No one wants to waste money, but there are certain purchases vacationers have made on cruise ships and regretted it.
A Royal Caribbean cruise offers a lot of choice in how you vacation, including a number of extra cost options. It's your choice if you want to buy them, but some left some cruisers not loving their decision.
"Spa services. Staff will make you feel badly about yourself as they push products and additional services," is what one user on Reddit posted after being asked which Royal Caribbean purchase they instantly or later on thought probably didn't think was the best buy.
"Don’t waste your money."
Any purchase made is going to be subjective, but it's interesting to see if there are any patterns to what's deemed a poor choice.
Over 400 comments were made on the Reddit thread sharing everyone's cruise buying regrets, and here are the most popular answers.
Spa services
A relaxing or therapeutic spa service on a cruise ship topped the list of things past cruisers regretted spending their money on while cruising.
Over 20 people cited the spa as being a bad buy.
Every Royal Caribbean ship has a spa onboard where you can elect to purchase various treatments. There's also a salon for getting your hair or nails done.
Most of the comments were not complaining about a massage treatment, but rather, centered around the hard sells staff would make with it.
"Staff will make you feel badly about yourself as they push products and additional services. Don’t waste your money," is what Cartographer-Happy wrote.
Jane_Marie_CA wrote, "The cost of services are similar in price to the nice hotel day spa close to the my house. And the pushy sales pitch on board is awful."
"The spa service just didn't deliver on anything they promised, and I had major buyers remorse after seeing the prices," added Background-Cat4269.
One trick I've learned when going to spa is to simply inform the masseuse or stylist at the very start that you're happy to be there, but not interested in buying any products.
The sales pitches usually occur at the end of the treatment, but a comment in the beginning before it begins usually works well.
Bingo
A number of cruises lamented paying for bingo, as it wasn't what they expected.
There's usually a few different bingo sessions on all ships, with some of the prizes a progressive jackpot.
In most cases, guests have the choice of purchasing a number of bingo cards to play simultaneously or even a self-playing bingo machine.
"50 bucks entry, something like 200 entrants, for a 600 dollar prize," wrote Candelphins1897.
Mean_Breadfruit_1978 added, "it wasn't regular bingo and I probably shouldn't have done that. It was over really fast too."
" I could have had more fun that hour sitting by the pool and saved $70. Damn do they make a killing on bingo," wrote gnumadic.
Jamie's Italian restaurant
Perhaps the one surprise on this list for me were the amount of people that did not enjoy their meal at Jamie's Italian.
On some ships, Royal Caribbean has Jamie's Italian instead of their in-house Italian restaurant. It's a partnership that was born out of the launch of the Quantum Class in 2014, and it spread to a few ships before the cruise line decided to invest in revamping its own restaurant.
"Jamies has been hit or miss for me. Prefer Giovanni's for sure though," User_Name_Tooken wrote.
"Gotta agree with Jamie’s. Our last time we only went once and we had the [Unlimited Dining Plan]," imarebelpilot said.
Other specialty restaurants were named across the 400 comments in this thread, but Jamie's seemed to have the most contempt.
Art auctions
Many people complained they thought the art auctions were a waste of time.
You'll find an art auction held during your Royal Caribbean cruise, which is operated by a company named Park West.
It seems the issue a lot of people had was the so-called value of buying this art that's put on by the auctioneers.
OnlyAbbreviations226 shared the regret at spending the money on it all, "we spent so much money we didn't know any better. I have pieces all over the house and some in the closet."
"They are pretty and look nice. But as other people have said could have gotten same on line for a lot less money."
"Park west artwork. Only buy it if you like it, not because you think it’s worth anything. It’s mostly all worthless," Recommended No_Eye1022.
One of the top reasons to attend the art auction is the free champagne, as well as the spectacle that is bidding in a live auction.
Gold chains by the inch
Another surprise were the amount of people that felt they wasted money on the gold chains you can buy on ships by the inch.
Usually there's a table set up on the Royal Promenade or near the Windjammer where you can buy gold chains at whatever length you prefer.
The issue seems to be the chains weren't a bad price, but would break later, usually where the crew member cut it off.
"I got a silver one and it broke," one person wrote. Another replied, " Mine broke right where they cut it and I am sure I can get pliers and fix it. But so annoying."
Watches
Speaking of jewelry, another bad buy cited by cruisers were watches.
You can find cheap watches, as well as expensive name brand ones, for sale in the shops on a cruise ship.
PrettyLaLa87 wrote, "My husband bought a stupid Invicta watch. I told him not to."
That comment set off a lot of responses about how the price onboard can vary greatly from what you'd find on land.
When it comes to anything you buy on a ship, ignore any claims of how good a bargain that are made. Look at it purely as something you'd like to own because it looks nice.
If you are truly looking for a good value in your buy, my advice is to check the price of the item online to price shop and compare.
Drinks
Lastly, some cruisers thought many of the drinks they bought were a bad idea in retrospect.
Some had issues with specific drinks, while others felt they wasted their money on a drink package.
- "This weird S'mores drink I had on Jewel back in February. Took days to get rid of the aftertaste."
- "The drink package. I always get caught up thinking what if I do need it and I never drink enough to even break even on the cost."
- "The beverage package. I didn’t drink enough fresh squeezed juices or Coke or specialty coffees to make it worthwhile."
A beverage package isn't a flat out good value for everyone. You need to know your drinking preferences in order to gauge if it's a good buy.
Generally speaking, you need to drink at least 5-6 drinks every day to "break even" on the cost of the package. Otherwise, you are probably better off financially paying for each drink individually.
Nonetheless, a lot of cruisers elect to buy a beverage package for the convenience factor. There's less remorse about "wasting a drink" if you try something new, as well as the speed of getting a drink since there's no receipts to sign.
