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Cruise America Review: What We Really Think

Cruise America, as a corporate rental company, strongly contrasts with popular peer-to-peer rental service providers like RVshare and Outdoorsy. And looking for the best RV rental service, you are likely wondering whether Cruise America is a good place to rent an RV from.

To figure out whether renting an RV from this company is worth it, we need to cover a lot of details, including rental options, fees, penalties, insurance, and whatnot. They are important for our points that we will present to you in the end, as well as for your understanding of what Cruise America is.

Let’s begin with the rental options offered by Cruise America.

Cruise America Review

The primary rental options offered by Cruise America is the traditional round-trip rental where you rent an RV, drive it to your destination, spend your vacation, drive back, and pay the fees. This rental has a minimum duration of 7 days.

Aside from this, however, Cruise America also offers one-way and long-term rentals. Let’s overview them a little more in-depth.

The other big player in the RV peer to peer rental space is RVShare and Outdoorsy you might want to check out our in-depth review of them here and here .

One-way rental

With one-way rental, you can pick up an RV at one Cruise America location and drop it off at another, without having to drive the RV back to the location where you took it from.

One-way rentals can be cheaper than round-trip rentals, with the rates sometimes being as low as $1/night. However, there is a drop fee associated with one-way rental – usually between $250-650 – as well as some other fees that we are going to talk about a bit later.

With peer-to-peer RV rental, people very rarely rent-out their RV for one-way trips. The vast majority of the rental offers are round-trip. Thus, the one-way rental option certainly is a plus for Cruise America.

On the other hand, Cruise has “more than 120 rental locations” in the United States and Canada, which is very little given that they are servicing almost the entire North America. So even though one-way rental has some nice benefits, you will be rather limited with drop-off locations.

It should be also kept in mind that Cruise America won’t always able to provide RVs for one-way rental due to certain RV number requirements at each location.

Long-term rental

Cruise America also offers long-term RV rental. In fact, they offer this type of rental for both temporary housing needs for individuals and for business uses. The pricing for these rental options is set on a case-by-case basis, so you’d need to contact Cruise America and provide them with all the details of your trip so that they could set a fee.

As a corporate rental company, Cruise America has its own RV fleet.

One very common complaint with Cruise America is their poor selection of RVs. And indeed, even though they do offer RVs of different sizes for rental, they only have a couple of Thor Majestic class C motorhomes, which are basically reinforced variants of Thor Four Winds RVs.

Cruise America has 4 RV rental options to offer – Large, Standard, Compact, and Truck Camper. These options differ by their amenities and comfort, and we think we should briefly overview them so that you know what you are dealing with.

Cruise America seeks to always maintain their RVs in good condition for rental, so you could be sure that you are getting a problem-free RV from them. Even if mechanical breakdowns do occur while on the road, Cruise America has an assistance and reimbursement program, which we will cover a bit later.

Before moving on to overviewing the RV offers, we’d like to note that Cruise America provides quite a lot of information on their RVs. Compared to offers available on peer-to-peer rental websites, it may be much easier to make an informed decision with Cruise America.

Cruise America doesn’t dive too deep into the specs of their RVs – which they maybe should – but they do provide you with some crucial information in regard to floorplans and key amenities.

Large RV Rental

The RV in this offer is a 30 feet class C motorhome, the Thor Majestic 28A. This motorhome offers up to 7 sleeping spots. Among the amenities provided with this RV are:

• Air conditioning.
• Shower & freshwater toilet.
• Gas cooktop.
• 4KW generator.

A thing that Cruise America also lists among the comfort features of this plan is pet friendliness. This actually is a feature of all the rental plans, and it is among the things that we like about Cruise America. With peer-to-peer rental, not everyone is going to allow you to bring along pets.

Cruise America also allows towing with their 30 feet class C motorhomes. However, there are certain limits to towing:

• Cruise America doesn’t provide hook-up services or towing equipment.
• The towing weight needs to be within 2,500 pounds of tow weight restrictions.
• A daily towing charge is imposed if you tow a vehicle to Cruise America’s RVs.

Keep in mind that before rental, Cruise America requires that you declare the intention to tow prior to departure from a rental center.

Cruise America also allows customers to attach a bike rack to the receiver hitch free of charge. The customer needs to again let the rental center know about the intention of mounting a bike rack so that the RV’s locking pin can be removed.

Standard RV rental

With Standard RV rental, you get a 25 feet Thor Majestic 23A class C motorhome.

The amenities are very similar between the Standard and Large RV rentals. One difference should be noted though – at the moment of the review’s writing, Cruise America provided customers with generators only in the US, so do keep that in mind if you want to rent an RV from them in Canada.

Aside from that, 25 feet RVs sleep up to 5 people.

Compact RV rental

With the Compact RV rental option, you are getting a 20 feet Thor Majestic 19G motorhome. The RVs in this plan offer up to 3 sleeping spots.

Like it was with the Standard RV rental plan, Cruise America only provides US customers with RV generators. And aside from some differences linked to the smaller size – like smaller water or fuel tank sizes – the Compact RV rental doesn’t differ from the previous two options.

Truck Camper RV rental

With the Truck Camper rental, Cruise America basically provides you with a Ford F-150 truck with a truck camper mounted on top. Aside from the much smaller size, one crucial difference in this option is that the RVs don’t include a generator, as well as can’t be used for towing.

On the other hand, the interior amenities in the Truck Campers are very nice, essentially corresponding to those of the previous rental options. And like the Standard and Compact RV rental options, you are getting 3 sleeping spots out of this thing.

RV rental rates

Compared to peer-to-peer renting, Cruise America certainly offers a couple of good things for the money. However, there are also some downsides that you should know about. Cruise America’s payment system is a bit convoluted compared to peer-to-peer renting, and there’s a lot to know about.

One thing that we and many other people dislike about Cruise America is the variety of fees they impose, as well as the variety of upsells they offer.

Aside from that, what we personally don’t like is that Cruise America has all the fee info scattered throughout their website instead of having it easily accessible in one place. Not only that, but we actually had to go to third-party websites to get some of the fee information.

Overall, here’s what you will have to pay for when renting from Cruise America:

• Reservation deposit.
• Nightly fee.
• Mileage fee.
• Environmental fee.

In addition, there are some charges that you may or may not need to pay:

• Generator fee if you use the RV generator.
• Early Bird Departure Special fee.
• Optional kit fees.
• De-winterization fee.
• Towing fees if you use the RV for towing.
• Certain penalties for failing to comply with the rental conditions.

As you can see, Cruise America has many service fees, and this is a big reason why people prefer to opt for peer-to-peer rental services. If you will indeed be renting an RV from Cruise America, we’d advise you to find out about all the possible fees directly from them since we may have missed something, and things may change over time.

