Cruise cost calculator: fare plus extras, with 9 lines' published charges

What to check in a cruise quote

Before comparing two cruises, check what each quote includes. Some charges are added after you book or once you are on board: daily gratuities, a service charge on drinks, internet, shore excursions, and the cost of getting to the port and parking there. Some fares and sales include one or more of these, so two quotes with similar fares can end up far apart.

Each line publishes its own rates, but they are spread across help pages, FAQs and booking terms, and they change. We collected the published US rates for 9 lines from their own pages and put them in one table, each linked to the page it came from. Use them as a starting point and replace any figure with the one in your own booking.

Gratuities: rates, categories and who pays

Standard-cabin gratuities range from $16 per guest with Disney Cruise Line to $22 with Virgin Voyages. Most lines publish a daily rate; MSC Cruises, Disney Cruise Line and Virgin Voyages publish theirs per night. Suites and some premium cabin types pay more, and the categories differ by line: for example, Norwegian's standard rate covers cabins up to Club Balcony Suites, and MSC's higher rate applies to its Yacht Club. Pick your category in the calculator, or type the rate from your booking.

The charge is per guest, so it grows with both the size of your party and the length of the trip. A family of 4 on a 7-night Royal Caribbean cruise at $18.50 a day would pay about $518 if all four are charged. Some lines do not charge young children: Carnival and MSC charge from age 2 and Norwegian from age 3. The calculator lets you set how many guests are charged separately from how many are in the cabin.

Rates can also depend on where and when you booked. MSC's published rates apply to Caribbean, Alaska and USA itineraries and are lower for bookings made before May 11, 2026. Norwegian adds Hawaii's 4.275% general excise tax to prepaid service charges on Hawaii sailings. Virgin Voyages charges $22 a night on board, or $20 if prepaid, for bookings made or changed from October 7, 2025. If your quote says gratuities are prepaid or included, tick the box so they are not counted twice. The calculator multiplies the rate by the number of nights; your booking summary shows the exact amount your line will charge.

Drinks packages and the service charge

Most of these lines add a service charge of 18% or 20% to drinks, but whether a package price already includes it varies. Carnival publishes its CHEERS! prices with the 20% included. Holland America's package FAQ says its 20% is included in the package purchase price. MSC says its packages include gratuities. Princess adds 20% to its published package prices, except on Australia itineraries, and Norwegian adds 20% to the open bar package bought on board. Disney's 18% applies to bar and beverage tabs. Virgin Voyages adds no extra charge to drinks once the daily gratuity is covered.

When you change the line in the calculator, the "already includes the service charge" box is set to match what that line publishes, but check your own package terms: promotional packages bought with a fare can work differently. Check your line's rules on who in the cabin has to buy a package before you budget for one.

Taxes, fees and port expenses

For 7 of the 9 lines, the pages we checked say the advertised US price includes taxes and fees; for MSC that wording is in its current offer terms. For Carnival and Disney Cruise Line, we could not establish it from the pages checked. A quote can list taxes on a separate line and still include them in the total, so enter taxes in the calculator only if they are not already in the fare amount you entered.

Wi-Fi, parking and getting to the ship

Internet prices are published in different ways: per device, per cabin, per day, or as a whole-cruise plan, and some lines include a basic plan in certain fares. The table shows each line's published example and its basis. Because they are not comparable, the calculator takes the Wi-Fi total from your own quote.

Port parking is easy to leave out. Port Canaveral charges $20 per calendar day plus tax for its own garages and lots, counting the day you arrive and the day you leave, so a seven-night cruise is eight days of parking. The calculator does not add the tax or road tolls, so allow for them. Our Port Canaveral planner covers the alternatives. If you fly in the day before, the hotel night belongs in the total too.

Comparing two quotes

Run each quote through the calculator with the same extras and look at the totals. If one includes gratuities, drinks or Wi-Fi and the other does not, look at that item's line in the breakdown of the other quote: it is the estimated value of the inclusion, based on the figures you entered. Save the result to your plan, and look up your ship on our size comparison and inspection scores pages.