How much do you spend on board?

[stevebeme]

We are planning on going to the mexican riviera Jan 2009 (yeah I like to start early) and from what I see on the brochure the ship will be the Sapphire.

 

This is time to set my goals for the next year and one of them is to fund this trip. If I don't have anything to work for I won't go to work and my Wife won't let me stay home.

 

I was wondering how much do you usually spend on board? I know this varies from person to person but hopefully I can get some kind of idea what is available and at what cost?

 

Thanks

[lois1112]

I allow a couple of hundred( or a little more) for the casino (Loved to gamble) about $20 a day for drinks....and excursions

[mii]

Also allow for tipping at the end of the cruise. If you have a balcony or lower it is $10.50pp per day. If you have a mini or a suite it is $11.00pp perday. Once you select your excursions then you well have a better idea on that cost.

 

Also allow for drinks(wine, sodas, alcohlic) if you purchase anything on board such as photos, souveniers, etc.

 

Marilyn

[beth4652]

I usually start with about $100/day per person. I figure that should cover everything except excursions. We almost always do our excursions with private companies or individuals, so that ends up being less expensive than through the ship.

[LizC]

$3800 in one week( Just on board not the cruise)

 

Spa, Casino, chef table, a little Jewelry,excursions (For 4) ...drinks, wine at dinner, Sanctuary, Crown Grill,Photos,Internetand cheese plate,pizza delivered ....it all adds up.:D

[cruisinbuddy]

This is what I've done for all of my cruises. I take about $200.00 in cash and $1000.00 in tcs and make sure there's lots of room on the cc for the Seapass. Now, when nearing the end of the cruise, I apply most of the leftover tcs to my account. Last cruise I put $800.00 on my bill and it was still over 2 grand, for a seven day cruise. No, not all booze.

[ghgeckos]

Wow, we only spent $1200 for a family of 4 on a 7 night cruise to Mexico. That inclulded one ship arranged excursion.

[mjmalino]

We spent about $1900 for a family of 4 in Alaska in June (7-nights). This included 2 ship sponsored excursions, one of which was a helicopter/glacier trek.

[Sox Fan Cruiser]

I really does vary by a lot from person to person. You will see some people on here that spend a couple of hundred dollars on a 7 day and then other people that spend a heck of a lot more. I am one of the later. :D

 

Our bill (2 people) is definitely over $2,000 on a 7 day cruise. We always do excursions through the ship, a bottle of wine with dinner every night, many (many) martinis, both specialty restaurants and UBD, and a wine tasting or two.

 

But others will bring on their own soda/water/alcohol, only eat in the dinning room or buffet, and stay on the ship at port.

 

But most people probably fall in between. It's up to you how much you spend (except for the auto tip).

[EviesCruisin]

I think our bill for a 7-day on the Crown Princess for 2 was around $2,000. This included Princess-arranged excursions in St. Lucia, Antigua, Barbados and St. Thomas. We also did the Ultimate Balcony Dining for dinner, Soda Cards, Wine Tasting, a bottle or two of wine, beer/cocktails, but otherwise minimal shopping on the ship. Maybe $100 in the shops total. Oh, and I sprained my ankle badly and needed x-rays and prescription meds, so $400 of this was a trip to the medical center! (Yay, travel insurance - at least I got reimbursed for that part).

[Pia1913]

No excursions, don't drink, take my own diet pepsi aboard, brew fresh coffee in my cabin, no souvenirs. Been there;done that. Usually have a hard time spending down on board credit. Cruising is for doing nothing, which includes lots of reading.

 

Sorry.....I am definitely not typical. :D

 

Pia

[bplazo]

I spent under a $100.00 on our seven day cruise last year. I pre-paid all excursions before we cruised and I also had some ship board credit to take care of the tipping. I do not drink or buy any extras and did not purchase any pictures last trip because I have so many already.

[cruiserjanet]

We found that the more we cruise the less we spend. On our first cruise, we spent more because we were getting lots of souvenirs and first-time cruise memories. On our second cruise, we spent more on pictures. On our last cruise, we spent much less on pictures and other stuff and came in well under budget. (Yep, DH has a budget for us which we never go over.) Since I rarely have a drink (DH doesn't drink), we don't go to the casino and we didn't do an excursion every day, that saved money too.

[JLC@SD]

$3800 in one week( Just on board not the cruise)

 

Spa, Casino, chef table, a little Jewelry,excursions (For 4) ...drinks, wine at dinner, Sanctuary, Crown Grill,Photos,Internetand cheese plate,pizza delivered ....it all adds up.:D

 

......wow......you guys didn't miss anything......:D

 

......but for 3800.......you could have done another week cruise.......;)

[CruisinKiki]

As you can see, it varies widely person to person. My DH and I spent about $500 on our recent 7-day Alaska cruise including our daily tipping and two excursions which were $100 each. The only thing for sure is the daily tipping the rest is up to you. My plan is always to plan to spend more so I don't feel like I can't do something I want to do because of the cost. Then, if I spend less, it's a pleasant surprise. Seems like the most expensive items are spa treatments, onboard shopping and ship led excursions. We always use cash for the casino. Booze can add up quickly too!

