The last night of a recent cruise I had $500 of unused onboard credit. Went to the Casino, put it in a slot machine $100 at a time then immediately cashed out without a single bet. Onboard credit changed to cash! Just like that! Good tip!

One trick I learned as a little girl from our housekeeper was to wash items by hand, wring out excess water, lay the damp item flat on a towel, then roll the towel up very tightly, like a burrito lengthwise, and leave it for a few hours so the fibers in the towel soak up all the liquid, then unroll, and air dry...voila!! This was one of the best hacks I've ever learned.

Use hot water to remove the cap of a water bottle without breaking the seal, fill with alcohol, replace cap. Bring alcohol for free. ;)

One thing you forget about is that if you book your excursion through the cruise line then you don’t have to worry about if something happens and the excursion gets back late. If you book it yourself then it is entirely on you to get back to the ship on time. Just friendly advice from a travel agent.

On a Royal Caribbean cruise, I brought two bottles of wine onboard that coincidentally was a wine you could purchase onboard. I expected to pay the corkage fee in the dining room, and was pleasantly surprised when the sommelier said there would be no charge since that is a wine they stock.

Re: Laundry - I was delighted to find Holland America offered unlimited laundry service for a 14 day cruise for $100. I was able to pack substantially less clothes and I sent laundry out every day and got it back the next day. Always came nicely folded or on a hanger. Not a super cheap way to do it but the 14 day cruise was $4,000 so another $100 for laundry was a great deal.

If you have clothes with wrinkles, hang them up in the bathroom and turn on the shower on hot (or just take a shower with hot water), close the door and let the steam remove the wrinkles.

I'm unable to drink coffee now for medical reasons. So I'm going to take a couple of boxes of OXO with the packets/sachets in them. Then I just need a cup of hot water and can mix my own drink. I do that now in restaurants. As for laundry, I no longer have to worry about it. I'm 'Elite' with Princess so get my laundry done for nothing. I don't think Princess is allowing self-guided 'walk-about' any more, so when I go to Hawaii in April 2022, I'll either take a ship's tour or just stay onboard. This will be my 5th or 6th cruise to Hawaii anyway. I love your videos, Emma. You are so charming and wise beyond your years. I'm now 72 (today) and fondly remember my days being 26. I'd been married 5 years already! Still married after 50 years!

Excellent advice, Emma. I would add that if you do laundry, by hand, in the sink, the supplied shampoo works great for detergent.

We make friends with our stateroom host the first day and ask for wineglasses. The ones they bring look just like the ones in the dining rooms so we pour our drink in our cabin and then head up on deck or to dinner with our drinks.

Let's face one essential fact. The cruise line's main purpose is to separate you from your money. Your cabin steward, the bartender, etc., may want to help you have the best cruise ever, and they may somehow have a talent for remembering that you prefer Johnny Walker Red over Black, and your waiter in the main dining room may remember that you like your scrambled eggs runny, but in the corporate offices in Miami it's "how can we get/trick people to spend more?"

I went on a cruise to unwind so I didn't get wifi and it was so relaxing.

Whether it’s a cruise ship tour, a walking tour booked in land, or a bus/coach tour, I really like having a tour guide. I learn so much more and enjoy it more than only exploring on my own.

I cruised with my mother a few years ago. Neither of us has ever been on one. But my mother, always the adventurer, and both of us disliking mass migration though little sleepy villages, booked rental cars in nearly every port. The rental agents always met us at the port exit, gave us the car and we explored at our own leisure. Surely, it did cost extra, but so did the day trips. And while the other passengers were eating in touristy restaurants, we were having lunch in some mountain village in Crete, or at a fancy beach club in Mykonos. We saw exactly what we were interested in and never felt like cattle...though we nearly missed the ship once...I now call it an adrenaline rush, lol. And btw, we did smuggle in Gin after a day trip in a water bottle (our cruise did not allow bringing your own). Waiting at the scanner to board again, I took a medium sip to pretend it was water, chatting with my mum. Worked a treat!😎

I'd love Afternoon Tea on a cruise ship, especially with the mini sandwiches, cucumber sandwiches & tea cakes 😊

Yes, cunard definitely has the best afternoon tea, especially if you get a grills suit on a transatlantic crossing. You have tea on a deck chair outside snuggled up in a blanket. Pure heaven.

