General spending money question

[Hockeychic]

We are doing the 7 day Eastern. Now not including alcoholic bev's or excursions how much do you think you need to spend??? We aren't big souv'y people, snow globe and shot glass and maybe a t-shirt???

What do you think???

OK, and I should ask how much are the alcoholic bevv's.. beer, mixed drinks etc.

Thanks

 

[UGAFan0829]

That's a hard one...I always like to try and budget more than I think I'll need that way I can try and come home with some money.
And don't forget to include Bingo in there...ya gotta play bingo onboard!

 

[goofymama]

It really depends ... we spent $2,000 (2 adults & 2 kids). These are the things that can add up: tips, excursions, spa treatments, alcholic beverages (inlcuding wine packages for dinner), bingo and souvenirs. If you aren't a drinker and don't use the spa, your bill could be significantly less. I suggest you pre-calculate the bigger known charges like tips, excursions and spa treatments. If you know you want the wine package, calculate that as well. Then budget how much more you are willing to spend on souvenirs and other alcholic beverages.

 

[crisi]

Don't forget photos. A small photo package (and nearly everyone leaves with at least that) will be $100.

Drinks, drink of the day is around $4.

 

[cdnmickeylover]

We don't actually spend that much -- maybe $300 for the two of us for the week but we don't get a photo package, just one or two photos, we don't do any spa treatments, drink much so no wine package for us. We do play bingo ($50 with the jackpot card) and I usually buy a couple of pins and T-shirts etc. Our biggest expensive that's not included in the $300 is the rebooking on board deposit!

It really depends on what you like to do and this will determine how much you want to spend and where.

 

[cristit14]

It seems like the small photo package was either 85 or 89 dollars. The drink of the day runs just over $4 with the tip (something like 4.15?) the other fruity drinks were around $5 plus tip. As far as beer goes we didn't drink much because they didn't have anything good. We finally did find some Sam Adams the last night and we were able to do that, but I can't remember how much they were. It seems like the t-shirts were around $20 depending on what you got. The only other souveniers I got were a photo album and a frame, magnets and stuffed animal for the kids.

 

[Jsme]

Depending on how much you drink. If you like wine with dinner buy the package. Daily drinks are between $3.50 and $4. During the day go to the Beverage station for sodas and lemonade. You did not mention spa treatments.

Last October our bill for 7 days was $1800. That included all of our excursions, daily drinks, several expensive bottles of wine, some my FIL drinks, 4 Spa treatments and loads of sovies. Oh yeah it includes a few Quarter Master cards we were not aware our DS bought.

 

[jrabbit]

Tips (gratuities) for a family of 4 on a 7 night cruise run about $305 (using DCL's published guidlines).

The "Drink of the Day" generally is $3.50 and the "automatic gratuity" kicks in to bump that up to $4.00 to $4.25 (I don't remember what the % auto gratuity is). At dinner, mixed drinks run 4.50 to 6.50 (plus auto gratuity). So really the price is not to bad. Sometimes up on deck 9 they have a 2 for 1 deal on drinks (another good deal).

 

[Disney with Triplets]

We haven't sailed Disney before, but have sailed other 7 day cruises before. Our experience has been that the things on the cruise ship are easy to plan for and budget for beforehand. Otherwise, it seemed like everytime we went into port, someone had their hand out for $20 (or more) - taxi cab rides, a meal on shore (or a beer, snack, or bottled water) so that we didn't have to travel back to the boat, shopping for bargains, various rentals or fees on the beaches, etc. This could easily run up $100 per day if you're not careful.

We've been on cruises when we've said, we can afford it (it's not budgeted, but we can spend it anyway) and we've been on others when that we've said, back to the boat, we're out of money for the day. Best to decide which travel mode you will be in on this vacation.