So how much do you spend?

[cage keeper]

Planning our first cruise and trying to estimate how much we will spend. :rolleyes: Not including the cost of the cruise. Just specialty dinning, JR's, drinks and everything else. And tips. How much do you all allow?:)

[Aubiecruiser]

There are a lot of variables there. For my DW and I, for an 11 day cruise, we average around $1800 in Seapass charges and I take between $2500 to $3000 in cash/travelers checks. We only take one "big" vacation a year and like to have the ability to do what we want, where we want, and when we want. It's all depends on what you want to spend though.

Aubie

[Nliedel]

I plan around $500.00 for myself and another for my husband. Less for the boys. I have never spent that much.

[crusinmama06]

Agree 100% with the first poster. It really depends on what interests you. On our first cruise, years ago, we were just excited to be able to be on the cruise. We spent a little money in the casino (not much). A few bucks here and there for spending money/souvenirs. And we did 2 excursions that were a few hundred dollars.

 

We are different people now. I like the spa (never cheap). We do more excursions now.

 

So it really depends what's important to you. You could go on a cruise and spend NOTHING (no alcohol, no shopping, no gambling, no excursions, no spa). IMO, no fun....HAHAHAHAHA

 

It's all up to you.

[Treven]

On my first cruise, I put down $250 for my ship's account and got money back at the end. Now I'll probably put up $1k or so and HOPE I get $ back.

[Lokip53]

Recently went on our first cruise (back2back 7 nighters)for honeymoon.

 

$1100 the first week and $700 the second.

 

We drink, but we're not big drinkers, and we only did a couple of excursions.

 

It's amazing how fast you spend money when you're handing over that pretty white, blue, and yellow card instead of cash!!!

[Treven]

It almost seems like it's not real money you're spending.

[kbt2]

we have always had a broad range on our 7 nt. cruises...our bill has been from $1500 to $4500. I would say our norm is usually about $2000, as we buy and do a lot onboard...spa, bingo, pics, casino, excursions, gifts from gift shop, and of course cocktails and wine. So there will be a broad range for everyone.

Have a great first cruise.

[dayna84]

Here is my expenses for our trip to Mexico on Carnival Pride.

 

Family of 5 (two of our kids were older 17 - 18) so they were responsible for all their "extra things" like souvieners and spa treatments and extra things they wanted. We picked up the tab for the cruise, gratuity, 1 family excursion, and a couple of family pictures and meals in port.

 

Sign & Sail Card

Room Gratuity = $350 ($70 ea)

3 Soda Cards = $69 (less $ for our younger one)

Bar Tab = $250 (Ea drink is about $5 x 2 of us, and we had a couple bottles of wine with dinners. This included the foo foo drink at the beginning of the cruise which you get to keep the cup and some apple martini fun drink they had on formal night)

Pictures = $110

Spa = $60 (The Pod and yoga)

Excursions - Pirate Ship = $445 (would not recommend night one for kids)

Casino = $50 (im not a gambler really)

 

Other Costs

Tips on excursion

Taxis in Port (not much, I think about $30 total)

Meals in Port ($45 @ Senior Frogs in PV, $50 at el Cid in Maz, $40 Cabo)

Souvenirs (I buy small souvenirs and take lots of pictures and have them developed and framed. I'll bet I spent about $40 total in souvenirs I place in a drawer when I get home and rarely look at)

Hair braid- $20 (gotta have that when you go to Mexico)

Snorkling = $25 (for 2, not a ship arranged tour, just some guy on the beach)

Jet Ski rental in Cabo = $65 for an hour (maybe it was longer sure seemed like it. We just traded one jet ski between all of us and got to go around the ship and jump waves. We all got enough time and it was fun)

Parking at cruise terminal = $80

[Sassy Chassis]

Two 7-day cruises, both with similar results. We spend about ~$700 total, or $100 per day for 2 people. That includes our gratuities, drinks, photos, shore excursions, and on-board shopping.

[cb at sea]

You don't have to buy the pictures--take your own. The drink they hand out when you board the ship will be charged to you! If you don't want it, don't take it!

Our 1st cruise, we did alot of excursions and paid alot of $$$$! Now, I've realized that the cruise is the thing and I don't really care where our ports are, as long as it's warm! We will go to beaches and walk around a bit, but seldom take an actual excursion that costs money! (Once you've seen one island, you've seen 'em all!)

Like the previous posters said--it depends on what's important to you and what you usually spend on your outings. No matter how much you spend, you will have great fun!

[sailingawaysoon]

We spent $1,200 for a 7-day cruise last year. We bought one bottle of liquor for the room and the rest was spent on excursions, drinks at the bar, giftshop, etc. We took cash for various tips throughout. If you don't drink much, then you'll spend a lot less....We took cash for the casino as well. Have a great trip...and like others have stated...it really varies on your interests and tastes. You can keep track of your spending by checking it each day.

[debshomespun]

The other posters are right, it depends on what you want to do. On our first cruise in April/03, (Carnival Destiny 7 day) we spent a little over $1000. for both of us for the week. Thought it might be our only cruise! Bought lots of the pictures, drinks, excursions. Boy were we wrong!

 

Now, we try to cruise twice a year, if not more. We take inside/OV cabins to save $$$, and spend very little on the seapass account. We charge our tips to the account every cruise, as we have a RCCL Visa (to get the double points). I always research the ports of call to decide what to do and haven't taken a ship sponsored excursion since our second cruise.

