Here's How a $350 Cruise Turns Into $1,100!

[Roz]

It's an interesting exercise for sure! One thing that really helps me is to pre-pay as much as I can - tips, shorex, etc. I've even bought onboard credit ahead so that I only have a small amount on my onboard acct. when I debark.

 

Roz

[KULPN]

Thought y'all would find this interesting. As you can see on the attached figures, I kept a detailed tally of everything I spent on my recent cruise on the Carnival Fascination. It was a 5-day cruise to Key West and Nassau from Jacksonville. I want to be able to budget better in the future. Now you see how a $350 cruise turns out to cost over $1,100!

 

I analyzed my spending to see what I would do differently next time. Play less bingo? That wouldn't be any fun, and I did budget for it. The ship's manicure cost $52 vs. $25 at home. That was poor planning on my part. The taxi from the hotel to the port cost me $30 (including tip), whereas the ship's transfer back to the airport was $15 (including tip). I would have been better off having the free hotel shuttle take me over to the airport the morning of embarkation, where I could have gotten on the Carnival bus.

 

I ran out of reading material, so I ended up spending $4.80 on a magazine in the airport. Overall, other than the few things I've mentioned, which don't total up to $100, I wouldn't have cut anything. Good thing I had the free hotel room and free one-way ticket on Southwest.

 

Someone posted here at Cruise Critic that they took the price of their cruise and then doubled it. Then they added the double amount onto the price of the cruise in order to figure out how much it would cost them. That would have worked for me. Cruise was $350; double would be $700. Add the 2 together and it's $1,050.

 

Inside 1A Cabin - $313.50

Port Fees & Tax - $41.82

Fuel Supplement - $45.00

Travel Insurance - Paid by TA as booking incentive

4 Drink Coupons - Paid by TA as booking incentive

Prepaid Ship Gratuities - $50.00

Prepaid Nassau Shore Excursion - $39.00

Airline Ticket - 1/2 paid w/SW Rapid Rewards Coupon - $120.00

Hotel Room - Free - Hilton Honors Points

Taxi from Hotel to Port (incl. tip) - $30.00

Meals in JAX - $17.00

Hemingway House Admission - $12.00

Water in Key West - $1.50

Lunch at Sloppy Joe's (incl. tip) - $17.00

Postcards & Souvenirs - $54.30

Manicure (incl. tip) - $52.00

Misc. Tips - Tour Guides, Hotel Maid, Shuttle Drivers, Porters, Etc.- $24.00

Additional Tips on Ship - Cabin Steward, Maitre D', Waiter, & Asst. Waiter - $27.00

Bar Tab - $25.89

Bingo - $140.00

Ship's Transfer to Airport $13.00

Lunch at Airport - $17.53

Cat Sitter - $85.00

Magazine - $4.80

Parking at Airport (coupon for 5 days free) - $24.58

Refund of Fuel Supplement - $(45.00)

 

TOTAL $1,109.92 :eek:

 

Roz

OMG, you & I must be twins!

[NavigatorBride]

My DH and I recently went on a 7 day Mexican Riviera crusie. The cruise was actually really cheap...only $299 pp. Our airfare was more than that (about $350 pp) and our excursions were $700 because we did three big ones with the cruiseline....Rhythms of the Night, Outdoor Adventure and ATVing. Our OBA was $1400....$700 of that was the excursions, but the rest was specialty restaurants and alcohol. :eek:

[Vancouver_Vacationer]

Thanks, Roz, for that detailed budget summary. That is helpful for a first time cruiser like me who is on a budget. (and if it had been me, there would have been no manicure, bar tab, bingo or cat sitter!)

[BachTrumpet]

I spend way more than that on catsitting or kennel costs. I am taking my cats on a nearly 3 hour trip each way to get a cheaper kennel while I am away!

[Roz]

Bach,

 

My cat sitter charges $15 for a once a day home visit. I had her come in for 5 days, so that was $75, plus I gave her $10 extra since I'm a little bit out of her service area but she's agreeable to taking care of my cat and the cat loves her.

 

That is one of the downsides to pet ownership if you like to travel. Finding someone you trust to care for them and then paying for it.

 

Roz

[alyRO]

How can I go about prepaying our gratuities? I know we did this before, when we got a Friends & Family deal on RCL...but I know that's part of the policy with the F&F rate for RCL.

[Roz]

Not every cruise line offers the pre-paid option. Holland America doesn't, but Carnival does (the only 2 lines I've sailed on). I wonder if it also has something to do with the TA you use.