Cruise America requires that all the payments be made with Visa, MasterCard, and American Express credit cards. In the US, they also accept Discover Cards. The credit card needs to bear an imprint of your name that matches the driver’s license. The cardholder is required to be listed on the contract as the primary renter or an additional authorized driver.

Upon the return of the vehicle, Cruise America accepts stored value/prepaid/gift cards.

Now, let’s overview all the aforementioned charges one by one.

Mandatory fees

The very first thing you are going to pay for with Cruise America is deposits. Cruise America requires you to make two kinds of deposits – a $300 reservation down payment and a refundable $500 security deposit.

The reservation down payment will be applied toward the rental charges. As for the security deposit, it is used to cover any excess charges that occur during the trip. Upon return, extra charges are balanced against the security deposit.

If you didn’t use up the $500 security deposit, Cruise America will issue a credit to cover the refund. If you aren’t using a credit card, Cruise America will issue a check and send to your home address. Cruise America doesn’t do cash refunds.

Speaking of cash, the $500 security deposit needs to be paid with a credit card. If you are using any means other than a credit card, the security deposit charge will be $1,000. Keep this in mind in order to avoid quite expensive surprise costs.

A thing to note is that for certain rental applications like Bonnaroo or Burning Man, Cruise America may impose increased charges at their own discretion. In addition, they may require you to make a full prepayment in advance for rental events like auto race events, music festivals, or gatherings in remote areas.

Per-night fees

Cruise America imposes per-night fees which vary from season to season. On average, it seems that the nightly fee is around $90-100. It may be lower or higher depending on the season.

Given that Cruise America rents out RVs for at least 7 days, your fees per night will likely quite easily exceed the $300 down payment deposit.

Cruise America calls their daily rental rates Flex Rates since they vary over time, and sometimes quite significantly. If you book an RV early and there are plenty of them available, the daily rental rate will be lower for you.

If you need a change after booking and confirmation (aside from changing party size and adding pre-paid items), the rate will be recalculated using the most current Flex Rate. This Flex Rate will be compared to the Flex Rate that you’ve booked an RV with. The higher rate of the two will be selected as a new Flex Rate.

Mileage fees

Aside from a nightly fee, Cruise America applies estimated mileage charges to your rental in advance. Mileage charges are per night based on 100 miles for round-trip rentals and 250 miles for one-way rentals. In other words, you will be charged 100 miles per day with round-trip rental and 250 miles per day for one-way rental.

At the end of the rental, you will be refunded if you’ve driven fewer miles than you’ve paid for. Conversely, you will be charged $0.35 per mile if you have exceeded the estimated mileage.

Cruise America offers pre-paid mileage packs as well – the 100-Mile Package for $28, 500-Mile Package for $140, Unlimited Miles Package for $750, and Unlimited Miles Plus Package for $1000.

The Unlimited Miles Plus Package includes unlimited mileage, one personal kit for each passenger, one vehicle departure kit, and unlimited use of the RV generator for 21 days. Past 21 days, Cruise America will charge you with $29 per day. The same applies to the Unlimited Miles Package.

All the costs above are excluding taxes. Since these will likely depend on the area you will be renting the RV from, it is difficult to say how much tax you will have to pay.

Environmental fee

Cruise America imposes a $5 environmental fee per rental. As Cruise America writes, this fee’s purpose is to offset a “wide range of environmental expenses” associated with the proper disposal of shop waste, filters, tires, batteries, etc.

Optional fees

Generator fees.

Cruise America also imposes a generator fee of $3.50 per hour. This fee will be collected upon return based on the onboard running time meter. There is also an option of purchasing unlimited generator usage at an $8 daily rate.

Keep in mind that the generator is not required for normal RV operation, so you don’t have to operate it while traveling. A generator will be required only if you decide to run the RV electrical appliances while on the road. You can power all the appliances at campgrounds with electrical supply systems.

Early Bird Departure Special fee

Cruise America offers an optional Early Bird Departure Special for a $350 fee. The Early Bird Departure Special allows you to depart from a rental location as early as 9 AM instead of the regular 1 PM.

You will then need to return the vehicle at the specified date between 9 AM and 3 PM. Regular renters need to return the vehicle by 9 AM and in no case later than 11 AM.

The Early Bird Departure Special needs to be reserved at least 30 days in advance and prepaid. In addition, keep in mind that Sunday departures/returns aren’t allowed.

Optional kits

Cruise America also offers a couple of optional kits for borrowers. These kits are the Vehicle Provisioning Kit and the Personal Kit.

The Vehicle Provisioning Kit includes kitchen-related items like bows, forks, knives, plates, and many other things. The Personal Kit includes items like bath & dish towels, pillows with pillowcases, etc.

The Personal Kit costs $60 per person, while the Vehicle Provisioning Kit costs $110 per vehicle. All items must be returned clean to Cruise America.

De-winterization fee

In locations with colder winter weather, Cruise America winterizes their motorhomes from around mid-October to late March. When winterized, you cannot use the RV’s water and holding tanks. Due to this, if you chose to have the motorhome de-winterized, you will need to pay an up to $40 fee.

Towing charges

If you plan to tow a car or boat behind the motorhome, keep in mind that Cruise America imposes towing charges of $25 per night.

Aside from the charges we’ve described above, there are certain penalties that borrowers will need to pay should they fail to comply with the rental terms.

These penalties include, but aren’t limited to, the following:

• Housekeeping charges of up to $250 for returning an RV uncleaned.
• Reservation changes are charged at $50 per change from second and subsequent reservation changes. The first change is free of charge.
• Dump charges of up to $50 for not emptying the RV holding tank prior to returning the vehicle.
• The RV is overdue after 11 AM on the return date. If you fail to return the vehicle on time, you will be charged a fee of $25 per hour after 11 AM of the return date.
• You are responsible for any damage or equipment loss, except mechanical wear. The penalty for damage or equipment loss is limited to $1,500 per occurrence or incident.
• $200 – 46 days or more prior to departure.
• $600 – 16-45 days prior to departure.
• $850 – 8-15 days prior to departure.
• $1050 – 1-7 days prior to departure.
• Full rental charges – departure day and no-shows.

Cruise America rental deals

Cruise America from time to time offers rental deals and discounts. For example, for departures between September 4, 2019, and December 31, 2019, from any of Cruise America’s North American rental centers, a mileage rate reduction of 50% applies. Another deal is 300 free miles for departures by December 31, 2019, in the US.

Offers are typically not combinable with others, but they do offer some remarkable value. These were examples of deals available as of June 2019, but Cruise America will surely introduce others in the future as well.

