Budget above cruise fare

[Mich3554]

3 hours ago, Keith1010 said:

Good point but for us not an issue as we do not have e mail tied to a cable provider.  I see no reason to go that route with so many other e mail providers and would never want to be locked into a cable provider for my e-mail.  There are so many better options.

 

At the same time if it happened to them the solution would be to call the provider to have it turned back on.

 

Keith

I was not on a cruise, but several years ago I was very ill and needed a caregiver for 18 months in order to deal with my problem.  At the time, I was in a long distance relationship and my BF agreed to help me, so I moved into his home on the other side of the country. 
 

I had to shut off what I could in my home.  Turning off the power was not an option as I needed minimal heat and A/C on at all times.  For cable, rather than totally dropping it (and needing to do all that was necessary to start it back up), I called the cable company.  They dropped me back to the very, very basic package of both cable and internet.  It didn’t drop my costs to zero, but rather than paying $150/mo for these services, I was paying $35.  When I needed it, it was a simple fix to increase my cable package and increase my internet speed.  
 

So this might be a better option than shutting things down totally.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

On 12/5/2019 at 11:21 AM, Aquadesiac said:

Think twice before turning off your cable. We had tablemates on our 2018 WC who did just that and then realized that their internet was bundled with it. They were unable to access their email accounts on the ship because they were tied up with that specific internet provider.

 

Our provider doesn't turn your email access off when you "suspend" your internet/cable.  (I don't use their email in any case, but I know that others do.)  We suspend our every year, twice actually, once for Toronto and once for Florida, ha ha.

Edited December 6, 2019 by Wendy The Wanderer

[Smokeyham]

Very good information here.   

Good to consider that higher initial cost/higher end cruise lines will include more.   It would be nice to not have to be worrying so much about on board costs (and thus feel freer to enjoy the facilities/activities) because they are already paid for, and you won't be seeing a specific line-item cost for those in your bill.

 

It would be interesting to hear if anyone has done a world cruise on both a mass market line and a higher end line and what the total cost differential was between the two when all is said and done.  My suspicion is still that the upscale (more inclusive) line would still cost more overall, but then you also have to add in the factor of being in a more luxurious environment.

[Heidi13]

9 hours ago, Smokeyham said:

Very good information here.   

Good to consider that higher initial cost/higher end cruise lines will include more.   It would be nice to not have to be worrying so much about on board costs (and thus feel freer to enjoy the facilities/activities) because they are already paid for, and you won't be seeing a specific line-item cost for those in your bill.

 

It would be interesting to hear if anyone has done a world cruise on both a mass market line and a higher end line and what the total cost differential was between the two when all is said and done.  My suspicion is still that the upscale (more inclusive) line would still cost more overall, but then you also have to add in the factor of being in a more luxurious environment.

We did a mass market WC with Princess in 2015 and then the recent 2020 Viking Ocean WC. The initial cost of the Viking WC was significantly higher, but when comparing the total cruise cost, per diem - they were virtually identical. The Viking cruise was vastly superior to Princess.

[Smokeyham]

3 minutes ago, Heidi13 said:

We did a mass market WC with Princess in 2015 and then the recent 2020 Viking Ocean WC. The initial cost of the Viking WC was significantly higher, but when comparing the total cruise cost, per diem - they were virtually identical. The Viking cruise was vastly superior to Princess.

Thanks, since seeing your post I am also going to research VIking.   I am also looking at Oceania.

[Heidi13]

34 minutes ago, Smokeyham said:

Thanks, since seeing your post I am also going to research VIking.   I am also looking at Oceania.

I did a daily travel blog from Viking Sun, so feel free to check it out for info on Viking.

 

www.AndyandJudi.com

 

When looking for a new cruise line, we checked out all premium and luxury, shortlisting to the same 2 lines - Viking and Oceania.

[Aquadesiac]

I really enjoyed following your adventures on your recent Magical Mystery Cruise to Nowhere, Andy. Viking really took care of you. Their itineraries really call to me. 

