I recently returned from a 7-night Mediterranean cruise aboard Royal Caribbean‘s Oasis of the Seas, and I’d like to share a detailed breakdown of how much we spent on the entire vacation. I’ve noticed that not many people provide this kind of transparency, but I believe it’s important. The price you initially pay to book a cruise often doesn’t include hidden charges or the additional expenses you might incur during the trip.
If you like this sort of thing, make sure to check out my other post A Full Breakdown: My Thrilling 9-Night Greek Isles Cruise Experience.
Booking the Oasis of the Seas Cruise
We booked our cruise through iglucruise.com and it was the first time we had booked with them – we actually didn’t have any involvement with a single agent as it was all just an online booking. Usually, we’d book direct with the cruise line, but this time Iglu was largely cheaper than anyone else on the market.
For two people staying in an Inside stateroom onboard Oasis of the Seas in September 2024, we paid £442.24 per person / £884.48 total. This included all taxes and port fees. Bargain. The price on Royal Caribbean’s website was close to the £1,000 mark.
The cruise was a round trip from Barcelona calling at Palma de Mallorca, La Spezia, Civitavecchia, and Naples. The trip also included two days at sea, one after Palma de Mallorca, and another before we disembarked.
Total Cruise Price: £884.48
Flights, Luggage, Transfers
Our booking with Iglu was “cruise only,” meaning we had to arrange our own flights and transfers to the port. We reached out to Iglu to see if they could handle the arrangements, but they don’t offer that service. However, this wasn’t a problem since there are plenty of flights from Edinburgh or Glasgow to Barcelona.
We booked our flights directly with Ryanair and included one 20kg checked bag and one 10kg cabin bag. On our previous Norwegian Viva cruise, we packed way too much, so this time we aimed to pack lighter. In hindsight, we could have packed even lighter, as we didn’t wear half the clothes we brought.
Our flights were:
13 September | Edinburgh 16:30 – Barcelona 20:15
22 September | Barcelona 19:20 – Edinburgh 21:15
Additionally, I’ve also included fast-track through airport security, our transportation from our home in Edinburgh to Edinburgh airport, Barcelona airport to the apartment, the apartment to Barcelona cruise port, Barcelona cruise port to Barcelona airport, and Edinburgh airport to our home. This was all mostly taxis and Ubers, minus our trip to Edinburgh airport as that was an express bus!
Total flights, luggage & transfers pricing: £643.96
2 Nights Stay in Barcelona
Since our cruise was departing from Barcelona on a Sunday, we decided to fly out after work on Friday to enjoy a weekend in the city. We scoured Booking.com for hotel deals, but wow—prices were steep, ranging from £200 to £300 per night. That would have been almost as much as the cruise itself… no thanks!
Instead, we opted for an apartment through MisterB&B, which was much more affordable. The apartment was small, reasonably clean, and just a stone’s throw from the beach—perfectly fine for a two-night stay. However, while in Barcelona, we learned about the political issues surrounding subletting apartments in the city. In hindsight, we probably would have chosen a hostel or a budget hotel instead.
We paid a total of £188 for the private apartment.
Pre-Paid Gratuities
We decided to prepay our gratuities before sailing to get a clearer idea of how much our overall cruise package would cost. Royal Caribbean also mentioned it would include some savings—though we’re not entirely sure how accurate that was!
Prepaying the gratuities cost us £95.76 per person, totalling £191.52.
It’s important to note that this doesn’t cover onboard service charges, such as gratuities for drinks, spa services, and specialty dining. Those are calculated separately and will be included in the Onboard Charges section.
Royal Caribbean’s Refreshment Beverage Package
If you’re an avid Royal Caribbean cruiser, you’ll know that their Deluxe Drinks Package (essentially unlimited alcoholic drinks) comes with a hefty price tag. It can range from £79 to over £100 per person, per day. We knew right away that we weren’t paying that!
We considered the idea of just going with a pay-as-you-go option for soft drinks, but ultimately, the Refreshment Package seemed like the best value for us.
