Decisions to Make When Booking a Cruise

When you book a hotel room, it’s easy, but there are special considerations to make when booking a cruise. With a hotel, you may have to select if you want two queens or one king bed and maybe decide if you want to pay more for a city or ocean view for example, but other than that, it’s pretty simple. Cruising, however, presents some unique decisions you’ll have to make. Having a travel agent or PVP can help you determine these things, but before booking, be prepared to make decisions on the following:

Stateroom Type

There are four main stateroom types: interior (no windows), ocean view (port hole or window), balcony/verandah, and suite, although there are several categories within these, which we will discuss in the next section. Interiors are the most affordable, and suites are the most expensive, so you’ll need to decide your preferred room type.

All have pros and cons; of course, the most expensive room types will be the most luxurious and sometimes come with additional perks or amenities. Suites, for example, sometimes include benefits such as priority check-in, special expedited lines at guest services, and speedier disembarkation. As you book a cruise, you’ll need to decide your must-haves and consider your budget.

You may have an opportunity later to change your room type and pay the price difference, but it’s not guaranteed as inventory is limited. You may also have the opportunity to “upgrade” your room prior to your sailing. Many cruise lines make random upgrade offers, where the cruise line offers you a better stateroom category for a fee, but this is more of an upsell than an upgrade, and this is not always a good deal. Other cruise lines approach this a little differently, such as Royal Caribbean Cruise Line’s Royal Up program.

Stateroom Category

If choosing your stateroom type is not confusing enough, you’ll also need to decide your stateroom category. An interior stateroom isn’t just an interior stateroom; there are various categories of staterooms, usually denoted by the cruise line with numbers and letters. Certain categories have preferred features, like more square footage or a better location on the ship.

When a cruise line offers a “free stateroom upgrade” promotion, it stands to reason that a cruiser would assume that this means an upgrade by room type, such as a bump up from an interior to an oceanview, but this instead refers to an upgrade in category, which can be confusing and feel misleading. So with Carnival, for example, and “upgrade” may take a cruiser from a 6A ocean view to a 6B ocean view. There isn’t much of a difference between the two, and they are both an ocean view stateroom.

Another consideration of the stateroom category is whether you want a GTY stateroom. A “GTY” or “guaranteed” stateroom is often more affordable because with this type of stateroom, the cruise line selects your room for you after you make your booking. While this category is the cheapest it comes with a bit of a risk. With a GTY room, you may hit the jackpot and end up in a better stateroom category than the one you originally booked and paid for, as the cruise line “guarantees” you a room based on category, promising the minimum of your category type. However, you may end up in an undesirable location on the ship, such as a room under the ship’s nightclub. Choosing your own stateroom gives you more control.

Depending on your needs, some staterooms may be preferable to others. While I don’t like being in a room near the lido deck, as I find them to be noisier generally, some cruisers love them because it puts them close to the action. I always encourage cruisers to consider their individual needs and then search and examine their ship’s deck plan before making this decision. That is… unless you book a GTY room, in which case you have no control over where your stateroom location will be.

Room Configuration

When you book a cruise, you’ll be asked if you want two beds or one. In cruise world, the “one-bed” option generally consists of two smaller beds pushed together. The bad part of this is that this creates an annoying crack down the middle of the bed (pro-tip: wedge an extra blanket or towels in the crack to help fill it).

The benefit of configurable cruise staterooms is their versatility. If you book with a spouse, for example, and at the last minute have to change to a friend instead because your spouse can no longer cruise, your room steward can easily split your one bed into two. This also applies if you fight with your spouse and want to kick him or her to another bed.  If you have more than two cruisers on your booking, your stateroom will likely have a sofa with a pull-out bed and/or an “upper/lower” stateroom category, which is bunkbed style.

Dining Time

Many cruise lines offer two dining options: a set dining time (early or late) or a “flex” dining option, and cruisers are asked to choose when they book their cruise. The set dining times can vary based on the cruise line, but early dining is generally around 5:30 PM, and late dining is around 8:00 PM. There are pros and cons to both set dining and flex dining, detailed in my post here, but here’s a summary:

Flexible Dining

Pros of Flexible Dining: It’s pretty obvious—the flexibility! I generally prefer to have dinner a little earlier in the day, but if I have a busy port day and don’t get back to the ship until 6 PM, I want plenty of time to shower, change, and relax before heading to dinner. I can’t always do that with set dining, but flexible dining allows for it.

