The true cost of taking a cruise

[footzz]

Dollar for dollar, cruise vacations are among the best value for travelers, despite a slew of additional fees.

 

The cruise lines may have not increased their fares, but they have been building more expensive ships filled with more amenities, more activities and more options, some of them unheard of a decade ago. And many of these optional amenities and features come at a cost to the consumer. Below (in no particular order) is a list of some ways cruise lines have come up with to generate on-board revenue.

 

Pictures - Shore excursions – Alcoholic Beverages – Non Alcoholic Beverages - Casinos - Specialty coffee drinks, pastries and ice creams – Spa services – Flower Sales – Photography - Food/wine tasting - Upscale dining options – Internet - Ship to shore communications - Laundry service - On-board shops - Cruise sponsored shopping – Bingo - Medical services - Mandatory tipping – Airline bookings – Transfers - Art auctions - Corkage fees - On-board activities (wave rider, zip lines, etc.) - Behind the scenes tours - Specialized fitness classes,

 

Have I missed any? And, in the future, what amenities do you think the cruise lines will add or start charging for?

 

[paul929207]

Makes me feel good. We spend on very few of the things on your list. Although, we get several of them free since we are Elite on Princess.

[Robb]

We spent much more on a one week trip to Disney/Epcot than we did on a two week cruise.

[pg.]

Dollar for dollar, cruise vacations are among the best value for travelers, despite a slew of additional fees.

 

The cruise lines may have not increased their fares, but they have been building more expensive ships filled with more amenities, more activities and more options, some of them unheard of a decade ago. And many of these optional amenities and features come at a cost to the consumer. Below (in no particular order) is a list of some ways cruise lines have come up with to generate on-board revenue.

 

Pictures - Shore excursions – Alcoholic Beverages – Non Alcoholic Beverages - Casinos - Specialty coffee drinks, pastries and ice creams – Spa services – Flower Sales – Photography - Food/wine tasting - Upscale dining options – Internet - Ship to shore communications - Laundry service - On-board shops - Cruise sponsored shopping – Bingo - Medical services - Mandatory tipping – Airline bookings – Transfers - Art auctions - Corkage fees - On-board activities (wave rider, zip lines, etc.) - Behind the scenes tours - Specialized fitness classes,

 

Have I missed any? And, in the future, what amenities do you think the cruise lines will add or start charging for?

 

 

Some people like to spend spend spend. We never pay for half those things on your list. We travel on Princess , so bring on some wine for pre dinner drinks on balcony. Share a bottle of wine in dining rooms over two nights, and will treat ourselves to one or two cocktails a day. We do not buy photos,, usuaully,, we did when we started cruising, but frankly , where does one put them all,, do people have like "crusing walls" in their homes.. or are them eventually shoved in boxes. We did get a nice formal shot of family done a few years ago, we bought one, and have it on our mantle.

We do not bingo, or pay for extra tours, gym classses or special dinners. We find being on board is special enough.

And we feel that it is possible and in fact manadatory to cut off communication for a week while on holiday.. what on earth do you think people did pre computers..??

 

 

We always leave auto tips on bill, pay smallish bar bill, and get off with less then an extra 2 or 3 hundred max on account.

[paul929207]

There are also ways to offset at least some of your onboard account. With Princess, they sell future cruise credits that give us OBC of up to $150. Other lines have similar plans.

 

We own 100 shares of Carnival Corp. stock. This gets us an OBC of up to $250 on each cruise on any of their lines (includes Carnival, HAL, Princess and others). I believe RCI has a similar plan.

[Happy ks]

There are plenty of ways to spend extra on cruise ships, but a lot of what the OP has listed have been add ons for more than 10 years. Alcohol, bingo, photography, laundry, soft drinks (with the exception of dinner), airfare/transfers, ship to shore communication, spa services, medical services, corkage fees plus more on the list have always been optional additional cost. We didn't start cruising together until 1998, but those things, including soft drink packages were charged for even on our first cruise.

 

Tipping has always been traditional, the only change is that some lines add it on daily or you can add it to your room account or even pre-pay ahead of time. The biggest change there (tipping) is that with auto-tipping, fewer pax are stiffing the service personnel.

 

The only things new on the list are: internet, wave rider (do they charge extra for that, I didn't think it was extra?) possibly zip-lining (again, extra?), specialty dining (an add on that for many like us is an advantage), specialty coffee (again, we do purchase a couple onboard every cruise and feel it's an advantage since cruise ship coffee is notoriously bad).

 

I don't know about behind the scenes tours since I've never been that curious to know, although I have watched TV shows about cruise ships.

 

I'm probably one of the very few who is glad soft drinks cost additional. The one and only time I've been on a ship where there was a "free" soda fountain at the pool it was a total dirty mess. Cups laying everywhere, kids filling cups and throwing soda at each other, sticky soda all over the ground. Many people throw their manners out the window and abuse common courtesy when things are "free".

 

One thing the OP did not mention regarding additional options is a big one...the availability of balcony cabins. It wasn't that many years ago that only the high cost suites had balconies, the average person could not have afforded those years ago. Now ships are not only offering many balcony options, some of them are inside overlooking the promenade area of the ship.

