World Cruise Questions

[knope2022]

Hi Everyone!

 

I tried calling Royal, but they didn't know how to answer a few questions I had so I was hoping you guys may be able to help!

 

We are currently holding side by side balcony rooms as we decide if this trip will work for us logistically. So I would love any thoughts you all have:

 

1. There's 18 times where we dock overnight in a port. Can we get a hotel room in those cities to stay overnight and give our kids a break from the ship?

2. Is there some way to ship souvenirs home from each port? Hopefully from the boat? Otherwise I need to find a ton of mailing locations.

I can't imagine how the rooms would look if we just collected them all throughout the trip. The kids want to get souvenirs while in Osaka at Nintendo Land and in Tokyo from the Nintendo store and I'm not thrilled at the idea of looking at Mario and Bowser for 270 days.

3. Think they'll give us enough time in each port to get to time intensive things? Or release timing soon? Example: We want to go to Universal Japan so the kids can go to Nintendo Land.

4. How do you think they'll handle kid schooling? We have 3 who will be in Elementary school at the time. Our state allows for online school and their current school will advise throughout the time we are gone on any additional things the kids should be learning. Wondering if there will be a "School Room" maybe for kids to bring laptops to and learn around each other?

5. A couple of reps have told me they've booked families with young kids, do you guys have any irl sightings of this? We know it will skew older but we are really hoping there's at least a few families on board.

6. Think they'll offer babysitting on the boat? So we can have a hot minute away from them at nights?

7. Out travel agent says she cant see anything on her end yet but she can get us some obc when she sees things on the 27th, what kind of obc would you guys hope for/be expecting.

8. Edited to add, I was told by CSR that they've just added unlimited specialty dining to the cruise. Is this something anyone else can confirm they were told?

 

Sorry for so many questions. It's like moving more than vacation! We're very excited but also very nervous.

Edited October 23, 2021 by knope2022

[RFerrington]

I don't think anyone has the answers to your questions yet....but I have a very strong feeling that there will be very little in the way of children's activities or provisions on a world cruise.  My guess is that they are anticipating not only adults, but for the most part, retired adults.  I'm not saying that they wouldn't welcome children, but I just don't believe that they will be making too many child-centric accommodations for the very very few children that they are likely to get.  JMO

[DirtyDawg]

25 minutes ago, knope2022 said:

4. How do you think they'll handle kid schooling? We have 3 who will be in Elementary school at the time. Our state allows for online school and their current school will advise throughout the time we are gone on any additional things the kids should be learning. Wondering if there will be a "School Room" maybe for kids to bring laptops to and learn around each other?

 

You might have to wait until there is a roll call for this cruise to ask if there are any other school aged kids aboard. 

 

If your State's online schooling is synchronous (live) your kids will be in class at some very strange hours during the cruise. If you are in the East, a 2pm Monday class will be 2 or 3am am Tuesday when you are in Tokyo for example.  Might be better to book another cabin and hire a teacher for the cruise. 

 

Edited October 23, 2021 by DirtyDawg

[crzndeb]

6 minutes ago, DirtyDawg said:

You might have to wait until there is a roll call for this cruise

There is one. Just not many posters, but it might be a good place to start for OP

 

 

[knope2022]

Thankfully it is not live. They can adjust to their schedule according to what we've been told and their current school teachers/head of lower school will be checking in with them weekly to keep them on track. We feel very fortunate re: how to make sure they won't be falling behind.

 

I know it's super (beyond super) early, but when is it normal to start a Roll Call thread?

[knope2022]

Just now, crzndeb said:

There is one. Just not many posters, but it might be a good place to start for OP

 

 

oh my goodness, thank you so much for this!

[hpugirl27]

I'm wondering about some of these questions too, but we are thinking of just going on the 2nd segment, not the whole thing.  We will have our son with us, but sounds like he would be older than your kids.  My son is 11 now and we're homeschooling at the moment and plan to continue so that would make the schooling aspect not an issue at least.  Also wondering how many kids might be on...

[cruisegirl1]

OP - I hope you get to make this trip.   I can only help with one  question, regarding overnighting at a hotel.

 

In the past, when a ship had an overnight, we were allowed to leave the ship and overnight in a  hotel. Several on board did this.   This was several years and I am not sure of potential changes. 

 

There is a  page started on another popular  social media.

 

Enjoy

M  

[meg1021]

We were on the inaugural sailing of Ovation OTS in 2016, for just 45 days.  There were several families with school age children with them, and occasionally they would be on ship sponsored tours with us.  This was before online schooling was common, but apparently they had arrangements with their school districts to do some work while they were on the ship.  The crowd on longer cruises is definitely older, and you probably won't see many young families.

 

You should definitely be able to book overnight hotel rooms on overnight port calls, as long as you're back before the ship is scheduled to depart.  We were also on a 58 day sailing on the inaugural voyage of Spectrum OTS in 2019, and left the ship on 2 occasions, once for a 2 day overland tour, and once for a 3 night stay in Shanghai.  We had to purchase our own hotel room, and arrange for transport to and from the hotel.

 

Look into luggage concierge services for shipping things back to your home. Warning you that they are rather expensive though.

 

Good luck!  It sounds like a wonderful opportunity for your family, and will provide your children with an education that they may not get in the classroom

[neverbeenhere]

OBC—- I’m not sure this is a standard 16% commission(of net sailing less various amounts) sailing. If it is, I’d be looking at around 10K per stateroom from my travel agent. 

