Do you cruise within your means?

[E46M3]

Cruises aren't cheap and the average household income in the US is around $51000. We make quite a bit more than that and our finances are still very tight. We don't have any debt other than a mortgage and a car lease. We live in Los Angeles and are in our 30's, so cost of living isn't the cheapest but not the highest either. We've only cruised once and are about to cruise again in Oct. But we vacation once a year usually for a week. But booking was hard and definitely felt guilty afterwards. We have a toddler so obviously that's a lot of money, too. I guess I'm just very curious and my questions are, how do you guys do it and what are your situations? I'm sure there are people like us?

 

Obviously this is an online forum so most people here are anonymous so feel free to share your thoughts.

 

Cheers!

[Husky61]

We are fortunate to be able to cruise whatever way we want, and now it is a suite and limo to and from the airport. That wasn't always the case when we were raising our children.:)

[maywell]

What I love about cruises, is that you pay it off like its layaway especially if its a trip next year or 2 before final payment. And then, depending on if the port is in your city or you have to travel to it - that's it, there's nothing else to really pay for because food and entertainment is already included unless you want to pay extra for stuff. That's the real beauty of cruises over other types of vacations - not having to pay for everything all at the same time, but by pieces.[emoji7]

 

Sent from my SGH-T399 using Tapatalk

[perditax]

Prepare for a lot of bragging in this thread. :)

 

So far I've resisted the urge to cruise "outside" my means, meaning nothing I can't run through a rewards credit card and then pay off before incurring interest. But I can see how it would be tempting to have "upgrade creep".

Edited August 10, 2015 by perditax

[legaljen1969]

We often cruise with my family. My parents have paid for several cruises for themselves, my husband and I, and my brother, sister in law and two nieces. Those years that IS our gifts for the year pretty much. We usually get a balcony cabin (that's what my parents have booked for all of us). We vacation on our own in less expensive destinations. I know it probably sounds awful, but we generally don't cruise unless it is a gift. This year was our 20th anniversary, so my parents gave us money toward a cruise. We did pick a slightly less expensive cabin so that we could maximize their gift and still do the various other experiences we wanted to do (specialty dining, excursions). We also take full advantage of any sort of discounts offered- military discounts, resident rates, loyalty discounts, et cetera.

 

We do enjoy cruising though, so we may start doing short cruises or cruising in inside cabins.

 

Anyhow, that's how we do cruising.

[LHT28]

The money is in the bank before we book a trip cruise or otherwise

 

When possible will upgrade to Bus class flights but we usually are in Econ

 

Do what ever works best for you & your circumstances

[sfaaa]

Always. I cruise on deals and refuse to pay retail.

[sail7seas]

We never purchased anything we couldn't afford to pay for immediately when we bought it (except when we used to have a home mortgage.) Cruises/vacations were no exception. If we couldn't afford it comfortably, we didn't go.

[Flatbush Flyer]

Cruises aren't cheap and the average household income in the US is around $51000. We make quite a bit more than that and our finances are still very tight. We don't have any debt other than a mortgage and a car lease. We live in Los Angeles and are in our 30's, so cost of living isn't the cheapest but not the highest either. We've only cruised once and are about to cruise again in Oct. But we vacation once a year usually for a week. But booking was hard and definitely felt guilty afterwards. We have a toddler so obviously that's a lot of money, too. I guess I'm just very curious and my questions are, how do you guys do it and what are your situations? I'm sure there are people like us?

 

 

 

Obviously this is an online forum so most people here are anonymous so feel free to share your thoughts.

 

 

 

Cheers!

 

 

Don't underestimate the cost-of-living in L.A. when compared to so many other places in the USA. Coastal California cities, even in less-than-prime neighborhoods, can mean killer mortgages. In 2015, a combined family income of at least $125k was needed to afford even a shack here in SF.

[Treven]

I probably do. I'm a senior citizen, so I'm obviously on a fixed income. Fortunately, Princess at least, affords me the opportunity to pay for the cruise by payments; as was posted, "layaway". However I do splurge when it comes to excursions and speciality dining. I stay away from the expensive boutiques onboard, so that helps. I also manage a small bar bill over the length of the cruise.

