A bit worried...

[twinkletoes204]

I'll be going on my first cruise in May '06 on the Navigator with my bf and after spending quite some time on here reading (and enjoying) threads and whatnot...im starting to freak out already in terms of how much $$ will actually be spent on this trip. im paying my own way through college, will have to start paying for grad school (assuming ill get in) soon after the trip, and along with my other usual bills...this cruise is starting to worry me. paying for airfare, the hotel for 1 night near port, tips, excursions, yada yada :eek: - it freaks me out.

im frugal by nature (bc im a poor college student), so i know i wont be spending hundreds of dollars on tchotchkes and stuff, but id like to have a few cocktail nights, do some things off the ship, and i unfortunatly would like to stop at Coach in San Juan. by no means do i have a comfy budget to work with (and neither does the bf), but we want to make the absolute most of this vacay bc it is our first together and who knows when we will do this again.

any good ideas in how to cruise on a college student size budget, but not let it ruin the fun?? i would greatly appreciate any help i can get! :)

[PVDCruiser]

First thing that comes to mind is: What airline are you flying?

[Former Goalie]

I'll be going on my first cruise in May '06 on the Navigator with my bf and after spending quite some time on here reading (and enjoying) threads and whatnot...im starting to freak out already in terms of how much $$ will actually be spent on this trip. im paying my own way through college, will have to start paying for grad school (assuming ill get in) soon after the trip, and along with my other usual bills...this cruise is starting to worry me. paying for airfare, the hotel for 1 night near port, tips, excursions, yada yada :eek: - it freaks me out.

im frugal by nature (bc im a poor college student), so i know i wont be spending hundreds of dollars on tchotchkes and stuff, but id like to have a few cocktail nights, do some things off the ship, and i unfortunatly would like to stop at Coach in San Juan. by no means do i have a comfy budget to work with (and neither does the bf), but we want to make the absolute most of this vacay bc it is our first together and who knows when we will do this again.

any good ideas in how to cruise on a college student size budget, but not let it ruin the fun?? i would greatly appreciate any help i can get! :)

Well, the most obvious way to save $$$ on your cruise is to book the less expensive inside cabins. You'll still get the same food and activities as everyone else.

[Jennygirl]

I love college kids. I had two of my own not long ago and they loved to spend $$$....MINE!!! Now they are on their own more or less - thank God...it gives us more $$ to cruise with! Here's a couple of hints for you and your honey.

 

1. STAY OUT OF THE CASINO

 

2. Buy the drink specials of the day once in a while - they're like 1/2 price and good! they'll be listed in your news daily that you get at night in your room.

3. Don't buy the drink they are plugging when you get on the ship. It is not free so be careful.

4. Check out your excursions carefully. Do you really need to do extravagant things??? no, probably not. Find a beach, bring a book and enjoy that.

5. If you do go off the ship, remember, you can always get back on it for lunch instead of eating someplace which can be expensive if youre not careful.

6. Definitely plan ahead wherever your ship is going. Read, read, read other members reviews carefully and make notes or you will forget.

7. Don't buy a ton of clothes for this trip thereby saving lots of $$ You won't wear half of them. Believe me no one will remember if you wore the same pants to dinner the night before. Travel light.

8. Don't buy the photos on the ship either....they are very expensive. Have someone take the pictures of the two of you here and there and develop your own when you get home. People are kind and won't mind - especially if your college kids.

9. Thats it. Have a great time.

[Michuck]

I agree with other posters....plus....skip the Coach store.....Depending on the itinerary, we'll take the least expensive cabin available. (On longer cruises, we go for the balcony, for the short ones, inside is fine). If we want to sit on a balcony, having coffee, we go up to the top deck and pretend the whole thing is our private veranda.

[PelicanBill]

My suggestions:

 

1. Avoid expensive shore excursions... walk, take a taxi, spend time at the beach... book an inexpensive tour or negotiate for a taxi tour. Get back on the ship to eat.

 

2. Drinking... buy drink of the day, drink the free drinks (lemonade, water, iced tea)... and read the posts about bringing on board a modest amount of your own drinks. If you need soda, pack a 12 pack. For alcohol, a 12 of beer, or a couple of 1.5l plastic bottles of rum or vodka and your own sport bottle. Mix with free lemonade and/or iced tea or juice at breakfast... reduces alcoholic drink costs a lot.

 

3. Make sure you budget for the gratuities and set aside that money. Have tips set aside for porters, taxis.

 

4. Avoid the photos and shops.

 

5. Tell everyone you want a Visa gift card for your birthday to take on the cruise.

[Travelgrrl]

If you are going to St. Maarten, they have "Coach" purses for about $20 - $40 on Front Street; ditto the straw market in Nassau.

