- How Much Does it Cost to Go on a World Cruise? Part 3 – Onboard Spending and Calculator
- Holland America SELLS OUT 2017 World Cruise Inside Cabins – Segments still avail for less the $5,000 per cabin!
- How much does it cost to go on a world cruise? Part 2 – Pre and Post Cruise Expenses
- Amazing end of cruise video!
- How much does it cost to go on a world cruise? Part 1
- PACKING FOR A WORLD CRUISE
- That’s Entertainment!
- Opening the Package! What is inside?
- Day 132, San Diego, California
- Day 131, Sailing toward San Diego, California
- Day 130, Sailing toward San Diego, California
- Day 129, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
- Day 128, Sailing toward Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
- Day 127, Huatulco, Mexico
- Subscribe to this blog! – Check box at bottom of this page
- Day 126, Puerto Chiapas, Mexico
- Day 125, Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala
- Day 124, Corinto, Nicaragua
- Day 123, Puntarenas, Costa Rica
- Day 122, Sailing toward Puntarenas, Costa Rica
- Day 121, Transiting the Panama Canal
- Day 120, Cartagena, Colombia
- Day 119, Sailing towards Cartagena
- Day 118, Sailing towards Cartagena
- Day 117, Half Moon Cay, Bahamas
- Day 116, Fort Lauderdale, Florida
- Day 115, April 29, Sailing toward Fort Lauderdale
- Day 114, April 28, Sailing toward Fort Lauderdale
- Day 113, Sailing toward Fort Lauderdale
- Day 112, April 26, Sailing toward Fort Lauderdale
- Day 111, Sailing toward Fort Lauderdale
- Day 110, Sailing toward Fort Lauderdale
- Day 109, Sailing toward Fort Lauderdale
- Day 108, Funchal, Portugal
- Day 107, Sailing toward Funchal, Portugal
- Day 106, Cadiz, Spain
- Day 105, Sailing toward Cadiz
- Day 104, Barcelona, Spain
- Day 103, Monte Carlo, Monaco
- Day 102, Livorno, Italy
- Menus and On Locations updated…more posts coming soon
- Day 101, Civitavecchia, Italy
- Day 100, Sailing toward Civitavecchia, Italy
- Day 99, Katakolon, Greece
- Day 98, Piraeus (Athens,) Greece
- Day 97, Sailing toward Piraeus, Greece
- Day 96, Ashdod, Israel
- Day 95, Haifa, Israel
- Day 94, Transiting the Suez Canal
- Day 93, Sailing toward the Suez Canal
- Day 92, Al’Aqabah, Jordan
- Day 91, Sailing toward Al’Aqabah, Jordan
- Day 90, Sailing toward Al’Aqabah, Jordan
- Day 89, Sailing toward Al’Aqabah, Jordan
- Day 88, Sailing toward Al’Aqabah, Jordan
- Day 87, Salalah, Oman
- Day 86, Sailing toward Salalah, Oman
- Day 85, Muscat, Oman
- Day 84, Sailing toward Muscat
- Day 83, Dubai, UAE
- Day 82, Dubai, UAE
- Day 81, New Delhi to Dubai
- Day 80, New Delhi, India (Ship sailing toward Dubai)
- Day 79, Agra, India (Ship sailing toward Dubai)
- Day 78, Agra, India (Ship sailing toward Dubai)
- Day 77, Colombo, Sri Lanka to New Delhi, India
- Day 76, Colombo, Sri Lanka
- Day 75, Hambantota, Sri Lanka
- Day 74, Sailing toward Hambantota, Sri Lanka
- Day 73, Sailing toward Hambantota, Sri Lanka
- Day 72, Phuket, Thailand
- Day 71, Sailing toward Phuket, Thailand
- Day 70, Singapore
- Day 69, Singapore
- Day 68, Singapore
- Day 67, Sailing toward Singapore
- Day 66; Siem Reap to Sihanoukville – while Amsterdam is moored at Sihanoukville
- Day 65, Siem Reap, Cambodia, Ms Amsterdam sailing toward Sihanoukville
- Day 64. Phu My, Vietnam
- Day 63, Sailing toward Phu My, Vietnam
- Day 62, Da Nang, Viet Nam
- Day 61, Da Nang, Vietnam
- Day 60, Sailing toward Da Nang
- Day 59, Hong Kong
- Day 58, Hong Kong
- Day 57, Hong Kong
- Day 56, Sailing toward Hong Kong
- Day 55, Sailing toward Hong Kong
- Day 54, Sailing toward Hong Kong
- Day 53, Sailing toward Hong Kong
- Day 52, Jakarta, Indonesia
- Day 51, Semarang, Java, Indonesia
- Day 50, Sailing towards Semarang, Indonesia
