Cruising Aug '06

[Wislodgers]

We booked a cruise for next Aug. This is our first cruise and we are very excited! I am trying to figure money over and above the cost of the cruise itself.

Other than the obvious (tips, excursions ect) what extras can we expect to pay for on board. We have a 15, 13 and 7 year old. The kids are not into arcades, and we do not drink alcohol. I understand food is included, and we can purchase refill soda cups (DH and I are soda drinkers!), but how about "snacks". Do I understand correctly that there is a snack bar by the movie theater? Do we pay for snacks, or should I pack some munchies for the kids? Can we get bottles of water, or should I bring some of that along also?

Thanks for any information, I really appreciate it!

 

[lindakmonty]

you are doing good... sodas are free on deck 9 at the drink station by the mickey pool. they did away with the soda mugs a few years ago. I do pack snacks and bring my own Mt Dew since it is a "coke ship" but you may wish to bring bottled water. You can buy snacks as well. Looks like you'll just have souveniors... if you get a soda at a "bar" or something you would have to pay there. congrats... you'll love it!

 

[Jsme]

We booked a cruise for next Aug. This is our first cruise and we are very excited! I am trying to figure money over and above the cost of the cruise itself.

Other than the obvious (tips, excursions ect) what extras can we expect to pay for on board. We have a 15, 13 and 7 year old. The kids are not into arcades, and we do not drink alcohol. I understand food is included, and we can purchase refill soda cups (DH and I are soda drinkers!), but how about "snacks". Do I understand correctly that there is a snack bar by the movie theater? Do we pay for snacks, or should I pack some munchies for the kids? Can we get bottles of water, or should I bring some of that along also?

Thanks for any information, I really appreciate it!

If you will not be drinking alcohol this cuts your cost and the kids not being into the aracade is a plus. All of your food is included unless you purchase snacks for the moives or you go to eat at Palo's. Which for us is a must. It is an additional cost of $10 pp. It is an all adult restaurant and you have to make ressies.

If you order from room service you will need to tip a few bucks. If you order a drink from the bar you will have to pay for it. It is much better to head for the free drink station that to pay for it. You have to pay for bottled water but you can opt to bring some or drink the water from the drink station. I have heard it is better than what is severed to you at dinner. And we have no problem with what is served at dinner.

Of course souvies, excursion and spa treatments are extra. You need to accoutn for tipping as well.

It really just depends on what you will want to buy and do while on your cruise. It sounds to me you can go without spending much money. If you think your children will take advantage of the charging priviledges that come with the KTTW card you might want to not link this to your payment. My DS only purchased one thing without our knowledge and that was one aracade card. I was fine with that, but he did get a talking to about doing something with out our knowledge.

 

[jrabbit]

What can you spend money on onboard?

Family of 4 on a seven night cruise will generate a "standard" gratuity of about $305. If the family of 4 goes on a 4 night cruise the gratuity would be about $175. Some people don't tip (don't go there ). Some just the standard, some a little more and some tip a LOT more :yes:: yes the service is THAT good).

If you go to Palo there is a service charge of $10 per person. You should tip above this service charge for "using the room" Some people kick in an extra $10 per person, others have said that they've tipped $100 -- Wow!!

Room service is free for most items on the menu (sodas and some items you have to pay for). Be sure to tip your "server" or is it runner in this case . DCL has reciently made it possible to tip your server on your KTTW card.

Room service There are items on the menu that Do carry a charge -soda and the other chargable beverages along with several food items.

You can purchase snacks at Preludes (outside of the Walt Disney Theater). There is candy and popcorn to buy.

Baskets and Cruise Gifts I don't know if you can order these once you are on board but you can most definately order them before your cruise. DCL includes a brochure with your cruise documents.

Depending upon the ages of your children (or if your DW is gosh darn beautiful ) Shutters may be a big ticket item. The 6x8 (small) photos are around $10 each. I don't remember how much the formal (large) photos are (maybe $20 each).

If you have a child that is not yet potty trained (and 3 or younger) you can "hire a babysitter" at Flounders. You are able to initally reserve 3 time slots for your child. Later in the cruise you can see if you can get any additional times (if you need more mommy and daddy private time ) This is different than the Club, Lab or the Stack / Aloft - which are included in your cruise fees for kids from age 3 to 17.

If you stick to the drink of the day, they will run you $3.50 each (which isn't too bad). Otherwise the prices go up from there (but still are not outrageous!!) Speciality Drinks - like coffees, smoothies etc carry a charge. Smoothies run about $5.00 each with manditory tip.