 

However, as non-drinkers, I'm still not convinced that an all inclusive would be cost effective for us. We don't gamble in the casino, and really don't spend that much onboard except in excursions. Plus I'm wondering about whether the included ones in all inclusives would be the adventures we'd choose. I was looking at Regent and it seemed all the excursions for Luxor were spoken for by higher cabin status folk except snorkeling in the Red Sea. Really? Why go to Egypt if you're not going to see a pyramid? If everyone gets the included tour on Viking, at what point is it declared full and none of the pax in lower cabins even gets a chance to book it?  And I've heard Oceania's excursions are wicked expensive for their not so spectacular value.

 

Of course now with everything tied up, we have plenty of time to puzzle it all out.

[Heidi13]

2 hours ago, Aquadesiac said:

I really enjoyed following your adventures on your recent Magical Mystery Cruise to Nowhere, Andy. Viking really took care of you. Their itineraries really call to me. 

 

However, as non-drinkers, I'm still not convinced that an all inclusive would be cost effective for us. We don't gamble in the casino, and really don't spend that much onboard except in excursions. Plus I'm wondering about whether the included ones in all inclusives would be the adventures we'd choose. I was looking at Regent and it seemed all the excursions for Luxor were spoken for by higher cabin status folk except snorkeling in the Red Sea. Really? Why go to Egypt if you're not going to see a pyramid? If everyone gets the included tour on Viking, at what point is it declared full and none of the pax in lower cabins even gets a chance to book it?  And I've heard Oceania's excursions are wicked expensive for their not so spectacular value.

 

Of course now with everything tied up, we have plenty of time to puzzle it all out.

 

Thanks for following along with our recent adventure.

 

As non-drinkers, I concur that would definitely impact the financial comparison of a mass market compared to a more inclusive luxury/premium Line. In our case, with Princess, our drinks budget was considerably higher than actual spend, as when the cruise wasn't the best, we weren't drinking much.

 

Another consideration, as non-drinkers is the specialty teas/coffees, juices and water. We don't drink coffee, but had many pots of tea, which are available from the bars. During the day, they provided self-service tea/coffee, water and some juices at the Theatre Bar during lectures, etc. Going ashore, they encourage pax to load up with bottles of water, unlike mass market - no charge. In the cabin, the steward provides a jug of filtered water (still or sparkling) twice per day and as we drink lots of water, he provided 4 to 6 additional bottles every day.

 

With the bottles of water and specialty teas we drank, I figure that had we paid Princess prices for them, it would have matched our total drinks spend in 2015. The other consideration is the convenience, as your cruise card is only used to access the cabin.

 

Excursions - before we cruised with Viking we had read about the issues of lower level cabins finding excursions fully booked by the time the booking window opened. However those reports were all from the regular short cruises. On the WC we did not find any that we wanted fully booked and even most time slots were available. 

 

Most of the "Included" excursions were bus or walking tours that provided an overview of the port. However, some ports the included tours were amazing - in Egypt the Safaga tour went to Luxor (12 hrs) and Alexandria tour went to Giza. In Komodo Is the included tour was the walking tour to see the dragons. The 4-day overland in Egypt was also very reasonably priced at CAN $1,600 pp and in the 2nd lowest cabin category (DV) we had no problem booking this tour. Many of the optional tours were reasonably priced. In a number of ports it was possible to book both the included tour and an optional. In most ports, Viking also arranged a free shuttle service from the port to downtown.

 

We didn't do many ship's tours and similar to other cruises the tours we took, we found them hit and miss, depending on the guide. With the exception of 1 tour, we noted Viking do not fill the tour buses, with most being about 35 on a 50 seater bus. In Sydney, we had a ship's tour to the Hunter Valley with only 4 of us on a large bus.

 

With Viking, every passenger is guaranteed an "Included" tour in each port. If all time slots are full, they will arrange additional tours. The onboard Shore-ex will arrange a tour for even a single person/couple, but since most buses aren't full they have opportunities to add stragglers. Therefore, in Egypt, every pax was guaranteed an included tour to Luxor and Giza, at no additional cost.

 

Hope this answers some of your questions, if you have others, feel free to send me an email.

