So approx. how much extra $$ do you spend....

[cinmouse]

I guess we are not the norm...on our 4 day in April 2009 we spent about $1,000 extra, as well as $400 when we upgraded at the port.
We do enjoy our drinks, went to Palo, went to the Spa & did the Blue Lagoon Dolphin Excursion, rented bikes @ Castaway Cay, played Bingo and bought a few smoothies & movie candy, a picture package (about $140) and tips..that was for 3 of us...we are going on the Dream for a 5 night in June 2012 and I think we will spend about the same or more, as I want to cabana @ castaway cay for one of the days since we will have a 2.5 year old this time!

 

[Anal Annie]

OK, we DO drink (and we also bring some alcohol onboard with us) and we DO let DS get a smoothie at dinner if he wants to (after all, if we have a cocktail at dinner he's entitled to something special too IMO). We don't do the spa & may or may not do a small picture package. Martini tasting, refillable beer mug, 1x at Palo, some shopping, we ALWAYS do excursions (may or may not be thru DCL) plus the gratuities mean that in total we typically spend between $1,500 and $2,000 onboard (for 3 ppl). For our Med cruise next summer I am planning on spending $3,000 for the week because we want to do private tours in 3 ports - so hoping only about $800-1,000 of that will be going to DCL (depends if we book excursions thru DCL or not in our other 2 ports). We were shocked at our final tab on our first cruise & learned that we don't like to "hold back" when on vacation so I go ahead & try to budget for it up front. The crappy rate between the US dollar & the euro is gonna KILL us next summer. It just keeps getting worse. But for the most part we look at our cruise vacations like they may be the last one we ever get to do so we don't do tooooo much penny pinching - I try to do that BEFORE we go in order to pay for it.

 

[LuvIt]

Cash is not accepted as payment on board and everything you buy is charged to your room key. You are correct.

What I was referring to at the terminal was indicating to them we would use cash to settle our bills instead of using a credit card. Just as with everyone, we paid for our purchases with our room key but settled up at guest services with cash instead of a card. Helps us stay within our budget.

Ah, now I understand!

 

[desamnik]

I looked for this post yesterday and thought it got buried! Then all of a sudden it was right in front of my eyes this morning!

I think we are pretty much covered, I can see how you can go all or nothing on spending.

Didn't even think about pictures when I was planning, I'll have to re-consider that. They took some really cute shots of our kids last time.

Thanks for all the tips, very helpful.

 

[DAKfever]

Not sure how but every 7 night cruise we've done, 4 by the way, our room charges have NEVER been UNDER $1,000! It adds up super quick from the spa to the excursions to pictures.....ugh! It's insane....but...we wouldn't have it any other way! And that's only my wife and I, God bless us if we had kids with us! haha

 

[Chaosfilms]

This will be our 2nd cruise and first on DCL. (Really looking forward to it ) It's not easy for us to arrange a cruise, so we're planning to not hold back. Spa treatments for my wife, snorkel excursion for DD, Scuba for Me, Palo, drinks, etc., etc.
We go to Disneyland once a month (or more) and can do that on a dime, if we feel like it, but after flying across the country, taking the kids out of school, getting time off of the job and having a vacation with friends and neighbors who will also be onboard. I figure I will be in $1K to 2K range on our bill We've been saving for over 2 years to make this a special trip and we can't wait!

Steve

21 DAYS UNTIL WE FLY OUT TO ORLANDO!!!

 

[tinkerbellmom1]

We've cruised 3 times with Disney and have our 4th planned for next year. We have had a mix of onboard totals when we leave the cruises!

Our first cruise was a 4 night and we did all of the excursions on our own, bought a few cocktails, a few souvenirs, had a spa pedicure. Left with maybe $500 worth of charges.

The second cruise in 2007 was an Eastern. ** Warning** Don't look if you are sqeamish! Did all Disney excursions including the dolphin swim, cocktails, another spa pedicure, had a very successful shopping spree at Castaway Cay but then found the David Willardson and Peter Max art. Left the ship with a $7000 art receipt and about $1500 worth of onboard charges. We were able to pay cash for the art, and I love looking at it every day, but still can't believe we did it!

Third cruise was in 2009 and it was another Eastern. I did buy the romance package for DH and I. First trip to Palo, cocktails, beach excursion and snorkeling excursion through Disney, kids had smoothies and hit the arcade whenever they wanted, and bought almost nothing on the ship or at Castaway and we ended up only spending about $900.00.

I guess we average about 100-150 dollars a day and we do not skimp or budget. From the time we book until the time we leave, I am calling DCL to add money to our shipboard account whenever we can afford it. Whatever we don't spend, they refund.

 

[ep1229]

Our 4 day cruise in February, our charges were over $3,000 including all the tips, excursions, bingo, pictures, etc. Not exactly sure how ended up spending that much... We also ended up buying into DVC... add another few thousand for that! When we go next month... definitely going to have a budget.

 

[MomlvsGoofy]

Sheri how do they refund the money you have left? Do you get it when you leave the ship or do they put it back in your bank account?
Also does anyone know how much bingo is? thx

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Sheri how do they refund the money you have left? Do you get it when you leave the ship or do they put it back in your bank account?
Also does anyone know how much bingo is? thx

Not sure about prepaying the way Sheri was but my parents always pay with cash at GS, put plenty down to cover what they like for the week. Whatever doesn't get spent, is returned as a check under the door Sat morning. They are fine with it and never had a problem but makes me a little leary and I prefer using a cc. Whatever it comes to, I transfer out of my vacation acct.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

We just got off the Magic last Sat.
We agreed to keep our spending down since we want to cruise the new ships too but my inlaws were cruising w/us for the 1st time (dh was so happy) They are in their upper 70s and have some health issues and not sure we'd get this opportunity again.
We are 2 ad, 1 teen, 1 tween and our total spending was around $1k. This included gratuities, Palo, a couple drinks, helmet trek excursion for dh & kids to do w/ his mom, kids snorkels and floats at CC.
I don't usually buy a lot of souvies but let kids get some pins and swim trunks. I got a sweatshirt, big tshirt to sleep in, and the throw blanket.

Ds10 went to the free arcade night so that was a nice break. That's usually $20 per kid there. Yes, you can do that crap at home but some things are just more fun on a ship. I told them I didn't want to pay to see TS3 & SA in the theater cuz we'd be cruising soon and can see it on the ship for free. Ds10 teases me that I pay thousands for a Disney cruise and we end up watching movies on the ship. Yes, I can do that way cheaper at home but it's way more fun in the BV Theater.

It would have been $320 more but our jet ski excursion at CC was cancelled due to high wind. grrr. Same thing happened last year.

Anyway, with our $400 in obc, it was only around $550 OOP.

eta: We also visited Paradise Beach in Cozumel so add another $70 for lunch, lots of iced teas, and activities bracelets for the kids.