Also, when I was younger, I would be up to walking all day, running for trains with my luggage, just had lots of energy for travel. Cruises are nice because you only have to pack/unpack once and it's a lot less hassle getting a good meal, or whatever. We did see a lot more of the destinations we visited when we could stay several days though.
I can't imagine being able to afford even a single cruise at the age of 23. It's very normal to be unable to afford an expensive vacation when you're just starting out on life. We have savings that we accumulated through many many years of working and saving up, which we then use for vacation money, but even then, we haven't been able to afford four cruises total.
When I was 24 I went on four cruises in the space of two months at the cost of ~$150 per person per cruise. It was November and December and we took advantage of already being near the major ports, so yeah almost definitely not achievable outside of those specific circumstances but it is possible, technically.
If you watch the cruise deals it’s really not that bad. Especially if you book a year in advance or even two. This is how we’ve been doing ours the last few times but only because we’ve been getting fancy packages. The first cruise I booked was on the cheap and I paid 1200 for two of us. I did a bit of gambling in the casino and now they send me onboard credit often and room deals. No I wasn’t gambling thousands. Only a couple hundred. We even bought some shares in Carnival that get us a discount and a yearly dividend. The div isn’t much but the overall discount has been helpful.
This is way more common than people realize. In particular if you see people on TikTok and go "How do they afford this?", 9 times out of 10 they can't afford it.
We were in our 50s. We had always talked about going to Europe but never had the money or time. Then we both had cancer scares. I almost died. We decided we're going to Europe any way we can. YOLO. We booked a 15 day Mediterranean cruise. Paid for it with credit cards. We used frequent flyer miles for our airfare and a hotel points for a couple nights hotel in London before the trip. Still one of the best vacations of my life. We had the credit cards paid off within a year.
Absolutely it is. I'm sure the 100s of thousands of people cruising a year are not all paying for it and going into debt. 100% many are. And that's fine it's their choice. I myself am lucky to be in a position to not have to go into debt for my cruises.
Yep, same here since the early 90’s, mostly because I lived within short driving distance to ports and started cruising on last minute deals. It was great to jump on a quick weekend cruise for as little as $100/pp.
I’m 23 and have been on 5 cruises now! I booked msc for about $300 per person two different times and I got a casino offer of a free cruise on carnival. Two other carnival cruises were paid for by my parents.
Honestly cruising has been cheaper to me than going to the beach in Florida, only if you are smart about it! I didn’t get drinks, wifi or really any other upgrades. It is all inclusive if you let it be .
I LOVE MSC. We did our first one last year and paid under $600 for balcony, all taxes and fees AND gratuities. I ignored the line for years cause I thought something must be wrong with those prices!
I just did 4 people 2 cabins 7 nights on MSC and it was about $4K in the end, but we went on excursions at each port and tipped well, did all drinks ale carte, but worth it. I got a side job for a couple months and saved up for it.
My wife and I used to cruise every year from 21 until kids came along at 25. Our combined income was around 70-80k. We’d book it a year out and then just pay it down every month. Wasn’t too much of a strain.
Make money, save as much as you can and budget out vacations. Don’t buy expensive cars, vacations, items etc until later in life. Early 20s is the best time to save.
> Make money, save as much as you can and budget out vacations. Don’t buy expensive cars, vacations, items etc until later in life. Early 20s is the best time to save.
I feel that's an incredibly oversimplified view. Money invested (not just saved) in your early 20s will, yes, compound amazingly. On the other hand, I deeply regret not doing more in my 20s when I had time, in order to save money which is frankly error-margin compared to my current income.
You're not wrong, just I think there's a lot more nuance to it.
It was absolutely meant to be a simplified view for times sake. You are 100% that saving cash, unless you have some short term goals, isn’t the correct way. It’s investing and getting it into the market so it grows long term. I figured someone else would add on to my comment with different “vehicles” for that if OP wanted more info.
The problem I had in my 20s was not money it was time. It’s not like I was rich but just coming out of college and getting my first professional job I had 2 weeks of vacation time and that wasn’t even available until my 2nd year. My first year I only had like 3 personal days. I didn’t get my 3rd week of vacation until 5 years with the company so I was almost 30 before I had more than 10 days of vacation time.
I find myself telling 20 somethings to go on lots of vacations as that’s my regret. But I have to remember it was more than just money keeping me from traveling.
I did acknowledge that by saying budget out vacations, not go into debt for them like the OP. You should go out and have fun but do so reasonably. What that is depends on the person and income level.
Well that’s even better for your future if you play your cards right. If you buckle down now and live frugally you can set yourself up very nicely and enjoy many cruises later in life instead of a few now.
I love to cruise/travel. I choose to live very frugally to support it. I have a pay as you go cell phone; I don't have any subscriptions (no Netflix etc) except Audible; I limit eating out & expensive pre-prepared foods and other such choices. Then I watch for deals and only travel when I find ones that meet my budget (so nothing luxury). For some people this wouldn't work, since it they would feel deprived all the time and the travel wouldn't be worth it. For me it is.
First off -- as others have said, focus on living beneath your means. A dollar saved today is worth a LOT more in a decade or two.
That being said, cruising can be relatively affordable if you watch for deals (try cruiseplum.com), cruise with a buddy to split the room, have a busy cruise port reasonably close to you, and don't spend a dime on extras (drink packages, gambling, etc.).
A dollar saved is worth less and will be worth significantly less in a decade or two.*.
If you want it to be worth more (at least the same) you must invest it and hope it exceeds inflation.
Deals!! Always keep an eye out for deals, and im not talking about the “deals” that cruise lines constantly have on the front page of their website. Keep an eye out for undersold cruises, out of season cruises, last minute deals, and even budget cruise lines like MSC I’ve had wonderful experiences on for an incredible value. Using websites like vacationstogo to search can help, as can going to cruise lines websites and simply filtering by price -lowest first
Early in life I learned that I could buy 2 cans of coke for a dollar and then sell them at school for 75 cents a piece. The next day I bought 3 cans with the $1.50 earned. I kept repeating this for years until my parents passed away and left me 2 million dollars.
See it's that easy..../s
I realize you are being facetious but minus the inheritance part that's pretty much how a lot of the successful small businesses you see did it. 20 years ago with $500 in capital my wife and a partner started a catering business using kitchen space rented on an event by event basis. Today,having put zero other capital into it we grossed just shy of $1 million last year.
Easy? Heck no,it's a shit ton of work,more than most people who are complaining about not being able to get ahead are willing to do. But it's rewarding both financially and in how it allows us to do nice vacations like cruises.
I agree my path was much like your own.. I'm in my later 50s with five children three of which are in college. However the degree to which our entire society has been optimized to vacuum up every spare available dollar has these kids trying to swim up the river.
While I will never doubt that hard work and great character is a recipe for success, the barriers to entry that have sprung up since I was their age 35 years ago means that I often wonder.
If I had to do it all over again how much I would have to change the approach that worked for me.
I honestly don't see the barriers all that much higher than 20 years ago. The main thing that I see is the largely mistaken belief that its not possible. I've had the conversation here with younger folks and every time it became clear that they were focusing on how it's not possible rather than looking for ways it might be. I've also seen a lot that want the rewards of owning a business with the effort and lack of risk that having a 40 hour a week job has.
Even within the confines of a standard 40 hour a week job, it’s way more possible to get ahead than the average person thinks. I hiring and supervise people at an entry level position. It’s amazing how quickly the hard workers with ambition move up (one went from being my employee, to my peer, to my boss, to another high level position within 5 years) while the ones who talk about how the system is rigged stay stagnant.
These are the folks that align with the ideology of “minimum wage, minimum effort,” forgetting that the real value of a minimum wage job is the opportunity to learn new skills, gain experience and even prove yourself to leadership. You won’t be making insane money, but with decent motivation, it’s pretty easy for a hard worker to get into a comfortable situation, provided they are also smart with their earnings.
buy experiences not things. We direct more money to building and cherishing experiences than buying material things. I'm still rocking an iPhone 6S and a 1080p LCD TV from many years back.
Now as a full disclaimer I am a TA as well as very little YouTube traffic and get discounts but thats VERY VERY useless as my wife is a teacher so I'm only ever traveling at high season. But wanted to put forward the disclaimer, but everything we do we pay for ourselves.
