How much is a good amount of money to use on a carnival cruise?
March 13th, 2010 3 Comments
Posted by admin
My wife and I are talking about taking a cruise from miami. We were going to arrive there the day before departure and leave a day after we get back. I figured out how much to spend before and after the cruise, but as far as on the cruise I am unsure. We plan on living in the moment. So being able to do anything on the ship would be nice. We both drink (a little) and my wife smokes. How much is enough to have a romantic cruise with the misses?
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You will not need much cash money on board the ship. The price of your cruise will include your cabin, all meals (including breakfast, lunch dinner, snacks and free room service), free admissions to all shows, disco, and entertainment, and free use of all facilities (except spa services) on ship like the pools, hot tubs, gym, and recreation activities, except you do have to pay if you want to play video games. The things that you will have to pay for over and above your fare are:
GRATUITIES: They will amount to about $10 per person in your cabin per day. When you check in at the pier they will set up an on-board charge account for you to cover any and everything you may buy on ship. They will issue you a "cruise card" which will also serve as your room key and pass to get on and off the ship. At the end of the cruise they will add the gratuity to your tab and you can pay with a credit card or cash, your choice. So everything on ship, except the casino, is cashless; everything you buy goes on your account. These gratuities cover your cabin steward, your waiter and assistant waiter, and MatreD in the main dining room. Those are the only person you are required/requested to tip at the end of the cruise; these should be considered pretty much mandatory although you can ask the purser to adjust them if you have a problem with any service received from these persons. If you want to consider how much may be charged to your on-board tab, consider the following.
ALCOHOLIC DRINKS AND SOFT DRINKS: Coffee, tea, milk, juice, and lemonade and punch will be provided FREE but you must pay for soft drinks and alcoholic beverages and they will add a 15 percent gratuity to each alcoholic drink and soft drink order. Drinks of cruise ships are generally in the range of $7 to $9 including the 15 percent gratuity that is included in each tab. Beer and wine are slightly less, maybe $6 to $7. Cruise lines do sell a soft drink card that allow you unlimited soft drinks for the duration of your cruise. These you must buy the first day of the cruise and they generally cost about $6.00 a day for adults. The cost of the soft drink card also goes on your on-board tab.
PHOTOGRAPHS: Cruise ship employees will take plenty of photographs of you all over the ship, in the dining room, and as you exit the ship in ports. These will cost a lot, between $15 to $25 for most and the cost of them goes on your on-board tab.
TOURS/EXCURSIONS: You are not required to book any tours and you can get off and on in the ports as much as you want. But the cruise line will offer a lot of tours and these are NOT included and are expensive.
SOUVENIRS: Anything you buy on ship from a gift shop or duty free shop goes on your on board account. Things that you buy on shore you pay cash or credit card for.
CASINO: If you plan to gamble on ship you will need cash for that.
OTHER: All ships have what they call "specialty" restaurants where there IS a gratuity/service charge of between $20 and $25 per person per visit. However, all other food on board is free and its not really necessary to budget for food; you cannot eat all of the FREE FOOD that will be available.
SPA SERVICES: If you want/need to have your hair done, get a massage or wrap, or any services from the spa, you will have to pay for them. Spa fees start at about $70 to $80 and they go on your on-board tab if you use the spa services. You can use the gym free but the spa stuff cost big bucks.
INTERNET SVCS: Carnival cruise ships now have an internet cafe and WiFi but the there is a fee for internet access and it is very expensive (about $50 an hour, a little less if you buy a plan).
ROOM SERVICE/MINI-BAR: You cabin will likely have a minibar with soft drinks and munchies; you have to pay for anything you take out of the mini-bar. You will have free room service (24/7) ; order by phone or on the TV on some ships.
I cruise all the time and never take more than about $300 cash; the balance of what we spend goes on a charge card at the end of the cruise.
I use a credit card for all my purchases while in port. When your on the ship, all expenses also will be charged to your credit card, so you don’t need cash at all. But you can give the purser cash to cover expenses if you wish. I would figure $100 a day each. That should be plenty. BTW, you will set up an account either before you sail or when you first board the ship.
Most Everything you buy on the ship goes on your sail and sign card. The only money you need would be the casino and at the ports. Bring $500 bucks with you and a credit card. Im not sure how many days you are going to cruise but that should be enough.
Hope I helped!