I just got addicted to traveling and decided that experience is far more valuable then money which helps me save money in exchange for experience, adventure, and travelling. Right now, I'm saving to ride the Carnival Miracle to Hawaii, putting $500 a month for the cruise...
We spent a total of $1225 for a 5 night cruise. Gratuities and a photo package included. We paid $400 down and paid a lil every 2 weeks. Gave up eating out, but was worth it.
I started driving with Uber Eats on weekends just to save for cruises! In only a few months I've already saved $2500. I set up a separate savings account that it automatically gets deposited in.
Budgeting is one of my favorite topics!! I’m saver and a planner and budgeting for me is the ultimate form of planning. I never thought of myself as geeky until I started writing this comment. LOL
Another consideration I think is how much vacation time you have in a year. Looking forward to being with my job long enough to earn more than the regular two weeks.
HI Tony, ever since we got married my husband and I agree on use my salary for fun, invest and savings. It has worked for us we've been married for 27 years ❤️❤️
We had a vacation home for 10 years. We decided we'd rather travel than go to the same place all the time. Sure it's great, you arrive, walk in the door and you have all your stuff there. Even though it was in a beautiful location you're going to the same place all the time. After 10 years because we bought it as a foreclosure during the housing crisis it had appreciated quite well. So we sold it. Now we have a pot of money to travel with.
That’s awesome! It’s hard to let go of certain ideas and things, it was hard when we finally sold our place in Nashville and decided to just rent going forward, but it gives us a flexibility we didn’t have. - Tony
We've been unloading properties starting in 2011. Back in the late 90s our tax consultant told us we made too much money. Wow; I didn't think so, but no one ever thinks they have enough money. Our tax guy told us to start buying properties as a tax write-off. The Bush years were one big party for us. We lived well. We were living large up until the crash in 2008. We started buying rental property and some vacation homes. At one point we had 5 mortgages. We had our primary home, 2 vacation homes, and 5 rental units. As you can see a real estate market crash could wipe out people like us. We were borrowing off properties to acquire additional ones. The crash wounded us badly. So now we just have our primary home and one vacation home. We made money on some properties and lost our shirts on most. We gambled in the real estate casino. Luckily I worked at an aerospace job that had a pension plan and a 401K. So we were able to retire pretty comfortably, regardless of the beating we took in real estate.
We've decided we can cruise about every 18 months. That's $55 a month on the credit card directly to Carnival to pay off the cruise itself, and putting back $100 a month for all other expenses and we can manage it. Love to cruise more often, but at this point (I'm retired, husband on disability) that's all we can manage.
Great tips! Now I just need to pass these along to my kids (3 of 4 are college age or older) so that Bank of Mom & Dad doesn't need to fund cruises for 6 people!
Omg yes!! We have one more we are waiting to graduate high school. This year was the first year we didnt pay for all 5 of us. I told older kidos here's what you need for down payment. Heres how much every 2 weeks you need to pay in order to go. You dont pay you dont go sorry. Needless to say 2 kids payed there way 😀
I'm not picky and don't need everything to be perfect. Therefore, I cruise anything that's in driving distance, 6 hours or less. No hotel or rental cars. I try to pick the cruise dates that cost less, such as when the kids are in school. Going solo saves me money too.
Currently watching anything cruise related as we go on our first cruise in 10 days It's never been on our radar, but as we love to travel, the itinerary sold it to us. Off on a 14 night Baltic cruise Hoping we get the cruise bug !
The "side-hustle" is huge here Tony. We never have a time where we don't have a cruise booked because I can manage a few hundred $ a month doing stuff on the side and in my free time. A strict % of that is saved in a "fun" account and another strict % goes towards the cruise. This way I can guarantee the cruise is paid off and I will have $ left for pre-cruise transportation, hotel, etc. and for spending money on the cruise.
We paid off our vehicles that freed up $1300 a month so we put that into a vacation account.we have only taken vacations to visit family on our vacations we have 15 grand children since we sold our dream home down sized and moved closer we figured it’s time to take time for us if there’s a way you can make it happen thank you for your videos.
I have to agree with you on the coffee saving Tony, that is how I paid for my iPad Pro which is what I am watching you on right now. I was spending £5.15p per day on 1 coffee and 1 🥐 croissant, on the way to work. That was £1,184.50 per year. Gave it up and brought my iPad Pro.
