First cruise - Wonder of the Seas - my thoughts

[paulfoel]

Nice ship.... Food was great. Really just don't get the idea of paying a lot of $s extra to use the premium restaurants though.....

 

Balcony room was nice. Would I do again with a 10 year old and a 19 year old. No.... Not that big.

 

One thing that really put us off though. Don't get me wrong I'm not teetotal but when I go on holidays with my kids I tend not to want to get hammered. Ship seemed half full of people - a lot with little kids in tow - intent on getting hammered 24 hours a day. I don't get it.

 

Appreciate that in the US, a lot of people don't get a lot of vacation time each year but there really does seem to be a MASSIVE culture of "lets party and get drunk for a week". Maybe its me? Are all cruises like this?

 

I mean I don't mind people drinking at all but it got a bit tiring watching hammered 30/40 something in the pool with their kids screaming, shouting and whooping at 2pm in the afternoon.

[Engineroom Snipe]

4 minutes ago, paulfoel said:

Nice ship.... Food was great. Really just don't get the idea of paying a lot of $s extra to use the premium restaurants though.....

 

Balcony room was nice. Would I do again with a 10 year old and a 19 year old. No.... Not that big.

 

One thing that really put us off though. Don't get me wrong I'm not teetotal but when I go on holidays with my kids I tend not to want to get hammered. Ship seemed half full of people - a lot with little kids in tow - intent on getting hammered 24 hours a day. I don't get it.

 

Appreciate that in the US, a lot of people don't get a lot of vacation time each year but there really does seem to be a MASSIVE culture of "lets party and get drunk for a week". Maybe its me? Are all cruises like this?

 

I mean I don't mind people drinking at all but it got a bit tiring watching hammered 30/40 something in the pool with their kids screaming, shouting and whooping at 2pm in the afternoon.

 

This is not something that is happening only on RCI. I call this a possible downside of the Unlimited Drink Package meets "Oh, there are lifeguards on duty" combined with "I want to get my money's worth out of the drink package (which normally means at least 6 drinks in general per person or more)."

 

You were onboard a ship that can easily handle 6,000 passengers and it has been sailing with more for almost all of this year.

 

Even if a small percentage, say 5% or 300 tend to drink more than they can handle, those 300 can seem like 3,000. I have seen this happen on many vacations to include non-cruise vacations.

 

I wish I knew the answer.

 

Different ships have different vibes at different times of the year. Maybe talk to your travel agent about a "quieter" ship at a different time period.

[paulfoel]

1 minute ago, Engineroom Snipe said:

 

This is not something that is happening only on RCI. I call this a possible downside of the Unlimited Drink Package meets "Oh, there are lifeguards on duty" combined with "I want to get my money's worth out of the drink package (which normally means at least 6 drinks in general per person or more)."

 

You were onboard a ship that can easily handle 6,000 passengers and it has been sailing with more for almost all of this year.

 

Even if a small percentage, say 5% or 300 tend to drink more than they can handle, those 300 can seem like 3,000. I have seen this happen on many vacations to include non-cruise vacations.

 

I wish I knew the answer.

 

Different ships have different vibes at different times of the year. Maybe talk to your travel agent about a "quieter" ship at a different time period.

 

I guess. Drinks package aint cheap. For two I think for the 7 days it would work out something like $1300-$1400 per couple. Each to his own I suppose but I've got better things to spend my money on.....

 

But I can see if you've spent this much, hey might as well drink to oblivion. Not for me....

 

It did seem though that me not drinking was not the norm though I must admit. I'm sure it wasn't like you say. 

 

Perhaps its because I'm British but I find that someone standing one end of the pool screaming "Whooooaaa lets go - Vacation 2023!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" to someone at the other end certainly lacks a bit of decorum (for want of another word). I want to go on holidays and do what I want to do without interacting with others. If you've had a drink or having fun then the 400 people all around do not need to know this!

 

Perhaps it is me lol.

 

Don't get me wrong, theres a massive binge drinking culture with youngsters here in the UK (of course 18 is the age too) but thats restricted to city centres at the weekends (so you avoid this!). OK yes kids going to europe on holidays is also a problem for the same reason - again avoid certain European beach resorts.......

 

Its just all a bit alien to me being in a family environment seeing "older" (ok 30s, 40s) drinking to excess like this.... And to be honest getting overexcited.

[DamonG]

9 minutes ago, paulfoel said:

I want to go on holidays and do what I want to do without interacting with others.

 

I get your overall point, but if you are wanting a quiet vacation away from others, sailing on the largest cruise ship in the world will not be the best fit your wants.

