Search for a Bargain
| Booking a cruise? Do your maths first |
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| Cruise News - UK Cruise News | ||||||
| Wednesday, 21 January 2009 | ||||||
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CRUISING is billed, by many “cruise experts” as great value for money. Holidayinsiders.com has from our launch back in February 2008, always broadcasted research, research and then research again... Just last week, in a test on an easyCruise Greece & Turkey trip we uncovered that one cruise online operator, Hotels4u.com, offered the price in pounds sterling whilst on the easyCruise website it was advertised in Euros.
Taking exchange rates into account, or even using some of these travel agents "price match" policies, with a little research we could have saved ourselves a good few hundred pounds – and let’s face it better in your pocket than easyCruise’s, during the credit crunch. Almost all cruise passengers will spend half as much as they paid for their cruise through onboard incidentals, such as trips, drinks and all those photos they take every time you leave your cabin!
For example, recently whilst sailing from New York, USA to Halifax, Canada with Norwegian Cruise Lines, we pre-booked our tours at each port and on average over a 7-night cruise saved £350. OK, so we later spent that onboard the ship, but it did give us that good feel factor that we "saved". Had we not done our homework, we'd have been £350 down in pocket...
Wendy Perrin, consumer news editor at Conde Nast Traveler magazine, also cautions that "the cruise fare you see advertised is not the price you'll end up paying.
The advertised fare, which is usually for the smallest, windowless cabin, does not include mandatory taxes and port fees, mandatory gratuities, or highly recommended additional charges, such as cruise insurance." Perrin blogs about cruise travel at http://perrinpost.com. A very good “research” tool!
Don’t forget you can also save money by booking both the cruise and your flight ticket independent of each other.
We did so with Monarch Scheduled Airlines from Manchester, UK and for £40:00 per person, we got to Barcelona, Spain for the start of another Norwegian Cruise around the Mediterranean last year. The taxi transfer from the airport to the port was only 25:00 Euros and that included a tip for the driver helping us with our baggage.
I would caution here take out travel insurance to cover you if the airline goes under, someone like say Co-op travelcare or your local Post Office, offer some great deals – especially for 12-months protection. Or, check over your other insurance policies – some do cover certain elements of your travel arrangements, such as lost or missing baggage, flight delays even flight cancellation – which could help if you’ve got to put yourself up in a hotel , somewhere like Heathrow's Hilton hotel, like we had to last year!
What’s really taking off in the UK is driving to your port of departure. This can help to keep costs down, but check in advance about secure parking before you travel.
CABIN SELECTION: The cheapest cabins will be inside—no balcony, no windows. This might sound depressing, but on many cruise ships, public spaces are so vast and appealing that you won't want to be in your room unless you're sleeping.
There are multiple decks with pools, atriums and libraries—all to be enjoyed for free—not to mention the scenic views. On an Alaska trip, you'll spend part of a day at sea cruising past an enormous glacier—an incredible sight, no extra charge.
FREE ACTIVITIES: Plenty of things to do on a cruise ship are free, like using the fitness centre or catching live performances, from comedy to musical variety. The Celebrity Solstice, which launched in November, features the first "Hot Glass Show" at sea, where glassblowers from New York's Corning Museum of Glass give free glassblowing demonstrations. The Solstice also has a deck with real grass called the "Lawn Club" where you can play bocce or croquet or putt golf balls for free.
On Princess Cruises, one way to lure you out of your room is a giant poolside screen, 300 square feet, that shows feature films (including first-run movies and family shows), concerts and even telecasts of events, from the inauguration to the Super Bowl to the Oscars. Princess calls the program "Movies Under the Stars" but there are broadcasts all day as well as at night.
The screens are now on Caribbean Princess, Crown Princess, Emerald Princess, Ruby Princess, Grand Princess, Star Princess and Sea Princess, and they'll be installed in 2009 on Golden Princess, Dawn Princess and Coral Princess. Heidi Allison-Shane of CruiseCompete.com, Holidayinsiders’ US booking partner told us: “If you book a suite, you get additional freebies, for example complimentary passes to thermal lounges in spas”.
AVOID TEMPTATION: If you're counting pennies, skip the casino, spa, specialty restaurants that charge extra, the gift shop, art auction, fitness classes, lattes in the cafe and cocktails at the bar.
Almost all the ships push an advertising brochure under your cabin door the night before a new day arrives, full of “activities” to do both around the ship and in the next port. Don't underestimate how hard it is to resist the repeated announcements – avoid.
Do what we did recently in the Caribbean, sailing on a 14-night cruise, set yourself a budget, and stick to it.
KIDS STUFF: A huge plus for families: Most cruises offer free children's programs and kids usually enjoy them. But children like to spend money on cruises too—in the arcade room, for example; on milkshakes and other goodies which may be extra; and for activities like rock climbing.
Give kids a daily allowance so you don't have to negotiate or be constantly nagged. Do buy the wristband or card that covers unlimited soft drinks. It pays for itself in no time. You'll want one for yourself too. But do explore each new port in depth, a cruise itself may not leave you feeling fully satisfied.
"You might have eight hours in port or 11 hours in port, but depending on the destination, it could take hours to get from the port to the city," leaving much less time for sightseeing, Perrin said. For example, on a Mediterranean cruise, getting from the port nearest Rome to the city centre and back can take four hours.
On our recent Norwegian Cruise to Rome, NCL's own tour guide did not even know it was a "Feast Day" and further that due to the Pope being in town, saying mass for the Holly Day, most of the visitor attractions were closed – so a complete waste of a day.
It was following that experience we agreed never to book a pre-planned tour again, and always look to find our own tour guide, which often happens to be a local person with lots more knowledge and information about the city you’re visiting, and knows the best local restaurants too.
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| Last Updated ( Saturday, 24 January 2009 ) | ||||||
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