Any tips/advice on how to afford cruising with a VERY tight budget?

[Natanni]

Hi

Welcome to cruising!

 

We have cruise 4 times with our 5th booked in 2007.

 

Our firist cruise, we were both working parents with 2 kids in sports and booked a cruise 5 week prior to sailing. We paid alot for our interior cabin, and had a hockey bags as part of our luggage :) We had young children with, and booked all excursions with the ship as we didn't know what to expect; We consumed no alcohol excpect for the champange that

was purchased by our tablemates for our aniversary, and purchased only 3 formal night/boarding photos;

 

We our in our 30s, and now have "top line luggage" but do a few things differntly; We have one online agent that knows all of our preferances, and we do our own excursions. I brought my own own wine onboard as hubby and I prefer to have a quiet glass on our balcony, but understand that this is no longer acceptable and I am looking into pre-ordering wine prior cruising; With what we spent on our on excursions for cruise #1 we were able to bring alon hubby's parents on cruise #2. Things add up quicky on a cruise! Make sure to check DAILY your account balance at the pursur's desk. Double check passport requirements! We purchased THIS YEAR over $400 worth of passports that were not necessary! We will not cruise (or leave the country!!) until our son graduates in 3 years, and to us $400 is alot of cash! Wishing you all the best on cruise!

[MrsPete]

Good luck.

 

What will you do for health insurance until you are 65 & are ready for Medicare?

Teachers who retire with 30 years of service have the same health care coverage that I have now -- for life. Those who have the basic insurance pay nothing; those who have the more comprehensive plans (or who also cover a spouse) pay the additional cost; they're treated exactly the same as current employees. They also have the option of buying AFLAC supplemental insurance through the group.

[samtig]

Unfortunately, our future professions (music teachers/performers) allow us very limited options in terms of cruising (spring breaks, winter breaks, summer breaks). I would bet we could drive out to NY, wouldn't be TOO bad, and it'd be a fun road trip.

 

The funny thing is, from Columbus to San Juan, PR, the airfare has been below $300 for months now, with no signs of going up! It's cheaper to fly there than to most places in the states! If only it'd stay that way forever...

 

I'm leery about trying Carnival...I've heard lots of bad stuff about them (being overrun by families/partiers). While yes, I am still relatively young, I don't drink and I'm not much of a partier, but I still like to have a good time. Do you think I'd still enjoy a Carnival cruise? I have noticed their prices being a bit cheaper than RCCL sometimes...

 

Thanks again for your help!

 

 

We're in our mid-fifties & not partiers either but enjoy Carnival. I've heard there is more drinking/partying on the 3 or 4 nights cruises. We've been on 5 & 7 night cruises on Carnival & didn't find partying to be a problem. We have cruised on RCI & Norwegian & enjoyed them all. Found the service to be about the same on all. However, in our opinion Carnival had the best food, entertainment, and the most to do for the younger crowd. We went on our 1st RCI cruise recently & it was great - but very quiet.

[rdhnd]

Rdhnd(DH) found a great price on a destination where we wanted to go-Eastern Caribbean. 1-So we Texans flew to Bayonne, NJ.

We took our own snorkel, studied the area, then took some of our own excursions. Shopped then hailed a taxi at St. Thomas to ferry to St. John's; rode with the locals on the ferry and I liked that. At St. Martin we walked and saw some of the beautiful island, next time I would catch a local bus to see more of the island. At Puerto Rico we booked an excursion to El Junge National Forest--It was wonderful. At Labadee, we snorkeled, hung out at the beach. I felt like we were on a honeymoon adventure at 27 years of marriage.Our taxi-driver suggests flying to San Juan and cruising from there, you get to see more islands, but half of the fun is in the journey.

2-The bar guys called me Ice-Tea because I carry a 20oz.RCI mug and am constantly refilling it with tea. To christen the cruise I did buy a pina-colada, and it was intoxicatingly delicious. We bought a bottle of wine for our table on a formal night.

3-We book an inside cabin, cause we don't know any better-ha

4-Be sure to join Crown&Anchor Society as soon as possible as it has some fun perks. We have never obtained a Royal Caribbean charge card, but you're supposed to get double sailing points or something.

5-On board the entertainment is great and we enjoyed some of the games. On different cruises we have had the early and late seating for dinner and prefer the late seating as you don't have to rush to get there.

Rdhnd says don't gamble or buy the shopping book, of course I disagree about the shopping book.

6-Please remember the gratuities.

7-Blessings with your marriage and keep your vows:) -Ice Tea

[Scorpiorose]

Lots of good ideas here.....We have six in our family and being from WA state it's a LONG way to port unless we go the west coast! Anyway....when we travel with the kids we go west coast, do our own shore excusions - research is the key here! We don't eat off the ship, for petes sake, you've already paid for food on the cruise so we may pick up a snack or drink but we dont' do the full meal deal off the ship! We want to cruise every year so as not to gain cruise weight we try to keep food in reasonalbe limits....try anyway! We bring wine and champagne on board ourselves and don't drink a lot other than that.....that adds up quick! We have a pre set amount of spending money, pre pay our sail cards and that way we don't over spend! We have set things we look for each time we go and budget for it. Last Year fiance wanted a leather jacket, set aside $100 and found a great one for $75! I buy crosses, authentic mexican....silver....I focus on that and don't get distracted with all the things you could buy! Once on impulse I bought a big clay plate...what was I thinking, it broke half way home so no I look on line and pre plan! It's all in the PRE PLANNINE! You could cruise every year if you plan ahead, pre pay, install pay....! Good luck!

[Scorpiorose]

Oh....and find a good cheap credit card that gives you miles....put everything on that card, house payment or rent, food, utilities....it all adds up! We got a RCCL credit card and put it all on, amazing how much we spend to live! Anyway, we're building miles fast and cruising RCCL gives you double the miles! THis will help with air down the road! We even put car payment and any big purchases our friends make we put on our card and they pay us right away! Happy cruising!