How Much Spending Money?

We are a family of 3 that has an occasional drink, plays bingo, a little casino time and self tours no excursions, can you tell me how much we may need for tipping and spending on a 7 day Carnival cruise.

[Ro]

I am trying to figure out the same thing with one person on a four nighter same way medium drinking already bought coupons worth 40.00, self tours & casino. Ro,

[Darcy]

I plan $100/pp per day. This way I'm sure to have enough and at the end of the cruise I pay anything on my sign & sail card with the leftover cash.

[riwehr]

I figure $100 pp per day for spending money, also. But I also figure in $100- $200 to cover parking ($10/day) & tips- ($50 pp for a 5 dayer). I am a mild/medium gambler and light drinker & my husband is a heavy/mediium drinker and medium gambler- on our 5 dayer we spent a little over $600 on the sail & sign card (including tips). $50 for parking, $100 for jeep rental in cozumel & approx $400 cash for gambling, room service ($2 a day- we had breakfast in our room every morning) and spending money on shore. We didnt do any excursions, but we did go to the ruins ourselves, and to Mr. Sanchos beach which was free. Also we had to pay for a cab in Calica. Hope that helps.

you know I just figured out something after returning from a cruise on 10/30..when you add up everything (air fare, onboard sign and sale card, transfers, clothes you buy to go on the cruise, getting the pictures developed , cost of the hotel/food if you go in a day early .shopping on the islands . etc etc etc) it cost you about as much as the price of the cruise) but in terms of spending $$$ per day, figure $100

cruising is not a chep thing to do but it's worth it

I know its not a cheap thing to do, we have saved up for 3 years following my lay off from united airlines, my lay off notice came on a Fri the following mon my wife was laid off from an auto auction, both thanks to 9-11, we are both working again now in SC, but money is hard to come by, honestly it was hard losing everything but yes life does go on, we have a strong love for each other and have over come many things with togetherness, well we do not have credit cards anymore and everything is cash, we paid for the cruise in full and will drive to Miami, I know already it will take $100 in gas round trip, the day before and day after we are staying at inlaws so we figure another $50 to pitch in with food(why should they feed us?) and they will drop us off at the port in our car(our gas), do you all think about $1100 in cash will be enough for 2 adults each having 2-3 drinks per day, soda card for daughter, bingo and casino will be enough?
Would you pay upfront with cash or use your debit card to guarantee the sail and sign card? If we lay out the cash I need the left over back right after the cruise to get home, if I use my debit card do they pre-run a predetermined amount? Thats what car rental companies do-OMG-we rented a car last year and they held $500 on my account, you can imagine what that did when we went to pay for things like the hotel, we had the money in the account but the car rental company was hanging on to it for a deposit without telling us, they said at the end they dont have to tell us we should have known better.
Sorry this was so long.

[Darcy]

Craig

I would pay it up front in cash and then keep checking your balance every day. You'd be surprised at how quickly it adds up. Also, remember that Carnival adds your tips to your Sign & Sail account of $10/pp per day.

[koop77]

We have been on two 7 day cruises, I will drink beer and my wife doesnt drink that much, with pictures , Bingo, drinks etc we always spend a little over $1000.00
Were getting ready for another 7 day cruise in Feb and were taking our daughter thats 13 Im planing $1500.00 plus any shopping. It sure goes quick on the sail and sign card.

Can I pay the tips in cash like we used to do? I know they deserve it but we may not be able to lay out $210 in tips.
Or will we have to walk the plank to get off and get our belongings?

[CA Cruiser]

Yes you can have the tips taken off your S&S account and use the envelopes they have to personally thank the individuals. We put aside our $$ ahead of time, then leave it in the safe so we won't spend it. We always tip the last night and have adjusted according to service.

Other than the Casino or extra tips everything I can think of goes on your ship and sail card including airport transfers. That card is your money for the cruise and everything you buy on the ship is charged to it. If your question is how much actual cash will you need a lot depends on : your gambling habits, how much shopping you plan on doing on shore and if you'll do any non cruise line excursions. We don't use credit cards on shore and if we did it would only be with recommonded cruise line business. Personally for 2 adults we usually take about $700. and usually have more than enough. Of course your spending habits govern your personal needs.

[Dorothy]

>>Can I pay the tips in cash like we used to do? I know they deserve it but we may not be able to lay out $210 in tips.
Or will we have to walk the plank to get off and get our belongings?>>

No walking the plank, BIg Craig, but tips shouldn't be based on whether you can afford them or not. They should be based on the service you receive. Knowing ahead of time you can't afford to tip seems to me knowing you can't afford to cruise.