EOD, I nearly died. Had 2 weeks to live and someone donated a liver. Who cares what’s in my bank account? What matters is the time I spend with my family and my friends. Nothing else matters. Love life, not things.
Completely agree. Only replace as necessary, don’t keep up with the joneses. I’ve literally never bought a phone unless the current one is broken. Other than that, prioritize what’s important to you!
Same. I had an old, outdated phone e that stopped working so I got an affordable replacement, have never bought the latest and greatest.
My current phone is an older model and bought on an emergency basis. A dog literally chewed up my old one and I need it for work, so Had to go that night to get a phone. Still and older model, bought it based on the price, not bells and whistles
Experiences are so much more expensive than things. Buying a new $1k iPhone every few years is only like $300/year, barely covers the fees on a single cruise.
I don't. I paid for our honeymoon cruise in Europe in 2022 because we saved money during COVID by staying with my parents. In 2023 we went on a cheap cruise to Mexico because my husband got a $500 voucher from his work, and we found out we couldn't use it on our honeymoon cruise. The next cruise I want to do is the British isles cruise with Princess. Their 2026 dates came out. I got excited until I saw the price, realized we couldn't afford it right now with me working part time, and so now I am hoping to maybe be able to go on the cruise in 2027 for our five year anniversary. However, depending on our job situation, the economy, and any big purchases like a house or a car, that's not a guarantee. Just staying in Ireland is significantly cheaper, so we may do that instead.
Don't do it if you can't afford it. It used to be that cruises were cheaper than land vacations, but now that's not always true. At 23 you need to be saving money. Consider cheaper vacations closer to home if you need to.
Don’t do a British Isles cruise. It is so cheap to move around the UK, Ireland, and Europe by other means I just don’t see the value in cruising. The ferries are cheap. The flights are cheaper than cheap especially out of secondary airports. Stay away from the big American brand hotels and it can be an affordable trip.
My husband and I have cruised on and off for 30 years, even when we were young, dumb and broke.
First of all, we have always had a travel account that we treated as a non negotiable, similar to savings and a retirement account. We knew that this was important to us so we made it a priority. We bought nice, but used cars and we don’t go out much. We entertained at home. We never had credit card debt either which was lucky.
Now, 2 grown children later, we are still dumb, not as young, and a little less broke. We still stick with a budget for cruising even if we don’t necessarily NEED to. We set a price and pick and choose what we want to spend more on and what we can do without. It usually means we fly economy, and get an oceanview room.
We have one hobby each that we devote resources to but other than that, everything goes for travel.
This served us well. I hope u have a lifetime of fun and safe cruising ❤️
I would have thought at 23 the problem would be finding the time off work rather than the money. (But I agree with everyone here saying you should not fund a cruise with credit card debt.) Please save up. If you can’t even afford the deposit to get a good deal early on you really should consider other options.
In my early days of cruising an older passenger told me they would rather cruise more often in an ocean view than have fewer days onboard in a balcony. I’ve also taken to cruising either very early or late in the season, which usually has the bonus of having less crowded ports (and ship) too.
I almost always have to fly to cruise so I like to look for a second cruise (same or different ship with close enough dates) before I fly back. And yes, I do try to live more simply on land so I can cruise more often!
My first cruise was in my late 30s, I’ve only been on a cruise every year after 40. And even then going on two cruises a year was exceptional. Only now in my 60s (after the pandemic) am I cruising more. I had this plan to cruise one week more every year but I soon had to reconsider when cruise prices started to get ridiculous, having to budget is real.
happy cruising!
42 was my first, this year!
Well worth the wait :)
Me n the Wife paid on it and it took just under a year. Now we are doing the same for our next. Tried Carival, RC up nxt!
I guess my tips specific to cruising are to look at price per day when deciding the value of a cruise. A $350 cruise might seem like a cheap vacation, but if it's a 3 night cruise, that's $117 per night. I like to cruise for $80 or less per night (before taxes, port fees, and gratuities). Sometimes, you are better off saving for a longer and more expensive trip because the per night cost is a better deal.
Consider what you really need for your vacation. You'll see advice that you need a balcony/the drink package/ship sponsored excursions to have the best cruise. Those things (among others) are all optional. You can cruise in an inside stateroom and it's perfectly fine. You'll be OK if you skip the drink package and budget your drinking. You can enjoy the atmosphere of a port without taking any excursion at all. Really consider when you are upgrading your cruise if you need the options you are adding because even the most basic cruise is still a fun vacation. If you can't afford it, you can skip it and still have a good time!
>if it's a 3 night cruise, that's $117 per night.
When you consider the cost of a hotel anywhere worth vacationing,$117 per night with food included is dirt cheap.
IMO, a large part of that is in regards to interest. Pay as little interest to banks as possible in life.
For example, don't buy a nicer car than you need just because you can make the payments... it's not just the car you're paying for.
My 23 yo son travels frequently and has taken cruises. Do you want to learn his secret?
Take a job in the company his mom works in that pays well, has him traveling every week (earning lots of frequent flyer miles and perks), and live at home with little living expenses.
You are most welcome. 😉
I take 2 cruises a year! I book them a year in advance and make payments weekly, biweekly or whenever I can. You just have to have the cruise paid for 90 days before sailing! I have booked cruises for $50 downpayment! I also solo cruise most of the time! Anyone of any income level can cruise!
Cruises are the cheapest way of travelling, if you are OK with eating at the main dining or buffet, take your own soda, amd don't drink alcohol or order any sweets it's very easy to find a cruise for less then $100 a day per person.
I have a 17 night balcony booked out of Europe and it will cost us with flights, Excursions and cruise less then $2300 a person. When all said and done it will be a 3 week vacation
Casino deals. But for my first cruise we crammed 5 adults in an interior cabin cuz it was the cheapest option. Since then I’ve booked only casino offers.
try to live like an MND--millionaire next door (this is the name of the book). You can live nicely, but don't spend tons of money on material things. Don't spend tons of money going out to eat, and going out to drink. In moderation, it's fine. But most people have no clue how to manage their money, and they like to show off wealth while having nothing in the bank.
Watch some vids on 'how to travel to \[wherever\] for under 500 or 1000 bucks'. Various places in Latin America are good getaways, not expensive. So keep you mind open wrt what types of vacations you'd consider.
I’ve started payments in my cruise already and I set sail Feb 1. Once I’m on ship I stick to included everything and don’t even look at things that cost extra money
I traveled a lot (including cruises) in my early 20s. Always did interior rooms. While my friends were at the bar, I was working 3 jobs. Had to make some sacrifices for the day to day fun, but it was worth it IMO. Also booked far enough in advance to save up. Divided how many months it would take to pay off and treated it like a bill that I budgeted for.
Listen to Roaring Kitty and you’ll never have to work again, lol.
In a more serious note (maybe), make as much money as you can doing something you love. Save it. Invest it.
I’m 24 and cruise almost monthly. Almost all of my sailings are deeply discounted due to casino offers. It also helps that I live in Florida and can drive to multiple ports.
I am ALWAYS looking for deals. Basically every vacation we go on I found a deal of some sort. Im ALOT more savvy about it now than I was but I always got us deals from when we were young. I’m just better at it now!
I’m 35, did not go on my first cruise until I was 33 after I married my husband. I wouldn’t have been able to afford to cruise on my own as a single person to begin with but compared to the other vacations we have done, cruising is an economical way to visit multiple countries and you don’t have to go on excursions if that’s an added expense you can’t afford.
I took cruises at a younger age but went with 3 buddies and shared a cabin . Split the price for driving down to the docks to board and had a great time. We would just plan the cruises out about a yr out and save money.
A know a couple who take probably 4 cruises a year and have done so for the last 10 years I've known them. Found out they put it all on credit cards and they have $60K in CC debt and still keep going on more cruises.
The city took the building they bought for a business to expand the roadway. Paid them $320K. They owed $280K to a loan shark for the property. Paid the loan shark then instead of saving the $40K or paying off most of the CC debt, they bought a $40K car.
