Financial Planning for RCI Cruise

I'm taking a 9 day cruise on December, going solo on Navigator. I was doing some financial planning and came up with the following expenses:

Cruise booking $1,386

Insurance $ 179

Refresh Drk Pkg $ 191

Grats $ 225

Airfare $ 253

Precruise Hotel $ 205

Kennel $ 143

Park n Fly $ 120

Excursions $ 200

Precruise Dinner $ 100

In addition, I'll have a minimal bar bill/corkage fee as I'm bringing two bottles of wine onboard. I guess I was struck by the $1,619 in additional expense to the cruise booking cost.

Anyone have any comments/advice on how to lower the expenses....

Sure, don't buy the drink package and drink lots of water and ice tea. Don't take ships excursions, in fact don't take any excursions. Don't eat precruise at a fine restaurant, go to fast food. Drive to the cruise (although $253 for airfare is pretty cheap). Go the day of the cruise and save both hotel and dinner. Or stay at a Motel 6. Don't buy insurance and hope you don't get sick. Shoot the dog (just kidding) leave the dog with friends. Take Uber to the airport.

Seriously, it's a vacation. Do it right and make it a great one. Don't stress over the money. Just enjoy your cruise.

I'm taking a 9 day cruise on December, going solo on Navigator. I was doing some financial planning and came up with the following expenses:

 

Cruise booking $1,386

Insurance $ 179

Refresh Drk Pkg $ 191

Grats $ 225

Airfare $ 253

Precruise Hotel $ 205

Kennel $ 143

Park n Fly $ 120

Excursions $ 200

Precruise Dinner $ 100

 

In addition, I'll have a minimal bar bill/corkage fee as I'm bringing two bottles of wine onboard. I guess I was struck by the $1,619 in additional expense to the cruise booking cost.

 

Anyone have any comments/advice on how to lower the expenses....

Price of insurance seems high. We paid a total of $160 for both of us through InsureMyTrip.com. Serves as primary with a medical cap of $500,000 and $1,000,000 in medical evacuation....and we are both in our late 60’s

Price of insurance seems high. We paid a total of $160 for both of us through InsureMyTrip.com. Serves as primary with a medical cap of $500,000 and $1,000,000 in medical evacuation....and we are both in our late 60’s

I'm going to look into that. My 2019 cruise for the same policy was $84 going solo. $250K medical and $500K evac. TY.

Bring your animals with you, lol

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Bring your animals with you, lol

 

 

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Luckily she not a certified therapy pet. Plus I don't want to be the subject of another CC thread on this subject!!

I'm taking a 9 day cruise on December, going solo on Navigator. I was doing some financial planning and came up with the following expenses:

 

Cruise booking $1,386

Insurance $ 179

Refresh Drk Pkg $ 191

Grats $ 225

Airfare $ 253

Precruise Hotel $ 205

Kennel $ 143

Park n Fly $ 120

Excursions $ 200

Precruise Dinner $ 100

 

In addition, I'll have a minimal bar bill/corkage fee as I'm bringing two bottles of wine onboard. I guess I was struck by the $1,619 in additional expense to the cruise booking cost.

 

Anyone have any comments/advice on how to lower the expenses....

I was struck by how cheap the kennel part was.

I think you are paying too much for soda and too little for excursions. Regardless of thru the ship or on your own, the purpose of travel is to get out and travel.

Plus pretty fancy pre cruise dinner that costs a $100. Before the cruise find a local place where locals eat. If sailing from south Florida find a traditional Cuban food restaurant, and eat like a king for $40.

The cruise is always the lesser portion, overall.

JC

Look for cheaper insurance. And do you have a neighbor that can pet-sit/feed/walk instead of kenneling? I don't know how far away you are from an airport? Last time we Ubered even at 4:30 AM/5:30 PM each way instead of Park n' Fly, it was only $40 each way.

I was struck by how cheap the kennel part was.

 

I think you are paying too much for soda and too little for excursions. Regardless of thru the ship or on your own, the purpose of travel is to get out and travel.

 

Plus pretty fancy pre cruise dinner that costs a $100. Before the cruise find a local place where locals eat. If sailing from south Florida find a traditional Cuban food restaurant, and eat like a king for $40.

 

The cruise is always the lesser portion, overall.

 

JC

Kennel fees are pretty standard in my area. Refreshment package includes more than soda (non alcohol, water. OJ), I am splurging on awesome dinner my first night in Miami, Trulucks. Next to my hotel.

Like others have said, I would find a cheaper place to eat, along with a cheaper hotel. You don’t need to stay at a Motel 6, but you could find a cheaper alternative. I usually scope out the area on google maps and then cross reference reviews on that and TripAdvisor. Besides, it’s is only for one night.

