This was my first and last cruise. I cruised on the NCL Pearl to the Panama Canal. I prefer paying for my vacation and vacationing without the worry of penny pinching. Unfortunately, for this vacation I felt like I was watching my nickels and dimes slip out of my hands. The first to note is that you have to pay for your tips before you are even allowed on the ship. I went on this cruise with my mother, and we had to pay with credit card for tips weeks before boarding. The price for tips is $250. Also, you pay for tips while on the ship every time you buy a drink. It’s 18% gratuity, plus there is in added hand for additional tips. I brought booze on the trip and had to pay for $15 corking fee. My booze consisted of wine with the twist tops. I still had to pay for a corking fee even though the poured my own drink from the bottles. Before boarding, right before we got on the ship my mother and I had to open up credit in order to be issued the little cruise cards that are given to all guests. This is so then if you want to go to a fancy restaurant you get billed for the food you ordered. Just to let you know if you stick to the open restaurants, the ones where you don’t have to pay for your meal, you get a sample of what the specialty restaurants offer. My mother and I stuck to the open restaurants.

You get billed if you pay for a drink. Sometimes the drink of the day was without alcohol. If you pay for the unlimited $90 a day drink ticket you have to factor in your loss of drinks when you leave the ship for excursions. The ship excursions are far more expensive and limited than just leaving the ship and paying for a tour offered by the locals which is just as safe. I left the ship at Curacao and Costa Rica and paid $100 total for both trips. If I had paid through the ship I would have paid close to $300 and not seen as much of the countries. Stay on the ship during the Panama Canal, you get more out of it. If you leave the ship while the ship goes through the Panama Canal you miss the experience. By the way, if you decide to leave the ship during the Panama Canal, you have to leave in the middle of Gatun Lake on a tender. I stayed on the ship.

I discovered that cruises are not for me. You get a taste, a tease, of what other countries offer. You pay through the nose for everything, especially tips. You feel like a drunk walking around on the ship while it moves. I’m sticking to all-inclusive.