How would you do a budget Western cruise?

[imgoingtodisney]

Anything to do at the port that we could do relatively inexpensively? There is a good chance we will be in a completely different financial situation this Nov than we would have been last Nov. Without feeling like we are depriving ourselves how can we do the Western on a budget?
Also when do things need to begin being reserved? Would Aug be too late for me to start researching again?
Thank you (and please dont bash me)

 

[Doctor P]

One thing we will do is to do Key West on our own. If you minimize the amount of discretionary expenditures on shore excursions, photos, etc. , I think you can minimize the extra expenses you will incur on top of the cruise itself. Good luck!

 

[westjones]

We did the 7 day Western last year. Personally, I love the ship SO much that I would be happy to never leave. I would suggest that you just walk around Key West on your own. You can go into 'The Little White House' and see some wonderful historic items free of charge. It was lovely walking around that area.

At GC, if you can swing the cost of any excursion, I think the swimming with the stingrays excursion is the best and most economical of any excursion we have ever done. If you don't want to spend any money on excursions, than I would recommend staying on the ship this day and doing some laundry while everyone is off the ship.

In Mexico, you can just get off and walk around a bit and look at some of the shops. Again, when the ship is in port you can really enjoy just staying on board without all the crowds.

At Castaway Cay, don't rent anything, just go and enjoy the beach. You could walk the bike path which is a very nice trail (with water stations along the way, so you don't have to worry about water).

Don't buy drinks, bring your own soda if you want that (remember on deck 9 they have a free beverage station with tea, coffee, milk, lemonade and iced tea). Take your own pictures, the ones in Shutters are nice but way too expensive. Skip the spa (unless you are really into the spa thing, I have never done it yet, but would like to try the treadmills on our next cruise).

You will have a wonderful time on the cruise no matter how much or little you spend. The things I enjoyed the most (dinner, shows, activities on board) were all included in the cost anyway. The only thing that I would suggest that you indulge in is taking some money to tip the room service person. It is so much fun to order the cheese tray at night (and room service is free, just tip him a couple of dollars when he brings you your tray).

Have a great time!
DJ

 

[Magic_Fan_Bruce]

I've read posts, and I am researching doing an excursion free Western cruise (or maybe "Excursion Lite"). On our first Western cruise we did lots of excursions, and they were all fun, but this time we want to explore more.

In Key West we plan on getting Bone Island shuttle passes to visit the beaches and other points of interest.

At Grand Cayman, Abanks is about two blocks from the tender pier and I hear has good snorkeling, (rock beach not sand). And cheap ($6) chair rentals.

And in Cozumel we're all really looking forward to Sally's Mini-Golf, with a possible visit to one of the beaches.

There are still excursions I want to try and we may. But others have posted how nice it is to just relax on a quite and empty ship while in port, and that sounds nice too.

This board is a good resource, and cruisecritic.com is also worth checking into.

 

[kamgen]

We usually cut a major expense out by getting a smaller stateroom....some people swear by having a verandah...and yes they are nice...but I just want to be able to cruise! So, we opt for an inside stateroom. We seriously are only in our room to sleep, shower and get ready.....
We also limit our excursions and spending....you can enjoy DCL even if you only sit by the pool, walk the decks and eat!

Kamy

 

[Bev J]

If you want to do some excursions then stay away from the ones offered by the ship, go to local vendors. Go to www.cruisecritic.com, their boards are full of great cruise info for the different islands, mostly I read the royal caribbean boards since they seem to be the most active, thus more info.
We always bring our own soda, bottle water and pack juice boxes for the kids for onshore trips. We also pack ziplock bags and order in some cookies from room service to take along. I guess you could also pack just about a whole lunch from room service with sandwiches, fruit, cheese what ever. Just remember to bring some kind of insulated bag with you.
We love the west. caribbean route, don't forget to load up on wonderful vanillia in cozumel.

 

[rae519]

We've been on several cruises and have never taken an excursion. We enjoy being on the ship. When we do get off, we enjoy exploring on our own. Usually I research the area first, then have a pretty good idea of what we would be interested in.

We were going horseback riding at Grand Cayman (Nikki's) but our trip was divereted East due the Hurricane Lili and we didn't make it there. Oh well, maybe next time!

Good luck to you and yours!

Rae

 

[imgoingtodisney]

I understand enjoy the ship - thinking of not spending the money for the tux (getting pants DH will wear again), Palos brunch instead of dinner, bringing onboard drinks/soda. I have all the stuff we bought for the cruise last year so this is an expense I wont have to incur before we cruise. Less Christmas/souvenier/photo budget.

However, if we were to go to these islands and not get off would we later regret it? or would we feel like we didnt really get a taste of the island if we didnt do an excursion?

 

[kajohn]

We're doing the eastern not western in two weeks, and we aren't doing any excursions. When I booked the trip a year ago, we were in a better financial position than we are this year, (I live in the Detroit area, which has been hit hard this year). We are lucky we are still even going.

