Buying The Ice Cream

[kakalina]

DH and I have been lucky enough to take two looong cruises. We fell in love with them. As you all know long cruise are very pricey. It can be difficult to save up for them.

This morning we were watching a local news program with a story about teaching children the value of money. The expert mentioned that kids needed to learn that if they purchase that ice cream they can't buy the more expensive item they might want.

I asked DH why we had so much trouble saving up for a long cruise and he said " We keep buying the ice cream!!

He's right. Everytime we have enough saved up for, say, a 16 day Hawaiian, we book it!!! At this rate we'll take a really looong time to save up for a really looong cruise.

Are we addicted or what?? Anyone else???

Trisha

[K&RCurt]

I WISH the issue preventing us from taking more that a 7 night cruise were the "Ice Cream". We have 4 things stopping us:

1) DD#1's tuition.
2) DD#2's Tuition
3) Gina's accured vacation time. (Which is fairly minor as they allow her to take time off w/o pay if she wants)
4) My employer's MAX. of 3 weeks vacation.

SO, even in 3 years when we are done with tuition for a while, we still won't be able to go for a long cruise if we want time off during the holidays and if we want to get to either the beach in the summer or the ski slopes in the winter.

I think I'll go play that $200,000,000.00 Powerball game on Wednesday!

[RevNeal]

<sigh> Tell me about it!

LONG cruises are expensive not only in terms of the cruise cost, it's also pricey in terms of the the on-board expenses. Not everyone can be like Ruth ... cruise for 34 days and disembark with only a $500 in onboard expenses. :) Gracious, that's only $14.70 per day, and $10 of THAT is the auto gratuity!!!! How she does it, I don't know ... she must hit up all her suitors for free drinks, or something. :D

I'm looking at 14 days on the Statendam next April. I would love to also do the Transpacific crossing from Osaka to Vancouver, which is an additional 18 days. I can't make any decisions right this instant about booking the Transpacific crossing until I have some more information regarding some other matters, however no matter what the case may be IF I do it my onboard expenses for the 32 days is going to be powerfully expensive. If one figures just the $70 per person/per day pre-authorization amount as an average of what one might spend on a cruise of that duration, the total bill will come to $2800 for ONE. Now, granted, it will be broken into segments of $980 and $1260 ... but still, that's mighty pricey! I will definitely have to book all shore excursions ahead of time so that they don't show up on my onboard account. Assuming I do the additional 18 day Transpacific ... which I'm leaning toward, depending upon other issues.

I love long cruises too. I can usually manage 3 weeks without trouble, and 21 days is a nice length for a sea voyage with a bunch of ports. It was perfect for the Panama Canal cruise in 2004. 4 weeks in a row I can manage without having to negotiate anything with my Church. But 5 weeks ... well ... that takes some doing and the timing has to be PRECISELY right. Thankfully, in 2007 Easter falls on April 8, meaning that I can be gone from April 19 - May 20 without missing anything overly important except for Ascension Day (Thursday May 17). In almost no other year would I be able to schedule a full month after Easter and not be running over something important. I have two retired clergy in my congregation who can celebrate the Eucharist, and my associate, who is a Deacon, can preach quite well. In other words, it is DO-able. It's even MORE do-able if, as it turns out, I might be moving to a new Church in mid-June of that year ... usually, there is no better time to take vacation than in the couple of months just prior to a move to a new Church appointment.

My biggest problem with long cruises is coordinating the time with the church and then affording the double-whammy of the high cost of the cruise itself and the cost of onboard expenses. I can usually keep those expenses below the average of $70 per day (particularly if I don't book shore too many excursions aboard ship), but even if I average $50 a day it STILL adds up!

[RuthC]

LONG cruises are expensive not only in terms of the cruise cost, it's also pricey in terms of the the on-board expenses. Not everyone can be like Ruth ... cruise for 34 days and disembark with only a $500 in onboard expenses. :) Gracious, that's only $14.70 per day, and $10 of THAT is the auto gratuity!!!! How she does it, I don't know ... she must hit up all her suitors for free drinks, or something. :D
Not all of them, Greg. ;)

To be completely honest with you I think that I forgot to calculate in an on-board credit when I gave that $500 expense figure. The $500 was correct as a bottom line, but I would have had a credit for booking that cruise while on the previous one. IIRC, the credit was $300. It was not higher than that; one year was $150, the next was $300. Last year was diddly squat.

Does that make it easier?

[kakalina]

Ruth! How ya' doin'? We calculate that for the two of us our average end of cruise bill is between $750 & $900 total. So for each of us that works out to about $350 to $ 450.:eek:

I think it's the liquor that ups other peoples bills. ;)

Trisha

[dot73]

I am currently booked on the 30-day Ryndam Hawaii/Tahiti cruise for January 2007. It means I will be going two years without a cruise or any kind of travel. I am really feeling the cruise withdrawal symptoms right now, especially since my parents are on a two-week cruise right now and they keep calling me to tell me how great the weather is in the Caribbean. I was planning on taking this cruise when I retired (hopefully in 10 years) but decided that it was foolish to wait. I have seen too many of my parents' friends wait until retirement to travel only to either become ill or die prematurely. So, it is Starbucks Latte only once a week, restaurant lunch only once a week, home-made manicures and pedicures, and other luxuries being cut. I am however going to enjoy that cruise!!! Hopefully, the icecream on the Ryndam will still be free.

[obriendan]

Whew!! I had to look at this thread immediately because I feared for a moment that HAL was about to charge for ice cream. What a relief.
I guess we must be more conservative (cheap?:D ) than Rev and closer to Ruth with our expenses. $70 per person/per day seems rather high. For the August 18 day Maasdam cruise our total was $774 which works out to $21.50 pp/pd! That includes the mandatory $10 pd tip, several T-shirts, etc., but only two shore excursions. But, as you know, Ruth, it does include many a happy hour in the Piano Bar!

[RuthC]

Yes, Dan, many a happy hour.
That total expense doesn't include a large gift of Belgian chocolate, does it? :D I still dream about that.

[obriendan]

No, that was part of the land tour!:D

[lizf]

Thanks Trisha for this thread. I really needed it tonight.

We all like to cruise and the longer cruises are really special and require much planning. We don't always say things about it, but we all have the same worries and problems with paying for them. Thanks for sharing right now.

[kryos]

What an interesting thread! Got me thinknig ... which is not always a good thing. :)

I guess we are all major addicted here ... and that's why it is so hard to wait real long in between cruises. So, of course, we end up booking the shorter ones and therefore never have enough money for longer cruises. I know that with the Amsterdam cruise, I probably began planning for that a good year ahead of time ... getting permissions to take off at work, budgeting money, researching ports, etc. I rarely need to expend a tenth of that effort for a shorter cruise.

Longer cruises, too, involve a lot of pre-planning ... at least for those of us still working. I know that with the Amsterdam cruise, I probably began planning for that a good year ahead of time ... getting permissions to take off at work, budgeting money, researching ports, etc. I rarely need to expend a tenth of that effort for a shorter cruise. The relative ease of scheduling the shorter cruises, I think, pushes us into booking them just as soon as the time and money become available.

I've only taken the one long cruise ... with you ... on the Amsterdam. But, like you, I've fallen in love with them and only wish I had the time and money for more. Sadly, work and family responsibilities will probably preclude my taking another long cruise anytime in the foreseeable future, so like you I will just continue buying the ice cream now. :)

Blue skies ...

--rita