Cruising 4 cheap

My husband recently came into a small amount of money and bought a cruise package on Carnival for November for us as a surprise gift. He prepaid gratuities. There are my husband, myself, and our 10 yr old son.

I need to pinch pennies seriously in order to have $$ for the trip. My question is what is the bare minimum I will need to save for the trip. We are not going to do excursions.

Also I can use cash for the Sign and save card but what is the least I have to put on it? I don't have a credit card or a grand in my account for the debit card.

Not trying to be totally cheap but need to be realistic about funds.

Thanks

With the gratuities pre-paid, there is nothing you will have to pay for on the ship. Everything will be optional.

I don't know how long your cruise is. Most cruise lines ask for a $300 pp deposit for a week long cruise and refund any unspent amounts.

Why not call Carnival & ask :confused:

You may have to budget for the following tips that are not included in the pre-paid grats:

This is what we tip so others may feel it is too much or not enough, but just trying to give you an honest idea of what to expect.

Porters at the pier - we give $5 for our 2 heavy bags.

Room Service- $2 for coffee only and $3 if we order food

Are you driving to port? If flying then here are a few more:

Shuttle driver $5 for both of us

Taxi - we would tip based on milage and service

Hotel bellman - $5 again

We have a separate tip envelope that has plenty of ones and fives so we always have the exact amount ready. This especially applies for the room service workers. They are very quick - in & out in a flash. We order morning coffee each day so we lay out the $ on the vanity the evening before, just to be ready.

:)

Also, just and idea, but each year we have a neighborhood yard sale. We all get together and agree on a date and then chip-in for the newspaper ad. We put up signs for direction as well. We get a slew of people that attend. We sell the stuff that we no longer use and make extra spending money too.

When my kids were younger, my son used to sell cans of pop, juice boxes and bottled water from a cooler. You would be surprised how well he did on his little sales adventure.

Good Luck

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You can spend as little or as much as you want. I have seen people leave with spending thousands and some leave spending nothinh

We cruise on a budget. Really, we save like crazy, spend very little, and thoroughly enjoy the experience. When people ask about our excursions, we kindly inform that the cruise IS the excursion! This is our 2nd cruise....2 days until we sail!! We park close to the port so we don't have to tip because we carry our own luggage. Parking in Galveston cost us $45. Lunch is ready when you board. We don't drink, so there is no cost for alcohol. You can bring on can drinks/beer/wine (check the policy) and they serve free tea, lemonade, coffee, hot chocolate. You need to tip $2-$3 for room service, but you don't have to use room service. We didn't use it. As for ports, you can just visit the shops, or don't get off the ship. We didn't eat in the ports. We ate on the ship. Free! We took refillable water bottles with us and filled them before leaving the ship for the ports too. We did do one special activity in Cozumel (Paradise Beach) costing us under $100 for a family of 5. It was well worth it. We will do it again. I got a $15 massage in Progresso. Well worth it! Really, we didn't spend much. We bought some photos but it saved me from doing it for Christmas. Plan on at least $100 but I will take around $200 just in case. Like others said, some spend thousands! Read the reviews for your ports of call and you will find many free/cheap options. It can be done! And have fun making memories!

We save 12-24 month for the 3 of us to cruise, other than gratuities paid at the end (never pre-pay...want to make sure they earned it w/o adjusting it). Our S&S bill has never been over 25 bucks, just nothing needed on board.

All ports we wander, hitting hiking trails, schools, orphanages, museums and local food joints for local fare. An excursion like ziplines, etc... never..why?

So money in Port for local food, local 6 pack beer at grocery, thats it, we dont do souvenirs.

You biggest on board expense might relate to whether or not you drink alcohol. If you do factor in some amount for that.

Keith

To keep spending down, stay away from the specialty restaurants, casino, bingo, photographers.

The meals in the MDR are great and included. Why spend $15 to $75 for a meal when you have already paid for one.

If you have your own camera, ask some one to take your pictures. I often take pictures for friends or strangers as we wander a port and ask them to do the same for us. If your camera is digital, take a bunch and delete the poor ones.

These tips have been wonderful. Thank you so much.

Check Carnivals site for rules on what alcohol you can bring with you. We brought a few cans/bottles of soda to save money. We also bring a reusable mug/cup for drinks. We found the cups on one of the ships to be small. Just be sure to use the provided cup to fill your cup. We didn't do Carnival excursions when we took the whole family. In Nassau we explored on our own and went to Junkanoo beach followed by the pirates museum. If you child goes to the kids club you can choose to tip the counselors or not. They are not part of the tip pool.

Make sure you know how much parking is at the port unless someone is going to drop you off. It can add up quick! Have fun!

I agree with others that your expenses will be highly variable depending on whether you drink alcohol or sodas, shop, dine in specialty restaurants, use the internet, etc. I cruised Carnival a couple of years ago and their extras are very predictable. If you read CC, you will have a good idea what you will pay for. They don't slam you with mystery fees.

I have a suggestion for saving for tips. I set aside my 1s and 5s starting several weeks before any trip. Take them out of your wallet and put them somewhere else every few days. When you're ready to travel, you won't have to worry about the lump sum or making sure you have enough small bills to cover the whole trip.

