Cruising is the best!

I just finished cruise number 19, and I’ve already got 20, 21 and 22 locked in for the next 15 months—all on different cruise lines. No doubt about it, I’m partial to this type of vacation. This is yet another thing I inherited from my fabulous parents, and I hope I’ve passed it on to my children. There are so many choices when it comes to this type of vacation, it’s never the same twice. We love to visit—and revisit—ports all over the place. 

Getting to embarkation day, however, is a very long process, particularly if you are new to cruise vacations. I’ve got some action steps for you to take until you take that first step onto your ship.

General Cruise Budget considerations

People who aren’t cruisers often complain about “sticker shock” with a cruise vacation. No doubt about it—it’s a large outlay of cash all at once, but dollar for dollar, it can be an incredible value for your family. Further, you can choose to spread out the payment of the cruise via an official or unofficial payment plan with the cruise line. 

Pop had a habit of breaking the total cruise fare down into daily and per person amounts, and when you do it that way, you can really see the tremendous value for the dollar a cruise can be. I suggest you use this method to truly compare the overall cost of a cruise to any other type of vacation. Let’s look at an example:

6-day cruise we just finished: $1600 total for 3 people

Per person cost $533.34

Divided by 5 nights $106.67 per night per person

What is included In The Cruise Price

Was it worth it? Well, it certainly was to us!! Let’s break it down even further.

Total per day for three people $320

Hotel costs? Included

All food and soft drinks? Included

Activities on board? Included

All tips and gratuities? Included

So what do all of those “Included” items actually, you know, INCLUDE???

Hotel costs

We had an extended balcony cabin—one of the biggest and most expensive staterooms on the ship. You could have done our cruise for about $1200 total in a less expensive cabin without a window. Daily service was provided by our cabin steward, and the bathroom included the normal toiletry items. The cabin is significantly smaller than a recent hotel room, but Pop always said, “If you’re hanging around in the cabin, you’re doing it wrong!!”

Food and soft drinks

We ate a sit-down restaurant breakfast every day, and a multi-course restaurant dinner each night. For lunch, we had our choice of the buffet, or some specialty restaurants that match high-end food locations. In between, and late at night, we found multiple ways to snack—pizza, ice cream, cheese platter. In addition, room service is included and available as well! We have coffee and pastries delivered every morning as our “alarm clock”.

Beverages can become more subjective. Minimally, you’ll find water, lemonade, coffee, and iced tea available. Some cruise lines include soda, too. If you are drinker, prepare for some sticker shock on that! Remember, we are from Vegas, where alcohol is always free in casinos!! What I mean is, if you aren’t used to paying premium prices for alcohol, you might just want to avoid it.

BUT, if you really want to partake, there IS a way to do it. Most cruise lines now offer an (almost) all you can drink package for about $60 per day. It’s a bargain if you like your cocktails, but we can get by with minimal trips to the bar.

Activities on board

Be ready to be WOWED no matter which cruise line you choose. From visits from Mickey Mouse to raunchy midnight comedy shows, the cruise lines have more than enough to fill your days—most of which are included!!! Throughout the day, you can participate as you wish in trivia contests, pool parties, nightclubs, piano bars, game tournaments, or just lounge by one of the many pools. Point is, there is a LOT to do for people of ALL ages! (Can you tell I love cruising?)

What activities cost more money? Well, the spa is a huge draw for many people. From a full week spa access pass to specific services including massages, facials and pedicures, you can easily spoil yourself. Based on where I live, the spa prices are not out of this world, if that is your thing. Bingo is available for a cost, and can be a lot of fun on a sea day. Continue the gambling in the casino you will find on most cruise ships, and you might just pay for the entire cruise!!

Choosing a Cruise line

Now we need to talk specifics, and we will start with choosing a cruise line. I’ve taken cruises on several lines, and they are all excellent, and worth every penny. Make no mistake about it—you can’t make a bad choice here. A word or two on specifics, going in order from least to most expensive cruises I have done:

Carnival

Boy, do we love Carnival! And the first thing you need to know is we have NEVER encountered drunk or rude cruisers, here. They are, indeed, the party boat, but in the best way.

Specific to Carnival are the multiple restaurant collaborations they have going. For example, we ate at Guy (Fieri’s) Burgers and Shaq’s “Big Chicken” in addition to their own deli, Mexican, and Italian restaurants. The food choices on Carnival are awesome! They also have a specific activity that my family adores: Nightly professional comedians doing a family show and an adult show every night.

Norwegian

This is the line I have the least experience with, but wanted to do a shoutout for an amazing experience. Slightly more upscale in the dining room each night, Norwegian is an excellent choice if nightlife and pool activities are lower on your list. They still had multiple activities during the day, but were significantly more quiet and sedate. 

Royal Caribbean

They bill themselves as an adventure destination, and we certainly found this to be true. This was my kids’ first experience with a rock climbing wall, and the idea of putting an ice rink in the middle of the ocean is nothing short of genius. Definitely a great ship with teens who will enjoy all of these amenities, but will appeal to us parents for the excellent dining options and upscale lounges.

