Dave Ramsey Cruise Pricing: $4,115 Interior Room, Massive Upsells & Credit Cards Accepted at Checkout
Justin Vacula of the Hurdy Gurdy Travel Podcast records an impromptu reaction to Dave Ramsey promoting a seven-day Western Caribbean “debt-free celebration” cruise for 2,500 fans. Justin discusses the contrast between Ramsey’s usual frugality, anti-debt, and anti-credit-card messaging and the high price of the Dave Ramsey cruise.
He compares the Ramsey cruise pricing with his own low-cost cruise strategies, including comp cruise offers through casino status, credit card rewards, and MyVegas comp rewards. While attempting a booking, Justin finds that the cheapest interior stateroom totals about $4,115 after applying a $100 promo code.
He also reviews the cruise’s optional add-ons and upsells, including “signature service,” photo opportunities, lunch and dinner with Dave Ramsey, and a $2,000 EntreLeadership session. Justin also highlights what he sees as one of the funniest contradictions: the partner booking site recommends credit cards and accepts credit cards at checkout through Stripe, despite Dave Ramsey’s long-running criticism of credit cards.
Timestamps
00:00 Ramsey Cruise Pitch
00:47 Frugal Guru Contradiction
03:03 Cheap Cruising Hacks
04:12 MyVegas Reward Cruises
05:52 Booking Price Reality Check
06:52 Add-On Upsells Breakdown
11:57 Checkout Sticker Shock
14:25 Credit Cards Accepted Proof
15:20 Final Verdict And Sign Off
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Rough Transcript:
Travel at low cost with points and miles. Credit card rewards bring the smiles. Many adventures, tales to be told. Make and save money, the world will unfold
Fight the war on happiness, pick up the gold. Hurdy Gurdy Travel Podcast breaks the mold Justin Vacula here with the Hurdy Gurdy Travel Podcast.
A fun video today, impromptu recording responding to Dave Ramsey, who’s been promoting a cruise. I’ve been seeing many of these advertisements in Facebook. This is on ramseysolutions.com, direct site following the link. This is a seven-day Western Caribbean cruise, your debt-free celebration.
Join Dave and 2,500 Ramsey people on the Live Like No One Else [00:01:00] cruise. It’s interesting to see Dave promoting a cruise, as he’s often talking about having a frugal life, not having all these unnecessary expenses. He’s lamenting credit. He’s lamenting auto loans. He’s lamenting so much. Have your rice and beans.
Don’t see the inside of a restaurant if you have any debt, and so much more. But here he is promoting a cruise. Set sail with Dave Ramsey. Join 2,500 Dave Ramsey people. If you’re on Baby Steps 4 through 7 and living like no one else, come celebrate. And if you’re still ditching debt, stay Gazelle Intense.
We’ll see you on board soon. How much might this cruise cost? I’ve gone on several cruises and paid next to nothing because I use credit cards responsibly and intelligently. I get cruise offers because I gamble responsibly and intelligently, playing video poker, usually with a small house edge, but I’m getting a lot of return offers from Celebrity and Royal Caribbean.
But in the Dave Ramsey world, all gambling is [00:02:00] terrible. It’s a portal to hell. He never talks about doing things intelligently and responsibly. Credit cards are all bad according to Dave Ramsey, even though you can be a responsible adult, not overspend, not pay interest. But we won’t hear any of this from Dave Ramsey.
Instead, go on this cruise. Spend this money. You can get $100 off when booking online, a free cabin upgrade, an extra $50 off per passenger. And this is July 5th I’m recording, and there’s a new promo code, FREEDOM, at checkout. We’ll put that at checkout and see what this is. I’ve looked through, see the terms and conditions of this promotion.
And on the website, surprise, surprise, you can use a credit card at checkout Caribbean cruise, live like no one else. Cruise with Dave Ramsey. Using your credit card for large purchases gives you more protection for the items you buy on your trip, and you can review your credit card statement to verify all your purchases.
Oh, as you [00:03:00] plan for your upcoming Christian cruise with Inspiration, you may wonder about using money and credit cards during your travels. We’ve made the following recommendations to help you save money and avoid unnecessary fees so you can focus on an exceptional travel experience. This is right on the website for the Dave Ramsey cruise.
He’s partnered with this Christian group called Inspiration or Inspiration Travel, and they’re saying to use credit cards, and you could also use a credit card to pay for the cruise. How about that? Given Dave Ramsey’s anti-credit card stances, but hey, if you wanna cruise with Dave Ramsey, we’ll take your credit card.
That’s no problem. And just for proof, this is a recent cruise I took with Virgin Voyages. This was a comp offer from Ocean Casino in Atlantic City. I showed a player’s card from a different competing casino. I had status through credit card spending on MGM credit cards, again, using credit responsibly, intelligently, not paying interest, something you’ll never hear on the Dave Ramsey show, and I got this offer.
