Am I a big spender or a tightwad???

[ljandiernp]

Hi,

If you are concerned then I'd suggest that you do a few things:

1. Take an amount of cash with you that you'd be willing to spend, then

2. check your account with the purser on your 3rd or 4th day on the ship and settle up with cash, then

3. either live within your remaining cash budget for the restof the week (keep a running tab in your head or on paper) or decide that you're willing to go beyond it by some specific amount and settle out with the purser one more time before departure, putting the last little bit on a credit card if necessary. I have done this on two previous cruises and it has kept me from going overboard ;)

Take care, Laurie

[OuiOnboard]

We got off Sapphire last Saturday. We usually spend about $500-$1000 including tips on a 7 day cruise and spent about $750 on this one.

We rarely do ship arranged excursions, no bingo, no gambling, rarely do spa tx's, but buy some drinks, better wine with meals and my wife buys some stuff in the shops.

In any event, we really enjoy our cruises.

[JLC@SD]

DH and I managed to drop $856 on board the Sapphire Princess last week.

 

We each had a spa treatment, we had one wine bottle, lots of the expensive photos, two excursions, and just a couple of beverages. Tips are in there too.

 

We had no specialty dining, no art auction, no casino, no cafe lattes, and NO ICE CREAM FROM THE PAY-AS-YOU-GO ICE CREAM STAND.

 

So if anyone has anything to compare to, please tell me if I was traveling first-class or on a shoestring.

 

I'd say this is modest.......and you avoid all those specialty hyped extras like we do.

[jay44]

The photographs, to me, are worth every penny... and that is usually where I spend the most money... as well as the excursions.

[CHINESE CAT]

I'm with Winnie....umm, tightwad. Life is very short...look around.

[Cruise Junky]

We neither drink nor gamble. Our "excursions" in each port are already pre-booked (we're part of a running group that will do either a fun run or a race in each port but all of those have already been arranged and paid for). Aside from a t-shirt or three, I'm just not sure what else we would spend any money on while on ship.

 

So I guess that makes me the tightest of the tightwads. So to the original poster, I say you are generous. :)

 

If that's the case, I think you'll do just fine with your expectations of what you'll spend on board :)

[jpg1747]

I expect to spend around $100/day. I spend most of my money on shore excursions, the spa and the casino. I don't buy pictures; I drink very little and I don't spend much in the shops.

 

One of the things I like about Carnival is the ability to prepay for shore excursions and tips. I'd rather prepay for as much as possible and have a smaller bill at the end of the cruise.

[gargoyle999]

One of the things I like about Carnival is the ability to prepay for shore excursions and tips. I'd rather prepay for as much as possible and have a smaller bill at the end of the cruise.

 

We've prepaid for all our extras including tips on our Princess cruise next month. Just ordered OBC via "gift cards". :) I actually like how Princess does the excursions. You can reserve a spot but don't actually get charged right away. I've changed my mind several times. Very easy to cancel one excursion and change to another! The OBC will be there to pay for whatever excursion we end up doing.

[bqkali]

Jeebus! You guys are scaring the crap out of me.

 

My wife and I are off to our very first cruise in Feb and I certainly wasn't planning for an end of cruise bill in the $700-1000 range. I was figuring on $20/day tips plus a couple of coffee cards and a pop card. Perhaps tack on one night at one of the specialty restaurants and that's it.

 

Guess I'm a tightwad. :(

 

Croptop ~ I don't think you're a tightwad! I have an on-board budget of $100 each for the week, and that includes tips ($10/day). However, I will admit that we are spending about $225 each for excursions (including tips & meals in port) over the course of 4 ports. :o Obviously you can tell where our spending priorities are!

[ocnlvr3]

Well I always figure since the trip is already paid for I have a few months to "save up" for onboard things. I opened a Princess Visa this year and am paying the trip off with it. That will give me onboard credit to do spa treatments and Balcony dining.

It does make a difference when you put money aside for your cruise extras. We work hard all year long to enjoy when we do cruise:)

 

Andrea

[Canadianhey!]

I spend more than your total bill just in the jewerly store. Then there is photos, bar, etc. I think you are thrifty.

[laidbackin LA]

I forgot to mention in the original tally that I spent $50 on Clinique duty-free and $30 on spa sunblock - an indulgence for sure but sensitive skin and all.

 

I feel like I was a moderate spendie.

 

I would personally forego the shore excursions, but the husband is mortally terrified of taxis in foreign ports. Not rational.

[Texalana]

...I have talked with people who had onboard expenses that exceeded the cost of their cruise and they didn't do shore excursions. It was almost all in bar tabs. I have to admit it is tempting to have a bloody mary in the morning, a beer or two sitting around the pool, a drink before dinner and then a bottle of wine with dinner...

