How much money should you take with you on a 7 day carnival cruise ship?

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goaheadnfireme

Everything on board will be on a credit/debit card, so keep that in mind. And you'll want to have your picture taken--20 bucks a pop. But OMG, gorgeous.

If you gamble--take enough money to spend. DON'T USE YOUR CREDIT CARD THERE!!!!!!! It's easy to put your credit card into the machine and play on it, DON'T DO IT. I saw a woman max out her cards and didn't have any money to use on the ship. Only play on the FIRST AND SECOND NIGHTS. After that STAY AWAY.
Stay away from the BINGO. RIPOFF.

OK, when you go offboard, PLEASE don't bring a bunch of 20's and 100's. You'll need some 1's, 5's, 10's if you want to buy things. Always buy from the little girls selling their embroidery. Look at their hands. Sad.

I'd bring between $700-1,500. If gambling, $2,500. But that's me.

Julie T

Everything you purchase while on the ship will be billed to your on-board account.

If you link this account to a credit card, you will get the bill with your next credit card statement..no need to budget for cash in this case.

Or, if you prefer, you can open a cash account while on-board. You open the account with a deposit and can add more money or you get a refund if you don't spend all of your money.

Your cash budget depends on what you want to do while on shore....we take along a few hundred bucks per person in $1, 5 and 10 for shopping in the open air markets, taxis, tips to shore excursion personnel. If you want to purchase a big ticket item like jewlery while in port, many of the larger stores take plastic.

To help you budget...here are a few of the "extra costs"-
- Bar drinks - $4-12 each plus 15% gratuity
- Soda - by the can - $1.75 plus 15% gratuity
- Soda fountain card - $38.50 plus 15% gratuity
- Photos - $7.99 to $21.99 (depending on size and style)
- Shore excursions - $50-200 per person per excursion.
- Spa treatments - $50-200 per treatment (but there were many specials on this last trip as many people were skipping the spa...)
- Casino. Use cash in the casino to avoid 3% fee for using card.
- Bingo cards - $5-20...depending on day and games
- Gourmet coffee - $3.75 and up
- Internet - 75 cents per minute
- Ship to shore phone - $7.99 per minute
- Parking at the port
- Tips for luggage porters - $1 per bag

Shore excursions and spa are the single most expensive items while bar drinks can be the most expensive cumulative item.

My sister always uses a cash deposit so she does not overspend (which is easy)...I always get sticker shock when I get my credit card bill at the end of the trip...

Jane

Everything goes on your ship card which is linked to your credit/debit card. The only cash you would need is what you intend to spend at the ports of destination.

TINKERTOY ..... the 1 & only

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. All transactions on ship are cashless; everything is charged to your on board account that will be set up when you first board the ship.

Now, after saying all that my advice is take $300 to $500 and you can get more from an ATM if you need it. The $300 cash is 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.

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.

The things that you will have to pay for on ship all go on your on board account; no cash needed:

GRATUITIES: They will amount to about $10 to $11 per person in your cabin per day; about $70 to $80 each for a 7 day cruise. 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.

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.

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.

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. Take enough money to cover the tours you plan to book off of the ship (not ones through the cruise line), or maybe another $100 for taxi's if you go on your own.

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. If you just want a cap, "T" shirt or magnet then another $50 should cover that.

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

OTHER: The ship will have what they call "specialty" restaurants where there IS a gratuity/service charge of between $10 and $20. The charges for this if you use it will go on your on board account, no cash needed.

SPA SERVICES: If you want/need to have your hair done, get a massage or wrap, or any services from the spa, the cost will go on your on-board tab.

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). this charge goes on your on board tab.

ROOM SERVICE/MINI-BAR: You cabin will likely have a minibar with soft drinks and munchies; anything you take out of the mini-bar goes on your on board tab.

mike_alegend

You will need cash for your purchases in the different ports. The amount depends upon what you plan to do and what you want to buy. I usually spend about $50.00 to $200.00 in each port. For $50.00 about all you can get is a lunch, a couple of drinks and a tshirt.

Everything else is charged to your on-board ship account. You can go to the pursers office any time and they will tell you what you owe. They will even give you gambling money from your on-board ship account to gamble in the casino with. The casino is the only place on-board that you can use actual cash.

MelC

We did a 7 day carnival cruise and we took about 100 in small bills for tips and then we used our card and used a sign and sail card it is really great you put money on it as you need so I think we put about 200 or so on it and you can check your balance on the TV in the room and when you need to add more just go to the desk you can put money on it with your credit card/cash/ or check. Have fun I've been dying to go on another cruise. If you have any questions feel free to email me.

aymie520

To disagree with the majority, I want to say that yes, everything will be billed to an account of some sort *BUT* you can pay it off all in cash if you want to!! We did this many times during our trip so we did not have to charge anything to our credit cards. I would say a good and safe rule of thumb for spending money would be $100 per person, per day. This will give you plenty of leeway should you want to go on excursions or hit the casino. Have an awesome time!!!

LadyBug

Take cash...US Dollars (USD), not travellers checks. They're a pain in the tushie. Just carry your money with you everywhere...even to dinner (in a purse or wallet). My husband and I took $600 and split it between us. We also had our money in small denominations ...nothing larger than a $20 bill. Most merchants on land give change back in USD.

We didn't spend much money on land (Grand Cayman and Cozumel) except for a shuttle ride, a little bit of food, and a few t-shirts and other small trickets so we had a lot of money left after the trip.

All on-board spending will go on your Sail & Sign card which will roll over to your credit card on the last day of your cruise. You will need to log on the cruiselines website a few weeks in advance to set this up.

Most importantly, have fun!

blackberry_abuser

take traveler's checks not cash...traveler's checks are insured, if they get stolen you can replace them...and trust me if you're going on a cruise ship, it will get stolen at some point...

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