DVC cruisers, a question on budgeting please

[Jillpie]

We are thinking about taking our very first cruise in April, 2005. We will be combining 2 years of points and there are five of us in our family (3 children). After talking to reps, we will have approx. 1350.00 that we have to pay after the points.

So, help me to get this right. We will be spending about 2000.00 on airfare (200.00 pp from Boston)....2000.00 spending money (souvenirs, drinks, excursions etc)....400.00 tips....200.00 Boston transporation to airport...150.00 Orlando to port transportation and about 100.00 hotel night before cruise.

Does that about cover it? About 6200.00 for the five of us?

 

[bobbiwoz]

Airfare, $1000 = 5 ( $200)

Cruises are great, you'll love it. Have not been on a Disney Cruise, we are waiting for our grandchildren to get a little older.

Bobbi

 

[KLR-wlv]

I think that's probably an over estimate on the activities/drinks -always better to overestimate than underestimate- but we went on a 4 day cruise and I believe our tab - inlcuding tips - was around $600. We had a lot of smoothie/drinks with dinner too. We didn't do any excursions through disney - but I'd think $1500 would be a closer figure - minus the extra $1000 you put for airfare - and you've already saved $1500! Have a great trip - the cruise was fantastic and I definitely want to do the 7 day sometime.

 

[bongo59]

you may want to try something different.......cruising with disney is awesome......we have done it three times but........only once with points......why???? the point total is way too expensive in our opinion........if you go to vacationstogo.com you can find 7 day disney cruises for 499-599 dollars often......infact there are 3 available right now......your better off using your points in the conciege collection than on the cruise......we just took the kids to NYC for the Macy's day thanksgiving parade and stayed in a suite at the plaza for 5 days for 191 points!!!! this was a great value on points and we got a discount because of the slow travel via the plaza.......i know if you have the points it is easier to use them and will require less money out of pocket but if you look into things on a relative value basis then you'll get my drift........good luck

 

[bongo59]

the rack rate for the suite was 1150 per night.......so we saved mucho dinero.......as for your estimates.....if the kids drink soda buy the disney mugs as soon as you get on the boat and you get free refills all cruise long......for the beer drinkers go directly to the espn zone on the top deck but an espn cup and get discount beer alll trip long......by the way the mugs work on castaway cay too and we even had luck using them in BCV after the cruise.......

 

[micKIM mouse]

I think you will have plenty of left over excursion/shopping/drink etc. money! I would agree that it sounds a little high, but it will leave you with some spa money!

We chose to take taxis to a lot of places instead of Disney excursions that way we could stay as long as we wanted to. When you take a taxi to the beach, just let the driver know what time you want to come back and they will be there. We have taken three Disney cruises and it has worked like a charm; however, we tend to only go to the same places that Disney or other cruise lines use for excursions. We don't get too creative with our destinations due to safety concerns.

 

[Doctor P]

If it helps your planning, our onboard bill with little or no alcohol for DW, DSD, and myself was almost $2000. That included a small amount of bingo, a small amount of alcohol (less than $50), about $200 in pictures, about $700 in excursions, tips, and souveniers.

 

[Jillpie]

ok, I'm finally back to my own post and thanks for catching that math error! I must still be tired from our DW trip last week. Very helpful hints and suggestions.
Bongo...we are using the points this time for the cruise because we've been to DW five years in a row. We need something different and the cruise has been my dream for a long time. So in my mind, points are points, whether we use them for a resort or a cruise. Its that much less we have to spend. But thanks for your thoughts.
I guess I'll scale down my expense budget to 1500.00. That sounds more like it. I'm just really aware of how I LOVE the shops at DW and I can be very dangerous with the souvenirs. I think I enjoy the shopping end of our trips more than the touring sometimes, its gotta be a disease, I swear .
I don't have a clue about excursions, how much they are, whether we would be interested or not. I just sent for the brochure for the cruise itself. I am totally at the beginning stages of all of this. I know there's tons to learn, but I have 14 months.
By the way, did I get the hotel the night before cost right? About 100.00 a night at say, the Radisson? We're a family of five, don't care about fancy, just clean and a shuttle to the port.
Thanks everyone!

 

[bobbiwoz]

Getting a room at the port the night before puts you right up there with experienced cruisers, jillpie, good job! No worrying about plane delays and weather, you'll be on that cruise.


Bobbi

 

[eva]

I think that I would leave the spending money budget at $2000. We took the 3-day last May and we spent over $600. And it was only DH and myself. The excursions can get a bit pricey especially with 5 people. For the $600 we only went on one excursion, played bingo twice, bought 3 beach towels and a t-shirt, rented snorkel equipment at CC, ate at Palo once, had wine with dinner, and ordered a number of frozen drinks. We didn't even get a chance to use the spa and we never bought any of the pictures. If you plan on no alcohol, no spa treatments, and don't do a lot of shopping then I guess $1500 might be a better guess with 5 people. I assume that you are taking a 7-day cruise. The Western has 3 ports and the Eastern has 2. If you do only 2 excursions that averages $50 a person that will take out $500 right off that bat. And a number of excursions are over $50 a person. I guess that I would rather over estimate and have money left over. You probably would get more responses to this question over on the Cruise Board. Be sure to check it out. There is a wealth of information there.

 

[living la vida mickey]

Jillpie,
You'll love the cruise! But for a lot of tips and info go to the DIS Cruise Board. It was invaluable to me when I was planning our trip two years ago. Have fun!

 

[Jillpie]

Oh believe me guys, I have been a huge lurker over on the cruise boards for about two years now (thats how I knew about the night before Bobbi ), so I have picked up alot there. But now that the real planning is about to happen for our very first cruise, I really need to pay attention now.
I'm not too sure about the excursions though, it sure sounds like alot of fun for the us and the kids to just go swim at the beaches and stay on the ship for our first time. They sure do sound expensive, and it doesn't take much to entertain us. The catamaran thing does sound like fun though. Anyway, thanks for the tips. Now I gotta wonder about the 2000 vs. 1500.00 thing , shoot, just when I figured it out too.