How Cruise America handles RV maintenance & breakdowns

Overall, it seems that Cruise America keeps a good eye on their RVs. They appear to be quite strict when it comes to RV condition, so you could be sure that the RV you are renting from them is in a good state.

But for cases when the rented RV breaks down, Cruise America offers nice support to the clients.

Roadside assistance & repair reimbursement

In the event of mechanical breakdown on the road, Cruise America provides the around-the-clock Travelers Assistance Hotline. For authorized repairs, your expenses will be reimbursed by Cruise America. Alternatively, Cruise America may directly pay for the repairs.

According to the conditions of Cruise America, any vehicle service expense over $75 requires authorization from Travelers Assistance, where your problem will be documented in a customer service log.

For repairs costing under $75, you may have repairs done, but you will need to keep the receipt with you for reimbursement. Rental centers will reimburse receipts under $75 without a service log. If a repair service costing over $75 isn’t documented by Cruise America, you will not be provided with a reimbursement.

Aside from that, engine battery jump-starts require approval from Travelers Assistance, so keep that in mind.

Long service time reimbursements

If as a result of a breakdown the RV is in repair for 12 hours or less through no fault of yours, Cruise America may refund you a portion of the daily rental rate. If the repair requires more than 12 hours, certain living/transportation expenses may be reimbursed by Cruise America as well. However, you will need to immediately report the breakdown to Cruise America.

Cruise America provides up to $30 a day per party for transportation expenses and up to $30 a day per person for lodging. Total provisions are limited by Cruise America up to $3000 per tour. To receive reimbursement, you will need to provide all receipts for your expenses.

In certain cases, Cruise America does not reimburse for repairs, transportation, and lodging. Cruise America does not cover expenses associated with the breakdown of the RV generator, AC unit, refrigerator, microwave, appliances, and cruise control since these aren’t needed for the basic operation of the RV.

In addition, Cruise America doesn’t reimburse damage caused by collision or accident. Plus, failure to call Travelers Assistance immediately after a breakdown will make the reimbursement void.

There are certain travel restrictions as well. The areas that fall under Cruise America’s restrictions are:

• Death Valley and other desert areas.
• Alaska and Manhattan, New York City, in the US.
• Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Newfoundland in Canada.

If issues occur in specified areas, Cruise America coverages will not apply. In fact, you may be held responsible for all vehicle damages associated with driving the RV in the restricted areas.

Aside from that, Cruise America prohibits entry of their RVs to Mexico, so be mindful of that.

How Cruise America handles tolls and traffic violations

Cruise America also has specific procedures with regard to tolls and parking/traffic violations.

Cruise America has a policy for All-Electronic Tolling. If you didn’t know, with All-Electronic Tolling, the picture of a vehicle’s license plate is taken and then used to determine who will be billed.

In some cases, a process called reassignment is utilized by Cruise America. The company basically transfers your information to the relevant tolling authority. Then, you will have to handle the fees yourself.

For other cases, Cruise America will pay the tolling authority directly. However, Cruise America will impose a $10 administrative fee on you and charge the credit card you used for rental. The administrative fee is per rental.

For other tolling services like EZ Pass lanes or Fastrack, it will be your responsibility to use a corresponding transponder in order to avoid any fees or penalties.

Parking/traffic violations

Cruise America handles parking and traffic violations in a similar manner to tolling. However, in cases where they pay the fines for you, you will be charged a $35 administrative fee per rental.

At rental return, you will be responsible for reporting and paying for any parking or traffic violations. If you fail to report a parking/traffic violation at return, Cruise America will charge an administrative fee of up to $250.

Cruise America rental coverage

A very nice thing about Cruise America is that they offer coverage options for their customers in case of accidents or mechanical breakdown. We’ve overviewed mechanical breakdown coverage above, but there’s more to the coverage provided by Cruise America.

All in all, Cruise America offers:

• Up to $1 million Supplemental Liability Insurance (SLI) against claims made by third parties for property damage or bodily/injury caused by the operation of the RV. There are certain exclusions to the SLI, a part of which is contained in the rental contract.
• Expense reimbursement of up to $3,000 in case of long service times, which we overviewed earlier.
• Responsibility of up to $1,500 for vehicle damage or loss per occurrence. If you do not abide by the terms of the rental contract and fail to promptly report any incident, you will be fully responsible for the damage or loss of the RV.

RV departure & return at Cruise America

The RV departure time at Cruise America begins at 1 PM. For Early Birders, as we mentioned above, the departure starts at 9 AM and ends at 12 PM.

A common point of complaint among users of Cruise America services is that it can take several hours before you actually leave the rental center. Early Birders may be able to avoid waiting for hours, but they aren’t insured from it as well.

As for RV return, regular renters are required to return the vehicle by 9 AM and no later than 11 AM. As we mentioned above, Cruise America imposes a $25 fee for each hour past 11 AM. At the same time, no refunds will be made if you return the vehicle early or if you pick it up late.

For Early Birders, which we again mentioned earlier in the material, the return time is between 9 AM and 3 PM. Failure to return the vehicle in this time frame will incur an hourly $25 penalty.

Keep in mind that departure and return times on Saturday may vary because some Cruise America locations close earlier.

Customer interaction

Customer interaction is another area where Cruise America is notorious. If you look around for user reviews, you will find that quite a considerable number of people have complained about the customer support of Cruise America in various areas, starting from the quickness of service and ending with the inability of the company to resolve issues.

A testimony to this may be Cruise America’s frankly quite low BBB rating , which indicates how the company is expected to interact with customers. There have been so many complaints about Cruise America that BBB has even put alerts on the company profile page, indicating noticeable issues with customer service.

What we really think of Cruise America

With everything above in mind, we’d like to present to you the advantages and disadvantages of RV rental with Cruise America, as well as what we really think of Cruise America.

So, the advantages are:

• A good amount of information provided on the RVs.
• Well-maintained RVs.
• One-way and long-term rentals available.
• Pet-friendliness.
• Reimbursements for mechanical breakdowns and long maintenance.
• Quite advantageous deals.

What we didn’t like about Cruise America.

• The plentitude of fees makes rental quite pricey.
• Poor selection of RVs.
• The customer interaction isn’t always spot-on.
• Quite uneasy to find fee information.
• The minimum rental period is 7 days.

As a corporate RV rental company, Cruise America isn’t going to provide you with much flexibility. They have a mechanism that works and doesn’t really take into account your specific needs, unlike peer-to-peer rental platforms.  You have limited options when it comes to fees and RV selection. Their customer service also isn’t spot-on.

