14 Things That You Can Get for FREE on Cruise Ships (but Most Aren’t Advertised…)!

If you’ve booked a cruise, you’re probably growing increasingly aware of how much things are going to cost on the ship. From meals in upcharge restaurants to spa treatments, there are so many added extras that you can choose to add to your cruise. If you’re not careful, these things can really build up, leaving you with a sizeable bill at the end of your vacation.

Did you know: there are lots of things that you can get for FREE on most cruise ships? In this post, I’m going to share 14 of those things with you, to hopefully help you to get maximum value out of your cruise vacation. You’ll probably already know about some of these things, but there’s a fair chance that some of them might just save you a few dollars / pounds on your next trip!

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Ok, let’s get started…

Cruise ships can often have lots of optional extras onboard - it’s important that you know what you do (and don’t) have to pay for onboard.

1. You can get luggage repaired for free on most cruise ships!

This is one that I had no idea about until one of my suitcases got damaged during the embarkation process on a recent cruise. I spoke with the team at Guest Services, who advised that if I could bring the bag to them, they would be able to speak with the maintenance department to repair.

Over the course of the cruise, my suitcase was repaired to feel (almost) like a brand new suitcase!

Over the last couple of years, I’ve informally asked about this service on more cruise ships, and have been met with the general answer that yes - cruise ship maintenance teams do have the ability to offer luggage repairs onboard. If you realise that you’ve got a damaged zip, or something more serious wrong with your luggage, don’t take the risk of travelling home without having it looked at. Speak with the Guest Services team onboard your cruise ship, who will hopefully be able to help!

Damaged luggage? Don’t worry - cruise ships can often repair things like this free of charge!

2. You can get matress toppers and extra pilllows FREE on most cruise ships!

One of the most important aspects of the cruise experience is your bed. After all, if you’re not sleeping well at night, it could (very quickly) become a massive problem. If you find that your cabin matress isn’t as comfortable as you’d like, or that your pillows aren’t the correct firmness, then don’t worry - most cruise ships will offer you the ability to request a mattress topper or extra/different pillows.

I previously assumed that the ability to request things like different pillows was reserved for those staying in suite accommodation, but I’ve found that the cruise lines will absolutely satisfy any requests for things like this in ‘regular’ cabins or staterooms - they just don’t advertise it the same way as they do for the suite guests!

The simplest way to find out if the cruise line you’ve chosen offer these options is to speak with your cabin attendant once you’re onboard the ship.

Want more pillows? Not a problem!

3. You can get MORE FOOD in the dining rooms and restaurants for FREE on most cruise ships!

Okay, we’ve now arrived on one of the most important topics of any cruise: food.

Cruise lines have gone ‘back and forth’ on their position on this aspect of the dining experience over the last few years, but here’s what I’ve found is generally the case…

When you choose to eat in an ‘included’ dining room (in other words, one that you don’t pay extra for), you’ll usually be presented with a menu consisting of starters/appetisers, main courses and desserts. The general expectation is that people will order one of each, but cruise lines do tend to be pretty flexible here.

On most of the ships that I’ve cruised on, the ‘rule’ has been that passengers are permitted to order multiple starters/appetisers and desserts, but one main course. Some cruise lines do offer you the ability to order additional main courses, but these are then charged to your cabin account. To be honest, if you’re ordering a couple of starters and a dessert or two, you shouldn’t be leaving the restaurant hungry - don’t worry!

If in doubt, speak to the restaurant team and they’ll let you know what you can/can’t order in terms of quantities!

Did you know that you can often order more than one of each course in a cruise ship restaurant? You do now!

The overall advice that I would offer to anyone who might be concerned about food quantities on their upcoming cruise is that, generally speaking, there’s food available all day (and most of the night) while you’re onboard. You can usually order room service 24 hours a day too, so I’m confident that you’ll be absolutely fine!

Would you like some more? Just speak to the waiting team at your chosen restaurant, and they’ll be delighted to advise what you can (and can’t) order extra!

4. You can get Ice Cream for FREE on most cruise ships!

If you’re anything like me, you love a sweet treat when you cruise. If I’m somewhere warm, I’ve been known to enjoy multiple ice creams per day - don’t judge me for it, please! When I started cruising, this could end up costing me a fair bit of money on a sea day if we were in the sunshine, but I soon realised how to get ice cream without paying for it…

The most common place to find ice cream onboard a cruise ship is from a bespoke ice cream parlour/cafe. Here, you’ll usually be able to order things like ice cream cones, ice cream sundaes, speciality coffees and other snacks. The majority of ships out there will have these venues.

