Let’s talk budget - Family of 4

Hello!

We are about to head on our first cruise (well we took one for our honeymoon 20 yrs ago) on 10/1 on the Breakaway.

I’m stressing about budget— I don’t want to use CC and have diligently been trying to save.

I have prepaid our gratuities and have the $280 for parking aside as well.

Also, we won’t be getting off in FL for excursions.

I have saved $2700. Ugh, tell me this will be enough? Two teenage boys, my husband will gamble with small budget...

I am thinking of buying the dining plan, 2 jet skis and Mejia Day Pass. Our friends rented private cabana in GSC. I’m also bringing my own snorkel gear.

What’s your opinion, do you think it’ll work?

Jeez I’m stressing so bad - hurricane, money, sick Mom...

Tia for any advice. Snarky comments NOT needed.

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Do you have the beverage plan as a promo? If you are worried about budget, maybe skip the dining plan. On our Getaway cruise (our first) we found the food in the dining rooms and OSheehans to be all we needed.

Do you have the beverage plan as a promo? If you are worried about budget, maybe skip the dining plan. On our Getaway cruise (our first) we found the food in the dining rooms and OSheehans to be all we needed.

Yes! Definitely got the beverage plan! Need that for sure!

I was thinking of skipping the dinner plan..

What about the Cirque show? Worth it?

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If the money you have saved is just for on board expenses, you have plenty! We are a family of 4 and have sailed this cruise with less than $300 in on board expenses, excluding the daily service charge.

I agree, if this is your first cruise you don't need the dining plan. There is lots of variety in the main dining rooms as well as the buffet and O'Sheehans.

The ship has lots of things to keep active children busy. A word of caution, either disable spending on the children's cabin cards or watch their charges like a hawk (you can monitor account spending on your in cabin television). Arcade game charges add up fast.

I would also consider getting off the ship in Florida, there is inexpensive transportation to Cocoa Beach where you can play for free.

We've been on breakaway 3 times and done this itinerary 4 times so feel free to ask any questions.

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If the money you have saved is just for on board expenses' date=' you have plenty! We are a family of 4 and have sailed this cruise with less than $300 in on board expenses, excluding the daily service charge.

I agree, if this is your first cruise you don't need the dining plan. There is lots of variety in the main dining rooms as well as the buffet and O'Sheehans.

The ship has lots of things to keep active children busy. A word of caution, either disable spending on the children's cabin cards or watch their charges like a hawk (you can monitor account spending on your in cabin television). Arcade game charges add up fast.

I would also consider getting off the ship in Florida, there is inexpensive transportation to Cocoa Beach where you can play for free.

We've been on breakaway 3 times and done this itinerary 4 times so feel free to ask any questions.

 

 

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Budget is for entire cruise, I’ll leave some cash aside for Nassau and the resort day trip. Otherwise rest will be loaded.

 

Can I put a daily limit on their spending cards?

 

Did you kiddos like the kid programs? Entourage? My boys are 16 and 13 and my 16 yo doesn’t want to go!

 

Is Cirque worth it?

 

Let me think of more questions and I’ll back to you.

Did I tell you we are sharing a balcony stateroom! [emoji23]

 

 

 

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Wow! You have saved much more than we did when we sailed with our kids when they were teenagers! We went with the theory that the cruise was enough and maybe spent an additional $1000 for the week. We took local transportation, planned our own excursions and limited the kids in their spending lol. We didn't spend money on a bunch of souvenirs.

We bought the soda package (if they wanted it) and then let the kids spend $15 per day on whatever they wanted--if they wanted a virgin drink or play in the arcade or rent a movie in the room....they found plenty to eat and do without running up a bill. It can be done and you will have a great vacation without feeling deprived if you take advantage of the "free" things on board. If you want to spend money; they will take it too! Just depends on what experience you want. It was a great way to teach them to budget their money and be responsible for their own decisions....delayed gratification is not easy for a teen.

