Is It Worth Renting a Cruise America? 🇺🇸

We're Cruising America! 🇺🇸 We rented a 25-foot cruise america to explore the Pacific Northwest. In this video, we give you a tour of the vehicle, including details about the Ford E350 truck. We cover both the inside and outside and finish up with our overall experience with the RV company. Hopefully, the video helps you decide if renting a Cruise America is right for you!
Highlights include: exterior, generator, garage, interior, propane tank, fresh water, gray water, black water, AC unit, heating unit, separate shoes and toilet, storage space, interior sleeping spaces
🎥Episode 15/ Filmed June 2023/ New Mexico, USA
00:00 Intro
00:37 Outside of vehicle
5:53 Inside of vehicle
16:40 Thoughts, concerns, and is it worth it?
19:01 Subscribe!
🌎We are Tracey and Imari. We are a West Texas based couple that loves the outdoors! We travel almost always with our Germam Shepard Bailey and cat Mojave. We enjoy hiking, camping, overlanding, and seeing new places! Having seen over 23 USA national parks, we are starting to go to new countries! Subscribe to stay up to date on the adventures!

[@jalo28]

This is a great video. Thanks for making it !!

[@TraceyandImari]

Thank you so much! We truly appreciate your kind words😊 If you want, check out some of our adventure videos!

[@jameshelm2847]

Thank you for this video. Something that others have suggested to me is after you hook up the sewage line to run the gray water for a few seconds first. This will give you the opportunity to see if there are any leaks before running the black water out of your holding tank. Then, after you finish emptying the black tank, finish emptying the gray tank. This adds an extra step, but I would rather have gray water spill out instead of black.

[@TraceyandImari]

Thank you for the comment! 😃 That is a really good idea, we will definitely implement that in the future!

[@cathyjones7590]

Great tour!😊

[@TraceyandImari]

Thank you! 😊

[@jimyoung8400]

The first motor home my wife and I bought was a refurbished Cruise America 28A. It was solid. Being our first time in a motor home, it was a great learning experience. We had a 28 ft travel trailer and now we are back to a 30 ft. Winnebago Outlook 31c. Seems we enjoy the class C’s more. Great video. Looking forward to seeing more.

[@TraceyandImari]

That's awesome! We heard that they sell their used RV's at great deals, and have thought about it! We would also probably enjoy a C a lot more than an A, they seem to get the job done, but go more places. Thanks for the comment! :)

[@user-qe6io2mm1l]

I rented a 30’ Cruise America. The longer one gives you a much better rear bedroom. It was a little run down. Total cost: $300/day.

[@TraceyandImari]

Thats great information! 300 a day isn't too bad considering it's a vehicle and sleeping space in one!

[@kevinmalloy2180]

Very helpful to me a first-timer in a few days. Thanks.

[@TraceyandImari]

We are so glad! Thanks for your comment! 😄

[@BernadetteStewart-fe5tm]

Great review! We are looking at renting with Cruise America and this was very helpful!

[@TraceyandImari]

Thank you so much! We are glad you found it helpful! 😀

[@firebird6522]

We went to Utah and saw a lot of these. As well as ones from El Monte.

[@TraceyandImari]

They seem to be very popular in the west! 🌵

[@caroljv33]

Answer: Nope. Do not rent with Cruise America. The contract they make you sign up front is a full “happiness” contract meaning you will have absolutely zero recourse when their horrible shoddy RV breaks down on you mid/trip as it did us. Our fault for not reading the fine print. The RV we picked up was filthy. It was the day before we had to drive from Michigan to Florida for my daughter’s wedding so I just rolled up my sleeves and cleaned it. We got to Atlanta and it simply broke down. They directed us a place to pick up another. Our ONLY option was a spider infested bust less filthy version we took out of desperation. Mid-way on that one we tried to use the bathroom and it began to spew water all over the floor upon flushing. Our plan was our family was going to sleep in the RV on the way to Florida. No can do without a toilet. Cruise America said fix it when you get to Florida ON OUR DIME. So of course we had to get hotel rooms. Once we got to Florida they wanted me to drive that heap miles to a repair shop. IT WAS MY DAUGHTER’S WEDDING. When we got back I wanted half my money back and when I tell you the obnoxious rude nasty way we were treated I can not begin to explain it. They gave us like a $100 discount. Thanks! And I will tell you, our experience was so harrowing our local newspaper did an article about our experience. They have no customer service, their vehicles are not maintained, the one that broke down had a squirrel’s nest in the engine, and they do not care about you the customer. Rent from private individuals. Never this company. Ever!

[@TraceyandImari]

Oh dang, your experience sounds like the polar opposite of ours. I wonder if there's a big difference depending on where your rent from! That sounds like a nightmare! We had a squeaky clean RV that ran beautifully, but it sounds like you had the worst experience 🙁

[@Donnaerobicover40Fitness]

Awesome video. I am renting one to see if I like the RV life to live in part time if I do like it I will purchase. Thank you for describing it and May 2024 I am along with my cocker spaniel renting that vehicle. Do you need to buy a shower crutain? I already bought sheet for a full size mattress. Thanks again I am excited..

