How much do you bring to spend?

For the 2 of us, we generally bring about $1500 for a week in cash...sometimes more (if we're in Vegas!), less if we are not too far from home. Really depends. We use the credit card for most everything, but if you NEED cash, you'll be happy to have it.

Wow that's a tough question. I just don't think there is an "average." It totally depends on what you like to do.

 

Drinks can be a huge budget buster. On our last two cruises, and the one coming up, we have had drink packages or all inclusive. So at least we know what this is going to cost up front, and we pay for it in advance.

 

Casino is the other budget buster. We spend some time in the casino almost every night, but we are small fry. We don't gamble large sums of money. For us that usually means under $100 per night and hopefully we win a little to offset losses. Often we come close to at least breaking even so there is not too much spent. Only you can decide how much to spend here.

 

We (almost) never buy anything in the shops. At all. They are so overpriced. I avoid the onboard shops completely. Same for the art auction. We don't even think about it. And we are not big shoppers. We spend very little on souvenirs. If you have a shopaholic in your group, you have to budget for that.

 

Excursions are another expense. You can spend hundreds on this. We book everything in advance so we know exactly how much we will be spending. And in most cases we use private excursions, not booked through the cruise ship.

 

You also will know exactly what the automatic tips will cost you, so you can plan ahead for this, and can even pre-pay if desired. You may also want to carry some small bills for tipping porters or room service.

 

Yet another possible expense is the specialty dining. We will do the Steakhouse on our upcoming cruise, which will be $70 for the two of us. Might do one other, maybe JiJi's, which will add up to another $30.

 

So we need $100 for specialty dining. Add that to several hundred dollars for the casino (hopefully not losing it all), we might plan $1000 for our 8 day cruise this summer. Might add a couple hundred for incidentals while on shore excursions. I doubt this is "average." We have very minimal spending for anything else. Everyone is different.

 

Also we pay for everything with a credit card to get the points, and we pay the card in full every month.

i thought the OPs question was how much do you bring to spend. so i was just thinking the OP meant cash, not what you put on a credit card.

things like automatic tips, casino, shops onboard, they all go on a credit card.

I was talking about the cash i bring to spend in ports.

If i go to belize i buy a years worth of drugs i keep in stock. I know others who go there once a year to stock up.

cozumel was another stop, i bought cuban cigars (or so they said) and a leather purse, and sun glasses, and i forget what else.

got more cigars in mahagany bay

I go to shop, i admit it.

We always try to prepay whatever we can; tips, excursions, booze, water. We never buy the drink packages; we just didn't drink enough alcohol or sodas to make it worth it. (I do wish Carnival had a coffee card like Princess though). We don't buy anything in the shops and almost nothing in the ports. Our biggest expense onboard are the pictures and buckets of beer.. I think the most we have had after a 7 day cruise is 200.00.

Yikes, there are some big numbers being tossed out. I feel like a tadpole in a 100 gallon fish tank! 90% of my cash on hand is for tips. Cabbies, porters, hard working ship staff. I am a self employed blue color cruise addict who prepays everything I can. I may have $200 in cash for a 7 day. Other expenses on my credit card to earn those much needed points to pay for my next sailing!

It's a difficult question to answer because people spend varying amounts of money, on vacation or in "real life".....I bring enough cash for tipping and to spend on the ground when on an excursion. We like to grab a bit to eat or purchase beverages when we are out and about on land. If I make a purchase at a major store or in the port area, I usually use my CC. Otherwise, I use all cash. A few years ago in Roatan a few people in our group used their credit cards at a little beach hamburger joint and once we got to the airport to go home, found their cards had been compromised somehow. I prefer cash at places like that. I always say to bring twice as much money as you think you will need and half as many clothes!

Happy cruising!

Deb

This time around, I pre-purchased everything - gratuities, cheers and even the top tier pixels package before it went away. My sail and sign account account was under a hundred dollars - from a couple of sushi and seafood purchases only.

With that in mind, I took onboard two hundred singles for bar tips, and spent an additional $100 on tips - $40 in the dining room and $60 for the cabin steward. So less than $300 in actual cash on the ship.

That said, the VAST majority of cash was spent on the shore excursions. Despite being pre-paid, there are a lot of people on shore expecting tips and don't even get me started on how much pictures cost on shore excursions.

I often bring enough in cash that personally i wouldnt post how much here, and kinda think it might be a bad idea for people to know how much cash you have on you when boarding a cruise?

 

Once onboard i put it in the safe of course, but dont like the idea of people knowing i might or might not have a lot of cash on me, as a solo female cruiser. color me paranoid.

I'm not quite sure how anyone would know who you are. So I wouldn't worry about someone being able to spot you boarding a cruise and thinking to themselves, "oh, that gal posted on Cruise Critic that she would be carrying tons of cash. Let's get her!"

However, I do agree with you about the general idea of being careful. I don't like to carry a lot of cash anytime, anywhere. We do try to be very careful with our cash and utilize the safe in our room. We have special travel wallets that can be worn under your clothing and I even bought a Pacsafe purse which has special anti-theft closures and slash proof shoulder strap. I used this on our European trips. It's always better to take precautions and be safe, not sorry.

I bring a few hundred per day. I spend 90% on wine, women, and song. The rest? I just blow that.

I took onboard two hundred singles....

What kind of a cruise do you think this is ParrotRob?

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

What kind of a cruise do you think this is ParrotRob?

Obviously you've never stayed up late enough for the pole dancing!

