I going to talk about 7 things I've learnt (usually the hard way)
that we can save money on our cruises. Leaving us more to spend on the things that do matter.
If you are new to the channel, welcome aboard. I am Gary Bembridge and I am here to help make
it easier to find, plan and have amazing cruise vacations. With that in mind, let's get going.
The first mistake I learnt was that not regularly checking cruise fares
after booking could be costing us all a sizeable amount of cash.
Since tracking fare, I managed to get lots of benefit like an upgrade from an entry level
suite on Cunard to one of the glitzy Penthouse suites, upgrades from oceanview into premium
balcony cabins on other lines and have had had my On-Board Credit boosted a few times.
All by by keeping an eye on fare changes for the cabin grade I booked.
If the line drops the fare for the cabin grade I have booked, I get my agent,
(or when I used to book direct get onto the cruise line myself), to point out that we see your grade
is now being sold cheaper, and ask what will they do for me. Hence the results I mentioned.
However, if you do this and they say nothing
and you have a refundable fare then say you want to cancel and rebook at the lower
fare. Then more often, they will then start offering those upgrades or on-board credits.
The way I track fares is by first by signing up for the cruise line marketing emails, and if
they start promoting deals that cover my booked cruise I go in and check if
now cheaper. But it is much easier is to use one of the websites that will track all this.
There are a few options but the best by far,
in my view, and the one I use is the free one by https://www.cruisewatch.com/cruise-price-alerts
You can sign up for a free account and select your cruise
and set some parameters (like grade of cabin and you can even specify exact grade in most cases).
You will get email alerts when prices change. So you can also track cruises you are interested in
to let you know if prices are going up or down - helping decide when to book.
Not tracking their fare is one mistake too many cruise passengers make.
In my experience, almost every on-board activity that you have to pay for, so things like Wi-Fi,
drinks packages, speciality dining and
spa, will be cheaper if you buy it online in "Manage My Cruise" in advance.
The lines want to get us to lock these in and, of course, get us to pay for them up front. I
always check what promotions and offers they have versus the regular on-board price listed.
The advantage is also that I can lock things like spa and dining and get the popular days and times
which will usually be gone by time I get on the ship.
Again, if I get on the ship and they are discounting deeper than I paid.
I will go and ask what they will do. I often find they will then adjust in some way
Not checking and buying add-ons before boarding is another mistake to avoid
One area that lines do not often discount in advance are their excursions. Though some will
offer packages, so if you book a certain number the price overall is lower. But not that often.
There are two mistakes cruisers make on excursions.
First, if there are any I really want to do, then I will book them in advance anyway even if not
cheaper - just in case they are sold out by time I board. I learnt this the hard way a few times.
So, although I may not save money directly , I will not be disappointed.
But more important, I always compare cruise line excursions with alternatives. These include
private independent local tour guides, but easier is with one of the cruise excursion providers.
They almost always have all the standard and popular cruise line excursions,
as well as some more unusual ones. But they will always be cheaper and have smaller group sizes.
The two that I look at are CruisingExcursions.com and ShoreExcursionsgroup.com
You input your cruise ship and dates, and they show your itinerary and all the tours port by
port. They also have a guarantee to get passengers back to the ship
before all-aboard and departure time, and they will cover getting you to rejoin the
ship if they do not. Of course, double check that if using them when you book.
Bearing in mind that you can easily spend hundreds of dollars on excursions, and even
more if going to places like Alaska, not checking your alternatives could be very costly indeed.
One reminder is that one very costly mistake is missing the ship departure
in a port. The line will only wait for their own excursions, and so if you decide to save money
by only self touring - be really careful and cautious about getting back in time.
Not researching and planning excursions before a cruise is, in my view, a big mistake. Especially
as then you are more likely to only have the more costly line options open to you.
On easy mistake I often point out to people heading off in a cruise
is that they are not taking the alcohol, water or soda allowance
on board, especially if they are not buying a drink package.
Every line allows you to bring a certain amount of drink onto the ship,
such as two bottles of wine. Check what you can bring as that will save you some money for sure.
