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megann831
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What is your budget for a family of 5? I was thinking $5000 would be reasonable but I’m having no luck. I need 1 balcony 1 inside leaving from the north east during a school break, so I know I’ll be traveling at peak times

 

 

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One thing to do is VERY closely follow Southwest Airlines about 8 months before you want to travel. On the morning they release rates, you can get amazing deals! We are flying from Nashville to Fort Lauderdale round trip for $150pp! I snagged them within 2 hours of the rate release (happens in morning). That alone saved our family of 4 almost $1000.

 

Secondly, if you can take kids out of school, book in May or September on Carnival. The rates are much cheaper and both are great times to cruise if you can be a little flexible (hurricaine season).

 

Our cruise (in 3 weeks, family of 4) budget is the following. Please know we cruise for the ports and excursions, so that part of our budget is higher than many.

 

1. Cruise with tips $2700

2. Flights $600

3. Airport parking $100

4. Shore Excursions with tips $1800

5. Airport Shuttles $150

6. Specialty Dining $220

 

$5570 total...so maybe $6000 after a few drinks and all.

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One thing to do is VERY closely follow Southwest Airlines about 8 months before you want to travel. On the morning they release rates, you can get amazing deals! We are flying from Nashville to Fort Lauderdale round trip for $150pp! I snagged them within 2 hours of the rate release (happens in morning). That alone saved our family of 4 almost $1000.

 

Secondly, if you can take kids out of school, book in May or September on Carnival. The rates are much cheaper and both are great times to cruise if you can be a little flexible (hurricaine season).

 

Our cruise (in 3 weeks, family of 4) budget is the following. Please know we cruise for the ports and excursions, so that part of our budget is higher than many.

 

1. Cruise with tips $2700

2. Flights $600

3. Airport parking $100

4. Shore Excursions with tips $1800

5. Airport Shuttles $150

6. Specialty Dining $220

 

$5570 total...so maybe $6000 after a few drinks and all.

 

Not bad! for family of 4 in 3 weeks, this'd also the expense I'd expect.

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It really depends upon what you are looking for. And when in the school break, seems to me three or four breaks a year. Also do you want to travel out of the North East or fly south and cruise? If you are talking about November through February and traveling from a NE port then the balcony cabin is maybe not needed. Four out of seven days will be in colder weather and the balcony will really be unusable. Maybe a ocean view cabin is a better option?

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This is going to be a very personal thing. If you are talking the peak weeks, you are going to pay a huge premium - but you also pay a premium for say sailing from Baltimore, and pay a price in vacation quality because it isn't warm until you get to FL.

 

Carnival is generally the cheapest and comparing sailing from Baltimore vs Miami for a week, it is about $200 more pp to sail from Baltimore. I don't know what airport you are near, but for $200 pp you may be able to fly to FL and have a more enjoyable trip because it is warm the entire week. But those week, you can assume $2000 for the balcony and $1500 for the interior from FL. And if you are looking at this April $800 more to go out of Baltimore. Thus, you might as well fly, with the only additional expense being a hotel for the night - but you made need this as well, depending on where you are driving from. So under 5K for the trip itself, including either parking or ubers.

 

If you want Cheers, add in $850 (or $7.50 per day per person if you want soda but it is easy enough to carry on); a single drink will run you about $11-12 including tip.

Then - what shore excursions do you want to do? On average, they run about $75 pp for a trip.

 

If you are just going to walk to free beaches, and aren't going to drink or spend money on the ship, 5K will work budget wise. It's all a matter of the extras you want to add on.

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Wow you guys are getting great deals! I’m a teacher so taking a week off is not an option and just a personal preference but neither is an ocean view or inside

 

 

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That is the costs you would expect in September - when the poster is traveling. That is one of the cheaper times to travel. April spring breaks, summer, Thanksgiving and Christmas/NYE weeks pay as much as 2x premium.

