How do you afford all of these cruises?

[genegri]

Well, most of my cruises happened when I was young and they were paid by other people ... :cool:;)

 

My grandparents traveled extensively, spending months on end at seas and they loved to bring me along. My parents had very busy jobs but they also managed to find the time to cruise as a family.

 

Presently DH and I are in our early 30's, have good jobs and no kids yet. Vacation time is the limiting factor. ;) Besides, cruising is not always the top choice for a vacation. I know, I know, hard to imagine. :p

[karena1]

We live in Florida so don't have to fly. That is probably the biggest reason we can hop on some many 3 nighters a year. We do one 7 night cruise a year and then fill in with 3 nighters. No children at home, made sure our house mortgage would not kill us and is very reasonable (not going to be tied to a house), and have been blessed enough to be able to afford to do the traveling we have been doing.

 

We also have the Royal Credit card and charge EVERYTHING we can. Pay it off at the end of the month. Allows us to do a lot of companion fares for our 7 night cruises which also saves us a ton.

[ehogan]

We are retired (but just recently), we always book an inside cabin, we don't drink or do the spa. We do splurge occasionally on shore excursions if we are in an unfamiliar port.

 

I check several on line sites weekly for great deals - you get the best deals booking very early or last minute.

 

While we were working, we were very lucky to work for flexible employers who allowed us to take time off at our convenience - I know this is hardly the norm.

 

We also use air miles for our airfare when we can.

 

We were recently looking into taking a road trip, but after I calculated hotel, gas and food costs, cruising still looks way cheaper.

 

We are OK with these cheapskate cruising choices because we just love to cruise, but I think many people would prefer to cruise less frequently and a little more luxuoriously - I think you need to do what works for you.

[RazorbackIslandGirl]

Please do not flame me here because I think there is a giant liars club on CC. I am not trying to make trouble, I'm just using what I see here on the boards to make my judgement.

 

There are so many D+ people on the boards based on thier signatures. My guess would be that there are more D+ people here than actually exist.

 

It would be impossible for all the D+ and above members to be CC members.

 

Just an opinion that is not intended to offend anyone.

 

 

People act as if obtaining Diamond or Diamond+ is beyond reasonable! I've been cruising since 1994. Some years I've cruised twice, some none but mostly once a year. I usually stay in a suite. So you do the math!;) I'm not young by any stretch but not to retirement age either. I should be D+ within the next 3 cruises. I must say though, I don't feel the need to demean others for lack of cruising experience! I actually learn much more here than I contribute!;) I know I'm a little old school but I just found CC a few years ago while researching CCL. I was going on my first CCL cruise & wanted to know what to expect differently. We all start our cruising addiction with our first experience! It does bother me when the experienced cruisers act bothered by newbies & their questions!! (It is a choice to read the posts):rolleyes: But with that being said I do believe there are more D+ cruisers than you think. I would hope that no one is sad or disturbed enough to misrepresent themselves! If so... HOW SAD!!:eek:

[orville99]

Always an interesting question, and judging from the replies, no two ways are the same. For us:

 

Live in Florida within an hour of two ports;

Learned how to budget and live within our means from depression-era parents

No debt - only charge what we can pay off each month, and pay it off each month

When we go out to eat, it's on a cruise;)

Quit smoking - two of us were pack a day+ smokers, quitting put ~$6,000 back into our pockets each year (that buys us 3-4 short cruises a year alone):D

Cruises are our presents to each other - Christmas, anniversary, birthdays:)

But the biggie...Kids grew up and moved out;)

[Leonids]

The 2 couples I know that do this are both retired & were financially savvy when they were working.

[RazorbackIslandGirl]

I will say we've only done one cruise, but the activities offered were absolutely horrible...only a couple each day sounded worth even a consideration. Same with the shows...we never went to any of them and never had any desire to. Still, we would rather have the balcony and sit out with our books than do most other things on a cruise ship. That is why we're pretty sure it will be quite some time before we cruise again...we didn't see any advantage to a "regular" beach vacation.

 

 

If you have already decided you do not like cruising... It vexes me as to why you would choose CC to spend your time on!:rolleyes: I don't mean to be rude. I am just wondering.:confused:

[kelmac]

I'm semi-retired and my wife is a teacher (Trincs triple income, no kids)

 

--We own our condo, no mortgage.

--No kids, no pets, no reason to stay home.

--We have three autos, all paid for.

--Our primary car is a Smart Car. (36 -- 42 mpg)

--No debt.

--We travel eight to ten weeks of the year (wife's breaks + during her unemployment, ten weeks during the summer)

--We treasure experiences and pass on the material stuff.

--I have time to plan and look for great deals. We use Priceline, Hotwire, CC perks, and have an internet TA.

