How much Cash to take?

[mjl1960]

Being a first time cruiser, I was just wondering how much the experienced people have learned to take? I don't want to take too much, but then I don't want to get caught with my pants down if something comes up.

 

Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.

[Nintendowan6]

I asked the same question yesterday (also being a first time cruiser). I have received many responses. Check out the thread "MONEY MONEY MONEY" and there are a lot of answers.

 

Hope that helps!

[allgeeteredup]

This what I have figured out. If you drink.... take out a loan from the bank, you're gonna need it. If not, take out the loan anyway, you can buy me drinks on the ship. But, seriously. We are planning to bring about $500 per port. Will we spend that much? I sure hope not. We are also planning on extra for the supper club which is $30 per person, don't forget the drink of the day, and the casino, and BINGO!!!! If you prepaid your gratuities then take along some extra dollar bills for those who have given exceptional service. Don't forget to over-tip your room steward. Especially if you expect to have ice in your cooler. If I left something out, just add another $100 bucks. And, depending on what ports you go to, plan on spending a lot of dough on restaurants unless you plan to go back to the ship for meals. I know in Cozumel a couple hamburgers and beers can easily run $60. Yep. I said $60. Welcome to the tourism industry. Good Luck!!!! Just make sure your credit card has a nice high spending limit and Don't forget to let your credit card company know you will be out of the country using your card. It would be horrible to have your card frozen due to unexpected purchases out of the country. :( No more Drink-of-the-Day. :(

[Cotton]

Reality check here. I don't take nearly the money some folks do. I'm a solo cruiser, and I prefer five night cruises. I normally take around $300 in cash. I'm not a tightwad, but I'm practical.

• I prepay my tips so that I have a blank balance on my S&S account.
  
• I have a low S&S balance at the end of the cruise.
  
• I've been to most islands several times before, so don't buy a lot of souvenier items - on land or ship.
  
• I do not take excursions - been there, done that.
  
• I have a nice lunch if on Cozumel - at Pancho's Backyard, at a cost of approx. $22. That would be the entree`, a margarita, and tip.
  
• The rest of the cash is used for random tips on the ship, maybe a cab ride on the island, and casino.
  
• I don't do the supper club, because I enjoy the dining room just fine.

 

I usually come home w/a few dollars....and also have not loaded down my Visa card. It CAN be done. I don't do w/o anything I want, have a wonderful vacation, am rested, and ready to go home.:)

[Frank12]

7 day cruise - depending on shore excursions - $1200-$1500 for the wife and I. Usually bring some home, depending on how things go in the casino.:)

[AZ Karaoke Girl]

Wow. If you are anything like me, I don't have an extra $1500 in cash to take with me. There is no correct answer without knowing how many days, what you plan to do in activities, are you a gambler, do you drink, how many days cruising etc? Too many variables.

 

What I did for my 7 day Mexican Riviera cruise is take $300 cash in various bills - lots of ones. I'm not a gambler and I didn't do much shopping off the ship. Most things went on my sign & sail account that I paid with my credit card then wrote a check to them after the cruise was over so no cash was needed. The only thing I used cash for was tips for baggage handlers, room steward, & dining staff, some minor shopping in port (less than $60 total), nachos & beer in port, parking fees. My sign & sail account had drinks, souveniers, photo's and 1 excursion for both of us so that got paid at the end of the cruise. I prepaid gratuities so that wasn't even on my bill.

[Bradtez]

As we travel from Australia for our cruises we have to be a little careful with our cash. We dont do a tour at every port, unless its something really cool! We budget $100-$150 a day and that hasnt let us down so far.

[Robert6260]

Do you plant to gamble in the Casino? I usually bring about $2000.00 for gambling and another S1000.00 for other expenses.

