Cost of Cruising vs Land Vacations

[kontraxed]

I live in Houston, TX and I've booked a seven day cruise in a mini-suite on the Liberty of the Seas out of Galveston in January 2017. The basic cruise for two of us is about $2,300. Add in parking, gratuities, drinks, a couple of shore excursions, etc. and I figure the cruise will cost in the vicinity of $3,200 (give or take).

 

Now I just got done looking at a seven day vacation that involved renting a car to drive from Houston to Las Vegas with a three day stop in Williams, Arizona for the Grand Canyon Railway. Two nights in Las Vegas and then fly home. All I can say is WOW!!! The cruise suddenly looks like a real bargain. Seven nights in various hotels, seven days worth of meals, entertainment, car rental, air fare, two long days of driving. Now, I know there are other vacations that may be less expensive but this trip is what interested us. Frankly, I don't think Disney or many other vacation destinations are much of a bargain either.

 

Just saying, the cruise looks like much more of a bargain and much less traveling for me!

[Clarea]

We still feel the same way, that cruising is a better value for us than land vacations. However, if unlimited alcohol is factored into the equation, then some of the all-inclusives are price competitive with mass market crusing.

[Keith1010]

We have found that the cruises are a real bargain. Sure like anything else there are trade offs but we feel with a cruise that we can see so many more places and just unpack one time and enjoy not only the ports but all of the amenities when we cruise. For us it is our preferable way to travel.

 

Keith

[cb at sea]

It really depends on the type of vacation you'll be doing on land, and where you'll be going!

[SheehanDJ]

We still feel the same way, that cruising is a better value for us than land vacations. However, if unlimited alcohol is factored into the equation, then some of the all-inclusives are price competitive with mass market crusing.

 

If you factor in the booze then you have to factor in the PITA of getting it at an all-inclusive. The mixed drinks were fine and normal sized, however waiting in line to get a beer 7oz at a time in a small plastic cup kinda sucked the joy out of it for us.

[Magicat]

If you factor in the booze then you have to factor in the PITA of getting it at an all-inclusive. The mixed drinks were fine and normal sized, however waiting in line to get a beer 7oz at a time in a small plastic cup kinda sucked the joy out of it for us.

 

That's a sample not a beer!:eek:

[Clarea]

If you factor in the booze then you have to factor in the PITA of getting it at an all-inclusive. The mixed drinks were fine and normal sized, however waiting in line to get a beer 7oz at a time in a small plastic cup kinda sucked the joy out of it for us.

So they don't have roving bar servers that are keeping you stocked with bottles of Corona and lime?

[cruisequeen4ever]

Yes, cruising is usually a considerable value!

[Robo1098]

Even if it was the same price it would not compare for me. I like the escape of a cruise. I can escape job and worries with a cruise. I could use a phone but I don't and you can't exactly turn the ship around if you have a work emergency. If I drive to a vacation there is always that thought that you could leave early if needed. For me that's the great stress escape. Your biggest decision is what to eat or what excursion to do.

[Beachammo]

I like doing both. There are still places where a ship can't reach....lol

[riclop]

I live in Houston, TX and I've booked a seven day cruise in a mini-suite on the Liberty of the Seas out of Galveston in January 2017. The basic cruise for two of us is about $2,300. Add in parking, gratuities, drinks, a couple of shore excursions, etc. and I figure the cruise will cost in the vicinity of $3,200 (give or take).

 

Now I just got done looking at a seven day vacation that involved renting a car to drive from Houston to Las Vegas with a three day stop in Williams, Arizona for the Grand Canyon Railway. Two nights in Las Vegas and then fly home. All I can say is WOW!!! The cruise suddenly looks like a real bargain. Seven nights in various hotels, seven days worth of meals, entertainment, car rental, air fare, two long days of driving. Now, I know there are other vacations that may be less expensive but this trip is what interested us. Frankly, I don't think Disney or many other vacation destinations are much of a bargain either.

 

Just saying, the cruise looks like much more of a bargain and much less traveling for me!

Nothing beats cruising.

[KG1924]

I agree 100%. While cruising isn't necessarily what I consider an inexpensive trip, for what we like in a vacation it's definitely the best bang for our buck, especially w/ drink packages now being available.

 

There's a lot to factor in, including airfare (not a lot of easy ways to get to an ocean from Chicago :p) In the past year we've started utilizing a CC w/ miles so that definitely helps! We generally budget for around $4000 for everything with a cruise, including hotel the night before. Sometimes we're higher and we've been lower as well. In comparison our most recent trip to an All-inclusive in Aruba ran us around $5800 with everything. It was a great trip and I don't regret it, but I still prefer a cruise. And we've also done all-inclusives for MUCH cheaper in Mexico, in my head it's not really comparing apples to apples w/ Aruba though.