If you buy the wine package for dinner the cost is $185 to $250 depending upon the package purchased. If you buy wine by the bottle I believe you can count on $50 per bottle (but if you each only drink 1 glass each, it will last for two nights and your waiters will take care of it for you!)

There is also a "water package" that you can purchase for dinners. Why , I don't know, the water that the ship "makes" is wonderful.

Shore excursions really add up. Even if you do a "cheep" $45 excursion that's $180 for the family.

If you do the wine tasting class onboard there's a cost and I really don't know how much it is because I don't like wine that much.

Spa treatments run from $83 to well over $200 per person per treatment (count on at least $100 ).

Arcade cards for the kids. Denominations start at $10 and go up from there.

Now for the souvineers: you can get some small plastic figurine for $5. If you want a tee shirt, think at least $35, polo shirts are well over $50. A DCL frame for one of your 6x8 pictures will run you $18 to $20. Lots of fun stuff to buy for the whole family at Mickey's Mates. Then across the hall is the Treasure Ketch and that stuff is generally way more expensive!!

Then there's the "store" that's between Rock'n Bar D and Diversions on the Magic (its in the same location on the Wonder-just different Club Names) that sells tobaco and alcohol products. I believe that any alcohol you purchase CAN NOT be consumed onboard. They will deliver it to you close to disembarkation time.

Some people have a Bingo habit that costs them a ton of $$$$. I believe that it's $35 for 5 or 6 games. Haven't done it so I really don't know.

Hairbrading onboard has a per braid charge.

Landry: You’ll need money if you plan on using the Self Service Landry’s on the ship. You'll need even more money if you use the onboard Landry and Pressing service that DCL offers!

Other people have talked about spending money onshore. Unless its at Castaway Cay, thats a different bill from your onboard account.

I think thats all of the areas that you can spend money ON the ship.

 

[jrabbit]

THere is bottled water available for purchase throughout the ship. But there is very good water available up on deck 9 for "free" along with soda (coke products), coffee, tea (I think). There are cups available or you can bring your own bottle to fill. You really don't need to bring you own water onboard.

 

[kcashner]

Ok, I'll be stupid. You said "certain food items" from room service carry a charge. After 12 cruises on the Magic, I've never seen a FOOD item that carried a room service charge. Yes, sodas and alcoholic beverages do. Can you be more specific?

Back to the original question....the only snacks that are charged are those outside of the WD theater or the BV theater (they set up a cart before movies.) You can easily avoid this in several ways. You can go to deck 9 and get cookies or fruit from Scoops before the movie. You can bring snack items from home. You can order from room service or get something from the fast food outlets on 9 and take this to the movie/show with you.

It would be possible to cruise and not spend a penny over your tickets except for tips. This is not very realistic, but could be done. That said, we have cruised and had an onboard account of less than $200 for 7 days (excluding tips). Like the original poster, I do not drink alcoholic beverages, DD is not into the arcade. We mostly took our own photos. The CMs will take pics with your camera. I did buy the unlimited rainforest package ($75), DD did the Wild Side excursion, and we had a few souveniers. We did some port stuff on our own, and that obviously was not part of the stateroom account.

We did not feel at all "cheap" or like we were "left out" on this cruise. In fairness, we have been on 12 cruises on the Magic, so there is something of an "already done that" feeling. We have our own snorkel equipment, so had no desire to rent that. My bottom line is that there is a lot to do with very little additional spending....or, alternatively, you can spend really a lot of money if you so desire.

I put DD on a budget for our last cruise. It was amazing how smoothies became less attractive when she was paying out of "her" money. We bring one bottle of water and refill it on the ship. The ship's water is filtered and tastes good. You can bring your own or purchase it on the ship. If your kids like a soda other than that provided on the ship, you might want to bring some.

 

[Wislodgers]

Thank-you for all the wonderful responses! We are also DVC members and make 2 trips to the World a year, so we have learned to travel "cheap".

If items include a charge, is it clearly stated? Knowing my family, if it is a matter of paying for water or taking a walk to Deck 9, I can guarantee it will be a stroll to deck 9 for the "free" version! I will probably bring a case of water, along with a few sodas for myself.

kcashner- We also do a "budget" for our kids. We usually tell them what they do not spend, they can keep. It sure puts a different twist on their spending! Our kids are good savers, so they tend to not spend unless they really want something. (though, we do also "treat" them to an item occasionally and they really appreciate it!)

Thanks for all the information! We were extra excited because we found out we have "secret porthole" rooms. We have 2 connecting and my BIL and his family is in the third one on the same side!!!!