Toast-Worthy Travels

Royal Caribbean’s newest ship provided the perfect setting for our first family vacation of 2025.


Intro
Last year was busy and incredibly stressful. We knew we needed some quality vacation time as a family in 2025. When the in-laws presented us with the idea of a Royal Caribbean cruise, we knew it would be the perfect fit.

We sailed from February 24-28, just before the spring break season hit. Known as The World’s Biggest Weekend, the Utopia of the Seas currently offers 3- & 4-night itineraries out of Port Canaveral (~1 hour from Orlando). We sailed a 4 night Bahamas & Perfect Day itinerary, which included a stop in Nassau, one day at sea, and a visit to Perfect Day at CocoCay (Royal Caribbean’s Private Island).

The 4-night itinerary was perfect, especially since it was the first time we have cruised with our 3 year-old. We wanted to see if we loved cruising as family as much as we thought we would – and we absolutely did!


Embarkation
As we pulled up to the port, it was very clear which ship was the Utopia – just based on its size! The embarkation process was fairly quick and easy. Even without priority boarding, we only waited about 20 minutes to get through security. There was no line to check-in, and once we finished there, we walked right onto the ship.

My top priority on any cruise is to get the safety briefing out of the way first. Once that was done, we headed up to the kids’ club area to get our daughter registered. Then we let our daughter burn off some energy and explored the ship a bit more until our room was ready.


Our Room
We stayed in an Oceanview Balcony Stateroom (12538), located on deck 12 and close to the bridge. The area was quiet, yet conveniently located to the stairs & elevators. And we were only one deck below the kids club.

Our stateroom was well-appointed with a king bed (can be separated to two twins), a daybed sofa, desk, dresser, mini fridge, tv, two closets, bathroom with shower, and plenty of storage. It was the perfect size for our family of three.

My in-laws had the room next door. While the rooms weren’t connecting, our stateroom attendant opened the balcony partition so we could easily go between rooms.

Life OnBoard
Utopia of the Seas debuted last summer as the second-largest ship in the world (for now). As part of the Oasis Class of ships, it’s packed with activities and entertainment.

We barely even scratched the surface with the endless things to do! My daughter is a total water baby, so we spent a lot of time at the Beach Pool and Splashaway Bay. There are three main pools which means it’s pretty easy to find a spot-especially if you get there before midday. One of the pools even stays open in the evening for swimming under the stars.

*** Huge Shoutout to whoever is in charge of the water temperatures onboard. *** The water in the pools and the splash area was SO warm. The weather was a little on the cool side (barely reaching the low 70s some days) so having warm pool water made all the difference.

Another highlight was the Boardwalk. There’s a candy shop, hot dog stand, sports bar and most importantly – a Carousel. This is also where the giant dry slide, The Abyss, ends. On our day at Sea, there was a Family Carnival on the Boardwalk complete with games, balloon animals, cotton candy, and face painting.

Deck 16 at the aft of the ship is jam-packed with family fun. You’ll find the teen club, sports court, table tennis, the arcade, mini-golf, large play-scape, zip-lining, FlowRider, and the Abyss entrance. This was a great place for our daughter to play (when she wasn’t in the kids’ club).

Speaking of the kids’ club, our daughter absolutely adored Adventure Ocean. She even surprised us by choosing it over the ice skating show on our first night. The staff was amazing – they had a great setup and were constantly engaging the kids in activities.

Nassau
We chose to stay onboard in Nassau, hoping to explore the ship with less people on board. However, the weather wasn’t great when we docked, so it didn’t feel much different in terms of how many people were around.

Quick note on overall crowds: The ship never felt overly crowded, even though it can hold over 5,500 passengers. There’s so much to do and the layout is great, so people were naturally spread out. The pool deck gets pretty busy by midday but we were able to find other great activities around the ship & avoided the crowds.

We spent the rainy morning in the pool (because, let’s be honest, kids don’t care about rain), and by the afternoon the sun had came out, and Nassau was showing off her beauty. We wrapped up with some fun on Deck 16 before taking an afternoon nap.

Perfect Day at CocoCay
WOW – Perfect Day at CocoCay truly lived up to the name! We started the morning off at Splashaway Bay (a much larger version of the one on the ship). It’s such a fun area for younger kids, though the water wasn’t quite as warm as onboard.

Later, we made our way to South beach, where we spent the rest of the day. It was a lovely stretch of beach with plenty of chairs & umbrellas. We played in the sand, splashed in the water, and enjoyed drinks from the floating bar.

We had lunch at the Snack Shack – and honestly, it was some of the best food we had during the cruise.

Service
The customer service on the Utopia was top notch. Every crew member we interacted with was incredibly kind and thoughtful. It has been a long time since I’ve experienced such consistently excellent service.

Our stateroom attendant, Jay, greeted us by name every single time he saw us – and even gave us a little towel folding demonstration one day. We also saw the common areas being cleaned frequently, which is always very reassuring on a cruise.

If you’re looking for a family friendly ship with outstanding service, this is it.

Disembarkation
Disembarkation was just as smooth as embarkation. We had a later departure time, so we had to be out of our room for about an hour before we could leave the ship.

We used the luggage service offered, so we only had our carry-ons with us – such a nice convenience, especially with little kids. We enjoyed breakfast at the buffet and spent some time relaxing in Central Park while we waited for our disembarkation time slot.

Once we disembarked, there was a bit of a line to get to customs, but it moved steadily. They use facial recognition, so the customs process itself was quick.

Favorites
My favorite part: Central Park (a peaceful, park-like area in the middle of the ship) and the soft serve ice cream!

My husband’s favorite: the Windjammer Buffet. Great variety at every meal – and they even had lobster tail on embarkation day!

My daughter’s favorite: Adventure Ocean and the Beach Pool.

Final Thoughts
We all had an amazing time making memories and enjoying time together as a family. The itinerary length was perfect – great for pairing with a few days at Orlando theme parks, too. There’s so much to do on the ship, it’s impossible to be bored. The staterooms are well-designed and offered tons of storage.

This ship is ideal for families with young kids & multi-generational trips. If you’re interested in a fun-filled family cruise, let’s chat!

Email me at: s.kemp@cruiseplanners.com

Cheers to the Utopia of the Seas!