Some of these things are secret so don't tell everyone. Puts it on youtube for the entire world to see. LOL. I love peppermint tea!! Thank You for this great video!

A good place to find free wi-fi is at any bank and you don't even need to go inside, my wife and I have done this several times in the Caribbean by just sitting outside and logging in.

When we cruised to Stockholm (on a Baltic cruise), it required a one hour train to and from the city. We didn't dock IN Stockholm. Once there, we did a self-guided tour. BTW, the art auctions offer free drinks ... champagne, generally. And, no corkage to pour your own wine in your cabin and consume it all over the ship in a travel cup you brought with you.

I’ve been washing clothes in the sink all my life! Especially undies. So easy! I’m having a hard time understanding why people have a problem. Also, I don’t want to have dirty undies around, lol. I am picky with laundry and like to line dry a number of things, so I would be wary of sending them out, plus the cost. My tip if you hand wash bigger or heavier clothes is to roll them in dry towels and press, to remove as much water as possible, and they will dry a lot faster. You can always ask for more towels.

LAUNDRY, detergent sheets. They dissolve in the wash, you can cut to size of job, just toss few in a zip loc bag and your good to go. Bonus. super magnet hooks for your cabin walls to hang things.

In regards to shore excursions, certainly there are cheaper alternatives & oftentimes for the same "tour" but what you get with booking through the cruise line (at least in the ones that I've used) is the guarantee that the ship will not leave port without your or that the cruise line will cover the cost of getting you to the next port. If you go on our own, you lose this guarantee. Again, not sure if this is the case with ALL cruise lines so certainly check that out but in my experience, this has been the case. $5 - 10 more for that piece of mind can be worth it depending on what you want to do.

"These are secrets...maybe don't tell everybody..."😂😂😂😂😂

Laundry is easy. All my clothes are quick-dry, wash it at night, it is dry by morning. Any soap will do, shampoo or liquid hand soap are always available. I have been on a one week trip, and extended it 2 more weeks (I saw something interesting and got off the bus). If you are packed for a week - you are packed for a year. Just do your wash in the sink. 😎

I carry a small 2 cup teapot with a basket in it. I have two small canisters of my favorite smoky breakfast blend and perhaps Earl Grey. Waiters are happy to add boiling water.

Wash clothes in the shower along with yourself ,tread on them it always works

Love the travel savings tips. When I went to University in London (1973) I got an award that included a place in a much prized place in a College Hall of Residence in South Kensington. I remember taking my first load of laundry down to the laundry room and sat there in blinking awe at all the busy machines with knobs and dials and all kinds of settings. I gawped like a stranded goldfish out of water and then took my laundry back to my bedsit room and for the whole of that year I washed all my laundry by hand! (I did figure out how to use the machines - (eventually) but I actually found it far more efficient doing it all myself!!! That "Techno Peasant" thingy - I was straight off the Farm in Kent.

I agree with you Emma about excursions and I do most excursions around the port on my own BUT distance trips are worth the expense and the insurance of getting to the ship on time. Also some of the specialty food /beverage tours are so worth the expense, because you get the local food and drinks with a local. in a small group in an out of the way location.

If you can, just get the thumb drive for the photos. It's a lot cheaper to have the few you like developed at home.

I recommend bringing in red wine, which doesn’t need refrigeration. Depending on the cruise line, you can have one wine bottle per person per stateroom. The room steward will have a corkscrew to open it. Bring a wine cooler insulated cup to pour your own to drink prior to going to the main dining room. They won’t ask to take it back. One thing cruise lines are doing is specialty dining. You don’t need it. There’s enough included dining and food locations to eat all day. No extra charges. If you like sodas, try to find an abandoned beverage cup. Someone might have forgotten it. I found one at a lounge and cleaned it up. It works in any soda dispenser for free.

Hey emma, and everyone... I just love it to have no wifi connection on board of a cruise. In regular life there's so much channels of information that are reaching out to you. Love to escape from that. On a cruise, 8 days or 12 days, i'm not reachable for anyone. Occasionally on land i use mobile internet on my phone to reach out for my sister and parents. That's it.

