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Let me start by saying cruising is my favorite budget-friendly vacation and my favorite vacation in general. I have talked to some people who have never cruised and they think it sounds too expensive. What most people don’t realize is your food, entertainment, and “hotel room” are all included. If you tried to book a trip and included your food, hotel, and entertainment, you would get a total much higher than a Cruise. With these helpful tips, I’m going to show you how to make to save even more money on your cruise! If you’ve already booked your cruise, be sure to click here and check out my post on unexpected items to pack for your cruise.
The Book Is Really Early Or Very Last Minute
Every cruise I have been on, I have booked within 2 months of departure. The best deal I’ve ever received was a 7-day cruise on Carnival Dream (back when it was a newer ship). I booked it two weeks before its departure date and with taxes, Port fees, and gratuities, I paid $450. TOTAL! Once we were on the ship, I spoke with other people cruising and some had spent up to $1,300 for their cruise. Booking very last minute is difficult to do unless you have flexibility with your schedule. I had no intentions of going on a cruise but I typically check the prices a couple of times a week just out of curiosity. This price caught my eye. I called to check on the price and before the end of the phone call, I had booked us on a cruise. Luckily, I have the flexibility at work to take off whenever I need to and I always have a vacation fund stashed away.
Find A Port Within Driving Distance Of Your Home
My favorite port to leave out of is New Orleans. This is mostly because I love to come a day early and eat all of the Cajun food that my heart desires, but also, it’s within driving distance from my home. It takes about 10 hours for me to get to New Orleans and it’s a very easy drive. Depending on plane tickets, this could be the cheapest route of Transportation for me.
Be Smart When Booking Transportation
Driving to port: As I mentioned previously, try to find a port you can drive to. If you are stuck on a particular cruise leaving out of a particular port, do your transportation research. For example, I booked a cruise leaving out of Miami but the cheapest flight was flying to Fort Lauderdale. I didn’t think this was a big deal until I looked up transportation from FLL to Port of Miami. We could shuttle to the port from the airport for about $20 per person each way. That didn’t seem bad but the hotel we were staying at did not offer a free shuttle service to and from the airport. We would spend money on Uber/Lyft to shuttle to the hotel, back to the airport, and then pay $20 per person to get to the port. Then we thought we would just Uber/Lyft from the hotel to the port directly. The cost to Uber/Lyft was almost doubled and would cost $50-65 each way. When I did the math on transportation, it was going to cost almost as much as the cruise. Needless to say, I ended up canceling the cruise and I am planning one for a later date leaving out of Fort Lauderdale we can stay at a hotel that offers free transportation. If you do need transportation to the port, I highly recommend you sign up for Freebird. It syncs to your Uber and Lyft accounts and offers bonuses and cashback. Sign up here and enter code u43cb to get $10 back with your first two rides.
Flights
While we are on the note of transportation, I’m going to tell you about my preferred airline. I worked for an airline for several years and flew standby and was oblivious to how much airfare cost. I no longer have that luxury and over the years of paying for flights, I have found that Southwest Airlines is my go-to airline. There have been times when I’ve seen a lower-cost flight but when I add in baggage fees it costs either the same or more. Another favorite feature of mine is the ability to change flights. When it comes to booking vacations, I am incredibly indecisive and tend to book things at the very last minute. One day I book something and the next day I decide that I want to leave a day earlier. For example, I just booked a Las Vegas trip and decided to leave a day earlier and changed my flight without any fees.
Bring Your Alcohol
I’m not going to encourage you to try and sneak alcohol on board because it’s a hit-or-miss plan. However, most cruise lines allow you to bring on a 750ml bottle of wine per adult in the stateroom. Make sure you read the fine print for your cruise line because some only allow two bottles. I know most cruise lines require that you carry this on in your carry-on bag and you do not put it in your checked luggage. I don’t know about you but If I’m taking a 3 or 4-day cruise, two bottles of wine can get me a long way. I also tend to drink more at the port where it’s cheaper than the ship’s prices. The ship will also offer a special drink every day and it typically comes in a souvenir cup for a cheaper price.
