Little or no money for extra is it possible?

[sjcruiser]

Its very doable, and I would say go, and enjoy yourself. I have been on cruises and took excursions on my own for $10-15 (tour bus tour of area/island highlights), I have also gotten into port, and just walked around taking in the sites. Enjoy your cruise, I'm sure you're both are going to love it. One of my best mottos about cruising is that the bed, food, and entertainment is paid for, and who is going to know about your money situation, unless you tell them.

[uncleg]

Last year i had to do a cruise on the cheap due to some unexpected dental work, It took all my excursion money. I just did the free Carnival stuff at ports were it was available or had nice quiet days on the ship, splurged and did a wine tasting and food pairing, so my extras were really low. You can have fun on a tight budget.

[belkin]

Yes, you can do it. Spend some time researching the ports of call board for each one of your stops. Go to trip advisor and enter the name of the island and look at the activities.

 

If you find something on trip advisor that looks good go back to the Cruise Critic ports of call link to see what others have to say.

 

You could take a taxi to the Money Bar in Cozumel. It is $8 each way so $16 total. We sat in loungers by the water and had a couple of drinks and an appetizer.

 

There are all kinds of things to do on the cheap. There is a public bus in the Caymans if I remember correctly. You could research that and see where it might take you.

 

Also check your roll call and see if anybody is doing anything that interests you. You may be able to ride share.

 

Hope you have a great time!!

[Matlily]

I think its very doable, my mother and I did one last year cheaply, we took all the allowed drinks wine, soda and waters. we spent minimum on ship, a couple of drink all week and a little unnecessary shopping.

Excursions we walked off ship in Cozumel and just looked around shops this way no money spent on food back on ship for lunch.

even in Grand Cayman another cruise we did the free snorkeling a couple of blocks from the ship we walked to it, had our own snorkel stuff and jumped in! I think it was $5 for a locker for your stuff.

also on Grand Cayman I have taken the bus and gone to Seven mile beach parked our butts on a towel, take your own water with you from your supply on ship, eat a large breakfast before you go and have a snack pizza when you get back on board. avoid Bingo, shopping on ship, casino and you know you can get the drink of the day in a regular cup for $2 less!:D

[jenndun]

Thanks so much everyone. I was really sad at the thought of canceling. You've made me feel lots better.

[tracier66]

I have a question about this, if we pre-paid our tips when booking our cruise. Do they still charge your S&S card once on board, even if they credit the S&S card with the pre-paid tip money. I would like to know, so I can know what to expect.

 

You will see the tips on your S&S statement but with an immediate credit if you have prepaid.

[JudyOh]

I'm doing a surprise 16th birthday cruise for my daughter this summer. She has no idea. The cruise was paid in full months ago. I have gas money put back and gift cards to cover the cost of meals on the drive down and home that I've been saving. I've already paid for parking. I have reservation for the night before at a motel but I can stay with my sister four hours from port and drive down the day of if I have to. I was not worried about money for the cruise until in the same month my work cut hours and my ex has decided not to pay his child support any more so financially I'm stressed right now and don't see that changing before the cruise. Is it possible to go on the cruise and still have a great time without all the extra stuff. Has anyone done it or should I just cancel. I've been on one four day cruise before and I thought I was being cheap but still spent $500. I'm not a drinker. Last cruise I had one drink the whole time so I'm not worried about that. I'm not a spa person at all. I loved the bingo games last time and would love to do them but could do without. I'm not a gambler. I lost $10 in slots on my last cruise and never went back. I was really wanting to do the steak house but don't think I need to spend the extra money just for food. I don't want to be in port stuck the ship since I don't have lots of money for a excursion. What do you do when you have little or no money for excursions? We are going to Cozumel, Grand Cayman, and Montego Bay. I've been crunching the number and think I can do around $150 per person for extras while on the cruise. Am I being unreasonable?

 

It can be done. One of the nicest beaches in Grand Cayman is 7 mile beach, we took a cab to it the last time and decided to walk back along the beach to the ship (we were mid=60ish) and had no trouble walking back. Just make sure you take a bottle or two of water, we had planned on the taxi back and didn't have anything to drink and were mighty thirsty. Take a couple of bottles of water on board with you, refill and put in frig, no need to buy bottles of water continuously. If soda drinkers, take your own on board. Read the boards, lots of ideas. Stay away from Bingo, and all the money grabber things, lots and lots to do for free. Make the best of it, you can still have a good time without a $500 tab at the end. Montego Bay might be iffy, sometimes the Jamaican ports aren't real friendly and they advise to take a tour or stay on the ship. When the ship is empty you have everything to yourself, no lines, best pool chairs, pools to yourself etc. Have a good time!

