No extras allowed: Can a bargain cruise be fun if you stick to the ticket price?

The Dallas Morning News (MCT) - ABOARD THE CARNIVAL ECSTASY _ My mission, and I chose to accept it, was to see whether it's possible to get a bargain cruise fare and have a good time without doubling it by spending on extras.

Cruises are sold as all-inclusive holidays: cabin, food and many activities are part of the price.

But are they really all-inclusive?

To find out, my companion and I booked an inside, lower-deck cabin on the Carnival Ecstasy out of Galveston, and I committed myself to finding free fun on the Fun Ship.

That means no $7 alcohol-laced frozen drinks. No Carnival-sponsored shore excursions. No $20 bingo games.

My companion wasn't bound to my rules. She was free to spend her money as she wished.

We boarded the Ecstasy on a Thursday afternoon and were instantly tempted to spend money. A few feet away, hordes of passengers _ seemingly unable to drop their luggage at their rooms first _ clustered around the Lobby Bar.

They gulped blue drinks and beers that cost nearly $5 a bottle.

With prices that steep, I had to keep on walking.

My companion and I made our way down several flights of stairs covered in multicolored carpet that needed to be vacuumed. Our low-priced cabin was halfway down a narrow hallway on the bottom floor that smelled like _ was it cigarettes?

We opened the door and discovered exactly what a cabin costing $400 per person offers.

The windowless room had a bunk bed, a decent-size television, enough closet space for our five-day cruise and a bathroom lined with bright blue plastic. A tray on the desk offered Coca-Cola in cans ($1.50) and a one-liter bottle of water ($3.75).

"Not bad," my companion said after surveying our tiny living quarters.

An outside cabin with a window could have been booked for about $50 to $100 more. But we had expansive views of the indigo Gulf of Mexico on the boat's top decks, so we didn't mind a windowless room.

After we put down our luggage, we went up to the lido deck, where the pool, water slide and grill are located. We made our way to the ship's bow and squeezed between other passengers as the ship inched into the gulf.

The wind swept our faces, and we watched as Galveston and oil tankers faded into the distance.

There's a reason Carnival calls its fleet Fun Ships. These ships are intended for vacationers who want nonstop activity. From 9 in the morning until way beyond midnight, the cruise offers many free activities and entertainment.

One of the ship's biggest attractions was the casino. Cruise passengers flocked there each morning, and it remained crammed day and night. Jackpots up for grabs included a BMW, $5,000 in cash or a free cruise.

Almost every time my companion and I walked past the neon-lit casino, we passed the same Houston couple seemingly glued to a poker table. Night, day, sunny, cloudy _ it didn't matter. Some days, they were bleeding chips. Other days, their chips were divided into heaping stacks.

Toward the end of the trip, we asked them how they had fared in poker. Almost even, they said.

Given the amount of time they spent at the table, my companion and I wondered what their definition of breaking even was.

Beyond gambling and bingo, most activities were free. But whatever the event, waiters tried to sell us alcohol.

My companion sometimes bought a drink and offered to get me something.

"No thanks," I kept repeating. Until we witnessed the first karaoke.

The first singer (and I use that term lightly) struggled through her tears to finish the third verse of "Wind Beneath My Wings." She stood alone on stage and sobbed uncontrollably into the microphone. The music continued to play, and lyrics bounced across the screen.

She continued to cry. Her boyfriend finally came on stage, wrapped his arms around her and helped her finish singing the song.

I nudged my companion.

"I'll take a gin and soda, please."

In addition to passenger-produced diversions such as karaoke, the ship's entertainment crew put on a dancing or singing performance nightly.

We attended the second night's musical that staff members promised would be a Broadway-like show. From the theater's upper deck, we watched the dancers twirl and sing to a musical about 20th-century events. Passengers roared in approval at each act's conclusion.

My companion and I quietly left after a few acts. We found walking along the top deck, staring out at the gulf and up at the bright stars to be more entertaining.

Many cruise liners offer dining options that cost extra. Perhaps an extra $20 or so per person can buy a meal superior to what's served at the standard restaurant.

Not on Carnival.

All food other than cake slices and cookies at the coffee shop was included in the ticket price.

Most passengers ate lunch near the top deck's pool, a large area where passengers can lie on lounges under the sun and snake down the water slide.

The food options on the deck were as expected at a restaurant called the Grill: burgers, hot dogs, chicken fingers and french fries.

My companion and I enjoyed the crunch of thick-battered chicken fingers and deep-fried onion rings.

We swigged free iced teas and tried to avoid the boat's tap water, which had a chemical aftertaste.

The Grill served breakfast, lunch and dinner and even stayed open until 4 a.m., offering pizza to satisfy late-night munchies.

The dinners at night were more formal. Instead of ripped tank tops or swimwear, passengers wore khaki pants, blouses and collared shirts.

We sat at our designated spot, table 233, every night. We could see the gulf through large circular windows. And we got to know an older married couple from Fairfield, Texas, fairly well.

The dining servers also tried to get to know the passengers, at least what type of drinks they liked.

"Matthew, would you like an iced tea tonight?" our waitress asked me at dinners after the first night.

The food at dinner tasted considerably better than at lunch. My companion and I had Caesar salads for appetizers.

Entrees changed regularly and included lobster, salmon, steak and baked potatoes. We found the vegetarian dishes such as eggplant parmigiana the tastiest. But no matter what we ordered, our plates usually were spotless at meal's end.

On the night before we returned to Galveston, my companion and I went to the main level to pay the bill.

My companion, who wasn't part of my tightwad experiment, was handed a bill for about $240, which didn't include mandatory tips of $40 per passenger ($10 per day).

"I couldn't imagine how much other people's bills are," my companion remarked after reviewing her bill.

I completed the cruise spending no extra money. No $22 photographs of us at dinner. No $70-per-person excursions in Progreso, Mexico. And only $1 lost in a slot machine.

Yet, as we stepped off the cruise in Galveston, we knew we'd had an incredible time that probably no other passenger experienced.

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WAYS TO SAVE

_Take plenty of bottled water and soft drinks.

_Take sunscreen. (A small bottle at the gift shop costs about $12.)

_Plan independent shore excursions.

_Pack travel books for reference in case weather changes the destination.

_Avoid buying alcoholic drinks.

_Take a camera.

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IF YOU GO:

SAILINGS FROM TEXAS: Carnival offers four- and five-day trips departing from the Texas coast all year. Royal Caribbean International, which has a reputation for a more subdued atmosphere onboard, offers seven-night cruises from the Texas coast December to April. Cruise prices vary by season, line and trip length.

Damage from Hurricane Ike has closed Port of Galveston's cruise terminal indefinitely. Carnival now departs and returns from Houston's Baytown Cruise Terminal. Parking at Baytown costs $10 per day.

RESOURCES:

_Carnival Cruise Lines: www.carnival.com.

_Royal Caribbean International: www.royalcaribbean.com.

_A cruise-knowledgeable travel agent can help you choose a cruise to fit your vacation style.

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Matthew Haag: mhaag@dallasnews.com

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© 2008, The Dallas Morning News.