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Cruise Fees That Might Take You By Surprise (Photo: Antonio Guillem/Shutterstock)
Cruise Fees That Might Take You By Surprise (Photo: Antonio Guillem/Shutterstock)

13 Cruise Fees That Might Take You By Surprise

Cruise Fees That Might Take You By Surprise (Photo: Antonio Guillem/Shutterstock)
Cruise Fees That Might Take You By Surprise (Photo: Antonio Guillem/Shutterstock)
Contributor
Gina Kramer
Contributor
Elissa Garay

Last updated
Jan 8, 2020

Read time
8 min read

Like any vacation, cruising can come with good and bad surprises. Finding out your favorite specialty restaurant is bargain-priced for lunch or that spa treatments are discounted on port days might make you feel like you've discovered buried treasure. On the flipside, realizing you have to pay a $15 corkage fee to drink the wine you brought onboard or that the room service you ordered is saddled with a surcharge can be a real letdown.

Despite the "all inclusive" lingo commonly used to describe cruises, all lines have "hidden" cruise fees. Additionally, each cruise line has its own policy when it comes to tipping, room service and more. Ordering bacon and eggs from your cabin might be free on one cruise line, but cost you on another.

If you're under the impression something is included, having to pay can put a damper on your worry-free vacation mood and potentially leave your budget in a bind. So how do you prepare for fees that aren't as obvious? Here are 13 cruise fees that might take you by surprise.

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1. Room Service

Most cruise lines offer free room service, but some have now implemented a service charge for each order placed. Expect to pay $7.95 per order on Royal Caribbean if you order from the All Day Menu and from the American Section of the breakfast menu. (Continental breakfast options remain complimentary.) Norwegian, too, charges $7.95 per order, although this charge does not apply to passengers in The Haven suite complex.

Celebrity charges $4.95 for late-night orders placed 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. Similarly, Carnival room service orders placed between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. are subject to a service charge between $2 and $6 per item.

Some lines like Disney and Holland America offer free basic room service, though certain menu items (like M&M's on Disney) carry supplemental fees.

What to Expect on a Cruise: Room Service

2. Gratuities

While gratuities are commonly included in the upfront rates on luxury cruise lines, that's not the case on the mainstream lines. Instead, gratuities are automatically charged to your onboard account ($14.50 per person, per day, on average for standard staterooms; note that suite-level passengers usually pay a couple of dollars more each day). While this eases the process of tipping everyone who provided you service throughout your sailing, it can come as a surprise to new cruisers who haven't read the fine print.

In addition, not everyone is covered under the auto-gratuity. For instance, spa and beverage service typically carries a gratuity surcharge of 15 to 18 percent. Room service stewards, baggage handlers and tour guides should be tipped on the spot -- so it's good to have a little extra cash on hand.

Cruise Line Tipping Policies

3. Select Menu Items

Sea Salt Accented King Salmon from the King Salmon Restaurant in Denai Wilderness Lodge (Photo: Princess Cruises)
Sea Salt Accented King Salmon from the King Salmon Restaurant in Denai Wilderness Lodge (Photo: Princess Cruises)

It's no secret that specialty restaurants -- which offer higher-quality food and a more intimate ambiance than the main dining room or buffet -- carry a fee on most cruise lines. But if you want to upgrade your dinner with, say, a dry-aged steak or Maine lobster, it could cost you, whether you're in a specialty venue or in the main dining room.

For instance, filet mignon will cost you $16.95 in Royal Caribbean's main dining venue while lobster or the surf and turf combo will set you back $20 in Carnival's. Princess Cruises' typically free buffet venue hosts the pop-up Crab Shack, which carries a per-person charges of $29. Note, too, that for refined palates, some luxury lines have caviar menus carrying staggering supplemental fees.

Best Cruise Ship Alternative Restaurants

4. Corkage Fees

On most lines cruisers can bring wine and Champagne onboard to avoid paying inflated alcohol rates on the ship, or to simply enjoy a favorite label from home or to sample something new that they've found in port. But before you hit the liquor store or local winery, know that most cruise lines limit how many bottles you can bring -- and often charge a corkage fee. (Most luxury lines don't apply the fee.)

You'll pay $10 to $30 just to drink your cabernet or merlot in the main dining room, but you can usually curtail the charge if you opt to consume the bottle inside your stateroom instead.

Cruise Line Alcohol Policies

5. Babysitting

For parents in need of grown-up time, a number of cruise lines offer free group babysitting via their onboard kids' clubs, which are conducted during the day and are generally reserved for kids age 3 and up. For late-night sitting (usually after 10 p.m.), you'll be shelling out an hourly per-kid fee for "late-night parties" (aka, group babysitting); a couple of lines also offer in-room babysitting, which is paid by the hour.

For an hourly fee, some lines like Disney and Royal Caribbean provides nursery care for those ages 6 months to 3 years. (Note that many of the upscale lines -- like Azamara, Regent Seven Seas, Seabourn, Silversea, etc. -- don't offer babysitting services at all.)