[Cruzfan34]

We usually bring about $1000...sometimes a little more. We only spent $600 last cruise. :)

[Texas_Diver]

This what I have figured out. If you drink.... take out a loan from the bank, you're gonna need it. If not, take out the loan anyway, you can buy me drinks on the ship. But, seriously. We are planning to bring about $500 per port. Will we spend that much? I sure hope not. We are also planning on extra for the supper club which is $30 per person, don't forget the drink of the day, and the casino, and BINGO!!!! If you prepaid your gratuities then take along some extra dollar bills for those who have given exceptional service. Don't forget to over-tip your room steward. Especially if you expect to have ice in your cooler. If I left something out, just add another $100 bucks. And, depending on what ports you go to, plan on spending a lot of dough on restaurants unless you plan to go back to the ship for meals. I know in Cozumel a couple hamburgers and beers can easily run $60. Yep. I said $60. Welcome to the tourism industry. Good Luck!!!! Just make sure your credit card has a nice high spending limit and Don't forget to let your credit card company know you will be out of the country using your card. It would be horrible to have your card frozen due to unexpected purchases out of the country. :( No more Drink-of-the-Day. :(

 

Are you serious? You must be eating at Carlos and Charlies, Hard Rock, Las Palmeros or some other tourist trap. We have found that with a little research you can find incredible "cheap" (and safe) eats at Cozumel.

 

Annette

[cowetamom]

Are you serious? You must be eating at Carlos and Charlies, Hard Rock, Las Palmeros or some other tourist trap. We have found that with a little research you can find incredible "cheap" (and safe) eats at Cozumel.

 

Annette

 

 

Hey Annette

 

She hasn't offically gone on her cruise yet! I agree with you, you can find other places to eat that won't cost you sixty dollars!

[Cotton]

Sure you can. What I mentioned earlier...at $22...I could have had something else on the menu and come out w/around $14, including the margarita and tip. I just happen to like Chilies Rellenos, and they were a bit more.:D

[simplelife]

Each person is different - Maybe we're just tightwads, but DH and I don't come anywhere near the amount most posters mention. Anything that can be put on the card, is. We prepay all tips, preorder excrsions, etc. We generally do not do anything on ship that requires cash - we don't use room service or gamble in the casino. We spend very little in port - perhaps a drink or two (We eat our meals on the ship) and inexpensive souvenirs (T-shirts, magnets, etc) I think the most cash we have ever spent (7 day cruise) is about $250 and that was when we did a bit more shopping than usual. I usually take $300 for good measure, but never spend it all.

[allgeeteredup]

Are you serious? You must be eating at Carlos and Charlies, Hard Rock, Las Palmeros or some other tourist trap. We have found that with a little research you can find incredible "cheap" (and safe) eats at Cozumel.

 

Annette

 

Please. Let me in on your secret. I am going to Cozumel in September and don't want to spend that much but I have heard that is normal. I did find a thread where someone found a place that had $1 corona. I plan to visit that place. Maybe the food isn't too expensive either.

[allgeeteredup]

Hey Annette

 

She hasn't offically gone on her cruise yet! I agree with you, you can find other places to eat that won't cost you sixty dollars!

 

Thanks for getting my back, Cowetamom!!! I was just stating what I had read on several reviews. My experience in port is NADA!!!!! I have scoured the reviews looking for information on exactly just this topic. I don't want to break the bank but I also want to have a blast!!!! My advise, take what advise you get, put it in your pocket and look at your past spending ways. This should be a good indicator on how you will spend on a cruise. Just remember, there will always be ways to spend money if you don't care. Personally, we are planning to spend some money. It is our first cruise and we want to enjoy doing whatever we feel like. My spending habits should in no way affect anyone else. Take my recommendations for spending as MY habits. Everyone is different as shown by all the postings. Advise is as diverse as flavors of ice cream. Everyone has a preference and if you're lactose intolerant, gives you a bit of the..... well, we won't go there! :eek:

[ilovefishsticks4]

with sail-n-sign cards u dont really need cash.

[Nymaria]

I think this question depends on the individual - depends on what you are interested in doing on ports (shopping, sipping margaritas on the beach, etc.). I had asked this question before we sailed, and read many MANY different answers.

 

This is what I did: I prepaid as much as I possibly could - excursions, tips and all of that. I had 3 things that I had to pay once I was on vacation, because I couldn't pre-pay them (2 rental cars and the independent cave tubing excursion). I knew that I would be interested in some shopping for a few neat souvenirs (first big vacation, and first time out of the country). I knew that I would want to buy formal pics on the ship, and dolphin pics at that facility. I knew that I would have a few drinks, but not many. I knew that I'm not a big gambler and I knew that I would want to have dinner at the supper club.

