Thread: Your "Extra Cost" on Ships

Originally Posted by GeneK

You are my kinda couple. This last cruise on the Zuiderdam, our 10 day on board account, the final bill for bar was $2,300. That did include the bottle of wine my wife had at dinner each night, but it was the drinks in the casino, lounges, and poolside that really added up.

Totally understand!

We KNOW we are going to spend quite a bit on Extra Cost things so we always factor that into out total cost of any cruise.

Originally Posted by LuLu

Totally understand!

We KNOW we are going to spend quite a bit on Extra Cost things so we always factor that into out total cost of any cruise.

LOL, MasterCard loves me! Every bartender and server on the ship knew us by name by the first night.

The ships usually don't make too much onboard secondary revenue from us. Basically a glass of wine every now and then for hubby, maybe some hot chocolates or soft drinks for the girl (I'll bring on Pepsi and the Dew as I don't care for Coke), a few ship's photographs, a teeshirt for each of us from the ship's store. If we're planning on an excursion, we'll usually go through the ship. Extra tips for those deserving crew members.

I don't go near the casino (I'm not lucky enough), spa (just not me), specialty restaurants (we like the dining room fine and we're not exactly foodies). Not into bingo or art auctions. Hubby brings a suit for formal nights.

Lots of drinks, bottles of wine with dinner, shore excursions, photos, and small purchases in the shops. No art auctions, and only rarely do we venture into the casino. But no matter what we do, and even if we book independent tours, we seem to always spend about $100 a day (for both of us), including tips, on board.

Nice to see no-one has said art auctions yet. They have been doing them years so some fools must fall for it.

I put, trips, photos, casino and booze. I also went for "other" I like to get my dry cleaning done on board as well, but I get a 20% discount

We bought a couple of pictures when we brought the kids with us. Usually a few drinks a day...We do excursions, but not usually through the ship.

we have fun- but the cruise is the fun part...

Gene, how could anyone spend that much on drinks and still remember any of the cruise?

Bars/booze and excursions, with the most going for excursions. Bar bill is generally less than $50. Only bough photos from our firs cruise and then only 3. Spa a couple of cruise but usually not. Never on speciality resturants, we figure we have already paid for the food so it better be good and will not pay extra.

The most we spent money on was the shore excurions/tours, both through the ship, and through other tour operators when we arrived in port. They sure know how to try and take advantage of the travellers

Originally Posted by prawn_86

The most we spent money on was the shore excurions/tours, both through the ship, and through other tour operators when we arrived in port. They sure know how to try and take advantage of the travellers

Yes, but some of them are quite good and worth every penny of what you spend. Our tour guides in St. John could not have been friendlier. Come to think of it, ditto for Aruba, Nassau, Cork, and Paris.