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Help! How much money??


Alva43
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HI! My family and I are first time cruisers, my boyfriend has been on some, but the rest of us haven’t. We aren’t sure how much money to bring for the end of trip bill, and spending money. We prepaid for the excursion, gratuities, and a drink package. The cruise is four days, and to Cozumel

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Welcome to Cruise Critic!

 

As the ship is a cashless society, except for additional tips, and we know nothing about your tastes in tipping, shopping off ship, or anything else, hard to give you a figure. But an extra $100 to $150 or so (in small bills) per person will probably cover most everything.

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That is very generous for a short cruise with everything prepaid. You may need a few dollars for tips for the guides and a taxi to the port in Florida. to save money: Curb your shopping, stay out of the ship casino. Don't use the phone or internet on the ship. Wait until you are on land. The crew always heads for the free Wi-Fi in port.

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Welcome to Cruise Critic!

 

As the ship is a cashless society, except for additional tips, and we know nothing about your tastes in tipping, shopping off ship, or anything else, hard to give you a figure. But an extra $100 to $150 or so (in small bills) per person will probably cover most everything.

Would there be any other costs on the end of bill that we are forgetting?

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That is very generous for a short cruise with everything prepaid. You may need a few dollars for tips for the guides and a taxi to the port in Florida. to save money: Curb your shopping, stay out of the ship casino. Don't use the phone or internet on the ship. Wait until you are on land. The crew always heads for the free Wi-Fi in port.

Thank you! Do you have any other advice?

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Actually, it has been stated that the cruise ship is a cashless society. When you board, you place a credit card to cover your account. Anything you need on the ship, exclusive of extra gratuities, is charged to your account and at the end of the cruise, to your credit card. So there is no need to pay a bill in cash before you leave the ship. If you don't have, or don't care to use a credit card, you can carry cash to settle the bill but you will have to deposit some of it up front. EM

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Be sure to bring cash for:

 

Porters. If you have checked luggage you will hand it to the porter. A couple of dollars per bag and when you leave the ship at the end of the cruise if you need help out of the cruise ship terminal have an equal amount of cash. If you order room service many people will give a small tip. Off the ship in port for small purchases you'll want some cash and also bring a little bit just in case. Things happen.

 

On the ship if you drink or purchase a photo those items you will charge to your shipboard account and can pay via credit card. While we hope that we don't get sick it does happen and a visit to the on board doctor could run around $150.00.

 

Have a wonderful time.

 

Keith

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We never had a drink package, does yours include alcohol? If not and you order alcohol, it gets charged to your onboard account. May add up considerably, but will be paid with your credit card. Don't go over your credit limit.

The one we bought doesn’t, but there was one that was for alcohol

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That means that you will have a bill at the end for all the alcoholic drinks consumed. In my case, it would be zero.

I recommend to come to an agreement with your co-traveler(s) about how much to spend on alcoholic drinks before you even go on the cruise or at least on the first day.

 

A few beers on Cozumel are a much better bargain, but your ship probably does not permit you to bring alcohol on board. Ask on the cruise line's forum.

 

Enjoy your very first vacation!

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We use a credit card to secure our bill, so we don't need tons of cash. Most 1st timers end up spending about 1/2 the cruise fare....and it's easy to get caught up in the "bargains" they offer (which aren't really bargains at all!). Drinks cost MUCH more than in most bars at home, unless you're in NYC or LA or some pricy place. Think of "sporting event" pricing on booze....really high prices.

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That means that you will have a bill at the end for all the alcoholic drinks consumed. In my case, it would be zero.

I recommend to come to an agreement with your co-traveler(s) about how much to spend on alcoholic drinks before you even go on the cruise or at least on the first day.

 

A few beers on Cozumel are a much better bargain, but your ship probably does not permit you to bring alcohol on board. Ask on the cruise line's forum.

 

Enjoy your very first vacation!

Thank you!

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Others have stated well :

 

-use a credit card to settle your onboard account, if possible. Everything is charged to your shipboard account, so you could incur expenses a number of ways:

-Casino

-Bingo

-onboard shopping

-photo packages

-Internet

-drink costs not covered by a drink package

-specialty restaurant dining

-medical (hopefully not needed)

 

Then, cash could be needed for:

 

-tipping porters or additional tips to crew if you choose

-port shopping (if you don't want to use a credit card)

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HI! My family and I are first time cruisers, my boyfriend has been on some, but the rest of us haven’t. We aren’t sure how much money to bring for the end of trip bill, and spending money. We prepaid for the excursion, gratuities, and a drink package. The cruise is four days, and to Cozumel

 

 

 

Others have listed the sort of things you might be charged for. Drinks, specialty dinners, etc. There are many ways to spend money on a ship! My suggestion is, just don’t do it. Or at least don’t go wild. Just because you are on vacation and it is special and new doesn’t mean that you must spend a lot on everything. Enjoy yourselves, maybe splurge a little one time, but keep your spending within bounds. And if you do this, you don’t need to take much cash with you and you won’t be paying off the credit card for months to come. And you will be much more willing and able to take another longer cruise in another year.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

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HI! My family and I are first time cruisers, my boyfriend has been on some, but the rest of us haven’t. We aren’t sure how much money to bring for the end of trip bill, and spending money. We prepaid for the excursion, gratuities, and a drink package. The cruise is four days, and to Cozumel

 

We're going on our first ever cruise in October, and like you, I'm trying to dot all my i's and cross all my t's. I am not sure if we'll ever go on another one (might not be for us, you never know), so I am gonna make sure we have fun :)

 

 

I'm taking $100 for each of us per day, for gambling (I have heard the casino slots take cash), and $100 for extra $1 tips for our alcohol drinks (we too are doing the Cheers program), $100 for our Steward, and Porters, and $20 in quarters in case I wanna do our laundry before we leave (not sure if the machines take quarters lol).. I am alloting $100 for cruise photo's (not sure of the costs?), $100 for uber/Lyft, bus fares, cabs, etc., $200 for Ship spending $ (ornaments, shot glasses, or anything else we may "just have to have"), $400 for spending in Mexico (may be way too much, but those grandkids are gonna want souvenirs, and I can always bring it back home with me if I don't spend it :) ), $100 to spend on Catalina Island (lunch or souvenirs), we prepaid for our excursions, wi-fi, gratuities, Cheers and transport to & from the Pier.. I personally try to stay away from CC's, so am using cash when I can, and our Debit card on our S&S cards :)

 

 

Hope this helps!

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