[@TraceyandImari]

Thank you so much! ☺️ That's a great idea, that is exactly why we rented one... and we LOVED it! I love that your bringing your dog, they will have so much fun! It makes driving so much more comfortable. Ours came with a shower curtain, but we did need to bring our own bedding.

[@Donnaerobicover40Fitness]

@@TraceyandImari Thanks so much

[@heatherfeather1293]

I'll be traveling with a kitty too. Where did you guys put his litter box?

[@TraceyandImari]

That's awesome! We slid it under one of the bench seats and it stayed in place and out of sight. When we travel In our cars, however, we put it om the ground behind the passenger seat. She typically only uses it when we are not moving, so you may be able to store it in transit. I hope you enjoy your trip! :)

[@steve0758]

Me and my girlfriend want to rent one of the Rvs for a week for a trip what size did you guys find to be the best for extended trips I know cruise America have 4 or 5 different size rvs love your videos btw!

[@TraceyandImari]

We rented the 25 foot one, because they were out of the smaller size. Honestly, the smallest is probably fine for just the 2 of you, we had more than enough space in the 25 foot. We had an extra bed and extra cabinets that we never used, it would save gas going smaller too! Thank you for the positive comment:) ☺️ I'm glad you enjoy them. Where are y'all planning on going? We love hearing about travel endeavors ☺️

[@phonedude58]

Did you tow a vehicle with this RV?

[@jms60]

Thanks on Video I am get read rent one in Feb, 2024 Be our 1st too Me and Wife Now going Watch your Videos

[@TraceyandImari]

Thank you!:) That's exciting! Where are y'all headed? We appreciate the support, and appreciate it if you subscribed!:)

[@michaelklei6234]

spend a little bit more money to their competitors, for younger, lower milage and much better quality RV's

[@TraceyandImari]

Who are some of their competitors? We would love to check them out! 👀 Thanks for the comment!

[@michaelklei6234]

I unfortunatley don't know their US competitors. I visited the US last 24 years ago. I often rent RV's in Canada, where the same company operates as Cruise Canada. Cruise America/Cruise Canada is the same company. The business model is to have the cheapest rental rates in the market. To make that happen, Cruise America buys the cheapest vehicles they can get. Save $20-30,000 per vehicle. This means less equipment and poorer processing quality. In addition, the vehicles are rented out for much longer before they are retired. The competitors (in Canada) have the motorhomes in rental for 1-2 seasons, Cruise has them for 3, mostly 4 seasons in the rental before the motorhomes are replaced. The interior is correspondingly more worn and the mileage correspondingly higher when they resell their vehicles.

[@michaelklei6234]

@@TraceyandImari I found Road Bear RV, El Monte, Britz USA and Mighty Campers

[@TraceyandImari]

@@michaelklei6234 Thanks for the recommendations!

[@snuups]

Good video but a hefty lack of dog and cat footage!

[@TraceyandImari]

Lol, noted! They are included a LOT in the RV series tho! 👀

[@Donnaerobicover40Fitness]

Hi Did you buy any additional insurance?

[@TraceyandImari]

Hello! We utilized the best insurance through Cruise America. It was all included In the total price, and gave us peace of mind. Thanks for the question!🙂

[@ch11ew12y]

How much did it cost ?

[@TraceyandImari]

It was as $91 a night and $0.38 a mile, so it depends on how much you drive. For us, it was about the same price as renting a car and paying for hotels, but so much more fun!😊 😊😊

[@VineV-Dutch]

If you're alone, or with 2, a car is cheaper. Less fuel, you've gotta pay the camper place anyway, so the hotel saving is not that much, the best is: rental car has unlimited miles. At 0,38, the mileage costs can be an unpleasant surprise at the end of the holiday. Also: parking garage, manoeuvrability is better in busy city with a car. So only if you drive not that many miles, or go with a family, consider an RV. With 2 adults, or single parent with a kid, go for the car and buy a cooler you can run off the car battery in the rental for cheaper meals. Making your own sandwich. Ice is not that expensive. Cooler you can get at your turo address sometimes, or buy a cheap one at Walmart. Make sure you have an usb or 12v for the cooler in the car though... Also, the cars are much cheaper on gas, about 3x cheaper. Get loyalty program hotel deals...

[@TraceyandImari]

@VineV-Dutch Thanks for your comment! The mileage is definitely not great with an RV, and it definitely depends on where you stay etc. We actually were SUPER surprised we had no issues with pakring. However, we avoided big cities. We saw a bunch of national parks during non-peak season, so that was great. If we went when they were packed, it would probably be difficult. There are pros and cons to both for sure! Thank you for your take on it! :)