On the other hand, they do have some benefits like one-way rental, a comprehensive reimbursement policy, and occasional deals. So we can’t say that Cruise America is a bad place to rent an RV from.

In the end, we’d say that those who want to quickly rent an RV may want to go for Cruise America since it has an established policy that is designed to ensure hassle-free rentals. But if you want flexibility and don’t mind spending a lot of time finding the right RV, you’d want to go for a peer-to-peer platform.

If you’d like to see how Cruise America is rated against other RV rental companies you might want to check out our review of the best RV rental companies .

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Reviews 4.1.

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Disappointed 💯and…

The city for pick up had moved and apparently the 800 number is not updated. Wasn't terrible only 12 miles further yet accuracy is important. What really messed this whole rental was the fact that after a full detailed run through the next day we unfortunately had to find out the generator had no, ran out of oil, so must of been low. Because we are in eDC campground so they won't come in with roadside and we now do not have the comfort of camping in a. Functional RV, we have a hot box. With no power. Truly with the heat of Vegas is simply a waste of money to now be utterly disappointed. I specifically rented this as my daughters 21st birthday gift. Not cool.

Date of experience : May 10, 2024

Helpful representatives put us at ease

Cruise America representatives were all very helpful. As a novice camper we made several calls during the planning process and were always impressed with the service provided.

Was given a coupon by corporate and…

Was given a coupon by corporate and then told by location they don’t accept them. I called to figure this all out and it took over a week for them to fix in. Frustrating!

Date of experience : May 14, 2024

Brian was great

Brian was great, he was very patient and was able to answer all my questions

Customer Service

My contact was super. Very detailed and got exactly the camper we wanted. Very efficient.

Date of experience : May 19, 2024

Brian Chmielowski has been so helpful

Brian Chmielowski has been so helpful. I tried to rent an RV but the preferred location ran out of RV. Brian found one for me at a next closest location and got us a discount also. The whole process was so quick and simple. This is our first time renting with Cruise America. We'll sure to give Brian a call next time as well.

Date of experience : May 13, 2024

Reply from Cruise America

Hi, Thank you for your positive feedback and we are glad that Brian was able to find another RV near you. We hope to hear about your trip and many more with Brian. Thank you for choosing Cruise America.

The customer service was great

The customer service was great - very pleasant and good advice and all done very quickly and efficiently. Give the guy a pay rise!!

Date of experience : May 11, 2024

Hi Helen, We are glad you had great customer service with one of the Reservation agent. We hope to hear from you again!

Customer service excellence

Jalen was just so friendly and helpful on the phone with me. I wish everyone sounded like him over the phone! He made my day. Haven't experienced the RV yet, but I feel he deserves a shout-out

Date of experience : May 16, 2024

Hi Angela, Thank you for your positive feedback and for highlighting Jalen's excellent customer service. We hope you enjoy your first RV experience and look forward to serving you again in the future!

Jillian Brown was extremely helpful

Jillian Brown was extremely helpful, professional and friendly. She efficiently helped me and was very pleasant. Thank you Jillian!

Hi Jennifer, Thank you for your review and acknowledging Jillian as helpful, professionally and friendly. We are glad to hear a positive experience with our reservation department. We hope to hear from you again!

Reservation Specialist Brian Chmielowski shout-out!

We just wanted to drop a review and say that Cruise America is a great company, always flexible. But specifically, if you are lucky enough to have Brian Chmielowski as your reservation specialist, you are in for a treat. Brian worked with us to get us the best deal for our upcoming reservation which is a 2 week RV adventure across the USA. This is our third trip with Cruise America. Keep up the good work!

Date of experience : May 02, 2024

2 thumbs up for Derek

2 thumbs up for Derek! Super helpful. Looked at other RV rental companies, and this by far was the most value and the easiest to understand and book.

Hi Meredith, Thank you for your positive review and acknowledging Derek with his great customer service. We hope to hear from you again!

Two breakdowns in two days, one totally unsafe!

Two breakdowns in two days and the vehicle still had serious issues. The vehicle air conditioner stopped working on the way home from picking it up. The call center was difficult to deal with, after several hours of finding a shop and getting it repaired most of my first day was lost. Left the next morning, after getting on the interstate the vehicle handled terrible, a stop and check of front end showed inner part of front tires worn (cords showing), very dangerous. Spent 7 hours beside interstate getting tires. All of my second day was lost. Turned around and went home. I would never drive this on a long trip, I want to continue living, the front end needs work! I rarely complain about products or do reviews. I am hoping for a full refund. Most of the time I had it I was waiting on repairs, I don't think I should pay them rent to get their repairs done.

Date of experience : May 01, 2024

Traumatic experience with Cruise Canada

We had a horrible experience with Cruise Canada in the last few days. My family came from abroad to spend a week traveling with me and my wife across the Canadian Rockies. To start, we opted to get an RV from Cruise Canada because of the mileage allowance, which is based on miles on their website instead of KMs. To my surprise, after the entire checkout process, the confirmation email came with the same amount of distance allowance in KMs instead of MILES, which made a significant cost difference in my trip. Just because of that, I would opt to rent from CanaDream. However, that isn't the main reason for this bad review. Our RV was infested with mice. In the first 48 hours after the rental, we heard mouse noises during the night and we noticed some of the food we bought had mouse traces on it. After throwing part of our food away and buying some mouse traps, we caught five mice in the first 24 hours. The mice had access to the silverware drawers, which made it even more disgusting. After trying to call assistance and email customer relations, with little success, I spoke to the branch manager. He told us mice are quite common in RVs and insinuated that we got them from a campground. The thing is, we spent 6 nights in 5 different campgrounds and we caught most of the mice in the first two days. He offered me a 100 CAD compensation and waiving some of the small fees. However, as I was leaving the office, I spotted a mouse trap close to his desk – talk about irony.

Hi Frederico, We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience you experienced during your trip with the issue of mice. Your claim has been received by our Customer Relations team and is now being handled by one of our agents. We understand the importance of a timely response and are working diligently to address your concerns. Please expect a response from our Customer Relations agent no later than this Friday. Thank you for bringing this to our attention, and we appreciate your patience as we work towards resolving this matter. Thank you for choosing Cruise America.

The reservation process was easy and…

The reservation process was easy and staff were very professional. First we reserved a one way trip from Denver to Las Vegas. Then we needed to change our reservation to two way trip in Colorado. Then we had to cancel our reservation. Each step was handled well.

Date of experience : April 19, 2024

DO NOT RENT RV's FROM Cruise America!