That makes a ton of sense. The 4 bucks or 5 quid :) seems inconsequential at the time but really adds up. Love the iPad Pro and the Apple Pencil! - Tony
Good tips. My comments follow: To find out how much a cruise costs, first get an idea of where, when and for how long you want to cruise. Then either call the cruise lines that can provide the cruise you would like or check their web sites and web sites like cruise compete; or call your travel agent and have them work up the numbers for you. If you don't have a TA you can save yourself a lot of work by getting one and put them to work for you. It costs you nothing for their service. In addition to the actual bottom line cost of the cruise, calculate / estimate the additional costs including getting to and from the cruise, excursions and for-fee items on the ship. {PUT YOUR PHONES ON AIRPLANE MODE} Additional thoughts on how to pay. You will probably have to make a down payment when you book your cruise. While this might be $500 to $1000 or more, in some cases you can reduce this to as low as $100 by booking your next cruise while you are on your present cruise. Not much help for first time cruisers, sorry. On some cruise lines you can book a future cruise and not specify the cruise. It is like a voucher for a cruise that you or your TA can use when actually booking a cruise. Sometimes these come with additional on-board credits. I agree with your comments about where the money can come from. Some folks even start their own part-time business to earn the cruise money. Getting your employer or your bank to make payroll deductions for you can work well, as someone else has commented. I found that when i received a pay increase, if I increased my deduction by that much I didn't miss it and my bank account grew automatically. I also like the comment about windfall items like tax return, which is a government run forced savings account. In days of old many banks had a savings account called a Christmas Club where you paid in each payday and then sometime in mid December you got back your money to cover Christmas expenses. Maybe your bank will do something like that if you ask. An item you did not touch on, or I missed it, is getting the free time to vacation. Many folks only have a week or two off from their job, so they can't just take a cruise whenever they like. For some, the part time business can grow to the point where you simply can't afford your full-time job any longer. BTW, when you state that it costs you #2K for a 3 or 4 day cruise, I suggest you break that down for your viewers so they don't get the idea that they found a great deal on a 7 night cruise for that same price.
Great tips Tony..I save my recyclables through the year and put that towards my cruise fund. And my adult kids sometimes give me 💵 on certain occasions like bdays or Valentine's Day and all that goes into my cruise fund. They know I love to cruise. ☺🚢⚓
Wow Tony..... I would never have guessed that you only have 3 cruises under your belt. You guys are so confident talking about cruising I would have said you were seasoned cruisers. We are heading on our no. 3 cruise on July 7th to the Mediterranean for 7 days and I can't wait for it. Have you ever discussed with the boss (Jenny) doing a European cruise? Have a great time on your cruise. 🚢🚢🚢
I get a little nerdy and obsessive about stuff I am interested in. We would like to do a transatlantic or a European cruise. We have it on the bucket list. - Tony
I plan vacations in advance. I vacations planned all the way up to summer 2021. But I use a TA for my travel and I pay overtime. That is what works best for me.
I think best way to save is to pay your savings first, budget what you have left for your bills & if you have any left over, only then can you buy non-essential things like takeaways.
We take our kids everywhere we go, exept on our anniversary. This year our 4 year old has been to 8 countries, counting St Martin as 2 (Dutch and French side) thank God I was there to watch my kids and wife have fun... Would it be be possible without cruise lines...hmm, not as likely. Love your videos and you're %100 RIGHT. Budgeting is the answer, if you work for a living like most of us watching this video, you gotta ask yourself ... Do I really need it?
Well done Tony. We have done 18 Carnival cruises and 3 Royal Caribbean. cruises. Bang for the buck, you can’t beat Carnival. You can pay more but we prefer Carnival.
we pay monthly $100 for 13 months and pick a cruise that works around our teaching husband is retired and we get fall break spring break christmas and thanksgiving break. Main thing if you love something you will do it. We have a normal house a normal car and dont eat out or entertain other than family and holidays. We have done all the jewelry and own so many tools. so we travel some people rather pay $300 for a dinner or race cars so it is what you love
We use our Capital One Credit card for double points for everything allowed. Pay it off every cycle to make sure we do not get charged interest and we can usually get 1 to 2 cruises a year paid for. We just need to have the spending money when we go. Just got back from Barcelona where we were on the Horizon and going out of Port Canaveral on the Liberty in September. Cruise number 18.
Very nice! What did you think of the Horizon? We have sailed the Liberty, we really enjoyed that ship. Good point on leveraging the credit card cash back. - Tony
lol, hey ROLL OUT!! make the time. around holiday time, summertime, springtime, wintertime, no kidstime, about to loose my mind time, kidstime. seriously take the time off even if its just a weekend cruise.
