Spending Money on your cruise

[**bethwana**]

I just wanted to find out how much money people spent while they were on their trips on Princess Cruises?

 

We went on a P&O cruise in 2007 and took about $2600 (including getting money out at port vila).

 

This cruise will be a 12 day cruise and it will be with a group that likes to drink.

 

Any ideas on how much money to take with us?

[wrecks]

I just wanted to find out how much money people spent while they were on their trips on Princess Cruises?

We went on a P&O cruise in 2007 and took about $2600 (including getting money out at port vila).

This cruise will be a 12 day cruise and it will be with a group that likes to drink.

Any ideas on how much money to take with us?

 

How much to take is so subjective to your own tastes and of course, budget.

Here are some expense items I have noted and used before:

 

Expenses for Caribbean (Upcoming)

Cruise

Gambling

Pet Sitter (x nights)

Hotels (x nights) (this can also include or be parking)

Taxi's

Food (Hotel, Plane, etc)

Land Tips (traveling)

Shore Excursions

Shipboard Tips (Shipboard Account)

Add'l Crew Tips (x ea, dining (2), cabin)

Additional Tips (Baggage, Airport, Hotel, etc)

Alcohol to bring onboard

Shipboard Alcohol

Misc

 

Alot of this goes on your credit card and some needs to be cash - you can spend a little time and pencil these items in and do what you must. With gambling expenses you can buy yours as a gift to yourself on your credit card via Princess web-site and not carry cash.

 

Our next cruise is 20 days, I'm expecting between $1K to $1.5K is cash expenses while we are gone. The rest is on plastic.

 

See you on the water,

Rex

[pris993]

We do similar planning. I list what items we will pay cash for and what we will cover by credit card.

 

On average I plan, that we spend $30 cash a day on board ship and $30 cash a day when in port on miscellaneous items.

 

I generally round up on the cash we take and don't take more than I plan, as we spend what we take. If we take more we spend it.

 

We bring our own wine on board and often have OBCs.

[afiremedic323]

We spent around 1200 on our 10 day cruise last year, I did pre load my account by 400.00 bucks a few months before the cruise this helped as it covered our tips and some (read not much) of our bar bill. I think all in all with the shore ex, bar, tips, hotel's and port cash we spent about 1,500.00 it would have been more had I given Holly the credit card in Aruba :) love you honey. but I think 1,500 should be a good amount. what we do is set up a account at the pursers desk to help control our spending insted of all of it on plastic. and make sure you check your account every day or 2 we discovered several charges on it that were not correct, Ie; a yoga class that we did not sign up for and a shore ex that was cnx due to a vendor issue but still charged. Have a great cruise !!!!!!!!!!:cool:

[**bethwana**]

Thanks for all your replies people. I remember on our first cruise (our honeymoon) we spent a whole heap of money. In saying this, alot of that was spent on internet, watches, sunglasses, makeup, bags etc. We also were spending about $50 - $70 a day on alcohol. I mean, we will be spending money on alcohol.... We're still young and loved the clubbing environment. We will be drinking again this time, but will definitely be taking alcohol aboard too.

 

We have never taken Credit Cards onboard as I hate having to pay it off later. I mean, we'll take the CC in case, but will avoid it where possible.

 

This time we've budgeted like $158 per person per day for absolutely everything which I think will be an over kill. But Would perfer to have too much then not enough...

 

I think if we spend more then half of that per person per day (for cruise spending only) then I'd be surprised. Just wanted to make sure that it would be any different on this cruise.

[hacky]

hey, was going to ask the same question in regards to budgets. This is my first cruise, and by the looks of things we may be on the same ship (diamond in a couple of weeks from auckland?). i also like the party scene and to drink and was wondering does any one know a rough price for a beer and spirit on board this would help me budget. thanks for all the info.

[hacky]

i also noticed you will be taking drinks aboard. do you just pack them in your suit case?