Cons of Flexible Dining: This option can mean a wait for your table, sometimes a lengthy one. However, many cruise lines now have an online dinner check-in option on their various apps, which helps a bit with this. You’ll still have to wait, but at least you can explore and do other things while you wait for your table. (Tip: I generally check in while I’m still getting ready for dinner in my stateroom. Once you are notified your table is ready, you generally have 10-15 minutes to get there, and waiting in your stateroom is better than crowding around outside the MDR).

Set Time Dining

Pros of Set Dining Times: The biggest benefit of cruise set dining time is that you generally won’t have to wait long for your table. Another perk is that you will be seated at the same table each evening, and you’ll have the opportunity to get to know your wait staff team and, if you’re social, the other cruisers who are seated nearby. Cruise MDR wait staff are often exceptional, and they will likely even remember your individual preferences, which is a fun benefit. For example, if you prefer extra lemon in your water, you often won’t need to ask for it after that first night.

Cons of Set Dining Times: The downfall of set dining is the lack of flexibility. Perhaps you have early dining, but you just aren’t very hungry at 5:30 PM because you had a late lunch that day. But with set dining, there’s little wiggle room on time. You can arrive a bit past your dining time, but not by much. Of course, the buffet is always an option, but many cruisers (like me) strongly prefer the MDR experience over the buffet (I avoid it as much as possible). Keep in mind, too, that the included entertainment, such as shows, comedians, live music, etc., is a big benefit of cruising, and it can sometimes prove difficult to attend the shows you want when they interfere time-wise with your set dining time.

Gratuities

Unless you sail with Virgin Voyages, which includes gratuities in the cruise fare, or if you book with a promotional rate (such as with Holland America Line) that includes gratuities, you will be expected to pay required gratuities, which on average run about $16 per person, per day.

When booking, you’ll be asked if you want to prepay this amount at the time of booking. Most cruisers do, but the other option is to pay at the end of your sailing. If the latter, the charge will be posted to your account on the last night of your sailing. For me, I see no benefit at all in paying this amount in advance of my cruise, especially if it’s months to a year in the future, so I always opt to just incur the charge on my stateroom bill at the conclusion of my sailing.

Transfer Service

If you are flying into your cruise departure port, an upsell most cruise lines will present its “transfer service,” where the cruise line shuttles you to and from the cruise ship — for a fee, of course. I never use this option, as I find it terribly inconvenient (and often more expensive) compared to other options, such as Get Transfer or Uber. Before automatically booking the transfer service the cruise line offers, do a bit of comparison shopping first, and also don’t forget to consider public transportation as an option.

Insurance

Another upsell the cruise line will offer is their insurance protection, which often covers the cruise cost if you have to cancel. I am a huge advocate of travel insurance and think it’s a terrible risk for people to travel without it (yes, even young people), so I personally do not use the cruise line’s insurance and instead cover myself with my own travel insurance policy, which covers not just travel interruption protection, but also any medical issues that may arise. I prefer using my own insurance as it’s much cheaper overall and provides much better coverage.

Wifi, Spa, Drink Packages, and More!

When you book a cruise, you will be presented with a dizzying array of additional options for purchase, and it can become overwhelming. You’ll need to decide if you want extra cruise goodies like Wi-Fi, spa services, drink packages, and excursions. The cruise line will incentivize you into early action by sometimes offering a discounted price as a benefit for booking these things in advance. For many of these, you can wait and purchase on the ship, although the price may be higher at that time, and some options may no longer be available, as they are limited in inventory of availability.

As for cruise excursions, you will need to decide not just if you want to do one and which to do at each port but also whether you prefer to book directly with the cruise line or go out on your own and book an independent excursion. Both have pros and cons, so be sure to consider them before making your choice.

Cruise Booking Decisions

Making these cruise booking decisions can feel overwhelming, especially for first-timers, but the benefit of making these choices in advance is that once your ship sets sail, you’re basically on cruise control. No more plans to make, dinner reservations to book, activities to plan, or decisions to make. Think of cruising as a form of travel that requires advance planning but allows you to really relax and kick back once you’re on board, a luxury not always provided with other forms of vacation travel.