How much do you bring to spend?

[Thad409]

On our past cruises with the cost of the cruise ,travel, pre cruise shopping for the cruise once we sailed we always had to watch our spending, we still had a great time but sometimes the answer had to be no on certain things due to a tight budget, But I've been fortunate to move forward and upward in my career that we can now afford to bring a little extra for the extras, Last cruise we had if I remember correctly 700.00 to spend on a 5 day cruise. Just wondering what's the average is.

[GUT2407]

On our past cruises with the cost of the cruise ,travel, pre cruise shopping for the cruise once we sailed we always had to watch our spending, we still had a great time but sometimes the answer had to be no on certain things due to a tight budget, But I've been fortunate to move forward and upward in my career that we can now afford to bring a little extra for the extras, Last cruise we had if I remember correctly 700.00 to spend on a 5 day cruise. Just wondering what's the average is.

 

 

I don’t take much cash, I use my card for prett much everything. My spending has ranged from having a few $$$ OBC not used (once 2 day cruise, once 33) through no OBC, but only spent about $10 (8 days and a promised pay hadn’t arrived to thousands of $ (ten days week before Christmas, flush with dough, Mrs Gut did Christmas shopping)

[CruisingNole]

At least $100 cash to tip crew that gave you exceptional service. Tips for tour guides, porters, etc. And then of course random spends here and there. I'd say it really just depends on how many people you're traveling with.

[bobandsherry]

My spend all depends on the casino.... lol

 

I bring some bills for tips, then everything else on the card. I plan for $250/day which also includes excursions and other costs, may end up higher or lower.

 

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[cmptrwiz]

Never enough! We figure about $200 per day. We also just put it in our credit card and pay off when we return.

 

 

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[luckybecky]

On our past cruises with the cost of the cruise ,travel, pre cruise shopping for the cruise once we sailed we always had to watch our spending, we still had a great time but sometimes the answer had to be no on certain things due to a tight budget, But I've been fortunate to move forward and upward in my career that we can now afford to bring a little extra for the extras, Last cruise we had if I remember correctly 700.00 to spend on a 5 day cruise. Just wondering what's the average is.

 

Wow that's a tough question. I just don't think there is an "average." It totally depends on what you like to do.

 

Drinks can be a huge budget buster. On our last two cruises, and the one coming up, we have had drink packages or all inclusive. So at least we know what this is going to cost up front, and we pay for it in advance.

 

Casino is the other budget buster. We spend some time in the casino almost every night, but we are small fry. We don't gamble large sums of money. For us that usually means under $100 per night and hopefully we win a little to offset losses. Often we come close to at least breaking even so there is not too much spent. Only you can decide how much to spend here.

 

We (almost) never buy anything in the shops. At all. They are so overpriced. I avoid the onboard shops completely. Same for the art auction. We don't even think about it. And we are not big shoppers. We spend very little on souvenirs. If you have a shopaholic in your group, you have to budget for that.

 

Excursions are another expense. You can spend hundreds on this. We book everything in advance so we know exactly how much we will be spending. And in most cases we use private excursions, not booked through the cruise ship.

 

You also will know exactly what the automatic tips will cost you, so you can plan ahead for this, and can even pre-pay if desired. You may also want to carry some small bills for tipping porters or room service.

 

Yet another possible expense is the specialty dining. We will do the Steakhouse on our upcoming cruise, which will be $70 for the two of us. Might do one other, maybe JiJi's, which will add up to another $30.

 

So we need $100 for specialty dining. Add that to several hundred dollars for the casino (hopefully not losing it all), we might plan $1000 for our 8 day cruise this summer. Might add a couple hundred for incidentals while on shore excursions. I doubt this is "average." We have very minimal spending for anything else. Everyone is different.

 

Also we pay for everything with a credit card to get the points, and we pay the card in full every month.

[SpainAlien]

I'm obviously in the minority here. We rarely spend more than $200 onboard, book and pay for our excursions up front and prepay the tips so we only need actual cash for additional tips (maybe $20 each for waiters, room attendant, tour guides) and a little spending money in each port.

 

We have a four day Western Med later this year where our drinks are included,and I honestly don't know what we will spend our $200 OBC on, hubby might get a new watch.

 

 

 

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[SkyPiglet]

I am a penny-pincer. For a seven day cruise, I bring a couple hundred for "spending money" which translates to the casino, drinks (before we did Cheers), maybe a few souvenirs. I usually don't spend much, and then take over half of my spending money home. We usually pre-decide what to spend on excursions.

[lizardhowson]

As stated, everyone (or every couple) is unique - so there is no meaningful average amount of cash to bring.

 

Some drink alcohol or pop, or fancy coffee on board - some do not

Some gamble, others don't

Some shop on the ship, some won't set foot in the stores.

 

Some shop in the ports, buy alcohol in the ports, buy excursions - others do not.

[RWolver672]

We each bring $100 per night for the casino. When that's gone (almost instantly) then we leave. We bring $100 per day for when we go ashore for souvenirs but hardly ever spend that much. After the cruise, we put whatever wasn't spent back in the bank in our "Cruise Account".

