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A cruise with friends provides a fun way to travel with girlfriends, fellow couples, guy pals, or family friends. Cruises simplify a lot of the decisions that must be made when planning a joint vacation. Plus, a cruise offers a ton of activities for all ages and interests. There are also lots of opportunities to do things both together and apart. As with any form of travel, cruising with a friend comes with challenges, too. To maximize fun, minimize stress, and make sure you depart the ship as better friends than when you boarded, follow these 15 tips for a cruise vacation with your besties.
This story is brought to you in partnership with Royal Caribbean.
1. Choose travel dates…and stick to them.
The hardest part of planning a vacation with friends is typically picking dates. With busy schedules, lifestyle demands, and often far-flung home locations — it’s important to nail down definitive cruise dates first thing.
Then everyone must truly commit. That means putting the dates on the calendar, asking for time off from work, getting approval from spouses or partners (whether they’ll be joining or not), and promising not to cancel unless there is an emergency, like an illness or death in the family.
2. Buy trip cancellation insurance.
Especially when cruising with friends, it makes good sense to buy travel insurance, just in case. This provides protection if you must cancel your cruise due to unexpected illness, injury, family member sickness, and even jury duty.
Trip cancellation insurance reimburses you 100% for the money you lose in pre-paid, non-refundable deposits if you have to cancel for a reason listed in the policy.
3. Select the right cruise line for your friend group.
Now comes the fun part…choosing a cruise! Start with deciding which cruise line works best for your group.
Royal Caribbean International
As the world’s largest cruise line, Royal Caribbean offers an abundance of itineraries. Plus, according to a recent survey by CruiseCompete, Royal Caribbean is the most popular premium cruise line, ranking #1 among their 1.4 million users.
Whether your friends love the nightlife or you’re seeking a relaxing vacation with lots of pool and spa time, Royal Caribbean has got you covered. Amazing offerings appeal to adult cruisers of all sorts. Enjoy pubs and nightclubs, Broadway-style shows, rock concerts, comedy shows, casinos, the Solarium adults-only pool area, incredible specialty restaurants, and much more.
Royal Caribbean makes a great option for parents wishing to sail with other families, too. Onboard cruise activities for kids vary from ship to ship, but there are plenty of entertaining things for children to enjoy. Picture splash areas, miniature golf courses, ice rinks, arcades, rock climbing walls, waterslides, and even bumper cars. Plus, group babysitting for kids starting at age 36 months on board many ships, and there are expansive teen clubs for those aged 13 to 17.
Since I have had an incredible time sailing on multiple Royal Caribbean ships with a variety of different friends and family members over the past couple of years, these tips for cruising with friends will focus primarily on sailing with Royal Caribbean.
Different Cruise Lines
If your friend group has deep pockets, then Oceania ranked most popular among luxury lines with CruiseCompete. Meanwhile, Viking River was voted #1 for river cruises. Disney Cruise Line also consistently ranks well among families, especially those cruising with babies and young children. And for those on a tight budget, Carnival Cruise offers some very affordable short cruises.
4. Determine stateroom assignments.
Before asking a buddy to bunk with you, consider if you’ll make good stateroom partners. Just because you’re pals with someone, it doesn’t mean it’s a good idea to be ship roommates.
Some friendships are best in small doses. Additionally, some friends simply have different lifestyles and vacation preferences. Talk over the questions below to make sure everyone is on the same page before booking a stateroom together.
Considerations for Booking a Stateroom with a Friend
- Is your friend messy or neat?
- Who is an early bird and who is a late owl?
- Does your friend want to party, or take it easy?
- How much primping time does each friend need?
- How much closet and drawer space does everyone need?
- Is your friend an introvert or an extrovert?
- Is anyone a light sleeper? Does anyone snore?
- Does anyone sleep with a nightlight or ambient noise?
If traveling with a large group of friends, then pair those in the group together who most closely align in terms of lifestyle.
5. Plan for sleep success on a cruise with friends.
Everyone will have more fun and get along better throughout the trip when well-rested. Therefore, it’s best to take some steps to ensure a restful sleep while cruising with friends.
An eye mask can help cruisers who want to go to bed or wake up at a different time than their roommate.
Pack earplugs to drown out snoring and any ship noise. This is especially helpful for light sleepers (like me)!
Headphones make good sense, too. Noise-canceling earbuds work better for comfortable sleep than large headphones.
A white noise app played on your smartphone also helps. Of course, you’ll need to get your stateroom buddy’s okay before blasting the sounds of a booming thunderstorm all night.
