cruising is a great way to have an
affordable vacation but a bit of
planning and events is the best way to
save money and manage your cruise budget
[Music]
hi there I'm Ilana from the website
lifeboatcruise.com welcome or welcome
back to my channel now these days I
think a lot of us are really trying to
see how can we still have amazing
vacations but maybe just not blow our
budget especially there are a lot of
different Cruise extras that certainly
if we let ourselves go well our budget
could just get out of control now in
this video I'm going to share with you
the 10 things that you'll want to plan
for in your cruise budget as well as the
tips and strategies and even a couple of
new ones that I've never shared before
that will help you to save money on your
cruise now before I get started I did
want to mention that if you like this
video if you find it helpful informative
or enjoyable in any way then please do
give this video a big thumbs up I really
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already let's get started so the first
thing that you'll want to budget for is
the cruise itself and there are of
course a lot of factors that are going
to go into the price of the cruise so
firstly it is the cruise line itself
what I suggest is that you book the
cheapest cruise that you will still be
happy with now some ways to save money
on your cruise and still go with your
preferred Cruise Line is to look at the
age of the cruise ship if you can book
on a cruise ship that's maybe a year or
two years old rather than the newest
cruise ship you will automatically
probably save at least 20 percent the
other place that you'll want to look to
save money is on the cruise cabin now an
interior cabin is usually going to be
the least expensive however if you think
you might want something a little bit
better than an inside cabin but you
would be happy still with an inside
cabin consider booking your inside cabin
and then bidding to upgrade that cabin
later on and reprice your cruise often
so you might have booked your cruise
several months or maybe even a year in
advance keep an eye on that price and if
you do see that it has gone down contact
your travel agent or the cruise line and
ask about that and they will often lower
the price as long as you are before
final payment now I do have another
little Advanced strategy that you can
use as you get to final payments which I
will share later on in this video number
two consider prepaying your gratuities
now this is something that is optional
but if it helps you to kind of control
your budget by prepaying your gratuities
that in itself can be helpful personally
for me I don't like to have a big Bill
at the end of my cruise so I like to
prepay my gratuities but there is
another benefit approximately once a
year sometimes it's a little more
sometimes it's a little bit less but
Cruise Lines will often raise the price
or the amount of their gratuities now at
that point if they do raise them and you
haven't prepaid them you will pay a
higher amount when you do go on your
cruise so if you prepay them you do have
a little bit of a potential savings by
doing this number three flights or drive
so you have to figure out how are you
going to get to your cruise now if you
need to or if you want to fly there are
a few different options and you'll want
to make sure that you budget for this
one of those ways is to take a look at
Cruise Line air in some cases Cruise
Line air is very competitively priced
and they may even have a promotion so
that can be a little bit bit of a money
saver however at the same time you might
also want to consider can you drive to
the cruise port if you really are trying
to stay on a budget for your cruise this
can be a really good way especially if
you are a family that is cruising a
really good way to save money and have a
fun family road trip now don't forget if
you are driving that there still is a
cost to that so make sure to budget that
so maybe you need gas you might consider
it might be a hundred or two hundred
dollars per way to get to the cruise
port if you need a hotel you'll want to
make sure that you've looked into that
as well number four budget for the drink
package or not so of course the drink
package is completely optional now a lot
of people really like having the drink
package because not only can it be a
money saver drinks can be expensive on a
cruise but at the same time it does add
an extra convenience and a lot of people
say they like having that on their
Cruise however it is definitely not
necessary and something to do before you
book the drink package is actually
research what is included on your cruise
most of the time time there are some
drinks included coffee tea your Basics
all of that is included water that is
safe to drink is included on a cruise so
you don't actually need to book the
drink package now if you don't think
that you'll drink the alcohol but you
would like to drink soda this really is
available at a pretty reasonable cost
now I have a little tip about the drink
package if you're on a cruise line that
does make you buy the drink package for
two people in the cabin but one person
doesn't drink don't feel stuck what you
can do is call the cruise line if you
explain that one person doesn't drink
most of the time they will allow you to
buy the non-alcoholic package for the
second passenger in the cabin and that
is going to save you money number five
make sure to budget for your shore
excursions and research your cruise
ports so shore excursions is definitely
one area that people can spend a lot of
money and a lot of the times this is
just due to the fact that they really
haven't done enough research about that
cruise port either they end up getting
to the cruise port doing nothing and not
having the best day or they end up
booking an expensive Shore Excursion
once they're on the cruise ship and they
get off the cruise ship and they realize
they could have just taken a cab for
five or ten dollars to the local Beach
and they would have been just as happy
now something that I like when I do book
my excursions with a cruise line is it
does actually help me to kind of budget
for my cruise because then I can pay for
it in advance and stop the flexibility
if I need to make a change or even
cancel I can usually do that most cruise
lines I think it's till two days or
three days before the cruise so you do
have that flexibility which is something
good now what I do is I actually keep
track of all of this this is part of my
ultimate Cruise planner and I keep track
of my deposit my payment just keep track
of everything that just helps me to kind
of keep control of my cruise budget sure
Excursion Cruise Line air
Etc and of course miscellaneous things
so if I'm booking any other treatments
maybe spa packages or anything else I
can keep track of all of that on my
crease planner and when there are
different things that I want to make
sure that I having my budget for later
on once I'm on my cruise I add that as
