California Coastal Cruise (Apr. 2015)

This page details information about the cruise we took on Princess Cruise Line (PCL) from 04/04/15 to 04/11/15 for 7 days out of the seaport in Los Angeles (San Pedro), CA.

We opted for a balcony stateroom and purchased the cruise during a double discount period; we received a discounted price from PCL during the last 30 days before the sail date, plus a loyalty program discount since we are both PCL Captain's Circle Gold members. We were lucky to get this cruise for $1,401.80 total cost for two adults (including cruise, port charges, and govt. taxes); gratuities is extra. PCL currently automatically charges $11.50 per person per day for gratuities which is used as the salaries for the foreigners that work on the cruise lines; however, you can have the gratuities lowered or raised to any amount that you tell them to charge on your credit card. [Note: The reason that cruise lines visit at least one foreign port (non-United States) on every cruise is so they do not have to hire US Citizens as required by US laws, and thus they use gratuities as many of their entire salaries. This would be totally illegal to do to US Citizens, thus the cruise lines are technically, skirting around the laws of our land. Therefore, do not feel pressured to pay any particular amount on gratuities, but rather pay what you want or can afford to pay since the cruise lines are the ones that refuse to pay legal, minimum wage salaries to a majority of their employees.] The balcony room includes a $25.00 onboard spending room credit. Since I am retired military, I get additional free onboard spending money through the Military Benefit Program in the following amounts anytime I cruise with Princess Cruise Line: Cruise length of 14 days or longer - $250.00; Cruise length of 7 to 13 days - $100.00; and Cruise length of 6 days or less - $50.00. Therefore, on this cruise we will get a total of $125.00 free onboard spending money. The advertised price for this cabin in the PCL brochure was $2,359.00 per person (not including any of the add on charges). During the last month or so you can often get a cruise at 70 to 85% off of the brochure rate. So it can pay off in big ways if you can hang on for the huge sales that occur during the last month or weeks before a particular sail date.

We opted to park our RV in a secure storage lot at March Air Reserve Base next to Moreno Valley, CA which cost us $35.00 for the entire month; therefore, we used the base RV storage during both our 7 day cruise and a 10 day timeshare stay in Oceanside, CA. We simply drove our SUV to the port parking lot in Los Angeles (San Pedro), CA which ended up costing $16 per day which came to $112.00.

Our retirement goal is to take one or two cruises per year. Anytime we are near a cruise port, we plan on trying to capture some last minute deals. We love cruising and try to go as often as possible when traveling near a cruise port, we have time to do so, and some deep discounted cruises are available. Cruises we have been on in the past (before taking this cruise) include Alaska, Hawaii, Bahamas, Eastern Caribbean, Southern Caribbean, Western Caribbean, and twice to the Mexican Riviera. We are more than happy to go to the same cruise areas numerous times. We feel that cruising, especially at a discount, is one of the best bangs for the buck since cruises include your room, meals, entertainment, and most soft drinks. The only thing not included in a regular cruise package is alcohol, soda, day tours, and specialty restaurants. If you have never been on a cruise, you absolutely need to go on one. As full-time RVers, cruising makes for a great vacation destination that you really should take advantage of. You should be able to acquire most cruises at a discount price of $40 to $100 per person per day; port charges, taxes, and gratuities will always be extra so have some fun finding the best cruise deals you can.