You selected your cruise, you paid your fees and you know that you’ll have to pay for gratuities. All set right? Nope. You’re going to get bombarded with optional expenses while you are booking your cruise, after you book your cruise and when you are on your cruise. They are seemingly endless so I can cover everything but I’ll try to cover the most common expenses you’ll run into.
Drink Packages
On most cruises, almost everyone will have “the drink package”. There are actually several drink packages but the most common one is the basic drink package which covers soft drinks, beer, wine and mixed drinks up to a certain price. There’s also a soft drink only package as well as a premium drink package if you want the more expensive drinks. I’ll be focusing on the basic drink package that everyone gets. It seems like a good deal but you really have to do the math. Trust me, these companies know what they are doing and they are not losing money. Complicating matters is that different cruise lines charge different prices. Some package include unlimited drinks but some, like on Holland America, limit how many drinks you can get each day. Since these limits are pretty high, this is usually not a problem for the average person.
This is a personal decision, and a lot is going to depend on the type of cruise you go on, the time of year, the purpose of the cruise and your own personal drinking habits. For example, if you want to relax on a Caribbean cruise with at least two sea days and you’re gonna drink most of the day, then yeah, this might make sense for you. If you are going on a more port intensive cruise in Europe, then it might not make sense since you’re going to be off the ship most of the day.
The other problem is that couples have to buy the drink package together so if one of you drinks a lot and the other one does not, it will not make sense at all. I think at least 60% of people are wasting money on the drink package. I would go without it for your first cruise (unless it’s part of a good bundle, see below) and see how much you spend. From there you can make a decision for future cruises.
Excursions
Cruises take you to a lot of really cool places but when you get into port, you might have to travel a bit to get to the really good stuff. For example, if you take a cruise to Rome, you’re not actually in Rome. You have to find a way to get there from the ship and it will take some time. Other ports like Amsterdam allow you to just walk right off the ship and you’re in town. The cruise line will of course by happy to take you to all sorts of places by boat, bus, car, plane, helicopter, walking tour, segway, etc…for a cost of course. Shore excursions can be very expensive and some of these excursions are pretty lame, at least in my opinion. For example, there are basic walking tours for over $120 per couple. Maybe that’s awesome for you but I can walk around by myself for free and I’d probably have a much better time. Of course, I have also been on some really good tours organized by the cruise line.
A lot of this is going to come down to your interests, the port, your budget and how safe you feel doing things on your own. As previously indicated, there are some amazing ports where you can just walk off the ship and explore. Then there are others where you need to travel. In many cases, you can take mass transit and avoid the ship’s tours. Europe in particular has a fantastic mass transport system. You can also organize your own tour through a private provider. This is almost always cheaper but the concern is that if something happens, the ship is not going to wait for you. If you are a ship tour, they’ll wait for you. Sometimes you can’t duplicate the ship’s tour. We went on a tour of two castles in one port and this would not have been able to be done privately. It was an amazing tour.
So no easy answers here as it will vary depending on a variety of factors. Just be sure to explore all of your options before booking anything. These tours do sell out though so waiting until you get on board might not be the best thing.
Casino
This should be pretty obvious. Casinos are not in the business of losing money. The house always win as they say. What is not obvious to everyone is that these are the casinos that you are used to. There is no gaming commission here regulating these machines. They are usually tighter than land-based casinos. Of course, some people make money in the casino or else no one would ever go. If you gamble enough, you may get offers for discounted or even free cruises. We got a free cruise from Carnival and we are waiting to see if HAL gives us anything. My mother is on pace to go on at least 10 free cruises in 2023. So either look at this as a fun diversion where you’ll probably lose money or you are “gambling” on getting a discounted or free cruise so that the money you lose will be less than the value of the discount on the future cruise you may get.
Bingo, Deal or no Deal, pull tabs, lotto and other non-casino games of chance
Everyone loves bingo and deal or no deal is a fun game, even if you’re just watching. Much like the casino, you have to go into this assuming you are going to lose money. The odds are often horrible and the money spent vs the what you might win are pretty horrible. You also won’t get type of benefit like you would at the casino. I would use this as paid entertainment. I would avoid the lotto tickets and the pull tabs and anything else like that.
The Art Auction
If you’ve never been on a cruise before, this may sound crazy but there are art auctions on just about every ship. I’m gonna keep this real simple. DO NOT BUY ANYTHING!!! This “art” is rarely worth anything and if there is any value, it is likely very, very inflated. Investing in art for the average person is just an absolutely horrible idea. If you really want some art, go to a local gallery somewhere and support a local artist. If you are interested in art and you want to go to an art auction on the ship to see cool art and maybe learn a few things, great, but do not buy anything at all.
The Shops
These shops are usually expensive no matter what you are buying. If you really must have a souvenir from the ship, you do you, but you could probably find a lot of this stuff online for less. The alcohol and perfume may be a decent deal depending on what you are getting and whether you are stopping in duty free ports. If you’re on a Caribbean cruise, you can often find better deals in ports. You’ll have to shop around. There are a handful of times where the ship does have decent prices. You have to compare prices.