I figure $100/port...and double it to $200. $100 for the casino per sea day. $100 for any grats I want to give. For a 5 day, 2 port cruise I’d bring $800...and I’d bring a lot of it home because I don’t spend $200/port but I have it if need it.

We’re the same. Bring about $1,500 for a 7 day cruise. That way we don’t have the large credit card bill awaiting us when we get back

 

As for casino spending, it’s usually next to nothing as we can’t stand all the smoke (Carnival really screws up here as they’d get a lot more business if it was non smoking)

 

Forums

I don’t think the casinos are lacking in business. Being unable to find a place to sit has saved me a bunch of money. I believe they have a new air filtration system on Horizon so we’ll see how that goes...in general casinos will opt for the smokers over the non-smokers.

DH and I each bring $200+ per day for the casino plus cash to buy things in port like t-shirts, visors, pottery. We don't spend much anymore in port on expensive items since we've been on 46 cruises :). We also bring enough to pay off the sail and sign account at the end so it doesn't go on our credit card.

We usually take between $500 and $800 in cash for tips, taxis, and if we feel a need to buy any local handicrafts (although some of those people are tech-savvy and can do credit cards now). The last few trips we've come home with about $200. We pre-pay the cruise (obviously), pre-pay gratuities, pre-pay excursions, pre-pay Cheers. I would pre-pay our dinner at the steakhouse if I could! Usually the only charges on our S&S account are from the arcade, Cherry On Top, and a random coffee here or there. A couple of times, there's been a jewelry charge, but we wised up and, IF we buy any of that, we do so in port.

We prepare most everything and buy a few hundred in AARP gift cards for onboard spending but back it up with a credit card for other unexpected onboard expenses. We try not to make any rash purchases but we do bring about $500 in cash for ports and emergencies. Most of the time we bring most of the cash back.

We bring a credit card and a modicum of self control. We don’t drink or gamble so avoid those money pits. Some cruises we have even ended with a small negative balance due to refunds in port fees and taxes.

As for as cash we usually bring no more than a couple hundred in small bills for tips (porters, room service), cab fare in the ports, and small souvenirs.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Now you can pay for so many things in advance so it reduces how much cash you have to bring with you. For our cruise next year, I am planning to prepay our Gratuities, Cheers Package, Wi-Fi Plan, one Carnival Excursion and potentially our Pixels Package. We are on a ship without much in the way of specialty dining other than the Chef's Table, which we are planning to do. I don't see an option to prepay that, but have it planned in my budget. We are not shoppers - other than a few small trinkets to take home to our kiddos, we won't spend much in that regard. The only other area where I might spend some money is in the casino. I usually set a weekly limit for the casino and when I lose it all, I'm done (even if that's on night one!).

Where I do find cash goes quickly is in all the tipping you do on vacation! We tip bag porters (at the hotel and port), cab drivers, tour guides, ship staff who go above and beyond, etc. I usually try to bring quite a bit in smaller bills (ones and fives) for tipping. But it can easily add up over the course of a week long vacation.

We put enough into CC (general and bar) to take care of 90% of our spend on board. Use discounted GC to purchase and you get free money.

For ports where we have excursions, we bring enough cash to tip and $50 - $100 extra. For ports where we just wander around, no more than $100 cash, DL, S&S cards, and one CC in a money belt. Doesn't mean we'll spend it, but that's our limit.

I don't spend more than 50 on the ship most of the time less.my money gets spent on tours and souvenirs.sometimes we get something to eat in Port but my wife is not adventurous with food.I guess 150 in Port because I get my tours off the pier.

We typically take around $500 cash- mostly in small bills for tipping. We also redeemed points for Amex gift cards that we will use in Seattle for our two days of sightseeing. We link credit card to onboard account. And use credit card for hotel, gas, food on the way to and from. Remember that u should notify your credit card that u will b traveling. Had a hold placed on ours once. We prepay soda, water, tips, internet, and excursions where possible. Husband takes a separate stash for gambling-he finances this through his yard sales 🤣. He has a budget and sticks to it. We don’t buy photos. Bingo here and there. Maybe a drink or two. Daughter has a $50 onboard budget for arcade, etc. we typically pick a port to buy a souvenir like a T-shirt or beach towel. So onboard account is usually small. We are headed to Alaska next and our purchases in port will definitely cost us more than our typical Caribbean purchases. But excursions for the most part are prepaid already. We try not to have a huge credit card bill because that’s no fun to come home too!

I guess on how you spend and what you may want...... I have a great job so my money is different from yours and it also if you are a big casino person.......

Never enough! We figure about $200 per day. We also just put it in our credit card and pay off when we return.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Since we do autotips, we spend very little cash, We take cash for spending in ports for taxis, the occasional drink, tour guide tips, etc. We tip porters and the rare times we use room service. At the end of the cruise we sometimes give extra cash to our waitstaff and/or steward and anyone who has been particularly helpful. I take 50 $1 bills and a few fives and tens. We almost always have money left at the end.

Most excursions are prepaid. We pay our S&S when we return as everything is charged on the cc. That being said, wouldn't travel without $100.pp/day cash. Just the way we roll........YMMV

We use a credit card for the onboard account and for any large purchases in port. We take about $1200 cash on a 7 night cruise in cash. That is for taxi fares, tips to tour guides and drivers in port, porters, extra gratuities for the steward and waiters and bar staff and the rest is just in case of emergency. I find I generally come home with anywhere from $700 to $800. On our cruise last week I only came home with $500 because of an additional discount we got on a piece of jewelry if we paid cash.