How much money should I save?

[Cwolfe88]

How much money should I have to cover what we will be spending? We plan on eating at the places that come with our ticket, doing the shows and stuff that are free. We will buy souvenirs and stuff but how much per person on average would you say they should save? As well how much cash should each person have for port souvenirs?

[xDisconnections]

Whatever you plan on... double it.

[SadieN]

Where are you going? Our budget is much different for Alaska than Mexico.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[maryred]

More info would be appreciated. Like...

How many are you being financially responsible for, like a spouse or SO and are there young kids or teens involved?

What cruise itinerary?

What do you think your family/group wants to do while in port?

Do you plan on having any soda or adult beverages other than what you can board with?

Are your auto-gratuities prepaid?

Are you flying or driving to your embarkation port?

If flying how are getting to the cruise terminal from the airport and returning after the cruise?

If driving do you plan to park on site at the terminal, off-site parking garage, or have a hotel's "Park, Stay, Cruise" package?

Also define souvenir. For me, at this point, my idea of a personal take-home from port is a sterling silver or white gold charm or a handmade tea set. While DH is collecting hand-painted lighthouses representative of the region either as figurines or canvas art. Not exactly always inexpensive items depending on which island or port of call. For souvenir gifts we gravitate toward local spice blends and rubs, as well as essential oils and wax melts made near the port.

[tallnthensome]

$500 per couple. Tips add up as well. Are you prepaying gratuities? You never mentioned your alcoholic beverage intake. I take $1000 for a family of four.

[ewynn9]

My wife and I typically bring $100-200 in small bill cash and $500 for our onboard account. Cheers ($700) and Gratuities ($180) are prepaid. Excursions are also prepaid as much as possible.

[Cwolfe88]

More info would be appreciated. Like...

How many are you being financially responsible for, like a spouse or SO and are there young kids or teens involved?

What cruise itinerary?

What do you think your family/group wants to do while in port?

Do you plan on having any soda or adult beverages other than what you can board with?

Are your auto-gratuities prepaid?

Are you flying or driving to your embarkation port?

If flying how are getting to the cruise terminal from the airport and returning after the cruise?

If driving do you plan to park on site at the terminal, off-site parking garage, or have a hotel's "Park, Stay, Cruise" package?

Also define souvenir. For me, at this point, my idea of a personal take-home from port is a sterling silver or white gold charm or a handmade tea set. While DH is collecting hand-painted lighthouses representative of the region either as figurines or canvas art. Not exactly always inexpensive items depending on which island or port of call. For souvenir gifts we gravitate toward local spice blends and rubs, as well as essential oils and wax melts made near the port.

 

There are 3 of us 2 adults one 11 year old. We won’t be drinking except maybe one at dinner. We have pre paid gratuity’s. And it’s cozumel and Progresso on Carnival.

[Joebucks]

It depends what you like to do while on vacation.

 

Personally, I never bring more than about $200 cash. I only use the cash when I have to, like taxis and vendors. If it's lost, it's lost. I always use my credit card when possible.

[sprint180]

I usually take $200 in cash + I have extra for the tips all ready and in an envelops for our shuttle drivers, room steward etc. Anyone I know I will be tipping. We pay as much as we can in advance, excursions, the auto tips, and the like. I do take a credit card in case of emergencies.

[Bert64]

We prepay gratuities and don't drink all that much. Buy the social media wi-fi plan (although that's prepaid as well.) Also, generally don't buy any Carnival merchandise on board and get souvenirs at the ports.

 

We need cash for spending in ports and tipping. We do third party excursions as well, instead of through Carnival, so that is cheaper for us. If you go through Carnival, you have to budget that cost. Sometimes we go to specialty restaurants with a fee.

 

So, it's hard to say how much you specifically will need without knowing your spending habits and exactly what you plan to do and how much of that is prepaid. We can get away with only needing to bring $200 in cash and having a $100ish bill on board for a 7-day cruise (When we prepay everything available, and don't go to specialty restaurants.) Other couples may need $1000.

 

My advice -- set a budget according to what your financial constraints are and whatever you feel comfortable with spending. Add up what you know you will need money for, and see how much more you will be comfortable spending. Even though we can afford to spend more than what we do, our priorities dictate that spending $1000+ on board isn't something we want to do, and plan accordingly.

[TEXSUN46]

For me and my wife I take $100 per port for spending cash and usually come home with a big chunk of it left, and we budget $1000 for onboard spending but always spend a lot less than that.

[kona_wahine]

I take a set amount for each port for food, drinks, souvenirs, or taxis & tips as needed. When it’s gone, it’s gone, but may carry over to the next port. also bring a set amount for gambling per day. And a set amount for before and after cruise to get to and from airport/hotel before.

[Nevada Jen]

About 100 extra per day (including travel days) in small bills for two people. But that assumes everything else you are doing/drinking/eating is already paid for. Maybe a little more depending on how you are getting to the ship. For instance before I even made it on the ship I tipped sky cap at home, airport shuttle twice, port shuttle once and the porters at the pier and paid for a hotel room overnight and a shuttle to the port. Any numbers people tell you will be based on how they cruised and may include things you don't have to pay for or exclude things you do. For instance, I spent 1200 on travel to and from the ship (including tips and airport parking).

[cheermomof2girls]

We don't take much cash, we charge almost everything to our sail and sign card and pay the credit card when we get home. (we like earning travel points). We have done this itinerary several times so I can tell you our experiences.

 

We always prepay Cheers and bottomless bubbles if the kids are with us. However, we tip additional for almost all drinks, so this adds up over the course of the 5 days. We add 1-3 dollars a drink (high end being specialty drinks at alchemy or crazy busy bartenders who are still awesome). We add this to our sail and sign cards. For the last day, we tip room steward, wait staff, and any bartenders we have gotten to know 20-40 in cash.

 

We book our excursions through Carnival and prepay those as well, but usually only do on in Cozumel and stay on the boat in progresso. We dont buy many souvenirs. If we didn't bring the kids, we will bring them something home and a bottle of alcohol for our parents for keeping them. So maybe another 100.

 

We like to gamble, so for that we save up cash to take and gamble with the cash as it's more of "extra fun money" for us. Not missed (too bad) if we lose. :) If we win, it can help pay off the credit card at the end.

 

We plan ahead for specialty dining if we think we will want to, and the included gratuities (or prepay them). Things do add up a lot on the cruise, but we try to prepay as much as we can, and dont have crazy bills at the end that way.

[Warm Breezes]

Our norm is usually $100 or slightly less per day. Having said that I use my credit card for almost everything pre and post cruise (hotels, food, car rentals) and for our on-board spending (including gratuities charged to the room) to get the rewards points on my credit card. I try to purchase as much as I can all the time on my credit card anyways and pay it off every month. I then cash out my rewards points before a vacation and usually have enough cash from that to cover what we are taking for spending money. I use this cash for tips, taxi's, island tours, and spending on the islands. Upon our return, I normally have around half of my cash left and I either save that for our next trip or put it in the bank if we have no future trips planned to help pay off the credit card. I love having free money to spend on vacations :). $100 pd has worked for us whether it was just the 2 of us or if we had our 2 kids with us. It is the same strategy we use when going on land vacations as well (except I use my credit card for the souvenirs/excursions at our vacation spot instead of the cash I use in the islands).

[grandmarnnurse]

We usually bring $1k cash, to use in port city prior to cruise and after, as we fly in ahead, dinners in port restaurants, shopping, plenty of singles for tips, taxi fare.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums