"I'm Not Sure How The Cruise Line Makes Any Money!"
What happens when a skeptic books the most expensive vacation of his life - and gets on the ship anyway.
RM, one of the sailors on our recent Azamara in Alaska sailing, said something to us mid-cruise that we haven't stopped thinking about.
"I'll be honest - this was the most expensive vacation we've ever taken. Definitely the most expensive. But now that I've been on the ship and I see everything that's included ... I'm not sure how they make any money."
RM and his wife KM are not typical cruise people. Their youngest had just graduated high school. Their vacation history was camping trips, a few visits to Hawaii, and Disney. He had never taken more than a week off for a vacation. They had never been on a cruise before. They are the kind of couple who plans carefully, spends thoughtfully, and does not drop serious money on a vacation without significant internal debate.
They were skeptical. They told us so. And they booked anyway.
What They Were Skeptical About
The price.
A premium cruise - the kind we put on The Alaska Shortlist - is not a budget vacation. The per-person fare on an Azamara sailing is genuinely higher than most of the trips RM and KM had taken in their lives combined. When we presented it, RM looked at the number and had some feelings about it.
This is completely understandable. It's a lot of money. And if you're used to booking vacations where the sticker price is the floor - where you then add flights, hotels, meals, activities, drinks, tips, transfers, and incidentals until the original number looks quaint - it can feel alarming.
But here's the thing about a premium all-inclusive cruise: the sticker price is not the floor. It's close to the ceiling.
What "All-Inclusive" Actually Means on Azamara
Let's be specific, because "all-inclusive" gets used loosely in the travel industry and it's worth understanding what it actually covers on a line like Azamara.
Dining - all of it. Every main restaurant on the ship, every meal, every day - included. Azamara does have specialty dining options that carry an additional charge, but the included dining options are genuinely excellent and most guests find them more than sufficient. As part of our Untethered Voyages group package, RM and KM also received one specialty dining night on us - so for them, the entire culinary experience was covered from the moment they boarded.
Drinks - included. A selection of wines, beers, spirits, cocktails, non-alcoholic beverages, coffees (even specialty coffees!), and teas are included in your fare. You don't think about what things cost. You order what you want.
Gratuities - covered. This one surprises people. On many cruise lines, gratuities are added automatically to your account - sometimes $20 or more per person per day. On Azamara, they're included. That's not a small thing on a ten or eleven night sailing.
Port shuttles - included. When the ship docks far from the city center, Azamara provides complimentary shuttle service. You don't calculate whether it's worth it. You just get on.
AzAmazing Evening - included. This is Azamara's signature exclusive shore event - a curated cultural experience in one of your ports, complimentary for all guests. On our Alaska sailing, this was the Lumberjack Show in Ketchikan. Nobody paid extra for it. It was just part of the trip.
What you pay separately for: shore excursions beyond the AzAmazing Evening, spa treatments, premium spirits above the included selection, specialty dining, and Wi-Fi. For most guests, the included package still covers the vast majority of what they consume on board - and as part of our Untethered Voyages group package, RM and KM received onboard credit that covered their Wi-Fi and specialty dining night. For them, it genuinely felt like everything was included. That's not an accident- it's part of how we build our group packages.
What RM and KM Actually Experienced
They loved not thinking about paying for anything.
That sounds simple. It isn't. When you've spent years of vacations mentally tracking what things cost - the drinks at dinner (or dinner itself!), the activity fees, the tips, the transfers - and suddenly none of that is your problem, something shifts. The mental tab you've been running your whole traveling life goes quiet.
RM and KM had never experienced that before.
They were wowed by the entertainment - all of it. The naturalist who came on board to talk about Alaska's wildlife and ecology. The trivia nights. The Broadway-style shows. They felt genuinely well taken care of - attended to in a way that let them actually relax, maybe for the first time in a long time.
There were jokes, KM told us, about who was going to turn down their beds in the evening. About who was going to leave chocolates on their pillows. About how they were going to go back to cooking their own breakfast when they got home.
These are the jokes people make when they've discovered something they didn't know they were missing.
The Sticker Price vs. The Real Price
Here's the math worth doing before you decide a premium cruise is too expensive.
Take the per-person fare. Now subtract everything that's included: every meal for ten or eleven nights, every drink, all gratuities, the shore event, the transfers. Add back what you'd spend on those same things in a comparable hotel-based trip - restaurants twice a day, bar tabs, tips, taxis, activity fees.
The gap closes faster than most people expect.
We're not saying premium cruising is cheap. It isn't. But "expensive" and "poor value" are two different things - and a lot of travelers conflate them when they see a cruise fare for the first time.
RM figured this out somewhere around day three. On the ship. In Alaska. With a drink in his hand that he didn't have to think about paying for.
"I'm not sure how they make any money."
He was joking. Mostly.
Who This Kind of Trip Is For
RM and KM are not unusual. In fact, they're exactly the kind of travelers we work with most often.
People who have never done this before. People who are used to a certain kind of vacation and aren't sure this is for them. People who look at the number and have feelings about it - and then, somewhere on the ship, in the middle of Alaska, understand what they actually bought.
If you've been looking at premium cruise fares and wondering whether they're worth it - they might be. It depends on how you travel, what you value, and what you're comparing them to.
That's a conversation worth having before you book.
Curious whether a premium Alaska cruise makes sense for you? Take our cruise style quiz to find your fit - or reach out directly and let's talk through what you're looking for. We have three sailings on The Alaska Shortlist, at three different price points, for three different kinds of travelers.
