What Extras Do You Get and Which Do You Skip?

[flowers12155]

I usually splurge for a balcony as long as it's in the right location otherwise just an ocean.view and lower floors are fine with me. We don't drink enough for the alcohol package so I usually buy a set dollar amount of gift drink coupons ahead then we have a prepaid limit. I usually by about 2 coffee a day otherwise I am looking for a Starbucks the minute we're off the ship, besides I spend that at home as well so I no longer see it as an extra. We gamble a little but I refuse to bother with the bingo once was enough. I try to not shop on board to much but occasionally I am still sucked into the hype. Each cruise changes you and you get a little Smarter. Check out my travel blog http://www.atouristlife.com happy travels. Excursions are a must if I go half way around the world I want to get off and see something. Some places are of more I interest though. Alaska I managed to fit at least 2 excursions in per day. Grand Cayman however once you've seen it that's it. But don't misunderstand I would happily live there forever. We have been back a few times and always go to the beach for food,fun and Sun.

Edited May 23, 2015 by flowers12155

[GUT2407]

Do's

 

Soda Package for me. Maybe non-alcohol package for her, depends on a few things.

 

Usually one specialty diner each 10 days or so, normally on a night the menu doesn't really suit us.

 

Visit the art auction, we have a good idea what's what [we don't always buy but have].

 

Don'ts

 

Photos [well she buys one now and then of me] I usually have at least two cameras with me.

 

Pretty much anything else is a MAYBE

[Michael Scott]

Get:

 

1. a la carte speciality coffee (usually 1-2 per day per person)

2. hubs likes a wine at dinner

3. Usually do one night speciality restaurant

4. some internet

5. private excursions (we have found most private excursion companies cater to the cruise ships and never have had a bit of trouble getting back to port on time)

 

Skip:

 

1. photos

2. casino

3. spa (although, may try the Thermal (spa) Beds on our upcoming cruise)

4. drink packages (just don't drink enough to justify it)

5. usually never do any onboard shopping (or port shopping either for that matter)

 

This is close to my list although I don't use internet and didn't find the one time we went to the specialty restaurant to be worth the upcharge. We do buy the wine package and have a bottle with dinner every night.

 

We've had balconies and loved them but an OV room is just fine too and it puts $$ in the pocket.

[archerniak]

DH and myself will splurge on: Aqua Class (Celebrity) preferably an aft balcony. Some shore excursions, dependent on the port. Some spa appts - for me that is - although I look for the specials and have been known to miss a sail away for a good massage price. We will also pay for an occasional drink if we don't have a free drink package or a bottle of wine. High Tea is available. And we do enjoy Bingo :)

 

What we do not pay for is pictures (they would really have to be tremendous for us to purchase), drink packages (that are not included for free - we don't drink enough). Specialty Dining - On Celebrity's Aqua class we have our own dining venue - Blue - which we enjoy. No to the casino also. And we normally do not purchase anything in the gift shops on board unless the price is really good.

[simplelife]

We generally do oceanview cabins and eat in the MDR (we did steakhouse once when it was my birthday and our tablemates were going). We carry on the allowed bottles of wine and order drinks ala carte. We don't do excursions in most ports; we occasionally will do a snorkel tour or pub crawl. We don't do spa or salon. We don't do casino. except for an occasional few dollars in the draw poker machines. We don't to FTTF (since we rarely do excursions). We don't do photographs. We sometimes do bingo. if we feel like it. We pay the auto tips and then usually give extra to our room steward and dining staff. We drive to port when possible and stay in cheap hotels before and after.

[richstowe]

The answers for this depend so much on where you are going.

Caribbean: minimal excursions because...well I don't find the excursions all that interesting.

Alaska,Europe, etc: excursions are a big deal but I do private excursions 98% of the time.

 

Destination and time of year make a difference if we get an inside, ocean view or balcony. A transatlantic usually means no balcony unless it is a great deal.

 

No to spas, bingo and fee classes.

Yes to very limited wine at dinner and DH has a small casino budget.

Agree with all of the above . :)

 

I was going to make a list but we have broken all of our own Do's and Don'ts . No's include ship photo's , bingo and ship excursions and yet we have done all of these .

