How much spending money?

[FirstTimeCruiser]

Does anyone have a suggestion on how much spending money to take for a seven day cruise? We are going to Mexico in November and have no idea what to take.

Thanks!

[FirstTimeCruiser]

Does anyone have a suggestion on how much spending money to take for a seven day cruise? We are going to Mexico in November and have no idea what to take.

Thanks!

[Karen Knowlton]

Mostly you will need a valid credit card. You will need it to establish an onboard account, to which you can charge purchases onboard ship in the gift shop(s), any alcoholic and/or soft drinks you consume on the ship, shore excursions booked through the cruise line, etc. Many of the cruise lines now allow you to charge gratuities for the staff on your shipboard account as well (some even do it automatically and you have to talk to the purser's office staff to get the amounts changed or not charged). You will need cash for shopping in ports, taxis and other shore excursions you do on your own in ports, small bills for tips for porters at the airport and at the port(s) where you are embarking and disembarking, and probably for the casino onboard ship, should you choose to imbibe. If you booked through a travel agent, ask her/him for a guideline amount of cash on hand that you should have.
Have a great time! [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_razz.gif[/img]

[Ti2m]

quote:

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Originally posted by FirstTimeCruiser:
Does anyone have a suggestion on how much spending money to take for a seven day cruise? We are going to Mexico ...

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As a couple we spent about $1000 on the ship. This included crew tips, bar tab, two massages, jewelry, duty free liquor and cigaretts, etc. It may sound like a lot of $ but we lived pretty large and could have done it for a fraction of that and still had a good time.

Take CASH to the ports. They were more inclined to bargain when they knew you had American $$$. We probably spent around $400 off the ship on tours, food, drinks, souvenirs, and gifts.

Really the only money we felt obligated to spend was on the well deserved crew tips. You can spend as much or as little as you want.

Timm