RS2 cruise guide

The Cruise Catering events are probably the most popular aspect of Restaurant Story 2, but they're also the most challenging. Stress is never far away as everyone battles their way through 10 days of orders in a bid to earn a major prize, usually a gem producing recipe.

So with the British Cruise Catering Event having just got under way, I am going to offer up a guide to the cruise events via 10 hints and tips for surviving the distance. In no particular order...

 Hint #1: Upgrade your pantry

Okay, I lied. I reckon this is the single most useful thing you can do to better your chances. Indeed the Pantry is probably the most important feature at any time. Having a large capacity allows you so much more breathing space, and when the Cruise events come round that is crucial.

Ingredient section of Pantry

Having a large Pantry allows you to stockpile ingredients which have long refresh times, potentially making a tricky order much easier. You'll feel the positive effect of a larger Pantry outside of the events too, so I strongly recommend committing lots of your coins and parts to upgrading it.

 Hint #2: Set up your orders for next day

This is my personal favourite way to beat the game. Once you have sufficient orders brewing to finish a day, try to set up your remaining slots with orders that yield 3 or 4 cruise coins by refreshing. You'll start the next day with the same orders you finished the previous with, so there's an opportunity to prepare the first selection of orders in the build-up to the next day unlocking.

 RS2 News

 19/09/15 September 2015
 22/08/15 August 2015
 18/07/15 July 2015
 20/06/15 June 2015
 02/05/15 May 2015

This can really give you a head start, especially in the latter stages of the event. On the other hand, the amount of time you have left over for setting up the next day will probably drop as the days progress, so this technique can't always be applied. But when possible, definitely look to lessen your workload for the next day.

 Hint #3: Stack your counters

This is an interesting tip, simply because I don't actually do it! In the lead up to a Cruise event (and even in the first few days) it can be useful to stack your counters with foods which are known to offer high numbers of cruise coins. Then, if they appear in the event, you can cash in immediately using existing portions.

Stacking does require clever counter management, and you'll have to remove most of your chairs to prevent the food being consumed. But remember not to take away all your chairs or block your door - this won't work and could cause all your food to sell out! Successful implementation here could make completing a cruise event so much easier.

 Hint #4: Upgrade ingredient batches

A spacious Pantry is a massive help, but it's only really effective if you can fill it! Having a higher number of ingredients available in a batch from each of the shops will inevitably allow you to complete more orders more quickly.

Upgrade window of Fruit Market from level three to four

I suggest having at least a reload rate of four ingredients for each shop, although I do realise that this isn't cheap to execute and requires lots of parts. Ultimately aim to make it to a reload rate of five across the board - this allows you to cover any ingredient based orders within two batches. I'd pick out the General Store and Veggie Shop as being the first shops to upgrade as they are the ones with the highest number of and most valuable ingredients.

 Hint #5: Keep up-to-date with cruise coin ratio

Those who have competed in previous cruise events will probably already know that the contribution each order makes to the progression meter changes as the days progress. The accurate measure of how much each number of cruise coins comes from the cost to finish a day for gems. A typical example of the ratios is as follows:

Cruise coins	Gem contribution
1	5
2	15
3	35
4	60

But as I mentioned, these figures do change day-to-day. So you're best to keep up to date with what the latest ratios are, and the place do that is the Storm8 Forum. There are some very helpful players over there (including blog favourite Fat Bear!) who post the ratios, so make use of it!

 Hint #6: Start the event to fit real life activity

When a cruise event is released, you don't have to start it immediately. Indeed I openly encourage you not to. The event doesn't tend to pop up shortly after reset time (12am PDT, 7am GMT) but instead later in the day.

Introduction to Cruise Catering Event with option to start later

This means that if you get cracking immediately you're shortchanging yourself! Be patient and time the launch to coincide with your activities in real life. I'm particularly referring to the latter stages of the event which demand a lot of your time. If possible try to ensure that the days upon which the event is set to finish you are not busy with other stuff. Of course this isn't always possible but it's definitely worth considering. Plus holding back means you can make use of any findings by other players (such as the cruise coin ratios outlined in the previous hint) who haven't been so easygoing.

And remember: if you don't hit the 'Start Now' button within the given window you won't miss out on the event. It will simply be automatically started for you, so there's nothing to lose from holding off.

 Hint #7: Use quick serves

Perhaps I'm just really miserly, but I tend to be loath to spending my quick serves. There's really no need for it! The cruise events are the best place to utilise any quick serves you've saved up and could make all the difference come the final evening. I've been forced to spend some on a couple of occasions and the result is that I've been able to finish an event without the need to part with gems.

I'd actually recommend only using your quick serves for the cruise events. There's no need to force food to cook except during goals, and generally the quests can be comfortably completed without using quick serves. And if you have access to the quick serve-dropping Luana from the very first cruise event then applying this policy could make you armed and dangerous. My access (and stinginess) has led to an accumulation of 400 quick serves, enough to probably see me through an entire cruise event!

 Hint #8: Refresh orders strategically

The ability to refresh orders is a powerful tool, but one that should be applied very carefully and with much consideration. Sometimes a 30 minute refresh is a no-brainer - if you are asked to cook Lobster Bisque but can't access Lobster for another 12 hours then refreshing is absolutely necessary. But there are circumstances when hitting refresh is maybe not such a good idea.

Specifically I'm thinking of 1 cruise coin orders. I won't deny that they don't add much to the progress meter, but they do move it along more than a refresh does. So if you have the required ingredients to hand and the dish asked for is less than 30 minutes in length, it's in your interests to cook it. The likes of the Hamburger and Ravioli can come up again and again, and only take a few minutes to prepare, so really are worthwhile.

 Hint #9: Have two of every appliance

This is the one hint I'm including here that may heavily eat into your gem bag. The game's developers allow us to own two of most of the appliances in the game. Make the most of it! Until recently I hadn't bought my second Salad Bar or Drink Maker which really hindered my progress when recipes from those appliances came up. Now the time needed to complete such orders is halved, freeing up more valuable time.

Extra appliances for gems as shown in market

Then there are the Chateau Stove and Chateau Oven. We only get one of each of these for coins, with further buys requiring gems. It would set you back 500 gems, but I think investing in an extra of each would do wonders for your chances since the majority of the dishes on these two appliances yield 3 or 4 cruise coins and some are of a long duration. However, maybe it's worth waiting for Black Friday before buying in?...

 Hint #10: 'Finish Now' if close at the end of day

If at the end of a day you haven't quite made enough deliveries, it might be worth tapping 'Finish Now'. Of course this will incur a loss of gems, but there are circumstances in which it may be a good decision.

If you have all high end cruise coin recipes in your slots but only 4 or 5 gems left on the progress meter, then it would be a bit of a waste to deliver one of those orders as the excess cruise coins won't carry over to the following day. By finishing with gems you can preserve all three slots and thus get a better start the next day.

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So there it is. Some hopefully helpful tips on how to deal with the cruise events and improve your chances of finding success. Obviously this is far from an exhaustive list of hints, so feel free to leave any advice you have in the comments!