Looking to get a budget target for on board charges

[Bethshaya]

HI guys

I'm panicing that I am not going to have enough for our cruise.

We are taking a 7 night Eastern Caribbean. If you've done a 7 Nighter, can you post what your end result was for your account at the end of the trip?

If you could share if you went "all out" with drinks, smoothies, purchases etc or if you were more budget conscious? This isn't counting any Excursions, just on board spending.

I'm just trying to get an idea of how much to save/bring for just the spending on the cruise itself.

 

[MissReeRee]

HI guys

I'm panicing that I am not going to have enough for our cruise.

We are taking a 7 night Eastern Caribbean. If you've done a 7 Nighter, can you post what your end result was for your account at the end of the trip?

If you could share if you went "all out" with drinks, smoothies, purchases etc or if you were more budget conscious? This isn't counting any Excursions, just on board spending.

I'm just trying to get an idea of how much to save/bring for just the spending on the cruise itself.

For us the biggest thing was tips which I didn't know about until after I had booked the cruise, for our 10 night Med cruise it was a little over $400 for just that... We brought alcohol on board which offset the drinks cost a little bit, but I think we ended up paying $700 in total tips/drinks/Palo/childcare in Flounders. We didn't do any spa stuff, no photo stuff. Just really tried to cut costs where we could so we could spend more off the ship!

 

[PrincessTrisha]

We didn't go "all out" nor were we budget conscious - we spent around $400 for the week on board - that was mainly some alcoholic beverages, souveniers (which my parents did buy quite a bit - some for themselves and me and some for my brother, niece and nephews), a donation to the "Save the Seas" (or something like that), and I think 1 or 2 games of bingo.

To portion it out, for 3 adults (my mother and I were moderate drinkers, my dad had maybe 2-3 alcoholic drinks the whole week), it was about $180 for alcohol (which includes additional tipping - $1 for every drink).

The donation was $20 (and I think you got a pin).

The remainder was shopping on board.

We didn't buy photos or smoothies and usually had pop with dinner (the drinks were in the lounges or around the pool in the day and night-time) and brought some soda with us for the room.

We also had $225 on board credits from our TA and booking online (which made the out of pocket expenses a total of $175 on my credit card for our onboard expenses) - I was very aware of our OBC when ordering beverages - I didn't really care how much I spent since I knew that we had "free money" to spend.

Edited to add: I had brought cash for our tips so we did not charge them to our onboard account - tips are around $12 per person per day (at least they were last October).

 

[Lollipop's Mom]

We were not really trying to be budget conscious, but had a bill of $102 at the end, and had a $25 OBC.
I don't drink, which I know saves lots of money. We bought a few chocolate smoothies, a stuffed mickey, some scrapbooking stuff and a couple of other trinkets. Just didn't need to spend any money!
We didn't do excursions - got off the ship, got taxis, etc.. I probably spent about $120 total on shore for 3 days in taxi, beach chair rental, food, souvieniers.

I had $1000 set aside for the week and was more than happy to come home with $800 of it!

We head to Alaska next week, and I don't expect much expense- tips, a couple smoothies, something from the gift shop, etc.. We are not doing excursions as they don't interest us (we live in the pacific northwest and can do those things anytime if we want). I have $500 spending money aside and I bet I come home with some of it. I do plan on putting a deposit on another cruise while on board and found one I can put $150 down on as a 'dummy date'. Thats about it for expense!

 

[krbrat]

We were not really trying to be budget conscious, but had a bill of $102 at the end, and had a $25 OBC.
I don't drink, which I know saves lots of money. We bought a few chocolate smoothies, a stuffed mickey, some scrapbooking stuff and a couple of other trinkets. Just didn't need to spend any money!
We didn't do excursions - got off the ship, got taxis, etc.. I probably spent about $120 total on shore for 3 days in taxi, beach chair rental, food, souvieniers.

I had $1000 set aside for the week and was more than happy to come home with $800 of it!

We head to Alaska next week, and I don't expect much expense- tips, a couple smoothies, something from the gift shop, etc.. We are not doing excursions as they don't interest us (we live in the pacific northwest and can do those things anytime if we want). I have $500 spending money aside and I bet I come home with some of it. I do plan on putting a deposit on another cruise while on board and found one I can put $150 down on as a 'dummy date'. Thats about it for expense!

We have done multiple 7 night cruises. Our on board spending ranged from $450- $600. I usually budget $500. We do have our adult beverages by the pool, and a few gifts, but not much. Most of our spending was alcohol. The $600 was for 3 people.