 

We have always considered the cruise fare to be just the beginning of the cost of the vacation. You have to add on costs such as air, hotels, transportation, shore excursions plus wine and other cocktails, soft drinks, spa charges (if any). We do purchase at least one formal photo each cruise, but we consider them to be very affordable in comparison to professional photography. I put them in our cruise album, I don't have them on the walls. It's fun to look back over the years, especially seeing the kids grow up and looking great in their formal clothes :)

[Hlitner]

This is a great topic. The cruise lines have worked hard at finding new and innovative ways to "maximize onboard revenue" and some ships such as the Oasis of the Seas have been designed to be money machines. We do a lot of traveling (more than 6 months a year) and normally budget our trips based on a very simple formula of cost per person per day. Cruise vacations are still a great value, but an argument can be made that some All-inclusives are an even better value. We have actually met folks on European cruises who spent more money on shore excursions then the cost of the cruise. Probably more common would be a couple who spends about $200 per passenger day on their European cruise for the ship, and another $150 per passenger day for excursions, booze, gifts, etc. This means that a couple can spend nearly $5000 for a 7 day cruise out of a place such as Barcelona (factoring in all costs including airlines) which is a lot of money. On the other hand, we spend a lot of time traveling in Europe (we simply rent a car and go) and can easily keep our total costs under $500 a day (total including car, airlines, hotels and food) while staying in pretty decent hotels and dining on food that is better (quality over quantity) than most cruise ships. On cruise critic we spend a lot of time on the European port boards helping folks who prefer to avoid excursions and simply do their own thing in ports (this can save hundreds of dollars per port) which can reduce the cost of a cruise trip to under $500 per couple/day. In other words, the cruiser has some control over their costs.....but at least for Europe trips will generally cost more than many folks expect.

 

Hank

[hubofhockey]

We look at total vacation cost and not what the ship expenses will be. The ship does not compete for cruise cost or gratuities. But, for all of these extras, the ship competes with other vendors for how we spend our money. With the exception of the occasional drink or dinner in a specialty restaurant or gym classes, all of our other expenses, which add up are paid to someone else (airfare, hotel, shore actitivities & tours, lunch in ports- especially Europe, other transportation charges). There is no doubt that we spend more outside of the cruise line than to the cruise line. Next cruise for our family of four to the Med, the cruise is $5800 while total vacation cost is in excess of $12K.

[Putterdude]

We don't gamble in the casino, buy a bottle of wine each night at dinner, may buy one photo that our TA has given us a credit toward and take fairly modest excursions but even at that with auto-tip our OBC runs $800 to $1000 per week.

[sabled62]

On all the cruises we have been on with several different cruise lines, the service and the food quality in the main dining room has been very good. No need to spend an additional $40 or $50 to eat in a specialty restaurant. No need to use the internet or drink any specialty coffee. We are non-drinkers so nothing is spent on any beverages. I am totally amazed at the amount of money that some people spend extra on a cruise. I know people want to have a good time but is it really necessary to get drunk everyday to have a good time?

[riffatsea]

We spend very little on board the ship!

We don't like posed photos so NEVER buy them!

We have a glass of wine with dinner and perhaps a nightcap and/or a tall fruity alcoholic drink during the day so our liquor bill is very small.

I generally do one spa day when they have port day specials.

We have lots of casinos near home so don't use the VERY smokey one on the ship.

We book our own tours for ports.

We travel light so don't need laundry service either.

We DO pay autotips + extras when we like the service.

I bet our bill at the end is quite small compared to others!!

[navybankerteacher]

Any compariaons should be made as close to "apples to apples" as possible. A cruise ship offers accomodations, good basic meals, transportation to different sites, and fair-to-good evening entertainment in exchange for the basic fare. Compared with a land vacation, this is great value. On a budget of roughly $100 per person per day, you would be hard pressed to find a reasonably clean and comfortable hotel room, three meals, basic evening entertainment and transportation to various interesting sites at any land location where you might want to spend any time.

 

The optional extras - drinks, casinos, guided tours, top-of-the-line restaurants, spa treatments, gratuities, etc. would be add-ons at a land resort as well as at sea. Additionally, the availability of snacks round the clock which is included in basic cruise fare, would be a major add-on for the receational eater on land.

 

Sure, cruising can cost a great deal more than the basic fare - but it remains an extraordinary value.

[geoherb]

The major cost of taking too many cruises is the need to purchase bigger clothes. A friend of mine gained 10 pounds in one week. The jeans she wore on the flight down did not fit when she tried to wear them again the last morning. And since she had packed all of her other clothes, she had to get some safety pins from her cabin steward.

[happy cruzer]

Does RCI charge for room service late at night? Maybe that is a wave of the future?

[Taxguy77]

Any compariaons should be made as close to "apples to apples" as possible. A cruise ship offers accomodations, good basic meals, transportation to different sites, and fair-to-good evening entertainment in exchange for the basic fare. Compared with a land vacation, this is great value. On a budget of roughly $100 per person per day, you would be hard pressed to find a reasonably clean and comfortable hotel room, three meals, basic evening entertainment and transportation to various interesting sites at any land location where you might want to spend any time.

