Cruise a good value??? I think not.

[farler05]

Renting an oceanfront condo would cost more than our cruise fare & that's essentially what I'm getting with my balcony room. Add in the cost of eating every meal out at a sit-down restaurant - because if I'm on vacation, I'm not cooking or doing dishes or eating fast food - & right there I've saved even more money. Plus I can have drinks & not worry about driving. Speaking of driving, almost every day I wake up in a new port without any driving! No condo cleaning fee, a lovely little rip-off they slide in there. There are a variety of free activities to entertain or I can lounge by the pool. Hubby & I have added it up & to have the equivalent experience, we would spend much more on a land-based vacation.

[Iluvmypuggle]

I love to cruise and cant' wait until June when I get to do so with extended family. But......I read here and there that cruising presents a good value......I don't think its a rip off but good value I don't believe.

 

A good value to me is renting a big home on the outer banks with a few families and enjoying the week.......or a drive to vacation if you live in northeast like to to lake george or cape cod or upstate NY.........or an all inclusive in riviera maya (if you like to drink you save tons on booze).........or staying at auntie's home near the beach. lol.

 

If a family of 4 has to fly to miami, take a 7 night cruise, and stay at least 1 night in a hotel in miami and take shuttles too and from airport.....look what that costs.....a ton.

 

anyway....just wondering why many of you think its a good value....remind me again so i keep my enthusiasm high for my trip.....

 

I am the biggest advocate of cruising being a good value. But keep in mind, like most other vacations, you have a choice of how much you would like to spend. If you wanted to rent a cabin at a lake, you can rent a shack or a mansion. Same thing with cruising.. you can get an inside cabin for a small amount or a Villa for thousands per person.

 

I live in NJ and rarely fly to ports. I saw that you also live in NJ so have the option to drive to the following ports - New York City, Baltimore and Bayonne, NJ - and parking for a week wouldn't even compare with airfare for a family of 4.

 

Also, estimate what it would cost for a family of 4 to go out to eat for 3 meals a day, plus pizza at midnight, ice cream throughout the day gas (and maybe even a rental car) to go back and forth to these restaurants. If you were going to spend a week on land with your family, you wouldn't get the same amount of food and service for the same price. I think this is a fair comparison because on a cruise ship, you have the option to go to the Main Dining Room and have a restaurant dining experience 3 times a day.

 

With that one cruise price, you have your cabin, a designated driver, unlimited meals, as much entertainment as you can squeeze into your day and the option to visit multiple paradise-like destinations all in one trip. Your kids (if young enough) will be kept busy and will have adult supervision whenever needed and you don't have to worry about anything besides what to wear and what fun activity to do next (if activities are your cup of tea).

 

I can't say it's the "cheapest" vacation, but you can choose how much you want to spend when shopping for cruise deals, booking your cabin type, choosing your port, booking excursions, etc. Most of the time, you can find a cruise to fit your budget.

 

Yes, there are cheaper vacations, but they don't typically include the same quality of food, lodging, entertainment and service.

 

Is this your first cruise? I hope you have a wonderful time and come back here and report that you feel like you got a good value for your hard earned money.

 

EDIT - I forgot to mention that I think that there's some value to being able to go on vacation without having to fly as I think my time is worth quite a bit. I think cruise fare from NY is a bit more than FL typically, but it's worth the money to not have to spend hours in an airport, hours on a plane and then hours sititng around waiting to get on the ship.

[Linsuesue]

The value for us is having a constantly changing view from our balcony, not having to drive or figure out transportation and directions to the next stop, and not being any further away from a variety of good food than our legs can walk.

[Cruzface]

The main difference between Ai and cruise is the included booze. So, if you smuggle...well then we have a tie.:cool:

[brnsnbrws]

For me it is a great value. My sister and I share a cabin(our husbands do not want to cruise) We mainly book independent tours or just do a beach for a day. We each only have a few drinks a day. Now the casino is another story LOL, but we go to the casino at home. Before and after a cruise we don't visit our home casino for awhile and save the money we would gamble for our casino on the ship. We fly southwest and up until recently our airfare has been reasonable. Hopefully things will straighten out with the oil and airfare will go down a bit. We can't drive because I can't take that much time off work for a cruise because my husband likes to take a land vacation. We very seldom purchase pictures. I spend alot more money on our family land vacations.

[DMH15]

Ok, here's why... Our airfare was booked to LA for my mom to visit friends and family. We were going to stay with her friend, who has a 5 bedroom house in the Valley... Well, her friend's daughter died and she no longer felt like having guests.

