Cruise, Inc. - CNBC Special

It is not fluff. They actually tell you HOW the cruise lines make money, whether it be through sales of alcohol and shore excursions, or their partnerships with businesses at the ports they stock in, etc.

One interesting point they brought up is that in order to break even, they have to sell every customer about $7 in drinks every day at sea. (Liquor OR other drinks)

They also summarize the end of the cruise by each department. Ie.. how much below budget they were in shore excursions on this trip, etc.

The show doesn't give an exact opinion, but I came away thinking what I've known all along. That is, you can go on a cruise as cheaply as the cost of your per person stateroom, or you can add drinks and shore excursions and special meals and souvenirs and quickly run the tab up! If you know that going into it, you'll be just fine.

One thing about the Norwegian Pearl that I didn't know was their restaurant policy. They have seven "specialty restaurants" on board that require you to pay over and above the cost of your cruise. Disney has a fee for eating at Palo, but it pretty much just covers the tip. ($10 for Disney, versus $25 average on the Norwegian every time you go to a different restaurant)

Disney sometimes gets a bad rap because of the cost differential of their cruises versus others, but when you look at the quality of the Disney dining rooms as a part of the cost of the cruise and compare it to having to pay additional for every specialty restaurant, things start to even out quickly.

If you're thinking of a cruise feel free to pose questions on here. We've got several people involved in the travel industry in one form or another, as well as having board members who've been on a lot of cruises.

Interesting thing about this program - they talked to people getting off the ship who had spent a LOT of money, and people who'd spent NONE (over and above the basic cruise cost, that is).

Depends on the individual. If its the first cruse you've been on, or if you don't plan on going on another for a long time then you'd really want to do a lot. (and that would include spending a lot of money)

I can only speak for my wife and I. We've been on several cruises, so we probably do things differently than others. We don't drink a lot, and we don't gamble so they aren't getting us there. We also limit our shore excursions, primarily spending much of our "in port" time to going to various shops and places before going back on board the ship. We also don't go overboard on souvenirs.

So for us it IS worth it not to get all the extras because we've "been there, done that". Others might think differently.

You can buy dozens of items that are affiliated with the cruise line. Could be T shirts, polos, robes, key chains, backpacks, and a lot more. That's just the stuff available on the ship itself.

The general consensus is that you get a great deal on upper end items (clothing, jewelry, etc.) when in these ports. I honestly don't know if you get a good deal or not on this stuff, but I've seen a lot of cruisers in those shops buying expensive stuff. This special reminds you that the cruise lines get a cut of these purchases too.

Not being much of a souvenir family, we've bought the occasional shirt and a few prints. We also bought some DCL watches after a good day at the Bingo parlor a few years back. We've never bought any of the big stuff.

On Disney it costs $30 to play and thats for five or six games. I don't know how they classify it, but you are n international waters so they pay you in cash with no deductions.

We've played twice. Made $30 the second time. $5200 the first.

As they say in the weight loss ads on TV... "Results not typical".

The number of repeat cruisers is pretty high. I really think that Lady Di and I are the exceptions to the rule. I'm sure that a lot of others who cruise repeatedly drink and gamble and spend a lot more than we do.

On Disney, they always have a cocktail party for "Castaway Club" members (those who have cruised DCL before) and it is always packed! They do an informal survey of how many times individuals have been on the cruise line and you'd be amazed at the number who've been five or more times, and the last time we went there was a couple who'd been over 25 times!