Tips and Tricks on How to Cruise with Kids and On a Budget
I love going on cruises. It is my favorite way to see the world! In the past 2 years, we have gone on 4 (#5 is coming this summer!) cruises and we cannot get enough of them. Since we have gone on so many cruises recently, I thought it would be fun to write up a post about the tips and tricks on how to cruise with kids and how to cruise on a budget. I have learned a lot along the way, what to do and what not to do, and I thought it would be a good idea to share with you all my secrets! Of those 4 cruises that we have taken, we have done ones that we went all out and we have done some that have been very budget friendly. Every single one has been amazing and when I get done, I want to book my next one, that’s how much I love cruises. Before I get to the tips and tricks of cruises, I wanted to let you know that this is in no way a sponsored post. We took these vacations on our own. Now I wouldn’t object to doing a sponsored post about cruises, but sadly the cruise lines haven’t contacted me yet ;).
Before I get to all the details, I wanted to let you know that you DO NOT NEED A PASSPORT to go on a cruise! This is something I didn’t know and I didn’t look at cruises because my kids didn’t have passports. But then I learned that some cruises you just need a birth certificate or enhanced driver’s license. You don’t need a passport if you are going on a cruise that starts and ends at the same port and only goes to Mexico or Canada. All 4 of the cruises we have done in the past 2 years haven’t needed a passport. So if you want to go Alaska or the Mexican Riviera, then you don’t need it. If you are going on a cruise in the Caribbean, then you will most likely need a passport because those go to more than just Mexico. Here is a good post about which cruises don’t need a passport.
CRUISE LINES
Alright lets get to it! First up, lets talk about cruise lines because that is the number one question I get when people ask me about cruising with kids and cruising on a budget. Of the 4 cruises, 3 of them were on Carnival and 1 was on Royal Caribbean. Both cruise lines were awesome and we had a blast. Honestly you cannot have a bad time on a cruise, if you do have a bad time, it’s mostly likely you and not the cruise line.
So there are several different cruise lines and each line offers something different. We took our kids on the cruise with us most of the time, 2 of them were without the kids, so we focused on the two cruise lines that have lots of activities for the kids: Carnival and Royal Caribbean. I would recommend doing some research. If you are bring kids on your cruise, definitely look into Carnival, Royal Caribbean and Disney. If you want to go on a cruise with just adults, Princess or Celebrity might be up your alley. Since we took our kids I am going to focus on Carnival and Royal Caribbean, because those are the ones I know. But I guarantee that you will have a great time on any cruise line because cruises are just awesome.
First off Carnival!
I had heard from a lot of people that Carnival ships are the party ships and that they were not appropriate for kids. THAT IS 100% WRONG! I am so sad that I thought that because I stayed clear of Carnival when I was looking into going on a cruise years ago and because of that, I felt like we could never afford a cruise. I was wrong, way wrong! Carnival is VERY FAMILY FRIENDLY and I never felt like anything was inappropriate for my kids. My youngest at the time we went was 8 years old and he joined us for the PG comedians and it was great. They also have kid programs like Camp Ocean, Circle C and Club O2. Camp ocean is for the younger kids, Circle C is for middle school ages and Club O2 are for high school ages. You can drop off your kids at these places and they are entertained and taken care of by the staff. All of my kids went to the clubs and loved them. I felt like they were safe in there too, only the parents can check them in and our of the room. Camp Ocean reminded me of dropping my kids off at the daycare at the gym kind of thing.
I feel like Carnival is very affordable and they run some pretty awesome deals but I will talk about that later when I talk about the budget part of cruising. Honestly Carnival is my favorite cruise line and the one that I recommend the most, but once again, I’ll get to the details about that later.
This is the Carnival Miracle ship out of Long Beach, CA, 2022.
This is the Carnival Panorama ship out of Long Beach, CA, 2022.
Next up, Royal Caribbean.
