Saving Money | TheIntelligentCruiser.com Cruise Blog

You are here: Home » saving money

Booking a Cruise is Like Buying a Car

Written by T.I. Cruiser on February 1, 2011 · 2 Comments

So you’ve just booked your first cruise and got one hell of a deal, congrats. The cruise, air and pre-cruise hotel all came in at much less than it would cost to take a land-based vacation. All is right in the world, or is it?

The truth is while you have been told that cruises are the best value one can get from their vacation dollar, this isn’t always the case. Really how great a deal you get is completely up to you. In my opinion the mere fact that you are asking about what extras are associated with cruising is a great thing.

Planning a vacation can be a lot like buying a car. You can get a great deal on basic transportation, but how many bells and whistles you add on to that package will really be the measuring stick to what can really be considered a great deal. Let me explain; about 7 years ago I bought a Hyundai Santa Fe. Although I love Range Rovers a luxury SUV was not in the budget. I’ve never been that flashy and I wasn’t in need of anything fancy, the safety and reliability reports on the Santa Fe fell in line with my expectations. I was able to talk the dealership into giving me a great deal so I bought it.

Two months later a woman I work with bought essentially the same car but with many more bells and whistles. At the time my main concern was keeping costs down so I decided I didn’t need things like heated mirrors and seats, premium sound, a moon roof or pin-striping (I refuse to pay an extra 200 dollars for pin-striping). Her needs were different than mine so she decided that she wanted all of those little extras. In the end the difference in cost ended was about 75 dollars a month or 4500 dollars over the course of the loan (less than the cost of a cruise). She needed to have the extras in order to make what she decided was a great purchase where I decided that getting a reliable vehicle for minimum cost was my goal. Neither of these approaches was right or wrong they were just different.

In many ways cruising is just like buying a car. Some people need to go to specialty restaurants every night and ship sponsored excursions every day, that isn’t me but once again neither approach is right or wrong. The approach you take will almost never be the same as the approach someone else takes.

Let’s say you book a cruise, airfare, parking and pre-cruise hotel for about 3000 dollars; completely doable, I’ve done it for much less. You’ll obviously need to spend money both onboard and off the ship, the amount of which is completely up to you. If you are a relatively conservative cruiser, a couple can easily get by on 100 dollars a day. This will allow you to hop in a taxi go see a couple of sites and finish of the day at the beach during port days. You should also be able to grab a cheap bottle of wine with dinner on that budget. On at sea days you can have a bottle of wine with dinner as well as a couple of poolside drinks, if that’s your thing. After paying tips and a couple of gifts for the people stuck back home your total cost will be less than 4000 dollars.

However, if you want to add bells and whistles like excursions (50-100 dollars or more each), specialty restaurants (20-30 dollars each), bingo (10 dollars a card) and gambling (whatever you are comfortable with) costs can quickly add up. Two excursions, a night at the specialty restaurant, bingo every night and a 100 dollar slot budget adds several hundred more dollars to your total. You have to budget for these things since unchecked costs can quickly add up.

What should you take from this post?

Different people prioritize things in different ways. No two cruisers are in exactly the same financial or spiritual situation. While I choose to hit a port with nothing more than a hundred dollars and a plan, I have friends who feel lost without a planned excursion in each port. When we get back to the ship to swap stories they have smiles on their faces every bit as big as the one I’m wearing. Although we took different paths to vacation nirvana, we both arrived safe, sound and happy as a drunken St. Kitts monkey. Don’t be coaxed into thinking there is some magical blueprint for the “right way” to cruise, stick to your values and your own budget and everything will be just fine.

Saving Money On The Ship By Not Doing Anything

Written by T.I. Cruiser on October 12, 2010 · Leave a Comment

Here is a list of ten minimal effort ways to save money on board a cruise ship. Most of them are common sense and none are groundbreaking but they are all pretty useful and will save you money. These are all low effort and most of them are no effort; they actually require that you DON’T take any action.

1. Don’t buy a soda card. – Although you may think buying a soda card is a great deal its not nearly as great a deal as drinking all the tea, punch, lemonade and water that was included in the price of your cruise. If you are someone who absolutely has to have soda, carry it onboard. Most cruise line will allow you to bring your favorite non-alcoholic beverage on board.

2. Don’t dine in the specialty restaurants. – Honestly, I love eating in the specialty restaurants but if I were planning to cruise on a budget, they would be among the first things to go. Cruise ships have so many eating options available that it doesn’t make a lot of sense to pay extra for another. While it is a nice experience to have a special evening out in the specialty restaurant it isn’t a requirement for having a great cruise. My most memorable dining experiences tend to be the in port local restaurants. You can almost always find an affordable hidden gem by asking a life guard, taxi driver or shop keeper for a recommendation.

3. Stay away from the Casino. – If you are trying to make your cruise as economical as possible the Casino is probably the last place you should visit. However, if you do decide to gamble on board a cruise ship make sure to set and stick to a limit on how much you can lose. While casino’s can be a lot of fun they are amongst the worst at providing bang for your buck. Since I have yet to find a system for consistently winning in a casino I tend to leave gambling to the experts and those with money to burn; saves me a fortune.

4. Don’t use the ship phones. – Do yourself a favor and avoid using the 10 dollar per minute ship phones at all costs but of you must use it be sure to dial the wrong number. A few years ago, I needed to make a call via the ships phone. On the first attempt, I accidentally dialed the wrong number, which ended up being a 10-dollar mistake. Even though international roaming charges will apply, if you wait until you are in port to make calls it will be much cheaper.