 

:D Yep, that sounds like me!!! I love the photos, but I don't buy many, because the prices are absolutely RIDICULOUS! :eek: I really don't understand the reasoning behind charging those ridiculously high prices. It seems to me they would sell more (and waste less) if the prices were reasonable. :confused:

[bamm]

We did a 4 day cruise 2 years ago and our bill was right around 900.00 when we left.

 

Were going on a 7 day cruise in December and I'm estimating our ship bill to end up around 2000.00 That is of course without gambling and stuff we do off the ship.

[tequilasunrise]

$856 /2 people / 7 days = $61 pp per day. Just a bit under the generally suggested average of $75 pp per day. Not a tightwad nor a big spender, just kinda typical.

 

 

I agree, this is pretty typical. Everyone chooses their own things to buy (yours are not unusual), but for others it might be more wine, shore excursions, casino, onboard shops, specialty dining, etc.... Most people buy something---and Princess counts on it. Otherwise, they'd lose money on their last minute bargains and inside cabins.

[pungo3]

I think your account balance was very typical. It's the same ballpark for me and DH for a 7 day cruise. Honestly, I've never found much in the stores onboard that interested me so our main expenses, after tips, are excursions. After that, drinks and 1 photo. We limit ourselves to 1 photo each cruise as a keepsake. We never use the spa since it's just not something we enjoy. We also don't get off at all the ports since we cruise for the ship, not the ports. So, there is usually only 1 excursion, 2 at the most. We have totally enjoyed every cruise we have been on. The only 2 cruises that exceeded your balance were Alaska & the Baltics. We did helicoptor tours in Alaska and a train; both pricey. In the Baltics, we visited every port, and it was a 10 day cruise.

 

I don't think you are cheap at all. Just smart.;)

[PescadoAmarillo]

Jeebus! You guys are scaring the crap out of me.

Don't be scared. We're the exact same way. We always incur the recommended tip payments, usually pay $20-$40 a week above that to various people, get two soda cards and one coffee card, and an occasional bottle of wine which lasts more than one evening. Excursions vary widely, and we do many on our own, so I'm not considering their cost in this. But we always start with an OBC (on board credit) or two, because we book the cruise while on a cruise, and it is not unusual for us to have total on board spending, for the two of us, of less than $250 per week. We also don't feel like we're denying ourselves anything. We are very much of the "cruise economically, cruise often" mindset.

[Nancyquilts]

We find it's easy to avoid buying photos anymore. The new film shows all these wrinkles; the better film that was used ten years ago doesn't show any of those. I think they need to do a better job of taking pictures nowadays!:D

[Cruise Junky]

We find it's easy to avoid buying photos anymore.

 

So do we, we just stop posing for them :)

[bmcc]

Your bill may be average. If it is, then we're the cheapskates of the century. What we had on our bill for our last cruise was tips, one soda, and one teeshirt! We've spent a lot more than that if we did excursions, but that last cruise was about what we usually do.

 

Signed,

 

the Cheapskate

 

we were budgeting about $50/day and still try to see how we can save a little more excursion and other activities.

[PescadoAmarillo]

So do we, we just stop posing for them :)

:D :D :D

You owe me a new keyboard; my current one is full of lemonade.

[Cruise Junky]

:D :D :D

You owe me a new keyboard; my current one is full of lemonade.

 

Sorry :)

[ERTHDOG]

op-i too think your bill was pretty average ,our first princess 10 day cruise cost about 1200 on our seapass , and on our 7 day caribbean cruise we spent almost 1700 ( but our kids went with on that one)

 

so, as many think , i say dont worry about it and just enjoy how wonderful life is and be happy you are fortunate enough to go on a cruise:)

 

now if it puts you in the poorhouse,next time try harder to say no to some things;)

 

dave

[Cruisedreamer1]

We spent $1000 on excursions, 1 coffee drink,4 drinks, one speciality restaurant for 2,one bottle of wine, deluxe wine tasting for 2, a book and some postcards and the required tips.

 

I would look for non cruise line excursions next time. We also brought wine and diet pepsi for our use in our cabin.

[j!m]

seems to me a cruise is a holiday, an adventure, a change from the everyday

 

folks spend what they want and hava good time (hopefully), i know we do

 

i have met people on cruises who didnt spend a thing other than the tips (if they did tip) and they had a good time and were quite happy to be on a ship for a couple of weeks for $12-1500 each all in

 

good for them

 

we couldnt do that but they can

 

so if you had a good time and enjoyed your trip dont worry about whether what you spent meets some mythical average

 

it isnt mandatory to spend money

 

just enjoy your cruise