Do you cruise within your means?

[Rebel54]

I usually decide what I want to do, program out how much time I need to save for it and then start saving. I try to pay for as much as I can before we go or save the exact amounts I need for each activity and then buy them as I am able. We usually go big, but it's only because I plan, save and shop around to get what I want. Not rich by any means but my kids are grown and as long as my bills are getting paid, I try to do the things that we want to do.

 

Murphy kicked in this year and I had to use a portion of my vacation savings to start Chemo for my fur baby....but I am making up for it in other areas I spend.

[Krazy Kruizers]

We have been fortunate to buy whatever we want.

The only mortgage we had was for a house - 10 years only. Everything else we paid for. Never had any finance charges on credit cards.

[spookwife]

. 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?

 

Cheers!

 

if by 'within our means' you assume not on the credit card then yes.

 

I mean yes the deposit and payments are on the CC but the CC gets paid in full every month. I have not paid interest in over a decade

 

I know what we can afford to continue paying off the CC in full each month and that is our limit. only once did we book past final payment and had to pay the whole thing at once. usually I have a year to pay it off. a little every pay period.

 

this includes any relevant flights as well as having enough to pay for on board stuff

[Haoie]

If you can afford to cruise at all, you're already most likely doing quite well [or at least getting by] don't you think?

[ithaca gal]

We never took any vacations that we couldn't pay for in full, with no interest on the credit cards. Now that we are retired, we travel as much as we can and it's always paid for as we go. One thing my DH and I agree on completely: You can never save "too much" when you are young so that you can enjoy life when there is no paycheck coming in!

 

(No one asked, but I don't know how people sleep at night when they are racking up finance charges each month on "fun" charges on the credit cards.)

[OCruisers]

It really bothers me when people book a cruise and say they can't afford to buy sports coats and/or dress pants for their teenaged boys. Some even say they can't afford somewhat formal things for themselves. :confused:

 

It makes me think they need to spend money on clothes ... not on cruises. :rolleyes:

 

LuLu

[candycaramel]

No. I'm looking in the car's ashtray and between the couch cushions for some change to pay the Hawaii trip off by the end of the month.

[worldtrekker]

I think this is a fantastic and pertinent question.

 

For me, the simple answer is yes. Every trip our family goes on is paid for in advance (except for food/incidentals for which we budget). We travel extensively as a family and live outside the US (we moved abroad 3 years ago).

 

The complicated answer is that this was not always the case. It seems several people answering your question are either retired or do not have children, which is a different situation than you described. We are in our 40's with 2 children (and several pets ugh). When we were in our 30's we were in similar circumstances to you. We made a really good combined salary, yet money was tight. Much of this had to do with how we defined success and what our lives were "supposed" to look like. Also, I blame Target (just kidding).

 

I watched a TED talk on minimalism and was inspired. I could really go on forever about what it took to get to where we are, but essentially we gave up everything that made us feel weighed down and moved to a small house where our mortgage is about 8% of our income. I still have a student loan, but those are our only two financial obligations, which leaves heaps for regular savings, retirement savings, good food and travel!

 

I found my anxiety was so high with managing our previous lifestyle, so this works for us, but I get it wouldn't be for everyone.

 

Cheers!

[Bookish Angel]

Dual income, no kids at home or being supported, 100% debt-free, bank a lot of our income with good savings. We don't buy much that isn't absolutely neccessary and use it up and wear it out. We don't need or want pricey phones, cameras, etc. We'd rather have more experiences were we bring nothing home but memories.

[CowPrincess]

>SNIP<

 

(No one asked, but I don't know how people sleep at night when they are racking up finance charges each month on "fun" charges on the credit cards.)

 

I have a couple of friends who live like that AND abuse their lines of credit -- I can ask them :) :eek: One woman has done a number of equity take-outs on her home :eek: (and neither of them understands how we live how we live, with nice homes, decent vehicles, and a winter getaway each year)

[beachbum53]

Our income is in the "average" range. The kids grew up and "flew the coop" years ago. We've almost always booked our cruises a year in advance, and make payments at least twice a month, thereby stretching out the cost. I'm sure if we lived closer to a port city (and could drive to a port rather than fly), or had a higher income, we'd probably cruise a couple of times every year. There have been times when we've had to skip a year, due to other financial obligations. About three years ago, I set up a vacation fund at my credit union, and have money deposited directly into it each time I get paid. We still make payments on the cruise, and having the vacation fund helps us save up for airfare and excursions. Being able to afford a cruise, or any type of vacation, is a matter of planning ahead. Unless we won the lottery, or won a free cruise, we could never just go on the spur of the moment.

[GUT2407]

No. I'm looking in the car's ashtray and between the couch cushions for some change to pay the Hawaii trip off by the end of the month.

 

Been there done that.

 

Booked one cruise, knowing full well that in the next month I was to get paid for a job, that would pay for the cruise three or four times over, but then they went bankrupt, had to scrape the barrel to pay for it, but that's fine, just a bit of a pain.

[leaveitallbehind]

It really bothers me when people book a cruise and say they can't afford to buy sports coats and/or dress pants for their teenaged boys. Some even say they can't afford somewhat formal things for themselves. :confused:

 

It makes me think they need to spend money on clothes ... not on cruises. :rolleyes:

 

LuLu

 

Formal wear on cruises is not as important to many people or most cruise lines today as it once was. While I agree one should dress properly and nicely, that does not mean that not dressing formally is wrong or in poor taste. How one chooses to spend their money on vacations and how they choose to dress while on them is a matter of personal choice. To each his own.

