Saving Money While on a Cruise

My husband has been very committed to the idea of he and I taking an extravagant vacation together to celebrate our 25th Wedding Anniversary. So, when Black Friday came around last year, he watched prices and booked us on a 7 night Royal Caribbean Cruise.

I really had very little to do with booking the thing, or looking for ways to get the bet price, so maybe I can talk him into writing THAT blog post. But once we booked the thing and paid for it, you can bet I started looking for ways to save money along the way.  Here are some of the things we did:

• Pack your own reusable water bottle. Preferably one with a clip you can use to hook on a bag or belt. Seriously, this saved us a TON of money. It worked great when running (actually light jogging) from one airport terminal to another with no time to spare to buy a water anyway. Even if we got to a security checkpoint where I had to pour the thing out, I had not just spent $4.00 – $7.00 on it.
• Bring your water bottle with you when you leave the ship.Fill it up there. There were many places to get clean, drinkable water on the ship, so we filled up those bottles with nice, clean ice water. Even if we had to buy more water later, we could at least save that first amount. Even in ports where you were NOT allowed to bring fruit or anything else food-wise from the ship, you could bring water bottles.
• Pack gum and a couple of cliff bars or something like that per person. At one point during our flights, running through airports, we really appreciated the cliff bars. In the airport they are $4.00 each IF you have time to get in line and get one.
• Pick up a piece of fruit on your way out of the ship, if legally allowed.On day one, we were at a port that let you take whatever you wanted off the ship. I brought a banana for me and an apple for my husband. Since we ate a decent-sized breakfast on the ship, having a snack right after we finished an excursion, made it really easy to wait til our next meal without buying another meal out.
• Order room service for breakfast on the days you have an early shore time. If you get in a hurry, rush to the dining room, eat a hurried breakfast, this reduces your time to make sure you have everything you need before you disembark. This will cost you money in the long run, and room service is INCLUDED for free on cruises. Go ahead and order that fruit to take with you, or perhaps a roll.
• If you need a bandaid, you will pay handsomely for it on a cruise ship. Not just time, but money will be wasted. The medical place on the cruise ship is on the bottom at the opposite end of whatever place you are when you need it. Then, you can spend a couple of dollars on a band-aid. However, packing band-aids takes no space and costs only a few pennies when brought from home. Also, bring whatever medications you might need- like ibuprophen, tylenol, tums, etc. Also, it won’t hurt to pack an ace bandage.  If you use it in the course of the month, bring a small amount of it. The same is true for essential oils. We were SO GLAD we brought lavendar, and BREATHE from doterra.
• Bring a large-sized ziplock bag (or 2). I suggest getting the large 5-gallon size, a couple of 2-gallon sized and a couple of quart-sized. You will find several uses for these. We used the huge one for doing quick washes of clothes- more on that in a minute. We used one to put my phone in on excursions where it getting wet was a possibility. We used ones to put extra rolls and fruit we took off the ship with us. My husband used one for a make-shift icepack when he turned his ankle (see the point about bringing ibuprofen and ace bandage above).
• Make up your mind ahead of time to “pass” on all the premium food and drink options. There were so many INCLUDED food options, it was ridiculous. There was SERIOUSLY no need to pay extra for “premium signature” desserts or lobster. If you must, plan ahead when you want to do that- or check and see what night is lobster night in the formal dining room and eat until your heart is content. The specialty drink and alcohol packages were about $400 per person!  That would be $800 per couple. We decided that unlimited tea, juice, water, and flavored waters (and coffee if you are so inclined) were more than enough. We skipped the sodas. And we skipped their water bottles (see the first point above).  When we got to Mexico and they had sodas for $.80 we each had one and enjoyed it very much.
• Bring a small amount of powdered laundry soap with you in a baggy. Use that plus your HUGE ziplock, a drop or two of essential oil  and water to wash your necessary clothes. This will save you from paying $34 per tiny load on the ship!  Once you wash and rinse, lay the article flat upon a towel and roll it up, pressing and squeezing as you go to get out almost all the water. The clothes can dry overnight. One your last day, if your swimsuit is still wet, you can pack it in that bag to get home without getting everything else damp.
• Bring an empty shopping bag in your luggage. When you buy gifts and things you will want to carry them home.
• Pack light. Extra bags can cost extra on airfare and tips, and also exhaust you having to bring them all. Bring clothes that can be dressed up or down, that are light weight and that can dry quickly.
• Bring cash in small bills for tipping everyone from cab drivers, to bus drivers to tour guides. If you need more cash than you expected and do not want to pay crazy fees to use an oversea ATM, go into the casino. Ask for cash on your room card. They charge a very small fee compared to what it costs to use an ATM. For us, it was $2 to take out $40 in cash.