 

Roz

[cassieroll]

looks like manicuring your cat during bingo cost almost as much as the cruise!

I laughed out loud at this! Too funny!

[marhun2430]

Wow! $25 bar tab. Thats impressive. We will spend that much at the bar the first hour on board!! :)

[Roz]

I also had 4 free drink coupons, so my drinking wasn't limited to $25. :D

 

Roz

[cruiserbryce]

sounds like a good time and still a deal. You could do a trip for much cheaper if you left out some of the stuff and easily get under $1000...but of course that takes the fun out of it. We got a great deal on our Mexican Riviera cruise last week...it was less than $1000 with taxes and fees but turned into a $2500 trip, and we new it would. We save and save for it and we have a great time on our trips. The vacatuion wouldnt be as much fun if we were worried about every dollar we spent

[tnt091605]

We just got back from a cruise on the Carnival Liberty.

 

We spent:

$830PP X2 for an Aft Balcony

 

We only spent $480 on our sail and sign card that includes the tips. Wife even got a head to toe massage and a facial. We do not usually do excursions through Carnival so it did not include those amounts. We are not big drinkers. We only have a couple a day and wine with dinner. So I guess they don't make a lot of money off of us.

[Almost Packed]

yep, i can relate to this...

at my Company Christmas party 2 years ago, I won 4 tickets to Sea World San Diego. GREAT! I wanted to take the kids there!

 

I work for major airline....so airfare is free....hotel was a great bargain because i'm an airline employee. rental car, small discount, but still pricey.

 

so for 2 nights, free air, discounted rental and discounted hotel room, free entry to sea world, i still spent over a thousand dollars....crazy!

 

all the little things add up so quickly! tips, meals, meals meals! i only allowed the kids one souviner each. we spent one day at the beach, and we all rode 2 rides each at the park by the beach. that was it!

[jagoffee]

If it makes you feel better, IMO $220 a day is really a good bargain for room, all meals, all drinks, all transportation, all tips, all shore excursions, etc. If you would have been luckier at Bingo, it might have been much less per day.

[Roz]

I agree. Cruises are a bargain compared to land vacations, IMO. People I work with think I'm extravagant because I cruise once a year. But they think nothing of spending a week in the Smokies. Do you know how much a hotel room costs in Gatlinburg or Pigeon Forge? Then there's meals, drinks, entertainment, etc. It easily goes over what I spent.

 

Roz

[Vettebuf]

I have a budget for vacations but I only keep a "round about" total. After reading this thread, I decided to see what our January cruise cost. The cruise was $700 per couple. The other expenses were:

 

taxes - $100

tips - $120

airport parking - $80

plane - $280

hotel in FLL- $98

rental car in FLL - $20

food in FLL - $20

wine for the cabin - $20

shuttle - $22

souvenirs - $50

dog sitting - $150

 

That's a total of $830 per person or $1660 per couple. That includes a hefty $150 for dog sitting. What a bargain!

 

We're not tour takers and we've overdone the bingo on our cruises so we don't have those expenses. We use the gym, go to the shows, parties, and trivia, read books, and relax.

 

And we saved at least $250 for groceries, meals out, movies, and transportation we would have spent at home the week we were on the cruise.

 

Of course, we would have spent about $700 more if I bought that diamond bracelet Lucien Piccard watch in the ship store :)

[Roz]

Vettebuf,

 

It's an eye opening revelation, isn't it? Now that I've kept a detailed log, it will help me to do a better job of setting aside money for future cruises. Also, it points out to me how on a 10-day cruise, certain costs like tips, drinks, tours, etc. go up, whereas airfare and a before cruise hotel room are fixed costs.

 

I play bingo on cruises because it's illegal :eek: where I live. I figure what I spend on cruise bingo is less than I would spend if I were back in my hometown and playing every week.

 

Roz

[Vettebuf]

Roz,

 

The only thing that really surprised me was that we're spending $600 a year on dog sitting-Yikes! If I stayed home, I could feed and vet another dog on what I saved.

 

We take four vacations a year and each costs about the same as our January cruise. However, this year we're cruising the Med and, if I can't get ff tickets, it could be an additional $1500. I was going to retire last year but the thought of possibly having to cut back on vacations (and the blessing of a secure job) has made me continue to work.

[Faith77]

In recent years I've decided to cut down on shorter (long weekend and 5 night) cruises and land trips. Sometimes I'll put 2 trips together (land and cruise) because I've already paid for the airfare.

