How much Spending Money for Europe?

[Cruise Junky]

Hi there, just got off our last cruise, so of course it's time to plan the next one For a 12 day Med cruise, I'm figuring about $800 us in shore excursions. On top of this I'm thinking about $1,500 spending money. Is that enough? what about a ship board credit? what's your average bill come to? I'm thinking about another $500 for a shipboard credit to give us a head start... does this seem reasonable?

 

Some Ship, Some Itinerary, Somewhere in the Med.

 

Mexican Riviera - Rhapsody of the Seas

11 Day Circle the Caribbean - Splendour of the Seas

Alaska - Dawn Princess

Coastal - Island Princess

[cactusrose]

Cruise Junky,

 

What you take for spending money is such a relative thing. However, what you have quoted is about what I am budgeting also and I'm doing 6 days pre cruise.

 

1952 - Excalibur (freighter)

1972 - Song of Norway, Caribbean

1980 - Hawaii American Curise line, Tahiti

09/01/2002 - Veendam, Alaska

05/29/2003 - Pacific Princess, Alaska

11/26/2003 - Star Princess, Australia/New Zealand

 

5/28/2004 - Star Princess, Venice to Barcelona

 

11/06/2004 - Diamond Princess, Mexican Riviera

 

 

[snshn3]

I am allocating $2500 for excursions and spending money for our 12 day cruise. I hope this is enough.

 

Roll Call on Brilliance of the Seas 06/17/05

 

Enchantment of the Seas, RCCL, 11/01 - Eastern Caribbean

Tropicale, Carnival 08/99 - Western Caribbean

[Flick]

I don't know about the rest of your figures (spending is subjective) but you are way off on $500.00 as a ship board credit. You will be very lucky if you can arrange $300.00 per cabin and that's with Amexco Platinum.....Whatever, you do, don't take a lot of cash with you-there are ATMS on every block of the major Ports to get the money you might need for THAT day without risking the loss of all your spending money.

 

Rick,24 cruises and counting! Next cruise- #25-Riverboat cruise from Amsterdam to Vienna in July '04

 

[snshn3]

what is $500 ship board credit for? drinks?

 

Roll Call on Brilliance of the Seas 06/17/05

 

Enchantment of the Seas, RCCL, 11/01 - Eastern Caribbean

Tropicale, Carnival 08/99 - Western Caribbean

[mikemary945]

We've put together groups for private tours in all ports except Dubrovnik and Santorini. For all of those port tours, and a deluxe room for one night in Venice before arrival day and a 3 day Venice card for water travel, our total is $1200. We are also budgeting $2000 for spending money, as we usually go through about $1000 for a seven day cruise. This also includes spending money for an extra 4 days in Belgium, visiting Mary's family, at the end of the cruise. All transportation costs are extra, of course.

 

Mike and Mary

 

7/8 Venice to Barcelona - Retirement Reward

[Cruise Junky]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by snshn3:

what is $500 ship board credit for? drinks?

 

http://messages.cruisecritic.com/2/OpenTopic?a=tpc&s=927093444&f=1683059817&m=567105281&r=567105281#567105281

 

Enchantment of the Seas, RCCL, 11/01 - Eastern Caribbean

Tropicale, Carnival 08/99 - Western Caribbean<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

 

Yeah, pretty much, but I know putting $500 against the account right away isn't going to cover off expenses, but I thought it would be a start.

 

Thanks everyone - looks like I'm in the right ball park. We've already pretty much picked out our shore excursions which comes to $800 so it's really just all the "Other Stuff" that can really add up.

 

Some Ship, Some Itinerary, Somewhere in the Med.

 

Mexican Riviera - Rhapsody of the Seas

11 Day Circle the Caribbean - Splendour of the Seas

Alaska - Dawn Princess

Coastal - Island Princess

[Cruise Junky]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Flick:

I don't know about the rest of your figures (spending is subjective) but you are way off on $500.00 as a ship board credit. You will be very lucky if you can arrange $300.00 per cabin and that's with Amexco Platinum.....<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

 

Hi - I think we're talking about two different things... I'm looking to pay $500 ahead of time to my account so I have a credit when I board.

 

Some Ship, Some Itinerary, Somewhere in the Med.

