The day of the cruise, the main event, was finally here! This cruise made three stops in Mexico – Cozumel, Costa Maya, and Progreso. We left out of New Orleans so if you’d like to read about the day before in New Orleans, go here. 

Here’s another table of contents if you want to skip through:

Check-In at Port New Orleans

Radiance of the Seas First Impressions

The Ocean View Stateroom

Dining Time Fiasco

Massage Tester and Shop Raffle Issues
Dinner Time (Finally)
End of the Night 

Extra Tips for Day 1 of the Cruise

I’m not going to sugar coat and say the first day was great but, well…just read on to see.

Check-In at Port New Orleans

When arriving at the Port of New Orleans, our Uber drive was directed to what looked like the back side of the building. We were all confused but then saw the entrance for Royal Caribbean passengers. We were able to leave our bags with the porter and head inside.

Tip: Make sure you print your luggage tag for your cruise beforehand if you don’t want to take your luggage with you on the ship. Also, it’s encourage to tip at least $1 per bag. You don’t have to but it’s a nice thing to do.

Celeste and I choose a check-in time of 11am and Cali only had 12pm to choose from when she chose her time. Thankfully, we were able to all go together at 11. I’m pretty sure it’s because we were in the same room. Lesson learned for me is to choose the check-in time for the whole group.

In less than 30 minutes we were through the cruise terminal. I had my documents in my backpack which I carried on with me. The documents included my passport and boarding pass for the cruise.

You can see your boarding pass on the Royal Caribbean app but I printed mine out just in case something goes wrong with the app or my phone.

They checked our passports and re-took our photo for identification. One of my friends and I had to sign our passports (make sure you do that as soon as you get it) but that was the only thing that held us up.

They do have a quick security check/screening and the people in front of us had to throw away their drinks but we were able to bring our waters on that were in our bags.

We took our Welcome Aboard photo and waited all of two minutes before they let us get on the ship.

When getting through the terminal, we walked out onto deck 5 which also just so happened to be where our muster station was. We showed that we did our safety check in the app (which we did during breakfast), they scanned us in, and we headed inside the ship.

Tip: Try to do your check-in and safety check in the app before you arrive to the terminal. It will save you so much time and you can jump into your vacation.

 I’ll be honest, when we got inside the energy wasn’t what I expecting.

Radiance of the Seas First Impressions

Majority of the cruises I’ve been on have been with Disney. I’m used to walking into the center of the ship and the crew welcoming guests with loud, exciting music, dancing, and trying to get us excited for our vacation.

When we walked in everything was just… quiet. We walked through the door to nothing but silence; no music, no dancing, no excitement. As you might imagine, it was underwhelming for me.

We navigated our way to the deck 4 where our stateroom and the center of the ship was located. I couldn’t help but notice the stares from some of the older people we walked past as they sat in the lounge chairs.

“So, it’s going to be that kind of cruise,” I thought to myself.

We walked over to Guest Services who said we could get our SeaPasses outside our room door. Thing is we couldn’t even go outside the room to grab them because the hallway itself was blocked. The stateroom attendants were getting the rooms ready which wouldn’t be until 1:30pm. This meant if we wanted to buy a drink to kick off the trip, we couldn’t. Once you’re on the ship, there is no cash or credit card, only your SeaPass card. This might be the down side of checking in the earliest time.

Since we didn’t have much else to do, we went up to deck 11 and sunbathed by the pool. Even though we were on a cruise ship it was still January in New Orleans. When the wind blew the chill was felt but feeling the sun hitting my arms made it better. I checked in with my family since I’d have to put my phone on airplane mode for the next 24+ hours.

Tip: Put your phone on airplane mode to avoid roaming charges. Connect to the ships WiFi to use the app to make reservations for shows, meals, or add reminders for other events throughout the cruise.

We eventually got up from sunbathing to get something to eat. There were way more people in the Windjammer than earlier today that it was hard to find a spot to sit. Here is where it really hit me that the demographic of the ship was older and there were less families. It made since because it’s January where most children are back in school, therefore there wouldn’t be a lot of families.

The Windjammer is the buffet area for all Royal Caribbean ships. The food they serve varies but they always have pizza, burgers, and a couple of Indian dishes that I still regret not trying. Cali said they were really good.

By the time we were finished eating, our room was ready. We grabbed our SeaPasses from the door and went in.