 

Either way, what we like about cruising and all-inclusives is that it takes out a lot of the "what-if's" as far as budgeting. You can go to an all-inclusive or a cruise and essentially not spend another dime beyond your cruise fare/hotel package and still get all your meals and cabin/room for a set price. Or you can add $$$$$$ to it depending what you want to do but you can often plan ahead for that. I'm not necessarily good at budgeting for all meals/drinks/activities for a regular land vacation since you don't know what each day might bring. My husband just went on a weekend trip to AZ w/ his friends to see a golf tournament. We used miles for his flights, his friend used his travel points for the hotel, so all he paid for was food, drinks, and cabs and still spent well over $1200 in just that weekend (and I don't believe they even really ate much....I believe lots of booze tho;))

[paulh84]

It's definitely a value packed trip. Every time I go on a 3-4 day work trip I can rack up a $2000+ bill easily on just the essentials (hotel, car, flight, parking, modest meals, etc.) and that's far from lavish travel. We just did 3 days in Vegas and spent $2500 without any real extras. To get into an all inclusive at the caliber we prefer we typically have to budget $5000 or to do Hawaii closer to $7500. We definitely could spend that much on a cruise but we're content with regular balconies.

[RadioRob]

I completely agree. Are there cheaper vacations out there? Absolutely. However when you factor in everything you get, it's an incredible value.

 

For my upcoming cruise in May, we're in one of the two bedroom Aqua Theater Suites. It includes the new Star class benefits (free Ultimate drink package, free specialty dining, free internet, daily gratuities included, etc).

 

The cost was basically 2,000 per person on a 7 day cruise. It averages out to 285 per person per day. When you factor in everything that is included (including really nice accommodations in a suite), the food, drinks, entertainment, etc... a land based vacation can't touch it. Heck, I've spent more than that on a hotel room alone at a mid-level location in NYC!

[mcatmcat]

Most of my friends who considered going to a cruise a great value are not shifting back on land vacations.

[SPacificbound]

All of our cruises have been a combination of cruise with land either before, after or both. The land portion has always been more expensive.

[sagette]

My husband and I stayed at an AI in Punta Canta last April and we will be cruising this April. The AI was less expensive than our RC cruise will be, but my husband loves the cruise experience and I'm game for just going away. :p

 

That said, when I was looking at pricing for different vacations I found land vacations, especially if they involved multiple hotels, restaurants and activities to be more expensive on the whole than a cruise.

Edited February 28, 2016 by sagette

[Flipflopsnfrozendrinks]

I completely agree also. We have been taking our kids on cruises for vacation for several years now. Last year, a foster child joined our family. The rules with DCF are that we cannot take him out of the country, so no cruise for us. Instead, we went to Orlando for 4 days, then drove to Siesta Key for 3 days. (We were lucky enough to stay with friends we had met several years ago on a Celebrity cruise). By the time we got home and added up the food, car rental, 3 days at Universal Studios, and a vacation condo in Orlando, we had spent way more than on a caribbean cruise. The food alone broke the bank, and we had breakfast and most dinners at the condo.

 

Happily, this year, we are able to take all three kids to the caribbean. Sailing the Allure on April 17!

[island lady]

We mix it up. We have two time shares that we exchange (though I would dearly love to just give those darn things up and sell them for 1.00 a piece, but no one wants them. :eek:). So, we just continue to exchange to different resorts in other parts of the country each year, and still have fun.

 

We spend the bulk of our time cruising in the "land yacht". Price of fuel, paying for your own food and drink, paying for daily rent of a site at a campground (runs from about 25 bucks to higher end ones at over 100 bucks) there is insurance and maintenance on the motor home....it all adds up. Not to mention the 200 to 300 grand to buy the house on wheels! Then you also have to deal with all the scary drivers on the road. Yeah, cruising is definitely much cheaper! (And safer!)

 

DH tells me when we are on a cruise, that "This is a real vacation". ;)

Edited February 28, 2016 by island lady

[impatientlywaiting]

We see the world without having to move from hotel to hotel and city to city. It's all done from a cruise ship - what could be better than that! Plus you don't have to worry about a designated driver if you've had a few too many cocktails!

[Beachammo]

We see the world without having to move from hotel to hotel and city to city. It's all done from a cruise ship - what could be better than that! Plus you don't have to worry about a designated driver if you've had a few too many cocktails!

 

We've taken that same philosophy and applied it to land trips. We plant ourselves in one city (Madrid being the last one) and we do "day excursions" to other places of interest. Most large cities do guided tours to cities outside of your hotel home base and bring you back at the end of the day. We use Viator.com to set everything up.

 

Will be going to Milan in October.... But we will be taking day tours to Venice, Lake Como, Pisa, and Florence.

