Have you ever wondered how much a cruise really costs? I’m going to give you a hint. It is much more than the list price you see when you’re looking into booking your first cruise. I still think a cruise is a great value but you need to be prepared for all of the costs. I just went on one of the cheaper cruises I could find and had a great time! I also kept track of all of our expenditures so I could give you this report.
The Cruise Ticket
The most obvious cost of the cruise is the cruise ticket itself. Since I went on this cruise with my girlfriend we bought two tickets. Each room cost the price of two tickets so if you’re planning on having a room to yourself expect to pay 150-200% of the listed price per ticket.
We went for the cheapest class of stateroom which is the interior class. We didn’t plan on spending a ton of time in our room so we didn’t feel like we needed to pay money for extra space or a window.
We booked early and due to that there were a few rooms available that were in the interior class but actually had two porthole windows. We definitely took advantage and booked these rooms at no extra cost above the price of a normal interior ticket.
We originally paid $279 for each ticket or $558 total. We managed to get $80 refunded to my credit card and $80 in on board credits due to the Early Saver program which saved me $160 dollars. This resulted in a total cost of $478 charged to my credit card for the cruise tickets themselves. After accounting for the $80 in on board credit the ticket price of our cruise was $398.
Taxes and Port Fees
You don’t get away that fast though! You’re also responsible for taxes and port fees which must be paid prior to the pay off date. I’m not sure what taxes are included as this cost wasn’t itemized. I do know that each port you stop in charges a port fee which the cruise line passes on to their guests. Taxes and port fees totaled $84.60 each or $169.20 total for the two tickets.
Traveling To and From the Port
We saved some money in this area by traveling with my parents who were going on the cruise as well. We split the cost of gas, tolls and the hotel for the night before the cruise. I ended up paying $60.00 in gas, $6.60 in road tolls and $62.44 for the hotel after splitting these costs with my parents.
While traveling we stopped for breakfast, lunch and dinner on the way to our hotel. We had some bad service at dinner so the general manager gave us our meal free. We still left a tip because the server was good. We only stopped for lunch on the way home from the cruise. I spent $46.38 on food on the way to and from the cruise for both my girlfriend and I. We spent a total of $175.42 on traveling to and from the cruise.
Arrival at the Departure Port
We arrived at the port and dropped our luggage off with the porter. It is customary to tip the porter $1 per bag so we paid him $2 for our two bags. In addition to that my parents had to park their car. Parking at the port was $15 a day and totaled $90 for the six days the car was parked at the port. We could have parked off site and taken a shuttle but my parents have had a bad experience with that in the past. I paid half for the parking making our port arrival costs $47.
Visiting Ports
Even though you’ve paid the port docking fees there isn’t any entertainment included in what you’ve paid for. We went on a history tour and snorkeling trip that included lunch at our first port in the Bahamas.
The excursion cost us $99 each or $198 total for the two of us. We did pay a premium as we organized the trip through Carnival Cruise Line. The excursion came with guarantees that the ship wouldn’t leave without us if something happened on our excursion along with other nuances. We didn’t want to run into any problems as first time cruisers.
We just walked around the city in our second and third ports. We stopped in all of the various touristy shops near the port and only bought a straw fan for $6 and a souvenir t-shirt for $17 that we had planned on buying before we left on the cruise. In total we spent $221 on in port activities. Think we’re close to being done on cruise spending? Nope, not yet!
On Board Drinks, Food and Entertainment
Our costs in this area were subsidized by my parents. They had bought us a first cruise gift package which included 4 drink tickets worth $5.75 each and a photo voucher worth $15, along with other gifts. In addition to the $23 in drink vouchers we spent an additional $12.08 on drinks. We got off lucky compared to many of people on the ship who seemed to be constantly drinking.
On the first day of the cruise my girlfriend won a $89 off certificate to the spa on the cruise ship. She had always wanted a massage so she splurged for a hot stone massage that ended up costing $65 after the discount, which is probably similar to what we’d pay locally for a massage so it wasn’t a horrible deal.
We ordered room service for breakfast a few times and it is customary to tip them as well. We ended up spending $8 on room service tips.