Useful tips, most of which we have already tried but using the casino to access cash was new to me. Cunard is definitely our favourite afternoon tea.

My favourite save was in Vigo, the cruise line offered a boat trip to the Ceis Islands for £100 . They are beautiful by the way, I walked from the ship to the booking office in the harbour , I paid £22 for the exact same trip, in fact other cruise passengers were on the same trip who had paid £100. We were lucky and the weather was wonderful and we saw dolphins but I glowed in the knowledge of my bargain

Thanks Emma. Good stuff. On our last two Princess cruises, at the welcome gathering in the theater for our Loyalty level (gold at the time), we sat through a short presentation (maybe 15 minutes) and on the way out they handed out coupons for one free drink each that could be used anytime during the cruise. A nice reward for attending a nice presentation. 👍👍👍

Hi Emma, ​​your videos are very interesting, thank you. Regarding the washing of small items of clothing in the cabin, I would also recommend the paper bin in the bathroom, just remove the plastic bag and the bin is usually new and perfectly clean and convenient for washing small things. In fact, you are right, I wanted to use the laundry on board but each item cost about 5 dollars (Costa Smeralda, May 2022).

Another way to save that I have used is to buy 100 shares of the cruise line stock, most of the time it is the parent company, and you will receive an onboard credit depending on the length of the cruise. My last cruise in Carnival they gave me an extra $50 to spend, This might change after the COVID is over and different cruise do it in different ways.

Emma all great tips. It has taken me thirty years to learn this on my own. You are saving your subscribers a lot of money on their next few cruises. One reason I cruise more on all inclusive cruise lines because hate getting nickel and dimed. Also tire of all the cross selling on main cruise line companies.

Going to the casino for cash worked the best for me no pain !!!

With Shore Excursions, I almost always check Viator. If there is a trip sold by the ship that I want to go on, I will see if I can book with either them or directly with the company, depending how easy it is to get to the pick up point. Last year I was in Boston and got a the same brewery tour with the same local company but saved $30.00 even after paying for the taxi to city centre. Plus I also got a free upgrade to the tour that included lunch at a restaurant cos the tour guide that was normally working, was doing the ships tour instead. We even ended up at the same brewery at the same time 🤣🤣

22 yrs ago, my first cruise, I thought the free coffee was the only coffee. It was so bad. 2nd to last day I saw a lady with a latte and immediately asked her where she got it, that I was dying. She told me she had been too, just found it, and told me where to buy it. The line there was soon long and we weren't the only ones that had just found it.

In 2007, I traveled through Europe for 9 weeks in the late fall. A couple of apartments had a washer and/or dryer, which was awesome, but most didn't. I regularly handwashed all my clothing and hung up to dry on the radiant or steam heaters. Never again will I travel for a long time without laundry soap.

Thanks to a woman in her 90s I learned the casino trick. She was one of those that lives on cruises full time on various ships. I was lucky enough to have been sat next to her at the formal dinner. She taught me all kinds of tricks some obvious and some rather devious but absolutely legal. 😈

on holiday i wash my clothes in the shower. just put them in the base toward the end of my shower, music on get soapy and have an Irish dance on my clothes!!!

These tips are all very realistic and helpful. Thanks!

Awesome tips for when cruising starts up again.

Thank you for the video Emma. I am also a budget cruiser. I get free laundry, but if you need fresh knickers, you can always pop into a shop in port and get new ones rather cheaply. If you get other clothing items in port, they are a souvenir and will remind you of your holiday.

Hi Emma. You can't have an iron but you can use a hair straightener.

Thanks for the tips, Emma!!

I have done several Mexican Riveria with Norwegian and paid the fee for WiFi. Not sure if they changed the policy BUT the ship had a Starbucks onboard. Big shock, free WiFi there. Buy a coffee and grab a table. Also, Starbucks gift cards ARE accepted on the ship. Maybe a dollar more per drink than on land but heck..use it!

