What to consider not skimping on?

[jacksmom09]

We splurge on balcony, specialty drinks( several a day),excursions, soda pkg for ds and pics! We skimp on casino, spa, souvineers , and specially dining! We still manage to have a great cruise!;);)

[RDMOREU]

This may sound a little strange, but we decided to "skip" the before cruise beach wedding, so we'd have more to spend on excusrsions or something special bought for our home or ourselves. We've both been married before, myself for 12 years, my fiance for 22 years. I had my big wedding, so we are doing hometown JP and saving our money for the honeymoon! :p

 

I think your plan is great !!!! Have a wonderfull wedding, fantastic honeymoon and and a delighful, loving life together !!!

 

Dolores

[wonderpig]

So true!

 

It depends on the cruise

Do a TA , a balcony is very nice to for all those sea days,, also you can a balcony for only $100 more then an inside, so it good value

We also get a Non alocholic drink package , which is again good value on a TA

You have to spend your obc on something

 

 

Ok, had to laugh.......I'm assuming TA (in this case) stands for Trans Atlantic and not Travel Agent......

[Ex-Airbalancer]

Ok, had to laugh.......I'm assuming TA (in this case) stands for Trans Atlantic and not Travel Agent......

 

 

Lol :D

[dms361]

We don't skimp on the room. We like a midship balcony as close to or on lido if possible. Some of my favorite memories are when my fiancé has woken up before me, run out to get coffee of us, then woken me up to watch the ship come into port on the balcony in our pajamas. We're incredibly social, are always out making friends, pretty moderate drinkers (ok, big drinkers :) ), so you could say we're the type that doesn't spend a ton of time in the room, but I would say we spend about as much time on the balcony as we do in the cabin itself. We just love it.

 

As far as other stuff, we don't drink soda, he doesn't gamble but I do and bring a set amount. We splurged once on massages and they were ok but not worth it. He has gotten his hair cut on every cruise we've been on (he gets it cut weekly at home, so it's his thing...whatever, lol). We don't shop much and try to balance a mix of some ports with excursions and some with wondering on our own. I'd say the top things we don't skimp on are rooms and alcohol.

[Michellelhs]

I enjoyed reading this thread.

In the past we have gone to art auctions and bought a few pretty things. I've gotten facials, massages and mani/pedis. We've donated lots of money to Carnival in the casinos and bought tons of pics and canvases from the photo shop.

All off that is kind of a been there done that kind of thing and we are over it.

We have sailed with ocean view and balcony... Never made a difference to us so inside is perfectly fine.

If we want a drink we have it, but we don't drink like mad at home so we certainly won't on a cruise. I buy the wine package and my husband buys the soda card. Other than that we splurge on a latte every day because coffee is my thing.

We dine at the specialty restaurant the first night when they give us a bottle if wine free. Other than that we eat MDR.

As for excursions we sometimes do them, sometimes do the city on our own and we sometimes book outside and sometimes book carnival.

I have played bingo before but meh... It's not really for me.

We buy interesting souviners in port and never mind spending a little cash to get a nice local experience.

In May we are doing a 12 day med cruise, all new ports for us!!! Can't wait!!

[dispachcops]

Biggest waste of money. In each port there are stores. Stores sell soda. Bring soda back on board with you. Drink soda to your hearts content. Save yourself lots of money. Nuff said.

[jaja]

Stumbled upon this thread..enjoying it...!!!

 

 

We do not skimp on our cabin..we book the best we can afford. DH spends a lot of time there..

I save "mad money" for months--to have a casino "kitty"--as that is my entertainment !!

We will not skimp on excursions IF we are in a port we have not visited before-or if it is something we really want to do ..and we will buy a piece of local art IF we see something in a port that we like.

We never skimp on tipping...and always buy insurance...

 

Thing we skip ... spa treatments , ship photos, bingo, art auctions , souvenirs . Just not our thing..

[dread_pirate]

Biggest waste of money. In each port there are stores. Stores sell soda. Bring soda back on board with you. Drink soda to your hearts content. Save yourself lots of money. Nuff said.

If you want to run back to your cabin every time you want a soda, or schlep cans around with you, more power to you. For me, the Ultimate Soda Package & More on Princess saved us a fortune. It includes mocktails, so I didn't even feel the need to buy alcohol at all. We did buy a bottle of wine.

[lalalang]

Biggest waste of money. In each port there are stores. Stores sell soda. Bring soda back on board with you. Drink soda to your hearts content. Save yourself lots of money. Nuff said.

