This post continues on my cruising saga in the past couple weeks starting from why we love cruising with our kids and showing how I save on planning our cruise vacation.
Once all the planning is done, you would think that you are done with spending. Not so fast! It’s true that cruising is All-Inclusive which mean everything is included in the cost except your own spending on the boat and off the boat.
So today I want to share 5 Expenses that you might not have thought or aware of when planning a cruise vacation and ways to keep the lid on those expenses so you won’t have to come home with a huge bill waiting after the fun vacation.
1. Watch Out those Fancy Drinks
We don’t drink period. Mr. Rojo has some scare about his liver enzyme a few years ago so we practically cut out all alcohol beverage from our house. So it does help us cut down dramatically on the spending in this category.
Some cruise line will provide free soda drink (like Disney) but some cruise line will only provide water and ice tea. So if you can’t live without soda, you can bring your own in your suitcase.
As for wine and other beverage, I’m not quite sure since I didn’t even bother to check. But I believe you can bring one bottle per person. Check with your cruise line on their rule.
Check on cruise boards like Cruise Critic or Cruise Mates on more tips to cut down on beverage cost.
2. Portrait Picture? What pictures?
Family portrait on the cruise is a big business and a money maker for cruise line. You can end up spending a fortune if you blindly pick every single pictures ever taken on the ship.
If you think you absolutely must have those portrais, check out a package and see if you can get discount.
I have seen the light and aren’t too crazy about those pictures so we came out pretty good at the end with a couple pictures of our whole family. That’s pretty much what we got.
3. The Shopping Spree
In each port of call, you will most likely have a flyer in your room the night before about the great discount if you shop at certain approved store. I rarely look at those. I LOVE to shop. Who doesn’t. But I also love to explore and spend my money on something else that I couldn’t have when we are back home. Buying a watch or jewelry isn’t high on my list.
But if it’s what you are looking for, then shop smart and watch out for your budget. This one is a big one that can blow a big hole in your wallet if you are not careful.
I don’t have much self-controlled myself when it comes to shopping. So I set a limit on 1 sourvenir per person per port. At least they will get to pick something from each place that we visit. For the kids, I told them $10 maximum and Miss J has learned that rule by heart. It’s all about training them young. :)
4. Tips
Alright, yes maybe they did tell you about tips. But most people forget or didn’t think about adding it up until the last day. The cruise line is pretty good at providing the information of suggested tip per person per night. The tip ranges from $10-$15 per person per day.
I have also heard that some cruise lines have moved to add service charges instead of tipping. So make sure to check your cruise cost before shelling out those cash at the end of your trip.
5. Expense on Port of Call Day
The port of call day is pretty much a free style day. You can do whatever you want. Majority of passengers choose to disembark and enjoy sightseeing or exploring the city for a day.
If you plan to explore, don’t forget the cost of food and transportation during the day as it does not include in your cruise cost. The ship still provided food on board but most countries have strict rule of bringing fresh food, fruit and vegetable to their countries. So you can either eat before you leave, plan and budget for local food (which I love to do. Otherwise why visit if you didn’t get to taste local food), or pack package food that allows through custom.
Another expense during the port of call day that can be a major budget buster is the excursion fee. Try to avoid the idea of doing it all. I try to limit to one excursion per port. You will have less than 5-8 hours at the port so make sure that you check all the excursion time and length before signing up. Remember that the excursions provided by local companies are for all cruise ships so they might not know about your ship time.
Is there other expenses that I might have missed from your past cruise experience?
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Room service! It sounds sort of silly to order room service on a cruise ship, but sometimes the kids are so tired that no one can face going out. Better to send one person to the buffet.
Good call on the budget tips! You’re right about those “kodak moments” the cruise sets up. Sometimes they are relentless! But I far prefer the less posed “gotcha” moments in a pic. Best to pass the cruise’s photo station up.
Good tips! On the topic of the family photos onboard, I’m with you on the outrageous expense. One of the perks of being in a “closed environment” like the ship, I found, was that you feel much safer asking a stranger to snap a shot of your family together and handing your camera over than you might, say, at Piazza Navona or outside the Colosseum! It’s a good op to get a good family pic together from your trip–and free!
The cruise lines try to get you in the excitement of things early on to sell you drink passes and get you to take and buy pictures. There’s plenty of free things to do on a cruise and you can probably take better pictures yourself.
The soda plans though can save you quite a bit if you drink a lot – not sure about the alcohol plans either.
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Lisa
Like all vacations, you need to know what is required before purchasing your dream cruise ship vacation. Keep this in mind and I have no doubt your cruise trip will be a complete success!
In most of All Cruise: Food and Entertainment is free
But: Soda, Liquor, Ice creams has additional charges
Some cruise has advance tipping. Casino, Some classes and Spa are absolutely not free.
Room Service has extra tipping.
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