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I saw this article which says people can take cruises for as little as $30 a day! I have never thought of taking a cruise as a real opportunity because it seemed so overpriced.
Normally I stay in hostels for about $20 a night, buy two meals a day (usually somewhere cheap for around $10-15 per meal), and then pay for entertainment ($5 entrance to a club and maybe $10 for drinks). So I can easily spend $30, and really, the amount is closer to $50-$60 a day.
In the article mentioned above, Nomadic Matt says that people can arrange their own shore excursions and even provide themselves with their own alcohol to cut back on costs. Do people really do this?
One of the main reasons I have never taken a cruise is that they seem to lack a lot of the local culture that I get by staying in hostels and eating in local spots. Maybe I should think of a cruise as more of a mini-relaxing break like Nomadic Matt suggests.
One advantage of teaching internationally is that I can either fly home at the end of the school year or get my school to fly me somewhere else I want to go (like Miami to catch a cruise to the Caribbean!). Hello 6 weeks of summer vacation! Check back this summer to see if I can find a cheap cruise to go on!
Some websites Nomadic Matt (and people in the comments) recommends for cheap cruises:
Teaching Wanderlust 
I’ve never really considered them as an option either but $30 a day isn’t bad at all!
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Exactly! Now, I want to know if anyone has actually acquired some of these cheap cruise fairs and lived to tell about it….
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I bet you would find the company to be very different than the more daring backpacker types. I could be wrong though, I have never even considered a cruise. Who knows? Maybe I would find my inner cruise spirit lining up endless troughs of shrimp cocktails and burning my skin lobster red. Ha.
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I bet you are right Mike. The only people I can think of off the top of my head who have been on a cruise are my mom and dad…and they have refused to visit me in my past three teaching posts (Venezuela, China, and Chiapas, Mexico). Maybe someone can market a “backpacker’s cruise” and make it a little more off the beaten path.
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Ha, like a life raft!
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I love Chiapas! I am sure you have read 1491 by now…anyway I hve been there twice. The first time was by accident but the secons I brough my bike and rode from San Cristobal to the pacific coast to Xela (got hit by a bus) then throught the Lacondona to Palenque. Where were you in Chiapas?
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And you can tell your parents I said they blew it not visiting you in Chiapas! Sheesh!
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Mike, actually I haven’t read 1491, but I have added to my to-read list. Palenque is definitely my favorite ruin I have been to (because I loved being able to climb on it unlike Chichen Itza). I taught at ASFC in Tuxtla Gutierrez for a year. I loved going to San Cristobal on the weekends too! I will post about all of those trips later. I will tell my parents what you said. haha, I totally agree!
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Hi Amanda, nice to meet you and to explore your blog. This article really interested me and I’ll certainly check it out. We’ve been following Nomadic Matt for a while now. Your life in Venuezuala sounds pretty interesting, but for some reason your ‘About’ page wouldn’t open.
Thanks for following our blog. I hope you enjoy the stories of our journey, both inner and outer. Cheers, Alison
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Hi Alison! Thanks for visiting!
I’m just getting started with the blog so perhaps there are still some kinks to work out with the “About Me” page. Thanks for the heads up.
I’m glad you were interested in this post. I hope I can go on a cruise one day!
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I did a couple of cruises many many years ago and loved it, and we just did an 8 day one around the Galapagos islands. It was absolutely fabulous – but fairly expensive. Gonna follow up on Matts suggested sites.
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