 

You can bring a couple back with you, even if they are knockoffs; you're not supposed to bring back 5 of the same purse because then they think YOU plan to re-sell them.

 

Just a thought - maybe a way to knock some $ off your budget.

[sherry7]

Check out the Ports of Call message boards for the ports you are visiting. Do some research for recommended tour guides there and then book private tours instead of the ones through RCCL. You'll get to do alot more on the islands, and save a ton of money in the process.

 

Stay out of the jewelry stores, spa, and casino.

 

If you MUST have t-shirts from the ship, wait until later in the week, they go on sale for 1/2 price.

 

Like someone above said, smuggle some alcohol aboard in your checked luggage. :D

[CaptData]

For Christmas and birthdays ask for cabin credits. These can be used for anything on board including the tours. Go on Port of Call board and read who is the best to go with. Ie Grand Cayman Capt Marvin or Native Way, cheaper then on the ship.

 

For now save your pennies in a jar and instead of going out for lunch every Sat put that money in the jar and eat at your Mom's or his if they are close by. The money will add up quickly and could pay for the tips.

 

 

 

As above don't go and buy a ton of new clothes, your closet will be fine. Mix and match. Pre-plan, look at the excursions this year to figure cost. A quiet beach day can be very romantic with just the two of you. Play the games on board, you will meet others and have fun without expense. Drink the ice tea or punch that are free.

 

Go for a long walk on board at night under the stars. It is good exercise and can be fun. Hop in a hot tub after.

[cincicruisers]

I find the best is saving your change for fun stuff on the cruise and spending money. Have you and your BF at the end of each day dump your change in a jar. By cruise time you will have some extra cash to spend on goodies (fruity drinks) :)

have a great cruise.

[TahoeBob]

any good ideas in how to cruise on a college student size budget, but not let it ruin the fun?? i would greatly appreciate any help i can get! :)

 

one thing I did (not on a cruise but on a trip to NY 4 years ago) was when my mother asked my what I wanted for my birthday and Christmas (I was 45 at the time) I just told her how about picking up part of the hotel bill, come birthday I get a card from her with a check for $300.00, this worked with my wifes mother also.

 

another thing I did for my cruise last year sell a bunch of stuff on EBAY, it paid for our cruise, flight and spending money.

 

Bob

[hstrybuf]

If you want the drink of the day, order it in a regular glass. They charge you for the "drink of the day" glasses because you get to keep them.

[ella99]

I find the best is saving your change for fun stuff on the cruise and spending money. Have you and your BF at the end of each day dump your change in a jar. By cruise time you will have some extra cash to spend on goodies (fruity drinks) :)

have a great cruise.

My husband and I always save our coins. At the end of the day we both (mostly him) put all the pocket change in a 2 liter soda bottle. We saved almost $800.00 in one year. We always use that money for our spending money on vacations. We always try to guess how much we saved. It always ends up being more than you think!

[VickiVSN]

I posted a poll a long time ago that resulted in some good discussion on different people's spending habits on board. THIS THREAD may be of interest to you.

[Happy ks]

You have plenty of time between now and then to save $$ for your cruise. Estimate what you will be comfortable spending, then start saving now, saving a small amount every month towards your goal. Get creative, do a few small jobs and put that cash towards the cruise, it will add up fast if you make a sincere effort. I've always found that vacations are more expensive than you originally plan, so do add a cushion to your original estimate.

 

I'm always amazed at how much people will post that they spend on a cruise, we never come anywhere near it. But, we don't gamble or play bingo, we're not big drinkers (maybe a cocktail or 2 a day, plus wine with dinner) we buy only one (formal) photo and I've never really wanted any of the souvenir stuff I see onboard. Excursions are expensive and, quite frankly, I'm sometimes disappointed in them, I don't like being so regimented. Study your ports of call carefully to see what you would really like to do, then see if you can do it on your own.

 

The clothing advise above is excellent. Many times I read of (women especially) going out and spending a lot of money on new cruise clothes. When you get onboard, you will see that most people are dressed in everyday clothing during the day. Number one, I would not buy any clothes just for a cruise, if you do buy something, make sure you can wear it before or after the cruise. If you need to buy formal clothing, there are always sales to be found. I have purchased my last 2 formal outfits for less than $30 each (one dress, one long pants outfit). There would also be nothing wrong with borrowing clothes from a friend or family member.