Friends need not share a bed while cruising, either. If you’d rather have your own space to sleep, then ask your stateroom attendant to separate king-sized beds into two twins.
6. Consider buying a beverage package.
If you and your friends like to party hardy, then Royal Caribbean’s Deluxe Beverage Package may be in order. Keep in mind, if one person buys it, all adults of legal drinking age sharing the stateroom must purchase the same beverage package.
Deluxe Beverage Package
- Fountain sodas (including Coca-Cola Freestyle Beverage stations)
- Coca-Cola souvenir cup
- Non-alcoholic cocktails (mocktails)
- Still and sparkling bottled waters
- Premium coffees and teas
- Fresh-squeezed juices
- Cocktails, spirits, and liquors
- Beers
- Wine by the glass
- 40% discount on bottles of wine priced up to $100
- 20% discount on bottles of wine priced above $100
Read my detailed descriptions of Royal Caribbean’s mocktails and drink packages.
When cruising with a large group of friends, put partiers together and have the teetotalers pair up in other staterooms.
7. Link your cruises together.
Once everyone has booked, you’ll want to link your friends’ cruises together online. This will make the rest of your cruise planning easier, including booking dining reservations, shore excursions, and joint spa treatments.
To link Royal Caribbean Cruises, you will need your fellow cruisers’ reservation numbers, registered last names, and dates of birth. You can find the reservation number when you log in to your account at RoyalCaribbean.com. It can also be found on your cruise receipt.
There are three ways to link cruises with Royal Caribbean. You can do it online by clicking the blue “Add a cruise” button below your reservation information online. Alternatively, you can call Royal Caribbean and ask them to do it for you. Or, if you booked with a cruise travel agent, then ask them to do it for you.
8. Choose your dining time.
Booking restaurants, especially for large groups, can be difficult when traveling with friends. Simplified dining is one of the benefits of embarking on a cruise with friends.
Royal Caribbean offers Traditional Dining and My Time Dining. Both are included with your regular cruise fare. To ensure you get your preferred dining option, make this selection in advance online, over the phone, or with your travel agent.
My Time Dining
My Time Dining is all about convenience. When you select this option, you can choose to dine in the Main Dining Room anytime during dining hours. These vary from ship to ship but typically the range is from 6 to 9:30 pm. You will not have an assigned table.
If sailing with just one or two friends, and you like to keep your options open, then this makes a great choice. Make daily reservations in advance at Main Dining or Guest Services, or from the Royal Caribbean app.
You can also show up and wait for a table (up to 45 minutes during peak times). Beware that wait times for large groups may be quite long.
Traditional Dining
With Traditional Dining, cruisers choose Early Dining (usually 5:30 or 6 pm) or Late Dining (typically 8 or 8:30 pm). You will check in with the Main Dining host stand at the same time each evening and then be shown to your table.
For a large group, I think it makes the most sense to have everyone select the same Traditional Dining time. That way, friends can break into pairs and groups to explore during the day and then come together over dinner in the Main Dining Room to share stories of their adventures.
Make sure everyone in your travel group selects the same specific time in advance. It will appear under your reservation information when you log into your account on the Royal Caribbean website. Your dining time, table number, and location will also appear on your stateroom key card and in the app during your cruise.
Other Included Dining Options
If you’d rather skip Main Dining, then you can always select what appeals to you from the buffet at Windjammer Café instead. You can also grab pizza, sandwiches, and other quick bits from Café Promenade. Some ships offer additional complimentary dining options, such as El Loco Fresh (casual Mexican fare) and Dog House (hot dogs and sausages).
9. Make specialty dining reservations.
I highly recommend booking a specialty dining experience onboard your cruise with friends. Most cruise lines offer at least one upscale dining option for a surcharge. The quality of food at specialty restaurants often rivals that of 5-star restaurants.
These restaurants book up quickly, especially on ships with limited dining options, so make reservations before setting sail. You may nab savings when booking in advance, too.
With Royal Caribbean, many of their larger ships offer several themed restaurants. If your friend group plans to eat more than one meal in a specialty restaurant, then purchase a bundled Dining Package for even deeper savings.
You can make reservations once onboard the ship, too. Check with Guest Services to see if there is any availability. You can also book onboard the ship from your Royal Caribbean app.
Even if you couldn’t book your restaurant of choice online, it’s worth trying on the ship because there are cancellations. I find your best bet, though, is to head directly to the desired restaurant. Sometimes they’ll find a way to squeeze you in, even if it looks like there’s no availability in the app.
