I cannot understand why anyone would not have travel insurance. Just too risky to travel without it and cruise lines want evidence that you are insured as no insurance = no cruise. Its not cheap but essential. Many UK based cruise lines gratuities are included in the cruise fare so technically that is covered. There is also no auto gratuity added as a percentage of the cost of each drink. I have noticed that you are exporting your tipping culture which can have an adverse effect for non Americans visiting say the Caribbean. Locals have an expectation that everyone will tip in the same way which is not so. Cruise excursions can be horrendously expensive. I recently checked out a Princess sail around the UK and what they were asking for each excursion was eye watering - $150 -200 per trip. Far more that they should be. My up and coming trip in the Caribbean P+O are charging around £50 or so for a half day trip which is more in tune with what local operators charge. Some cruise lines operate fly cruises where the flight is included in the fare. No risk of missing the ship if there is a flight delay as the ship will wait. Lines such as Marella come to line who fly cruisers to a port in the Mediterranean or the Caribbean. Cruise line and the airline are part of the same tour company.
I wish this video had been around when we first started cruising. We took the whole family on the cruise and thought we had paid for everything and then came home with a huge bill that took us quite a while to pay off.
Be careful with travel insurance. My fiancés mom died, had a death certificate and received no money back and lost over 10k. Just heads up and read the details of the insurance details! Do not pick Gerali travel insurance
I just wish they had to do like the airlines do.. The price you see includes all the basic fees and stuff for the base cruise... ie: port fees / taxes etc etc.. I get other add ons wont be included..
I would like to point out that I'm pretty sure ice skating only exists on Royal and .... there's NO CHARGE! Also, most activities are free of charge on Royal such as ice skating, water slides, flow rider, rock climbing, zip line, etc.
art is the biggest scam on cruises. we won the raffle last cruise and they refused to allow us to take the print with us. They tried the shipping and framing scam and the art was crap anyway. We just declined it, since there was a charge and the art was junk to begin with. I knew art was a huge scam on the cruise, but my wife had to find out on her own lol.
... unless you are a drinker. go alacarte at the bar ... sure a beer is $8.00++ but your not sitting there all day either ... if you drive to the port do not forget the cost of parking for the week ... never break out a $30 at the beach for a small purchase ... they might just grab the 20 and run ... carry small bills for this reason ...
Yeah.. we got scammed in the art b.s.😂😂. Lesson learned. And for people that dont tip....THEY SHOULD BE BANNED!! we always pre-pay gratuity and pay a little extra cash to certain people that we deal with directly. Great vid....keep posting
Good video. I am always asked "How much does a Cruise cost"? Almost impossible to answer that question. I have to say, it is a misnomer, for the most part, to say Cruising is a cheap vacation. When you see "$495 pp for a 7-Day Cruise".....you think, "WOW less than $1,000 and THAT includes meals"....in the end, you will 'most likely' spend over $2500, minimum. You pretty much laid it out. Nice job!
Great video! I have been cruised for a long time and would give similar advice. I tell people to prepay for as much as you can before you ever get on the ship. It is often more economical to buy certain things in advance and this method usually means when you see your final bill there is little shock:)
We now see our regular cruises running $400 to $500 per day. Port fees are way up, of course a package is now expensive but still has enough for us to buy at least the most affordable one. I recently found out Disneyland for 3 days on a five day trip would be less then the seven day cruise :(
The 5 star cruise lines don’t use this trick of charging a low fare and then making you pay for lots of things separately. A few years again a cruise vlogger did a real price comparison between one of the mass market lines and Regent Seven Seas for a similar cruise It turned out that the all up price of Regent wasn’t much more than the mass market ship, and the product was much better. It sometimes is wise to compare the real prices, rather than the headline fare price.
Always great seeing you two. Yup, because of the suite cabin and length of our cruise in May, the insurance was a pretty penny. I still would never cruise without it. And I always pre-pay everything that I possibly can. Thanks for being a great travel agent!
The cheering girls cruisers made me SO happy!! Thanks for including that clip! Thanks to amazing cruise creators like you, I knew these extra "hidden" costs of cruising! It's still the BEST way to travel!
We opted in for HAL Have it All for our New England Boston to Montreal this June. Even though 4 months away, I've already booked 2 excursions, the other ports we can just walk off the ship and check out the area ourselves. But yes, plenty of other places to spend money.
I liked Art, my uncle Art ! great guy, almost lived to 100. Was a friend of Orville Wright ! The paintings they sell on board ? Never saw anything worth spending on !
