Newbie to RCCL but not cruising! Questions.

[Vidimom]

Our family found a great deal on a cruise on the Grandeur of the Seas leaving from Tampa on a 4 night cruise.
We have cruised over 15 times but not on RCCL. This will be our first on RCCL and have a few questions some of you may be able to answer.

1. What time does boarding begin in Tampa and how long does it take before you go under the Skyway Bridge.
2. Are you allowed to smoke in the casino in a designated area. Do they sell cartons on board and if any of you know what the current prices are.
3. Is it a cash in/ cash out in the casino or is it a ticket system (or bank type system)
4. What are the prices for bingo. Do they plan multiple games or only single games with big prizes.
5. Do you tip in cash or is it better to prepay your tips. We always tip more but want to make sure the right person gets what they deserve.
6. Can you order a hamburger (for my adult son) in the dining room for dinner. He lives on them.
7. Where do they dock in Cozumel? Everytime I have been there, it has always been at the Puerto Maya pier.
8. We are well seasoned cruisers but being new to RCCL, are there any DON'T MISS things we should go to on the ship.
9. Do they have a guest talent show or a karaoke contest? Our daughter loves to sing and actually can .


I know some of theses questions are answered all the time, but I would love to hear from others that have cruised on the Grandeur out of Tampa and what we should expect on our cruise.

I appreciate any information given!

[Vidimom]

Is there anyone out there that can answer any of theses questions? I don't expect one person to have all the answers. Some are general question so any assistance is appreciated!

[jolson56]

Originally Posted by Vidimom

Our family found a great deal on a cruise on the Grandeur of the Seas leaving from Tampa on a 4 night cruise.
We have cruised over 15 times but not on RCCL. This will be our first on RCCL and have a few questions some of you may be able to answer.

1. What time does boarding begin in Tampa and how long does it take before you go under the Skyway Bridge.
2. Are you allowed to smoke in the casino in a designated area. Do they sell cartons on board and if any of you know what the current prices are.
3. Is it a cash in/ cash out in the casino or is it a ticket system (or bank type system)
4. What are the prices for bingo. Do they plan multiple games or only single games with big prizes.
5. Do you tip in cash or is it better to prepay your tips. We always tip more but want to make sure the right person gets what they deserve.
6. Can you order a hamburger (for my adult son) in the dining room for dinner. He lives on them.
7. Where do they dock in Cozumel? Everytime I have been there, it has always been at the Puerto Maya pier.
8. We are well seasoned cruisers but being new to RCCL, are there any DON'T MISS things we should go to on the ship.
9. Do they have a guest talent show or a karaoke contest? Our daughter loves to sing and actually can .


I know some of theses questions are answered all the time, but I would love to hear from others that have cruised on the Grandeur out of Tampa and what we should expect on our cruise.

I appreciate any information given!

You can smoke in the casino...I believe 1 night is smoke free.
You can smoke on your balcony and in designated areas of the ship.
Yes, you can buy cartons of cigs...2 years ago they we're approx. $20.
Hope this is of some help

[billylen]

Originally Posted by Vidimom

Our family found a great deal on a cruise on the Grandeur of the Seas leaving from Tampa on a 4 night cruise.
We have cruised over 15 times but not on RCCL. This will be our first on RCCL and have a few questions some of you may be able to answer.

1. What time does boarding begin in Tampa and how long does it take before you go under the Skyway Bridge.

Don't know about the Skyway Bridge question, but most ships start boarding by 11 or 12

2. Are you allowed to smoke in the casino in a designated area. Do they sell cartons on board and if any of you know what the current prices are.

As the precious poster stated you can smoke in the casino except for a smoke free night (sometimes two on longer cruises) Yes there are cartons onboard, usually Marlboro Brands

3. Is it a cash in/ cash out in the casino or is it a ticket system (or bank type system)

Cash In/Cash out, but that may be changing

4. What are the prices for bingo. Do they plan multiple games or only single games with big prizes.

Someone will have to check me, but I think it is $5 per card, (with discounts for multiple card purchases) there are multiple games Prize levels vary and increase if the big jackpot is not won

5. Do you tip in cash or is it better to prepay your tips. We always tip more but want to make sure the right person gets what they deserve.

Your choice, you can tip in cash or purchase the vouchers, but if you purchase the vourchers all your servers (cabin, waiter, asst wait and head wait) will get their tip. If you pay cash you tip who you want and as mush as you want. I purchase the vouchers and they add more for great service...which is almost always the case)

6. Can you order a hamburger (for my adult son) in the dining room for dinner. He lives on them.

My son lives on them too, you may be able to, but there are so many other options around the ship he should do just fine, if you want to eat with him, I'll bet they can make something happen for you.