Falling into a habit of double tipping has cost me a small fortune
over all the cruises I have done. This is more tricky than the others and you
need to decide if this is a cost you want to have or not have. There is a case for both.
Gratuities for the crew, as most the lines call them, are usually set by the line
at a rate per day - which can be $15 or more per person per day.
They usually give us the option to either pay them before travelling with final balance payment
or have them added to the account on board. So that is between about $210 to $250 per
couple per week. Of course, some lines now include them in the fare (much of
the ultra-luxury lines do and now also lines like Celebrity and P&O Cruises).
However, I always feel bad not handing over a gratuity at the end of the cruise. Partly
as it was that way when I started cruising when lines would leave envelopes
to put cash in give to your steward and waiting staff.
So, I end up double tipping. Just how much this mounts up to across all my cruises came
into sharp focus when we were on 10 weeks of a world cruise and realised we had through
auto-charge paid a heft sum and were about to pay that again.
Now, great service and relationships may mean you want to double tip. But this could
be costing you a fortune, and so decide what you feel most comfortable with and budget it.
I tend to extra tip above the fixed charge but it is not double.
This next one is potentially the most costly mistake of all.
Many see it as a cost,
but it could save a lot of money - and that is proper cruise travel insurance.
Post the pandemic, not having it may not be an option anyway as many lines are now requiring
it to be shown at boarding, versus just declaring you had it in the online check in process.
Those lines say they will deny boarding without it. They are asking for it to have three elements:
be cruise specific (as that includes elements like emergency evacuation from
ship and repatriation usually), have certain minimum medical cover limits
(around US$3 million) and cover Covid-related issue and illness.
So, not having it may cost a lot if you are denied boarding in lost travel costs,
and based on refund policy, your cruise costs.
But more important, if something goes wrong you could be thousands out of pocket.
Take it out when you book, and ensure it has "cancel for any reason" if you can.
Then if you cannot go you do lose deposits.
If you fall ill or injure yourself and have to go into a hospital in a foreign port,
in addition to the on-board medical costs you will have to cover all local costs
and getting yourself home. The lines will not assist financially, or likely even logistically.
A couple, who were travel bloggers, I knew were on a trip in South America, and the husband
slipped and very badly damaged his back on an excursion. He had to eventually be flown back
to the United States on a private medical evacuation. His costs were over $150,000.
But as they had insurance this was covered.
Another traveller on part of the Cunard World Cruise we did in 2016,
was hit by a car crossing the road outside the port in Honolulu Hawaii. He broke his leg and
had to go into hospital. He and travel companion were disembarked and had to then sort out medical
and getting back to the UK once he was able to travel. Enormous costs, but they were insured.
None of us plan to get ill or injure ourselves on a trip.
But it happens. The cost is worth it. This easy-to-do thing could save you you vast
life-changing amounts. Don't make the mistake of not having it.
One simple and silly mistake I made cost me just over $200 a couple of cruises back.
Showing how you need to keep ahead and on the ball with all of these.
This was not getting sticking to the habit of putting my phone
into "Airplane Mode" as I boarded the ship.
If not in airplane mode, when sailing, your phone will connect to the ships' satellite
phone service, which are services like Telenor Maritime and Cellular At Sea.
These will cost around US$2.70 per minute to send and receive calls, and much more for data.
Your phone will connects to a local provider when you get into port. Again,
depending on the roaming deals with your provider, charges could be as high.
I forgot on that Caribbean cruise, and my phone was using the cruise satellite
to update Apps and run email in the background. I only realised when we came into
port after two sea days and the local provider sent a text message saying I was connected.
After I had run up a $200 bill on my phone - for no benefit.
What do I do to stay in touch? Many ships now have incredible Wi-Fi, and increasingly it is
being bundled into the fare, or at decent rates. I now have a package to stay connected all the time
and use it to do iMessage and then WhatsApp or Facetime video calls home, it is that good.
And means I am controlling the costs.
If you want more tips on saving money cruising I have put together a shirt playlist
of two video I really think will help. So, click and watch those right now