Gambling on the cruise. Well, I’ve only done it once at the slot machines. Rob and I sat down said we’d try with $10 and would quit after that win or lose. I don’t enjoy flushing my money down the drain, so gambling is not my thing. If you enjoy playing the tables or perhaps sitting at the slots, my only recommendation would be to have a limit. This is something I would say regardless of whether you’re on a cruise or not. I will say the casino is one area where the cruise lines make a ton of their money.
Another way that cruises make money is BINGO, but I would say you have more of chance of winning there than in the casino. Rob and I usually do 1 or 2 games of BINGO on each cruise. On our last cruise, we won $150 or something like that. They not only have BINGO games to win cash, but they also have a free cruise BINGO game. Oh, I digress.
Gratuities This is something else that is not included in the initial cost of the cruise. Tips can be done a couple different ways. When we first started cruising we brought cash which we had budgeted just for the tips at the end of the cruise. The last night of the cruise you’re given envelopes for each person that you need to tip and we were given a recommended tip amount for each one. On another cruise, we had the option of having the gratuities charged to our credit card. We were of course given the option of increasing or decreasing the amount based on the service we got. This was very convenient, but there was something nice about handing each person their envelope and seeing their thankful reception. Below I’ve listed a couple link to give you idea of what might be expected depending on which cruise line you are on.
Tip Calculator
Tips
On our last cruise our Bar Waiter was so awesome, which I’ve mentioned before. Rob tipped him extra the 3rd night of the cruise to let him know how much we appreciated the extra effort that he put in to make sure we always had drinks and really didn’t have to even ask for refills, etc. Of course, he got the recommended tip at the end of the cruise. Some times tipping a little up front will give the employee some incentives to continue their hard work. Although, it’s not expected. We have had such bad service from a room steward (house keeper) that we did not tip him much at all.
Travel Insurance. It may seem like a waste at first thought, but when booking our 1st cruise our travel agent highly recommended that we take advantage of that. We have always used Travel Guard. You can go to their website and get a quote based on the cruise that you’re considering booking. Just as an example, a 7 day cruise that costs $1100 for 2 people would cost about $140. You may think you’ll never need it and more than likely you won’t use it. BUT, it covers so much and it could save you $1,000’s! Also if you purchase within 10 days or so of your initial trip payment, you’ll receive even more coverage. For example, being able to cancel the trip for a full refund for any reason. We were persuaded by this, because with kids and aging grandparents, you never know when something may come up and there may be a need to cancel. On our June 2003 cruise, I got a UTI and needed emergency medical care, so we made a visit to the infirmary. Although, all the charges went straight to our credit card, we were reimbursed for it all within a week or two after the cruise, which saved us close to $1,000. So that’s just one example of the unexpected. I can’t say enough about travel insurance. I would never book a cruise without it!
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