How much to Budget ?

[Phils01]

Hi everyone,

 

I'm new to the forum so this has probably been asked before

 

This will be our first time on NCL and in the Carribean.

 

We are travelling on the NCL Star out of New Orleans on the 7th April for 7 nights and coming in from the UK.

 

I'd like to get a feel for how much people's final on-board bill was at the end of their cruise.

 

I would appriciate if you could let me know how much your final bills were (roughly) so I could get an idea of how much to budget

 

We won't book any on-board excursions, already pre-booked 2 independently and booked and paid for the ginza restaurant.

 

Many thanks to all in advance

 

Phil

[sparks1093]

Budget $12 per day per person for the service charge. Drinks are roughly $8 average, I personally budget $10 per drink and then figure out how many we'll buy (or just buy the alcohol package, someone with more knowledge can tell you how much that is). Then figure out how much you want to spend on souveniers.

[Warm Breezes]

Hi everyone,

 

I'm new to the forum so this has probably been asked before

 

This will be our first time on NCL and in the Carribean.

 

We are travelling on the NCL Star out of New Orleans on the 7th April for 7 nights and coming in from the UK.

 

I'd like to get a feel for how much people's final on-board bill was at the end of their cruise.

 

I would appriciate if you could let me know how much your final bills were (roughly) so I could get an idea of how much to budget

 

We won't book any on-board excursions, already pre-booked 2 independently and booked and paid for the ginza restaurant.

 

Many thanks to all in advance

 

Phil

I think you will get a wide range of answers to your question. you will have your daily service charges of $12 pp/pd. Alcoholic Drinks...depends on how much you drink. DH and I together are usually less than $100 for a week. Photographs....depends on how many you want. I usually purchase $60-$100 worth. Casino/Bingo...depends on how much you like gamble. We usually spend around $150-$200. Speciality Restaurants...depends on how many times you want to go. We usually only go once on a NCL cruise so $30-$60 depending on which one we go to. Souvineers...again depends on what and how much you want to purchase. We usually spend between $30-$100. Everyone goes on with different budgets and different priorities on where to spend that budget. I didn't include spa because we have only done the spa 2x in 9 cruises...but you may want to. Decide what you want to do first then set aside the money you want to spend on it.

[Cruising4]

Our family of 4 spent about $1800 on our 9-night Gem cruise.

 

Estimating:

$500 Daily Service Charge

$500 Wine/Booze

$250 Chef's Table (WORTH EVERY PENNY)

$100 Gifts

$200 Soda Cards

$100 Spa

$100 Moderno (WELL WORTH THE UPCHARGE)

$50 Deal or No Deal

 

DSC, Booze and Soda was planned spending. Donated about $100 bucks to the casino too.

 

Hope this helps.

[roger001]

Only you know what you are interested in spending extra on. As mentioned, the $12 per day per person service charge will be on your final bill. If you did not use any other services or purchase any thing else on the ship, that's it. Nothing further required to have a very nice time. What more you wish to spend on, only you can determine.

[rvsullivan]

We've done this cruise several times now. We do not prepay anything. This past years cruise was the cheapest for the two of us. We paid about $500 at the end of the cruise and did not take any ships excursions. The most we paid was three years ago and that was $1800 with one ships excursion. We've always had $300-500 OBC that was subtracted before the final bill. I know some can cruise with nothing except the DSC at the end of the cruise. We tend to eat in the specialties every night and treat ourselves to "special" things, massage etc.

[Phils01]

Thanks everyone so far.

 

We have already paid the $12 daily service charge

 

I was actually looking for people to say what their actual final bills were to see if I was thinking the right ball park

[youngestof9]

Our final bill for 4 on Epic was $1500 after using $600 in OBC.

 

$220 was spa, $150 was future cruise credit, $150 was pictures, $160 was cirque, we also did La Cucina and Moderno (paid for 5 people at each restaurant) and $50ish for soda package. The rest would be cocktails and gift shop. No excursions.

[philip_eunice1]

We pre pay our dsc but do a couple of pay

Restaurants and my wife always buys a ring

Don't do the spa or drink so about $4000

[European_CruiseGirl]

Our final bill for a 7 night cruise for two has been around $1000 including a couple of shorex, two speciality restaurants and drinks + some photos.

[SteveH2508]

We like a drink (we call ourselves the Martini Monsters for trivia) - we like to eat well so there are several upcharge restaurants in our final bill - we use the casino - we buy 'duty-frees' - our bill usually comes out around 2.5K (might have a spa in there) but few if any excursions as we DIY or meet up with people on our Roll Call.

 

I think NCL like us given our on-board spend...:rolleyes:

[mom2tcdx2]

Very hard to tell someone else how to budget. I think getting an idea of what type of things there are that cost extra then gives you an idea of what things you might want to do and then budget accordingly.

 

Personally for my cruise in April, I have 3 people. I am figuring specialty dining 3 times at $80 each. Soda cards for my kids which are $100. I figure roughly $30 a day for drinks for myself which is $210. I add $30 for drink tastings and $20 I believe for the ice bar. I only do about $100 in the casino, if even that. I am not big on buying pictures though I will probably do a couple, which I figure are possibly between $15-$20 each. I perhaps add in another $100 for spending money - souvenirs, etc. Maybe $15 for a one day spa pass (not sure of actual price anymore).