 

On the Empress 6 day/5 night in 9/05, we spent $233. on our account, and on the Navigator 5/05, 8 day/7 night we spent $329. Again, it all depends on what you want to do and spend your $$$ on. We don't spend alot on the cruise, and therefore look forward to at least twice a year, if not more.

 

We usually take about $500 cash along for spending money, and come home with usually half of that, and have our charge card, so if we need anything more.

[cage keeper]

Thank you to everyone. What great responces. We don't like to have to worry about what were spending either and yet were not wealthy. We will drink, and a couple of bottles of wine with dinner. Soda card for DS and one excursion. Want to do some shopping, but dout we will buy any expensive items like jewerly. Maybe a couple of island skirts and shirts.

I know we'll spend alot at Disney, but it looks like I'll want more for the cruise. Thanks again.:)

[threeofus]

Well if you add in the excursions....and the tips...you will have a big bill.

 

We book in advance so they are pre paid.....(then they seem like they're free)

We use cash for tips..

 

The sea pass for 7 days......about 1500......drinks, photos, casino, Bingo, and a little bit of shopping.

[Murphy]

At least $100 per day and that's if I prepay for excursions and tips... Yes, my alcohol bill is HUGE! :)

[LindaandJeff]

The others are right. It depends what you like. DH and I agreed on $100 for me for Spa and $100 for him for casino. We didn't plan on drinking the Drink of the Day"...but we did many times over! We did plan on buying the wine package and then didn't opting instead for various glasses to match our courses instead. We didn't plan to play bingo but we did and then turned out to be a HUGE expense. $35 or $50 per time. My advice, unless you are a bingo fanatic, just go the last day to try to win the big pot and the day before to try to win the cruise. You can buy your excursions in advance on RCCL's site and pay for them ahead of time which helps with budgeting.

[rubrrick]

We must be the last of the BIG spenders. On our last cruise, that we left last Friday, with shipboard credits etc, our total tab was under $23.00.

So, book another cruise onboard, own Royal Caribbean stock, use a T/A that will give shipboard credit, and it all adds up.

 

And, yes, we have never seen a tab that small. On our 11 day Mexican Riviera cruise, our tab was just over $1,400.00 plus what we paid in cash. That price included my DW's trip to the doctor, which was $330.00.

 

Rick

[emilygrace]

DH and I average about $100-125 for a 7 day cruise. Total bill. That's it. We pre-purchase excursions, so they are already paid for. We bring cash for the tips. We don't like photos of ourselves. And we're not big drinkers. If we do buy a drink or two, we have the 2 for 1 coupons in the C&A booklets. Sometimes we buy a small souvenir, like a pin of the ship or something. And DH likes his afternoon frappicinos. That's about it. Makes us sound pretty dull, but we do have tons of fun.

[bibb]

In 19 cruises, our largest S&S bill has been $550 and smallest $122. These go on our credit card. For spending on the islands, etc, we take $500 cash for a seven day cruise and we have almost always had enough to pay our tips (around $200) out of that cash. The times we didn't have enough (twice, I think) we went to the casino and got $200 in cash on our S%S card. DW drinks a couple of drinks a day and I drink beer so our bar bill is not huge.

 

We negotiate excursions on the piers and usually beat the cruise line excursions by half price or more.

 

I read one post somewhere where the poster said his S&S bill had always exceeded the cost of his cruise. Now he knows how to party. :)

[pcur]

Boy, am I a cheap date!!

 

Outside of tips, we end up with about $100 for a 7 day cruise on our SeaPass account.

 

Now, for some qualifying:

I use both our C&A coupons for 40 minutes on the internet, which is 50 cents a minute. So, if you do email everyday, figure at least $8 a day for that. I send info to be mailed to my elderly parents.

 

We don't drink much, except at the freebie parties, and we have 2 coupons for a free drink in the C&A coupon booklet.

 

Shore excusions are easy to calculate, since the price is right on the RCCL web site. Usually, though, we don't take an excursion unless it's under $60 pp, and that's on our Med cruises. We like to take the local buses and trains; more interesting that way.

 

We don't do the spa, very little gambling, or bingo.

 

Like I said: I'm a cheap date. :D

[suzeyQ]

We're just back from the Explorer and our final Seapass bill was about $1,600. That doesn't include tips, which we paid in cash ($150) or shore excursions, which we booked and paid for ahead of time ($400). It did include:

 

$300 cash from the casino

$350 spa services

$200 wine and dine package

 

The rest of it was drinks, photos, souvenirs, cover charge at Portofino.

[flips7]

If you plan on drinking (moderately) and buying a few trinkets plus an excursion and tips I would figure $100 to $150 per day. That should easily cover it. We just got back from 10 days and it was only $1300.00 on the card plus $300.00 cash

 

Flips

[Theresa522]

Hi everyone, we were on the Dawn in July and I spent $1000.00 in cash and $2100.00 on the card. I did hit for $600 in bingo so I took that right off my card which brought it to $1600 for a grand total of $2500

 

We do go all out though. My dh always says why go on vacation if you have to pinch pennies and do all the things you want to do. So we SAVE SAVE SAVE and then go.

[jeaniebean]

$700 here and I don't drink! But I did win $250 playing black jack.

 

Jean