DO NOT RENT RV's FROM Cruise America! We ended up loosing around 8.000$ on absolutely nothing. Their customer support sucks and they are NO help at all. Had the worst start on a 3 week trip to US. No one takes responsibility for anything. We ended up spending hours and hours calling them with no useful results. Do yourself a favor and find another place to rent an RV from. We ended up finding another company which was way more proffesionel, even though we ended up loosing and spending more money. But the RV simply wasn't safe to drive in, and the people from Cruise America surely didn't want to take responsibility for any of it. They probably end up answering this review, and point out how sorry they are for their low quality of service, the fact is just that we as customers can't use their sorries for anything. We really hope that this review will help others to not waste their money on Cruise America.

Date of experience : April 15, 2024

Great Customer Service from Heath

I called CruiseAmerica to get some information about a tentative trip for this Fall 2024. I was fortunate to speak with Heath Lowrey who gave me all the information I needed plus giving me suggestions so I was able to make our reservation. Health was knowledgeable, helpful, and friendly. His fabulous customer service was greatly appreciated. His is a wonderful asset for CruiseAmerica. Thank you, Health

Can always rely on their professionalism.

Very easy to make reservation. Fourth time using Cruise America. Mostly in California.

Date of experience : May 03, 2024

Great Service at Cruise America Mesa, Arizona

Cruise America Mesa, Arizona, is a delight to visit because of David S. in reservations and Karin R. at the rental desk. I can't say enough about these two people. I've rented from C.A. probably three dozen times now, and they are so friendly and go above and beyond every time. Karin makes sure everything is perfect with our RVs. She tries to accommodate every request and does so with genuine kindness. David is so prompt when returning calls, answers every question, and is so pleasant to talk with. Other employees are okay too, but not like David and Karin. I think those two really lead by example and lift the whole company up with their efforts.

Date of experience : April 11, 2024

Super easy to reserve

Date of experience : May 20, 2024

A C25 RV was an excellent choice for our USA roadtrip

We booked our RV through Camper Days in the UK  From first contacting them they were very helpful even when I had to change the pick up date. All the communications were very clear and making the payment via a bank transfer was straightforward. Cruise America contacted us prior to the pick up date with useful information and videos to watch. We arrived at the Los Angeles branch a hour early due to haviing to check out of our hotel, but the staff were very accomodating and we didn’t have to wait for long. The pick up process was very straightforward. We'd ordered the kitchen, bedding and towels packages there were some items missing but we were told to buy them and keep the receipts and we'd be refunded at the end of the trip. We had a couple of issues with the van, the glass in the passenger wing mirror was rattling and we didn't have the correct sewer fittings for the RV sites we were staying at. I contacted the assistance line and they said to buy what we needed and we would be refunded. The RV itself was clean and very comfortable for the two of us. Everything worked as expected and we made use of the generator, heating and air con. In total we travelled just over 1500 miles in it. The returns process was very straightforward I gave them a list of what we'd purchased along with the receipts and the total was added to our refund. We thoroughly enjoyed using the C25 RV for our USA roadtrip.

Date of experience : March 26, 2024

Cruise America is a Great Way to RV

Not everybody wants to be an avid RVer . While full-timers, weekend warriors and part-timers all have their place in the RV world, some folks just want to RV here and there. They may have an annual summer vacation or get the RVing bug once a twice a year and that’s about it. For these types of RVers purchasing a motorhome that could cost tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars just doesn’t make sense. You don’t have to buy an RV to get on the road, you can just rent !

The RV industry is loaded with rental joints across the country, but one of the most reliable ways to rent an RV is to use Cruise America. Let’s get to know Cruise America including what services they offer, where you can find a Cruise America location and some of the great tips and tricks they provide. You’ll be ready to rent or buy an RV from Cruise America in no time. 

What You Need to Know About Cruise America

Cruise America’s bread and butter are found in its RV rental services. Cruise America is not loaded down with rental options but for rookie RVers, this may work for their advantage. Trying to decide between a Class C, fifth wheel or diesel pusher may be a little over the head for those not too acquainted with RV types but Cruise America makes selection much easier. 

There are four rental options at Cruise America known as compact, standard, intermediate and large. The compact model is 19’ in length and can sleep three people, the standard model is 25’ and can sleep five people, the intermediate is 28’ and can sleep six while the large model can sleep seven and is 30’ in length. Despite the differences in sizes all models are Class C cover style motorhomes and are manufactured by Ford. Engines range from V8 to V10. 

With this simple selection process, you can determine what type of RV you need to rent by looking at size and amount of people you need to sleep. You can find further details about the RVs on CruiseAmerica.com 

Renting an RV from Cruise America 

The easiest way to rent from Cruise America is to visit one of their 116 locations found across the United States and Canada. You can also visit CruiseAmerica.com to get started on the rental process. Use the box found at the upper left of Cruise America’s Homepage. Enter in the city and state where you would like to pick up your RV as well as start and end dates to get a price estimate for your rental. Prices for rentals can fluctuate depending on where you’re renting, what time of the year you’re renting and how fast you need the RV. The earlier you book your rental the cheaper it will be according to the website. 

Buying an RV from Cruise America 

While rentals may be the largest part of Cruise America’s business they do purchases as well. Heck, you could rent an RV, fall in love with it and decide that same model. Click the BUY button found at the top part of CruiseAmerica.com to see what type of inventory they have in stock and get an idea of what type of prices you’re looking at. In some cases, you can buy the exact RV you’ve rented from Cruise America on a trip if you fall in love with it. What other rental company out there let consumers do that?

Other Services by Cruise America 

Cruise America is a great way to get a great rental but their website also provides other resources for RVers such as a Vacation Ideas page that includes travel planning, unique RV uses, destinations, outdoor activity guide and event planning. Try these tips and ideas even if you aren’t renting from Cruise America. Renting an RV is the start of an adventure that could turn into a lifetime of exploring the great outdoors with family and friends. Services like Cruise America make it easy to find out if you love RVing and take advantage before you invest in your own rig.

Cruise America provides a simple, no-frills rental service that is easy to for rookie RVers to get accustomed to. Try out Cruise America if you’re looking to rent an RV from a reputable, trustworthy and easy-going business.

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Set sail on a cruise with Holland America Line or Princess Cruises!

Cruise Certificate

How will I receive my Cruise Certificate?

Participants will be sent their certificate including any upgrades via e-mail within 10-14 days of hotel check-out. The certificate will be e-mailed to the e-mail address on file. It is the sole responsibility of the participant to ensure their contact information (address, phone number, email) on their Grazie Rewards membership account is up-to-date and correct. Failure to update contact information on membership account may result in not receiving or being notified of cruise certificate.

What if I do not have an e-mail address on file?

Participants will be contacted via phone by their host or a Venetian representative with their certificate number.

