All-inclusive cruising: travel guide

German cruise line Hapag-Lloyd (hl-cruises.com)
includes minibar drinks (stocked with soft drinks and beer, plus spirits for
those in the higher-grade suites) but charges for wine at dinner and alcohol
ordered at the bars. Prices are not extortionate — €3.70 (£3.10) for a 50cl
draft beer, bottles of wine from €23 (£19), cocktails from €5.30 (£4.50) —
but people tend to stay in their cabins to drink, which doesn’t encourage
social interaction on board.

Regent Seven Seas Cruises is an all-inclusive line, even incorporating
internet access into its prices. Photo: RSSC

Regent operated a similar policy as Hapag-Lloyd until the end of 2006, but
found the bars quiet. Today the line can rightfully claim to be the world’s
most inclusive, with drinks, gratuities, flights, transfers, shore
excursions and one night in a hotel at the start of your holiday all
incorporated in the cruise price. From winter 2014/15, Wi-Fi will be free,
but only for passengers in concierge-class suites and above.

Use of the word “free” is, of course, erroneous. On all cruise lines,
everything is factored into the fare; however, Regent has carried out cost
comparisons showing that overall its cruises work out cheaper than those
offered by less luxurious lines, which charge for most of the items that
Regent includes. The company’s mantra is that you pay to get on one of its
three ships, not to get off.

Hebridean Island Cruises, the Queen’s favourite line, is not far behind as it
includes everything except travel to Scotland (although if you fly or take
the train to Glasgow it offers free transfers to and from the port in Oban).
Once on board you don’t have to put your hand in your pocket for anything;
even tea stops on excursions are included. Better still, if you have a
preferred tipple, the crew will do their best to stock it for you. When I
cruised with Hebridean in the summer and one passenger mentioned that they
had run out of her favourite liqueur, the cruise director made it his
mission to find a bottle of it when the ship called at Tobermory.

Eating out

All cruise lines include as much food as you can eat in the price (three meals
a day in the dining room topped up with snacks from the self-service, fast
food by the pool, afternoon tea and a midnight buffet). Although they charge
for drinks, several non-inclusive lines, including Cunard, Carnival Cruise
Lines, Celebrity Cruises, Holland America Line, MSC Cruises and Norwegian
Cruise Line, sell all-you-can-drink alcohol packages (Celebrity charges
$44-$54/£26-£31 a day, plus 15 per cent service) and most offer soft drinks
packages. All also charge extra for internet use, and if you want to eat in
one of their speciality restaurants it will set you back between £12 and £24
per person. Regent, Seabourn and Hapag-Lloyd all include speciality dining
in the cruise fare. There is no charge to eat once in each of Crystal
Cruises’ speciality restaurants (the Italian Prego and Asian Silk Road,
featuring a menu by Japanese chef Nobu, found on both its ships), but the
line has just introduced a $30 (£17.60) a head fee for subsequent visits, to
stop passengers reserving tables for the duration of a cruise. Dinner in the
Vintage Room, also available on both Crystal ships, which holds up to 14
people, will set you back $180 (£106), or around $1,000 (£587) for the
Ultimate Vintage Room Dinners offered only four times a year, which feature
rare and exclusive wines.

On Silversea, there is no charge to dine in La Terrazza (a waiter-service Italian
eatery) in the evening

On Silversea, there is no charge to dine in La Terrazza (a waiter-service
Italian eatery) in the evening, but a fee applies at its other fine-dining
restaurants. Seishin, on Silver Spirit only, costs $30 (£17.60), as does Le
Champagne, the only Relais Châteaux restaurant at sea, found on the
line’s five classic ships.

Best of the rest

Although less luxurious than the aforementioned lines, Azamara Club Cruises is
becoming equally inclusive. On both Azamara Quest and Azamara Journey,
gratuities, bottled water, soft drinks and a limited selection of alcohol
during bar hours are included in the price (you pay for items from the
minibar and there are all-you-can-drink packages from $11.95/£7 a day for
those who want more choice). Azamara also includes speciality dining for
suite passengers and one free AzAmazing excursion per cruise — this varies
according to the destination but might be a trip to a winery in California,
a three tenors concert in Italy or an evening of ballet in Russia. Oceania
Cruises (oceaniacruises.com)
includes all speciality dining, soft drinks and bottled water and is also
one of the few US-based cruise lines to include flights (Regent is another,
while Crystal includes them for European cruises only). It’s a worthwhile
inclusion, but with Oceania you might not always end up on the most direct
route, and transfers are not included.

The MV Aegean Odyssey: Voyages to Antiquity includes house wine, beer and soft
drinks with lunch and dinner in its prices

Noble Caledonia (noble-caledonia.
co.uk), Voyages to Antiquity (voyagestoantiquity.com)
and Swan Hellenic (swanhellenic.com)
are niche rather than luxury lines, but they are also more inclusive than
many others, with flights, transfers, shore excursions and gratuities
covered by the fare. Noble Caledonia also includes wine, beer and soft
drinks with lunch and dinner, while Voyages to Antiquity includes the same
beverages with dinner only.

Celebrity Cruises (celebritycruises.co.uk)
is the latest cruise line to offer an exclusive ship-within-a-ship
experience for its top-paying passengers, available for cruises from April
2015. Guests booked in Royal, Penthouse and Reflection suites will receive a
premium “all-in” package including free drinks, complimentary access to all
speciality dining restaurants and unlimited internet access. In what is
presumably a trial run for the line, Princess Cruises (princesscruises.com)
will offer an all-inclusive package on one of its UK-based ships for the
first time next year (but cruises must be booked by June 30). From March
2015, prices on all Compagnie du Ponant’s (ponant.com) cruises will include
drinks (currently available for US passengers only). Gratuities remain an
optional extra.

On the rivers

Luxury river-cruise companies have traditionally included flights, transfers
and shore tours in their prices, and these days most lines also serve
complimentary wine with dinner and maybe lunch, as well as offering free
Wi-Fi. But an increasing trend towards all-inclusive cruising on rivers has
been led by Scenic Tours, which went “drinks-inclusive” last year. Uniworld
River Cruises will follow suit this year, including drinks and gratuities in
addition to flights, UK and overseas transfers, shore excursions and Wi-Fi.
US tour operator Tauck is also adding drinks to its “included” list, but
flights are excluded. French river-cruise company CroisiEurope (croisieurope.travel)
is going drinks-inclusive for 2014, as is Germany’s A-Rosa (arosa.de/en),
but both exclude flights, tours and gratuities.

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