How Do You Save Up For A Cruise?

[Michelle25490]

Also, I book very early (booked my - first- upcoming November med cruise last week).

I dont buy the flights in the package, I can always find better fares and prices elsewhere which can save you loads of money.

I book outside of traditional (school and summer) vacation time.

I'm in Venice a day before and after the cruise, and I'm looking for just a simple and cheap hotel.

I save money every week, even if it's only a few euro.

I ask for money on my birthday in April instead of gifts.

I don't buy stuff (in life and on vacation) I really don't need.

And ofcourse I will be working all Summer long, after I graduate in July, all the hours I can get!

 

 

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[ediesbeads]

We have decided this year we will significantly decrease our Christmas spending, and take the family on a cruise instead! I added up all the money spent on gifts and it was almost enough for a cruise for our family of 5!!:eek::eek::eek:

 

So this year I told the kids we will cut back significantly on Christmas, and instead take us all on a cruise the week before Christmas! It's perfect timing for us this year - DH and I have our 25th wedding anniversary, and our daughter is turning 16, so it's a big year for us!

[Loves Snorkeling]

I put money aside each month in what I call a "trip fund". My goal is to take a trip/cruise every 2 years. Sometimes I have extra money which permits to take 1 trip/year. I also have a credit card that gives me money that can be applied to trips. I charge everything to the card and pay it off before it is due. My philosophy is to not buy anything unless I have the money to buy it.

Edited February 9, 2014 by Loves Snorkeling

[alextmoore]

Planning on going on a cruise in August with a bunch of friends after a tour from overseas. We get paid the 1st and 15th so I opened a 6-month money market account with USAA and deposit $200/paycheck. I'm horrible at saving so with a money market account once it's in there I can't touch it until I close the account a few weeks before the cruise (without getting fined). Not sure if it's the greatest idea on saving, just found it useful for myself.

 

 

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[Shekim]

I, too, make monthly payments. But to save for those monthly payments I stash money. If I return something for a refund that money goes into the trip fund. If I get a rebate back on something I stash that; if my kids pay me back for any of the money they've "borrowed" I stash that too. My husband saves quarters and dimes (nickels and pennies go to the grandson). We usually have $200-300 with that. But that's usually spending money.

[seaofwonder]

Buy next cruise certificates for free OBC.

 

use a travel agent to get free prepaid grats and OBC (always at least get the prepaid grats for free)

 

Churn credit cards to ensure that I get free hotels and free airfare. We are going on a Baltics cruise which is exceptionally expensive. But my airfare to/from Europe was $200 to fly in business class for 2 people. My hotels in London are free (current rate is $450 USD per night) and my hotels in Paris are free. I pay my cards in full and put every penny on them.

 

We don't really do Christmas presents anymore.

 

Don't eat out more than once a week. Pack lunches for work.

 

When we're not on vacation we live like hermits. All spare money goes to travel.

[tawaik]

Everyone here has great tips for tucking away money for their cruise vacations.

 

I'm now a firm believer that I deserve at least one nice vacation per year ad do not make a six figure salary. I work hard at my job and when its time to play I want to have fun! No cooking, cleaning and being on a work week schedule is much needed.

 

I'm not made of money but do know how to stretch a dollar due to being one who knows the value of a coupon! Hubby and I place all of our spare change into a water bottle and have adopted the 52 Week Money Challenge which you can find here https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/56309781/52%20Week%20Money%20Challenge%20Chart%20Correct.pdf. We also add extra money when we can.

 

After making the initial deposit on our future cruise in April 2015, I broke down the balance we owe into bi-weekly payments. We are going to treat these payment like a bill and not use any credit to pay on our balance. We are planning to do (2) excursions and the Steak house that were going to purchase pre-cruise, purchase wine, water, soda at the port to cut down on bar prices(hubby does not drink alcohol, but I do :rolleyes:

[huggs]

We have done what some other posters have said.

 

Being a Canuck, I madly save all my quarters, loonies and toonies and it becomes a game for me. Everytime I put $8-10 in my jar, that is one more drink either hubby or I can enjoy without worrying about that bill at the end of the cruise. Whatever I save is then converted to American dollars and first day on board it is applied to our ship board account.

I have always managed to save enough for our bar bills :). Mind you, the next cruise is 19 nights...so I have started early !!!

I have set up on line a separate bank account nick named Cruise fund.

 

I have counted how many pay days we have until we cruise, and have determined a budget of how much we will need for the cruise to be paid, excursions, taxi's , hotels etc.... and then divided it by the # of pay days and like other posters, making payments to our cruise.

 

If you book far enough ahead of time this makes it easier to achieve that goal of no post holiday bill to pay.

I am also planning to clean out the garage and house this spring and hope to sell of some items ...will put into cruise fund.

All my travel expenses for work...very little trust me, is already paid so when I get the cheque, they will go into the fund.

 

Any surprise money, birthday money etc is now going to this fund as well.

 

As I am typing I realized I forgot to budget for all those new cruise clothes ...YIKES...time to re adjust the payments. LOL.

 

All in all, it can be done.

Oh, and we hope to pay for our air fare out of travel miles on a credit card...although we try not to use it too much. It tends to quickly get ahead of you if you are not careful, and would rather pay an air fare than interest on a credit card :p

 

Those are my tips ... good luck

[NatashaB951]

I knew last year this time that I wanted to take my son on a cruise for his 16th birthday as a surprise. I figured out how much I wanted to take - usually with DH and myself we will take $2k for a 7day cruise. With two kids and it's double the amount. He's military and I work fulltime so figured out last July how much we needed to put into a CD - through Navy Fed bc you can set your own maturity dates and make continuous deposits- and each pay period we both deposit into the account. The kids had a small Christmas due to operating on a tight budget but they didn't mind at all. Our daughter, 12, knows we are planning this and she has kept the secret since July! This is the best way for me to save when I have any type of vacation to plan for.