What if I do not receive an e-mail or am not contacted via phone with a certificate number within 14 days of hotel check-out?

Participants may contact Princess directly at 1-844-249-9590 Mon-Sat, 8:00am to 5:15pm PST after 14 days of hotel check-out and provide Name and Grazie Rewards number for assistance. 

Booking Information

How do I book my complimentary cruise?  Please call 1-800-548-9099 to select which brand you wish to book on. Please have your cruise certificate number ready when you call (it is located on the front of your certificate). 

When can I sail? Valid sailing dates are noted on the front of your cruise certificate.

Do I need a passport to travel?  Passports are required to travel internationally and on specific voyages. For additional details on required travel documents, please visit https://www.hollandamerica.com/en_US/faq/know-before-you-go.html   for Holland America Line FAQ's or  https://www.princess.com/learn/faq/pre-cruise/prepare-for-your-cruise/  for Princess Cruise FAQ's. 

Can I purchase a stateroom upgrade?  Yes, upgrades are based on availability and can be purchased at prevailing rates; based on availability

Can I bring additional guests? Yes, a third and fourth person can be added to your stateroom for an additional charge; based on availability.

What itineraries are offered with my cruise certificate offer?  Offered itineraries are noted on the front of your cruise certificate.  

Where can a list of voyage itineraries that meet the destinations listed on my cruise certificate?  For a full list of ships and available sail dates, visit www.hollandamerica.com or www.princess.com .

Does Princess offer beverage packages?  Yes, you can purchase drink packages for bottled water, soda, coffee, certain alcoholic beverages and all-inclusive packages. For more details and pricing please ask your booking agent when you call in to book.

Does Holland America Line or Princess offer transportation to and from the airport? Princess does provide airport-to-ship transfers which can be purchased when you make your cruise booking. From the airport, you’ll be transferred to your ship or hotel. Please note: if you haven’t purchased your air travel arrangements from Holland America Line or Princess Cruises, you must provide us with flight details prior to purchasing your transportation. 

Can I use my cruise card to get funds in the casino? Yes, there is no charge at the slot machines for using your cruise card to access funds. You can charge up to $3000 per day on your cruise card to play in the casino. For any transactions done at a table game, or at the cashier’s cage, there is a 3% service fee. Please see the casino staff onboard for further details.

Do you offer casino credit lines? If so, how can I establish one? To apply for a line of casino credit, we ask that you complete an application at least two weeks prior to your sail date, for a minimum credit line of $2,500. Please visit https://oceanplayersclub.com/contact/ to complete our application

What are the health and safety guidelines on Holland America Line or Princess ships? For up-to-date policies, please visit  https://www.hollandamerica.com/en_US/worry-free-promise/travel-well.html or  https://www.princess.com/plan/cruise-with-confidence/cruise-health/

What Costs Are My Responsibility?

• Taxes/Port expenses - As a general guideline: a 7-day cruise to the Caribbean or Mexico will cost approx. $150 per person.

• Booking Deposit - A $200 non-refundable per person deposit (applies to the first two guests only) is required at the time of booking. This amount will be converted to On Board Credit and will be visible on your cruise folio on the first night of your cruise. The On Board Credit can be used toward any on board purchases. Should you fail to embark on your booked cruise, the deposit will be forfeited.

• Gratuities – Range from $16.00 to $17.50 on Holland America Line or $16.00 to $18.00 on Princess per person, per day, depending on cabin type selected. Should guests opt not to prepay gratuities this will be automatically charged to your folio at voyage end. 

• Additional Costs – Should you book a shore excursion, choose an alternate specialty dining venue, purchase alcoholic beverages, etc., you would also incur additional costs

For any additional questions regarding your cruise certificate offer please contact 1-800-548-9099 to reach either Holland America Line or Princess.

We look forward to hosting you on Holland America Line or Princess.

Bon Voyage!

Princess Cruises Terms & Conditions

Princess Cruises: Cruise certificate is valid only for the invited player and a guest, and may not be sold or transferred to any other person. Cruise certificate is not valid for cash. Cruise is subject to availability and capacity controlled. Offer includes cruise fare only; taxes, fees and port expenses are the responsibility of the participant and companion. Guest is responsible for all travel expenses to and from embarkation and disembarkation ports, including all air and ground transportation, as well as the cost of all shore excursions, gratuities, fees, discretionary hotel and dining charges, meals in alternate dining venues, alcoholic beverages, boutique purchases and any other incidental costs or other expenses not specifically set forth herein. A non-refundable, non-commissionable deposit of $200 per guest is required at time of booking (applies to first two guests in stateroom only). Deposit will be returned to the guest as on board credit on folio. Certificate is void where prohibited or restricted by law. By redeeming this certificate, the recipient agrees to be bound by all such terms and conditions of the Princess Cruises Passage Contract Ticket. Eligibility for this offer and future offers is solely within Carnival Corporation’s discretion and factors such as casino play may impact the exercise of that discretion. Certain sailing restrictions may apply. Please see cruise certificate for additional terms and conditions. Princess Cruises reserves all rights and may change or cancel this offer at any time. Princess® and the Princess logos are trademarks of Princess Cruise Lines, Ltd. Ships of Bermudan and British registry. © 2023 Princess Cruises.

Holland America Line Terms & Conditions

Holland America Line: Cruise certificate is valid only for the invited player and a guest, and may not be sold or transferred to any other person. Cruise certificate is not valid for cash. Cruise is subject to availability and capacity controlled. Guests are responsible for taxes, fees & port expenses, all travel expenses to and from embark/debark ports, including all air and ground transportation, as well as the cost of all shore excursions, gratuities, discretionary hotel and dining charges, meals in alternate dining venues, alcoholic beverages, boutique purchases and any other incidental costs or other expenses not specifically set forth herein. Certificate is void where prohibited or restricted by law. By redeeming this certificate, the recipient agrees to be bound by all such terms and conditions of the Holland America Line Cruise Contract. Eligibility for this offer and future offers is solely within Carnival Corporation’s discretion and factors such as casino play may impact the exercise of that discretion. Certain sailing restrictions may apply. Please see cruise certificate for additional terms and conditions. Holland America Line reserves all rights and may change or cancel this offer at any time. Ship Registry:  The Netherlands. © 2023 Holland America Line.

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• Holland America Line

Contacting HAL in an Emergency

By Petronillus , February 11, 2019 in Holland America Line

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Petronillus

What number can we give our family to use for calling HAL in the event of an emergency, i.e., if they need to get word to us while we are on board and underway?

