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Cheap Bermuda Cruises
How do you save cost?
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Whether it's a cheap or a discount Bermuda cruise, will eventually depend not just on your trip booking cost, but also largely on the onboard extra expense that can hit you by surprise.
These days, due to heavy competition, the Bermuda cruise lines do not make money out of the cruise package cost.
They make the real money from all the extra facilities and services that you avail onboard the ship. Starting from specialty restaurants to Spa, casino, laundry, beverages ... nothing comes free :-(
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Only the accommodation, your regular dining and basic entertainment are included in your cruise package price.
From our experience of cruising to Bermuda a number of times through different cruise lines, we know that the on-board extra expenses can really shoot and even exceed your cruise package cost by a large margin unless you are careful.
Sounds weird? It's true. The cruises have ample extra offerings to pamper you. Do you know that many of the staff onboard work hard virtually without any pay. They earn their livelihood mainly from commissions they get out of the purchases passengers make.
These days, the trend in many of the cruise lines is to offer really low prices to get people on the ship and then hit them with the cash fees or high extra charges for every little thing that one indulges in.
Well, I can't predict your budget and how much you will be willing to spend extra on board for fun, food and special activities. So I have decided to share with you the main services and facilities that come with high extra charges. If you carefully plan on these before boarding, you can keep your budget afloat :-)
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Specialty restaurants on Bermuda cruise ships
If you have gone through all my reviews of the cruises operating to Bermuda, you would have noticed the range of specialty restaurants the ships have onboard. But actually all your meals at the dining rooms are included in your cruise trip cost. So why would you like to spend heavy extras on the specialty restaurants?
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Is the dining room food generally not good? I don't think so. A specialty restaurant can cost anywhere between $15 - $35 per person. I guess it's the desire to have some variations and following what others on board are doing, guide such spending habit on cruises. If you can control yourself here, you save a lot of money.
Internet access
Internet is not free on cruises to Bermuda. In fact this is very expensive. Usually Internet usage charge is 75 cents per minute, or $55 for 100 minutes or $100 for 250 minutes. Some cruise ships have other plans including laptop rentals.
Unless you must access internet or email every day for business reasons, you are much better off to go to one of the internet cafes on shore. There are plenty of them depending on where your ship docks - Kings wharf, St George or Hamilton. Just ask a crew member where to find an internet cafe on shore.
Casinos and Gambling on cruises to Bermuda
This can be one of the biggest money suckers on board. The cruise lines have been investing heavily on making the casinos bigger and better. The casino on Caribbean Princess is supposed to be one of the largest casinos on a cruise ship.
I have seen the slot machines taking coins from 25 cents to $25. All you need is to drink a little (which is always available wide scale in a casino) to start trying your luck with higher bets. So my advice is, if you decide to roll the dice, then first decide on a budget and come out as soon as you lose the amount.
Spa services
It is understandable that you will at times indulge on fancy stuff on a cruise vacation. But visiting the Spa massage center too frequently can turn out to be very costly. A Spa massage on board can range from $80 to $180 per hour depending on the type you choose.
So what should you do? One option is to check for any Spa specials that the cruise is offering. Generally you get such offers when the ship is docked in a port. Also be aware that the Spa staff usually work on commissions. So, a sales pitch on the products are quite likely at the end of the massage. You don't need to feel obligated at all to buy those products. Many a time, you will get much better deals on these through internet shopping.
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Bermuda cruise photos
The photographers will be everywhere around the ship and they will keep taking your pictures while in the dining room, on the pool deck, in the showroom or even while you are getting out or in while the ship is on shore.
You will be presented the choice of buying the professional quality pictures of yours all the time. A typical set of pictures will cost about $25 to $30. Well if you get your own camera, you don't need to buy these and save the cost.
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Art auctions on Bermuda Cruises
Onboard art auctions can be real exciting, and they do offer free drinks like champagne, and that’s the problem. If you’re not careful, you could end up owning a picture or an art costing hundreds of dollars that you eventually won't like.
Many a times we have seen that these are really not worth the price. If you had not particularly planned to purchase art from the cruise, it's better not even to go to this area. Rather try your local art galleries which may give you far better options and be cheaper.