Royal Caribbean’s Refreshment Package includes:
- Fountain soda and refills at any venue
- Coca-Cola® Freestyle beverages*
- Coca-Cola® souvenir cup
- Non-alcoholic cocktails (mocktails)
- Johnny Rockets milkshakes
- Bottled still and sparkling water
- Premium coffees and teas
- Fresh-squeezed juices
This cost us £27.64 per person, per day totalling of £386.96. For us, this was well worth it as it meant we would have the freedom to drink pretty much anything we wanted (other than alcoholic drinks).
You’re actually allowed to bring on 1 bottle of wine per person, which we did! This helped us from spending more money than needed.
Royal Up Program
Although we booked with an Inside cabin, we enrolled in the Royal Up program, which allows guests to bid for a stateroom upgrade, and if your bid is successful, then you get upgraded!
We bid £200 per person for a Broadwalk balcony, and we won! So that’s additional £400 we paid on top of our standard, inside stateroom price.
Was it worth it? Hmmm, no. But more on that in another post.
Note to self: When you’ve wrote that blog, add it in here!
Oasis of the Seas Onboard Charges
Now, this is where the pricing gets a bit murky. Technically, you could go on a cruise without spending a penny onboard—if you avoid alcoholic drinks, skip the casino, and resist the temptation of the onboard shops.
We’re aspiring to become those people, but for now… here’s exactly what we spent and where:
- Laundry: £13.12
- Alcoholic Drinks + Associated Gratuity: £103.13
- Casino Royale: £262.58
- Onboard Shops: £30.01
- Onboard Starbucks: £18.99
- Cash Tips: £30.00
This might seem like a lot, but let me clarify a few things:
- Laundry: There was a laundry special for 10 items to be ironed and pressed, and after squeezing everything into a 23kg suitcase, it was much needed!
- Alcoholic Drinks: I plan to question Royal Caribbean about this. As Gold members of the Crown and Anchor Society, we were eligible for two 50% discounts on glasses of wine. But the discount isn’t automatically applied—you have to ask the waiter! So, we ended up paying full price twice without realizing it.
- Casino: We spent quite a bit of time in the non-smoking casino since it was one of the quietest spots on the ship.
- Onboard Shops: I bought a t-shirt and a magnet. I regretted not getting one on Independence of the Seas, so I made sure to bite the bullet this time!
- Starbucks: The Starbucks purchase was for the official Oasis of the Seas mug! We bought one on the Norwegian Viva, so we felt compelled to get one here as well.
So, it doesn’t seem too bad, right? All in all, our onboard charges came to £457.83 (okay, maybe a little bad!).
Stay Awhile upgrade for Oasis of the Seas
We chose to purchase Royal Caribbean’s Stay Awhile upgrade, which meant on disembarkation day (day 8) we were able to stay onboard until 4pm. This cost us £37.24 per person, totalling £74.48.
In my opinion, it was 100% worth it.
How Much Did We Pay for a 7 Night Med Cruise onboard Oasis of the Seas?
So, with everything tallied up—from the initial booking to the Uber ride home… drum roll, please—we spent a total of £3,039.23. That’s £1,519.615 per person. Do you think it was worth it?
I have a few thoughts I want to share, but I’ll save those for a separate blog post. I think it could be interesting to compare my experience on Oasis of the Seas with my cruise on Norwegian Viva—one being fully all-inclusive, and the other more of a pay-as-you-go style cruise.
Overall, I do feel the price was worth the experience. That said, we could have saved a good chunk of money by cutting back on our casino spending and maybe skipping the two-night stay in Barcelona.
One thing I’d like to mention is that when we initially booked this holiday, it was supposed to be a quick, cheeky getaway to use up some annual leave—not a splurge holiday. However, the difference between the advertised price and the total cost we ended up paying was significant. This was a big lesson for us, and something to be mindful of for the future.
I hope this post gives you some clarity on how much a cruise can actually cost. While the advertised lead-in price may look tempting, it’s essential to consider what’s included and what extra costs you’ll need to cover.