 

[pillow]

In addition to gratuities (check the FAQ's on the cruise website to get an estimate), we spend about $400 onboard (2 adults, 2 kids). We buy a few pictures, and the rest is alcohol. We're not huge drinkers, but it adds up. You can transfer your reservation to a travel agent to get an onboard credit (we've used Dreams Unlimited) which helps. Also, we have a Disney Chase Visa card where we accumulate points. The good news is that you don't HAVE to spend a lot of money onboard. Spend your money to get on the ship, and then go from there.

Jodie

 

[pillow]

One more thing - I give my kids (age 11, 13) a budget for smoothies, souveniers, etc. After that they spend their own money. They start saving months beforehand.

Jodie

 

[Shanny145]

We were not really trying to be budget conscious, but had a bill of $102 at the end, and had a $25 OBC.
I don't drink, which I know saves lots of money. We bought a few chocolate smoothies, a stuffed mickey, some scrapbooking stuff and a couple of other trinkets. Just didn't need to spend any money!
We didn't do excursions - got off the ship, got taxis, etc.. I probably spent about $120 total on shore for 3 days in taxi, beach chair rental, food, souvieniers.

I had $1000 set aside for the week and was more than happy to come home with $800 of it!

We head to Alaska next week, and I don't expect much expense- tips, a couple smoothies, something from the gift shop, etc.. We are not doing excursions as they don't interest us (we live in the pacific northwest and can do those things anytime if we want). I have $500 spending money aside and I bet I come home with some of it. I do plan on putting a deposit on another cruise while on board and found one I can put $150 down on as a 'dummy date'. Thats about it for expense!

what cruise are you booking onboard that you only have to put 150.00 down on?

 

[mainegal]

what cruise are you booking onboard that you only have to put 150.00 down on?

Inside cabin on the shortest cruise.

 

[mmmears]

We had hardly any charges on board (not including excursions). Just the tips and a few items in the gift shop. Honestly, you don't have to spend money to enjoy the cruise, so don't worry about it. Just figure out what you are comfortable with before you spend it. We were on a short cruise and just didn't have the time for the spa or the desire to order the specialty drinks.

If you drink alot, spend lots of time at the spa, etc. I could see leaving with a hefty bill, though.

 

[Bethshaya]

thanks guys! This was real helpful. I found out that I waaaay over budgeted what I thought we'd spend on the cruise.

Granted, this will be our wedding cruise and we're traveling with the whole wedding party plus families, so I know there will be more picture purchases then we would normally do, and we have on excursion planned and while we aren't big drinkers, I'm sure will have a "drink of the day...or two".

With three of us in our room, we were planning on $1500 for the week. Plus we have more for all of the tips and things needed for the wedding day itself.

This puts my mind at ease. Thanks all

 

[joycsk]

thanks guys! This was real helpful. I found out that I waaaay over budgeted what I thought we'd spend on the cruise.

Granted, this will be our wedding cruise and we're traveling with the whole wedding party plus families, so I know there will be more picture purchases then we would normally do, and we have on excursion planned and while we aren't big drinkers, I'm sure will have a "drink of the day...or two".

With three of us in our room, we were planning on $1500 for the week. Plus we have more for all of the tips and things needed for the wedding day itself.

This puts my mind at ease. Thanks all

We travel with 2 kids and 2-3 grandparents/cruise. We are preparing for our 3rd cruise. First time we spent a ton on paper photos. Second cruise we did the cd - $400 right there. We don't tend to spend a fortune on souvies, though. Pins and a few toys for the kids. Did have a drink with dinner most nights, but not a fortune there. It _really_ depends on each individual family.

 

[Bethshaya]

Our 7 nighter was our Wedding Cruise. We got married on Castaway Cay. We went ALL OUT, and some. Spa, hair, makeup, nails for all the girls in the wedding party, and whoppin' it up all week long. We dropped tons on photos etc. While we had 20 in our wedding party (parents on both sides, siblings and their spouses and kids and our own), there were three in our room on our account. All of the wedding expenses went on our account. We paid for everyone's cruise. We figured either spend it at home on a big wedding with a big reception, or treat our immediate family to a 7 day celebration. Our room was paid for by DVC points and everyone elses stateroom was paid cash. They were responsible for their own spending money and excursions.

With that said, we had a final on board bill of $2700. This included drinks (we are not big drinkers, but we did enjoy one or two a day), teenager had at least two smoothies a day, Bingo, photos, excursions and Spa.