[Boyshockeymommy]

Our last Dream cruise (March 2018), we had a cash account on board. Also carried about $2500 cash ( we drove to New Orleans and back from Ontario,Canada). Also prepaid everything on board, that i could prepay, and also prepaid excursions not booked thru the ship ship. Spent two days having a great time in NOLA. Put $600 on our cash account at boarding. Put aside money for extra tipping for quality service. Had a great time drinking the occasional drink, playing bingo, casino, coffee bar, steak house once. Put an extra $150 on cash account around day 5 of 7 day cruise. Drove home, had $440 left and got a check from Carnival for another $136 left on our cash account! So for a 12 day adventure including driving to and from as well as two nights additional in a hotel ( our two nights in NOLA also prepaid) and all of our adventures along the way as well as cash for cruis ship incidentals, we spent less than $2000. I had envelopes for everything with the estimated amount i would need for each event, including meals. It worked out great. Also had a prepaid credit card with $1200 on it for emergencies, but never used it.

 

Long story short, we spent about $700 on the cruise ship and had a great time doing all we wanted to do.

[cruziJenn]

On our past cruises with the cost of the cruise ,travel, pre cruise shopping for the cruise once we sailed we always had to watch our spending, we still had a great time but sometimes the answer had to be no on certain things due to a tight budget, But I've been fortunate to move forward and upward in my career that we can now afford to bring a little extra for the extras, Last cruise we had if I remember correctly 700.00 to spend on a 5 day cruise. Just wondering what's the average is.

 

Reading that word "bring" I assumed that you meant "cash" and so my response is that we usually board the ship with $100-$200 each. But that usually does not count charges to our S&S account for specialty drinks or pub snacks and so on. The cash that we bring is mostly for tipping onboard and for shopping, eats and drinks and other incidentals off of the ship....we absolutely never use any credit cards in any of the ports. But when we add the cash that we spend plus extras that we may charge to our ship accounts, then that may easily add up to $500 or more on a 7 day cruise.

[bnorris10]

I usually bring about $100 a day for the casino for me and then like $50 per day for the hubby as he rarely gambles but want to make sure he has a little cash if he want's to

 

I also bring $100 in one's for possibly room service, the piano bar, or random tipping that I feel is necessary like for singers or bar tenders I like, and the porters

 

I also bring $100 in five's for the same reason as above

 

I then bring 5 twenties - Usually end up giving $20-$40 to my room stewart depending on how well they kept us stocked in fresh ice and how friendly they were, then the other 3 twenties are used for dining staff depending on how many people we have helping and if we get really good service

 

Then I generally bring about $100-$300 in cash for port shopping depending on where we are going that is because in some ports I know I won't need much cash since we been there so many times like Freeport and Nassau etc

 

Then of course I have my credit card to cover onboard purchases

[cajunfla]

Impossible question to find an average. We might...MIGHT....have 4 drinks a day together. Never visit casino except to pass thru in a hurry. We do very little shopping in their shops. We prefer to tip extra in cash. We cruise for destinations.

[Trishlo73]

On our past cruises with the cost of the cruise ,travel, pre cruise shopping for the cruise once we sailed we always had to watch our spending, we still had a great time but sometimes the answer had to be no on certain things due to a tight budget, But I've been fortunate to move forward and upward in my career that we can now afford to bring a little extra for the extras, Last cruise we had if I remember correctly 700.00 to spend on a 5 day cruise. Just wondering what's the average is.

We've been on 5 day and 7 day cruises, and we've usually spent $1000 on our sign and sail and another 300 in ports. The sign & sail is always photos, gambling and beverages.

 

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[going to see the world]

I generally prepay as much as I possibly can, and then I bring some extra. The extra has always varied on how much time I had to save for the trip. I’ve done a couple of last minute ones and only brought around $200. Last month I only brought around $900, but luckily the casino was very giving [emoji3]

 

 

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[CJHAN]

We normally do about 1k for the cruise itself and an additonal 1k for pre and post cruise stuff. We almost never spend the entire amount but we like to make sure we dont come off of vacation in debt. This leaves us something to either make a short vacation at some other point in the year or just start a new fund for the next cruise. I have a friend who like to gamble on the ship so she brings about 3k just for that. So basically it all comes down to your planned costs + whatever you consider necessary for just in case stuff.

 

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[Joebucks]

I usually never "bring" more than $200. Cash is unnecessary on the boat, unless you are giving extra tips. I've heard too many stories of people losing large amounts of cash, but to be fair, not often from the Carnival room safes. Maybe it's extra paranoia. I see zero reason to bring a ton of cash though. I use my credit card everywhere that I can. Rewards, zero liability, zero foreign transaction fees. Cash is usually only used in cash only areas like certain taxis, buses, vendors, and bars.

[djcass4199]

On our 8 day southern, we are bringing $500 cash, and that's for us to use to tip the crew, tip the porters, spend in port, etc. Hopefully we don't spend all of it and will just apply any left overs to our S&S bill.