Royal Caribbean Specialty Dining Reservation Restaurants
- Chops Grille (signature restaurant serving American steakhouse dishes)
- Izumi (sushi and hibachi)
- Giovanni’s (old-world Italian cuisine)
- Wonderland (inventive cuisine with a spin on “Alice in Wonderland”)
- Teppanyaki (Asian dishes prepared at your table)
- Jamie’s Italian (Tuscan cuisine by celebrity chef, Jamie Oliver)
- Hooked Seafood (fresh seafood)
- 150 Central Park (locally sourced cuisine)
- Chef’s Table (luxury dining for culinary connoisseurs)
- Samba Grill (Brazilian steakhouse)
- Sabor (modern Mexican cuisine)
- Sichuan Red (bold Chinese flavors)
- Solarium Bistro Restaurant (healthy Mediterranean fare)
- The Mason Jar (my favorite Royal Caribbean restaurant, serving southern comfort food)
Some Royal Caribbean ships also offer casual dining options at extra an cost like Starbucks and Johnny Rockets.
10. Plan port activities and book excursions early.
To secure your desired planned shore excursions, research options and make reservations in advance. Some popular options may book up early, or excursions may be canceled if not enough interest is shown.
For some ports, you may want to explore on your own instead of booking an organized tour. Do some research by reading blog posts and reviewing the cruise line’s excursion descriptions to decide.
Royal Caribbean often offers discounts for some shore excursions. The earlier you book the excursion, the more you can save, too. When you decide to book an excursion once aboard the ship, you can always check the Royal Caribbean app or guest services to see if there is availability.
For longer cruises and cruises with lots of friends, I recommend keeping all of the shore activities organized in a shared Google spreadsheet. This makes access and editing easy for everyone.
11. Schedule spa treatments in advance.
If your girlfriend’s getaway would not be complete without some together time at the spa, book your treatments in advance. Spa and salon treatments book up quickly, especially on at-sea days. Even if going solo, you’ll want to secure your treatment early.
Similar to specialty dining and shore excursions, you may be able to take advantage of spa discounts when booked early. You can make appointments once onboard, too.
12. Plan cruise budgets beforehand.
Cruising with friends is that it makes budgeting for a trip easier, too. Everyone books their own cruise, pays their own way, and links their own credit card to their cruise account to pay for extra things while sailing.
Tipping
At the end of the week, daily tips are automatically added to your account to be provided to cruise staff. You may, however, want to tip extra to stateroom attendants, bartenders, specialty restaurant servers, and other particularly attentive staff. I find it’s nice to have some cash on hand so I can provide these tips as I go, but you can add them to your bill at the end of your cruise, too.
Discuss Finances
When cruising with one or more friends, it makes good sense to discuss finances before you book your cruise. One friend may need to stick to a strict budget by staying in a windowless interior cabin, exploring ports on their own, and avoiding extras like specialty dining meals and spa treatments. Another friend may want to go all-out, booking a stateroom with an oceanview balcony, buying the Deluxe Beverage Package, and upgrading every meal. It’s best to hash out these differences on dry land.
Also, for those not purchasing beverage packages, don’t assume that just because you bought the last round of drinks, your friend will get the next one. Decide in advance: are we taking turns buying rounds or will everyone pay for their own drinks as we go?
Payment is required in advance when making reservations for specialty dining, shore excursions, and spa treatments. It’s best to reconcile these payments in advance rather than hoping your friends will make it up to you by paying for other costs like shared Ubers, meals on shore, or hotel rooms. The last thing you want to do is argue with friends over money during your vacation!
13. Enjoy ship activities together…and apart.
One of the joys of cruising with friends is enjoying the many fun ways to interact together on the ship. From BINGO and Name That Tune, to ping pong and basketball — there are games of all sorts to play. Or, maybe you can persuade each other to participate in the Biggest Bellyflop Competition? You might also sign up for a class together, like Latin dancing, Pilates, or Yoga.
When traveling with larger groups, you need not include everyone in every activity and meal. Instead, break into smaller pairs and groups to pursue the things that appeal most to each friend. A duo may want to watch a stand-up comedy performance while other friends listen to live jazz music, and a few others sip bubbly in the Champagne Bar. It’s fun to just run into one another on the ship, too!
You may want to plan some alone time, too. Even extroverted vacationers might enjoy downtime during a cruise with friends to do their own thing like exercise at the fitness center, read on the stateroom balcony, or take a nap poolside.