[RuthC]

I'm a "saver"; have been all my life.

I was brought up with the idea that if I couldn't afford to pay cash for something (other than a house), I didn't need it. "Use it up. Wear it out. Make it do, or do without" was the rule of finance in my childhood home.

 

While working, I saved for my trips, and denied myself many things I would have liked to have so I could take those trips. And I put money aside for my retirement.

Now that I'm retired, I am enjoying the fruits of my labors. I enjoy, but still can't bring myself to splurge. If I can't afford it, I don't go.

[tetleytea]

I'm more limited for vacation time than for money, so for us it's not too hard to cruise within our means. The all-important sparse commodity is time.

[navybankerteacher]

I never considered cruising while raising (and educating) 4 children. Until the youngest was five and we had been in our house for seven years and finally could comfortably manage the mortgage, we only took "staycations", then one week rentals on Cape Cod for several years, and finally two weeks.

 

Took first cruise 1n 1996 (not counting trip to Bermuda my parents handled) the fall after my twin sons graduated college. Didn't take another until 2002 (the year they finished law school - which I helped with slightly). Since then it has been one or two a year - with family obligations met, my wife and I can treat ourselves fairly well - and we do; fortunately still within our means.

 

Building reserves, accruing equity in a home, educating children all make cruising a stretch for people in their 20's, 30's and even into their 50's: and always a matter of shifting priorities.

[simplelife]

It's more a matter of what one chooses to spend money on. We enjoy cruising and still find it is the best value for out vacation dollar. Plus we are able to pay most costs "up front" so there are few surprises at vacation time. We live modestly and we cruise modestly. We choose shorter intineraries and home ports we can drive to. We don't book balconies or suites and don't do many excursions (I put in a lot of hours of research on ports and precruise hotels to get the best value - often I have enough hotel points from work travel to get a free room), We don't drink excessively or gamble or buy photos. We eat on ship on port days (but may have drinks in port, if they are cheaper than on the ship.)We rarely eat in specialty restaurants. And we have a wonderful relaxing time.

[OCruisers]

If we can't afford it, we don't do or buy it! :)

 

LuLu

[ayrshireboy]

I live for my holidays and cruising is great value especially as my children are pretty much grown up now.

[wwcruisers]

Generally speaking, cruising (and vacationing in general) is easier, once your kids are grown. :cool: Our "family vacations" usually consisted of a few days a year spent camping at the beach -- in a tent, not a motor-home.

[kelkel2]

My husband and I are in our upper 20's, we both have good jobs and the only debt we have is our mortgage and my new car payment. Occasionally I'll put something on our rewards credit card, but the statement is paid off monthly.

What we do? We are savers. We don't always cruise every year. We had a huge repair on our house and did some other renovations as well and therefore this coming cruise in 2016 is going to be our first since 2013. We are really looking forward to it.

But what we won't do is cruise in order to make ourselves feel financially strapped. But when we are ready to cruise we look at itineraries and put our down payment down. Then we look at our cruise like debt we owe. We look at how much we owe vs. how many months we have to pay it off. When we booked this one we put our tax money towards it and then paid the rest in small increments until it was paid off.

[CowPrincess]

Cruises aren't cheap and the average household income in the US is around $51000. We make quite a bit more than that and our finances are still very tight. We don't have any debt other than a mortgage and a car lease. We live in Los Angeles and are in our 30's, so cost of living isn't the cheapest but not the highest either. We've only cruised once and are about to cruise again in Oct. But we vacation once a year usually for a week. But booking was hard and definitely felt guilty afterwards. We have a toddler so obviously that's a lot of money, too. I guess I'm just very curious and my questions are, how do you guys do it and what are your situations? I'm sure there are people like us?

 

Obviously this is an online forum so most people here are anonymous so feel free to share your thoughts.

 

Cheers!