Royal Caribbean is another cruise line that is very family friendly. Royal Caribbean is known for their amazing ships! They have the biggest ships of all of the companies and they are packed with lots of fun things to do on them. Their prices are reasonable too and have some good deals, making them very affordable too. Because the ships are massive, that means that the capacity is higher, meaning more people on the ship. But that also means that there is more to do on the ship. We only did one cruise on RC and we didn’t take our kids but they would have LOVED IT, I know it. They have lots to do and you can find something fun for everyone. They also have child programs and areas that you can drop off the kids and they are taken care of by the staff. It is called Adventure Ocean. I’m sure it is amazing, I just haven’t used it.
This is the Royal Caribbean Quantum of the Seas ship in Seattle, WA, 2023.
Like I said before, each cruise line is great in their own way. Decide what you want out of a cruise and then go from there. It all has to do with preference.
CRUISE SHIPS
Alright the next topic is the actual ships. I didn’t realize this at the time, but the cruise ship really does matter. And I’m not talking about the cruise line, but the actual cruise ships. Each cruise line has different kinds of ships and they all have different names. For example, I have been on the Carnival Miracle, Carnival Panorama and the Carnival Breeze. Each ship is different but similar. There are different restaurants, different entertainment and different features. Within the cruise line websites, you can explore each ship and compare them. DEFINITELY DO YOUR RESEARCH ON THE SHIPS! For me, the best way to do research is to google it and watch ship tours. There are lots of them on You Tube and they are very helpful.
The cruise ships have different guest capacity and that may make a difference on your trip. If you love lots of people, then having a ship that holds 4000 guests won’t be a problem for you. If you hate lots of people, then a smaller ship might be the way to go. Once again, it has to do with preference. Whenever I book a cruise, I look at the different ship options and then compare them. There are usually 2-3 ships at each port for each cruise line, so I do a pros and cons list with each ship.
In 2022 we went on two cruises, one in February and then one immediately after in April (that was back when you could get some amazing deals on cruises because you still had to get COVID testing and be vaccinated). In February we went on the Carnival Miracle and we had a blast but the ship was a on the small size and didn’t have a ton to do. So when we got back from that cruise, I started looking at different ships and realized that some ships have of activities on the ship. I booked the April trip because I really wanted to try out the newer Panorama ship!
The Carnival Panorama was built in 2019 and goes out of Long Beach, CA. Here are a few things that made me want to go onto this awesome ship:
Ropes Course
Sky Ride
Sky Zone ***This one was an extra charge and we had to schedule it while on board, it did sell out fairly quickly***
The way that Carnival does their activities is that you just wait in line, you don’t have to sign up for them (besides the Sky Zone). The activities are free of charge and you can do them as much as you want. We went on the Panorama during spring break, the first week of April. It was the same week as a couple counties in Utah, so the ship was packed! There were usually long lines for the everything because half of Utah seemed to be on the ship and there were so many kids all around. We found that there was barely any lines when we were in port, so we took advantage of that and did ropes course and sky ride over and over again while everyone else was in Mexico.
When we went on Royal Caribbean, our destination was Alaska, so all of the outdoors stuff wasn’t as important to me because it is cold and rainy in Alaska. So when I went to go research the ships and cruise lines for that trip, I was looking for different features than the features on the Panorama. This trip was just my husband and me because we were celebrating our 20 year anniversary. I didn’t care about the water slides but I did want some fun activities because I am a kid at heart, so I picked Royal Caribbean for that trip. After doing research, I picked the Quantum of the Seas and the main reason why I picked that ship was the huge covered adult only area. It was at the front of the ship and honestly we spent the majority of our time there, it was amazing! Another reason why I picked the Quantum is because they had things like bumper cars, iFly and other fun activities on the ship.
