Money Question

[Honeybun25]

Hi everybody! My fiance and I are sailing out of New Orleans next month on April 19th. I was just wondering how much is a good amount of money to bring with yourself for your onboard account. I was thinking about $500 for ports and $500 for the sign and sail card but I'm not sure. I would love to purchase pictures and stuff. Please help! Any advice is awesome! Thanks in advance!

[2 cruzen]

For US, that would probably do it. We are bringing $750 for pre-cruise and ports. We use credit card for S&S card, but have over $500 OBC so hoping we don't have a bill. :D

 

Pictures are $9 to $24 each, I believe. We don't gamble, so no charges to the casino. It really depends on what ports and what you plan on doing. Have fun!

Edited March 18, 2014 by 2 cruzen

[PrettyHazardous]

My DH a and I plan for $100 pp per day. We never spend that much but that's how much we allow ourselves to spend. I think we only went over that on our wedding cruise.

 

 

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[ccruisequeen]

Depends on how much drinking you plan to do on board!

 

 

 

[sparks1093]

I budget each category and plan accordingly. For instance, on our upcoming cruise I am earmarking up to $150 for photos, $300 for souveniers and $500 for drinks. I do the same for each port.

[coloradocruiselover88]

I budget each category and plan accordingly. For instance, on our upcoming cruise I am earmarking up to $150 for photos, $300 for souveniers and $500 for drinks. I do the same for each port.

 

 

I agree with everyone's suggestions on here. I would bring as little cash as possible for your onboard activities and excursions since you can sign them to your sailand sign card. Unless of course you're paying with cash you need to make sure you have enough money. I would however bring some cash for when you are in ports shopping, food, and any taxi rides or incidentals that you may need that are included in your excursions.

 

Have a great cruise!

 

 

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[RWolver672]

You said that you were bringing $500 for your S&S card. Have you pre-paid your tips? Those will cost you $23 a day for the two of you and that will be charged to the S&S account if you haven't already paid for them.

[Anyislandwilldo]

Since we've been on a few cruises now, we know what to budget for. We allow so much for pictures, tips, drinks and excursions. We budget accordingly and put the money on our sign and sail. Our last cruise we received a check back for $23.00. So we were pretty close to our budget. Try to figure out in advance what you want to do and put the money aside for those activities.

[dawnjam1]

All I can say is that is you are drinkers AT ALL....have your budget set up, but have a backup plan as well. I always put cash on my Sign and Sail and take a CC to back it up if we go over. I like to put a lot of money on the S&S to start (like $1000). But I think this trip may be different...the soon to be ex husband won't be there to drink me into oblivion and I can focus on my daughter, Mom and the Nanny. I can tell the little one no....didn't seem to work with the ex-husband so well....hmmmm! Though I doubt I tell my angel No very often on vacation! LOL!

 

ONE PIECE OF REAL ADVISE ----- Do not cut your resources SO close that you worry your whole cruise about what you are spending! I know that everyone, including me, do not have unlimited resources, but I have cruised on a TIGHT budget and had to be obsessive about watching the spending and it caused stress and less enjoyment. Make sure you AGREE on your budget and keep it in mind, but have a backup. ENJOY YOUR TRIP!

[maldenmusic]

It depends on your bar bill if you are drinkers. They add up FAST if you aren't careful.

[TheCalicoCat]

Carnival has the prices for excursions (& you can book/pay for them pre-cruise).

 

Have you pre-paid your gratuities? Or were you counting that in your $500 on board budget?

 

I budget $10 per alcoholic beverage. (You can do cheaper by buying the drink of the day or beer - I know what I like & budget accordingly. & by cheaper I mean $2-3 cheaper.)

 

Pictures - I think they might cost $20 or $25 each (The smaller ones might be $15.)

 

Only you know how much to budget... My aunt & uncle can cruise without spending money, my family spends about $100 per day on the ship + money spent in port - & we pre-pay our gratuities & pre-book our excursions - so that is not in our budget.)

