Home'scool Posted August 14, 2015 Share Posted August 14, 2015 I have never been on a cruise, but have always like the idea and someday plan on going on one. I have been on other vacations - its not like I never go on vacation, but they are spaced a few years a part and we consider it a big deal when we go. On Facebook I have "liked" the pages of the major cruise lines like Royal Caribbean and Cunard, etc. When they post things about new ships or different cruises I am always surprised by the large number of people who post things like "Just got off our cruise and have our next one booked!" ----- or "This will be our 20th cruise, can't wait!' I am especially surprised by this happening on the more expensive Cunard line like the Queen Mary. People say things like "Doing the transatlantic crossing for the 10th time - the only way to travel" Those cruises cost thousands and thousands!! Now I know that it is only a percentage of people and not everyone vacations like this, but who are these people that can go on multiple cruises multiple years in a row? So then I started thinking, do most people go on lots of vacations like this, or is that NOT the norm? My husband and I make a very decent amount of money -- do we worry too much about savings and retirement funds? Should we loosen up and spend like these people do? My mother and stepfather were married for 20 years and went on 27 cruises. They ended up going bankrupt but not just because they spent so much on vacations. There were a lot of other really bad decision in there too. So I guess they would have been fine with just all the cruising but I just cannot imagine vacationing that much. Do I have the wrong outlook or do all these vacation-happy people know something I don't know? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 14, 2015 Share Posted August 14, 2015 IMNSHO, you know something those people don't know. It appears to be a scary societal trend. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SKL Posted August 14, 2015 Share Posted August 14, 2015 Maybe they are retired. They could also be fake posts put up by those invested in the cruise line. I've been on 2 cruises (3 if you count the 3-day cruise on the Yangtze river, 5 if you count the all-in-a-day Bahama cruises. :P I am 49 and far from being retired. I could definitely see going on a few more. It's a nice way to hit multiple locations. If you think of it as really multiple vacations (one in each port), it isn't outrageous. There are also some good deals you can get if you shop around. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renthead Mommy Posted August 14, 2015 Share Posted August 14, 2015 My parents cruise a least a couple of times a year. They prefer to do a trans Atlantic across instead of flying over so my mom doesn't have to worry about picking up a sinus thing on a plane. They usually fly back. Part of the reason they cruise so much is because they are retired, so they have the time. But it is also easy for them as they can drive to Florida to pick up a ship. More convent, but does not work as often is Charleston. Plus they often travel as a group among their friends. But they make their cruises big cruises most of the time. 10 days or more. The longest one was I think 50 days around Australia. Or that big one may have been the east coast of Asia, I can't remember. One was five weeks one was two months. But they also have a friend who is a cruise specialist and finds great deals. My mom does not like the cold. Back in Feb, they were on the way back from Charlotte to Hilton Head and it was just really cold. So they called their friend, she found a cheap cruise to the Caribbean that left in three days. They drove home, packed, drove to Florida and off they went. My mom will only cruise to warm places at this point. They have done the Mediterranean so many times they are turning down trips because they have already been there and seen those ports enough. They didn't make it to Alaska or eastern Canada, but she doesn't care. They did do somewhere in Russia and southern Austrailia. She was glad they saw it but has no desire to be north (or south if it is so south it is getting cold) again. I thnk a lot of it has to do with season of life. We vacavtioned a lot more when my son was younger. A little less now that he's older and has commitments and school things he doesn't want to miss. It helps that we don't have any pets. My son leaves for college in 5 years and we already have a few trips planned for after he is in college. For my parents and their friends, it is similar. No kids, no pets, their time is their own so they just go. If you know how to do it cruising can be quite cheap on a per day basis. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crimson Wife Posted August 14, 2015 Share Posted August 14, 2015 People have different priorities for their money. One of my good high school friends received a modest inheritance from a great-aunt. Not life-changing money but enough that they could either pay off the balance on their car (which they'd purchased a few months earlier) or buy a time-share at Disneyworld. She chose the latter. It's her money and she's entitled to spend it however she pleases, but that's not the choice I would've made. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renthead Mommy Posted August 14, 2015 Share Posted August 14, 2015 People have different priorities for their money. One of my good high school friends received a modest inheritance from a great-aunt. Not life-changing money but enough that they could either pay off the balance on their car (which they'd purchased a few months earlier) or buy a time-share at Disneyworld. She chose the latter. It's her money and she's entitled to spend it however she pleases, but that's not the choice I would've made. But since they bought the car originally, the payments were already in their budget and spending. Getting the time share does not change that. Unless of course the time share ends up being somthing they really can't afford and it affects their car payments. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miss Tick Posted August 14, 2015 Share Posted August 14, 2015 It is my understanding that if you book your next cruise before the end of the one you are on you get (what feels like) BIG SAVINGS! This encourages serial cruising. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlsdMama Posted August 14, 2015 Share Posted August 14, 2015 But since they bought the car originally, the payments were already in their budget and spending. Getting the time share does not change that. Unless of course the time share ends up being somthing they really can't afford and it affects their car payments. I think the poster was essentially saying there were two choices ~ relieve debt/save more or spend "for fun." She would have chose relieve debt to have more money in the budget for saving. I think the correlation here is what the OP is asking. Are folks who spend money on a lot of vacations folks who really have excess or are they in debt and not saving in order to have fun in the moment? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HomeAgain Posted August 14, 2015 Share Posted August 14, 2015 Depends. My husband and I snagged a great deal on a three-country cruise. We had the money in the account, and when we wanted to go we snatched up a last minute package for about $2000 - 7 day, balcony room, excursions, etc. included in the total cost. $2K is doable. Had we booked a month or two out, it would have been closer to $6000, but they really want to fill rooms and tend to drop prices at the last minute. I think you can't really know how a person's budget is until you're reading their bank account. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SKL Posted August 14, 2015 Share Posted August 14, 2015 Another thing to remember is that we are not going to be able to travel forever. If travel is important, you need to do it while you can still get around, see, hear, etc. Might as well save the close-to-home stuff for when you can't get out much. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QueenCat Posted August 14, 2015 Share Posted August 14, 2015 Another thing to remember is that we are not going to be able to travel forever. If travel is important, you need to do it while you can still get around, see, hear, etc. Might as well save the close-to-home stuff for when you can't get out much. :iagree: This is so true. I have watched several couples plan well for retirement, to include money for lots of traveling. Early deaths and/or poor health made it so they didn't get to do the traveling. That has impacted my husband and I greatly in our choices. We do save for the future but also recognize that not everything is about "later". We don't cruise but we do vacation often. At least one 7-10 day trip per year, and several long weekends each year. The kids (well now, just one of them) and I travel more than he does, often meeting my siblings and other family at different places when dh can't. We wouldn't do this if it meant not saving for retirement or having a balanced budget but we will not enter retirement, fall ill and then have to say "we didn't get to travel". Experiences and culture are too important to us for us to think differently. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renthead Mommy Posted August 14, 2015 Share Posted August 14, 2015 I think the poster was essentially saying there were two choices ~ relieve debt/save more or spend "for fun." She would have chose relieve debt to have more money in the budget for saving. I think the correlation here is what the OP is asking. Are folks who spend money on a lot of vacations folks who really have excess or are they in debt and not saving in order to have fun in the moment? Things like inheritances should never be counted on. We call that free money. But we live in our means and don't carry debt and have set up a very well balanced retirement, college and savings as have most of our friends. So that is our priority money. Inheritence would be extra money. And we vacation often, taking advantage of all the different locations we are stationed at. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenn- Posted August 14, 2015 Share Posted August 14, 2015 When you retire and happen to live by the cruise ports, you can get some awesome deals. We met one guy on a 5 day cruise that was called on Wednesday for a cruise leaving Friday with a last minute offer of a balcony room for $95 each (Carnival). When he got there someone else wanted a balcony room upgrade so they bumped him into a suite for no extra. That was 5 days of meals, swimming pool time, theater entertainment, dance lessons, and visiting foreign ports. You cannot vacation like that any where else. Heck, go to NYC and you won't get one night worth of entertainment and meal for the same price, and that's if you don't spend the night. I've been on 6 cruises, but never been able to book while still on the boat. I don't cruise with my children as I consider cruises as my vacation days from my full time mommy homeschooling job. That leaves me with having to make sure we have babysitters in place before we can book. We cruise about once a year, but we sail on the Walmart and Target of the cruise industry (Carnival and Norwegian) so we get good deals and can still afford to vacation with the kids. We camp with the kids and they love it so our family trips are cheaper vacations. Don't worry, they vacation with their grandparents on such things as cruises and Disney World (they are vacation club members there). They get the best of both worlds, quality time with our family vacations, and fun life experiences with the grandparents. Could we save the $500-$600 we spend on a cruise each year? Sure, but Mommy's sanity is worth more than that. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Girls' Mom Posted August 14, 2015 Share Posted August 14, 2015 I agree, it is about priorities. We spend money on "luxury" items too, but they are usually in the form of tech gadgets and tractors. We don't vacation all that often, and our big trip to NYC last year was a huge splurge for us. It was also the last time we'll probably go on a trip with all the kids before they head in different directions. Now our priorities are shifting to more savings and debt reduction. No big vacations in the plans for years to come. (Not to mention becoming a full-time student has put a big damper on that) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FaithManor Posted August 14, 2015 Share Posted August 14, 2015 My MIL lived near a cruise port. She used to get extraordinary deals. They were last minute ticket sales advertised locally when the ship wasn't quite as full as the cruise line wanted...sort of like flying standby. So she started going after she retired. Often times the off season rates were rock bottom. We've budgeted for travel in our retirement. Part of that will include lots of visiting to the grands due to the fact that the kids and their families are likely to be spread far and wide. Part of that will also include international travel. So I am sure that a facebook page for us in the future may look rather decadent, Now, I will say this. I have no desire to cruise, not at all. I am extremely anti-cruise every year during the flu season when those news reports come out with hundreds of people sick on the cruise lines. NO THANKS! LOL We are able to travel now due to becoming debt free two and half years ago. We may have to rein that in a bit if the boys do not get the level of merit aid they need for college necessitating a larger contribution from us. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tess in the Burbs Posted August 14, 2015 Share Posted August 14, 2015 We vacation. Every year. Some bigger than others. Making memories with our kids. We should put more to savings/retirement, but there are things we want to do now, so we do it. No regrets. I have no interest in a cruise, but I know people who love them. If you want to vacation, do it. I don't want to spend my life saving and not enjoy life along the way. So we do vacations :) 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crimson Wife Posted August 14, 2015 Share Posted August 14, 2015 But since they bought the car originally, the payments were already in their budget and spending. Getting the time share does not change that. Unless of course the time share ends up being somthing they really can't afford and it affects their car payments. I would've paid off the car and then used the freedom in my budget to save up towards the time-share. I don't fault her for needing a loan to purchase the car, but debt is something we try to avoid as much as possible and pay off as soon as we can when it can't be avoided. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Audrey Posted August 15, 2015 Share Posted August 15, 2015 Like others said... different people have different priorities for their money. I don't see any difference between say... spending your money to go on cruises and spending your money to buy every Apple product that comes out the minute it's released. Most people have their own "thing" that they like to indulge in, and that's okay. According to an ex-friend, I, apparently, spend all my money on guitars and cats. Now... if the cruise lines start accepting cats as payments, I might consider taking one. ;) That was a joke. They can't have my kitties. Or my guitars. :P 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meriwether Posted August 15, 2015 Share Posted August 15, 2015 The only couple I know who cruise several times/year are DINKs. We may take our five kids on a cruise someday. Once. :laugh: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