In truth the only set rule is to maximize our enjoyment while attempting to minimize costs . In practical terms this means looking at the overall cost of a cruise which includes the cost of transportation . When the cost of airfare , transportation and pre/post cruise hotels is way more then the cruise itself , you need to look at the big picture . We have overnighted at a hotel on a stopover coming home to save $$'s .

 

Another example was our Med cruise . The cost of a balcony upgrade from OC was less then 10% of the total trip cost . Absolutely worth it . Eating sushi with white wine on our balcony with the love of my life is a memory to cherish forever . On the same cruise RC wanted 90 PP for transportation from pier to airport . We did it for 50 total sharing a private van which was much more convenient .

[MicCanberra]

So cruises are supposed to be all inclusive, but they really aren't these days. Since this thread is about saving money, what extras do you get and what do you skip? (I realize some may be specific to certain ships). Here's what I'm thinking

 

 

I think it really depends on the cruise line and the ports for some of these.

We always get the drinks package with X but not with RCI or any other company. We nearly always do our own thing or do private excursions unless it is a tender port and there is a must do thing that the ship offers.

 

We really are 'horses for courses' type selecting with a lot of theses items.:D

[cardbucfan]

Do:

Balcony cabin-we USE our balcony a lot

Internet-DH has to check in with the office and we have kids and a puppy.

Excursions-usually independent unless the port time is short and I can't fit a private tour in.

MDR most nights unless we get the specialties for free

Buy souvenirs

 

Don't:

Spa

Casino

Bingo

Art auctions

Ship stores

Specialty coffee, pastry or ice cream

 

We tend to look at our ship as a floating hotel that feeds us as we go to different fabulous locations we want to explore.

[springtxcruiser39]

Family has 2 adult children last cruise and this cruise. We make them buy there soda packages or alcohol it shows responsibilty. My daughter bought diamond earrings this last time with her credit card but they were on sale the last day and she wears them everyday.

 

This cruise we splurged and bought them a balcony room also, they are hard working college students and they don't mind paying for some of their own expenses.

Do:

Excursions 1 or 2

alcohol sometimes but watch budget

Bingo ( I usually win once)

Gym

Taxi's

Don't:

Photos

Spa

WIFI

CASINO

:D

[LuCruise]

OP here. I posted this awhile ago and love that it's still getting posts.

 

Only things that have changed for us since my original post are

• We've booked out excursion through the ship
  
• DH is thinking of getting the soda package
  

 

But still not planning on doing any specialty restaurants, spa items, photos, wifi, other drink packages (we'll just get a la carte)

[lilchief27]

Wanted to kick in my thoughts too. I like this thread & visit it every so often.

 

> We are headed to Cozumel & Progresso so we are booking our excursions outside the cruise line - better options & prices for what we want to see & do.

 

> We ARE budgeting for photos because of our past experience. On a previous cruise, they were absolutely fabulous. I want a professional picture of hubby & I & my teens dressed to the 9's :)

 

-> Did I miss something - will the ship photographers take pics w/ your own camera??? Why do so many people say "don't" on ship photos?

 

> We are bringing our own soda. DH & DS want to make their own ice cream sodas for a night time snack :D

 

> We don't drink & don't hit casinos - so saving some $$

> No wifi - I want to be disconnected & disconnect the teens too.

> No specialty restaurants for us - we aren't huge foodies so MDR is great for us. We did try it on our 1st cruise - neat experience. We felt a little like a fish out of water because it was soooo fancy. I'd probably try again someday for a special occasion.

Edited September 24, 2015 by lilchief27
clarity

[FirstCruiseBeth]

We've only done one cruise so far (Alaska) and have one upcoming in Feb 2016 (Panama Canal) but here's our do's and don'ts:

 

Do

- Ship excursions - I'm completely risk averse and would never relax on a privately arranged trip for worry we wouldn't get back to the ship!

- A balcony - I absolutely loved it in Alaska and spent quite a bit of time in the late evening standing out there watching the scenery and enjoying the quiet.

