steven Benna, marketing manager at travel insurance firm SquareMouth. “They will explain your policy’s coverage for the situation and can help you find additional travel arrangements, like catching up to your cruise at the next port.” Be sure to keep any receipts relating to your catchup travel to include when you file a claim with your insurance provider, Benna says.
How long does it typically take to disembark a cruise ship?
Anyone who has their bags offloaded by the ship’s porters will be called to leave the vessel according to their designated luggage tag color or number; the tags are usually distributed a couple of days before the end of the voyage. In those cases, passengers can disembark any time after their color or number is called but not before. From start to finish, the process usually takes about two to three hours, depending on the size of the ship.
Related: How to disembark from your cruise ship before everyone else.
Every ship has scheduled a time that it’s due to be in each port it visits. Anything from weather to mechanical issues can affect the actual arrival time. Assuming a ship remains punctual, the time at which passengers can disembark depends on how long it takes for local authorities to clear the vessel.
Can you see how full a cruise ship is?
Most Cruise Lines’ websites provide information regarding the cruise schedule and the availability of cabins. You can also check the dates and capacity of the ship to get a better sense of how full it is.
Is breakfast served on disembarkation day?
On disembarkation day, Guests are typically asked to vacate their staterooms by 8:00 a.m. so the Crew can begin preparing for the next cruise. You will have the option to enjoy one more magical meal before you leave the ship—the location and time of your breakfast correlate to your Rotational Dining schedule. You can check your Disney Cruise Line Navigator App for this information.
You may opt to place your luggage outside your stateroom on the last night of the cruise between 8:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. for delivery to the ship’s terminal the following morning. In this case, you will need to wait for the announcement indicating that it is time to retrieve your luggage from the terminal. Once you hear this announcement, you may disembark.
I typically don’t travel with a large suitcase, so I opt for Express Walk-Off, which allows you to take your luggage to breakfast on disembarkation morning. You also have the option to disembark as soon as the ship is cleared by port authorities. Your cruise itinerary indicates that Guests may begin going ashore at 8:00 a.m.
How to find out how many cabins are left on a cruise?
Do Mock Bookings for a Sailing You’re Interested In. If you have a specific sailing in mind, you’ll want to be doing mock bookings for that sailing starting the week after final payment is due. During the booking process you’ll be able to see how many cabins in any category are left.
If you’re already booked on that cruise and see that there are open higher-category rooms than what you’ve got booked, contact the line or your travel agent to see if there are any upgrade offers open.
It’s more difficult if you’re not already booked. If you see lots of empty cruise cabins, you can try contacting the line to see if a sales rep or a travel agency will offer you a good deal. Chances are high, however, that if no sale is advertised on the website, you won’t be offered a discount.
If this is the case, keep checking in. If cabins don’t start filling up as the sail date gets closer, the chances of a sale popping up increase.
Do cruise ships have to wait if you are late?
Delayed Shore Excursion. The only time a cruise ship will wait for late passengers is if they are on a ship sponsored shore excursion, meaning the tour was booked and operated through the cruise line.
In fact, one of the biggest selling points of booking a sponsored excursion through the cruise line is knowing you are guaranteed to get back to the ship, even if the tour is running behind.
For this reason, many cruisers opt to purchase excursions through the cruise line because of this added peace of mind.
How long does it take a cruise ship to come to a stop?
It can take many minutes and hundreds, perhaps thousands, of yards to stop, or even turn a large cruise ship traveling at cruising speed. This is mitigated in that modern ships have multiple engine modules placed at various places on the hull, not just the old fashioned stern driven propellers, or screws.
What is the latest you can board a Royal Caribbean cruise ship?
Please note: All guests must be checked-in and onboard the ship no later than 90 minutes prior to the published sailing time or you will not be permitted to sail. If you choose to fly ChoiceAir, Royal Caribbean automatically displays only the airline schedules that will enable you to meet your cruise.
Guests should arrive at the terminal within the arrival time slot you selected during Royal App check-in. Your arrival time is listed on your mobile boarding pass. Those who arrive early will not be able to begin boarding, and those who arrive late will need to wait until we are able to work them into another group.
Due to government regulations requiring cruise lines to submit final departure manifests at least 60 minutes prior to sailing, guests are requested to complete Check-in no later than 3 days prior to their cruise. If you do not complete Check-in 3 days prior, you will be required to complete this process at the pier at leasttwohoursprior to the published sailing time.Please note:All guests must be checked-in and onboard the ship no later than 90 minutes prior to the published sailing time or you will not be permitted to sail.
If you choose to fly ChoiceAir, Royal Caribbean automatically displays only the airline schedules that will enable you to meet your cruise. For your return home, you have the ability to select the flight that best suits your schedule. Depending on your disembarkation time and port, the time needed to arrive at the airport will vary.
How to tell if a cruise is sold out?
Ask your travel agent. If you made your cruise booking through a travel agent, simply reach out to them and ask them about the availability. This can be a more accurate source of information, as they sometimes have access to rooms that are not published on a cruise line’s website.
Referring back to the Carnival Freedom example, there may be an interior room that’s available through a travel agency. The website, however, says that the category is completely sold out.
In addition to information about your sailing, there are numerous other advantages to booking with a travel agent. They can help you make pre-cruise travel arrangements, give shore excursion suggestions, and make reservations for onboard add-ons, like spa treatments, specialty restaurants, and more.
How late can I board my cruise ship?
