What vacation $$ amount makes you squirm?

[ekatiel]

For me it's anything over 5K for our family of four. Once we start getting above 6K, I begin to think thoughts like "we could buy a CAR for that amount of money!" (not a great car, but at least something that would run!!). Luckily, we've been able to stay under that thus far, but we do want to do an Alaskan cruise here in a couple of years, and I know that's going to cost us. Even if we can afford it-- over 5K seems like a huge chunk of change to drop in a week or two. Anyone else have a vacation $$ amount that makes them squirm?

 

[StirlingSilver83]

I usually try to keep vacation costs under 5k as well for our annual vacations. But last year we didn't go on vacation bc I was pregnant and having some issues so we didn't go. My 7 tr old was heartbroken he looks forward to our annual vacations, so this year we are splurging and going to WDW, and staying on the monorail lol. My husband is wincing at the cost but we didn't get a vacation last year so he'll get over it lol

 

[GAGirlInVA]

$5K. Which admittedly is getting more difficult with our family size.

I do have to say, I priced an onsite trip for all of us *sigh* and DH said, "We could cruise for that!" (Mind you not on DCL.)

Apparently he is right. I guess I thought cruises were much more.

 

[Colleen27]

Five figures makes me twitchy. I'm trying to get past that because with a family of five we're going to have to break that mark for some of the trips we'd like to take (Hawaii, anything overseas) but it is a mental barrier that I have a very hard time imagining us crossing.

 

[tvguy]

Our Disney cruise was the only vacation our family ever to cost more than about $3,000.....by almost triple....but it was paid for with an inheritance, so it was kind of last gift from my MIL.
$5,000 certainly would be a price I would have to think about.

To OP, not knowing how big your family is, and what level of cabin you want, Alaska is very doable pricewise if you pick the right week, right cruise line, and right cabin.

 

[StitchandPooh'sMom]

It depends on the destination. For a WDW trip or a typical week-long vacation, I plan the trip to stay under $5000-6000. We went to Europe this past summer and it was over twice that - I was okay with the price as long as I didn't think of it in terms of college tuition. But Europe is not an every year kind of trip for us. We look more carefully at our yearly vacation budget - sometimes (rarely) it is spent on one trip, and sometimes we might be able to go several places for the amount that is in our budget.

 

[tourguide81]

I guess $5k? We've done 2 2 week european vacations and didn't cross that. One was 2 adults 2 kids, one was 2 adults 2 kid. We do a lot of planning w/ our credit cards points, so flying for free helps a lot.

 

[lovin'fl]

I too would say about $5K for one trip starts to make me squirm (we are a family of 5). So that rules out a lot of good stuff...like Europe or Hawaii or an Alaskan cruise. I figure DH and I will do those things once we are empty nesters (3 years and 4 months from now, but who's counting).

 

[lovin'fl]

To OP, not knowing how big your family is, and what level of cabin you want, Alaska is very doable pricewise if you pick the right week, right cruise line, and right cabin.

But add in nice shore excursions so you can really see it all...that's where the cost adds up right? Plus, for us east-coasters having to fly out west...another huge expense. We don't fly free, ever (I get SW rapid rewards points and have flown 3-4 times and still don't have enough points for a free one-way flight).

 

[kydisneyfans]

3 of us
the 3K mark is the cringe point for me.

We've only hit it once, during the NYC visit for the Macys Thanksgiving Parade. We shopped quite a bit though. In retrospect, I would not hesitate to spend that much again for the same trip.

Honestly, the Disney trips have become the cheapest ones for us. Our son is too old for character dinners, we don't need souvenirs, we've just figured out how to have fun at Disney without breaking the bank.

One cost savings for us is that we drive everywhere as I will not fly.

 

[Ngwira]

It depends. We are at $5,800 for our 10 day Disney trip. 2 adults, 2 kids. But that includes 3 days at the Grand Floridian and 7 days at the Contemporary with "free" dining for those 7 days. It also includes round trip auto train fares with sleeping accommodations. When I think of how costly the auto train and Deluxe stays at Disney costs not to mention food for a week, I think I did really well.it could be much more expensive!

 

[disykat]

I squirm easily. For me, it's at about 2-3K annually.

We do some vacations higher, but I'm budget conscious enough that I squirm!


That number will get bigger as our kids become self-supporting though! We're looking forward to being done with college costs.
It's ironic that all of us sudden you have more disposable income at the same time it costs less to travel because of less people traveling!

