Cruising without sinking your budget

By John Toth

The Bulletin

I love to cruise, but I want to do it on an affordable budget. I don’t want to come back to port and be financially drained. I’m going to share with you in this column how I have a lot of fun cruising while keeping the cost down.

Sharon, The Bulletin’s travel editor, and I have taken eight cruises so far and plan to take many more. In my humble opinion, it is the best way to relax and enjoy a vacation from the time we board a ship, to the sad morning when we have to leave it.

Compared to long-timers we met along the way, we are mere newbies to cruising.  I have picked up some tips from them, as well as from our personal experiences.

When to cruise: For people my age, it may be best to avoid the peak times when everyone is cruising, like major school holiday breaks and the summer.

We have cruised during those peak periods and off-season. The cruises when all the moms and dads are at work and the kids are in school have been more suited for us. There are still late night parties, shows and 1 a.m. pizza, but there are fewer kids roaming the hallways unaccompanied, and the pools and hot tubs are not as crowded.

The last cruise we took was during spring break on the Regal Princess before it left Galveston. This ship lacks all the water-park toys on the top deck, which is why we booked it. Families tend to book ships with water slides and other amusement park-like attractions. The Princess was very reasonably priced, and the kids we came across were well-behaved.

Drink packages: Sharon and I don’t drink alcohol, so we never buy a drink package. If we did, it would be before we got onboard, because it’s cheaper than buying it on the ship. There is a 15-drink cutoff for alcoholic beverages daily. Some cruisers we have observed looked like they made a good attempt to max that out.

The beverage package, which includes non-alcoholic products like gourmet coffee, mocktails, water, soda and shakes, are cheaper, but we never buy those, either.

I use the cruise to wean off sodas for a while and avoid shakes and “mocktails”, because of the sugar content. I  can drink unbottled water, tea, coffee and juices for free.

Specialty dining: There are a lot of good deals offered for specialty dining before we board a ship, and many ships offer combination packages after boarding. On some ships, you have to make reservations fast, because specialty dining venues tend to sell out.

But there are so many places to eat on a ship, other than specialty dining, which costs extra, that we have yet to try any restaurants with an additional charge.

On many ships, we could not even frequent the included dining spots. We like eating in the dining room, which is always grand and spacious, or in the buffet, which is on the pool deck. Sharon and I are not foodies, and it would make no sense for us to incur this additional expense.

Cabins: We started out cruising in a seaview cabin, which means we had a window, but  no balcony. Sharon does not like the idea of staying in an inside cabin, so we’ve never tried that. They are the least expensive cabins on a ship.

Our last six cruises have been in balcony cabins, and I think it’s going to stay that way. Off season, cruise lines offer some good deals on these cabins, because that’s the most prevalent type of cabin on a ship.

If you just use the cabin to sleep and shower in, an inside cabin is a good choice. But I usually take some of my work with me on cruises, and I like to look outside while I take care of business. I also like to sit on the balcony and just watch the ocean.

Casino: I may slip $20 into a slot machine occasionally and watch it disappear in a few minutes as the digital wheels turn. I have no idea what it all means. Several cruisers whom I have talked with, though, have told me that they had their cabins comped by the casino. They play the system and get offers. I’ve never gotten into that, but if you gamble anyway, why not take a cruise and maybe win some money and perhaps a free-cruise offer?

Excursions: We have only taken excursions offered by the cruise ships, which are more expensive than the ones offered by third-parties. The benefit of a cruise ship-organized excursion is that if something goes wrong, and you’re late getting back to the port, the ship will wait for you, or take care of all your arrangements, if it sails away.

Port: We have only cruised from Port Galveston, because it is so convenient. We drive there in just about an hour, get on the ship and start our vacation.

But ships from Galveston sail to the same ports, and after a while it gets too repetitive. Costa Maya, Mexico, is our least favorite port. The last time we docked there, we took a short walk around the port and went back to the ship. Next time, we’ll probably buy a spa pass, which is discounted on port days, and just enjoy what the spa and ship have to offer.

We have talked about flying to another port and sailing to other places. We’ll do that in the future, perhaps, but for now, we like things the way they are. The ship is the destination; the ports are an extra benefit - usually.

Our favorite port so far is Roatan, Honduras, where Carnival Cruise Line operates a private beach, free to its cruise passengers. The Carnival Dream has taken us to Key West and the Bahamas, so those destinations are checked off the list.

Our cruises cost less than if we pieced together a vacation by flying to a location and staying there for five to seven days.

Some say it’s the lazy way to vacation. Maybe, but the nightlife on our cruise ships has been pretty active. It is a less complicated way to vacation and have a lot of fun, if you tailor what you buy to your wants and needs.

You can watch our cruising videos on the YouTube channel “Wandering with John and Sharon.”

Do you have an interesting cruising story or advice to share? Send it to john.bulletin@gmail.com, and we’ll share it with our readers.