[DeepWaterMariner]

We've done a lot of cruises so we spend very little beyond tips. When we tour in port it is almost always on our own, not through the ships excursions. We don't gamble so no casino charges, don't buy photos, maybe have one drink a day or buy a bottle of wine on rare occasions, don't use the spa, and rarely buy more than a t-shirt in the shops on the ship. Generally we have onboard credit that covers the tips so it really doesn't add up to much. We recently completed a 16 day cruise and our total shipboard account was about $300. We spent money ashore for our touring which I recommend for several reasons besides economy.

[3GR8Sons]

We spent around $600 for a 7 day Caribbean for 5 people (3 kids). Soda cards, ice cream for the kids. Coffee card, bar tabs for us. Some stuff at the ship's store. Minimum tips (although we tipped some folks extra in cash) are part of the $600.

 

We book most excursions on our own (why pay Princess $30 pp for a cab ride to the beach?) and the cost of those is not included in the $600.

[kirbyrox]

on my last 2 trips to the Mexican Riviera i spent about 400-600 on my room card

 

Drinks, Photos, Soda, Walkie Talkie rental, Tipping the room service, pulled 40.00 for the Casino, Sterlings, Ice cream,

[Cruisin' Chick]

I agree that it really depends on you. I seem to remember that our bill for the three of us for our 15-day cruise was under $1000 including the auto-tips. But then we had a $300 obc sothat helped.

 

Generally we don't usually do excursions, but when we do, we go for the ship excursions (seems to be better quality, the security that if something goes wrong with a bus...the ship will wait). Before each cruise, I try to research the ports (google each one to find the official website...many of them will send you a brochure with great info)

 

With the time you have, you can google, read up in Frommers and other guide books, read in the MR destination board on CC. If you're into active activities such as ziplining, then you figure in costs for those. If you're into shopping and sightseeing, figure in costs for those (plus taxi fare into PV and Mazat.; when we were in Cabo, we walked from the pier). You can also look on princess.com and see what excursions they offer and the approximate cost.

 

One reality is tipping. So figure about $11/day/person for 2009. If you get great service, you may want to hand out extra.

 

If you're into drinking, then you need to figure that in. If you're into soda, you can get a sticker for unlimited fountain drinks (coke products) on the first day that will cost about $4 or 5 per day plus 15 per cent gratuity. some of us will bring on Pepsi or bottled water.

 

Gambling, art auctions, bingo, photos will depend on you. The photos can be pricey but you don't have to purchase them at all (even if you pose for a photo). There's also an ice cream bar during the day, but you can get free ice cream in the dining room at lunch and dinner, and in the Horizon Court in the afternoon around 3:30-4:30. You don't have to dine in the specialty restaurants which have a cover charge. We don't, but many love these.

[Princess Chatterer]

I was wondering how much do you usually spend on board?

 

Here is a link to some articles I've collected about on board spending.

 

http://princesschatter.com/forum/index.php?topic=346.0

[Georji]

I think it totally depends ... on our first one we spent way more than we needed to! I don't remember how much we spent exactly, but I know it was quite a bit! We're not huge drinkers, but we had maybe 1-2 a day each and then we went to the casino a few times (probably less than 100 total in the Casino), and then our big ting we did was we bought two pieces of art. This time we'll not spend nearly as much ... I'd guess about 500, but we're not really going to be doing any excursions ... so HOPEFULLY less. It truly depends on your mindest and your spending habits.

[miss prairie girl]

No excursions, don't drink, take my own diet pepsi aboard, brew fresh coffee in my cabin, no souvenirs. Been there;done that. Usually have a hard time spending down on board credit. Cruising is for doing nothing, which includes lots of reading.

 

Sorry.....I am definitely not typical. :D

 

Pia

 

 

Hi, just wondering...."brewed fresh coffee in my cabin"? Are there coffee makers in the rooms? Did you take your own coffee? I was wondering about coffee :confused: ...someone had mentioned a coffee syrup that isn't too good...but are there good places to get coffee on board?

[ilovetocruisetoo]

Last 7 day cruise, which was port intensive (5 ports) we spent about $2600 besides the cost of the cruise:

 

5 excursions x 2 people: $1000

Auto tip $150

Drinks: $350 (this was about 3 drinks a day per person)

Bingo and gambling: $500

Souv's and shopping: $200

Steakhouse: $50

Dinner, taxi, drinks, hotel before cruise (1 night): $250

Various tips: $100

Taxi back to airport: $25

[Pia1913]

 

Hi, just wondering...."brewed fresh coffee in my cabin"? Are there coffee makers in the rooms? Did you take your own coffee? I was wondering about coffee :confused: ...someone had mentioned a coffee syrup that isn't too good...but are there good places to get coffee on board?

 

I travel with my own one cup coffeemaker and coffee, so as to have instant gratification first thing in the morning. Also, my DH likes a fresh cup just before bedtime. As far as I'm concerned, the only decent coffee is mine and when I do drink the sludge I mix it with hot water. Even in the diningroom, which I don't think is much better than at the buffet. My opinion of course.

 

Pia

[simkoreb]

Our first cruise was our honeymoon, and we were at 1000 including tips. We wanted to go all out and have fun!

 

Now we're just squeezing by to make this next cruise (I had to beg!), so we agreed to really penny pintch. I expect we'll spend less than 100 pp for the whole cruise, plus tips. We're not doing any ship excursions, and DH doesn't drink, and we don't gamble. We plan to just enjoy the shows and sun all day.

 

I agree with an above posted because the more we have cruised, the less we spend. Typically our account is for around 3-400 with tip included, so we're not big sppenders anyways, and never take ship excursions.