Be Careful Of the "Free Cruise"

lcap · Ladies Man Joined: 13 Nov 2003 Posts: 10973 City: Homeless

A friends wife won a "free 4 day cruise vacation." He got back last week and today was telling me the "free cruise set him back almost $2,400." Shocked

I asked how a free trip cost so much. He told me that the "$7.00/domestic beer, $12.00/import and $15.00/mixed drink" charges "kicked his ass." He wasn't told drinks weren't on the house and since everything is billed to the room, he had no idea what his tab was.

Talk about a bar tab! I think my highest was around $70.00.

churchy · Posted: Oct 25, 2007 12:09 pm Post subject:

your highest bar tab has been $70?!?! Either you don't drink much, or you drink cheap.

dirtysparks · Wakeboarder.Commie Joined: 07 Jul 2004 Posts: 2428

That's probably a question your going to want to ask when going on any cruise. Is there a such thing as an all inclusive cruise?

lcap · Ladies Man Joined: 13 Nov 2003 Posts: 10973 City: Homeless

churchy,

I'm too cheap, I still abide by imbibing "pre-function" functions--drink before you go. Drink the good stuff until you're taste buds don't work any longer--then go to the well or the tap.

I've even heard there is a gay bar that has $0.50/top shelf Margaritas. I'm almost cheap enough I may go.

churchy · Posted: Oct 25, 2007 12:57 pm Post subject:

I am all for pre-funkin'.... I just can't believe that $70 is the highest you've had.

Nauty · Addict Joined: 12 Feb 2004 Posts: 827 City: Lake Dallas

I have never been on a cruise before, but a friend of mine and his wife went on an "almost all inclusive" cruise last year. He said that the food and activities are all inclusive, but alcohol was not. He said the secret is to smuggle a bottle or three into your cabin to help offset how much you consume at the bar.

lcap · Ladies Man Joined: 13 Nov 2003 Posts: 10973 City: Homeless

churchy,

I'm not a high brow kind of guy. I'd rather have pizza than a 7 course dinner. I'll take a Micro Brew beer over a single malt Scotch. Coors light over wine or champagne.

Oasis137 · Addict Joined: 21 Aug 2005 Posts: 687 City: J-Town

I'm going on a cruise this year for spring break and most things are all inclusive:
Food whenver we want.
Juice, water, stuff like that.
Room service is free.
Free 5 course meals, however there is a 10 tip per meal for waiter(so 7 days 10 meals = 70$ but you dont have to eat 5 star all week so just subtract how many days you don't eat there)
We have to pay 30$ for a pop card for the week, but you can pool lets say 10 people together and share the pop card for 3$.
Were bring alcohol down there before we go in our luggage in listerine bottles since were underage.

joedirt00 · Posted: Oct 25, 2007 1:44 pm Post subject:

My cruise wasn't that bad. A mixed large drink was $8-10 and it was pretty stiff. Beers were $3-4. But everywhere we ported we just drank on shore and brought a bottle back with us, kept the flask filled and used the hell out of the soda card.

I think my total tip was $9 a day per person. It was broke up where each waiter got a small piece, the head waiter got a bigger piece etc.

I probably ate my moneys worth in food on that ship. I think one night I got 3 fillets for dinner. Laughing

Sportster4Tec · Posted: Oct 25, 2007 2:00 pm Post subject:

Another good idea for smuggling alcohol on cruises is to buy clear alcohol when you are in mexico or wherever and then put it in those 1.5 liter Evian water bottles. This is what my friends and I did this past spring break because it was hard and expensive to get alcohol on the cruise ship. They check your bags and carry-ons when you get back on the ship, but if you are just carrying a water bottle they never check it.

ohsix · Posted: Oct 25, 2007 2:17 pm Post subject:

lcap, even if all they drank was the $15 mixed drinks, they would have to average 20 drinks per day each.

The drink bills can get expensive on a cruise, but that's something to plan for before going. What really gets expensive is the shore excursions. They seem to average about $100 each and unless you want to do nothing but walk around the port, you'll probably do a about 1 each day which will set you back another $100/person/day. Occasionally, I have done 2 in a day which makes that day cost $200. If you do one shore excursion per day and drink alcohol, you can budget for an extra $150/day, and that's without visiting the casino.

Cruises are a trap for people who think they're getting a cheap vacation.

