Budget

[Joymarie]

About how much out of pocket do you spend for yourself and/or children including drinks, sodas, games, souvenirs.

 

I am planning to prepay for excursions. Undecided about cheers/bottomless bubbles package so looking for what you spend on average without getting package.

 

I was thinking of bringing a bottle of wine and we each bring soda and order water for the room. I also think I might have 2 drinks a day on average, as well as a latte in the morning and she might have a smoothie or shake some days.

 

If I planned on $400.00 spending for a 7 day cruise, brought the wine/soda; prepaid excursions and water for room does that seem like a reasonable budget.

[A&Jfamily]

Don't forget to figure in tips if those aren't prepaid

 

We don't get Cheers or soda card. On a sea day we can do 8-12 drinks between us, maybe 6 max on a port day.

 

We don't spend much other onboard except specialty restaurants.

 

Assume $11 for each drink and $5 for a specialty coffee and do the math. I would estimate we spend about $400 on alcohol on a cruise.

 

 

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[cb at sea]

You can buy ANYTHING without a "package", so if you are only planning on drinking what you say you will, it's probably better to do it "a la carte".

You can get ice water ANYWHERE on the ship, so buying water is not a must!

[pblack]

I think it's a reasonable amount for on board spending. Obviously you should take more money with you for purchases on shore.

 

Not sure how many are in your party, but hubby and I went on a 5 day back in October, didn't bring on any alcohol, but did bring on Soda's. We spent less than $200 including a $50 on board credit. We don't buy souvenirs on board, way overpriced, but hubby sometimes gets a watch. He didn't this time. That $200 was pretty much gambling and alcoholic beverages.

[CharlesKru]

Couple other things to think about...

• Photos, they range from $15-$20 each
  
• Extras for your kids, arcade, stuff a bear ( or what ever they call it )
  
• Cherry on top store ( candy and such).
  
• Casino ( if you play)
  
• Specialty restaurants ( Steakhouse $35, Italian is $15 per person, several al a cart places too)
  
• sovereigns ( on ship, t-shirts, mugs, magnets)
  
• Specialty coffee
  

We have cruised for less than $400 on a 7 day cruise... now we budget more than that because we do more extra cost stuff. Only you can know for sure if that is enough or not.

[coevan]

"About how much out of pocket do you spend for yourself and/or children including drinks, sodas,"

 

 

Carnival does not take cash for sodas or anything else. Everything is on your S&S card

[Joymarie]

Thank you for all the feedback. I think I am on track.

[bmetz34]

I'm estimating $200 for our 6 day cruise. Excursions are prepayed, were not doing any drink package. The 2 bottles of wine will be plenty for us. We don't really gamble. Gratuities are prepayed. The only think not accounted is if we are a good spa deal on board.

 

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[Argigi]

I always budget for double what I think I might spend. That way it's there if I need.

 

 

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[mrpayroll]

If you get fifty responses, you will receive fifty different answers to this question. No two people spend the same on a cruise. :)

[dawnjam1]

I spend WAY more than that on myself and one child but we splurge....a lot. Night Owls alone can eat that budget up fast. And they love it!! If you have never been make sure to have at least double that in hand and just don't use it unless you need it. But be prepared to say no alot.

 

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[sailor05]

$400 will be plenty for you and a child. You may want to seriously consider the Bottomless Bubbles for the child. That way you're not trying to keep track of that spending plus when she is with her friends in kids club she can get soda's at will whenever they go places. At $4.95 a day it pays for itself. Then as mentioned the other biggies are tips and pictures.

[Doggielover68]

On our most recent 7 day western Caribbean cruise we spent around $80 for the two of us. (Plus one pre paid excursion). We had visited all of the ports before so we didn't buy souvenirs. Didn't buy any drinks on the ship.

 

We spent much more when we went on a southern caribbean cruise out of San Juan. It really depends on where you are going and what you plan to do there. I try to research all of the taxi fares before I go so I know how much to bring.

 

 

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[Boston Mom]

We are planning on about $500 for my husband and I and our three kids, not including excursions and gratuities which we will prepay.

 

To keep the kiddos on budget I am going to put $60 limit on each of their S&S cards, and give them each $40 cash. That $100 each is "their" money for the trip, whether they want to buy sodas/bottomless bubbles, play arcade games, get an upcharge meal in the MDR, buy a memento in port.......

 

We will bring 2 bottles of wine for my husband and I, and everyone will have an insulated cup that they can fill with water, juice, lemonade, etc. from the buffet. The wine will work for me and my husband will just buy a beer or drink a la carte whenever he wants one. We don't really gamble and we will have the kids with us so it will probably be MDR rather than specialty restaurants for this sailing.