 

[dtstampz]

My dh and I are planning a trip to New Zealand in the fall. THAT makes a Disney
vacation look cheap, LOL! (Which is why I'm trying to convince him that I NEED to
have a Disney trip this spring, even if he won't go... )

 

[Canooknic]

For something like Disney, with our kids, I don't mind around $6000. If its just DH & I then I spend as little as possible (air miles/hotel points etc). I'm sure that will all change once the boys get bigger but right now I'm willing to pay as much as we can afford to create special memories as a family

 

[pigletto]

I always planned trips to Disney that were under 5k. Some of them well under if I found fantastic flights and went with free dining. But even then, I would spend up to the 5k mark because I would add Universal and extras.

Our whole focus is switching very quickly recently. There was a time vacations were the most important non essential item in our budget. Lately we've found ourselves wanting a new to us larger vehicle, thinking of a relocation move for dh and work, and paying down some debt faster. So pretty much anything over 1k is going make me squirm for awhile...who knows how long. I just have different goals right now. My parents just bought a cottage that all the kids and their families can use. It's 6 hours away, on an island, and beautiful. I can go for the cost of gas and groceries, bring a few books to read in the hammock, fish and swim and relax for a week for a few hundred.
That has helped us decide to put what we were spending in trips into some other things, because we can have a wonderful vacation so inexpensively.
( Get back to me when the new Potter stuff opens at Universal though. I am sure I will be itching to see it!)

 

[Gumbo4x4]

$2,000 is our "cringe" point; family of 4 (we've come in WAY under that many times). We did Disney for $3,100 but really had to get creative. We often eat much better on vacation

 

[supergoofy]

This trip is making me cringe.

Will be 2 adults, 2 teens and 2 Disney adults.

6 flights from the west coats and 6 adult tickets and paying OOP

We are staying offsite to cut costs but it will cost 5 figures.

 

[DetroitDisney]

Its funny how this stuff adds up. A few years back I spent $11k to backpack Europe for 3.5 months (I partied hardy), but now I'm comfortable spending $3-5k for a long weekend.

 

[Dizzy4DL]

The first time I took my dd to Disneyland (2010) it cost under $800, including flights. Now, it won't be possible for under $1500, and we stay off site.

Our family of three was able to go to Maui for 6 days in 2013 for $2500, and that was my cringe point. Totally worth it for the memories though.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

But add in nice shore excursions so you can really see it all...that's where the cost adds up right? Plus, for us east-coasters having to fly out west...another huge expense. We don't fly free, ever (I get SW rapid rewards points and have flown 3-4 times and still don't have enough points for a free one-way flight).

So true! The excursions were a huge chunk of our Alaskan cruise budget and let's face it, you don't go to the ports to walk around the port town. In the Caribbean it's easy to take a cheap taxi and chill on a beach. For Alaska I felt like I had to do something special.
We looked on DCL's website at the pictures of helicopters on a glacier, sea planes, wrote down the name of the company, and booked direct saving hundreds of $. Google also helped.
Also the company we used for our glacier trek in Juneau offered a 20% discount if we paid in full by the end of Feb with ability to cancel up to 48 hrs prior or something like that. Same with the sea plane in Ketchikan. I think we saved over $500 just for the Juneau excursion. Makes doing it with a family of 4 much more possible.
We sailed from Seattle with DCL, only offered in 2012. Not as good of an itinerary as Vancouver but it made the airfare affordable for us. We had 3 free seats with SWA for the flight to Seattle.

As for earning SWA points, if you can be good with a cc, get the SWA cc. We charge everything to that card except our truck payment & mortgage. I pay it weekly (or more sometimes) so it never gets out of control. (Well, a little in Dec.) but still pay it off every month.
We earn the equivalent of a one way seat to Orlando every other month. Also shop through the Rapid Rewards shopping mall. Tons of stores and lots of points to be earned for purchases you would be making online anyway.
It's so easy.
BTW, Chase is offering a 50,000 pt bonus to sign up for their card now. It lists it as a $99 annual fee for the premier card but if you keep searching there's another card that is only $69/yr. It earns 1 pt per $ and you get a bunch of bonus points each year at your anniversary.
I love it. When I signed up it was only $59/yr and we easily get our money's worth in points.


As for what makes me squirm. It depends. For a while it was anything more than $6K. We did a Med cruise last year and Alaska the year before. Those were both biggies so we're going to throttle back a little this year. Now I'd say we'd like to keep it under $4k. We'll be going out West to N. AZ & S. Utah to National Parks in Aug. By the time SWA releases our dates, we'll have enough points for all 4 of us to fly free RT. Luv those points!!