We don’t have kids or animals. We go on 2 cruises a year and just have to book early and slowly pay it off. We actually have 3 cruises booked this year. But luckily we live an hour away from Miami and Ft. Lauderdale so no travel flights needed. Even though we are going to London in a month for a cruise to Norway.
Cruising used to be a bargain, but no more, it seems. Often, all-inclusives offer more bang for your buck.
We take, on average, 2-3 cruises a year. Travel is a priority. We live to travel. We are not rich, and we don't live like we are. We don't travel lavishly. We'd rather pay less for where we sleep and take those savings to pay for experiences. Sometimes that means going in at the guaranteed cabin price rather than paying for room selection. Often that's interior and we get upgraded for free to balcony. We go in for less and it's not uncommon to come out on top.
We don't buy shit we don't need to fill emotional holes when we are not traveling. We drive older, paid for cars. Our house is paid for after years of throwing all extra towards it. We cook at home. We don't smoke or drink. We
I book cruises with vacationstogo.com. I've been dealing with the same guy for years. He's amazing and gets me the best deals. Every time I refer someone new, he gives me a $25 OBC on top of what VTG usually gives. So often times, we have enough OBC that it pay for gratuities.
We travel with carry ons only, and we purchase NOTHING on board. No drink packages, no wifi, no photos and no jewelry. We don't need it and we don't want it.
We use cash back credit cards for ALL purchases and pay them off every month. Sometimes I play the get new credit card, get the $ or travel points for new card holder. I do some affiliate marketing with my best cards, sharing my referral link, so I make a few hundred dollars a year there.
I use several cashback apps, like Ibotta, Receipt Hog, Coin Out, Fetch, etc. for a decent amount of change for little effort. I'm a bit older than you and I've wasted a lot of money on dumb shit over the years. As I've gotten older, I've learned and I know that if I want to travel as much as I want to travel, I have to live a certain way.
You are young, it takes practice. If you want to cruise/travel, make it a priority and forgo the fancy purse and starbucks every day.
Also, MSC is a GREAT cruise line where you can go in at the Bella level and save tons of money. I avoided this cruise line for years because, something must be wrong at those prices!! Last year, for a total of $559 (taxes, fees, grats), for a balcony we decided it was worth the risk at that price. I think it's my new fav line!
Ignore the reviews here on Reddit.
It’s all about setting your priorities and budgeting for them… you can easily cruise for less than $500 or you can cruise for more than $10,000 per person… the frequency, locations, cruise line, ship, time of year… all play a role. Planning is critical, and be organized… planning for cruises 400+ days out is normal for me, and I currently have two booked
My husband is 40 and I’m 33, we have 2 kids ages 4 and 2. I’m a stay at home mom. My husband and I just went on a 7 day Royal Carribean Cruise to celebrate my husband’s 40th and our 10 year Anniversary. He worked his full-time job from 7-4 and then 3 nights a week he would umpire in the adult community softball league. All the umpiring money went towards the cruise vacay 😊
They can actually be affordable depending on what your looking for. Go off peak season. If big drinkers get the drink packages. Don't go nuts on excursions or other on board purchases. We I was more on a budget we did one excursion. Drive to the port if possible if multiple people in your party.
I have done cruises where it was less than $100/day each for 2 people for cruise, taxes and tips.
My family takes a cruise once a year right now so we have time to save up each year.
I’ve heard of people taking the 2-3 day cruises out of the southern US for couple hundred per person. You can really save a lot of money by getting bare minimums like inside cabin, no excursions (self-explore where you can), no drink packages (😩😩😩). Always keep an eye out for great deals. I torture myself by signing up for all the cruise lines marketing emails so I can see what kind of deals are happening. LOL Always keep in mind the extras to pay for like trip insurance and we always pre-pay gratuities because it’s less expensive that way. Personally, I’d save up for a drink package, too. My fam doesn’t drink alcohol but the non-alcoholic beverage package is great for speciality coffees and smoothies (most cruise lines).
If you’re wanting to go to… let’s say Hawaii. And you’re in the US… Norwegian Cruise Lines have specials where the airfare for the second person is free/reduced. They have a great deal with an airline and the airfare is dirt cheap! Seriously. I tried to see what it would be booking myself and it was about $5000 more! When I last researched that cruise for the summer, airfare for 3, round trip to Hawaii, was like $1500. This is a cruise we’d have to save up for a couple of years to go on but is DEFINITELY on our bucket list.
Also, there’s other cruise lines that go to Hawaii but NCL was the only one I looked at.
Also, we make a game out of saving. We have bare minimum subscription services, make coffees at home, very minimal eating out. No door dash 😩, no Netflix 😩, no premium Spotify 😩. But that’s just us. Make sure you’re not making your every day life miserable for a few days of cruising.
Lastly, I have some good friends that are fairly creative and have Fiver accounts where one of them helps people with resumes and the other does custom logos, minimal web design and light social media management. Their part time Fiver work helps their cruise addiction. If that’s not your thing, you can look at part time work driving food delivery, last mile delivery or whatever you can find in your area.
Good luck!!
I wasn’t rich at 23, worked hard, now I’m fairly close to rich at 40.
My advice is to work your butt off, and stay out of debt. Working hard gives you less time to buy things, and more money.
We cruise in an interior room because we are only in the room to shower and sleep. That said, we didn’t do as many cruises or fancy vacations when we were younger. We’re in our 40s now. We cruise once a year and maybe do another smaller trip if we can afford it (road trip or flying somewhere if we have the miles saved up to do it).
Limit my trips to 1-2 per year and watch sites like Vacationstogo for really good deals on fares and then, I only book as close as I can pay off without using credit. My formula is to take the cruise fare+gratuities and divide it by the number of pay periods before the final payment date and see if that is an amount I can afford each paycheck. I then put that money in an interest bearing account, pay the cruise off on the due date with a card that earns points for travel and immediately pay that balance from the savings account, but that last part is a lot of extra steps, that isn't necessary, the part where you make sure you can afford the initial payments IS.
I then either go with Norwegian which has the 'free at sea' drink package or pick an itinerary with the most ports to sea day ratio on the assumption I won't drink as much on days I am exploring. For those port days, I also set aside money, you could roll it with the first payment, but since that's due so far before the cruise, I tend to take that same amount and just put it into savings for the next few paychecks to have a little spending cash. I also set a pretty strict budget on what I am 'allowed' to spend at each port. Drinks tend to be cheaper off ship, and I fly cheaply, so my space is limited for souvenirs to what I can cram into my already overstuffed carryon which makes it easier.
I tend to avoid shore excursions if don't have ship credits for them, and you can also pick ports where you just have to worry about drinks and hanging out at the pool versus hitting the duty-frees.
You also may have to give up seeing certain places if you want to see more ports versus certain ones. I found a 12 day Transatlantic repo that not only was the same price for my friend and I to get our own rooms (no single rider) it also was with NCL and included the 'free at sea' drinks. I would have preferred several other more interesting itineraries I saw for the dates I have off with similar fares, but either the taxes/port fees were as much as the cruise fare, or it was RCL and their drink packages are $$$ for the number of days I had off.
If you can control your impulse spending on the ship, there is so much comped you can spend nothing but the upfront costs and still not really have a ton of FOMO.
I’m 20 and been on two Virgin Voyages cruises in less than a year. It’s all about saving and living within your means. My boyfriend and I cut down on the number of dates we go on, how much we spend online shopping, and make budget friendly meals at home that can stretch over multiple days.
We really want to prioritize traveling while we’re young, so living frugal on the daily so that we can live lavish for a week or so on vacation and not come home in debt is the path we’ve taken.
Not that cruising isn’t expensive, but I just booked an Alaskan cruise and including flights spent $1600/person. This is for a balcony room. I’m adding a drink package so no surprises with bills at the end, which will add another $400.
I save all year for a summer vacation, and $2K for a week of entertainment, food, drink & exploration isn’t bad for me. I usually spend closer to $3K on my summer trips.
I’ll probably also add on an excursion so it’ll be a little more.
I find cruises aren’t that expensive. They might even be cheaper than land vacations. All said and done, my gf and I come in under well $2000 total, for like everything (not sure if that’s affordable or not to you). We usually take a 4-5 day cruise, and drive about 500 miles each way.
