Revised on 02/12/26
Bargain Hunting - A brief overview.
One might be amazed by this, but many cruise line price their cruises below the costs incurred to provide many cruisers with the services they’ll get while on cruising. Food, Housekeeping, Entertainment, and Security are some of the expenses incurred by the cruise line on every sailing. To find bargains, one must first answer the following question:
Areas where the cruise line makes money on the ship.
Virtually all goods and services sold on the ship have significantly higher profit margins than the same goods and services sold on shore. To avoid spending money that one doesn't need to spend, one has to plan accordingly.
- Drink Packages.
In most cases, only heavy drinkers can break even with the prices charged by most cruise lines for their drink packages. When I last examined the prices these lines charged for drink packages, they ranged from $65 to $105 per day. (Not all of these lines serve unlimited alcohol beverages, as they impose a 15 drink per day limit for cruiser safety.) Even on NCL, which has one of the lowest day costs for drinks (when purchasing the "Free at Sea" package and paying for beverage gratuities) One would have to consume at least 4 alcoholic beverages to break even on the deal. If one is a light drinker, it makes sense to purchase drinks one at a time and save money.
Please note that I factor in the price of sodas in the package, as I consume a lot of Diet Cokes and Diet Pepsis along with 2 alcoholic beverages (usually wine with dinner). Given my non-alcoholic drink consumption, I usually do well by choosing fare packages which include alcoholic beverages. - Photo Packages.
On their own, I find photo packages almost worthless. I pose this question for those considering a package: How often do you look at your photo albums online or on photo stock? However, I will occasionally buy formal photos on a cruise - but only individual photos, and not a package. In my case, I like getting a nice photo of myself and my cruising partner now and then, and I pay a small price for it. - Spa Treatments.
To use the price of a manicure as a base line, my partner can get a manicure in the outer boroughs of New York City for $30 or so. Contrast this with some sample prices charged by the spas on different cruise line ships (based on 2/12/26 research):
- Royal Caribbean - $59
- Norwegian (NCL) - $50
- Princess - $49
- Carnival - $50
- Holland America - $59
Unless one needed a touch-up, or had some non-refundable cruise credits to burn, it makes sense to do one's own nails.
Recently, my cruise partner asked me if she could burn off some of my extra non-refundable cruise credits at the spa. At the session (which cost $75), she got her treatment with a lot of upselling for products which cost half as much when bought onshore. Given that most spa employees come from low-wage nations, I can only imagine how much money is generated by the spas on the ships, and feel that the spas should be avoided if one wants to save money.
- Casino Games.
Almost all the standard land based games can be found in a ship’s casino, as well as a few more games not found on land. Since I do not gamble much, I walk through this area on the way to somewhere else. When I do gamble, I always remember that the odds are often not as good as would be found in a land based casino. The slots are often very tight, and some of the table games may have different payouts than found on land.
Cruzely.com has a good article about how cruise ship casinos differ from those on land. Although I will occasionally play the slots in a ship's casino, it is an infrequent indulgence for me, and one which I rarely spend more than $50 per cruise. (I'd rather drive to the slot machines in the "Racinos" in the NYC area, than to play the slots on a ship - and I rarely do that.)
Finding Bargain Cruises.
Now that we have addressed how not to waste money on a cruise, we now have to address how to get the cruise at the lowest possible cost.
How do we find bargains before booking the cruise?
Using Cruise Information and Booking Sites.
I recommend using sites such as vacationstogo.com and cruiseplum.com to track cruise prices and hunt for discounts. For a recent cruise on NCL, I found a cruise which had pre-paid gratuities included in the price. By booking this cruise, I saved $140 on the net total price of the cruise.
Checking fare options.
One should check to see if the services I want from “premium” fare options (such as NCL’s “Free at Sea” or Princess’s “Premier” upgrade options) are priced low enough to make them worth buying instead of the basic cruise fare with add-ons. A while back, I booked a cruise where the basic fare and the “premium” fare option was being sold at the same price.
Cabin Selection.
Assuming one is willing to risk being assigned a sub-optimal cabin, selecting a "Guaranteed" cabin can be a good option. On one of our cruises with MSC, we were assigned what we expected to be a sub-optimal cabin below the entrance to the ship's buffet. And yet, the noise from above didn't bother us much.
If one wants a selected cabin type, but is willing to make sacrifices, consider an “Obstructed View” cabin. On one cruise out of Brooklyn, my then cruise partner got us a balcony with an obstructed view. We could see the New York City skyline, but couldn’t see Governor’s Island due to the lifeboat in front of us.
Off-Peak / Shoulder Season Cruises.
Instead of cruising in peak seasons, one should look for cruises in shoulder seasons. For example, peak season for Alaskan cruising is in June, July, and August. Consider an Alaskan cruise in April, May, September and October. Not only does one avoid the headaches of peak season, but one can cruise at a much lower price. Each region has peak and shoulder seasons, so a bargain hunter will continually track fares for both peak and shoulder seasons and choose a cruise that meets the selected price point.
Repositioning Cruises.
If one doesn't mind spending most of a cruise at sea, one should consider repositioning cruises to save money. However, one must ask whether the money saved on the cruise is lost in airfare. In many cases, the price for a one-way flight can be more than a round trip ticket. So, this may not be a cost saving option for all cruisers.
Strangely enough, one can find cruise line websites to be quite useful. For example, Holland America currently identifies "Early Booking" cruise selections where one can get "Free Gratuities" with their "Have it All" fare package.
With the above being said, one should use an independent travel agent to book any available cruise, as they have access to fares (e.g. Group Rates) not always available through the cruise line.
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