Best Kids Clubs on Cruises

6. Soda and Bottled Water

Soft Beverage (Photo: Zodiacphoto/Shutterstock)
Soft Beverage (Photo: Zodiacphoto/Shutterstock)

Despite the fact that most iced tea, lemonade, milk, coffee, tea, hot chocolate and breakfast juices are complimentary on cruise ships, soda and bottles of water are not. (The exceptions are luxury lines, which do include them; Disney also offers free soft drinks with meals.) One can of soda costs roughly $3, and a large bottle of water closer to $4.

The best way to combat these prices is by purchasing a soft drink package, which average $7 to $13 per day for an adult with a reduced rate for children, or by bringing your own soda and water onboard. (Just make sure it's allowed before you pack it.)

What to Expect on a Cruise: Nonalcoholic Drinks

7. Specialty Coffee

Got a latte addiction? Free coffee can easily be found at the buffet or ordered in the main dining room, but anything higher quality or fancier than a plain cuppa joe will almost always cost you (on the non-luxury lines, at least). Most cruise ships have cafes serving up specialty coffee a la carte, where a cup will typically run in the $2-to-$6 range.

Best Cruises for Coffee

8. Sauna and Steam Room

While use of the spa-area saunas and steam rooms are free on most ships that have them, some cruise lines charge per day or offer a cruise-length pass to their fancier hydrotherapy areas/thermal suites.

For example, Carnival's sauna and steam room is free, but access to the thalassotherapy pool and thermal suites will cost you $40 per day (or $159 for an eight-day cruise). Norwegian Cruise Line charges $199 per week to access the sauna, steam room, heated loungers, hot tubs, thalassotherapy pool and other spa extras in its thermal suite. (The line offers $20 off for packages booked online.)

Best Cruise Ship Thermal Spa Suites

9. Adults-Only Sun Decks

The Sanctuary on Caribbean Princess (Photo: Cruise Critic)
The Sanctuary on Caribbean Princess (Photo: Cruise Critic)

On big cruise ships where kids run wild, nothing sounds more inviting than a peaceful, adults-only sun deck. But that respite comes with a price tag on some cruise lines. For $40 per day, passengers on most Princess Cruises ships can lounge around in the Sanctuary while servers proffer complimentary infused water and snacks. If you work up a bigger appetite, expect to pay an additional $3 for food delivery.

Norwegian Cruise Line, on the other hand, offers 18-and-over retreats on only a few ships. Vibe Beach Club and Posh cost $25 per day ($99 for a weeklong pass) and pamper passengers with padded lounge chairs, whirlpools, chilled towels, fruit skewers and water spritzers. Vibe occupants also receive a $30 food and beverage credit with a day pass, or $100 with a cruise-length pass.

Best Adults-Only Cruise Sun Decks

10. Select Onboard Activities

Onboard activities, like salsa classes and towel-folding demos, are generally free, but you might find some attractive pastimes that cause you to spend extra. Drink tastings (prices vary) and bingo (usually at $10 per card) are the most prevalent, but noteworthy onboard splurges include MSC Divina's wine-blending class and Holland America Line's America's Test Kitchen cooking classes.

Other for-fee attractions include Norwegian's race car track and laser tag arena, Royal Caribbean's sky-diving simulator (after the first free ride) and MSC Cruises' zip line and F1 simulator. Some cruise ships also have bowling alleys that can end up costing up to $40 for one hour of playtime. Fancy art classes -- such as Norwegian's Canvas By U (social painting experience akin to the land-based company, Painting With a Twist) and Celebrity's glass-blowing classes -- cost upwards of $35 (but you do get to take home an original souvenir).

What to Expect on a Cruise: Daytime Activities

11. Fitness Classes

While morning stretches and basic abs workouts are generally included in your cruise fare, as is independent use of onboard fitness facilities, specialty classes like spinning, Pilates and yoga will cost you at least $12 each. You'll have to shell out even more for specialty workouts like TRX training and boot camp. Many mainstream cruise ships also offer their own custom workouts, which can cost anywhere from about $20 to $25.

Best Cruises for Fitness

12. Cruise Taxes and Fees

Filing Taxes (Photo: eamesBot/Shutterstock)
Filing Taxes (Photo: eamesBot/Shutterstock)

Don't be fooled into thinking that an attractively low cruise fare is all you'll need to pay aside from extras like gratuities and shore excursions. Cruise taxes and fees -- which include U.S. and/or foreign government taxes, U.S. custom fees and port charges to cover the ship when leaving, entering, docking and anchoring -- can nearly double the advertised cruise fare depending on the line, itinerary and length of your sailing.

For example, we priced out a four-night Bahamas cruise on Carnival with a lead rate of $189 per person that jumped to $292 per person after $103 in taxes, fees and port expenses; a seven-night Bermuda cruise on Holland America that cost $499 per person climbed to $709 after $210 in taxes, fees and port expenses. Make sure you factor these hidden fees into your budget when choosing sailings.

13. Transfers

If you're flying to meet your cruise, you'll need to get yourself from the airport to the cruise port, which can be quite a trek when you travel to places like Rome and London. You can purchase the cruise line's ground transfers to the terminal, but chances are that you'll pay just as much as -- if not more than -- a taxi or shared van service. It's easy to book transfers with your cruise line, but as long as you're arranging a ride in advance, you can sometimes save quite a few bucks by going on your own -- especially if you can split the fare.

Cruise Port Transfers: What's the Best Way to Get to Your Ship?

Publish date January 08, 2020
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