 

All dollar amounts are guesses on my part.

Edited March 18, 2014 by TheCalicoCat

[pauleydm]

We average $300 for a 7 day cruise ($150 pp). That covers our gratuities, photos and inboard souvenirs. We do not drink alcohol and we carry on our own sodas. We average another $300 for port shopping:)

[Honeybun25]

Thank you for all of the replys!!!! This is my second cruise (my first was when I was 18 so I didn't really have a lot of money to handle) and this is my fiances first cruise. I think per all of your comments the best thing to do will be put sign and sail card on credit card. So we don't bring so much cash. I got $50 in ones. I hope that is enough. I also have fives and tens. We are doing the shore excursions in Cozumel and Progresso that is Mayan Ruins and scubba party. We DO NOT drink, I do know fiance LOVES casino.(im a little worried because i heard the casino eats money fast!) We did prepay tips thou! I believe in tipping well too so I am trying to factor that in. Im scared I might go overboard on purchasing photos because we are getting married in port then the trip will be our honeymoon so I want to have memories. We do plan on carrying on bottled water.

 

THANK YOU EVERYBODY FOR SUCH GREAT ADVICE!

[Leo's Rule]

Thank you for all of the replys!!!! This is my second cruise (my first was when I was 18 so I didn't really have a lot of money to handle) and this is my fiances first cruise. I think per all of your comments the best thing to do will be put sign and sail card on credit card. So we don't bring so much cash. I got $50 in ones. I hope that is enough. I also have fives and tens. We are doing the shore excursions in Cozumel and Progresso that is Mayan Ruins and scubba party. We DO NOT drink, I do know fiance LOVES casino.(im a little worried because i heard the casino eats money fast!) We did prepay tips thou! I believe in tipping well too so I am trying to factor that in. Im scared I might go overboard on purchasing photos because we are getting married in port then the trip will be our honeymoon so I want to have memories. We do plan on carrying on bottled water.

 

THANK YOU EVERYBODY FOR SUCH GREAT ADVICE!

 

Then I'd budget $200-$300 for photos. I think that's the cost for a package Carnival offers for taking your photos on and off the ship. I think it's called a Dreams package, but don't quote me on that. Normally pictures range in price from $17 - $27 with gratuities.

 

Everyone is different. On my solo cruise this past February, I had enough cash for all of my excursions (I don't book through Carnival); money for tips, and transportation (if it wasn't included in the cost). I had an envelope with the designated amounts for each port of call. I'm not a big shopper and it pained me to have all of that cash on me; but if I felt I wanted to buy something in port, I had my cc.

 

I also had a separate envelope with ones for tips on the cruise.

[Honeybun25]

Then I'd budget $200-$300 for photos. I think that's the cost for a package Carnival offers for taking your photos on and off the ship.

 

I had an envelope with the designated amounts for each port of call. I'm not a big shopper and it pained me to have all of that cash on me; but if I felt I wanted to buy something in port' date=' I had my cc.

 

I also had a separate envelope with ones for tips on the cruise.[/quote']

 

Thanks! Ima ask about and see if they have that. Also envelope ideas are genius! I think im going to do that. So I dont overspend

[Leo's Rule]

Thanks! Ima ask about and see if they have that. Also envelope ideas are genius! I think im going to do that. So I dont overspend

 

Glad to be of assistance. I can be a bit anal. Lol. You may want to call Carnival to verify the photo package ahead of time. I'd think it was the department that handled weddings, but I could be wrong.

 

And I forgot to say congratulations on your upcoming nuptials.

 

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[StaceySteveDMB]

For a 5-8 day cruise we bring $1000.00 cash for ports and use debit card for SS. Extra cash either goes on SS on last night or back to the bank.

 

 

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[dna529]

That is a good idea to put the leftover cash on the Sign and Sail account the last night!

[wrigley80]

We always take $1,000 minimum for 2 people....we use my Carnival MasterCard for our onboard account. Plus we also pre-pay for anything that we can....like hotel stays, excursions, gratuities, etc.