Here is how I plan to save money:

1. I have instructed my kids (5,7,9) that they can only have soda at sit down meals, all other times it's the drink station.

2. They each were given $20 disney dollars that they can use to buy a souvenir. I'm also not giving them charging priveldges. I'll buy it on my card and then I will use the disney dollars to pay it off at the end of the week.

3. I only buy one souvenir from each trip for myself, usually a christmas ornament, so I am buying the Christopher Radko ornament, that is it.

4. When travelling with the kids, we don't drink very much so one or two tropical drinks per day.

5. I have cash saved up for tips already, so I don't have to have them on my charge.

6. On the islands, I did alot of research on them on the cruisecritic boards, and found that it will be much cheaper to go on our own on each island to the beach, and rent an umbrella and two chairs. We will probably go back to the ship for lunch and then back out to the towns to walk around and shop in the afternoon.

7. We bought snorkeling equipment, so we can use them at each port, and not have to pay rental fees. Much cheaper if you are going to snorkel in more than one place, (and much more sanitary too)

8. Shutters: I have heard that you can have someone in line take your picture when you are getting posed pictures taken. I have a digital camera, so I will know if the picture I took is good, or if I need to buy the one the ship took. Hopefully I will save some money on pictures this way.

9. We rented a car from Avis to transport us from MCO to the port and back, which saved us $120 versus the DCL transfers, and we can stop at the store and buy sand toys etc before we get to the port.

I think we can have a very enjoyable trip, without feeling like we are scrimping, just by thinking some things through in advance.

I have heard another way to see the islands for not a whole lot of money is to rent a car, usually for $50 or so dollars you can drive and explore all you want. I did this in Martenique several years ago, and it was great! I saw so much more than I would of on an excursion.

Although I'm doing the other itinerary, I think some of these can help you save quite a bit. My goal is to have my shipboard credit not more than $300 for the week, and no more than $250 cash, (not including tips), and this is for a family of 5!

I also bought a lot of stuff on clearnance at the end of the summer last year, so I have hardly had to buy anything for my boys to wear for the cruise. They will be going in almost all new clothes, and I only paid around $3.00 each for shorts, and $2.50 for tropical shirts! Traveling in November, you can really do this, because your child(ren) won't have much of a chance to grow between August and November.

Good Luck, you will have fun, no matter how you do it!

 

[AnnMorin]

you can keep it inexpensive but rewarding

Key west- got to the aquarium, it is neat with being able to pet a baby shark and seeing all the feedings, I have never heard of much less seen a saw-fish that in itself was cool. cost about 8.00 adults and half that kids, show them your kttw card and you get a dollar off per person (don't hold me to the price I know it was under 25.00 for the three of us)

Grand Cayman- well here I think we had money well spent. go with captian marvins, it was about half what disney charges and most definately is a once in a lifetime experience, we did the two hour tour with stops at the barrier reef and then stingray city (note it is more like the three to four hour tour when all is said and done) I think the cost ran around 90.00 for the three of us-again I am just guessing but it was MUCH less than disney's excursion and only two other families on the boat. Worth ten times what we paid!!!

Cozumel, we spent most of the day shopping but went to cozumel mini golf too. It is a beautiful course, and you can get drinks (very reasonable) just a neat place. cost- about 25.00 this included golf a beer a sangria and a sprite.. Again I am just guessing as I truely don't recall the exact amounts but very reasonable!

 

[lsmac]

to answer your question about regretting if you don't get off the ship...I think you would. If you have never been to these ports, what a shame not to see them! There are ways to keep the costs down as everyone has shown you. We were more worried about shipboard expenses but were pleasantly surprised to be $300 under our expected budget for the week. (Thank you Dreams for the $100 shipboard credit...it helped)

Even if you just get off and walk around the ports, you should just so you can see why it is all the ships go there. They are really great ports. (even Cozumel which had 11 ships in port in Dec when we were there)

Lisa

 

[rae519]

AnnMorin -
Wow! Sounds like you did very well with your choices - I've heard great things about Captain Marvins and am glad to know it's being echo'd.
Anything we can do to "do it ourselves" is always welcome here!
Have a great day!

Rae

 

[mcnuss]

We spent the entire day there, literally left as the sun was setting. There are free loungers and little Tiki type huts, snorkeling, a nature walk, it's fabulous. The cab ride was $12 each way for 3, including tips. Entry was $10 per adult, DD8 was either free or half, can't remember. We brought an insulated bag and got room service before leaving the ship. Got sandwiches, chips, fruit, cheese, cookies & ice all delivered right after breakfast. We had water bottles in the room fridge (I bought them in KW at Walgreens rather than lugging them on board with me at embarkation.) I had brought many sizes of ziplocks so put all the food in them. We did end up buying a couple of cokes from the vendors on the beach at $1 per can. Grand total for the BEST day we've ever spent at the beach: $50.