The Ocean View Stateroom

The room was a decent size but maybe a little small for three people. It had a king-sized bed that could’ve been separated into two twin beds and a Pullman bed over top. The Pullman is like a bunk or lofted bed. I thought it was going to be a sofa bed. I’ll admit I was scared to climb up there. The ladder wasn’t securely on the bed but it was fine.

The vanity had two US outlets and two European outlets. Knowing this from my research, I brought a European plug adapter.

Only one person can get ready in the bathroom at a time. It’s small to say the least. Just enough for a shower, sink, and toilet.

Our room was in the forward part of the ship and during the trip I felt the rocking from time to time but it wasn’t as bad as I expected. Actually the rocking felt the same even in the middle of the ship at some points.

Our luggage arrived maybe an hour after we got in the room and that’s when we met our stateroom attendant, Kresdee, who was nice.

Dining Time Fiasco

Once we had all of our bags, we decided to explore the ship. I didn’t get very far in exploring because I noticed our dining cards said “My Time” instead of the 5:30pm time that I had initially chosen. Normally, when choosing your dining you can either do Early Seating, Late Seating, or My Time. I had chosen the early seating which was 5:30pm and it had shown that in the app when I checked it earlier in the week. When I checked the app again, it also said “My Time.”

I told my friends to go on without me while I went to the main dining room for an explanation. It seemed I wasn’t the only one with an issue because the line was long when I walked up. The hostess explained a lot of people chose the early seating and they couldn’t accommodate everyone so they went by who booked first. Essentially, I was wait listed without being made aware I was wait listed.

Needless to say, I was very irritated. This wasn’t communicated to me at all. If I realized that earlier, or if I was notified, I would’ve made a reservation as soon as we got on the ship. Instead we waited until 8pm to eat.

Tip: When you get on the ship, double check your dining time if you chose early or late seating. If you chose My Time Dining or if it switches you to My Time Dining last minute, make reservations for your entire cruise as soon as you get on the ship so you have more options to choose from.

After finishing all of this, I noticed the ship was moving. I missed the sail away party.

Massage Tester and Shops Raffle Issues

Since we had to wait an additional three hours for our dinner, we tried filling our time with other things. We waited for the free hot stone massage tester.

We thought we’d get there early since a complimentary massage tester seems like something a lot of people would do.

The person at the front desk said they wouldn’t have availability until 7:15pm even though the event said it started at 7pm. We waited in the Solarium, an adults-only pool area, which was next door. We went over at 7:05 and the hot stone testers had already started. My friends and I turned and looked at each other as we saw the 5 or so women already sitting in a line.

Just as we sat down, the masseuse stepped away for a client. Other masseuses at the spa were there so instead of a hot stone massage, my friends and I got a Swedish massage tester. The woman who started to do them didn’t realize I was with my friends and was about to skip me entirely even though I was sitting in the test chairs.

Whether I was with my friends or not it seemed like she wasn’t going to give me the 1-minute massage until my friend said, “Oh and our friend wants one too.” It annoyed me that he masseuse was going to not acknowledge me at all when there were other people waiting there as well. But, wanting to avoid confrontation, I didn’t say anything.

Afterwards, we went to the shops on deck 5. We entered a raffle earlier in the day on the way to the Windjammer. The flyer we received said it started at 8pm (right before our “new” dinner reservations) so we went there but the shops were closed.

Confused, we looked around to see if someone would be coming to open the shops back up. We weren’t the only ones because others were standing around as well. While looking around, the port shopping expert coaxed us over. She wanted us to come to her presentation tomorrow about the best places to shop while in port. She said we’d get a free gift for showing up and a chance to win a bigger gift. Since it was another chance to get free stuff, we took a flyer.

“Make sure you bring this back with you to get your free gift,” she said. Flyers in hand, we asked if she knew anything about the shops opening again later that night. She told us that they were closed for the night but the manager should be around.

When we finally found the shop manager, he said the flyer was a misprint and the raffle was actually at 5pm but they’d do another drawing with the same tickets.

While that was fine, what if our tickets were pulled at the earlier drawing and because we weren’t there they were thrown out? Of course I didn’t say this. I just nodded and rushed us to our dinner reservation so we wouldn’t miss it. I was craving some good food after this day.