--We cruise 2, 3 or 4 times a year; inside cabins, self-guided shore excursions, but we don't hold back onboard niceties.

--we eat out 50% of the time, but it's what we do.

--my only other expensive hobby is golf (two or three times a week)

--we don't belong to expensive clubs or any church.

--self insure our travel.

--most of our disposable income goes to travel.

--I'm much older than my wife and I live every day as if it's my last.:)

--My wife is beautiful, but low maintenance. (doesn't want jewelry, nice cars, big houses, expensive clothing, and "stuff' in general.)

--We are the happiest couple I know, and everyone wants to know what our secrete is concerning our extensive travel. (Priorities):roll eyes:

 

Enjoy!

Kel:)

[HMH G]

I would guess most of the frequent cruisers live in Florida. Lucky ducks!

 

We were invited on a family cruise later this year for an amazing price, but I checked out airfare and it's currently more expensive than the entire cruise would be! It's ridiculous.

 

And no, I refuse to drive it. I've done the Oklahoma to Florida drive and it's misery :(

[mbjboyle]

D.I.N.K's. Wife and I earn comfortable salaries, and budget our finances carefully. We love to cruise and are willing to sacrifice.

[nelblu]

Are you serious about $110 per year???!! If my property taxes were that low, we could afford 1 more cruise every year!!

 

$110 pe year. WOW, like you if our taxes were this amount, we could take an add'l 3-4 cruises per year.:D:D

[cj_one2000]

I think the biggest factor is having the time. Unfortunately, I only now get two weeks a year as a government employee. Hubby has more as he is military but deployments make it hard to schedule vacations :(

 

For those of you who have more vacation time, consider yourselves blessed. The other factor of priorities seems to be in agreement with everyone else as another top reason people can cruise multiple times in one year. The way we choose to spend our money reflects on what we consider to be important to us. Beyond the shelter, food and clothing (meeting our most basic needs) is what we choose and that's what makes the difference.

 

This is the hubby's first cruise, my third. We don't believe in credit cards anymore as they caused us both trouble in the past. We paid for everything while we were dating, and now married, in cash. If we can't use the money in our checking or savings accounts to pay for something, we don't spend the money. That simple. We even did this with our wedding! It's nice to walk away from a big trip or event and be debt free :D

[Sunkissed Mommy]

We're 28/29 years old. So we aren't retired.

 

We both work, DH owns a business and I work 3 jobs (teacher is my main one).

 

I use my RCCL Credit Card for EVERYTHING (including my utilities) and pay it off in full each month so I don't pay interest, but I get the points. We redeemed points to go on the Allure for Christmas.

 

We live within 30 minutes of Port Everglades and an hour from the Port of Miami, so no need for hotels, transfers, or flights. (This saves a lot!!!)

 

We live under our means in many ways. We don't go out to restaurants very often, we use coupons as much as we can, we bought a house we can afford even if one of us loses a job.

 

We scout it out to find the best prices, we rarely travel during summer (high price season).

 

We usually take an inside cabin (although we had our first balcony this past summer in Alaska and had one on Allure as well)

 

2010 we went on 5 cruises.

2011 we went on 4 cruises

2012 will only be 2 because we're possibly going to start trying for children, kiddos will suck up a lot of our cruising budget.

 

I think everyone has their own strategy. This is ours :)

[TXSAIL]

There was a couple on the Voyager with us that had 81 RCCL cruises behind them, and they had a suite, so if you put a pencil to it, you are talking major bucks. Another lady had been on 65....A little rich for us.. I am retired and we now go on 2 a year, 7 day , and a 5 day, book ES way ahead for best price. We are not wealthy by any means , but have house and cars paid off, so we can afford it. Also, we do not fly as we are 3 1/2 hrs from Galveston.

[circuitrider]

Are you serious about $110 per year???!! If my property taxes were that low, we could afford 1 more cruise every year!!

 

We live in a pretty rural area (think...no building codes). Low property values (ours is on the low end of what's already on the low end), low utilities (electric is under 8c kw/hr, though we do get hit with a $30/mo charge for the privilege of being billed), etc. I "think" I had to pay exactly $110 for the past year's property taxes...would have been a dollar or two less if I had paid early. We don't spend much time "back home", but for the low amount it costs to maintain it, it's worth keeping.

 

--My wife is beautiful, but low maintenance. (doesn't want jewelry, nice cars, big houses, expensive clothing, and "stuff' in general.)

 

Same here. She does love to shop, but we're talking $10-$20 week on non-necessities (including some clothing here, yes you need clothes but you don't need tons).

[Shooraq]

Inside rooms help with the cost.

 

Being married with no kids helps too. :)

 

Balancing one long 7-10 night cruise with a 3 night is good too.

 

Travelling in off season (hurricane, December, May) is also affordable.