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Wow you guys are getting great deals! I’m a teacher so taking a week off is not an option and just a personal preference but neither is an ocean view or inside

 

 

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In that case, you are looking at around $8000 for your desires/needs...just the reality.

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That is the costs you would expect in September - when the poster is traveling. That is one of the cheaper times to travel. April spring breaks, summer, Thanksgiving and Christmas/NYE weeks pay as much as 2x premium.

 

We LOVE it for the weather and less kid-crowding too!!! We did a spring break 5 day this year., as it's all my work schedule would allow. It was truly the only cruise we've ever done that we disliked. Rowdy kids everywhere, pools way too cold to swim in so kids took over hot tubs, ocean choppy and not nearly as beautiful as "normal," lots of drunk college kids, etc. Outside of maybe flying to San Juan and leaving from there (which we've done twice and loved), there's no way we will ever cruise in March/April again!

 

Summer time is fine for weather. As our kids age, that will be our only available opportunities...but we will just budget accordingly. Our average excursion is $100/pp and for now, my kids are half price on 2 of them. In the future, we will need around $2500 for a week's worth of excursions (we do all private).

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Wow you guys are getting great deals! I’m a teacher so taking a week off is not an option and just a personal preference but neither is an ocean view or inside

 

 

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I am not a teacher, but a lot of us have school aged kids, so we are limited to school breaks as well.

We cannot cruise in the summer, so we are limited to spring break, Thanksgiving ($$), and winter break ($$$).

Royal Caribbean just had a Kids Sail Free deal, so I snatched a March 31 2019 cruise on Allure of the Seas for $1,600 total for the 3 of us.

Another Kids Sail Free is coming up shortly - so watch for deals.

 

Also consider flying Spirit.

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Wow you guys are getting great deals! I’m a teacher so taking a week off is not an option and just a personal preference but neither is an ocean view or inside

Just a suggestion about an inside cabin. With kids even an obstructed view cabin can be a major benefit over an inside. With an inside the boredom factor kicks in very quickly so your kids will want to escape to daylight two or three nanoseconds after arriving in your cabin. Even an obstructed view room will give them hours of entertainment (and daylight) for free. And obstructed view cabins are frequently priced at or slightly above inside cabins.

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I am not a teacher, but a lot of us have school aged kids, so we are limited to school breaks as well.

We cannot cruise in the summer, so we are limited to spring break, Thanksgiving ($$), and winter break ($$$).

Royal Caribbean just had a Kids Sail Free deal, so I snatched a March 31 2019 cruise on Allure of the Seas for $1,600 total for the 3 of us.

Another Kids Sail Free is coming up shortly - so watch for deals.

 

Also consider flying Spirit.

I just checked flights from this area to Florida and there was nothing under $400. Add in airport parking, transfers, and hotel, that really adds up for a family of 5.

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lucyddr,

 

Jealous of that airfare. Nice work. We are flying SWA roundtrip to MCO from BNA in October for not quite $200 pp total after our airfare kept dropping and I rebooked for credit, which always gets used. I never get airfares to FLL that cheap. But then we generally go down in Feb or March. Ill keep my fingers crossed though. Good tip on the SWA timing.

Edited by fatcat04
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- Carnival is one of the few cruise lines that allows 5 guests in one stateroom. Not ideal, but something to think about if budget is a consideration.

 

- Other Cruise Lines like MSC offer kids sail free on many sailings. We were able to sail on the MSC Divina from Miami in June in a balcony stateroom for an average of around $250pp once we figured in all their discounts.

 

- Is driving a possibility? That can potentially save you thousands of dollars.

 

A $5,000 budget isn’t prohibitive, but you may need to get a bit creative. I’ve been able to take my family of 4 on a 7 day cruise for $2,000, but other times it’s been closer to $10,000 depending on cruise line, type of accommodations and time of year. Our next cruise is in November (Thanksgiving) and for that one it’s going to be around $6,500.

 

 

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  • 1 month later...

