How do you save up for a cruise ? post it

[Cruise Junky]

1. We put every scrap of change in the vacation fund. In Canada with $1 and $2 coins, that adds up quick. With Haaii in 6 months, it's current nickname is the Mai Tai fund :)

 

2. We put $150 a cheque into the vacation account

 

3. We both are part of an Employee stock purchase plan at work with up to a $3,000 annual company match. Mine usually goes towards vacations.

 

We've been doing it so long we don't miss it.

Edited October 8, 2012 by Cruise Junky

[Donray]

We retired with the knowledge and budget that we could spend about $25,000 a year on travel. We probably average 20K a year for the past 8 years since retirement on travel. Didn’t do much traveling before we retired. We charge everything on American Express and pay off monthly and get cash back I guess from the people that don’t pay off monthly.

[sapper1]

We stopped drinking Tim Hortons coffee :eek: (if you are Canadian or have ever been to a Timmies you know the addiciton!!) So that $10 a day gets transferred automatically into our cruise account. We put our deposit on our credit card ( collecting the travel points) and every month transfer the money from our cruise account onto the credit card (travel points :D) and put it on the cruise. By the time the cruise, excursions, drink coupons and prepaid gratuities are on the credit card we usually have enough travel points to make a big dent in airfare.

 

 

Not the Tim's :eek: Noooooooooooo!

[Warm Breezes]

We save our money for each cruise we go on by putting it into our Red White & Blue Slot machine.. We save every one dollar bill and every quarter , it adds up so fast.....We have had this slot machine for seven years now ,and it still has not HIT the jackpot :mad: DAMM SLOTS.... Even owning the slot machine ,i cant win.....:eek: PLEASE post some of the crazy ways you save up for a cruise

My yearly bonus pays for our vacations. We put everything on our credit card and pay it off at the end of the month. The points earned get turned into a check the month before we vacation and we save all checks we receive 2 months prior to sailing from things like birthday checks or flexible spending repayments. Usually we have enough in checks to cover our spending money.

[Love.II.Cruise]

We don't buy each other big gifts for birthday's and Christmas (we feel like we have everything we need). Instead we go on vacation. For example, a cruise we are booking for this upcoming Jan. covers Christmas, my last birthday, and my DH's upcoming birthday.

 

We use our bonus' and tax refunds towards vacation. We also use a credit card for everything we purchase (pay it off at the end of the month). We earn points on our credit card that enables us to use for travel or cash back.

 

We only have one vehicle between the two of us and it is paid off - as long as it doesn't turn into monthly payments of repair, we plan to keep it another 10 years.

 

We also try to only eat out once every 2 weeks, usually at lunch on the weekends. All our lunches are homemade during the week and I fortunately cut my addiction to Starbucks several years ago when I realized I was spending $30 a week there. :rolleyes:

 

If I don't use my PTO, I lose it - I don't get paid for not taking it. So we make sure to have money to take the vacations we want to. ;)

 

By the way--- I love that slot machine! :D

Edited October 8, 2012 by Love.II.Cruise

[MrsPete]

It's a dull answer, but it works:

 

I have a portion of every paycheck directly deposited into a "short term savings" account, which covers -- among other things -- vacations. This account is in a bank separate from my checking account, and I have no ATM card for it. It's a little inconvenient, so I cannot just run by and withdraw money on a whim. I have to plan to spend this money.

 

Smaller things we do:

 

We save up credit card rewards points (which are literally free money, if you're paying your balance off every month) for pre-cruise hotel stays, on-the-road meals, and other small expenses. And OBC.

 

We book as soon as the dates come open so we can get the rooms we want. This doesn't really save money, but it gives us more "bang for the buck". Then we watch for price drops.

Edited October 10, 2012 by MrsPete

[neverbeenhere]

I don't save for a cruise, I have my butler do it for me.;)

[YubaSutter]

We have a vacation savings account. We put $1k into the account every month.

[Bookish Angel]

This means we don't have to budget or save for a cruise and can travel when we choose. We bank a fair amount of money every month because we are not paying for ongoing credit card debt, mortgage, loans, etc.

 

We buy nearly everything we need with our credit cards so we can get the 1 - 5% cash back and pay the bill in full when the statement comes.

 

This also means we choose to live without many of the newest "things" so we can have a lot more new experiences via travel. However, the bigger important things we have - our home and 2 cars - are paid for so we are saving a huge amount in mortgage and car loan interest.