[CruzVinnieCruz]

Thanks for all your replies people. I remember on our first cruise (our honeymoon) we spent a whole heap of money. In saying this, alot of that was spent on internet, watches, sunglasses, makeup, bags etc. We also were spending about $50 - $70 a day on alcohol. I mean, we will be spending money on alcohol.... We're still young and loved the clubbing environment. We will be drinking again this time, but will definitely be taking alcohol aboard too.

 

We have never taken Credit Cards onboard as I hate having to pay it off later. I mean, we'll take the CC in case, but will avoid it where possible.

 

This time we've budgeted like $158 per person per day for absolutely everything which I think will be an over kill. But Would perfer to have too much then not enough...

 

I think if we spend more then half of that per person per day (for cruise spending only) then I'd be surprised. Just wanted to make sure that it would be any different on this cruise.

 

I plan out a spreadsheet ahead of time for our cruises that helps me budget. We pay everything in cash including excursions. There is a coincidence between your figure and my spread sheet for our next 15 night cruise on the Coral. I took your $158 and doubled it times the number of nights. There was an 88 cent difference. I think it will be a little overkill also but would also like to have too much than not enough. If there is too much than it goes back into the bank account for the next cruise:).

[Eagle River]

I just wanted to find out how much money people spent while they were on their trips on Princess Cruises?

 

We went on a P&O cruise in 2007 and took about $2600 (including getting money out at port vila).

 

This cruise will be a 12 day cruise and it will be with a group that likes to drink.

 

Any ideas on how much money to take with us?

 

We are not big drinkers or gamblers. Our shipboard bill at the end of our 10 day Panama Cruise was about $450 for two of us. We had $200 in shipboard credit, so the total before the credit was about $650. We did not go on many shore excursions. It also did not include the 15# of coffee bought on the stops. It only included the on ship expenses - tips, Sabatinis, coke & coffee cards and a couple of shore excursions.

[chasetf]

I just wanted to find out how much money people spent while they were on their trips on Princess Cruises?

 

We went on a P&O cruise in 2007 and took about $2600 (including getting money out at port vila).

 

This cruise will be a 12 day cruise and it will be with a group that likes to drink.

 

Any ideas on how much money to take with us?

This is such a nebulus question. It all depends on what your plans are.

 

We got of the Sapphire this month and spent less than $300 total. We did not do any tours, no gambling and only very moderate drinking. On a European cruise our account would be significant higher with tours and other activities.

 

I like the spreadsheet idea and plan a budget based on what we expect to do.

[**bethwana**]

Well looking at it all now that the cruise has been paid in full etc I think that we've budgeted for way too much spending :P I mean, I guess I can guarantee that if there is something that we want to buy or do there is going to be more then enough money to do this.

 

At the end of the day I guess if we want to book another cruise, if we have money left over from the cruise spending money then at least we'll have a starting point.

[jfv379]

This time we've budgeted like $158 per person per day for absolutely everything which I think will be an over kill. But Would perfer to have too much then not enough...

 

On our last cruise, 14 day Southern Caribbean, we did about a $1000.00/wk on our ship board account.

 

We drank, but not a lot. Had bottle of wine for dinner and a couple of drinks after in the lounge.

 

Two Princess tours in ports. And pictures (I hate pictures).

 

We also did the Chef's Table, Sabatini's and the Crown Grill.

 

Auto tip.

 

Ports that we did on our own were not expensive. Not alot of shopping.

 

I just re-read your post and realized you said $158.00/pp/day.

 

I think you can do whatever you want.

 

It may be overkill, but if that's your budget stick with it. If you don't spend it it's even better.

 

I can understand checking your statement every couple of days if your checking for errors, but I wouldn't check it to see how much money I'm spending, and I don't mean to suggest that expense is not an issue.

 

JMHO

[cantwaitfornextcruise]

Our bill has ranged from $1350 - $2400 all 10 day cruises. I don’t think there is an answer, as long as you have the funds to pay at the end just do what makes the holiday perfect. We do check our account every couple of days to make sure there are no mistakes.

