Cruises

What a cruise actually costs once gratuities, drinks, wifi and excursions are counted, and what “all-inclusive” leaves out.

Cruise fares are advertised the way airline fares were twenty years ago: a low headline number with most of the real spending unbundled and sold once you are aboard. None of it is hidden, but it is spread across enough separate places that almost nobody adds it up before booking.

So the work here is turning brochure prices into a per-day number you can put next to a hotel. Start with what a cruise really costs per day, which carries the 2026 gratuity rates from the three biggest lines.

Cruise content here works from published tariffs rather than impressions: gratuity rates as the lines actually charge them, what the drinks package has to displace before it pays for itself, and where a ship excursion is worth its premium against booking the same thing independently. Coming next: cabin selection and what the categories really buy you, and a line-by-line comparison of what each operator includes in the fare.