How much extra do you spend?

[Katie95]

Just curious... I am sailing with my bf APril 7th on the Liberty and want to have an idea of what to budget for extras?

 

We do drink and will enjoy a few drinks aday and would like to do an excursion each day (even if it's a just a beach day). We won't be doing much shopping if any really.

 

I'm wondering typicallly what people feel they spend at the end of it all between their S&S card and the extra's off ship.

[StillPooh]

I'm wondering typicallly what people feel they spend at the end of it all between their S&S card and the extra's off ship.

On our last 2 we spent $600-700 on drinks, photos, trinkets, and excursions (for two people).

[firefly333]

I have stock OBC and FCC OBC so my bill is usually low. Then add in price drops from booking ES ... and I have lots of money to spend on excursions and stuff in the store. I had trouble last time finding stuff I did not already have and bought 2 glitter shirts I already had just to spend the OBC. We have a $120 nice eco drive Citizens watch and I have at least 2 bottles of all the booze Carnival carries that I will drink. I have tons of good tequila, sheridan, amurula .. you name it .. Ive got it.

[divngmedic]

Just curious... I am sailing with my bf APril 7th on the Liberty and want to have an idea of what to budget for extras?

 

We do drink and will enjoy a few drinks aday and would like to do an excursion each day (even if it's a just a beach day). We won't be doing much shopping if any really.

 

I'm wondering typicallly what people feel they spend at the end of it all between their S&S card and the extra's off ship.

I book and pay for my own excursions. Last cruise I did well at the poker table and actually left the ship with cash. Our S&S had about $350 for three people.

[carters4usm]

This can depend on where you cruise, but for the Caribbean, we've spent an extra $600-$700 for the 2 of us, but we do typically take one fairly expensive excursion and like to eat once at the steakhouse. We don't usually buy a lot of drinks on the ship though, since I bring my wine and hubby usually has his private stash, but if you drink a lot, the bill can quickly add up. :eek:

[silvercrikhix]

You can spend as much or as little as you want or need to.

For us, we spent about $1,000-$2,000 on our 1st two cruises.

[Edward John Smith]

Because we felt that our last cruise with Carnival 2 weeks ago was SIGNIFICANTLY subpar when compared to our 12 prior Carnival cruises, we decided to vote with our pocketbook and here is what we spent and HOW we spent it:

 

1) Carnival had given us a total of $275 onboard credit on this sailing.

We reassigned our autotips so that the entire $161 autotip went to the cabin/housekeeping team. (Why we felt compelled to do that is another story altogether.) Since the type of OBC we had was a REFUNDABLE OBC,

we spent ZERO dollars on this cruise and got a check back for $114 the morning of debarkation. This was our way of expressing to Carnival our

disappointment with the MANY negative aspects of this particular sailing.

2) Ashore, I do have credit card receipts totalling $389 from the 2 days in Cabo and another $242 from the day we spent in beautiful Puerto Vallarta.

Most of that money we could have easily spent ON the ship but chose NOT to.

[Billzilla66]

Just curious... I am sailing with my bf APril 7th on the Liberty and want to have an idea of what to budget for extras?

 

We do drink and will enjoy a few drinks aday and would like to do an excursion each day (even if it's a just a beach day). We won't be doing much shopping if any really.

 

I'm wondering typicallly what people feel they spend at the end of it all between their S&S card and the extra's off ship.

 

I'm a little curious about how my final s&s bill uis going to look myself as this will be my first cruise.

If you want to lower the sticker shock of that bill, I suggest prebooking your excursions. Pay for them before you go so that's one less bill you have to worry about.

Happy Cruising!:D

[bigdaddyvoges]

Between drinks, pictures, gift shop, excursions, we average about $1,000 per cruise for 2 of us.....

[divngmedic]

I'm a little curious about how my final s&s bill uis going to look myself as this will be my first cruise.

 

If you want to lower the sticker shock of that bill, I suggest prebooking your excursions. Pay for them before you go so that's one less bill you have to worry about.

 

Happy Cruising!:D

Our you can call the BV department and buy funship dollars which gives you a OBC.

[gunther619]

Between pics, drinks and 2 excursions (for the 2 of us). Our bill was $1200 on an 8 day cruise.

 

This time, I have pre paid for all my excursions and have $100 OBC coming my way, so I hope it's a lot lower this time around :cool:

[geoherb]

Our last bill at the end of a seven-night cruise was $28. We had a lot of on-board credits that kept it low. We did excursions on our own. Taking a cab to the beach is a lot cheaper than doing the excursion through the cruise line. We don't buy any photos of us. I usually manage to get one or two good shots of us taken either with the timer or by a fellow passenger.

[ibcnusoon]

We prebooked excursions before we left home. For private tours, I calculated how much it would cost, plus tip, then added about $30 per person each day for trinkets and such.

 

We ordered BV bottle (paid for before we boarded) so at most we spent less than $50 on DODs (had to have that first one as soon as we made it on the ship). We don't play bingo and we don't buy anything in the shops.