[TXSAIL]

We live in a pretty rural area (think...no building codes). Low property values (ours is on the low end of what's already on the low end), low utilities (electric is under 8c kw/hr, though we do get hit with a $30/mo charge for the privilege of being billed), etc. I "think" I had to pay exactly $110 for the past year's property taxes...would have been a dollar or two less if I had paid early. We don't spend much time "back home", but for the low amount it costs to maintain it, it's worth keeping.

 

 

 

Same here. She does love to shop, but we're talking $10-$20 week on non-necessities (including some clothing here, yes you need clothes but you don't need tons).

Wow, we don't live in anything fancy, 23 yrs old, and our taxes are $5000.00, so I want to move where you are.

[hotdog647]

I think most of the ways and reasons to cruise have been covered in posts above. I am retired and live on a limited budget in Florida, do use credit card frequent flyer miles for cruise airline tickets, and I watch for every sale and bonus I can get to go on a cruise. I cruise because I love the ocean, meeting people, seeing new places, and it's about the best travel bargain out there right now. I also build street rods and the same basics apply: budgets, meeting people, new places, and bargains. Maybe there are some similar universal basics in whatever our choices are in life.

 

Doug

[J&SLowery]

We're DINKS that have been with our companies for many years. We reside and work in the metropolitan Washington, DC area.

--

-That equates to 2 good salaries with a large amount of leave(I get 6+weeks, She gets 5+)

-We book well in advance and only book direct w/ RCCL (no TA)

-We often book on board and take advantage of OBC and reduced deposit requirements which allows us to save and pay off cruises easier

-We book balconies, because our benefits make them affordable; if not getting a balcony meant not getting on a ship, we would certainly go inside

-We've developed preference for long cruises, specifically Trans-Atlantics which are often much more affordable.

-We don't live in FL, however, we do reside the Metropolitan Washington, DC area which affords us 3 airports, which in turn provides for great competition in flights to FL, meaning very reasonable airfares.

-We often cruise with friends/family and have enjoyed departure out of Baltimore (no air) and will do so again in 3 weeks ;)

-We not only cruise, but normally take a golf vacation to Myrtle Beach in May (won't this year due to a work conflict), and a trip (St Marteen is nice) for a week with friends and family every other year. Travelling and lodging in houses/condos with friends significantly reduces the lodging costs allowing us to enjoy more trips. As an example, the house we rent in St. Marteen in July (off-season for SXM) is $1800 for the week-- split between 3 couples, that works out to $600/week/couple which allows us to absorb the higher airfare to get there.

We're actually going to SXM again this July (just the 2 of us) to celebrate Scheila's B-day; it's a big one but I won't leak what it is in case she reads this :)

-We try to be a very nice uncle and aunt to our siblings kids. Unfortunately, kids were not in the cards for us...I assure you not for want or lack of trying/testing; we chose not to adopt. That has left us with the ability to spend much more income on our travels.

 

Hope this helps with some insight on how some of us do it with out living in FL.

 

Jay

[Texmike]

We are only 90 minutes from Galveston so 5 of our 7 cruises have been from there-Then you only have to pay for parking near the terminal

[ItsAllAboutTheSass]

Work hard, play hard. Don't have kids, so no inheritance to worry about.

[obxgirl]

I'm not retired.

I don't live in Florida.

I always get a balcony minimum.

I always do 7 day cruises.

I always eat at least once in a specialty restaurant

I drink like a fish...

 

...and I have no clue how I can afford multiple cruises but it seems to always workout for me.:D

 

I will say that I was a technology consultant for an agency and could take as much time as I wanted without pay but I let them hire me full time so now I'm subject to their vacation rules. End result, I had to cancel a third cruise this year. A case of more money isn't always worth it.:(

 

Love your answer!

[paul929207]

Work hard, play hard. Don't have kids, so no inheritance to worry about.

We just spend the kids inheritance.

[notladjr]

We just spend the kids inheritance.

 

I like that answer!:)

[C Cruise Dude]

I've always wondered too --- and not just afford it, but get all that vacation time.

 

3 or 4 weeks, do you take any other time off for holidays and birthdays and other family events

 

Generally speaking, no, I don't take off for much of anything but cruises. If you work for colleges or universities, they tend to be generous with your time off depending on how long you have worked there. I love cruising and it is the only thing that I do when I'm off.

 

I constantly shop cruise prices (daily) which is easy because I receive sales from several sites, including Cruise Critic. Sometimes it means booking over a year in advance.

 

Last May (2011), I found a great cruise deal with NCL for November of 2012, last minute prices ($369pp), I booked it. All I had to do was use a certificate that I purchased on my last NCL cruise to book it. NCL often, now, offer 50% off of the deposit which the certificate ($250 value) covers. I have until final payment, August 2012, to decide if I want the cruise. If something better comes alone, cancel and book that.