[paulfoel]

1 minute ago, DamonG said:

 

I get your overall point, but if you are wanting a quiet vacation away from others, sailing on the largest cruise ship in the world will not be the best fit your wants.

 

Maybe. Not so much away from others I'd say maybe away from others who want to be loud and boisterous.....

Not sure if there were only 500 people on a smaller boat you'd be able to avoid though.....

Seriously thinking next year, Disney Cruise. Yes its more expensive but, surely, no-one goes on there with the intent of having a 7 days drinking party? Or do they lol? 

[OCSC Mike]

Maybe it's because we avoid the main pool area like the plague and don't hang out in the bars but I somehow never experience anything like this, including on Wonder in June.

 

I fully believe you guys so I can only assume it's b/c we're boring, lol. We spend our time in the Solarium, go to trivia, see shows, go to game shows... and of course I spend plenty of time eating.

 

We did see one extremely drunk girl in the Music Hall one night... and my young nieces were quite amused by her attempt at "dancing."

[Crazy planning mom]

You also may wish to try a quieter line like Princess although they don't have water slides, ice skating rinks.

[paulfoel]

3 minutes ago, OCSC Mike said:

Maybe it's because we avoid the main pool area like the plague and don't hang out in the bars but I somehow never experience anything like this, including on Wonder in June.

 

I fully believe you guys so I can only assume it's b/c we're boring, lol. We spend our time in the Solarium, go to trivia, see shows, go to game shows... and of course I spend plenty of time eating.

 

We did see one extremely drunk girl in the Music Hall one night... and my young nieces were quite amused by her attempt at "dancing."

 

Yeh the main pool area is the worse. BUT when you've got a 10 year old who wants to go in the pool, wants to go get an ice cream you have no choice. And of course there are bars near the pool.

 

Solarium is good (when said 10 yr old is in kids club) and yes we did do most of the things you did.

 

We did, however, see a few people in the lift being really drunk. Its just not cool....

[paulfoel]

1 minute ago, Crazy planning mom said:

You also may wish to try a quieter line like Princess although they don't have water slides, ice skating rinks.

ok thanks - is there any reason Princess is quiter?

[OCSC Mike]

4 minutes ago, paulfoel said:

Yeh the main pool area is the worse. BUT when you've got a 10 year old who wants to go in the pool, wants to go get an ice cream you have no choice. And of course there are bars near the pool.

 

Oh I get it. You don't have much of a choice and I wasn't suggesting you avoid the main pool just b/c we do. We don't have kids although we mainly prefer the Solarium to get away from the crowds and the sun, not the kids.

 

I was mostly thinking out loud why I don't encounter what others do.

[paulfoel]

Just now, OCSC Mike said:

 

Oh I get it. You don't have much of a choice and I wasn't suggesting you avoid the main pool just b/c we do. We don't have kids although we mainly prefer the Solarium to get away from the crowds and the sun, not the kids.

 

I was mostly thinking out loud why I don't encounter what others do.

 

No prob Mike - if I didn't have kids I'd do the same. Chill in the Solarium and avoid the main pool.

Yeh did try to avoid it but 10 year olds have to go in the pool lol. 

[not-enough-cruising]

I can’t remember a cruise where I saw many people “hammered”. Folks partaking in drink and having a good time? Yes. “Hammered?” No, not often. 
I guess it depends on your definition of hammered. 

Edited September 18, 2023 by not-enough-cruising

[ATG]

We were on a cruise many years ago where there was a young “lady” who was so drunk during the life boat drill she couldn’t stand up.  She heckled the poor guy showing how to put on a life jacket.  An officer came and led her away.  The rest of us applauded.

[OCSC Mike]

4 minutes ago, ATG said:

We were on a cruise many years ago where there was a young “lady” who was so drunk during the life boat drill she couldn’t stand up.  She heckled the poor guy showing how to put on a life jacket.  An officer came and led her away.  The rest of us applauded.

 

That reminds me of the one time, before vouchers, when a woman got so drunk during the DL happy hour that she was escorted out of the lounge. I vaguely remember her claiming to be an FBI agent, lol. So I guess I have seen it but only in isolated incidents.

[sunlover12]

1 hour ago, paulfoel said:

Nice ship.... Food was great. Really just don't get the idea of paying a lot of $s extra to use the premium restaurants though.....

 

It's a personal choice.  For me, the specialty restaurants are worth the extra money.  The food and service are so much better. I was on Wonder for the first time earlier this year and was very displeased with the main dining room. 

Thanks for your review. 

[time4u2go]

35 minutes ago, paulfoel said:

ok thanks - is there any reason Princess is quiter?