[janmcn]

We've only done one WC...in 2018 on Holland America's Amsterdam, a "classic ship." All our excursions were paid for by us (HAL doesn't include excursions in their fares)...but just the two overland tours (privately arranged through our travel agency) cost $10,000 and were SOOOOO worth it. One was a 4-day safari in Africa, the other was a trip to Angkor Wat in Cambodia. Both involved leaving the ship in one port and returning to it in another.  We chose HAL's WC based on it's itinerary and length. Four months was long enough for us to do what we wanted. We had previously been on cruises as long as 45 days, but had never been on the Amsterdam, so made a point, before final payment, to take a week cruise on it just to make sure...definitely something I'd strongly consider.

We're not drinkers, so that takes out that "perk" for us for most all-inclusive lines. We want itinerary first, comfortable cabin (we like to read, etc. in the cabin), and overall ambience of the ship (we like "shippy ships")...HAL met all those for us. I figured we added about $10,000 more in overall excursions, etc. ...haircuts...souvenirs...food...

We enjoyed it so much we immediately signed up for another WC on HAL...this year's...which, thankfully, because of family health problems, we canceled...glad we did. But...we are still signed up for another in the future...it'll depend on the itinerary, but at least we are "in line to be able to get a cabin."

We were able to obtain well-priced private or semi-private tours all along the way, arranged in advance through Roll Call...and then by word of mouth. Loved usually traveling with only one other couple...we saw so much more than a larger group.

No matter what, it'll be a voyage to remember...and want to repeat! Enjoy the planning...but DO cruise on the ship you "think" will do the cruise (it could change in the next few years)...always good to have a goal. Meanwhile, loads of fantastic longer cruises to try!

 

[zoncom]

Did 71N on Oceania in 2015. Total tab was $4.64 for a magnet.One could bring alcohol on  from various ports.Very inclusive cruise.

[Heidi13]

Completed 99 nights on Viking Sun in 2020 and received a refund of over US $5,600 from our onboard account.

[AWorldCruise4Me]

I don't know if this will be helpful because it is dated and not your preferred cruise line. I went on a Princess world cruise as a bucket list item in 2009. I was basically solo, although a neighbor also went solo on the same cruise. We did not share a room.

 

When I compared cruises it appeared smaller ships seemed to get into more ports that I was interested in so I chose the Tahitian Princess (688 passengers, 30K tons). But they lack amenities and that was ok for 60ish days but by the end of the 107 I really wanted off the ship. I think being solo played a part in this as well as just tiring of what was available on the ship. If I had my husband or a good friend with me I may have been more resilient to spending so much time on the ship. Also if I had booked a balcony cabin that may have helped.

 

My costs above the basic cruise fare were about $10k for the 39 ports for one person so double this for two. I did a mix of independent excursions through the roll call and some ship tours when deadlines were tight or security was an issue. I did three independent overland tours that I organized and got my neighbor to join and in Egypt folks from the ship that I didn't know. The ones I did were China, Angkor Wat and Egypt. About 4 days off ship for each of them.

 

I had toyed with doing Machu Picchu or Galapagos but the schedules were too tight for me to comfortably do independent and I would have had to do the ship tour. My rational for skipping them were that I could get back to South American at some point in the future and do a more leisurely tour. But that hasn't happened in 11 years and who knows if it ever will. I also didn't do one to the Taj Mahal in India that the ship offered as it was also really rushed. I highly suggest doing as many off the ship over land tours as you can as the over lands were spectacular. Several people on our cruise mentioned booking the next years cruise with the intent to do more over land tours like I did.

 

In terms of expenses my $10K per person over the cruise fare is all inclusive of overland tours, ship tours, independent tours, travel insurance for the over lands, internet minutes, laundry, souvenirs, incidentals and everything associated with the cruise except travel to and from. I used miles for the airline flights. I do not drink and only did a couple of spa appts. My guess is the $10K would have doubled if I had done all my tours through the ship.

 

I did not have a budget for the cruise so didn't really limit my expenses. I felt like I did everything I wanted to. I did save money by booking a guaranteed inside for $14K and was upgraded to an outside. However if I could go back and do it again I would have spent the $35K on the balcony. It would have been well worth it to have the balcony room. I could have afforded it but was just being thrifty for something I didn't think would matter and it turns out it did.

 

But if I had, it probably would have been a guarantee room vs an assigned room since I booked so late and that could have been disastrous for me if I had gotten a far forward or aft room due to the excessive motion on the ship and my bad back along with my tendency to get motion sickness.

