Ever marvel how a lot it prices to cruise, together with all the additional prices and associated purchases you must make?
Final month, I launched into an epic journey to Asia with my mother and father and sister. Due to the pandemic, we nonetheless had unused cruise credit that we wished to use for a crusing. We ultimately settled on an unbelievable 12-night repositioning cruise from Singapore to Japan with stops in Vietnam, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan.
We had been ecstatic to seek out this distinctive itinerary aboard Royal Caribbean’s Anthem of the Seas. This repositioning cruise is a part of the ship’s transition between Australia and Alaska, so this explicit itinerary is just supplied as soon as within the fall and spring.
My household booked the itinerary proper after it was out there, and we secured two balcony cabins subsequent to 1 one other. Anthem of the Seas had simply accomplished her dry dock in Singapore, so we had recent beds and carpet in our cabins! Though this Quantum class ship isn’t the latest vessel in Royal Caribbean’s fleet, the 10-year-old ship has aged gracefully and nonetheless feels fairly fashionable and recent.
As a result of I used to be touring with my sister, we had been in a position to cut up the prices of our stateroom, lodges, and transfers. For my portion of the journey, I paid $6,773 for the whole trip. With 14 whole nights of trip, the fee was $483 per particular person for every evening of the journey.
Right here’s a full breakdown of what I spent for my 12-night Asia cruise on Anthem of the Seas, which incorporates travel-related bills, onboard purchases, souvenirs, and transportation prices.
My sister and I cut up the price of the cabin, costing me $2,888 for the standard balcony stateroom.
Sometimes, I favor reserving inside cabins to save cash whereas cruising. Due to this, my sister and I usually e book the most cost effective inside cabin we will discover, though we favor spending somewhat additional to keep away from reserving assure cabins.
Once we booked this cruise, we had been pleasantly stunned to discover a moderately priced normal balcony stateroom. Since my mother and father all the time e book a balcony cabin, and the one choice close to them was one other balcony cabin, it made sense for us to do the identical. We had been even in a position to choose a connecting stateroom proper subsequent to theirs, so we knew we wouldn’t find yourself with noisy neighbors.
We reserved cabins 11268 and 11266, positioned on Deck 11. This was an important spot to remain, and we appreciated the handy location onboard Anthem of the Seas.
Learn extra: Anthem of the Seas Cruise Ship Balcony Cabin: Evaluate, Images
As an example, we had been only some decks under the Windjammer buffet. Earlier than assembly for our excursions, we may shortly seize breakfast on Deck 14 and scurry again to our cabin to complete preparing. Nothing ever felt too removed from our stateroom, so I might positively e book this cabin once more.
Most significantly, the cabin was very comfy for our 12-night keep and featured a useful, fashionable design. The lavatory was particularly spacious, and the bathe was one of many largest I’ve had on a cruise ship.
We had greater than sufficient area to unpack and settle in with out feeling cramped. The cabin supplied two wardrobe closets, plus ample shelving and drawer area. The connecting cabins had been an added bonus—we cherished the comfort of shifting between the 2 rooms and sharing the balconies.
The cruise fare was $5,776 for the 2 of us, which included port charges and taxes. Splitting this with my sister, my portion was $2,888, or $240 per evening. This cruise fare is somewhat increased than I usually prefer to pay; nevertheless, the distinctive crusing was in excessive demand, and cabins booked up shortly. A number of months later, solely suites had been out there to e book for $10,000 every!
We forgot to prepay our gratuities, which we usually do earlier than embarkation. This resulted in a every day cost of $18.50 to our shipboard account, or $222 whole for my gratuities.
For this journey, the cruise fare and gratuities comprised about 45.91% of the entire bills for this journey. This was the priciest expense of the whole journey, as anticipated!
I spent $2,302 on flights, which arrived in Singapore and departed from Tokyo.
Along with the cruise fare, I used to be shocked by the price of airfare for this cruise! As a result of our cruise was departing from Singapore and concluding in Tokyo, I booked a multi-city itinerary. Because it takes greater than 30 hours to succeed in Singapore from Florida, I wished to have a number of buffer days for any potential journey delays or cancellations. This could additionally give us a number of days to regulate to the brand new timezone earlier than boarding our cruise.
I booked financial system seats with Delta Air Strains, which included connections in Atlanta and Seoul, South Korea. The flights had been grueling, however I used to be grateful to obtain free upgrades to Consolation Plus on my long-haul segments. Though the additional legroom was welcomed, nothing actually makes a 14-hour flight very satisfying.
