25 RIDICULOUS Money Mistakes All Cruisers MUST Avoid!

If you're going on a cruise, you don't want to waste money & spend more than you should! These 25 money wasting mistakes are pretty avoidable, if you know these tips & tricks!

In this video I share money mistakes not to make on a cruise. If you're a first time cruiser, or haven't been on a cruise in a while, these cruise tips will help you to avoid these costly cruise mistakes.

I've also included cruise travel tips that will help cruise passengers to save money on a cruise. From simple cruise hacks to more advanced travel tips, you'll avoid these extra expenses on your cruise vacation.

These tips will work for every cruise line, from Carnival, Norwegian Cruise Line, Royal Caribbean. Princess Cruises and more!

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🛳 THE ULTIMATE CRUISE PLANNER 🛳

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CRUISE ESSENTIALS

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Please note that I am unable to give personal cruise and travel advice. If you leave a comment I try my best to answer.

ABOUT ME
Hi! I'm Ilana! I live in Montreal, Canada with my husband Frank. We can often be found dreaming about and planning future cruises, ideally to hot and sunny destinations! I believe in having fun, being kind and that you are never too old, or too young, to live the life of your dreams!

Please note that I do not sell cruises on Life Well Cruised. This and all other videos are for entertainment purposes only. I share my own opinions, personal experiences and information with other cruise travellers, which I hope can be helpful. Please contact your travel agent or the cruise line directly for advice and any information specific to your booking.

Some B-Roll Footage courtesy of RCCL
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Music Credit: Surf Time by Lux-InspiraMusicMusic

[virginiaporter]

One way to avoid ATM fees is to go to the casino. Use your card to withdraw money from your account. Print the ticket and go to the cashier and cash it out. No fees, and if you used your credit card for your account, no cash advance fees. I learned this from a crew member.

[mesenteria]

This is our third cruise. This time, it's not with extended family and my siblings. Just the two of us. We're going premium rate because it's a once-in-a-lifetime probably due to my wife's health. This means WiFi and drinks, plus special dining included, the latter just once. Sometimes, just the once, you splurge and make it memorable.

[pjhosang]

I was charged for photographs that weren’t mine on NCL. When I went to the desk to clear it up, the cruise employee was very arrogant and insisted he had a receipt that I signed. When I asked to see it, I found it was a name that wasn’t even close to mine. They immediately removed the charge. I was glad I consistently checked my cruise charges.

[iamDedria]

If you like snacks. Bring little baggies from home. Then go to the buffet and get cookies, gapes etc then you will have snacks for later

[LizzieMcT]

One of my things to do right before a cruise is to go to my bank, withdraw $100 inside, and get it all in fives. that pretty much covers cash tips, porters, small purchases at ports, etc.

[SteelgirlUSA]

Another mistake is not buying discounted gift cards if they’re offered for your cruise line. For our latest cruise we bought Carnival gift cards from AARP and saved 10% on just about our entire cruise cost: cruise fare, specialty dining, wifi, in-room beverages, excursions, and even estimated what our bar bill would be and purchased extra gift cards to put on our S&S cards when we boarded the ship. We saved about $450.

[FloridaGirl]

I always put a reminder on my phone calendar at 3pm the day of embarkation. Put phone on airplane mode.
I swear, it's a lifesaver.

[jacquelineadams]

Bring snack bags and sandwich boxes to raid the buffet for foods to eat off the ship or at night in the room. Bring your own bottle to fill with ice and juice.

[michellebutrick]

I think they need to be more flexible with the drink package. When they make the entire room pay for a drink package, but some people in that room don’t drink alcohol. It’s a waste of money. They should offer the drink package and let each person choose which package from that room they want.

[yhzpvd]

Don’t forget you smart watches with cellular, need to be put in airplane mode as well!

[terrybenton]

Good afternoon, Ilana. We never buy any of the packages - drink, internet, specialty dining. We cruise to unwind, so internet is not important to us. We don't drink specialty coffees, and fresh squeezed juice is not important, the free stuff suits us fine. We are ocassional drinkers, so paying al a carte for alcohol works for us. Just returned from an 11 day cruise to Alaska and our bar bill was $64 for 5 drinks. Even with Princess' Plus package @ $60/day/person, we wouldnt have gotten our value from the package, and they have some of the best pricing. On our upcoming RCL cruise in January, we've been getting drink package offers of buy 1 get 1 half off, but that's still $128/day just for drinks. We did take advantage of a Princess offer on this past cruise where we could pre-order bottled water for $7 for 12 bottles to be in your cabin when you arrived ($0.85/bottle). We felt the pricing was good and convenient to take on our shore excursions. They had a similar package for soda that worked out to $1.35/can when pre ordered.

Agree with all your other suggestions, especially using the "convenience" store on the ship. If we do find we forgot something, unless it's an emergency, it's usually cheaper to pick it up in your next port.

[trekguy]

I’m just going to live on ship water and the included food, no specialty restaurants. I travel dull. All I need is a deck chair to use while reading. That’s all I really plan on doing. Nothing fancy at all.

[JROD-]

My wife and I always buy the drink package and we 100% meet our daily quota’s without being obnoxious, and staying respectful and responsible… happy sailing everyone 🌊 🌴 🏝️ ☀️ 🛳️

[NicholasPyers]

If you forget to bring things like sunscreen or over the counter medicines, or run out during your cruise, you can often be better off buying it at your next port... even the convenience store right next to the port is going to be cheaper than buying on board... but if you can make into the the port town itself you'll find regular shops that are far far cheaper eg local supermarket or chemist

[chrisalismom]

We ALWAYS buy the deluxe beverage package. It is worth it to us because people forget that it isn't just alcohol in the package. It also covers soft drinks, bottled water, smoothies, specialty coffee and teas, fresh squeezed juices, wine, beer, cocktails, shots. Everything. It adds up fast, so for us, it is worth it.

[jpjpjp]

Love your videos. Keep up the good work. I did have a problem with towels at Cococay. I had gotten two on board. After the day on the beach I returned the towels at a station on the island so I wouldn't have to take dirty towels back on board. I asked the attendant if it was OK and he said yes. I signed off for them and returned to the ship. Later I found out I was going to be charged the lost towel fee. Lesson learned, always return the towels where you get them first!

[jessicadevoto]

As for the ATMs, you can avoid that altogether on most cruise lines. I haven’t tried this, but Emma Cruises mentioned it in a video a long time ago. Instead of using the ATM, go to the casino, load the amount you want to take out onto a slot machine, cash it out, and take it to the cages. Free withdrawal.

[sherritaylor]

My husband and I are going on back to back cruises for a total of 33 days. We booked the premium drink package and a balcony room. We ended up with the 2nd cruise drinks free with the savings. Plus all the coffees and bottle drinks, water, and all drinks except bottles of wine. We are going on Norwegian, and included the airfare. Their price was half of what I was looking at booking separately and they provide transfers from ship to airport. Plus if the flight is late or whatever, you don't lose the cruise they handle it.

[annm]

Never thought of having a cruise re-fared. ❤

[johnkijak]

My wife and I booked a NCL cruise for next year. We are both Veterans and we're able to get a small discount on the cruise package. We have cruised with NCL in the past and we're not aware of this discount. We had to verify our Veteran status which was pretty easy. The person at NCL was very helpful and informative when booking the cruise directly with them. Your videos are very informative. Thank you.