Here is the adult only area, like I said, it was huge! There was hot tubs in there and lots of seating. The day that we were going into Victoria, BC, were saw lots of whales as we were just relaxing on the lawn chairs. It was great!
iFly! This was super fun and awesome but we had to pay for it. One way Royal Caribbean and Carnival differ is that the activities have to be scheduled on the app on RC. This is something we didn’t know and we missed out on a lot of fun things. They have a lot to offer BUT if you don’t schedule it then you can’t do it. You couldn’t schedule activities until they came onto the app and that usually was on the same day so we missed out of a lot of the fun because by the time we were awake, they were already book. The iFly did have a free option but it wasn’t as long and they filled up super quick. Luckily we were able to snag a session on the last day at sea but it wasn’t the free one.
The ship also had the Northern Star, which is the a glass orb that goes up and you can see way out. We were able to book a free session, they also have a session that costs money that will actually move out towards the ocean and you can see on the sides of the ship.
One of my biggest complaints about Royal Caribbean is that you had to book appointments for EVERYTHING on the app or you couldn’t do it, including the shows. There was so much we missed out on because we were weren’t able to book it on the app. When I got on a cruise, I don’t want a schedule, especially on a sea day. If I feel like doing something, then I want to go do it, even if I have to wait in a line. I am a very “go with the flow” kind of person when I’m on vacation, I don’t have to plan out every minute of every day. That is not the case with Carnival, you don’t have to book it, you can just show up and wait in line.
PORTS AND DESTINATIONS
This is another huge decision that has to be made before planning your cruise, where do you want to go and what port do you want to go out of. This is all based on preference and where you live. No matter where you go, it’s going to be so fun. If you are booking a cruise in the middle of winter, go south and go somewhere warm! If you are wanting to escape the heat of the summer, go north and head up to Alaska. It all depends on what you want to do and what you like. I like it all and would love to go anywhere, I love going to new places and exploring. We have been to 3 different ports and went to different destinations:
Long Beach, CA- Mexican Riviera
Seattle, WA- Alaska
Galveston, TX- Mexico
Things to consider when choosing a port are how much time and money does it cost to get to the port, because that really affects the trip. We live in Washington, so California and Seattle make more sense for us to go there. But if we lived in the East, then going down to Florida would make more since. Each port has they own benefits. I noticed that the food was different depending on the port. When we went out of Texas, there were a lot more southern dishes like crawfish and Cajun flavorings. Those dishes were not on the menu in California.
When booking your cruise, think about how you are going to the port. If you fly, then you will have to take some kind of shuttle or Uber. The cruise lines offer them but there are also local companies that you can use.
In California, we used Long Beach Shuttle and they were awesome. LAX is about 45 minutes to an hour away from the port, so plan accordingly. The ships usually leave around 3:00-4:00pm. There is also cruise parking at the terminal in Long Beach. We have done both, flown to LA and driven to LA.
In Seattle we drove to the port, since we live 3.5 hours away. There isn’t parking at the terminal, so instead we had to park and then get shuttled over to the terminal. We used Seattle CruisePark and it was great. We parked our car and then they took us to the ship, super easy.
In Texas we used Galveston Express and it was good. The port is about 1.5-2 hours aways from the port and so it took a little bit longer. The only complaint I have about it was that it was a ride share kind of thing so we had to drop people off at hotels and things like that. We had plenty of time, so it wasn’t a big deal but if we didn’t have any spare time, it could be a problem.
DIFFERENT KINDS OF ROOMS
There are several different kinds of rooms on cruise ships, I’m going to talk about the main 3: interior, ocean view and balcony. Once again this all depends on preference. I’m not going to lie, all of the rooms have limited space but some are bigger than others that’s for sure. We have had 4 people in a balcony room and we have had 4 people in an interior room. For some cruises we go all out and spend a little more, that’s when we got an ocean view or balcony room. Then for some cruises, we were trying to stay on a budget and that’s when we get the interior rooms.