 

That being said:

I set aside $80 for the 2 rental cars (sailed out of Port Canaveral, so round trip cars).

I set aside $120 for the cave tubing (excursion + tip for 2).

I set aside $60 for the Supper Club.

I set aside $150 for pics.

 

I brought $500 cash and set aside an extra $500 in my bank for the sail and sign. I used $200 on my sail and sign (5 pics, supper club and a few DoD). I brought home $150 of the cash.

 

Not too shabby, and we brought home lots of goodies and had a great time.

 

Just map out what you know you want to do, and plan from there.

Brandi - my 2 cents :D

[Guest carlogesualdo]

Here's my 2-cents: we prepay as much as possible - shore excursions, tips, whatever. That's all paid up in advance. So all that's left is tipping room service, a few souvenirs here and there, whatever. We're not tightwads, but we may be a bit different from your average cruiser, maybe? We don't drink, so we saved big just by not having to buy alcohol. Our first charge on board was for the Coke package, though. We would have prepaid for that if we could have. (They were waiting for us just outside the buffet just after boarding.) I think that was just under $100 for the two of us. We bought a few souvenirs on board - probably no more than $50 total. Some coffee mugs for the parents and toys for the nieces and nephews and a Christmas ornament. I bought a straw purse in the shops on the last day thinking I was getting a great deal. It fell apart after a couple of months. I'm sure the woman next to me buying the Oklahoma State-colored purse had the same problem. (Little did I know I'd be living in that state less than 6 months later...) We avoided buying any of the jewelry or clothing on board. It all looked more expensive than it was worth to me.

 

We splurged on Ben and Jerry's once and then had no desire to do so again. Neither one of us ever felt the urge to hit the casino, so we didn't spend any money there either. We didn't even go to bingo, even when we won a free game. We stuck to the free entertainment like the trivia games and the silly stuff. Aside from the Coke package, the single most expensive thing we paid for on board was my manicure - $45 plus tip. And it was well worth every penny. I think our final expenditure was a congratulatory cake in the dining room on the last night for my college graduation. (And let me tell you, even on a stormy day at sea, it was still a better place to be than stuck in a stuffy gym for 3 hours listening to some guy drone on and on with the names of 800 of your closest "friends" that you never even met. Heck, I barely even set foot on that campus since I was doing my classes online from 500 miles away. Graduation at sea was way better! but I digress...)

 

I think we probably settled up at about $200-250 at the end. We did do a lot of our Christmas shopping in Cozumel so we probably spent another $300-400 there. We also had lunch in Cozumel, but we spent very little there because someone gave us a coupon for a free appetizer at Pancho's Back Yard. (They told us it was safe to drink the water. It was. I had Immodium just in case it wasn't.) Had it not been around Christmas, we would have been in great shape. We spent about $5 in Key West, I think and maybe about $20 in Grand Cayman. We're not really souvenir people. Now that we have the digital camera, I tend to take a lot of pictures and blog about it. That's a lot better way to remember a vacation, I think.

 

How much money you want to bring depends on how you like to spend your vacations. I gave you some concrete examples of how we spent on our trip because I hate the vague answers I always got when I asked questions before my first cruise. This may not begin to resemble what you would do but it may at least give you an idea of the possibilities. It may get you out the realm of theory and into reality. I hope it was helpful.

[allgeeteredup]

I believe our biggest expense is going to be souvenirs. We are planning on doing our Christmas shopping at the ports. We are planning on getting everyone a t-shirt from the different ports and we want to get a couple or few hammocks in Cozumel. We want to do the souvenirs for Christmas because they are unique. I mean, really, how many pairs of socks can one person get year after year? But a pair of socks from Cozumel, well, that's different! :D

[Al's_gal]

This was our budget:

 

$300 – Sail and Sign Card (including tips - we didn't prepay)

$280 – Excursions / Tips for excursions

$220 – Spending money (including transportation and extra tips)

 

We came home with $40 left over from our spending money. So I think we did pretty good! That S & S card balance sneaks up on you! With our other $500, we had it in cash and I put set amounts for each day in an envelope, and we only took that envelope with us. We did have a credit card with us just in case of emergency, but stuck to the cash. That way it wasn't tempting to over spend.

