Price of a cruise?

Question

can anyone tell me if booking a cruise (for say $500), is the price for each day or is that the price for the whole cruise? and does anyone have any suggestions? looking for some relaxing get-away!

Answer 1

It depends on when you are traveling, and the length of the cruise.  If a cruise is for $500 it's for the whole cruise.

Answer 2

Cruising is a great way to expirence the world! As for the price...cruises never ask for prices by day. It's always for the whole cruise. But keep in mind cruises don't include everything.....sodas,casinos,specialty dining etc. are all extra. Have A great cruise! I would TOTALLY reccomend Royal Caribbean!! They are soooooo great. The staff is wonderful, ships are great and there is always so much to do. You never are bored on RC ships! :-))  And the staff is wonderful and they do anything to make your cruise better. And there are lots of cheep cruises to pick from the best part is you get the same great quailty no matter what price you pay! Go to the website and check it out if your interested! Have fun!!

www.Royalcaribbean.com

Answer 3

if it says 5 day cruise or whatever for $500 it is the whole cruise.

hope it helped and u have fun!!!!

Answer 4

All cruises are sold by the voyage rather than by the day.  SO that $500 price you saw was probably for one person to cruise for however many days the cruise was for.  While the typical cruise is based on a price of between about $125 and $175 per day, depending upon the cruise line and although Norwegian Cruise line has some one-day cruises to nowhere, most cruises are 3, 5, 7, 12, or 14 days.  Occasionally there will be some that are a number of days other than the ones I have listed.  

Some other things that you need to know about cruise pricing to understand what that $500 means are:

-  all cruise cabins are sold based on double occupancy and the prices listed will be per person and based on at least two people going on the cruise in that cabin. If a person wants to sail solo in a cabin the cruise lines charge a single supplement which is typically about double the listed cruise fare (so, for example $1,000 instead of the $500).

-  The price you pay will depend mostly on the type accommodations that you choose. There are 4 basic types of cabins on ships;

- inside (no window),

- outside (a window or porthole),

- balcony/veranda, and

- suites.

The "FROM" prices you see will always be for an inside cabin. There are also some subcategories within each category with cabins on a higher deck, and/or a better location on ship (like midship), and/or that are slightly larger costing more.

-  all of the cruise lines give the best price for early bookings that are a year or more in advance. So its good that you are starting your cruise search process now. Cruise lines also list specials on their web sites so do look for those. The specials can many times save you a couple hundred per person over the price for the exact same cruise on a different date.

-  I have listed below the web sites for the medium priced cruise lines which operate from US ports. These are the cruise lines that most people use. There are some luxury lines that are much higher priced with prices starting around $4,000 for a 7 day cruise. The lines that I have listed below will have cruises starting in the range of $800 to $1,000 per person for a 7 day cruise, again depending upon the date and type cabin you select.  These cruise lines also have cruises of 3, 4, and 5 days.  The price that you saw, $500, was probably for one of these shorted cruises and also was probably for an inside cabin.

HOLLAND AMERICA

http://www.hollandamerica.com/

CELEBRITY:

http://www.celebritycruises.com/home .

ROYAL CARIBBEAN:

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/gohome.d.....

NORWEGIAN:

http://www.ncl.com/

PRINCESS:

http://www.princess.com/index.html

CARNIVAL:

http://www.carnivalcruiselines.com/

Regardless of which cruise line you select, the things that are included are pretty much the same. The price of your cruise includes your cabin, all meals (including breakfast, lunch dinner, snacks and free room service)(you do pay to eat in the specialty restaurants), all shows and entertainment, and free use of all facilities on ship. The things that you will have to pay for are:

GRATUITIES: They will amount to about $10 per person in your cabin per day; about $70 each for a 7 day cruise. When you check in at the pier they will set up an on-board charge account for you to cover any and everything you may buy on ship. They will issue you a "cruise card" which will also serve as your room key and pass to get on and off the ship. At the end of the cruise they will add the gratuity to your tab and you can pay with a credit card or cash, your choice.

ALCOHOLIC DRINKS AND SOFT DRINKS: Coffee, tea, milk, juice, and lemonade and punch will be provided free but you must pay for soft drinks and alcoholic beverages and they will add a 15% gratuity to each alcoholic drink and soft drink order.