You could also drop from the refreshment package to just the pop (soda) package.

Find your own travel insurance, as stated. My citibank double cashback card has some, but no med evac.

Can you spend 4K in 3 months, possibly by prepaying some bills and do you have good credit? And there are services that charge a fee 1-2% so you can pay rent on a credit card and your landlord gets a check. Then apply for the chase sapphire preferred card. you can get 50K points, which they say is good for $625 in travel, but you can usually get 10%-20% cheaper by not going through the chase travel portal. Still, there's a good chance you could get your hotel/air covered by this. You need a decent income, though. There's also an annual fee of $95, so cancel before your one year anniversary.

keep checking for lower cruise/hotel prices-those prices fluctuate often. some apps/websites can monitor.

Find your own travel insurance, as stated. My citibank double cashback card has some, but no med evac.

 

Can you spend 4K in 3 months, possibly by prepaying some bills and do you have good credit? And there are services that charge a fee 1-2% so you can pay rent on a credit card and your landlord gets a check. Then apply for the chase sapphire preferred card. you can get 50K points, which they say is good for $625 in travel, but you can usually get 10%-20% cheaper by not going through the chase travel portal. Still, there's a good chance you could get your hotel/air covered by this. You need a decent income, though. There's also an annual fee of $95, so cancel before your one year anniversary.

 

 

keep checking for lower cruise/hotel prices-those prices fluctuate often. some apps/websites can monitor.

Why are your grats so much? My last 7 day was under 100, two more days shouldn't more than double unless you're planning to tip a lot extra.

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Trustedhousesitter.com for FREE pet sitter. Although like someone else said your allocated $ for kennel are really low and seems like an amazing deal. For 10 days we would pay $350+ and that’s considered a real bargain!!!

Use the App called hopper to track prices for flights and alert you to lower fares (assuming you haven’t already bought your air tkt)

Check groupon, living social, etc for often 40-50% off airport Pkg.

Priceline your hotel although even the low budget ones in Miami go for easily $100! Crazy what hotels in MIA/FLL go for!

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Trustedhousesitter.com for FREE pet sitter. Although like someone else said your allocated $ for kennel are really low and seems like an amazing deal. For 10 days we would pay $350+ and that’s considered a real bargain!!!

 

Use the App called hopper to track prices for flights and alert you to lower fares (assuming you haven’t already bought your air tkt)

 

Check groupon, living social, etc for often 40-50% off airport Pkg.

 

Priceline your hotel although even the low budget ones in Miami go for easily $100! Crazy what hotels in MIA/FLL go for!

 

 

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Like I noted earlier, $12-$13 per day for kennel. TY for your thoughts.

Enjoy your vacation. Look at reducing your expenses for the rest of the year.

Why are your grats so much? My last 7 day was under 100, two more days shouldn't more than double unless you're planning to tip a lot extra.

 

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Yes, I normally tip $100 extra on top of auto gratuities.

$143 for kennel seems way cheep it coast me 100 a day for two dogs every time I go. I did a 35 day cruise and the dog bill was 3500.

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$143 for kennel seems way cheep it coast me 100 a day for two dogs every time I go. I did a 35 day cruise and the dog bill was 3500.

 

 

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See post #15. Just lucky for me, I guess.

I think that you are looking for savings where there are none, based on your responses to people's suggestions.

Rewind your thinking and don't add it all up.

Just go an enjoy.

:)

I think that you are looking for savings where there are none, based on your responses to people's suggestions.

 

Rewind your thinking and don't add it all up.

 

Just go an enjoy.

 

:)

Thanks MM. I appreciate your input. I'm always looking for other's suggestions on this subject. You never know when one will help. It's the purpose of CC, IMHO... I will thoroughly enjoy my first trip to the ABC's ;p;p

Hi, John

I would look at the Insurance, the refreshment package, gratuities and pre-cruise dinner. All of your other expenses seem reasonable.

See you on board.

Thanks MM. I appreciate your input. I'm always looking for other's suggestions on this subject. You never know when one will help. It's the purpose of CC, IMHO... I will thoroughly enjoy my first trip to the ABC's ;p;p

You MUST snorkel with Woodwind in Bonaire!!!!

http://www.woodwindbonaire.com

You MUST snorkel with Woodwind in Bonaire!!!!

 

www.woodwindbonaire.com

I'm booked on the afternoon trip, December 12th!!

Lyft to and from the airport. Unless you're super far from your airport, it will be less expensive than Park and Fly.