Best way to save for Disney Cruise

[Zydebearsmom]

I just booked a Disney 3 day cruise for April 2013. I paid for half but still have to pay for the other half. What is the best and easiest way to save for a vacation?

 

[sissy_ib]

I just booked a Disney 3 day cruise for April 2013. I paid for half but still have to pay for the other half. What is the best and easiest way to save for a vacation?

How do you save money for other things? You can make payments as you go. You can even add money to your on board account a head of time.

 

[taaren]

We find the best and easiest way is to use our tax refund. Given the timing of this post that may have been how you paid for the first half.

The other easy way is to set up a vacation fund and have an automatic transfer done from wherever you deposit your paycheck (ours are on direct deposit, and we both work for the state so it drops in on two particular days each month) done for a small amount, say $50 each time your paycheck is deposited. That way you never see the money until you need it, you don't notice its gone its just you see how much you have to work with after and just plan your expenses that month, week, etc accordingly. You can also add any 'extra' money to it, like overtime pay or birthday money and xmas money.

Same concept as a 401K (in our case 403b). Can't spend it if you don't see it. David's Bach's books on Automatic Millionaire series are really good to help people who want to save but don't want to think about it constantly set this sort of stuff up.

 

[doublescoop]

Do not eat out. Make a meal plan each week and buy only the groceries you will need for that. THEN take all the money you would have spent on eating out and put it in a separate savings account. It adds up quicky!

 

[disney1990]

Do you have a Disney Visa card? We use our card for "everything". We have been saving for about a year now and have over $400 available in reward dollars -- saving without even trying.

 

[cockermon]

We did cruise last year. I took the outstanding balance divided by the number of months until full payment is due. In our case- this was about $200 per month. Every month I made a payment on the cruise using Disney visa card (we never carry a balance) to get the credit.

I guess you could do this and put the money in a savings account instead of paying a little each month.

It will be so worth it when your cruise is paid off next year. Enjoy

 

[griffithok]

Start using coupons and cut costs on quick spending like eating out.

 

[Zydebearsmom]

Do not eat out. Make a meal plan each week and buy only the groceries you will need for that. THEN take all the money you would have spent on eating out and put it in a separate savings account. It adds up quicky!

Thanks everyone. We eat out alot so I am going to try and cut down on eating out and put that money in a seperate "vacation" account.

 

[scrapbookmomma74]

We save all of our loose change in a jar in the kitchen. When it gets full (about every 2 months), we cash it in and buy a Disney Gift card with it, usually about $125. Also, for all "occasions", I ask our family to either give us Disney gift cards or cash for our trip. It adds up quickly! I also use a ton of coupons, and regularly deposit the savings into an account for Disney!
Good luck!

 

[tinkmom2]

I second and third what everyone is saying. We used our taxes a majority of the time to go to Disney. Like the other posters said you can prepay your shipboard account at any time so you have it paid off and your tips paid.

On our last cruise we took our own pictures and brought our own alcohol. We still spent around $400 on our shipboard account with tips. (4 nighter) Somehow on our 3 nighter we spent around $700. That was our first cruise. When you are on the cruise you can look at your charges anytime on the tv or go to guest services and ask for a printout so you know where you are at budget wise.

Honestly I think I took better pictures most of the time that the photographers on board. I invested in a fuji underwater camera and took nearly 700 pictures. The pictures you take on board are around $20.00 individually for the larger ones. They do have packages you can prebuy starting at around $80. The one time we did this we ended up buying the pictures individually.

A big money saver is bringing your own alcohol if you drink. We also booked our own air and limo service. Again that saved us a lot of money. We were able to upgrade our hotel at Disney with a pin.

We don't eat out unless we have a Groupon. I spend about 100 bucks a week on groceries. I plan our meals a week ahead of time. I always use store brands or coupons.

There are tons of Disers to help you on the cruise board. Have a great cruise.

 

[valee]

My sister wraps the bills in her wallet with a piece of paper cut from a map from a previous trip. When she's out shopping, she has to unwrap the paper in order to get the bills to pay, which reminds her that she wants to save for the trip. Seems crazy, but it seems to work for her. Whe I was at the grocery store with her and her daughter, she had her daughter take some candy and chips back when she was in line, telling her "Let's use that money at Disney". It's the reverse of using your Rewards Visa as much as possible to earn Reward Dollars.
I'm headed to Florida at the end of this mornth, and am cutting back on little treats here at home, such as popcorn at the movie, to save up for vacation treats. I tend to think in terms of how many Mickey bars I can get if I don't buy something!
Whatever works!

 

[RumpleMom]

Look for some make ahead casserole recipes. Make an extra casserole for the freezer, so you have something for dinner and can resist eating out.

Cook dinner in the crockpot, again not eating out.

 

[COASTIEandMATE]

I just booked a Disney 3 day cruise for April 2013. I paid for half but still have to pay for the other half. What is the best and easiest way to save for a vacation?

I agree with Taaren, have a small amount deposited to your savings account designated just for your cruise! Also, you could give something up. Do you go to starbucks on your way to work? Buy a Disney themed travel mug and bring a coffee from home! A latte is $5 a day, so that would save you $25 a week to put in your savings account! We were on the Inaugural Alaska cruise and now we are saving for another Disney cruise in 2013! Go to the "Budget Boards" for more ideas!! You can do it!! ALOHA, Karen and Ron

 

[DLW8]

I use a combination of what others have mentioned, but here is one I didn't see listed.

Pick a denomination of paper money and every time you have one, put it away. I chose $5 bills. Every time I get a $5, it goes into our vacation fund. You would be surprised how quickly it can add up.

Coins in the jar - we do this as well, although we don't seem to have as much change as PP mentioned!

Tax Refunds, bonuses from work or dividend checks - these are cashed and stashed as well.

Consignment Stores/Craig's List - anything we sell at these places (or have a garage sale) - that money also goes into the vacation fund.

Disney Visa - we use this for EVERYTHING and pay it off every month. Before we cruise (or go to WDW) we get the rewards card and that is used for spending money on the ship.

When you are ON your cruise - BOOK ANOTHER CRUISE ON BOARD!! You will get a 10% discount and OBC (on board credit). You can choose a "dummy date" if you don't know when you want to cruise again. Then you can move that reservation to a future time and still get that discount. In addition, use a travel agent that also offers OBC. I use Dreams Unlimited as our TA (you have to name them when you make the reservation on board) and got $200 in OBC from them in addition to the $200 in OBC I got from Disney for booking onboard (7 night cruise).

Good luck with the saving!