If you want to plan for success on your next vacation, you’ll want to consider the costs before you get too far into the process. There are few things worse than setting lofty expectations only to see them crumble once you check into your bank account. We want to help you figure out the price for your next vacation, specifically when it comes to a Christian cruise. In order to get you financially prepared for a faith-based getaway, we’ll need to determine what kind of trip you are looking to take. After this we can compare the cost of a Christian cruise with similar experiences, discuss ways to save money, and leave you feeling confident about your planning process.
How Long is Your Christian Cruise and How Big is the Ship?
Before we start thinking about specifications as far as what kind of cabin you desire and more, let’s think about the cruise itinerary itself. One of the first things you’ll need to decide is how long of a cruise you want to take. As you can imagine, the longer your cruise is, the more money it will cost you. You may end up with a better value for each night on some longer cruises, but five to seven days is plenty vacation for most people.
We’d like to say pricing for a cruise is as simple as counting the number of days on your journey. Just like flights and hotel rooms, however, there is so much more factored into the cost. Among these variables is the size of your ship. You may think the price of a cabin on one vessel is the same as its companion on another, but the prices may vary depending on the capacity of the ship. A larger boat which can carry more people is typically cheaper than a small ship.
Where Are You Headed and How Many People Are with You?
Two more vital pieces of information for pricing a Christian cruise are the destination and the size of your party. First up, you should recognize that where your cruise is headed will be a strong indicator for how much you will be paying. For instance, a trip through the Mediterranean Sea will incur a higher price than a simple Caribbean journey. Looking at the Jesus Freak Cruise from Premier Cruises, you’ll see that an ocean-view stateroom can be found for around $1200. Meanwhile, a Mediterranean trip with Inspiration Cruises and Tours will require a price two or three times higher for a similar room. That’s also before you’ve factored in the cost to travel to the other side of the world first. The more common the cruise route is and the closer it stays to your native borders, the less you are likely to pay.
The number of people in your party is another cost-associated part of your trip to consider. Although you are paying for an entire cabin when you register for a cruise, you will not be able to pack that room with unlimited guests. Most rooms hold between two and four people. An odd number of vacationers in your party could cost you, as many cruises will charge a fee for the unused space in your room. (This is really just in cases where one person is traveling alone.) Some cruise lines will offer you cheaper rates for bringing along a bigger party. This is because you are making their jobs easier by taking up more space on the boat. For similar reasons you can sometimes find cheap rates on cruises close to their departure date.
What Kind of Experience Are You Looking For?
When investigating the cost for a Christian cruise, you’ll have to be honest about what you want out of the experience. It’s not that hard to save a few bucks where possible, but you can also go all out with your spending if you want to vacation in style.
The biggest factor determining how much you’ll pay (once you’ve picked a cruise) is what kind of cabin you plan to stay in. Rooms found along the interior of the ship and lacking an ocean view are substantially less expensive than those with a view or a balcony. Interior staterooms on the 2020 K-LOVE Cruise started as low as $699, but the ship’s best lodgings are available in a Royal Suite which will set you back $6099. For that price, you’ll receive a much larger room, vanity areas, full room service for all meals, and a series of other amenities. You’ll find the process of cabin selection to be similar to choosing a hotel: Do you want to stay at the roadside inn for $50/night or at the presidential suite in a 5-star hotel? Don’t forget, of course, that there are plenty of options in the middle on every Christian cruise.
Christian Cruises vs. Secular Cruises
If you’ve found a great deal on an average cruise in the past, you may be surprised to find that Christian cruises often have a slight increase in price over a comparable trip with a company like Carnival or Royal Caribbean. This is partly due to the exclusivity which a Christian cruise provides. On your garden variety cruise ship you’ll find a large and diverse group of people who don’t have much in common and are only united by the appeal of getting away from it all. On a Christian cruise, however, you’ll find like-minded people who have come together for a specific purpose. It may be to see certain Christian entertainers perform, listen to respected theologians discussing Biblical history, or it could be a conference at sea where they hope to work on their marriage or careers.
Christian cruises offer a lot of the same activities and memorable adventures as secular cruises, but the community aspect is more intimate and the purpose more defined. This may lead to additional program costs, smaller ships, or a number of other factors contributing to a price different from what you may find on Expedia for a generic cruise.
How to Make Cruises Cheaper
If you’ve been reading carefully, you may have already picked up a few hints at how you can save money on cruises, Christian or not. If you’re someone who can handle not having a room with a view because you’re going to spend 16 hours a day outside, maybe you can swing for the cheapest option available and save hundreds of dollars. Another thing you can do is find out if the Christian cruise you are going on has any special deals going on. If not, they probably have a payment plan to make your life easier. Instead of dropping $1000 today for a cruise next summer, you may just need to make monthly payments of $100 or less. You can also try to book cruises during the less busy months, as companies often lower prices during the year’s slower periods. These are just a few basic ideas that could save you a lot of money.
Don’t Forget About Additional Costs
Any time we’re discussing the cost of a Christian cruise, we want to remind potential guests to budget for any additional costs which may pop up along the way. You’ll quickly learn about port fees, gratuities, taxes and more on our first ocean trip. Unless you live in a port city, you’ll also want to set aside money for a comfortable journey to the ship and back. If you’re going for a budget-friendly cruise experience, you may want to spend a little extra at the hotel before or after the trip. Massages, fancy rooms, and other comforts can be much less expensive on the mainland compared to what you’ll find on the ship.
We hope this gives you a better understanding of what costs you can anticipate on Christian cruises. For most journeys, prices for a cabin will start around $650. Be sure to find out how a business lists the price of a room as some listings will be calculated per person while others will simply be for the room itself. Also, look at each cabin style available to find what’s best for you. A Christian cruise may have well over a dozen cabin choices for tourists, so don’t just settle on the first one with an agreeable price. At the end of the day, we hope you are satisfied with whatever vacation you plan.
At Premier Cruises, we want to offer families and people of all ages the best vacation experience possible. Our Caribbean cruises and Holy Land tours are a wonderful opportunity for faith communities, parents, churches, single adults, and anyone else who loves to explore. Find out how you can join us for an extraordinary journey by clicking on the link below.