Most cruise ships will have speciality ice cream venues onboard, where you can order sweet treats. Look at these, from my cruise onboard MSC World Europa!

The second most common place though, is within the buffet restaurant.

Lots of cruise ships now feature ice cream machines as part of the onboard buffet. You’ll find that these are usually open all day, and sometimes well into the evening, too. That means that you’re able to head up for a treat whenever you like - you’re not restricted to meal times etc.

Lots of cruise ships will offer soft serve ice cream as part of their buffet offering!

On the subject of meal times, that’s an important point to think about here. If you’d prefer to have scoops of ice cream rather than soft serve, you’ll find that the majority of cruise ships will offer this during meal times as a dessert option. This is usually an option in both the dining rooms and also the buffet!

So, from this point on, you don’t need to pay extra to enjoy some ice cream while you’re cruising!

Want free scoops of ice cream? You’ll probably need to wait until a meal time, and then you’ll be able to get exactly that!

5. You can usually get toiletries for FREE on a cruise ship!

You know the feeling - you’ve travelled to the port, unpacked your bag in your cabin and then had that really annoying realisation that you’ve forgotten to pack some of your toiletries. The logical thing to do might be to visit the onboard shops to purchase a new toothbrush for example, but did you know that cruise ships usually carry basic toiletries that they’re able to give to passengers free of charge?

They’re similar to land hotels in this respect, but so many people assume that this isn’t the case, especially due to the fact that the ships have shops onboard that sell these items.

So, why do they sell toiletries in the shops but also have free items to give to guests? Well, this one’s easy. Cruise ship shops are only generally permitted to open while the ship’s ‘at sea’, and they need to remain closed while the ship’s docked in port, or in more local waters. If you realise that you’ve forgotten a toothbrush, shaving foam or something similar, it’s not possible to simply visit the boutique onboard if you’re not actively cruising and ‘at sea’, as they’re not allowed to be open.

Rather than have passengers go without basic items, you’ll find that Guest Services will usually be stocked to help out. To be clear though, you usually won’t be picking up full sized premium brands from Guest Services, but it’ll be enough to keep you going until you can next get to a shop either onboard or ashore! Toiletries are usually expensive at the shops on cruise ships, so it’s well worth waiting until your next port call to pick up what you need, if you can hold off that long!

There are usually a variety of shops on cruise ships, but you can often get toiletries for FREE onboard!

6. Is it raining outside? Well, don’t worry. Lots of cruise ships will be able to give you a poncho FOR FREE!

I’ll be honest - this one came as a real surprise to me. I assumed that cruise lines wouldn’t be able to do much to help in the event of inclement weather, but it turns out that I was wrong! If you wake up on your cruise ship and you find that it’s raining, you’re often able to request a poncho from your cabin attendant, or from Guest Services!

Don’t worry if you’re met with unexpected rain - your cruise ship can often help you with that…!

I discovered this while on a Cunard cruise on Queen Elizabeth. I was speaking with my cabin attendant about the fact that the weather forecast was looking rough rain-wise for my excursion the following day and that I hadn’t packed a rain coat (I was cruising during the Summer season, and so I naively assumed that it would be dry…). I was thoroughly impressed to arrive back to my cabin a few hours later to find a poncho!

Since then, I often like to ask onboard if that cruise line offers these to passengers, and I’ve been pleasantly surprised by how many times I’m met with a ‘yes’ to this question!

I’ve since requested (and received) ponchos from 3 different cruise lines - ideal! On this one though - I’d still recommend packing your own rain protection, but it’s useful to know this is an option if you do forget!

My general advice? Always pack a jacket - you never now what the weather is going to do…!

7. You can get FREE DRINKS on a cruise ship!

Don’t get too excited - you’re probably still going to be asking yourself the ‘should I purchase a drinks package’ question at the end of this section. However, I meet lots of cruisers who assume that they’re not going to get ANY free drinks when they cruise.

Every cruise line (except one - Costa Cruises, I’m looking at you…) that I’ve cruised on offers complimentary water, ice, tea and coffee from self-service drinks stations within the buffet venue onboard. You can choose to either enjoy these drinks in the buffet, or it’s also totally acceptable to take them around the ship with you.

This is one of my best cruise money saving tips - rather than buying drinks around the ship, you can head up there to fill up your glass/mug etc, and then take around the ship with you.

You can get free coffee at the onboard buffet, but you might struggle to resist a snack, too…!

Some cruise lines also offer fruit flavoured juices from these self-service stations throughout the day, but most only bring these out during meal times.

