anyone done a cruise and not spend additional money.

[cgolf]

Kind of, if we had prepaid the gratuities and the shore excursions our obc would have more than covered us. That being said on our last B2B, we bought one drink each and one shirt for DD in the gift shop. Being frequent cruisers at the time, we already have all the DCL gear we need lol. Not sure if the placeholder counts too, we bought that on the second leg. Moral of the story though, is that we for sure use the OBC to try and pay for as much as possible.

 

[gismo1554]

I did two long transatlantics (2015 was 11 nights & 2014 was 14 I think). I do drink and I did 1 tour on each. I think my one cruise bill was $300 and the other was around $200 and that wasn't limiting myself (1 person). You can actually control your money well if you want to but what I would say is that you may find you don't want to. Probably the biggest thing you might end up spending is on things in the shops onboard but if you just avoid them then not an issue. That didn't include tips (paid for them with cash) and as I was solo I didn't bother with photos. I factored in around $30 a day when budgetting and ended up lower than that but wasn't really limiting myself. I think it just depends on what you are likely to want to do. Look at the ports you are going and trips you are likely to want to do. If you drink then a cocktail is around $10 max (but obviously you can get the drink of the day for more like $5 so this is max costs). Bingo is around $30 a time if you want to do that (I don't). Cocktail/drinks tastings are around $20. Palo as said is around $30. Once you work out what you are likely to want to do out of those then you can roughly work out what you might spend.

 

[shelldub]

Have a great time!! We did the Med also in 07 (family of five $$$$). We are soon going on our 7th DCL cruise and of course we are always in Disney.

Of course, tips and any excursions can't be avoided. If you are not big drinkers, need souvenirs, pictures or bingo players - you will be fine. If you can't resist - things add up fast. Give yourself a limit for the day. If you spend more one day, make up for it and spend less the next, etc.

Thanks AnnaS - we do drink but not on the cruise. I'd feel too sick!! I have enough disney souvenirs to last me a lifetime so I will have to be strict!!! and wouldn't be bothered with the bingo. i'll be too busy enjoying the ship and the sun.

 

[GeneMachine]

It's entirely possible not to spend a lot on board, but on a 12 day cruise you will probably spend some money off the ship even if you do all the ports on your own. There are admission fees for all the "big" sites, assuming you will go into Rome, Florence, and Pompeii, for example. It's easy and cheap to get to Rome, but getting into Florence or Pompeii from the ship is a little more expensive. Florence is about 1.5 hours from port and requires either a bus or taxi (like Rome, I think there is a train but the last time I checked into it, it required a transfer and the timing was bad; it could be different now, though). Pompeii will require a taxi, or Disney transportation. I think a budget of 100$ a day for the big sites should cover you with travel expenses, admission and food. Of course, you don't have to see everything. You have the advantage of already being on the continent, so all these places are easier for you to get to on a return trip than it is for those of us in the US.

Have fun! And see if you can budget 30$pp for Palo! It wouldn't be a mistake to miss it, but it is a very good meal for the money!

 

[GeneMachine]

I just re-read your original post and you are already putting aside $ for ports exploration. Sorry about that! You don't have to spend a lot on board. Enjoy!

 

[jahber]

We sailed a 4-day once and spent $6.95 (for a pen for my son's autograph book). That and tips was it. It was a last-minute cruise and we got an amazing deal--the likes of which we will never ever see again, alas. It was not hard at all. A longer cruise would be harder, but honestly we never spend more than a few hundred anyway on Palo and drinks and maybe one excursion, even on 7-nights. It's completely and totally possible.

 

[tink1970]

It sounds like you and your bf are well aware of prices and budgeting. If you prepay gratuities (maybe factoring a little more for the cruise if a CM did a great job and you want to reward that); do independent excursions; and don't: consume alcohol (on board anyway), play bingo, dine in Palo, live in the spa, nor buy trinkets, I'd have a hard time imagining how you would spend $1000 (or less) honestly.

I took my family of 8 this New Year's and the only charges we had were spa (me), Palo (brunch for 4), and gratuities. Almost all of that was covered by our travel agent's on board credit.

Hope you go and have a great time!

 

[steves100]

Thank you all for your replies. Its helpful to know that based on what we like to do or don't like to do we really can go on this cruise and not spend much extra.



Not going to Palo is not a BIG mistake. Its only a big mistake if that's the kind of thing you like to do. This would be a waste of money for us and that would be a big mistake.

Waste of money?????m

 

[DitkaFan]

Wow... I can't remember a cruise where we didn't spend an additional 1-2K while onboard. short cruises closed to 1k, longer cruise closer to 2k. We normally budged 250 a day for random expenses. I mean its a vacation right, why get all stressed out over it

 

[Kimberly9701]

hi all,

Looking for some info. I went on a 3 night cruise in October and spent quite a bit of money on board. I didn't mind I brought it to spend.

I'm now possibly due to go on the 12 night med this summer and my bf thinks that we will spend a fortune on top of what we are already paying. I really really don't think we will. Other than ports that we go explore, which will be paid in advance has anyone ever managed to cruise and not spend any money!!

If this helps at all-

We will be doing a Northern Europe (Iceland) cruise in 2017. Still figuring out with who due to this-

I budgeted $20k for the trip. DCL price is $13k for our party of myself and a 6 year old. I can not stay in a $20k budget with paying $13k in cruise fare alone.

Edited after I read that you live in Ireland lol. You have a lot less expenses to worry about. So go and have fun

 

[darnheather]

Just back from 7 day Caribbean. Other than tips, 1 excursion (both prepaid), 2 alcoholic drinks, 4 kids drinks (all budgeted for), and one sweatshirt, we spent no extra money. No problem.

 

[shelldub]

Waste of money?????m

Yes. As I said before it's not our kind of thing. It's clearly yours which is fine so I would appreciate it if you accepted that.

Thanks

 

[disfam3mi]

Generally our only expenses are excursions and tips. We don't really drink, no interest in Palo or bingo. All the free activities keep us plenty busy on board. Our next cruise is a 3 day that only stops in Castaway Cay. We can keep plenty busy there for free. I think our onboard credit will go to tips and the gift shop. We might not spend anything extra!

 

[MouseWivesSarah]

I agree...we have always found that their are so many free things to do we don't spend much money! I do like to go to the spa raffle and DVC preview just for a chance to win a little something, but no need to spend money as you can find something to do if you don't win!

 

[darnheather]

Wow... I can't remember a cruise where we didn't spend an additional 1-2K while onboard. short cruises closed to 1k, longer cruise closer to 2k. We normally budged 250 a day for random expenses. I mean its a vacation right, why get all stressed out over it

What do you spend it on? I found it incredibly easy to stay away from the shops and no one pushed drinks or anything that cost extra.