Stay away from the jewelry stores. You’ll almost always find better deals in Caribbean ports. Unless you really, really know what you’re doing, I think you are better off going to a reputable jeweler if there are not good shops in port. A lot of these shops on the ship sell inferior product that looks really nice in the store. Take it home and bring it to your local jeweler and they’ll show you that it isn’t as nice as you think it is. Feel free to browse but I suggest buying elsewhere.
Oh, and please don’t fall for those sales! Just because they say it’s a sale doesn’t mean it is. The same stuff will be “for sale” at the same prices on the next cruise. Just because shirts are on a table at the pool or in the hall way doesn’t mean they are any cheaper.
The Spa
This is another one of those personal things. I personally don’t understand it whatsoever. Anything you can do on a ship, you can do back home cheaper, usually much cheaper. Then again, I’m the type of person that doesn’t understand people that buy lite beer at a stadium for $15 when you could have bought one a bar for $5 or less before the event. In both situations, people will tell me that it’s about the experience. For me, I’d rather save that money. Over time, all of that money saved can be used to book another trip. That’s the type of experience that I’m interested in. There’s nothing wrong with these spa treatments and I’m sure the crew does a good job. I just can’t justify spending 3 times as much for a massage on the ship as what I would pay on land.
Classes
There are various classes you can sign up for that may actually be a pretty good value if it’s something that you’re interested in. This could be fitness classes or a whiskey tasting/class. Most are $10 to $15 and they’ll usually take 45 to 60 minutes. That’s usually pretty good and you’ll be getting something out of it. If it’s something you’re interested in, it could be worth it.
Specialty restaurants
Just about every ship has not one but several specialty restaurants for an additional cost. Whether these are a good idea or not will depend on the restaurant. Most ships have a steak house, an sushi restaurant and others that could be French, Indian, Italian, hibachi, etc. These higher end restaurants for a flat-fee are usually a pretty good deal. A good steakhouse will usually cost you about $200 or more for a couple. On a ship, you can get in for around $35 per person. So yeah, that’s pretty good. Most of the other higher end resturants will have similar math that works out.
What doesn’t work out in my opinion are the casual restaurants that are not included. You shouldn’t have to pay for fries and a hamburger when there are fries and hamburgers in the buffet. Sure the ones you pay for will probably be better, but still, just seems like a rip off. Same with the coffee shops. I know some of you need your Starbucks, but the ship has coffee for free. Might not be as good but I would personally go without for the week.
Bundled deals
The math for some of the expenses listed above is made more complicated by some of these bundled deals. You won’t see them all the time but you’ll see some lines offering various bundles where you’ll get on board credit, $200 in excursion credit, 2 free specialty dining per person, free basic internet and the drink package. Wow, that seems like a great deal. But wait, how much does all that cost? You might be led to believe that it’s all free! Well it’s not.
In fact, the price for all of that is difficult to even determine. You have to price out the fee for the cruise with all the bundles first. Let’s say its $4,000. Then you have to price it out with nothing at all. Let’s say it comes out to $3,100. Well then the price you are paying for all of that is $900. Is it worth it? That’s hard to figure out because it is going to require you to do a ton of math and the math isn’t always easy. I’ll have to do a separate post on this but I’m sure there are situations where these bundles are a good deal and others where it’s not a good deal. The short answers is that you have to figure out if the drink package makes sense for you. If it does, then the extras will likely make sense to.
Photos
This is another personal decision. You’re on vacation, you’re having a good time, you got a tan and you’re all dressed up. Some pictures would make a great souvenir for your trip right? Sure but you’re gonna pay out the nose! I personally think this made more sense before we all had digital cameras in our pockets. Almost all of us have pretty good cameras. If you ask someone to take your picture, it’ll probably look good. Won’t be professional of course but it’s free! If you wanted some professional pictures done and the mall studio isn’t your thing, getting your pictures done on the ship is probably cheaper than hiring a professional photographer but I don’t think that situation applies to most people. This is more of “do it on a whim” thing for most so I think this can be avoided.
Conclusion
This list isn’t even everything! I don’t care how you spend your money and what makes sense to me isn’t going to make sense to you and vice versa. If you think you’re getting good value and/or a good experience, that’s great. My issue isn’t really what people spend their money on, but it’s how they spend their money without any plan. The cruise line is going to do everything they can to get more money out of you and sometimes they are a little sneaky about it. There are a ton of high-pressure sales tactics going on. They know that the more you drink, the more you’re gonna not be watching the bottom line. This is especially true when you don’t have to reach into your wallet. By just charging everything to the room, it doesn’t seem real. I’ve met a lot of people that were suckered into all sorts of things like expensive watches, art and other things they weren’t planning on buying. Almost of them regret these purchases in the long run. The more prepared you are going into this, the more money you’ll save.