How much spending money?

[evanandsamuel'smom]

Just looking for opinions of how much spending money to take? Already have budgeted for gas o FL, hotels, and shore excursions. I am curious to know from those with more family cruising experience, about how much cash do you take to spend on the ship and for shopping at ports? There are four of us, and our boys are 14 and 9.

[m&m1329]

It really depends on cruise length and number of ports. We usually buy everyony t-shirts around $15.-$20pp. You can always find those 2 for 1 deals if you have time. If you eat in ports figure on at least $10.pp. Taxi or local transportation can run you up for 4 people but can always find people willing to split a van or something. We usually budget $300. per port to cover everything and if we dont use it all we shift it to the next port envelope. We divide our spending money up between envelopes so we dont have to take all of our money into port and leave the rest in our safe. Hope this helps.

[klfrodo]

I use the rule of thumb of double the cruise/travel costs. Of course this all depends on YOU and your bad habits such as drinking, shopping, and gambling.

[m&m1329]

I wanted to expand on it alittle more....We divide all our money into envelopes before we board like this:

 

1.Ports-different envelopes for the different ports

2.Extra tips-dining room and state room(given to him at the beginning to keep the ice and extras)

3.transportation-taxi-bus

 

The onboard we just monitor our sign and sale and then record daily when we get ready for bed. If we have to shift money we will not get the BIG suprise SS bill at the end.

[chasinraynbowz]

Usually we try to plan $100 pp per day on a trip. That depends on where we are going though. If we are on a cruise with our meals on the ship and excursions already paid for, I budget $100 for the day. I rarely go over that and usually have money left over.

 

I am like M&M. I use the envelope method too... lol. I have envelopes for each day. If we don't spend everything in one day, that money moves to the last envelope or divided up between the remaining days. This process worked great for our Med cruise in October. I plan on using it again for our upcoming cruise in December.

[helicopter]

I also use the envlope method (actually I bought the little divider wallet at Wal Mart). Can't say I agree with the 100/pp (unless your including your S&S), if not with 7 people (we pay for everything, that would come to 700.00/day). 4900.00 for spending (not counting S&S) don't think so;) We have been to these islands many times so we have done the excursions we want to do (with a couple of exceptions).

[Elaine515]

Just looking for opinions of how much spending money to take? Already have budgeted for gas o FL' date=' hotels, and shore excursions. I am curious to know from those with more family cruising experience, about how much cash do you take to spend on the ship and for shopping at ports? There are four of us, and our boys are 14 and 9.[/quote']

 

 

 

1st... Have $2. per bag ready for the porters when you get the terminal

 

2nd... We always brings at least 20 single dollar bills and leave them in the top drawer... My kids love to order room service and tip $2. each time they do... Mostly at night

 

3rd... I know you budgeted for excursions...but what kind of excursions.. if its a beach day, the kids might want to "rent" banana boats, or go climbing on the water floats they provide...

 

4th.. If the boys, especially the older one wants to bring any gifts back to his friends..

 

5th... On your excursions, figure in perhaps lunch, drinks, snacks

 

6th.. If you go to the beach, they sell trinkets up and down the beach and you need cash for that and perhaps a massage for you :)

 

 

Things like "fake tatoos", soda cards or glass of soda and game room tokens can be purchased on their sign n sail card... If the boys are allowed to use their cards, put them on a budget and check it each night...

[chasinraynbowz]

I also use the envlope method (actually I bought the little divider wallet at Wal Mart). Can't say I agree with the 100/pp (unless your including your S&S), if not with 7 people (we pay for everything, that would come to 700.00/day). 4900.00 for spending (not counting S&S) don't think so;) We have been to these islands many times so we have done the excursions we want to do (with a couple of exceptions).

 

 

I only plan $100 pp for DH and myself... IF we have not paid for our excursion already.... so I guess you could say that includes our S&S. Basically that is what I said in my post. If everything is already paid for OR we are not doing an excursion and just shopping, I plan for $100. And honestly, rarely do we spend that much... lol.

