What do you guys do to cut back on $$$?

[Carolin]

No. Unless you buy it on the last night. I've heard that if you purchase on the last night that they will just hand it to you.

[spideyfam]

OP,

 

Have a great cruise. I see you sail saturday. ENJOY!!

[firefly333]

can you buy wine in the gift shop and drink it on your cruise and not have to wait till it's over to get it back ?

 

No. Unless you buy it on the last night. I've heard that if you purchase on the last night that they will just hand it to you.

 

Wine isnt sold in the duty free shops anyway.

[G'ma]

I don't "do" excursions - rather enjoy doing my own thing.

 

Not much of a drinker, maybe 2/3 a day.

 

Don't shop onboard...unless they have a really good price on something I want or need.

 

Don't play bingo. To me, it's boring...and outrageously priced. My cruising started when you paid 1.00 a card or 3 for 2.00. I know times have changed, I know everything has gone up, I know.. However, I refuse to pay those prices for 1/2 hour of frenetic bingo-playing..

 

Don't indulge in specialty coffee/pastry kiosks. If I want a specialty drink, I'll have FREE cappucino or espresso in the MDR.

 

I never buy the photos. There is one exception to the photo thingie. If I'm traveling with DGS or a family member - and, if the price is right -and, if it's a 5 X 7 - and, if it's good...I'll buy the "boarding" picture....

 

I only gamble with my "coffee can" money. Saving change from one cruise to another adds up. That's my gambling money. When it's gone, I'm done.

 

For "souvenirs", I look for small oils or watercolors ashore - by the artist if possible or in one of the local shops.

 

However, I never fail to:

 

Tip the room service guy/gal.

 

Tip everybody else using the guidelines recommended by Carnival

 

Usually give a little extra to room steward and waiters.

 

Always tip the dealer in the casino; win, lose or draw. If I'm down to 1 chip...it's his/hers.

 

Always tip the longshoreman at the pier who takes my luggage. A couple of bucks is worth not having to lug suitcases around until room is ready.

[jkjmt]

Save up money before the cruise and then pre-pay the tips....that way you don't have a chunk on your sail and sign card.

 

We have four people going on an eight day cruise in two rooms. $320.00 tips.......$320.00 saved and pre-paid. :D

[Gone_Kroozin]

Stay away from (or severely limit your exposure to) the Ship's money makers, the Spa, the Bar, and the Casino if you are trying to cut back.

[Wnt2Bol]

We are extremely limited on funds so the gf and I know we have to make our vacation special ourselves.

 

That sounds like a great vacation to me - LOL. Wonder if I can get my wife into this "making it special ourselves thing."

[Onearmbandit]

I have heard of super organized people who put a certain amount of cash in an envelope for each day. When it is gone, no more spending. I don't think DH would go for that system!

 

How does this work? You can't use cash on the ship.

 

OP if I can keep my S&S bill under $2,000 for the week.....I did good:D

[cohollywood]

I'm so happy I read this post. We're cruising in 30 days and I'm looking for every way possible to save money.

 

My wonderful father-in-law booked and paid for the cruise for us for Christmas. We found out at the end of November. My husband and I live pretty much month to month, we do not use credit cards, and we had Christmas to pay for. It's been ROUGH coming up with the money to pay for our 3 flights to Florida, a few excursions that we really wanted to do, and tips. We're hoping to send off our taxes next week and hopefully get our return back by cruise time for some "cushion" but, I'm not counting on it.

 

I'm very excited, but it's been a bit stressful.

[G'ma]

I find the easyest way to cut back on what you spend, is to put cash down on your sign and sail card, rather than a credit card.

 

With cash you will keep track, because you don't want to be "declined" when making a purchase. If you run low, you have to go to the pursers desk and deposit more, which means you might have to go to the ATM and pay the fee, so you are a little more thrifty.

 

It works for us

 

Ditto. I always put down cash for my account. You are more cognizant of what you are spending, for sure......

[G'ma]

Once you know your sailing date is bought and paid for start purchasing drink coupons on the Carnival site. Also slowly pre-pay your excursions. Example, We went on the Rose Hall Tour in Jamacia, it is $40.00 Per Person. We purchased one ticket, then later purchase another at a later time. They are not going to sell out. You can also slowly pre-pay your tips and also slowly purchase ship dollars or ship credit. When you throw $20.00 here..$40.00 there, you build a nice on ship "nest egg" to play with and pretty much have everything pre-paid.

 

Also, avoid the casino, not worth it, you lose the house odds are hugely stacked against the passenger.

 

Take baby steps and pay things forward.

 

This is a really good idea. Try to pre-pay as much as possible. If I have the time before cruising, I try to send 100.00 every month for credit. It's painless.

[sjcruiser]

Bring your own camera, and stay away from the ship photographers!!!!

[G'ma]

How does this work? You can't use cash on the ship.

 

OP if I can keep my S&S bill under $2,000 for the week.....I did good:D

 

Well, you can always take the cash and apply it to the onboard account...

 

If my bill was 2000.00 I'd jump overboard!!!

 

I took the Elation on their 2-week transcanal and my bill was 550.00. Heck on a week, I only put down 300.00 and rarely spend it all.