Dinner Time (Finally)

When we got to the main dining room, the line was even longer than before. I forgot that can be the case for cruises in dining. I’m glad it moved fairly quickly. They asked for volunteers to share a table. We decided to go for it since that would sit us down faster.

We were seated with an older couple, a solo cruiser, and a family on the other end of the table.

Excited to finally have something to eat in front of me, I reached for the bread basket. Fresh steaming bread with butter is always a good way to start your dinner, right? The warmth from the bread warming you up just a little as you eat is so cozy.

Yeah, that wasn’t my experience. The bread basket was cold and the bread was hard.  It was still good but definitely surprised it wasn’t warm. I thought it may have been because we were in a late seating but I’ll soon realize the bread in the main dining room will be cold the whole cruise.

As our waiter and his assistance made their rounds, I ordered the crab cake for an appetizer which was really good and probably the favorite thing I ate during dinner. It was a single crab cake which surprised Cali (she ordered that for her appetizer, too).

“Only one? I probably could’ve gotten another appetizer like a salad or something.”

Tip: You can order as much as you want in the main dining room. If you want two appetizers, two entrees, and two desserts, you can have that. Exceptions are 1) premium meals that have an extra cost and 2) another lobster on lobster night. On lobster night the first lobster is free but any additional lobster is another $17.

For my entrée I ordered the herb crusted salmon and mash potatoes. This was pretty good. I especially liked the mashed potatoes. My friends didn’t like either of their entrées so they ordered something else. Celeste ordered the Jamaican Jerk Pork and Cali ordered the Salmon as their replacements both of which came out pretty quick. I would’ve ordered the Jerk Pork but because I’ve had really bad GERD episodes with spicy foods I didn’t want to risk it. They both said their replacement entrée was much better.

For dessert I ordered the pear and blueberry cobbler which was a letdown. It had the texture of a fruit roll with crumbs on at the top. Our waiter noticed I didn’t like it and brought me another dessert instead which I appreciated.  He brought me key lime pie which is not something I usually go for but it was better than my other dessert. I think I should’ve gotten the apple blossom.

Overall, the staff was very diligent about making sure we enjoyed our food which, again, I appreciated.

We sat down probably at 8:30 and got out just a little before 10. It felt a little long but I think they’re trying to aim for an hour and half service time or less so they’ve technically hit their mark.

End of the Night 

When we got back to the room after dinner, I expected our room to be made up with a towel animal in the center of the bed. On all the cruises I’ve been on there was a towel animal. I’m not sure if it was because I was a kid or because I was on a Disney Cruise Line. 

However, I was surprised it looked like it did when we left. I realized there was a magnet on our door that we were supposed to put outside saying it was okay to clean the room. I haven’t been on a cruise since 2016 but as far as I remember this was not a thing back then. However, I understand because of the pandemic things probably changed. That being said, no one told us that the magnet was there or how to use it. I missed it in my research, I guess.

We were all exhausted from the long day and the meal so we turned in for the night.

If I were to rank the day, I’d give a 7/10. Honestly, I think I’m being pretty generous. The day wasn’t terrible but my expectations weren’t met. However, my friends said they’d enjoyed themselves so far and it was both their first cruise. As long as they were enjoying themselves that’s fine with me.

Luckily, this was the worst day so everything will get better from here.

Extra Tips for Day 1 of the Cruise

• The app was extremely helpful especially with navigation. You can pull up deck plans to figure out where everything is.  The chat function is also free now! It used to be $1.99 but they took that away in the new year. I was able to communicate with my friends in case we were separated (since I didn’t have the Internet package to chat via social media or text).
  
• The free WiFi is interesting because I would still get live notifications on my phone from my email or other social media apps like Instagram or Twitter but I wouldn’t be able to send an email or have access to Twitter when I opened it.
  

• Originally none of us had the drink package. Then when we got on the ship, my friends saw people with the souvenir cups and thought they were so cute that they ended up getting the soda package while on the ship.
  
  When you get the drink package on the ship, it costs more because it’s at full price. Before the cruise, it was discounted at $8.99 per person, per day. Once on the cruise it costs $13.50 per person, per day. The tip is if you think you might still want to get a drink package, go ahead and get it before your cruise to save some money.
  
  I myself still didn’t get the drink package mainly because of that fact but also because I don’t drink a lot in general. I barely drank enough water on this cruise.

The next day we’ll be at sea so we’ll get to experience the ship in all its glory with no port stop interruptions.