Budgeting for a 7 day cruise

[chrisxmoa]

i was just curious, but i were to go with a gf, how much should i expect to spend on a cruise. granted if i were not to book an excursions ( i know this is a major expense ).

[Toto2Kansas]

If you don't drink (soda or alcohol), gamble, eat at specialty restaurants, purchase excursions, or shop, the minimum you would spend onboard is $10.50 per day for auto gratuities. Add to that any other purchases/services you might decide to partake in while onboard.

[paul929207]

Spending varies enourmously from person to person. Just list the things you expect to spend on and then estimate the amount for each. If you have questions on the costs, we can help you with them.

[teripp]

I paid cash for my last cruise (yup it is possible but it still hurts and I have been home for two weeks) :) hehehe Any way one purchase at the big sale in the Dining room last sea day and I brought my own wine on board with me so total of cruise on board was $165.00 Shore ex. I booked on my own and gambled both with cash I brought with me same for some Jewelry I bought and t shirts for friends. so it works. Total including air fare was around $2500.00

Ter

[Highlander1]

Difficult question, kinda' like " How much does it cost to go to the mall? I would say $100 per day spending money should do the trick for minor shopping, a lunch, gratuities a couple drinks, etc.. Then of course the excusrsions could cost a bundle or if your a shopper you could go deep.

[shepp]

difficult question, kinda' like " how much does it cost to go to the mall?

 

$112.71

[BlueCat1105]

I think of "how much will I spend per day on a cruise" to mean how much will the entire package cost me so I can save up for it, per day. Because we have to fly to the port, use ground transportation, pay a petsitter, often get a hotel for the one night pre-cruise, AND we like a mini-suite on Princess, I budget between $450 & $550 per day for the two of us for each full day away from home.

 

For land vacations with airfare, I think average about $400-$450 a day - again, for the two of us.

[Woobstr112G]

Save, save, and save before you go. This wasy you may not have to worry about putting anything on your CC......:):):)

 

Bob

[financialgrl]

I found budgeting to be the easy part of the planning process (but I was in finance as a career). Seriously, this past summer I went to Europe for 3 weeks, 12 of those days were on a cruise and another 12 days were pre and post stays in hotels in Barcelona, Venice and London. You'll know the cost for the cruise/insurance. the hotel reservations had been made, I don't gamble, we didn't eat in specialty restaurants and I knew what the tours would cost (we used both ship and private and wandered in some locations) so it came down to souvenirs and what food would cost during the extra pre and post cruise days in Barcelona, Venice and London on the way home. I wasn't right on with my estimate but I was able to come pretty darn close to it.

 

If you gamble, don't guess what it will cost, only allow a loss of so much per visit and walk away. There are other tricks to budgeting but I found much of it was already known up front.

[pmck]

i was just curious, but i were to go with a gf, how much should i expect to spend on a cruise. granted if i were not to book an excursions ( i know this is a major expense ).

 

The first cruise that my husband and I tood (for an anniversary), we spent almost $1000k that week. That included excursions, drinks (we were on an anniversary cruise..so we drank...).. We didn't do any spa treatments and we didn't gamble...We got lots of pics and albums (not cheap), bought the video...and the tips...So, minus the excursions, I'd say it was safe to say that we spent atleast $500 on everything else that week!! You can either pay with cash or they will just charge the card that you gave them when you signed up...! It will be well worth it I guarantee!!:D

[txflyer]

For a 7-day cruise we plan for a $400 total onboard account. ($200 each) This includes gratuities and daily drinks, possibly dinner in a specialty restaurant and some simple purchases in the onboard shops. After about 4 days we start checking the account totals each day so we know how close we are coming to the target.

[cruisinleelee]

we budget about $100/day. We drink and I do at least 1 spa treatment but we don't do excursions. YMMV.

[Toto2Kansas]

If you are trying for the least amount of shipboard debt, try to book through a travel agency that has some shipboard credit attached to the cruise you are interested in.

