Budgeting for the "WHOLE" Cruise Vacation!

Photo Provided by Flickr.Photos8.com

One of the delightful joy as to why Roger particularly likes cruising is that for the most part your major vacation expense is prepaid before you even head out the door. With cruising your base cost for room
accommodation, meals, entertainment & transportation is covered and paid for prior to our return. But as in all vacations, there’s always more things to spend money on when it comes to a vacation getaway. So anticipating and budgeting for those hidden expenses can truly be a help in not loosing that tranquil leisurely euphoria that vacations are known to provide. Here are some of my thoughts on what you can anticipate to budget for...

GRATUITY

Depending upon the category of your stateroom the gratuity charges vary. For Princess Cruises the gratuity charges are $12.00 per person per day per Mini-Suites & Suites and $11.50 per person per day per other category staterooms. This also means that singles in a stateroom just need to pay for the one person per day rate.  

Now, here is a cruise veteran tip, I have slipped an extra $20 or more to our stateroom steward upon our introduction on embarkation day. I graciously extend my appreciation to say we look forward to our stay and then at this time request certain accommodations such as requesting to have ice delivered every evening or request that our mini-bar be emptied with all of its content, except for the following items, as an example. Pending how services are rendered, I may slip an extra tip at the end of the cruise as well. 

Be that you may be a little tipsy at your favorite ship bar, be sure you check your bar bill
before signing. All bar bill has an instant 15% gratuity tip added on to the bill. So don’t be putting an extra $2 thinking you have to tip...its already included. That being said we have had past cruisers who have tipped heavily at their favorite watering hole with their favorite bar tender at the beginning of the cruise and they were indeed treated generously through out the cruise. May work for you or not! 

Other services to check as to whether gratuity is added already or not is room service delivery. So read the fine prints before you sign that charge.

There is an option for Princess Cruises where you can pre-pay your gratuity in advance as well. Contact Alex and she can help with this option. Otherwise the ship will automatically charge your gratuities daily. 

Lastly, lets say you haven’t been given the the quality service you had  expected. Hey it happens. Simply go to the purser’s/customer service counter and discuss that you would not like to be charged with the automatic daily gratuity fees and that you would like envelopes to personally provide them to your service staff or ask that the gratuity be adjusted to your
request.  

Again, please be advised that the goal of these cruise staff is to provide great service so they can receive their well deserved tips. The hourly pay for the crew is very minimal as they are held to the wage standards of competitive international wages but certainly not to our more familiar US Labor Laws. So be kind, respectful and fair! 

ENTERTAINMENT

Diana you said entertainment was included in the base cost of the cruise. Well it is for the most part. But the hidden costs can still be there. It comes in options such as Casino play, extra curricular activities such as BINGO, craft-making project with supplemental fees for supplies, specialty tours & classes, wine tasting, art auctions to name but a few possible budgeting considerations.

But then again Broadway production shows, and other recreational activities such as team & individual games & contests, educational and subject lectures and presentations, movies and films, musical bands and performers are free for your enjoyment.

ALCOHOL & BEVERAGES

Princess Cruises just recently began to offer an alcohol beverage package that some of you may want to check out on-line or contact Alex. Diana and the likes of others such as Rocky & Peggy, Sean and Andrea opt’s for the Speciality Coffee Card and Soda Beverage Package as part of their vacation expense budget. You can buy this in advance on-line, paying this off with your credit card or you can also buy it the day of embarkation when the crew will have a number of promotional displays on deck and in lobbies trying to get you to use your cruise card to purchase this option. Oh and if you choose to buy it on embarkation day, the promo usually includes a Princess Refillable Drink Cup!  

The dining room has water, tea, coffee, milk, juice as their standard beverage that they will serve you at no charge. But, plan to pay for bottle water in your stateroom and as you head out to port if you want this option. Bring a water bottle and you can fill-up as an alternative would be a saving tip.

On ship there are special daily drinks that are noted on your newsletter that can save you a few dollars. But of course, wine by the glass or the bottle will cost you at dinner and of course any cocktail drinks at the bar including sodas will have a price that will get you to use your cruise card. So check your daily expense statement on the cruise TV as a normal routine task so you won’t be surprised by the end of your cruise.

SHORE EXCURSIONS

This probably will be one of your major expenses that you can prepare in budgeting ahead if you are on top of this. The posting of the shore excursion for Princess Cruises is generally between as early as 140 days to as late as 75 days prior to embarkation. Since you will average roughly between 7-12 hours in port at any given time. It will be wise of you to plan in advance on what it is you would like to highlight as your adventure on each island. 

Shore excursions can be FREE which means you basically get off the ship on your own and wander on your own. Just be sure to get back on roughly giving yourself an hour before the ship leaves. Otherwise, you will be personally responsible for getting to the next port to catch the ship, cha-ching! 

Excursions can easily run with prices from approximately $50 to a few hundred dollars for a lifetime memorable speciality adventure that a tour guide escorts you with full gear and equipment. 

You will have the islands of Hawaii, Oahu, Kauai and Maui to plan for and then a day in Ensenada Mexico before we head back for our disembarkation. So what do you want to see and do when you visit each island?