I put my charge card rewards towards the cruise. I always book with a cruise that has perks and if I have money left over after the cruise, I put it back into cruise fund. I also sell items that I no longer use and throw that in my cruise fund.
Since we like Carnival the most we have the mastercard with them. Great perks and you earn so many points just by using it to book and on everything else on board and before you board goodies. and shore excursions etc. . Most of the time I am able to pre pay the gratuity with the points.
Great tips thank you. I do work overtime at my job and that will help, but sometimes it’s hard to make myself do it because I work 12 hr nights. I need to find something different to do for extra money. It just seems easier when you can do something a little different.
If you book a inside cabin you can save up to 40% or more. Recently booked a 4 day Caribbean cruise for March. Prices were balcony 1831 ocean view 1271 inside 1170
A little from each paycheck is a good idea....collect $2.00 bills or get a quarter bank every bit helps....save or stash singles in a separate envelope...there if you need it but savings for the cruise.....Birthday or holiday money is found money save it...you have to Want to go on this cruise. And it ain't cheap...but worth it...get in the small saver habit it adds up....Cruise on....
I used my airline credit card and that way I get miles and use those miles for my flight to the departure port, paid off the cruise and make payments . Usually a paid my credit card sooner to avoid interest or pay less interest.
Another tip, I have a cash back CC so I rack up the reward (pay off each month). I am taking advantage of my grocery store 4x fuel points for gift cards special. I am buying a huge gift card for carnival to pay my cruise balance, get fuel points of $20 and 2% cash back on my credit card. Double dipping! Woohoo Only do this if you have $ to pay cc balance each month. Otherwise, the cash back is not worth interest.
i agree. it can be done in so many ways. I love cruising. i have been with Carnival since 2003,. l book like almost a year early. Make the first deposit and pay on the balance monthly as with other bills..this way it feels no different . Also, there's always discounts on deposits going on. like $50 pp. to book,
For me it's a balance between make more money and save more money. As a recent college graduate i'm hitting the pavement hard to find a full time job, i do have a part time job, working on making more money. To save more i've tried to cut down on the food spending by bringing my lunch and snacks instead of always eating out for lunch on the days i do work.
They way I budget my cruises is that I figure out how much t would cost for a hotel.. food and transportation costs. Then I figure out that a vacation of the same caliber can cost more. We are blessed to travel a frew times a year using our timeshares as well. For our upcoming Back2Back cruise which is three weeks. On the fist leg I booked an Interior Guarantee due to the Port Intensive itinerary for the second cruise I got us a Midship Oceanview Cabin on Royal Caribbean Brilliance Of The Seas. We put down the deposit and pay the rest before final payment. For 3 of us its $5100. I am a Travel Agent so I used my share of my commission to discount the cruise by $300. So that basically takes care of the third person suppliment for the first cruise.
We used to just save up the money.. book it and go from there. This February 2020 cruise we did the payment plan . And since my hubby got Holiday pay ( extra money ) we took that extra money and have it for the “ extras” on the cruise.. and we went ahead and paid the gratuities today . There again.. less that our debit card will be hit for towards the end of the cruise. And we will probably go ahead and book our next cruise while on the ship.. we heard there’s money to be saved by doing that.. still checking on that tho.This will be our 6th we go at least once a year . P.S I used to live in Charlotte but now will live in the foothills of N.C
I save and then convert my credit card points into carnival gift cards, I rack up points pretty quick so my cruise fare is totally covered by them! (Amex)
Great Advice. I’m always looking for deals. Saving money, cutting out Starbucks and Duncan, we sell things on eBay to make extra. This last year has been tough though since we were hit hard by Hurricane Irma, and lots of expenses. Probably only two cruises this year. Already booked one for 2019.
Well we live in Florida we have 3 ports within 2 hours or less away. So we have less expense, we don’t usually have to fly anywhere. I look for deals and pre plan.
We got a phenomenal deal for a Christmas cruise, and we only booked 45 days in advance. I’m finding that at least with some cruise lines there are really good deals if you can wait to book. I’m sure that’s not always true, but the common wisdom of booking years in advance doesn’t always seem to be true. It’s now my hobby to constantly be searching for cruise deals.
My husband and I in sales and make a set salary but also make commission on top of that. We agreed if anything in commission is over a standard amount it goes on the cruise payments. If a cruise is payed off well then its time to book another one. And since we get double commission for xmas and Valentine Day yep you guessed it we are booked for next 3yrs out. But we only go once a year. And our last kiddo will graduate in 2yrs.