[zekekelso]

No idea, but sounds like a hell of a good trip. Enjoy. 

[Saab4444]

Of course you can stay somewhere else if the ship is in port overnight. Only restriction might be Visa requirements in few ports like e.g. in Russia or China.

[brillohead]

No babysitting with Royal anymore.  Although there might be a few grandma-types among the passengers who might be willing to sit in your room for a few hours if your kids are well-behaved!

[SummerBeee]

Need an extra adult at Universal? I love amusement parks

[kccrzr]

In addition to using store shipping services, we have personally mailed things home before including in New Zealand and Ireland.  Look for cities where the port is in town and you will be there on a weekday.  Google/Google Maps is a great help.

[Hogbay]

There is a FAQ on the word cruise. 

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/topics/world-cruise

We have often left the ship and re joined in the next port overnighting in a hotel. I don't think there would be many families mostly retired or semi retired ,270 days of work !. Post and shipping is available worldwide, ask where you buy do they offer shipping . 😊

[Hogbay]

There is a FAQ on the word cruise. 

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/topics/world-cruise

There you go they are offering to ship your luggage to the ship and to store you luggage onboard ,not in your room .😇

[knope2022]

Thank you all! 

 

Looks like we can stay in hotels which I think will be a huge win for us. Just need space to stretch between the long stretches.

 

I got a call back from royal saying we can drop any box that's addressed at guest services and they'll mail it, so that seems like a win. I think I may still research local backup options just in case though.

 

Apparently they've also gotten enough requests about schooling that they're meeting this week to discuss how kids will experience the trip + school on the boat. So I'm hopeful now we won't be the only ones on the boat.

 

They also did confirm no babysitting. I am hopeful some people missing their grandkids will be nice enough and we'll trust them enough to beg them to watch the kids once in a while. Fingers crossed, lol.

 

We are at the point now where we are sold on it and about to see what agents can help with the best OBC to blunt the costs of all the excursions. 

 

Thank you all so much!

[Ashland]

RCI hasn't had in cabin babysitting for a few years....Adventure Ocean will be an option for the kid's onboard..just as always.

[Hogbay]

52 minutes ago, knope2022 said:

Thank you all! 

 

Looks like we can stay in hotels which I think will be a huge win for us. Just need space to stretch between the long stretches.

 

I got a call back from royal saying we can drop any box that's addressed at guest services and they'll mail it, so that seems like a win. I think I may still research local backup options just in case though.

 

Apparently they've also gotten enough requests about schooling that they're meeting this week to discuss how kids will experience the trip + school on the boat. So I'm hopeful now we won't be the only ones on the boat.

 

They also did confirm no babysitting. I am hopeful some people missing their grandkids will be nice enough and we'll trust them enough to beg them to watch the kids once in a while. Fingers crossed, lol.

 

We are at the point now where we are sold on it and about to see what agents can help with the best OBC to blunt the costs of all the excursions. 

 

Thank you all so much!

Have you cruised before on Royal on a ship ?crown &anchor platinum and above get copmlmemtry shore tours. 

[knope2022]

1 minute ago, Hogbay said:

Have you cruised before on Royal on a ship ?crown &anchor platinum and above get copmlmemtry shore tours. 

 Yes, we're currently Emerald, so I'm excited about some of the perks that come with it. It's just such a different cruise than anything we've booked before. It is a mix of fun and scary.

[Hogbay]

45 minutes ago, knope2022 said:

 Yes, we're currently Emerald, so I'm excited about some of the perks that come with it. It's just such a different cruise than anything we've booked before. It is a mix of fun and scary.

Love your scary 🤣 🤣🤣 retired smoke jumper , me 

[RobInMN]

46 minutes ago, Hogbay said:

Have you cruised before on Royal on a ship ?crown &anchor platinum and above get copmlmemtry shore tours. 

Not all, just the 7 New World Wonders Shore Excursion package:

[knope2022]

3 minutes ago, Hogbay said:

Love your scary 🤣 🤣🤣 retired smoke jumper , me 

oh yes. I also have a hammer (to break window), fire ladder, extinguisher, oxygen face masks with face covering, gloves and fire blankets for each room and bedroom upstairs...soooooo.... you're braver than me. We also used to have bags in each kids room when they were smaller that we could lower them in them out the window in the horrible situation of a fire.

 

Fire = extra scary, lol.

 

 

[Waynetor]

I have done a 180 night world cruise on Oceania - there were no children for the whole voyage but a couple segments had a couple young children.  

 

We also did a 48 night on Princess that had a family with kids 8, 15  and 17 years old.  They stayed on for 25 days after we left.  They were give lesson plans by teachers but no help from ship.   Also did a 58 night around South America just before the Covid shutdown - no kids of any age on the ship. 

 

I would expect with the length of segments on this voyage to see few kids -  maybe some over summer period. 

 

Hotels over night in port are generally no issue but it is best let room steward know.  Some countries allow ship passengers in without customs that those arriving other ways due to their expected short stay - it would be best to get clearance on ship that there is not a custom/immigration issue for overnight stays. 

 

For souvenirs I would suggest buying a suitcase in some port, stuff it and ship via Fed Ex or similar.  You maybe able to get sturdy boxes from some department on the ship instead of a suitcase.  You may be able to arrange with the ship to have the ships port representative handle this for you with cost added to your bill - I have had an item sent to the ship via a port rep.  that received it from the courier and delivered it to the ship.