First time Royal Cruiser need info

[sunrise717]

Hi we have 8 Disney cruises under or belts and decided to take the chance on Royal.
Family of 4 dd 9 and 11. And girlfriend 14 years old.
First question is there clubs the girls will be able to go together?
Anything where I can sign for them or 11 year old to get into tween club?
Communication on ship?? We have I phones and iPods.. so I need to get everyone a zoom. Package to communicate?
(I once read with I message you didn’t need to purchase the internet package)

We are sailing on Symphony to western carb.
Any suggestions for port excursions?
Any beaches we can taxi to that is not real expensive or day passes?
Passport??? Friends do not have them what is needed be and dL??

Transportation from FLL to port of Miami for 7 people?

Any other info is welcome so nervous to change to Royal

Thanks !!!

 

[cwby22]

We were in similar position to you. We had 6 Disney cruises before we tried Royal. We now have taken 2 Royal cruises, Oasis and Allure. Both cruises were excellent. No regrets. For me, service on Disney was clearly better, but we were not disappointed with Royal overall.
Oasis and Allure ships were awesome and I imagine Symphony will be as well.
Now to your questions, which unfortunately I cannot help much.
The only thing I can help with is you do not need to purchase internet package to keep in touch. Have everyone in your party install the Royal Caribbean App on their phone/ipod before you go and once onboard connect to free wifi. Then you can send messages to each other through the app. My only complaint with the app was it did not send audible notification, you have to keep checking your phone to see if you have any messages.
Hope you have a great trip!

 

[gregorykicks]

Congratulations on your first Royal cruise! I think you'll have a great time!

First question is there clubs the girls will be able to go together?
Anything where I can sign for them or 11 year old to get into tween club?

The Adventure Ocean program has a group "Voyagers" which is ages 9-11 so your kids will be in that program together. There is a pretty big jump from the 9-11 group to the 12-14 group. They don't require kids in that age group to be signed in or out. The only suggestion I can make is to talk to the staff on day one. It will ultimately be their decision. You should go up to the open house on embarkation day anyway to sign the kids up.

Communication on ship?? We have I phones and iPods.. so I need to get everyone a zoom. Package to communicate?
(I once read with I message you didn’t need to purchase the internet package)

The iMessage workaround was only working on Royal IQ ships. Symphony isn't one that uses Royal IQ. They are using the Royal App which is eventually going to have complimentary messaging, but I can't find anywhere that says it is currently working. There are also mixed reviews on how well it works. If it is really important to stay in touch at all times, I recommend a Voom package. You all may be able to share a 2 or 3 device package. A 2 device package means only 2 devices connected at a time, so you're not locked into the actual phone or ipod you first connect with. If you decide to get internet packages, go ahead and book them. They're refundable so you can watch for sales before your cruise date.

We are sailing on Symphony to western carb.
Any suggestions for port excursions?
Any beaches we can taxi to that is not real expensive or day passes?

Can you specify which itinerary? They offer a couple western Caribbean ones.

Passport??? Friends do not have them what is needed be and dL??

Passports are recommended but not required for round trip from the US. Anyone 16 or older can travel with an official birth certificate and photo ID. The kids (under 16) can travel with an original, notarized, or certified copy of their birth certificate.

Is the 14 year old travelling with her parents? If not you should get a notarized letter signed by her parents that states you have their permission to bring her on the trip, provide medical care, etc.. You should be able to find examples of these online.

Transportation from FLL to port of Miami for 7 people?

For a group that size, a shuttle would be easiest. You may even find a limo service which the kids would love.

 

[starvenger]

Really can't add much more to this right now. But happy to help with beach recommendations if you let us know which ports you need info on.

 

[jeepnjudy]

Her parents need to complete and have notarized a loco parentis power-of-attorney if the teen's parents are not cruising with you. That gives you the legal authority to act as her guardian on her parents' behalf.

 

[Weedy]

We’ve done 15 Disney cruises and 4 Royal.
Both are good.
My opinion
A few different things:
You can book early or late dinner or My Time Dining. With My Time you can make a reservation ahead of time for each evening. It can be a different time each evening. If you want to have the same serving team you will need to have the same time each evening.
Or with My Time you can just show up but you have to wait until a table is available. It can be crowded if you go between 6:30-8:00 kinda like going out to dinner at a popular restaurant on a Saturday night.
Some of the ships have shows that require reservations. You can do this in advance. The shows run on more than one night. I made a grid of the shows/nights they ran before I went online.
After I made my show reservations I made my My Time Dining reservations.
In my opinion:
The boarding is better
The elevators are better
They have a full buffet every night for dinner..much better food
If you’re going to Coco Key the buffet is much much better than Castaway Cay
The food in the main dining rooms isn’t as good as Disney and that’s not saying much.
If no special shows (the Aqua show on Oasi is wonderful)the entertainment is not that great
Disembarking STINKS!! They call numbers ... they send everyone to different areas of the ship to wait.. it’s just not good

 

[a1tinkfans]