I wish we could plan for a cruise in two years so we could pay it off like that. But my husband‘s job makes it to where he can only put in for vacation on January 1 for the year and that is it. So we never no from one year to the next when we will be off.
co worker goin on a honeymoom cruise. get the family/friends/coworkers to chip in. im hosting a SAIL-AWAY WISHES bridal shower. Let others help upgrade to a balcony room or pay for dinner/gratuties.
Great tips! How in the world are you spending $2000 for a 4 day cruise? We've done 4 and 5 day cruises for $800 to $900. We live in Florida and just drive. We also tend to stick to carnival which costs less than some other lines. Just 2 of us and we stick to inside cabins most of the time and cruise off season.
My calculation my be on the high side but it does include travel back and forth from North Carolina. The key is just really know your number! :) - Tony
What is your Secret for cruising so cheap? We are going to be taking our two kids on a cruise in a few months and it almost cost us $5000. We are going on a 7 day. We did a 5 day for two over the summer and we paid just that for us.
we use our income tax, it pay s the majority of the cruise, then we pay of the rest before the due date. and we do disney cruise, which is twice as expensive as the others,
Nice vid! You wouldn't believe how much I spend on cigarettes and if I can quit those -- I'll be in good shape, although somehow I've cut my spending (on restaurants and yes -- Starbucks) enough to save around $300.00 a month. It can be done!
....save a little where you can tuck the rest away for yourself... Smoking is hard just don't quit quitting... .........so where's this cruise going?.....ya know you cannot smoke on board...right ?
I live on disability and on a fixed income to I would love to hear someone with the same problem and if they have figured out how to do that.maybe certain rooms certain time of the year. Also I am a single cruiser, or want to be a cruiser. Will be on the Caribbean princess June 20th of 20 let me know what you think about the Caribbean.
Hey Tony, I am on a use it or lose it PTO plan. If someone has extra time and willing to use it, I volunteer to work on both election days. My state pays $180 each time. While it won't pay for a cruise, I plan on using it for spending $.
My job requires me to work all holidays and I never have 2 days in a row off but I am able to take 3 week long vacations per year and we went on our first cruise this year and are hooked. IMO cruising is the best vacations because I can just relax and not worry about anything and the cruises we are looking at about $1000 for 2 people (5 day) There is no other vacation we can take and get that much back out of it (shows, included food). But my question is take 2 cruises per year in nicer staterooms or 3 cruises / year in cheaper inside staterooms.
Sorry Tony, but 4 day cruises are way too short, plus one would have to live near a port and have a variety of itineraries from that same port to warrant taking 4 day cruises. We live in Vancouver, but have done coastals and Alaska and a Japan to Vancouver, so now we have to fly to get something different. i am not paying an airfare for a 4 day cruise. I always said that I would never do a Caribbean cruise for less than ten days as it takes all day and a change of plane to get to Florida.
Carnival gift cards work for me, I buy $25.00 cards every time I want to go to the casinos, or fast food restaurants. Lol. I end up having $300 To use for my cruise for a down payments or onboard credit.
We quit eating out so much. (Savings of over $100-150/week- it was bad). I also started actually grocery shopping instead of the delivery service. Those $5-10 service fees add up. I'm about to go cancel hulu (we dont watch it) now because your video made me think of it! Thanks!
I tried to do it as main gig for a bit but it trashed my car and it was long hours to make what I wanted to make, but the freedom of it was awesome. - T
Good evening La Lido Loca people. I'm gonna go on a cruise with the wife and its my first time going on a Royal Caribbean cruise on March 2019. After my parents found out I'm going on a cruise they got all hyped up and wanna do a family cruise for 2020. I was wondering if its cheaper if I book my cruise for 2020 while on board of my upcoming cruise, any idea? Thanks.
I would ease yourself into it. Start with an excursion that the cruise line offers. We like doing hop on hop off tours where we can see the sights and also stop a place if we see something that piques our interest. - Tony
@@nataschiawilisch9958 most people over here get paid either monthly, twice a month or every two weeks. People who get paid weekly are usually looked at as having lower paying or temp agency jobs. It is rare to have an employer pay every week. So yes, that’s why rent and/or mortgage is due monthly. Over here if you’re paying rent weekly then you probably live in a hotel or somewhere undesirable.
My friend says he buys gift cards at Kroger for cruising. He'll buy the Visa ones if they discount them 10-15% off, then will buy Carnival/other cruise line gift cards with the Visa when Carnival/etc go on the same sale. Basically just stacking the savings. Plus when Kroger runs their 4x fuel points he gets more savings on gas. Now the trick is to figure out when they're more likely to run these discount gift cards? I'M still searching for answers on that.
