Revised on 6/12/26
This page is where I will place tools which may be of use to my readers. Not every tool will be useful in the way it was developed. However, they should prove helpful in planning for your next cruise.
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Cruise Cost Calculator (v1):
The Calculator is a work in progress. (Note: If you have problems with the download, please let me know so I can correct the file's sharing permissions.) Given several inputs, it allows a person to determine the per-person cost of a cruise. Currently, there are no options for generating the costs for multiple people, nor are there provisions for generating the costs for a child on the cruise. (Instructions for the use of the calculator are here.)
To use the calculator, one selects a cruise line from a drop-down menu, and then enter other parameters such as number of beverages (by category) consumed, followed by a selection for Wi-Fi package desired. Based on these inputs, the calculator will look up the prices and compute both a base per day rate and an optimized per day rate (using packages offered by the cruise line). Unfortunately, including bottled waters and specialty coffees proved too difficult to include in this version of the spreadsheet.
There are some limitations one should be aware of to use this tool.
- All prices are based on January 2026 rates. Both individual item charges and package prices can be updated to reflect current rates charged by each cruise line.
- Limited time promotions, such as Holland America's "Pre-Paid Gratuities" for early booking can not be included in this spreadsheet's calculations at this time.
- Child prices can not be computed with this tool.
- All prices reflect average costs by category.
- All prices reflect pre-cruise package purchases.
(Prices may vary by cruise ship and when a package is purchased.) - One must manually change prices in the spreadsheet to reflect cruise line changes. (This applies to "Item" and "Package" pages.)
- The calculations performed in this spreadsheet do not include things such as Specialty Coffees, Bottled Waters, and Top Shelf Adult Beverages (Cocktails and Spirits).
This spreadsheet is still a work in progress. I haven't been able to validate every single possible combination possible. Table formulas are complex, and will be updated when errors are found. However, I have done my best to make this spreadsheet useful to the average adult cruiser.
Future plans for this spreadsheet may include information for multiple cruisers, both adults and children, as well as fine tuning the beverage options for Specialty Coffees and Water Bottles. However, I don't plan to do this in the near future, as it took me over a week to bring this spreadsheet to the point where I consider it useful.
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Not only do I use my own tools, but I use tools from other websites on the web. My two favorite websites are vacationstogo.com and cruiseplum.com. Both have their strengths and weaknesses. But with judicious use of these sites, one can both locate a cruise that fits ones needs and purchase one's tickets when their price reaches a selected sweet spot.
I use Vacationstogo.com (an online travel agency) to quickly find cruises that meet my search criteria. In the case below, I have focused on "Closed Loop" Hawaii cruises sailing from Honolulu.
I use Vacationstogo.com (an online travel agency) to quickly find cruises that meet my search criteria. In the case below, I have focused on "Closed Loop" Hawaii cruises sailing from Honolulu.
You'll note that only NCL's 7-day cruises on the Pride of America are listed. In this case, I really wanted to find prices for the 11-Day cruise tour which were once displayed on Vacations To Go's website, but are no longer displayed with this search.
Since I know that NCL still offers the 11-Day cruisetour, I then went to ncl.com to find instances of the cruisetour and when they take place.
But I could have located the 7-day closed loop Hawaii cruises a different way, via the use of cruiseplum.com.
For me, Cruise Plum's interface is a little wonky in finding a cruise that fits my needs. But it allows me to focus on selected cabin categories (Inside Cabin, Oceanview Cabin, Balcony Cabin, Mini Suite (Deluxe Balcony) Cabin). Assuming I am interested in monitoring a selected cruise, Cruise Plum allows me to do so.
In the example above, I am monitoring 2 cruises, and will be notified when either of them reach a price point I have set for each cruise. This is where I find this site providing the best value, as I don't have to monitor cruise prices on a daily basis because cruise plum is doing the work for me.
Although there are other websites on the web that are useful, I focus on these two sites, and cruise line websites to find the deals I want. There is no one site which will tell a person exactly when to buy cruise tickets. But one can search for sweet spots where the "price is right" for the cruiser.
ST101
