Are cruise trips cheaper than backpacking for millennials?

If you’re planning the backpacking trip of your dreams you’ve probably not considered a cruise as a travel plan. But what if we told you that you could save nearly $700 when booking a cruise around Fiji compared to traditional backpacking for the same route? Let us explain.

Cruises have earned themselves a reputation as a holiday choice favoured by over 45s. We decided to do a bit of research to find out why cruises don’t appeal to more young travellers, with unexpected results.

Looking at popular backpacking destinations for 18-25s, we gathered the cost of flights, transfers, hotels, food and cooking, activities and entertainment as well as the time taken to travel and then matched these with equivalent cruise itineraries.

The first route we looked at starts in Singapore, making its way down to Bali with a stop at Komodo Island before hitting a few of the Northern parts of Australia. The cost breakdown reveals that you could save $439 on this journey by taking the cruise option.