How Vika verifies travel costs
Every number on this site got checked before it got published. Not "checked" in the vague marketing sense — actually opened up, compared against the cruise line's or resort's own published rate, and stamped with the date it was verified. This page explains how that works, because a site whose whole promise is "Clear costs. More fun. Less work." should be able to show its math.
Who does the checking
Me — Jenna Howard, travel advisor and founder of Vika Travel Society, affiliated with the host agency Atlas Coast Travel Group. There's no content team, no outsourced spreadsheet farm, and no intern named Chad inventing drink package prices at 2 a.m. When a guide on this site says a rate was verified, I'm the one who pulled up the source and read it.
What gets checked — and what "primary source" means
A primary source is the cruise line's or resort's own published page, fare document, or policy — the number from the horse's mouth. Not another blog's summary of it, not a screenshot from a forum post in 2023, not a "roughly" copied from a listicle that copied it from somewhere else.
Checked against primary sources before publication:
- Cruise add-ons — gratuities, drink packages, Wi-Fi plans. Example: Carnival's daily gratuities ($17/day, in effect since April 2, 2026) and the CHEERS! package ($69.95/day booked pre-cruise, $83.94/day once the 20% service charge is added) come straight from Carnival's published rates.
- Taxes — port and government taxes on cruises, and resort tax stacks on land stays. Punta Cana's combined tax stack runs about 28% on top of the room rate, which is exactly the kind of line item that never makes it into the headline price.
- Resort fees and mandatory charges — the per-night extras that show up at checkout like they were invited.
- Excursions and transfers — supplier-published pricing for tours, shuttles, and port-day logistics, checked against the supplier, not a reseller's markup.
Cruise lines are extremely creative about advertising the smallest number legally available and letting the rest ambush you later. Checking the source is how the ambush gets documented instead.
The dates are earned, not decorative
Every rate table on this site carries a "rates verified [month year]" stamp, and each table shows the date it was last checked. Those dates follow one strict rule: a date only changes when the numbers were actually re-checked and something materially changed. Bumping a date to make a page look fresh without re-doing the work is the publishing equivalent of moving the "sell by" sticker — it looks better and means nothing.
Two standing habits keep the tables current:
- A January refresh of every dated rate table (gratuities, drink packages, Wi-Fi, taxes), re-verified against the sources for the new year.
- Same-week updates when a cruise line or resort announces a rate change, noted inline on the page so you can see what moved.
When a number is an estimate, it says so
Some figures on this site are quoted rates. Others are modeled — a full-trip cost built piece by piece from a real fare plus its real taxes, fees, gratuities, and transfers. When a number is modeled, the page says so and shows the components, so you can swap in your own dates, cabin, or resort and rebuild it. Nothing modeled is ever dressed up as a quote.
One more honesty note: supplier and agent-portal rates can differ from public rates, in both directions. A guide here is a planning tool — it tells you what a trip should cost and where the traps are. A final quote comes from a live booking check for your actual dates, and that's always free to ask for.
Spotted a stale number? Tell me.
Rates change faster than any one person can patrol, so readers are part of the system. If you find a number on this site that doesn't match what a cruise line or resort is currently publishing, send it through the inquiry form or email hello@vikatravelsociety.com with what you found and where. Verified corrections get made promptly, and the page gets its new checked date — earned the proper way, by re-checking.
What Vika doesn't do
- No invented "typical savings." If a comparison shows a cheaper path, the numbers behind it are on the page. There is no statistic here that exists because it sounded good in a headline.
- No experience claims I haven't earned. I don't write first-person reviews of ships or resorts I haven't been on. Where a guide covers somewhere I haven't personally traveled, it's built from published sources and operator details, and it reads that way.
- No pay-for-placement rankings. Suppliers don't pay to be ranked, recommended, or described kindly. If a resort wins a comparison on this site, it won on the math.
Frequently asked questions
How often are the rates on this site re-checked?
Every dated rate table gets a full re-verification each January, plus same-week updates whenever a cruise line or resort announces a change. Each table shows its own last-checked date.
Why do your numbers sometimes differ from the cruise line's advertised price?
Because the advertised price is usually the fare alone. The numbers here fold in the mandatory extras — taxes, gratuities, fees — so the total you see is closer to the total you'll actually pay.
Is a cost guide the same as a quote?
No. A guide is a planning tool built from published rates and, where noted, clearly labeled estimates. A quote comes from a live check of your specific dates, cabin or room, and travelers — ask through the inquiry form and I'll run one.
What happens if you get a number wrong?
It gets corrected, the source gets re-checked, and the page's checked date updates to reflect the new verification. If you spotted it, you get the credit in my inbox and my gratitude in writing.