After booking a luxury cruise of a lifetime you’ll probably want to make savings wherever you can! Here are some top tips from seasoned cruisers!
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- Make your own excursion arrangements. With a little research and fore-thought you can plan your on-shore time in a budget-friendly manner. Whether it is booking with a shore-side excursion company or working out transport and your own itinerary you could end up saving a LOT of money.
- Get a better cabin by bidding for a cabin upgrade. It doesn’t always happen, but on most cruises there are luxurious cabins and suites that remain unbooked. Closer to departure day the cruise company will want to get these filled by offering them for an inexpensive upgrade fee to those booked in cheaper cabins. You might get a great deal, and the cruise company are left with a standard cabin that is easier to sell before departure day!
- Opt for the Beverage Pack as drinks on board do not come cheap! For the most part this is usually just for juice, water, coffee and tea, but there are ones available that cover soft drinks and alcoholic beverages too. The key is to find out what is included and whether it is worth the cost.
- Pack a “mini-shop” as part of your luggage. The generous luggage allowance means that you can easily bring snacks and drinks on board to save yourself a fair bit of money during the cruise. Soft drinks, wine and cases of water are quite normal for people to bring to the cabin. Don’t forget that you can also bring refillable water bottles for use at hydration stations too.
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- Buy a wi-fi pack before boarding day. There is often a discount for packages bought ahead of time. Even with no discount a wi-fi package is likely to be more cost effective if you like to keep up to date online!
- Wait for free wi-fi or data roaming when in port. You can save even more by opting out of the ship wi-fi completely and only going online when back near land. It is a great excuse for a digital detox as well as saving money.
- Look out for embarkment day discounts. These are simply discounts offered on day 1 of the cruise as it is a slow day for spa bookings and the like. Port days are also a good time to check in and see if there are any discounts because of fewer people being on board.
- Oh yes – you can also skip excursions and on-shore adventures. It’s ok to not want to disembark at every stop – you can make the most of a quiet cruise liner and enjoy the on-board facilities you have already paid for!
- Book your next cruise, or at least pay the deposit while you are still on board. You may well pay less deposit, and you are very likely to be given on-board credit for your next trip for being a loyal customer.
- Book through a travel agent. While you can get some great saving booking your next trip while onboard, quite often a travel agent will be able to get add-ons, discounts and perks that will save money in a different way on your trip. Some seasoned cruisers say you can move an existing direct cruise liner booking over to an agent and still keep the discount or perks you got onboard!
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