Drinks on board the Bermuda cruise
Tap water, juice, coffee, iced and hot tea are generally the only free drinks that you get on board a Bermuda cruise ship. Generally, a beer costs $4.50, a bottle of wine can be $25 to over $100. Most cocktails are $7-$12. Sodas are $2. Not to mention that a 15 - 18% gratuity is automatically added to your bar tab. A bottled water will also cost $2.
If you like to drink alcohol, you must be prepared to spend quite some amount on this. Because the cruise line will not let you bring in your own liquor except for limited quantity of wine. And if you bring in wine, you can have it in the dining rooms only and they will charge a corkage fee of $10 or so per bottle.
You can check out if there is a soda package offered by the ship. Such deals usually cost $20 to $30, and provide unlimited soda during the entire cruise. So it's really great for families travelling with kids.
Another way of saving cost is to bring your own bottle and fill it up from the self service fountains instead of every time spending $2 for a bottle of water.
Gratuity or Tipping
The cruise lines operating to Bermuda expect you to tip the waiters and the cabin stewards. They usually add a gratuity automatically to your bill towards this. Sometimes a cruise can let you tip while the service is delivered. In any case a gratuity amount between $10 to $12 per passenger per night will get added to your cost.
You can however tip more at your own discretion. The standard gratuity is generally divided as follows: $3.50 per day for the room steward, $3.50 per day for the waiter, $2.00 per day for the bus boy and $1.50 per day for maitre'd. That totals to $10.50 per person, per day.
So a 7-day cruise for two persons will mean an additional $140 to $170 to your expense. By the way, the bar bills automatically come with 15 - 18% gratuity included.
So is there any way to avoid this cost? I guess no and there is no point fighting it either. As I mentioned, many of the cruise staff just earn their livelihood out of the gratuity we pay. So this cost will be there and you will need to factor this into your budget.
Laundry service on cruises to Bermuda
Laundry and dry cleaning charges on a cruise can be very high. For example, a T-shirt can cost $4 to wash. Laundromats are generally not provided in the cabins. Check to see if there is a self-service launderette. That will be much cheaper, typically $3 to $5 per load.
There is another option. Most cruise lines set aside a day when they wash a bag of laundry for a fixed charge, usually $15 to $20 per bag. The cruise line provides the bag which you can fill up.
Sundry items
Buy all the small items you need for regular use before boarding the ship. Because once on board, the price just doubles, be it underwater camera, umbrella, caps, pain relievers, sunscreen or any other personal-use items.
Bermuda shore excursions
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The cruises offer plenty of shore excursions after reaching Bermuda. Starting from the beautiful beaches, snorkeling, Helmet diving to sightseeing and guided tours, all are offered as part of this. But they come at a heavy price. Such shore excursions cost anywhere between $50 to $250 per person depending on what you choose. And you will surely like to take more than just one such excursions after coming all the way to Bermuda.
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Since you get limited time in the island, there is a natural inclination to take these cruise organized shore excursions rather than exploring Bermuda on your own. If you plan in advance, you can save major cost here.
So what should you do? We organize our own tours and excursions every time we come to Bermuda. With the right information, you can also do it easily. It would be far cheaper and satisfying. Here is how to do it: Bermuda Tours and Excursions
And you can buy Bermuda transportation day passes and easily be on your own. We always do that and have more flexibility. This way, you can spend more time on things that you like more - no one to pull you out once the slotted time is over.
Repeat travel and group discounts
This is commonsense. If you are travelling in a fairly large group and book well in advance, all cruise lines generally offer discounts. In general, one out of every 15 passengers (which means the 16th passenger) can travel free. Or alternatively the discount may be distributed evenly across all passengers.
Also, you can get huge discounts from the cruise line if you are a repeat traveler on the same cruise. So always choose a cruise line that you availed earlier to get discounts because they reward travelers loyalty.
Airport Transfers
Airport transfers organized by the cruise lines generally cost far higher than local taxi fare. If you are flying into the port city to take a cruise vacation, consider taking a taxi to reach the cruise port, or to reach the airport on return.
So, those were the main cost saving tips for a Bermuda cruise vacation. If you can take the measures I have discussed above, at least to a reasonable extent, you will eventually save big money.
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