Cruise Travel?

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TINKERTOY ..... the 1 & only

The price of your cruise includes your cabin, great meals all day, all entertainments, and free use of all of the ship's facilities, like the gym, rock climbing wall, skating rink, etc. The things you will have to pay for in addition to the fare that you paid are:

Gratuities: They will amount to about $10 PER PERSON in your cabin PER DAY; about $70 each for the week. 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 drinks (alcoholic beverages) and they will add a 15% gratuity to each drink or soft drink order. You can save on drinks by ordering them in a plain glass rather than the souvenir glasses they often use. You can also save money if you can by taking a six-pack of bottled water and soft drinks with you in your carry on. Since you cannot take these through airport security you would have to get them after leaving the airport.

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. Skip them and save yourself a lot of money. Take your own camera and have the other passengers photograph you on and off the ship.

Tours/Excursions: These are listed on your cruise line web site and you can reserve them well before the cruise and pay for them also. If you wait until you are on ship to book tours they will be charged to your on board account (then you can pay cash to settle your account on the last day). But, YOU DO NOT HAVE TO DO ANY TOURS if you do not want to. You can just get off the ship (in many ports you will be right in/near a city) and explore on your own.

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. You can get cash from the casino to play (or not to play) by just going to the casino cage and presenting your cruise card; what you get is charged to your cruise card.

Other: most RC ships 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 that will be available. But if/when you eat in these specialty restaurants there is a gratuity/service charge of $15 to $20, depending upon the restaurant. If the ship has a Johnny Rockets, the charge is only $5.00.

If you want a spa treatment or massage, or your hair done you must pay for that. You can buy a soft drink card that allows you unlimited soft drinks for the duration of your cruise (cost about $25 for a 7 day cruise) but you cannot buy drink cards.

Manda

Tea, water, lemonade, and morning juices are included. For soda you will pay a one time fee on the boat and they give you a free cup so they know who paid. As for food most of the food will be free they are so good about telling you which is not. If you have any questions they have wonderful customer service! I love RC!

Dusie

All meals are included unless you go to the upgrade restaurant and pay extra. Spa, salon, art auction, and photos are all extra. And you need to pay the tips.

Zef H

The simple answer to your question is no. However ...

1) Most drinks, tap water (not bottled water) milk, juice (but not the fresh squeezed) tea, coffee (regular coffee - not the special coffee you get at Seattle's Best) and punch is free. Bottled water, juice that is squeezed at the time you request it, special coffee (such as what you would find at Seattle's Best) soft drinks and alcoholic drinks cost extra. So, you can get plenty of drinks for free.

2) Tips are not included. Tips are usually $10 per day per person.

3) All food except specialty restaurants is included. The free food includes a full breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks. The extra cost food is found in Johnny Rockets, Chops, Portofino and Ben & Jerry's.

4) Photographs, spa treatments, shore excursions, on board shopping, gambling in the casino, some classes, laundry and babysitting are all extra ...
http://www.royalcaribbean.com/customersupport/faq/subject.do;jsessionid=00001fCi3SOSOR7y4vzwp1-HmCo:12hdhua36?snav=2&faqSubjectName=Onboard+Extras&faqSubjectId=337&pnav=5

So, you can cruise for just the cost of the cruise plus tips. Having been on seven cruises I have most of what I want souvenir wise, so my on board account usually runs about $300 per week including tips and shore excursions. Note, I don't drink much, I don't gamble, I don't do laundry and I don't go to the spa. Tips, photographs and shore excursions are my biggest expenses.

gobill9go

tea, coffee, lemonaid are free but soda and alchol are not you can buy a card for soda.

josy_italia

The cruise will include all the food from buffets and the main dinner room. There you can get limonade, coffee, ice tea, and water for free.

They have drinking packages for soda and adult beverages. I will put you the website where you can click and go from here and also a website of the Food and Beverage.

PS- and Sushi is also free!

Indiana Jones

Cokes and alcohol are extra.

Being a swashbuckling archaeologist, I travel a lot.

Below is the best site for travel planning, and has great prices!

Cheers,
Indy

http://www.choiceretreat.com

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