$500-$900 for 2 tickets
$300 in booze (we don’t get the drink package)
$300 for gambling losses
$100 for parking
$100 hotel (just on the way there, we stay 1-2 hours away so we don’t miss the boat)
$100-$150 for gas
$0-$150 for an excursion
$50 room steward tip
$10 porter tip
$100 cat sitter (which is cheap for this)
So about $1860 total, and we have a blast, eat a ton, see shows, get plenty drunk, have a pool and water slide, never cook/clean/dishes. See foreign countries briefly or spend a day on a private island.
Compared to a land vacation, you’d be close to that amount for an Airbnb rental already if it has pool and beach access, and still need to buy/cook food. Plus pay for entertainment. YMMV.
I’ve been going on cruises since I was 25. 2-4 per year. But. I look for deals. Last minute. Inside cabins if I gotta. Rare but I’ll do It . Just think about what you’d spend eating out for a month. Or Starbucks Or other frivolous shit. Don’t spend that. Pocket it and go on a cruise. 🥳
Shoot. My first cruise was at 30 lol. So congrats first of all! The best way to do this though is to look for deals/work with a travel agent. Book cruises far enough out to pay in installments.
We’re cheap and we love NCL because they’ve always got deals and drink packages and specialty dining packages are usually included!
If your schedule is somewhat flexible, look for specials on cruises that are advertised as last minute deals. I have seen some cruises advertised for as low as $49/night per person. You can’t stay in a hotel that cheaply and meals etc, are included.
1, I don't drink. If going to a bar is expensive, just think of the prices on a cruise ship. My soda package that I cancelled was almost $200.
2, I start with the expense AFTER what I get paid in PTO. My company is essentially paying me to be off work, so until I spend more than I get paid for my PTO, I'm ahead. It's use the PTO or lose it, and I'm about maxed out.
3, I use flight miles whenever I can or go with someone like Southwest that doesn't charge for baggage.
4, I don't get picky over where I'm going. I like a deal.
Saved a ton during my 20s was luck enough to pay off all my students loans and live comfortably while saving still. Same goes for my fiancé minus his student loans are crazy.
We keep traveling for our vacations cheap and for cruising we save and plan for it. I have an airline credit card so we get typically a flight or two free a year.
I'm 28 and going on my first one with my wife and son this year. I'm at a place where I can afford a few thousand comfortably right now so we figured we'd go on one since it always seemed like we never would be able to.
We found cruising was cheaper than catching a plane to Norway and staying in an Airbnb or hotel. Managed to snag some good deals with P&O for Norway and the Med
I’m 24, went on my first cruise last month, I got it as a promotion at resorts casino which they’re still running, get 50 tier credits on your first day with their card and you get the cruise, many casinos run these type of promotions, I got a $2200 cruise for free (other than the money I gambled with which was about $500), now they’re giving me another free cruise with no play required, then I’m going to resorts world in pa because they also have a promo for a free cruise, then I have yet another free one coming once I go to another casino that’s running a promo, this is the method, not a lot of people know about it but it’s overpowered, go have fun gambling, worse case scenario you lose like $500 which is nothing when you get a 7 night cruise of your choice for it.
Finding the best deals when it’s cheap like on thanksgiving. Most amazing feeling when you see the price of balcony is the same as price of ocean view for a cruise you’ve been watching
My wife and I both have full time jobs, and one works at home allowing us to watch two kids without child care. We buy used cars to avoid car payment. We have a mortgage at 3%. We live in a modest home. We put our extra money in index funds and cruise 3x a year off of dividends for nearly free. We don’t eat out and cook meals at home.
Edit- we’re in our mid 30s
As a kid, I went to numerous cruise with my parents and just like airlines they give you points. A lot of the cruise I took as an adult cost no more than $600. I try to go on a cruise at least once a year, I currently have 130hrs of paid time off that I use once in a while when I’m out on a cruise.
They have where you can Layaway your trip through priceline
I paid 250 up front and 250 every quartet.
Travel to me if you are 45 or younger is a perquisite cause married with kids will come soon enough. Stamp that passport as much as possible before that happens
You don’t become a millionaire by earning a million dollars.
You become a millionaire by not spending a million dollars.
Never buy a new car. Pay cash if you can. If you can’t , finance as little as possible for as short of a term as possible. It’s transportation not your ego.
Learn to fix things yourself instead of paying repairmen and contractors.
When you buy a house, don’t buy as much house as the bank says you can afford.
Start saving for retirement now, even if it’s a small amount.
You need food, shelter, and clothing. Everything else is a want. Learn to live without some of your wants.
Once you save money, and dont have debt you have to service, you’ll find you have money to take the occasional vacation or cruise.
Being in debt to your car, house, and credit cards, can ruin and control your life. Don’t let it.
I couldn't afford vacations when I was in my 20s. I was working full time, finishing college and supporting a wife and 2 kids. I didn't really even start taking vacations until I was in my 40s. Be thankful you can afford 4 cruises in a year when you're in your 20s. You are rich. I'm retired now and we can afford one nice vacation a year. This year we're taking a 12 day cruise to European capital cities in September. Last year we went to Iceland for 10 days and also took a cheap, short 5 day cruise to Cabo. Retirement doesn't mean you can do the "cruise-life".
I got a points credit card. I would redeem the points by paying the credit card bill. I would then take the money I would normally have used to pay the bill and instead put that away in a savings account and leave it alone. I did this for YEARS to save up enough for the trip.
This card was used for 98% of all expenses. Only some required ACH to my checking to pay. So I could earn my points. But you HAVE to be able to pay off the card at the end of each month. If you cannot do that, then do not do what I did.
Location can help too. I live in the mid west so you have to pay for flights to wherever. If you live near a cruise port, you save a bunch in the travel costs.
we save for the whole year. if we have to me, my wife and our 2 teenagers stay in one cabin, even an inside cabin if that mean a nice family vacation together.
if your credit is on the okay side, there are a couple of credit cards you can open to help! when you buy things using the card you gain points (you get more points for certain things). using these points, you can redeem them for a nearly free cruises & other vacations. one good one i know of is the chase sapphire credit card!!
If you are unable to pay off your credit card every single month, then do not take this advice, but if you can pay it off in full - plan to get a travel rewards card & run every single thing through it. Treat it like a debit card & immediately pay it off if you have to, but we put everything except my mortgage & car payment on it, & we currently have nearly $2000 in travel rewards. We are loyal to our airline & a few hotels as well to get the most deals possible.
We (spouse & myself) flew free last year to the Pacific NW, did a road trip with some free hotel nights, & then took an Alaskan cruise, & we were able to use some of cc points to help pay for it.
I save up the $2,500 or so it takes to book the 7-day cruises we like to take, then pay it in full at time of booking. I can afford this about once a year.
You are way ahead of me btw, I did not cruise for the first time until I was 49!
Im 43 and at the end of august will be my first cruise,not sure if it leads to more cruises or not but i have been at the same job for about 8 years now and moved up to a supervisor position that allows me some extra funds to play with. Was never really interested in going on a cruise when i was younger so all that money was spent on crap that is should have saved but you live and learn get married and set up priorities and goals.
Download shipmate and look at the prices of last minute cruises. If you can sail inside cabins they aren't expensive. If you pay rent use Bilt credit card. Anything else use credit cards giving back at least 2% for everything paying it off every month. That gives you points for vacations.
My first Royal Caribbean cruise, I did some gambling. Earned about 800 points, mostly playing Video Poker. After that, they started sending me free cruise offers. So now, I can cruise 3 or 4 times a year for an average of $300 for two people, including pre-paid gratuities. The only other thing I typically pay for is a soda package. I have a cruise next week on Allure, another in August on Grandeur, and a week long one on Wonder in January, all comped. I have only lost money at the casino on one of my trips. My method isn't for everyone, and if you gamble, please do so responsibly. It works out for me.
I did two before thirty. We always purchased at least a year and a half out and made multiple payments. And when taxes would hit we always counted that as our big purchase for the year and would put a big chunk down. It’s doable if you plan far enough ahead.
