Cruise Vacations: Costs and Conveniences

In the previous post titled "Vacation on Cruise" (Click here to read it), we have seen growth of cruise vacations in leisure travel market, and evolution of the concept of vacation in the Indian context. The next pertinent questions are naturally relate to comparison of a cruise vacation with other forms of vacation tours, and costs and conveniences of cruise vacations. Are cruise vacations available only for those capable of spending substantial amounts or is it within the reach of an average budget traveler? What are the cruise options available at different parts of the world? What are the advantages in a cruise vacation and what conveniences are available to the tourist? What would be the cost implication for planning cruise trips? These questions are to be answered satisfactorily before one thinks of taking a vacation on a cruise trip.

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Cruise trips are available allover the world, from many centres. The spread of cruise trips is naturally more from countries having long coast lines. There are some river cruise trips as well. Ocean cruise trips provide more variety to the traveler. Among all the cruise trips available presently, the approximate coverage is as under:

• Carribean and Bahama Cruises:      35%
• Mediterranean Cruises:                    15%  
• South America Cruises:                    10%
• Australia-NewZealand Cruises:        10%
• Alaska Cruises:                                   8%
• Other Cruises:                                   22%

Among the popular cruises from India are the ones to Mauritius, Maldives and Dubai.

Average age of cruise going passengers is 47 years, indicating that the spread is almost even among different age groups. Alaska cruises have shown a higher growth (about 16%) in recent years as against overall growth (8% to 10%) in the cruise travel market. Growth of Asian cruise travellers including Indians, was the highest at 20% last year. 

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There are two options for planning vacation travel; arranging all the components by the traveler directly or availing the services of a reputed travel agency. Choosing the first alternative is costlier as well as involves lot of efforts on working on various minute details of the entire journey. The second option gives the convenience of entrusting all responsibilities for the arrangement to a trusted travel agent, paying a stipulated amount and then hope for the best. Cruise vacations belong to the second type.

Many travel agencies in India have their own arrangements for offering conducted tours from end to end basis. Some of them source travellers to a designated foreign location and then handover the remaining part of the tour to their care. More and more people are availing the services of such tour operators for their vacation tours. With the advent of professionalism and competition being very stiff, offers by such operators are both at reasonable costs and good quality service. While one cannot expect every detail of such tours to be up to their own satisfaction, overall experiences are encouraging. In the present times there are many operators offering such tours to cover destinations all over the world.

For a cost of about 5,000 US dollars an Indian traveler can even embark on a near three weeks tour of Europe covering 10 to 12 countries. While it is not possible to cover all the destinations in all these countries, these tours offer a reasonably wonderful experience within the available limitations. Thus the average cost per day of such a travel works out to about 250 US Dollars per day per person. A cruise vacation trip also would cost around the same level. Thus there is no difference between the costs of a cruise trip and other arranged tours. This is applicable to the basic cost of a trip. The cost would increase depending on the nature of accommodation chosen and other amenities requested, as is the case with other arranged tours. However, before booking any cruise trip one should work out the total costs and satisfy himself about the various aspects of the trip.

What is the ideal length of a cruise vacation trip? A definite answer to this question cannot be given. There are short cruise trips of 3 days as well as those that last for two months! A 3 day trip to Bahamas from Florida costs from USD 200 to USD 500. Similar trip of one week from New York would cost USD 500 to USD 800. A two month long South America Circle Cruise Trip from Florida costs upwards of USD 10,000. Again the low fares are for rooms in inside cabins. Costs for ocean view cabins and balcony cabins are naturally higher. Mini-Suites and Suites cost much more. It is, therefore, necessary to study the amenities vis-a-vis costs and then decide on the cruise trip destinations, length of the trip as well as the type of rooms one wants to book. 

The summary of the above discussion is only to drive home the point that one need not have a feeling that cruise trips are very costly and should not be dismissed on cost aspect alone. 

