6 Things I'll do differently on Royal Caribbean in 2024

when I go on my cruises in 2024 I'll be making a few changes to how I [Music] cruise hey everyone it's Matt from Royal crian blog.com I went on 11 cruises in 2023 including nine of them on Royal Caribbean cruise ships it was my best year yet of cruising and I was able to sail to a variety of destinations around the world with 2024 here now I can't help but look back at what I did last last year and some of these New Year resolutions if you will on how to be a better Cruiser in 2024 now with any Cruise you can alter the dynamic of how you approach it because after all cruising is not a one-size fits-all product and that means you have the option to change it up so I came up with my list of five changes that I want to make in my 2024 cruises so that I can save money avoid mistakes or just simply improve my experience overall the first thing I'm going to change in 2024 is book my second half cruises sooner in order to save money the cost of travel went up in 2023 and cruises were no exception the average price of a royal cing cruise is higher now than in 2019 and as a consumer I need to adjust my strategies appropriately while I already have a number of cruises already booked for 24 my plan is to be more proactive with booking anything new in the past I would rely on booking a cruise about 3 months or so before the ship would set sail in order to squeeze another Cruise in this is partially I live in Florida and I can drive to any cruise port in the state but also because I was slow to come up with ideas for articles to write and subsequently find a cruise to make it happen instead in 2024 I'm going to book my cruises sooner to hopefully get a better price than if I try to get a last minute deal now I'd recommend anybody who's watching this video to also aspire to book their cruises even earlier prices are only going up so booking early is still the best overall strategy for a better Cruise looking at Icon of the Seas or any new cruise ship out there the pricing just doesn't come down for a while so booking in advance as early as you can really makes a big difference next up I'm actually going to skip the drink package depending on how long you've been watching these videos then you know that I've generally been a fan of Roy K's drink packages but I think that may be changing this year even at the higher prices I still think the drink package is a good investment for anybody looking to indulge during their Cruise it has the propensity to save anyone money however I have found an alternative way to enjoy alcoholic beverages on my cruise without paying the price of a drink package many readers have told me about how lucrative Royal crian Casino loyalty program can be as it includes unlimited free drinks in the casino as one of its perks now I'm not a big Gambler by any means but I cruise often enough during the year that I can spend a little bit during each sailing in the casino to acrw enough points to reach Prime status in the Casino Royale program having achieved Prime status I can now get free drinks in the casino at that bar combined with of course the free drink VES that I get from Royal crean Crown and Anchor Society I want to try relying on this instead of buying a costly drink package now there's a major downside of the strategy and that's of course I'm reliant on going to the casino to get a drink or rationing out my diamond drinks on Big Ships this is quite the schlip I mean imagine being up at the Mason jar on wonder of the Seas which is on Deck 15 and then having go all the way down to the casino on Deck four to get a drink that's not really that practical nonetheless the money-saving opportunity the strategy has is to aluring the pass up so I want to give it a try this year something else I'm doubling down on this year is taking the train instead of driving when I have a cruise out of South Florida from the time that I took the new bright Line train between Orlando and Miami I was hooked it's about three and a half hours to go from Central Florida to South Florida and in its extremely boring drive much of Florida's interior is rural and there just isn't anything to see plus that's a lot of time to be out of pocket for covering what's happening in the world of cruising right Lan offers nearly hourly service between Orlando and the ports that realing cruise ship sail out of in South Florida and it's been a Gods said for people like me that hate to fly but we're sick of the drive I've taken the train now about six times and when I count of the Seas start sailing from Miami I'll be taking the train as well to get back and forth between South Florida and where I live now driving is still cheaper but my time is worth more to me especially if it means never having to get stuck in traffic or getting slowed down in a downpour the other thing I'm going to change up this year is also rethink the unlimited Dining Plan earlier in this video I said I was going to skip the drink package but for the specialy dining package I'm going to commit to thinking twice before buying it I bought the unlimited dining package for plenty of my crises because it's a great way to enjoy many specialy restaurants but like the drink package the price of the dining package has gone up and equally importantly Royal Caribbean has stepped up with its complimentary food game while I love Habachi or filet at chops I never regret the stir fry station in the Wind Jammer or a bowl of french onion soup in the main dining room in fact on icon of the Seas when I went to the Aquadome Market I loved the food over there and I think a lot of people are coming to a very similar conclusion there is pretty good food that's included in your crew certainly a lot of attention gets put on what cost extra but I'd be the first to admit that the complimentary food is still really really good now to be clear clear for my icon of the Seas cruise I didn't cancel my dining package but as I plan out the rest of my 2024 cruises I might reconsider the investment I think 2024 will be the year that I finally knock something off of my bucket list and that is try the rock claming wall believe it or not I've never tried the rock claming wall on any Royal caran cruise ship the rock wall has been a staple of Royal caran ships ever since it was first introduced on Voyager of the Seas back in 1999 I've always wanted to try it but never got around to doing it I think a few years ago I went to go would do it actually and the crew member that was over there informed me that because it was too hot out the surface of the rock wall was just not conducive and they had it closed anyway I'm not sure which ship I'll try it on but I aspire to finally get on the rock wall this year the Crown's Edge and icon of the Seas can take the rock walls place on my never done it list and lastly I'm going to go for a night swim with my kids during this Cruise when I was brainstorming this list I thought of something I wanted to do differently as it relates to my family we've always talked about going up to the pool for a swim after dinner but we usually don't end up actually ever doing it either the kids find something else to do or I realize I have plants Elsewhere on the ship or we just get lazy and call a night in any case I want to find time to go up at least one night per cruise with the kids to the pool to get some time in for a night swim maybe it's for half an hour maybe it's for an entire movie but I think it's a really good year to make that happen and start a new family cruise tradition all right guys there is my look at what I'm going to do differently with Royal Caribbean cruises in 2024 let me know in the comments below what is your cruise resolution for 24 how will you change how you set sale let me know in the comments below while you're below our video please hit the like button and subscribe to our Channel make sure you turn on the notifications that way YouTube will you know have a brand new video to share this has been Matt from Royal Coran blog.com and we'll talk again real soon

Channel: Royal Caribbean Blog

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Length: 7min 22sec (442 seconds)

Published: Thu Jan 18 2024