 

As far as airfare, book your own, don't let the cruiseline do it for you, many times the fare is a lot less on your own. Look into getting your room through Priceline, there is a site where people post what they are bidding, I think it is bidding for travel dot com (anyone can correct me!). If we have a choice of hotels (not on Priceline) we always choose one that has a continental breakfast, that saves quite a few $. We take our own snacks along when we fly, as well as a couple bottles of water. We will return to the ship (if we are close enough) during a port day for lunch. I know, a lot of people will think it's silly to not eat the local food, but, we have every kind of restaurant imaginable around where we live and we figure, we have already paid for lunch onboard.

 

I cannot blame you for the Coach stop, that, to me, would be the best souvenir. Just think, you could carry it and have the memory with you for years to come. A t-shirt will only make it to the pile of dust rags after a short time (I can't stand them) and a doo-dad will end up at the garage sale in a while, after spending most of its life collecting dust in the....garage!

[harrodsfan]

Don't cancel your trip due to $$$

Do follow all the tips listed here.

Do bring plastic bags and make up picnic lunches to take to the beaches.

Budget your spending money for each day and put in separate enveolopes in your safe. IF you have $$ left over save for the next day or end of trip splurge.

YOu can also put cash into your ships account when you sale.

Check for prices before your buy drinks on ship.

Budget for tips in advance.

Make a budget a game and not something that distracts from the fun of your trip. One of the fun things about a cruise is that it can be pretty much all inclusive...do take liquor onboard..(a reasonable amount.) But do enjoy a few drinks in fun bars...

One of the things that couples most frequently fight about is money. If you and your bf can work this out you will be far ahead in your relationship.

And good luck on grad school!:)

[deaconess]

I am a teacher and therefore don't have a huge amount of money to spend on elaborate vacations...here's what I did....

 

1. save your change....(my brother saves his singles and had over $500 in 4 months!)

 

2. I had a garage sale and made a few hundred that way.

 

3. ask for the drink of the day in a regular glass...saved us 6-7 dollars/drink!!!!(vs. non-drink of the day)

 

4. No Casino - or use that spare change if you just can't pass it up....

 

5. Sell back whatever textbooks you can at the end of the year:rolleyes:

 

6. Use your tax return money!

 

7. Don't plan an excursion at every port...do some exploring on your own....

 

8. Don't get the soda card....

 

9. If your not good with "hanging on to your money" - Pre-pay as much as you can...that way, you only have to worry about spending money....we pre-paid gratuities and excursions.

 

10.Put money into envelopes with different purposes labeled on each...tips...transportation....spending money....or do it by port....this way you won't overspend dip into your taxi $$!

 

11. For your seapass card - Do NOT use a Visa Gift card...they won't accept it, but they won't tell you that until the last day of your cruise....speaking from experience!! Instead, get a low limit credit card specifically for this purpose....I had one with a $300 limit...checked the balance regularly...my seapass card charges were $274 and 160 of that was shopping related! (7 night cruise)

 

12. choose an inside cabin.

 

13. book your own airfare...check the airlines actual sites....not only the other discount websites...we found it cheaper through Amer. Air...than anywhere else!

 

14. Be sensible, plan ahead, and you'll have a great time!

 

Hope this helps!

[justaknucklehead]

Use Priceline to book your precruise hotel. I ended up at the Tampa Bay Grand Hyatt for a measly 65.00. What a great deal that was.

 

Never do excursions, especially the expensive ones. If you want to go to a beach, just get a taxi to take you to the nicest public beach. On Cozumel, use Paradise Beach. It's free and they have lounge chairs and umbrellas for free too.

 

Don't succumb to Parasailing or renting waverunners, they are just a waste of money. Stay away from the drunken party boat tours. All that cheap rum will make you sick anyway.

 

Have fun and be smart. You'll do fine.

[Just_Cruising]

A nice suggestion I read was ordering room service the night before or the morning of an excursion and bringing zip locks so you can bring your lunch when leaving the ship.

[rsinj]

Well, let me throw out an alternative - DON'T DO IT! Your tastes are too expensive for your budget. You want to shop at Coach? Yet you don't have a comfy budget. So, let's see - there's the cruise, the airline to get to the cruise, the hotel the night before the cruise, the tips, the Coach store, possible excursions - anything else?

 

Poor college students living on tight budgets, putting themselves through school, taking out loans to fund schooling, etc., etc. really should not be going on cruises where it will cost them a ton of money. Regardless of all the ways to cut corners and do it "cheaply", it is still going to cost you some bucks - bucks that you really don't need to be spending. The cruise will wait - you've got a whole lifetime to do it and you'll be better able to afford it once you get a job and you're not in college.

