Question by Theres Sh1t in my teabag: are cruises considered all inclusive?
Hi everyone. my question is simple, all that i am wondering is if when you go on a cruise, and you book it, are all cruise vacations all inclusive. If not, when you book a cruise, for instance they have deal for december, for four nights, and $ 200 a person, when amenities are included. Do i get all he meals and drink for free? Really all I care about, is if I go on a cruise, do I get free food and drink, or do I have to pay a tab?
Best answer:
Answer by TINKERTOY ….. the 1 & only
YES, almost all inclusive. The two biggest expenses after you book are alcoholic beverage and tips at the end of the cruise. But, here’s the deal in full.
When you pay for your cruise it includes all of your meals, breakfast, lunch dinner, snacks, and free room service; you can use all of the facilities on ship like the gym, rock climbing wall, pools and hot tubs, water slide, etc, and all of the shows and the disco and lounges are free also. You get free coffee, tea, milk, juices, and punch but you have to pay for alcoholic beverages and soft drinks. So take along with you (if you can get it before you board the ship) a 6-pack of soft drinks and a 6-pack of bottled water. Ask the cabin steward to take the stuff out of the mini-refrig in your cabin so you can put your water/soft drinks in there; they will. Cruise lines other than Royal Caribbean allow each passenger age 21 or older to bring on board at the departure port one bottle of wine or champagne. So bring one or two for your cabin.
The people that you are requested/required to tip would be the cabin steward, waiter and assistant waiter, and head waiter/matreD. The total of these tips will be $ 10 to $ 12 per day per person, depending upon which cruise line. Any alcoholic drink, or soft drink, that you buy on ship will have a 15% gratuity added automatically to the check that you sign. Your on-board bill for drinks, tour, and tips, etc, will be settled at the end of your cruise.
Most cruise lines will push drinks on you, especially the first couple days. Don’t think you have to buy drinks to have fun. If you don’t drink all day at home or on other vacations, then don’t drink all day on ship. Plus you’ll quickly run up a very high drinking bill. Then, buy the drink of the day which is usually about cheaper, by at least a dollar or more. Also ask for your drinks in a plain glass rather than the souvenir glasses they will be offering. This will save you about $ 1.50 per drink.
The cruise lines will offer a lot of interesting tours and activities off the ship, but they will be expensive. You DO NOT have to buy tours to get off the ship in port stops. You can go off on your own and many times in Caribbean and Bahamas ports you can find cheaper tours on the pier. Lots of places in the Caribbean you can get to a beach by taxi much cheaper then the ship’s tours. Do some Google search of your port stops to locate the best beaches and get names of tour operators and book your own. Just make sure that you get back to the ship on time.
There is plenty of free food on ship 24/7 so there really no reason to pay to eat in a specialty restaurant in ship. You’ll not be able to eat all of the great free food. The specialty places charge a fee between about $ 10 and $ 25 per person per visit. Just eat the free food; it will be great.
Cruise lines will take lots of photos of you boarding the ship, getting off in ports, at dinner, on formal nights, around the ship. These will be very expensive ($ 10 to $ 25) so take your camera with you all of the time and take your own photos and ask other passengers to take photos of you, they will gladly.
The ships have internet service but it is very expensive; likely about $ 50 an hour. Wait until you get to a port stop and find an internet cafe. Ask the wait staff and your cabin steward because they generally know where they are. The internet cafes on shore generally charge between $ 2. and $ 5. for an hour.
So the above are all off the optional expenses after you board the ship. You can eat all you want 24/7 and you can drink iced tea and lemonade all day free. But if you want alcoholic beverages OR even soft drinks you’ll have to pay for those. The only cruise line that sells an unlimited alcoholic drinks package is Celebrity cruise line and the packages are very expensive per day.
The $ 200 per person is a good price for a 4 day cruise but you should be aware that that price is probably for an inside cabin, the cheapest on the ship. You’ll pay more if you want an outside (window) cabin, and even more for a balcony cabin. So that $ 200 could easily turn into a $ 400 if you decide to do some upgrading. If you do upgrade the other charges and free items do not change.
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