I spent $2,302 for the whole flight, or about 34% of the journey’s total value. Fortunately, this included two free checked luggage, which I took benefit of.
Sadly, my journey residence from Tokyo was extra disruptive. My sister and I had been stranded in Japan for twenty-four hours when our flight to Atlanta was cancelled as a result of upkeep points. The flight was rescheduled for the next day so they might repair the aircraft, however we needed to spend an extra evening in Japan.
Fortunately, we each bought journey insurance coverage, and these bills (upwards of $500 for lodge, meals, and transportation) had been lined.
We booked excursions by Royal Caribbean for about $340 every.
Initially, we had booked excursions for all 5 port stops of our itinerary, costing round $500 every. Most of those had been full-day excursions, though we had half-day stops in Tokyo and Jeju Island, South Korea.
We had by no means visited these international locations earlier than, so we felt Royal Caribbean’s excursions had been the perfect decisions for comfort and security. Moreover, a few of the ports had been far-off from the precise metropolis. For instance, Ho Chi Minh was almost two hours from the place the ship docked.
After boarding in Singapore, we obtained discover that our tour in Japan was cancelled. Supposedly, the ship couldn’t sail at full pace because of the current dry dock, so we needed to depart South Korea sooner than anticipated.
With the revised itinerary, we wouldn’t attain Tokyo till an hour or two after our initially scheduled afternoon arrival. Since face-to-face immigration is required in Japan, the delayed arrival and anticipated gradual processing led to the cancellation of all ship-sponsored excursions. Ultimately, that saved us about $150.
As well as, we obtained a 50% refund for our tour in Jeju Island, South Korea. This was already a half-day tour as a result of we had a brief keep; nevertheless, it was down pouring after we arrived. The cruise line supplied company a full refund in the event that they wished to cancel their tour that morning, which I believed was beneficiant.
We determined to take the tour anyway, and it ended up solely costing us about $50. Ultimately, we agreed the cash was nicely spent on these cruise-sponsored excursions, particularly in Vietnam. In truth, we ended up departing late from Vietnam as a result of an enormous site visitors jam that delayed different excursions from returning to the ship on time. I wager these passengers had been grateful they booked an tour by the cruise line!
We solely spent about $340 on excursions, or 5% of our journey’s whole value — this was one in every of our least expensive bills for the whole trip!
Onboard bills, together with web and specialty eating, totaled $402.
General, I didn’t spend a lot cash onboard our ship. Most of our time was spent exploring ashore, and I took benefit of the complimentary actions and facilities onboard. Previous to boarding, I booked VOOM Surf + Stream web for $250 – this would supply Wi-Fi entry for the whole cruise.
The web was reliably quick, and I by no means had points with connecting onboard. We did expertise some blackouts whereas cruising from Hong Kong to Taiwan, however Royal Caribbean reimbursed us for a number of days.
As well as, our household additionally determined to deal with ourselves to 2 specialty eating experiences in the course of the cruise. Anthem of the Seas gives a wide range of specialty eating places to select from, together with Chops Grille, Jamie’s Italian, Izumi Sushi, and Wonderland.
We used our Diamond Plus loyalty profit to benefit from the BOGO specialty eating supply, selecting to dine at Chops Grille and Jamie’s Italian. On an extended itinerary, I do respect the change-of-pace for a extra upscale, intimate eating expertise.
Each meals had been glorious, although service at Jamie’s Italian was noticeably gradual. One crew member talked about the employees was nonetheless discovering their rhythm once more after the ship’s break from common operations throughout dry dock, which can have contributed to the remoted expertise.
Surprisingly, the primary eating room impressed us evening after evening. We had constantly nice meals, attentive service, and a clean eating expertise every evening. Though this hasn’t all the time been the case on my current Royal Caribbean cruises, I used to be impressed with the primary eating room expertise on Anthem of the Seas.
I didn’t buy any drinks throughout this cruise, as our 5 every day Diamond Plus drink vouchers had been greater than enough. I loved specialty espresso every morning, adopted by a number of drinks within the evenings or by the pool on a sea day.
Ultimately, these onboard bills had been minimal in comparison with the entire value of the journey. I solely spent $402 for web and specialty eating, or about 5.95% of the whole trip funds.
For this journey, we spent about $239 every on lodges and transfers.