Edited February 28, 2016 by Beachammo

[vital1]

Depends on where you live and how you travel. We switched from 2 balcony rooms on Allure for 8 days in St John, USVI in a villa and will spend ~$100 more. There are 2 adults and 2 teens. We rented a 3 bedroom villa with a pool, a jeep for 8 days, and factored in the food and airfare and will only spend ~$100 more than driving to Ft Lauderdale, staying a night with family, 2 balcony rooms, 2 drink packages, 2 nights at a specialty restaurant and doing the zipline in Labadee. We did not skimp on anything and will be able to island hop to the BVI's on the ferry's that run. I'll return to cruising again one day, but for now we'd rather stay in one spot and explore. I will say with younger children cruising is the way to go in order to see new places without having the hassle of driving and unpacking all the crap young kids need:).

[Virtopia]

I have yet to try an AI, but cruising is my preferred vacation. I love being on the water ... being by the water at an AI is not same in my opinion. Also, since I travel solo, I feel that cruising is a bit more of a safer option and I like seeing a variety of islands and cities during one trip. Maybe in 2018, I'll try my first AI.

[baldercash]

We have begun doing land trips as we have found cruises that now interest us getting very pricey.

A good deal these days is around $100.00pp a day assuming you get prepaid gratuities.

The airfare is a wash being from Toronto we fly for both cruise and land vacations.

 

We are retired and spending only 8 hours in a city is just not enough it only gives a taste.

We did the Serenade NOLA to Boston cruise the spring of 2015 spent 5 days in NOLA pre-cruise and when we got off in Boston we spent 5 days. We did as much as we could even doing a Jays vs Sox game never being there before.

 

We then did the Quebec to Ft Lauderdale Snowbird cruise that fall on the same ship the Serenade. Well we got to spend another day in Boston and it was just glaring to us how little one can do in a day and we hustle but a day is what it is.

That cruise we hit a few ports like Halifax and Charlottetown PEI that we had not been to before and said we needed to come back to!

We aren't interested in appetizers anymore we want a proper sit down meal.

 

2014 we did the Back to Back Oasis trans-Atlantic crossings which allowed US to spend 30 days in Europe between cruises. We spent 16 days in Paris and that was cheaper then either Oasis crossing and I am amazed when people rush off a cruise ship in La Harve to try and catch a few hours in Paris.

I understand that it is all the time they have but they are not experiencing the city. Cruisers do it in Barcelona, Rome, Florence, St Petersburg, Hong Kong, Singapore you pick the city. They spend sometimes less then 8 hours and tick it off their bucket list as "seen it".

 

We did this month of January in Hawaii only one island Oahu and it cost us less then a month of cruising. We have friends who have done Hawaiian island cruises who say Oahu is not worth getting off the ship for?

Well when all you do is walk Waikiki for 5 hours I would have to agree.

But we were on the island for a month and only spent one day in Waikiki and that day we did the Aquarium watched a free Hula show that went 1.5 hours, did a local farmers market in a hotel complex, swam at the beach, had drinks at the Outrigger and did the history walk plus a bit of shopping.

That is a busy day but does not come close to what Oahu or Hawaii is about.

 

We are now spending the month of February in Mexico and currently are in Playa del Carmen, we were going to take the ferry to Cozumel having never done the ferry but we have been to Cozumel maybe 4 times before on cruise ships.

Well after checking and seeing that the ports average 6 ships a day we decide to pass as it would be the same old same old.

 

Mexico is cheap and Playa is cheap as well though we have met people paying up to $2,500.00USD pp a week. We are paying $400.00USD for a weeks accomadations and here a bucket of 5 beers and nacho's can be had for 150 peso's in a tourist restaurant which exchanges at about $9.00USD and laundry is done much better here then on any cruise ship that I have been on for 10 pesos a kilo or about 50 cents!

 

You need to do more work and expend some effort but if those who spend all those hours looking for the cheapest sailings with the most perks were to turn their attention on land trips the resources are there to find the deals. Discount hotel and air sites, AirBnB, VRBO and so much more.

 

Of course you need time to take advantage as the longer the trip the more cost effective they become.

 

We are planing 2 months in South East Asia for 2017 and I can guarantee it will be far cheaper and we will see, do and experience far more then we would on 2 months of cruising.

 

To each their own but for me it will now be the the road less traveled.

Edited February 28, 2016 by baldercash

[tlatrice]

Depends on where you live and how you travel. We switched from 2 balcony rooms on Allure for 8 days in St John, USVI in a villa and will spend ~$100 more. There are 2 adults and 2 teens. We rented a 3 bedroom villa with a pool, a jeep for 8 days, and factored in the food and airfare and will only spend ~$100 more than driving to Ft Lauderdale, staying a night with family, 2 balcony rooms, 2 drink packages, 2 nights at a specialty restaurant and doing the zipline in Labadee. We did not skimp on anything and will be able to island hop to the BVI's on the ferry's that run. I'll return to cruising again one day, but for now we'd rather stay in one spot and explore. I will say with younger children cruising is the way to go in order to see new places without having the hassle of driving and unpacking all the crap young kids need:).

 

This sounds cool! I may look into something like this.