We took our first cruise a few weeks ago and I was left full of amazing experiences and memories and a very empty wallet. No, I did not get pick pocketed in Rome or Naples (but beware, both places are notorious for that!) but I did often find myself constantly pulling out my wallet to pay for something which is definitely not something I expected on an “all-inclusive cruise.”
TLDR (but please do read the rest), the cruise cost a total of…$6,938.61.
How?! And were you expecting that? I definitely wasn’t. Here’s the full breakdown of expenses, and a summary below by category of how the money was spent.
Overall, the things that caught me off guard on the cruise – transportation from the boat to the city center or attractions are never included in a cruise. The ship docks at a cruise terminal and you are responsible for getting from point A to point B. In my mind I thought it would dock like a ferry would – right in the heart of the town we were visiting, but instead it docked in a terminal like an airplane at an airport. There’s nothing close to the terminal and the city center wasn’t always walkable since most ports are working ports and don’t allow pedestrians (at least that’s how it was for this specific cruise).
Outside of our flights, we spent nearly $500 on transportation off of the boat. From taxis and shuttle buses, to trains, Bird scooters and rental cars, we took every form of transportation imaginable and it came at a cost.
Nearly 7% of total expenses, and 34% of expenses excluding the cruise and flights were attributed to transportation.
CASSIE DOWLING, WANDERLUSTLETSGO
Another category to be mindful of on the cruise are all of the “extras” not included in the cruise. This includes internet. I was shocked to find out internet was not included with Royal Caribbean, but that’s just because I’m a noob to cruises. This is standard across many cruise lines. For our ship, it cost $36.58 per day per device for internet. We only got internet on our one cruising day but that totaled nearly $80 for the day. Imagine if you got internet for the entire duration of the cruise – that would cost $560 for just two devices for one week!
Most cruise excursions cost between $129-$500 per person, and if you book an excursion each day, likely for peace of mind and ease of travel, it comes at a very high cost.
Lastly, book your flights for your cruise EARLY, especially when flying international. Because of a passport issue, we played it safe with fully refundable flights on a reputable airline which came at a premium price (an extra $250 per person). Typically we get basic fare, but we chose main cabin + refundable flights in case our passport issue was unresolved prior to our trip.
This was probably the MOST EXPENSIVE trip we have ever been on, and there are definitely ways to travel more economically, this trip just wasn’t it.
Travel can be expensive, and if unprepared, like us, can get super costly. My tips for avoiding high costs in general, not just for a cruise:
Carpool! By the end of our cruise we started sharing taxis with people going to the same places and we were able to spend less money per person than if we booked a taxi on our own
Don’t fall for the excursions you can self-pace or do on your own. You don’t need a guide to take you from Naples to Capri – book the ferry on your own and save your money for your own tailored experiences
Use HomeExchange.com if you want to save on accommodations – they offer reciprocal or guest points exchanges and can really be a life hack if you work remotely. This can save you on the big category of paying for hotels or Airbnbs. If you’re new to the platform use code cassie-f05b8 which will give you an extra 250 GuestPoints to use on a future stay.