Im particular with my tea and coffee. I take my own and just get hot water. Works a treat

Love your vids

Love your channel! I just started looking at cruses and agree with you. I looked at prices for inside cabin and eating included food (witch looked amazing) and looked at balcony cabin and some of the specialty food. I could take two cruses for that price. I don't know about others but I'd rather take two weeks over one.

On princess and P&O cruises it’s definitely worth getting photos taken before dinner at the screens setup in the atrium. You only pay for the photos you like on these cruise lines

American T-Mobile has cheap internet for most of Europe. I had better wifi than Belgium phone service for no additional money in Germany, France and Austria. Also, I have a collapsible portable tea kettle I bring around with me with a collapsible coffee cup too.

Peppermint tea is my favourite too! These were all helpful pieces of advice, thank you!

Hey Emma hope you are well. Thanks so much for your hints and tips. This is really helpful indeed. Your a Super Star. God bless you hun and we look forward to seeing you again soon.

Thanks for the heads up on the internet bit for overseas travel and the recommendations for it too

Great tips. Would love tips for solo travellers. When I traveled with friends I was solo most if the time since I get up late and go yo bed late, they were early risers.

My favorite cruise info of all time. Thank you, Emma, for saving me money!

Nice lady with mostly great advice. Just remember like anything else. The more research you do prior to the cruise itself or the excursion you want to experience will give you the best information if you take the time to find what works best for you.

Love these KZfaq Vids, I'm a RCI cruiser from Sydney. I also find most Museums have free internet. Thankyou so much Emma.

I love the video clips of the lads drinking their "bring your own drinks" on a cruise. They look so lonely and drive home your point perfectly and with humor! Much appreciated.

Tea from the buffet is fine, coffee though is normally cr*p. Excursions are always a good topic of conversation. We have had some really good cruise line excursions and some dud's, while going your own way is very easy in many ports, particularly in Europe for some destinations the security of a cruise line excursion is sometimes worth the price. We recently visited Casablanca with MSC and booked a 2 centre excursion covering Casablanca and Rabat, it was £112 per person! We took the view that we probably would not return to Casablanca and it was not the sort of place to just go wandering, so it had to be done. It was excellent, it lasted 11 hours, we visited the huge Mosque on a Friday before prayers as they stopped visitor entry at 11.00am which caught many 'selfers' out, were taken all around Casablanca, had a brilliant lunch with wine and coffee and thankfully a super clean western style loo, or bathroom for our US friends, at the Movenpick Hotel before driving the 1+ hour to Rabat for more great sights with an excellent local guide. Plus, we met people who we then always stopped and talked to on the ship. It worked out at £10 per hour and our table guests who decided to do 'their own thing' were left underwhelmed by Casablanca, when in fact, it had so much to offer. We once visted Rome from Civitavecchia. Many people took the normal train from the local station to Rome Central Station. We with P&O went on a special red train that used a little used station just a 7+ minute walk from St Peter's Square, where the guide after a 30 minute tour around the square then left us for the day complete with his mobile number in case we got into any difficulty and precise instructions where to meet up again, it was piece of mind plus a great train ride that dropped you right back into the port where a bus drove you to the ship, a great day. So, it's worth doing your home work, but then is that not always the case?

I love that there are so many videos of yours for me to catch up on.

Great tips Emma! I always order room service in the morning at the time I want to be woken up.. Coffee(a carafe), tea, fruit & some pastries... there's no charge for that...

Dear Emma, your videos are quite informative, always positive and at times quite funny. I wonder if you have ever done a video on some of the excursion or local scams you have observed. Often, many people don’t really explore their destination ports and just walk around the immediate Port locations. Have you ever experienced any scams?

GREAT tips. Nice job.

Casino trick is a really nice one

I like not having internet especially since I'm on a computer full time. Nice to decompress. Cabin shampoo is good enough to wash undies and bathing suits. I always bring some shout wipes to treat stains. I don't need photos of myself and find cruise photography kind of annoying...Carnival is bad about it.

Thanks Emma for a Very Nice and revealing post! Much appreciated 😎. By the way, when talking about afternoon Tea .. thats actually adding an argument for choosing a UK Cruise line. On the balcony though for me it Would often be a hot strong coffe, a cold large, or a cool drink. Thx!

