How much money do you take on your cruise?

[PAcop141]

I usually budget about 1,000 per day. that covers drinks and casino for the duration.

[luddite]

$1000 per day.

[Warm Breezes]

I usually take $100 per day (there are 4 of us). We usually pay most things (except at ports) with our credit card to rack up the points and end up taking home about 1/2 of our cash we took.

[Gypsywych]

Our last 7 day cruise we spent about 850 dollars between my husband and I, and that included tips and shopping, and some more shopping. Our excursions were already paid for, so I guess you can tack on another $250 for those.

 

Our last 5 day cruise, we spent less than $300 total Not so much shopping but it seemed like we drank a lot!

[Sashalanda]

Wow you guys have lots of money! Ok spill on your careers lol. I am on disability..hubby has a decent job but there is no way we could afford all that. Last time we spent maybe $600..our tips and taxes prepaid but that amt was used for drinks, shopping in Cozumel for gifts for sons, went to a lovely beach that dang if its name has slipped my mind. They only charged for if you used the toys in the water, otherwise they just hope you buy drinks and food from them but you arent obligated to buy all. I have to say the lunches we had there were awesome but so huge. I had a lot of leftovers and my sons were not able to finish mine..which is usually unheard of being they were 21 and 16 at that sailing. My son did go through most of his extra money tipping the room service waiter. He just loved that lol. He did purchase a really nice hat though that looks so good on him.

[Raylynn]

Prepaid all tips. Don't drink. Don't gamble. The weather was so bad at our first port we didn't do anything except walk around a little and get back on the ship. The second port day was nice so we took a tour of the island and ate lunch then walked around. Not big shoppers but did buy a few gifts.

Took $200 each for DH and myself for each port ($400), brought back $250. My SS card total was $31 for a few virgin drinks, DH was $35 for a soda card. Total spent for the two of us was $316 for a 5 day.

This was our first cruise so I didn't know what to expect and brought along over $3,000. Worried all week about losing it. Won't make that same mistake again.

[mactrio]

We bring a few hundred in small bills, our tips are pre-paid; we book our excursions thru the ship (I know it's cheaper not too; but I like knowing that if the excursion runs late, they will hold the ship for me) we bring 2 CC with high spending limits (just in case of an emergency) and we use 1 cc for our onboard acct and if we buy anything expensive in port I will use a cc.

There are 3 of us and we don't spend a whole lot.

[NotWthOutablcony]

Here's how I do it, I price the excrsions, figure 3 excursions, at about $100 pp, that's $600, plus $1000 shipboard credit as I do not appreciate a bill at the end of my cruise so I pay EVERYTHING onto shipboard credit before we board. The $1000 takes care of our drinks and a few small purchases including a night in the steakhouse. We may differ because we only drink about 2 drinks per person per day, I was treated for stomach ulcers and he has IBS, what a couple we make! Plus on top of all that, we bring about $1500 in cash, $100 in ones for tipping room service etc. and the rest for on-shore shopping and we play a ton in the casino :D That's just our breakdown!

[Cruise-Crazy]

At least $900 to $1,000

 

Just because I have it dosen't mean I will spend it. It is nice to have it in case of an emergency.

Edited November 10, 2011 by Cruise-Crazy

[Cruise-Crazy]

That's not for the onboard account, just to have cash on hand

[PlanningToCruise]

we're not big spenders. We pre-pay tips and excursions (the ones we can and take the cash for the ones we can't) we only buy 1 "trinket" per port for the curio cabinet, we take a lot of 1's and 5's for tips, plus tip extra our cabin stewards and waiters if deserved ( they always have been) we usually only take about 150.00 each for the casino for the week and then a few hundred on drinks and usually buy a pic or 2 that goes on the Credit card on our sign and sail. Our highest sign and sail was about 1,300. on our first cruise went way overboard :D on pics and gift shop, lol

[swimmom32]

We are leaving Next Saturday..We take 1000 there are 4 of us...We pre-paid Tips, and our Excursion and we are only doing one this trip in Cozumel....I play bingo, We dont really drink very much and we dont go to the Casino...We also pay for a Soda Card....so it should be plenty of money...lol

[scgamecock]

I generally take about $100 in cash in small bills for room service tips and a little spending money in the ports + $500 in emergency money which I have never used. Everything else is pre-paid or goes on a credit card.

[carribeantycoon]

We are leaving May 20 for a 6 day cruise for two people. Our excursion is already paid for, so what we are bringing is strictly drinking, maybe some gambling. I am bringing $2000 in cash (keeping it in the room safe and loading my SS card each sea day morning with a certain amount so we don't blow it in one day). However, we are going to Harry Potter World in Orlando the day we get off the ship so about $300 of that $2000 is for that. I think the $100/day/person is a good rule unless your children are small and don't need their own spending money. :)

[cruisemom67]

I plan all excursions ahead of time and figure that amount to start. We are not big shoppers, and we do take our credit card in case there is something we just can't live without (never happens). We usually have 5 people, so our excursions get pricey. I budget an extra $100 each port for miscellaneous items, including extra cab rides, drinks. We don't usually eat lunch on the ports, and we don't gamble much. We've been on a lot of cruises so we don't buy many souvenirs anymore. We bring extra for additional cash tips, but our regular tips go on S&S. We try to bring lots of $1 bills as it seems we never have enough of those.