[kiraryker]

OP,

 

Have a great cruise. I see you sail saturday. ENJOY!!

 

Thanks! We r on the road to our pre flight hotel and officially out of the deep freeze known as north dakota!

[ehfl]

We find cruising to be cheap as it is...no need to cut back much. We can take a quick weekend getaway cruise for under $200 per person. We can't go to Disney, or Key West, or fly to the Bahamas for the weekend for that. We can take a 7 day cruise on a big/new ship for $500....it's hard to stay home for less than that.

[CanWeGoYet?]

This is a really good idea. Try to pre-pay as much as possible. If I have the time before cruising' date=' I try to send 100.00 every month for credit. It's painless.[/quote']

 

 

Hey you! Welcome back! :)

[Onearmbandit]

Well' date=' you can always take the cash and apply it to the onboard account...

 

If my bill was 2000.00 I'd jump overboard!!!

 

I took the Elation on their 2-week transcanal and my bill was 550.00. Heck on a week, I only put down 300.00 and rarely spend it all.[/quote']

 

I'm fully aware of a cash deposit....... however putting a certain amount of cash in an envelope for each day doesn't sound like that was what they were referring to......

 

We budget for $2,000........so far we have not gone over:D

[G'ma]

I'm fully aware of a cash deposit....... however putting a certain amount of cash in an envelope for each day doesn't sound like that was what they were referring to......

 

We budget for $2,000........so far we have not gone over:D

 

Funny.... My brother and his wife and I cruised together a couple years ago on the Triumph. His account ran way over 3000.00!!!! He bought over 500.00 worth of pictures!!! Crikeys!!! And, they couldn't resist the jewelry sales, either. Of course, he spent quite a bit of money on Grey Goose martinis - making me drink them in celebration of my birthday...which led to needing to be escorted to my room...and a gigantic head full of fuzz the next days. He was always a brat!!! HA!

 

Different strokes.....HA!!

[BlueC5Kitten]

I keep every receipt and total my amounts spent nightly. It isn't a matter of staying in budget for me, just knowing what the final bill will be. Rarely, if ever, am I out more than $500...and that's for a 10-day!

[Chris41]

I work hard and don't go on vacation until I can actually afford it so I really don't worry about trying to get by on the cheap.

 

These are all good suggestions especially the one about not worrying so much that you miss out on the entire experience

 

Go forth and try to have fun

[Kitt Lady]

I'm a Pre-Payer too :p. I like knowing everything is taken care of before we leave. Both cruises we have been on we booked a year out. So, my attention went to one thing at a time.

 

Booked and paid for cruise (and pre-paid tips and insurance), then air, then pre-cruise hotel.

 

Then turned to excursions (buying 1 once a week).

 

Then I looked up what we spent on the last cruise and put that on OBC.

 

Then the other details like air port parking, Kennel for the dogs, taxi to hotel, etc.

 

I am at 15 days before we leave so now I am on additional tips and spending money in ports.

 

I will be skipping the ship photographers - really didn't look at them after the cruise. That would/will save a TON of money. The only ones we really look at are our pictures we took. We aren't gamblers so we usually spend about $20 each and then we are bored. Most likely skipping that one too. I will be stopping to pick up alloted pop for DH. That will be more then enough to get DH through our cruise.

 

Good Luck with working your budget out. My DH rolls his eyes at me, but he REALLY likes it when we are back home and no surprise ;)

[firefly333]

If you are going to buy photos, get the coupons before hand, they are a pretty good deal.

 

Only do one nice excursion a cruise, thats a big money eater upper.

[cruisedogs2000]

We prepay for our tips and book our excursions before we sail. We than pay off our smallest credit card and use it for our sail and sign account, that way we don't go overboard on spending.

 

On our cruise in Nov. 2010, we had $180 obc from early saver price adjustments and than both of our shore excursions were canceled so that gave us another $200 obc. So, we splurged and bought two new Citizen watches, played in the casino everyday and enjoyed many drinks (which we don't normally do on cruises or anytime). We also purchased a future cruise certificate, so with all that our sail and sign account was less than $350 for seven days. Our total bill was under $750 for the two of us for a week.

[jzcruiser57]

Simple - don't buy stuff.

 

DON

Bingo. It is that simple.Carnival and everyone else for that matter tells you you can't get along without it. We don't buy into that at all.:D

[okgirl]

I cruise in 29 days and this will be a very cash limited 1st for us. We usually don't worry too much about how high our S&S card is because we can always pay it off, but not this year, we need to have the money for S&S and casino in advance.

 

We are going to limit ourselves to the morning drink specials, no more than 2 each. We're going to bring our tumblers and drink free lemonade and stuff during most of the day. We're only doing one private excursion to Nachi and the money is already set aside for that.

 

I'm accumulating money for the casino right now, but will have much less than we usually have, but instead of gambling away my winnings, I'm going to keep the S&S card payed down and put a credit on it, so we can be a little more relaxed about the bar tab. I should be getting a Premium Bon Voyage package from the Players Club that will have a bottle of champagne, chocolate covered strawberries, and 4 drink coupons.

 

Oh, and we also have a group Cocktail party that is already paid for and we'll be attending the Past Guest party too...