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The next part relates to the conveniences available on cruise tours. Some of the features available on cruise vacation trips are:

• Members of the family/group can converge at the port of departure of the cruise ship, start the trip and again disperse to their own places after conclusion of the trip. This arrangement provides a continuous togetherness during the entire cruise trip without wastage of time on journeys. As the entire group is on the ship and everyone in the group is free from the routine responsibilities, full enjoyment of the vacation is available to all members.
• As the days of cruise is fixed on booking of the trip, travel arrangements to and from the port of departure/arrival can be made by individual members of the group as per their convenience.
• Cruise trips provide for airport/railway station pickup and drop facility.
• A leave of absence of 5 days from work would suffice to take a week long cruise trip.
• Baggage rules are not as strict as in the case of air travel.
• A cruise trip is like being in a floating hotel. In case of other tours, checking in and checking out of hotel rooms, packing and unpacking, luggage movement from/to the bus or train consume much time and cause tension. Cruise trips are like checking into a hotel room once. The traveler is free from these hassles. You go to sleep in one city and get up in another and yet retain the same room!
• Though it is one cruise, there are various options for sight-seeing during the day time. Members of the same group can choose different day time activities according to their own interests. For example, younger members can choose to go on a hiking trip whereas the elder ones can take a train or bus trip involving less walking.
• It is a 24-hour activity driven tour. Even after coming back to the ship in the evening, there are many activities on the ship. There are music  and stage shows, games and even casinos for gambling.
• If some members of the group do not want to go out on a given day, they can stay back on the ship and yet engage themselves in other entertainment activities.
• All cruise trips are inclusive of food while on ship. There are facilities for round the clock dining and coffee shops etc.
• Multiple varieties of cuisine is available on the ships. It is a feast especially for non-vegetarians. Ship bars provide a variety of alcoholic beverages against payment.
• Room service is also available for those who do not want to go the dining rooms.
• There are different activities for different age groups; for children, youth, adults and the aged as well.
• If balcony rooms are chosen, one can enjoy the scenery from the comforts of their own rooms.
• There are libraries, art galleries as well as art auctions. 

Cruise vacations are chosen by many families for celebration of events such as Birthdays, Anniversaries etc. Princess Cruises, one of the popular cruises  and the one we used for our Alaska tour, gives away as many as 800 chocolate birthday cakes every day on their ships on different cruises! Their website informs that they have so far hosted over 20 million birthdays on their voyages! Over 25 million anniversaries have been celebrated on their ships from inception.

Cruise ships also offer facilities for celebrating  wedding functions on their cruises. In case of non-availability of marriage halls, this option can also be explored. Those who are already married need not be disappointed. This facility is available for remarriage after divorce as well.

A cruise trip may perhaps be a novel gift that can be given to someone special or to one's own self. 

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That brings us to a very important question about safety of cruise travel on vacation. it is said that the chances of death on cruise ships is 1 in 6.25 million. It is safer than driving a car as there are more deaths in automobile accidents!

Add-ons and Group tours

In the initial days of "No-frills Airlines" or "Budget flights", a passenger holding such a ticket entered the cabin and was greeted by the cabin attendant.  The passenger had been made to walk a long distance from the boarding station to the aircraft.  The airline had dispensed with the use of aero-bridge or buses for transporting the passengers from the boarding station to cut costs.  The exchange between the attendant and the passenger went on like this:

Attendant: Welcome aboard, Sir. May I see your boarding pass?
Passenger: Sure.
Attendant: You're in seat 21 C. That will be $5, please!
Passenger: What for?
Attendant: For telling you where to sit.
Passenger: But I already knew where to sit.
Attendant: Nevertheless, we are now charging a seat-locator fee of $5. It's the airline's new policy.
Passenger: That's the craziest thing I ever heard. I won't pay it.
Attendant: Sir, do you want a seat on this flight, or not?
Passenger: Yes, yes. All right, I'll pay. But the airline is going to hear about this.
Attendant: Thank you. My goodness, your carry-on bag looks heavy.  Would you like me to stow it in the   overhead compartment for you?
Passenger: That would be great, thanks.
Attendant: No problem. Up we go, and done!  That will be $10, please.
Passenger: What?
Attendant: The airline now charges a $10 carry-on assistance fee.
Passenger: This is extortion. I won't stand for it.
Attendant: Actually, you're right - you can't stand. You need to sit and fasten your seat belt. We're about to push back from the gate. But first I need that $10.
Passenger: No way.
Attendant: Sir, if you don 't comply, I will be forced to call the air marshal. And you really don't want me to do that.
Passenger: Why not? Is he going to shoot me?
Attendant: No, but there's a $50 air-marshal hailing fee.
Passenger: Oh, all right, here - take the $10. I can't believe this.
Attendant: Thank you for your cooperation, sir. Is there anything else I can do for you?
Passenger: Yes. It's stuffy in here, and my overhead fan doesn't seem to work. Can you fix it?
Attendant: Your overhead fan is not broken, sir. Just insert two quarters into the overhead coin slot for the first five minutes.
Passenger: The airline is charging me for cabin air?
Attendant: Of course not, sir. Stagnant cabin air is provided free of charge. It's the circulating air that costs 50 cents.
Passenger: I don't have any quarters. Can you make change for a dollar?
Attendant: Certainly, sir! Here you go!
Passenger: But you've given me only three quarters for my dollar.
Attendant: Yes, there's a change-making fee of 25 cents.
Passenger: All I am now left is a lousy quarter? Whatever will I do with it?
Attendant: Hang on to it. You'll need it later for using the toilet.