5. Stay away from the Art Auctions. – Well, you can go to the auctions for the free champagne, just don’t buy anything. In all honesty, do you know if that piece of art is actually worth 600 dollars? If the answer is no, you should probably leave the art auctions to people with actual knowledge. However, if do fall in love with a certain piece, see if you can find a cheap print of it. When you get home have it framed and matted and use the money you saved as a payment on your next cruise.

6. Stay away from the Spa. – While many will say spas and cruises go together like peanut butter and chocolate, just say no. Truthfully, compared to many land based spas the services are merely so-so but the costs are not. However, if you want to get a massage while on vacation I would never want to stand in your way, but I will tell you not to pay full price. Over the course of your cruise, there will be many opportunities to enjoy these services at a discounted price. Take advantage of these opportunities.

7. BYOM – Bring your own meds. If you find yourself in need of some Excedrin or Benedryl, you can find them in the ships gift shops. Just be prepared to pay about five times as much as you would at your local drug store. Do yourself a favor and put together a small “medical kit” before you leave home. Not only will this come in handy should you get sick but you will be a hero to your tablemates who aren’t smart enough to read this blog.

8. Don’t buy the premium coffee, ice cream or pastries. – The price of the cruise includes many things, food and drink are among them. On most cruise ships food and drink are so readily available that it really makes no sense to pay additional for the specialty coffee, pastries and ice cream. While some people are programmed to thinking cost is an indicator of quality, often times this isn’t true. In fact, unless you are a real foodie oftentimes you can’t tell much of a difference in the free and premium ice cream.

9. Don’t buy ship photos. – When I return home from a seven day cruise I usually have somewhere between three and five hundred photos on my camera. Therefore, my belief is, if I didn’t shoot it, than it wasn’t worth shooting. The only time I break this rule is if a formal night picture turns out especially well. That being said I do pose for every picture I get the opportunity to take, just in case one turns out so unbelievably well that it warrants the cost.

10. Don’t book ship sponsored shore excursions. – Excursions are the fastest way to (unless you are addicted to gambling) run up a huge shipboard account. While I don’t expect everyone to resist the urge to book an excursion through the ship, be selective in which ones you choose as some are better values than others are. In fact, if you do your homework you can find all of the excursions offered by the ships for a much lower cost by going straight to the excursion provider. Personally I like to just walk of the ship and find a little adventure on my own, especially if it is a port I am familiar with.

Using the Airlines Own Tactics to Get Free Tickets and Other Goodies

Written by T.I. Cruiser on September 7, 2010 · Leave a Comment

Airlines employ many shady practices in order to maximize their profits. One such tactic is to overbook their seats in hopes that some of those passengers will not show up. Airlines hate empty seats so this practice was created to ensure no plane flies below capacity.

Actually it isn’t a bad plan, you sell more tickets than you have seats and if someone doesn’t show up you either get ticket change fees (if it was planned) or you get to keep the full price of the ticket (in the case of a no show). If everyone does show up its still not a problem because you can just “Bump” some of those passengers to another flight.

What is bumping?

Bumping occurs when a flight is oversold and everyone shows up ready to take to the air. Since airplanes don’t have a standing room only seating plan, not everyone can board. Those passengers who are denied the ability to board the flight are considered “bumped”.

The good news is the Department of Transportation requires airlines to first take volunteers before involuntarily changing passengers flights. Now, before you start asking why anyone would volunteer to delay their vacation because of some stupid greed inspired airline policy; simply put, volunteers get hooked up. Free flights, meal vouchers, first-class upgrades and more are often dangled as a carrot to entice passengers to volunteer.

This of course has prompted some travelers to use bumping practices to their advantage. I have been bumped a few times but never as a matter of strategy, however that may be changing in the future. If you are someone who wants to use “bumping” to your benefit here are a few tips.

Tips for getting bumped

Although most instances of bumping occur because you just happen to stumble into the right situation, there are things you can do to increase your chances:

Figure out which flights are most frequently overbooked – There is a certain flight I know about which goes to a cruise port that is always overbooked with business travelers. Once you find one of those flights you are golden. Over-booked flights tend to be those frequented by business travelers, pre and post flight holiday flights, and your most popular flights (especially non-stop flights).

Arrive Early - You will want to arrive early because if you arrive after boarding begins consider yourself bumped, sans perks; this is considered forfeiting your confirmation. Usually airlines want you to arrive 30 minutes before your scheduled departure any arrivals after that can be bumped without any sort of compensation heading your way.

Make friends with the gate attendants – A friendly smile and polite word will often get you very far. When you arrive at the gate, approach the gate attendants and politely introduce yourself. Let it be known to the attendants that you would be willing to volunteer if the flight is overbooked and stay within earshot.

Evaluate the payoff – Any time I have been “bumped” I ended up getting (generous) free meal vouchers and a free flight to anywhere in the Continental United States (no blackout dates); my delays were between 2 and 4 hours. Perks aren’t always the same so make sure you understand what you are getting before you give up your seat on the plane.

If the package they are offering isn’t sweet enough feel free to ask for more; you never know until you ask. The bulk of your compensation will almost always be in the form of another ticket; you should always ask about the restrictions on this ticket. How long is the ticket or voucher good for? Are there any blackout periods where you won’t be able to use this ticket? Can this ticket be used for international flights?

While I do understand this practice isn’t for everyone, I figured I would just float this out there for those who don’t mind being a bit more flexible in their travel plans. The main thing you have to take into account is how important it is for you to get where you are supposed to be at the time you are supposed to be there. If you are able to take advantage of “bumping” it could be quite a boon.