 

So, we started checking out hotels, rental cars, things to do, restaurants, etc. I spoke up and said, "let's see if there are any cruises?". I found the Paradise. For a little over $100 each per day we had lodging, all meals, entertainment, etc. It really was a great value.

[T. Advisor King]

I have a lot of sympathy for the original poster's comments. I have seen it posted numerous times how "cheap" it is to take a cruise. Personally, I think it is one of the most expensive vacations there is. I figure it is about $1,500 per person for our family of 4 to come cross-continet from PNW, once you factor in the cost of the cruise, the airfare, the hotels in transit, the transportation, anything you do in ports. We went to Hawaii in January for 8 days and it cost about 15% less than a 7-day Caribbean cruise would have cost.

 

But it all comes down to what you value. Some people like being waited on, and that has value for them. I get nothing out of that. Some people hate doing "chores" (like cooking meals) on vacation. I've got no problem with that. I'm off work and I can cook without it being perhaps 50% of the free time I have for an entire day? That's not a chore to me.

 

I'm not a fan of "renting a house with friends or extended family" because for me, most of the fun of a vacation is getting away and spending time alone with my immediate family. But we frequently rent a condo, rather than stay at a hotel, because it gives us more room and we can buy groceries and cook our own meals rather than having to pay for expensive (and usually less healthy) restaurant meals.

 

But you can never get a perfect apples-to-apples comparison. On a cruise you get to visit different destinations (pro), but you're stuck on their schedule (con). There are numerous activities available to you (pro - if you're into that kind of thing), but you're stuck paying inflated retail costs for things like alcoholic beverages (con), rather than dropping by the local liquor store.

 

I will continue to take cruises, but it is not my only type of vacation and not necessarily my most preferred. It is a pretty good value, but not exceptional and not typically better than a regular vacation.

[Cruzface]

We cruise as a family of 4 in an interior cabin. I know it's cramped, but we literally spend about 1 waking hour there per day (shower and dress). I'm sure I would love a balcony but I really do like being on deck with all the people and watching them. It costs us about $2000 for cruise fare, about $1200-$1400 for airfare. Hotel, cabs and tips come to about $500 and we have a bill at the end of about $600.

 

Where else can a family of 4 go for $4500 and see at least three caribbean islands, all the food you can eat and entertainment as well.

 

Great value.

[pianogal83]

Forgot to mention...we booked a cabin by a lake in one of Virginia's state parks for a week this summer. The rental on the cabin alone - no food, entertainement, travel expense, anything....just cabin rental cost was within $100 of what we paid for our week cruise.:eek:

[WeBeCruisin']

I have a lot of sympathy for the original poster's comments. I have seen it posted numerous times how "cheap" it is to take a cruise. Personally, I think it is one of the most expensive vacations there is. I figure it is about $1,500 per person for our family of 4 to come cross-continet from PNW, once you factor in the cost of the cruise, the airfare, the hotels in transit, the transportation, anything you do in ports. We went to Hawaii in January for 8 days and it cost about 15% less than a 7-day Caribbean cruise would have cost.

 

.

 

It's not logical to make a comparison such as you're attempting. What would it have cost you to drive with your family from say, Seattle, to Miami, including gas, all your meals and hotel rooms? I'm thinking it would be far more than $1500, not to mention that you'd all be totally exhausted by the time you got there. Even if you drove 500 miles a day, it would take you close to a week each way to make the trip.

 

It sounds like you're comparing a west coast vacation near your home to one which would require extensive travel to an east coast or southeast destination. What you're doing would be the same as me complaining about the difference between a 12-day trip to the Carolina coast and a Mediterranean or Baltics cruise of the same duration. Although, when you factor in hotel, meals and entertainment at the beach, it might not be all that different after all. :).

[hazeleyez3]

I love to cruise and cant' wait until June when I get to do so with extended family. But......I read here and there that cruising presents a good value......I don't think its a rip off but good value I don't believe.

 

A good value to me is renting a big home on the outer banks with a few families and enjoying the week.......or a drive to vacation if you live in northeast like to to lake george or cape cod or upstate NY.........or an all inclusive in riviera maya (if you like to drink you save tons on booze).........or staying at auntie's home near the beach. lol.

 

If a family of 4 has to fly to miami, take a 7 night cruise, and stay at least 1 night in a hotel in miami and take shuttles too and from airport.....look what that costs.....a ton.

 

anyway....just wondering why many of you think its a good value....remind me again so i keep my enthusiasm high for my trip.....

