Budgets & Finances :(

[Snowy79]

How much do you guys generally rack up on your Sail & Sign accounts by the end of your cruises?

[hockeyluver]

for a 7 night cruise usually $1000-$1250 for the two of us, we drink... we gamble :D

[firefly333]

Not that much any more since Im mostly cruising solo. Before we mostly shopped, but now Im doing more excursions thru the cruiseline.

[luv2cruzfrmtx]

Our high was $1100 our low $350 for a 7 night cruise. The only reason we had such a low was because I won $350 in bingo and then won 300 in a black jack tournament.

 

On a 4 day cruise which I do with my girlfriends....I've spent around $250.

[meliss1086]

I usually pre-pay tips ($70), pre-pay excursions ($250), bring $200 in cash, and have about $150 balance on my card at the end of a 7-day cruise. But that's for a party of one!

[Warm Breezes]

You are going to get so many answers to this ranging from $0 to $1000's. If you are asking to help you decide how much to save, you might be better off asking what do people pay extra for so you know what you want to pay extra for and therefore budget for. Things to consider:

 

Tips - minimum $10 pp/pd (don't forget tips for room service)

Photos - $10-$22

Bingo - $20/triple sheet

Drinks - $8 - $15+ ea

Spa Services

Gambling

Arcade (if you have kids)

Souvineers

Jewelry

Excursions

Art

Bottles of Alcohol to bring home

 

Set your own budget based on the items above that you want to spend money on. You definately can't base it off of what someone else spends.

 

Our normal cruise is 5 nights with 2 adults and 2 teens. We spend on-board about $50 in drinks, $100 in photo's, $40 in souvineers, $25 in Bottles of Alcohol, $60 slots, $40 Bingo, $5 in room service tips, and $200 in tips. We also spend roughly $50-$100 in ports and excursions vary (between $10 - $80 pp depending on where and what we are doing - each port is different).

 

You need to set your budget based on what you want to get out of a cruise....Most of all have fun:D.

[L_K]

Tips are pre-paid.

 

I budget 150$ / day for 2 adults.

[TaraLynne]

Ours broke down something like this...

 

(As a note, we prepaid a couples massage and all of our excursions)

 

I want to say the total was around $1,000 for our 7 day Dream cruise last year. This included:

 

$400-ish on stuff/souvenirs (a single photo, two really nice watches, and some knicknacks that we brought back for family members - as a note, without the watches this would have been more like $100-125)

$140 in tips ($10 per person per day for two people)

$50-ish on special coffees (we had espresso after dinner a lot)

Aaannnd the rest on alcohol. heh. We bought one of the lower-end wine packages. And a lot of gin and tonics. A couple DOTD's. And some beer.

 

Let's just say we had a good time ;)

[Soonerbaby]

I agree with Warm Breezes. If you have some idea of what you might want to do on board, then list it you can get prices for them and that might help.

[mara93]

1 person on:

5 day cruise - Bill $105 - No ship excursions

7 day cruise Bill - $380 - 1 ship excursion

 

 

We try to book independent excursions & aren't big drinkers. I do like buying pictures but try to keep it to a minimum. The above totals include tips. :D

[iTouch]

Alot

[Native Floridian 26]

Like others said, it can be zero or thousands of dollars. We don't pay their high prices for drinks or shore excursions, so what's on it is usually just the tips.

[Senoj84]

It's just me and for a 7 day my lowest was just under $150 and my highest was $550.

[cbMcruiser]

We are also usually in the $1000 range for a seven day cruise. We also drink and we like to take excursions that are more "tour/history" oriented. Since I am paranoic about being late back to the ship, we always book Carnival excursions.

[chasinraynbowz]

I plan $100 per day per person from the time we leave the house till the time we get home and have never ran out of money (we pay cash). Nor have we done without. (This is assuming any shore excursions are already paid for, of course)

[MissKIA]

I plan $100 per day per person from the time we leave the house till the time we get home and have never ran out of money (we pay cash). Nor have we done without. (This is assuming any shore excursions are already paid for, of course)

 

Is that for just your on board purchases, or when off the ship also?

[Cristallo]

We budgeted $50 per person per day that we load onto our account in cash. We prepaid our tips, aren't big drinkers, only gamble every now and then and did one excursion after our itinerary changed at the last moment. We keep cash out in small bills for shopping in ports and singles for tipping room service.

[chasinraynbowz]

Is that for just your on board purchases, or when off the ship also?

 

 

It's for both. We don't drink much at all, we budget our gambling and bingo, we buy a picture or two and some trinkets on board. We usually spend about $100 at port.

[marshhawk]

Our first cruise, we had oodles of on board credit, and didn't know it, or how to use it. Second cruise, about 100.00 in pictures, 30 in non alchoholic drinks, 550 in shore excursions( 3 out of 4 ports) and 140.00 in tips (two people on a 7 days cruise-very limited gambling). Third cruise-5 days-60 in pictures-two NA drinks, coffee mugs-20.00 prepaid the tips, and 150.00 in shore excursions. So coming up cruise-we prepaid the tips, so that's a hundred I don't need to plan for. No prepaid shore excursions, plan to wing it in port. Maybe buy another picture, if DH will wear a different shirt(I have three cruise pictures and he is wearing the same shirt in all the pictures) buy a couple NA drinks aorund 30 bucks. Will do a ship tour for 55 each, so this time under 200.00 It can be done!:D

[kroozers]

$600 for two. That covers drinks and a few pics. We don't shop on vacation.

[KruznKel]

How much do you guys generally rack up on your Sail & Sign accounts by the end of your cruises?

 

TOO much LOL:D

[tubasteve]

DW and I got off a 7 day alsakan cruise this month. Final bill around $500 for both of us.We didn't drink as much as we would in the caribbean :p

[soulsistah007]

For a 7 day cruise, not including tips, $50 - $70 just for myself. That's mostly for pictures and maybe spending $20 at the casino.

 

I don't get any bar drinks (a bottle from bon voyage is sufficient and is paid in advance) or play bingo and all shore excursions are done independently. Nevertheless, I still have a wonderful time.

[patrice1]

We always budget $100/person/day. We pre-pay with Funship $'s on our account and always get a check under our door, instead of a bill. We don't have to worry that way; drinks, steakhouse, chef's table, massages, souvieners - it doesn't matter! I LOVE a stress-free vacation. We usually get a minimum of $65 back.

[BooBooMonkey]

We usually plan for $40 per person/day (in addition to the $10/pp/day tip). We buy Funship $ ahead of time to bring for the account to be used for drinks and incidentals. We have done our own shore tours for several years. For the casino, we bring about $30/pp/day cash in envelopes for each day.