When you book a cruise, the price will include your accommodation, food, and entertainment. However, cruise ships will look to sell you extras while you are on board from expensive drinks to speciality meals, excursions, spa treatments and so on. If you want to be careful and avoid overspending, we have a few tips to help you.

• Choose a cruise company where tipping extra is not expected. Companies such as Thomson and Swan Hellenic include tips in the basic price, so you won’t be expected to tip extra on top.

• Pick a cruise where on board charging is in sterling. By doing this, you can avoid paying foreign exchange fees, and you’ll also be used to working in this currency so will know when something is cheap or expensive.

• Excursions that are run by your cruise ship can cost anything from £20 to £90 per person for a half or full day out. It’s often possible to book a similar tour through a private company or avoid a tour all together, and just get a taxi for yourself from the port to the location you want to visit.

• Freestyle dining is a plan that is often offered within a cruise. This option generally means you have a choice of restaurants throughout the cruise ship rather than dining in the ships dining room.

• Spa treatments on board ship can be expensive, so look at options such as booking several treatments at the same time, or see if there are any times such as when the ship is in port at the beginning of the cruise, when specials are offered.

• Drinks can add considerably to your cruising costs. It is often possible however, to pre-book a drinks package at around £10 per day that will cover a reasonably wide range of drinks.

• Cruise ship laundry bills can be expensive. Opt instead for a quick trip to the ships self service launderette, or find out if there are deals for getting a larger quantity of clothes washed at the same time.

• Make sure that you carry sufficient supplies of things such as sun cream, batteries, and other necessary items with you rather than paying an on-board premium for them.

• Ask yourself if you really need internet access on board the ship. Online access can cost as much as £10 for half an hour, so it can be worthwhile opting to use an onshore internet café where you can instead.

• Avoid on-board casinos, and auctions where you’re plied with free drinks. The more you drink, the more relaxed you become about things, and generally, the more you are likely to spend.

• Take your own photos and video clips rather than buying copies of the photos and video taken by the cruise company. Yours will be much more personal to you, and they will be far cheaper too.