Royal Caribbean charges for room service, except for one breakfast option that you can easily enjoy in your room for free.
I think a lot of people instinctively start their morning with a stop at the cruise buffet, but there's actually a free room service option at breakfast.
There's no shortage of included food on a Royal Caribbean cruise, from three-course meals in the Main Dining Room to an all-you-can-eat buffet and fast-casual joints like El Loco Fresh and the Boardwalk Dog House. Yet, many passengers overlook room service, especially for breakfast.
Outside of breakfast, ordering room service incurs a $7.95 service charge. Still, continental breakfast items, such as pastries, fruit, coffee, and juice are complimentary and can be delivered to your stateroom free of charge.
Ordering room service for breakfast is one of my favorite ways to kickstart my day on a cruise ship. While the options are more limited than the Windjammer, it's nice not to have to budget time for breakfast while avoiding the crowds.
It's even better when you're staying in a balcony stateroom! There's nothing like sipping on a cup of coffee as your ship pulls into port. It's just as nice on a sea day, too.
The convenience of room service breakfast can't be beat. It's a relaxing way to ease into the day before heading out to explore the ship or going ashore for an all-day excursion.
Each cabin has room service menus that can be filled out and hung on the door handle the night before you want room service delivered for breakfast
On a recent cruise aboard Wonder of the Seas, my partner and I decided to order room service before our excursion in Roatán, Honduras.
The night before, we filled out the room service menu, selecting which items we wanted delivered and at what time. Everything on the continental breakfast side is included.
However, items listed under "American Breakfast," such as scrambled eggs, buttermilk pancakes, hash browns, and bacon, incur a $7.95 service charge. That said, Royal Caribbean doesn't charge $7.95 per item, so you can order as many hot dishes as you want for a single price.
Alcoholic drinks, including Mimosas and the Ultimate Bloody Mary, can also be delivered to the room. Note, though, that they are not included in any drink package. Even if you have the Deluxe Beverage Package, you must pay the current bar pricing, plus an 18% gratuity. Daily diamond vouchers can't be used for room service drinks, either.
Sticking with the included options, we ordered coffee with lactose-free milk, plain bagels with cream cheese, croissants, assorted pastries, and a fruit plate. Other options include yogurt, cereal, muffins, toast, grits, granola, oatmeal, and donuts.
Because we had a third-party excursion booked, we wanted our room service to come early, so we could be one of the first passengers off the ship. We were to meet our driver at the port's exit an hour after Wonder's arrival.
As such, we selected the 7:00am to 7:30am timeslot. However, we received a phone call at 6:48am saying our food was on the way! It was delivered and placed in our cabin before 7:00am. The earliest timeslot begins at 6:00am, while the latest delivery is from 10:30am to 11:00am.
Since it arrived so early, we enjoyed breakfast in bed, watching a little television while munching on our food and drinking coffee.
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The bagels were overtoasted, but the fruit plate was fresh
Breakfast is actually my least favorite meal of the day, so I try to keep it light and simple. Royal Caribbean's continental breakfast isn't anything fancy. However, there are enough options for a satisfying start to your day.
The most disappointing part of our room service breakfast was the overtoasted bagels. Though they arrived warm, they were genuinely too burnt to eat. Instead, my partner lathered up one of the croissants with cream cheese. I was grateful we added them to our order the night before!
I appreciated the assorted pastries, particularly the raspberry danishes and chocolate croissant.
We agreed the fresh fruit plate was the most enjoyable dish. Everything from the juicy pineapple to the kiwi was ripe and refreshing. In fact, I wish we had ordered two! I would have been perfectly fine with fruit and coffee, rather than the extra pastries.
Speaking of coffee, I'm not going anywhere, especially off the ship, without caffeine coursing through my veins. If you're someone who needs a hot cup of coffee to start your morning, I'd highly recommend ordering a pot via room service!
Because we indicated that we were ordering for two people, our delivery included two coffee mugs. However, my partner prefers iced coffee, so she didn't drink any. This worked to my benefit since I had the entire pot to myself!
However, if you and your travel companion are coffee fanatics, you can request an extra pot, rather than sharing one between two cruisers.
Unfortunately, if you have a Royal Caribbean drink package and want to kickstart your day with a latte from Cafe Latte-Tudes, Cafe Promenade, or the Pearl Cafe, you will have to get it yourself. You cannot order iced beverages to your stateroom via Royal Caribbean's room service breakfast menu.
I found the regular coffee to be perfectly fine, especially since I could enjoy it at my own pace without leaving the cabin. It was better than venturing to the Royal Promenade or Windjammer and carrying a full cup back to my stateroom.
Coffee isn't the only beverage included with the continental breakfast. You may also order apple juice, orange juice, regular or chocolate milk, fat-free or lactose-free milk, half & half, green tea, black tea, and herbal tea. Decaffeinated coffee is an option, too.
Should you order Royal Caribbean's free room service breakfast?
Instead of waking up earlier and getting ready before grabbing a bite to eat at the Windjammer or Main Dining Room, we enjoyed having the extra time to rest in bed before heading off the ship in Honduras.
Again, the continental breakfast isn't anything fancy or over-the-top, but who doesn't want to feel like royalty waking up to breakfast in bed? It's nice that Royal Caribbean includes such a convenient option in its cruise fare. It will remain a must-do for any cruise I'm on!
Plus, there's no limit as to how many times you can order continental room service breakfast. In other words, if you're on a 7-night Caribbean cruise, you can be awoken each morning by a crew member telling you that your food is on the way, all for no extra charge! If you run out of menu cards, you can either ask your cabin steward or go to Guest Services.
