Cruising from Australia

[Rojay]

Hello to everyone from down under, and thank you all for your interesting posts .
My husband and I are going on our very first cruise in March from our homeport Sydney to New Zealand, via Melbourne and Burnie. We have brought the cheap special cabins N, with a chance of upgrading. So we are bit concerned about sea sickness, but figure if we start off in the worst cabin on the ship and love everything about cruising except for the cabin, well, we know we are on winner.
We enjoy a drink with our meal, but not into gambling at the casino or shopping on the ship, and as we have been to NZ before we were not going to do the shore excursions but just amuse ourselves looking around the ports. We were wondering how much to allow for expenses onboard. I understand HAL take $60 per person per night, is this usually enough to cover drinks or should allow an extra $1000 or more for the cruise? This is a 14 night cruise ending in Auckland NZ.
Thanks for your help
cheers Rojay

[Dave]

Unless seas are very rough you will not usually have a problem with motion sickness, regardless of the cabin location.

People are all over the map on cruise ship spending. Of course, it depends on how much you drink or purchase at the shops. We have members who spend less than $100 on a 7-night cruise, and those like me who can easily spend over $1000 on a 7-night cruise.

We look at spending roughly $100 to $150 per day for the three of us.

You should consider that an 'average' price for a drink will be $6 for a beer, and $8 for a cocktail or glass of wine. Some will be a little cheaper, or more expensive.

[billybuzzy]

Rojay...Keep careful track of your spending while onboard the ship.Liquor and softdrinks purchased on board will have an additional 15% gratuity added to the cost of each beverage. If you order a basic cocktail (i.e rum&Coke, whiskey&soda,gin&tonic) the cost will be reasonable.If You order fancy drinks or drinks of the day...ask for the beverage in a plain glass...else you will be paying extra for a souvenier glass! Requesting a glass of house wine is significantly less than requesting by label/vinyard!
Remember to allow for the daily gratuity which the Cruiseline will impose (it is a per passenger/per day rate).....Above all....at some point during the cruise...stop by the Purser's Desk and get a printout of Your Tab to date.......it will help You to carefully monitor your spending and your expense planning!!

Bon Voyage,

BillyBuzzy