Stowaway LFC

That is excellent advice! I hadn't even thought of that! Thank you so much!

This is just my humble experience so far, I booked this trip in March for September 2024 cruise. I took the easy save option bc I don’t have that much that I am comfortable forking up at once and I don’t carry balances on my CC’s. I also selected prepaid gratitude and travel insurance. Because you never know….. I might fall out of the plane or something. Originally, I applied for the carnival CC for the statement credit, but it gave me a contact in 7-10 days message (honestly thought I had been vetoed) then I got a later email I had been approved. So, I don’t think I can use that credit for this cruise, but I may be wrong. Guess I will have to look at that more. First thing I did was research and make a budget for all the expenses I would have with this trip, flights, hotel, Ubers, food prior to the cruise, excursions, on board money, port money etc etc… Then I started looking into how to fund this budget and make my money work for me. First, I considered that if you get paid every two weeks there are 2 months each year you have 3 pay periods a month. Besides gas, groceries, and daily expenses I will take the amount that is left and put half in my cruise fund and half in savings. I have done one extra check this way already and I believe I will have three more prior to the cruise. Normally I save back every month for Christmas and Vacation fund along with other things so I’ll have that Vacation fund amount I can add in every month too. It’s not a huge amount, usually 100 per month, but it adds up over several months. I am a huge fan of rewards CC’s. If you don’t carry a balance, it’s essentially free money. But that’s the key, DO NOT CARRY A BALANCE, the interest rates suck! And be sure the rewards don’t have an expiration date. Learned that the hard way lol. I have a 2% cash back on everything I use the most, I grocery shop at Walmart so the Capital 1 Walmart card gives 5% back on all Walmart purchases for the first year. Then for Gas and Amazon purchases I use the Amazon prime CC which gives 5% back. I was researching reward cards and came across the Discover Miles card. I have a regular Discover card, but I rarely use it bc I can never remember to activate those freaking categories lol. But I keep it bc it’s one of my oldest cards. Now the Discover miles card is only 1.5% back but the great thing is at the end of the first year Discover will match your rewards. So essentially you are getting 3% back on all purchases in that first year. So that puppy is now my cruise payment card and is gonna get used for everything that isn’t 5% back with another card. Tuesday half off burger night, utilities, hula lessons (LOL) anything and everything else I spend on. I am hopeful that by the time I get ready to cruise I will have enough to mostly cover the round trip flights and if anything is extra it will go towards paying my cruise off early. I realize there are better cards out there but I am not a fan of annual fees. For Sail & Sign money, Cheers and excursions I plan to use AARP Carnival cards bc it’s just a no brainer. For misc port money I would rather just carry a bit of cash with me that I will keep locked up in the safe. I read a tip to cash in whatever funds you have left on the last night of the trip. I’ll do that and put that towards my next cruise. I plan to eat on the ship as much as possible bc it’s free unless theres something I just really wanna try in a port. I don’t proclaim to be any kind of financial guru bc Lord knows I am not. Just a regular barely middle class person who tries to save money wherever she can. I welcome any advice or recommendations anyone has bc I am always learning! And if this helps someone else then that was my intention. Knowledge is power!

Good to know. Thank you!

In my planning process for the Alaska trip next year I have done alot of research on the best way to make the money I will spend work for me. Including a new rewards card I found. And also to find out tips and advice that others use. Are we allowed to discuss stuff like that here? No personal info of course, just some possible recommendations for planning a big cruise on a working woman's budget lol. Figured there were others out there like me... Don't wanna get in trouble so I wanted to ask first! Thank you!

Excellent! Thats less than I thought. Will prob stick with London. Iceland and UK looks fun! Might plan that one on down the road. Thank you! You are awesome :)

Goals! Big big goals! Maybe in a couple of years. Ireland and Scotland ports maybe. But that requires going to London and boarding there. Is it horribly expensive flying to and from London? Saw some American ports listed too for other trips. Do you recommend any of those? A girl can dream you know!

September 6th 2024 from San Fransisco! OMG I didnt know the mosquitos are on steroids there, they must have migrated from Texas then! Thanks for that advice, adding bug spray to the list! Nasty critters!!

How cool is that!!! Yay!!!!

Time to dig out those old albums and see how old I am now lol!

You are prob before mine! I hope you have a fantastic time! Leave a review so I can follow you! I am a stalker with no shame! Bring it!

Thank you! That gives me a timeline to watch for!

OMG! I saw this one on a review! I so want to do that! How far out can you book an excursion? I want to be 1st in line for that one!

Wowza!!! I did not know that! The 90's cruise was a 7 day one too! Thank you! You are my happy place today! I recently found the original Celebration has been scrapped. Sad news. Nostalgia hurts sometimes....But carry on! New adventures to be had and new memories to make!

Awesome advice! Thank you! Going to try to par down to 1 suitcase and a backpack and do laundry mid cruise. LOL! Talk about gaudy! When I started investigating the Miracle I thought whoever designed it was on a bad LSD trip or something. It's like some Alice in Wonderland took LSD or something. But its the destinations that matter. Sooooo looking forward to this trip!

Well unless a magic cruise fairy pops up and sprinkles magic I'm keeping my interior cabin. Wow, the price jump is insane! Think I'll take Stacey's advice and just go to the top for views. More money left for fun stuff.

Thank you! I will look into that!

You must be my sister from another Mister! Thank you! I'll do that!

Hey y'all! This is the MOST excellent site I have found for cruise information! I have loved reading all the reviews and seeing all the pictures. I will shamelessly admit I have been stalking this forum for weeks after pulling the trigger on an Alaskan cruise in 2024. (Far out I know but hey my paycheck only goes so far gotta plan these things) I have cruised Carnival in the past, took a Mexico cruise on the Celebration back in the 90's and a short Bahamas one back in 2009 on the Sensation. Would have loved to gone on more but was raising kiddos and that ain't cheap! So now I feel like a newbie cruiser again! And a little miffed I can't claim the 90's cruise for points, gggrrrrr....... but it's ok, I can pay my dues and be one of the last to board the ship, you Platinum & Diamonds are welcome to wave at me and snicker from the boat while I suffer lol. More room for me in the laundry room anyways. So the cruise I picked is a 10 day Alaskan cruise out of San Franscisco on Miracle. Flying out of Love field in Dallas (in case you couldn't tell already I am a Texan lol) the day before to SFO, plan to get transport to the Fisherman's wharf area and stay at the RUI Plaza. Plan to uber to the cruise terminal the next am. Port stops are Juneau, Haines, Tracy Arm, Ketchikan and Prince Rubert. Have a semi plan on excursions but can't book those this far out. But I definitely plan to book them beforehand. And Cheers of course! Prob not internet though. Would rather do review stuff after I get home. And it looks like most of the ports have AT&T service, at least I hope! BTW the tip on the AARP Carnival gift cards is gold! Don't plan to do a whole lot in San Franscisco except explore the pier area, eat and then crash because every time I fly my luggage begs the staff to be looked at in detail and then I am invariably seated next to extroverts who wanna be best friends for life. It's stressful being an introvert! So here is my first of many questions I am sure I will have..... I am well versed in the search feature but failed to find what I was looking for. I originally booked an interior cabin but then I saw on here all the perks of having a balcony because of the weather and temperature. Which section of the cabins should I look into with views in mind? Need the lowest price on a balcony cabin I can find but don't wanna stare at a life boat the whole trip lol. If it's too expensive I'll pass but I'd like to check into it. I'm sure I'll have many more questions along the way. Thank you for reading! Any and all recommendations and advice are welcome!