How do they do it?

[GlendaleCruiser]

I'm still in grad school but I've been averaging 30 days per year at sea the last couple of years. I work extra jobs to help earn money. I have to fly, but only book cruises if I can get reasonable airfare (from IND, that is under $200 r/t) and generally use credit card points or frequent flier miles for one leg of an air trip. I haven't booked a hotel through anything but Priceline or Hotwire (in the US) in 5 years. I almost only book cruise "deals" ... either residency discounts or last minute rates. I generally stay in insides unless balconies are extremely reasonable. I'm sometimes a "devil" customer for the line in that my account balance at the end is generally under $100 (not includig tips). Almost all of my travel money goes towards cruising.

 

I love bargain shopping. Looks like you have gotten it down to a science. Good for you. I am going to have to start going solo and saving money like that (for more cruises:D). My friends all want to have the TA arrange everything and some things are pricey.

[cruisemom42]

I asked a similar question to this elsewhere & I was absolutely flamed for being jealous of those who can afford to cruise a lot....now, I at no time said I couldn't afford it but just wondered HOW people managed to do so much, & how on earth they justify the expense. In the UK we do have short cruises of 2/3 days but they are looked apon as not proper cruises so we are talking at least 7 nights....BUT what I was talking about is WORLD CRUISES usually with P&O for about 100 nights & costing something like £40,000 for two in a decent cabin, some even "claim" they have done several of these. I maintain that no ordinary working person can possibly afford this & even if they spent 20years saving it up I doubt they would spend it on a holiday!! How much money must people have spare to do this?? People do as the ships are always full!!

 

 

The truly wealthy can certainly afford world cruises. But do keep in mind that many of these world cruises do not require you to purchase the entire cruise. Instead, they offer various segments of the cruise that might be anything from three weeks and up. So just because the ship is full doesn't mean that it's full of folks who are onboard for the full 100+ day cruise.

[cruisemom42]

I love to travel, although I don't always cruise. (Contrary to Philip217 above, I have not always found cruises to be less expensive than land travel -- depends on the individual cruise and the country you plan to travel to, as well as other things like your travel style, etc.)

 

I budget for travel. I'm in my mid-40s and still work, so I have to plan everything carefully to maximize both my travel dollars and my limited time off from work. Because I often travel solo, a vacation for me generally costs more per person, so I try to get the best deals I can.

 

I'm willing to spend less on entertainment at home (e.g., eating out, movies) than a lot of my friends and associates in order to be able to afford the trips. I drive a car that's 8 years old. I bring my lunch to work most days.

 

When planning cruises, I am limited as to when I can go, so I have to look for reasonable deals. Like others, I use my frequent flier miles for flights, especially overseas, for additional savings.

[Johnthed0g]

An awful lot of people do the full worldie I think....or say they do anyway. We did a bit of cruising last year, as we were both 60 & 40 years married, but even what we did was nothing compared with what others appear to do, we spent a frightening amount of money!

[oldmedic]

we try to cruise 2-3 times a year, living 40 minute drive from galveston and 4 hrs from New Orleans helps also... years ago when my child support ended, I just switched from paying my ex wife to paying myself... child support still goes straight to savings account and I don't miss it since I had been without it for so long...so cruises are paid for by the savings account... as far as time off, I don't get overtime pay, but comp time at 1.5 hrs for every hour of overtime worked, so time off adds up, in addition to vacation time each year...we always book inside cabin and don't spend alot extra on other stuff on the ship...(both of us are very low maintainance) ... we book our own excursions, or just set out on our own and find good deals at the ports...

[mr green]

We are not rich, or even close to it. If you own your house and car, have no dependents, and have a good TA there is no reason why you can't cruise once or twice a year.

We saved for this in our younger days, and it paid off.

 

john

[teeny25]

We have in no way multiple cruises under our belt, but we have taken a two cruises in the last two years and plan to take at least one a year. We are a young couple, I'm 24 and bf is 33. We are inbetween getting our collage degrees. BF has a bacholar and is paying off student loans. I only have an AA so far but mananged through scholarships and taking a few classes at a time that I could pay for then and have no collage debt. We don't have fancy new cars but overpay for our rent being a college town we live in. We have pets but no kids.

We are starting on our path to saving for multiple cruises. Moving closer to a port city is on our list. On our last cruise I over budgeted and ended up taking more money than I spent(We drink and shop a lot too). The money I didnt spend went right back in my vacation fund. I put anywhere from $25-$50 per paycheck in that. Also I get paid milage for my job and anytime I have a milage amount on my check I put that back in since in my mind I already spent the money on gas.

I am a very thrifty shopper, shopping at second hand stores, yard sales, and only clearance racks in the mall/department store. The most I've spent on an item of clothing was my formal dress, which was marked down of course and that was only $30. When I see something discounted at the store, I stock up.

We still eat out from time to time, I still go out with my friends. I also have not had a Christmas/birthday list for last two years that wasnt money for our cruise(and the underwater digital camera for it) BF and I don't go all out on holidays like Valentines and anniversary.