There was a casino on board the cruise ship as well! I had always wanted to try playing blackjack but it was $6 a hand. I did decide to play three separate times. The first time I won $6 and the second time I won $16. I was up $22 until I lost the $30 I brought the third time I played. Overall I lost $8 playing blackjack for a couple hours but I had a lot of fun. That isn’t too bad for entertainment dollars per hour. It could have been a lot worse though.
In total we spent $93.08 on board the ship for drinks, food and entertainment.
Pictures, Gifts and Other On Board Purchases
Every evening there are professional photographers begging you to let them take your picture. We decided to get a few pictures taken both on the casual and formal nights. We ended up spending $16.99 on pictures after accounting for the $15 voucher from my parents. We figured it was cheaper than getting a professional photo session back at home.
We bought some duty and tax free alcohol at a large discount compared to the prices back home. It set us back $49.98 but saved us money as we would have eventually purchased it at home for a much higher cost. We also purchased a t-shirt for a gift that was only $4.88. We discovered we weren’t drinking enough water so we bought a reusable water bottle for $6.50 to make sure we had water available to stay hydrated.
In total, we spent $78.35 on miscellaneous on board purchases. We did end up with a $13.96 on board credit for some reason so this brought our total down to $64.39 in this category.
Gratuities – Just When You Thought It Was Over There is More
Carnival adds gratuities on your statement on the last night of the cruise. They charge $11.50 per person per day which totaled $115.00 for us. We did pay this in advance of our cruise so we didn’t have to worry about it later.
You don’t have to pay the gratuities if you don’t want to but the crew do rely on them as a large part of their compensation. If you had any problems with your service or don’t feel you should have to pay that much you can go to guest services and reduce the gratuity amount on the last day of your cruise. We had outstanding service so we didn’t adjust our gratuity payments at all.
Finally Done
That’s it! Not a short list at all. We ended up spending $1,283.09 which really isn’t that bad for a 5 day cruise. In fact, it is only $256.62 per day or $128.31 per person per day. When you consider the fact that you get lodging, all the food you care to eat at three decent meals a day, entertainment and the chance to visit foreign countries the price really isn’t that bad at all.
We could have easily spent double that and I’m going to venture some people spent double that on just their cruise cabin. Hopefully I’ve enlightened you to some of the other expenses on cruises so you can budget for them better for your first cruise.
If you have any questions or comments about the cost or have a cruise experience you’d like to share please leave a comment below!
An accountant by day and blogger by night, Lance is the owner of this site. 
Great Overview on how much a cruise really costs! There are hidden fees everywhere you look and you could quickly increase your costs by double.
That being said, it is still a great way to go on vacation on the cheap when you take into account lodging and food.
Jason Clayton | frugal habits recently posted..Great Reads of the Month (Monthly Roundup for October – 1st Addition) + a Video to bring in November with a smile
Interesting to see how a $200 cruise turned into a $600 cruise. You are right, for all the services you got, that is still a great deal. I am considering a cruise to just relax and do nothing for a few days, but I wish they would announce a higher all inclusive price instead of feeling like you are spending money all day long.
Pauline recently posted..Friday recap, a new house, and still no electricity!!
If you don’t care about drinking anything other than juice, lemonade and water (which are free) and just like going to the free entertainment and laying out on the deck you could theoretically get by without spending any extra money.
Great pointers on all the costs associated with a cruise. If you don’t watch it, the costs can really rack up. My wife and I have been on three cruises and love it. I think, if you watch your spending, it can be a good value when you look at all you get.
John S @ Frugal Rules recently posted..Frugal Friday: Posts That Ruled This Week, Month End Extravaganza
I definitely think it is a good value for all you get.
I think you two did really good! We’ve never been on a cruise but would like to soon.
Michelle recently posted..How Not to Take a Blogging Hiatus
They are definitely fun. You just have to be able to handle being disconnected for a week or pay crazy fees for slow internet.
There is no such thing as a free lunch! Cheap cruises lure you in with alow price, but they get you with all the extras. I have taken 5-6 cruises and hate all the extras, although the alternative is an all inclusive which is more expensive trip. You di dpretty well with your costs. Congratulations!