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The above exchange between the passenger and the cabin attendant may appear far fetched.  But those who frequently travel do not find this amusing.  Every additional service (?) is charged extra.  Finally, the consumer would be left wondering as to whether the old system of charging fare was much better!

Arranged tours are no different.  Touring or taking a vacation has now caught the imagination of the present generation.  Those from the older generation linked to the younger generation are no exception.  A vacation or "Leisure Travel" as it is called in the travel agent's language, is planned in advance and is a part of the family budgetary exercise.  As the name itself suggests, it is well and truly a budgetary exercise and involves all the ingredients of a balancing act.  Period of the vacation should be the maximum and yet cost should be minimum.  As many places or attractions are to be covered within the shortest time.  Breakfast, lunch and dinner should be included in the package and the choice of items (Vegetarian/Jain/Non-vegetarian/European/American) should also be as desired.  Travel Agencies keep all these in mind and prepare the packages.  Later on sell them using all marketing skills.  When the booking is finally done, both the agency and traveler are happy.

A recent tour of  Singapore and Malaysia brought these things into sharp focus.  There were some funny aspects too.  Some of them are here:

• The Agency and its employees are mainly interested in  finalizing the bookings without delay.  It is their business.  Standard and well known companies never lie and answer all the questions truthfully.  The only problem is that unasked questions are not answered.  These unasked questions create many problems as the tour progresses.
• We advise young bankers about dealing with auditors: Do not withhold any information from the auditor.  Do not volunteer any information either.  An auditor is a trained and knowledgeable person.  He is expected to ask the right questions and get his answers.  If he does not ask them, well, we are not at fault.  Travel Agencies and their employees have perfected this art.
• They give full details of the attractions/places covered by them as part of the package, in their pamphlets and websites.  As regards others, it is only said "Explore at your convenience".  You are taken to the gate of the building or theme park or attraction.  Their duty ends there.  To enter the building or park or attraction, you have to pay an entrance fee.  It is not included in the package.  It is optional!
• If you have the money and are willing to pay, the day or evening is well spent.  Otherwise you need not worry; you can sit at the gate and patiently wait for those who have gone inside to come out to resume the tour.
• You do not have the luxury of sitting in the air conditioned coach to await the arrival of fellow passengers who have gone inside.  The coach drops you at the gate and is gone for bringing the next batch of tourists.  Either pay up and go inside the attraction or stay out and sweat it out.
• While waiting like this you may need food or water.  It can be bought at the nearby outlet.  At your cost as it is not included in the package.  Not included in the package because you are expected to be inside the building or park or attraction.
• If there are children in their fold, parents have an additional problem.  You are taken to the gate.  Children see the attraction from the outside.  They want to go inside.  They cannot be sent alone. Adults have to accompany them.  Tickets for admission are not part of the package.
• If the aged (senior citizens would be more appropriate) are with you, the problem is even more acute.  "We have come this far.  We may not come again.  If we do not see now, we can never see it" would be their refrain.  Children may at least be promised another visit.  What about seniors?  Can we guarantee another visit?
• The guide with you at the spot tells you that he does not know what was told to you when booking was made.  The one who made the booking is across the seas and cannot be reached.  Even if you reach him by some means, he/she would say that the questions were not asked.  He/she would also assure you that had it been asked, he/she would have truthfully answered them!

What is the solution for these problems?  It is not always possible to travel on one's own, especially to parts of the world where you do not know the local language and conditions.  Temptation to travel and see the world also cannot be resisted.  Tours by well known operators offer good value for money and have their plus points.  The real solution lies in doing one's homework and ask the right questions.  It also lies in putting some extra money in the purse or get an enhanced limit on the credit card.  Dispensing with the practice of keeping accounts while on tour is an added virtue for a leisure traveler.