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How do y'all afford to cruise so often??

auburnfan

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petesweet

petesweet

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Posted

I haven't read this entire thread; however, I'm sure the obvious things have been mentioned--interior rooms, no drinking or gambling, no special restaurants, etc. Our most recent cruises are what are called back-to-back. This saves us airfare for the second cruise, hotel at beginning port, and transfer to ship. That can be considerable. We're having to fly to Vancouver from South Carolina for next September's repositioning cruise to Alaska on the Serenade of the Seas. One plane trip, one pretrip hotel at inexpensive hotel, and one taxi ride to port. We'll have 13 nights in Hawaii at a good price, and we disembark in L.A. Then we stay on the same ship and go 15 nights to Hawaii before returning from L.A. to South Carolina.

 

Some would say the spa treatments and drinking, etc., are what make a cruise their special vacation. More power to them. If I want to cruise, I can't afford the extra stuff (don't drink anyway). It's just where your priorities are.

 

One thing I splurge on. I pick the ships that are elegant. No cheapie cruises for me. I'll take the ones that fulfill my need for elegance and leave me feeling satisfied. Just got back from the Explorer of the Seas. Now that's satisfying!!:D

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rpclmc

rpclmc

Posted
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I haven't read this entire thread; however, I'm sure the obvious things have been mentioned--interior rooms, no drinking or gambling, no special restaurants, etc. Our most recent cruises are what are called back-to-back. This saves us airfare for the second cruise, hotel at beginning port, and transfer to ship. That can be considerable. We're having to fly to Vancouver from South Carolina for next September's repositioning cruise to Alaska on the Serenade of the Seas. One plane trip, one pretrip hotel at inexpensive hotel, and one taxi ride to port. We'll have 13 nights in Hawaii at a good price, and we disembark in L.A. Then we stay on the same ship and go 15 nights to Hawaii before returning from L.A. to South Carolina.

 

Some would say the spa treatments and drinking, etc., are what make a cruise their special vacation. More power to them. If I want to cruise, I can't afford the extra stuff (don't drink anyway). It's just where your priorities are.

 

One thing I splurge on. I pick the ships that are elegant. No cheapie cruises for me. I'll take the ones that fulfill my need for elegance and leave me feeling satisfied. Just got back from the Explorer of the Seas. Now that's satisfying!!:D

 

Wish we were joining you, sounds like an awesome trip. Not money issue for us. Have an 8 year old in school and just can't justify pulling her out that much for our own pleasure.

 

Linda

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TexasAlexus

TexasAlexus

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We have 3 kids so it get really expensive having to book two cabins during the summer or the Holidays when the kids are out of school. What I do is have an income that is dedicated solely for my cruising budget. I work in the Medical field, so I sign up for call hours( essentially pays 3 times my regular rate of pay). 7 call backs= a cruise! And I am more than willing to sail in any cabin, on any ship, any itinerary if the price is right. We live within a half a day's driving distance to two ports, so that helps a great deal too.

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WEELYNCRUZER

WEELYNCRUZER

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My wife and I will begin our 23rd cruise Sat.10/27/07. We live in NH and just came back from a week in Seattle.It was ok but you can't beat cruising. I am confined to a wheelchair another reason we cruise. We have 2 kids in their 4th year of college. We are going on a 2 week Scandanvia/Russia cruise in 08. How do we do it. We started saving for college when they were born, we paid our mortgage off in 7 years and lived frugally the whole time. We don't need a balcony,what a waste of money. We don't drink other than the 1or2 beers I have per cruise.We don't gamble odds aren't in our favor.I do buy jewelry for my wife and we have taken a few excursions.The helicopter ride over Denali was the best and it was wheelchair accessible. You cam have a great time without spending a fortune. We can go anytime but unfortunatly we can't get a last minute accessible room because many people in them aren't wheelchair bound but that is another topic. GOOD LUCK

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SUN TURNIP

SUN TURNIP

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We like to cruise in a top penthouse suite when the price is right. We have cruised in the ship's top suite for the normal cost of an outside cabin on three times. We never cruise in an inside cabin. The majority of the time we are in a verandah cabin. Three times we have been in the owners cabin. We have even cruised in the 2,600 Sq. Ft. penthouse suite on the Infinity, but we only paid a per diem of $310, which is the price for a low grade verandah cabin. I agree that you can cruise often if you look for the discounted cruises. Due to the support of the stock market, We have been able to cruise in much more upgraded cabins.