I think an all inclusive resort is a much better deal than a cruise.

joedirt00 · Posted: Oct 25, 2007 2:35 pm Post subject:

wes reeves, You gotta have self control on a Cruise or you will get caught w/ your pants down at the end of the week. My cruise was just over $300 each because we went in Nov. In hindsight I would have forgoed the upgraded room and just went with the original $240 each since we spent little time there anyway. Take advantage of the ship entertainment shows and such. Avoid the excursions while at port do your own thing. I found that renting the a scooter was the best money spent. Anything withing walking distance of the ship basicly sucks as its geared towards making money from people off the ship. Do the excursions when you go to thier "Private island" otherwise you will be bored. Do the formal dinners as they take a while to consume, plus they are pretty dang good.

When you are at sea you are at the mercy of the ships ammeneties, but with some planning and self control it can come out OK.

churchy · Posted: Oct 25, 2007 2:37 pm Post subject:

Nor*Cal · Ladies Man Joined: 12 Jan 2003 Posts: 9479 City: Sac

$70 bucks is a weeknight out. Most weekends are $100+.

Bowen · Posted: Oct 25, 2007 7:06 pm Post subject:

On my honeymoon my wife and I got an all inclusive (except Alcohol) package. We were in the British Virgin Islands, we went ready to spend money on booze, but when we got there, the package that we got apparently included a bottle of nice champagne, and a bottle of the resort's rum. Needless to say, we probably only dropped about $70 on booze for the whole week!

Dragonlady8 · Black Widow Joined: 27 Aug 2004 Posts: 9198

I'm glad I don't drink alcoholic beverages.

jt09 · Ladies Man Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 22083 City: Austin

My mom was highly pissed at my $600 bar tab when we went my soph year in collge. Buying drinks for underage chicks and a 6 pack when the bar closed every night didn't help.

Oasis137 · Addict Joined: 21 Aug 2005 Posts: 687 City: J-Town

To avoid illegalities , what are ways to sneak alcohol from the islands on to the cruise or from the home port. This is for a research paper, I don't plan on carrying out these actions...(The water bottle idea is good, I did not think of that one)

dmb · Posted: Oct 27, 2007 8:34 pm Post subject:

Oasis137, buy 100 pairs of Reef Drams before you go...

NVChickadee · Posted: Oct 28, 2007 9:34 am Post subject:

Oasis137, Putting it in your luggage in a different bottle (listerine was mentioned above) is good - we thoroughly rinsed out shampoo bottles as well and filled those up - but you have to be careful - Jaimesons doesn't smell good if your clothes are drenched in it. How embarassing when we had to go to the desk to get the bag and they asked if we wanted to file a claim for damages... "Ah, no that's okay" - the smell almost made your eyes water from 3ft away!

Some ports (Puerto Rico for instance) have duty free shops past the x-ray machines. We arrived early, so were able to empty our overnight bags, get off the ship, go back around and stock up. Rum, Kaluah & a couple bottles of wine kept us good for the week. It also helped that the room steward picked up quickly - putting 2 buckets of ice and 2 cartons of milk in there every evening before we got back from port - he got a better tip than our waiter...

Also, keep in mind that most cruises take you to international waters, so the age limit doesn't apply. Royal Carribean allows teenagers to order wine or beer at the bar, but parents must order any mixed drinks for them.

Good luck with that research paper Wink

Oasis137 · Addict Joined: 21 Aug 2005 Posts: 687 City: J-Town

NVChickadee, thanks for the info, I'm going on the cruse "carnival Legend" and even though you are in international waters you still have to be 21 on the ship. Ships rule maybe? My friend has gone on carnival cruises the past 4 sb's so he has kept me updated. He told me that we can also buy fiths on islands and ducktape it to your inner thigh and walk on the ship that way. It sounds sketchy but he said it worked.

RUSSIAN · Posted: Oct 29, 2007 4:49 pm Post subject:

I had no problem bringing 2 bottles of rum on the ship on my recent cruise to Hawaii. My wife had a handle of captain in her backpack, and I had a bottle of private stock. When I went to Mexico for my honeymoon I walked right on the ship with a 30 pack in a bag from Catalina Island. Although you aren't supposed to do it, I don't think they care to much. This was on Princess both times and they also have a 21 and older age limit.
Oh and my bar tab was ALOT for the my recent trip to Hawaii Twisted Evil