What's the real cost of going on a Princess Cruise?
I'm Gary Bembridge of Tips for Travellers. I'm on board the Royal Princess and in
this video I'm going to talk about what's included in your fare and what's
not included in your fare. So what is included in your fare? First of all your
accommodation, whatever type of cabin you've booked whether that's an inside
cabin right through to a suite. The second thing that's included is your
food. You're able to eat pretty much 24 hours a day within your fare. So
what's covered is your breakfast, your lunch and your dinner. You can eat
your dinner in one of the included dining rooms. So, for example, on the Royal
Princess you have the Symphony, the Allegro and you have the Concerto. You
also have the Horizon Court, which is a buffet dining restaurant. You have
24-hour room service and also you have afternoon tea. There's a 24-hour dining
option which is called the International Cafe down in the Atrium, and there is food
appropriate to the time of day served here. You'll also get iced tea, lemonade,
water and non-specialty coffees and teas included within your fare. The third
thing that's included is your entertainment. Every night in the
theater there's a big production show or a guest entertainer. There's a number of
events, including the Captain's Welcome Champagne Waterfall reception. Out on
deck there's Movies Under The Stars. There's also a daily programme full of
events which are in the morning, the afternoon and the evening. This could
range from all sorts of things like quizzes, trivia, ice carving
demonstrations, culinary demonstrations. There'll also be a whole series of
enrichment activities so, for example, there might be a guest lecturer talking
about the ports or history around the places that you're visiting. The fourth
thing that's included is access to pretty much all of the facilities and
amenities on board. You can use the swimming pools, go to the library, you can
course use all the bars, you can go to the clubs. The fifth thing that's
included in your fare is a whole lot of fitness activities. There's a very
large and expansive fitness center, there's also a running track for example
on the Royal Princess, there are free Zumba classes held in the atrium and
there are sports decks and various activities and events throughout the day
on the daily programme. The sixth thing that's included is the
Kids' clubs. There's a number of Kids' Clubs and they're zoned around
different age groups. There will be programs run in the morning, the
afternoon and the evenings. There are a few things that are additional charge so
for example if you want late night babysitting there is a charge for that. So
then what's not included in your fare? What are you likely to be spending on
top of your fare once you're on your cruise? The first thing that's not
included in your fare are gratuities. If you're booking
your fare and traveling from Australia your gratuities will actually be
included within the overall fare, however if you're traveling from somewhere else
and if you've booked your fare from somewhere else there will be gratuities
to pay. You can either pay these in advance before you board the ship or
they will be Auto added on to your bill on board. The gratuities at the time
of recording range from $13.50 for an inside cabin or an ocean view or a balcony up to $15.50
per person if you're in a suite. These gratuities cover everybody on
board with the following exceptions: when you buy drinks at any of the bars or
clubs you will have a 15% gratuity added and if you use the spa you will also
have 15% added. The youth club members and the casino do not share in
the gratuity, so if you want to tip those people separately then you need to do
that because it's not included within your gratuities. Now the second thing to
think about that's not including your fare is drink. As I mentioned there are
some drinks on board (so non specialty teas and coffees included, lemonade ,iced
tea and water is included) however if you want to drink anything else - whether it's
alcohol, beer, spirits, soft drinks - you're going to pay for those on board. Now
what's very important is, you're allowed to bring onboard one bottle of wine or
champagne.Nothing else. You're can't bring on board beers or spirits
and your luggage will be screened and even if you buy it when you
head out on excursions you will not be allowed to bring that on board. It will
be kept to one side and given to you at the end of the cruise. What is on offer
is a number of different drinks packages. So if you thinking about drinking on
board, whether it's alcohol, soft drinks or you want specialty coffees, take a
look at the various drinks packages that are available and see if that's going to
save you money versus paying for them at ad hoc. There are a number of different
packages and these include beer only packages, soft drink
only packages and then ultimately there is an Premier Package which costs $59.99
per person per day at the time of recording, and this includes
cocktails, wine, beer, bottled water, tea, fountain soda. So look at
the different drinks packages and work out if that's one way of saving you
money. The third thing to think about is excursions. You're going to be calling
at lots of different ports and you probably want to go and explore those