[nlktx49]

Our last cruise, my husband and me, was a 7 day and we took $1,000 cash. About 20 $1 bills for various tips, the rest we used for extra tips for the room steward and MDR wait team, cab fare and tips, a few small purchases in ports, and gambling money in ship's casino and two casinos in ports. For the first time I charged some gambling money to my S&S card, and I think that's what my husband and I will do in the future so we don't have to carry so much cash. We set a daily limit on casino cash, so shouldn't have any problem sticking to that using the S&S. We came back with $200 cash, didn't spend much on excursions. We don't like to use our credit cards outside of the U.S., plus the cards charge a 3% fee for that.

[laumicmah]

My DH and I are moderate drinkers and figure about $80-90/day for the both of us for our bar tab...our kids get soda cards (kid prices are @ $5.57/day with tax and tip). I play a couple-few games of bingo, get raffles and pull-tabs and do a little playing in the casino...spend about $10-20/day and DH doesn't do any of these things. I get $20 worth of photos. For souvies, incidentals, coffee bar, candy bins, drinks or food in port (we never eat meals in port, but may grab a snack/treat)...we spend about $100-200. Kids pay for their own souvies when they are with us (if we leave them home, we get them a souvie) and they pay for the arcade...they spend @ $60 each. We also tip a little extra...about $1/day pp for the room steward and head MDR server each. Also, tip the porters $1 per bag. We never do the spa or get room service (DS will and he has to use his $$ to tip).

 

I figure $175/day for DH and I and another $25 or so/day for each kid (and then they spend @$60 of their own $$). That includes tips and excursions (we don't spend too much on excursions).

 

For my upcoming 7 day cruise (with my mom)...I have pre-paid tips for both of us and we have $100 OBC, but I plan to have $600 available to use on my CC for my S&S tab (just mine and I don't think I'll spend that though) and I'll bring $300 in cash for me ($20 for extra tips and $140/port...Freeport and Grand Turk, HMC will be counted on my S&S).

[shof515]

i typically budget about 700-1,000 for a 7 day cruise with 3 days in port. Gratuitous, shore excursions,fcc, etc all adds up

[BlessedBeingMom]

We brought $100 each in 1's, 5's & 10's, and $300 in 20's. We spent most of it. We are a family of five. In addition, we had a bit over $1000 on S & S but we bought a lot of pictures. ;)

[evanandsamuel'smom]

Thanks for all the tips. I like the envelope method and will definitely use it. We are sailing to Key West, Jamaica and Grand Cayman. Set sail 2 weeks from today!:D

[kayhold]

Just looking for opinions of how much spending money to take? Already have budgeted for gas o FL' date=' hotels, and shore excursions. I am curious to know from those with more family cruising experience, about how much cash do you take to spend on the ship and for shopping at ports? There are four of us, and our boys are 14 and 9.[/quote']

 

Our tips are prepaid, we're taking our own soda. We do not drink alcohol (we have a young child with us) but MAY do a DOD, but I doubt it.

 

We don't really gamble but are going to budget $5 a day per adult for the penny slots, just in case.

 

Our ship doesn't have a steakhouse but we would probably do that if it did.

 

I will get a beachside massage instead of using the ship spa, I figure $30 or so for that.

 

I'm figuring maybe $20 for the arcade for my 6 year old.

 

I'm not buying any photographs unless its exceptional which I doubt since I will have my Mother in Law take some for us.

 

I'm figuring $50 or build a bear for my son.

 

And about $150 per port for shopping, food, etc. but we plan to spend most of our time at the beach in both ports. (Key West, Nassau)

 

So, for us and a 5 day cruise, I'm planning about $500 but I seriously doubt we're going to spend all of that.

[miched]

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We take about $2000 in travelers checks, credit cards and $500 in cash all small bills with about $50 to $100 in singles. Don't really budget as we spend according to what we feel like doing at the time. Mostly use the credit cards to get cash back and pay it off when we get the bill. Cash is for emergency, tips and misc island things that don't take a cc like the taxis, street vendors selling drinks and etc. Also learned that cash was needed the time we were caught in Wilma. Everything was on a cash basis because there was no electricity.

 

We get Travelers checks for no fee and just have them and hardly ever use them but are there if we need more cash.

 

We don't buy souvinirs as they usually end up being useless junk that gets thrown out.

 

How much for you to budget for is up to you. Only you know what you can afford or are willing to spend.

 

 

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[ohitssunshine]

We are a family of 5- 3 kids are 11, 13 and 16. My husband and I drink but don't gamble. We usually give the kids $50- $75 to spend on board and another $50 to spend in port. Both of our last 5 day family cruises, our account was about $900.