- Day 49, Benoa, Bali, Indonesia
- Day 48, Sailing toward Benoa, Indonesia
- Day 47, Sailing toward Benoa, Indonesia
- Day 46, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia
- Day 45, Sailing towards Darwin, Australia
- Day 44, Sailing towards Darwin, Australia
- Day 43, Sailing towards Darwin, Australia
- Day 42, Cairns, Australia
- Day 41, Townsville, Australia
- Day 40, Sailing towards Townsville
- Day 39, Sailing towards Townsville
- Day 38, Sailing towards Townsville
- Day 37, Sydney, Australia
- Day 36, Sydney, Australia
- Day 35, Sailing toward Sydney Australia
- Day 34, Melbourne, Australia
- Day 33, Sailing toward Melbourne
- Day 32, Sailing toward Melbourne
- Day 31, Sailing toward Melbourne, Australia
- Day 30, Picton New Zealand
- Day 29, Sailing toward Picton, New Zealand
- Day 28, Auckland, New Zealand
- Day 27, Waitangi (Bay of Islands) New Zealand
- Day 26, Sailing towards Waitangi
- Day 25, Sailing towards Waitangi
- Day 24, Sailing towards Waitangi
- Day 23, Sailing toward Waitangi, New Zealand
- Day 22, Avatiu, Rarotonga
- Day 21, Sailing toward Avatiu, Rarotonga
- Day 20, Moorea, French Polynesia
- Day 19, Papeete, Tahiti and taking the ferry to Mo’orea
- Day 18 – Avatoru, Rangiroa
- Day 17, Sailing toward Avatoru
- Day 16, Taiohae, Nuku Hiva, French Polynesia
- Day 15, Sailing toward Nuku Hiva
- Day 14, Sailing towards Nuku Hiva
- Day 13, Sailing towards Nuku Hiva
- Day 12 – Sailing towards Nuku Hiva
- Day 11 – Sailing towards Nuku Hiva
- Day 10, At Sea – Enroute Nuku Hiva
- Day 9 – At Sea enroute to Nuku Hiva
- Day 8 – At Sea enroute to Nuku Hiva
- Day 7 – Fuerte Amador, Panama
- Day 6- Cruising the Panama Canal
- Day 5 – Puerto Limon, Costa Rica
- Day 4 – At Sea Enroute to Costa Rica
- Day 3 – Cruising the Carribean
- Day 2 – At Sea – Enroute Costa Rica
- Day 1- The Grand Voyage Begins! 115 Days
- Day D-1 Arriving in Fort Lauderdale
- Day D-2 Leaving Imperial Beach, California
Pre & Post Cruise Expenses
Before you ever set foot on the ship, you will spend some money on a variety of expenses that are part of your world cruise. Here is a rundown of those expenses.
Baggage Shipment
You will likely be taking more baggage on a world cruise than you would on a shorter cruise, so you will probably spend more in either airline baggage fees or a baggage forwarding service. Checking two bags on an airline costs about $60 with a big jump for the third bag. Most baggage forwarding services charge about $100 per bag to ship within the USA. Shipping costs from Europe and Australia to Florida are about $275 to $300 a bag. The prices from Canada are about $125 per bag. Holland America offers this service for all passengers for a fee, and for those in category F and higher can ship 2 bags for free and those category B and higher have an unlimited allowance. This applies to residents of Canada and the USA only. Passengers for other countries will receive $100 to $200 in OBC.
Airfare
If you live too far away to drive, you will most likely be flying to Fort Lauderdale. HAL will sell you airfare or you can buy it yourself. There are many ways to shop for the best airfare flights, but just keep in mind that this is another cost of your world cruise. Don’t forget to calculate the price of your transfer from home to your nearest airport and include that in your world cruise total.
Pre/Post Cruise Hotel
Plan on $150 to $250 a night for your pre or post cruise hotel. I recommend hotels near Fort Lauderdale’s Southport Shopping Center: Renaissance, Extended Stay, Embassy Suites, Holiday Inn Express. These hotels are within easy walking distance of the Southport Shopping Center which has many stores if you need to pick up any last minute supplies.