 

Now, I'm all for taking a deserved break from school. But, there are many things you could do for a cheap vacation and still get out of town. Find somewhere that the airlines are flying cheap - there are some amazing deals out there - even flying a long distance. Find a cheap hotel and a cheap rental car (I just got $12 a day from Thrifty in San Jose CA for the end of this month). You will have plenty of money left at the end from what you saved by not taking the cruise.

 

Or, jump in the car and drive for a day or two with your friend. Surely there is somewhere to go within 500 or 1000 miles? Even with high gas prices, at 20 or 25 miles a gallon you can still go pretty far without too much cost.

 

I remember when I was a poor student in college and took that needed vacation down to FL. Eastern Airlines (you can now figure how long ago that was) was having a package special - kids go free. I went as the kid my roommate went as the parent and we split the bills.

 

Think carefully about how much money you're going to spend and how much easier it would be during the school year if you had that much extra money.

 

 

Howard

[wrp96]

As opposed to the previous poster, I say go for it. I went on a cruise with my best friend to celebrate my college graduation and will be going on another to celebrate law school graduation. I highly recommend having one truly fun extravagant time before going out into the workforce (or onto grad school in your case).

 

That being said save as much money as you can in little ways.

 

Go for an inside room on a lower deck instead of the balcony. You won't spend much time in the room anyways.

 

Don't buy new clothes for the trip. The summer clothes you already have will work really fine. If you do want new clothes (especially formals), look for items on clearance racks at the end of the summer. Try 2nd hand stores, etc.

 

Instead of flying in a day ahead, go for the earliest flight in the morning. I've done it and been really stressed but it will save money. If you go in a day ahead, you don't have to stay at a fancy hotel. Look for a budget motel, since all you are really needing is the bed for the night, you don't need all the fancy stuff like you would if you were staying there your entire vacation. - Or, look for a cruise you can drive to and save the airfare. Make it a fun roadtrip plus cruise.

 

Buy the drink of the day but ask for it in a regular glass - that will save a couple of dollars.

 

Don't buy ship excursions, go with independents. Look around and if there is an excursion you really want to do, try to find an independent as it will be much cheaper. Only do the excursions you really want to do. The rest of the places just plan to head to a beach or walk around towns - or stay on the ship and explore. You'll save money by doing less excursions plus you won't exhaust yourself (my BF and I overbooked ourselves on our 2nd cruise and regretted it).

 

I'm a Coach-a-holic myself, but skip the Coach store. Go for a couple of knock-offs if you really must, but save your money and put it towards something else, like those drinks that you want. You won't find anything at the Coach store in San Juan that isn't available via the catalog or at a Coach store on the mainland.

[CAT GIRL]

I agree with all the the previous posters. I always bring alcohol in

my checked luggage and carry on soda. Don't think you need to

buy a bunch of new clothes because no one will remember what you

wore anyway. If you do buy new clothes, don't take off the price

tag until you actually wear it. I've done that before, when I packed I

took all the tags off and then I ended up not even wearing the stuff.

 

What are your ports of call? Maybe we can give you suggestions

on what to do cheaply. Sign up for Crown and Anchor so you will

get coupons on your next cruise.... yes, there will be a next.

 

Enjoy!!!

[herecomesthesun]

I know I am probably repeating some things, and although I am not by any means an expert cruiser, the things that came to mind when I read your post were:

 

1. Get an inside cabin.

2. Bring your own soda and alcohol. I know this is frowned upon but in your case it may save you a lot of money.

3. Ask for drinks in regular cups instead of the sovenier cups.

4. Plan ahead what extra things you are going to spend on, like cocktails, spa treatments, the casino and specialty restaurants. Decide how much you are going to spend ahead of time, and then stick to it.

5. Order room service, which is free, and pack a picnic lunch for port days instead of buying overpriced food at the beach.

6. Just go to the beach or go sight-seeing rather than booking excursions.

7. If you really want to do an excursion, consider booking through a company on the island rather than the cruiseline; its often cheaper.

8. You can purchase Coach anywhere. If you must go shopping, shop for unique items or believable knockoffs, and negotiate the price with the salesperson.

[TaylorgoCruz]

If you are going to St. Maarten, they have "Coach" purses for about $20 - $40 on Front Street; ditto the straw market in Nassau.

 

You can bring a couple back with you, even if they are knockoffs; you're not supposed to bring back 5 of the same purse because then they think YOU plan to re-sell them.

 

Just a thought - maybe a way to knock some $ off your budget..

 

Please... do not buy knock offs. And mind you, it is illegal to sell/resell knock offs in US.

 

T & J

[justaknucklehead]

But if you go to Canal street in NYC, knock offs are in great abundance