Fare breakdown for the [00:04:00] cruise, $197. Look at that. Zero dollar voyage fare. Prepaid service gratuities, I didn’t do that. Maybe it was about 80 or $100 after, no big deal. $64, 133 port fees. So this was about $200. Let’s say about 100 in gratuities. I paid $300 for a Virgin Voyages cruise, one of the better cruise companies, and had a great time on this six-day cruise, or maybe five full days.
It was Miami to Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic, Beach Club at Bimini, Bahamas. I paid, let’s say, $300. Even to be generous or conservative, I’ll say pay $400 for a cruise. Many other ways to get cruises as well. You can play the MyVegas games online. These are free-to-play games that you can play on Facebook or mobile devices.
I have many videos detailing how to play these games. There are some ads. You can click [00:05:00] off the ads. You don’t need to spend any money to play these games. They want you to spend money, but you don’t need to. You can go into the rewards tab and see various offers for cruises. This changes day to day, but you can spend very little.
We have Norwegian. This is a 600 off, 400 off, 200 off
a $1,200 special rate with Virgin Voyages, $1,400 special rate, $1,000 special rate with Virgin Voyages, and we have complimentary cruises. Here is a four-night Juju Cruise, Royal Caribbean We have a lot of four-night cruises. Seoul, South Korea. Four-night Okinawa, four-night Busan, and it goes on.
Some of these are sold out. These are the longer cruises. Here’s a nine-night Best of Japan, eight-night Best of Asia, and these are all complimentary. We can look. This one’s sold out unfortunately, but they do come back in stock, and we see different offers. Here’s cruise for two, [00:06:00] eight-night Japan and South Korea, 2027.
Sold out at the moment, but when it comes back in stock, you can get these. And we saw that some of the four-nighters were available, but this is an eight-night cruise that’s comped. These are just some ways to cruise at low cost. Many other ways by matching offers, matching casino statuses.
Without losing money at gambling, or without losing much, we can do much better than what Dave Ramsey is offering. So let’s go ahead and try to book and see how much Dave Ramsey wants for us to cruise. This says now 65% sold ocean view stateroom. This is the cheapest one, starting at $2,605. But when we get to checkout, it’s going to be a lot more than that.
We have interior stateroom. This was sold out the other day, but to be fair, we’ll just go to interior, which is one of the cheaper. I’m not sure if it’s actually going to show us that they’re available unless they added more rooms. But let’s just go with one traveler and see what happens for the Dave Ramsey [00:07:00] cruise.
Free cabin upgrades allegedly. We’ll see the interior stateroom starting at 2,105. See, that one’s waitlisted, so it’s not actually starting at 2,105. This goes up to 2,245. Okay, deck six, 6,202, 6202. Interior stateroom. This is the lowest quality room that you can get. Let’s see. Signature service travel in exclusive class of luxury. Enjoy an exceptional experience with our signature service option of unique privileges and amenities, including personal transfer to and from the airport or hotel to pier, cruise embarkation assistance, expedited lu- luggage service, special gifts, leather luggage tag, custom tote bag, and a quick-dry beach towel.
$698, really? How much can a transfer really cost? Maybe $50? So they’re charging $700, and this is the company that Dave Ramsey has [00:08:00] partnered with. Oh, a branded luggage tag, a tote bag. Okay, these are very small gifts. Let’s say a leather luggage tag may be about $10 value, a tote bag may be about 20 bucks, and a towel for about $10, but they’re charging $700.
Dave Ramsey has signed onto this I think a rip-off there. Preferred package, photo op with Dave and the Ramsey Personalities, reserved seating at evening events, and exclusive Ramsey Cruise merchandise. See more details below. Okay, it’s just saying the same thing. Happy hour with Ramsey Personalities, $800, starting at $800 per traveler.
VIP package, lunch with Dave. Includes all preferred package benefits plus exclusive VIP upgrades. A private lunch with Dave. Well, is that just a one-on-one lunch, a private lunch? I doubt it will just be one-on-one. It’s probably just the people who buy the package. Best seats for main stage events. I haven’t found too much benefit of that when I’ve been going on [00:09:00] cruises.
There’d always be open seats. That’s my experience. First to board access, not a big deal. I would even get to cruises early, and I would still be able to board. Ground transportation and more. Okay, the transportation to and from maybe $100 worth of value. So for a lunch with Dave and a photo op with Dave, a happy hour, that’s starting at $1,500.
So we’re jacking up the price $700 for the lunch, $800 for the photo, $700 for the lunch with Dave. Really? Is Dave drawing $700, $800 for a photo and a lunch? I guess so, or at least he’s trying. Oh, we can get a dinner with Dave, $1,500 per traveler. Includes preferred package benefits plus a private dinner with Dave.
And then we have the ground transportation and more. So you can spend $3,000 if you want lunch and dinner with Dave. Ooh, here we go, [00:10:00] $2,000, EntreLeadership at Sea. Be one of only 50 people to join Ramsey’s Executive Director of EntreLeadership Coaching, John Felkins, for time dedicated to investing in your business.
Will they be talking about using credit cards responsibly to grow your business and to make more money? I doubt it, but they’ll take your credit card to pay for the cruise. And the $1,500 for dinner, $1,500 for lunch as well. Hear live teachings on how to grow yourself and your team, tackle your biggest obstacles, and build unstoppable momentum for the long haul.