Like I said, my two cruise experience is nothing compared to those who have many, many more. This is just my personal advice that works for us :)

[Johnthed0g]

Well Teeny, don't want to sound like an old fart but I didn't have a holiday at all until I was about 40 (apart from as a child) so you ain't doin' bad!

I think I asked this somewhere, but out of interest I wonder what the difference in cost is for US cruisers, for say 14nights Med. balcony about £2,000 each from UK.(no flights)

[MoYerclan]

I work 12 hour shifts, 2 times a week. I can pick up extra shifts when I want to pay for something more. I also schedule myself to work in such a way that if I work Sun/Mon of week one, then Fri/Sat of week two in a pay period, that I can have 9-10 days off between work days and never have to use vacation days! Cool, huh?

 

I also work nights, weekends and holidays....so while normal people are home at Thanksgiving or Christmas, I'm sloggin' away for little to no appreciation. So cruising frequently is my own "reward" and we treat ourselves well yet can get all the nice things at the lowest price possible too.

[Johnthed0g]

We do menial work now can't be bothered with resposibilities & deadlines, but people often say "you...going on a cruise.. but you are the cleaner." I reply that if they became a cleaner in the evenings they too could go on a cruise!!

[Grannycb]

We cruise around seven times a year. We live frugally, have stayed in the same small house for 30 years, use the public library instead of buying books and magazines, don't have all the latest gadgets, drive cars until the die, look for last minute cruise sales, book inside cabins and book shore excursions after researching thoroughly. It helps to be retired too.

[MrsPete]

We are both retired. We lived very modestly over all our "younger years" - didn't have a huge home, didn't buy a new car every other year, did not feel the need to buy every new gadget or technologically-advanced item that came out on the market, ----and didn't travel a whole lot! :rolleyes: I worked from the time I was 18 until I retired. DH did the same, retired once at 65, then continued to work part time doing consulting work until he turned 70. He finally said "Enough was enough!"

 

We raised one son, put him through college, but he helped with his education expenses by receiving scholarships and working. He bought his own vehicle by working while he was in high school - we did not "gift" him with a brand new vehicle because he did what all kids are supposed to do anyway - get good grades and graduate.

 

We don't live off credit cards and all our bills are paid, except the monthly expenses of food, utilities, insurances, etc. No house note, no car note.

 

We put as much as we could into our 401k's and never touched them - not even once! We had a "Life Plan" or "Bucket List" if you prefer, of things we wanted to do, God willing, when we were able to retire. First on our list was cruising/traveling, and enjoying all the wonders of our beautiful world & the people in it. Now, thankfully, that plan has come to fruitition and we are able to cruise at least 2 to 4 times per year. We feel as if we have earned every bit of our 'indulgence' - and eagerly look forward to planning and taking each cruise. We have met some wonderful people and have friends all over the US. In fact, we are off to AZ next week to visit with 3 couples we met on 3 separate cruises!

 

Life has been so very good to us. We felt it was worth it to us to give up some things earlier in life to gain the things we wanted later in life. Very few people are fortunate enough to be able to do it all - all the time! ;)

 

May life be as good to you as it has to us, and may you all be as blessed as we feel that we are.

 

Smooth Sailing always to everyone! :)

I'm not retired yet, but I'm working towards being in a similar position. Change my details in this way: I'm expecting to work 13 more years, and I have two daughters instead of one son. I haven't put them through college yet, but I will begin doing so in two more years.

 

One of the things to which we look forward in retirment is watching for the super-cheap cruises, the last-minute deals that cost almost nothing. Once we reach retirement, I expect we'll cruise frequently. We are within driving distance of the port, so that'll make it quite possible for us. For now, especially since we always travel with our children, such last-minute deals are out of our reach.

 

How does "everyone else" do it? I suspect people have different stories:

- Certainly some make large, large salaries and don't have to think about the money.

- Many who cruise frequently choose to do so on a shoestring (inside cabins, no costly excursions), choosing quantity over quality.

- I'm sure that some make cruising a financial priority, and they skip dinners out, new cars, etc. so that can afford vacations.

- And certainly some don't mind just saying, "Charge it!" or they forego saving for retirement so they can cruise.

[silentbob007]

I love bargain shopping. Looks like you have gotten it down to a science. Good for you. I am going to have to start going solo and saving money like that (for more cruises:D). My friends all want to have the TA arrange everything and some things are pricey.

 

It's a double-edged sword ... my friends all want me to arrange everything ... gonna have to start charging a commission. At least when I book Priceline rooms for people, I link through a referral site and get 3%. :)

[Alicia A]

We do menial work now can't be bothered with resposibilities & deadlines, but people often say "you...going on a cruise.. but you are the cleaner." I reply that if they became a cleaner in the evenings they too could go on a cruise!!

 

I know what you mean, if it wasn't for my little cleaning job we wouldn't be able to take the 4/5 cruises that we do each year.