Wanting to book a cruise in 2024 but wondering what the cruise cost will be? Here is an example of a 5 night cruise with Royal Caribbean.
I went on a cruise on Royal Caribbean’s Voyager of The Seas. This post will go over every single thing I paid for this vacation.
I do want to say that we got a good deal on this cruise and good deals do still exist, it is just a little harder in 2024 to find one.
You might only be seeing cruise vacations for thousands of dollars but it is possible to find a deal that works for almost any budget.
In this post you’ll see what the cruise cost, tips, shore excursions, activities, shopping and more!
This post is all about cruise costs.
Cruise Cost Breakdown:
These costs listed below are based on double occupancy rates, although I will include a breakdown of what it cost per person for every section.
This is a great example of what you could expect to pay for certain things on a cruise but they will still vary based on what you choose to spend money on.
Some people will say they have to buy a drink package, others are okay with just the included drinks. Certain cruisers will only eat at the specialty dining restaurants whereas others are okay with the included venues.
You can pay basically as much or as little as you want for your cruise vacation and personalize it to your needs.
BASE CRUISE COST
The price of the cruise, port fees and taxes were: $744.96 ($372.48/person).
For this cruise we had an interior room. If you’re looking to go on a cruise and budget is the most important thing to you then an interior room is the way to go!
There are some solo cabins on cruises but they are hard to come by and most require you to pay a single supplement fee aka the cost of two people in the room, you will not have to pay the port fees for the second person however.
If you’re looking for a different room type cruises also offer oceanview, balconies and suites. All come at higher costs but have more to offer.
Running total: $744.96 ($372.48/person).
GRATUITIES (Tips for the staff)
When you book a cruise you most likely will have the option to prepay your gratuities or you can have them charged on the cruise and the total is added to your final cruise bill.
To learn more about what you should tip on a cruise, how much each line charges and more read this post: A COMPLETE GUIDE TO CRUISE TIPPING.
The tips that are charged automatically go to your room steward, your main dining room waiters and some back of house workers.
The gratuities for this cruise were $160 ($80/person).
Running total: $904.96 ($452.48/person).
TRAVEL INSURANCE
Travel insurance is not something you HAVE to pay for when you go on a cruise but I HIGHLY recommend doing so. It can be a little expensive through the cruise line so I would suggest looking at third party options as well.
A common one I and many other seasoned cruisers I’ve spoken with on Facebook groups use Allianz.
I have personally had to cancel a cruise before the DAY OF due to a medical reason. If I didn’t have travel insurance then I would’ve lost the entire cost of the cruise.
Thankfully I got travel insurance so I was refunded 3/4 the cost of the cruise back to my credit card. The last portion I had to submit some forms from my doctor and they ended up giving me a future cruise credit for the difference.
You never think it’ll happen to you until it does, get the insurance.
The cost of travel insurance with Allianz for this specific cruise was $52 ($26/person).
Running total: $956.96 ($478.48/person).
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COZUMEL SHORE EXCURSION
This cruise made two stops, Cozumel and Costa Maya, Mexico. You are not required to buy shore excursions for your port stops if you do not want to. These shore excursions are also going to vary in cost based on what you’re doing.
If you want to know how to pick the right shore excursion for you, if you should book with the cruise line, a third party company and more read this post: SHORE EXCURSIONS: EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT CHOOSING THE RIGHT ONE FOR YOU.
For this port stop we had prebooked a day at Nachi Cocom Beach Club. Read about the experience here.
This beach club offers endless drinks, 4 course lunch, wifi, beach access, a pool, hot tub and more. It’s a gorgeous beach club I absolutely loved and would highly recommend.
We booked directly with Nachi Cocom on their website, this was not offered as a shore excursion through the cruise line.
The price of this beach day was Nachi Cocom: $118 ($59/person).
We also had to pay to take a taxi there (my in laws paid for the taxi back to the port) for $20 (2 people + tip).