Good info given already! Off Allure where we did use the app for person to person communications while aboard. It does not always work, there is no notification that your daughter, for example even texted you.
We were in a large group... used a cheap dollar store white board to say where we’d be ( mostly) on sea days.
The Voom pkg for actual WiFi can be shared so no need for each person to have. You simply sign off and next person can sign on. You cannot be on at the same time. It can save you money by buying Only how many u truly need. Off ship, depending on countries.. cell carries charge differently. Verizon was cheap, and only kicked in for that day If we needed it. We notified them ahead.. which countries etc
I second... it is VERY IMPORTANT that you have notarized legally accepted documentation for a child not ur own.
I’d make a copy and keep one on you ( always off ship) and a Duplicate set in safe ( which is where ur other dips stay when u take orig passport, if needed off ship
Safe travels. Enjoy!!

 

[sunrise717]

Congratulations on your first Royal cruise! I think you'll have a great time!



The Adventure Ocean program has a group "Voyagers" which is ages 9-11 so your kids will be in that program together. There is a pretty big jump from the 9-11 group to the 12-14 group. They don't require kids in that age group to be signed in or out. The only suggestion I can make is to talk to the staff on day one. It will ultimately be their decision. You should go up to the open house on embarkation day anyway to sign the kids up.



The iMessage workaround was only working on Royal IQ ships. Symphony isn't one that uses Royal IQ. They are using the Royal App which is eventually going to have complimentary messaging, but I can't find anywhere that says it is currently working. There are also mixed reviews on how well it works. If it is really important to stay in touch at all times, I recommend a Voom package. You all may be able to share a 2 or 3 device package. A 2 device package means only 2 devices connected at a time, so you're not locked into the actual phone or ipod you first connect with. If you decide to get internet packages, go ahead and book them. They're refundable so you can watch for sales before your cruise date.



Can you specify which itinerary? They offer a couple western Caribbean ones.



Passports are recommended but not required for round trip from the US. Anyone 16 or older can travel with an official birth certificate and photo ID. The kids (under 16) can travel with an original, notarized, or certified copy of their birth certificate.

Is the 14 year old travelling with her parents? If not you should get a notarized letter signed by her parents that states you have their permission to bring her on the trip, provide medical care, etc.. You should be able to find examples of these online.



For a group that size, a shuttle would be easiest. You may even find a limo service which the kids would love.

Thanks for info everyone>>> we are one the Roatan, Costa Maya, and Cozumel

 

[sunrise717]

Thanks for info everyone>>> we are one the Roatan, Costa Maya, and Cozumel

 

[starvenger]

Costa Maya I recommend booking a reservation at Tropicante. Costs about $3/person to get there but no minimum charge to use the beach. Pay as you go (can run a tab) for food and drinks. Cheap massages too. Steve the owner is a great guy.

 

[starvenger]

Cozumel I'm not certain about free beaches but Paradise has $3 cover and the rest is a la carte payment.

Roatan there are beaches around the island that are free but you pay for transport around. I think arranging a private excursion/driver might be the way to go here.

 

[Frozen2014]

Thanks for info everyone>>> we are one the Roatan, Costa Maya, and Cozumel

Roatan has beautiful beaches and it's fun to visit the Sloth and Monkey farm. There are a few tours that incorporate both. Ours also visited a chocolate factory and gave lots of history and culture along the way.

 

[msjprincess]

Thanks for info everyone>>> we are one the Roatan, Costa Maya, and Cozumel

I did Nassau, Cozumel Costa Maya and Roatan on Allure this past November. I aslo did Cozumel and Roatan in February on a Carnival Cruise.


In Costa Maya we did an excursion to Chacchoben Ruins through Native Choice.

In Cozumel, in November we took a taxi to Paradise Beach. It was $3 cover and they ask that you spend $10 pp. We also got the kids the bracelets for the water toys. That was $15 each. In February we just walked to a tiny beach area for lunch.

In Roatan in February we did a ziplining/monkey/sloth excursion through Daniel Johnson. You can add the beach to the excursion. We were supposed to do a similar excursion with Victor Bodden in November but we ended up canceling because it was torrential rain that day.

 

[gregorykicks]

Thanks for info everyone>>> we are one the Roatan, Costa Maya, and Cozumel

I agree with everyone regarding Daniel Johnson's Monkey and Sloth Hangout. We had a great time there. I've heard good things about their snorkeling tours as well. Roatan is one of the best SCUBA/snorkel locations in the world.

We've done Maya Chan every time we've been to Costa Maya and it's fantastic. It's about $60/adult kids are $40-50. They pick you up at the port and bring you back, it's all inclusive and they have fantastic drinks, food, and service. It's very chill and quiet. None of the beaches in Costa Maya will win any awards, the water is murky and there's lots of sea grass, but I'd go to Maya Chan any day. Not cheap, but we've found it to be a great value. Your other option is to stay in the port and use the great, free pool. The port was built just for cruise ships and where you dock feels very theme-park-artificial to me, but it's a nice place.