well to my cruise budget planner and I
can even keep track of any of the
different activities that I've booked on
board whether there's an additional cost
or whether it's included now all of the
cruise budget forms are part of the
ultimate Cruise planner the ultimate
Cruise planner is a 47 page downloadable
printable Cruise planner that can help
you to keep track and keep organized for
your cruise from the time that you book
your cruise all the way through
embarkation and disembarkation with
cruise planning forms Cruise budget
forms and more if you are interested in
the ultimate Cruise planner and seeing
what's included I'm going to leave all
of the information linked Down Below in
the description of this video number six
plan a budget for any of the optional
packages that you really want to have on
your cruise so this could be the
internet this could be a photo package
this could be a thermal Spa pass so any
of those things just make sure that you
are budgeting for them now in particular
when it comes to the internet if you are
lucky maybe you booked your cruise and
you have the internet as a perk or maybe
have the internet even if it's a basic
package this is going to be enough for
you and you don't need to upgrade to a
premium Wi-Fi package or you might have
a few minutes that are included with
your cruise now if you think you might
want to upgrade or you don't have
internet as part of a package when you
booked your cruise then just make sure
that you keep an eye on your cruise
planner most cruise lines now do have
promotions leading up to the cruise for
people who are booked on their Cruise
where you can get a discount of 10 20
even 30 percent now I have a little tip
if you were thinking of getting the
photo package if you are cruising with
extended family have just one family or
one cabin book that photo package this
way everybody can take the photos one
person will buy that unlimited digital
photo package and then when you get home
you could print out the photos as you
need number seven when it comes to
packing for your cruise and planning for
your cruise in terms of clothing and
cruise items don't buy all the items
that you'll need for your cruise all at
the same time right before your cruise
try to plan in the few months leading up
to your cruise so that you can buy a
little bit at a time now something that
a lot of people do is they actually keep
a little bit of a cruise wardrobe and
they just keep that maybe in a spare
closet or in a section of their closet
so what I mean is when you find a great
little black dress just keep that and
aware that on every cruise for formal or
elegant night you have something to wear
maybe you have dress shoes that you
really like for those outfits just save
those for the cruise and you don't have
to buy them every time you go on a
cruise and when it comes to some of
those useful Cruise items a lot of them
can be given in advance as gifts so
snorkel gear makes a great gift even
luggage what a great anniversary or
Christmas gift that would be now I have
two more things that you'll want to plan
for in your budget and then I will share
with you what you're definitely going to
want to do before you make your final
payment and this is something new I've
never shared before so one other thing
that you are going to want to make sure
that you plan for in your budget are
souvenirs now not everybody buys
souvenirs for anybody back home or even
for themselves but if you do think that
you might might want to buy souvenirs
these can kind of add up you might want
to do a little bit of research in
advance and then just plan if it's 10 to
20 dollars per person just put that into
your cruise budget number nine
miscellaneous items that you are going
to need cash for so some of the things
that you might need cash for and this
you definitely need to plan at Advance
because you have to take that out of the
bank or the ATM machine you don't really
want to do this on the cruise ship
because there is going to be a fee to do
this so bring it from home that really
is best or you may need to get a
different currency but things that
you'll want to think about is paying for
taxis when you're in Cruise ports you'll
also want to maybe give a tip to any
tour guide so you'll want to have a few
dollars for that you want to tip the
porter something that I like to do if
I'm in Cruise ports is if I'm buying
something at a market is I do want to
use cash so maybe a five dollar a ten
dollar a twenty dollar bill make sure
you do have that cash with you and as
well if you do think that you might want
to tip any of the crew in cash then make
sure that you bring that cash with you
you and a little tip is if you like to
give cash to crew members a lot of times
it is something nice if you can write
them a quick little note of thanks so
you might want to bring a few
inexpensive thank you cards as well okay
so this last tip really has the
potential to be a very big money saver
and that will help you to stay on budget
for your cruise so first of all you do
want to make sure that when you make
your final payment that you do check to
see if the price has gone down and this
can be done very easily if you've booked
directly with a cruise line just ask the
person you're speaking with just ask
them to please check the price of your
cruise if the price has gone down
they'll automatically charge you with
the lower price and the same thing if
you are booked with travel agent ask
them the same thing but the other thing
that you'll want to do is if you've
booked a refundable fare and oftentimes
I like to book refundable fares I don't
really like non-refundable fares because
they're not very flexible but if you
have booked a refundable fare as you get
closer to your final payment so maybe a
couple of weeks before if you're pretty
sure that you you are going on that
cruise at that point what you'll want to
do is call the cruise line or your
travel agent have them check what the
non-refundable fare is oftentimes that
non-refundable fare might be a good
couple hundred dollars or more cheaper
than your refundable fare at that point
switch that price or that rate over to
the non-refundable Fair because you are
so close to your final payments now I
hope that you enjoyed this video I'm
going to leave all of the information
about the ultimate Cruise planner
including the cruise budget forms linked
Down Below in the description of this
video in case you do want to check that
out I would love to hear from you what
are the things that you make sure that
you have as part of your cruise budget
planning and what are some of the tips
that you use to save money for your
cruise now I'm going to leave a video
right after this one with the very best
cruise items in case you do want to
check that out I hope that you enjoyed
this video if you did please do give it
a big thumbs up I really do appreciate
it and please subscribe to the channel
if you haven't done so already bye for
now and happy creasing