Now that we have saved for months and made final payment on our dream cruise vacation, we should continue our saving efforts to cover some other expenses that exist when taking a cruise. Potentially the largest of these added expenses can be the shore excursions and alcohol drinks.
These shore excursions are entirely an optional activity but they can come with a heafty price tag if you re traveling on a budget. In many of the ports visited by cruise ships, it is easy to simply do your own walking tour of the port area and window shop. You can come and go from the cruise ship as often as you like. If you are considering a shore excursion, the cruise line will have a link on their site to the available tours offered for your cruise and the prices for each tour. Knowing the cruise line pricing you can then shop around the internet to compare pricing for tours offered by independent operators. Generally, there are some nice cost savings available by booking through the independent tour operators than by booking through the cruise line.
Ultimate Cruise Discount Guide
If you choose to book an excursion the most important issue to consider is whether you book through the cruise line or directly with the independent tour provider. When you book directly with your cruise line, in addition to the usually higher price tag, you also have the assurance that if, for any reason your cruise line excursion does not make it back to the pier in time for the ship departure, they will wait for you or make arrangements to get you to the ship in the next port (rare).
When you book directly with a tour operator, the cruise line has no idea where you may be or when you may return to the ship. If your private tour fails to return to the pier in time for the ship departure they will not wait and catching up to the ship or returning to the home port will be on your dime. Yes, you can save a nice amount of money booking an excursion independently but if you do you need to make sure you give enough time to get back to the ship with an extra buffer in the event something goes wrong. Do some research. Some operators make guarantees about returning guests to the ship in time but if you are hesitant in any way you probably should book with the cruise line.
Alcohol is likely the second largest added cost behind shore excursions. The bar tab can sneak up on you if you are not attentive to your purchases. The pricing is very similar to your local bar at home and buying a drink here and there along the length of your cruise could suddenly add another $100 or more to your final tab. Granted many will say you don't need to drink to have a good time which is very true however, a specialty cocktail on sailaway here and there is part of the cruise experience. Sitting on a lounge chair enjoying the view and an umbrella shaded tropical concoction is an image that many who dream of cruising associate with cruise relaxation.
If you do decide to have a few drinks, there are ways to lessen the overall cost. If you are beer drinkers and will consume a few beers over the course of the day, many cruise lines offer a bucket of beer (4 - 6) for about $2 off of the single beer purchase price. Many lines this bucket is only offered at the pool side bars but you can ask the bar wait staff to only open one beer at a time and keep the others on ice in the bucket. If you don't finish the bucket before you need to return to your cabin you can bring your bucket with you. The cabin steward will refresh the ice in your bucket if asked.
Another way to reduce your bar tab is to take advantage of the bars at the ports of call. The large chain bars do not offer as much of a cost savings as a smaller local bar would. On your way back to the ship, if you have given enough time, stop in and pay $2 for a beer rather than $5 on the ship. After a day of window shopping in a tropical climate it can be relaxing to just sit and people watch over a cold beer.
The specialty drinks are more difficult to save on. Occasionally one of the ship bars may have special for a dollar off but, it is not so common and not advertised, some ships may have an unpublished happy hour in the lobby bar that offers an afternoon special for an hour or two. Mixed drinks can also be found with much better pricing at one of the port bars if you have left enough time to sit and enjoy on your way back to the ship.
Other added costs available on most cruises are SPA services, casino, bingo, photos, some meals and some beverages. These too are optional items available on the cruise and not required.
The SPA services such as a massage, skin treatment or nails treatment all come with additional cost. While they may be nice services to indulge in, plan to spend as much as 50% more than the same service at a high quality salon in your home town. If you
are patient, many times these services will have specials on days that the ship is in a port or for certain times during sea days when they need to drum up business. An alternative is a beach massage. Some ports in Mexico and the Caribbean have people who set up for massages at the more popular beaches. If you come across any of these the prices are substantially lower than a similar massage on the ship.
The casino and the bingo games certainly can be exciting but they also can cost you quite a bit. The casinos make it very easy to simply tap into your on-board account to play these games. Twenty here and twenty there you can easily be in the hole for $100 before you know it, chasing that next winning slot pull or that next big hand at cards. So many more people lose than win at any casino and the odds are no better at sea.
Bingo is seemingly a simple game but will cost you up to $25 per play. Some cards have three games on them depending on the cruise line. Yes it can be fun but the odds are against you winning.
There certainly will be cruise line camera persons ALL OVER the place especially on formal/elegant nights. On many ships the photographers set up a guantlet that guests have to navigate to get to the Main Dining Room (MDR) on the formal/elegant night. Have fun with it and have a lot of pictures taken. It costs nothing to have the pictures taken. There will be some gallery set up on the ship where you can view the photos the next day. The frame sized picture will cost you about $22 to purchase. Honestly, if it is the first cruise ever, you may want to purchase one picture, possibly the embarkation photo but beware of all the other photos and the cost to purchase them.
Very common in today's cruise industry is the Specialty Restaurant. Your cruise fare pays for all your meals in the buffet and the MDRs but does not cover the Specialty Restaurant ($25 to $35 per person). These restaurants, similar to a fine restaurant in your home town offer a full five course meal that is a notch above the best that the MDR will offer. If you do choose this added cost, check with the cruise line about reserving your spot. Occasionally, some cruise lines will offer a complimentary bottle of wine for reservations on the sail away night. If you are going to do it, you may as well get the most out of it, right?
Another common feature lately is the specialty coffee and desert shop. These specialty coffess and lattes and what have you with an assortment of specialty desert items are another added cost, like the local Starbucks. Smells good, looks good, but do you really need it? Coffee drinkers state that the regular free coffee available in the buffet and the MDR is not very good but then it is a personal opinion of the coffee drinker.
As you have seen, there are many extra opportunities for the cruise lines to tap into your budget when you are on your cruise. Once the cruise has been paid in full it is possible to NOT INCUR ANY added costs if you choose not to indulge in these extra offerings. On the contrary, you can also see how your final tab can add up to be quite a heafty bill if not watched closely. If these add on costs sound like things that you may want to have when on your cruise, continue your savings plan all the way up to your embarkation. You can have that dream cruise of a lifetime and you do not have to go into debt for years to pay it off. Plan and save ahead of booking your dream cruise vacation.
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Thank you for all of your money saving tips! These will come in very helpful...
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