Mike Heard reports on a new way to calculate the cost of shipboard extras.
The cruise industry is awash with special offers as lines struggle to fill cabins in the face of the economic downturn.
But fares are not necessarily all-inclusive and onboard spending can easily double or treble your initial outlay.
If you need to know the ultimate cost of your holiday at sea before you leave home, a new internet-based tool may help.
Travel Budget Calculator lists items usually excluded from the fare, such as liquor, gift shop purchases, shore excursions, spa treatments, tips, cover charges for access to specialty restaurants and fees for using the internet and mobiles.
The calculator also allows for inclusion of items such as travel insurance and the cost of getting to and from your cruise port by air or land.
Intending travellers decide how much they will allocate for each item and once all likely costs have been entered, the system produces a total figure.
It’s hard to put a dollar amount on shipboard extras because it depends largely on personal spending habits; a figure of $100 a person a day is thought to be average. See www.independenttraveler.com/travel-budget-calculator.
Home on the water
Accommodation aboard the latest residential super liner has gone on sale and prices bear no relation to the slump in the US housing market.
Residential Cruise Line is asking between $US2.8 million ($4.2 million) and $US18 million for each of the 210 apartments on Magellan, which includes a huge retractable marina and is due to begin cruising in 2011.
Apartment buyers can cruise year-round or join and leave the ship at will, while RCL will sell some accommodation on a time-share basis.
Cunard rates highly
Cunard says the 2009 edition of the Berlitz guide to cruising rates top-grade accommodation on its Queen Mary 2 and Queen Victoria as the best among large liners.
The guide, which contains details of 270 passenger vessels, is generally regarded as the most comprehensive and accurate assessment of cruise industry products. The publication also gives Cunard top honours for best overall food and best overall service.
Yet fares on the two ships are comparable with those being charged for liners of lesser quality. A 15-night QM2 voyage from Los Angeles to Sydney in February costs from $2599 a person twin share. The fare reflects hefty discounting.
Man overboard
Cruise sightseeing can have particular hazards.
A passenger on the Holland America liner Volendam has been pulled from the sea in New Zealand after stepping backwards off a wharf while taking a photo. The 75-year-old Californian was trying to fit a line-up of vintage cars in the art-deco city of Napier into his camera viewfinder when he fell between the wharf and ship.
A Volendam crew member dived into the water and helped him to safety.
The tourist was treated at a local hospital and discharged.
Volendam is engaged in two-week cruises between Sydney and Auckland until April.