How Much Cash to take on 5 night Carnival Cruise?

Question

My hubby & I are going on a 5 night Carnival Cruise to Cozumel. We want to drink. Don't want to do too many excursions. And, since we won the cruise, we are on a TIGHT budget and don't have any credit cards. How much money do we need?

ALSO, do they search bags? We have heard to take a Listerine bottle full of SOCO if we don't want to pay a lot. ANY advice would be appreciated!

Answer 1

well if your on a tight budget and don't have a credit card you will need 200.00 cash or a visa type debit card. now for the hints no one will say ,you will be billed the tips on your bill and you can have all of it taken off. and if money is a problem don't tip anyone...yes that's what i said...first cruise i took, i needed the 200.00 to get home on and spent 20.00 for 3 days..brought my own booze in a diet coke bottle, and did no shore trips.. well i do things alot different now a days but the first trip is still a great memory ..have fun

Answer 2

if you are going on the fasination i hated that ship but it still an ok trip. there is no min amount you have to put on the card. we maxed ours out and put 10 more bucks to buy a drink lol. but you can buy stuff in advance. you can buy a excursion onlne.. you can do a snorkle one for 30... you can prepay your tips and it would be about 100 dollars tipping for both of you. you can also buy alcohol tickets online for 4 its 19.50. `carnival does let you bring on wine and we have snuck on rum and pucker in our check in .. make sure that you cusion it lol.. plus they do have art auctions that give out free champane. we go to those too lol. oh and if you do bring on wine bring that bottle opener! captains party will provide free drinks too. we went to both parties and were tanked lol. there is a duty free on the ship and on the last night they have a sale and will let u take the bottles back to the room. hopes this helps. we went on our last cruise with 500 bucks and it was this same cruise and had a blast... we have gone on cruises where we brought more.. also u can buy transfers in advance too.

Answer 3

Can I just say that my husband and I had so much fun on that cruise? Are you on the Fascination Ship? Okay here's the rundown: Grab a Seat

A bus at the airport will take you to where they board the ship by indicating you with a color coded sticker. Depending on the color, that's what boat you will be riding. They have Fascination, Imagination, Sensation and so forth. The shuttle bus from the airport to the boat was 32 dollars.

They will take your luggage from the bus for you and take it to your boat (the luggage will  be tagged too) and you will not see your luggage for about another four hours. This is because they will personally deliver all the luggages to each room. And the luggages will be sitting outside your door for you.

Everyone is required to get a carnival cruise "debit card" where you have to put money on it. (I think the minimum is $200) And you will do this by cash or credit card. They do this because everytime you buy anything like alcholic beverages or anything, it will be deducted from your card because it's easier for them instead of handling cash. PLEASE NOTE that they take gratuity AUTOMATICALLY from your available balance UNLESS you tell them not to. If you do this they expect for you to leave some type of tip in your room for the housekeeping on your own.

Because of how nice everyone was, they do expect tips.

Everynight there are things to do  24 hours a day. Parties, Music, Club, Gambling , EVERYTHING! They send a newsletter everynight to your room to tell you about the events.

Also, they have free roomservice the last time I was there where someone will bring you some food in case you and your hubby wants a little quiet time. Check on that again just to be sure.

Spas, Manicures, Massages, the Gym are not included and if you use it they will deduct your card. Jewelry, Clothes, too!

If you happen to go over the limit you put on your card I heard they will not let you off the boat until you pay.

So in a nutshell, to have lobster and steak dinners parties and such is free, but alcohol and other stuff isnt.

And no don't put liquor in a listerine bottle because they might not even let you fly let alone get on the boat.

Hope that helps. I'm jealous you're going and not me. Have fun for the both of us and be SAFE.

Take Care

Answer 4

Check out your winner's certificate to determine if the package included tips...if not

- $10 per day per person for tips.  ($100 total for 5 day cruise for 2 people).  Carnival adds this fee to your on-board account the moment you step on board.

- Drinks are $4-12 each plus a 15% gratutity.

- Sodas are $1.75 per can or about $35 for a Soda Fountain call you can drink card.

- Water, tea, juice is included @ no charge.

- You don't have to take shore excursions but include some money in your budget for either taxis to take you to the beach or goofing off in the open air market.  All of the entertainment on the ship is closed while you are in port.  

- Take plenty of $1,5 and 10 in US dollars for shopping in the open air markets in Cozumel.  Avoid the mall.  It is too pricey and they will not negotiate with you.

- You will need to open a cash account when you board the ship.  When you reach your limit, they will send a note to your cabin.  My sister always sails with a cash account that way she does not overspend like I do.

- The photos are $20 a sheet.  They take a ton of photos on board and you will likely find at least 1 or 2 that you want to buy.

- Amount of search depends upon specific port.

Answer 5

For four people last year on the Inspiration, I only carried about $300 cash.  We got a tour at Grand Caymen, and Cozumel.  On the ship we bought two coffee drinks, a baseball cap for our son, and a cookbook, just because George the Greek made it so appealing.  Our shipboard account was under $250 with tips.  You need to plan on opening an account at embarkation of at least $200.  If you have no credit cards, then you may be able to use cash.  I don't know if they still allow this.  If not, you can use a check card to secure the account.  

They x-ray all the bags.  We do not carry any bags on the ship.  We do not drink, so we do not worry about sneaking alcohol onboard.  We usually pack several cans of soda in our luggage, and they have never said anything about this.  I do know that if they find alcohol, then they will confiscate it, with no compensation.