Way to be thorough with all the hidden fees on a cruise. Gratuities are a big chunk, but our service was so good I was happy to pay them at the end of the trip. Did your housekeepers turn your towels into a different oragami animal each night? Ours did, so I was happy to pay her a couple of bucks a day for keeping our place tidy and for the entertainment value of the towels =)
Mrs. Pop @ Planting Our Pennies recently posted..PoP Balance Sheet – October 2012
They did. We even took a class to learn how to make some of the animals and my mom ended up getting us the towel animal instruction book. Should be fun when guests come over.
Great cost analysis! My wife and I would like to go on a cruise one day. Being in the Midwest, though, we’d also have the huge cost of airfare to the departing port.
Justin @ The Family Finances recently posted..The Presidential Election: How Do You Decide?
I’m lucky that we live within a day’s driving distance of 4 ports!
I’ve never been on a cruise, but lots of great deals out of Los Angeles. I’ll have to be aware of all the hidden costs you mentioned, plus we’ll have to spring for childcare too if we want to go alone.
Brent Pittman recently posted..Random Money Thoughts: Are You Serious?
They actually watch children in child age specific areas. It seems like a neat idea but you would still have to pay for their cruise fare.
Love the cost breakdown. You did a great job of keeping it your costs down.
What ship did you sail on?
The last cruise my husband and I went on we choose a balcony cabin and only used the balcony a little bit. I have been in interior cabins on other cruises, which are usually the least expensive, and we plan to do that next time. The actual space in the cabin is the same, and as you said, you don’t spend much time in there anyways. Good to hear that you enjoyed it all!!
Tackling Our Debt recently posted..Friday’s Circle of Friends and Random Facts About Some of Them
We went on the Carnival Ecstasy. After I got back I found out is the second oldest ship in the fleet. You can tell by some of the decor but they keep the ship very clean and have been updating different parts of it.
Great walk-thru Lance.
My wife and I got married in February but still haven’t got on our honeymoon so we’ve been looking around recently for trips next year.
Being a Scrooge, I definitely planned ahead for some of these expenses but definitely missed some…thanks for List!
I’d definitely spend more on gambling lol
Cheers!
Joe Cassandra recently posted..7Minute Interview with Sparring Mind’s Gregory Ciotti
I just find it so hard to lose money gambling. When I’m losing it is no fun. I really just need to set a limit and have fun and not care if I end up losing all of my gambling budget.
We went on a cruise a few years ago. If you really want to avoid spending a lot of money, you can, but it definitely takes a lot of self-discipline.
Regarding excursions, you can sometimes look around online and find much cheaper stuff offered through companies not affiliated with the cruise line. Might take some thorough investigating but it might be worth it.
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Overall a very good explanation of cruise ship charges. The one common misconception is about the excursions. Carnival (indeed any cruise line) WILL ABSOLUTELY leave you at the port if you don’t get back in time, because the harbor master is the one in charge of the berths. The ship must leave if the harbor master says he must. That said, however, if you took a cruise-ship-sponsored excursion, they WILL make sure you get to the next port at their expense, or they will run you out to the ship on a small boat, so you were correct in your assumption that you would be protected. I always recommend that people buy their excursions from the cruise line until they are more comfortable cruisers.
You probably didn’t use the internet while you were on the ship – I didn’t see any mention of internet charges, which can be very expensive. However, some ships are starting to significantly upgrade the speed, so at least when you pay a lot of money you’ll get something for it
Typically when I cruise (about 3X per year) I only spend extra on the internet. I don’t consider tipping “extra,” though I realize you mentioned it as being extra because it IS outside the base ticket price, and I always give the porter $2.00 per bag instead of $1.00. Of course, I don’t bring many bags, either, so I want to make it worth his while.
And in fact that’s the best cruise tip I can think of: LIMIT your packing! Makes getting around much easier.
I’m actually doing research for our next vacation. We really want to go to Cancun, MX or on a cruise. Leaning towards Cancun, MX.
Our vacations are pretty frugal. I always find ways to maximize our $.
I don’t blame you at all. Maximizing value is a great idea.