 

Mexican Riviera - Rhapsody of the Seas

11 Day Circle the Caribbean - Splendour of the Seas

Alaska - Dawn Princess

Coastal - Island Princess

[DianneH]

We just did a 12 day Med cruise and our ship charge was $750. We bought liquors and wine in ports. So that cut our bar bills down. Actually we were on the ship so little that we did not spend much at all. We bought a few pics at $10-20 each and some photo center downloading/cd etc. I think we spent a little over $3000 on excursions (mostly on our own(car/scooter rentals) & a driver in 3 ports and lunches in port. We brought back little in the way of souvenirs, mostly local art work. Really tried to keep the traveling light. It was nice to have to drag a lot of luggage around.

[Emerald22]

Hi DianneH

 

Are you allowed to bring the wine you bought on ports to the ship's dining room? Or do you just consume them in your cabin?

 

Cindy

[DianneH]

Some ships charge you a corkage fee. Our server did not. From posts on this site, I have seen some have gotten charges and some others did not. Dianne

[Emerald22]

Thank you Dianne. We are going on the Celebrity. I guess it wouldn't hurt to ask my server once we got there.

 

Cindy

[camelia]

Hi Cindy,

 

We cruised Celebrity before and were charged a corkage fee (I believe it was 12$) per bottle we had opened in the restaurant. Sometimes a bottle would last us 2 meals; the corkage fee applies only once. Also, it does not apply to wine you drink in your room. Overall, we think it's a great system as I don't care much for Celebrity's winelist!

 

I hope this helps

Veronique

[sunflowr15]

Hi Mike and Mary,

 

We will be doing a 12 night Med. cruise also. Can you tell me what you did in each port and if you can recommend a private guide for each port you toured?

 

Thanks,

Jess

[pjtiern]

Your ideas on wine and spending sound a lot like ours.

 

I like the idea of buying local art. Where, may I ask, were the best places?

 

Thanks,

Pat

 

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by DianneH:

We just did a 12 day Med cruise and our ship charge was $750. We bought liquors and wine in ports. So that cut our bar bills down. Actually we were on the ship so little that we did not spend much at all. We bought a few pics at $10-20 each and some photo center downloading/cd etc. I think we spent a little over $3000 on excursions (mostly on our own(car/scooter rentals) & a driver in 3 ports and lunches in port. We brought back little in the way of souvenirs, mostly local art work. Really tried to keep the traveling light. It was nice to have to drag a lot of luggage around.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

[mikemary945]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by sunflowr15:

Hi Mike and Mary,

 

We will be doing a 12 night Med. cruise also. Can you tell me what you did in each port and if you can recommend a private guide for each port you toured?

 

Thanks,

Jess<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

 

Jess, we leave for Venice July 6th, so can't tell you how things went yet. We used the recommendations of folks on this board and booked Spiros for Athens, Daniele (DriverinRome) for Naples, Rome and Livorno, and Sylvie for Villiefrance. We booked Daniele for all three Italian ports just because it seemed simple, but I'm thinking that we should have done Sorrentolimo for Naples, based on all the glowing reports here. I'm sure all ports will be wonderful, and we'll post a trip report when we return.

 

As for a follow up to our earlier post on spending money, our total shore excursion price, including 10% tip, is $770. We're spending one extra day in Venice pre-cruise, and 4 days with Mary's family in Belgium post-cruise. I was planning on $2000 spending money (That's just spending, with all transportation and excursion expenses already paid), but Mary thought it didn't sound like enough, so we bumped it to $3000. I still thing my number is more accurate, but maybe she's got some serious shopping ideas! I'll need to caution her that anything we buy over there effectively costs 25% more because of the exchange rates.

 

Mike and Mary

 

7/6 Flight to Venice -7/8 Millie Venice to Barcelona - Retirement Reward

[sunflowr15]

Thanks very much for all your help Mike. Your tours sound great. Have fun!

[usavvy2]

mikemary945 read other posts on another board that slyvie farmed out some of her work to Caroline and Caroline now has health problems so they've cancelled some tours. you may want to double check to ensure yours is still a "go."

 

re budget here's my projection

Cruise Final Payment - $4,700.00

Pet Care (1 dog x 20 days) - $600.00

Transportation - Gatwick/London $100.00

Hotel Incidentals 3xLondon (reward pts) $60.00

Food London (3 days x 2ppl) $150.00

Excursions London (3 days x 2ppl) $150.00

Excursions - Ship (12 days x 2ppl) $1,400.00

Cruise Tips (12 days x 2ppl) $250.00

Transportation Port to Rome (share) $75.00

Hotel 2xRome (1 ni reward pts) $300.00

Food Rome (3 days x 2ppl) $100.00

Excursions Rome (3 days x 2ppl) $150.00

Transportation - Rome to airport $100.00

Spending Money - food & souvenirs ($75/day x 12 days) $900.00

Limo Svc. Newark/home $200.00

Total.................................. $9,235.00

 

OUCH!