This is what the interior room with 4 people looks like. The beds come down from the ceiling. There are ladders that go on the end of the beds so the kids don’t step on our bed. We stayed in this room on a 7 day cruise, on the Panorama. We got an interior room because they had a deal where the 3rd and 4th guests were free in the interior room, making it a super cheap cruise. For $2800 we took our whole family of 7 on a 7 day cruise. It was a little tight for sure but totally worth it. And honestly, you don’t spend a ton of time in your room.
This is what a 4 person balcony room looks like. As you can see, the bed again comes down from the ceiling and then the couch turns into a bed as well. The ocean view rooms are the same, just with a window and no balcony. These rooms were on Carnival but they are similar on Royal Caribbean also. There is quite a bit of storage, so to make the space work we put away all of our clothes into the drawers and closets and then the suitcases fit perfectly under the bed.
Since there isn’t a ton of space in the rooms, there are a few things that you can bring to help with the lack of space. All of the walls are metal so magnets are awesome. These magnetic hooks are a must. They are great to hang up your lanyards with cruise ship cards. Just an FYI, Carnival’s cruise ship cards have a hole in them so you don’t need a holder, RC don’t, so you will need a holder for the lanyard. These hooks are also great from hanging jewelry, hats or wet swim suits.
Another little tip about the rooms is that they lack outlets. There are a couple of them but not a lot. You cannot bring a power strip, but they do have a spot for European plug, so you can get a European adapter and that gives you one more outlet.
FOOD AND DINING
One of the biggest appeals of a cruise is THE FOOD! Food is included in the price of the cruise but there are places that are an additional cost. This is something that you will need to be aware of. Each ship has a buffet on the Lido deck and then a main dining room that you go to for dinner. There are also specialty restaurant through out the ship, there are usually signs that say whether they are an additional cost.
Drinks are NOT included in the price of the cruise. Water, lemonade, coffee, tea and juice at breakfast as available for free but anything else costs extra. You can order drinks individually or you can order the drink packages. My family like to drink pop, so we have ordered the drink packages before. They are around $10 per day per person. Carnival offers Pepsi products and you must go to the bar to get your drinks. Royal Caribbean offers Coke products and you get a special cup to use. They have Coke Freestyle machines all around the ship. There is a chip or something in the cup so it knows if you have purchased the package or not. You cannot used a water bottle or anything else on the machines. I would say that the drink package on RC is better than Carnival because we like Coke better and it’s a hassle to get a can of pop from the bars, especially if they are busy. ***Side note*** Each passenger can bring on the ship with them a 12 pack of pop. It has to be soda cans because you cannot bring on plastic bottles. So if you don’t want to buy the drink package, this is a great way to get your drinks. You can also buy soda at ports and bring them on the ship.
The Lido deck is where you will find the buffet food, that’s where most everyone eats breakfast and lunch. One of my FAVORITE things about Carnival is their two specialty restaurants on the lido deck: Guy’s Burger Joint and then BlueIguana Cantina. These are completely free and are AMAZING!! I don’t even eat the buffet food much anymore, I save my calories for the burgers and tacos.
Another thing that you can have all the time is ice cream! You can have as much ice cream as you want. My youngest loved this and probably had 10 cones a day! **Side note** the ice cream isn’t always open on Royal Caribbean like it is in Carnival. That irritated me a lot because I really like ice cream. On a 7 day cruise, I was only able to get 1 cone of ice cream because every other time I went up there to get one, they were closed.
On days that you are out at sea all day, the dining room offers free Sea Day Brunch. This happens on each cruise line. I definitely recommend doing this at least once. The food is so much better than the buffet food. My favorite was the French toast, it was so thick and yummy! There are other restaurants that offer free sea day food for lunch that usually charge for their food. For example, on Carnival, Pig N Anchor has a free lunch buffet.
The dinners in the dining room are what I love the most. There is a different menu every night and you can order as much as you want. I usually order 2 appetizers, 2 entrees and 2 desserts. I just love trying new foods. My kids love it too! They have tried frog legs, calamari, escargot and ox tongue. On the elegant nights, they usually have lobster and steak!