 

We sailed one B2B cruise (21 days) and they actually owed us $9 at the end of the second cruise, the balance was carried over from the first leg of the cruise and we had more shipboard credit for the second sailing to deduct it from. We drank, we booked a couple of shore excursions through the ship, we ate several times at a Specialty restaurant and even did a bit of shopping for a few smaller items at the shops, and also paid our basic auto tips.

 

BUT, we had stockholder credit, travel agent credit, FCC credit, and another small credit from Princess for arriving at our first port very very late. We could not believe that there was still money left on the account that last morning and we had no balance due. It was a first for us.

[Pam in CA]

Like Toto, I get TA, shareholder, FCC, and # of cruises credit. For my recent 16-day Crown cruise, that added up to about $500 in OBC. At the end of the cruise, I owed $133. I had one or two drinks every night, took a couple of ship's tours, and bought a couple of things onboard. That also includes my $79 post-cruise tour/transfer to JFK.

 

When you book a HAL cruise and enter your credit card in their Personalizer, HAL puts a hold of $60/pp/day against the card. That is what the average passenger spends, including tips. That's not what I spend but some people buy expensive jewelry, excursions, etc.

 

I think it's reasonable for someone who is careful about what they spend onboard to budget $30/pp/day. That includes $10.50 for tip, $15 for drinks and beverages, and an average of $5 for incidentals.

[COMBOY]

i was just curious, but i were to go with a gf, how much should i expect to spend on a cruise. granted if i were not to book an excursions ( i know this is a major expense ).

 

No way to give you a reasonable amount. That said other than tips everything else is completely an extra optional costs. Bars, gift shop, spa, casino, specialty restaurants, bingo, shore tours. How much alcohol go you plan on consuming at the bars? This can be a major expense and adds up quickly. The sky's the limit as far as on board spending. So what you should do is budget what you can reasonable afford to spend. If is only $500 or $250/pp well that's it. It's call vacationing within your means and no one could really know what you could reasonable afford to spend on board without knowing your annual income and expenses. If you spend less than what you budgeted then that's great. You can monitor your onboard spending account via your interactive TV or request a copy of your folio from Guest relations at any time during the cruise. It's sort the same as going to Las Vegas - budget what you can afford to lose and when it's gone - that's it.

[Toto2Kansas]

Opps, thanks for the reminder Pam, I knew there was one I had forgotten, that Captain's Circle welcome back credit can also be added in there. ;)

[Pam in CA]

You can monitor your onboard spending account via your interactive TV or request a copy of your folio from Guest relations at any time during the cruise.

I have yet to see an interactive system on TVs on Princess ships. Which ship did you see this on? They must be testing it. As you say, you can always go to the Passenger Services desk and request a copy of your account. I always do this at least a couple of times during a cruise and always a couple of days before disembarkation. That last day, lines are usually pretty long so it's best to monitor during the course of the cruise.

[Thumper69]

OK, I'm guilty last Dec we took a b2b 7night Mex Riv cruise and stayed in a mini suite. The total of our on board bill was just under $2,500.00 for the two of us after the TA OBC were used. No tours or casino involved here just drinks, specialty dining, tips and a small amount of dry cleaning (I did our main laundry myself). We had a contest with some friends to see who could get their bill over the cruise cost and we lost!:eek: We do love our Grey Goose Martinis, had a great time!:D

 

Anthony

[Toto2Kansas]

I agree with Pam, unless they might be testing this on some Princess ship, I have never seen any interactive TV onboard any of the ships of the fleet we have sailed. BUT, on many ships now you can scan your card at the purser's desk and it will automatically print off a copy of your folio, so no need of standing in line anymore. ;)

[Pam in CA]

I didn't see a kiosk on the Crown Princess but I might not have seen it because I wasn't looking for it. Since there was no one in line when I asked for a copy, it wasn't a hassle and no one from the desk referred me to a kiosk.