Real cost of a cruise

[BILLP1]

I see people posting that they booked a cruise and it only cost $67 a day per person.

 

My question is , Is that the real cost of a cruise or is it the cost of the booking a cabin, plus what is on your final bill like tips tours ,drinks etc plus transportation and hotel or parking if needed. These low numbers for a cabin seem to be misleading to me. What is the real cost of a cruise?

[cruisinthemed]

I see people posting that they booked a cruise and it only cost $67 a day per person.

 

My question is , Is that the real cost of a cruise or is it the cost of the booking a cabin, plus what is on your final bill like tips tours ,drinks etc plus transportation and hotel or parking if needed. These low numbers for a cabin seem to be misleading to me. What is the real cost of a cruise?

 

The total cost totally depends on your choices. You can cruise cheaply or the sky is the limit. Depending on what you choose to do on the ship...spa, gambeling, drnking, specialty restaurant, etc. The cost of the cruise can be figured by going through a booking process...every sailing is different.

[norcal2]

It is just like a hotel booking as per cost per day for a room. The taxes or mandatory costs are only added on when the quote is in the final stages in the booking process and you can book it or not as is the norm in deciding any land or sea room.

 

As far as tips, parking and things that are within your hands to control and therefore not in your quote, those are just part of any trip.

[Marysunshine]

I've been on many cruises so I feel qualified to give you some ideas. First you book the cruise and lets say it is 67 per day, 2 people, seven day cruise is 938. Add transfers to and from the ship @ 20 pp each way is another 80. Tips 140. Now if you fly in the day before which is really what one should do, figuring frugal, hotel for 100. then of course there is dinner and breakfast, another 40 plus 20.

Once on board, as mentioned above, there are optional items: casino, specialty restaurants, bingo, shopping, excursions, drinks, etc.

I did not yet mention airfare so as an average I'll say 350 pp. Now when you are in ports you will want to leave the boat and see a bit of whatever islands you may be on. To keep it to a minimum, I will say you do things on only three days. Even if you keep it to a taxi, or island tour from a van driver, and some time at a beach with a snack...you have to figure minimum 60. times 3.

Omitting the optional on board items mentioned previously, you have now spent 2218.

This is not to say that cruising is not a bargain. It is. It is the pleasure of having a moving hotel, unlimited food, some entertainment and lots of convenience.

Can you do other vacations for that price? Perhaps, but I think it would be hard to find. These are just some of the items you need to figure in when you are planning a cruise. LIke I said, there could be a lot more: excursions with companies; buying some nice souveniers; spa treatments; heavy drinking, etc. But at least you have a good idea now of what the costs would be.

[APDMOM]

That sounds like only the cost of the cabin with taxes for one person. Generally add about $11 per person per day for tips and you already stand at $ 78 per person per day. Add about $15 parking per day ($7.50 per person per day) and it is $85.50 per day. If you fly, it obviously increases quite a bit. We are thankful to live close to many ports that we can drive to. Add about $60 in gas for the trip - depending on which port.

 

Even at these high costs, it is still worth it for me. :D We do not indulge in much on our trip - just magnets for souvenirs and maybe 1 fun drink per cruise. As far as I'm concerned, the key is to budget carefully and not to spend what you don't have in the budget. It makes for a much more enjoyable experience, knowing it is all paid for!

 

PS: Marysunshine types faster than me... I see we posted about the same time with similar advice. Hope this helps!

[firefly333]

If I get up at 5 am and drive down to galveston, so just pay to park at discounted EZCruiseparking ..and pay tips. My extra cost could be a whole lot less than someone who has to fly in, get a hotel etc.

 

Since these other costs are so different, there is no way I would expect Carnival to give a extra cost average in their estimate.

 

Nothing other than tips to me has to be charged to my account...and often I have OBC to cover the tips...so no extra cost to me.

[firefly333]

Add about $15 parking per day ($7.50 per person per day) and it is $85.50 per day. !

 

Galveston has 7 day parking for $50 and Ecstasy parking for $30 or $35, (two places, $5 difference).

 

You cant really just say parking is this amount ...as if I drive to New Orleans or Mobile, I pick a hotel with a lesser parking charge. I paid $8 a day in Mobile, and do the $99 Holiday Inn with free parking in New Orleans. I have never once paid to park at any port.

 

PS Iv never spent anywhere near what marysunshine spends ...guess I am a cheapie ..but thats why to me its such a bargain.

[Crazy4Koko]

Flight to MCO: $135

Hotel room: FREE

parking at Tampa: $60

Cost of 4 day cruise including port taxes and tips: $323.30 ( porthole room)

Flight home: $97:

 

"Base price" of my cruise: $615.30

 

 

Time spent with Mom: Priceless.

[jenwales]

When planning a caribbean cruise I double the cost of the cruise fare to determine an approximation of what we'll spend. I was toying with going on a European cruise this summer and I would have had to more than triple the fare to come up with the true cost of the cruise. It wasn't worth it for me so we passed.

[norcal2]

Galveston has 7 day parking for $50 and Ecstasy parking for $30 or $35, (two places, $5 difference).

 

You cant really just say parking is this amount ...as if I drive to New Orleans or Mobile, I pick a hotel with a lesser parking charge. I paid $8 a day in Mobile, and do the $99 Holiday Inn with free parking in New Orleans. I have never once paid to park at any port.

 

PS Iv never spent anywhere near what marysunshine spends ...guess I am a cheapie ..but thats why to me its such a bargain.

 

I think you are the norm. Between the free hotel parking and the airport shuttles to the port I suspect the vast majority do not use port parking. No matter the budget most people spend in their own way for their own comfort so there is no way to evaluate what we each spend to find a norm where everything can be selected that is included in original cost. I'm with you as I don't spend like that list either. Each person makes the spending rules and choices so I think cruises can be a very reasonable vacation for what you get, no matter what we decide to spent. I am cruise-frugal but I spend like a wild woman in port cities since I come in 3 to 4 days early whenever we go to Florida (unrelated to the cruise.) lol As far as ports we visit, I can spend zip or do a tour or just hang around sucking up the environment. No estimated rules on costs would work for me.

[Marysunshine]

That sounds like only the cost of the cabin with taxes for one person. Generally add about $11 per person per day for tips and you already stand at $ 78 per person per day. Add about $15 parking per day ($7.50 per person per day) and it is $85.50 per day. If you fly, it obviously increases quite a bit. We are thankful to live close to many ports that we can drive to. Add about $60 in gas for the trip - depending on which port.

 

Even at these high costs, it is still worth it for me. :D We do not indulge in much on our trip - just magnets for souvenirs and maybe 1 fun drink per cruise. As far as I'm concerned, the key is to budget carefully and not to spend what you don't have in the budget. It makes for a much more enjoyable experience, knowing it is all paid for!

 

PS: Marysunshine types faster than me... I see we posted about the same time with similar advice. Hope this helps!

I also talk faster than most people, lol

[salty dingo]

You should factor in transportation, parking, taxis, etc... that can add a huge amount especially if you fly.

 

But just for the cruise alone, you can get in inside cabin during the off season for around $100 per day, and that is $50 per person. But you have to add tips, which are $7 pp more. Plus, if you want to go ashore and do any sightseeing, you have to factor in excursions. There is alcohol, gambling, specialty restaurants, etc.

 

Too many variables to answer your question on the real cost. You have to figure it out for yourself. For us, about $1,000 per person for a week of cruising is a good target number for the total cost.

[Delnatha]

Figure out the cost for the cruise and then add in gratuity, hotel, flight, gas, parking, alcohol, excursions, etc. How much depends on how you cruise. We frequently only have about $100 on our S&S card but I know others have a lot more.

 

Of course if you want the REAL cost you can also deduct expenses from that $ amount you would have if you stayed home. You aren't buying groceries or driving your car or using as much electricity if you aren't at home.