We never ate at the pay venues with the kids. We found the dining rooms to be just fine for us. We would play one game of bingo and share a card, played trivia or just hung out at the pool. It must have worked; as our kids are now grown and still want to cruise with us! :)

Should be plenty for the trip. I agree on the dining plan. Plenty of excellent food on board at no extra cost. Def watch the kids charges,, my son racked up $70 in arcade w/o being aware in about 40 min on his first trip. Make the 16yr old go at least to the first night activities in Entourage with the agreement that if he does not click/meet anyone to hang with he does not have to go back. Made my son go once,,, barely saw him the rest of the cruise as he had a group of kids his age to do things with. Last trip DH vetoed making him go, ,was still a nice trip but he did not have half as much fun hanging with the folks as he would have kids his age. On a ship that size he will meet someone if he goes that first night.

Have fun!

Wow! You have saved much more than we did when we sailed with our kids when they were teenagers! We went with the theory that the cruise was enough and maybe spent an additional $1000 for the week. We took local transportation, planned our own excursions and limited the kids in their spending lol. We didn't spend money on a bunch of souvenirs.

 

 

 

We bought the soda package (if they wanted it) and then let the kids spend $15 per day on whatever they wanted--if they wanted a virgin drink or play in the arcade or rent a movie in the room....they found plenty to eat and do without running up a bill. It can be done and you will have a great vacation without feeling deprived if you take advantage of the "free" things on board. If you want to spend money; they will take it too! Just depends on what experience you want. It was a great way to teach them to budget their money and be responsible for their own decisions....delayed gratification is not easy for a teen.

 

 

 

We never ate at the pay venues with the kids. We found the dining rooms to be just fine for us. We would play one game of bingo and share a card, played trivia or just hung out at the pool. It must have worked; as our kids are now grown and still want to cruise with us! :)

This response has made my day!

Actually all of you have! Thank you!

I will take these tips and use them.

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What about the Cirque show? Worth it?

 

 

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In my opinion the Cirque show was very good, but not a "must see". Plenty of other good entertainment on board for free.

Did you kiddos like the kid programs? Entourage? My boys are 16 and 13 and my 16 yo doesn’t want to go!

I have 4 kiddos and we are going on their 3rd cruise in 3 years. They LOVE entourage and the friends they made there, when they first went, they had some issues with the "older" kids, but since they had their siblings they just ignored them and pretty soon others followed their lead and the "problem" kids settled down and all was well after the 2nd day. This cruise we are including my daughter's boyfriend, should be interesting as those 2 are adults now and my boys will be 17, 15 and 15 when we cruise. Lots for them to do on board. Our last cruise had a cake decorating contest, ceramic painting, and the kids got to play bingo for free, so one paying adult and the kids played free. One of their teen club friends won their family a free cruise. Scavenger hunt night was interesting.

Hope he has fun, and he has his brother with him, shop maybe that will help?

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I definitely agree with Stace894, have the boys go at least the first day, mine were 3 and 5 when they fist went and then 7 and 9 the second time, both loved it and couldn't wait to hang out with their friends in lieu of hanging with their parents. We are going in the Gem IN November and they can't wait for the kids area! As for Cirque, we did it on the breakaway and it was cool, kids enjoyed it (they were 7 and 9) I don't need to do it again but we never saw a show like that so wanted to spend the money to see it once.

Get off at coco beach and hop a cab and you can spend the day on the beach for cheap (if you want to get off the ship).

There are tons of things to do on the breakaway that are included - our kids lived the ropes course

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I agree about the Cirque dinner show. Food at all the dinner shows is okay at best IMO. We still love the dinner shows but we usually eat ahead of time or after. The Cirque show was good, but not on par with Cirque du Soleil. We sprang for the more expensive tickets because I wanted good seats, which they were, but not sure we would bother again the other seats seamed just fine. Arrive early to get good seating, good rule of thumb for pretty much all the shows.

Enjoy your cruise!