Another teacher here locked into school breaks for vacations...families of 5 (like ours) are forced into 2 rooms or one "deluxe" (balcony) room. We somehow hit Disney 2 years ago during off-peak just after new years (my kids missed 2 days of school, but my break was long!). That trip was just over $4000 for 4 days. This Christmas we sail 6 days on carnival in a family suite for just over $6,000 (Disney would have been $14,000!). So $1000/day for the family in rooms to fit 5 seem to be the going rate. Two interior rooms were close in pricing but we prefer a balcony even if we have more "family togetherness." Kids will be 11, 14, 16. 

 

 

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Quote

That trip was just over $4000 for 4 days. This Christmas we sail 6 days on carnival in a family suite for just over $6,000 (Disney would have been $14,000!). So $1000/day for the family in rooms to fit 5 seem to be the going rate.

 

surely, you could do better than that. I got an inside room on Allure of the Seas during the spring break for $1,600 for 3 of us (7 day cruise), and an inside room for Thanksgiving for $2,000 for 3 of us on Norwegian Jade (10 day cruise). Just got a balcony for $2,400 for 3 of us on Regal Princess, November 2019 (7 day cruise, free grats and $300 obc).

Yes, I know Norwegian is no Disney, but I'd rather go on 2-3 cruises with other cruise lines than on only 1 super expensive cruise with Disney. Plus, my 7 yo doesn't even care for Disney, but he looooooves cruising.

Edited by Itchy&Scratchy
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Royal Caribbean will book 5 in a room- you just have to call.  The Kids Sail Free promotion definitely helps at times, but not always.  The Ultra-spacious oceanview will sleep 6 and gives much more room than a standard room, if you are willing to give up that balcony.  Honestly, for us, when we did have a balcony we used it to dry our swimsuits and that was about it.

 

No matter which line, you just have to keep checking prices.  They will fluctuate, sometimes it seems daily.  I would avoid Disney because of the budget.  While we would like to use them one time, I would rather grab a suite on another cruise for their prices.

 

Wherever you go, check parking options outside of the airport or cruiseport.  Many times, you can find off site parking for much less.  I always google and check reviews so we make sure we are with a reputable company.

 

We don't do specialty dining.  We try to book excursions through other companies, either through Viator after checking reviews or through companies with good reviews on here.  We only buy the soda package since we aren't big drinkers.  We don't buy internet packages or photo packages. 

 

Try looking at some of the smaller ships rather than the mega ships.  There are still plenty of activities, and you can book them a lot cheaper.  On Royal Caribbean we haven't touched any of the Oasis class ships (although we have only done two, with two more coming up) and we have had an amazing time.  Once again, like the Disney ships- I want to get on one, but not at their prices.

 

If you are willing to cut out some of the extras, and go with smaller but still fun ships, you should definitely be able to make that budget happen.  If you are not willing to do these, or even go with oceanview rooms, you will not make that budget.  You need to decide if you would rather spend more to get absolutely everything you want, or be willing to cut back and probably still have an amazing time (this would depend on your outlook as you get on the ship).

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  • 2 months later...

We are a family of 6 and we’ve had deals for 3300 for a week and we’ve paid 5700 for a week.  The best advice I can give is book the best option as far in advance as you can.  Then I stalk the website for price adjustments and kids sail free offers depending on the cruise line.  This way I have the room I want for a price I’m willing to pay and if I’m persistent and lucky  then I may just get an even better deal! I’ve found for my family size that royal Caribbean and NCL have been the most affordable prices since I pick times of the year where kids sail free tend to be available.  Good luck to you!

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On 12/30/2018 at 3:16 PM, cathi007 said:

we are two families (2), and (4), and we are doing a 14 night in 2 connecting mini's for 11,000. I think that is a great price. Plus we get the drink package and free tips, oh and 50.00 OBC

hmmm, $50 OBC on an $11K cruise doesn't sound like a real bargain....

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