Royal Caribbean out of Galveston. March 1. 5 day western Caribbean.

I got Military discount for an 8 th floor balcony for 1441.00 for two.

What say you? We've never done a cruise. Wanted to avoid Carnival.wanted to keep it short. Wanted a high balcony.

Thanks, fire away!

Royal Caribbean is a great choice for a first-time cruiser.

What ship is it and what's the itinerary?

www.cruisecritic.com for all things cruise.

search for your ship and your itin.

Legacy of the Seas.

Woo-woo!

If that pricing includes taxes/port fees, thats a good price as regular pricing is $1938 currently and my pricing is $1488. Usually military discount takes off very little.

I've only been to Costa Maya once, on Royal Caribbean. We did the Bacalar Seven Color lagoon. It was neat, but we had limited time in port and was there late afternoon. It felt rushed and it was dark when we headed back to the ship so I didn't get to see much of the port itself other than the excursion.

I would go RC over Carnival 10 out of 10 times. Balcony room - same. 5 day not overly long but enough to enjoy. I think you nailed it.

I've taken the 5 day on Royal many times from Galveston - heading out on a 6 day Labor Day week on Symphony.

My advice is , if you think you may want to buy drink packages, do so through the cruise planner before you get on board. It will be more expensive on board. If you buy it in the planner and it goes down, just cancel and rebook it.

Also don't try to do everything listed in the app on a 5 day cruise. It's hard enough with these megaships to see and do everything on 7 day cruise. Take some time to relax and unwind.

PlanoAg98 said:

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Don't be afraid to book excursions outside of those offered by RC. Just make sure you do your due diligence looking at reviews online.

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For a first timer I'd recommend sticking with the ones the cruise offers. At least you have the built in comfort of knowing you won't get left.

Also, when the ship pulls away in Galveston put your phone on airplane mode and connect to the ship's free wifi. This will let you use the app and that's about it. You can use the chat feature on it to communicate with others in your party although it doesn't really notify you of messages so you have to check it. If you purchase the internet package, it definitely is much better these days than it used to be. Can surf/stream pretty much like you can at home but it can be expensive. Also recommend buying it before the cruise if you think you want it.

Pay attention to ship's time. You'll remain on central time so when you get off in port make sure your phone doesn't update to local time. the on board time is "ship's time" not whatever the local time is.

Check your mobile providers plan for roaming in the countries you will be in port at. Many of the Caribbean countries are covered under my AT&T plan. If not, you can add a feature that will auto enroll you into a $10/day plan.

Take your phone out of your pocket before you get into the pool.

JMac03 said:

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If that pricing includes taxes/port fees, thats a good price as regular pricing is $1938 currently and my pricing is $1488. Usually military discount takes off very little.

I've only been to Costa Maya once, on Royal Caribbean. We did the Bacalar Seven Color lagoon. It was neat, but we had limited time in port and was there late afternoon. It felt rushed and it was dark when we headed back to the ship so I didn't get to see much of the port itself other than the excursion.

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You didn't miss much IMO. We had a stop there on one cruise and it was underwhelming. A later cruise we took was supposed to port there but couldn't because of weather conditions. We weren't disappointed.