Great video!! New to crusing, this is a must-see episode. We have about 22 cruises so far and always pay for everything we can in advance. One cruise last year, we ended up getting a very small refund. They overcharged for a port fee and refunded it back to my credit card. I even use the onboard credit before we sail. Great video!!!!😂❤❤
Can y’all give me an idea what is a good amount to tip room steward at the end of the cruise. I know it is individual choice even if you want to tip extra.
Well, technically if you leave the auto gratuities on, you have tipped the expected amount. We might do anywhere from an 30-60 based on the experience and interaction. Sometimes you barely see the cabin steward, and that's ok..sometimes he/she is always there checking in to see if anything is needed, that's when we tip a bit more.
I cannot understand why anyone would not have travel insurance. Just too risky to travel without it and cruise lines want evidence that you are insured as no insurance = no cruise. Its not cheap but essential.
Many UK based cruise lines gratuities are included in the cruise fare so technically that is covered. There is also no auto gratuity added as a percentage of the cost of each drink. I have noticed that you are exporting your tipping culture which can have an adverse effect for non Americans visiting say the Caribbean. Locals have an expectation that everyone will tip in the same way which is not so.
Cruise excursions can be horrendously expensive. I recently checked out a Princess sail around the UK and what they were asking for each excursion was eye watering - $150 -200 per trip. Far more that they should be. My up and coming trip in the Caribbean P+O are charging around £50 or so for a half day trip which is more in tune with what local operators charge.
Some cruise lines operate fly cruises where the flight is included in the fare. No risk of missing the ship if there is a flight delay as the ship will wait. Lines such as Marella come to line who fly cruisers to a port in the Mediterranean or the Caribbean. Cruise line and the airline are part of the same tour company.
I wish this video had been around when we first started cruising. We took the whole family on the cruise and thought we had paid for everything and then came home with a huge bill that took us quite a while to pay off.
That has happened to us too!!! Thanks for watching!!!
Be careful with travel insurance. My fiancés mom died, had a death certificate and received no money back and lost over 10k. Just heads up and read the details of the insurance details! Do not pick Gerali travel insurance
Generali insurance
I don't do travel insurance most, if not all, are just scams.
I'm start paying forc14cday Hawaii for 2025
I just wish they had to do like the airlines do.. The price you see includes all the basic fees and stuff for the base cruise... ie: port fees / taxes etc etc.. I get other add ons wont be included..
People who don't prepay gratuities can usually put onboard credit towards them before being out of pocket.
do you have to ask guest services to use the onboard credit for gratuities or will they automatically use it?
@@nicemeetinguhere For NCL, it's automatically used first. Probably the same everywhere. I'm not sure.
I would like to point out that I'm pretty sure ice skating only exists on Royal and .... there's NO CHARGE! Also, most activities are free of charge on Royal such as ice skating, water slides, flow rider, rock climbing, zip line, etc.
I'd love a part II which actual numbers of similar cruises. Like a Carnival vs NCL if you actually want to drink pop and do excursions.
I don’t spend any extra for food. The wife has at mosr 1 drink per day
art is the biggest scam on cruises. we won the raffle last cruise and they refused to allow us to take the print with us. They tried the shipping and framing scam and the art was crap anyway. We just declined it, since there was a charge and the art was junk to begin with. I knew art was a huge scam on the cruise, but my wife had to find out on her own lol.
Take more bills than you think you will need, especially 1s and 5s. I ended up with only a $20 on my last excursion. Lucky guide that day !
... unless you are a drinker. go alacarte at the bar ... sure a beer is $8.00++ but your not sitting there all day either ... if you drive to the port do not forget the cost of parking for the week ... never break out a $30 at the beach for a small purchase ... they might just grab the 20 and run ... carry small bills for this reason ...
Yeah.. we got scammed in the art b.s.😂😂. Lesson learned.
And for people that dont tip....THEY SHOULD BE BANNED!! we always pre-pay gratuity and pay a little extra cash to certain people that we deal with directly.
Great vid....keep posting
Clear and concise..Great info! You guys are rocking the vlogs!
Thanks so much!!
Great cruise tips
Glad it was helpful!
Great video! Well thought out with easy to follow pertinent information! Great editing too with the media you added! Thanks for sharing! 😎😎😎
Wow!! Thanks so much!!!
Good video. I am always asked "How much does a Cruise cost"? Almost impossible to answer that question. I have to say, it is a misnomer, for the most part, to say Cruising is a cheap vacation. When you see "$495 pp for a 7-Day Cruise".....you think, "WOW less than $1,000 and THAT includes meals"....in the end, you will 'most likely' spend over $2500, minimum. You pretty much laid it out. Nice job!