Thanks for the idea about the spreadsheet, along with my packing list, that is now going to be done,

[Coracii]

Like others have said, only you can have an idea how much you'll spend while you're on a cruise. My wife and I don't drink, never visit the casino, and don't buy any of the way overpriced photographs so our final bill isn't influenced by these costs. However, we do enjoy going on excursions and those can add up quickly. I have a spreadsheet for every cruise down to the penny and pre-pay for just about everything using onboard gift credits to myself. We usually walk off the ship owing between 50 and 100 dollars maximum.

[KruzPrincess]

I'm just posting this for those people who may read this and think that they can't afford a cruise because of all the money they will have to spend. There certainly have been times where I have spent a lot, but there have also been times when I've spent very little. I've had bills at the end of a cruise that have been under $100 and that includes auto tipping. I don't drink much anymore, so that helps. We've brought wine onboard and had some OBC. Sometimes, I've actually bought stuff in the shops in order to use up my OBC. You can do as little or as much as you like on a cruise. I admire people who have a budget, but I've never done it myself. I just pay attention to what I'm spending as I go. Personally, I'd rather go on more cruises than spend a lot on one ship. That's just me, though.

[Kinkacruiser]

For your ship account I would suggest $100 per day plus your shore excursion allocation, plus spending money ashore for souveniers. I suppose $200 per day would be a safe margin. You can always bring whatever is left for you next cruise deposit.

[vickie_bernie]

our final bill always varies, of course it depends on the on board credits we have, but normally we don't have excursions on it, just drinks and specialty restaurants, and we do like buying items in the shops. We don't gamble so that helps.

 

On the last 7 day cruise our bill was $600 total for the both of us, and $250 was from shop purchases. We had a $275 obc, so in the end it was minimal.

 

On the 10 day cruise that followed we spent more, we did the chef's table ($150) then I did the Ulitmate ships tour $150. We ate in Crown Grill and bought a few items in the stores and had a few bottles of wine, and our final bill was $900 minus obc of $375 so tolerable.

[Belease]

I'm going on my first proper cruise as my honeymoon this year and have been doing some adding up and investigating around the boards too. I plan on taking excursions in each port (except Florida and Princess Cays) so that will take a huge chunk of cash. I know it's possible to do these cheaper but I like to know what I'm doing, and all of the excursions sound amazing!

 

On board, there's the auto-tipping, plus I'd like to think about doing the Lotus Thermal Suite ultimate couple's pass which is $225 and includes saunas etc. Also, the Chef's Table ($75 each), the Crown Grill ($25 each) and Sabatini's ($15 each). I also want to get the Ultimate Kid's Package ($9 per day plus 15%) for one of us, and the soda card ($4.25 per day plus 15%) and the coffee card ($28 for 15 coffees). My reasoning is that we don't need two UKPs, but they might realise we're sharing if we don't both have some kind of soda card on our account!

 

So far with all my adding we're looking at $1815 without any kind of spending money or food for lunches for six of the days! Lucky we don't drink or gamble, eh?

[kymbakitty]

Thanks for all your replies people. I remember on our first cruise (our honeymoon) we spent a whole heap of money. In saying this, alot of that was spent on internet, watches, sunglasses, makeup, bags etc. We also were spending about $50 - $70 a day on alcohol. I mean, we will be spending money on alcohol.... We're still young and loved the clubbing environment. We will be drinking again this time, but will definitely be taking alcohol aboard too.

 

We have never taken Credit Cards onboard as I hate having to pay it off later. I mean, we'll take the CC in case, but will avoid it where possible.

 

This time we've budgeted like $158 per person per day for absolutely everything which I think will be an over kill. But Would perfer to have too much then not enough...

 

I think if we spend more then half of that per person per day (for cruise spending only) then I'd be surprised. Just wanted to make sure that it would be any different on this cruise.