I guess you have to ask yourself why you're going on a cruise. If you enjoy eating and drinking, then get the respective plans.

If other things are more important to you, like the jet skis and cabana, etc, then go for that.

If you can afford it all then do that.

Personally, to conserve cash, we don't do the dining plan or drink alcohol. We didn't do the Cirque show either.

We do excursions because that's what we enjoy.

Hint...go to your roll call and see if there are any private excursions being planned. Usually these are cheaper than the ship's excursions.

If your $2700 for the entire cruise includes cruise fare, then that will be tight, IMO. If it doesn't include cruise fare, then you can "do it all".

I am a family of 3.I think we spent about $800 for a week on the Escape. We had the drink package so that helped. I think my son's arcade bill was $50? We limited the # of games per day and you can keep track of it. For excursions, we kept it simple, we took land tours of the islands, about $15-25 a person. We also did a beach day. We didn't feel the need to do huge excursions either. If $2700 is just for spending while ON the cruise, you should be fine.

If your $2700 for the entire cruise includes cruise fare, then that will be tight, IMO. If it doesn't include cruise fare, then you can "do it all".

Cruise

Gratuity

Parking — all paid for.

$2700 is what is left.

We have UBP.

Haven’t paid for excursions but thinking 2 jet skis at GSC and taxi to Melia for Day pass in Nassau. Friends we are traveling with booked private cabana on GSC.

I’m bringing our own snorkel gear.

After reading responses, will not do dining plan. May consider spa treatment for me instead ;)

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Cruise

Gratuity

Parking — all paid for.

 

$2700 is what is left.

 

We have UBP.

 

Haven’t paid for excursions but thinking 2 jet skis at GSC and taxi to Melia for Day pass in Nassau. Friends we are traveling with booked private cabana on GSC.

 

I’m bringing our own snorkel gear.

 

After reading responses, will not do dining plan. May consider spa treatment for me instead ;)

 

 

 

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We got the cabana and that was the best deal of the first cruise for us. Got I think 4 sets of snorkel gear and brought our own from home. Son and I were out and had a ray swim right under us. Loved the drinks and the lunch that came with our lunch. So nice to not have to worry about our seats being taken while out playing on the island.

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We've done this itinerary 5 times with our 5 kids, once on the BA. MAKE your kids go the first night, my kids ranged in age from 14 - 17 in entourage, and it had always been the highlight (meeting other teens). Our last cruise was in May, dd14 was just talking about how much she misses the kids she met (still keeps in touch with several of them). Dd21 and ds19 were too old, but there was a girl on the cruise that they met over 3 years ago on another cruise on the ship, and they enjoyed the young adult meets in Bliss together.

Uber to a beach in Florida, we rented double jet skis on GSC to save money, and brought our own snorkeling gear (giant sea turtles), we've been to Atlantis twice, Melia, Hilton, and RIU. I always allowed charging for my kids, $50 limit, they've never gone over (because they would be in trouble, and have to pay us back). Family dinners and some shows were mandatory, and we ate breakfast together most of the time, never lunch.

Dining - Your family will be very content with the 3 Main Dining Rooms (plus O'Sheehans & Shanghai's) without needing to pay extra for the specialties.

Cirque - We really enjoyed the Cirque show - it is entertaining and an enjoyable evening. The food is not that bad (salad, appetizer, steak & shrimp, & desert) and hits the spot. If you are trying to save, then skip it.

Kids/Teen Clubs

This summer went on Getaway (sister ship of Breakaway) with DDs 17 and 12 - both loved their respective clubs. This was their third cruise. Both have enjoyed the clubs on each cruise (different cruise lines) at each age.

Note - Entourage has more of the younger teens than the older (16 & 17) - but go on first meet-up night and they will find the kids in their age group. One they have friends they will hang with them (although not always in the Entourage club).

