How much do you all spend outside of the cruise and airfare?

[Travel luv]

I've seen threads about total seapass charges. I'm interested in knowing how much extra do you all spend all together even if you prepay for excursions, tips, etc outside of the cost of the cruise itself and airfare on a 7 day cruise.

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funtravelorView Public ProfileFind all posts by funtravelorAdd funtravelor to Your Buddy List

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Today, 10:29 PM

 

 

[hooked-on cruising]

funtravelor:

 

ON BOARD, how much you spend outside what you have stated, ie. AFTER PAYING for the cruise (and air, if needed), prepaid gratuities, excursions, IS ENTIRELY UP TO YOU. You can spend nothing more, a little or go way overboard on board!

 

To spend nothing: you are not obligated to buy anything from onboard shops nor buy any photos taken by the ship's photographer. All your meals and food (notice I said food only, and left out drinks!) are paid for in your cruise price, and water, ice-tea, lemonade, coffee and tea (the basics) are all free on the ship. No need to visit the spa for any kind of spa treatment nor (for ladies) visit the salon for an updo for formal night, nor have your formal night make-up professionally done. Just enjoy the ambiance! Use the gym - it is free of charge! (on-board expenses are NIL) Remember to bring all your toiletries and medication with you.

 

To spend a little: well, you could purchase ONE (yes ONE) formal night photo as a keepsake of the cruise, especially if you do not take formal pictures at home - no need to buy the frame; you could elect to purchase a soda/juice package for the duration of the cruise; and you could bring some cash to buy small souvenirs at the ports and/or on excursions. Plan to pay cash and do not use your credit card for port purchases - purchase small souvenir items - refrain from major purchases. You could purchase one logo item at the onboard shops - logo stuff always tease you - make sure you will actually make use of the item at home! (Onboard expenses can range any where from 0.00 to perhaps 200.00)

 

To go way overboard, sky is the limit: take and purchase every photo, whether formal or informal, plus silver-plated frame, drink wine and those "foo-foo" drinks like they are going out of style, schedule and attend spa treatments and buy the recommended products, buy as much as your heart desires on board, and the list goes on and on, buy gifts on-line to be presented to you in your stateroom on boarding day, sign up and pay for the more expensive excursions after you board, etc. etc. (well, as said sky's the limit - I would say it could run into the thousands, how does $2,000.00 and more sound?)

 

So it is possible to spend nothing or go way overboard on board and actually have a wonderful time doing either or be somewhere in the middle - I would suggest that you allow yourself a budget you think would be reasonable for a good and memorable time and stick to it! You want to have fun but at the same time, you do not want to deplete your funds or maxout your credit card either, especially since Christmas is just around the corner!

 

Hope this helps! As a bonus, take the stairs all the time - great way to exercise and lose some weight! And some elevators can be really slow! Have a wonderful cruise!

 

DH and I will be cruising in December! Yippeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!:)

 

best regards, from hooked-on cruising

[Travel luv]

Just curious to know what most spend.

[Muushka]

We tend to not spend a lot while on the ship. This cruise coming up we have $25 each for a tour, probably only 1 or 2 glasses of wine, $15 and that will probably be all extra we spend. Except for tips. We don't gamble, my husband is more liking to just stay on the ship while in ports and he does not drink. As far as pictures, we just don't get into them like most people do.

[hooked-on cruising]

Hi funtravelor:

 

I hate admit it, but I think the two big things people indulge in are booze and photos. Logo souvenirs and spa treatments appear to be next in line.

 

And yet, there are many who have the will-power to spend very little and still have a wonderful time! Cheers to them!

 

For my husband and me, our weakness is the photos; we have no problem refraining from the booze because we are not heavy drinkers nor refraining to buy lots onboard; on my last cruise, I spent less than $50 on on-board souvenirs - I think I only bought 3 pashmina shawls at $10 a piece.

 

Suggestion: If you are going on RCCL, you might want to consider getting the soda/juice package at $6.00 per night - this entitles you to unlimited sodas and juices at any bar at any time for the duration of the cruise. Everyday, after the 3rd glass of juice or soda, the rest is free because I think the price per glass of juice is about $2.00 or so. My husband and I always make this purchase the first thing we do as we board the RCCL ship. If you drink one of those special drinks, yes, those drinks with the nice umbrella and logo glass, these are $5.95 per drink - yes, one drink, as opposed to unlimited juice and soda per day????? You do the math!!!!:rolleyes:

 

Have fun on your cruise, matter how you decide to spend your money!!!!!:)

 

from hooked-on cruising

[TV Dad]

I spend most of my money on Photos ( I usually buy 2-3), Drinks on board (this one adds up if you're not careful), tips on shore excursions, and souvenirs/snacks in port. I average about $50 a day on all that stuff for my family of three.

