Anyone been on a cruise before? First time and have questions....

If you don't want to lug nice clothes along (hubby's suit takes up a lot of space, but my thin dresses do not -- but then there are the extra shoes too), you can skip formal dining night and eat in the buffet or other casual eating places. I wouldn't skip formal night (interesting food choices, nice atmosphere), but it's an option.

Men cannot have exposed shoulders at any sit-down dinner at night (no sleeveless shirts). They do enforce this. We never wear flip-flops so that's not a problem; hubby is always fine in Vans. We have seen people turned away for flip-flops at evening meals (not just formal night).

Also, on formal night there will be a bunch of places set up to take your photos. Yes, do it at most of those places. Then go and look at your photos later, and buy one or not. I say do it at many locations because the lighting may make you look really good or really terrible, so it's best to do several. I always rolled my eyes at people having their photos done, but on our last cruise we did it, and I have a lovely photo of hubby and me which I now treasure. And the one we love had an odd black/gold background that seemed terrible but turned out making us look great; the background I thought I would love actually made us look pale and sickly.

Warning: The free coffee on Royal Caribbean is terrible. No amount of sugar, cream, chocolate sauce, etc. will make it palatable. Buy the "premium" drink package with coffee, and you can use it at the coffee shop onboard (probably Starbucks).

Check into the drink package ahead of time and decide before you go: I do not drink enough alcohol to make it worthwhile. However, on Royal you can (or used to be able to) buy just one for your room (have hubby buy it), and he can get his coffee, wait about 15 minutes, then get one for you. (Same with mixed drinks later too). We each had two large mochas every morning. Research because this may have changed -- I know that Carnival got wise to this, and now requires that if one adult in the room gets the package, they both must get it (no sharing). There was talk that Royal might do this too, but I haven't checked in about a year.

Be advised that beer is like $4 a bottle, so the drink package is not a bad idea. And you can try different drinks, and if you don't like it, get another without paying extra. The drink package includes bottled water too.

Before you go, search online for "hidden treasures" in every port. You will find advice on interesting places to go (with comments about safety, etc.) rather than the cruise packages. The cruise packages are overpriced if you have several in your family, but probably about right if it's just two of you. They factor in a lot for transportation per person, which adds up unreasonably if you have 4 people with you, for example. Doing your own tour (with a safe tour that has good online reviews) will save you money and let you see things no one else will see. We did some amazing (and empty) beaches on our own.

However, when we did Atlantis in Bahamas (loved it!), it was cheaper for 5 of us to do the ship excursion because they got a discount through the ship. Do your homework.

But be warned; if something goes wrong with transportation back to the ship while you are on an excursion not provided by the ship, they will leave without you. If you are on a ship excursion and arrive back late, the ship will wait for you. I'm sure you'll be fine, but just wanted to point this out. We like to stand on upper decks and watch drunk people running to catch the ship before we depart.

Go to every show. You will not be disappointed. Hey, it's free entertainment, and it's pretty fun.

Room service is free, so don't be shy. Breakfast will come when you tell them to, and it's kind of nice.

Yes to the person above who said pay extra to avoid the boarding lines. Or get there super early or super late. Those lines are awful.

And yes, when you check in, let them take your luggage to your room. When you get on the ship, the rooms are not ready anyway. You and everyone else will be hanging out (packed!) in the various food areas or by the pool, waiting for the rooms to open. (They are cleaning up from the previous cruise which just finished that morning.) You do NOT want to be lugging a bunch of stuff with you with all those people; it's exhausting and frustrating. If you want to do the pool while you wait (we have a child), pack a small bag with that stuff, and only carry that.

I'm glad you're on Royal. It's a step above Carnival, which we also describe as Walmart crowd. Royal also gets folks from Europe who want to see the Caribbean affordably and have been advised against the loud Americans on Carnival. We've done several of both, and will only do Royal ever again -- despite the awful coffee.

Look online and see if your room is near an elevator. If it is, ask to change asap. The elevators themselves are noisy, but it's the people that are the problem. They tend to talk loudly getting on and off, yelling to each other as they go their separate ways, etc. As people walk down the halls of rooms, they tend to quiet down.

Do not pay extra for an outside room with a window. You're hardly in the room anyway, and it's not worth the extra cost. (But since yours is provided, maybe it's not an issue.) Rooms with a balcony are overrated, we have found. We hardly used it (windy!), and at night there is always some latch or something that bangs in the intense wind. If you have an inside room, be content; it's fine. We like a mid-ship location for our room; it's more convenient for getting to most things.

Online cruise critics sites are amazing. Read as many comments as you can stand. You'll learn all kinds of stuff.