 

I'll be on Carnival (my first cruise) and my understanding was that they check your bags each time you get back on board and that we're not allowed to bring outside drink onboard.

[hp_slash]

The past two cruises I've taken, I had to be on an extreme budget due to my own finances (first trip I was a poor college student on spring break, second the cruise itself was a gift). This year, I'm treating my mom to a Bahamas cruise. And while I would get an inside cabin for myself, she likes the balcony, so balcony it is :)

 

With my booking we're also getting $125 OBC, so that will either go to a massage in the spa or specialty dining. (I know, you can get a massage when you're on terra firma, but I always say that and never do!)

[melody hounddog]

I don't skimp on the room. I love nothing better than sitting on my balcony staring at the ocean with either a cup of coffee in the morning, or wine in the evening. Our next cruise we are splurging on a full suite. We have 9 at sea days so we will make good use of it.

 

I do skimp on spa treatments, specialty restaurants, shopping, gambling etc.

[meishka14]

I book inside rooms to be able to have a longer cruise. I'd much rather have a 10 night cruise with an inside room, than a 7 night cruise with a balcony. We are hardly ever in our room anyway, other to sleep or get ready for the day, so this works out perfectly for us.

 

This will be my second cruise. My first was a balcony and it was with my daughter. I am cruising to Alaska by myself so I booked an inside cabin. I wanted a balcony however, it would have been too expensive since I have to pay double. The one advantage to me about an inside room is being able to cruise solo. Hopefully, I won't mind being in a room with no windows. I plan on being on deck for the most part.

[delily]

I don't like waking up in the dark so a room with a window is a must. But I don't need any higher cabin than that. And I find the free food to be fine so I'd think it silly to pay extra for a meal that I won't remember anyway. I never gamble. I don't drink more than a glass with dinner (if that much) or a beer while watching a game in the sports bar so there's no chance I'm going to be buying a drinks package. No spa treatments. Or auctions. Or photos. No rugs at the forced shopping stop. Shore excursions however... All the great things I'll see is what I will remember forever, so that's where the money goes. I don't skimp on excursions. If I can go inside the Coliseum or add the terrace houses to my time in Ephesus I will, even if it costs a lot more. And if I can pay to go in a smaller group, so much the better.

Edited March 22, 2013 by delily

[CELTICGIRLCRUISER]

No inside cabins for us. Like a balcony but could cut to OV but need something to look out at.

 

Not going to cut my cocktails or decent champagne, soda not a problem on DCL but could cut that out on other lines if need be. Also like a little gamble at times but nothing crazy so could cut that out too.

 

Probably could cut out specialty eateries, the spa (easy as I have my own) and never do the professional photographs. IMO, most of the backgrounds are a bit tacky and there are plenty of opportunities to ask a fellow cruiser to take a snap of your group. No art auctions or jewelry purchase onboard ever, so no problem there.

Edited March 24, 2013 by CELTICGIRLCRUISER

[Scrapnana]

I save "mad money" for months.

 

I thought I was the only one who did this. It does add up and is painless.

 

 

I wouldn't skimp on anything that was important to me. For example, I had an interior room on a cruise and I felt I was in a closet. So for me the cost of at least an oceanview room is something I would not skimp on.

[yolanda1]

What an interesting thread! It just shows how we all have different priorities, which is great. My splurges and scrimps? Hmmmmm.......

 

For me, a balcony is a must! Sitting outside with a room service breakfast early in the morning as we sail into port, or to watch the sun go down with a glass of wine before going for our evening meal is such a special part of any cruise for me. I can easily do without the spa and the casino and Bingo has no interest for me. I wouldn't bother with the soda card again, having discovered that there is always enough available free juice etc to meet my needs, but we do like to have several bottles of Evian water in the fridge. I do splurge on excursions, as I feel those are the important memories that will stay with me forever. Having said that, so far we have only cruised in Europe, which has so many interesting places to see, so may feel differently about splurging on excursions if I was on a more 'beach type' Caribbean cruise.

 

I normally pre-book a couple of bottles of wine online to be delivered to the stateroom as a treat, but as RCI have recently their policy on this ( hooray!!!), I will now bring a couple of bottles of my favourite wine on board with me. We never bother with the drinks packages as we don't drink enough alcohol to break even. Photos - sometimes, but only if they are very good.

