How much money did you spend during your cruise?

[NY Disney fan]

Trying to figure out how much I will spend during a 4 night Bahamian? I do not drink alcohol.

 

[nyc211]

The variables are excursions, Palo meals, spa, tips, etc. Will you be going to Atlantis? If so, food/beverages there are pricey. I estimate all-in about $2000.

 

[ktmo]

I think on our 4 day it was about $1000. That included the dolphin encounter, tips, Shutters CD and a few things from the gift shop (t shirts and stuffed animals).

 

[darkwing818]

Way too much...

 

[sunryzez]

Noone can answer this but yourself. You can go on the cruise and not spend an extra penny ( except tips, make sure you leave tips) or you could spend thousands. There is a large range of things to buy/do on the ship that cost money.
Things I can think of that would cost you extra to maybe help you estimate a budget would be

- tips ( for cms and porters at terminal to help with luggage)
- excursions
- room service extras( drinks, snacks, tips)
- gift shop items
- drinks ( I know you dont drink alcohol but they have specialty coffee and smoothies)
-bingo
- palo/remy
- spa services
-hair braiding
-shutters cd
-on board booking of next cruise
I am pretty sure that is all or most of the things that can cost you on the cruise. You just need to decide on your budget and where to spend it. Hope that helps =)

 

[Lisavince3]

On our 4 day on the Dream, we spent on tips, Palo (twice!), some tastings, hair braiding/wraps for my 3DDs, a few alcoholic and nonalcoholic drinks in the clubs, and an OBB. It was maybe $600 total (the OBB was a big chunk of that). We did not pay for any excursions, buy anything from the gift shop, or anything from Shutters. Like others have said, you can still have a fabulous time without spending too much extra!

 

[cwdefouw]

On the short cruise you obviously won't spend as much as you would on a longer cruise. If you buy photos, the spend goes up quickly. If you like to buy a lot of souvenirs, same thing. Excursions can also be pricey. Palo and Remy are also additional costs. Personally I think the $2000 dollar mark previously mentioned is very high, We didn't spend that much on our recent 14 day cruise, and we bought pictures, and did excursions, 4 day wine package, and ate at Palo 3 times, plus we bought some fitness classes and a 500 minute internet package.

On some of our short cruises where we don't get off the ship in Nassau, our total spend with tips is less than $500 dollars. I think the smallest was about $180 after the onboard credit was spent.

We usually budget about $30-$50 per adult person per day for shipboard expenses, not including standard gratuities, excursions etc. Without the internet, fitness and spa expenses, and photo expenses this is very doable.

 

[NY Disney fan]

On our 4 day on the Dream, we spent on tips, Palo (twice!), some tastings, hair braiding/wraps for my 3DDs, a few alcoholic and nonalcoholic drinks in the clubs, and an OBB. It was maybe $600 total (the OBB was a big chunk of that).

What is OBB?

 

[Cruisefan2]

On board booking. It is when you book another dcl cruise onboard with a 10% discount and some onboard credit for the next cruise. The cost of it is the deposit which is why they said it was a large portion of their $600.

 

[disney1990]

On our 7 Day Eastern, not including the tips, we spent less than $500.

 

[jaywalker17]

We did 8 nights on the Magic and spent $853 on board and about $20 cash in room service tips. Most of that was souvenirs, but a good chuck was drinks (not just alcohol. My son was getting a $4 smoothy every dinner, plus there were souvenir cups. My wife has some specialty coffees also.)

Keep in mind that we were lucky and won $450 on Bingo and after that we spent very freely.

 

[caribbeandreaming]

I just finished figuring up how much we spent on our 7 night Eastern on the Fantasy. I always do this after trips as it helps us to budget more accurately for our next one. Here's a list of everything we spent money on related to the trip...

Cruise Fare
Trip Insurance
Airfare
Airport Parking
Tips for Porters at PC
Pre-Trip Expenses (clothes, nails done, shoes)
Boarding for Pets
Airline Luggage Fees
Airport Food
(my in-laws live near PC so we don't incur transfer fees from the airport to PC or hotel costs)

Actual Onboard Expenses we incurred:
Liquor
Mixology class
Arcade
Bingo
Coffee from Vista Cafe
Internet
Laundry/Dry Cleaning
Souvenirs
Palo Brunch plus tip
Pictures from Shutters
Automatic Gratuities
Extra Gratuities for Excellent Service
Tips for Room Service
Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique (just on Fantasy so you wouldn't have this charge)
Snacks for shows in WDT
Excursions through DCL
Tips for parasailing on CC
Deposit for next cruise

We also did a non-DCL excursion so budgeted for that as well as a tip for the tour guide.

Also budget for souvenirs bought off the ship.

I'm not going to list what we spent on each item b/c it varies so much by what your interests are. But for us, our biggest on-board expenses were... DCL parasailing excursion, liquor (we enjoyed Europa on the Fantasy and my DH always had 2 drinks with dinner each night), souvenirs and Bingo.

Another big expense you could incur is for spa services, but we didn't do that this trip.

 

[WeLoveDisneyAlways]

We spent $200 we also do not drink alcohol. We had no extra food/drink expenses. Our tips were prepaid. DD bought a stuffed toy, DH a mug and hat, me 2 pins, photo album and 2 family photos. That's all we bought and we had a $25 credit on our account. It adds up quickly especially if adding excursions, tips, etc

 

[Greatfalls]

The only extra expense that you pretty much have to do is tips for your wait staff, room attendant and porter. That's about $200. Everything else is optional. The boat drinks add up pretty fast, so if you're not drinking, you're saving money there. Excursions at Nassau are probably the biggest expense. CC is expensive only if you're doing the activities, but snorkel and tube rentals are inexpensive. The photo packages and internet service are pricey. Souvenirs at Nassau, CC or on-board can vary widely.

 

[mrssmiddy]

It's interesting to see the wide variance of how much people spend. LOL! My family of 4 (DH and I do drink alcohol) have spent about $2K on both of our previous cruises. They were 5 nights to the Bahamas, 2 stops at CC. I have gotten the CD's from Shutters...so big expense there. We went to Atlantis both trips, so another big expense. Other than that, drinks, chocolate shakes for the kids (DH buys...I don't think they are necessary with free ice cream available all the time), tips, wine package, and items from gift shop on board and at CC. Obiously it depends very much on what you like to do.

 

[NY Disney fan]

Other than that, drinks, chocolate shakes for the kids

Where did you get the chocolate shakes?

 

[Castillo Mom]

Last cruise it was just my sister and I and we spent about $1,500 on a a5 night double dip. This included tips, souvenirs, photo CD, one excursion, Remy, Palo and alcohol. We have a 7night booked for myself and three sons so with two of them being over 21 plus doing more than one excision it'll be triple the cost over and above airfare, transfers and hotel stay. Yikes!

 

[dnice416]

I took a 7 night eastern caribbean cruise on the Fantasy in May 2012 . It included myself, my fiance, and our 8 her old daughter. Our bill came out to 1500 at the end of our trip. Mind you, we did partake in an excursion at at 3 ports of call, imbibe in modest alcohol consumption, and put our shopping on ship onto this bill. I don't feel as this is beyond the "norm" for families that want to enjoy vacation without worry. Otherwise I'm sure that this bill could be reduced by half if mindful of your charges on board.

 

[Justacruiser]

last cruise, 8 days, $260 including tips. We did spend a little at WDW for food. But total for the 8 days would be under $350.

7-day before that, tips and $28 bucks on 2 t-shirts.

Have spent over a $1,000 before but you can spend or not spend. Great!!!!

 

[Turbanator]

All in all the last one one was half the expenditure of the one before, about £1000