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Cruise Suzy

Here's what I copied from HAL and sent to family members

Connecting to a Holland America Line vessel at sea is simple by using Ship Dial Service. We recommend that you use this for the most critical emergencies only.  A credit card is required for all inbound phone calls to a ship. The rate is $US16.00 per minute and billing begins at the time specified. Please have the ship's name, your party's name and stateroom number before you call.

Instructions :

Dial 1 800 993 5483 (US). From outside the U.S. access 1 321 837 6106. Listen to the announcement. Listen to the menu and select the number that corresponds to the ship you are calling. If you receive a busy signal or message, please hang up quickly and try your call again.

See you onboard!

Gosh, Suzy! I should have known you'd be on top of it! Thanks. It's great to think we'll be out of the grip of an awful Chicago winter in a couple days' time.

Glad to be of help.

Today I throw my "stuff" into suitcases for tomorrow's rainy drive. Tues night is still 80% chance of rain in Ft. Lauderdale but Wed and Wed night have dropped to 40% and 30%. Hoping it goes down even more. 

Overhead Fred

I have always given these HAL emergency numbers to family when we cruise. No one has had to use them so far so I cannot tell you how effective they are. I assume they get you in contact with people at HAL that can then get word to your ship. Can anyone confirm this?

Holland America Emergency Phone Numbers:

5 am -7 pm M-F & 7 am - 3:30 pm Sat-Sun -

     1-800-426-0327

Other hours and holidays -

     1-888-361-8803

56 minutes ago, Overhead Fred said: I have always given these HAL emergency numbers to family when we cruise. No one has had to use them so far so I cannot tell you how effective they are. I assume they get you in contact with people at HAL that can then get word to your ship. Can anyone confirm this?   Holland America Emergency Phone Numbers:   5 am -7 pm M-F & 7 am - 3:30 pm Sat-Sun -      1-800-426-0327 Other hours and holidays -      1-888-361-8803

Just curious - why would you want to use an (untried) alternative when HAL has clearly set forth the procedure for contacting people on a HAL cruise?  See Post # 2 above.

Some folks may be on land portions so other options than calling a ship may be needed... since our land/cruise isn’t till August hadn’t investigated what to utilize

The easiest thing to do is to turn all data off on your phone and leave on only cellular so that the only thing that can come to your phone is voice. That doesn't normally run up large bills unless you get a lot of calls.

Alternatively get an Internet package, and check your e-mail every few hours. In an emergency it is not like you can do something quickly anyway.

1 hour ago, Overhead Fred said: I have always given these HAL emergency numbers to family when we cruise. No one has had to use them so far so I cannot tell you how effective they are. I assume they get you in contact with people at HAL that can then get word to your ship. Can anyone confirm this?   Holland America Emergency Phone Numbers:   5 am -7 pm M-F & 7 am - 3:30 pm Sat-Sun -      1-800-426-0327 Other hours and holidays -      1-888-361-8803

The above numbers are mainly for you (the passenger) to contact HAL. Here is what HAL has written:

At some point in your travels you may experience an emergency. With this in mind, the following emergency phone numbers are available for your use. Representatives are on hand to assist you in any way they can, including assistance with travel delays and contacting loved ones. During our regular business hours, please call: 800-426-0327.

Representatives are available from 5:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 7:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday (Pacific Time). Outside of these hours and during holidays, please call 888-361-8803, or 206-301-5293.*

*This number is for emergency use only; please do not call unless you are experiencing an emergency of a critical nature.

It then has what I posted earlier (bolding is mine):

Additionally, you can call the ship directly from the shore .  We recommend that you use this for the most critical emergencies only: Connecting to a Holland America Line vessel at sea is simple by using Ship Dial Service. ...

5 hours ago, PRPLE said: Some folks may be on land portions so other options than calling a ship may be needed... since our land/cruise isn’t till August hadn’t investigated what to utilize

I suggest you contact HAL Ship Services.

The OP's question was how could family get word to them in the case of an emergency. Calling the ship from shore as described in post 2 would work. It is also the most expensive option. 

If family or friends wanted to "get word to you" while you cruised and did not have any previous guidance, they would no doubt search the HAL website. The FAQ section has an entry for "what if there is an emergency" and the link takes you to the EMERGENCY Contact entry (caps are HAL's) with these phone numbers: 

Business Hours: 206-626-9000 After Hours & Holidays: 1-888-361-8803 or 206-301-5293

The numbers I listed in post #5 were obtained a few years ago by doing a similar search. They may no longer be current which is why I asked if anyone could confirm the information. The number to call the ship is buried on page 16 of the downloadable "know before you go" PDF. No one trying to reach you would find this number easily. 

There does not seem to be any clear guidance from HAL on the best way to get word to someone on one of their cruises. I suspect that, when faced with a panicked emergency situation, most people would call the first HAL number they could find and, hopefully, they would be directed to the correct contacts. 

I have heard numerous stories from fellow passengers about someone being asked to contact the front desk when some type of emergency information needs to be conveyed. I suspect, but I have been wrong before, that the information got to HAL by some means besides calling the recipients room phone from shore. 

1 hour ago, Overhead Fred said: There does not seem to be any clear guidance from HAL on the best way to get word to someone on one of their cruises. I suspect that, when faced with a panicked emergency situation, most people would call the first HAL number they could find and, hopefully, they would be directed to the correct contacts. 

When I called HAL for clarification of what I read, I was told that anyone who called the HAL Emergency Numbers you posted about contacting someone on a ship would be told to use the Ship Dial Service which I described in Post #2. That's when I was also told the HAL Emergency Numbers were intended for aiding passengers.

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Know Before You Go

Frequently Asked Questions

Need Help Planning Your Cruise Vacation?

General reservation assistance australia.

Ph: 1300-987-322, or visit www.hollandamerica.com.au.

Email: [email protected]

Making a Group Reservation

Guests who elect to create a Group directly through Holland America Line, Please contact us at:

1-800-355-3017 within North America

1-206-626-7350 outside North America

Email:  [email protected]

Office Hours: Monday through Friday 7am-5pm (PT)

Travel Advisors: Group space can be set up via Polar Online. Alternatively, please contact us by phone at:

1-888-425-9477 within North America

1-206-626-7020 outside North America

How do I contact Ship Services for gift orders & dining?

If you’d like to order a gift for a guest or ask questions about dining, you can call 1–800–541–1576 or email [email protected] and our Ship Services department can help.

What is the e-mail address for the Full-Ship Charters & Incentives groups?

If you have questions about full-ship charters or are interested in chartering a ship, send an email to our full-ship charters & incentives groups at: HAL_Charters_&[email protected] .

How do I contact the shore excursions department?

You can contact the shore excursions department at 1-888-425-9376 or 206-626-7320. They can answer your questions or help assist you in finding and purchasing shore excursions.