 

As you can see, the budget for everyone on this thread is very wide range of spenders. My husband is a Financial Advisor, which means we are very careful with our money. It also means we don't spend a lot on cruises, so they tend to be an excellent value for our family of 5. My youngest is 16 and has been on 9 cruises, with 2 more booked in the next 9 months.

 

If the cruise is a once in a lifetime event, you will spend more. If you cruise a lot, you will probably spend less.

[CharlesKru]

Interesting read...

 

When I did my first cruise in 2000, it was my honeymoon and we were flat broke... We still spent more than we should have somewhere in the $1000 range for a 5 day. Was just adding to the credit card debt....

 

Fast forward to 2006 and on... I have managed to get my finances under control, ( debt free) and can now afford to cruise 2+ times a year... in 2006 we were spending less than $20 per day on the ship... now for a 5 day I am back to budgeting about $1000... It seems the more cruises we go on, the more we spend per day..

 

That does not count excursions... often times we do not bother with them, we just go explore the port, or take a cab to the downtown area of town.. We always bring about $200 more for stuff like that, and cash tipping.

[jdemps]

This depends on where you are going because excursions vary by location. We aren't really excursion people unless something is just can't miss.

 

We prepay just about everything with carnival gift cards at 10% off so when we get on the ship, the bill isn't all that much. Here's what we have spent for the upcoming 7 day to the Mexican Riviera:

$196 - Prepaid tips

$805 - cheers

$75 - bottle of vodka from bon voyage

$9 - 2 cases of water for the room

$425 - cruise cash for steakhouse, casino, misc

 

I also take about $200 per port in pesos and get those before we go at the bank. t his covers food, drink. taxis, shopping, etc.

 

All in all, we typically spend about $2500 on the cruise extras and the ports for a 7 day. We are also staying in the departure port for a couple of days prior in an AIRBnB and we take ubers so I add about $800 for that 2 day adventure to explore long beach.

 

Have fun!

[Kamloops50]

I budget about $75 a day for extras including excursions

 

 

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[Drrandall]

Ya. I was wondering about this. I'll be traveling with my 2 daughters 7 and 12. 3 port days on a 7 night Western Carribean cruise. Wanna swim with the dolphins one day, beach day and turtle farm in GC. I know Mr Sancho's in Cozumel and the turtle farm are cheap. Should be less than 800 for all 3 of us. Was hoping to spend less than $100 a day at sea. I'm doing cheers, they are doing bottomless bubbles. I'm hoping to spend less than 1500 for the week.

[ilovethesparkles]

My husband and I have budgeted to have around $600 to be on our S&S account, we pre-book our excursions, and we take about $600 in cash for tipping and buying things at the ports.

[bingomamma19]

I have cruised 9 times now....I don't drink and don't buy souveniers any more, don't buy the pics anymore. I just go to relax. I travel with my 11 yr old daughter. We get the bottomless bubbles.

 

I do enjoy the casino, so I budget about 50 a day for that--other than that, we really don't spend much else.

 

Also since we have been to most of the islands, we really don't do much at port...maybe a sightseeing bus tour. But I like the emptiness of the ship at port :)

[tawaik]

I place about $500 in cash on S&S account and give a credit card to for back up. We take about $1500 for 7-day cruise which includes excursions, port shopping (which is not much) tips and the casino. I'm over the trinkets in the port that are made in china and do not bring back many gifts for people anymore. Always pre-pay gratuities and have some single bills for tipping for room service.

 

My last cruise on NCL my final bill was around $75.00 which is historic for me ;)

[Badfinger]

Hello again everyone!

 

How much spending money do you usually take on your cruise?

 

I know everyones budget and the amount they prefer to spend or allow is different? But what is a good round average number for a 7 day cruise?

 

Including excursions?

 

I think last time my wife and I took 2,000 plus excurision money and we spent all of it :( and I'm still trying to figure out how?

 

We talked about $1000, but usually come home with about $800 or so. Aside from those seedy little port shops, we put everything on our S&S account or on plastic. Makes no sense not to.

[Bosrox]

For our upcoming first cruise, our tips/drink packages/ excursions are all pre-paid in full as of this past Friday. Planning on bringing about $1500 cash for the 3 of us, for extra bar tips, room steward, porter, cab drivers, trinket shopping etc! And always travel with our credit cards in case of emergency. We don't have a set travel budget but we also have 3 other big vacations in 2018 so we won't go too overboard.

[torcruise]

On my very first cruise it was my honeymoon and we budgeted $100 each. Now we only take $500 total