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Whether you are a first time cruiser or are a bit more seasoned, following these tips can save you up to 50% of your onboard cruise costs. First timers may be unaware, that in addition to the cost of the actual cruise and your transportation to and from, many other charges apply on the ship and will be billed to your cabin at the end of the trip. The average couple can run up $1000 in these costs on a seven day cruise and a family of four can easily surpass $2000. These charges include tipping, soda and alcohol, gift shop purchases, shore excursions, photos and upgrade dining. Since you don't carry cash on the ship and each cabin guest has their own ship card, the charges add up quickly and can be a shock on the last night of a relaxing vacation. Here is how to save on the most common charges without sacrificing any of the amenities or fun. Most ships now have automatic tipping that they claim is added for your convenience. They have decided up front that each guest will be charged $10 per day. For a couple on a seven day trip, $140 is charged to the cabin on the first day of the trip. They offer that this will be split among various service employees like your cabin boy and waiters. If you are like me and feel the cost of the cruise and the additional cost of the onboard charges is high enough, then consider handling the tipping yourself and award good service at the end of the trip, on your own terms. On day one, right after embarking, go to the business office and simply ask the clerk to remove you and all others in your cabin from the automatic tipping. They gladly do it and you are now free to tip at your own rate and to those providing the best service. With automatic tipping, a family of four would be billed $280, and a much less figure still rewards the better service with substantial savings. I tend to tip about half of their suggested amount as tips are built into other areas as you will see. All food and routine beverages such as coffee, tea, water, and ice tea are included in the cruise price, but soda and alcohol are not. Purchasing soda by the glass through a waiter at dinner or from one of the bars runs about $2. To a couple who doesn't consume soda, this is no big deal, but a family with children can run up a staggering bill by cruise end. After embarking, you can pay a flat fee, around $25-30, and have unlimited soda the whole trip. A sticker is placed on your ship card and any bar or waiter will then supply it for free. Since there is no checking of the card after the sticker, other family members can use the card without notice. The flat upfront fee is a huge savings to an avid soda drinker. Any alcoholic beverage on the ship bears an additional charge. Although the per-drink price may appear reasonable, the drinks tend to be small. A 15% tip is automatically added to each drink purchased on the ship. The ship offers many small, quaint lounges that provide a nice relaxing, casual way to have a cocktail before or after dining while listening to soft jazz or piano music. Each lounge has it's own bar and offers waiter service to any table or couch. In addition to the standard 15% tip per drink, an additional 15% is added on top of that if the waiter service is used. That means 30% tip per drink. Stop at the bar, order the drink and carry it to the nearby table and
you can save the extra 15%. You cannot purchase packaged liquor on the ship or at any port and bring it back for personal use. The ship will hold all purchases, onboard or at ports, until the last night of the cruise. There are no firm rules about bringing liquor onboard in your luggage. If you like to enjoy a cocktail out on the balcony, it is cost effective to bring your own bottle or two and just purchase the mixers on the ship. A drink purchased from the pool waiter can bear the same 30% tip, although this varies from ship to ship. Even casual drinkers can run up a $500 bar tab by the end of the trip. The ship photographers will take pictures of you at every turn and offer them for display at a gallery location. An 8x10 photo will run about $20 and the combination packages don't really provide a better bargain. Stay away from spontaneous purchase and wait until the end of the trip to really sort out the best photos to take home. Remember that a good quality camera will produce just as good results and at a much cheaper price. Shore excursions tend to be pricey and are also added to your ship card. Most need to be booked early, even before sailing online. Although the description in the brochure paints an exotic picture to any excursions, most are routine, time consuming and disappointing. You may wait an hour to get off of the ship at any port and then another wait at your excursion meeting place. From there, the group gets herded by bus to the excursion site. Research your excursion before the cruise. Many cruise lines have message boards and forums where you can get valuable information as whether the excursion is worth the high cost. A half a day snorkel trip for a family of four can run $300-400 and includes no more than a substandard lunch and watered down rum punch. If you disembark on your own after the excursion crowd, most likely island tours not associated with the ship are available and at much discounted rates. The rate can be haggled over as well and the trip is often much better and not as crowded. Major tourist stops on most islands are safe and secure and even the most timid tourist can reach them by taxi and enjoy the same activity much cheaper. Taxi rates are fixed by destination so you know the fee upfront. A few hours planning at home can result in a more exotic excursion at significant savings. Many islands in the Caribbean are touted as the diamond or jewelry capitals of the world and do offer some great prices. Too many tourist make spontaneous purchases on high end items only to find the price was no cheaper than at home. If you are looking for a particular brand or item, do the homework before the cruise and know what a good price is. Compare at numerous stores as they are usually clumped together and most stores will discount much more if they know you may purchase elsewhere. Returning a defective or substandard item, once home, is nearly impossible so use caution before deciding. These savings can readily be realized without taking away from the fun of your vacation. They can eliminate the stress of the huge onboard bill slipped under your door that last night. Your onboard account can also be viewed via the cabin television, so it is important to check it daily, especially if children have ship cards at their disposal. Be sure to monitor computer usage in the internet café, as the per-minute charge is usually $0.30 a minute and the service is very slow. Packages of minutes can be purchased for some savings but speak to the manager at the café about limiting children usage. Be extremely careful of cell phone usage. Even failed attempts to call home from the ship can result in charges and not all ports are included in international packages. Check with your carrier before leaving to eliminate a big surprise with your next bill. I heard from a friend where his teenage son returned to find an $800 charge for the international roaming. Most ports have payphones and you can purchase calling cards very
cheaply to call home and they also have internet access available at a fraction of the cost of the ship. Since you are on vacation, enjoy your cruise and the amenities of all the exotic ports of call. A family vacation is pricey enough without throwing away additional money unnecessarily. Hope some of these tips will help you enjoy some significant savings on your upcoming trip.
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==== ==== To find more information about Cruise Savings please visit http://intelligentcruiser.org ==== ====