Hidden costs of cruising?

We're thinking of cruising for the first time in March 2016. We're a family of six which is making things a little tricky. I'm assuming we will need two rooms. I'm concerned though about any hidden costs we may have. Are tips added into the cost or added on later? Any other costs I should know about besides the obvious like excursions, spas and shopping? What about parking fees?

Currently we're thinking about a four night cruise out of Orlando or Tampa. Both on Royal Cruise lines. We're thinking of booking through vacations to go. Any issues with them I should be concerned with? Or any other TA I should check out?

I appreciate any help here. This is all so foreign to me. I'm wondering too if we go off shore what ID would we all need to take to get back on the boat. My fear is someone's will get lost!

many royal caribbean ships have rooms for 5-6 passengers, but they are not available online - you have to call to get pricing. sometimes (usually) they are cheaper than two rooms, sometimes getting two connecting rooms is cheaper.

the only for-sure extra cost is tips, which are $12 or $13/per person per day (they just raised them and i can't remember - i think they are $13 now). tips are charged for everyone, even babies or toddlers.

parking at most ports is between $15-20 per night. at port canaveral (near orlando) it's $20. there is off-site parking at most ports that is about half the price, but you have to take a shuttle to the port and back - for a 4-nighter with 6 people, it may or may not be worth it.

spa, excursions, and souvenirs do cost extra, but there is plenty of free stuff to do on the ship - i've had trips where my extras totalled $5 other than tips. being that it's your first cruise, assume you will want some souvenirs - there's expensive stuff, but plenty of cheap stuff, too; there's usually a t-shirt sale one day where shirts are $10, and usually the ships sell pandora charm bracelet knockoffs that are fairly inexpensive, as well as magnets, mugs, toy ships, and that sort of thing. depending on where you go, if the ship-sponsored excursions are very expensive you may be able to find your own excursions cheaper by doing some online research on tour guides etc.

alcohol, sodas, and specialty drinks (frappuccinos, virgin cocktails) are also extra. if you are soda or alcohol drinkers, royal has packages you can purchase which might make it cheaper. there are also specialty restaurants which cost more for dinner. if you plan on eating at 3 or more of those, royal has started to introduce packages for those, also. that said, the main dining room food is good, and on a four-night cruise, there's probably no need for a specialty restaurant if you're trying to watch your spending.

i book directly with royal, so don't know anything about vacations to go. i'd just do some online research, and maybe check chris elliott's website (he's a travel writer who helps people with complaints) and maybe the better business bureau (though there are bound to be at least some complaints for any big travel company). policy on the disboards is that we can't recommend travel agents, as the site is run by a travel agency.

to get back on the ship you need your seapass cards (those are your room key cards) and a photo id for adults - we just use our licenses. passports stay locked up in the room safe for the duration of the trip. i believe kids don't need the photo id, but i'm not sure of the policy as we don't have kids.

i hope that helps!

Yes that does! Thank you.

Sometimes larger agencies odfer extra things by using them. Costco, AAA, etc may give u a voucher for a free meal at a surcharge restaurant. A bottle of wine in your stateroom. Or addtl onboard credit. Etc..

When your kids find the kid's game room, watch out! $$$$

Always plan a little extra in your budget for last minute things. For example, when was the last time you had the whole family together and dressed nice for a family picture with the ship in the background? Not only will they offer portrait pictures, but they will take lots of candid shots that you may really want.

One thing I would highly suggest is trip cancellation/interruption insurance. From personal experience (twice), you will not regret it.

What does that $13 for tips include? Is that just dining? Does it cover housekeeping as well? Are there people who should be tipped in addition?

The tips cover the Stateroom host (aka housekeeping), the Head Waiter, Waiter and Junior Waiter. I don't know the exact breakdown but I would guess that on a $12 per person per day tip, it breaks down:

$4 Stateroom Host
$1 Head Waiter
$4 Waiter
$3 Junior Waiter

You can, of course, tip over and above, and if you'd like you can go to guest services and adjust the amounts.

As for others that should be tipped, I always recommend tipping the dealer when playing table games.

Bartender and room service are the only ones on board we tip that haven't already been mentioned. Tips to the tour guide are common on shore excursions.

starvenger said:

You can, of course, tip over and above, and if you'd like you can go to guest services and adjust the amounts.

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We did tip the Stateroom host additional for exceptional service. We handed it directly to her on our last day.

Baklava said:

What does that $13 for tips include? Is that just dining? Does it cover housekeeping as well? Are there people who should be tipped in addition?

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Sometimes you may feel you want to give an extra tip for exceptional service. On our last B2B cruises, we had such a great server on the first cruise, that we asked to have her on the second cruise. During the second cruise, she overheard the table's discussion on how great it would be to have apple pie and ice cream for dessert on the 4th of July. Low and behold we were the only table in the MDR that had warm apple pie and ice cream for dessert (in addition to the regular dessert). Each party at our table made sure we had envelopes with an extra tip. Does RCCL still call that being "WOWed"?

The hidden cost of any cruise is your bar tab (assuming you drink alcohol). The prices are at a premium but not quite football stadium prices. And the tip is already included on your receipt which is easy to overlook when you've had a few and you see the "additional" tip line. Even a modest 2 beers at night will add up quickly. At dinner, never order a glass of wine. They barely fill it halfway (which is appropriate I know but not for that price). If you order a bottle they will store it until you finish it.