[Thad409]

Our last Dream cruise (March 2018), we had a cash account on board. Also carried about $2500 cash ( we drove to New Orleans and back from Ontario,Canada). Also prepaid everything on board, that i could prepay, and also prepaid excursions not booked thru the ship ship. Spent two days having a great time in NOLA. Put $600 on our cash account at boarding. Put aside money for extra tipping for quality service. Had a great time drinking the occasional drink, playing bingo, casino, coffee bar, steak house once. Put an extra $150 on cash account around day 5 of 7 day cruise. Drove home, had $440 left and got a check from Carnival for another $136 left on our cash account! So for a 12 day adventure including driving to and from as well as two nights additional in a hotel ( our two nights in NOLA also prepaid) and all of our adventures along the way as well as cash for cruis ship incidentals, we spent less than $2000. I had envelopes for everything with the estimated amount i would need for each event, including meals. It worked out great. Also had a prepaid credit card with $1200 on it for emergencies, but never used it.

 

Long story short, we spent about $700 on the cruise ship and had a great time doing all we wanted to do.

 

That's what I was trying to find out.now we have in the budget $4,500 to spend on a 5-day Cruise, if we spend it all great if we don't that's great too I just don't want to have to tell my family no on extras during our vacation that we have been looking forward to and is long over do, if there's an Excursion they want to do I want the answer to be yes and if there's a souvenir or something on the ship they want to do, I want the answer to be yes, not trying to show off but I do appreciate all the answers.

[firefly333]

I often bring enough in cash that personally i wouldnt post how much here, and kinda think it might be a bad idea for people to know how much cash you have on you when boarding a cruise?

 

Once onboard i put it in the safe of course, but dont like the idea of people knowing i might or might not have a lot of cash on me, as a solo female cruiser. color me paranoid.

[lenquixote66]

On our past cruises with the cost of the cruise ,travel, pre cruise shopping for the cruise once we sailed we always had to watch our spending, we still had a great time but sometimes the answer had to be no on certain things due to a tight budget, But I've been fortunate to move forward and upward in my career that we can now afford to bring a little extra for the extras, Last cruise we had if I remember correctly 700.00 to spend on a 5 day cruise. Just wondering what's the average is.

 

I have never done a 5 day cruise but I would assume that $700 is more than enough

[LuckyZ]

Never enough! We figure about $200 per day. We also just put it in our credit card and pay off when we return.

 

 

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We’re the same. Bring about $1,500 for a 7 day cruise. That way we don’t have the large credit card bill awaiting us when we get back

 

As for casino spending, it’s usually next to nothing as we can’t stand all the smoke (Carnival really screws up here as they’d get a lot more business if it was non smoking)

 

Forums

[Shaded Lady]

Like others have said, I prefer to minimize how much cash I carry with me to the cruise... I plan in advance what I know I'll spend cash on (tips, shopping ashore etc) and the rest goes on my S&S card anyway. I always back up my S&S card with a credit card with about $1500 open at least on it (we're not big drinkers or gamblers so it's hard for us to spend even that much!). Even if I do a cash account I usually do some Cruise Cash in advance (I also like to pay for cruise cash with a Carnival gift card that I get a 10% discount on).

 

A new item this upcoming cruise- we got a Carnival Mastercard... not great terms but I got a bunch of signing extras when we got it, and I used the extra points and the extra gift card to pay down the deposit, then paid the rest off (no interest charges). Plus with the Carnival Mastercard I get 10% off all Carnival excursions... I won't run a balance on it since it's interest-heavy, but if I use it right it will help with some of the stuff we want to do!

[Joebucks]

for us its a bit more, I travel with wife and 2 kids age 7-12 and we bring 5000 cash, and 1500 in pesos and always return with cash, we prepay our tips, internet and 2 bottles of booze to the room, on our last cruise last august they had a really good deal on tag watch so that alone took care of 3500 and I always pick up 4 bottles of johnny walker blue label for 150 a bottle, costs us 180 plus tax in Nevada each so pretty good deal, as far as other booze most is cheaper for us local

we tip well as we always stay in suites and never had bad service there so we think they deserve the extra

and we eat at steak house usually at least 3-4 nights"last year on miracle every night except one"

I would rather have the extra cash with us than not enough as atms on ship expensive but our schwab atm card reimburses us the fee and in mexico if need more pesos atm

I usually just cash out our account on last day

 

Just curious, why do you spend $5000 in cash vs putting it on a credit card?

 

We’re the same. Bring about $1,500 for a 7 day cruise. That way we don’t have the large credit card bill awaiting us when we get back

 

As for casino spending, it’s usually next to nothing as we can’t stand all the smoke (Carnival really screws up here as they’d get a lot more business if it was non smoking)

I'd be optimistic in saying that they probably get a bigger return on people who will sit there for extended periods of time because they can smoke vs those who refuse to attend due to the smell. I agree though, I wish there was a better solution to reduce the smell.