[med2cruise]

I liek delnatha's thinking. I ususally type a spreadsheet with all our costs for excursions in each port and transportation to and from the port (air, car, parking). Gives us an idea of total cost. On the ship we do try to limit our spending but still have a good time.

 

Karen

[winston71]

So far we have spent 4108.00 for 2 aft balcony's and 1400.00 in airfare for 4 people. We are going in early and will use miles for hotel rooms and car rental. We all drink and gamble so gosh knows what this will cost. But-imo-Totally worth it!:o

[megmno]

It all depends on what your priorities are. We don't enjoy gambling, and my DH doesn't drink (medical reasons). I am a light drinker, average a couple of drinks a day on vacation.

 

On the other hand, we do love to go on excursions and enjoy having balcony rooms (aft wrap on the next trip --yay!)

 

Some people would probably hate our choices, but it works for us. If your budget is limited, identify which items would bring you the most happiness, and try to splurge a little on them, while cutting back on the stuff you don't really care about. If you like to gamble, and don't spend much time in your room, get an interior room and budget some fun money for the casino. Whatever makes you happy....

[kbmeow]

With cruise/ airfare/ extras ( we do excusions in 2 ports) and drinks from boston we are at about 1500pp. But, we do not police our spending at all. We dink what we want, but what we want and are not frugal

[Name Of The Game]

We have a newbie that wanted to cruise with us. He got bent out of the ship when the listed price on the Carnival website doubled for him because he's going solo. He said why should he be punished for wanting to go by himself. Wait til he adds up all the other costs mentioned..he'll probably back out.

[more cruises]

To the OP - I see you have over 1300 posts so I'm assuming you've got a few cruises under your belt and you already know what it costs to cruise. You know the final total is more than the $67pppn.

 

I use the cost per night to decide if the price of the cruise I'm looking at is a good value to me. If it's under $100pppn for a balcony for an itinerary I like then I'll think about booking.

 

Our average cruise costs us $3000 all in.

[cb at sea]

The advertised "price per day" is for the cost of the cruise (cabin and included food and entertainment) only....doesn't include transportation or any "extras", like booze, soda, excursions, photos, tips, souveniers.....

[babyblue78]

When planning a caribbean cruise I double the cost of the cruise fare to determine an approximation of what we'll spend. I was toying with going on a European cruise this summer and I would have had to more than triple the fare to come up with the true cost of the cruise. It wasn't worth it for me so we passed.

 

This is what we use for planning purposes. :)

[capndinghy]

Yes those extras do add up. Our sign and sail bill on last weeks cruise was just a little over $800. However included in that were excursions almost $180 and my new watch $180. The rest were extras..like photos, tips, drinks, etc. All in all not so bad.

[Tapi]

The cost of our last cruise for 3 passengers on a 5 night cruise was $880. However, after adding tips, one shore excursion, onboard expenses (a few drinks, a spa treatment, and a couple of ship souvenirs), parking, and a night of hotel before the cruise, we spent around $1300.

 

Even with all the extra expenses, we're looking at $86 per person, per day. Still a very inexpensive and cost effective way to travel

[Haoie]

Of course it'll be higher, not lower.

 

Just like the word 'sale' doesn't really mean a thing, am I right?

[JimSS]

When we do land based vacations you can compare cruising costs to a resort in the Caribbean or Hawaii: $200-$400 night for a hotel, meals for 2 at least $100 a day, tips of meals at $100 day would be $15 to $20, tip for maid if we are in room for a few days $10 or more. Costs that are comparable or even more expensive than a cruise ship - alcohol (in bar or pool), spa treatments, excursions, transfer fees, and gambling (in Caribbean). If in HI we almost always rent a car $40 to $50 a day. Unless going to Europe costs for airfare are usually higher to visit the land based locations vs. major ports. What we don't get on land based trips usually is all of the great entertainment that on board.

 

It all depends on what you like to do while on vacation. We manage our costs are aware of what we are spending.