Are cruises really all-inclusive? Passengers sound the horn on lines that nickel-and-dime — and cheer the ones that don’t

NY Post ^ | 10/3/25 | Marissa Matozzo

[DallasBiff]

They’re sea-sick of it.

Frustrated cruise passengers are sounding the distress signal over a rising trend toward nickel-and-diming, as lines find new and creative ways to upsell their customers on everything from drinks to arcade games.

A queasy traveler started an interesting conversation on the subject online, recently about which lines fleece their guests and which actually deliver on the all-inclusive promise.

The high seas set-to kicked off over a woman detailing her poor experience on an MSC cruise, where she said she was upsold significantly on spa treatments. Her account, posted elsewhere on Reddit, inspired a slew of salty tales.

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TOPICS: Business/Economy; Chit/Chat; Travel
KEYWORDS: cruise; nickelanddime; ships; travel

[Irenic]

hear! hear!

[Angelino97]

Like the airlines, cruise ships keep trying to cram in ever more passengers. They've become hideous, humongous floating hotels.

[FreedomPoster]

Also, we did an Oceania cruise of Japan last April. We liked it very well, and Japan in general also. Both highly recommended.

We’ve done a Caribbean cruise exactly once, a family thing the in-laws wanted to do. Yeah, nope, never again. Not our thing.

[Irenic]

: )

[mfish13]

I wanted to watch something the week I was on an Alaskan cruise. You had to sign up for a week and no refunds. Of course, that channel was blocked. I got my emails and read FreeRepublic, but it was false advertising. I could have gotten my emails in the Alaskan ports.

[Cobra64]

MSC cruise? People who use acronyms piss me off more than charges for excursions.

[Cobra64]

What is an NCL? Are we supposed to be impressed?

[katana]

It would be helpful if someone developed a ratings system to rank which ones have become floating ferals filled Chuck E Cheese ghetto boats.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

“I got my emails and read FreeRepublic, but it was false advertising. I could have gotten my emails in the Alaskan ports.”

About the same with me. We got intermittent internet at 2am - 4 am, but we weren’t awake much at those hours.

[mewzilla]

Never go full Disney.

[woodbutcher1963]

Norwegian Cruise Line

as opposed to MCL
Mediterranean Cruise Line. An Italian cruise line that my son went on last August. Personally, I have no interest in any of them. Except, maybe a Viking river cruise on the Danube starting in Budapesh. There are some smaller cruise ships down in the Caribbean. Ships with only a very hundred passengers. Windstar is one of them. 28 years ago there was the Windjammer Cruise line that had five ships in the Caribbean. My wife and I went on the Flying Cloud. It had 75 passengers and about 20 crew. It was just over 200' long. It went in a loop around Tortola BVI. We went to a lot of the little islands that only yachts went to. Places where you had to drop anchor. No cruise ship dock.

[Magic Fingers]

“I went on a Princess Alaska cruise (Whittier to Vancouver) including bus up to and train back from Denali...outstanding in every way.”

My SIL works for Princess in sales/planning and says he has quite a few satisfied/repeat customers.

[libh8er]

“ What is an NCL? Are we supposed to be impressed?”

If you read the article you would know.

[Mermaid Girl]

I have a friend who INSISTS that I’m missing out. I have NEVER been on a cruise, nor have I ever had the interest. Recently, I’ve watched, in horror, at the myriad You Tube videos watching you know who’s doing all sorts of shenanigans on various cruiselines.

They just seem so basic, as the kids say these days. I’d rather travel on my own.

[Sequoyah101]

I have spend a total of about 5 years on ships. I don’t care to spend one day more and especially with a few thousand people I don’t know and probably don’t care to know.

[T. Rustin Noone]

I took a family vacation on NCL bound for Bermuda in 1995
...parents, husbands and wives, children. The works for 20
people.

The first sign of trouble was when Captain Odd Strom
(not kidding) decided to leave the safety of New York harbor
and venture out into the Atlantic. Unfortunately, Hurricane
Eduardo was racing up the East Coast at the same time. The
result was our sharing the same patch of ocean with a
hurricane about 200 miles east of Cape Cod.

We were at sea for 3 1/2 days in weather I wouldn’t wish on
my worst enemy. If we weren’t throwing up, we were clinging
to our spouses with prayers and tears as the contents of our
staterooms disintegrated around us.

Finally arriving in Hamilton, we got to spend 2 days of our
planned week in Bermuda on dry land before we had to reboard
for the return trip.

Shortly before arriving back in NYC, the cruise line rewarded
us with a $50 credit in the duty-free shop.

Never again.

PS- My father was thrown off his feet by a rogue wave that
struck the ship on the second day. He broke his neck in the
resulting fall and spent his 75th birthday in the ship’s
sick bay. His only experience with Bermuda was the ambulance
ride to the airport to take a life flight to Boston.

I repeat: Never Again!

[Rural_Michigan]

One cruise recently here, on Disney for a week. Extra charges included internet (which was very fast) and a few purchases at the ships store along with the mandatory gratuity. The gratuity was well earned as the staff was fantastic. No drink packages on Disney but nothing extra for sodas. They let you bring a 6 pack per head per port onboard so that was good enough for me. Food was outstanding as well as the entertainment. But as another poster here noted....they is just too many dang people on board these monsters. Next time will go on Disney’s smaller vessels.

(Wife is a huge Disney fanatic...I chose a cruise over DisneyWorld as at least I get some enjoyment out of it)

[CraigEsq]

Sorry that was your experience. I’ll take your next NYC -> Bermuda cruise then :) Planning that cruise for August. And ships have much better stabilizers now too.

[rxh4n1]

“If things go wrong, as they often do, the rights of the traveler are very limited.”

Back to the founding. Admiralty Court in Halifax...