Planning my first cruise!?

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TINKERTOY ..... the 1 & only

When you pay your cruise fare all taxes and port charges are included in that fare. Once you get on the ship everything is cashless. If you book tours through the ship before the cruise the charges will go on a credit card. If you book tours after you are on the ship the charges will go on your on-board tab.

REgardless of the cruise line the price of your cruise includes your cabin, all meals (including breakfast, lunch dinner, snacks and free room service), free admissions to all shows and entertainment, and free use of all facilities on ship like the pools, hot tubs, gym, and recreation activities, except spa services. The things that you will have to pay for are:

GRATUITIES: They will amount to about $10 per person in your cabin per day; about $70 each for a 7 day cruise. 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. So everything on ship except the casino is cashless; everything you buy goes on your account.

ALCOHOLIC DRINKS AND SOFT DRINKS: Coffee, tea, milk, juice, and lemonade and punch will be provided FREE but you must pay for soft drinks and alcoholic beverages and they will add a 15 percent gratuity to each alcoholic drink and soft drink order. Drinks of cruise ships are generally in the range of $7 to $9 including the 15 percent gratuity that is included in each tab. Beer and wine are slightly less, maybe $6 to $7. The cruise line does sell a soft drink card that allow you unlimited soft drinks for the duration of your cruise. These you must buy the first day of the cruise and they generally cost about $6.00 a day for adults; $4.00 a day for kids. The cost of the soft drink card also goes on your on-board tab.

PHOTOGRAPHS: Cruise ship employees 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 $25 for most and the cost of them goes on your on-board tab. You can save yourself a lot of money by taking your own photos and asking other passengers to take photos of you; they generally always will.

TOURS/EXCURSIONS: You are not required to book any tours and you can get off and on in the ports as much as you want. But the cruise line will offer a lot of tours and these are NOT included and are expensive.

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.

OTHER: All ships have what they call "specialty" restaurants where there IS a gratuity/service charge of between $10 and $20. All other food on board is free and its not really necessary to budget for food; you cannot eat all of the FREE FOOD that will be available (so why pay to go eat).

SPA SERVICES: If you want/need to have your hair done, get a massage or wrap, or any services from the spa, you will have to pay for them. Spa fees start at about $70 to $80 and they go on your on-board tab if you use the spa services. You can use the gym free but the spa stuff cost big bucks.

INTERNET SVCS: Ships now have internet cafe and some have WiFi but the there is a fee for internet access and it is very expensive (like about $50 an hour). I always recommend that you skip the high priced internet on ship and wait for port stops where you can usually find an internet cafe where the charges are about $5. to $7 an hour. Just ask the cabin steward and/or your wait staff where the internet is at the port. They know because they use them when they can get off the ship.

ROOM SERVICE/MINI-BAR: You cabin will likely have a minibar with soft drinks and munchies; you have to pay for anything you take out of the mini-bar. But the room service (24/7) is always free.

What to wear:

Your cruise will have a formal night when you can wear your best stuff and get pictures taken, and maybe meet the shipвЂ™s Captain. The formal nights are REQUESTED not required attire. You will not be denied entry to the main dining room if you decide not to dress up, as long as you are at least sports casual. But most people do dress up; a suit or tux for men and a gown or party dress for women.

After 6:00 PM they request that you wear "sports or resort casual" attire. That's attire that you would expect a person to wear in a business office, (like a bank employee), shirt with a collar, slacks, skirt, blouse, etc. Don't over pack , take clothes that you can mix and match tops and bottoms and plan to wear each piece twice.

K. Allyn

There are some really good responses here. This may explain further:

Extra costs:
http://www.ehow.com/how_4703906_plan-extra-costs-cruise.html

Packing clothing:
http://www.ehow.com/how_4703534_pack-clothing-cruise.html

Passport issues (you need one after June 1st):
http://www.ehow.com/how_4702415_between-passport-book-passport-card.html

beerdamon

ONE THING, PLEASE DONT OVER PACK. YOU WILL LIVE IN YOUR BATHING SUIT. WOULD HAVE ANSWERD MORE BUT OTHERS BEFORE ME PRETTY MUCH NAILED IT.

Llama P

If you have a little extra money (not much) you might want to try princess, or royal carib because carnival is not my fav, and food isnt best , but is decent

sigleb07

To begin, you will be treated like royalty, you will eat some amazing food for free except the sodas and tha alcohol. Everytime I go on a cruise a take my excursions by my own. And in the formal night what you do is that you dress up and go to greet the captain in the theater and there they introduce to you all the staff. The last thing you HAVE to go on a cruise, you'll love it and you'll become a fan. Enjoy!!

Steph L

There is no extra charge for meals. There is a charge for soda I think it's like $40 for the week or something if you choose to buy the soda package. Alcohol is not included so you will have to pay for that. They're usually about $7 but there is usually a special for the day that's like $3.50 or something.

The things that you can do at the Bahamas like snorkeling or whatever cannot be booked from home (at least they couldn't with any I have been on), but I would book them as soon as possible after you board the ship, as the activities get filled up quickly. Also, a tip about food, there will be places to eat once you get off the ship for the day. Unless you are just really interested in trying the local food, get back on the ship to eat because then you will not have to spend money on the food.

Keep in mind that you will have to pay gratuities at the end. This will be for your waiters and your head waiter, stateroom attendant, etc. On the last night, you will also get your bill for any alcohol that you consumed or anything that you purchased on the ship (such as photographs). All of these things are charged to your stateroom essentially.

There is a formal night which requires suits and ties for men and dresses/skirts for women. It's basically the same as every other night but I think the waiters do like a parade or something as a goodbye, at least that's what they did on my cruise. Don't forget your passport! Hope that helps!

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