[lougee1043]

we fly in a day early so there is a hotel -transport to the hotel- meals and transport to the pier as well as from the pier back to the airport

 

dont forget getting to and from your home to the airport - the limo for that costs me 110 rount trip includ tip

 

we allow for 100 per day pp for gambling- though we never spend it all

 

i would think our room charge bill is between 500 - 750 ---we dont prepay tips but we usually tip extra -- the balance is booze &wine =some photos-- anything my wife spends in the ship shops

 

have only on excursion planned at this time and its paid for at 75.00\

 

maybe another 500 or so ashore for shopping and meals

 

i can do without all of this stuff except the tips but we are blessed enough to be able to spend the money

 

besides if i leave it to the kids they will only go on a cruise and spend it --- so in reality i am cutting out the middle man

[Travel luv]

So far..we've paid for a pre-cruise hotel stay in Miami and airfare at $600 for the two of us. We plan to do excursions, however we are not using the ship's excursions. We normally do a couple's massage on our vacations, but I am debating whether or not to do so this time. We don't gamble and pics aren't a big deal for us. We may buy one.

[KKB]

I don't think so!

 

Our $1500 tab covered tips, a few photos, 3 individual excursions, bingo cards, maybe $100 shopping on board and drinks. There were NO spa treatments, NO art, NO dining fees, relatively little shopping as noted above, relatively low excursion spending as noted above. I think $2000 may be more like average....

 

We had no other gambling on that tab, as we won bingo & blackjack tourney the first day...gambled on Princess all week!:p

 

We did take around $1000 for other tips, port shopping/eating/tips/cabs. It seems we didn't spend all of it...we did a tad of shopping, but not much.

 

The beauty of it is that you can spend as little or as much as you would like after the air & cruise are paid for...EXCEPT tips. And I like that I can choose to spend my $ on the things that I find most enjoyable...and you can do the same, and they may be entirely different!

 

It's rarely about what you spend...I think our first trip to Vegas 15 years ago cost us $500 TOTAL (it was all we could afford!) And it sure seems we gambled the whole time! And we had a blast!

Cripes, can't get there for $500, usually, now!

And of course our hotel taste has improved...as has our restaurant taste! But again, we could stay & eat a lot more expensively than we do! Just spend on what is most important for you!

 

Happy cruising!

Kris

[heelfan94]

$1500 sounds about right for our family of four. That includes excursions, soda cards, whatever we forgot that we bought in the gift shop, usually one specialty restaurant and a little gambling money. We don't drink alcohol.

[hooked-on cruising]

Obviously, the amount spent outside prepaid excursions, prepaid tips and cash tips, will depend on the length of cruise.

 

On my last cruise, which was a 4-nighter, my family of 4 adults spent $1700.00. This included 4 spa treatments (2 of which were ionithermie treatments), several bottles of wine, 2 adult soda/juice packages, 6 large formal photos, wine-tasting, 1 updo, after-spa take-home products (which in itself was $600.00) and 3 pashmina shawls, not to mention 2 Ben and Jerry Ice Creams and 4 glasses of Bristol Cream Sherry (which were served in good sized apertif glasses!). On average, it worked out to be roughly $100.00 per person per night. And we enjoyed a variety of stuff as you can see.

 

On my next cruise, I can certainly do without the after-spa products (but perhaps not the ionithermie!) and there will be only 2 of us (my hubby and me), so I figure we could end up around $1,000.00 (give or take a little) - bearing in mind, that it is going to be a 7-night cruise on RCI Freedom of the Seas, which has so much more to enjoy by comparison! Oh yeah, we also earned on-board credits for this cruise so we have a little more to spend! Yipppeee!

 

Have an enjoyable cruise one and all, don't skimp on your pleasures (you worked hard for it and deserve to be pampered!) but by the same token, don't go overboard and blow the bank! Cruising is about fun, not about stress!;)

 

regards,

hooked-on cruising

[crock921]

on my last three day cruise i spent around 300 on booze and the soda card alone. It is easy to drink yourself into a pretty high bar bill.