Most ports can be explored on foot or local bus. Go to your library, get out books on cruises and ports.Recently had Fodors Caribbean cruises and Ports. Most of these come out annually. This one has good port maps too. Authors, like Frommers, Fodors, Lonely Planet, also have web sites.Bring good walking shoes.

Which port are you sailing out of and how are you getting there? Sometimes it is more cost effective to fly down.

If driving remember to include parking fees.

Most will recommend to arrive the night before.

I'm not sure if you still need ideas, but here is what DH and I just spent on a one week Princess cruise over and above the cost plus prepaid tips. I'll be detailed just in case anyone comes across this looking and is also doing Princess/Alaska.

$113 for the unlimited soda and more card - soda, milkshakes, hot chocolate, mocktails. Mocktails would have been $4, milkshakes $2.50, soda $2.50, and I can't remember how much hot chocolate would have been.

$32 shuttle bus to Mendenhall Glacier -- a $2 city bus takes you within 1/2 a mile of the visitor center, but we decided the extra $28 was worth not wasting the time walking there and back. Plus our shuttle drivers were very entertaining for the entire drive and provided a lot of information about the town. So it was like getting a budget city tour. ;)

$20 for tram ride down from Mt. Roberts -- if you hike up and buy something for $10, you get a free ride back down.

$20 extra tips -- steward was really great so we tipped on top of the prepaid plus a tip for when we ordered room service once. But if you prepay tips, you don't have to feel obligated to tip beyond that. Prepaying was very convenient, and I liked not having to carry cash on me and worry about it all the time.

$50 taxi ride to and from our condo to the pier -- definitely check parking prices, ours would have been $25 a day!

We used our $76 onboard credit for some of it, and we went back to the ship for lunch in port.

We did not feel deprived in the slightest. We didn't need the soda card and could have carried on our own cans and hot chocolate packets, but it was a very fun splurge to just be able to flash the card and ask for whatever we wanted! I'd try to save up for the Carnival version of that.

We're also "Frugal Cruisers" and one trick we've learned is to start saving money in a change jar and everytime we get to $25.00 dollars we go online and purchase onboard credits at the Carnival gift site. When it's time for us to get on the ship, the money is already credited to our Sign & Sail card. You can't get any money back, so be sure to keep track of how much you have to spend. Our last cruise we had saved enough to cover 4 drinks a day a piece. Our final bill came to less than $12.00 dollars.

These tips are good for saving money, however I do have a different take on the excursions, especially for new cruisers/travelers or if there are kids. If this is your first time in the port, or perhaps you can’t travel often or might never take another cruise, may I suggest you consider some sort of excursion(s).

Often the ship docks in an industrial or uninteresting part of town with nothing to walk around and see. It seems a shame to travel to a ship, cruise to visit a country and not see anything. If there is shopping around the port often it is the same in each port with little local flair. Heck, there is even a Nathan’s hot dogs at the Jamaica Falmouth port! There is much more to see in Jamaica than a US hot dog stand.

It might be snorkeling, biking, an interesting guided tour or whatever interests you and your family. You don’t have to take ship sponsored excursions. There are many non ship excursions, often less expensive, noted on the CC ports of call boards. Even a guided taxi tour or the "Hop On- Hop Off" bus tour allows you to learn about the areas you are visiting.

We have had an opportunity to travel to many incredible cities throughout the years, either by land or by sea. In many cases we knew we might not return to these places but have many wonderful experiences and memories of tours or activities.

Just my thoughts.

M

I think the best way to save $ is to become informed about the ship and where you are cruising to. Get some library books out. Inform your son he can make no purchases. No sodas. Most ports are walkable or have local buses. Fodors Caribbean Cruise Ports(comes out annually), has port maps. Lonely Planet good for transportation info.I assume you have Inside cabin.

What is your ship and what are the ports you will visit. Lots of us could make little or no-cost suggestions.

What is your ship and what are the ports you will visit. Lots of us could make little or no-cost suggestions.

We are sailing on the splendor out of NYC. Ports include Port Canaveral, Freeport, and Nassau

off site/not port parking is way cheaper, just do some searching. carnival doesnt let beer/alchol on board, just soda. on board water is great. they usually have juice offered only at breakfast, i often will get an extra juice or little carton of milk/choc milk to put in the little frig in the room for later in the evening. DONT accept the sailaway drink...as it is 'not' free..its pricey!! going to the beach is free! have a good time:D

We are sailing on the splendor out of NYC. Ports include Port Canaveral, Freeport, and Nassau

There is a free beach in Nassau about a 10 minute walk from the cruise ships called Junkanoo beach. They rent chair and umbrellas and have a few huts selling food and drinks.

On our last cruise with 3 of us we spent maybe about 400 -500 think. That does not include DSC and we prepared for a few of the specialty rest. On ncl gem. Really it depends on what you want to spend your money on. If you cAnd bring water or soda with you that may help you. We always bring a cooler filled with soda and water with us and just put a luggage tag on it and have it sent to our room.

You may have to budget for the following tips that are not included in the pre-paid grats:

 

This is what we tip so others may feel it is too much or not enough, but just trying to give you an honest idea of what to expect.

 

Taxi - we would tip based on milage and service

 

 

 

 

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what is the tip for the taxi driver based on mileage? how much for a mile? thanks.

If you want to go to Kennedy Space Center, see if you can get free tickets from your Congressman or Senator. It never hurts to ask. You will still need to pay for a taxi to get you to/from KSC.