On GC, you can go up to 7 Mile Beach (or any of their public beaches) and do the same thing, only there will be no entry fees.

As others have mentioned, the fun of KW is just walking around. We took the trolley and enjoyed the commentary, but it was not a necessity.

The beauty of doing it this way is that you don't have to plan anything! You just base your days on the weather and what you feel like doing at the time...no rush, no hassles to meet a schedule. In short, a true vacation!

Brunch, FYI, is more expensive at Palos than dinner. $10 vs. $5. I think, however, it's a better value. But I LOVE brunch in general, so don't go by me.

If we ever cruise again, I would omit the pictures. I spent too much on them. We could have spent a lot less on wine with dinner had we just had one glass per night each. These two things could have saved me close to $400, I think. Yikes.

 

[imgoingtodisney]

thanks everyone - the 2 biggest areas I can see where we can cut is the excursions and onboard costs (drinks, photos). I kept our money envelopes from our "past" cruise so I can see where I was expecting to spend.
any more ideas are welcome

 

[kimtenn]

As far as shipboard expenses, I would definitely NOT miss brunch or dinner at Palo's . They're both incredible.

Sadly, their afternoon tea falls short, so if you're looking to cut costs, I'd skip tea at Palo's. The servers rushed us and seemed to want us out of there as quickly as possible. The food consisted of a small plate of finger sandwiches and one or two little pastries -- nothing special. To me, tea is a fancy, relaxed "girly" event that is supposed to be special, but Palo's tea was just plain lacking. I would just skip it.

 

[Bev J]

You will be very sorry if you don't get off at each port and explore a bit, each has it's own feel and for the most part the people are very friendly. You can always hit the beach and just relax that it a real treat!
7 mile beach in grand cayman is beautiful and you can take a taxi, Maybe explore your options for each port and decide ahead of time which ones you will enjoy the most with your family. fhere is the website for capt. marvins
www.captainmarvins.com you can see the choices and book ahead, usually even if the ship trips are cancelled do to rough seas the locals usually can still get you out. Stingray city is awsome and the water is not deep usually only chest high, this is not to be missed.
Here is also a web site for the cayman islands
http://caymanislandsdiscounts.com

As far as photos go they are very expensive and very hard to resist. Try puting your photos in a pile each day or ask if you can put them in an envelope then at the end of the week decide how much your budget will allow for and pick just what you can afford.Then you are not tempted everytime you see a nice photo of your family or your kids. Take lots of pic yourself and ask staff or other guests to take pics of your family for you. Develope at wallmart double prints and share the doubles with your kids for a nice scrapbook keepsake when you get back.

 

[dznymom1]

You got lots of great suggestions already, so I'll just chime in to reinforce a couple. I cruised the Western on a different line (ssh - don't tell anyone) and these ports of call are wonderful. I wouldn't miss any of them.

If I were to budget for only one "splurge" it would absolutely be Stingray City. Our cruise was 7 years ago, and we all still rave about it as one of our best experiences ever. I don't care if you take the ship's excursion or go on your own, but unless your group is afraid of the water, in my opinion it's Do Not Miss experience!

We did Chankanaab Park in Cozumel and really enjoyed it. We also strolled through town,and enjoyed browsing and talking to the locals. My kids chose to spend some of their few souvenir dollars here, and did very well. My oldest got a very inexpensive chess set he still uses and loves. We loved Cozumel.

Key West is easy to check out on your own, and after a brief visit we went back & enjoyed the ship. We did go to the Aquarium which wasn't expensive, but we weren't very impressed. They may have expanded it since though. I always figured we can always go back to Key West if we want, unlike some of the islands which we may only visit once in a lifetime.

I would not miss Palo's. It is fabulous, and a real bargain even with a substantial tip. I found we wasted a lot of money on board the ship to souvenirs, drinks, photos and that stuff. If you aren't careful, that's where you can lose control of your budget because all that little stuff can add up to big numbers at the end! I'm cruising next week, and I promised myself to stay away from that stuff this time!

 

[lUVTOGO]

We were on the Eastern Magic, but next time we go these are the
things I would omit:

1. Shutters, I bought the package and now have 10 pictures to find 6 by 8 frames for. My pictures came out just as good.
2. Bingo, Enough said.(unless of course I won.)
3. Excursions.We did 2 excursions and it was close to 425.00. Next time I would like to just hang out on the beaches.
4. We rented 4 rafts at Castaway Key, only needed 1. Nobody really used them.

We did bring our own beer on board and I had a few of the Drink of the Days. We also brought our own soda too. We bought our own snorkeling gear, so now we have it for next time. Also souveneirs can add up quick, I bought a towel, bag, the kids had to have stuffed animals that are laying in the corner somewhere .But I would definetly do Palos for brunch and dinner. It is well worth it.