Absolutely bang on regarding the two countries one with roaming and one without. We got caught going through the straights of Gibraltar. We went from Spanish network to Moroccan for about an hour. Enough time for my daughter to send 7 photos to a friend back home and sucker me with a £35 additional bill for the month.

Good tips Emma. We already bring laundry detergent on a ship. Free drink Captain Circle parties are the best. We had a Bartender who knew us from another cruise brought us 2 people a tray of drinks. We did not waste anything. Thanks for the info.

Emma...you are good!!! Thanks!!! Keep up the great work and your mindset! Great!!!

The hop on hop off bus was cheaper on the curb in Genoa than via the ship. Lovely place!

On Cunard, I wanted to have coffee in the mornings on the back deck. (It was the smoking deck.) It got to the point where I would build a tray of coffees and pastries and carry them out to the back, I was popular with the smokers. Wish they had had a coffee butler (carafe) though.

Great info!

Wonderful advice! I'm 70 yrs old and would be delighted to travel with you. Best of luck to you in your future sailings.

Great tips

Loved the video My favourite tip was the Casio one

Looking good emma. Great vlog and great tips AGAIN

Casino is excellent idea thank you, for pictures when they are available on line I just copy paste without the watermark and bam free photos. Great video 👍🏼

Well love this! I went on 1 cruse a few years ago and I paid a fortune for it. I was led to belive I need a Balcony or better and eat at the upgraded restraunts. Buy all the ships excursions. I think I will be going on another or 10 lol. I would have gone back but it takes years to save for what I paid. If I were to do it like you I could go two or three times a year. Thanks for the info! New sub here

Hop on hop off bus offers sometimes and in some places offers a discount if you book on line even a few days before.

On MSC, we usually by the 40 peice for $50.. It really convenient. we put the dirty laundry in a bag each morning to get it back the next day.

Thanks Emma some great tips DIY trips are expensive but i was on one to Jerusalem got back to the ship 2.75 hours late,the ship waited if it was DIY it would have gone.

We stayed in suites on Royal Caribbean about 2 years ago and they would dry clean a few items for you every night complimentary for staying in a suite. Every night before dinner we would make sure to put out something. It was so helpful.

RCI, also have days when they have deals for laundry, five or six items of clothing for about $15:00. Great for under ware, shorts & T-shirts. I'm missing my cruises so these video's are great to watch.

great tips , thanks

Thanks Emma for your great advice. 🤓🇦🇺🇬🇧

thanks you for all information .xx

Enjoying your channel...thanks for all you do🚢😎🚢

Whenever I’m travelling anywhere, I always wash the previous day’s clothes (except not changing trousers every day) in the shower with me. It takes basically no time and is fresher than keeping dirty laundry, plus everything is always available in case needed before I do laundry.

Loved this Emma.. Hopefully we’ll all be cruising again soon albeit a different kind of cruising. We loved the afternoon tea on Ventura.... We did take our own tea n coffee as I’m not a fan of filter coffee and that’s all that’s served in the buffet..also i HATE PG tips and they only had that as normal tea in the buffet and cabin, there were specialists teas available in the buffet I had green tea... Do you think this will still be available if there aren’t going to be help yourself buffets any more? Thanks for a great video....stay and well...😊

Clear and comprehensive😉

Very nice video!

As an American having lived in the UK (and on the Continent), I love having a kettle in my room. I can drink tea and coffee all day. As for electrical outlets in the head (bathroom to you, I'm a Merchant Navy officer by trade...but not passenger ships) American regulations require outlets near water to have ground-fault interrupter circuits. In other words in there is a ground, such as your electrical device getting wet. The power immediately shuts off before your could be injured.

I've done bathtub laundry at my own house. We were broke with 2 babies.

we always book the floor below the buffet and as close as to the stairs as possible so can nio up in the morning get coffee an tea and bring back to room to enjoy on the balcony

I used the casino a little differently. I went in with cash and doubled it at blackjack. Got my tip money that way (before prepaid tips.)

Spot on about photography. I had pro picture taken. Paid the price, and was then told I could not use it in any form of advertising, etc! Of course I did. A pity cruise lines go so far to nickel and dime one; leaves a bad taste.