Average Final Bill Cost?

[LostTraveler]

CC's search engine never seems to be very helpful, so I apologize if there is a thread out there talking about this. Just curious, for you seasoned cruisers, what an average final bill may be for a 10 Day cruise with NCL.

I know everyone is different. Some drink, some buy lots of souvenirs, where others may not. I'll be traveling with my GF. We will be drinking and eating at some specialty restaurants. 2 shore excursions booked and ready. What have you guys found to be your final bill for your cruises?

[212cruiser]

Spirit on 11/30/06: 10 day, 2 people, 1 excursion, a few spa things, several pictures and restaurants but very little drinking: $1650.00. Remember, $200.00 was mandatory gratuities. Worth every penny!

[Missilecop]

CC's search engine never seems to be very helpful, so I apologize if there is a thread out there talking about this. Just curious, for you seasoned cruisers, what an average final bill may be for a 10 Day cruise with NCL.

I know everyone is different. Some drink, some buy lots of souvenirs, where others may not. I'll be traveling with my GF. We will be drinking and eating at some specialty restaurants. 2 shore excursions booked and ready. What have you guys found to be your final bill for your cruises?

 

We do an excursion in almost every port and eat in specialty restaurants a couple of times. We average $100.00 dollars a day. We are not big drinkers so we don't have a high drink bill. We drink what is free on the ship most of the time. We do buy on average 2 Pictures a cruise at $20.00 a piece.

[Don Haynes]

My recent seven day Dream cruise for two extra expenses ran over $700. We didn't drink alcohol, were happy with the adult soda card. Two shore excursions, one night in Le Bistro at half price. If we had drunk two beers each at $5 a can, we would have spend another $140.

[trish1c]

It's such a subjective thing. Some people have a final bill that is only the mandatory gratuities. Others spend thousands of dollars. I think $100 per day is a good budget / starting point.

[calmac]

In our case it's always higher than we expect :confused:

 

Remember your $10 per day per person. You will know exactly how much your excursions cost. A trip to the spa will be about $100. Specialty restaurants $15 - $20 per person. A bottle of wine $40 (bottom end of wine list). A beer $5, drink of the day $8. Remember too that 15% is added to all bar bills (alcohol and non-alcohol).

 

It all adds up!

[fabby50]

I think it all depends on what you're going to do and of course, what type cabin you're booking. Our first 7 night cruise in a oceanview room with lots of drinking (we were young!) ran us around $1,500. Next year for my 50th birthday, we're going ALL OUT! Romance suite, pre-booked excursions, airfare included, etc. - I have budgeted $10K for 14 nights. I probably won't spend that much, but I wanted it there just in case. I do think it's a ridiculous amount of money, but, you only turn 50 once!

[newmexicoNita]

For us, about $100 per day is average. This includes specialty dining a couple of times, gratuities, some drinks (we usually have a bar set up ordered ahead of time for our room) a few trips to the gift shops and some $$s spent in the casino. This is my downfall. We do our tours privately. Normally we don't do much in the spa catagory. It does seem, no matter who you talk to, the $100 is a good average figure. While some will spend more on drinks, others will drop a few bucks in the casino or wherever. NMnita

[klbermudez]

We just came back from the Star's 8 day cruise. Our bill was 749.00 and we ate in 6 specialty restaurants, had 2 - 6 paid drinks per day, one shore excursion, a few small items from the Galleria, and a $75 booking credit. In June our 7 day cruise was about the same with less drinking and an additional shore excursion. I would go with the $100 per day budget as a good estimate unless you are a heavy drinker. I found order the drink special and telling them that I wanted the regular glass only helped but boy, the Martini's onboard are expensive - my Cosmo was 9.25.

[Don Haynes]

If you drink like a fish and spend like a millionaire, you could run up into the thousands of dollars. If you are a Scrooge, no drinks, no speciality restaurants, no shore excurisons, no shopping, no spas, you could bring it down to less than $200 for two.

[Stillfloatin']

Depends on how much the casino beats me up. Last year, 7 days on the Jewel, no ship excursions, lots of specialty restaurants, moderate bar bill, wine every day, couple of martini clinics, a few photos, decent time in the casino, my bill was around $1600. Last October, 8 days on the Star, exact same stuff except BAD time in the casino, my bill was a little over $2500! :eek:

[Moonstone]

Cant help you with costs for a 10 day cruise but on our 7 day cruise on the Jewel 3 wks ago our bill was $166.US We had the $10/pdpp tipping, 3 dinners in specialty restaurants (at 5;30 or 6:00pm when it was 1/2 price) and no NCL shore excursions. With help from this board we arranged our own for a fraction of the cost of NCL's. (ie; 3 hr tour of Antigua incl. Neilson's Dockyard & Shirley Heights; $30 total for 2 of us) and no we werent any of the 4 people who got left in St.Thomas because they were late returning from a tour! We didnt buy any drinks on board (except 2 $8.bottles of rum in the onboard duty free shop that are nearly $40 here in Canada) due to the high cost. DH had 7 cans of beer left from our previous weeks stay at our timeshare which were packed in amongst the 24 cans of sodapop in our suitcases. We usually had a drink or 2 in each port to support the local economy. We had the cabin attendant clear out the mini-bar in our cabin so we could put keep our own soda cold and that with the free iced tea & juices kept us well hydrated. For some reason NCL gave us a $25. credit upon arrival (possibly because we were on the cruise to celebrate our 30th Anniversary) which lowered our bill. We ended up spending less than $1500 Cndn. all total for our cruise and can hardly wait to do it again.