 

If we (2 adults) pay somewhere around $1500-$2000 give or take for a 7 nt cruise with a balcony, we'll get a room, unlimited food 24/7, entertainment (shows, dancing, things such as cooking lessons, mini golf, etc), and multiple cities to visit.

 

Land vacations...

Balcony hotel rooms aren't usually cheap

 

You have to pay for each "helping" of food at dinner.

 

If, at 2pm you are thirsty you'd have to find a little store and buy an iced tea, you'd have to find another when you get thirsty at 4. You get the munchies at midnight...have to pay for each slice of pizza and a drink,

 

Mini golf it might be $5/couple for 1 round,

 

Go to a club...pay $5 cover charge each night,

 

You have to pay for multiple bus trips (to different cities)

 

 

Crusing

We don't drink soda

 

We stay in the dining room or Lido deck

 

We don't go to the spa

 

We hardly bother with a lot of excursions anymore

 

We hardly drink.

[ehfl]

For us, a weekend cruise is much cheaper than a weekend at Disney or key West. These are at least a 2 - 4 hour drive for us....We can get to the port in 20 minutes. Flying to the Bahamas is still more expensive than taking the cruise. It's really very inexpensive for us to cruise. When you can do 7 days on the Oasis for $399....(as the price was last Dec.) we can't do a 7 day vacation anywhere else for less money than that.

[jordanaire]

I love to cruise and cant' wait until June when I get to do so with extended family. But......I read here and there that cruising presents a good value......I don't think its a rip off but good value I don't believe.

 

A good value to me is renting a big home on the outer banks with a few families and enjoying the week.......or a drive to vacation if you live in northeast like to to lake george or cape cod or upstate NY.........or an all inclusive in riviera maya (if you like to drink you save tons on booze).........or staying at auntie's home near the beach. lol.

 

If a family of 4 has to fly to miami, take a 7 night cruise, and stay at least 1 night in a hotel in miami and take shuttles too and from airport.....look what that costs.....a ton.

 

anyway....just wondering why many of you think its a good value....remind me again so i keep my enthusiasm high for my trip.....

 

"To each, their own!" Cruising, to me, is the ONLY way to vacation! Period!

 

:cool:Bill

[remharri]

I love to cruise and cant' wait until June when I get to do so with extended family. But......I read here and there that cruising presents a good value......I don't think its a rip off but good value I don't believe.

 

A good value to me is renting a big home on the outer banks with a few families and enjoying the week.......or a drive to vacation if you live in northeast like to to lake george or cape cod or upstate NY.........or an all inclusive in riviera maya (if you like to drink you save tons on booze).........or staying at auntie's home near the beach. lol.

 

If a family of 4 has to fly to miami, take a 7 night cruise, and stay at least 1 night in a hotel in miami and take shuttles too and from airport.....look what that costs.....a ton.

 

anyway....just wondering why many of you think its a good value....remind me again so i keep my enthusiasm high for my trip.....

 

I visit upstate New York frequently because I've got a lot of family there, however, Lake George (which is beautiful) and Lake Placid (which is also beautiful) does not compare to a cruise. Also, I being a military brat, I've been able to live in a lot of nice places such as Cape Cod (Coastie) and it also doesn't compare to a cruise. It's beautiful, and I would love to move back because I just love the East Coast. I love visiting those areas though, but living in the MidWest it can get a bit pricey for me to visit there. Therefore, for us, cruising is a better deal.

[cruisinvic2]

Try feeding a 15 year old boy for 7 days at restaurants and crusing becomes the greatest deal ever!! I think my 11 year old ate his cruise fare in ice cream!:)

The greatest deal for me is once its booked the pressure is off and I can relax! I dont have to find a restaurant that everyone will like, find entertainment for 6 - 70 year olds. Then figure out how to get there. Worry about who is driving, can't get a DWI so have to worry about having one to many.Everyone can do what they like but we can still get together and enjoy our family. There is truly something for everone and no one has to feel their vacation is being ruined to accomadate the other.

[jennmaybe]

Well, my wife and I are going to take our dear granddaughter on vacation with us in September. We looked at a 5 night cruise on Carnival Oceanview Room with prepaid tips, it came to 981.81 for all 3 of us. This was option number 1. I know what someone is going to say but what about shore excursions, we already booked them and prepaid and for Cozumel and Grand Cayman combined it was 200.00 so the price of our cruise with those is now 1181.81

 

Option number 2 was going to Disney for 5 nights at a moderate resort. With 2 meals a day included the price for the 3 of us was 2522.87.

