Wife and I have been on 4 Royal Caribbean cruises and just got back two weeks ago from a Princess cruise. In December taking the whole family on a Royal Cruise. We only started four years ago so I say we are noobies; however, IMHO I will stick with Royal Caribbean. Cleaner and the staff was much more polite and professional. These are tips or hints but just what we do:
1) I compare prices online at the ships website and other places like USAA and Cruise Critic before I buy.
2) We look at the excursions to see which ones we want and book them because our first cruise we waited until we got on ship and the ones we found out we wanted didn't have openings.
3) Drink packages - RC has a soda package that includes bottles of water. One cruise I bought the expensive drink package and after it was all said and done I didn't drink enough to make it a good buy.
4) Bring little stuff like tylenol, a small box of dayquil, imodoium, and extra batteries for camera with you because the ships price is outrageous.
5) Every time we go we bring less and less clothes...we still over pack.
6) Be friendly to room attendant - he/she can get you things.
7) We always fly in the day before because the ship will leave without you if you have flight problems.
8) Day packs the day you board ship because you might not see your bags until later in night.
Another vote for Royal Caribbean and like he says...pack less clothes, bring more incidentals. We bought tons of hats/shirts/shorts.....no need to pack extra if your gonna buy em anyway.
And dont wait to sign up for excursions before ship leaves, they can be canceled if ya just wanna stay local but they fill up fast.