- Specialty coffee card for DH who likes his espresso

- Wine with dinner and occasional drink in one of the bars

 

Don't

- Casino / bingo

- Drink packages (apart from the coffee card)

- Specialty restaurants

- Photos / art

- Wi-fi

- Spa

- Sanctuary

- Ship tour

[bgccsownsck]

our first is Pride of America in Sept. I booked all our excursions thru NCL. For us it was the right choice. We don't drink or gamble or eat really fancy on vacay. I do like good coffee. To each his own.

 

My fiancé and I did Pride in Dec. last year (our first cruise) and I hope you enjoyed it as much as we did. Here is what we would or would not do differently.

 

We booked an inside cabin. With as port intensive as this itinerary is, this was the right choice for us. We were only in our cabin to sleep or change. That being said, we are booking an Alaska cruise and hope to get a balcony wholly for the Glacier Bay viewing day. Not having strangers in our pictures should be worth it, we hope.

 

We did all of our excursions through NCL except Pearl Harbor and the day and a half on Kauai. Glad we didn't do Pearl Harbor through the cruise. We tried to go on Embarkation day and it was swamped! Thankfully we had family to stay with and went back on a weekday. Smaller crowds made it easier to enjoy. Kauai was beautiful, and renting a car was the best idea we ever had. We got a well rated guide book and created our own tour. All the tours we chose through NCL were highly rated, and rightfully so. Our tour guides were knowledgable and funny.

 

We ate dinner in a different specialty restaurant each night. People we met during our cruise seemed frustrated with the service in the dining room. The prices were reasonable and the servers seemed to really want to give you everything you wanted. We will splurge for this on future cruises (I'm a chef).

 

My fiancé got a soda package. He used it enough for it to be worth it. I did not, and though I had several cocktails, it was not enough to make it worth paying for the UBP. I pretty much only drink water all the time anyway, and it was hard to break that habit, even though I was on vacation.

 

We won't spend money for Salon or Spa services. Even at home we aren't fans, beyond me getting a cheap pedicure before vacationing in sandal weather. I will probably get my hair done on our Alaskan cruise for our wedding. Beyond special occasions, it's just seems to expensive for my budget.

 

Neither of us gamble. There wasn't a casino on PoA anyway.

 

We ate off the ship lunches a few times. This is one expense I don't have a desire to repeat. Sure, we had some pretty good food, but we should have taken advantage of on board lunches. After all, we already paid for them.

 

A la carte coffee and food. Sushi was worth it. Watching my fiancé get jitters from double shots of expresso, not worth it. Seriously, it was a little scary. He drinks 5 hour energies at home, it would be cheaper to throw a weeks worth of these into our checked luggage, and they don't make him twitch like an addict.

 

We bought pictures. Honestly, not worth the money. The problem was, we tend to be pretty introverted. Both a bit shy about talking to strangers, much less handing those strangers our pretty expensive camera. It was nice to have photos of us together, not just selfies, even if they were waaay overpriced.

 

This is one of those topics where you just have to realistically look at what you want most out of your vacation. Ultimately, you should spend your extra money on what matters most to you. For us: food, reputable tours, and souvenirs.

[RobJenn]

The Duty Free store isn't all that great. Bought two bottles of normally expensive liquor for $20 each. Two days after we got home in FL went to a grocery and they had the same liquor also on "special" for $22 each...DOH.

 

So a sale is a sale and there must not be much duty on a bottle of booze after all?

 

There are a ton of great ideas on this topic.:) Thanks.

 

The one thing that I have seen is that the price per bottle is pretty close to the price that I see in Florida as well, HOWEVER, I see 1L bottles at that price on the ships, not the 750ML that we get here in the US...

[jennb529]

How much would one have to drink to make the drink package worth it? I've been considering the wine/beer package for myself and my husband for our cruise, but at $42 a day and four days in port I'm wondering if we'd actually come out ahead just ordering a la carte and taking our own wine to the dining room.

[hazeleyez3]

Always

• Balcony (if it is a special occasion we will do a suite).
  
• Private excurions when we are in Europe. No need for excursions on other itineraries.
  

Never

• Beverage package
  
• Casino
  
• Bingo
  
• Shops
  
• Cruise line excursions
  
• Trainers
  
• Activities that are an extra cost
  

Sometimes...

• Do a specialty restauant
  
• Have a few drinks
  
• Get a specialty coffee
  
• Blowdry the last day of the cruise
  

We save our money for our land vacations.

