Carnival cruise cost: What’s included? How much are excursions, gratuities, food and more? This post goes over every single thing I paid for on my 7 night cruise on Carnival Jubilee.
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If you haven’t been on a cruise before or are trying a new cruise line, you might not know what to expect when thinking about the expense of this type of vacation.
You might ask yourself, how much does a Carnival cruise cost?
This will vary on so many aspects. What time of year you’re sailing, how far out the cruise is, how new or old the ship is and more.
Reading a real life example can help you understand what you might pay, what is available to you and costs you might not be thinking about.
Jubilee is an absolutely fantastic ship with so much to offer.
This post is all about my Carnival cruise cost.
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FULL CRUISE COST BREAKDOWN:
CRUISE, TAXES & PORT FEES
This cruise was during one of the most expensive times of the year to cruise, spring break.
So many love to take their children on a spring break cruise, driving up the price because of the demand. If you’re considering cruising in March and are on a budget, I would suggest looking into a slightly later time of the year.
For this cruise I was in an ocean view room on the 4th floor. It was very spacious and nice! We cruised the week of March 16th.
Room prices are based on double occupancy. I will be listing just half of the cost, aka the cost for one person but if you want to know the true cost of the room for two people, double this section.
CRUISE: $1,149.00
TAXES & PORT FEES: $119.65
RUNNING TOTAL: $1,268.65
Most Used Cruise Room Items:
Cruise staterooms normally don’t have a lot of outlets. If you need more to charge your devices or plug in a hairdryer or additional items, consider bringing one of these.
Many people use these shoe organizers for their small items! If you’re traveling with kids especially, this can be helpful. You can use it to store toiletries, snacks, small clothes items and more.
Magnetic hooks are insanely popular to bring on cruises! You want to make sure you’re buying ones that can hold a decent amount of weight though.
I have linked these because the smaller ones most people recommend tend to fall off the walls because they aren’t strong enough.
You can use these to hold your cruise card lanyards, hats, wet swimsuits and more!
GRATUITIES
Gratuities are the tips paid to the staff on the ship. These you can prepay before your cruise or get charged once on the ship to your account.
I would suggest always prepaying your gratuities so you can lock in the current price, as they tend to go up every year or so.
Some people will take gratuities off of their account and either not pay them or hang out tips on their own. I would suggest not doing this. These gratuities are split among your room steward, waiters and also back of house staff.
If you were to take off gratuities and hand out tips yourself, there would be some staff you aren’t seeing that will not get a portion of your tips. If you would like to tip extra as well you can.
To learn more about gratuities on a cruise read: A COMPLETE GUIDE TO CRUISE TIPPING
GRATUITIES: $112.00
RUNNING TOTAL: $1,380.65
PARKING
There are several options for parking your car on a cruise out of Galveston, Texas. Be sure to research the options to find the right distance and price for you.
They have outdoor parking, indoor parking or some even stay at a hotel for one night and park their car there while on the cruise.
These companies will have shuttles that take you and your luggage to the cruise port so you don’t have to walk.
We ended up with outdoor parking for our 7 night cruise and this was the price for one car.
PARKING: $164.00
RUNNING TOTAL: $1,544.65
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APP CHAT
For our Carnival cruise I ended up buying the chat feature on the app.
If you didn’t know, depending on your phone plan you most likely won’t want to use the cellular data on your phone because you’ll get international charges that are VERY expensive.
Since you’ll want to turn that feature off and if you don’t want to pay for the wifi on the cruise, you would need some way to communicate with your group while onboard.
Carnival makes this possible by having the chat feature. You can chat individually with passengers or create a group.
This feature unfortunately did not work all of the time but it was still handy for most of the cruise.
APP CHAT: $5.00
RUNNING TOTAL: $1,549.65
ROATAN PORT STOP
Our first port stop of the cruise was to Mahogany Bay in Roatan, Honduras.
We ended up doing the ultimate beach package to their private beach section at this port. This included:
-2 all day passes for the magical flying beach chair
-2 beach floats
-1 clam shell or umbrella with 2 chairs
-1 double kayak for 30 minutes
-snorkel set for 2
At this excursion I also ordered a mango smoothie while on the beach.
In port I bought a couple of souvenirs. I got a thimble for myself and a golf ball for my husband. Both said Roatan, Honduras.