What is this service charge... above and beyond the gratuities... certainly did not appreciate a $200.00 surprise
Great video! I have been cruised for a long time and would give similar advice. I tell people to prepay for as much as you can before you ever get on the ship. It is often more economical to buy certain things in advance and this method usually means when you see your final bill there is little shock:)
We now see our regular cruises running $400 to $500 per day. Port fees are way up, of course a package is now expensive but still has enough for us to buy at least the most affordable one. I recently found out Disneyland for 3 days on a five day trip would be less then the seven day cruise :(
loved this video...i usually do envelopes for limo and porters and tips...did not think about daily...cool idea so thank you
Another great video. Sharon I used your video on the enveloppe trick on one of my family cruise and can confirm that it works!
The 5 star cruise lines don’t use this trick of charging a low fare and then making you pay for lots of things separately.
A few years again a cruise vlogger did a real price comparison between one of the mass market lines and Regent Seven Seas for a similar cruise It turned out that the all up price of Regent wasn’t much more than the mass market ship, and the product was much better. It sometimes is wise to compare the real prices, rather than the headline fare price.
Valuable tips/ reminders for new and experienced cruises.
Good video!
Thanks Diana!!!
Another helpful video! Thanks
Thanks for sharing...great tips. Very detailed and informative video. Crusing in August 2024
Always great seeing you two. Yup, because of the suite cabin and length of our cruise in May, the insurance was a pretty penny. I still would never cruise without it. And I always pre-pay everything that I possibly can. Thanks for being a great travel agent!
Thank you Vonnie!!!
The cheering girls cruisers made me SO happy!! Thanks for including that clip! Thanks to amazing cruise creators like you, I knew these extra "hidden" costs of cruising! It's still the BEST way to travel!
Hilarious, never watched your video regarding the envelope method but, that’s what I’ve been doing for all of my traveling😊
We opted in for HAL Have it All for our New England Boston to Montreal this June. Even though 4 months away, I've already booked 2 excursions, the other ports we can just walk off the ship and check out the area ourselves. But yes, plenty of other places to spend money.
I liked Art, my uncle Art ! great guy, almost lived to 100. Was a friend of Orville Wright ! The paintings they sell on board ? Never saw anything worth spending on !
You invented the envelop method???????????????????? STOP.
Well, our video shows we were doing it 5 years ago, is there documented evidence before that?? lolol
Great video!! New to crusing, this is a must-see episode. We have about 22 cruises so far and always pay for everything we can in advance. One cruise last year, we ended up getting a very small refund. They overcharged for a port fee and refunded it back to my credit card. I even use the onboard credit before we sail. Great video!!!!😂❤❤
Thank you
Thumbs up and thank you again.
Great video helpful tips
never prepay- you dont pay a maid before or a waitress before. we dont use mdr saunas bars so no we dont!!!
Thanks for watching!!!
Great video thanks
I've used your envelope method every cruise since you put out that video!!
Thanks Ronda!!!
👍!
great tips and advice
Well done, great video! Thank you! :)
Thank you Gail!!!
airfare, excursions? port fees taxes....
Can y’all give me an idea what is a good amount to tip room steward at the end of the cruise. I know it is individual choice even if you want to tip extra.
Well, technically if you leave the auto gratuities on, you have tipped the expected amount. We might do anywhere from an 30-60 based on the experience and interaction. Sometimes you barely see the cabin steward, and that's ok..sometimes he/she is always there checking in to see if anything is needed, that's when we tip a bit more.
Always great down to earth info…thanks
Thanks Linda!!!
Always enjoy your vlogs! Maybe someday I can join one of your group cruises!❤😊
You should!!! Thanks Lisa!!!
Thanks guys.
Great video! Gratuities are included in the cruise fare for all Australian cruises.
Great point Kay!! Thanks!!!
200-400$ for most europe
remember No cruise ship goes to rome florence milan cordoba seville paris london berlin brussels edinburgh glasgow
You’ve successfully talked me out of cruising!
I wish more would take you view, getting a bit crowded on the Lido Deck.
@@Trebor0178 LOL
@@Trebor0178 EXACTLY
Aye carumba! No thank you
Cruisers Need to stop booking trips they can't aford its just that simple
What do you mean? If they're on the boat they can afford it. You don't have to pay anything more than that if you don't want to
14$ per person princess inside cabin
Aren't the luggage porters at the dock are already unionized with very decent hourly wages?
For a couple bucks per bag I ain't taking the chance lol..
@@DB-zp9un Fear factor and I agree and did the same. What ever happen to the self-pride of just doing a good and honest job without added gravy.
Where is the link for the travel insurance video?
So sorry..must not have saved it. Thank you!!! ua-cam.com/video/QrzaICljud0/v-deo.html
Thank you the video was very informative you too are top-notch . 🛳️🦩🏖️🏝️⚓️❤️😊