How Does a Cruise Vacation Compare in Cost to Other Activity Based Vacations?

I have enjoyed a number of different sorts of vacations in my life. I love golf and enjoy going “up north” in the fall to play round after round with good friends in the beautiful setting of Northern Michigan. Ski trips to Salt Lake in the middle of many a snowy winter has also been great fun. It got me thinking about how my current love of all things cruising really compares in cost to those types of vacations? I’ve done some research and was a bit surprised myself at what I found!

The Parameters

For this comparison I calculated the costs of everything needed for a family of 4 for a 7 night trip including airfare and rental cars and food costs as well as costs specific to the nature of the trip. I checked for costs for all of these trips for dates in early February 2025. Different trips have different options, but I tried to keep all things relatively the same for this comparison.

Disney

I started with this one because I have several friends who absolutely love Disney World. My wife and I have each been there exactly once, so it’s not really a thing for us. Still, understanding it is a huge draw for many I thought it a good comparison point to include. The various options of a Disney vacation are clearly enormous – staying on property vs. off property, merchandise, character experiences, all of the parks or only a few, etc. My results were that for 7 nights on property with a few perks included you can expect to pay $6,500 to $15,500.

Ski

We learned to ski in college (I know, our parents were thrilled) and over the years I have enjoyed skiing both locally in Michigan as well as traveling to Salt Lake for the best skiing on earth. I have always owned my own equipment, but at times I have rented skis I wanted to try out. We have stayed in condos and cooked meals ourselves as well as dining out for the entirety of the trip. Given the variety of those options, the costs can be reduced by a lot if you wish. For my comparison I calculated the cost based on largely dining out and 5 days of skiing on a 7 night trip and it came out to $8,000 – $12,000.

Scuba

For a family of 4 in this activity the kids would have to be over the age of 15 in order to be certified open water divers. There are options for diving being certified through the resort as well as being certified as a junior open water diver as young as 10. For my comparison I calculated the costs based on the kids being over 15 and the whole family certified open water divers. I did not include the cost of the class to get certified which runs a little under $400 per person, nor the costs for scuba gear. I calculated this diving trip in Grand Cayman booking a condo so food costs could be reduced even further by skipping restaurants altogether. The diving costs were for 2 dives daily for 4 days using your own gear and the total came out to $11,000 – $15,000.

Golf

This one was a little tricky since, as I mentioned, I don’t usually plan a golf trip for a family with kids. Tee times and cart fees aren’t age based though, so I included the whole family in the golfing. This trip also included airfare as well as rental car costs to play golf for a week in Myrtle Beach, SC in early February. So, for 2 rounds a day for 4 days of golf it came out to $5,000 – $8,000.

Cruise

I was delighted to find that my favorite type of vacation came out the winner! I selected a family suite for this with the kids qualifying as the “Free” 3^rd and 4^th guests. I skipped the drink package since I didn’t included adult beverage costs in any of the other comparisons. I did allow for shore excursion costs and airfare. The total for a basic 7 night Caribbean cruise came out to $5,000.

Conclusion

I realize that some of these trip options might be highly desirable to some while others might feel they would never be interested in them. This is intended more as a straight cost comparison. So while some of the trips might be comparable in cost to a cruise, it would come at a cost itself. By scrimping and doing your own cooking and even skipping some things you might have wanted to do costs could be kept to a minimum. On a cruise you never have to cook or make your bed. With all of the different activities available you can do as much or as little as you like. It’s truly a total vacation for the whole family! – René

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