How much is the cost of food and other items (like clothes and souvenirs) in the Caribbean? Estimate.?

Question

I am going on a cruise in December to the Caribbean (Royal caribbean) and I need to know how much will it cost for food, shopping, and transportation in say, Mexico, Haiti, Puerto Rico, the Bahamas, Jamaica and those little islands like Antigua, St. Maarten, the Caymans and the Virgin Islands. Can someone break it down for me piece-by-piece, by island or region? I am on a budget here and need to know if I can just eat on the cruise ship and not eat when I arrive on the islands.

Answer 1

You're going on a cruise and NOW you worry about costs??? LMAO, you probably don't know this, but each place you travel to is going to have a different monetary representation and value for items they either have or don't have access to. Take as much as you can, and then when you run out, sneak food from the buffet back to your cabin and huddle in the corner until landfall back home!

Answer 2

I do know that everytime I have cruised, I eat on the ship instead of the islands.  I see no reason to pay for food when it is included in the price of my vacation.

Answer 3

As to souvenirs...  Negotitate.  When you are in ports, if you are able to chat with the locals, you can  save big bucks if you chew then down on price.  Do not take the price quoted as the actual price.  This sometimes does not work in stores, but in other places, the price quoted is not the lowest price they will accept.

Food?  Eat on the ship.  You know the food will be clean, and not prepared in some dirty kitchen.  I would advise against eating off the ship unless you know the restaurant is clean.  You do not want to come home with a major case of the runs.

Excursions?  Go to websites for the islands, and book the excursions yourself instead of though the cruise line.  In Jamaica, you can find licensed taxi drivers who will take you pretty much anywhere you want.  If you want to chance it, you can even used taxis not licensed for visitors who are even cheaper.  I used them in Ocho Rios and spent a total of $5us for 5 pretty long taxi rides.  I also got a much better view of the locals also.

Answer 4

After  you finish eating on ship, food available 24/7, you will not want to even think about eating in port stops and if you do it will be something light that may cost less than $5.00 US.  

You will need money for four (4) things:

(1) Gratuities should be about $75, per person for a 7 day cruise and you can put this on your charge card if you want.

(2) drinks will run about $5.50 to $6.00 each, a little less if you ask for the non-souvenier glass. Beer about $4.00. All drink tabs will have a tip added to your bill. So depends on how much you drink; you can put your ship tab on a credit card also. When you go ashore drinks will be comparably priced to the US.

(3) Souveniers will depend upon how much you plan to shop;if you don't plan to buy much you will not need much money.  T-shirts and other such things will be about $15 to $20 in most ports.  The cruise line will have a pre-port talk to tell you their recommended places for shopping and the topics will be repeated on your cabin TV.  Most places you will not want to spend more than $25 to $50 in the open air markets; probably not that much.

(4) Tours or excursions from the ship will cost a lot, maybe a minimum of $50 a person to up to $150. for some. You can put this on your credit card also.  If you decide to tour on your own in ports you can save some money, b ut bear in mind that you best be back at the ship by departure time.  Tours offered by the ship will never be  a problem.  But if you go off on your own you can get left behind if you are late.

When you checkin on ship you will be given a combination room key/credit card which you will use for ALL purchases on ship (1,2,3 and 4 above). These will be charged to your credit card based on an account that will be set up when you check in. So, the real question is how much cash will you need and the answer depends on how much shopping you plan to do in placeswhere a credit card is not accepted AND,how much you plan to spend in the casino on ship.

So, you can take a couple hundred in cash and you will be fine and if you need more you can do either of two things, go to the ATM that is on ship (charge may be $4.50 for a withdrawal) OR, go to the casino and get some cash on your room account from the teller window.

Answer 5

ive bin there depends what island but u can nagociate thats what i love about the carribean like they say 5 dollars u say 3 and if ur going to jamacia be careful theirs a lot of scammers but u can get rolex watches realy cheap in jamacia and grand cayman

Answer 6

This is a really broad question that no one can really answer fully.  

What kind of clothes are you looking at?  Prada is going to be expensive and junky t-shirts might be $5.  

Souvenirs?  Keychains and tote bags will be under $10 but artwork could be in the thousands.  

Food?  Food on the ship is free.  Port towns will have everything from a McDonalds for a few dollars to luxury restaurants for $200 a person.  Most boardwalk type restaurants will probably be $25 a person for food and maybe a drink.  We used to attend the breakfast buffet and 'steal' a couple bagles or something and pack them away for the day for munching later.  We rarely ate on land because of the free food on the ship.  At the most it would be the 'pilfered' bagels and maybe a power bar that we packed.