texasmama Posted August 15, 2015 Share Posted August 15, 2015 My brother goes on a lot of cruises, and he is a cheapskate. He gets amazing deals via email. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcadia Posted August 15, 2015 Share Posted August 15, 2015 My mom has sea legs. My parents, my brother and I went on many cruises as a result. My dad doesn't mind because round trip cruising is more relaxing than flying. The cost per day is about the same as the hotel room rate per day without having to pay for airfare. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SemiSweet Posted August 15, 2015 Share Posted August 15, 2015 I've never cruised but we have one in the works for next year, I think. People prioritize their money differently, but traveling is a big priority to me. I would not go in debt to travel, or pretty much to do anything else. I'm sure our vacation money could be put to better use in retirement funds or more college money for the kids, but I only get one life, I have every intention of making it fun. This year we will have taken three vacations, one family vacation to Asia, one couple vacation to Kauai, and a long vacation to visit my family in the NW. We also will camp 2-3 times throughout the year. Next year, we will probably camp several times and only go on the cruise since we are also moving across the country. I like traveling and vacationing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jane in NC Posted August 15, 2015 Share Posted August 15, 2015 Travel is a priority for us--more than say fancy cars or the latest gadgets. Most people whom I know have some expendable income but what an individual consider basic needs varies. For example, when my son was growing up, we did not have cable television (which I guess is passe now but was once a chunk of cash in many monthly budgets). So $30 or $40 per month can translate into a nice annual camping vacation for a family that values travel and the outdoors over TV. Of course this is a modest sum but add together several expendable line items and one might have a cruise or two covered in the budget. We saved for a month long trip in Britain as part of our homeschooling adventure. To lower the overall cost, we stayed in some hostels where we could cook. Not all travel needs to be crazy expensive. My sister just signed up for a cruise deal that involves repositioning a boat. She and her husband are retired so they have flexibility to jump on a deal when it is presented. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StephanieZ Posted August 15, 2015 Share Posted August 15, 2015 Everyone has different priorities and different budgets. 5-10k/yr can fund several nice trips or one fabulous trip annually. It's not that hard for many families to live on 5-15k/yr less that what you really "make" if travel is just budgeted in. A $200,000 nest egg can easily generate 10k/yr of vacation fun money in perpetuity. Plenty of folks have that sort of inheritance or other fun/free money in addition to retirement savings. Others have parents who like to gift trips, etc. One of my best friends travels internationally 6-8 weeks a year (she is an academic) despite the fact that her own little family is on a very tight budget (one income, lots of kids), because her parents take her family on great trips. Dh and I have always taken great vacations with our kids; it's a priority. We can afford it, and we aren't neglecting our other priorities or responsibilities. I don't regret a penny we've spent on our vacations. We can always earn more money . . . but we can NOT make more time. My mom passed away recently, and she traveled her entire life including with my family and kids, and she still had money to take care of her needs throughout her life and leave some to her heirs. I'm so glad we never missed traveling with her . . . And losing her reinforced my feeling that time with loved ones is the ONLY thing that is irreplaceable. Other folks shop for discount cruises and cruise often but for quite modest costs. Also, people who gamble often get LOTS of free cruises as incentives to gamble. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LucyStoner Posted August 15, 2015 Share Posted August 15, 2015 My FIL was a cruise person. That was how they vacationed. No other trips were ever taken with his dad. He could afford it though and never went bankrupt. That said, being dragged on cruises as a child and teen has left my husband permanently unwilling to ever even consider boarding another cruise ship again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renthead Mommy Posted August 15, 2015 Share Posted August 15, 2015 The beauty of a cruise is you basically unpack at your "hotel" the first day. Then your "hotel" magically transports you to the next location over night. So you get to see many places and leave out the hassels of swithching hotels and transportation be it car, train or plane to get from place to place. The only drawback to this is you are tied to port cities and this is ineffective travel for larger land locked areas. And after awhile you have already seen most of what you want to see for that body of water. And like I and someone else said, being near or able to drive to the port makes a huge difference. If you are coming to from the middle of the country, that airfare can really add into it and make it really feel like less of a bargain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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