[rjack22]

$2000 sounds very high to me! I think my husband and I spent less than $500 on our last cruise. But we don't drink much and spent very little onboard for souvenirs. This did include the tips. We didn't buy any big ticket items.

[folashade]

On average my bills are around $700- 800 for me. This includes tips, booze, souvieners, and artwork, and internet time. My airfare and hotel is free since I use points and miles

[POOHISME2]

Just curious to know what most spend.

We tend to spend about $500- per week.

[EGG]

Our last cruise was an 11 day New England/Canada out of NJ. Our additional costs were $500 for everything except cruise and airfare (none in this case) for the 2 of us.

 

$190 limo to the pier. Parking would have been almost the same.

Standard $230 tips covered mostly by onboard credits.

$100 for museum entrance fees and a private trolly tour

$0 additional onboard

 

Our fluctuation in expenditures probably depends on the excursions we take. We usually like to do the ports on our own since we are avid walkers. However, on our 2 cruises to Europe, excursions and independent tours with cruise critic friends were more costly, as well as the pre-cruise hotels.

[megr1125]

Our on board is usually less than $400 including tips, wine package, a couple drinks, a couple pictures and a few things in the gift shop.

 

then probably another $200 in a deposit for another cruise!!! lol. (ok, so i book a 5 nighter then change it later!)

 

 

we spend money on air, maybe 2-300 for pre nights in the port, including meals.

 

maybe 30-50 in ground transportation and tips. Depends on where we are though. For alaska.vancouver.seattle we spent more. Got a room for CAD180 (about 150-160 US) at the pan pacific. our room in seattle was 110 per night.

 

we PL'd a room at SEATAC for the night we arrived for 70 bucks including tax and service charge.

 

BUT for Bermuda from cape liberty it will be 120 for a hotel room and 80 total for transport to the pier since we can drive.

 

Miami-will probably use Marriott points since the rooms are HIGH unless I PL ( or make my dear cousin do that for me).

 

Hard to say how much extra we spend...kind of depends on whether we have been to the port area before.

[camNaud]

On our last 7 night cruise our on board account came to around $1200.

 

This included one pre booked trip, soda stickers, wine, beer, cocktails, cigarettes, (I have now quit 9 months), a couple of phone calls home, photographs, casino, tips and some spending on gifts and souveniers.

 

We also spent around $400 whilst out and about in ports and in Miami Hotel pre cruise 1 night.

 

$1600 Converted back into Sterling £'s equates to £900 which worked out a £100 per day (£50 each) - great value all round - as we had a great time.

 

We don't believe in going on holiday and worrying about spending too much - because we are there to enjoy ourselves as much as possible - having said that we do still look for good value for money.

 

I won't be making phone calls from my stateroom next time :eek: - they are a bit steep in cost - we knew that when we made calls so we had no complaints. My old mobile phone was only dual band and did not work in many places the other side of the pond.

[elodie]

Most recently, I went on a 4 night/5 day cruise with two port stops on Carnival. My final Sail & Sign balance was $95. In addition to that, I spent about $90 in port. It broke down as follows:

 

$40--tips.

$30--photos. I found two I liked.

$25--gift shop.

$5--casino. I don't normally gamble but I tried the slots for fun, and I actually made back more money than I spent (so it's not included on my total expenses).

 

So, without the tips, I spent about $140 in five days. Of course, some points here:

 

* I don't drink, so there were no expenses there. I brought a 12-pack of soda and some still water on board with me; other than that I enjoyed the free lemonade and tea.

* I'm not into souvenirs.

* I have traveled a lot, so I was able to navigate the ports on my own and bypass the shore excursions. In the larger port, I withdrew $70 in local currency from an ATM in town and held myself to that limit.

 

Some may think I was far too restrained in my spending but it really worked out for me. I enjoyed my cruise immensely, did a lot on and off the ship and didn't have to worry about coming home to huge charge card bills!

[seaisme]

I've seen threads about total seapass charges. I'm interested in knowing how much extra do you all spend all together even if you prepay for excursions, tips, etc outside of the cost of the cruise itself and airfare on a 7 day cruise.

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funtravelorView Public ProfileFind all posts by funtravelorAdd funtravelor to Your Buddy List

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Today, 10:29 PM

 

 

If we have pre-paid all private tours, we can usually count on $1000-$1500 as our final bill (for two) we leaving the ship. We like having a nice bottle of wine with dinner, do not purchase photos, and the rest is either items from the gift shops or drinks in the lounges, and sometimes something from the art auction. The rest is what I chose to lose in the casino!!! We generally don't purchase that much on shore...we don't like using our credit card in most places...so on-shore purchases are usually under $100 (we like to have lunch in different ports rather than on the ship and then pick up some inexpensive souveniers). You have received some very good advice from previous posters...it's all up to you! Big money items are the bar bill and the spa.

