completely avoid onboard charges

[DiploTraveler]

I'm curious to find out how many, if any, of you have ever had only the hotel service charges on your onboard account at the end of a cruise.

[kazu]

I wouldn't want to bet the farm, but I don't imagine there are too many of us that have done this:p we certainly never have;)

[catl331]

That doesn't sound like a fun cruise to me! Of course there are some people who pre-pay enough and/or have enough OBC to actually get money back at the end, but that doesn't say they've charged nothing during the cruise.

[MrsMuir]

No charges? That will never be the case for us. As Billy Crystal hollered in "City Slickers,"

 

I'm on vacation!!!

[eh2zed]

We generally have only a $100 or $200 bill exclusive of gratuities if not prepaid.. We may have the odd drink, but do mostly DIY excursions. No photographs. Possibly a specialty restaurant charge. I think the lowest ever was about 45$ for a 7 day Caribbean.

[Boytjie]

And what would be the purpose of that?

[Typhoon1]

And what would be the purpose of that?

 

Spend nothing? Cruising the cheap way. You can do that at home.

[teemsum]

We don't drink or gamble.

We don't buy anything onboard.

Easy to do if it's the Caribbean or Alaska.

For Europe or other far-flung destinations, we would have shore tours as our expense.

 

 

Cruisingly Yours

[jtl513]

We don't drink or gamble.

We don't buy anything onboard.

Easy to do if it's the Caribbean or Alaska.

For Europe or other far-flung destinations, we would have shore tours as our expense.

No non-alcoholic drinks such as sodas or Explorations Cafe coffees? No specialty restaurants? No internet time?

[Boytjie]

No non-alcoholic drinks? No specialty restaurants? No internet time?

 

No spa?

[RevNeal]

I tend to average about $500 pp a week, inclusive of the hotel service charge. This also assumes I book most of my shore excursions ahead of time ... as I usually do.

 

Included in this $500 figure will be: Pinnacle Grill lunches and dinners (one or two per cruise at the 4-star Mariner discount rate), wine during dinner (usually from a wine package purchased at the 4-star Mariner discount rate), a couple of soft drinks during the day, a cocktail before dinner, an after dinner brandy, a few minor onboard purchases like a ship-branded coffee mug for my collection (if I don't already have one for this ship), and an internet package. That's about it. On longer cruises I also usually go get my hair cut. Also, on the longer cruises the per-day expenditures tends to drop somewhat over the shorter cruises.

[SJSULIBRARIAN]

We always have charges beyond the hotel service charge. However, we have friends that only have the hotel service charge and before we finally convinced them not to, they always removed it. That used to drive me crazy but they have finally come around. They do not drink, gamble, go to specialty restaurants, or buy stuff on board so only HSC is on their account.

[sail7seas]

I'm curious to find out how many, if any, of you have ever had only the hotel service charges on your onboard account at the end of a cruise.

 

:eek: WHAT?

Why would anyone want to go on vacation and play that sort of game with themselves? That is not my idea of fun and enjoyment. If I can't afford to buy a drink, buy a t-shirt, order a bottle of wine, get a manicure/pedicure, go to Pinnacle, I'll save longer and wait for my vacation until such time as we can afford it. I would rather not go than be so stingy with oursevles.

 

You asked!!!!! You don't really mean it, do you? :confused:

 

Do you travel with others? Do they do that also?

[soldham]

Blasphemy. I consider it almost a personal responsibility to spend on the cruise given I usually pay so little for the cruise itself and the bottom line is HAL has to make money to be viable..

 

We usually average $50.00/per day (2 of us.)

[shrimpboat123]

Wouldn't it be nice!! Once my DW hits the jewelry shops, I'm done for!

 

And then there's bingo!

[Krazy Kruizers]

There is absolutely no way we could go on a cruise and only have the Hotel Service Charge on our shipboard account.

[Homosassa]

We did it one time. It wasn't planned; just worked out that way.

 

We don't drink or gamble; prefer water to soda, can't handle caffeine, no spa (I have massages at home, why do the same old thing on vacation?), no photos (we didn't like any of them), didn't book any shore excursions (arranged our own) found slim pickings in the gift shop, and have never felt the need to dine in a speciality restaurant.

 

We were actually surprised to come to the end of the cruise and realized we hadn't spent anything on board.

[Megsie1000]

I could totally do it and still have a great time. ;) DH not so much.

 

I do like wine with dinner, though, so that part of it would be the toughest for me. I would do it in a heartbeat vs. not cruising at all, though. Much like tolerating an inside cabin. I would rather go more often on the cheap than have to wait 2-3 years between vacations. But that's me. To each their own.

 

This time we're doing 0 shore excursions. I am thinking the only thing on our bill besides the service charge will be wine. :p

[excruisestaff]

We did it twice actually, but both were on 3 day cruises. No booze, was off sodas as well and for some reason, had no interest in gambling. Drank iced teas/coffees and water. Having been on that run so many times, there was also no need to shop or even get off the ship. So the only charges we had were the tips (or as some call them "service fees"). However, we did pay some cash out of pocket, as we like to show extra appreciation when we get such good service.

 

Maxine

[Softball20]

There is absolutely no way we could go on a cruise and only have the Hotel Service Charge on our shipboard account.

 

Ha! Us, too. We have actually taken bets on how many pages our dreaded bill will be at the end of the cruise!

[donaldsc]

I'm curious to find out how many, if any, of you have ever had only the hotel service charges on your onboard account at the end of a cruise.

 

I have come close. No gambling. Np spa. No photos (they all stink). No drinks purchased (we cruise HAL and Princess and bring several cases of wine on board), no tours booked on the ship, no souvenirs, no internet (I always find free internet on land). My only bill would be a coffee card if on Princess (the HAL card is not worth it) and maybe 2 dinners. We have done cruises with a total bill for the 2 of us of maybe $100. Not zero but close enough.

 

DON

[DaveOKC]

While I do bring my own wine and soda on and generally do not buy much if anything at the shops, there are just too many other things to spend money on. One thing we normally do is at least one dinner in the Pinnacle Grill. Plus GAMBLING!! (although we pay cash for that).

 

DaveOKC

[CowPrincess]

I'm curious to find out how many, if any, of you have ever had only the hotel service charges on your onboard account at the end of a cruise.

 

One cruise, pre-hotel-service-charge, our final bill was around $28 I think. And contrary to what some may think, neither of us felt at all deprived. It was a "oh good grief I need a break" cruise that was unplanned and unbudgeted, booked about 2 weeks prior to sailing date, and we enjoyed walking around the ports, dinners in the MDR and making use of the Promenade Deck.

 

Now that DH and I cruise together, we buy a fair amount of OBC well in advance, enough to cover the HSC and some onboard purchases, and buy most of our shorex in advance, so we don't usually have much of a final bill.

[Beebob1]

We come back with a bill - don't mind spending to enjoy ourself. The spa is a killer on the bill.

[DeepWaterMariner]

Not zip but close on some cruises. It isn't a question of being cheap, its a reflection of what we enjoy. After cruising for over 40 years we just don't spend money in the shops, rarely ever buy a photo, don't enjoy gambling, arrange our own tours if we tour at all, and my wife has no interest in the spa. I'm good for a few bottles of wine and took a cooking class on the last cruise but that's about it. I buy a coffee card when we cruise Princess. We took a two week RCI cruise two years ago and walked off the ship with $1800 in cash due to unspent onboard credit (had over 2K in OBC due to price reductions).