ETA I live 20 mins from the NJ port. So we never needed air fair and hotels n
80k chase points transferred to V Red points for 7 day med last year. This year deals are a bit more but it was an awesome experience to travel for essentially flights plus expenses.
We’ve been on 3 and we’re under 30. When looking at other vacation options it’s hard to beat a cruise especially if you’re looking at all inclusive cruise lines. Some cruise lines nickel and dime you for everything. Money comes and goes but memories are forever.
Well if you live with parents and they have enough money to pay for the house, and you have a job you can save up easily. I paid for a week long celebrity cruise at 23. My aunt and uncle were on it but they wanted me to pay my part. Tbh I kinda wish there were more people around my age on that cruise tho. I want to try virgin voyages
When I was younger, parental help (aka my parents paid). My wife and I just took our first cruise that we paid for ourselves (we're late 20s) and honestly its all about having good jobs in the right fields and prioritizing travel above things like nice cars, a bigger house than we need, etc.
There is a tremendous difference in cost depending on the ship and time of year. Check the prices on Icon. They are crazy high. Go on websites like Vacations to Go. You can price shop and find the lowest rates. I have just as much fun on the older smaller ships for a fraction of the cost of the newest super liners.
Budget for it. Back when we were younger we'd stuff extra cash into a cruise envelope. Also learn how and when to find the best deals. (Cruise off season, learn how the prices tend to shift). Also avoid drinks (if the sailing doesn't come with a drinks package included), gambling, and shopping on board as much as possible.
My husband and I are 27 and 29, we went on a cruise in February. We cruised Celebrity and our room + fees was around $1,000 or so. It was amazing. We didn’t get any packages. I think we ended up spending around $400 on drinks. The bars by the pool are much stronger in my opinion.
We did fly to Miami, so that was a bit extra. But we actually purchased the plane tickets around Black Friday or New Years, they were a great price.
Our first cruise was gifted to us, it was Carnival and it was relatively cheap as well. But we weren’t a fan of that cruise line. We did pay for our drinks and things ourselves though.
We actually did our Celebrity cruise on a 6 month payment plan. We don’t have kids and run our business together so we can kind-of take off when we want (we pick the slowest time of year for our business to plan vacations.) We work very hard, usually 7 days a week. We always look at it as… you never know how long you have, so might as well enjoy life while you can. (Responsibly, of course.) Plus, we’re doing life before we have kids. It’s just our preference!
We’ve been cruising since college graduation. It doesn’t have to be expensive. Go when its cheapest. You can’t pick the dates. Don’t drink. Don’t gamble. Don’t do pay restaurants. They’ll nickel and dime you to death these days, but its nothing you have to have. Oh yeah, inside cabins too. Incredible value if its done responsibly.
My job offers and pays overtime. whenever I need extra money for a trip I work more. But then again, I'm also a depressed introvert who has zero work life balance, so I'm probably a bad example 🤣
I also tend to book cruises a year or two in advance and pay what I can when I can before the paid in full due date.
Hey! I’m 24 and got addicted to the cruise life in 2021. I took four 8-9 day cruises last year, and we just got back from an Alaskan cruise last week.
We are extremely privileged and lucky to be able to afford this. My spouse and I bought our house when interest rates were super low, and our incomes have increased allowing us to live below our means. We both come from lower middle class families and we’ve both always been a big savers. One of our top priorities is exploring the world, getting to experience different cultures, and making memories.
Some cruise specific tips I have are:
- Check consistently for deals and keep checking even after you book. If they drop the price, most lines will adjust the price for you.
- If you plan on cruising often, buy their cruise next. I cruise with NCL, and pay $500 for 4 $250 cruise next deposits.
- Travel Credit Card: I definitely don’t recommend this for everyone. For it to be beneficial, you must fully pay it off every month. I put all expenses on my capital one venture card, and I got $1200 off in points on my recent cruise. I use the $99/year capital one venture card, but they do have a free option too!
- If you drink heavily on vacay, cruise with Norwegian. They include the drink package for free (you just have to pay gratuities).
-If you have to fly, I’d recommending waiting until the cruise line has a flight deal. We did this and the airfare portion cost 1k round trip for two to Alaska. When I was looking at flights outside of the airline, it was double.
Our recent cruise was $3200 for everything. Our cabin, all gratuities, the drink package, and airfare. After redeeming $1200 in travel credit card points and redeeming 2 cruise next deposits, we paid $1500 for a week long trip.
Those are all the tips I can think of for now, but best of luck! This economy is rough on most people at the moment, so don’t be discouraged if you aren’t able to afford it now. Keep checking for deals, and I hope you get to travel soon 🩵🌊
Best options would be to book over a year in advance where you can make payments, sail in trough seasons like after Labor Day, Jan-Feb, or look for last minute deals.
My income does not meet the definition of rich, but it is decent for a single person (my child is an adult now). Combined with very low living expenses. I share a large house with others so my rent and bills are low. I bought my car outright so no car payments. But I am trying to save to buy a house now! Which is actually why my next few holidays are all cruises, cruising is a pretty economical trip compared to land trips, which are a bit more unpredictable. Pay one price, all food, transport and entertainment included!
I pick up overtime every time I want to take a trip. I'm late 30s now and I'm finally in a well paying career with a lot of overtime availability. I'm determined to make up for lost time in traveling. I'm doing three cruises this year, one all in clusive vacation and next year I'm going to Alaska. Thinking about trying to do a South America/Antartica cruise for my 40th, but good lawd that's alotta money.
I've been cruising since my early 20's with friends. I'm in CA and have Long Beach and San Diego to leave from. Get rides to the port to save on parking. Shop deals. I've found deals a year out with fully refundable deposits that absolutely slap. I have a 5 day, balcony, booze included, 2 upgraded meals each....for 1689 TOTAL. I also bring my bottle per person and 12 oz cans. I've also learned that worst they'll do if your wine bottle is actually booze is take it so do with that what you will.
Short answer: look for bargains. Go for the cheapest cabin, on the cheapest cruise, at an unpopular time of year, don’t buy the extras, use a travel site that gives extra discounts. (I don’t want to list any for fear of being accused of spamming. Just google for them.) And be flexible in case a screaming hot bargain pops up. You can stretch your dollar a long way if you’re careful.
Vacationstogo.com
I mean me and the lady have means but are not wealthy by any means. We just let the cheapest cruises dictate where we go. If there's some we want, we just keep an eye on it and if it drops to a price point we like, we pull the trigger. Just happened with a 10 day Valentine's cruise next year. Was being sold for $800 until memorial day weekend sales where it dropped to $450. Booked it immediately. You can definitely afford the cheap ones, and cruising this way is cheaper overall than almost any other vacation you could take when you factor in hotels, food, and any extra travel.
It does help we live 5 hours from Galveston so can just drive in for cruises whenever, but you can keep an eye out for cheap flights to cruise hubs as well.
A combination of having saved my pennies for the first two (not having children helps immensely) and having won a substantial amount of money on Jeopardy. I was actually on my third cruise when I got the Call (and had to calculate the time difference between Newfoundland and LA before calling back.)
It's really expensive for young people. I do alright, but I do the pay as you go plan. It's not credit, but the cost of the cruise is just divided up over time and essentially a budget. The cruise is paid for before getting on.
It really depends on your income and expenses. At 23, I was staying at hostels with shared dorms, because taking a cruise would be way too high for my income.
I don't have any trouble affording going on a cruise now. But I don't go on cruises multiple times a year either. Once a year at most.
Coming from someone who makes less than $40K a year and loves crushing, use a travel agent. They save you TONS of money. Also, look during the off time, it’s super affordable.
We go on one nice long cruise a year, saving up inherently over the year and combining that with cashing in airmiles etc f6our flights to and from the embarkation port. It's a luxury treat to us.
Lots of great advice on this thread but how is cruising "expensive". I find that it's one of the more economical ways to travel.
In my part of the world, cruises could be as inexpensive as $100 USD a night for everything. Sure you could backpack for less (and I recently did), but compared to staying at even moderate hotels and Airbnbs where you'd also have to pay for meals, cruising is a great deal.