 

 

Looking at the difference between 2522 and 1181, I think it's easy to see where the value is!

We are leaving for Disney next week and I agree with you 100%! We did get out cheaper because we are renting a house in Orlando versus staying in the park or at any hotel. We rented a new 4 bedrm/4 bathrm house (taking my parents with us) with a pool for $1150 for the week. Overall, we will still be spending more on the Disney trip than we will be on our upcoming cruise later this year.

[WeBeCruisin']

A good value to me is staying at auntie's home near the beach. lol.

 

..

 

Hmm... let's see..... a week at Auntie's home, or seven days on the ocean with all the food you can eat, great entertainment, all kinds of activities, quiet corners to catch up on your napping or reading, a casino, visiting a different country every day or two, great bartenders, room stewards who treat you like a king (or queen), and being surrounded by friends with similar interests.... hmmm.... it's a hard decision to make. :D

 

To me, there is a huge difference between a family visit and a true vacation. :)

[Kristi Williamson]

Cruising is a GREAT deal for us! There's 6 of us, and cruising doesn't cost us much more than camping for a week at Myrtle Beach.

 

The campsite is almost five hundred dollars, the food is at least 300.00 and that's if we grill and cook most of the week. I still have to buy those groceries to take with us for six people...and we don't get much steak and chocolate melting cake, either! And, guess who's cleaning it up?! Then, ANY entertainment costs tons, and it's not the kind of entertainment you get on ships. Just to see Medieval Times is almost 350.00 for the six of us! (that's why we've ever done it...just priced it!) And that's just ONE night of entertainment. Try buying ice cream for six people, too! It's almost 30 bucks just for one visit.

 

On a cruise, we get simple rooms (usually anyway) and the food is included (ALL of it as often as we'd like to eat!), the entertainment is included, the kids camps are included AND we get to visit at least 3 different places per cruise....sometimes more depending on where we're going. We don't clean, we don't cook, we don't have to purchase extras, etc...

 

I think it's the best deal out there. We also drive instead of flying....and yep, we've driven almost 10 hours before to avoid that expense. I know other people on here have driven as much as 24 hours to avoid the flying costs. It's worth it not to pay 1000's of dollars just to fly, IMO.

 

Cruising can cost as much or as little as you want to spend. If you CHOOSE to spend money flying, and on expensive hotels and stuff, then yes, it can get expensive. However, if you drive, book less expensive rooms and don't spend tons on alcohol and gambling, cruising can be the best bang for your buck when taking a really neat vacation and seeing things you just can't see on a beach while staying with an Aunt somewhere in the US.

[trvlqueen]

Every year for the past 13 years our family has met in the midwest, in the middle of where we all live, and rented a large home in a resort community to spend Thanksgiving weekend together. On top of the rental and transportation, we spent time (granted, it was fun time) together preparing and cleaning up after our meals, money on groceries, and had to drive if we wanted "entertainment" instead of doing something at the house.

 

This year, for the first time, we are taking a cruise for Thanksgiving instead. We're taking the Imagination out of Miami, leaving on Monday (the kids are off all week) and returning Friday - we'll get to hang out in Cozumel and Key West, let someone else do all the cooking and cleaning, and won't have to drive anywhere for entertainment - not to mention that it's likely to be a lot warmer than the Midwest ...

 

Cost wise? We'll be driving down - a bunch of us are going together to rent a 12 passenger van - and after factoring in gratuities, 4 nights of hotel costs (2 before, 2 after), the gas and meals on the road, and the cost of the cruise, we're $500 ahead of what it costs us to stay close to home and rent a large home for 3 - 4 nights - and that's before groceries and entertainment costs - so I figure any money spent in port is a wash.

 

I did call the resort area we normally go to and ask them about their prices - they used to have package deals and cut them out about 2 years ago - right as the economy was getting tight - they still have no package deals. If the price on the two options was the same, we probably would have stayed here, as a couple of our family won't go with us (he used to be in the Navy and now refuses to board ANY ship) - but the price difference was so great and the two that won't go have other family on the other side they can be with instead (and probably make that side really happy) we decided to give it a try - it surely won't be an every year thing, but if we can pull this off during a 'holiday week' when prices are noticeably higher, there's no way to make the case that cruising isn't a bargain.

