This post will share details and our experience playing Laser Tag on Royal Caribbean’s Utopia of the Seas.
Laser Tag: Battle for Planet Z is an activity available on several Royal Caribbean cruise ships. My husband and son have done the cruise laser tag before, but this was my and my daughter’s first time, so I was excited to play as a family.
How to sign up to play Laser Tag
Just like while playing, if you want to be able to book a time slot for laser tag during your cruise, you will have to be stealthy, time it right and have ninja fingers. Typically, time slots are released on the Cruise Planner (the app on your phone) sometime during the day for the next day. Just like with ice skating and other onboard activities, you must keep an eye on the Cruise Planner for when the times are released. Then, when you see a time you want, you select it, enter the number of players, and then check out. Laser Tag is free on most sailings and included in your cruise fare at no additional cost, you just have to grab a spot before they “sell out.”
Who can play Laser Tag?
Per the Royal Caribbean website, you must be at least 5 years old and at least 40″ tall to participate. Also, closed toe shoes are required, so don’t forget to pack them!
Checking in
About 15 or so minutes before your scheduled time slot, you will check in at the laser tag location. For us on Utopia of the Seas, it was in Studio B, the ice rink. They have a floor that slides over the ice, then the inflatable laser tag course sits on that. You will need to scan your sea pass card to enter and play, as that is how they confirm your reservation.
Once checked in, they led us to a row of seats behind an already-filled row. As we sat, the row in front of us was called down to get ready for the next game, so although they have time slots, they also use their judgment depending on who shows up and when to make the games full and keep moving.
We had a short wait and then we were called down to get our gear on. It is standard laser tag gear, with a vest that has the gun attached. They play a short video about safety and how to use the gun. Teams were random, as they just handed you a vest that doesn’t have any type of indicator on it until it is turned on. So once we were all suited up, the crew activated the vests and then we could see the color and what team we were on.
Us parents were on a team and the kids were on the other…oh them kids are going DOWN!
It was a little hectic because they told us to go in and get playing, but my daughter’s gun wasn’t working right. So I had the crew telling me “Go play! Go play!” but I had to keep telling them I wanted to stay back and make sure she was good. Like, I want to make sure she can play…I’m not going to leave her and play without her.
Once she was good, we entered through separate doors and got searching for the opposite team to shoot. The lighting is dim, but not super dark, and there’s lots of glow-in-the-dark coloring to enhance the light.
We had a lot of fun running around and both kids and adults were having a blast. A few minutes before the end of our time, my daughter found me and said he gun had stopped working. So I had to try to find a crew member and then get them to work on it, but the one I found din’t seem to really know what to do and then by the time we got someone that maybe could help the time was done and they just told us that we were done. It was a little disappointing ending that way and wished they would have just given her a different vest/gun in the beginning when it was acting up before the game, but we had fun and she wasn’t too upset about it (mommy was most upset).
After the game, you can check the scoreboard at the exit to see the team and player rankings, including top player, most accurate and trigger happy awards.
