Like I mentioned yesterday while the bulk of the costs associated with cruising is taken up by the costs of getting to and getting on the ship, it’s the extras that determine whether you end up with an economical vacation or something very different. One of the funny things about vacation is once we get out of our regular lives we enter this spare no expense mindset that we are forced to deal with once we get back to our real lives.
Shore Excursions – Other than the actual cost of boarding the ship cruise excursions are likely to be one of the largest extra cost items you will have. Like I’ve mentioned before these can cost anywhere from 25 dollars into the hundreds. I tend to avoid them but there are times where I see one that seems really good and when that situation occurs I don’t hesitate to jump on it. You shouldn’t hesitate either, some of them are great. However, when you book these excursions you must do so with costs in mind. If you are on a seven day cruise with 4 ports, booking an excursion each day can cost nearly as much as your stateroom. What you need to do is set your budget before you look at the list of excursions. This will give you an accurate reading on what you can really afford. If you wait until after you see the list you may start to rationalize things which can get you in trouble down the road.
Photos – On any of the main stream cruise lines there will be dozens of photographers taking photo after photo. While the ship photographers won’t be confused with Annie Leibovitz, Pete Souza or Gilles Bensimon they are all well versed at making you look good. Chances are you will see somewhere between 6 and 10 photos you would like to purchase. If you budget to buy them all, more power to you. However, if you get roped into buying those photos you will be looking at a roughly 200 dollars just in pictures. My advice to you is to set a number on how many pictures you will purchase before you get to the ship. Another tip is to wait until later in the cruise to buy those pictures, if you start buying early in the cruise you may get tempted to overspend if you see some “really good” ones on days 4, 5 and 6.
Drinks – There are no two ways about it, drinks onboard cruise ships are expensive. Depending on the cruise line you may be spending about 7 dollars per drink and those have varying amounts of alcohol. If you want to maximize the amount of alcohol for your dollar your best bet is either beer or wine. The alcohol content in these beverages is constant unlike the umbrella drinks. In fact, I find that getting one of the wine packages on the first night of the cruise tends to be a great value. Of course if you want to really maximize your vacation dollar you can always bring onboard your own booze.
Gambling – I love when I meet people who claim to be “good” gamblers. Unless you are into some seriously illegal stuff, there is no such thing as a good gambler. The exception to this rule is if you are playing poker or another game which pits you against other human players. The rest of the games played in the casino are games of chance, hence the word gambling. While you may get lucky occasionally make no mistake about it, the odds are against you. If you are a gambler do so with the understanding that you probably will not win. This includes playing bingo on the ship. Your best bet is to set a limit to the amount you will spend gambling and stick to that budget. I would go even further and say if you do happen to win big at some point, avoid the casino for the rest of the cruise.
Specialty Restaurants – Since the amount of food one can eat is usually limited by either waistband or time the danger of overspending here isn’t as great as the others but it does still exist. At 25 dollars a person, dining in specialty restaurants can get expensive. The food at the buffets and in the dining rooms is included in the cost of your cruise, take advantage of them. I’m not saying you should avoid the specialty restaurants at all costs. What I am saying is you should be conscience of what you are doing. I usually do one night at a specialty restaurant during seven day cruises. I have also learned to do my special night towards the end of the cruise. I’ve found that if I book a specialty restaurant at the beginning of the cruise I end up going again towards the end.
My philosophy on cruising is there is no one way to do it. All this post is meant to do is inform or remind my fellow cruisers of some of the pitfalls that I have stumbled into in the past. This isn’t to say don’t do this or don’t do that. My message is do what you want, but plan and make sure when you choose to do something it won’t come back to bite you when you get your end of cruise statement. It’s not uncommon for normally budget conscience cruisers (especially newbie’s) to get “doe eyed” once they board the ship. We all have weaknesses and at times we all will let our guards, the key is to not let things get too out of control.