 

Like others have said- cash for porters, ones for room service and then just budget out the rest.

 

We usually are very careful the first couple of days without even trying, and then we check our account...are like oh thats it? And then go crazy!

[cmdknw]

For our 7 day in a few weeks, I'm doing the following:

 

$300--S&S

$100--St. Thomas

$100--St. Maarten

$100--trip down for extras and back home/ extras for on the ship.

 

So, between $600-700 total, for JUST me. DF and DS have their own money to spend, typically they spend around $50-100 a day.

[Riley's Mom]

On all of my 7 day cruises our onboard account has never been less than $1200 by the end of the cruise. This is four me, husband and two kids. Then we will spend another $800.00 or so on at ports of call.

We do tend to buy a lot of photos, the kids spend at the arcade and buy in the gift shops onboard as well as alcohol and casino each day.

So generally, I plan on over $2000 for the cruise.

I would rather bring more than I need rather than not enough money..

 

 

[palmbaytish]

We do the envelope method too! There are 3 of us and I have envelopes set aside to pay the luggage porters, extra tips for the cabin steward, Camp Carnival, singles for room service, then evelopes with spending money for each port:

 

$50 for Nassau (we are just getting off the ship, looking around, then heading back to lounge by the pool)

 

$250 in St. Thomas (we are headed over to St. John for the day)

 

$250 for St. Thomas (we are doing a private tour and extra for tips/lunch/spending money)

 

$150 for Grand Turk

 

We have a $120 OBC which will cover pictures and some babysitting, but I estimate with our bar tab, we will end up with a $400 S&S bill. Plus, we are bringing about $800 for the two of us to use in the casino. All told, about $2000 for the week. Whatever we have leftover (we ususally do), we use to pay for parking at the port and put back in the bank when we get home to cover the credit card bill for our S&S. :)

[JennLuvs2Cruise]

Depends on what you like to do or have planned. On our last cruise which was a 7 night cruise, we spent about $1,800. This included our automatic tips, extra tipping, singles for room service, bar tab, bingo expenses, casino expenses, shopping, and taxi fares.

 

We have an 8 night cruise coming up in July and plan on bringing $2,200 this time, maybe more if we save on pre-cruise expenses (clothes & such). We already have our tips pre-paid so that's a huge help. DF and I like to have a few drinks, I love playing bingo & Cash Craze pull tabs, and we both play a bit in the casino. We also like to order room service at night and need some money to tip the counselors at Camp Carnival. We might use the babysitting hours once or twice so that costs extra. So as you can see, it varies from person to person. Oh & we always buy a Future Cruise Certificate on board which is $100 and plan on visiting the Steakhouse which is $30 pp.

 

We never spend more than what we bring on in cash even though our account is linked to my CC. We like to pay our bill the night before departure in cash so we don't get a huge statement in the mail.

 

 

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[Waterloomarc]

I'm ignoring the sign and sail items here and I'm just talking cash. It's just the two of us and I've never brought more than $1000 for a seven day cruise. We usually spend about about $750 I'd say. We don't book excursions in advance or through the ship so we pay cash at the pier. We don't shop in port (you can buy the same made in in china stuff at home) and buy very few souvenirs. I do like to eat in port and find food rather expensive usually.

 

Also don't bother to bring a bunch of small bills. I followed this advice on my first cruise and brought a bunch of ones and fives for tips. I had a huge envelope of cash to keep up with - my wife carries a small purse and I obviously don't carry one at all ;) anyway it was a pain in the butt. The pursers desk will make change for you at any time. Now I just bring hundreds plus whatever I might have in my pocket when I leave the house.

 

I find our biggest cash expenses (to summarize my ramblings) are cab fare, excursions, food and tips.

 

 

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[BlessedBeingMom]

Also don't bother to bring a bunch of small bills. I followed this advice on my first cruise and brought a bunch of ones and fives for tips. I had a huge envelope of cash to keep up with - my wife carries a small purse and I obviously don't carry one at all ;) anyway it was a pain in the butt. The pursers desk will make change for you at any time. Now I just bring hundreds plus whatever I might have in my pocket when I leave the house.

 

We ended up having too many ones also. As a family of five, most of our tips were in $5 increments anyway. Next time we won't bring so many ones for sure!