My DD12 loves Splash Academy, also met a bunch of friends. Although stayed in club during club hours, also had some freedom to go to other places on ship (with our knowledge)

For some of my thoughts on my last cruise regarding teens and tweens, below are some of the posts on my review thread:

Teenagersand Tweens

• 
  
• 18-21 Year Old Group - Page 7 – Post #s 137 and 139; also see Page 8, Post #143
  
• The Baltics and Teens/Tweens, In General - Page 6 – Post #s 102 & 103
  
• Rules (we gave them) - Page 6 – Post #109
  
• Splash Academy and Entourage Teen Clubs – Begins Page 7 – Post #125
  

We too are a family of four, we haven't been on Breakaway but will be soon. We've done Getaway though which is pretty much identical.

My two ten year olds LOVE splash. They were upset when we would take them out. As others have said, I'd make the older try it. I'm sure in many ways it sounds lame but there will be other kids there thinking the same thing. It's a hangout spot.

We did do pay for shows, we did Illusinarium and Teppanyaki on the Getaway and we have booked out Cirque and Teppanyaki again on this one. As well this time we have Moderno for Hubs & I. He's turning 40 on the ship and a few days before sailing is our 20 year anniversary. That total is $520 Canadian funds. It's probably within your budget if you wanted to do something extra.

Everyone's budget is different. But $2700 for a family of four would be a TON of money for us. Especially considering you are not paying for your drinks. The most my family of 4 has ever spent on a 7 day cruise (obviously after the cruise, airfare and transportation were already paid for) was $1500. But that included two heavy drinking adults with no beverage plan. We do limit our kids accounts to $50 each at the start and when that is gone we will add more. It just allows us to control their spending. We also do not tend to take expesive excursions as we are all just beach bums.

Everyone's budget is different. But $2700 for a family of four would be a TON of money for us. Especially considering you are not paying for your drinks. The most my family of 4 has ever spent on a 7 day cruise (obviously after the cruise, airfare and transportation were already paid for) was $1500. But that included two heavy drinking adults with no beverage plan. We do limit our kids accounts to $50 each at the start and when that is gone we will add more. It just allows us to control their spending. We also do not tend to take expesive excursions as we are all just beach bums.

Can we preload their accounts with a certain amount?

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Can we preload their accounts with a certain amount?

 

 

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Our first NCL cruise is coming up in 3 weeks. So I am not completely positive. But the other 3 lines we have cruised on you absolutely could. And we just use cash. Stop by the guest services desk and load them up $50 at a time. Like I said it just helps us keep control of the budget.

Seriously, if that is just your spending money, everything else is paid, that is a ton!!! It's a family of 3 for us, and I can't even comprehend spending 1,000. I am not even sure what all we would spend it on. There's really nothing on board we spend money on. The only thing we will spend money on is spending cash at each port. The excursions are all prepaid before boarding. So food/fun/souvenirs is really all we will spend. This is first cruise with DD, so we will have some games on there I am sure. Last time, I bought a pair of earrings on board, that was the only money spent, besides drink taxes, which is very minimal (and we drank a TON).

I wonder if my DD, 13, will want to do the teen club at all. I like the idea of asking her to go the first night. But it will be weird without communication. I may look into the cruiser to cruiser communication app.

Cut out the dining plan, 2 jet skis and Mejia Day Pass

Tell the boys not to gamble. Lots of money saved right there

Seriously, if that is just your spending money, everything else is paid, that is a ton!!! It's a family of 3 for us, and I can't even comprehend spending 1,000. I am not even sure what all we would spend it on. There's really nothing on board we spend money on. The only thing we will spend money on is spending cash at each port. The excursions are all prepaid before boarding. So food/fun/souvenirs is really all we will spend. This is first cruise with DD, so we will have some games on there I am sure. Last time, I bought a pair of earrings on board, that was the only money spent, besides drink taxes, which is very minimal (and we drank a TON).

 

I wonder if my DD, 13, will want to do the teen club at all. I like the idea of asking her to go the first night. But it will be weird without communication. I may look into the cruiser to cruiser communication app.

I have not booked excursions yet.

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