EXCURSION: $42.50
SMOOTHIE: $10.00
SOUVENIRS: $11.00
RUNNING TOTAL: $1,613.15
Cruise Beach Best Sellers:
Having a phone case that can go in the ocean or pool with you, or just stay close by but you aren’t worried about it getting wet, is vital! These are the most popular option I see on every single cruise.
These are a little expensive but SO worth it! The cruise line does provide towels but they’re usually small and not the best quality.
Having a large towel that also dries extremely fast is a great help when on a cruise and at port stops.
Towel clips are a super helpful product when going on a cruise! Whether you’re on the pool deck or at the beach, the wind can be strong. These clips do a great job at holding your towel in place so it doesn’t blow away.
COSTA MAYA PORT STOP
In Costa Maya, Mexico we didn’t have an excursion planned.
We ended up just staying at the port, walking around the shops, sitting by the free pools.
Usually in Costa Maya we go to the Krazy Lobster but decided against it this time.
For this trip the only things I bought in port were a water bottle and some nuts at one of the stores.
WATER BOTTLE: $6.00
NUTS: $8.00
RUNNING TOTAL: $1,627.15
COZUMEL PORT STOP
In Cozumel we ended up going to Buccanos Beach Club. This beach club was absolutely amazing and beautiful. I cannot recommend it enough!
This beach club does not have an all inclusive option like a few others in Cozumel. They have about a $25 entrance fee to get in.
It is credited back to you for your food and beverage purchases however. You will need to spend $25 to break even or if you don’t spend that much, they just keep your $25. If you spend more, you will then pay the difference at the end.
The taxi to this beach club was $20 for up to 4 people each way.
I ended up splitting the cost of everything we spent with my family.
In port I also somehow dropped all of my cash! It fell out of my bag when they stopped us after getting off the ship to search everyone.
Thankfully one of the security members picked it up. I had a family member still in port as I didn’t realize it was gone until I was in the taxi on the way to the beach club.
The security member was honest and gave it ALL back to us! I was completely shocked and so grateful at his honesty.
My family member ended up giving him a tip out of my money since he did not keep it all for himself.
BUCCANOS & TAXIS: $50.00
TIP: $10.00
RUNNING TOTAL: $1,687.15
Port Day Must Haves:
A small bag for your to hold all of your essential items to take into port with you is 100% needed.
This bag is perfect for any cruise. It is not too large, it’s a great price and keeps all of your products in one place.
When you go on a cruise you do A LOT of walking! You need to make sure you pack comfortable shoes for the occasion.
The most popular option on cruises are these slides! They are thick so they’re extremely comfortable. I’ve taken them on several cruises myself and the quality is great.
No wear and tear on the pair I have with countless miles walked in them.
If you’re going on a tropical vacation you need to bring a hat with you.
It’s super easy to get a sunburn while on a cruise or in port. Protect yourself with a hat or visor. This one allows you to still look cute while getting sun protection.
CARNIVAL STORE
In the Carnival store on the ship I bought two different things.
The first was an inaugural season hoodie with a picture of the ship on it. Later on in the week I also bought a set of two shot glasses to take home with me.
They had tons of options to choose from on this ship! I really loved the ship replicas but they were pretty expensive and I really had no reason for one.
You can use your onboard credit if you have any for the stores on the ship instead of having your credit card charged at the end of the week.
HOODIE: $50.00
SHOT GLASSES: $15.00
RUNNING TOTAL: $1,752.15
CANDY STORE
The candy store on Carnival is SUCH a great option for all of your sweet desires!
I really loved having so many different types of candy to choose from. The loose candy was weighed in a bag.
They had lots of mainstream brands of candy and also several others that did not show the brands (the loose candy).
I ended up buying a small amount of strawberry and green apple sour strips.
CANDY: $2.72
RUNNING TOTAL: $1,754.87
CASINO
I ended up going to the casino on the ship on the last day of the cruise.
Normally I don’t gamble, I don’t really enjoy it because I don’t like to lose money. I ended up playing a couple of the slot type electronic games.
Unfortunately, I did not win any money.
CASINO: $65.00
GRAND TOTAL
The total for everything listed above for my 7 night cruise on the Carnival Jubilee was:
Carnival Cruise Cost: $1,819.87
Personally this cost is a little high for me for one person for one week. I thankfully did not pay for about 95% of what is listed above. My in laws had booked the cruise so they decided on the sailing and price.
Leave me a comment below with if you think this price was worth it or not and why.
If you’re thinking of cruising on Jubilee hopefully this helped to give you a real life Carnival cruise cost example.
This post was all about my Carnival cruise cost.
