Excursions, booze, the doctor: the hidden costs of cruising
Getting seasick is one of life’s great miseries. Similarly, falling ill at sea while on a cruise can leave you, and your credit card, green around the gills.
Just ask my parents, Jean and Norman Stanton. They are seasoned pros of cruising. Their recent trip was the third in as many years. A 16-day voyage from Beijing to Tokyo aboard M/S Nautica, a 181-metre ship operated by Oceania Cruises. However, on this occasion, my father’s first email home a few days after embarking had an ominous tone.
“Mum missed Shanghai excursion yesterday including museum as she was diagnosed with sinusitis. Doc cost, wait for it, nearly $700!!”
Another followed a few days later.
“Mum passed on her sinusitis, and I’m diagnosed with bronchitis. Intravenous antibiotics this morn and still have thing in my arm for another shot this arvo. Mum got a second lot as well. We’ll need to take out a loan on return to pay for it all.”
Two weeks later they returned recovered, but nearly $3,000 lighter in pocket, thanks to illnesses that my mother said “a few ibuprofen at home would have sorted out”.
Read the fine print towards the back of Oceania’s brochure, Your World, Your Way and there is a clause alluding to the cost of visiting a doctor onboard.
My mother’s trip to Nautica’s ship doctor cost $610. This included the consultation, ibuprofen and some antibiotics, plus a blood test. Any pharmaceuticals on Nautica must be prescribed by and bought through the doctor, and all prices are in US dollars.
Soon my father also felt unwell. Worried the bug would go to his chest, and in need of some decongestion medication, my mother packed him off to the ship’s doctor.
My father’s medical attention ended up costing $2,343.00. This cost included $374 for consultations (after the first visit he was instructed to return morning and night for two days for intravenous fluids), $174 for admission to the general ward for observation; and $366 for ibuprofen, cough syrup and two antibiotics. A grand total, when added to my mother’s bill, of $2,983.93.
“If you are ever go on a cruise, for God’s sake make sure you have travel insurance, and take a good selection of medications with you,” my father said.
Other hidden costs can include the cost of off-board excursions organised by the cruise ship, alcohol costs and the ship’s phone. “Incoming calls were $9 a minute charged to the caller,” my father said.
“So you order a beer for $11; your bill comes and it’s actually $13 because they charge 18% gratuities on top of the service,” he added.
Newspaper costs are also high. “I ordered a newspaper every third or fourth day to keep up with news from home,” said my father. “Admittedly I knew it would be yesterday’s news but I didn’t realise it would cost $8.40 a paper.”
In order to avoid hidden costs of cruising you can organise your own shore excursions (by shopping around on sites such as Trip Adviser you’ll save money), avoid dining rooms on the ship that charge above what is included in the cost of the cruise, bring your own alcohol on board (in line with cruise policies, of course – alcohol taken on board is capped) and restrict your internet use.
Brett Jardine, general manager of the body representing cruise liners, Cruise Lines International Association Australasia (CLIA), said despite my parents’ experience, cruising was one of the best value holidays available.
“In 2014 more than 22 million people around the world took a cruise holiday,” he said.
However he said CLIA always “advises passengers to purchase travel insurance before their holiday begins and this insurance covers many situations including the need for onboard medical attention”.
He also advised while it is common on most international ships to use a system of automatic gratuities, passengers have the option to remove gratuities charges if they prefer.
“It is worth noting that there are no automatic gratuities on cruise ships based in Australia, as tipping is not part of our hospitality culture,” he said.
When it comes to offshore excursions and other onboard costs, guests can choose whether to use these services or not, he added.
Oceania Cruises Inc was approached for comment but declined.
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