 

Do you usually booK early in advance or do you just always look for a good deal? Is there a certain place I should be looking for these deals you are getting?

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70 +

70 +

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TO SUN TURNIP

Yes, we book one to two years in advance. However, the cruise business is so good that the cruise lines do not need to give the large discounts that I have received in the past. Our large discounts have been when there was a travel scare (such as SARS) that caused large cancellations of trips. But you must keep your ear to the ground and watch for these discounts, as the ship fills fast.

The very large discount on the 2,600 sq. ft. penthouse was a special case. We had booked the suite at a large discount. The cost was above our usual cruise limit, but I wanted to be able to say that I had cruised in the largest suite (at that time). Then the pod engine systen failed and the ship went into dry dock. Celebrity then gave me an additional 50% discount on any cruise within the next year. That is how the cruise cost was so low. As an interesting aside: On the new cruise this ship again had pod engin problems, and was going into dry dock at the end of the cruise. I did not find out about the new failure untii we boarded the ship.

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SUN TURNIP

SUN TURNIP

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Hi Sunturnip,

 

Could you tell me how you mange to get such great deals as staying in something so nice for the same price as an outside? I always pick my cabin , should I not do that and see what I end up with?

 

 

Hey! Actually I was trying to quote 70+'s post....but some how I messed it up... 70+ is the one getting all the bargins. He replied to my post, which is right before yours.

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jtechyjenny

jtechyjenny

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I think so many people go from cruise to cruise because it's actually cheaper then going to one destination. I'm going on my second cruise in a few days and cruised on the Grand Princess a few years back. I spend less going on a 7 day cruise then I do going to a US state for the weekend. You can get a cruise now a days for the price of a one night stay at a good hotel. I am big on travel and when I'm on a budget the first thing I think about is cruising. My last vacation to Curacao cost us $1400 just in airfare. Our goal is to travel the world before we have kids! What my hubby and I do is, gift each other vacations on special events birthdays, x-mas ect. when we want to travel and when it's within our budget.

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rpclmc

rpclmc

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Posted
I think so many people go from cruise to cruise because it's actually cheaper then going to one destination. I'm going on my second cruise in a few days and cruised on the Grand Princess a few years back. I spend less going on a 7 day cruise then I do going to a US state for the weekend. You can get a cruise now a days for the price of a one night stay at a good hotel. I am big on travel and when I'm on a budget the first thing I think about is cruising. My last vacation to Curacao cost us $1400 just in airfare. Our goal is to travel the world before we have kids! What my hubby and I do is, gift each other vacations on special events birthdays, x-mas ect. when we want to travel and when it's within our budget.

 

That is what we did, my husband and I thought we would get all the travelling (or at least the big stuff) done before kids. Now we just take her with. My daughter, 8 years old, has been travelling since she was 11 weeks. Is a better traveler than some adults, loves it and is in several frequent traveler programs.

 

The hard part comes when they get school age; then you have to schedule around school. I think it is a shame how school and work can get in the way of traveling:D .

 

Have fun now and know you can still have fun traveling with kids. Now with cruises, we usually get inside cabins (no need for a balcony to relax on, there is no relaxing with a kid - they keep you moving) and we camp alot in order to travel within the states.

 

Linda

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CaribbeanCrazy

CaribbeanCrazy

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The following are DH and my 13 money saving tips that work for us....

 

1.Always using my cruise reward visa card to save $500.00-$800.00 off every cruise. I put everything over $5.00 on it and then pay it off each month so I don't pay interest.

 

2.We always book an inside cabin. Except for those rare occasions (two) that we got a really good deal on a cabin with a balcony:)

 

3.DH just retired 10-01-07 and I haven't worked in 5 or 6 years. But when we both worked we took our lunch instead of going out.

 

4.We hardly ever buy anything unless its on sale! (I also use coupons whenever possible)

 

5.Shop garage sales, second hand stores and thrift shops. You would be surprised the nice stuff you can find at these places. I am picky...so all of the stuff I buy is in new condition. Some items still have the original price tags on them!

 

6.We hardly ever go out to dinner....or bars. If we do go out to eat...we go for lunch...much cheaper! We do our drinking at home too!!

 

7.We don't buy each other birthday or Chrismas gifts anymore. After 14 years of marriage we have pretty much everything we want. DH used to buy me jewelry a lot when we were dating and first married. I told him that I have enough now and that I would rather save the $$ for travel.

 

8.Didn't buy a house we couldn't afford.