 

[ppiew]

hardly anyone mentions what they spend on shore excursions! that can definitely be a big tag at$60+ each excursion times however many people in your group. Many are well over $100 so i would check the prices (on line) FIRST and allow for them. Reduce costs by eliminating/reducing spa usage, photos, bingo, on board purchases, and alcohol

 

[JLMDisneyCruise]

Well, I am suppose be cruising in 17 days, I got Disney gift cards to take care of onboard stuff like excursions, tipping and random stuff, and I got it for $1000 bucks, of course this includes my cabana. I then put aside $1500 for anything extra, I'm hoping this will. It really be used except for some Harley tee shirts on the islands. Am I bringing to much?

 

[darkwing818]

For a 7 night cruise, excluding tips (MDR & Room Hosts) & excursions; we're usually in the $500 to $700 range. Understand that on a 7 day we will do both Remy Dinner & Brunch as well as a Palo Dinner & Brunch. We might get 2 or 3 drinks a day, as well as souvenirs (usually clothing). If we get a Rain Forrest length of cruise pass then we get closer to the $700 range. If our 2 DDs (23 & 25) cruise with us it's all bets are off...

 

[turtle27]

To the poster who is having their wedding, check out the pre-paid all in photo package, it is pricey, but in the end may give you all the photos you want. It may not.

We spend between 400-900 depending on what the shops have. My DM loves the mickey band watches, they look nice and she wears them all the time. These are the bracelet style ones. Not too pricey, but she got all 3 new ones, which accounted for about 1/3 of that 900 spent. We also do Palo brunch and dinner. Plus 2-3 drinks per per per day. We also tend to pay for my DS and her friend half the time for drinks and we pay for all 4 of us at Palo both times. And bingo once, possibly 2 times if we have the time. We buy popcorn and souvenir popcorn containers, I also got the Olaf drink mug. Sometimes we buy more of the mugs/popcorn buckets as our friends LOVE those and they are not too badly priced for a take home gift.

We pre-pay our tips. We do not normally do spa appointments on a 7 day (we like our regular ppl at home). We don't count every penny, but do try to budget beforehand. We budgeted extra for the watches. We will do this in case they have new styles again. We also don't do smoothies or specialty coffee.

This being said, you can spend as much or as little as you like. Also, I normally have chase rewards to spend, so it is not extra $$ being spent. Just using up what I have saved.

 

[ColoradoDisneyFreaks]

Our 7 nighter was our Wedding Cruise. We got married on Castaway Cay. We went ALL OUT, and some. Spa, hair, makeup, nails for all the girls in the wedding party, and whoppin' it up all week long. We dropped tons on photos etc. While we had 20 in our wedding party (parents on both sides, siblings and their spouses and kids and our own), there were three in our room on our account. All of the wedding expenses went on our account. We paid for everyone's cruise. We figured either spend it at home on a big wedding with a big reception, or treat our immediate family to a 7 day celebration. Our room was paid for by DVC points and everyone elses stateroom was paid cash. They were responsible for their own spending money and excursions.

With that said, we had a final on board bill of $2700. This included drinks (we are not big drinkers, but we did enjoy one or two a day), teenager had at least two smoothies a day, Bingo, photos, excursions and Spa.

Were you coming back to update this thread with what you ended up spending, or did you not notice that you were the one who originally posted the question back in 2011?

 

[concretemom]

We did a 4 night on the Dream and spent $1500. That did include excursions for 5 of us.

 

[NEGeekymama]

On our recent three night cruise we spent just under $300. That was alcohol with tips, treats for two shows (soda and popcorn), a smoothie during pirate night, three pins and a stuffed minnie for souvenirs, and about 10 hours of nursery. My husband did the majority of the alcohol purchases since I wasn't feeling up to drinking much. The Drinks of the Day are about $5.40 after the tip, so a deal compared to the other drinks. We had no excursions since the parasailing was cancelled. If we did the parasailing, that would have put us at $500 total.

Study the wine package closely; is there enough you'd actually like and drink? Then it's definitely a deal. But if you don't think you'll drink it all, then don't bother.

Shutters' photos are, IMHO, insanely overpriced only marginally better than what I took with my own camera. $20 for an 8x10? Puhleeeaaaase. You can take your own pictures in all of the character lines for no cost!

There is an initial $12.95 per Oceaneer's band charge on your account, which gets refunded back when you turn the wristbands back in at the end of the cruise.

Pre-pay your tips (you have to call DCL for this) for one less thing to worry about money wise.

Soda is free from the beverage stations, so bring your own tumblers to fill up.

And even with the new alcohol policy, you can still bring on two bottles of wine OR a six pack of beer PER port.