It’s all the time finest follow to reach to your cruise port at the very least at some point earlier than embarkation. In case your flights get delayed or cancelled, you don’t wish to danger lacking your complete trip! When flying internationally or lengthy distances for a cruise, I favor to reach two days previous to embarkation.
For this cruise, we arrived two nights earlier than our cruise began, giving us one full day in Singapore and two nights in a lodge. At first, we booked our lodges instantly by Marriott. However, I labored with my journey agent, Hayley with Fora Journey, and she or he ended up saving us $200 on the lodges!
My sister and I cut up the lodge value, so my portion was solely $164 for 2 nights on the 4 Factors Sheraton in Singapore. We needed to spend $405 for our surprising evening in Tokyo after our flight was cancelled, because it was final minute and through Japan’s very busy Golden Week. Fortunately, these bills had been lined by the airline and journey insurance coverage.
As well as, we booked personal transfers from the Singapore airport to our lodge, adopted by one other switch to the port. We had a lot baggage that our switch needed to carry a second automotive simply to move the suitcases – whoops! Fortunately, we cut up the price of the transfers between the 4 of us.
As well as, we booked a switch by Royal Caribbean to the Tokyo airport after we struggled to seek out another choices. My sister and I spent an extra $90 on transfers after our flight was cancelled, however this was additionally lined by journey insurance coverage.
I spent about $239 for the lodges and transfers – or about 3.5% of the entire journey value. Nonetheless, this whole would have been a lot increased if I hadn’t bought journey insurance coverage for the surprising prices with the cancelled flight. Take this as a reminder to all the time have journey insurance coverage!
I budgeted $100 for money suggestions, which I offered to crew members on the final evening of the cruise.
Along with the onboard every day gratuities, I additionally introduced money for suggestions on the finish of the cruise. That is all the time an expense that I funds for, as I wish to make sure the crew members are rewarded for his or her hard-working service.
We determined to offer extra tricks to our waiters in the primary eating room, together with the top waiter. All of them offered glorious service for the whole lot of the cruise, and we felt it was deserved. Lastly, we additionally tipped our stateroom attendant on the final day for coping with our messy room for 12 nights!
My sister and I offered money suggestions totaling $100 every, which is just about 1.5% of the entire journey value.
Lastly, I spent round $280 for in-port purchases and souvenirs.
I’ll admit, I like to buy souvenirs and treasures throughout my cruises. Every of those locations had unbelievable retailers to buy trinkets and goodies. We first began on the well-known Ben Thanh Market in Ho Chi Minh Metropolis, the place I discovered a myriad of souvenirs to carry residence.
Our subsequent ports supplied much more possibilities to buy, particularly in Hong Kong, the place I couldn’t resist splurging. I picked up a classy leather-based backpack for simply $40 and a knock-off designer purse for $20. I additionally stocked up on Nespresso pods at a neighborhood grocery retailer for a fraction of the worth I normally pay again residence.
I additionally gather Starbucks mugs from every vacation spot that I go to, so I got here residence with 4 new mugs so as to add to my assortment. These are every about $20, and I used to be thrilled to seek out distinctive designs from every nation.
Surprisingly, we bought little or no meals or drinks throughout our time ashore. Most of our excursions included lunches with huge buffets, so we by no means felt the necessity to buy our personal meals. We prioritized consuming most of our meals on the ship, as Anthem of the Seas has loads of included eating choices to take pleasure in.
General, I spent round $280 on in-port purchases for this journey, or about 4.13% of the journey value. Most of those purchases had been souvenirs, trinkets, Starbucks mugs, and distinctive treasures. I used to be grateful for packing a second suitcase to carry residence all of my new journey goodies!
Ultimately, I paid $6,773 for my 12-night Asia cruise on Anthem of the Seas.
Cruise bills can add up shortly, and even with minimal onboard purchases and add-ons, I nonetheless spent near $7,000 for this trip with my mother and father and sister. The largest bills for this journey included the cruise fare itself for $2,888 and airfare for $2,302. Each of those classes accounted for 76% of the entire trip value, adopted by onboard bills and excursions.
I cherish time with my household, particularly as a result of my husband and I reside throughout the nation from them. This was cash nicely spent, and I cherished with the ability to go to such numerous, culturally-rich ports of name. I’d somewhat spend this amount of cash seeing new locations on this planet than visiting the identical Caribbean locations over and over.
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