Money saving tips needed

[lizi116]

We are eagerly awaiting our first cruise, and I need some tips on how to save money while on the cruise. I read on another thread to expect to spend adout $100 p.p per day. Yikes!:eek: We are flying into Fort Lauderdale, so we are limited by what we can take in our suitcases. I would love to bring on a case a water, are those sold in or around the port? Any tips would be appreciated!:)

[crusinmama06]

What YOU spend is up to you. I spend alot and I don't even think I spend $100 per person per day UNLESS you count the excursions. Then I could see it. And you could just bypass that by not booking excursions and taking taxis to the beach...very simple.

 

If you can get a case of water onboard, then do it. Some cruiselines (I don't know if Princess is one) does not allow that.

[Toyz711]

water, on most of the ships, will be better then your tap water at home.

some lines, like NCL, allow you to pack some bottle water and sodas...as long as you don't try to bring the whole store.

those flavor powders are good to bring.

i don't drink on a cruise, just too expensive. if we get comped at the casinos, but otherwise, no. we like pepsi and more cruise lines have coke products..we do bring a 6 pk of pepsi.

1 hint...if they take your room numbers they are charging you. (like the drinks at embarking)

do a search of your ship and find where the free ice teas and coffee are.

if you like juices, in the morning get a couple of glasses and stash it in your refrig (if you have one).

people on the roll call for your ship may have more hints.

[lumpkin]

Princess allows cans of soda, and also bottles/boxes of wine to be brought onboard...I think it is officially 1 bottle per person, of wine/champagne. That can really save some money (altho corkage fee applies if brought to the dining room). Individual servings of powdered drink mixes, like lemonade mix, can be brought to the dining rooms, or had at any time with ships water, and are very convenient. Soda purchased on board can be pricey, so this is much cheaper for kids to drink.

[sassyj38]

you can buy gift certificates before you sail on how much you want to spend on board. That way you have a set amount.

[charlies_mom]

I can't imagine spending that much money!!! My mom and grandmother just got off of a 4 day cruise to Canada. My mom's bill was $15 :-) She bought a couple of coffee drinks, a toothbrush and throat suckers. They still had a blast.

[mjmalino]

We just got off our first cruise to Alaska and our total ship board credit was just under $2000. That may seem like a lot BUT it was for 4 people (myself, DH and 2 DS) as well as our ship sponsored shore excursions one of which was a helicopter ride/glacier walk (i.e. our splurge). Once you took out the excursions and tips, we really only spent a couple hundred dollars all week. First, we avoided the specialty restaurants. We did not see a reason to pay the cover for them when we had the other eating venues that were included in the price, and were very tasty. Also, with regards to meals, the ports in Alaska were pretty small, and often we would have an excursion planned for after lunch. What we would do was go to shore and walk around, then go back to the ship for lunch before meeting our excursion. This saved us from having to spend the money on food in the ports and allowed us to have a bit more for other things to remember Alaska by.

[crusinmama06]

I can't imagine spending that much money!!! My mom and grandmother just got off of a 4 day cruise to Canada. My mom's bill was $15 :-) She bought a couple of coffee drinks, a toothbrush and throat suckers. They still had a blast.

 

Yep, my MIL's bill on our last cruise was $65. My SIL's was under $100 for a 7 dayer.

 

It ALL depends on what you like to do. If you are big drinkers (which we aren't) then the alcohol gets ya. If you like to buy lots of pictures (which we DO) then you *may* spend about $200 on pictures. But if you just decide to budget yourself and say no pictures, no alcohol, no dropping loads of money in the casino...then you can come out with very little money spent.

 

I have a shopping habit that I need to break. And that's the reason for the majority of my purchases onboard. ;)

[rebeccalouise]

Easy ways to save money. Don't buy anything on board except the drinks. That's it- plain and simple. No incabin movies, no junk from the gift shops.

 

As for excursions- if this is a first cruise then everything is new to you. So when you get off the ship- don't do expensive excursions. Take a $ 15 taxi ride ($30 roundtrip) to a nice beach. Spend the day there- swimming in the free Ocean. Sometimes you have to rent chairs on the beach (they might be as much as $ 25 per person) but this is still cheaper than the excursions.

 

Don't shop in the ports- waste of time and money.

 

Another suggestion is to stay on board and use the nearly empty ship. It feels like you have it all to yourself.

[tribbs1]

Our bill for a family of 6 was $730 for 1 week - $420 of which was the automatic gratuities. Of course we didn't do any ship excursions and booked our own 2 for a total of $950. The rest of our ship bill was soda cards, drinks, a tatoo for my ds, pictures.