How much money is needed for a seven night cruise?

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TINKERTOY ..... the 1 & only

I have been on 20 cruises and went on the Mariner last December. When you pay your cruise fare all taxes and port charges are included in that fare. Once you get on the ship everything is cashless. If you book tours through the ship before the cruise the charges will go on a credit card. If you book after you are on the ship the charges will go on your on-board tab.

The price of your cruise includes your cabin, all meals (including breakfast, lunch dinner, snacks and free room service), free admissions to all shows and entertainment, and free use of all facilities on ship except spa services. The things that you will have to pay for are:

GRATUITIES: They will amount to about $10 per person in your cabin per day; about $70 each for a 7 day cruise. When you check in at the pier they will set up an on-board charge account for you to cover any and everything you may buy on ship. They will issue you a "cruise card" which will also serve as your room key and pass to get on and off the ship. At the end of the cruise they will add the gratuity to your tab and you can pay with a credit card or cash, your choice. So everything on ship except the casino is cashless; everything you buy goes on your account.

ALCOHOLIC DRINKS AND SOFT DRINKS: Coffee, tea, milk, juice, and lemonade and punch will be provided FREE but you must pay for soft drinks and alcoholic beverages and they will add a 15 percent gratuity to each drink and soft drink order. Drinks of cruise ships are generally in the range of $7 to $9 including the 15 percent gratuity that is included in each tab. Beer and wine are slightly less, maybe $6 to $7. The cruise line does sell a soft drink card that allow you unlimited soft drinks for the duration of your cruise. These you must buy the first day of the cruise and they generally cost about $6.00 a day for adults. The cost of the soft drink card also goes on your on-board tab.

PHOTOGRAPHS: Cruise ship employees will take plenty of photographs of you all over the ship, in the dining room, and as you exit the ship in ports. These will cost a lot, like $15 to $25 for most and the cost of them goes on your on-board tab. You can save yourself a lot of money by taking your own photos and asking other passengers to take photos of you; they generally always will.

TOURS/EXCURSIONS: You are not required to book any tours and can get off and on in the ports as much as you want. But the cruise line will offer a lot of tours and these are expensive.

SOUVENIRS: Anything you buy on ship from a gift shop or duty free shop goes on your on board account. Things that you buy on shore you pay cash or credit card for.

CASINO: If you plan to gamble on ship you will need cash for that.

OTHER: The Mariner has two of have what they call "specialty" restaurants where there IS a gratuity/service charge of between $10 and $20. The two restaurants are Chops and Portofino. All other food on board is free and its not really necessary to budget for food; you cannot eat all of the FREE FOOD that will be available (so why pay to go eat).

SPA SERVICES: If you want/need to have your hair done, get a massage or wrap, or any services from the spa, you will have to pay for them. Spa fees start at about $70 to $80 and they go on your on-board tab if you use the spa services. You can use the gym free but the spa stuff cost big bucks.

INTERNET SVCS: Ships now have internet cafe and some have WiFi but the there is a fee for internet access and it is very expensive (like about $50 an hour). Skip the high priced internet and ship and wait for port stops where you can usually find an internet cafe where the charges are about $5. to $7 an hour. Just ask the cabin steward and/or your wait staff where the internet is at the port. They know because they use them when they can get off the ship.

ROOM SERVICE/MINI-BAR: You cabin will likely have a minibar with soft drinks and munchies; you have to pay for anything you take out of the mini-bar. But the room service (24/7) is always free. However, you should tip the person who brings your order at least a couple dollars, more if you order a full meal for several people.

The ship has an ATM and depending upon what port stops you make you will likely find ATM's there also. Plus, if you need cash you can always go to the casino (when its open) and get cash on your cruise card.

Now, after saying all that my advice is take $200 to $300 and you can get more from an ATM if you need it. That's about what I take on a 7 day cruise and rarely use it all. If you decide to take more cash you can lock it in the safe in your cabin.

AT the end of the cruise you on-board account will be at least the $70 per person for gratuities. Then you may have another $100 or so for drinks and stuff, unless you are a heavy drinker.

So that's how your total costs will run.

Tony

My last 7 night cruise I ran up a $1,000 tab, mostly at the bar and casino. I recommend taking whatever the actual cruise costs and doubling it, and that's just for starters.

las vegas golfer

If your paying your tips with cash and you use cash for you on-board account, I would think a Grand would be more than enough! Unless you plan on doing a lot of shopping in the ports.

Kristina L

For gratuity, assume $10.00 a day for normal stuff. Alcoholic drinks and soda will tack on another 18% for gratuity.

Excursions will run you between $50 - $200. Sometimes you'll get one outside that bracket, but the norm falls between that. The normal excursion is less than $100. The more expensive ones are the ones that include additional air travel, scuba equipment - that sort of thing.

If you figure $100 a day you will be very comfortable. If you are really tight on money and don't want to drink, gamble and limited shopping, you can get away with about $200.00 - $300.00 and still have a decent trip.

$200.00 will get you 2 small - medium excursions plus allow for some small souvenirs. This is in addition to gratuity.

Barkley Hound

You will need $10-$12 per day for tips for the room steward and the waiters. Alcohol can cost $3-$7.50. Sodas $1.50-$2. Excursions $30 to hundreds. Then there is the spa, shopping, bingo, gambling, etc. Many ships have specialty restaurants that are technically free but have a $15-$30 reservation fee.

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Allen H

it depends alot on how much alchol you consume...
Excursions are usually 50-100, taxi 15-20 + tip, most islands have no tax. We took 1K cash, for 2 people and came back with 450.00
but we didn't drink alot. I have heard of some bar tabs going over 1200.

David H

Housekeeping gets 1 - 3 dollars per day depending on how well they do. Your total tips should range from 50 - 70 dollars. Im not sure if you pay the Waitstaff at the end or each day. Im going to suggest that you consider anything you buy to be marked up at 25 percent going in that way dont get sticker shock. say 100 dollars per day Average as a guide you should be fine. Have fun.

melisa1211

poeple ask on yahoo answers al the time.. Its called google. YOu can find a specific cruise and find out price sinple!

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