SET TIME DINING VS ANYTIME DINING
When you are booking your cruise, there will be a section that you will need to pick your dining room options. There is early dining, late dining and then anything dining. The difference between them is that you will either have a set time that you go to the dining room every night or you can go whenever and reserve your table every night. We have done both the set time dining and the anytime dining. There are perks about both of them.
One major perk about set time dining is that you get the same table and waiter each night. You don’t have to wait in line, you just go in and sit at your table. We loved getting to know our waiter through out the week. He was great about having our drink ready when we got there and he called us by name the whole week. My youngest had steak every single night and the waiter was so sweet and cut it for him. My preferred choice is set time dining and we usually get the early dining, so we can go see the shows after dinner.
Sometimes the set time dining isn’t an option because there isn’t any space so you have to do the anytime dining. You still get the same food as the set time dining, the big difference is it is like a regular restaurant, you have to reserve your table and then wait until it is ready. Some days you get the same waiters and some days you are at a completely different table. I found when we went at the same time each night, we usually got the same table. On Carnival our wait time was rarely more than 5 minutes, it wasn’t a big deal at all. On Royal Caribbean that was not the case. We had to wait in a line, even if we had a reservation for a certain time. There were times that we waited about 45 minutes, it wasn’t fun at all and it made the experience worse for us. If you have the chance to pick a set time dining, I would.
INTERNET PACKAGES
The ship does have Wifi but it does cost money. For some people, it’s not worth it. But for me, I’m a blogger and the internet is my life, so I always get it. When we leave the kids at home, we have to have it to communicate with them. There are 3 different kinds of internet on Carnival and a few packages on Royal Caribbean. I always get the best and fastest speed because I like to post stories and stream music and stuff like that. On Carnival the fastest package is $21 per device per day. We usually purchase just one device and then share the internet. When you get on the Wifi on one device, it will kick off the other device. So my husband and I share it and it works out. On Royal Caribbean, they have a package for 2 devices/1 person. So that is nice because you can have two people on one plan basically. We did that when we went to Alaska and it was great.
There is also chatting on the app on the cruise line’s app. If you don’t want to purchase the internet package but want to communicate with people on the ship, they have on board chatting. This is a must, especially with kids. It costs $5 per person (that’s total, not per day), but it’s totally worth it. It’s great to chat with the kids or your cruise companions. The ships are so big that you would spend the majority of your day trying to locate everyone. Since my oldest kids are high schoolers (and one college kid!), they will go out on their own and it’s a great way to keep tabs on them. They have to let us know where they are going and keep us updated.
HOW TO FIND DEALS FOR CRUISES
Cheap and expensive can be a relative terms. To one person $500 is cheap but to another person it could be crazy expensive. So instead of saying things are expensive or cheap, I’m just going to tell you the dollar amount and let you be the judge of it. For every cruise that I have booked, I have booked directly on the cruise’s website. I know that there are deal places and things like Costco travel, but when I looked into booking a cruise on Costco travel, the difference between it and the cruise line was $10 and it seemed like that wasn’t that great of a deal. Plus on the actual websites, they have their own deals.
First off, you will want to make an account and have a “membership”. You may not save money on the first cruise, but the more you cruise the more discounts you get through that member number. It seems like there is ALWAYS a deal going on with the cruise lines. Some are definitely better than others. The ones to look for are the 3rd and 4th guest sail free, those are really good ones. I know Royal Caribbean have a lot of sales where kids sail free. I believe that only applies for kids under 12 years old, so for us, it’s not a great deal because we only have one kid under 12 now.
The deals and prices all depend on the length of the cruise and the destination. It also depends what room size you pick. There are a lot more ports in the Caribbean, so those cruises are a little cheaper because they have so much to offer. Alaska is always going to be more expensive because it’s a seasonal cruise, it only goes from the end of April until September and it has USA ports, so naturally those are going to be higher in price.