[BarJen]

It might not always work out to being a great value monetarily wise, but I do value my vacation time with my family...and we loooooove cruising! ;)

 

 

 

Barry

[Warm Breezes]

Any vacation can be as expensive or inexpensive as you want to make it. Take these scenerios:

 

Option 1: Drive to port in your own car (24 hours to FLL or 14 hours to NY for us and we have done it). Inside Room. Taxi's to the beach and a little window shopping at the port on the islands. No alcohol. No Gambling. No Souvineers. No extra charge restaurants. Pretty inexpensive and a great value.

 

Option 2: Same ship. Fly to port. Suite Room. Most expensive excursions. Drink like fish and the kids gorge on smoothies. Gamble every night and play Bingo every chance you get. Buy expensive jewelry. Eat at the extra charge restaurant every night. Pretty expensive and not a great value.

 

Option 3: Drive to the East Coast and rent a house for you and your extended family. Purchase food to cook in your own kitchen so you don't have to eat out and bring your own drinks. Go to the beach and layout everyday. Pretty inexpensive and a great value.

 

Option 4: Fly to the East Coast. Rent a luxury car. Stay in a high end hotel suite. Eat at expensive restaurants every night. Find some shows and activities to do (can't just sit at the beach all day). Pretty expensive and not a great value.

 

Both a cruise and a land vacation can be as expensive or inexpensive as you want to make them. It depends on what you are looking for. I always try to price both a land and a sea vacation to places we have interest in going to for the time period we have open.

 

We are more middle of the road than the scenerios I have posted for both land and sea vacations. Meaning on sea vacations we will sometimes fly and sometimes drive depending on what kind of deal I can get. Sometimes we get an inside room, sometimes an oceanview and we have our first balcony booked this year. Sometimes we plan to take a taxi to the beach and sometimes we do an expensive excursion. Sometimes we feel like drinking, gambling, or eating at the extra pay restaurants and sometimes we don't. On land vacations we prefer staying at Embassy Suites or mid-range hotels if there aren't any Embassy Suites. Sometimes we drive and sometimes we fly...depends on where we are going. We always eat out or order in...I'm on vacation and I refuse to cook. We usually do some type of show or tour or beach. I can make a land and sea vacation cost essentially the same whether expensive or inexpensive. It really all depends on what we want to do and how much we want to spend at that point in time.

[valtandc]

For us right now it is not even close, cruising is not a value vacation.

 

We vacation once a year and factoring in all the cruise expenses we incur such as airfare, hotel, cruise fare, on board account, port expenses, etc, an All Inclusive beats it hands down. Mind you, we don't book the bowels of the ship nor do we book 3* resorts. We were able to go to a 5* resort this winter for 2 weeks for much less than a 10 day cruise would have cost us.

 

I agree with you. I love cruising. but i find the AI to be the best value. Now if you do not drink at all then the cruise possibly could be a bit better value. although cruise and AI are both top vacations there are different reasons some like one above other. most people that like cruising better just seem to not like and stay in one place. I am a bit like that. However, there is nothing more relaxing and stress free like an AI. you truly don't have to do anything or go anywhere and you usually have lots more space and not crammed on the ship and waiting in any lines. that's probably why I prefer AI more than Cruise. But cruise is close second and are awesome.

[bcs819]

You are not comparing equal trips. We have done OBX several times, and that is a great value, however, one of us still has to go to the grcery store, shop, cook, or order in which is even more expensive. If you want to do any activities, you have to find them, and drive to them and pay for them.

 

We are just south of Philly, and we have sailed 3 times (4th in September) without having to fly, without driving more than 2 hours. We have sailed out of Baltimore and NY for Carnival, and once out of Bayonne on RCI. If you don't mind being in the car a bit longer, you can also drive to Newport News and Charleston now for cruises. We would not drive to FL from here as it is just two of us, but if we had kids, we probably would.

 

If you don't think cruising is worth your vacation dollar, then you shouldn't cruise.

[Martini Mom]

Try feeding a 15 year old boy for 7 days at restaurants and crusing becomes the greatest deal ever!! I think my 11 year old ate his cruise fare in ice cream!:)

I have 10 and 13 year old boys. That is absolutely true! :)

[valtandc]

Thanks for sharing your passion with me. Like I said I am psyched. Someone asked if I had taken any cruises....this will be my 4th. I've done AI's, Disney, California, national park lodges, drove through the rockies, glacier, ski trips and great barrier reef dive trips. Love them all. haven't met a vacation I didn't like.

 

I love diversity....amazes me how some folks only do AI's or only cruise or only do Disney or always go to Spain. But that's my take....to each his own....that's why Baskin Robbins has 36 flavors....or is it 32.....