leats and most you have put on your cruise credit card

[DanJ]

I didn't say 'profitable' I specifically said AS profitable. Experienced, elite cruisers are generally much more adept at maximizing benefits and reducing costs. Most first time cruisers would be hard pressed to pull of a bill of $40 after 17 days because they are not likely to know many of the options exist.

 

I get what you are saying. I think it's generally accepted that new cruisers tend to buy more pictures, buy shore excursions direct from the cruise line, buy stuff from the ship stores and generally spend a little more freely on things that directly benefit the cruise line, than more experienced cruisers do.,

[sail7seas]

Yes, it is mostly true about purchase of photos and trinkets etc and even for ship sponsored excursions particuarly on Caribbean sailings but it can be a very different story for costly spa services, pricey bottles of wine, after dinner cocktails, specialty restaurants etc

 

I suggest there are many of us very experienced cruisers who continue to spend on our on board accounts in measurable amounts but perhaps we are spending it in different ways than we did when we were newer to cruising.

 

Throughout all our cruising, our averaged per diem spending is quite similar (inflation taken into consideration) to what it was when we first started cruising. Given friends we have known for years and have sailed with on the ships are doing similar things as we are, we are not unique.

 

[kitty9]

We pre-pay everything before we board the ship. We get the premium liquor package, pay for the specialty restaurants and tips before we leave. That leaves very little because we don't purchase anything in the shops and we don't do tours, so our bill is very small. On my last cruise, I had a credit until I used it in the casino.

[ducklite]

Our B2B we had about $1600 over a two week period at the end of the cruise. We had pre-paid the handful of shore excursions that we took. It was tips, spa, ships store, a laundry package, and a photo package.

[Hlitner]

We pre-pay everything before we board the ship. We get the premium liquor package, pay for the specialty restaurants and tips before we leave. That leaves very little because we don't purchase anything in the shops and we don't do tours, so our bill is very small. On my last cruise, I had a credit until I used it in the casino.

 

This kind of reminds me of the lady who told us she never spent anything during her cruise because she spent about $1000 per day booking a very ultra-premium cruise that included everything. One must be cautious about pre-paid. For example, Celebrity sells some terrific drink packages which can cost more then $50 per person/day. By their premium package and you can drink yourselves silly....but you must consider whether you would have spent over $100 per day (per couple) without that drink package. Bottom line is folks need to carefully evaluate these pre-paid deals in regard to their own habits.

 

Hank

P.S. Since I mentioned Celebrity we should not that they have been running a very good special which includes drink packages (until Feb 18) in many bookings.

[sail7seas]

We pre-pay everything before we board the ship. We get the premium liquor package, pay for the specialty restaurants and tips before we leave. That leaves very little because we don't purchase anything in the shops and we don't do tours, so our bill is very small. On my last cruise, I had a credit until I used it in the casino.

 

 

Pay it before your cruise or pay it on your shipboard account bill, the cruise line is happy you spent it. Whether you pay in advance or at the end of your cruise, you have spent the same amount of money. Cruise line wants us to spend over and above the basic fare we pay. THAT is where they make their profit. On board revenue.....