 

Needless to say, we had alot of cash on us because we spent money for souveniers in the ports that than the ship, including alchohol to bring home.

 

We didn't reserve the Steakhouse but we did indulge in the spa discount on the last sea day, only because I looked up my S&S balance and was like, "hey, looks like we can afford it!".

 

What you need to do is plan and budget.

 

For our 7-day cruise my S&S bill was:

 

$50 drinks

$200 (2 Future Cruise Certificates)

$160 (2 5-for-3 spa treatments) - we splurged!

$10 kids bought candy from the store

$20 DD bought milkshakes at some point during the week

$10 DD bought arcade tokens (she didn't know I earmarked cash for this)

[Kanebaby]

We usually bring about $750 cash for the casino and for shopping and dining off the ship. Usually we come home with at least a few hundred dollars (last time it was enough to pay our S&S). Our S&S account usually runs about $300 or so for a 4 nighter....that includes a few drinks, autotips, pictures and shopping.

[jonathansburden]

We went all out on our first cruise, spent $1,400. We've gotten much better with booking excursions independently, prepaying tips, and ordering Bon Voyage... Our last cruise broke down like this:

 

$48- soda card

$64- a dod every day for DH

$40- pictures

$60- build a bear

$40- Babysitting

 

So we ended up spending $252 for 4 people for the week! Not too shabby :)

[nomadron]

We do 7 or 8 day cruises. We prepay gratuities with the initial fare. With drinks, casino, photos (very few), and at least 1 excursion through Carnival we average $150 per day. This does not include money spent ashore such as souvenirs, tips, food, drinks (I should own stock in Senor Frog's by now), excursion photos, and excursions not booked through Carnival. It sounds like a lot per day. But you will be surprised how fast your money will go. If you work at it, you can get by with far less. But for us, it is our once a year cruise and we want to rock every minute of it!

[Yvonne]

We just got off an 8-night Carnival Freedom cruise and our total charges for our Sign 'n Sail was just $585.

 

We did have a drink or two per day, and I bought a few souvenirs (ship model, coffee mug, insulated mug, Christmas ornament, ink pens, a couple t-shirts, necklace and photo album) in the Logo shop. That amount also included our automatic tips, and the $95 "Behind the Fun" ship excursion/tour for my husband.

 

We didn't take any other ship sponsored excursions, the only other excursion we did was a private island tour of Antigua and paid $136 for that.

 

I bought a couple souvenirs from Antigua and Tortola, but they were just inexpensive refrigerator magnets, etc.

 

Some people spend less than what we did, many others will spend a lot more. It just depends on how much you like to drink on the ship, if you gamble, if you indulge in buying a lot of photos (at $22.95 a photo for the larger size), eat in the pay restaurant, etc.

[bumorgan]

Figure $11 a day for your tips.... 5-6 drinks through day and eve $50....beach day walk to beach drinks, chair rental, Possible lunch $50 each. Overall $75 -$100 day each. Remember it's your vacation enjoy it.

 

It's easy to have 1-2 drinks for the afternoon a drink at dinner a drink at the comedy club or shows. Drinks will add up VERY fast if your not paying attention. Bring your 1 bottle of wine each which is allowed and go to the farewell party on the last nite which offer many free drinks. This will help cut down expenses.

[KroozLov'r]

On a 4 day cruise, maybe $150 incl. excursions. Seven day, as much as $300 incl. excursions.

 

This would be on top of the cruise fare, taxes, port charges, tips.

[djwood24]

8 day cruise...drinks...tips...shopping...drinks...steakhouse twice...$800-1500

[spiritfox]

Alcohol can be a really big expense. It is for me. I have a couple of beers at home but I do like to drink and I enjoy drinking on the cruise--and it can be very easy for that bar bill to add up quickly. I know that, and expect that so it is no big deal but it can catch you by surprise if you don't pay attention to how many drinks you buy. :)

[maryred]

Each cruisers' style is different and what you need to do is just be aware of what the possible costs are. Start your research by checking "Manage My Cruise" at the Carnvival site and looking up things like what excursions are available then checking the "Gifts & Services" tab under the "Ships & Stateroom" tab. Don't neglect checking each port's division of tourism sites to see if there are better deals through local tour companies. Try if possible to make up seperate budgets for onboard and for on land. Other than on these boards http://www.*****/Carnival/links.html is another place to research info such as onboard pricing.

 

Some onboard expenses can be controlled. Some by preplanning, others by simply sticking to what you set as your budget. Didn't budget for the casino or steakhouse just skip it until you come in under budget for something else.

 

You can cut a big chunk of change from showing up on your S&S account by pre-paying the auto gratuities and cruise sponsored excursions before boarding. Should you change your mind once on board shore trips can be canceled for refund or exchanged upto 24hrs. prior to the planned excursion by going to the shore excursion desk. Another choice to save on excursions is, if your feel comfortable with a port of call, to arrange and pre-paying for tours and experiences directly with companies or attractions in port. Carefully read their refund policies though, if a port is missed for some reason some companies will not give a refund unless you cancel 48 hrs before. If for some reason you disagree with the pre-set gratiuties just go to guest services and they can adjust the amount up or down prior to the last night onboard.