The optional extras - drinks, casinos, guided tours, top-of-the-line restaurants, spa treatments, gratuities, etc. would be add-ons at a land resort as well as at sea. Additionally, the availability of snacks round the clock which is included in basic cruise fare, would be a major add-on for the receational eater on land.

 

Our last cruise was about, for a couple, $300/day. That's after flying to and from the ship. The same year we made a land trip of well over 3,000 miles, stayed in various accomodations from basic motel to a small suite with limited access. Cost for everything including gas was just under $200/day for the two of us. MUCH less than cruising.

[navybankerteacher]

Our last cruise was about, for a couple, $300/day. That's after flying to and from the ship. The same year we made a land trip of well over 3,000 miles, stayed in various accomodations from basic motel to a small suite with limited access. Cost for everything including gas was just under $200/day for the two of us. MUCH less than cruising.

 

Are you sure that your $300 per day aboard ship did not include a fair amount of the extras? This month we are in a verandah cabin for $225 per day.

 

Your 3000 miles must have used abot 100 gallons - close to $300 for gas alone -- did you also figure genaral auto costs - tire use, oil change, depreciation (which for a 150,000 mile car costing $20,000 would have come to about $400) if you really figured all your driving costs. If it was aseven day trip gas and depreciation alone would have been $100 per day --what sort of meals, evening entertainment and accomodations could you get for the remaining $100 per day --- I do not think I would call that much of a vacation.

[paul929207]

Our last cruise was about, for a couple, $300/day. That's after flying to and from the ship. The same year we made a land trip of well over 3,000 miles, stayed in various accomodations from basic motel to a small suite with limited access. Cost for everything including gas was just under $200/day for the two of us. MUCH less than cruising.

I am not surprised that a vacation where you drove from place to place and stayed in basic motels is cheaper than a cruise that included airfare. You are comparing apples and oranges. I bet you could have stayed home and spent even less.

[Hlitner]

I am not surprised that a vacation where you drove from place to place and stayed in basic motels is cheaper than a cruise that included airfare. You are comparing apples and oranges. I bet you could have stayed home and spent even less.

 

It gets even more interesting if you read my prior post. We have spent many weeks driving in Europe for less cost than many European cruises after factoring-in total costs including air, food, hotels, car, etc. As to comparing Apples to Oranges, when it comes to Europe you do see a lot more if you simply take a driving trip vs. a cruise. Actually for us, the ideal vacation has been a European cruise coupled with at least an additional 2 weeks driving in Europe (before or after the cruise).

 

Hank

[navybankerteacher]

It gets even more interesting if you read my prior post. We have spent many weeks driving in Europe for less cost than many European cruises after factoring-in total costs including air, food, hotels, car, etc. As to comparing Apples to Oranges, when it comes to Europe you do see a lot more if you simply take a driving trip vs. a cruise. Actually for us, the ideal vacation has been a European cruise coupled with at least an additional 2 weeks driving in Europe (before or after the cruise).

 

Hank

It is possible that a driving trip can be less than a cruise - but to hold comparisons to apples to apples - you need not add airfare because you would have to fly from home to either rental car desk or cruise terminal; additionally, you should consider everything covered by the cruise fare -- which is the standard for comparison. Does the driving trip include any evening entertainment for which you might pay: concert, movie, whatever? And is the comfort of the accomodations comparable? It is always possible to live cheap on the road (possibly even sleeping in the car) - or sharing a bath down the hall in a low-cost inn, or subsisting on small servings of cheap food -- again we are talking about comparing value for value not about merely being able to do one thing cheaper than another.

 

By the way -- I certainly agree that the way to really see any area is to do it on land - staying in places at night, not afloat.

[boita9]

Read your reply...so, Rome and Florence. Been there done that with the ship's shore excur$ions....we'd like to take the train into Rome and also Florence...have you done this? We missed our connection last time in Barcelona and had to take a $2,500 taxi ride into the next port....NICE! So, we are a little gunshy about being on time.....any info would be appreciated

[sloopsailor]

Some people like to spend spend spend.

 

And some of us like to enjoy, enjoy, enjoy. Your statement strikes a bit judgemental of those who enjoy partaking in extra activities, even if there is a cost. Do you also pass judgment on people who go out to dinner and spend, spend, spend on appetizers, drinks and desert when all they had to buy was the least expensive main course?

 

When I travel on vacation I budget enough money so I can enjoy many of the things that I find enjoyable, especially if these are treats or activities that I might never enjoy at home. For some of us our infrequent vacations are not the place to be a tightwad - we can do that much more easily at home. :D

 

I think it's sad for a person to have a once in a lifetime experience and not enjoy it to the fullest only to save a few dollars.

 

I'm not rich, nor foolish with my money. I live comfortably in a modest home, and have saved more than enough to live the rest of my life in retirement with few worries. I do know how to value my life, and am not afraid to spend a little extra once in a while. So, label me one who liks to 'spend, spend, spend' while on vacation. I'm OK with that - because life is worth living, not squandering.