How much $ for port days?

[Talli]

I am trying to budget for my and DH's upcoming cruise, but since it is our first I am not sure how much money we will need for the port days, so am looking for some advice. I know this is all depends on our personal spending habits, but am just wondering what others spend on cab fares, lunch and maybe any other "extra's" I am not thinking about?? We are sailing to Key West (wedding day for SIL, so lots of bar hopping I think, so I can budget for that since I know roughly how much/little we will drink during the day :D), Grand Cayman and Ocho Rios. Also we are pre-paying our excursions, so not looking at factoring in that cost in the spending money budget. In GC our tour will prob take up about 2.5 hours of our time so will prob spend the rest of the day either shopping or on the beach..... OR our tour will take up most of the day so maybe a little shopping or Margaritaville afterwards....

 

TIA!

 

Talli

[mcfam5]

This definitely is a matter of personal preferences! But, I will tell you what our experience has been. We travel as a family of 4....myself, DH, son and daughter. When we are going to be in port for a day at the beach or other excursion, we typically bring about $200 for the day. This money covers cab fare, drinks, lunch, ice cream for the kiddos, excursion photo and light treasure shopping for the kids. We ALWAYS spend more money on the ship then we do in the ports. Here is an example breakdown of when we are in Cozumel:

 

$40 round trip cab fare

$30 drinks

$40 lunch/ice cream

$15 excursion photo

$75 shopping

 

Hope this helps! :D

[BoooBooKitEFk]

Be prepared for Grand Cayman... what cost us $40 @ Cozumel cost us $72 @ Grand Cayman... the dollar conversion sux.

 

Otherwise, we budget about $150 per port, depending on the amount of shopping/eating/DRINKING we want to do.

 

Try to keep an open mind, but also watch what you're doing at the same time. It's fun to walk around and shop, but it sure does add up! :)

 

What we found (when we overspent) was that we did what we were going to do originally, but then bought booze to take back with us and that's when we found we overspent. JMHO. Hope that helps... :D

[chasinraynbowz]

We budget about $100 per person per day for shopping and fun. We don't necessarily spend it, but its nice to have. Any excursions we want to go on are already paid for.

[golfadj]

It really depends upon the ports and your plans.

 

If shoppers know what you might purchase and plan accordingly.

 

DW has some major food allergies so typically we eat our meals on the ship.

 

Go to the port of call pages for more info on what others do at each port you will go to.

[golfadj]

One more point I should make.

 

We love to cruise and are not major shoppers at ports.

 

By not overspending at ports we can afford 3 cruises per year.

 

However this is all personal preferences and do what you feel is best for you.

[Cristallo]

We're budgeting $100 pp. I 2nd checking out the port of call board. I found some great info on things to do within walking distance.

[Tightlinerods]

Make sure to have small bills ...

 

Funny all the cab drivers seem to never be able to break a 10 or 20...

 

Actually the hope/plan on you just giving in and paying them the large bill...

 

Enjoy your cruise.

 

John

[cb at sea]

If you're taking excursions, you probably won't be spending much, if any, extra....if you're going to a beach after the excursion, chair/umbrellas rentals will run in the $20-30 range. GC is expensive, so figure about $20 pp for food.

Shopping...you're on your own for that! Spend what you can afford!

[dstone]

Most stores/restaurants take a credit card. Also, I agree with the small bills comment. We don't shop while in port and we buy our excursions before leaving home, so tips are usually all we spend with the exception of a bottled water or something like that. If you are going to be in the water, take a water proof wallet!!

[jpg1747]

My rule-of-thumb once on the cruise is $100 per day, whether on the ship or in port. Some days I spend more, some less but it generally tends to average out. This includes both cash and charge purchases. I also try to pre-pay as much as I can and those amounts aren't factored in to what I spend later.

[Havingfun2010]

St. Matin = $6.00 for 3 waters, and $2.00 for Heinekin Beer (ON special)

 

San Juan = $3.00 - for water, $12.00 for taxi, and I think $6.00 for the fort. We walked back and only took the taxi one way. This was planned to "see" the city on foot.

 

Also been to Grand Cayman, Jamaica, and differtent ports in Mexico. Each one the max would be about $25.00. This is for a family of 4.

 

Note at many ports, we do have prepaid excursions, so that is a different picture. The "extra" money, is very little, unless you want to shop everyplace you go.

[zqvol]

This definitely is a matter of personal preferences! But, I will tell you what our experience has been. We travel as a family of 4....myself, DH, son and daughter. When we are going to be in port for a day at the beach or other excursion, we typically bring about $200 for the day. This money covers cab fare, drinks, lunch, ice cream for the kiddos, excursion photo and light treasure shopping for the kids. We ALWAYS spend more money on the ship then we do in the ports. Here is an example breakdown of when we are in Cozumel:

 

$40 round trip cab fare

$30 drinks

$40 lunch/ice cream

$15 excursion photo

$75 shopping

 

Hope this helps! :D

 

 

When planning for being on shore, I would say this is close except for the excursion photo and shopping.

 

You should plan on about:

 

$40 for drinks (both alcoholic and non alcoholic)

$40 for round trip cab

$75 for lunch on Grand Cayman (it is expensive) maybe $50 at Ocho Rios

 

I would not worry about the excursion photo since that will be on the ship and something you can do or not.

 

As far a shopping you can spend as little as nothing up to thousands of dollars. If you are just looking at small token souvenirs then $50 is enough, but other things can be pricey. I have spent over $2500 in St. Thomas on one shopping trip but we bought electronics, cameras and some original fine art.

[Talli]

Thanks everyone for all the help! I really appreciate it! This gives me a great idea of what to budget and honestly I was thinking too much per day and was a little worried that I wouldn't be able to save enough :rolleyes:. But now I feel much better!

 

Thanks again!

 

Talli

[madgally]

I am trying to budget for my and DH's upcoming cruise, but since it is our first I am not sure how much money we will need for the port days, so am looking for some advice. I know this is all depends on our personal spending habits, but am just wondering what others spend on cab fares, lunch and maybe any other "extra's" I am not thinking about?? We are sailing to Key West (wedding day for SIL, so lots of bar hopping I think, so I can budget for that since I know roughly how much/little we will drink during the day :D), Grand Cayman and Ocho Rios. Also we are pre-paying our excursions, so not looking at factoring in that cost in the spending money budget. In GC our tour will prob take up about 2.5 hours of our time so will prob spend the rest of the day either shopping or on the beach..... OR our tour will take up most of the day so maybe a little shopping or Margaritaville afterwards....

 

TIA!

 

Talli

 

People on the ship will vary dramtically in econmic stature I don't think that

s a fair question. I also depends on what your doing at the port. I laughed at 75 for shopping but its different for everyone.