So that’s covered soft drinks, but what about alcohol? Well, it is possible to get free alcoholic drinks on cruise ships, but you need to look a little harder for these drinks. You’ll want to think about attending events that include drinks. For example, most cruise ships will host things like art auctions, and these are usually advertised as having ‘free fizz’. The only downside is that these often take place in the morning, so you’re not going to be able to take these glasses of fizz around the ship with you in the evening.

Another great way to get complimentary alcoholic drinks when you cruise is to make sure you’re a member of the cruise line loyalty programme. Every cruise line has their own loyalty programme, and they’ll invite members to lots of different types of events. I’ll come back to loyalty programmes later in this post!

Want a free cocktail? We’ll come back to cruise line loyalty programmes later in this post - stay tuned…!

8. You can get stationery for FREE on most cruise ships!

Maybe you’ve got some work that you’re planning to do onboard, or maybe you need some stationery to write to your friends back home? Whatever your reason, your cruise ship should be able to provide you with a selection of stationery for use while onboard.

I’ve found that, in my experience, most cruise lines will carry things like pens, paper (plain and also headed, if you’d prefer) and envelopes for passenger use. I’ve been really surprised recently to learn that some cruise lines even carry complimentary postcards for passenger use! I’ve seen these on both Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines, and also a river cruise that I took with Riviera Travel. This saved me the time and hassle of buying postcards ashore - I was able to speak with the Guest Services team, and then write them during a day on the ship!

If you’d like to take advantage of a complimentary postcard or two to send home, then you can also obtain postage stamps from the team at Guest Services, but these do come at an additional cost. I always find the postage services on cruise ships to be SO good for keeping it simple while I’m travelling. Yes, I pay more to send mail directly from the ship, but it saves lots of time and stress if I’m travelling across multiple countries and I can’t speak the local language - the ship simply takes care of postage at our next port!

Want to send a postcard home from your cruise? Speak to Guest Services - you might just be surprised…!

9. You can get FREE MASSAGES on cruise ships!

I’ve got your attention with this one, haven’t I? I wish I was telling you that there’s a cruise hack that I know of that wipes the cost of any spa treatment, but I won’t lie to you.

Throughout your cruise, you’ll often find that the spa team will offer complimentary sample massages, to essentially allow passengers to decide if they’d like to then pay for a massage of their own later in the cruise.

These massages usually only last 5-10 minutes, but they’re a good way to evaluate wether or not a visit to the spa is something that you’d like to book in at some point. Spa treatments are usually more expensive at sea than they are on land, so why not go and sample one for free on your next cruise?

Keep an eye on your daily schedule for if and when the team are offering this on your cruise, or just pop in and speak to the spa team.

Pop by the spa reception to see if there are any treatment samples during your cruise!

10. You can sometimes get FREE SPA TREATMENTS when you cruise!

This one might sound like a scam, but keep reading! At the start of most cruises, the onboard spa will be open for viewing. During this period, you’re invited to go for a guided tour of the spa. This will include having a look at the treatment rooms, the gym or fitness centre, the salon, and any thermal suite facilities that the ship has to offer.

Obviously, this is one of the best ways for the spa team to ‘up sell’, by using the time on the tour to tell you about the ‘special offers’ available at various points during the cruise.

On day one of the cruise, go for a tour of the spa - you might just win a treatment of your choice!

These tours will usually then finish with a group presentation, where members of the spa team will present their offering to the passenger group in attendance. Yes, this is another ‘up selling’ opportunity but there’s usually a free prize draw too, which is essentially a ‘thank you’ to everyone for attending.

I always assumed that these things would be impossible to win, and I also assumed that the prize would have so many loopholes to it making it very difficult to claim. However, I was cruising with a friend recently and her name came out of the box! She won a $100 gift voucher to spend on any treatment within the spa facility - she could either book a treatment of a lower value and forfeit the whole voucher, or she could use it as a contribution towards a treatment of a higher value. No other rules or small print - easy!

So, if you’re looking for a free spa treatment while you cruise, now you know where to go!

A cruise ship spa offers everything you would expect from a land-based spa, plus often some more too!

11. You can get FREE sea sickness medication on most cruise ships!

Despite having taken more than 50 cruises, I didn’t learn about this fact until very recently. I’ve seen sea sickness medication available to buy in cruise ship shops, but I didn’t know that most cruise lines offer this complimentary to passengers, especially if it’s known that the weather is to be rough.