What are Holland America Line’s emergency contact numbers?

In case of emergency, you can contact Holland America during regular business hours at 206-626-9000. If it is after hours or a holiday, call  1-800-628-4771 or 1-206-286-3294.

How do I contact the Mariner Society for questions about my Mariner status?

Thank you for your loyalty as a Mariner Society member! Our Mariner Society is happy to answer your questions about your Mariner status at 1-800-547-9139.

How do I contact someone with questions about accessibility and accessible cruising?

Use the following numbers to contact Holland America Line with questions about accessibility and accessible cruising:

Phone: 800–547–8493 or 206–281–3535 (ext. 4514)  TTY: 800–254–8669

How do I contact someone in Media Relations with press inquiries?

Our Media Relations department is happy to answer questions and help with press inquiries. Please contact Media Relations by phone at 206–281–3535, toll free at 1–800–637–5029 or by fax at 206–262–5934.

Who should I contact with issues about a past cruise or a lost item?

If you have a concern or a question about a past cruise, our Guest Relations department can help. Contact Guest Relations by email at [email protected] . If you would like to report a missing item, please fill out the Lost and Found  form.

Who do I contact if I am interested in partnering with Holland America Line?

Our Partnerships department would be happy to answer any questions you have about our existing partnerships or partnering with us in the future. Please email [email protected] .

Here are the documents and costs to keep in mind when planning a cruise

As I made plans this summer to take a cruise, I worked my way through my pre-travel checklist. I booked my flights, researched ground transportation options and selected a hotel for the night before boarding.

But I had yet to tick one important box: renewing my expired passport .

I had not traveled internationally since the pandemic began and needed a deadline to motivate me, so shortly before my  sailing from the Netherlands to New York , I filled out the application, paid the fees, and did a quick photo shoot at my local Walgreens.

Passports are just one of the documents travelers may need when taking a cruise, which can add to the overall cost of a trip. Here's what travelers should have on hand and what costs they might encounter before and during their trip:

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What documents will travelers need to board a cruise?

The U.S. State Department recommends cruise passengers sailing from America have a passport.

U.S. citizens booked on closed-loop cruises – those that start and end at the same U.S. port – can enter the country with a government-issued photo ID and birth certificate instead, but the State Department encourages having a passport "in case of an emergency, such as an unexpected medical air evacuation or the ship docking at an alternate port," according to its website . Cruise lines may also require it.

Denise Jewell, owner of Opulence Travel Agency, also recommends having a passport, even on closed-loop cruises, in case you don't make it back to the ship in time during a stop.

"It'll be much easier to deal with the locals if you have a passport as opposed to a birth certificate," Jewell said.

If travelers need to apply for or renew a passport, "the sooner you get started the better," said Danny Genung, CEO of travel agency Harr Travel. He suggested beginning that process as soon as you book your trip, even if it's a year in advance.

"This is one of the big pain points and stress points of travel if you wait too long," Genung said.

Even travelers who have procrastinated, though, may not be out of luck. I mailed my passport renewal application on Sept. 7 and paid about $208 in fees overall, including expedited service. I received my new passport on Oct. 3, about two weeks before my trip.

What costs will travelers encounter while taking a cruise?

Many costs associated with a cruise are included in the fare travelers pay when they book. "I think one of the things I would point out is, spending money on a cruise ship is a choice," said Genung, noting that he has been on many cruises and spent nothing additional except on gratuities. However, with mainstream cruise lines, there are generally some key expenses to keep in mind (on luxury lines, many of these costs are likely to be included in the fare).

►  Taxes, fees and port expenses : In addition to the fare, travelers must pay taxes, fees and port expenses, said Brigitte Feinberg, a travel adviser and independent affiliate of Avenue Two Travel. Those can vary based on the specifics of your trip.

► Gratuities: On mainstream lines such as Royal Caribbean International, Feinberg said, gratuities are automatically added to travelers' bills on a per person, per day basis. 

Those prices can vary. Royal Caribbean  charges $16 per guest each day staying in non-suite staterooms, and $18.50 for those in suites, while Carnival Cruise Line applies a $14.50 daily charge per passenger for non-suite rooms, and $16.50 for guests in suites, according to their websites.

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Guests can prepay those gratuities, so they "don't have to worry about that bill at the end of the cruise," Feinberg said, or pay them as part of the final bill. Passengers can also adjust the gratuities up or down, though Feinberg does not recommend the latter.

She added that some guests also bring cash to tip crew members directly who "went above and beyond" during the trip.

► Some food and drinks:  While much of the food is included on mainstream lines, some restaurants and items may cost extra.

On my October Holland America Line cruise, I visited specialty restaurants with prices ranging from $19 to $49 per person, plus an 18% gratuity.

Lines such as Carnival and Norwegian Cruise Line also include basic drinks like iced tea and regular coffee while charging for others. Genung said, "in a lot of cases there's good value" in pre-purchasing specialty dining or beverage packages.

► Shore excursions:  On mainstream cruise lines, Feinberg said, excursions are not included either. "Yes, the room's only $300 for a week, but by the time you're all said and done you're going to be spending a lot more than that," she said.

She said excursions can run from $50 to hundreds of dollars per person.

Most cruise lines have promotional sales on excursions and other packages before the cruise, Genung said, which can offer "significant savings," particularly for families traveling together.

"I have two little kiddos myself, and it's a lot more expensive to travel than when it was just my wife and I," he said. "So, you know, when you multiply an unexpected cost times four, or five or six, it gets pretty exponential."

► Wi-Fi:  Many cruise lines charge extra for Wi-Fi, but the price may depend on your needs.

Norwegian Cruise Line, for instance, sells both basic and premium options for one, two, and four devices, starting at $25.50 per day if guests purchase online and about $30 per day if they purchase on board, according to its website . The line also sells a 250-minute option.

Genung noted that it is almost always cheaper to purchase the internet prior to boarding than it is after getting on the ship.

► Laundry:  Depending on the length of the sailing, travelers may run out of clean clothes as I did on my October transatlantic cruise.

Like many mainstream lines,Holland America offered laundry services with several options, to choose from. I picked the Laundry By the Bag package, which cost $30 for as many clothes as I could fit in a bag the line placed in my stateroom closet.

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There was also an Unlimited Pressing package for $75 and an Unlimited Laundry option for $135, including pressing, both for the duration of the sailing, according to an info sheet in my stateroom.

Feinberg noted that some cruise lines also have laundry rooms where guests can wash and dry their own clothes, such as Carnival, which charges $3.50 for each washer load, and $3.50 per dryer load, according to its website .