I miss the short getaways but it always cost me $1,000+ (including air and hotel) for a trip so I decided that, most of the time, I'd just save my pennies for a longer trip.

Faith

[Angie8264]

Thought y'all would find this interesting. As you can see on the attached figures, I kept a detailed tally of everything I spent on my recent cruise on the Carnival Fascination. It was a 5-day cruise to Key West and Nassau from Jacksonville. I want to be able to budget better in the future. Now you see how a $350 cruise turns out to cost over $1,100!

 

I analyzed my spending to see what I would do differently next time. Play less bingo? That wouldn't be any fun, and I did budget for it. The ship's manicure cost $52 vs. $25 at home. That was poor planning on my part. The taxi from the hotel to the port cost me $30 (including tip), whereas the ship's transfer back to the airport was $15 (including tip). I would have been better off having the free hotel shuttle take me over to the airport the morning of embarkation, where I could have gotten on the Carnival bus.

 

I ran out of reading material, so I ended up spending $4.80 on a magazine in the airport. Overall, other than the few things I've mentioned, which don't total up to $100, I wouldn't have cut anything. Good thing I had the free hotel room and free one-way ticket on Southwest.

 

Someone posted here at Cruise Critic that they took the price of their cruise and then doubled it. Then they added the double amount onto the price of the cruise in order to figure out how much it would cost them. That would have worked for me. Cruise was $350; double would be $700. Add the 2 together and it's $1,050.

 

Inside 1A Cabin - $313.50

Port Fees & Tax - $41.82

Fuel Supplement - $45.00

Travel Insurance - Paid by TA as booking incentive

4 Drink Coupons - Paid by TA as booking incentive

Prepaid Ship Gratuities - $50.00

Prepaid Nassau Shore Excursion - $39.00

Airline Ticket - 1/2 paid w/SW Rapid Rewards Coupon - $120.00

Hotel Room - Free - Hilton Honors Points

Taxi from Hotel to Port (incl. tip) - $30.00

Meals in JAX - $17.00

Hemingway House Admission - $12.00

Water in Key West - $1.50

Lunch at Sloppy Joe's (incl. tip) - $17.00

Postcards & Souvenirs - $54.30

Manicure (incl. tip) - $52.00

Misc. Tips - Tour Guides, Hotel Maid, Shuttle Drivers, Porters, Etc.- $24.00

Additional Tips on Ship - Cabin Steward, Maitre D', Waiter, & Asst. Waiter - $27.00

Bar Tab - $25.89

Bingo - $140.00

Ship's Transfer to Airport $13.00

Lunch at Airport - $17.53

Cat Sitter - $85.00

Magazine - $4.80

Parking at Airport (coupon for 5 days free) - $24.58

Refund of Fuel Supplement - $(45.00)

 

TOTAL $1,109.92 :eek:

 

Roz

 

Ok I want to know where and how to get the free coupons for free parking at the airport??

[cruiserbryce]

In recent years I've decided to cut down on shorter (long weekend and 5 night) cruises and land trips. Sometimes I'll put 2 trips together (land and cruise) because I've already paid for the airfare.

 

 

kind of what we have done for December. We wanted to spend christmas with our family in Florida and go on a cruise so we decided if we are going to pay the airfare to get oput there anyways we would tie them together and just make one long trip out of it

[AFsouth]

Wow! :eek: Great post.

[Roz]

Angie,

 

I park at the private parking lots around the Nashville airport. They will shuttle you over to the airport and pick you up when you return. Some of them have online coupons, offer coupons in the "Clipper" magazine, or offer AAA or AARP discounts.

 

Go to the Nashville yellow pages and look under airport parking to identify companies that provide this service. The 5 days free was unusual, but I took advantage of it. I think maybe people are flying less due to the economy, and these places need to drum up business.

 

Roz

[Sandytoes]

Wow! $25 bar tab. Thats impressive. We will spend that much at the bar the first hour on board!!

I noticed that too...:rolleyes:..;)..:D

 

 

~~~~

 

Ron ~

Some passengers use the Internet, Dine at the Specialty restaurants, or Sanctuary \ private Cabana, even make a huge "donation" in the casino ;).

 

Paying $1,109.92 doesn't amount to a bucket of spit compared to what people really pay.

 

A "basic" 7 day cruise can go anywhere between 5-6 G's.

Balcony, parking, Drinks, Bingo, no photos, casino, no Specialty dining, tips and extra tips, taxi\tips. Adds Up!!!:rolleyes:..It's worth it!!!!:p