How much do you spend on your onboard account?

[tomchi]

There are so many little and not-so-little temptations on cruise ships these days - from drinks to optional restaurants to shore excursions to spa treatments to gratuities. Then, of course, there are the casinos.

 

I've often wondered why people are so careful about the price they pay for their cruise, only to spend as much again on boozing, eating better, gambling, etc.

 

Why not just pay upfront for a genuinely all-inclusive deal on the top notch ships? There can't be that much of a difference in the total cost - can there?

 

What would the average person accumulate on their onboard account?

[WeBeGone]

There is no answer to this question because there are too many variables.

How much do you drink? Gamble? Buy? Book ship excursions? Go to cover charge dining? Internet? Photos? Spa?

It's possible to spend nothing. It's possible to spend thousands.

There is no average.

 

"Why not just pay upfront for a genuinely all-inclusive deal on the top notch ships? There can't be that much of a difference in the total cost - can there?"

 

YES there is a HUGE difference. A "Seven Seas" cruise, a true all inclusive ship, can cost $7000 for 2 people for 7 nights. An average "mainline" ship runs around $2500 for 7 nights.

[BoardwalkBabe]

We prepay our gratuities and excursions so we don't have them on our account. Typically, we average about $1000 for the two of us on a seven night cruise. This includes drinks, spa treatments, photos and anything bought in the shops.

 

It's just the two of us so we tend to take advantage of the ship's photographers for photos of us together and they add up fast, so that's usually a good chunk of our bill.

[greatam]

Why not just pay upfront for a genuinely all-inclusive deal on the top notch ships? There can't be that much of a difference in the total cost - can there?

 

 

IF you can get a heavily discounted sale price on the luxury ships, the price can be close. But a normal discount on a luxury ship for a comparable cruise vs a mainstream line (Celebrity/HAL)-the luxury line will still be about $1000pp more expensive, even figuring in the extras.

 

We spend about $1000 per week on a ship and generally take 2 week or longer cruises. I drink expensive drinks and good champagne and DH loves his beer. We only buy a couple of pictures, don't do the spa, but I do take a class at the gym, buy a lot of T-shirts and "ship stuff" (we could make a museum with our QE2 stuff). We have been on a Seabourn transatlantic where the price compared favorably with taking the same 2 weeks on Celebrity and adding in $2000 for "the extras". But this happens rarely.

[RetireeWannabee]

We're extremely frugal onboard. All-inclusive ship would not be worth it for us.

[uppitycats]

I prefer the "ala carte" of regular main-stream cruising. In fact, I wish it would be MORE so -- we rarely go to shows (maybe they should start charging for that!), never go to the casino, never go to the "shopping lectures", rarely shop on board (on our last cruise, our total on-board shopping came to $5..a toiletry that we ran out of..)

 

So our bill at the end of the cruise was around $1,000 -- which included the service charge of $12/per person per day, and liquor. That's all.

[Traveler353]

OP: I no longer go anywhere near casinos, I do not take over priced ship sold excursions and I am not a big drinker. Taking a cruise on a so called AI cruise for three times times the price that I pay for a Carnival cruise just makes no sense to me. I am very happy with the prices that I pay for the level of service that I receive.

[cb at sea]

We NEVER charge gambling to our account! We bring the cash we PLAN to lose (as that's the most likely scenario!) and if we spend it all, that's it!

We don't by souveniers and only buy a photo if it's extremely good...and most of the time, my eyes are closed, so we don't pay for that!

We don't do the spa stuff on land, and we don't do it on a ship!

Our main expense is alcohol...we do like our drinks on vacation!

[G'ma]

I'm a solo cruiser. My account rarely goes over 200.00 for a 7-nighter and that includes the suggested gratuities.

 

I'm not a drinker - usually a pre-dinner cocktail and/or after dinner drink..maybe a bottle of wine in the dining room - which will last me the week. I don't shop onboard at all, don't play bingo or buy overpriced photos. I don't dine at any venue that charges an extra fee.

 

I cruise for the sea, a nice balcony, a quiet place to read a book or catch a nap and a seat at a table in the casino a couple of nights. If I want to buy a souvenir, I do that ashore and rarely spend more than 10-20.00. I like small oils or watercolors done by local artists.

 

Drinking and being "tempted" to spend is not in my nature.

[cruiserbryce]

for 7 days our bill usually ends up being around $1000...we dont gamble but do drink and buy a fair amount of "stuff" on board. This also includes our gratuities

[rjm1cc]

You have to deceide on what you want to do, total up the costs, then stick to your plan. I minimize the unboard purchases but do take the tours.

[paul929207]

When you add our on board account to the cost of the cruise we are still well below an all inclusive cruise.

[ATL2LAS]

A cruise is supposed to be a relaxing, enjoyable time. The money spent onboard is a pursuit of that time. If you worry about how much you are spending, it tends to put a damper on the fun. I have spent as little as the cost of gratuities to as much as 3x the cost of the cruise. But I HAD FUN. There is a cost for hedonism and I am willing to pay the price for my enjoyment. The casino is my weakness...but I usually pay off my bill with my winnings.

[pris993]

As little as possible. Most cruises are all inclusive for us.

