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Old 4 Feb 20, 09:53 PM  
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Jake71
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Hi All

I've never been in this section before, however, I've had loads of advice over the years for Disney and Orlando holidays, so I'm assuming that you lovely lot will be able to advise as I go along with my planning for our very short 4 night cruise in June.

It's DH's 50th in July, we're celebrating early, so we are flying in to Miami Beach for 2 nights, cruising from Miami to Nassau and Cococay Bay then back to Downtown Miami for 2 nights. Then we fly to New York for a week.

I'm very nervous of the water so we're calling this our tester cruise. We are on Navigator of the Seas in a balcony room. I have a few questions. We are hiring a car for the week, I know seems an extra expense to not use for 4 days, however, it was cheaper to get a fly drive than just flights believe it or not, even with hotel parking. What I was wondering is am I able to reserve parking at the port? if so how do I go about it?

Next question is about drinks packages, I think we should pre-purchase the drinks package at $47 per person per day, I'm opinion to advice though.

Then dining! I think there will be at least one formal night, so what does DH take to wear - is a shirt and tie acceptable or does he have to wear a full suit or black tie? And what counts as smart casual?

I think that's all for now, I'm completely new to this but I'm a planner so need to have a good idea of what I'm doing. Thanks as always.
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Old 4 Feb 20, 09:58 PM  
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Loopylooloo
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If its a short cruise there may not be a formal night, perhaps check with RCL what the norm is. In regards to the drink package, it depends how much you would usually drink, but it will usually include soft drinks, tea coffee, cocktails, beer spirits wine etc, including the tip. Its easy to get up to the amount the drink package costs, approx 4-5 drinks a day.

You might want to have a look at cruise critic forums, they are especially for cruising, and there will also be a roll call for your cruise, where others booked can chat with you and share info.

It sounds like a fantastic trip!
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Old 4 Feb 20, 11:09 PM  
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cheekydeeky
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I’m sure you’ll love the cruise and it will become an expensive hobby .

We always take the drinks package and book beforehand. It WILL be more expensive on board. We are not big drinkers but it is definitely worth the money for us as it includes freshly squeezed juice, bottled water, sodas and coffees so add on a couple of cocktails and we have more than made up for it.

If you book the package now and then the price reduces you can cancel and rebook - I did that four times last year!

Formal night your OH would be fine in shirt and trousers. You really can be as dressed up as you want - some opt for full tux and others are wearing shorts and T-shirt’s. I’m not a dress person so I wear nice trousers and a top with sparkly sandals and bag.
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Old 4 Feb 20, 11:19 PM  
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Jake71
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Originally Posted by Loopylooloo View Post
If its a short cruise there may not be a formal night, perhaps check with RCL what the norm is. In regards to the drink package, it depends how much you would usually drink, but it will usually include soft drinks, tea coffee, cocktails, beer spirits wine etc, including the tip. Its easy to get up to the amount the drink package costs, approx 4-5 drinks a day.

You might want to have a look at cruise critic forums, they are especially for cruising, and there will also be a roll call for your cruise, where others booked can chat with you and share info.

It sounds like a fantastic trip!
Originally Posted by cheekydeeky View Post
I’m sure you’ll love the cruise and it will become an expensive hobby .

We always take the drinks package and book beforehand. It WILL be more expensive on board. We are not big drinkers but it is definitely worth the money for us as it includes freshly squeezed juice, bottled water, sodas and coffees so add on a couple of cocktails and we have more than made up for it.

If you book the package now and then the price reduces you can cancel and rebook - I did that four times last year!

Formal night your OH would be fine in shirt and trousers. You really can be as dressed up as you want - some opt for full tux and others are wearing shorts and T-shirt’s. I’m not a dress person so I wear nice trousers and a top with sparkly sandals and bag.

Thank you both, that helps a lot.
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Old 5 Feb 20, 05:52 AM  
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danisleigh
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We never pay for a drinks package and only ever have its free. We do sometimes get a soft drinks package and pay for alcohol. We are not massive drinkers though, max 3 alcoholic drinks a day especially when we are in port all day.
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Old 5 Feb 20, 08:16 AM  
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gismo1554
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I think drinks package wise its worth considering if you are likely to have more than two drinks a day. Also check if there's a soft drink package as if you also have to purchase this then its the difference between the and the full package you need to think about as the cost of alcohol. A glass of wine is usually around $7 and cocktails around $8 from what I can remember. This soon adds up and having to not worry about it works great. Its one of those things though that really does depend on whether you drink or not. When I last had to think about this the soft drink package was around $20 cheaper than the one with alcohol but I figured I could have 3 cocktails a day easily so it made sense.

In terms of parking some cruiselines allow you to prebook and some don't so I can't help with this one.

I agree that there is a chance there wont be a formal night as its a short cruise but its worth checking on this. If there is its likely to be a bit more relaxed than the ones on longer trips but its worth checkng in advance. They should also give you ideas of dress code. Smart casual I always take as what I'd wear for a meal at a restaurant at home so not super casual but not dressed to the nines. Again most cruise lines will give suggestions on what they mean online as well as any exclusions
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Old 5 Feb 20, 08:22 AM  
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stecee
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We are not big drinkers, so we don’t buy the drinks package. Whenever we have got it for free, we still don’t drink anywhere near what the cost of the package would have been.
Your husband will be fine with a shirt, he won’t even need a tie unless he wants to wear one.
I’ve no idea about parking at the port, I would follow Loopylooloo’s suggestion and ask the question on cruise critic.
One word of warning, cruising is very addictive and a fabulous way to spend a few days seeing other parts of the world.
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Old 5 Feb 20, 08:35 AM  
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Smilesonfaces
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If you don’t drink a lot of alcohol then maybe look at one of the other drinks packages. We bought the refreshment package. This was bottled water, sodas, speciality teas and coffees, non alcoholic cocktails, freshly squeezed orange with breakfast. This was 2 years ago now but this was only £12 a day each. We were also allowed to take 2 bottles of wine onboard. You can take these in to the dining room and they make a corkage charge. We just kept for the room and bought another couple of bottles in the dining room. The drinks are very expensive without a package. It depends on how much you drink especially if you are off the ship on excursions during the day. For us it just wasn’t worth it. The refreshment package though was a good deal. Once you have bought a package I obsessively checked our cruise planner for deals and cancelled and rebooked when the price reduced. I did this several times before we went.
As for the formal night we found it was fairly easy going. Some had the full black tie, evening gown etc. Some didn’t dress up at all, We just took nice going out outfits with us.

Your holiday sounds great- have a good time.

I can remember cocktails and glasses of wine being around the $12 mark

Edited at 08:37 AM.
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Old 5 Feb 20, 08:37 AM  
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Jake71
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We’re not huge drinkers but do like to have a some of an evening while on holiday and DH loves nice coffee which I think is part of the package so I think we’d probably get our money’s worth. I’ll go back and have a look through the website for dress code.

I’m struggling to find info on parking, I’ll follow Louise’s advice about critics forums and see how I get on.
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