[sneffles]

We don't scrimp on laundry--we pay for unlimited laundry service. Two reasons: helps meet the airline weight restrictions, and so my wife doesn't have to do any clothes washing. Also: we have had inside cabins and they were fine, but now we book balcony cabins because my wife can't stand the closed-in feeling of an inside.

[pmoniz]

We booked out first balcony last year and thought for sure I was going to be hooked and want one all the time!! NOPE!! Not for me! I thought the amount of $$ it cost I could have spent elsewhere!

 

We don't skimp on excursions. We always try to find something fun to do in port. I'd much rather go out and see the island or do something fun than stay on the ship and/or stay around the cruise port.

[kasandra1679]

For my family I feel like we sort of skimp on everything a little so we don't feel deprived in the end. For us just taking the trips is a big deal - I know we could use the money for improvements or clothes or whatnot. But we have all we need really and DH and I work long hours so our trips are some of the best times we have. I remember when were we thinking about our last trip the thought was well have we ever regretted going? No we regretted not going.

 

Living in the midwest we fly nearly everywhere and that adds to the overall costs. We book early so the cost is spread out, book inside cabins (though we did splurge on a balcony on the Allure), we never buy the soda cards, have just 1 drink a day for each of us, never go to the Casino, never go to the spa, and never shop that much in port or on the ship. We will buy some fun stuff for our LO onboard and go to one of the specialty dining once for some variety and intimacy. Our big spending will be excursions - but we usually just book one real big one, one small one and then self direct around the ports.

Edited April 7, 2013 by kasandra1679

[RickCanada]

Even with the great prices of cruising, it is still a luxury for us so we try to save by taking an inside room unless an outside one is not too more expensive. I do look outside my porthole/window occasionally, but not enough to justify the extra cost.

 

The specialty dining rooms are nice, we have used them twice, but usually prefer the variety that's offered in the MDR.

 

Our first 2 cruises we booked ship's excursions, the next few we would book off the ship and lately we have been renting a car and going off on our own.

 

Because we save on the room and onboard expenses we are now cruising more and more often than we used to.. that is, less costs, more cruising!.

[donaldsc]

We don't drink on board unless we can bring our own wine. When we buy bottled water for land excursions, we buy one bottle and recycle the bottle. We do not do anything in the spa. We do not gamble, especially as we live in Las Vegas where we also do not gamble. We do not do ship tours if there as another alternative. We do not buy art or any other junk on the ship. We do not book balconies unless it really adds to the cruise. If you ignore the ship tours that we take because they are the best option and the required tips, sometimes our bill at the end of the cruise may be $10 or $20 dollars.

 

We do take more trips per year because we can afford it. We do try to send significant pre and post cruise time on the trip - for example, this summer we are taking a 14 day cruise out of England but we will spend 17 days in England before the cruise and 7 days on London after the cruise which will cost more than the cruise itself. This fall, I am going to do a 7 day eagle photography trip in Haines, AK. We do have a TA who rebates back to us most of his commission which saves us $300 - $500 per person per trip. We do watch the prices of anything we have booked to make sure that we get the advantage of any price reductions - we saved $990 per person on the cruise we are taking this summer. We do buy good art or especially folk art with the money we save from not doing the stuff in paragraph 1.

 

You need to set priorities when you travel. We have set ours.

 

DON

[melody hounddog]

I don't skimp on the room. I love nothing better than sitting on my balcony staring at the ocean with either a cup of coffee in the morning, or wine in the evening. Our next cruise we are splurging on a full suite. We have 9 at sea days so we will make good use of it.

 

I do skimp on spa treatments, specialty restaurants, shopping, gambling etc.

 

And here I just booked an inside cabin! We have decided to skimp on the room this time for our British Isles cruise, very port intensive, and splurge on spending a precruise stay in London and Paris. Go figure!

[tweakes]

And here I just booked an inside cabin! We have decided to skimp on the room this time for our British Isles cruise, very port intensive, and splurge on spending a precruise stay in London and Paris. Go figure!

 

I almost always book interior. Every time I've had a balcony or oceanview I feel like I need to spend time in the room to get my money's worth. That is a terrible feeling on a cruise ship!!! I'd rather get out and spend that extra $500+ on the casino, drinks, bingo, specialty restaurants (on longer cruises), ports, ANYTHING else other than a tiny room which isn't at all included in the memorable parts of my cruise. Plus, the interior cabins are perfect for early afternoon naps so you can be ready to go all night!! :)

[CityGirlLost]

Our upcoming cruise is our honeymoon. I sure hope there are some worthwhile memories focused on our balcony room!

 

:D:D:D