All-inclusive vs. Cruising

[teach01]

We have been to all-inclusives several times wth and withour our daughter. We are going on our first cruise this in 14 days. While the cost of our all-inclusives, last one in Nov for 3 days was $1900, is much more than our cruise, we liked knowing the cost up front!!! My husband says he is NOT doing anything on the cruise, because he paid already! I advised him that what we paid for our cruise (a large inside stateroom $1400 including food for 7 days) is no where near what we paid for 3 days in Jamaica! However he is a bottom line kind of guy, the bootom line is that we paid for the cruise already and should not have to pay anything! The choice is based on personal peference and what you are looking for in a vacation!!!

[Chuck & Phyllis]

It will be difficult not to spend anything on a cruise but it is possible. Just go and see what happens. Enjoy your cruise!

[D4]

I hope he'll at least pay the recommended tips on board.

[Rich And Sylvia]

Booooorrrrrrring - and rather cheap.

Spend the extra few hundred dollars and have some drinks, go Para-Sailing, get a couple of wave runners, go River Tubing.

 

Or Not - Booooorrrrrrring

[Kat1613]

It is almost impossible not to spend any money after paying off your cruise -

there are excursions, taxis, off the ship and on there are almost mandatory tips, then there are option soda costs, alcohol costs, casino costs, spa costs, pictures, additional restaurant, ice cream, costs. On a week cruise you are bound to have to spend money. Cruises are not all inclusive and are getting more and more charges added to you all the time. Good Luck!

[teach01]

I have already included the tips---any costs that are upfront he is ok with!

[bruce-r]

You don't have to buy anything on the ship, but if you get off the ship, then you are going to have to spend some money, unless you just walk around a bit then get back on. You can pre-book shore excursions so you will know the cost up front, but you still don't pay for them until you are on the ship.

[Sylvia and Rich]

You don't have to buy anything on the ship, but if you get off the ship, then you are going to have to spend some money, unless you just walk around a bit then get back on. You can pre-book shore excursions so you will know the cost up front, but you still don't pay for them until you are on the ship.

 

Our Experience on the Explorer was just the opposite. We booked and paid for all of our excursions through RC before we sailed. Para-Sailing, Wave Runners, the BOND Adventure - all ahead of time. We did this to ease the final bill and to ensure the excursions we wanted - we would get. No standing in line once we boarded - it was all paid for and our times arranged. My credit card was charged at the time of booking each of the excursions - sometimes several months before we sailed. Once onboard, all of our excursion tickets were waiting for us in our stateroom. There was nothing left to do but lounge around on the pool deck while listening to Calypso tunes and wave goodbye as we sailed away - Sweet!

 

Any questions? I would be happy to help if I can.

[D4]

So will he expect you to spend $0 also? That might be a tough situation depending on how you feel about it.

[teach01]

I will say this the amount ofmoney we spend will be a testatment to the cruise. If he spends money it will because he is having a GREAT time, if he spends nothing well then...

[D4]

Please let us know how this turns out after the cruise.

[Murphy]

If you only drink coffee, iced tea, lemonade and jug water and only do the activities that are part of the ship it would be do-able. We were on a very tight budget for our first cruise. It was our honeymoon and we had lots of wedding bills to come home to. So we attempted to limit our alcohol and picked the "cheap" excursions. It was a fun trip, but we have much more fun now when we enjoy ourselves and budget for the extras we enjoy.

[cruisin' 4 fun]

while i am a "thrifty" person, i agree with everyone else responding to your post. it is very hard to not spend extra money on a cruise. they are NOT all-inclusive. anything with alcohol will cost extra. soda/fountain drinks cost extra. better coffee costs extra. shore excursions cost extra. here are more:

 

-taxi rides into/from town from/to the pier

-all shore excursions

-as a new cruiser, you may not know that many beaches charge an entry fee of some sort, which will get you a chair and maybe an umbrella.

-yes, you are expected to tip, unless service is less than horrendous. your service will be fine, it is all but guaranteed, complain if it is not. it will be fixed.

-they take your picture at every port, and at formal dinners. sometimes they actually turn out nice, and are worth buying (so I'm told)

 

I could go on, but hopefully you get the idea. My advice would be to bring the balance of what you saved, and use it for all of these other expenses. the cruise line also takes credit cards too.

[Rich And Sylvia]

Would you expect your admission price to Disneyland to cover all of your food and drinks and souvenirs?

 

Would you expect your admission price to the ballgame to cover the hot dogs and beer?

 

 

puuleeeessse!

[MarkMichaels]

We like all inclusives and cruises, each one has its pros and cons. Even when we stay at all inclusives, they don't include beach activities like wave runners or snorkeling excursions. On the ship, you can do very inexpensive tours like taking a taxi to a beach and lounging all day, no $$$ excursion needed. You will however spend a little money on taxi and renting beach chairs doing this, maybe $20 per person each day, double that if you have a couple beers and a sandwich.

 

The biggest difference is the booze factor. If your not big drinkers, it won't be a big deal. Even when we stay at all inclusives, we do spend money on booze. At our last all inclusive, we found a beach bar selling Bud and MGD bottles and spent alot of time there! Much better than the cheap ontap beer at the resort.

 

Both vacations have there place, but don't let your husband plan on spending $0 for the week or you will miss out on alot. I suppose its possible to sit by the pool and drink tea all week, but that doesn't sound like as much fun.

 

Either way, your cruising, better than working.

Mark

[teach01]

I plan on enjoying myself, if that included spending money or not---my husband will too---he feels as though f he does not complain about spending money then he is not doing his job as a husband!!!! Have no fear we will have a GREAT time (whatever activities etc that includes!!!)