How you can cruise for cheap!

We love cruising! It is one of our absolute favorite ways to travel. Read more about why we love it here. Often times, people are scared that cruising can break the bank - but in our experience, cruising is quite the opposite. It is one of the most cost effective vacations there is! Some of the many reasons cruising can be so affordable are the many perks that are included as part of your cruise fare. Your transportation from destination to destination is included. Your lodging is included. Your meals are included. Your entertainment is included. You could simply book a cruise and take advantage of only what is offered in your fare, and still have a great vacation. There are also several additional ways you can stretch your dollar and get more out of your cruise vacation. Read along to see some of out tips for crunching the numbers and maximizing your fun while minimizing your cost!

Choosing your Cruise Line

There are dozens and dozens of awesome cruise lines to choose from - but of course some are more expensive than others. Luxury lines like Oceania, Seabourn, and Viking certainly come with their perks, but you have pay a premium. To cruise for cheap - it is important to choose a more budget friendly cruise line. Those that are often considered budget friendly are Royal Caribbean Cruise Line, Carnival Cruise Line, and Norwegian Cruise Line. Though we are partial to Royal Caribbean (bias aside they are a great choice!), Carnival and Norwegian often have great deals as well. All the major cruise line brands have a healthy mix of older smaller ships, and incredible state of the art mega ships. You can’t go wrong with ship choice here, just keep in mind that the older and smaller the ship, the lower the price tag usually. Indoor sky diving, water slides, and ice skating at sea are epic, but you’ll usually pay a hire fare to sail on ships that offer those. Just because you choose to sail a “budget friendly” line does not mean you are sacrificing a great cruise experience. Keep an eye out for sales as well. The budget friendly cruise lines also routinely run sales to further help you save money if you are able to take advantage of them. Keep an eye out for Royal Caribbean’s kids sail free and buy one get one half off fares. Be on the look out for Carnival’s low or zero deposits. Norwegian also offers sales in the form of their “Free at Sea” promotion, which includes additional perks with no extra cost. If you find a great sale, there’s no excuse not to sail!

Itinerary

Another big choice you have you have to make is where you want to go. Cruise lines have endless destinations to choose from, but there are inherently some itineraries that are more expensive than others. Ranging from the most pricey exotic cruises to Antarctica or the Galapagos, to the cheapest weekend getaways to the Bahamas, there is an itinerary to fit every budget. Some of the best cruises are to Alaska, the Mediterranean, or Bermuda - but if you are looking to save some money - head to the Caribbean. Because the demand for Caribbean cruises are so high, and the most common home ports are located in Cape Canaveral, Miami, and Fort Lauderdale, it is easy to get to the islands of the Caribbean. You can enjoy a week sailing around the Caribbean for the price of a few days sailing to another destination. Another thing to look out for are repositioning cruises. When a ship needs to relocate home ports, they will offer the trip as a repositioning cruise. Because of the nature of these itineraries and the fact that one way cruises are less attractive than the round trip variety, these cruises are often extremely cheap. We routinely see 14 and 15 day transatlantic cruises for around 50$ per person per day, which is a steal for the half month vacation where food, lodging, transportation, and entertainment are included.

Room Type

Another thing you will have to think about when booking your cruise is what type of stateroom you will enjoy. This might be the single biggest opportunity to save money next to choosing your cruise line. Of course we love our balconies and suites, but if you can live without a private balcony you can save a pretty penny. Personally, we don’t feel that you are losing that much with staying in an interior or ocean view room. We don’t find ourselves in our room that often and we routinely find that the price difference between an interior room and a balcony or suite could often cover the fare on an entirely new cruise for us. Also, we urge you not to be scared by the room category. We have sailed in several unique and special interior and ocean view rooms. Because of the nature of cruise ship construction, not all rooms are created equal and inevitably to create more staterooms, the ship must build some that are different than the others. We have complied a list of the most unique rooms in the Royal Caribbean fleet here (link coming soon!). We found rooms with extra space or funky layouts that have really become a unique place to sleep!

Excursions

Another thing you need to consider is what you will do in all the wonderful places you will visit. The greatest part of cruising is waking up in an entirely new destination to explore. The easiest way to explore a new destination is through an excursion. These are tours that the cruise line arrange so that you are able to explore the local destination while still being a part of a guided or structured trip on land. While the excursions you can book through the cruise line are awesome, the convenience comes at price. The cruise line lures guests in with the easiness of being picked up at the port and return-in-time guarantees, but if you are trying to save some cash on your next cruise, it is totally worthwhile to check out local tour operators. Local tour operators in your destination often offer the same tours for much lower price than the tours offered through the cruise line. Also, the local cruise operators are acutely aware that the success of their business is based on the happiness of cruise ship passengers so they will make sure you have a great time and you arrive back to the ship on time.

Alternatively, there are a few ways you can save even more cash. Consider not doing an excursion at all. Some of the best days we have had in port involved simply walking off the ship and exploring on our own. We did this recently on a cruise up the pacific coast. We had stops in Victoria, British Columbia, San Francisco, California, and Astoria, Oregon. In each of these ports we just got off the ship and found our own way. We saved money and had a great time (read more about that trip here - link coming soon). Another way to avoid the cost of an excursion is to check for sailings that go to private cruise line destinations. All of the budget cruise lines own one or more private islands in the Caribbean and stops here are included in your fare! You can waltz right off the ship and grab a lounger on an incredible beach for no extra cost! Bonus tip: your drink packages often work here as well, thank us later.

Eating and Drinking

A big part of the cruise experience is eating and drinking. Most modern cruise ships offer dozens of restaurants and bars to sample. They are all fun to try - its one of the things we love about our cruises (read more about the last cruise we had where we tried specialty dining here). If you are trying to cruise cheap though there are so many wonderful venues to eat at on board that you have already paid for as part of your cruise fare. The ship will have a main dining room that serves breakfast and dinner (and sometimes lunch) with a sit-down feel. There will also likely be a buffet and quick service snack bars that serve food most of the day at no charge! Some of our favorites include Sorrento’s Pizzeria on Royal Caribbean and Guy Fieri’s Burgers on Carnival. Many beverages are included as well. You will be able to drink water, tea, milk, and juice at no charge. Free alcohol is harder to come by - but if you are crafty you can snag some free drinks. Keep an eye out for art auctions, shopping galas, casino demos, and the captains dinner, these often include free drinks to entice the passengers to participate. If you want to partake in the bars and the nightlife - you can often save some money by buying an unlimited drink package in advance. These will include fresh squeezed juice, specialty coffee, milkshakes, and of course alcohol.

Be careful of the Extras

We talked about how you can have a great vacation already without paying more than your cruise fare, but we do feel it is important to mention some of the extra things you need to watch out for to avoid spending extra cash. Because cruising is so affordable, the cruise lines have other strategies on board to get guests to part with their hard earned cash. Not that the casino and shopping galas on board aren’t fun - but if you are trying to save some cash they are best avoided. Another extra to watch out for are the photographers. Sailing on a cruise ship will make you feel like a celebrity. There is always someone there to take your picture, whether at dinner, walking around, or as you enter and exit the ship. The picture taking is always free, but purchasing the photos is not! Another extra you may not be expecting is that if you want to stay connected to land via Wi-Fi, you will have to pay. We personally love to disconnect on vacation, and because of the nature of the ship sailing wirelessly across the ocean, the Wi-Fi isn’t that great anyway.

We hope that we were able to jog some ideas about how you can cruise cheaper! If you have any tips or comments, we would love to hear them! Email us at seeseeksleep@gmail.com!

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