Here are some examples of some great deals we have found. These prices are only for the cruise and not travel or excursions and things like. Just the price of the cruise, ports and pre-paid gratuities.
In April of 2022, we were able to find a deal where the 3rd and 4th guests sailed free, age didn’t matter. This was at a time that the cruise lines were really trying to fill their ships and they had crazy deals. I say some that had an interior room for $10. This is NOT the case anymore, but they will still have good deals. The main catch is that the deals are for certain times or certain ports. Since we have kids and have jobs and schedules to deal with, we can’t just grab any deal, but if you have a flexible schedule, you can definitely get some awesome deals. So the point I’m trying to make is that on the cruise line’s websites, they do have great deals, you just have to do research and watch them.
Anyways, about the cruise in April 2022. We went on a 7 day cruise with 7 people, 3 ports and the cost was $2800 for 7 of us and that included the ports, taxes and gratuities. That price was for an interior room. Gratuities have to be paid no matter what, it just depends if you want to pay for them before the cruise or after. We usually pay for them before. This deal was too good for us to pass up, so we drove down from Washington to Long Beach, CA (18 hour drive) and had a blast.
With inflation and the cruise lines trying to rebuild, chances are we won’t find a deal that good. But there are still come really good deals. We just got back from a 4 day Carnival cruise out of Galveston, TX a week ago (we went end of February 2024). I turned 40 a week ago and I didn’t want to be home when I turned 40, so about 6 weeks before we went, I booked us a quick cruise. Because I wanted to the cruise to be during my birthday, there weren’t a ton of options, so I couldn’t really shop the deals. With that being said, I feel like we still got an amazing deal. What was awesome about this deal was that we got on board credit. This is a Carnival perk when you have booked more than one cruise with them. This cruise was 4 days, one port and for 2 people. We had an interior room and the cost was $1300. The best part was we got $500 on board credit.
You can use the on board credit once you check in to the cruise. I believe you can check in 8 days before you sail. Once you check in, you can use the credit. You can use the credit for pretty much anything, including excursions.
So for $1300 we got:
-4 day cruise for 2 people and all the food we could ask for
-Swimming with dolphins excursion for 2 people, this included kayaking, snorkeling and lunch
-Highest speed internet package for the full cruise (we only purchased one package and shared it between the two of us)
-Drink package for one person (that was for my husband, I don’t care for pop)
-2 Carnivals sweatshirts, 4 Carnival souvenir shirts, 2 necklaces and a stuffed animal
The “free” excursion was huge to me, that made it 100% worth it. I say “free” because I just factored in the price of those things into the price of the cruise. You can get other things with onboard credit, we got things to bring our kids because we left them in the cold while we went and swam with dolphins.
Like I said before, Alaska cruises are a little more expensive. But for us, they make sense because there is not travel fee or airfare we have to pay. We just drive up to the port, pay for parking and call it good. So these prices may seem a lot higher because they are just for the cruise, but the other numbers have NOT included travel expenses, so keep that in mind.
In June 2023, we went on a 7 day Alaskan cruise on Royal Caribbean. For this one it was for 2 people, 4 ports and was an ocean view stateroom. The total price for it was $2900. There wasn’t any special deal going on when I booked it, we just picked the dates that worked best for us. This cruise was for our 20 anniversary, so it wasn’t what I call a “budget cruise”. I didn’t mind spending some money because this was the first vacation that we went on without kids that wasn’t a work trip or only a couple days long.
SHORE EXCURSIONS
Now that I have talked about the prices and deals of cruises, let’s take about the shore excursions! This right here is what can really make a cruise cost a lot, depending on what you do. Like I said before, we have had cruises that we go all out and then we have had cruises that we tried to stay within a budget. Every single one has been awesome and each one has been special in their own ways.