 

I think it is [relatively] safe to say that hard core cruisers don't charge their vacations. But we NEVER pay cash for anything...heck, I've finally gotten my husband to use his CC for a lousy $3.00 at Home Depot!!

 

Points, points and more points. Either we are earning points towards hotel stays at Marriott (Visa) or Hilton (AMEX)...or Chase M/C (turned in points for $1,000 worth of beautiful tile when we remodeled our bathroom)...so I wouldn't even consider paying cash for anything...haven't in years.

 

However, we pay off our CC in full every month. The folks on this board are veteran cruisers and have gotten to the maturity level to never go on a vacation without having paid for the trip in full before they even leave their home, and typically (not all), that behavior is for the young before they realize that if you can't pay for it up front, then you can't afford it, period. I think even the younger folks are realizing that CC debt is a no win situation and I think we are starting to see the a generation that pays for items instead of charging them...they are kind of forced to given all the regulatory changes in CC laws and the lack of overall credit in general.

 

So I don't think they meant charge as in "charge" their vacation...but just to use CC (quite frankly, I do not understand the concept of using cash, but that's just me) and rack up those points (might as well get something for it instead of nothing)...and pay off your CC bill in full like you do every other month.

 

I think that spreadsheet was a great idea. Those pretty much cover all of our specifics as well.

 

Dawn

[Putterdude]

As pointed out above, it really depends upon what you do. With our 14 days in the Caribbean last month our onboard account with a bottle of wine each night with dinner, 4 excrusions, coffee card, tips, DW's manicure and a bit of modest shopping ran about $1200 after obc's. Our 5 independent excursions, extra tips, t-shirts, etc.....ran about another $1000. p.s. We bring enough Bombay Blue Sapphire and Grey Goose aboard in Rum Runners we don't run up a very big bar tab.

[BruceMuzz]

Average spending changes dramatically with itinerary, ship, and season.

 

As a guideline, on most Princess cruises the revenue budget for onboard spending runs between US$60 and US$90 per person, per day.

Caribbean cruises are at the lower part of that range.

Caribbean cruises (Mexican Riviera as well) tend to attract a more frugal crowd.

[Bowie MeMe]

Actually my daughter and her husband got $125 BACK on their cc on their cruise to Alaska. They had $250 OBC and we gifted them $100 for birthday and they spent $62 + tips! I have not done that cheaply but we do not drink alcohol, do not gamble, do not do the spa and learned to NOT buy much on the ship because the shelves at home are full. I also think that I have a great time and want for nothing. I don't really understand why I would skip a meal in the MDR to eat at a specialty restaurant that costs more than the restaurants at home but that is just me.

 

Plan what you think is worth the money and have a plan for what you will spend money on. Really you don't have to spend alot additionally to have a wonderful time. Remember alcohol is very expensive and has lots of calories. Try enjoying a dry cruise and you will save lots of money. Also gambling odds are pretty much in cruise line's favor. Someone wins big but many more loose (just like at home). Before buying things on the trip you should do your homework -- how much would it cost at home and can you get it home? (note to self how much the Turkish rug cost to ship!) This may be the trip of a lifetime but you really do not want to pay for a vacation for a lifetime. Start your marriage in a responsible manner financially and it will bode well for the rest of your life -- there will always be lots of things to spend money on and you will have to make choices.

 

Off the soap box now:o

[fcorey]

I just wanted to find out how much money people spent while they were on their trips on Princess Cruises?

 

We went on a P&O cruise in 2007 and took about $2600 (including getting money out at port vila).

 

This cruise will be a 12 day cruise and it will be with a group that likes to drink.

 

Any ideas on how much money to take with us?

 

Really depends on the person, we dont drink that much but tend to spend on the spa, excursions, and bottles of wine with dinner, on our last trip we spent somewhere in the neighborhood of $1500 on a 2 week cruise...but that doesnt take into account some shipboard credit

[highflyingrealtor]

The answer is entirely up to the way the dice rolls! :D