How do you pay for your cruise?

[SandeeJim]

I'm not trying to get too personal or detailed. However I was wondering how people pay for their cruises. For example DH and I save until we can make a certain size payment then make 4-5 of them until the cruise is payed off. How about you? Do you just do the down payment then pay in full? Payment plan? Do you pay ASAP or wait until closer to the PIF date? No right or wrong answer. Just curious. Thanks!

We pay the deposit at booking and then the balance closer to the deadline date.

 

[crystalgenette]

I don't have credit cards, so I make sure we have enough for the next deposit when we sail so I can rebook, then put away $200 per paycheck (adjustable depending on trip cost/time left) and buy Disney gift cards at my local grocery store (for the gas/rewards points.) The only downside to this was the time that I had to cancel our cruise (didn't realize at the time that I could have transferred to a placeholder) and wound up with almost $2000 in Disney gift cards. (That worked out too, we just did an impromptu trip to Disneyland and paid for the parks and hotel with the GCs.)

 

[Dug720]

Put the deposit on your Disney Visa, then divide the rest by however many months until PIF is due (was 11 for us) and pay 1/11th of the balance every month.. also on the Disney Visa.. gives you a nice $50 on board credit for drinks. Last time we forgot to spend it all (whoops)

The $50 beverage credit ended with 2016.

 

[aksearaven]

We paid out deposit right away, and then pay for the rest of the cruise/ flight/ hotel out of our investment vacation fund. Then on the trip we put all the expenses on a credit card and then pay it off from our vacation fund when we get home that way we can add the additional things like housesitter and stuff. Should mention that we usually book about a year or more out, we make auto deposits to vacation account every payday along with our retirement accounts. so by the time the trip comes we have already paid for it and then some.

 

[mom+3girls]

I usually pay the deposit and then count how many paydays I have between then and the PIF date and I divide that into the amount I owe and then pay that amount every pay day. Then between the PIF day and the date of the cruise I save up my gas money for my trip to FL, parking fees, hotel the night before the cruise and tips and anything else that I might want to do on the ship. That way everything is paid for before I even leave home. Takes the stress out of my vacation.