How much spending money on a cruise?

gabyjane

We are going on a cruise to get married next year, aside from that we obviously need spending money..we are on the boat for 13 nights and visit 9 ports...any rough ideas how much we will need or how much people have spent?
Thankyou.

richardw

Don't forget to budget for tipping, if not included http://www.cruisedirectonline.com/gratuities.htm

milkydrink

If you say where in the world the cruise is & what board you are going (though I'm guessing full board?), people will be able to help you.

vickyj

Even with the best of intentions you will spend quite a bit on board when you tot up all spa trips/ drink/any excursions you will prob get through about £90 day on board but ports are a different matter as you have to remember your weight allowance. Where you are going makes a huge difference though and where you are going from so if you post that info we all may be able to help a bit more :-) good luck btw there is nothing like a cruise !

Crossy

I think most cruise ships do not take cash, you may have to give credit card details, and they then give you a plastic card that you use to buy drinks and things. I know this is the case is the cruises I have travelled on (in the US)

dwsjarcmcd

I went on a 7 day med trip last year (3 of us, 12 adults and a teeneager) and we got cards on which to make payments. We also went on excursions most days and these are expensive (as well as early in the morning!). We were full board and obviously we didn't skimp, as when I went to settle the bill it was more than £1,000, including tips

Vampgirl

We went on a 14 day cruise for our honeymoon and spent about £600 each onboard: drinks in the bars, wine with meals, shopping, spa treatments, official photos and 2 excursions each. You sign everything against the room and pay up at the end - no cash is required onboard at all.

This didn't include spending money for trips ashore: we got that out of local cash machines so I've no idea how much we spent for that part of it!

Moneysaving tip: on P&O all rooms have fridges (I assume other cruise lines would be the same) so instead of buying your in-room drinks from your steward, buy it ashore and bring it with you.

MrSmartprice

When we went on a cruise we got an all-inclusive upgrade for free when we booked. You can often buy this if it wasn't a freebie, and it is cheaper if you pre-book before departure. It means you don't have to keep an eye on your expenditure.

Our company gave us a charge card, having taken credit card details. The charge card was endorsed 'AI' so you still signed a chit for everything, but the amount was always £0.00.

You can charge excursions to the card too, but we didn't really bother with them. They are where they make the profit and are invariably overpriced. We prefer to go off exploring on our own anyway.

moonrakerz

Every thing on the ship can be charged to your account - no problem.

Problems arise when you go ashore, if you are visiting 9 different ports, how many different currencies might you need ? Be very careful about changing money on the ship, a lot of them do a "double take". Say you want to go from Sterling to Euros, first they convert it to dollars then to Euros so you pay two lots of commission !

Your best bet might be a Nationwide debit card, then find an ATM as soon as you hit port !

gabyjane

moonrakerz wrote: »

Every thing on the ship can be charged to your account - no problem.

Problems arise when you go ashore, if you are visiting 9 different ports, how many different currencies might you need ? Be very careful about changing money on the ship, a lot of them do a "double take". Say you want to go from Sterling to Euros, first they convert it to dollars then to Euros so you pay two lots of commission !

Your best bet might be a Nationwide debit card, then find an ATM as soon as you hit port !

Hi thanks for the reply, hmm didn't think of the money will have to look into that although off the top of my head i think they are all similar places in currency as it's the med. I have always used my normal card abroad in the machines so think we will just end up doing that! Thanks.