I'm going on my first cruise with DH! It's 7 days wine cruise starting Saturday (leaving to Tampa tomorrow). I've started planning and packing but wanted to get insight to make sure I'm prepared.
How "formal" are regular dining dress codes? I'm more concerned about DH here. Travel agent says no formal night, but nice clothes are still required in the dining room. Website for Royal Carribean says there is a formal night so I think I should bring his suit just in case. Thoughts?
I'm planning to live in dresses and swimsuits, but bringing a couple shorts and 1 pair of pants for a Mayan ruins tour (and travel to/from Chicago lol). Anything I should definitely bring with? Weather says 80s but I'm thinking maybe a denim jacket for hanging out on the room balcony at night.
I'm not sure if I should get the alcohol package or not. Since it's a wine cruise, we already get a bottle of wine every night in our room. The package is $55/person and we would both have to do it all 7 days, and 3 days are off the boat at port. So not sure I want to allocate $700+ to drinking, especially since it'll end up being higher if we drink off the boat, which is likely.
We've done all of our crusing on RC. Non-formal nights I usually wore a casual dress and strappy heels, and S would wear khakis and either a polo or a button up shirt (no tie).
Formal night I would wear a nicer dress (something that I would wear to a wedding) and S would wear a suit and tie. I would bring a formal outfit just in case. If you need anything pressed, set it out your first night so the person in charge of your room can take care of it.
We usually do the wine package and buy in once we get on board - usually the 5 bottle package. But since you already are getting a bottle each day in your room, and you're spending some time off the ship I would probably skip it and just do a la carte for the rest of your drinks.
For the dining, a simple dress and either flats or heels will work. For your husband, khakis or non jeans, and a button up or sweater would work.
For the alcohol, we struggled with the same thing and we are glad we didn't get the package. If it's $110/day total, you would have to have at least 8-9 drinks to make it worth it per day. And then to make up for those 3 days, you would need to have about 24 more drinks on top of those 8-9 for it to me worth it. We went on a 12 day cruise and our alcohol bill was only $450 for 12 days and I don't feel like we were conservative at all.
He will want to wear a suit on formal night. A dress like you'd wear to an evening wedding is what you would want to wear on formal nights. On non-formal nights you're ok as long as you're not in jeans or shorts basically.
It's good to bring some layers. The common areas of the ship can be chilly, especially at night.
I would probably not get the alcohol package. You have to drink a lot for it to be worth it. Drink prices on board are not overly inflated in my opinion -- they're comparable to a regular bar or restaurant on land. You would have to drink a lot to spend $55/day per person on drinks!
Have fun! I just got back from a week on the Oasis of the Seas and I totally miss it.
I can't imagine the drink package would be worth it. We've been on a few cruises and the port cities are all the same if you don't do an excursion, so by now my H and I get off, walk around, then get back on the ship and hang out by the pool and drink. The boat is empty and the food is free.
Thanks all for the advice! I think I'm confident now to skip the drink package, I can't fathom drinking 8+ drinks daily plus extra to make up for the port days. I know it's vacation but that's a lot!
I'll bring DH's suit and a couple nicer dresses for myself. And a few wraps / lightweight sweaters for evening.
How "formal" are regular dining dress codes? I'm more concerned about DH here. Travel agent says no formal night, but nice clothes are still required in the dining room. Website for Royal Carribean says there is a formal night so I think I should bring his suit just in case. Thoughts?
I'm planning to live in dresses and swimsuits, but bringing a couple shorts and 1 pair of pants for a Mayan ruins tour (and travel to/from Chicago lol). Anything I should definitely bring with? Weather says 80s but I'm thinking maybe a denim jacket for hanging out on the room balcony at night.
I'm not sure if I should get the alcohol package or not. Since it's a wine cruise, we already get a bottle of wine every night in our room. The package is $55/person and we would both have to do it all 7 days, and 3 days are off the boat at port. So not sure I want to allocate $700+ to drinking, especially since it'll end up being higher if we drink off the boat, which is likely.
I've been on a few cruises, and the dress code in the MDR (Main Dining Room) is pretty nice. I wore dresses every night in there and didn't feel over dresses. Definitely wear a cardigan or wrap b/c it is cold in there! DH wore nice khaki pants and a long sleeved dress shirt. Some men wore blazers too.
For formal night, he should definitely bring a suit.
I'm not a drinker, so I'm not the best person to ask
As for other items to bring, this is what I'd recommend off the top of my head: - over the door shoe organizer- we had an interior cabin, and this is one of the best thing (if not the #1 thing) we brought. The sink space is so tiny, and this was great to house all toiletries, hair tools (hair dryer, flat iron, etc), SPF bottles, camera equipment, necklace, makeup, etc. - collapsible hamper- We just seemed to accumulate a ton of clothes. Since it was warm, we were out and about during the day/afternoon, and sometimes we would want to shower, change, and get back out to the ship. Needless to say, our clothe were starting to pile up on the small couch in our room- we already bought this for our next cruise. This will definitely help keep our clothes organized and in 1 space (and not strewn all over the couch, onto the floor, etc) - power strip- there were only 2 outlets in our room- one by the armoire/TV area (I have pics of our room in my travel blog under Oasis) and one by the headboard. Since we both had cell phones (iTunes), laptops, iPads, and camera batteries o=to charge, it was a necessity to bring a power strip to charge what we needed.
I know there is more- this is my "packing list for a cruise" (based specifically on the Oasis, since I just returned off that ship) from my blog. Feel free to skim through and get some other ideas. DH and I went on the Oasis last December, and we LOVED it. It was DH's first cruise, and he got really spoiled. If you're interested in reading about it, these are my blog posts for the Oasis cruise. I took a TON of pictures of the ship, our room, as well as the food (and a lot of the menus being served in the MDR nightly- what we liked/didn't like.)
Have fun! If you have any other questions, feel free to PM me.