[mikemary945]

mikemary945 read other posts on another board that slyvie farmed out some of her work to Caroline and Caroline now has health problems so they've cancelled some tours. you may want to double check to ensure yours is still a "go."

 

re budget here's my projection

Cruise Final Payment - $4,700.00

Pet Care (1 dog x 20 days) - $600.00

Transportation - Gatwick/London $100.00

Hotel Incidentals 3xLondon (reward pts) $60.00

Food London (3 days x 2ppl) $150.00

Excursions London (3 days x 2ppl) $150.00

Excursions - Ship (12 days x 2ppl) $1,400.00

Cruise Tips (12 days x 2ppl) $250.00

Transportation Port to Rome (share) $75.00

Hotel 2xRome (1 ni reward pts) $300.00

Food Rome (3 days x 2ppl) $100.00

Excursions Rome (3 days x 2ppl) $150.00

Transportation - Rome to airport $100.00

Spending Money - food & souvenirs ($75/day x 12 days) $900.00

Limo Svc. Newark/home $200.00

Total.................................. $9,235.00

 

OUCH!

I checked with Sylvie yesterday, and we're a go with her, with her as our guide. This may be one time that it paid to have a larger group. While our personal group was 10 people, we gradually picked up others from Cruise Critic until we had 18. Sylvie said she normall runs two tours, in two vehicles (Second must be Caroline), but since we had so many, she booked a mini-bus for only one tour on our day. If we had been a smaller, second group assigned to Caroline, we too would probably have gotten cancelled. Sylvie was very up front with me when I talked to her, and explained the problems with Caroline. I can understand both sides of the issue. If I was cancelled very late in the game, I would be upset too. On the other side, I"m sure that Sylvie waits until the last possible moment, hoping Caroline will recover and they won't lose the business. We just got lucky on this one.

[Cruise Junky]

re budget here's my projection

Cruise Final Payment - $4,700.00

Pet Care (1 dog x 20 days) - $600.00

Transportation - Gatwick/London $100.00

Hotel Incidentals 3xLondon (reward pts) $60.00

Food London (3 days x 2ppl) $150.00

Excursions London (3 days x 2ppl) $150.00

Excursions - Ship (12 days x 2ppl) $1,400.00

Cruise Tips (12 days x 2ppl) $250.00

Transportation Port to Rome (share) $75.00

Hotel 2xRome (1 ni reward pts) $300.00

Food Rome (3 days x 2ppl) $100.00

Excursions Rome (3 days x 2ppl) $150.00

Transportation - Rome to airport $100.00

Spending Money - food & souvenirs ($75/day x 12 days) $900.00

Limo Svc. Newark/home $200.00

Total.................................. $9,235.00

 

OUCH!

 

Hi - I've budged about $9,000 and I have no dog ;) so we should be on the same page.

 

Thanks

[cberge]

To usavvy2...

 

I want to know how you did re the budget eating in London for 3 days for $150.00 and Rome for 3 days at $100.00 for 2 people.You may want to rethink this amount...:)

[Cruise Junky]

To usavvy2...

 

I want to know how you did re the budget eating in London for 3 days for $150.00 and Rome for 3 days at $100.00 for 2 people.You may want to rethink this amount...:)

 

MacDonald's and Burger King :)

[cruisintwinsmom]

We just returned from 12N on Millie with a 2N precruise in Barcelona. I didn't itemize very well, but this should give you an idea. (We are a family of 4, non-drinkers, no dog at home;) )

 

$3350 cash-included private tours in 4 ports, some souveniers, gelato, film, etc

$1130 debit card purchases-souveniers (gold and silver), gifts

$375 food purchased with debit card

$900 on board (we actually had this much in ship board credit and spent all but about $20), included tips, casino, non-alcholic drinks, laundry

 

It didn't seem like we were spending that much until we got the bank statements:eek: . Note: This doesn't include the cost of our hotel or cruise.

 

 

Happy Sailing!

[cberge]

You forgot Pizza Hut...which BTW are not bad in London..:)

[Tatka]

All I know is our 7 days cruise was $1760 for two of us.... Shore tours were about 1000 + $200 in London on our way back + about $150 stay in Barcelona.

 

Nobody will help you with additional money amount... Do you want to shop in Europe? I saw small handbag for $1200 and beach sandals for $300....;)