How much do you budget for on board purchases, per adult, per day?

[Girl of the South]

I realize this will vary greatly depending on if you drink alcohol or not - but it IS part of the cost of cruising. So don't include excursions - but drinks, special coffees, popcorn, spa treatments, wifi . . . . just wondering how much extra to plan for - on average!

 

[Otimon]

Not the usual cruiser here, lol. Don't spend extra on any of the things you mentioned -just don't indulge in them. Usually purchase something for the home in the gift shops and would be hard pressed to approach $100 no matter how long the cruise.

 

[Pkltm]

On our last cruise I budgeted per item not per day- example DH always gets a tee, we usually get a towel, ornament etc. I usually look on the shop Disney site to get an idea of prices. Then I budget so many drinks a day and extra food, like popcorn. It really will vary based on you. My drink budget last cruise was 3 per day for me and 0 for DH as he doesn't drink, but then he tried a Banana Pina Colada so my spend doubled lol

 

[southerngirl528]

I realize this will vary greatly depending on if you drink alcohol or not - but it IS part of the cost of cruising. So don't include excursions - but drinks, special coffees, popcorn, spa treatments, wifi . . . . just wondering how much extra to plan for - on average!

Oh mercy! I have no idea what our pp per day average is, but because we do always enjoy spa treatments, often a couple spa villa, and there are ALWAYS a few odds and ends in the shops I really "have" to have, our end of cruise bill is always, ALWAYS higher than I think it will be! We do enjoy adult beverages, especially before the evening shows and dinners, and afterward in one of the nice lounges.

I say take a stab at it with what you DO know you will be doing onboard, like spa treatments, etc., and then add at least 1/2 again. Don't forget you will have gratuities added to your onboard account unless you pre-pay. Sorry, I'm not much help at all, but you are smart to be thinking through it!

 

[southerngirl528]

It really will vary based on you.

Soooooooo true!!!

 

[lspst8]

I don’t think there is any average because it all depends on what you like. My cousins cruises without spending a single extra dollar (other than tips) on board. My husband and I never go to the spa, but we do buy drinks and usually go to Palo. Other than a pin or a Christmas ornament, we don’t really shop onboard, and we hardly ever do excursions. I roughly estimate $100 per day on extra large for my whole four-person family, but some days we spend more and other days we spend nothing.

 

[lorimay]

Like Southerngirl says, its always higher than I think it will be.
We usually have a drink before dinner at night while we listen to one of the bands or musicians, we do Palo dinner and brunch at least once each, port adventures, I buy things for the grandkids, pictures, etc. etc........ It all adds up super quick. The biggest budget buster is when we score a cabana!!!

 

[cadien]

We didn't bother to budget and our bill ended up being almost identical to our fare. So about triple what we were expecting!

We didn't really drink all that much. Probably two cocktails per day apiece for DH and I. But we always got our son the smoothie special at dinner, sometimes with the random glowing thing. We did do the couples spa villa. Palo brunch. Bought a bunch of shirts for both ourselves and friends/family. A beach towel and a plush for DS on Castaway Cay. And I have a really bad pin habit...

 

[mevelandry]

I realize this will vary greatly depending on if you drink alcohol or not - but it IS part of the cost of cruising. So don't include excursions - but drinks, special coffees, popcorn, spa treatments, wifi . . . . just wondering how much extra to plan for - on average!

Depending on what is included or not, it goes from 25 to 50$/per day for me on DCL.

 

[eva2015]

We don't spend too much extra, maybe $300-$400/7 nights. We don't spa or order drinks daily, stick with the free allotted wifi. We do the wine package at dinner. Last time we did the wine and mojitos tastings. We knew the prices of all that before we left.

I think we got popcorn one night, its like $4?? We were all too full from dinner the other nights to get popcorn at the shows. We were on a SWDAS cruise so MH bought a mug and our girls got t-shirts.

Next time we plan to try Remi but we know going in how much that will cost.

 

[ludari]

My spending varies when it comes to certain merchandise (such as artwork or something else I feel will look good in my collection), however on average I might have one specialty coffee a day (minus port days) and two alcoholic drinks after dinner. I also like to have at least one brunch at Palo during my cruise. I don't like popcorn so I don't have to worry about that, I don't get WiFi because I'm on vacation and I turn off my phone while I'm cruising. On my first few cruises I did pay for a few spa treatments and but I no longer do that but I do purchase a few rainforest passes. All that being said I guess I budget $100 a day but I might not even spend anything for several days but it's always good to have a buffer.

 

[Jennifer777]

Ours varies dramatically due to excursions. Sometimes we book all our excursions directly through DCL and sometimes we book none. Outside of excursions though, for our family of 4 we typically budget around $150 - $200 per day for drinks (both alcohol and other specialty drinks like coffees and smoothies), food that is not included (ice cream at Sweet on You, Palo, tips on room service, etc), souvenirs, wifi, laundry and additional gratuities added to the server and stateroom host's standard amounts.