I know it would be a hard decision, but tipping is part of the cost of your cruise.

Good luck.

dorothy

Thanks Dorothy and everyone,
yes we know tipping is part of the price of cruising, these people work really hard to make us happy, we have gone on 11 cruises and have always tipped much more than the suggested amount, but this time is on a shoe string budget and there is no other vacation like cruising for us, we think we will do as CA Cruiser suggests and put away the cash in the safe, it used to be suggested that the tipping amount for children was half of the adults amount, is that still applicable? or have they made it one amount fits all??
My wife bought me some bingo scratch off SC lottery tickets yesterday for $18, our anniversary is thurday (#14) and we won $250, guess where that is going to, yes the tips, T.G. now we do not have to feel guilty about skipping out on the hard workers.
On all but 1 cruise we went on the people we dined with never came to dinner the last night, we have been told this is why they went to automatic tipping, even with our tight finances we would NEVER give nothing.
I was curious though if you did not have the cash in hand and did not want the tips on your S & S account could you give each recipient a check to cash?

Many Years ago i found if i am careful spending onboard i can cut overalll cruise costs to a point i can cruise every year, we try to keep spending on the boat to a min, i do alot of my drinking in port.
my s+s statement is seldom over a page long, i normally plan on 1000$ for 7 days, but we most times have cash left over to book our next cruise or at least a good part of the down payment.
Our s+sail bill is normally 300-500 for 7 days.
I do tip at least min, often more.
I don,t feel i miss a thing by not buying much on a cruise, part of my planing for a cruise is to buy anything i may need way before the cruise.
I must add My Wife Drinks only soda that we bring with us.

[Darcy]

Craig

The suggested tipping amount for children is the same as it is for adults. $10/pp per day.

Darcy

We are also occasional drinkers so we just waited until the night of the cocktail party until we drank. We had two on our 7 day cruise and you can drink as much and whatever you want during that time. We also didnt spent much since we dont drink much . There was two of us and we only put $300 on our sign and sail card. From that we bought a bottle of wine for dinner, pictures, jewlery and watches ,a soda card,several drinks,rented afew movies in our cabin, and booked one shore excursion. of course that didnt include how much we spent in the casino!!!! we acually ended up coming our ahead on the casino but not by much.

[hockeyluver]

We went on an 8 day cruise, bought the kids a pop card a drink or two for hubby and myself a day, pictures (too many $150 worth) and some ship souvineers as well as our tips and our S&S bill was a little more than $800 for the four of us. We spent about $200 total at the ports .

Sounds good, so we think $1100 + the $250 we just won on the SC Lottery tickets should be more than enough, I like to play blackjack but know when to stop.

[Dorothy]

Congrats on your lottery winnings - what perfect timing, huh??

dorothy

[themomtk]

I plan on $100.00 a day for myself. I drink on all excursions that have free drinks.I go to the Art Auction free champagne this happens 3 or 4 times on a 7 day cruise, Past guest party free drinks, Captains Party free drinks I buy the drink of the day some times2. Play bingo, Play Slots, I even bought some of those great Chocolate covered Strawberries.
Some times I spend more but not often. I prepay my tips so that is out of the way and not even considered as something extra. That goes with cruising I just add it to the price of the cruise. and yes I'm going to go every year maybe twice in a year someday.

Thanks Dorothy, and everyone for your response, I was getting nervous as usual, amazing how things work out sometimes, my wife asked if I wanted to use some of our winnings and play some more lottery scratch off tickets-I said NO WAY, she let out a great big smile and said she thinks I have finally got smart about not gambling too much and put $200 on the kitchen table, I asked whats this? She told me when she put in her vacation request at work her boss handed her $400 in cash and told her to have a great hard earned vacation, she spent $200 on some very nice clothes for herself and our 11 year old daughter.
If y'all could see me now...SO HAPPY
Triumph

[hockeyluver]

That is just awsome Big Craig your gonna love the cruise!!!

Last week when I cruised we were told that tips were automatically added to your Sail & Sign card and if you wanted to do something different you needed to go see the Purser about it. Tips are usually $9.00 per person per day.

I carry Travelers Cheques and put some on my account every day.

I agree with the $100.00 per day should be enough if you do not pay for excursions.

Tip on Sail & Sign card; if you have children with you make sure they have a limit on their card. I got my final bill on a cruise when my son was 14 yrs. old and realized he had spent $150.00 in the arcade. I didn't mind because he was on vacation, although I was surprised. After that I told the kids how much they could spend and told the Purser to put a limit on their cards.