Taking a 7-day cruise, how much money should we budget to take on excursions, drinks, etc?

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G-Spin2k1

As much as you can. Really it depends on who you are. My family and girlfriend (total 6) went cruising to Alaska last year..and we might've spent about $1200 pp on excursions and drinks. But that's because we did an excursion at each port, partied a lot, and one of our excursions was a whopping $500 pp (helicopter glacier tour). But it depends on what excursions interests you, if you're gonna do an excursion on each one, how much they cost, how much you drink etc. Anyway here's a quick way to save some money on drinks. Most cruises let you bring wine/champagne aboard. Buy the max u can and bring it on board (ours was 1 wine and 1 champagne per person), they only charge you if you uncork it in the restaurants...so u can either celebrate in the room with it..or heck a $25 corkage fee on a $100 bottle of Dom Perignon is still cheaper than the $195 they charge for it. and my girlfriend and I (cus we are younger) bought some liquor, put it in empty mouthwash bottles, and used food coloring to color it green..they didnt even check, but they would never be able to tell anyway...cheap shops and screw drivers.

Anyway I dont know how often you go cruising, but it's usually something you don't go often, and will leave you a lifetime of memories... so I'd splurge (within reason). Have fun.

~G

shhhhhhhhhhhimhiding

You can prepay your excursions before going, which might help with budgeting, or atleast look at the prices so you have some idea, aince everyone has different tastes.

You will pay bar costs similar to that at a resturant. Pop is around $2 each and beer and cocktails range from $5 til $12 depending. If you drink alot of pop you might consider a beverage card which allows unlimited pop. The cost of the card depends on adult or child and varies among cruise lines but is between $5-$7 a day. The ship has water, juices and ice tea and coffee free of charge although the selection varies.

Ships also have speciality resturants that have additional charges such as coffe shops, supper clubs etc

Dont forget that gratuties are charged per person at $10 a day, so a family of 4 will pay $280 for a 7 day cruise.

Have fun

Patrick S

We just came back from a 7-day cruise to Haiti, Montego Bay, Jamaica, Grand Cayman and Cozumel on the Royal Cribbean's Liberty of the Seas....We budgeted $1200 and pretty much spent all but about $200.
Look closely at the excursions, many are relatively inexpensive, but some are quite costly.
If you are going on Royal Caribbean, we had $700 on our SeaPass account and spent about $575. We did a lot of shopping in Cozumel, which took up a chunk of change too.
You will need about $150 ish for tips for the waiters, room attendants as well.
Like I said, we budgeted a certain amount and we stayed pretty close to that....but we didn't cheat ourselves out of anything either.

jennaonna2000

Depends, how many people? If it's 2 people I would still save a good $1000.00 for that cause excursions are really expensive and drinks... well believe me all you will be doing is drinking the entire time so that will get very costly. And if you want to buy souvenirs and bring home alcohol cause they always have cheap specials on the boat. You will need to make sure you have enough.

punk_rock_guy_chris

My family of 4 went to Hawaii and spent little over $2000, so I would be saving quite a bit.

julie travelcaster

That depends on you and what excursions you take, and how much you drink. My husband and I usually spend about $300 to $500 on a 7 day cruise, BUT we don't generally take shore excursions (we made an exception in Ocho Rios, which cost us an extra $200) Grand Cayman is easy to do on your own, as is Cozumel. Haiti is Labadee, so it's a beach day. We bring our own snorkle equipment, and just have fun on the beach.

You can save money arranging your own excursions, either getting a travel guide and figuring them out yourself, or hiring an excursion company on the island itself. Note that they can't hold the ship if you run late, like the ship excursions can, so I always plan to go out early, and arrive shipboard a couple of hours before we have to be there when we do this. Usually there is shopping right near the ship, which is great, or if I'm tired I'll get on the ship and sink into the hot tub before the hordes return.

If you want to do shore excursions, then save a little more, and if you drink more than a couple drinks each per night, or play bingo, or do the spa on the ship, or get your hair done, whatever, you should add more.

