How much cash do you actually take?

[dzorn]

We are leaving soon for our first cruise. How much actual cash do you think we will need? We plan on charging tips and etc to our on board account (gotta start earing rewards dollars for that next trip).
I know we need it for:
tips for room service
porters at port and airport
Where else is cash necessary?

Denise in MI

 

[minnie4me]

not too many other places unless you may be going into ports to shop or go on excursions. Mostly everything on board is charged to your room, then you can pay it off w/ cc or cash. If you are getting rewards for the cc, that is the way I would want to go. As I am not sure where you are traveling, you may want alittle emergency cash. We went on a 4nt WDW 4nt DCl to Bahamas and came back w/ most of our money. I probalby took around $300 or less. I spent $5 in Nassau, and after filling out our tip cards w/ cc we decided to give server and assist. server about $20 extra each cash. So between that and a few snacks in Disney, and airport meals we spent no money !!

 

[Jessieknj]

We took about $400 for when we were in port and the airport. We charged almost everything to the room. We did use cash for tips. It depends what you think you will need in port. There are ATM's in port so if need be you can get more cash.

 

[CraftyMouse]

We took about $1500 for our back-to-back 7-day sailings in December. That covered our port expenses (excursions, taxis, food, spending money, etc.), money for room service and porters, and some money for food on our travel days.

 

[cdndizzylizzy]

You will need a few dollars to buy stamps at the post office at Castaway Cay. You have to buy the postcards at the gift shops on board the ship, fill them out and then pay cash for the Bahamian stamps. Each stamp is less than a dollar.

 

[Mickeyhugger]

We average 1100- 1500 buck on a 7 day cruise.

 

[ericamanda01]

I think for each of our cruises we have brought less than $500. Everything was charged to the room ( have to earn miles for the next trip) with the exception of what we spent at each port.

 

[MegRN]

Last time we cruised on Royal Carribean. I took $1500. We were going to pay our room charges and excursions which was about $800. Use about $100 in ports for food and other little things. The casino ate the rest!! My husband is probably going to breathe a sigh of relief we he see's there is no casion on the Wonder! We leave tomorrow!

 

[LisaBi]

Just enough for travel-related tips (airport porters, taxi drivers, etc), room service tips, taxi rides in port, and maybe minor expenditures in port. On Western, we did make several small purchases cash instead of credit card - just seemed easier in Mexico. On Eastern, we didn't use any cash in ports except taxi rides.

 

[Disney Fans]

We use our Credit cards as much as possible so we only bring about $200-$300 with us and most of the time we still bring the cash back. We just use the cash for when we are off the ship at a port. Everything else on ship and even most off the ship you can pay by credit card. Easier to replace a lost cc then lost cash.

 

[lillygator]

I am struggling with this for our 15 nighter. Between OBC and DD's we have $1300 now (but tips will probably come out of that) but I am thinking excursion money (cash on our own) and spending m0oney in the ports.

 

[anty30]

We bring around $800 for a 7 day cruise. Plus we have Disney dollars.

 

[disneywifeandmom]

We just got off the 4-day Wonder (1/13) and we took $400 between the two of us. We came back with about $350. When in port we used VISA.

 

[Yvet]

we are going on a western cruise and planning to do the tulum excursion, there is a little shop-stop included.
Do you pay with creditcards there??
Or just cash and if cash is it $ or mexican money??

Same for Grand Cayman are the prices and payments in $ or otherwise??

 

[webray]

It depends on how many and what ports we are visiting and whether or not we have visited those ports before.