How much do you usually spend?

[8373seth]

I think you need to have double on your credit card what you think you will spend. They put holds on what you spend and then at the end of the week they charge your card for the full amount. The holds will eventually fall off but not until after you pay your final bill. So, if you plan on spending $1000 you need to have $2000 available on your card. Correct me if I am wrong but I believe that is the way it is done.

[Capt. Mike]

At the end of your cruise, and your bar bill will not fit under your door, you know you had a great time. Mine is usually leaning up against the door!! 1K for 7 days is about right: that's liquor only, no excursions, spas etc.

[Casshew]

In general....use what you paid for the cruise as a guide. If you spent $1500 for the cruise, plan on spending $1500 while on board. Nice and safe that way.

 

 

If you've booked the Grand Suite... bring $12,000.00 in spending money :D

[chrysalis]

In general....use what you paid for the cruise as a guide. If you spent $1500 for the cruise, plan on spending $1500 while on board. Nice and safe that way.

 

that makes not sense, at all...

[WeBeGone]

In general....use what you paid for the cruise as a guide. If you spent $1500 for the cruise, plan on spending $1500 while on board. Nice and safe that way.

 

Oh good grief - sure hope I don't spend $10,00 on board !!!!!:eek:

[sonomaphil]

You'd be surprised. Notice I didn't say you WOULD spend that...I said expect to spend that and you're covered.

[LasVegas_Qtpie]

You don't drink (much). You don't gamble. So far, so good. You've already budgeted for tips and shore excursions. Even better.

 

But, from your posts it looks like this may be a first cruise (?) .... so, I would bet your worst enemy will be ship-board photos. They take tons and tons of pictures of you and yours along the way. Some good, some very good, some bad ... the problem may be, you'll want them all ... trust me. There's no obligation to buy, but ... well, trust me.

 

Princess pictures are getting prohibitively expensive ($24.50 per as of last week. I've been putting in my comment cards that they need to offer 5 X 7's at a lesser price, rather than just 8 x 10s). But, that being said, we've gotten some great portraits on board on both formal nights and informal nights in front of the white background. We've gotten shots for $25 that would have cost of hundreds in a private studio. So, put aside a few dollars for those extra special photogs taken on board. Plus, you can take them to Walgreens and make your next Christmas card!

 

 

FYI -- I'm from Seymour (originally) ... double yuck.

 

 

I completely agree with you! That was an awesome thing to point out. On our first Cruise, we spent a whopping $1,000.00 on Cruise photos. You do the math, we bought ALOT! They were all so good.... and we all know we are suckers for flattering photos.

 

Great point!

[nomars_girl]

At the end of your cruise, and your bar bill will not fit under your door, you know you had a great time. Mine is usually leaning up against the door!! 1K for 7 days is about right: that's liquor only, no excursions, spas etc.

 

I want to party with you!

[Capt. Mike]

I'll be on the Crown leaving SJ on Saturday, your welcome to join us but I heard the boat is sold out!

[zaandam_2]

At the end of your cruise, and your bar bill will not fit under your door, you know you had a great time.

 

LOL!

[BJS]

Thank you for all of your answers so far. Im not counting excursions or tips. Thats stuff I can plan for!

 

We dont gamble and we drink very little.

 

We dont HAVE a credit card, I guess I should get one just for this!

 

Other than tips and shore excursions you can spend next to nothing but will you enjoy your cruise?

 

These are some items that will cost you but if you aren't interested in them you don't have to purchase them: Drinks, bottled water, sodas or soda cards, ice cream, specialty restaurants, ultimate balcony meals, coffee cards, spa items/treatments, photos, classes, internet, bingo, casino, horse racing, gift shop purchases- jewelry, clothes, personal items, etc. and laundry.

