Below is a spreadsheet that can help you predict your total spending for any cruise. You can enter whatever input numbers you choose.
The areas in green can be changed or you can simply leave the numbers alone to use the default values. The numbers in yellow or gray are calculated from other cells and cannot be modified except by changing the values in the input cells.
Here the instructions, block by block:
Number of passengers – enter 1 or 2 – this spreadsheet will not work for more than 2 people.
Enter the passengers ages. This will estimate the cost of your travel insurance. If you don’t want to price in travel insurance, enter zero for passenger ages. Add in the cost for medical evacuation insurance as a separate item under “Other pre/post cruse costs”.
In a suite? This answer will decide which Hotel Service Charge to use for your calculations.
Normal HSC and Suite HSC – the values here are for Holland America in 2016. Enter the values for your cruise line.
HSC Prepaid? Under certain circumstances and cabin categories, the HSC may be prepaid. Enter Yes or No as appropriate.
Base Cruise Fare: Enter the base fare for your cruise for one person. The spreadsheet will multiply this by the number of passengers you entered earlier. If you are a single, enter the fare with the single supplement included.
Port Charges: Enter the port charges and taxes for your cruise.
Travel Agent Discount: Enter the amount of your travel agent discount per person. If you’d rather simply enter a lower fare into the base cruise fare, then that is OK too.
Enter the number of sea days: This is used as a multiplier for onboard consumption on sea days.
Enter the number of port days: This is used as a multiplier for onboard consumption on port days.
Total Airfare/Car: Enter the round trip airfare or the cost of your other transportation to and from the cruise port.
Pre/Post Cruise Hotel: Enter the cost of any hotels you plan to stay in before and after the cruise.
Transfers: Enter the total cost of your transfers from the airport to your hotel and then to the ship and then the same on the return.
Baggage Shipment: If you plan to ship bags separately enter $100 per bag if you are in the USA or CANADA otherwise $250 a bag elsewhere.
OBC: Enter the total amount of Onboard Credits you will receive.
The next section, left hand column, gives you a chance to enter the prices for various items sold or offered onboard. I have entered approximate prices for many items. If you want to use different prices, you can enter them here. If you are happy with these prices, you can leave them alone. For the price of shore excursions, enter the average price of a single shore excursion. This number will be multiplied by the number of passengers you entered earlier.
For shore meals, souvenirs and internet minutes, enter the total amounts for both passengers.
The onboard usage will be entered into the next two columns. In these columns, enter the expected usage for both passengers. If you have a drink every other day enter .5, every third day .3 and so on. Rough numbers are fine here as you are simply trying to get a ball bark estimate.
The pricing for the internet is based on the HAL rates and the spreadsheet uses the least expensive rate based on your total minutes.
| Minutes | Price | Rate |
| 1000 | $250 | 25 cents/minute |
| 500 | $175 | 35 cents/minute |
| 250 | $100 | 40 cents/minute |
| 100 | $55 | 55 cents/minute |
| Pay as you go | NA | 75 cents/minute |
On the lower right side, you can enter your expected Casino losses and how much you expect to spend in the onboard shops.
Lastly, there is a block to enter Other Charges. Here you can enter anything you may have overlooked elsewhere.
Once you have numbers in all the green blocks, you will see the estimated TOTAL price of your cruise in the YELLOW BLOCKS.