We have a small ranch house in a nice neighborhood. Just fine for the two of us:)

 

9.No kids or grand kids (this is not a tip just a fact)

 

10.Cheap haircuts 10.00...sometimes less if we have a coupon.

plus I color my own hair:eek:

 

11.We don't have cell phones. I don't like talking on the phone at home so I have no desire to do so when I'm out and about! (if I had kids I would probably have one...or at least they would:)

 

12.We only pay $8.95 a month for internet. Slow but cheap:D

 

13. In the winter (MI) we never put the heat over 70 degrees....usually it is between 62-68.

 

BTW some of these tips are how we can afford to retire early. And also pay off our house in 14 years....and still have money left to travel. I guess we are blessed...I am very grateful:)

 

Now that DH is retired I hope to do even more traveling!!!!!!!!!!

 

CaribbeanCrazy

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mandrews2u

mandrews2u

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wow, great suggestions, I do 8 out of your 13, so I'm doing good, however you gave me some good ideas. I always use my skymiles-delta card for everything then pay it off in full almost every month then I have free airfair which I use on the most expensive flights I can, Palm Bch to Anchorage Alaska, then Vancouve,BC to Palm Bch on eof the cruises, this last time Palm bch to Vancouver,BC then LA back to Palm Bch, I will have to start putting some on our cruise charge card and see if we work out better that way. We do have 3 ports we can cruise out of that are fairly close so we don't always have airfare, which helps.Reposition cruises are cheaper if you can get the free flights.We do not spend money on bopoze,gambling,shopping and very selective on our excursions. I wish we were aloud to say where we get the best deals online, BUT I do not see much variance on price on any of the cruise websites so guess I am not misses any bargains that I do not find on my own.My biggest confusion is still, do you make out betetr picking your own cabin, or going with the way you could possibkly get boosted up to something better(a guarantee I think it's called) any thoughts on that anyone?

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TexasAlexus

TexasAlexus

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Hey, I do 9 out of the 13. Not bad. And like I mentioned in my previous post, I have an extra job that is just for generating cruise money. I don't mind being conservative with our money all year, so we can cruise once or twice a year. To me it's well worth it.

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70 +

70 +

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To mandrews2u

If you have a problen that requires a certain part of the ship for your cabin, be careful of an upgrade. A guarantee status will not be resolved until days before you start the cruise. The cruise line will sell all the cabins that they can. If the ship is almost totally full (as many cruises are these days) all of the cabins in good locations will be taken. So if you need a cabin in a particular location, they are all gone. The upgrade cabin will most likely be either at the bow or the stern or near some noise generating location. So if you need or desire a particular location for your cabin, you should book your cabin number. As a further note, if you have a cabin assignment location that you want to maintain, tell your TA that you will not accept an upgrade.

Let me tell you about our cruise this spring. I have two knee replacements, so I try to obtain a cabin near the center of the ship to reduce ship movements. This was a 56 day cruise and I monitered the HAL web site trying to determine if the ship would be fully booked. It turned out that the ship was only 80 percent full. Two days before the cruise start, I found that my cabin number was for sale. My TA did not know any thing about it. When I reached my hotel the night before the cruise start, I asked the representives about my cabin. They had no information. The morning of the cruise start, one representive told me that I had been upgraded to a mini-suite and gave me the number. This allowed me to change the number on my luggage. When I reached the ship, I found that the cabin was the next from the bow of the ship. I was lucky as the weather was mostly calm for the total cruise. The mini-suite was very nice, but the additional ship movement could have been quite bad for me. When I returned home I contacted my TA and found that she had never been contacted on the upgrade. In the very few past times that I have been upgraded, I was contacted and asked if I would accept the upgrade.

As an additional note, I find that currently most ships cruise fully booked. So you do not get an upgrade, but are assigned the worst cabin within your cabin class. Hope that this helps you.

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VaBeachCruisers897

VaBeachCruisers897

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Regarding #8 - i use to keep my hair short.. Haircut required every 2-3 weeks. ($15 with tip)

 

Now my DW does the deed (buzz cut) - 25haircuts x $15 = $375.00

Grocery Store coupons ($5 a week) - $250.00

Cut out one big night on the town each month - $1,200

Ask Santa for excursions - $100 - $400

Use cash back rewards for cruising - $100 - $200

Buy future cruise credits on ship $100 - $150

 

There you go.... That will get you a 7 day cruise with a balcony - with little to no effort...

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