[wwcruisers]

It really bothers me when people book a cruise and say they can't afford to buy sports coats and/or dress pants for their teenaged boys. Some even say they can't afford somewhat formal things for themselves. :confused:

 

It makes me think they need to spend money on clothes ... not on cruises. :rolleyes:

 

LuLu

 

You nailed it, Lulu! I shake my head at those folks, AND the ones who:

-- claim they can't afford to get a passport;

-- smuggle, because they can't afford to pay for drinks;

-- those who plead poverty as an excuse to stiff the crew, by not tipping.

[bakersdozen12]

My son is now 18, and rather than wallow at home with empty nest syndrome, I've decided that my husband and I will take at least one vacation every year, or year and a half. We've been on trips here and there, but never anything major. We are taking our first cruise this Oct and have one planned for my 40th in Nov of 2016. After that, we are planning for a Med cruise in July of 2018 for my husband's 50th.

 

What I think makes cruising a great option is that almost everything is included, and you can book far ahead, and put aside what you need to each week to save for the next cruise. If you book at least a year in advance, the amount per paycheck really is minimal.

 

I look at my parents, who have never traveled anywhere, and I feel like they have missed out on so much in life. As the old saying goes, you can't take your money with you. So spend it on experiences, not material things. That's my new motto. You just don't know how long you have on this earth, so experience as much as you can, within your means of course.

Edited August 11, 2015 by bakersdozen12

[pris993]

We always pay as we go, by that I mean, when we put down a deposit we pay for it, when we buy air we pay for it, when we make final payment we pay for it, after the cruise we pay the final credit payment for hotel and on board expenses. We have a 0 balance on our credit card every month.

 

What we learned years ago, since we book as much as a 1 - 1.5 years in advance the total costs of a trip is spread out over many months ... even though we have trips that costs well over $10,000 - we did not feel the costs because each expenditure was handle as it came up along the way.

 

We are both retired, have been for 15 years, we travel about 2 times a year. We do local cruises, we do TAs, Mediterranean, we do land trips to Europe and the MIddle East as well. Between trips, we live modestly, we live within our means every month. We save every month for our long range travel plans. We feel very lucky to be able to go.

[SadieN]

We also live in the Greater LA area. We almost exclusively sail out of our local ports. Saves money by not having to fly and precruise hotel. Recently the cruise lines have added a variety of itins.

[OCruisers]

You nailed it, Lulu! I shake my head at those folks, AND the ones who:

-- claim they can't afford to get a passport;

-- smuggle, because they can't afford to pay for drinks;

-- those who plead poverty as an excuse to stiff the crew, by not tipping.

 

Thanks for your reply! Agree with those you listed as well.

 

LuLu

[Nebr.cruiser]

We cruise below our means, generally. We could afford suites, high end hotels, etc., but are fine with a balcony and we look hard for deals--just don't need luxury, or want it, particularly. We wouldn't cruise if we couldn't pay for it up front.

 

The one thing we will splurge on is business class for long haul flights; but only if it's a real bargain or we can use FF miles. We have paid for a couple of cruises for extended family, but again, not high end.

 

It helps to be 70, no mortagage or other payments, pay off credit cards every month and DH is still working--but owns his own business with sons to take over if we are gone. It also helps that we live in a lower cost area with a great economy.

 

We have a very nice house and live a great life but without overspending. We're not really what I would call frugal, just have outgrown the need to have designer whatever and don't really enjoy splurging on most things.

[SPacificbound]

We cruise, and travel within our means. I book cruise 18-24+ months out.

 

More important, we live way below our means.

[moesyk4]

I think living within your means is a very relative thing...taking vacations as a family is something that is really important to us and one thing we are willing to splurge on. We are early 30s living on one salary with three kids...there is always about a thousand things some would say we should spend the money on instead. We budget, have a garden, try to live frugally, do a lot of home repairs ourselves. We do not do not bring on any more debt than we have and the debt we have is under 5,000 total not including our home. We pay our bills on time and save up cash for things we don't have money for on hand. We have been very blessed.

We have this as our one thing we "splurge" on, and even though, I spend months planning, finding the best deal, figuring out what we are willing to spend, and don't spend what we don't have set aside. We are not picky, we have done everything from balconies to upper/lowers and the newest ships to the oldest. We have done trips where we didn't spend a single penny outside of what it took to get down there and sail and others where we spent fairly grandly (for us). We have never taken a trip where we didn't pay money we already had.

[Robinsoncruiseso]

Our kids are now grown and we are both still working. This allows us to travel much more. We choose not to indulge in fancy coffee and that alone pays for a nice cruise once per year..so we only have to actually save for our second.

 

When our kids were young, we cruised with them only once and twice alone. If you work out the cost per person per day, crusing can be much less than an amusement park.

 

Delayed gratification is the name of the game.

[biker@sea]

After twenty+ cruises the vacation jar still has some change left in it. :D

 

.

[navybankerteacher]

If you can cruise without incurring any debt - paying for it out of discretionary funds, and not letting any other debts build up or other obligations (like home maintenance and ongoing contribution to retirement savings) go unmet, you are arguably "within your means".

[perditax]

I guess there wasn't much chance someone was going to come to this thread and say "As a matter of fact, I'm currently running about $20k of debt on my Norwegian Visa and the interest rates are brutal, but I'm going to just keep booking more, thanks for asking!"