How much spending money do you plan?

[Minnee]

Do you plan your spending money per day, or per person, or both? What's the average for 7day Western ? Do you really save alot doing excursions on your own? Or is it just easier to do it thru DCL?
Thanks for any advise !

 

[KLDESQ]

On the 4-night cruise we went on last year we spent about 2K. For this year's 7 night, I am sure it will be 3K or more--those figures obviously don't include the cost of the stateroom.

Bottom line is that if you are really going to have an amazing vacation it'll cost you. If you are trying to cut down here are some of my suggestions:
1. Watch your liquor bill. We spent $500 just on wine. The waitstaff is not stupid. They see where you are staying, if you are on deck 8 in a suite they compliment you for staying there and almost shame you into the nice bottle that they are pushing. I'd much prefer a cold beer but my wife is a wine snob and it cost me.. Also watch the last night. They really push the special to take home--of course my wife couldn't resist and that was like $100 ('complimentary' glasses included).
2. Watch your shore excursions. Parasailing on CC is really cool, but also really expensive. Try the banana boat instead if you are tight on funds.
3. Watch your shopping on the ship. We must have spent 500-750 in the stores. The prices are really steep.
4. The pictures are also very expensive, probably cost me #250-$300 but the worst part is the sizes of the photos. Most of them are 6x8 which is not a size that you can buy a Target frame. They really push you on the DCL frames which are really nice but like $15 a pop, times 10-15 pictures--you do the math.

The way I look at it is this is our family's one huge trip per year. I guess with everything (including a few days before at WDW), it will run me 10-12K. But thankfully my law practice (and the law practice of my wife) is booming so it's not that terrible. BTW, I am making her stick to the premium wine package this year so that I know what my fixed cost is. Good luck.

 

[imgoingtodisney]

Im planning on $1900 spending money (not counting cruise or airfare). This does include 2 diff hotels for the nights before we cruise, Avis rental to get us to port and back, souveniers, photos, excursions, tux rental, meals before & after cruise, spa, Palos, etc.
St Marten we are doing Disney excursion, St Thomas we are doing on our own - I realize you are on the Western not Eastern
We leave in less than 6 wks!! When I told CM at Disney Store today I almost cried!

 

[CamColt]

We didnt really "plan" on any specific amount. We were on vacation and wanted to buy, do, and drink, whatever we wanted(thank God, I dont like wine, but those frozen drinks add up, LOL!). We didnt have a specific budget, but we also know what we can and cant afford. We wouldnt go nuts buying souveniers that we didnt need or like nice jewelry, artwork, etc... but if I saw something I wanted to buy, or if I wanted one more frozen mudslide, I didnt think, "well, how much is that?".

We were 2 adults on a 3 day cruise and spent 754.31.

 

[calhous2]

If it helps, we are planning $1200 spending money for our upcoming 7 day for two adults and two kids. This will cover drinks, excursions, pictures, souveniers.... Based on our three day experience last year, we expect $1200 will be fine for us and will let us have fun and not have to watch every penny. Drinks can get expensive, but I don't anticipate wanting to drink alot for 7 days straight! We also decided we're not going on any excursions, but instead going to the beaches at the ports. The kids will love being at the beach and hanging out and it should be nice and relaxing for us as well.

Since everyone's spending habits are different, I say you just decide what you can afford and go for it. There is so much to do on the ship that comes with the cost of your trip that you really don't have to spend alot of money if you don't want to. You'll have fun no matter how much you spend because just being on the cruise is an awesome experience!