So first off, let’s talk about actually doing shore excursions at the ports. Mexican excursions are MUCH CHEAPER than Alaskan ones. Just telling you that now. There are a few ways to do shore excursions. You can book an excursion with the cruise line or you can book one from a local company. Or you can just rent a taxi and go explore. We have done all of the above. There are pros and cons about each way too.
First off, let’s talk about purchasing excursions with the cruise line. You can do this before or during your cruise. Some do sell out, so you have to be aware of that. The 3 excursions we booked with the cruise lines were:
Swimming with dolphins in Cabo. The cost of that was $159 per person (February 2022). For that price we got to interact with the dolphin, swim and learn about it. They took videos and pictures of the session and that set us back about $500. This wasn’t a budget cruise for us. It was the first one that we went on with our kids and we didn’t know if were going to go on another one, so we went all out. Little did we know that we would go on many more ;).
Whale watching in Victoria, BC. The cost of that was about $150 (July 2023). During that excursion we were on a boat for about 3 hours and we got to go all over the place. The day we went there were whales everywhere and I saw my first orca in the wild, it was awesome.
Swimming with dolphins in Cozumel. The cost of that was $105 per person (February 2024). For that price, we got to swim with the dolphins for 40 minutes, kayak in the ocean and snorkel in a little area within the marina. Lunch and unlimited drinks were included. We did have to pay extra for the pictures, they were about $300 for all the pictures of 5 people (my sister and her kids were with us).
One of the BEST things about booking an excursion with the cruise line is that there you don’t have to stress about it, you don’t have to worry about getting to the place or making back in time to get on the ship. You pick a time and then they give you detailed instructions on where to go and be at that time. They take care of transportation and it’s super easy. The downfall, it’s more expensive than booking one on your own. The majority of these excursions could be have been booked through the actual website of the place, which is probably cheaper but then booking through the cruise line. But then you have to find transportation and things like that.
Now let’s take about doing excursions on your own– booking them on the company’s website or taking public transportation and going out on your own. Here are a few things that we have done on our own.
Stone Island Getaway in Mazatlan. We purchased the Stone Island getaway for $40 per person (April 2022). With the ticket, we got a ride to the island, lunch and we got to pick two activities to do on the beach. We chose banana boat ride and horse back riding. This excursion was awesome, we had a blast. I feel like we were there for about 4 hours and we just played on the beach and had a blast. There were locals walking down the beach playing instruments and some selling amazing mangos con chile. It was so great and totally worth it. The company provided transportation also. The only problem we had was that we wanted to go on an earlier tour but the group had already left so they sent our family with another family on a taxi to another place where we got onto a water taxi and then another taxi. Long story short, we finally got to where we were going, but it was pretty crazy. When we went on a water taxi and the other taxi on the island and they really didn’t know where we were going. Luckily I can speak a little Spanish and understand it and we finally made it. Getting back to the ship wasn’t stressful at all. So the moral of the story of that is- if you book a tour outside of the cruise line, don’t change your plans and just go show up when you should.
Snorkeling in Chileno Bay in Cabo. We went to Cabo twice in 2022. In April 2022, we didn’t want to do an excursion but we wanted to do something, so we took a taxi to Chileno Bay. If eel like it cost us about $100-$200 for the 7 of us. I can’t remember exactly. There is a resort there but also a public access to the beach. It was about a 45 minute drive from the marina, so what we did was found a taxi driver and had him take us to the beach. We made a deal with him to take us there and stay there in the parking lot until we were ready to go back to the marina. We didn’t want to get stranded out there. We paid him half when we got there and half when we got back. It worked out great, but once again it was a little stressful putting trust into someone you don’t know. If I didn’t know how to speak Spanish, it would be different for sure. There is also a public bus that goes to the resort but it was about a mile walk from the beach and we didn’t want to do that with the kids, so we took a taxi instead. Chileno Bay is amazing, the snorkeling is incredible. Just 10 feet from the beach there are 100s of tropical fish in the water and they are big too! It was so cool.
Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau. When we were in Juneau, we wanted to visit the Mendenhall Glacier. The excursion prices were $45 a person and that was basically for a shuttle. There was no way we were going to pay for that, so we looked at our options on how to get there. We found that the public bus transportation went close to the glacier and it was only $5 a per person, one way. So instead of paying the $45 a person, we paid $10 and had the same experience. The difference was that the bus was longer and there was a mile walk from the bus stop to the glacier headquarters. Since it was just my husband and me, it was a no brainer and totally worth it. I would totally take my kids on it too, they could easily walk the mile to go see it. It doesn’t cost to get into the glacier and there are hikes to waterfalls and other cool places. You can’t hike to the actual glacier though, that does involve an actual excursion and possibly a kayak or helicopter.
Some people love doing excursions at every single port. We don’t, mostly because it costs a lot of money. Even just taking a taxi somewhere really starts adding up when you have to pay for 7 people. The majority of the time we are at the ports, we just walk around the marina and port. We will venture off a little bit but not too far, we always stay in the touristy parts because those are the safe places. I love walking around the towns, going into the shops and trying out the local foods. It’s fun to go explore without having to spend a bunch of money. Although, I spend plenty of money on souvenirs.
WHAT TO BRING ON A CRUISE
What you bring on a cruise all depends on where you are going. If you are going to Mexico, bring lots of summer clothes and sunscreen. If you are going to Alaska, bring warm clothes, including rain gear. Do your research for sure. If you have to fly, plan accordingly. It’s not uncommon to bring several changes of clothes for each day. I packed 7 dresses for our 4 day cruise, because I never know what I am going to be in the mood for. You don’t need to bring any towels but you will want to bring toiletries. One problem with going on a cruise is that if you forget something, you can’t just go to Walmart to pick it up. There are stores on the ship that you can buy some things from, but they are pricey. So you do want to plan ahead and pay attention to what you are packing. There is laundry on the ship but that is an extra cost too. I would recommend bringing multiple swimsuits, if one is wet, you can put on a dry one.
There are elegant nights on cruises. For 2-5 day cruises, there is usually one elegant night and that is usually the first full sea day (so most likely day 2). For 6-9 day cruises, there is usually two elegant nights. They also land on the sea days, the first one on day 2 and then last one of the day when you are traveling back to the port. Some cruise lines are picky about what people wear in the dining room. All of the cruise lines don’t allow flip flops, workout clothes or swimsuits. They want you to be presentable when you go to the dining room. For most days, my daughter and I wore some fun sun dresses and my boys wore nice pants and polos. Some of the nicer cruise lines want the women to be wearing dresses or dress pants every evening and the men to be wearing ties or sport jackets and they will turn people away. Carnival and Royal Caribbean are not like but I bet if you try to show up in a swimsuit, they would tell you to go change.
One of my favorite things about cruises are the elegant nights, I like to go all out for them. I like to buy new fancy clothes and really get dressed up. For our Alaskan cruise, for every dinner, my husband and I were matching. It was so much fun to pick out our clothes and get to get dressed up and somewhere to go. I don’t get to do that much in real life. I find the majority of my fancy dresses at Ross. I have gotten some really good deals on them, ranging from $15-40. This sparkly prom dress (that even has pockets!) was $40. I have found some fun clothes for my kids there too.
Whether I am cruising with my kids or just my husband, I love to get all dolled up for the elegant nights!
Well that’s about it! Hopefully I answered some questions you had about cruises. If you have any specific questions for me, just shoot me an email or message me on social media and I can see if I can answer it. As you can see, I absolutely love cruises, they make me so happy. I have loved each one that I have gone one and I can’t wait to go on another one and explore the world some more. Please remember that all of the things I have said are my own experiences and opinions. You may think differently about something and that’s okay, figure out what you love and do it! If you are thinking about going on a cruise, I recommend starting with a 5 day one with 2 ports. It’s a nice sampler and you can get a feel if you even like cruises :). Happy traveling to you!
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