Plus, ask your personal questions during a live Q&A with Dave Ramsey. $2,000. I’ve gone to many conferences. The tickets for a whole conference weekend, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, would typically be around 200, $300, even less than that. So $2,000 on top of you’re paying for the cruise. Perhaps you’re paying $1,500 for lunch or dinner, maybe both, for another 3,000.
So if you want lunch, dinner, and the leadership [00:11:00] session, we’re talking 5K there, including the ground transportation, to be fair. But maybe that’s only valued at $100. Money and Marriage at Sea.
Join Dr. John Delaney and Rachel Cruze for a special full-day session designed to help you build a stronger, more intimate marriage. Hear practical thinkings on topics like communication and intimacy, and get honest answers to your personal questions for live Q&A. That’s $200. Okay, better than $2,000, and certainly better than $1,500 for lunch or dinner, but still 200 bucks, eh.
Okay, Maneet Chauhan dinner, 5:00 PM, no wine pairing, so you don’t get the wine. Join us for a multi-course dinner featuring Food Network star Maneet Chauhan, I’m probably saying that wrong, showcasing her distinctive bold flavors and creative culinary techniques. That’s interesting, $90 per traveler, but the buffet is very likely included.
The main dining room is very likely included, so very out of brand for Dave to ask you to pay an additional [00:12:00] $90 for dinner and not even give you wine. Funny that it says no wine pairing. We have the wine pairing is $120 per traveler, so 30 more for wine if you want wine, even though you can go to the casino and probably drink for free, but Dave probably won’t talk about that.
And you can just drink water, lemonade, coffee, and other things that are almost certainly free on the cruise. Very much off the Dave Ramsey brand to ask you to pay $30 for wine or an extra $90 for a specialty dinner.
We’ll skip the add-ons and see what we can get to at checkout.
It’s having us make an account or continue as guest to see the price. We can’t even get to the price. But I’m seeing here we’re at $3,940 for the interior stateroom. It was advertised at a lesser rate, but then when we get to the checkout, $3,940. Very interesting.
I filled out the information. I used a bogus email. It said that an account already exists with that email, so even though [00:13:00] I didn’t buy a cruise, of course, I was checking the rates the other day, they’re creating accounts for you even though you haven’t paid anything, you haven’t signed up, you’re just trying to get to checkout.
We’re up to $4,115 for an interior stateroom to cruise with Dave Ramsey. Final payment $3,515 due by December 3rd, 2026. We’ll try to enter the promo code and see what happens. Promo code freedom is the new code, and we’re going down $100 it looks like. Cabin upgrade applied on final invoice, although I’m still seeing interior stateroom.
They did open more of the interiors. Before it was ocean view, and we were over $5,000. But even at the interior stateroom, it says cabin upgrade applied, but I still see interior, but we’re still asking for more than $4,000, no add-ons, nothing. But of course, if we were to add the dinners, add the photo [00:14:00] op with Dave Ramsey, the lunches, the wine, all this other stuff, then we’re getting a lot more.
We’re easily getting over $5,000 to cruise with Dave Ramsey compared to my plan of cruising for $200 or a little bit more after the gratuities and maybe some incidental expenses. But I’m liking my plan of using credit cards intelligently and responsibly, having discipline, something that Dave Ramsey never talks about.
Instead of spending more than $4,000 to cruise with Dave Ramsey
$2,000 for the Leadership at Sea, $1,500 for the dinner with Dave or the lunch with Dave, and the preferred package, which to me looks like a massive rip-off, starting at $800, or the signature service for almost $700 for a towel, a luggage tag, transportation, priority boarding, ooh, assistance, ooh.
Yes, this is who Dave [00:15:00] Ramsey chooses to partner with, Inspiration Travel, who once again says, “Using your credit card for large purchases gives you more protection for the items you buy on your trip, and you can review your credit card statement to verify all of your purchases.” They’re talking about credit cards on their website, something that Dave Ramsey claims he’s against.
But if you were to try to check out that they’ll be taking credit card at checkout. We’ll just prove it to you here. And there we are. Card at checkout. Uh-oh, credit card acceptable at checkout. Dave Ramsey against credit cards. We can see this is powered by Stripe and uh-oh, credit cards accepted at checkout.
Dave Ramsey, $4,115 for an interior room, allegedly a cabin upgrade, but I don’t see that on the final invoice as they say. So listeners, would you pay $4,115 for an interior room with Dave [00:16:00] Ramsey? Or how about $197 to cruise with Virgin Voyages using credit cards responsibly, being an adult, having discipline?
But Dave Ramsey wants you to spend $4,000 to live like no one else. I like my plan better. Justin Vacula here with the Hurdy Gurdy Travel Podcast, signing off.
Travel at low cost with points and miles. Credit card rewards bring the smiles. Many adventures, tales to be told. Make and save money, the world will unfold
Fight the war on happiness, pick up the gold. Hurdy Gurdy Travel Podcast breaks the mold