7. Where do they dock in Cozumel? Everytime I have been there, it has always been at the Puerto Maya pier. Good question, RCL may dock at the same place. We were outside of town and had to take a cab or bus in...




8. We are well seasoned cruisers but being new to RCCL, are there any DON'T MISS things we should go to on the ship.

Depends on the ship and what you like. If Voyager class, the Ice show is good, the specialty restaurants are good, some of the entertainment is also very good, but it comes down to your personal tastes.

9. Do they have a guest talent show or a karaoke contest? Our daughter loves to sing and actually can.

They have both, and I hope you are right, I have seen some pretty horrific displays of "talent"


I know some of theses questions are answered all the time, but I would love to hear from others that have cruised on the Grandeur out of Tampa and what we should expect on our cruise.

I appreciate any information given!

See above in red

[amybeth4]

Three weeks ago on the Liberty, we docked at the International pier. I assume that all RCCL ships would dock in the same place.

I bought a box with 5 cartons recently, for $99. My friend thought I was out of my mind until I told her a carton on Long Island is $75...EACH.

Pre-paying tips is a great way to not have to deal with doling out cash on the last night. You're still given envelopes with vouchers and you can put extra cash in them if you want.

[Langley Cruisers]

Originally Posted by billylen

As the precious poster stated...

Awww, precious. Yes. Indeed. That's the single most amusing finger-slip I think I've ever seen.

[jjb415]

Originally Posted by Langley Cruisers

Awww, precious. Yes. Indeed. That's the single most amusing finger-slip I think I've ever seen.

I agreee !!

OP, you seem to be "with the program" , I think you will like Royal Caribbean quite a lot.

[Vidimom]

Thank you all very much for the information! We are excited to cruise with RCCL. We are very seasoned travelers but always make the best of any cruise and don't go looking for the "bad" on a cruise!

I appreciate the information on tipping and think it's great that they give you vouchers to give to your staff members so they do know you tipped them and we always tip extra so that will be an extra bonus for them.

One thing I forgot to ask about was are the approximate prices of cocktails. I like 7 & 7 but others like frozen cocktails. Any idea (ballpark prices are fine) of the average prices of drinks. We always purchase a few bottles to bring back. How is the selection and are the prices comparable to other lines. (HAL, NCL, CCL).

Again, thank you to all of you (especially Bill) for taking the time to help out a newbie to RCCL. Maybe next time, I can help a future newbie!

[amybeth4]

Most things are between $5 and $8, plus the automatic 15%. The drink of the day is $5.95 in a regular (albeit small) RCCL plastic glass and $8.95 in a special glass which I'm not sure I saw...unless it was the REALLY cool glass I occasionally saw that had LIGHTS that swirled around the bottom.

For some reason, I remember the most expensive drink being the Cosmo, which was $9.50. Not sure why it's so high. I think martinis are $8. Beer is $3.95-$4.95 for bottles. Some ships have a couple on tap...the Liberty, for example, has Heineken and Amstel Light. Those were a bit more...like $5.50.

A glass of wine depends on which one you order. The house wine is $5.95. It's La Terre, which is pretty crappy, and probably less than $5.95 for the whole bottle...but I drank a lot so I stuck with the cheap stuff, except one night in Portofino where I "splurged" and got pinot noir for like $7.

[Vidimom]

Thanks for the info on the cocktails!

Anyone know how much the Crown Royal runs. On our last cruise we were able to purchase 2 bottles for around $34.00. Do they run a 2 bottle price special as well?

Thank you.

[mechcc]

We name our brand and the drinks run us for about $8.00. The drinks seem to be a bit larger than on Carnival to me.

You will probably dock at the International Pier in Cozumal. There are a few stores and a Senor Frog's at the pier. If you want to go into town are elsewhere, a taxi is pretty inexpensive (settle on price before boarding). Generally, taxi's are plentiful in the downtown area (don't know about other areas).

RCI is very sticky about bringing booze on board - to include wine and beer. The Grandeur is a smaller and older ship, so it will not have all the latest and greates things on board. But on a 4-dayer, you will have plenty of entertainment.

Enjoy!!!

[billylen]

Originally Posted by Langley Cruisers

Awww, precious. Yes. Indeed. That's the single most amusing finger-slip I think I've ever seen.

Hey, who said it was a finger slip