 

I know people that spend thousands in "extras" on their cruise, and people that spend under $100 for their whole group. I would say that around $100 "extra" per person would be about average.

[cmukid87]

When we go, we budget $1000 for the room of 4. Everything is prepaid already. Gratuities, excursions, etc. We bring on a 12 pack of soda and a pack of energy drinks for me. I'm the only one that drinks and we play in the casino albeit sparingly (although I might add I've never lost money in the casino). We don't adhere to strict budget while onboard but have never come close to spending the $1000 so we go home with a pocket full of cash. That cash goes directly into the vacation fund.

[dmdiver]

Looking back at past cruises, we typically spend close to $350 on board for drinks, photos and the occasional trinket from the gift shop for the 2 of us. We pre-pay gratuities, water & Carnival excursions. If we do excursions outside of Carnival, we take cash and we use cash for anything we buy in port. We take only what cash we think we will need ashore that day & leave the rest in the safe. We always end up bringing some back home to re-deposit. As far as determining how much cash to bring, it depends largely on the excursions we are doing & whether they are through the cruise line or not. We always give a tip to boat crews on snorkel & dive trips, guides for other types of trips. I think for a week long cruise, we take $500, but never spend it all.

[estillcrew]

About how much out of pocket do you spend for yourself and/or children including drinks, sodas, games, souvenirs.

 

I am planning to prepay for excursions. Undecided about cheers/bottomless bubbles package so looking for what you spend on average without getting package.

 

I was thinking of bringing a bottle of wine and we each bring soda and order water for the room. I also think I might have 2 drinks a day on average, as well as a latte in the morning and she might have a smoothie or shake some days.

 

If I planned on $400.00 spending for a 7 day cruise, brought the wine/soda; prepaid excursions and water for room does that seem like a reasonable budget.

 

I always bring $100 cash per port day to pay for souvenirs, tips for excursions, and food and drink if not included. I use my credit card or debit card and on board credits to pay for gratuities and drinks.

[no1racefan1]

I don't think there's any way to really estimate this without knowing what things you will spend on. We spent a little under $200 on our 4-day cruise. Prepaid gratuities and shore excursions. The $200 included a bottle of wine that DH made last the whole trip, a handful of ginger ales that I had, a couple of souvenir purchases in the shop, and a dinner upcharge for DH one night in the MDR.

[SadieN]

Don't forget gratuities, can prepay those.

Plan to buy a photo or two. Range from $12-$20.

 

In port, eat in a locals place. These are usually much cheaper than those catering to tourists.

[ray98]

No one can really answer this because no one knows what you will spend. You can go on a cruise and not spend a dime more than what you paid or you could drop a few grand.

[happy cruzer]

If you are watching money, perhaps don't do the excursions through the ship? There is a ports of call section here on Cruise Critic with tons of advice about the ports. Carrying on the beverages is an excellent idea and you can restock soda and water in ports.

[coevan]

I love this, and you caught a really big fish. Funny how everyone who posts on cruise critic about the casino wins money. The casino must be going broke. I bring $1000 for a week of gambling, if I go home even I had a great trip, which I rarely do.

 

"although I might add I've never lost money in the casino"

[maryred]

As other posters have pointed out everyone is different, and every cruise they take is different from the others they've been on. We've been on cruises where we have spent on board for a 4 days cruise over $2,000 for 2 adults, then on another for 5 days spending less than $300 for 2 adults and 2 older teens. These are are our 2 extremes out of 19 cruises over 5 different lines.

The formula we tend to use for any travel (unless it's a special occasion) is 1/3 +1/3 + 1/3 = a good trip. The first third is the rack rate for the room and meals (the great thing with cruises is this is all rolled into 1 price) + know taxes, fees, & travel insurance + attraction or excursion tickets. The second third is for transportation, so this would include any airfares, car rentals, tolls, or parking fees. For cruising only we will also include any pre or post cruise hotel stay in this second amount, because we can usually swing a snooze and cruise with shuttle to port deal that equals the price of either the shuttle from airport to cruise terminal & back again or the parking at the pier. The last third for spending during the vacation, some of which will be for in ports but the bulk will be for on board. Anytime we can save from the proposed budget the money goes back into a future travel fund which also serves as an emergency fund. I realize this does not work for everyone but it has given us the best results.

[elainmir]

It really does depend for us ...sometimes it's DH and I and sometimes the two kiddos at home go also. I try to prepay tips and anything else that I can. I do take extra money for the casino because that's my fun, it's what I do. I don't do much else...sometimes I'll buy a photo or two but for the most part that's about it..usually drinks are on the casino and we'll bring a bottle of champagne. I buy water and if the kids go we take a 12 pk of soda for each one.