 

Our first captain seemed to be sailing with out deploying the stabilizers which resulted in excessive motion. When he swapped out with another captain, some time after Australia, all of a sudden the ship became super stable. So my theory was that he was saving fuel by not using the stabilizers. And for me that was a huge issue, even low down and in the middle of the ship. So coulda, shoulda, woulda, could have resulted in a poor trip. But then again maybe I could have scored an assigned room. Who knows.

 

Despite the above learning's I am really glad to have done the trip. Was the trip of a lifetime and I had a fabulous time. For reference the itinerary is listed below. You can see that we got to some amazing places all in one trip.

Wed	Jan	14	Fort Lauderdale, FL		5:30pm
Thu	Jan	15	At Sea
Fri	Jan	16	Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands	10:00am	6:00pm
Sat	Jan	17	At Sea
Sun	Jan	18	Panama Canal (Full Transit) (Cruising)	7:00am	4:30pm
Mon	Jan	19	At Sea
Tue	Jan	20	Manta, Ecuador	6:00am	7:00pm
Wed	Jan	21	At Sea
Thu	Jan	22	At Sea
Fri	Jan	23	Lima (Callao), Peru	7:00am
Sat	Jan	24	Lima (Callao), Peru		1:00pm
Sun	Jan	25	At Sea
Mon	Jan	26	At Sea
Tue	Jan	27	At Sea
Wed	Jan	28	At Sea
Thu	Jan	29	Easter Island, Chilean dependency	9:00am	6:00pm
Fri	Jan	30	At Sea
Sat	Jan	31	At Sea
Sun	Feb	1	Pitcairn Island, UK Territory (Cruising)	10:00am	2:00pm
Mon	Feb	2	At Sea
Tue	Feb	3	At Sea
Wed	Feb	4	Papeete, Tahiti, French Polynesia	8:00am	5:00pm
Thu	Feb	5	At Sea
Fri	Feb	6	Rarotonga, Cook Islands	8:00am	5:00pm
Sat	Feb	7	At Sea
Sun	Feb	8	At Sea
Mon	Feb	9	Crossing International Dateline	8:00am	8:00pm
Wed	Feb	11	At Sea
Thu	Feb	12	Auckland, New Zealand	7:00am	10:00pm
Fri	Feb	13	At Sea
Sat	Feb	14	At Sea
Sun	Feb	15	At Sea
Mon	Feb	16	At Sea
Tue	Feb	17	Burnie, Tasmania, Australia	8:00am	6:00pm
Wed	Feb	18	At Sea
Thu	Feb	19	Sydney, Australia	7:00am	10:00pm
Fri	Feb	20	At Sea
Sat	Feb	21	Brisbane, Australia	8:00am	6:00pm
Sun	Feb	22	At Sea
Mon	Feb	23	At Sea
Tue	Feb	24	Cairns, Australia	7:00am	6:00pm
Wed	Feb	25	At Sea
Thu	Feb	26	At Sea
Fri	Feb	27	Rabaul, Papua New Guinea	7:00am	2:00pm
Sat	Feb	28	At Sea
Sun	Mar	1	At Sea
Mon	Mar	2	Guam, U.S. Territory	Noon	7:00pm
Tue	Mar	3	At Sea
Wed	Mar	4	At Sea
Thu	Mar	5	At Sea
Fri	Mar	6	Osaka, Japan	8:00am	8:00pm
Sat	Mar	7	Hiroshima, Japan	9:00am	5:00pm
Sun	Mar	8	At Sea
Mon	Mar	9	Inchon, South Korea	8:00am	5:00pm
Tue	Mar	10	At Sea
Wed	Mar	11	Shanghai, China	7:00am	6:00pm
Thu	Mar	12	At Sea
Fri	Mar	13	At Sea
Sat	Mar	14	Hong Kong, China	7:00am	8:00pm
Sun	Mar	15	At Sea
Mon	Mar	16	At Sea
Tue	Mar	17	Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam	7:00am	7:00pm
Wed	Mar	18	At Sea
Thu	Mar	19	Sihanoukville, Cambodia	9:00am	6:00pm
Fri	Mar	20	At Sea
Sat	Mar	21	Bangkok (Laem Chabang), Thailand	7:00am	7:00pm
Sun	Mar	22	At Sea
Mon	Mar	23	At Sea
Tue	Mar	24	Singapore	7:00am	5:00pm
Wed	Mar	25	Kuala Lumpur (Port Kelang), Malaysia	7:00am	6:00pm
Thu	Mar	26	At Sea
Fri	Mar	27	Port Blair, Andaman Islands, India	Noon	7:00pm
Sat	Mar	28	At Sea
Sun	Mar	29	At Sea
Mon	Mar	30	At Sea
Tue	Mar	31	At Sea
Wed	Apr	1	Bombay (Mumbai), India	7:00am	10:00pm
Thu	Apr	2	At Sea
Fri	Apr	3	At Sea
Sat	Apr	4	At Sea
Sun	Apr	5	Dubai, United Arab Emirates	7:00am	8:00pm
Mon	Apr	6	At Sea
Tue	Apr	7	At Sea
Wed	Apr	8	Salalah, Oman	7:00am	5:00pm
Thu	Apr	9	At Sea
Fri	Apr	10	At Sea
Sat	Apr	11	At Sea
Sun	Apr	12	At Sea
Mon	Apr	13	Luxor (Safaga), Egypt	6:00am	10:00pm
Tue	Apr	14	At Sea
Wed	Apr	15	Suez Canal, Egypt (Cruising)	1:00am	5:00pm
Thu	Apr	16	Cairo (Port Said), Egypt	7:00am	8:00pm
Fri	Apr	17	At Sea
Sat	Apr	18	Athens (Piraeus), Greece	9:00am	6:00pm
Sun	Apr	19	At Sea
Mon	Apr	20	Sorrento, Italy	8:00am	6:00pm
Tue	Apr	21	Rome (Civitavecchia), Italy	7:00am	6:30pm
Wed	Apr	22	Cannes, France	9:00am	6:00pm
Thu	Apr	23	Barcelona, Spain		11:00pm
Fri	Apr	24	At Sea
Sat	Apr	25	Gibraltar, UK Territory	7:00am	1:00pm
Sun	Apr	26	Lisbon, Portugal	10:00am	6:00pm
Mon	Apr	27	At Sea
Tue	Apr	28	At Sea
Wed	Apr	29	Cork (Cobh), Ireland	8:00am	6:00pm
Thu	Apr	30	At Sea
Fri	May	1	Paris (Le Havre), France	7:00am	7:00pm
Sat	May	2	London (Dover), England