 

We also have to retire someday so having been debt free for about 30 years will mean we have more to live on when we stop working.

Edited October 10, 2012 by Bookish Angel

[circuitrider]

We stopped drinking Tim Hortons coffee :eek: (if you are Canadian or have ever been to a Timmies you know the addiciton!!)

 

Never tried their coffee, but LOVE the maple donuts!

 

This means we don't have to budget or save for a cruise and can travel when we choose. We bank a fair amount of money every month because we are not paying for ongoing credit card debt, mortgage, loans, etc.

 

This also means we choose to live without many of the newest "things" so we can have a lot more new experiences via travel. However, the bigger important things we have - our home and 2 cars - are paid for so we are saving a huge amount in mortgage and car loan interest.

 

Same here. Not paying a dime in interest to anyone. Keep a decent bit in our cheque/checking accounts, so we can take advantage of any travel deals we come across. I still wait until about a week before final payment before paying off the cruise, so I have a bit more leverage if prices drop.

[dustyroad]

it has probably been mentioned already but here is what i do on my ss income

 

i eat out maybe once a month ( $15 is the limit )

no movies, bingo,going too the mall or impulse shopping.

 

ya, i have a boring life for a yr but i get too go on a wonderful cruise so it is sooooo worth it. WILLPOWER is the key too saving.

[LOVECRUISING100%]

I put money into a Christmas savings account with my credit union via payroll deduction. When I get the check in the mail from it, I use it to book our cruise for the next year. When we get on the ship we share a toast and say,"Merry Christmas". lol

That's a great idea..I'm going to look into that at my CU .. Happy Cruising ... : )

[Gloria Mundi]

DH and I live pretty lean compared to most in our income bracket because we put a big emphasis on saving for retirement and on travel. We don't buy each other splashy gifts, we rarely eat out (we're homebodies when we're not traveling), we keep our house in good repair but don't run out and buy new furniture or collectibles that have to be dusted. One car, no debt except a mortgage thaat will be paid off in 5 years when I'm 65.

 

I manage the finances and keep our checking account register on a spreadsheet. One of the "virtual accounts" is for our next cruise and we add to it every month. Like the others, we'll probably over-save, leaving the excess for expenses we run up on the trip. We'll make final payments on a Rewards credit card and pay it off in full when the statement comes in, which we always do.

[Sinppu]

We have a separate savings account for our vacations. We make a budget, then put a certain amount into the account each month. Of course, we also have a loose change jar we keep and put in the account when it gets full too.

 

We do this too! It always surprises me how fast it is full :)

[printingchick]

I divert $100 per month into a separate account I call my CRUISE fund! That's $1,200/year, which is plenty for my Caribbean cruise habit. I also use a credit card that earns me points toward cruise discounts.

 

Recently, I've had to forgo cruising for a couple of years, due to lay-off and longer-than-anticipated period of unemployment. I've been back at work for over a year, but still recovering, so thought it best to schedule my next cruise for 2014 rather than 2013. That gives me a little longer to SAVE!!!

Edited October 11, 2012 by printingchick

[Sam The Cat]

I take the money which I get back from the IRS due to the money she gets as support and a deduction for me:D

[debbiepete]

Hubby pays for the cruise. I save most of the money we bring on the ship.

I try to save 40.00 a week. Having booked for almost 9 months, Its adding up :)

[mrsd912]

We took a break from fertility treatments. :D

DH and I are in our 30's, with no children and no debt (except for housing). I work for a heating oil company in Maine sonic get a lot of overtime in the heating season. I also work one night a week waitressing and since I never know how much I'll make I never count on it for paying bills so it goes right to savings. DH also makes tips on top of an hourly wage, and we use my commissions.

Once we make our deposit I figure a weekly payment that I make online when I do my weekly bill paying. This pays off the cruise before the due date, and extra gets put towards excursions.

We use our income tax for airfare, and I'm pretty excited to have two returns for our next cruise.

We have a 5 gallon Burgundy jug that we use as a change jar. It takes about a year to fill, which is about $600, and that's our spending money.

 

Not very exciting but it works for us.

[ladytravlr2]

I put back $100 a month just for the fun money part of the cruise. It adds up. I try to cruise twice a year.

 

I am retired now, from teaching, with a moderate pension. I buy the future cruise credits, that helps with deposits on cruises, then I either go ahead and pay the rest off, or pay by deadline. I pay off my credit cards each month, have no car payment, and relatively few bills. After many years of no house payment, I now have a condo payment, but I enjoy the 'almost no' upkeep in these retirement years.