• If you are purchasing things in distant lands, be assured that they expect to negotiate. Items that were quoted to me at $40 I purchased for $5. However, this brings me back to small bills. If you negotiate down to $5, then pull out a $20 to pay, you can be sure you will either feel  like a slug or be told they don’t have change. Then you feel obligated to pay more. Also, don’t get scammed by someone saying: Hey, can you change these for a dollar? You are getting tricked to taking less money in a foreign currency.
• Avoid saying your name in the marketplaces. If they ask your name, do not feel required to answer. Many artisans would say things like “What’s your name pretty lady?” Then immediately they would CARVE your name into a bracelet or PAINT it on the pottery or something. This makes you feel like you have to buy it. You don’t. And you don’t have to share your name. It sounds rude and kind of insane to not share your name, but it saved me this pain as I saw it happen over and over in the marketplace.
• Buy a water camera at home. They are $25 each on the islands, and these are the disposable type! At home, they are $8 each!
• Make friends with everyone, talk to the people around you- that is one way to find out about special prices and deals, and also to make your time all the more enjoyable. When Duncan, who is very good at this, made friends with people, we always saw them later in the trip and enjoyed sharing smiles and quick stories. We made friends with some of the ship crew that way, and met another couple that has the exact same wedding date as us!  Also, we made friends with one of our excursion guides and invited him to check with us if he comes to KY to check out our caves here (he was a cave tour guide).
• Ask what will be provided for your excursions. On one, water shoes were required. I never wear water shoes, and I almost bought a pair. Duncan found out that they were provided by the excursion and they were well-made and very comfortable. The same was true for snorkeling gear. There are all kinds of places that sell it, but you can use their gear.
• If you plan excursions, ask about specials. One did not have a very big booking, so they offered buy-one, get-one free. If you booked in advance you could not take advantage of it. Go to the meeting about excursions that they have the first day at sea. They gave away 5 excursions at this meeting that only had 30 people in attendance! Duncan got to go on a super-cool zipline that he really wanted to do- for FREE!
• Before the end of your trip, say at least 2 days before it ends, check on the check-out procedures. We had an early flight, so having our luggage down and out of the ship early was a must. This could be arranged ahead and for $25 per bag, they would actually deliver your bags to the airport, get them checked and delivered to your final destination. Obviously this was true for our specific trip. But check the details for your trip.
• The Wi-Fi package was not worth the money for us. We had it included in our deal. The wifi was spotty at best, and was terribly slow. We were able to jump on the internet about 2-5 minutes per day and send and receive quick notes from the kids. It was useless other than that tiny bit. Some stores on the islands will have free Wi-fi. Good luck with that. Not very helpful. Put your phone in airplane mode to eliminate any chance of getting slammed with international roaming charges.
• Get a mani-pedi before you go, if you are into that kind of thing. Also, look up the prices in your town using groupons and other coupons for things like massages. You will find they charge quite a premium for these things on the ship, but their excellent marketing will make you think you need one! Armed with this knowledge, you can vow to let yourself book a massage upon your return. Once you are away from there a few days, they won’t seem so appealing. Also, take a good long look in the mirror and say: My wrinkles are normal. On the ship you will be bombarded with all kinds of anti-aging products and things that can take ten years or thirty pounds off in twenty minutes. If you would never dream of doing something like that in your normal life, there’s no need to start thinking about dropping $120 on it once you are on a ship.
• Do everything FREE that is amazing!  All the shows are phenomenal. The formal dinning is a blast. Eating pizza at odd hours or grabbing a plate of cheese, fruit and sushi and heading out the the poolside movie theater to enjoy a movie are all so much fun!  Climbing a rock wall on the back of a moving ship 14 stories in the air was a blast. Swimming, hot tubbing, ice skating, and ice shows, dancing, karaoke- all included!  Fun food events, ladies pampering parties, and all kinds of other events were so much fun. Relax, enjoy, and just bask in the already pre-paid entertainment. There was so much to do, there was no way we could do it all. Once you realize this, avoiding spending extra money will not seem worth it.
• Don’t be a legalist. These are ideas that we used, but if you and your hubby decide you want to drink sodas (or whatever else floats your boat) all week, go for it. If you want a massage, plan ahead and build it in your budget. We admittedly did each buy ONE starbucks chai on the boat one morning. We paid money for fun excursions off shore. We purchased items from street vendors. We tipped generously. Also, prepaying your tips makes it easier on the ship, but also bring a little extra. You will love your stateroom attendant or a special waiter and want to give a little extra. Those folks work crazy-hard and have amazing work ethic and attitudes. Feel free to be generous and reward them.