In order to facilitate the embarkation process, the processing of your eDocs, and to comply with new government regulations governing departure manifest, all guests are required to complete check-in at the cruise terminal and be onboard the ship no later than one hour prior to the departure time noted on their cruise …
Arrivée au terminal de croisière : Pour votre confort et pour plus de commodité, nous recommandons aux clients qui n’ont pas effectué leur /nclweb/secure/bookedGuestLanding.html” enregistrement en ligne d’arriver au terminal de croisière au plus tard deux heures avant l’heure d’embarquement prévue figurant sur les documents de croisière. Les passagers ayant effectué leur /nclweb/secure/bookedGuestLanding.html” enregistrement en ligne sont tenus de se présenter au terminal au moins une heure avant l’horaire d’embarquement prévu figurant sur les documents de croisière. Nous recommandons VIVEMENT aux passagers de procéder à /nclweb/secure/bookedGuestLanding.html” l’enregistrement en ligne au moins quatre jours avant leur départ.
Heure finale d’embarquement : Pour faciliter la procédure d’embarquement et le traitement de vos e-docs, tout en satisfaisant aux nouvelles réglementations gouvernementales régissant le manifeste de départ, tous les passagers ont l’obligation de s’enregistrer dans le terminal maritime et d’être présent à bord du navire au moins une heure avant l’heure inscrite sur les documents de transport, faute de quoi ils ne seront pas autorisés à bord du navire. Veuillez noter que les passagers qui n’ont pas effectué leur /nclweb/secure/bookedGuestLanding.html” enregistrement en ligne doivent arriver au port deux heures avant le départ.
Il est interdit de quitter le navire ou d’embarquer à tout moment ailleurs qu’au port d’embarquement/débarquement publié pour les raisons suivantes:
What time do cruise ships return to port?
6-7 a.m. Cruise ships return to port early in the morning (6-7 a.m.), and then it can take 2-3 hours for everyone to get off the ship.
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This is for any cruise line not just Royal but ships operate on their own time. Depending on where you are in the world and the time of year you’re sailing, ship time may or may not be the same as the time on shore. I wear and old “dumb” watch and keep it set according to ship time. This eliminates the chance of time confusion that can happen with electronic smart devices. Remember cruise ships will leave you if you’re not back on time.
Ben often these top ten articles are clip bait, however even excellent doesn’t do this article justice, we haven’t been on as many cruises as you and David, but these but are our deal breaking principles that we have learned are essential for good experience. Thank you so much for the thoughtful way you put this together, too many people have bad experiences because they don’t do research.
We’ve just back from a family cruise (7 night W Med) on Symphony. It was excellent and the first time we’ve sailed since 2017. Good article, but I’d like to add something about the rooms. A chap we met had an interior boardwalk room above Boleros and said it was noisy. Our booking was a mess as we’d booked an ocean view and selected the room, but RC “upgraded” us to a Central Park balcony. It was lovely, BUT I’d booked a sea view which I didn’t get. A huge improvement was the kind of mandatory hand washing before entering self service restaurants. The best find was the Solarium Bistro, it was excellent but you have to book for dinner. The level of service onboard was amazing and as always the great crew made the holiday. 👑⚓️
Sir Ben, I think I have to politely say I think you missed an important point on the RC Dress Code topic. I think it is a real important point to potential first time cruisers. You explained the dress code for Formal Night. But you made it sound like people dress up in ties, suites, gowns, tuxs, etc. and if you are not interested, skip the MDR and can eat in the Windjammer and other eating venues. All sounds pretty accurate except that one not dressed formally can eat in the MDR. They won’t be turned away. I think this is so important. Even though I love dressing up, I always see people who are not in the MDR on formal night. I think it is well accepted. That’s the point. All’s good and thanks for the great summary of RCL.
Thank you so much for this article. My cousin & I will be on the Serenade of the Seas for 14 nights over Thanksgiving (November 2023) & I will definitely be bringing those 2 bottles of wine you mentioned. We have been on the Serenade before (12 night Meditterian) a few years ago, so we know this ship & love it. Cheers!
Great vid! I’m going on my first RC cruise in January but my partner has been on heaps – which means he’s a Diamond member. One way we’ve decided to save some cash is to only get the soda beverage package because he already gets four free drinks per day with his Club level and I’m not a huge drinker. I’ll still have some cocktails, but with the four free drinks, it’ll be cheaper than the beverage package for both of us. We’ve each got a coffee card though because while coke does it for me most of the day I NEED MY COFFEE. We’ll do the sums again at the end, but I think we’ve made the right decision.
I have just found your website and omg thank you so much! I’m planning a Royal Caribbean Cruise for 2025 and you have been so damn helpful! I have never cruised before and I’m thinking/ planning on visiting the Bahamas (Including Coco Cay, Im such a big kid lol)… I have been looking at the different ships from one of your other articles where you explained the different types of ships and that was also very very helpful! As a first timer, I never knew all these different ships and just thought they were all pretty much the same but omg they are all soo different in many ways! Thank you soo much!!!! ps, you have a new sub 🙂
I don’t understand why bringing a bottle of wine onboard is allowed but not a bottle of beer. Most ships have a pretty dire selection of high end craft beer, so being able to bring one or two bottles along would represent a far smaller loss of potential onboard spend to the line than allowing a bottle or two of wine when ships normally carry a far larger selection of wine they could sell you instead of the ones you bring with you.
I started perusal both of your websites, I think I’ve seen them all now. I’ve NEVER had an interest in cruising and just addictively kept perusal because of you and David. So much FUN! But, who has the higher Mariah notes? Couldn’t say, each of you have your own unique high notes. NOW MY PROBLEM: Do tell…..how does someone that will not take the jab or wear a mask but has official documentation of natural immunity smack dab during the original and Delta viruses. My question was then, how do I know what virus I have? ANSWER: CDC takes samples of positive tests to determine what virus is surging – So CDC will tell me? NO. Isn’t that a Winnie the Pooh CROCK? INSIDE CRUISE, Do Tell……What’s the latest on this topic for those that have natural immunity and have decided they want to cruise? Where is this acceptable and where is it not?