25 NEW Money Saving Cruise Hacks Cruise Lines Don't Want You to Know (2026)
Key Moments
Editorial Summary
The creator provides a comprehensive guide to various money-saving strategies for cruise passengers, ranging from booking techniques to onboard spending habits. She suggests signing up for cruise line emails to secure coupon codes and highlights opportunities for free or discounted beverages through daily planners, special events, and past passenger parties. The video details specific discount programs for military personnel, teachers, healthcare workers, and first responders. For shore excursions, the creator recommends booking independently through Shore Excursions Group to save money and enjoy smaller group sizes. Additional advice includes managing internet costs through shared packages or EIDs, utilizing loyalty benefits and status matching, and bringing essential items like toiletries, snacks, and medications from home to avoid high onboard prices. The creator also discusses timing for bookings, suggesting travelers watch for price drops, book during final payment windows, or consider repositioning cruises. Finally, she mentions advanced tactics such as purchasing cruise line stock to receive shareholder benefits and utilizing specific certificates offered by certain lines.
Written by TripBacon from this video's transcript.
How This Review Compares
This review is more positive than the all-time creator consensus.
Source: Our analysis of the creator's lived experience, based on what they said in this video.
Creator's Key Takeaways
Cruise lines are not going to advertise these tips. And honestly, some of them, they don't even want you to know because the more you know, the less you overspend.
I discovered Shore Excursions Group a couple of years ago, and since that time, my family and I have done excursions with them in the Caribbean, in Canada, New England, in Europe, and the Mediterranean, and most recently on our Mexican Riviera cruise.
Now, new this year, be sure that you get recognition for loyalty by a sister cruise line.
Take a repositioning cruise. There typically is no lower price cruise per day than a cruise that starts in one destination and ends in the other.
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Port Highlights
Scale: 0–5 strips in half-step increments. 0 = “meh”, 5 = “bacon bliss”. Aggregated from creator-review sentiment, weighted by channel expertise.
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