However, our last sailing was kind of a mess after the hurricanes last fall. Our itinerary changed and then they changed or deleted all of our other bookings like Palo so we went into it knowing it wasn't going to be what we planned and decided to just cut back and save our money for another trip. We budgeted $100 per day (above excursions) and ended up bringing money home. We still had a pretty good time and didn't feel like we were missing out on much. Moral of the story, you can spend a lot if you aren't careful but you don't have to in order to have a good time. You could go on board, spend nothing (above gratuities) and probably still have a great time if you go in with the right expectations.

 

[Girl of the South]

I realize it's tough to answer . . . . so many variables. Is there a website that shows what things cost before hand? Some restaurants now have this fancy drink menu but don't put the prices on it - supposedly the price of tequilla changes daily. WHAT??

It's an 11 night cruise and I know I will at least get a small wifi package. Let's say I get one drink a day (maybe a Bloody Mary) and one 'specialty coffee'? Would $25 a day be enough for the two drinks? I know there are tips added right? I will have cash for room service tips.

Bingo - is it really expensive?? I think if I had a chart of on board purchase prices (within a few dollars of being correct) I'd get a better handle on it. $50 a day on a 11 night cruise is nearly $600 which I do NOT want to spend!!!

Thanks for all the answers! I AM afraid of it all adding up super quick . . . I am going solo so the cruise is already a premium for me.

 

[cadien]

If you search on 'drink menu' on Disney Cruise Line blog, you'll get bar menus with prices.

 

[gotomu212]

I echo others, decide what you want to do on board and then price that out. We don’t drink speciality coffee or smoothies, maybe have 2 drinks the whole week, don’t shop, and don’t go to the spa. So ours would be less than $5/day (not counting gratuity or excursions).

We cruise with friends who,easily spend $400 a day between shopping, drinks, and the spa.

Neither of these estimates would be very helpful for,you though.

 

[cadien]

And the coffee drinks : https://disneycruiselineblog.com/menus/cove-cafe-menu/

 

[gotomu212]

I realize it's tough to answer . . . . so many variables. Is there a website that shows what things cost before hand? Some restaurants now have this fancy drink menu but don't put the prices on it - supposedly the price of tequilla changes daily. WHAT??

It's an 11 night cruise and I know I will at least get a small wifi package. Let's say I get one drink a day (maybe a Bloody Mary) and one 'specialty coffee'? Would $25 a day be enough for the two drinks? I know there are tips added right? I will have cash for room service tips.

Bingo - is it really expensive?? I think if I had a chart of on board purchase prices (within a few dollars of being correct) I'd get a better handle on it. $50 a day on a 11 night cruise is nearly $600 which I do NOT want to spend!!!

Thanks for all the answers! I AM afraid of it all adding up super quick . . . I am going solo so the cruise is already a premium for me.

Just saw your update...bingo is where you could very easily spend a ton. The prices range depending on what you get and when you play during the cruise. Pricing can start around $30 for early sessions and gets up to $75ish near the end. There should be more accurate prices around the web, but they fluctuate with length of cruise.

Don’t forget the gratuity too. $12/per day. That also adds up on longer cruises.

 

[Girl of the South]

Oh, I guess I won't be playing Bingo!!! Gratuity has been pre-paid, thanks! Will go check out the coffee drinks. I think I could do some damage there. . . On a shorter cruise, I might not spend much but 11 nights mean I might get antsy. I LIKE shopping . . . been making some pre-trip purchases on Amazon. Guess I could still shop on Amazon to get my 'fix' in and have it all waiting for me. Thanks - looks like I will budget somewhere between $5 and $400 a day . . . .

PS. Didn't know about the DisneyCruiseLine BLOG! Thanks!!!

 

[Girl of the South]

Is the Mocha Fit Frappe kind of like a Frappuccino at Starbucks????

 

[Kate_45]

We budgeted but didn't spend. We're not big drinkers in terms of alcohol and don't drink coffee so just brought some beers onboard and room service brought us a bottle opener. I thought I might like to buy some non alcoholic cocktails as I would get fed up with fizzy drinks but it turns out the range is far greater than I expected, especially in the dining rooms. Also can pop into cabanas and pick up drinks from there if they're not on the drinks station.

We spent on:
Medical fees
A hairbrush in the giftshop
A toy woody
tips for room service breakfast and snacks
Standard staff member tips
and that's all. The whole cruise. We never turned anything down that we would have fancied, we just didn't want any of the extra offerings. If the kids had asked for a light up thingy at dinner we wouldn't have said no, but they didn't ask.