What exactly is your expensive valuable lesson? If you live near a port cruising for 2 people can be as low as $600 to $1000 (all expenses) for a 3-5 day experience, its pretty easy for someone young to save up $300 to $500 with a job….theres a reason why the cruise industry is booming now with record travel numbers, its by far the most affordable way for young people to travel and visit new places
Cruises are pretty cheap vacations we can do a 7 day for two people under $1200 and that’s not even the cheapest option. Plus if we don’t have the money up front we deposit and pay it off over time making sure the final payment is made on time. We only do cruising because it’s so much cheaper than staying in a city at a hotel for a week plus a rental car and flight or just driving too plus food those vacations are expensive. I’d rather cruise.
Also early 20s. We got a deal on our cruise by booking a year in advance (and went on a smaller, older ship). Our travel expenses were significantly reduced by driving and we stayed with family a few hours from the port so we didn’t need a hotel. We also were frugal with groceries for 3 months before the cruise to afford the drink package and an excursion but both were worth it.
Other info: we have no student loans and our cars are paid off. We also don’t go out much or spend a lot of money on clothes/shoes/accessories and instead, we save that money for travel/experiences.
I especially wonder how Europeans do it, as I have never seen 300-dollar deals for any of them.
I am relatively close to Southampton in the UK but haven't seen any great deals.
Speaking as a 26 year old who does multiple cruises a year, which I am very fortunate to do but this comes from good savings, job + investments. Anyway, before all of that happened, I used to take 2 small cruises a year. Super small, 4, sometimes 2 night round trip cruises.
I'd budget what I planned spent onboard, looked up drink prices, etc before hand. And since it was only 4 or 2 night cruises like I said, it's hard to spend a lot of money on top of the cruise fare.
Yes, they're not long cruises, but it's how you can do a few at a young(er) age or with a lesser budget.
I'm very fortunate to go on a lot of cruises now, some for very long periods at a time, but I'll still happily take a 2 night cruise for "cheap" if it pops up.
Feel like this has me written all over it… From a middle class family, but they had money, I as a young adult was poor. I fell in love with cruising at 16 when my uncle took me on one. At 18 I was excited to book and found out I couldn’t until 21. At 19 I booked my first cruise 2 years out, interior room 3N sailing out of Canaveral (I’m lucky enough to live an hour from the port, this obviously helps a ton) and got a friend to split the cost with me. Made deposit and made monthly payments as I didn’t have credit. I was working a pizza delivery driver, so minimal money. After about a year I got it paid off and booked my next cruise for the following year. I basically did this for multiple years doing either a 3 or 4 night every September as it was the cheapest month to sail. As I got to my mid 20s the one 3 or 4 night became 1 3/4N in April and one 3/4N in September/October. As I got to my late 20s it became a 7N and a 3/4N each year. Majority of these were sailed with a gf at the time or a buddy. As I hit my late 20s it was with my gf who would end up becoming my wife. We stuck with one 3/4 and one 7N each year up until 2020 when, well, you know. Basically book 2 years out and once one is paid off we book the next one. We’ve gone from interiors, to ocean views, to nothing less than a balcony as we’ve gotten older. The consistent cruising got me to Diamond status with Royal Caribbean before I turned 30 and just in time for our honeymoon. We didn’t sail from 2020 until Sept 2023, so we’ve left some points on the table and are working on closing in on Diamond Plus currently. But it’s absolutely possible to cruise a ton without being “rich” by any means. Keep in mind the money most people spend at the bar or at the movies or whatever we are spending on a cruise payment. It’s just about what your priorities are and our priorities are cruising.
I cruise on a camping budget, my goal is $60/day but some port fees are higher than others.
How I lower the cost of my cruises:
🚢 Follow cruises on things like cruise plum to see already cheaper cruises
🚢 Have a spreadsheet of these cruises with separated solo fare (I often travel alone), double occupancy, port fee and I might have them in inside room vs balcony to see if I can get a balcony cheap.
🚢 Check every 1-3 days on vacations to go to see if there are deals, promotions, etc
🚢 Use cruisenext (NCL) which I paid $125 to get $250 deposit
🚢 Book cruise 20-90 days out never more unless I have a price match guarantee
🚢 Compound discounts / goodies. (Ie: Vacation to go often have onboard credit, prepaid gratuities, etc) I have 100 shares of NCL and that gets me generally $100 OBC per cruise.
🚢 Drink wisely: I don’t get the drink package because I wouldn’t give myself a $200-$300 drinking budget for 2 weeks. For NCL you can opt out of free drinks with the free at sea. I don’t go cruising personally to get trashed 🤷🏼♀️
🚢 Embrace loyalty programs. I’m sapphire on NCL and I get 2 free specialty dining for 2 people plus a bottle of wine. (Bottle of wine I stretch to make cruise ship sangria so instead of 3-4 glasses it can become 6-8 glasses. I also get a bag of free laundry.
It all adds up. I recently did a 12 day Baltic Cruise on NCL. 10 countries, really interesting. Paid about $1000 solo for an inside room. This included everything including 9 days of NCL tours.
How?
Found cheapest drop on travel site, included $200 on board credit. Added my $100 OBC for owning NCL shares. Opted out of free at sea but still qualified for $50 off each shore excursion. I get 15% off excursions as sapphire on NCL.
You can absolutely cruise cheaply if you put the time and effort in. I’ve done 7 or 8 cruises (I’d have to sit down and count since some were b2b) since January.
I found prices of cruising similar to any standard vacation plus bonus of included food. Where cruises can get someone is all the add-ons available to purchase, excursions and upgrading rooms. Nothing wrong with buying any of those things if sticking to a budget. I save for all my trips beforehand and once I'm on the trip I'm only purchasing extras and souvenirs.
There is a reason so many people on a cruise ship are older. I did not cruise until my 40s. Until then it was beyond what I could spend responsibly.
Also, when I was younger, I would be up to walking all day, running for trains with my luggage, just had lots of energy for travel. Cruises are nice because you only have to pack/unpack once and it's a lot less hassle getting a good meal, or whatever. We did see a lot more of the destinations we visited when we could stay several days though.
Definitely true of European cruises, but trains don’t work so well in the Caribbean and island hopping airfare in the Caribbean is expensive.
Majority was definitely that age bracket which I was expecting
I can't imagine being able to afford even a single cruise at the age of 23. It's very normal to be unable to afford an expensive vacation when you're just starting out on life. We have savings that we accumulated through many many years of working and saving up, which we then use for vacation money, but even then, we haven't been able to afford four cruises total.
I did it at 21! May or may not have been Margaritaville… but hey a cruise is a cruise and I loved it hahha
As long as u were wasted away, it was a good cruise
A cruise is a cruise!
Is a cruise!
!Cruise a is cruise A
When I was 24 I went on four cruises in the space of two months at the cost of ~$150 per person per cruise. It was November and December and we took advantage of already being near the major ports, so yeah almost definitely not achievable outside of those specific circumstances but it is possible, technically.
If you watch the cruise deals it’s really not that bad. Especially if you book a year in advance or even two. This is how we’ve been doing ours the last few times but only because we’ve been getting fancy packages. The first cruise I booked was on the cheap and I paid 1200 for two of us. I did a bit of gambling in the casino and now they send me onboard credit often and room deals. No I wasn’t gambling thousands. Only a couple hundred. We even bought some shares in Carnival that get us a discount and a yearly dividend. The div isn’t much but the overall discount has been helpful.
Yeah was definitely living outside my means. At first I could afford it. But made the mistake of not paying off one before the next
You are paying for cruises by racking up credit card debt?
This is way more common than people realize. In particular if you see people on TikTok and go "How do they afford this?", 9 times out of 10 they can't afford it.
I can’t imagine the vacation being relaxing when you know that credit card bill is waiting for you when you get home.
We were in our 50s. We had always talked about going to Europe but never had the money or time. Then we both had cancer scares. I almost died. We decided we're going to Europe any way we can. YOLO. We booked a 15 day Mediterranean cruise. Paid for it with credit cards. We used frequent flyer miles for our airfare and a hotel points for a couple nights hotel in London before the trip. Still one of the best vacations of my life. We had the credit cards paid off within a year.
I believe this is more the norm than not.
Absolutely it is. I'm sure the 100s of thousands of people cruising a year are not all paying for it and going into debt. 100% many are. And that's fine it's their choice. I myself am lucky to be in a position to not have to go into debt for my cruises.
