How much money to bring?

[StaceyA]

Hello all!
I have a question that really no one can answer directly but perhaps I can get an idea.
I will be on the magic Eastern 7 night with my Husband in July. We are trying to figure out how much money to take with us. I know you charge everything to your room card, and could put this on your credit card however we don't really like to use credit cards and would like to pay the final balance in cash. I think the most we are going to spend on excursions will be about $300.00 total, and we don't really drink alot (we are going to buy the refillable mug) but we will go out to the bars at night and have a few. I know no one can tell me exactly, but I would like to hear how much others in our situation (two adults without children) have spent on their cruise....ohh yeah and we are planning the suriel bath..... wink wink
Thanks for any help you can give on this!
Stacey!

 

[wishiwasgolfing]

Hi StaceyA, it all depends on what your going to be doing. My thoughts are always bring more than you think you need. You can always put what you don't spend back in the bank. We are doing the 7 day cruise (2 adults,2 small children). I'm trying to figure out what to bring for cash myself. I think we are going to skip the excursions and do stuff on our own because the excursions seem way over priced to me. Not sure about the Spa or other things yet but aside from the excursions and Spa I'm looking at $200 a day. Right now for us that seems about right.
subject to change though. Bottom line is you don't want to have to worry about running out of money so bring more than you think you need. I hope I helped some.
good luck

 

[StaceyA]

Thanks for the help...I was actually thinking somewhere around $1000.00 for the two of us....I think that would be fine....and of course a credit card just in case
Stacey

 

[wishiwasgolfing]

That should be plenty plus you have the credit card to back you up. It appears that the excursions,spa and drinks are the biggest cost once on the ship. A glass of wine is like $7.00 minimum and beer is about $4 or $5 a pop. That's my biggest expense because I like to throw down a few beers especially on vacation. Plus I hear they push the drinks on you for obvious reasons $$$. I'm definitely bringing some of my own on board. I will buy my fair share from them but...
PS- enjoy that Suriel Bath! wink wink

 

[RickW]

Stacey,
We were two adults with no kids on the 7 day. We spent about $300 on excursions, $200 on Tips (we tipped a bit more than "suggested"), $100 for Rainforest Room passes for the week ($50 each), my wife had a haircut, manicure & pedicure in the spa for another $150 or so.) We spent about $40 on pictures at Shutters, another $60 at Palo (Brunch & Dinner, including extra tip for amazing service). We spent about $200 on souveniers. We only spent about $20 on beverages (we don't drink, and tend to prefer water over soda).

In all, we spent a bit over $1100.

If you are not worried about putting a small amount on your CC (say under $100), I would suggest giving guest services a credit card on Friday to handle those last charges. This way, you can have "express checkout" and not have to worry about settling up your bill on Saturday morning.

 

[StaceyA]

Rick,
Thanks for the breakdown, that really does help!
Stacey

 

[mom2grace]

We brought our own beer and wine, but still indulged with theirs and spent $85 on alcohol plus 1 Palo dinner.

We spent $106 at the spa.....we did the surial bath and thankfully did not end up with a "souvenir"!

We didn't go crazy for "souvenirs' in the shops, however we did buy a $200 camera on St. Maarten!

Without tips, our total "disney bill" was $350 (DH did the St. Maarten regatta and we spent $60 in the nursery for DD), we tipped a little extra, especially to our cabin steward and Palo server.

It is easy with a little self control not to go crazy! Most afternoons, the drink of the day was buy 1 get one free!!

You will have a great trip!

Susan