ports. Excursions can range from relatively inexpensive excursions you know $20, $30 $40
dollars right through to very expensive excursions which could cost hundreds of
dollars. For example in Alaska many of the excursions are very expensive but in the
Caribbean it may be less expensive. So it's very important to take a look at
the ports you are calling on and look at the different excursions and what that could
cost. You have a number of options. One of which you can use the cruise line
excursions. The big plus of those is that if any of them run late the ship will
wait for you. You can use independent providers. Of course you can then self
explore and use things like hop-on hop-off busses. The other thing that's important
to note is Princess Cruises will normally run a shuttle bus to the
nearest town if it's not walkable. There is normally though a charge for that
shuttle bus. The next area that may cost you money is dining. I've
already mentioned that you can pretty much eat 24 hours a day on board within
your fare. However there is a number of specialty dining options onboard and
they do have costs associated with them. So perhaps if you're on board for a
special event (a birthday or an anniversary) you may want to go to one of
those speciality restaurants. They can cost anything from around $30 per
person. Some of the speciality dining restaurants includes
things like Sabatini's (an Italian restaurant), the Ocean Terrace Seafood Bar,
Crab Shack, the Crown Grill which is a steak and seafood
restaurant. Gelato! You can get free soft-serve ice cream up in the Horizon
Court but if you want specific gelato... I often get asked by people if Wi-Fi
is included on cruises. The answer on Princess is it is not, with a slight
exception if you're one of their premium passengers and have a lot of loyalty
there's various incentives and discounts. There are various packages that you can
buy which can range from about a hundred minutes for about $69. If you were buying
just a pay-as-you-go it can cost as much as 75 cents a minute! Now the
next area is something I get asked about a lot and that's laundry and dry
cleaning. On Princess if you're in a suite you do have laundry and dry
cleaning included, however for most people it is not included. The great
news is there are laundry rooms dotted around the ship and these are pretty large.
There is a cost for using them but it's not very much. The next thing to
think about is a whole bunch of things that you're going to be encouraged to
spend money on board. Things like the spa or you may want to go to the very
large casino, there's also a lot of shops on board Princess Cruises ranging from
watches, clothing, branded merchandise, chocolates. One of the very popular
things that people do spend money on board and often don't budget for is
photographs. At various formal events and parties the photography team
will come around and take pictures and when you are boarding or when you get off at
different ports - and a lot of people like to buy the photographs and they are
relatively expensive. I also often get asked if fitness classes are included
in your fare. The answer is largely no. You have access to the fitness center
and you have your Zumba classes which are completely free, however other
classes there is a charge for. One very important thing that you do need to
bear in mind it that's not including your fare, and it's something you
probably don't want to think about, is medical. There is a very well manned
Medical Center on board but if you go to the Medical Center it's as relatively
expensive. It's a bit like a private health care. If you fall very ill and
have to get evacuated that could be very expensive. There is potentially a
very large medical bill that's not included in your fare. So one of the
things you should absolutely do, I believe, is take out travel insurance.
When you take out travel insurance make sure that it covers cruises, because if
there is a major issue and they need to get you off the ship and you have to be
evacuated and left behind in a port with you and your family, you can have to look
after yourself ...and you can have to work out how you get repatriated at home. I'd
strongly recommend make sure you take our travel insurance. When you go on a
Princess Cruise your fare covers a lot of things: your accommodation, you can eat
24 hours a day, there's lots of access to facilities, there's lots of things that
are included but there's also a whole bunch
things that are not included within your fare. When you go on a Princess Cruise
bear in mind the fare is not the real and final cost of going on a Princess
cruise. There is a whole bunch of other costs depending on how you like to
cruise, what you like to spend your money on, what you like to drink, how much
you want a party, how much want to use Wi-Fi. That could
be different and change by individual but that's the real cost of a Princess
cruise. Look what the fare includes and all of those nine things and decide how
many of them you're likely to want to use - that's going to become the real cost
of your Princess Cruise. I hope you found this helpful if you did I'd love it if
you liked the video but, most important of all, please watch my other videos
about Princess Cruises and subscribe to Tips For Travellers and
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