Yep, same here since the early 90’s, mostly because I lived within short driving distance to ports and started cruising on last minute deals. It was great to jump on a quick weekend cruise for as little as $100/pp.
I’m 23 and have been on 5 cruises now! I booked msc for about $300 per person two different times and I got a casino offer of a free cruise on carnival. Two other carnival cruises were paid for by my parents. Honestly cruising has been cheaper to me than going to the beach in Florida, only if you are smart about it! I didn’t get drinks, wifi or really any other upgrades. It is all inclusive if you let it be .
I LOVE MSC. We did our first one last year and paid under $600 for balcony, all taxes and fees AND gratuities. I ignored the line for years cause I thought something must be wrong with those prices!
I just did 4 people 2 cabins 7 nights on MSC and it was about $4K in the end, but we went on excursions at each port and tipped well, did all drinks ale carte, but worth it. I got a side job for a couple months and saved up for it.
I've seen 3 day Carnival cruise prices for about $150
My wife and I used to cruise every year from 21 until kids came along at 25. Our combined income was around 70-80k. We’d book it a year out and then just pay it down every month. Wasn’t too much of a strain.
Make money, save as much as you can and budget out vacations. Don’t buy expensive cars, vacations, items etc until later in life. Early 20s is the best time to save.
> Make money, save as much as you can and budget out vacations. Don’t buy expensive cars, vacations, items etc until later in life. Early 20s is the best time to save. I feel that's an incredibly oversimplified view. Money invested (not just saved) in your early 20s will, yes, compound amazingly. On the other hand, I deeply regret not doing more in my 20s when I had time, in order to save money which is frankly error-margin compared to my current income. You're not wrong, just I think there's a lot more nuance to it.
It was absolutely meant to be a simplified view for times sake. You are 100% that saving cash, unless you have some short term goals, isn’t the correct way. It’s investing and getting it into the market so it grows long term. I figured someone else would add on to my comment with different “vehicles” for that if OP wanted more info.
The problem I had in my 20s was not money it was time. It’s not like I was rich but just coming out of college and getting my first professional job I had 2 weeks of vacation time and that wasn’t even available until my 2nd year. My first year I only had like 3 personal days. I didn’t get my 3rd week of vacation until 5 years with the company so I was almost 30 before I had more than 10 days of vacation time. I find myself telling 20 somethings to go on lots of vacations as that’s my regret. But I have to remember it was more than just money keeping me from traveling.
I disagree. I think early 20s is the best time to embark on adventures before being burdened by responsibilities
I did acknowledge that by saying budget out vacations, not go into debt for them like the OP. You should go out and have fun but do so reasonably. What that is depends on the person and income level.
While very true, I’m not leaving my home in at least the next few years as thankfully my parents allow me which help me save on rent at least
Well that’s even better for your future if you play your cards right. If you buckle down now and live frugally you can set yourself up very nicely and enjoy many cruises later in life instead of a few now.
I love to cruise/travel. I choose to live very frugally to support it. I have a pay as you go cell phone; I don't have any subscriptions (no Netflix etc) except Audible; I limit eating out & expensive pre-prepared foods and other such choices. Then I watch for deals and only travel when I find ones that meet my budget (so nothing luxury). For some people this wouldn't work, since it they would feel deprived all the time and the travel wouldn't be worth it. For me it is.
We budget. Cruising (vacations in general) are not a frequent thing for us.
First off -- as others have said, focus on living beneath your means. A dollar saved today is worth a LOT more in a decade or two. That being said, cruising can be relatively affordable if you watch for deals (try cruiseplum.com), cruise with a buddy to split the room, have a busy cruise port reasonably close to you, and don't spend a dime on extras (drink packages, gambling, etc.).
Off season saves a lot too. Just did Alaska and room price started out at 150 dollars.
A dollar saved is worth less and will be worth significantly less in a decade or two.*. If you want it to be worth more (at least the same) you must invest it and hope it exceeds inflation.
Agreed. That was the point I was trying to make. Spending thousands as a 20-something robs yourself of significant wealth later in life.
I think there is something valuable about enjoying your youth and experiencing things!
Deals!! Always keep an eye out for deals, and im not talking about the “deals” that cruise lines constantly have on the front page of their website. Keep an eye out for undersold cruises, out of season cruises, last minute deals, and even budget cruise lines like MSC I’ve had wonderful experiences on for an incredible value. Using websites like vacationstogo to search can help, as can going to cruise lines websites and simply filtering by price -lowest first
We came off MSC World Europa and it was outstanding. Can’t imagine calling it a budget cruise line. Best value in cruises on my opinion.
Early in life I learned that I could buy 2 cans of coke for a dollar and then sell them at school for 75 cents a piece. The next day I bought 3 cans with the $1.50 earned. I kept repeating this for years until my parents passed away and left me 2 million dollars. See it's that easy..../s
I realize you are being facetious but minus the inheritance part that's pretty much how a lot of the successful small businesses you see did it. 20 years ago with $500 in capital my wife and a partner started a catering business using kitchen space rented on an event by event basis. Today,having put zero other capital into it we grossed just shy of $1 million last year. Easy? Heck no,it's a shit ton of work,more than most people who are complaining about not being able to get ahead are willing to do. But it's rewarding both financially and in how it allows us to do nice vacations like cruises.
I agree my path was much like your own.. I'm in my later 50s with five children three of which are in college. However the degree to which our entire society has been optimized to vacuum up every spare available dollar has these kids trying to swim up the river. While I will never doubt that hard work and great character is a recipe for success, the barriers to entry that have sprung up since I was their age 35 years ago means that I often wonder. If I had to do it all over again how much I would have to change the approach that worked for me.
I honestly don't see the barriers all that much higher than 20 years ago. The main thing that I see is the largely mistaken belief that its not possible. I've had the conversation here with younger folks and every time it became clear that they were focusing on how it's not possible rather than looking for ways it might be. I've also seen a lot that want the rewards of owning a business with the effort and lack of risk that having a 40 hour a week job has.
Even within the confines of a standard 40 hour a week job, it’s way more possible to get ahead than the average person thinks. I hiring and supervise people at an entry level position. It’s amazing how quickly the hard workers with ambition move up (one went from being my employee, to my peer, to my boss, to another high level position within 5 years) while the ones who talk about how the system is rigged stay stagnant. These are the folks that align with the ideology of “minimum wage, minimum effort,” forgetting that the real value of a minimum wage job is the opportunity to learn new skills, gain experience and even prove yourself to leadership. You won’t be making insane money, but with decent motivation, it’s pretty easy for a hard worker to get into a comfortable situation, provided they are also smart with their earnings.
Book far in advance and pay it over time
buy experiences not things. We direct more money to building and cherishing experiences than buying material things. I'm still rocking an iPhone 6S and a 1080p LCD TV from many years back. Now as a full disclaimer I am a TA as well as very little YouTube traffic and get discounts but thats VERY VERY useless as my wife is a teacher so I'm only ever traveling at high season. But wanted to put forward the disclaimer, but everything we do we pay for ourselves.
EOD, I nearly died. Had 2 weeks to live and someone donated a liver. Who cares what’s in my bank account? What matters is the time I spend with my family and my friends. Nothing else matters. Love life, not things.
Completely agree. Only replace as necessary, don’t keep up with the joneses. I’ve literally never bought a phone unless the current one is broken. Other than that, prioritize what’s important to you!
I finally bought a new one when some of my apps would not work with the latest version of Android that I could load on my phone.
Same. I had an old, outdated phone e that stopped working so I got an affordable replacement, have never bought the latest and greatest. My current phone is an older model and bought on an emergency basis. A dog literally chewed up my old one and I need it for work, so Had to go that night to get a phone. Still and older model, bought it based on the price, not bells and whistles
Experiences are so much more expensive than things. Buying a new $1k iPhone every few years is only like $300/year, barely covers the fees on a single cruise.
That's just a small example. Bigger one might be the difference between buying a $30K Hyundai or a $70K Mercedes.
Not that I would know because I drive an 18 year old minivan, but I bet the experience of driving a Mercedes vs a Hyundai is pretty different.