Princess and Celebrity are higher end versions of Carnival and Royal Caribbean.  They tend to cater more toward adults and perhaps older passengers than Carnival and Royal Caribbean, which cater more toward families.

 

Edited September 18, 2023 by time4u2go

[crewsweeper]

It's not only the drink package.  It's the attitude " Not driving so can drink a little more" and the fact that heavy drinkers at home are desensitized as to the fact they are drunk. Think they can "hold their liquor". Being out in the sun hastens the effects too.

[orville99]

44 minutes ago, paulfoel said:

Seriously thinking next year, Disney Cruise. Yes its more expensive but, surely, no-one goes on there with the intent of having a 7 days drinking party? Or do they lol? 

They do there as well - they just dump the little tax deductions in the kids club and then hit the bars

[Badatz2]

2 hours ago, paulfoel said:

 

No prob Mike - if I didn't have kids I'd do the same. Chill in the Solarium and avoid the main pool.

Yeh did try to avoid it but 10 year olds have to go in the pool lol. 

You might try the Quantum class ships.  They have plenty of youth activities including bumper cars.  Some like the Anthem have an indoor family pool which is much quieter than the outdoor one and is adjacent to the solarium.

[paulfoel]

15 hours ago, time4u2go said:

Princess and Celebrity are higher end versions of Carnival and Royal Caribbean.  They tend to cater more toward adults and perhaps older passengers than Carnival and Royal Caribbean, which cater more toward families.

 

 

thanks - didnt know this.

[paulfoel]

15 hours ago, sunlover12 said:

It's a personal choice.  For me, the specialty restaurants are worth the extra money.  The food and service are so much better. I was on Wonder for the first time earlier this year and was very displeased with the main dining room. 

Thanks for your review. 

 

I guess part of it is, like I said, we're from the UK. When we come on vacation its usually for 2-3 weeks so part of the time is in Florida.

 

I guess you'll probably find it hard to believe but restaurants like Outback, Longhorn, etc are something that we don't get in the UK (in terms of quality and quantity of food) so we're more than happy to go to these places when we're off the boat. I guess with you guys based in the US you don't want to go to chain restaurant that you can go to every day of the week anyway.

 

Never used to have subway in the uk (theres tons of them now) we ALWAYS went to subway in FL. Of course, now we don't. We've had McD, Burger King, KFC for years in the UK so we don't go there - but we do go Wendys, SteaknShake etc.

 

Now you're going to think I'm really sad. We have ONE Dennys in Wales - its about an hours drive away from us. Yeh we go there sometimes.

[budmeister]

18 hours ago, OCSC Mike said:

Maybe it's because we avoid the main pool area like the plague and don't hang out in the bars but I somehow never experience anything like this, including on Wonder in June.

 

I fully believe you guys so I can only assume it's b/c we're boring, lol. We spend our time in the Solarium, go to trivia, see shows, go to game shows... and of course I spend plenty of time eating.

 

We did see one extremely drunk girl in the Music Hall one night... and my young nieces were quite amused by her attempt at "dancing."

Wow- I thought we were the only ones. We cruise exactly like you do, and experience exactly the same.

[toxicfairy]

Sadly a LOT of people go on vacation with the "I'm on vacation someone else can handle my kids" mentality.  We've seen it more than we care to. We've actually heard people say " I don't care, I'm on vacation " when someone said something about the misbehaving child. 

Also that " I paid for it" , Yes well so has everyone else on the ship and they aren't your babysitters.

And yes that thought that they need to get their monies worth from the drink package.

Nothing will change until rules are enforced .

I love royal caribbean but I hate how they've become so " family oriented " that it's just a giant day care , for both children and drunks.

[OCSC Mike]

37 minutes ago, budmeister said:

Wow- I thought we were the only ones. We cruise exactly like you do, and experience exactly the same.

 

Sometimes you find out you're not as weird as you think. 🤣

 

Here's to both of us continuing to enjoy how we cruise. 🍻

[lovesthebeach2]

19 hours ago, paulfoel said:

 

Maybe. Not so much away from others I'd say maybe away from others who want to be loud and boisterous.....

Not sure if there were only 500 people on a smaller boat you'd be able to avoid though.....

Seriously thinking next year, Disney Cruise. Yes its more expensive but, surely, no-one goes on there with the intent of having a 7 days drinking party? Or do they lol? 

yes Disney cruises are more expensive, and to be honest we haven’t even on one for a few years…BUT IMO they are definitely more upscale and the food was way better.  But to answer your question, YES it can be a drinking party. Years ago (I don’t know if this is still allowed) you could bring beer onboard (and maybe wine too) Our friends brought an entire suitcase of beer for a 4 night cruise. They seemed to be having more fun than us 🤪