 

If this is your first cruise you will be inclined to spend on many items just to experience them. We find the more we cruise the less we spend but we do now have some Elite perks that we once spent money on and no longer have to. On some cruises we spend much less than many that have posted, less than $100 excluding tips and shore excursions for a 7 day cruise, and still enjoy our cruise. On other cruises we spend much more than that and it all depends on what we are interested in eating, drinking or doing.

 

The prices for various items are mentioned on this thread and other places on the board. Try to decide what interests you then add up the prices plus 25% and you should be well prepared. A credit card might be your answer but for some people it is not. Get a print out each day of your shipboard account so you know exactly what your bill will be and there will not be any surprises.

[CruisenOne]

We dont HAVE a credit card, I guess I should get one just for this!

 

Don't forget to tell the CC Company that you will be travelling.

If they see usage outside of the U S of A, they may put a "hold" on it.

 

We normally budget $ 100.00 per day for expenses; less Tours/Tips.

[gunner22a]

Whatever it takes. Because of our varied schedules, her trips to visit friends in far off lands, my golf and hunting trips with the boys, the dear wife and I get one vacation together a year so we make it a good one. Boy do I spoil that lady.

[Dena]

It is possible and easy for us to spend very little and have a good time. I agree with others that on one's first cruise you might spend more just to find out what a particular experience is like (but maybe you can just learn some of these things through these boards). Here are the areas where we have recently avoided spending.

 

Liquor: We don't really drink. Last time we brought two bottles of wine on board because we thought having a drink while looking at the ocean would be relaxing. Well we only used half of one bottle. Looking at the ocean was pleasant and relaxing enough without the wine. We used to enjoy wine with dinner, but neither of us can afford to waste the calories on liquids anymore. At home I save drinking hard liquor for after a really bad day at work (maybe 5 times a year). Cruising is just about as far away from a bad day of work as we can get, so our bar bill is zero.

 

Soda: We don't drink it at home because we don't like it, so we won't drink it on the ship either.

 

Bottled water: I bring two bottles on board and refill them with tap. So far the flavor has been fine, if the time comes when it is not, we'll buy the ship's bottled water. At home, we drink bottled water because we don't like the chlorine taste of our tap water.

 

Spa: The first time we sailed we bought the thermal suite package and thought it was woth it mainly because of the heated ceramic chairs. On our second cruise we learned that the temperature of these chairs had been decreased fleet-wide (perhaps due to litigation fears) - they are now so tepid, they are not worth the price for us. We also tried the Rasul - it was okay, but we wouldn't do it again and we can have a lot more fun in our cabin. As far as spa services, the prices are much better at my local spa and there is no hard sell afterwards. Until this hard sell stops, I'd never book a Princess spa treatment as the hard sell will negate any relaxation that the spa treatment would produce.

 

Coffee: Princess free coffee is bad. But we don't drink drip coffee at home, only espresso. I don't have a problem with buying Princess espresso drinks, the price is fair. I wish they would deliver them through room service, but espresso doesn't reallyt keep that long. So we are bringing our Nespresso and some capsules for our first coffee of the day.

 

Casino: We don't gamble on the ship because a non-smoking area is not offered, but actually this is almost certainly a blessing in disguise.

 

Internet: We usually spend over a hundred dollars on this, no choice until we reach platinum level.

 

Laundry: Tried it once. My linen shirt came back with a strange texture. When I have it cleaned at home this never happens. When I wash it myself, this never happens. I don't trust Princess laundry and will not use it again.

 

Photos: They can actually be a bargain when you consider how much it would cost to have a sitting with a photographer. We usually buy one or two.

 

Specialty Dining: Doesn't make sense for us because of DH's food allergy

[bjkTX]

If it's been posted already I'm sorry - but there is an old saying that when you're preparing for the cruise, put out the clothes you plan to take with you, and lay out the money you plan to take. Then put away half the clothes, and take twice as much money :-)

 

On our 7 day cruises we spent on average $750, including tips, a few drinks a day etc. We don't buy any of the photos, coffee or soda cards, and if we didn't drink we could probably cut that in half :-)