Holland America (HAL)

My parents loved cruising with Holland America, and I have my first one with them coming up when we go to Alaska this summer. Considered significantly more sedate, HAL tends to cater more to an older (and richer) clientele, with less emphasis on the drinking, games and activities. We are looking forward to their performance shows and particularly the Alaskan expert who will give us daily seminars about the terrain we are sailing through.

Disney

We’ve reached the pinnacle in both price and experience. Most of the time, Disney is outside of my budget abilities, but we will be taking our fourth Disney cruise this winter. In my opinion and experience, nobody can touch the quality of a Disney cruise. With their very unique rotational dining plan through three different themed restaurants, their Broadway-quality shows, the themed night at sea that includes fireworks, and their signature character meet and greets, they are unbeatable.

Everyone Else

There are a bunch of cruise lines I haven’t tried! I’m not saying they are inferior in any way—it just hasn’t worked out for us. We are not particularly “brand loyal” to any cruise line, but base our decisions on a number of other factors: Price, Destinations, Embarkation port being a few of them. Let’s look at destinations next. 

Choosing a Cruise location

Many people start at this step instead of going directly to one cruise line. The first thing you need to look at is your physical location, and the distance to a desirable embarkation point. If you live in Florida, cruising can be quite an easy task, as opposed to someone in the mid-west who needs to fly to any port in the country. Traveling to the port is absolutely an added cost that must be considered, and can be prohibitive especially with the crazy prices on flights right now. 

Some cruises are year-round, while others are specific to areas or times of the year, so your choices might be more limited than you thought. Here are the locations we have visited, and how we made the choices:

The Caribbean

Cruising out of a southern US port—you’re probably heading into the Caribbean. Great choice!!! Many different and unique small islands to visit. These beach-heavy locations are a year-round choice for millions of cruisers a year. We have tried to vary our ports in the Caribbean to visit different islands. There are a few we’ve visited many times (I’m looking at you Cayman Islands!) and have truly enjoyed, but I won’t book an itinerary in the Caribbean unless it includes at least one new port for us (I’m coming for you, Bermuda!).

Western Caribbean

These itineraries hit the eastern side of Mexico, which has amazing spots for you to explore. In addition to beautiful beaches, you can find some ruins to hike and exotic animals to get to know. This could be one of the most diverse itineraries for you, since it might include some Caribbean and some Mexican ports. 

Mexico/Baja

This is an easy choice for us, because we can drive to the Port at Los Angeles to jump on to a cruise without paying for a flight or even a hotel room the night before. There are significantly fewer ports on this West Coast itinerary, but we absolutely enjoy the different things these ports have available to us.

Alaska

Please visit Alaska.

We were blown away when we visited there by the incredible beauty at every turn. Even the air was different—so clean and fresh it almost hurt going into my lungs. Alaska is only available May through September, and is one of the most expensive cruises to book. Further, you absolutely need to do excursions in Alaska, and they are much more expensive than anywhere else we have cruised, so be sure to budget carefully.

That being said: Visit Alaska. You will be so glad you did.

European Destinations

My first effort at this was thwarted by Covid, but we are on the books for next summer. I have no first hand knowledge of these types of destinations, but had to put it on our list. While airfare to and from the cruise line could be quite expensive and prohibitive, this type of cruise is, like Alaska, a “bucket lister” which you absolutely need to look into at some point. Who knows? Maybe you’ll score a killer deal!!!

Choosing a stateroom

So last week we were in a balcony cabin, which has, well, a balcony. You pay for that privilege, though, and it might not be important to you. My previous cruise, I was in an inside cabin—least expensive on the ship—and it was fine! Tough waking up in the dark with no window, but otherwise absolutely adequate. Between those two extremes you have an ocean-view, with a large window. Definitely a suitable alternative for any cruiser. Let your budget and preferences dictate what stateroom you choose.

As for location on the ship, that’s personal preference, too. I stick to the middle of the ship, although there really isn’t much rocking and rolling on ships these days—stabilizers work absolutely fantastic. We like to be near the top of the ship, to make it easier for Sweet Husband to grab pizza and dessert before bed! 

What else to plan for

So I’ve broken down the costs associated with cruising, but let’s be honest, there are hidden costs. For example, while we used points for our flights this past week, we did have to park a car at the cruise port at $15 a day. We did buy a few professional portraits at $23 per shot, we had a few drinks at $10 each, and we over-tip for room service, and our room steward. These don’t add up to that much when you consider the full week, but they do need to be budgeted for so you aren’t surprised when you get home.

Have I convinced you yet? I know I’m ready for our next (Alaskan) cruise this summer and I’ve barely gotten off a ship! I’d love to hear about your favorite cruise line, favorite ports, or funniest comedian you’ve seen. I could write an entire blog about the ropes course I did on my previous cruise—it was legendary!!!

THANK YOU FOR READING THIS FAR

Thank you for reading all about how to get on a cruise!!

Hey, since you’re here! You may as well check out some other tips, like traveling with extended family (also on a cruise sometimes), here, or how to travel on a budget, here! Or, check out our other topics here! Either way, I appreciate you!

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