When backpackers land on a luxury cruise

Veröffentlicht: 17. Juli 2022, 03:56 Uhr

Aktualisiert: 09. Juni 2025, 23:06 Uhr

Von: wom87

Talk that we are overwhelmed. Kia and I leave Los Angeles in a rather ridiculous way when you consider our financial Situation: on a Princess luxury cruise!

We have been "stranded" in Tahiti for a month and could not afford flights to the east to America. We planned to fly from Tahiti to Chile, but the cheapest flight we could find in December went into thousands instead of the hundreds. Against this background we took a modest room in Tahiti and relaxed for Christmas, hoping that prices would drop in the new year.

The prices have not fallen.

We were forced to look around for others and surprisingly found an affordable 16-day cruise from Tahiti to Los Angeles, where we could get cheap further flights to Colombia.

as a backpacker (with backpacker budget) we never imagined this situation. Nevertheless, we believe that with a little bit of frugality and careful research, we can get this up and down.

mathematics

As I said, direct flights to Chile or South America were out of the question. Flights to LA were our second best choice for around £ 500 each ($ 800). The cheapest cabin on the cruise - an inner cabin without a sea view - costs us £ 640 ($ 999) per person. For a total of 280 £ more we can drive part of the Pacific, 16 overnight stays with food and accommodation as well as stops in Hawaii, part of the world that we would never have expected on this trip.

We have mentioned in this way for a year of travel that our daily budget is £ 40 ($ 60) without flights. 16 nights x 40 £ are £ £ £ £. If we add this to the two flights to LA, we get to £ 1,640

The cruise costs us £ 1,280 - considerably less than the flight option if you take into account food and accommodation.

If we can keep the costs low during the trip, this cruise will actually save us money. So’s Art.

Edit A reader sent us an email to emphasize that we do not take into account the time costs. Since we are on the road, there is no real time. And if we had the choice between 16 days sailing over the Pacific or a much more prose more 8-hour flight, we would take over the sailing! This may be different among other circumstances, but luckily we have the free choice on this occasion.

booking

We booked our cruise via Lastminutecruises.com. I was also in contact with several booking agents, but it was clear that none of them could really understand (or understand) our predicament. Several times, a eager seller tried to explain that I should better pay $ 1,300 with him, as it would be cheaper across the entire cruise.

advice, it turned out that I knew my finances better than he and I was able to share a number by another number. We decided to do it ourselves and began to carefully observe the fluctuating prices. Finally I discovered something eight days before departure that we could afford and booked it.

I know that this is not always possible, but if you are in a similar situation as we are, I advise you to keep your nerves and wait for what you can afford.

Other useful websites are cruisesheet.com and cruizedeals.com.

budgeting

There is no hiding place - we will be the poorest on this boat. The only possibility of how we can get this up and down is to observe the wallet at every turn.

Eating and drinking: Eating is included in the price, drinks are not. A quick online search shows that tap water on cruise ships is absolutely safe to drink. It is then tap water. We have to sacrifice our refreshment drink and (my) beer confidence.

The specialty restaurants are also taboo. They sound tempting, but the food and buffet options at all times have to be good enough. If I am honest, we have been living from super noodles and egg noodles for some time, so everything that is more tasty is a bonus.

Excursions: We have stops in Moorea and Bora Bora in Polynesia and Hilo, Honolulu and Maui in Hawaii. Land excursions offered by the cruise company are expensive, but it is free to go ashore. We have already seen Bora Bora, so we can save some money there. Moorea and Hawaii are unique occasions, so we want to see these travel destinations. There are motor scooters and car rental companies near the shipyards, so that there is another DIY visit.

entertainment: There are some things that are a matter of course. For example, the casino, professional photos, transfers, spa, pilates courses-I could continue-all luxury that we cannot afford. They all sound great, but expensive. When looking through the cruise website, I found that access to the gym and the running route is included in the price, as well as the swimming pools. There is also a library on board and a television in our room - both free of charge. Sorted.

Internet: As far as Internet access is concerned, we also have to cut back. This will be difficult because we try to run a travel blog, but we just have to rely on the magic of scheduling. We hope to be able to contact you as soon as we get access to land.

laundry: We also wash our clothes hectically so that we don't need laundry during the cruise. Worse, we just have to wash ourselves in the hand washing basin on the cabin!

clothing

alt = “Peter and Kia on the lagoon tour of Bora Bora”> Atlas & Boots

Unfortunately I didn't pack my tuxedo, so we just have to do without the formal evenings. However, I have two or three light leisure shirts and the associated pants from Royal Robbins. These have proven to be very effective to cover all opportunities, from hikes inside the tropical islands to cocktails in a yacht club and everything in between! With this in mind, I can surely hike through the decks in knowing that the other customers do not know how poor we really are.

tilt

Well, here is a controversial topic. Since I had never done a cruise, I had no idea how controversial it is. A Google search produced hundreds of articles and forum threads on the controversial topic. For us British it is confusing the least. Tipped is not deeply rooted in our culture, and if we tip, this is usually done at the end of a service and reflects a percentage of costs compared to the quality of the service. For example, if a meal costs £ 50 and I am satisfied with the service, then 10–15 % (£ 5–7.50) appear appropriate. Bad service would lead to about 5 % or none at all. Likewise, exceptional service can justify up to 20 %.

Our cruise company automatically adds a voluntary tip every day that have nothing to do with the costs of the cruise. You calculate this before the cruise - that is, before we even went on board the ship, we have an invoice of £ 260 ($ 400) - more than 20 % of what we paid for the cruise.

Regardless of how we think about paying for services that we have not yet used, we simply cannot afford this sum. It is an embarrassing and unpleasant situation in which we are, especially since this money is intended for the workers that we will actually affect, in contrast to the faceless cruise company, but we have no choice. We have to contact the Purser’s Office and arrange a lower tip.

So that's our situation shortly. We are not quite sure how the staff will react if we start rocking with our dirty backpacks, but we will definitely let them know.