[PROCRUISE]

Go, have a great time and you'll be surprised at what a great time you can have in most every port, if you just walk. Go to the port sites on CC and you'll get lots of ideas. We've been on cruises where we've spent very large sums of money (we usually book private tours) and we've been on cruises when our total bill, with gratuities pre paid, has been under $20, and we've had a grand times on ALL cruises.

Wishing you a great, wonderful time! :)

[kmc500]

Thanks so much everyone. I was really sad at the thought of canceling. You've made me feel lots better.

 

Enjoy your cruise when you go, and in the meantime, take your ex to court and make him pay you child support. I don't know of any state where that responsibility stops on the 16th birthday! It is a moral obligation to support your children, but I would bet it is also a legal one.

 

Good luck!

 

Kevin C

[Mysticks1]

I agree that it is absolutely doable. You have already paid for or have saved up the amounts that you must have. I agree that in Cozumel that Paradise Beach is a good choice. In Grand Cayman you can take the tender in and just walk around. To me it is more of a shopping type port. You may need to warn your daughter about it. If she has birthday money to spend I would tell her that things will be cheaper in Cozumel.

 

I have a daughter and sailed with her several times during her teenage years. If yours has a cell phone you may want to take it from her and lock it in the safe as soon as the ship sails. Tell her she can charge it back up on the last night so it will be ready to use on the trip home.

 

You can turn off the charging privileges on your daughter's card if you don't think she can be responsible enough to not charge things. My daughter was told she had a specific amount that she could charge and always stayed within that amount. If she has never cruised before she might not realize that when someone asks for her card on the ship that there usually is a charge involved.

 

If you can work it into your budget I would try to get at least one professional photo to keep as a remembrance of the trip. I hope you have a great time.

[cruse2loose]

I have gone on a cruise and had a S&S balance of less than $5 that was for tums and a Dr Pepper. I do all the free stuff, In Montego Bay you can do the hop on hop off bus for like $20 or less. It takes you all around, shows you some of the area. You can just walk around and shop in Grand Cayman. In Cozumel, you can walk to the left about 3-4 blocks of where you get off to El Sid. For $16 day pass, with a $10 food/drink credit back, you can use their beach, pool, hot tub, showers. They even have a salt water pool. Go & Enjoy :)

[PhoenixDawgCruising]

This might sound odd, but one thing I ALWAYS do before a vacation is to have a yard sale. I usually make around $300-$500 depending, and that serves as my spending money.

 

Last year I paid for 2 nights at Disneyland Hotel by having a sale. :eek:

 

Maybe you could try this to earn a little extra cash?? It's also great for spring cleaning and getting rid of needless clutter.:)

[SadieN]

I have a question about this, if we pre-paid our tips when booking our cruise. Do they still charge your S&S card once on board, even if they credit the S&S card with the pre-paid tip money. I would like to know, so I can know what to expect.

 

We've never pre-paid our tips but have purchased excursions before the cruise.

 

The excursions were posted, then credited on our statements. It's possible that the pre-paid tips work like that.

 

Take your cruise paperwork, including pre-payment of the tips with you.

Whenever we do not bring the paperwork, we always seem to need it.:(

[kmc500]

This might sound odd, but one thing I ALWAYS do before a vacation is to have a yard sale. I usually make around $300-$500 depending, and that serves as my spending money.

:)

 

Great idea!

 

My wife and I just cashed in our coin banks last weekend and picked a cool $200+ for our cruise next week. Found money.

 

Kevin C

[SadieN]

I agree that it is absolutely doable. You have already paid for or have saved up the amounts that you must have. I agree that in Cozumel that Paradise Beach is a good choice. In Grand Cayman you can take the tender in and just walk around. To me it is more of a shopping type port. You may need to warn your daughter about it. If she has birthday money to spend I would tell her that things will be cheaper in Cozumel.

 

I have a daughter and sailed with her several times during her teenage years. If yours has a cell phone you may want to take it from her and lock it in the safe as soon as the ship sails. Tell her she can charge it back up on the last night so it will be ready to use on the trip home.

 

You can turn off the charging privileges on your daughter's card if you don't think she can be responsible enough to not charge things. My daughter was told she had a specific amount that she could charge and always stayed within that amount. If she has never cruised before she might not realize that when someone asks for her card on the ship that there usually is a charge involved.

 

If you can work it into your budget I would try to get at least one professional photo to keep as a remembrance of the trip. I hope you have a great time.

 

 

You can also set your DD's account as a cash account. Once the money is gone she can no longer charge anything.