Most cruise line web sites let you check out the cost of the shore excursions in advance.

Due September 17th with baby #1

It really depends on how much you plan on shopping and splurging. But here is an idea and these are all optional.

Tips---$10 per person per day or $70 per person
Alcoholic Beverages & Specialty Drinks--range from $4-$12 depending on drink.
Soda Card--$35 for a week per person (or share)
Shore Excursions--$35-$165 depending on excursion booked(ex. take you to the beach $35 or swim with the dolphins $165). Per person per excursion. Most range around $79-$99 per person.
Supper Club--If your ship has a reservations only supper club then it usually is a fee of $25 per person $50 a couple.
Spa Services--plan on saving $100 or more. Keep on the watch for ladies nights and last days of your cruise may offer half off spa services and salon.
Souveniers $-$$$ depends on what you buy and how much. I would reccomend not shopping in Grand Cayman b/c US money is not as much there. You will be paying double. If you are planning on buying alcohol to bring back home then buy it on the ship. It will be cheaper because it is tax and duty free.

It sounds like you are sailing on RLC. I have only sailed Carnival and Disney so I am going off their prices. If you are on the Freedom or Liberty it may be higher.

MomSezNo

Julie and Lollipop have great advice.

To save money, do your own excursions [except in Ocho, unless you just want to walk over to Island Village/Margaritaville]. GC and Coz are definitely easy to do on your own, and as they said, Haiti is a "private island" self-contained stop.

For lots of specific info on ports and also money-saving tips, go to CruiseCritic.com, click on "Boards", then "Ports of Call" and "Money-Saving Tips".

You can spend a little or a lot, depending on what's important to you. You can really save by not buying a lot of fancy drinks on board, but if that's important to you, it's going to cost you.

Have a great time!

DAVID H

Just come back from a 12 day cruise around the Caribbean with drinks and trips it cost us Â£120-00 per day = 240 dollars,
average trip per day was 180dollars.Have a good trip

Hello2u

i assume your looking for other expenses besides the cost of cruise/flight.

You can book your excursions early or on the boat. All range from 35-95 normally each. 4 islands i might do 2-3 excursions. Drinks are a few dollars each. Beers are 3.50-5 each i think. Gamble minimums go from 5-10-15 minimums.

Also you pay everything through your cruise card and it sends you a bill to your credit card after the cruise is over. I might budget 200-400 for all those expenses obviously more excursions the price goes up. I just booked one for $95 dollars and might do one more for 70.

coleluvsdane

go to the cruise website a lot of times it will show what excursions are available and sometimes it will show an approx. price range..im going on a 7 day cruise to jamacia grand caymen and cozumel and i estimated 500 per person just for shore excursions. there are some cheap excursions and some expensive ones...!!!if ur gonna drink..i mean 7 days cruise if u drink a lil everyday or most days that could add up to a couple hundred dollars at least and then if your gonna buy pictures on the cruise or soveiners. (*sp) I would say bring 1000 per person or even more than that. ???

karkee07

You didn't say which cruise company who you were going with. but the the cruise websight will have all the info and prices on excursions. I am assuming your taking a Royal Caribbean Cruise since your going to Haiti, good choice.

Also use the link below. Its a HUGE websight for all things crusing. You'll find reviews for everything from your cruise ship acticitves and excursions, ect. its a very lovely sight,

Liquor drink can be any where from 5 to 10 USD.

I've been on four, four night cruises and spent about 300 or so for those four days. I also only bought a couple drinks in port in Cuzomel.

So maybe 1000 or so.

In Cuzomel make sure you go to Los Cinso Soles. Its an awesome shop. They also sell the best organic vanilla that I've had. And its not the dangerous mexican stuf thats been in the news latley.

Have fun. I'm totally jelous. I don't get to go on a cruise this year...tear tear. lol.

â™¥Tomâ™¥ (I'm a Girl)

idk

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