~Diane

[foursum]

We do an excursion in almost every port and eat in specialty restaurants a couple of times. We average $100.00 dollars a day. We are not big drinkers so we don't have a high drink bill. We drink what is free on the ship most of the time. We do buy on average 2 Pictures a cruise at $20.00 a piece.

 

We enjoyed meeting you on the Jewel and we're now thinking about a Nov 2007 9 day on the Pearl. It looks like the 14 day is only $100 more than the 9 day--true? We probably should have signed up while onboard but couldn't come to grips with it--what benefits did you get for signing up--OBC, platinum benefits??

 

Thanks--enjoyed your photos--a lot looked like my photos.

[barbwire]

We just got back from the Dream and our bill was a bit under $400 for the 2 of us. That included 2 excursions about $100 in booze and the balance was tips.

 

Hope that helps..

[cmdchiefthom]

The cruises I go on are my vacation, and I really don't compromise on myself, or my family. Typically, my bill can run from $1300.00 lowest, to a little over $3000.00 highest aboard the Spirit 9 nighter, and a couple of Westerdam cruises of the same length. I wouldn't want to set an absolute limit on my spending and then say that's it! I go with the flow!:D It's money well spent!;)

[mailbroad]

$1,200. 7 days... drinks, one excursion, photo, few gift shop items and extra tips.

[watchdiva]

Our final bills have been as little as $450 for a 7 day on Zuiderdam and as much as $1800 for a 7 day on the Dawn..........I just LOVED the spa on the Dawn:eek: .

 

We don't really keep track, like previous posters this is our one "big" trip per year and we don't think about every expenditure. If I want 3 trips to the spa, then 3 trips it will be.

 

Probably the best rule of thumb was given to me by a former TA many years ago, figure minimum of $100/per day and you should be ok. I should mention that we're not big drinkers but I do make sure to donate my $20/night to the slots in the casino:) .

[JoeCanadian]

Wife and I (27 & 28 yrs); all the drinks we want (which is quite a few), a couple of spa treatments, a couple of excursions, half our nights in specialty restaurants... average of our past 3 NCL cruises: 10 days, $1,100.

[insidecabin]

Our 10N trans(all at sea) on the Pearl clocked in at $1k includes beer, wine,speciality some spa days and gratuities.

 

We were blessed by the generousity of others(passengers and ship) and some in cabin drinks not on the bill, also the casino also contibuted a refund.

 

More or less is easy.

[hazeleyez3]

Pre-paid for 4 excursions costing $500 and then had a $53 grand total (including gratuities). Keep in mind we also has $100 shipboard credit.

[Duff Man]

Depends on how much the casino beats me up. Last year' date=' 7 days on the Jewel, no ship excursions, lots of specialty restaurants, moderate bar bill, wine every day, couple of martini clinics, a few photos, decent time in the casino, my bill was around $1600. Last October, 8 days on the Star, exact same stuff except BAD time in the casino, my bill was a little over $2500! :eek:[/quote'] Funny, I guess after so many trips to Vegas I would still consider that a GOOD casino trip! :eek: :D It's all relative I guess.

 

Our last 7 day trip to Hawaii (no casino!) ran about $2500, mostly drinks & bottles of wine, a couple photos, 1 or 2 excursions, one painting at auction (about $200), probably other misc.

[denims]

We did the Jewel 14 day Transatlantic. $2000:eek: without escursions (we used an outside company ) But there was a lot of bingo, blackjack and drinking in there!:D

[firefly333]

$100 a day is good for me. I have been traveling with my sister who is a bit of a slow learner who loves to shop for souveneirs. I let her indulge. $1000 for 10 days unfortunately seems like a tight budget, but we keep around that.

 

I have to say that I think I spent more on STUFF than she did last time. Since she doesnt have any credit cards, everything we both spend goes on my card. Everyone tells me not to spend money in the onboard shops, but I always find stuff that seems like it's well priced to me.

 

It's easy to run $100 a day over and above the cost of the cruise. :(

 

I have a letter from the TA I used the last two times that they will pay for a bottle of wine the next cruise.

[Leafpeeper]

Aside from tips, we usually don't charge more than $100. We take cabs to beaches and consume most of our alcohol there. At a buck a beer on St. Marten, your money goes a long way.