[shofer]

On 10/10/2019 at 6:43 PM, nicoleinwi said:

Thank you both for your reply!  I have checked out that Sun world cruise thread, very good info, and just makes me more excited for when our day comes.

 

Thanks or the info on the overland trips, that does sound nice.  

 

@Heidi13 I came across your breakdown when we were looking at different options.  That was one of the reasons, I would rather pay more upfront with Viking and not be as surprised at the end with all the add-ons.  Plus we like to gamble so no casino is a huge bonus so we are not adding a gambling budget into the already pricey trip. 

 

I would like to do a transatlantic in the next couple years so even though that cruise is not too long, it would get us a good feel of so many sea days in a row.  Right now I think we've only had 2 and while we loved them, a week straight of sea might give me a better idea.  I want to retrace our ancestors path into NYC.  

 

Good point on incidentals like hair cuts.  I'm sure a lot pricer then at home.  Especially with DH and his every 3 week cut at $15 US, looking at probably 3x the price.  Well maybe we purchase a pair of clippers and I learn how to do his military cut. 

 

And, eating, good point.  I can shed the extra pounds pretty easy from a week long cruise, but couldn't keep up that eating for months.  

 

My biggest fear on a World Cruise is getting on as a passenger and getting off as cargo!

 

[rkacruiser]

16 hours ago, shofer said:

My biggest fear on a World Cruise is getting on as a passenger and getting off as cargo!

 

 

I assume you mean "gaining weight".  Moderation in all things is the key to prevent that along with keeping active, i.e. walking which one does on a ship to get from place to place as well as lots of walking when ashore.  Maybe it's just me, but daily dining on gourmet cuisine leads to me wanting/ordering more "regular" items.  I have never gained more than a pound or two on any long cruise that I have taken.  If I start to sense that my Tux pants are becoming "tight", I ditch the Eggs Benedict, Swedish Pancakes, etc. for awhile.  I rarely eat lunch.  Breakfast, maybe a mid-afternoon snack, HH drinks/snacks, and dinner:  that's my usual dining routine during a cruise of any length.  