PHOTOGRAPHS: Cruise lines will take plenty of photographs of you all over the ship, in the dining room, and as you exit the ship in ports. These will cost a lot, like $15 to $20 for most.

TOURS/EXCURSIONS: You are not required to book any tours and can get off and on in the ports as much as you want. But the cruise line will offer a lot of tours and these are expensive. These are listed on your cruise line web site and you can reserve them well before the cruise and pay for them also.

SOUVENIRS: Anything you buy on ship from a gift shop or duty free shop goes on your on board account. Things that you buy on shore you pay cash or credit card for.

CASINO: If you plan to gamble on ship you will need cash for that.

OTHER: most cruise lines have what they call "specialty" restaurants where there is a gratuity/service charge. All other food on board is free and its not really necessary to budget for food; you cannot eat all of the FREE FOOD that will be available.

If you want/need to have your hair done, get a massage or wrap, or any services from the spa, you will have to pay for them. You can use the gym free but the spa stuff cost big bucks.

Ships now have internet cafe and some have WiFi but the there is a fee for internet access and it is very expensive (like about $50 to $60 an hour).

I have been on Princess, Celebrity, Norwegian, and Royal Caribbean ships and can vouch that they are good cruise lines. However, there are some differences.

- Princess, Celebrity and Holland America have great ships are more classy and reserved. Holland America has more senior citizens cruising on its ships.

-Carnival has more first time cruiser and young people who want to party, party, party. If that is what you are looking for then Carnival is the cruise line for you.

-Norwegian cruise line is good and I have been on many of their cruises. Its the line that you want to go on if you want to be informal for pretty much your whole cruise. They have formal nights like other cruise lines but they do not stress dressing up; the call it "dress up if you want to" night.

-Royal Caribbean caters most to families and has the most and best on-board activities. Many Royal Caribbean ships have things like ice skating, roller blade track, rock climbing wall, surfing on ship on the "Flowrider", mini-golf course, pool tables. full sized basketball courts, and adults only pool and hot tub area called 'Solarium".

And finally,  I have found that the best deals can be had by going directly to the cruise line web sites and looking for their specials. Most will have their specials prominently displayed on their home page but I have found that Royal Caribbean and Carnival have the best web sites for this.

Answer 5

Not enough info............how many days............need to know........

Answer 6

The price they show up front is for the whole cruise, per cruise, per person, based on 2 in a cabin . . .but it's plus, plus:  port charges, fuel charges, tips, a couple of other things are extra.  Last cruise we took (in March) had a base price of $849, and was about $1100 with plus plus.  One other thing to watch out for- if you're looking by itinerary, ie, the 4 day Western Caribbean on Carnival at $500, know that they show the lowest price for a block of dates . . . ie, if you're going in August/September, the lowest price will be after Labor day, but the week you want might be higher.

We checked out AAA, Hotwire, Travelocity, and BJ's websites, as well as the cruiselines own website, and found the lowest price at Travelocity and BJ's.  But you'd be smart to find an itinerary you like, then check around on a couple of places for the best price.   They vary a lot.

Depending on what you like . . . Princess was really good- lots of room on the ship, just not crowded in general.  Food was great, activities also; loved movies under the stars.  There were more pools than other ships, and age appropriate pools (ie adults only).  If you're going with school age kids, they might like Carnival for the water slides onboard.  We found Carnival to be more crowded, but a fun 'party' atmosphere, if that's what you like.  The food wasn't as good, but there was more of a 'show' with the food . . .spectacular presentation.  Royal Caribbean is nice; their ships have rock climbing walls.  

Also would suggest an itinerary in the Caribbean with a stop at the cruiseline's private island- this is the best and MOST RELAXING day.  If you do this, make sure to reserve lots of stuff online ahead of time . . and get there early  . . . it was a blast with rented cabana, water chairs, kayaks, etc.  Loved it.  To truly relax, avoid the onshore excursions . . .you can do a quick walk at the port to get the flavor of the island/city/whatever . . . but if you truly want to relax, stay on the ship in port while everyone else is off!!!!

Can't miss with a Princess Caribbean cruise.  Carnival's also good, and cheaper.