Royal Caribbean Cruise extras

[nutmegx]

I'm wondering how much extra to budget on top of a 7 day Greek island cruise cost, say for visiting and shopping at the ports, extras on board. We'd be going as a family of 3 adults (12+ years is an adult!) Anyone done a RC cruise to give me an idea? Many thanks in advance.

Have you already bought a drinks package? If not, you’ll need to take extra for any alcoholic drinks you think you’ll have. If you like your drinks but you want to keep your bar bill down, then drink off the ship. Quite often, the cost of alcohol in the ports is substantially cheaper.
Wifi is not generally not included although wifi packages are sometimes given as a free perk when booking during a promotion. Different packages are available depending on how many devices you have and whether you want to stream music and movies or just surf.
Rather than tipping cash to individual staff members, you’ll be charged a set fee per day. You can choose to pre-pay this before your cruise or have them added to your onboard account to pay at the end. No further tipping is required or expected on board.
Other extras include spa treatments, fitness classes, the arcade and laundry. The gym, solarium, shows, mini-golf, laser tag, climbing wall etc… are free.
Official cruise excursions can be very pricey, so you may want to look for cheaper alternatives on websites like Viator or you can just get off the ship and do your own thing.

We came off a Greek islands RC cruise yesterday 😄.

The RC excursions vary a lot in price but we found them to be expensive. For example, £50pp for a transfer to a beach in Mykonos which was only 4 hours in total . There were 10 of us so we hired a minibus privately and spent the day there for just £20pp.

The drinks package is expensive. We aren’t huge drinkers so didn’t get any kind of drinks package but just paid for drinks as and when we wanted. The deluxe alcohol packages can be as much as £70pp PER DAY. Look out for offers especially on Black Friday. The soda packages were £9pppd which isn’t too bad but soon mounts up. We were perfectly happy with included soft drinks.

Americans will tell you different 😉 but we went to guest services on day 1 and had the gratuities taken off our account as they are £16pppd. We tipped our stateroom attendant and waiters in cash at the end of our cruise.

It’s hard ti say how much extra money you’ll need as there as SO many extras you can pay for. You can have a wonderful time without the extras and definitely save money on excursions by doing them yourself.

If you’re on Facebook, search for your ship as you’ll pick up loads of tips. We found that absolutely invaluable when planning.

had the gratuities taken off our account as they are £16pppd

Did the service people actually get the £16/day per person or do RC take a cut??

Best place to ask is the Cruise critic forum. We usually arrange our own shore trips as its far cheaper, the ship will do everything it can to be very polite but unhelpful as they make a fortune on the trips.
Do you sums with drinks packages, we smuggle a bit on but enjoy having a drink ashore in local bars.
We looked at a trip to Florence, it was £600 for the 6 of us, we did it on local transport for £100 inc lunch!. A guide for the day in Israel was $1000 per person based on 6 people, we booked the guide direct from the UK for £300 for the full 12 hour day.
If you plan it well you can save a lot oaf money towards the next one.

These are fabulous insights thank you. I'm not a drinker so the drinks packages would be wasted. It does seem the costs could escalate quickly. It's a great way to see many places on one holiday, though.

@SugarPlumpFairy3 hope you had an amazing time.

You must tip - cruise staff basically work for tips and receive almost no salary. If you’ve had great service then tip extra in cash.

Think about the drinks package not as just alcohol but bottled water, fresh orange juice, proper coffee, soft drinks as well as any alcohol and cocktails you may have during the day. It all mounts up. Definitely keep an eye on deals. Last cruise we got it at £45 per person which still sounds a lot but a couple of proper coffees, several bottles of water, fresh OJ with breakfast, wine with lunch and dinner, cocktail by the pool, we more than got our money worth.

I do think it’s a bit shit removing tips. It’s part of cruising. If you don’t want to pay, I personally think you shouldn’t cruise. No point in tipping your room steward, tips go to all staff from toilet cleaners, to the waiters to chefs and bakers and entertainment staff. All staff work hard to give you a good week away, just factor the price in. Don’t remove it.

These comments are very interesting and I am glad I didn't go ahead and book. I think I like more control over where and what to spend, go, eat, do etc. i really appreciate your insights.