 

We don't do tours thru the ship; we bring on our own wine, generally don't eat in the alternative restrauants - if we do, it is only once; we have a drink on our balcony at lunch time, don't gamble and enjoy the free entertainment on board along with the gym and exploring ports on our own. Our only expenses are our tips, a couple of drinks, a picture and maybe a DVD.

 

If we have an OBC sometimes we buy some duty free liquor, if we are cruising out of our home port, San Francisco.

[crusingcouple]

Ours has been in the 400-500 range with gratuities. We usually get 3 bottles of wine during the cruise (one bottle will last 2 nights for us), a picture or two, 1-2 foo-foo drinks each/day, 1 cruise sponsered excursion, and maybe a couple of souviners.

[Johnthed0g]

As we say in the UK ,(Dick van Dyke accent) Blimey!! there are some tight-wads about! We don't even think about it, within reason for drinks & special meals how much can it cost?

[uppitycats]

As we say in the UK ,(Dick van Dyke accent) Blimey!! there are some tight-wads about! We don't even think about it, within reason for drinks & special meals how much can it cost?

 

We certainly don't think of ourselves as "tight-wads". For us it really is a matter of not being at all interested in the most of the $$ stuff -- like gambling, heavy drinking, shopping, going to art auctions, bingo games --all of which cost money. We do drink -- and we do occasionally eat in the specialty restaurants, but usually the regular menus in the main dining room are interesting enough that we just don't feel any need to go elsewhere.

 

So don't paint with such a broad brush! Some of us just aren't interested in all the "fun" stuff, I guess.

[BroncosFan2010]

DH and myself are not huge drinkers, so most of our bill ends up being excursions and the speciality restaurants.

 

We usually have 1-2 drinks a day (each), and book 3-4 ship excursions. Sometimes we pay that in advance (booked online), sometimes we wait and book on the ship. We usually have a few hundred dollars in OBC because of our RCCL Visa, and that usually covers our bar bill and 1 excursion. We always buy the RCCL cookbook, and dine at least once in the speciality restaurants ($40-$50) with a nice bottle of wine ($40). I think our largest bill was $400-$500 for a 7 night cruise, and almost all of that was excursions and tips. We do not buy pictures, play bingo, or buy much in the on board shops. No speciality coffee, and no soda card. We will be doing a B2B next, and we are expecting to double what we usually spend, except we may book all excursions ahead of time, as we already know what we want to do.

[Johnthed0g]

With us, about £50 a day ....

[RetireeWannabee]

We certainly don't think of ourselves as "tight-wads". For us it really is a matter of not being at all interested in the most of the $$ stuff -- like gambling, heavy drinking, shopping, going to art auctions, bingo games --all of which cost money. We do drink -- and we do occasionally eat in the specialty restaurants, but usually the regular menus in the main dining room are interesting enough that we just don't feel any need to go elsewhere.

 

So don't paint with such a broad brush! Some of us just aren't interested in all the "fun" stuff, I guess.

 

Yep. I cruise for the ports and the ocean, not the "opportunity" to blow cash onboard. I am apparently one of those rare females born without the shopping gene so spending money is not a hobby of mine and never will be.

[melana]

Well on my 4 day cruise last year...my final bill was approx. $400. that was for 3 people. I was shocked at how low it was. I was prepared for it to be a lot more. But we didn't buy much on the ship and kept the alcohol to a minimum. I think we only had 2 speciality drinks the entire cruise.

 

Now I am going on a 7 day cruise this December and I am going to try to keep the budget to 1000 for 2 people. I doubt very seriously we will even get close to that. I don't drink alcohol that much and my mom doesn't drink and I plan on buying souviners in port, rather than on the ship..

[Johnthed0g]

I am amazed at the amount of people who are going on holiday & seem intent on spending as little as possible as a sort of ''ambition.'' Not one to waste money nor are we heavy drinkers by normal standards, but we are not on holiday to go without stuff.

[RetireeWannabee]

I am amazed at the amount of people who are going on holiday & seem intent on spending as little as possible as a sort of ''ambition.'' Not one to waste money nor are we heavy drinkers by normal standards, but we are not on holiday to go without stuff.

Not "going without" anything! The question was onboard account, not how much you spent on tours and eats/drinks in port and souvenirs in port, nor standard of hotel for pre- or post-cruise stays.

 

Just because I don't want anything onboard doesn't mean I'm not spending money on what I want.

[hi2you]

We are not one of the 'booze cruisers', so our tab is low. Plus, we check our account regularly through the telvevision in our cabin to check that our account is as it should be and nothing extra added mistakenly.

[lovemylab]

I am amazed at the amount of people who are going on holiday & seem intent on spending as little as possible as a sort of ''ambition.'' Not one to waste money nor are we heavy drinkers by normal standards, but we are not on holiday to go without stuff.

 

Just because I spend a small amount onboard doesn't mean I am "going without stuff". It also does not mean that I have an "ambition" to spend as little as possible.

 

Other than alcohol and the specialty restaurants we spend very little onboard. We book excursions on our own and prepay our gratuities. Casino, bingo, art auctions, onboard internet, spa treatments and formal night photos are things that do not appeal to us.