 

So for myself I am looking at around $900 for a family of 3. I have already prepaid our service charge, and also pre-ordered the kids soda cards.

[jaja]

Budget for tips...room service, excursions, porters, etc...

 

If you are in a suite..you also need to "budget" for butler/concierge tips

[shelly11]

I always pay my $12 a day in advance.

 

It just depends on how much you like to drink or shop and if the spa interests you. Purchases in the on board shops are charged to your room as well so keep that in mind. Last trip I got one souvenir, some candy and my daughter broke her bag so we picked up a little bag to use at the beach.

[meltingmoments]

Our total bill last August came to $450, this included a wine package , Moderno restaurant, photo's and a little souvenir. Excursions were extra and we did all NCL excursions 'cos we were scared the ship would leave without us!!! :eek:

I'm thinking now that we didn't do badly, compared to some other people's bills!! ;)

[Waterloomarc]

Our final bill for our 7 day to Bermuda on the Star was only around $450. (Bill was actually less than that since we had OBC to apply)

 

We're not big drinkers. I'll have 2 or 3 a day on average but my wife very rarely drinks so we're cheaper than average there. Also neither of us drinks soda so there is zero expense there. We, as you, pre pay our DSC so that's out of the way.

 

We ate in the Italian restaurant once (meh) and took one ship sponsored excursion and my wife did a spa treatment.

 

Gambling money was cash and not included in my bill. We also never buy souvenirs although my wife did spend $20 on a new sunhat. It seems her kayaking partner knocked hers into the ocean on an excursion... Don't know who that guy was :)

 

(Btw who'd a thought a straw hat would sink!!)

 

As said everybody is different and bills will vary wildly among the cruising public. But maybe this will help.

 

 

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[Phils01]

Our final bill for our 7 day to Bermuda on the Star was only around $450. (Bill was actually less than that since we had OBC to apply)

 

We're not big drinkers. I'll have 2 or 3 a day on average but my wife very rarely drinks so we're cheaper than average there. Also neither of us drinks soda so there is zero expense there. We, as you, pre pay our DSC so that's out of the way.

 

We ate in the Italian restaurant once (meh) and took one ship sponsored excursion and my wife did a spa treatment.

 

Gambling money was cash and not included in my bill. We also never buy souvenirs although my wife did spend $20 on a new sunhat. It seems her kayaking partner knocked hers into the ocean on an excursion... Don't know who that guy was :)

 

(Btw who'd a thought a straw hat would sink!!)

 

As said everybody is different and bills will vary wildly among the cruising public. But maybe this will help.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

 

 

No these are perfect to get a range of answers and I understand every one is different.

 

Don't think we'll do spa treatments but am considering wine package - me and the wife do like the cocktails and I like beer - but we're not excessive. Probably will spend some in the casino

 

I was thinking of about $1200 spends ball park but the credit card is always there.

 

The person that said $4000 - was that including the cruise price :confused::confused:

[European_CruiseGirl]

I think the $4000 included a ring which his wife bought.

[dcollette]

You can prepay your service charge of $12 per day, so that might make it a little easier deciding how much to take with you. The rest really depends on what you like to do.

[Phils01]

You can prepay your service charge of $12 per day, so that might make it a little easier deciding how much to take with you. The rest really depends on what you like to do.

 

Already paid the $12 per day

[beachmonkey]

Don't forget to budget for the time in New Orleans before and/or after the cruise!

[Phils01]

Don't forget to budget for the time in New Orleans before and/or after the cruise!

 

Yea - done that thanks - can't wait, we love the States and have never been to New Orleans :D:D:D

[Waterloomarc]

Don't forget to budget for the time in New Orleans before and/or after the cruise!

 

FYI the multi beer specials on Bourbon street means you get them all at once ie 4 for the price of one means the give you 4 bottles at one time. I'm Canadian so I can't have beer to go to waste by getting warm. So you might indulge a little more than you'd plan.

 

Of course it's been about 3 years since I've been though maybe things have changed. Earlier in the day the cheaper it was, for obvious reasons.

 

 

 

 

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[Godiva830]

My final bill from the Jewel for 7 days 2weeks ago for 2 people was $1550. In that final bill was my service charges per day, bingo twice, 2 specialty restaurants, 2excursion tix to Disney, I took money while in the casino, future cruise credit purchase, 3drinks(I brought rum runners ;) ), bought some photos, rented a clam shell and large float at GSC. That figure is before my $450 OBC. I didn't prepay and book excursions ahead if time bc I wanted to see what the weather was going to be in Florida and GSC and have no issues with getting a refund if the weather was bad or I changed my mind. I was in a penthouse so I also gave cash to the butler and concierge. I had a great trip and I knew my final bill would be huge but it was worth it. I was shocked when I saw that bill in my room on Sunday morning lol have a great trip. Enjoy yourself!

[mom2tcdx2]

I have bought jewelry on a couple cruises, but I stayed pretty much under $500 if I did that. Really depends on what is in the shops, though my upcoming trip I know I won't really have the extra.

 

Trip is getting expensive when I add in hotel in London, food in London, transfers to the hotel, to the cruise port, from the cruise port to the airport. Also didn't account adding in the possibility of using the bags program, but if available I will probably use that too. Also didn't count in tips for room service, porters. Oh now it just keeps adding up and getting higher and higher.:eek: