How much do you spend?

[XForeverYoursX]

How much should I expect to spend on extra gratuities for a 4 night cruise? I got the drink package if this helps. Trying to figure out how much money I should bring with me for Monday! What's the average? I don't plan on spending a lot on souvenirs or anything, just maybe 1 thing each for my littles at home and some casino money. Thanks! Sorry for the million questions, I've never been on a cruise before! If it helps, it's only me that's going!

 

 

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[BigHouseFootball]

Extra gratuities? That's a zero from me. My on board spending is usually like $50 at the end of a 7 night cruise. I prepay for almost everything.

[XForeverYoursX]

I'm a server so 18% to me is standard service,

I'm expecting to have excellent service so I figured I would need more cash.

 

 

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[XForeverYoursX]

What do you prepay for?

 

 

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[GUT2407]

How much should I expect to spend on extra gratuities for a 4 night cruise? I got the drink package if this helps. Trying to figure out how much money I should bring with me for Monday! What's the average? I don't plan on spending a lot on souvenirs or anything, just maybe 1 thing each for my littles at home and some casino money. Thanks! Sorry for the million questions, I've never been on a cruise before! If it helps, it's only me that's going!

 

 

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$100s maybe $1,000s

[XForeverYoursX]

Wait what? $1000 for a 4 night cruise????

 

 

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[aussielozzie18]

Easy to spend $1000s - speciality dining, handbags & duty free alcohol, paintings/prints, photo packages, booking tours on board. Have friends who do this every cruise.

[GUT2407]

Wait what? $1000 for a 4 night cruise????

 

 

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Easily.

[Steelbreeze]

Don't worry, it won't cost you $1000, unless you gamble more than you think! Besides the $55 gratuity, you will want to have some extra $1.00 bills on hand for your favorite bartenders and some extra $5-10 for your waiters and cabin Steward, as they work so hard and you will want to adopt them into your family by time it is over, you'll see! Also depending on what your excursions are, or on your own, cab fare, etc. I usually don't spend more than $100 on a 4 day cruise if that! Enjoy!

[happymanitee]

Did you prepay gratuities? I always prepay and then I link a credit card to my account at the online check-in. If I tip any extra on bar service, I add it on when I sign for the drink. That will get charged to my seapass account, which will be charged to my credit card-so no cash needed for bar service. Any souvenirs also get charged to the credit card.

 

I usually bring cash $5-10 to tip the porters. $20 to my room steward if he/she did a good job and $20 to both of my waiters if I ate in the MDR each night. Lately, I have only been eating inthe MDR 1 or 2 nights, so I haven't been tipping the waiters. I don't feel bad about not tipping because I still pay the daily gratuities.

 

I also bring cash to pay for all my excursions (I only book with independent companies- not through the ship). And cash to buy souvenirs at the ports- I don't like using my credit card in other countries.

 

Before the cruise, I will sit down and calculate everything. Are you flying? If so, remember cash and tips for taxi rides to the hotel and to the pier. Then, I always bring extra. I usually make it home with leftover cash.

[Clarea]

What do you prepay for?

 

You can prepay for gratuities, beverage packages, excursions,specialty restaurants, etc. You can also give yourself some on board credit to cover any extra costs while on board.

[suesnake2002]

I've found that you almost pay the same you paid for cruise😀

[cb at sea]

Extra tips? I go by the suggested tips that they charge you daily....that's generally ample! IF I tip more, it's usually $10-20 above the tips they charge you.

 

Room service delivery is NOT included in the suggested tips...$1-5 per order is common, depending on how much they bring you.

 

Every drink you buy will have 18% added to the cost...I think that's fine for opening a beer or pouring a glass of wine or simple mixed drink!

[Hearthosesteeldrumsplayin]

I've found that you almost pay the same you paid for cruise😀

I am like Suesnake2002 and my bill at the end of the cruise is usually about what I paid for the cruise (so I always double the cruise line price to estimate my trip cost). However, I usually spend a lot of time in the spa and we have been getting suites lately, so there are extra tips to be paid, I will attend the art auction and have now filled up my walls (so guess that's a savings for my future trips), like pictures from the trip, and always buy stuff from the duty free shops. This does not include any gambling $$, which is over and above (but I keep that money separate anyway).

[slyster]

Trying to understand the question, but remember your drink package already has the tips and standard 18% gratuity included. If you mean you want to give/tip more, you can write it on the receipt they give you. It will say $0 but you can add an extra tip there. I have heard some ships don't give you a receipt, but you can request one when you are ordering your drink. If you prefer to just give them the cash, I think it just depends on how much extra you want to give.

 

Same goes with speciality restaurants. The standard gratuity is already included, and if you want to give more, you can write it in.

 

If you are talking about actual cash to bring, I don't bring much. I bring cash for room service tips, spending money on shore and tip money for excursions.

 

I pre-pay a lot of stuff because I don't want a large bill at the end of my cruise. I buy things as I get closer and closer to the cruise...standard cruise gratuity to wait staff and room steward, drink package, speciality restaurants, internet package, shore excursions. So the only thing I owe for on the final day would be the spa (you can pre-pay for that too!), anything I bought in their shops, and any extra tips I put in. It makes a big difference. I used to easily spend a thousand bucks for drinks, speciality restaurants, shops, spa and now my bill is more like $200.

Edited November 3, 2016 by slyster

[XForeverYoursX]

I've already bought the drink package, massage and 2 excursions. I don't plan on doing much more besides gambling and a lunch at senor frogs. So I'm already at basically the cost of the cruise lol where can I prepay the gratuities?

 

 

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[Clarea]

I've already bought the drink package, massage and 2 excursions. I don't plan on doing much more besides gambling and a lunch at senor frogs. So I'm already at basically the cost of the cruise lol where can I prepay the gratuities?

Contact whoever you booked your cruise with.

[spookwife]

How much should I expect to spend on extra gratuities for a 4 night cruise? I got the drink package if this helps. Trying to figure out how much money I should bring with me for Monday! What's the average? I don't plan on spending a lot on souvenirs or anything, just maybe 1 thing each for my littles at home and some casino money. Thanks! Sorry for the million questions, I've never been on a cruise before! If it helps, it's only me that's going!

 

 

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you should expect to pay zero 'extra' gratuities over and above the daily charge, regardless of whether you pre paid them or not.

 

you may want to have singles available for room service deliveries, and your favorite bartender( and you will find one)

 

being as this is your first cruise, you will not have a baseline to gauge how much over and above the crew may go for you. however, if you are a 'needy' guest with lots of little demands or requests, you should slip the people who provide those services a little extra.

 

but rest assured, the daily charge is all you are required to pay.

[knittinggirl]

We tip the bar waiters cash, but they have to ask, because we order different things depending on our mood.

 

We prepay Shore Excursions and Gratuities, but try to balance out ship charges w/ Obc. Not easy since they've gotten so stingy w/ the OBC for Open Bookings. No drink package. We try to get the free stuff, or use a coupon for our drinks. Before going Diamond, we did the welcome back, or welcome aboard receptions. Specialty Dining usually goes on the onboard account if we have enough OBC. If they have a good enough priced package, we'll splurge. Personally, I like skipping the roar of the MDR.

Edited November 3, 2016 by knittinggirl

[XForeverYoursX]

I'm a server so 18% really is the minimum I normally tip. I'm not needy but i reward great service.

 

I booked through Expedia :/

 

 

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[mandybyas]

We link our credit card to our onboard account, so all we have to spend extra cash wise is gratuities which is for exceptional service, especially to waiters and our room steward. They work hard and long hours. What you spend is really up to you. If we buy anything at the ports, we spend cash but we don't spend a lot. We don't get beverage packages since we are not big drinkers so on a 7-day cruise we (2 of us) usually have a $500 bill or less, depending on what we spend in the FunShops/casino which my husband usually plays but not a lot.

[Desert Cruizers]

We will pre pay for husbands drink package, gratuities, tours so our average expense now is cut way down as we don't buy a lot on board, perhaps a formal picture. We give our room steward and waiter & assist waiter $20 each so bring roughly $500 in cash for a 2 week cruise. This covers any casino visits or things we may purchase in port.

[VASOXFANN]

We bought a drink package, so we expect to just pay gratuities for this cruise.

 

Depending on service, we usually tip our cabin steward an extra $20-$50 cash.

[Lawhouse]

Don't bother just cancel the lot

 

 

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[vacationlover_mn]

We generally bring along $100 per day extra for the two of us, assuming we have an average amount of excursion days and that the excursions are booked through the cruise. For our next cruise we are bring an extra $200, since we are booking excursions on our own and will need to pay for our own chairs/umbrellas/drinks on them.

 

So, in summary, if I am going on a 4 night cruise, with all excursions through the ship, drinks prepaid, and 2 days at sea, I'd probably bring $500 in cash for 2 people. Note, we prepay everything (like our drink packages and excursions) that we can except gratuities, and we use our credit card to pay our balance (gratuities, onboard ship purchases, pictures, etc).