Meanwhile, couples traveling with other couples may want to break apart for a night or two to enjoy date night at a specialty restaurant alone. Learn more tips for romantic things to do on a cruise.
14. Decide how to communicate with your friends on the ship.
Royal Caribbean boasts the fastest Internet at sea. If you can afford it, the best way to go is by purchasing their VOOM Internet package. Again, you can score discounts when you buy this before your cruise instead of waiting until you’re on the water. Everyone who buys VOOM can simply communicate via text or social media apps as usual.
For those who want to stay connected, but don’t plan to log in much, you could split a package with your roommate to save money. Only one device is allowed at a time, so when you log in, you’ll kick the other person out. Of course, this could cause conflict, so discuss how to make this work for both of you before you set sail.
To truly unplug while cruising, go cold turkey and skip buying an Internet package. If you decide you really need to connect, then you can buy a VOOM package or purchase one day of Internet at a time after you board.
Even if you don’t buy an Internet package, you can still connect via the Royal Caribbean app. There, you can send messages to fellow cruisers while onboard the ship. You won’t receive an alert when a message comes in, so it’s important to check the app’s messages often.
You could always go old school and leave messages for your friends via Post-it notes left on stateroom doors or in a notebook shared with your roommates.
15. Choose the best ship and itinerary.
Those longing to sail on a specific shop should start there. For example, maybe you’d like to set sail on the world’s current biggest operating cruise ship, Royal Caribbean’s Wonder of the Seas. Then you can choose an itinerary based on offered sailings. (Psst…Wonder is sailing throughout the Caribbean in 2023!)
Royal Caribbean Oasis Class Ships
The five Royal Caribbean Oasis Class ships are among the largest and best ships anywhere. They include Wonder, Allure, Harmony, Symphony, and Oasis.
Choosing one of these ships means you’ll have tons of unique ship activities to entertain your crew like a zip line or high-diving Aquatheater shows. You can also expect more specialty dining restaurants than other cruise lines or even other Royal Caribbean ships. These extraordinary ships are broken into seven distinct neighborhoods, including the greenery-filled Central Park and the playful Boardwalk with a ride-on carousel.
Wonder also offers a Suite Neighborhood, which could make a good choice for larger groups of friends who want to splurge on spacious staterooms with concierge service, priority boarding and departure privileges, and an exclusive plunge swimming pool.
Itinerary First
If the itinerary trumps the ship for your group, then start with ports of call, including the most convenient departure port. For example, Royal Caribbean is one of the few cruise lines that sets sail from Galveston, Texas (aboard Allure of the Seas).
Choose from vacations in The Bahamas and Caribbean, Europe, Alaska, North America, Asia, and South Pacific.
Other Royal Caribbean Ships
Although they don’t boast quite as many bells and whistles as Oasis Class, smaller (yet, still impressive) Royal Caribbean ships can fit in more petite ports throughout the world.
Royal Caribbean Ship Classes
- Oasis (226,838 to 236,857 tons)
- Quantum (168,666 to 169,379 tons)
- Freedom (154,407 to 156,271 tons)
- Voyager (137,276 to 139,999 tons)
- Radiance (90,090 tons)
- Vision (73,817 to 82,910 tons)
Learn more about all of Royal Caribbean’s ship classes.
Book Your Cruise with Friends
Ready to book a cruise with one friend or a group cruise? Find great cruise deals from our affiliate, CruiseCritic. They offer helpful insight and reviews of cruise lines, ships, restaurants at sea, ports of call, and more. You can book vacations around the world with Cruise Critic.
A good travel agent will make the planning process of group cruising even easier, especially for first-time cruisers. They can help secure group rates and onboard credits. Plus, they will help organize private tours and special requests, like celebrating a special occasion like a birthday or anniversary at sea.
For help in-depth expert help planning your cruise with friends, reach out to our partner, Ciao Bambino. They specialize in luxury family travel planning as well as romantic getaways, multigenerational trips, cruises, international travel, and beyond. Learn more about why I recommend Ciao Bambino travel planning services or fill out this form to be contacted by them.
Obviously, I love Royal Caribbean! Visit their website to book a Royal Caribbean Cruise with friends or a family cruise.
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Disclaimer: I have been hosted on cruises by Royal Caribbean aboard Wonder of the Seas, Odyssey of the Seas, and Allure of the Seas. I had such a great cruise experience, I convinced my extended family to embark on a multigeneration cruise trip together on Royal Caribbean Voyager of the Seas, which we paid for ourselves.
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