[shofer]

2 hours ago, rkacruiser said:

 

I assume you mean "gaining weight".  Moderation in all things is the key to prevent that along with keeping active, i.e. walking which one does on a ship to get from place to place as well as lots of walking when ashore.  Maybe it's just me, but daily dining on gourmet cuisine leads to me wanting/ordering more "regular" items.  I have never gained more than a pound or two on any long cruise that I have taken.  If I start to sense that my Tux pants are becoming "tight", I ditch the Eggs Benedict, Swedish Pancakes, etc. for awhile.  I rarely eat lunch.  Breakfast, maybe a mid-afternoon snack, HH drinks/snacks, and dinner:  that's my usual dining routine during a cruise of any length.  

Yes, I was talking about weight gain in a humorous manner.  Hubby and I were on a 15-day TA 2 yrs ago and never gained weight.  We are late risers so eat a hearty breakfast and usually nothing until dinner.   Alcohol is not an issue as we are very light drinkers.  I'm not allergic to the gym and utilize it on a daily basis.

[Heidi13]

16 hours ago, shofer said:

Yes, I was talking about weight gain in a humorous manner.  Hubby and I were on a 15-day TA 2 yrs ago and never gained weight.  We are late risers so eat a hearty breakfast and usually nothing until dinner.   Alcohol is not an issue as we are very light drinkers.  I'm not allergic to the gym and utilize it on a daily basis.

 

Life aboard a World Cruise just isn't comparable to shorter cruises of up to a month. On short cruises it is more like being on holiday, where you want to experience everything. The menus also only happen once, so you probably don't want to miss anything.

 

On a World Cruise it is more akin to your home away from home. Without the usual chores around home, I have more time for exercise and with generally better weather it is easier getting outside. With activities all around the ship you do lots of daily walking, especially if you avoid the lifts. I generally also get lots of exercise in ports.

 

On our first WC on Princess the menus were repeated each segment, so if you missed a favourite dish, no big deal, as it was repeated at least 4 times. On our Viking WC no menu was repeated in 100 days, although some dishes were repeated.

 

On both our World Cruises I have lost 5 - 10 lbs.  

[rkacruiser]

3 hours ago, Heidi13 said:

On our Viking WC no menu was repeated in 100 days, although some dishes were repeated.

 

On both our World Cruises I have lost 5 - 10 lbs.  

 

Not 100% certain, but on the Amsterdam, I don't think there was a dinner menu that was exactly repeated in 113 days, but, there were some dishes that were repeated.  Only the Breakfast menu was the same each day.  There have been at least two HAL cruises on which I have sailed that there were daily breakfast "specials".  But, I don't recall if that was on the world cruise or on a segment of a world cruise on which I sailed.  

 

I admire your ability to actually loose weight on a world cruise!  Can't say the same, but, I don't seem to gain much weight, either.  

[Heidi13]

9 minutes ago, rkacruiser said:

 

Not 100% certain, but on the Amsterdam, I don't think there was a dinner menu that was exactly repeated in 113 days, but, there were some dishes that were repeated.  Only the Breakfast menu was the same each day.  There have been at least two HAL cruises on which I have sailed that there were daily breakfast "specials".  But, I don't recall if that was on the world cruise or on a segment of a world cruise on which I sailed.  

 

I admire your ability to actually loose weight on a world cruise!  Can't say the same, but, I don't seem to gain much weight, either.  

 

Viking was similar. Breakfast is the same menu in the MDR, so after a couple of weeks we declined menus from the host. Unfortunately, this confused the waiters, as not having a menu was a sign you had already ordered. Once aware of that, we accepted the menus, just never opened them.

 

Lunches were also a different daily menu.

 

On the ship, I am out walking every morning by 05:00 to 05:30, to get exercise before the heat really hits in the tropics. It is also pleasant not having to walk in the rain, which is rather prevalent in Metro Vancouver. At home, most of the year, due to wildlife, it just isn't safe for us to get out side very early.