Running total: $1,094.96 ($547.48/person).
COSTA MAYA SHORE EXCURSION
Costa Maya is not my favorite port stop, a lot of people like in Nassau, will stay on the ship for this location.
We were going to go to Maya Chan for this port stop but we weren’t in port as many hours as usual so it didn’t make sense cost wise to do that.
We decided to go to the Krazy Lobster, as we have before in Costa Maya. This is a beach bar in the town of Majahual. They have several bars down this stretch of beach you can choose from.
It is free to hang out at the Krazy Lobster. They will give you beach chairs and several other services along with a free mini margarita.
The taxi to this beach bar is $4/person + tip. We paid for the taxi there but my in laws paid for all of us on the way home.
The cost for the taxi was $10 (2 people + tip).
Once we were at the beach bar my in laws ordered food and drinks but I just hung out looking at the beautiful clear water and listening to the ocean.
My husband ended up getting a deep tissue massage. If you’re looking to get a massage and your ship is stopping at Costa Maya, the price is insanely cheap here compared to what you would pay on the ship or back home if you’re from the US like I am.
The cost of an hour long massage was $35 ($25 + $10 tip).
Now I have seen the cost of this vary on the day. The first time we went to the Krazy Lobster they were asking much more for a massage.
I ended up buying a bag from one of the people walking around selling goods. I don’t normally do this but saw one I liked.
We ended up paying $30 for the bag.
I believe they started at $65 and we talked them down but it may have been as high as $85. We were going for $20 but settled at $30.
Running total: $1,169.96 ($584.98/person).
CASINO
I want to start this out by saying I do not recommend anyone gamble, that is a personal choice that you have to make yourself. I am not responsible for anything that happens if you do decide to gamble.
This is me simply sharing the choice that my husband made on the cruise ship to participate in gambling.
When it comes to spending time in the casino, I don’t like to gamble but my husband does so we brought $100 for the 5 night cruise. There are people who spend a lot more but that was really just for him to have a little fun with without the option of losing a lot of money.
This total went up and down over the days of the cruise. He got up to $400 with our inital investment and then all the way down to nothing by the end of the cruise.
The extra money won did end up paying for a couple things like his massage, my bag and bingo.
Since we didn’t go home with any money we ended up spending $100 in the casino.
Running total: $1,269.96 ($634.98/person).
OTHER CRUISE COSTS ON THE SHIP
Over the course of our cruise we ended up buying a couple of things/participants in paid activities.
At the end of the cruise I ended up buying a Loyal to Royal sweatshirt in the shops onboard on sale.
The hoodie cost $38.44.
We ended up playing bingo once while on the cruise. They do offer different packages you can buy but we just went with the cheapest option.
Bingo: $39.
We didn’t end up winning anything unfortuntely. The one who did win though made anywhere from $500-1,100! Bingo is a fun activity to participant in while on a cruise and if you end up winning it really pays off!
The last thing we bought on the cruise was a gingerale. We ended up cruising in the winter which can have some rough seas. You might’ve seen some videos of Voyager of The Seas on TikTok this season with huge waves and water damage.
It wasn’t super bad for our sailing but my husband and I did end up spliting a soda.
Gingerale: $4.
FINAL CRUISE COST BREAKDOWN
Our final total for the cruise was $1,351.40 ($675.70/person).
The total covered 5 days, 2 port stops, room, food, drinks, entertainment, shopping, transportation, etc. That is a pretty great price for a vacation for 2.
This means we spent $135.14/person per day.
Like I mentioned before you can definitely spend more or less, depending on what you want.
This was a cruise on one of Royal’s older, smaller ships that we booked about 7 months out and got a discount through a travel agent so we got a pretty good price.
Cruise prices are always rising so it can be harder and harder to find these deals.
I just wanted to share this example that it is possible to go on a vacation for a limited budget.
This post was all about cruise costs.