 

GL and hope this helps!

[Rouge Wave]

Being a first time cruiser, I was just wondering how much the experienced people have learned to take? I don't want to take too much, but then I don't want to get caught with my pants down if something comes up.

 

Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.

 

I prefer to have my pants down when something comes up…… but hey to each their own.

If you avoid the dumb tourist traps, great food can be had in Mexico and most other ports in the Caribbean for dirt cheap. If you are paying more then a buck or so for a fish taco, a buck or so for a shot of tequila, 3 bucks for a good margarita, you are paying way too much and are getting ripped off. (Ok a fancy place will be more.. but still less then the typical tourist trap) Even a block away from the tourist areas will find great food and dramatically lower prices.

Don’t be afraid to go where the locals eat and drink.

Regarding $$$$. It all depends on what you want to do. Figure you are going to (or should) tip anyone in port that does any service for you, a buck or so or more in some situations.. Above that, figure out a budget you can afford and stick to it. I budget a $100 a day for pocket money. Such does not include casino money. I take a cc and a mix of small bills into port.(you can't have to many singles) The Purser desk will break bills as will the casher at the Casino when it is open. (The Casino is always closed at port however)

I try to pay for all excursions in advance whenever possible. If a port or country is known for a item, and I know I will be buying such, that cash is extra and separate from my pocket cash.

The best ways to keep expenses down once on the cruise, avoid the Casino, don’t be a drunk (take some of your own) do not buy anything of value on the ship. Avoid buying junk and trinkets at the ports. Buy a few “nice” items that you can treasure (but stay with-in your budget) vs junk that will end up in the garbage or swap-meet/yard sale.

A couple of other things, the local grocery store are the best place to buy vanilla and coffee and booze. However, if there is a Wal-Mart / Sam’s or Costco, go there to buy the booze. For example a 1000 ml (1 liter) bottle of Kailua at Wal-Mart in Mexico is about 8 bucks. Wal-Mart has good brands of tequila for cheap, Costco has premium brands for a great price.

Remember you are not required to spend a tonne of money while on a cruise. Go on a cruise to check out the ports and learn what you really want to do next time. Walk around the port, see stuff... take time to really look around, smell the flowers so to speak. If you are going to get a massage get it in port, never on the ship.

For me the best part of a cruise are the sea days, just relaxing, watching the water and “feeling” the ship… and that does not cost a dime more then the fixed expenses of being on the ship. I say that and I love doing the ports and excursions.

[Cotton]

with sail-n-sign cards u dont really need cash.

 

In ports, if you plan to purchase anything or eat or drink anything or take a taxi.....S&S cards do you no good.:D

 

And yes, even on the ship, at times folks want to tip a little extra to some of the crewmembers and staff. Also in the casino. Cash again. The room service food/beverages are complimentary, BUT you should always tip $1-2 each time for delivery.

[Texas_Diver]

Please. Let me in on your secret. I am going to Cozumel in September and don't want to spend that much but I have heard that is normal. I did find a thread where someone found a place that had $1 corona. I plan to visit that place. Maybe the food isn't too expensive either.

 

You will find many places that have $1 or $1.50 beer. Just walk past the first ones that are closest to the main street and then the price falls dramatically. Have a great time..............and a $60 burger if you so choose... :D

 

Annette

[Texas_Diver]

Hey Annette

 

She hasn't offically gone on her cruise yet! I agree with you, you can find other places to eat that won't cost you sixty dollars!

 

Hey Sarah,

I guess I was shocked by the "I know a burger can easily cost...." that I didn't even take time to read the signature line. :)

 

We just returned from a 7 day vacation there. We had a fabulous time and found many excellent food and drink deals.

 

Happy travels,

Annette

[Senoj84]

Since it's only me-last year I took $300 and still had some to take home. This year I want to take $500.