 

I don't book elaborate cabins, I have usually gotten insides...and a balcony only once.

 

I so far, have only eaten at one specialty restaurant on a cruise, normally I eat in the main dining rooms, or buffet, or included venues. So, I don't spend extra for meals on my cruises.

 

A few times I have booked tours or activities from the cruiseline, but more often I arranged my own excursions, or found something once I am there. Cheaper that way, usually. It depends if I feel safe or not.

 

I am fortunate to live on an Amtrak route, and when I want to cruise from NOLA, it makes it very inexpensive and easy.

 

I only cruised every 10 years when I was still teaching, now it has become my retirement joy. The fact that I can go anytime of the year is great.

 

Happy sailing everyone!

[panaba453]

Wow,i see that there are a lot ways to save up for a vacation...Thank you for taking the time to post your tips on how to save...i am sure someone out there will see the post and see how easy it is to save up for a trip of a life time...KEEP IT UP

[Gypsydrifting]

We travel for a living, spending 340+ days a year away from home. We have a jar for change, and additional jar that we stick our $1 bills in. In 6 months we have saved enough for our 7 day the Dream, with a balcony. We will make 2 payments with credit cards. One card offers trip insurance if you pay x amount on a trip worth x amount. The other card gives us points. The cards are then immediately paid off with the savings fron the jars.

 

In addition to the jars we both have quit drinking soda, and cut back on some of our spendings while we are traveling.

 

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[Grumpy100]

I work for an agency that does not give us raises anymore once you reach 10 years and after that according to how many years you have been there you get a certain percentage of your whole salary every Nov. 15th. I have been there for over 25 years so I get 10% of my salary so we use it every year for our vacations. The rest I just take out of the checking account (but don't tell my husband). I think he knows but I just tell him he does not want to know and it works. Have been married 32 years and have never bounced a check yet and I pay all the bills so he is happy with that.

It is sort of a joke between us but we manage to take 2 cruises a year on what I save and the money given at the end of year. IRS does not work for us as we always end up paying. Our children are grown and on their own so we intend to enjoy our years, however long they may be, traveling and still saving some for our retirement. We retire in under 4 years (but who's counting).

Happy sailing.

[meatloafsfan]

I get paid every two weeks but my bills are based per month so every year I get two "extra" paychecks (26 paychecks but my bills are based on 24), those two paychecks go into my vacation fund.

 

Also, at a certain point in the year, I max out my CPP and EI contributions - I still put that money away for extras.

 

I am also generally frugal in my everyday life - I bring my lunch to work, rarely eat out (and when I do, it's generally take out so that I can stretch it for two meals instead of one and not have to tip or pay $2-$3 for a beverage). My cell phone bill is $15 a month - I have a home phone and a work phone, I limit my cell use to only necessities and to text my cousin instead of paying long distance charges. I don't get my hair done, I don't get my nails done or my eyebrows done. I don't go to the movies, the theatre, or concerts. Everytime I go to spend money, I think, "Do I really need this?"

 

To me, vacations are a choice you make. For me, it's what I choose over all else. So I funnel all of the money over and above my living expenses (housing, food, utilities, birthday and Christmas presents), into my vacation fund. It's one of the reasons I can take two nice trips each year.

[rccampbell]

I realize this is an old post, but wondered how people do it nowadays. Are we using our credit cards and making payments for months and months afterwards or are we saving dollars ahead of time somehow. What are some of the tricks to saving.

I had read on another page that 78% of the working folks are living pay check to pay check. Does that mean that only the retired or wealthy are cruising?

Also had read about cruisers using their stock dividends and or asset income. Having lost more money then I care to count in a couple of crashes/down turns, I will probably never be able to count on those types of funds for vacation.

Just curious on people's thought now in 2017.

[dustyroad]

I am not able to take cruises now because of my health and my money situation, but this is what I did when I was able to. Perhaps it will help someone out there that is able too go on cruises now.

 

I took on a second job for a few hrs a week. This money went into a special vacation savings fund at my bank. Also so much money was deducted from my pay check from my regular job and was not touched at all for anything. Also any money that was left in my checking account (when I got my next check) was added to my '' special vacation fund ''. Even if it was only $40-50's every 2 weeks. It all added up for the next yrs deposit on the cabin, tours. the flight or other things for my next dream vacation. I was on a very tight budget and it was very hard to do, but I was determined to get on the that ship and take wonderful cruises and live like a Queen for a week. :D