Transfers
Taking a Taxi or Uber is my recommendation for your transfer from the airport and from your hotel to the cruise terminal. The cost for a taxi should be around $25 for each transfer. We arranged for a larger SUV since we had so many bags and paid $50 for each transfer. If you go with the cruise line transfer, you will wait until the bus fills and it will take longer than going solo. But the cruise line transfer will be simpler in that you simply find the HAL person with the sign in the airport baggage claim and follow instructions. UBER can take you from your hotel to your departure cruise terminal if you want to use them instead of a taxi.
Travel Insurance
I recommend that you look at the website insuremytrip.com to get some fast price comparisons for travel insurance. The cost varies by age, but I learned a few things from my research.
- The price goes up with age but stops going up after age 85 for some policy’s – 80 for most.
- New York Residents may pay more – don’t know why
- California Residents may pay less – don’t know why
Here is a helpful table with a range of prices for a standard policy with trip cancellation coverage. There are many more variables in play then I was able to research, but this should give you a ball park range to help with planning your trip cost. The insurance cost will be the percentage shown below multiplied by the insured trip cost.
| Age | AIG Basic | AIG Gold | Allanz Classic | Allanz Trip Plus |
| 85 and Up | 14.3% | 19.3% | 19.4% | 26.2% |
| 80 to 85 | 11.8% | 14.8% | 19.4% | 26.2% |
| 75 to 80 | 9.0% | 11.4% | 13.8% | 18.7% |
| 70 to 75 | 6.7% | 8.8% | 11.1% | 14.9% |
| 60 to 70 | 5.6% | 7.2% | 8.1% | 10.9% |
| 35 to 60 | 4.3% | 5.2% | 6.1% | 8.2% |
| Under 35 | 2.9% | 3.6% | 4.7% | 6.3% |
| Source – Insuremytrip.com insuring – Single Traveler $50,000 trip cost, Florida Resident – Jan 17 to Apr 17 | ||||
If all you need is medical or evacuation coverage, you can enter zero for trip cost or a token amount ($250). Doing this may change the effective date of your policy to the cruise start date which may impact pre-existing condition waivers and look back periods. Read the policies carefully.
Prepaying Expenses
Many of your world cruise expenses can be paid for in advance if you choose. About 1 month before the cruise you will receive a World Cruise booklet which lists many of the items you can pay for in advance, and in many cases, receive a discount. These include, wine packages, photo packages etc. Here is a table with all of these options from our 2016 Cruise:
| PrePay | Onboard Price | ||
| 5 Pinnacle Dinners | $116 | $131 | |
| Wine by the Glass | $426 | $492 | |
| 12 Bottle Premium Wine Package | $483 | $511 | |
| 24 Bottle Premium Wine Package | $918 | $971 | |
| 48 Bottle Premium Wine Package | $1,739 | $1,838 | |
| 12 Bottle Standard Wine Package | $359 | $386 | |
| 24 Bottle Standard Wine Package | $682 | $734 | |
| 48 Bottle Standard Wine Package | $1,292 | $1,391 | |
| Daily Water Package | $216 | $256 | |
| Bloody Mary Package | $58 | $65 | |
| Unlimited Pressing (cabin) | $295 | $330 | |
| Unlimited Laundry (cabin) | $590 | $660 | |
| Unlimited Dry Cleaning (cabin) | $890 | $990 | |
| (Singles pay 50% of above) | |||
| 10 Candid Photos | $105 | $150 | |
| Five Formal Portraits | $149 | $199 | |
| Photo and DVD Package | $100 | $125 | 5 Candids and 1 DVD |
| Upgraded Photo Package | $375 | $450 | 10 Portraits, 10 Candids + more |
| Unlimited Photo Package | $575 | Every picture taken | |
| 5 Inport Massages (50 Min) | $450 | $535 | |
| 5 Anytime Massage (75 min) | $780 | $875 | |
| 3 Massage and Facial in port | $475 | $535 | |
| 3 Anytime Massage and Facial | $535 | $595 | |
| 15 Hair Style and Comb Outs | $300 | $330 | |
| 3 Mens Haircuts in port | $45 | $60 | |
| 3 Personal Training sessions | $204 | $228 |
There was not an option to prepay for any internet packages. However, there was an opportunity to get a 10% increase to the standard internet package minutes if you bought them in the first few days of the cruise.
If you really want to avoid any bill at the end of cruise, you can always purchase additional On Board Credit for yourself.
When you book excursions before you leave, you pay for those excursions immediately. This is another way to prepay some expenses.
Coming Next – Onboard Expenses
I will address the question – Do you spend less per day on a longer cruise than on a shorter cruise?
Great info! Thanks!
Thanks for the info, this will help my DH plan for the WC17! Sherry