[topspot]

If you snorkel, in Grand Cayman you can walk to Eden Rock. You go outside of the port area, turn right, keep the water on your right and it is about a 5 to 10 minute walk. If you have your own snorkel gear, then all you will need to do is rent a locker or chair.

 

In Cozumel, you can take a cab (around 12 dollars each way). You can go to the Money Bar. They let you use their chairs as long as you buy food. We had 4 sodas and chips and it was around 25.00. There is decent snorkeling here too.

 

Montego Bay, I'd stay on the ship. I'm not a big fan of Jamaica, and you'd get the whole ship to yourself.

Edited April 11, 2014 by topspot

[Kova15]

What we do which is simular to another post. We sell some stuff off Craigslist. Right now its selling baby gear, for you it might be some of your daughter's pre-teen toys.

Money for us is always tight as we have 2 young kids, but when it comes to vacation time we always look for things to sell around the house. Our kids always bring their piggy bank money for their spending and it works out good. Somehow my daughter always ends up with around $100 after we cash in her change and add up any money she gets from grandparents throughout the year.

By doing this and some family donations we were able to get married and take a cruise without going into debt. I highly suggest this!

 

Another thing you could do is tell her relitives who would send birthday gifts to send things like a new bathing suite, or buy an excursion.

 

I have only been to Grand Caymen, but the beach there is amazing and its right off the ship, not to mention walking around the port area there is really nice. We hardly spent money there with the exception of lunch and a keychain. Although our lunch was pricey so you might want to eat a big breakfast and bring a box of cereal with you. Also I dont go anywhere withough granola bars (when dh get hungry its like the hulk came to visit) so we put 2 boxes in our checked bag and snacked on those in port.

 

good luck to you! Your daughter is a very lucky girl to have you as her mom!

[jenndun]

Enjoy your cruise when you go, and in the meantime, take your ex to court and make him pay you child support. I don't know of any state where that responsibility stops on the 16th birthday! It is a moral obligation to support your children, but I would bet it is also a legal one.

 

Good luck!

 

Kevin C

 

I'm working on it. That's part of the money issues right now. It cost to take him. Hopefully we will get in and get the thousands he owes before or cruise but there is no guarantee.

[kmc500]

I hope it works out for you, and regardless, enjoy your cruise. If I were in your place I would go regardless. A cruise with no spending money is better than being home (with no spending money!) :)

 

Kevin C

[OCruisers]

Something you can do to save on the cost of food on port stops is to have a big breakfast before getting off in a port and to wait to eat again (burgers, pizza, etc.) when you return to the ship . :)

LuLu

~~~~

[luvtrips]

We've been on 7 cruises, and have our 8th booked. My hubby loves me because I consider it a game to see how much we don't spend! We don't buy pictures, don't gamble, and when we book shore excursions, we check tripadvisor and book the most recommended tour guides in the local ports, no carnival tours! I check the price drops regularly for the cruise I booked, and I've always had On board credits to use in the shops or for drinks. The only souvenier we buy is a magnet from the ship and a magnet from each port.

 

I have so much fun planning my savings, and we sail knowing we're not going into debt.

 

We do always tip generously, and feel great about our trip.

 

Have fun with your daughter, make lots of memories, take lots of pictures, enjoy the free beaches and all of the included things to do on the cruise.

 

Also....besides yard sales, like the previous poster mentioned...I sell unwanted things on Ebay. I even go to yard sales and buy things really cheap, a dollar or two, and sell them for what they are worth on Ebay. It's a great way to supplement your income.

[Tennessee Rose]

Jenndun, absolutely you can go have a blast on your cruise without spending anything else on the ship or even at port. There are so many things to do on board, plus just plain relaxing, that you may not even get around to doing all you want to!

 

In port, you can just walk around or catch a cheap cab to a free or almost free beach. Just concentrate on enjoying the time you have together and seeing all the new things rather than what can I spend money on.

 

For sure, don't cancel your cruise! Go. Have a blast. I know you will!! :)

[Throwdownmyace]

And absolutely don't worry about clothes for the trip. Just wear whatever you have. T shirts and shorts!

[BenjiRodney]

Yes it is very possible to do. I buy something small like post cards, magnet or a patch to remember where I have been. In St Thomas we were able to do a full Island tour for 25 per person, just look around, there will be plenty of low cost or free things to do.

[jerrycat]

When I'm broke, I've found if I wait until everyone is off the ship and on their tours, I go down to where the cab drivers stand and find someone who seems nice. I'll say, something like I've got $30 and I want to see the island or take me someplace cool, or I want to go snorkeling. I have never been disappointed.