[simplelife]

We generally book the cheapest OV we can get. This is usually on the lowest deck, which we don.t mind because we get more exercise using stairs.. We bring the allowed wine on board and have a few drinks, but don't get the drink package because we do not drink enough to make it worth it. We have done an upcharge restaurant only once. If we are traveling with others, we may buy a souvenir photo of the group, but generally prefer candids we take ourselves over posed shots. (and we won't spend our time waiting In line to pose for photos ) We don't use the salon or buy spa treatments (if we want a massage or if I want get my nails done, We do so before the cruise).We have found that the more we cruise, the less feel the need to do excursions; I enjoy researching ports and finding things to do. We may buy a bingo card or two and play a few dollars in the draw poker machines if we feel like it. We don't do FTTF. We DO keep the automatic gratuities on and sometimes tip extra. We usually drive to port, choose a low cost pre-cruise hotel and use off-site parking when it is safe. We usually plan something fun for the day we disembark to minimize the letdown of being "kicked off the ship".

[MollyFlyer]

hmm . . . I'm mostly just going to indulge in an OV room(natural daylight helps me to not spend the day sleeping), a la carte drinks (I like fancy coffees), taxis as needed (not really an indulgence at most ports as much as a necessity) and a few souvenirs. The watch I got last time is fairly nice, and when I checked it was cheaper than if I'd bought it on land.

[sagette]

Going on our third cruise in April and we definitely have some things we'll splurge on and other things we'll skip.

 

Must:

Oceanview Balcony stateroom- we love having our own outside space to sit and read or just relax

 

Drink Package- we like our wine, beer, and specialty coffee

 

Excursions- we have used both the cruise line and private to book and have had good and not so great experiences with both, but still like to get off and see/do something new

 

Maybe:

A specialty restaurant

The casino (Husband won big on NCL Star so he may want to see if his luck holds)

 

Never:

Art/Photographs

Spa

Shops

[simplelife]

Thinking of doing FTTF on our July Carnival Magic Cruise. We will be staying with DS and BIL precruise and they are Platinum and we would love to board early with them.

[anthonyy7]

I'll just note the things I do skip:

 

Photo's, Always decline having them taken so there is no reason to buy any

Internet, bring our own MIFI device

Bev Package, Don't drink enough booze, soda, or coffee to break even... do ala carte

Spa, No thanks!

Casino, SEE LOC :)

[Kcruiser2014]

I'll just note the things I do skip:

 

Photo's, Always decline having them taken so there is no reason to buy any

Internet, bring our own MIFI device

Bev Package, Don't drink enough booze, soda, or coffee to break even... do ala carte

Spa, No thanks!

Casino, SEE LOC :)

 

 

Just one question.... Which MIFI and provider do you use that has reasonable rates while cruising?

[anthonyy7]

I use Skyroam and passes are $8/day. It's cheaper to own vs rent. I've rented in the past and this saves alot of money and hassle of returning.

 

If you rent, you have to pay for shipping to/from ($30) plus it's continuous days so your paying for sea days or the extra day for it to arrive at your house. Rental rate is like $10/day.

 

If you own, then you have select 24hr day passes that you pick and choose. It's nice to have when traveling whether on a cruise or not. The device is currently $99 on sale, facebook code: FB25 takes off another $25 plus they are giving away 5 free day passes with purchase so that is a great deal. That code can be used for rentals as well

[Kcruiser2014]

Thank you! I'll check it out.

[PhillyTravelBug]

What I do splurge on is:

1. Specially Restaurants- we have the dining package, but we love the different atmospheres and menus and is well worth it to us.

2. The casino and bingo- I usually save money for gambling. It's enjoyable, even though the odds are stacked against us.

3. Specialty coffees- since I don't drink, I love my fancy coffees.

 

What I don't splurge on:

1. Alcohol- I don't drink. When I did, I noticed the were usually weak and over-priced.

2. Spa- way over-priced

3. Room- I am usually fine with an inside room, but this will be my first time in a balcony. I feel like I have worked my ass off to pay for the extra cost of the room and I'm. It even sure we are going to make use of it besides our morning coffee and maybe a sunset.