Anyone Can Afford

Well, for the most part this is true. Some may have to plan farther in advance then others but that is key. With sufficient planning and budgeting and a good understanding of all the costs involved in taking a vacation basically anyone can take a cruise vacation. This is where a Travel Planner who is a cruise is worth their weight in gold.

All the colorful advertisements paint an awesome picture of how your cruise vacation can be and this is actually very true. You can see new places, experience new things, relax beyond your greatest imagination or be active racing to intense adventure with each new port visited. It is all up to you, after all this is YOUR VACATION. Now associated with these brilliant images of vacation come with an attractive fare and the ads all say "fares starting FROM". This red flag is "from" and the first thing to add to your budget after the "from" is the port taxes and fees. So that you are able to plan and budget adequately to embark on your dream cruise vacation you need to know what other expenses you may face after you get past "from" and the taxes. Ask your cruise specialist travel planner for help.

To begin building your cruise budget, you need to start at the "from". On cruise vacations the "from" is usually the lowest fare, interior (no window) cabin. Is this the cabin you will be able to live in for the length of your cruise? There is nothing bad about interior cabins but you need to know that there is no window but you do have all the basics that the other cabins have; bathroom and shower, closets,TV, comfortable bedding for 1 to 4 guests. Most cruisers do not spend a great deal of time in the cabin. For example, I was recently on a three day cruise that I boarded on Friday morning at 11:30 and disembarked on Monday morning at 9:00. Over the 3+ days on the ship I was in my cabin for only 20 total hours. Most of this time was sleeping. For me not a big deal and I have learned ways to make an interior cabin have a virtual window. If you are wishing for a cabin with a window, balcony or one which is a mini-suite or higher, your "from" fare increases with each new category of cabin you consider.

Your "from" fare includes meals in the buffet area, main dining room and at the pool-side grill as well as water, basic coffee, milk and juice at breakfast, and usually lemonade. The next item to add to your cruise budget are the gratuities for the service staff. You sill have a cabin steward, and two to three dining room wait staff to help make your vacation wonderful. The standard gratuities range from $11.50 to $15.00+ per person per day.

On vacation do you enjoy a cocktail before dinner or a fancy concoction while enjoying the pool on deck? Soda and adult beverages will cost about the same price as you would find at your local bars if you went out on the town. You need to be honest with yourself about how much you may want to consume while enjoying your vacation.

What about shopping and souvenirs? You will be visiting several ports that you may have never visited before and surely you may want to allow for some purchases of mementos of you visit. Refrigerator magnets, tee shirts, and such add up over several port calls. What about gifts to bring back for the pet-sitter or the in-laws?

In any port of calls, the pier is walking distance close to some shopping areas but after traveling all that distance, isn't there something more you want to see or experience? Your travel planner can help you identify a "things to do" list so you can include these expenses in your budget as well. After all, wouldn't it be disappointing to have only budgeted for the cost of the vacation only to finally get there but not have the budget to enjoy some of the finer things these new destinations have to offer?

After working with your travel planner to figure out how much of a budget you will need for your vacation, you can now begin planning the financial path to your getaway. Cruise vacations usually have a final payment due 75 days prior to the sail away date. By determining how much you can afford to save away each week, you can get a pretty good idea how far in advance you need to reserve your cruise. If there is no air from the cruise lines involved, the money necessary to reserve your cruise may be a flat rate or a percentage of the total fare. This varies by cruise line and your travel planner can walk you through this. Knowing your needed budget and the deposit amount, you can begin charting your course to your dream vacation. Once you have saved up the deposit, make your reservation and lock in any early booking rates. Then keep up the saving process so that when final payment is due you have the fare needed to finalize your vacation.

Case study Jamie and Kenneth, a mid-thirties couples approaching their 10th anniversary. The official honeymoon was a weekend a couple hours out of town. Not quite the exciting romantic escape most brides dream about. Fast forward two children later after 8 and one half year of marriage Jamie decides to begin making a plan for the 10th year anniversary and to finally have that exciting honeymoon. Working with her cruise specialist travel planner, she found the perfect cruise and together a reasonable budget was developed so that in addition to the cruise, there would be money to enjoy tours and nights out dancing and romancing.

Now Jamie and Ken were both hooked on that famous coffee chain from Seattle every morning on their ways to work. An agreement was made to each skip one visit each week and instead each put $5 into the vacation coffee can. Like most working couples, Jamie and Ken also drove through for dinner once or twice per week for them and their two kids. Dropping one of these easy dinners a week was a savings of $20 minimum and this was also placed in their coffee can. After just three months they had over $360 in their can when they got some good news from their Travel Planner. The cruise line they wanted had a reduced deposit sale which included $50 of on-board credit. So 15 months before their 10th anniversary for $100 each, the made their reservation for their anniversary/honeymoon cruise. Twelve months left before final payment was to be due.

Excited to have a cruise vacation ahead of them, Jamie and Ken drop off one more day from the local coffee house and drop another drive through dinner night and are now putting away over $200 each month. Although they need only $1,300 more to pay for the cruise and the port taxes, Jamie knows she wants to also cover the gratuities and also have spending money for other fun.

With advice from their Travel Planner, Jamie booked their cruise vacation with a line which offers a special early booking rate which comes with a price guarantee. Three months before final payment, Jamie received a call from her Travel Planner telling her of a cruise sale which offers a lower fare for her cruise than what she had booked and with Jamie's approval, the Travel Planner contacted the cruise line and a couple days later the final balance for their cruise was reduced to $1,175. Jamie and Ken are thrilled but keep on their saving plan.

The final payment day finally arrives 75 days before their special cruise vacation and the happy couple have saved over $2,400 in the past 12 months and easily pay the $1,175 final fare payment but following the advice of the Travel Planner, they also pre-pay the gratuities of $80.50 per person leaving just under $1,200 saved for spending money and they have a $50 on-board credit. But wait, it gets better. The Travel Planner found another price change during a new sale program and contacts Jamie with the news. Because they had already paid off the final balance of the cruise, the additional $75 fare change gets added to their on-board spending account. It pays to use the services of a Travel Planner.

Jamie and Kenneth leave their two children with Grandma for the week and take off on their long overdue dream honeymoon. Not only were they able to afford a cruise vacation, they had saved more than enough money than they would need to enjoy themselves while on vacation and, with help from their Travel Planner, had $125 to spend on board the ship. The money that they did not spend on their cruise vacation went right back into their coffee can and they continue to save so that they can take their children with them on the next cruise vacation.

So you see, with the right strategy for budgeting and planning, nearly everyone can afford a dream cruise vacation. Certainly some are fortunate enough to only need to save for 12 months, others for two years and many more will need to save for three to five years but the end result is so very worth thee effort. Where is your dream cruise destination?