 

If you don't want to put $2.24 per glass of soda on your S&S account each time you order 1, you have 3 options 1) pre-purchase from the BV dept the Bottomless Bubble sticker or soda tickets; 2) each guest is allowed to bring 12 bottles or cans upto 20oz each of an assortment of soft drinks, water, mixers, or juice at embarkation, and 3) simply stick to the included drinks on the Lido deck and in the MDR, coffee, hot chocolate, hot tea , and ice tea 24/7, various juices @ breakfast time and lemonade the rest of the time, also during the hours the buffet is active boxed milk is also available.

 

Want to reduce the cost of certain purchases showing up on the S&S card? If you know you want the professional picss from the shipboard photographers, consider buy the photo coupons from the BV dept, these act as $15 gift certificates towards gallery purchases. Pictures run between $5.95 for a 5x7 to $19.95 for an 8x10 to over $150 for a canvas 16x20 framed portrait. Know you will be drinking a certain # of adult beveragesdaily, get the drink tickets from BV. A set of 4 runs $23 and each ticket takes $5.75 off of bar purchases that can range from $4.54 for some beers (just don't use the tickets on these unless you order a bucket of 4) to $16.96 for the DOD in a souvenir cup. Bring certain OTC meds and first aid products from home, no one likes to pay $2+ for a bandaid or $15 for a bottle of aloe on board that could of been bough landside for $7.

 

Other cost cutting measures are just a matter of self control and bargain hunting. If you plan to shop in port attend the shopping talks, most cruises they hand out coupons or identify places w/ specials if you identify yourself as a cruise passanger or have a code word. Still be prepared to comparision shop, some places have better bargains off the beaten path. Some of the bigger stores and chains even in the Bahamas have an online presence so you can even start comparing prices ahead of time to see if any similar items onboard maybe less expensive. Also if you choose to haggle in port be prepared to do so in cash w/ small bills, nothing worst will happen than the looks you will get from the next vendor(the grapevine in the straw markets are very good & word may spread) if you work out a half price deal on something then pay for it w/ a bill for the original price.

 

 

Perhaps the biggest hidden expense that most first timers over look is their cell phone bill. Generally once aboard your nearest assigned tower will be the Cellular at Sea one on the ship. You most likely be charged by both this company and your provider possibly at inflated international rates for every little thing regardless of your current contract. Unlimited friends and family calling could still run you between $1.99 to $6.99 per minute in just the Cellular at Sea charges. While texting runs between a nickle for the notice you will be charged a 5 cents for each message recieved and 50 cents per message sent. Then there is data streaming charges, it's not uncommon to hear from folks that get $200 in data charges a month later just from the phone updating time and location. First contact you provider and ask how to shut down auto updating for apps & functions, then ask if your better off turning the phone off on board or just putting it in airplane mode while onboard to avoid stray charges for functions that can not be shut out of auto updates, and then ask if they have temporary international plans that you can use your phone in port.

[Edward John Smith]

......Perhaps the biggest hidden expense that most first timers over look is their cell phone bill. Generally once aboard your nearest assigned tower will be the Cellular at Sea one on the ship. You most likely be charged by both this company and your provider possibly at inflated international rates for every little thing regardless of your current contract. Unlimited friends and family calling could still run you between $1.99 to $6.99 per minute in just the Cellular at Sea charges. While texting runs between a nickle for the notice you will be charged a 5 cents for each message recieved and 50 cents per message sent. Then there is data streaming charges, it's not uncommon to hear from folks that get $200 in data charges a month later just from the phone updating time and location. First contact you provider and ask how to shut down auto updating for apps & functions, then ask if your better off turning the phone off on board or just putting it in airplane mode while onboard to avoid stray charges for functions that can not be shut out of auto updates, and then ask if they have temporary international plans that you can use your phone in port.

 

Better yet, turn your cell phone off and put in your cabin safe.

If you feel the need to keep in contact, use the phone in your cabin.

Compared to what it used to cost to call anywhere in the world from your cabin (it used to be $7.99 a minute), nowadays it only costs $1.99/min.

So it is not as bad as what your cellphone bill COULD be!

[craftykitty]

Don't forget you can call Bon Voyage and have a bottle of liquor in your cabin. That cuts down on my bar purchase significantly.

 

Just off the Elation 2 weeks ago, my S&S bill was $625 for one of me.

[ccodcruzer]

We just got back from the Carnival Dream with Western Caribbean, and we spent about $1200 for 2 of us. But we got the Spa VIP package, all day ship excursions for 2 ports (some long excursions were recommended to do through ship because of the long distance to the ruins and caves, and we didn't want to risk missing the ship), the Chef's Table (insanely fantastic) and Behind the Fun tour. We also bought $100 of pictures. We save all year for our vacation, so it is the one time where we splurge.