[Momof2kids]

Here's our budget for our upcoming 8-night cruise for two adults and two young children:

 

parking $180

tips $240

tips to children's programs $80

shore excursions (2 ports, arranged on our own): $200

spending (alcohol, sundries, very little shopping): $300

[TifTif]

We tend to spend about $500- per week.

Hi Sherry! Sorry to cut in.I just wanted to say hi-Tiff:)

[johnaricka]

My last cruise was my first and a girls only 4 day cruise. I spent 120 in booze, 200 on crap on the boat, 200 in ports.

We are going on a 7 day Mexico (family) and we have it all budgeted out to about 2000 for the week.

100 per kid on the ship (bet you it is all candy!!)

200 per adult on the ship (mine at the spa)

200 per port for the family (we arnt planning any excursions, just beach and shopping)

200 booze for the week. Seems like a lot, but it is vacation and I want nothing else but to sit by the pool drinking pretty drinks, watching my family play, or....a nice glass of wine with dinner.

100 parking (12 bucks a day...can you beleive it?)

200 just in case money

100 photos

[phill369]

Hi all, I was wondering if you think it will be possible to stay in a $250-300 budget range for my cruise, besides what we already spent. It's my boyfriend & I traveling on a 5-night cruise. We've already payed for transportation to the pier, excursions for both days taking up most of the time, a classic romance package (champagne & strawberries & a formal photo w/ frame included), and a bottle of wine for the dining room.

 

So, we still need to figure there'll be tips, possibly some casino time & couple bingo packages, a couple drinks of the day on sea days and whatever else I may forget. I don't plan on visiting the spa or spending a ton of time at the bar. I doubt we'll buy any souveneirs on the ship...maybe a couple small things at port.

 

So, is $250 a reasonable amount to shoot for?

[mom and wife]

We are on a tight budget and have saved for 10 years. I can give you our budget that is on a spread sheet.

We are a family of four 2 adults and 2 kids ages 7 and 5 years old!

 

Taxes already added

 

passports (costa makes you get them) $358.00

ride to airport (family take us) $0.00

air from MO to FL and then back $848.80

hotel and shuttle 2 nights $248.64

one night before cruise and one after

they are picking us up at airport and taking us to ship

and then pick us up and take to hotel and then to air next moring (reverse) plus hot BF included and pool

5 night Crusie Costa $789.04

tips $127.50

shore excursion $333.00

aquarium, beach, sting rays and snokeling 3 ports

souvineers $200.00

that is counting photos and anything we want on ship

meals on land $96.00

$4.00 each meal (two meals and one snack) per person 3 times a day bf already free

travel insurance $76.00

 

total is $3,076.98

 

That is broke down 7 days $439.56 a day a family or $109.89 a person a day.

 

If you went on a land vaction. Your hotel would be around $110.00 a day so that is $770.00

 

and food (we have to eat cheap for two days (hotel days)and then we are going to eat eat and eat on the ship) If you could eat cheap everyday on a land vacation and not get sick that would be $115.00 right there.

 

And you would still have to add car, gasoline, and fun.

 

I won a cruise 3 years ago and loved it. I was worried that when you got on the ship they would get you to pay for everything. NOt true and you do not have to drive you sleep or have fun well someone else does the driving and what vacation can you take in a car and go to Key west Cozumel and Grand Cayman. We did not have time to save for the first cruise sence we were not ready for it. And doing side jobs and family and friends at church just giving us money. We had $400.00 and it was a 7 night cruise we did not book shore things just walked to things took a taxi to see the coal mine and a bus to see the light house and stuff. (we did not have the kids) and it was really nice. What we spent most money on was photos and developing our camera photos (on the ship). WE bought a christmas orniment, 2 shirts, 2 hats and 2 beverages and 2 gifts for the kids. We had no regrets sence we had no credit cards coming in. A full creative memorie 12x12 scrapbook we look at all the time. We went to 5 ports in Porland and Canada and started in New York

 

Watch for the free things. This time we are renewing our 10 year vows and it is free on Costa. We were going to renew our vows here and skip the vacation part. We like this idea a lot better.:D

 

You will love it.:)