Over the last few months, I’ve seen examples on Royal Caribbean cruise ships where boxes of sea sickness tablets are made available at Guest Services, and I’ve also seen examples from Virgin Voyages where tablets were handed out to any queasy passengers (or ‘sailors’, as Virgin Voyages call them). I always assumed that feeling unwell would result in an instant charge at the onboard medical centre, but it would seem that cruise lines are able to help with things like sea sickness.

After all, it’s in the best interest of the cruise line that passengers are feeling ‘ship shape’. If they’re lying down in their cabins, they’re not spending money around the ship while it’s sailing. If the simple solution is to supply sea sickness medication, it’s a bit of a no-brainer, isn’t it?

If you do feel motion sick on a cruise (fear not - it’s very rare!), then there are a number of different medications that you can try. I have motion sickness bands, adhesives and also tablets available to buy in my Amazon store. You can head there now by clicking here!

If you feel the ‘motion of the ocean’, don’t worry - the ship should be able to help get you feeling better!

12. Want to try your luck in the casino but now sure what to do or how it works? Well, you’ll be delighted to learn that lots of cruise ships offer FREE gaming lessons!

I bet you didn’t think anything to do with the casino would be featured on a list of things that you can get for free on a cruise ship, right?!

The majority of cruise ships out there have casinos. In fact, casinos are a HUGE earner for cruise ships.

The casino facilities onboard cruise ships operate similarly to the onboard shops - they’re not allowed to open when the ship is docked in port. It can only open for business when the ship is in international waters, unless local rules and regulations state otherwise.

On some cruise ships, the casino will take the opportunity of being closed to offer things like complimentary gaming lessons to passengers. Of course, these lessons aren’t a charitable gesture from the casino team - they’re done in the hope that passengers will feel confident enough to come back and try their luck once the casino opens…

Want to learn how to play the tables in a casino? Speak to the onboard team - the ship might be offering free lessons during your cruise!

This can be a fun way of trying a new game without the risk of losing any money.

If you’d like to find out if your cruise ship is offering these lessons, just speak to a casino host as early in the cruise as possible. They sometimes take place while the ship is docked in port, but they sometimes take place on day one of the cruise only, so it’s best to get in there early. You’ll usually also see any lessons advertised in the daily schedule each evening.

Some cruise ship casino teams will also offer ‘training’ on how to work the slot machines.

13. You can get pool and beach towels on cruise ships, and you can take these ashore with you!

I’m always surprised when I take a walk around a cruise ship top deck and see people sunbathing on top of their own towels that they’ve brought on their vacation with them. Pool and beach towels must take up so much space in luggage - imagine if you didn’t need to pack them…

Well, every single cruise ship that I’ve ever cruised on has supplied pool and beach towels completely free of charge, so now you don’t need to pack them!

You’ll be able to take any pool or beach towels that the cruise ship gives you ashore, too. It’s worth remembering that towels are usually tied to your cabin account. In other words, if you don’t return your towel to the ship at the end of your cruise, you might be charged. This charge can often be in excess of $20(USD), so it’s worth checking that you’ve brought it back from the beach with you!

If you’re cruising on a colder-weather itinerary, lots of cruise lines will also offer things like blankets, which are also then connected to your cabin. Long story short, if you borrow it, return it!

Planning a pool day? Don’t worry - the cruise line will have a towel waiting (usually in your cabin) for you!

Hoping for a day at the beach during your cruise? You can usually find your beach towel in your cabin, or you can often check one out down at the gangway as you leave the ship…

14. You can get things like free meals in speciality restaurants, free laundry, free wifi and more by joining a cruise line loyalty scheme!

I mentioned the word ‘loyalty’ earlier in this post, but did you know that the cruise industry places a HUGE emphasis on loyalty? Most cruise lines now have their own loyalty programme, which rewards passengers for continuing to cruise with them.

Generally speaking, you’ll earn 1 point per night that you spend onboard a cruise ship, and there are then opportunities to earn more points depending on things like the cabin grade that you’re sailing in, your on board spend value, offers at the point of booking, and so much more.

Some examples of cruise line loyalty programmes are the MSC Voyagers Club, the Crown and Anchor Society from Royal Caribbean, the Captain’s Club from Celebrity Cruises, the Sailing Club from Virgin Voyages, and the Peninsular Club by P&O Cruises.

These schemes are free to join, so be sure to check that you’re signed up before your next cruise!

Every cruise line will have their own loyalty programme - sign up before you head to the port!

That’s it - 14 things that you can get for free on most cruise ships! If you enjoyed this post, then come over to my YouTube channel, where I share so many more cruise tips with you to help you get the most out of your future cruises.

You can find my channel by searching ‘Fraser at Sea’ now, or by clicking into the video below.