LAUNDRY & DRY CLEANING

Reality is you can bring an outfit to cover your entire 15 days or do a mix and match and plan to utilize the laundry machine and dry cleaning service at least once or twice? There will be washing machine and dryers on board. The cost of can be anywhere between $.50 to near $2.00 a load and don’t forget the laundry detergent which can also cost a $1 or $2. So throw in a couple of those detergent pods in a ziploc and your dryer sheet as well for a few bucks of savings. FYI, the ship also on occasion do a laundry service discount promo. This is when that extra tip you gave your room steward may well pay off...I know it did wonders for us!

Those who are “Black Card” aka Elite status has the luxury of free laundry/dry cleaning. Karen, Buzz  and Ted... I have a laundry bag full of clothes here for you...Mahalo! 

ALTERNATIVE DINING

Some choose the high adventures of trekking, zipline ride or pouncing on a zodiac above the waves of the deep blue sea on a shore excursion. Roger and Diana? We choose to budget for the high adventure luxury of speciality dining on the cruise ship restaurants. The prices range for most speciality restaurants around $20-$35 dollars per person and the big expense is to be able to attain a reservation for the Chef’s Table which can be around $80 to $100 per person depending on whether you would like the wine pairing with your dinner. But beware marketing is even at dinner... Sabatini, an italian cuisine speciality restaurant sells its own Virgin Olive Oil for you to take home...what’s $10-$20 when you’re on vacation right? Cha-ching!

SALON SERVICE & SPA TREATMENTS

On board your treat may be to be pampered and nothing says it more then a salon service as you get ready for a formal night or a rejuvenating spa treatment to release all the tension from your daily grind of wanting the full relaxation mode. But these services can be quite costly and so do some homework in advance and set your budget limit. Also don’t forget to add the gratuity as these services generally need a 15-20% tip pending service rendered. Oh, and learn to just say no as they will try and promote their product or enhanced treatment which will be a definite additional cost. I usually tell them upfront that I do not want to be given any product promotions and do not plan to buy any as well, so please do not waste your pitch on me. 

Lastly here’s a veteran cruiser tip, generally there are specials running throughnout the cruise so check your Princess Patter daily and note that on days that the ship is in port that  the spa’s usually have discounted services. Now...enjoy your spaaaaa! 

INTERNET

For those wanting to keep in touch with your world at home you will want to purchase internet minutes and the prices can range pending the minutes that you would want to

purchase. The last time I was on a cruise the internet minutes were easily sucked up at waiting to get connected. I guess Mexico does not have the sophistication service as other parts of the world. Yet when we cruised from Asia to Alaska the satellite service was surprising good. So how many minutes do you need? Good question...I usually opt a nice mid range pending the number of sea days figuring these would be the days I would most use minutes. Remember you can always add more minutes but you certainly are not going to get credit for unused minutes.

SHOPPING 

In port or on the ship you can always count on spending money on souvenirs and other incidentals. While in port you might  want to be sure to budget some dollars for a meal or snack as you can count on wanting to stop and relax at a local restaurant or bar as you sightsee and shop in the port seaside city you are visiting. And of course you know you just have to bring home a souvenir for your best friend who took you to the airport or your grandkids or three. And of course who doesn’t buy a souvenir item from each port you visit to hang on your refrigerator to remember this cruise, right?! 

Beware that in your Cruise Newsletter, Princess Patter you will be bombarded daily with gem sales, $10 dollar item deals, 2 for one can’t resist t-shirts and caps, No Duty Alcohol specials, Last Call Shopping Spree Today Only to name a few promos that I would like to alert your cashless cruise credit card ringing cha-ching, cha-ching, cha-ching! Budget, Budget, Budget!!! 

OMIYAGE

Originally this custom came from Japan. The Japanese would always have the custom when visiting to bring gifts of hospitality and appreciation for the people they plan to meet or be greeted upon arrival. For the Davis’ this means we will be budgeting some dollars as Diana will be pre-purchasing some hospitality gifts for her many friends in Honolulu particularly. Will you be visiting some family or friends while in the islands? This custom carries very strongly in the islands and you can easily be labeled as as a friendly face because you understand the aloha ways or you are simply a foreigner tourist on the outside.

Another potential option is to have small omiyage or gifts for those crew members who make it extra special for you while you are on the ship. I often will have some hometown souvenir items or get some personal items that I can easily put together to offer those extra special crew members I know who have made my stay special.

PHOTOS & CAMERA SALE  

Here is where you might have a hard time saying no. The 8 x 10 or 5 x 7 photos as you get on the gang plank of the ship, click! The smile you shine and reflect as you dine and

pose with your roomie, click! Oh gotta have that incredible shot of my pouring the champagne on the top tiered glass at the Captain’s Gala, click-click! Disembarking off the ship on Big Island, click, Honolulu, click, Kauai, click, Maui, click.... oh too cute, here’s my cruise card, cha-ching, cha-ching, cha-ching... and what about the Platinum Studio appointment...? Okay so it is a bit cheaper then the private studio sitting, but wait 2-3 hundred dollars? What? Really? And on top of the photos you can also get photo frames, photo albums, magnets and even special sales on cameras such as that Nikon camera you have been wanting. Might want to give this a budget for sure if you are watching your cruise dollars and is buying a camera on board a ship that you can’t return or inquire about such a wise step? Certainly something to think about!