 

We too live in an area with quite a high cost of living. We do without things, in order to cruise. We rarely (and I mean RARELY) eat out. I broke my Starbucks habit in order to save that $$$ for cruising. If we can't pay cash, we don't buy it. Neither of us has a car payment. My DH is a saver, and has taught me a lot about managing money :D

 

When we cruise, we usually have to fly. We shuttle to our airport city, stay a night in a hotel to catch our pre-dawn flight, then spend 2 days ahead of our cruise in the embarkation city. All the pre-cruise travel (and meals) adds up.

 

We book cabins that we can afford -- that means an Oceanview or sometimes a low-end balcony. If we lived in or near a port, and could take a cab to the ship, we'd be in a suite, probably, for every cruise. :)

 

We can't take advantage of last-minute deals, as our vacation time needs to be arranged FAR in advance.

 

All of our vacation expenses are paid for (or the money is in the bank) before we leave on vacation.

 

Bottom line (for us): we made travel a priority a few years ago, and adjusted our lives to accomplish that.

[Floridiana]

Vacation and cruises are extras that can only be taken after everything else is paid. We never cruised with our son, road trips and visiting grandparents were our vacations.

Edited August 10, 2015 by Floridiana

[GUT2407]

Not sure what it even means, but I guess if I can afford to meet my obligations and then pay for cruise yes I do.

[ocholoco]

Our answer is easy but not very helpful for you. No kids. The amount of freedom in time and funds we have by not being in the parent game is huge.

[leaveitallbehind]

Always. I cruise on deals and refuse to pay retail.

 

Please explain "deals" v "retail" as with most cruise lines the stateroom pricing is exactly the same directly through them as through a TA and all prices are considered "retail". Most cruise lines also offer promotions and other specials, but those prices are also offered the same directly or through TA's. In other words, other than for TA's perks which come out of their commission and are not subsidized by the cruise lines, or minor TA block room pricing discounts which essentially is sold as a TA group rate, all pricing is available equally to all as a retail price - not to just some through special "deals". :confused:

Edited August 10, 2015 by leaveitallbehind

[NMLady]

Cruises aren't cheap and the average household income in the US is around $51000. We make quite a bit more than that and our finances are still very tight. We don't have any debt other than a mortgage and a car lease. We live in Los Angeles and are in our 30's, so cost of living isn't the cheapest but not the highest either. We've only cruised once and are about to cruise again in Oct. But we vacation once a year usually for a week. But booking was hard and definitely felt guilty afterwards. We have a toddler so obviously that's a lot of money, too. I guess I'm just very curious and my questions are, how do you guys do it and what are your situations? I'm sure there are people like us?

 

Obviously this is an online forum so most people here are anonymous so feel free to share your thoughts.

 

Cheers!

 

When my husband and I were both working we could afford to cruise more often. But now that we are retired, finances are tighter. We do not cruise unless we have the money in the bank for the cruise and can figure out budgeting for onboard charges. Our credit card is always paid off in full every month.

 

We do not eat out. We do not have cable or Dish or Direct tv, just antenna. We now live in a doublewide mobile home that is fully paid for so no mortgage payments. No car payments on two older vehicles.

We do not have Smartphones, just older cell phones. No landline.

The money that would be spent on those things is put mostly into savings but some into cruise fund.

Edited August 10, 2015 by NMLady

[kelmac]

Just my wife and myself:

 

--no mortgage

--no car payments

--no kids

--no debt

--no pets

--no house plants

--lock the Condo door and go!!

 

We don't buy "stuff", only experiences. I guess about 85% of our income is disposable, so we travel 10 -- 12 weeks of the year. Usually that includes two, three or four cruises. We use our Southwest credit cards for all our purchases and that gets us about half of our flights for free.

 

In addition, we usually book inside cabins and only upgrade after final payment. I just cancelled our spring break cruise on the Reflection out of Miami because airfare was expensive, hotel prices were up…, We did switch to an NCL cruise out of Houston for about 1/2 the cost. (although we need to purchase the UDP to bump the food up to Celebrity standards)

 

Life is good!

Kel:D