There are soda packages available if you don't want ice water and tea all week. I recommend getting at least one of those. It pays for itself pretty quickly. One package includes water bottles for taking on excursions. I think that makes the most sense. I think that one included nonalcoholic frozen drinks too. My 4 year old LOVED strawberry daiquiris with mom. She thought she was hot stuff.

Book your excursions ahead of time. That gives you the cost upfront and all the popular ones will be full if you wait until you're on the ship. The Spa can book quickly too. They recommend making an appointment before you even find your room.

I would say to book directly through Royal too. Then keep an eye on room upgrade deals and other sales. RCCL has always been very good to us about changing our package to get the better deal or room.

I despise how they've changed tipping. We had a very routine schedule during our last cruise and our stateroom attendant just could not figure it out. It was extremely annoying to keep coming back to an unmade bed and her asking us when we were leaving again for dinner. One time she actually asked us to leave the room so she could tidy up. I mean "first world" problems and all but you do pay a heck of a lot of money for the room. I don't like being asked to leave for housekeeping when I just got back from spending 2 or 3 hours at the pool. And there were never any towel animals for the kids. I would have tipped her much less than the automatic payment.

We did have two outstanding waiters at dinner. I gladly tipped them some extra cash at the end of trip. Seeing their faces light up when you hand them the old fashioned tipping envelop makes it worth while. They always had our picky eaters figured out. One day I complained (jokingly really) that they never had chocolate chip cookies on the promenade anymore. So every night afterwards he handed me a plate of chocolate chip cookies. Our assistant waiter worked in the windjammer for breakfast. She would always bring the kids milk right away and offer to watch them while my wife went to the buffet lines (I usually slept in). It was great for her.

One other cool thing is most people don't realize is how early the ship opens up. If you get to the port early you: beat the long lines, have a free buffet lunch, and get another half day at the pool. Take advantage of it!

moericus said:

One other cool thing is most people don't realize is how early the ship opens up. If you get to the port early you: beat the long lines, have a free buffet lunch, and get another half day at the pool. Take advantage of it!

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Add to that how great the ship is when everyone else is in port. You get a quiet ship, unlimited choice of deck chairs, bar service on demand, etc.

Laz said:

Add to that how great the ship is when everyone else is in port. You get a quiet ship, unlimited choice of deck chairs, bar service on demand, etc.

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Our last cruise was on the Independence of the Seas. They have a big waterpark and there were almost always open chairs there. I mean we would have sat there anyway with the kids... but I thought it was funny how many adults avoided the place like the plague. They were packed like sardines on the adult side and it was much noisier over there. Meanwhile I was on the "kiddie" side quietly reading my book. And the bar service was much quicker as you can imagine.

Don't book directly with a cruise line. There are "reverse bid" sites, such as cruisecompete.com that will give you TAs that will give y a better deal. Sometimes it is a special group rate that the TA has. Other times the TA will give you the same fare as the cruise line but will save you money by giving you either something free or on board credits.

Tips have been pretty thoroughly covered, so I'll ignore them.

You're wise to ask this question rather than assuming (incorrectly) that cruises are all-inclusive; I've heard of too many people making that mistake. Things we pay:

- Birth certificate or passport; of course, you probably have birth certificates around the house, but don't wait 'til the last minute.
- Parking, unless the night-before hotel offers free parking
- Transportation to your port city
- Meals on the road
- Night-before hotel; we're 8 hours from our favorite port, and we would never plan to travel the day of embarkation -- too many things could happen that could cause us to miss our ship
- Insurance; we buy online rather than using the cruise line's insurance -- since we drive, we don't pay for lost luggage insurance, etc. -- we only pay for trip interruption and medical evac. The price difference is huge.
- Tip to the porters who take our bags onto the ship; no, everyone doesn't do this, but my luggage has always arrived fast and in good condition.
- Shore excursions; we splurge a bit here, thinking experiences are worthwhile -- but we would never use a ship's excursion.

Optional spends:

- Alcohol -- either individual glasses or a drink package
- Specialty restaurants for dinner
- Cupcakes and a few other fee-based treats
- Fresh squeezed juice or specialty coffee
- The casino
- The spa and beauty parlor
- The art auction
- Bingo

We use Vacations to Go for all cruises except Disney and they have been great - we have not had a single problem and we enjoy the extra OBC they give - I think our Allure cruise coming up on 40 days we each got a $100 OBC - so in my room with three of use we got $300. Once it is booked you can still call Royal Caribbean directly and ask them anything you want or book things like dining etc with them (or you can do it online - I was having trouble getting it to work and they did it all for me). We don't use Vacations to Go with Disney because there is no benefit - Disney does not allow travel agents to give perks like OBC.

Minnie321 said:

Disney does not allow travel agents to give perks like OBC.

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? Sure they do. The owner/sponsor of the Dis, Dreams Unlimited, often has OBC with DCL. I tend to book through costcotravel.com, and while they don't do OBC for DCL, they send a very generous (usually about 8% of the fare) Costco cash card shortly after the end of the cruise. Same agency does do OBC for royal, and we are looking forward to spending ours in March on Freedom.