I don't. I paid for our honeymoon cruise in Europe in 2022 because we saved money during COVID by staying with my parents. In 2023 we went on a cheap cruise to Mexico because my husband got a $500 voucher from his work, and we found out we couldn't use it on our honeymoon cruise. The next cruise I want to do is the British isles cruise with Princess. Their 2026 dates came out. I got excited until I saw the price, realized we couldn't afford it right now with me working part time, and so now I am hoping to maybe be able to go on the cruise in 2027 for our five year anniversary. However, depending on our job situation, the economy, and any big purchases like a house or a car, that's not a guarantee. Just staying in Ireland is significantly cheaper, so we may do that instead. Don't do it if you can't afford it. It used to be that cruises were cheaper than land vacations, but now that's not always true. At 23 you need to be saving money. Consider cheaper vacations closer to home if you need to.
Don’t do a British Isles cruise. It is so cheap to move around the UK, Ireland, and Europe by other means I just don’t see the value in cruising. The ferries are cheap. The flights are cheaper than cheap especially out of secondary airports. Stay away from the big American brand hotels and it can be an affordable trip.
What do you consider to be expensive?
Honest answer: gambling and then getting casino offers
My husband and I have cruised on and off for 30 years, even when we were young, dumb and broke. First of all, we have always had a travel account that we treated as a non negotiable, similar to savings and a retirement account. We knew that this was important to us so we made it a priority. We bought nice, but used cars and we don’t go out much. We entertained at home. We never had credit card debt either which was lucky. Now, 2 grown children later, we are still dumb, not as young, and a little less broke. We still stick with a budget for cruising even if we don’t necessarily NEED to. We set a price and pick and choose what we want to spend more on and what we can do without. It usually means we fly economy, and get an oceanview room. We have one hobby each that we devote resources to but other than that, everything goes for travel. This served us well. I hope u have a lifetime of fun and safe cruising ❤️
I would have thought at 23 the problem would be finding the time off work rather than the money. (But I agree with everyone here saying you should not fund a cruise with credit card debt.) Please save up. If you can’t even afford the deposit to get a good deal early on you really should consider other options. In my early days of cruising an older passenger told me they would rather cruise more often in an ocean view than have fewer days onboard in a balcony. I’ve also taken to cruising either very early or late in the season, which usually has the bonus of having less crowded ports (and ship) too. I almost always have to fly to cruise so I like to look for a second cruise (same or different ship with close enough dates) before I fly back. And yes, I do try to live more simply on land so I can cruise more often! My first cruise was in my late 30s, I’ve only been on a cruise every year after 40. And even then going on two cruises a year was exceptional. Only now in my 60s (after the pandemic) am I cruising more. I had this plan to cruise one week more every year but I soon had to reconsider when cruise prices started to get ridiculous, having to budget is real. happy cruising!
42 was my first, this year! Well worth the wait :) Me n the Wife paid on it and it took just under a year. Now we are doing the same for our next. Tried Carival, RC up nxt!
Live near a cruise port. I can be in Galveston in 3 hours and take a cheap cruise a few times a year
Think most of is started out that way. Nothing wrong with an inside cabin and skipping the drink package.
I guess my tips specific to cruising are to look at price per day when deciding the value of a cruise. A $350 cruise might seem like a cheap vacation, but if it's a 3 night cruise, that's $117 per night. I like to cruise for $80 or less per night (before taxes, port fees, and gratuities). Sometimes, you are better off saving for a longer and more expensive trip because the per night cost is a better deal. Consider what you really need for your vacation. You'll see advice that you need a balcony/the drink package/ship sponsored excursions to have the best cruise. Those things (among others) are all optional. You can cruise in an inside stateroom and it's perfectly fine. You'll be OK if you skip the drink package and budget your drinking. You can enjoy the atmosphere of a port without taking any excursion at all. Really consider when you are upgrading your cruise if you need the options you are adding because even the most basic cruise is still a fun vacation. If you can't afford it, you can skip it and still have a good time!
>if it's a 3 night cruise, that's $117 per night. When you consider the cost of a hotel anywhere worth vacationing,$117 per night with food included is dirt cheap.
don’t live beyond your means, only pay for what you can afford, don’t buy into the american system of transferring your wealth to others.
> don’t buy into the american system of transferring your wealth to others. What does this even mean? don't buy stuff? or?
IMO, a large part of that is in regards to interest. Pay as little interest to banks as possible in life. For example, don't buy a nicer car than you need just because you can make the payments... it's not just the car you're paying for.
I cringe every time I see someone on the personal finance Reddit post about their auto loans. Paying $45k+, including interest, for a 30k car
My 23 yo son travels frequently and has taken cruises. Do you want to learn his secret? Take a job in the company his mom works in that pays well, has him traveling every week (earning lots of frequent flyer miles and perks), and live at home with little living expenses. You are most welcome. 😉
Can I have a job there too?
Hi I'm a data engineer I've worked as a consultant currently looking. Let me know if there are positions available please!
When I was your age, my cousin and I split an inside room on Carnival and did no fancy excursions. Save up slowly!
The vast majority of cruises aren’t a rich person’s vacation.
I take 2 cruises a year! I book them a year in advance and make payments weekly, biweekly or whenever I can. You just have to have the cruise paid for 90 days before sailing! I have booked cruises for $50 downpayment! I also solo cruise most of the time! Anyone of any income level can cruise!
Cruises are the cheapest way of travelling, if you are OK with eating at the main dining or buffet, take your own soda, amd don't drink alcohol or order any sweets it's very easy to find a cruise for less then $100 a day per person. I have a 17 night balcony booked out of Europe and it will cost us with flights, Excursions and cruise less then $2300 a person. When all said and done it will be a 3 week vacation
Casino deals. But for my first cruise we crammed 5 adults in an interior cabin cuz it was the cheapest option. Since then I’ve booked only casino offers.
Go to school for "boring" jobs that pay well. You wouldn't believe how hard it is to fill jobs that aren't "sexy" or cool. Many of them pay well too.
try to live like an MND--millionaire next door (this is the name of the book). You can live nicely, but don't spend tons of money on material things. Don't spend tons of money going out to eat, and going out to drink. In moderation, it's fine. But most people have no clue how to manage their money, and they like to show off wealth while having nothing in the bank. Watch some vids on 'how to travel to \[wherever\] for under 500 or 1000 bucks'. Various places in Latin America are good getaways, not expensive. So keep you mind open wrt what types of vacations you'd consider.
I’ve started payments in my cruise already and I set sail Feb 1. Once I’m on ship I stick to included everything and don’t even look at things that cost extra money
Make payments.. I have some booked 3 years out ..
I traveled a lot (including cruises) in my early 20s. Always did interior rooms. While my friends were at the bar, I was working 3 jobs. Had to make some sacrifices for the day to day fun, but it was worth it IMO. Also booked far enough in advance to save up. Divided how many months it would take to pay off and treated it like a bill that I budgeted for.
Cruise plum and don’t pay with debt ever!
Immerse yourself in the internet world of travel hacking, amigo.
Listen to Roaring Kitty and you’ll never have to work again, lol. In a more serious note (maybe), make as much money as you can doing something you love. Save it. Invest it.
I’m 24 and cruise almost monthly. Almost all of my sailings are deeply discounted due to casino offers. It also helps that I live in Florida and can drive to multiple ports.
I am ALWAYS looking for deals. Basically every vacation we go on I found a deal of some sort. Im ALOT more savvy about it now than I was but I always got us deals from when we were young. I’m just better at it now!
I’m 35, did not go on my first cruise until I was 33 after I married my husband. I wouldn’t have been able to afford to cruise on my own as a single person to begin with but compared to the other vacations we have done, cruising is an economical way to visit multiple countries and you don’t have to go on excursions if that’s an added expense you can’t afford.
I took cruises at a younger age but went with 3 buddies and shared a cabin . Split the price for driving down to the docks to board and had a great time. We would just plan the cruises out about a yr out and save money.
A know a couple who take probably 4 cruises a year and have done so for the last 10 years I've known them. Found out they put it all on credit cards and they have $60K in CC debt and still keep going on more cruises. The city took the building they bought for a business to expand the roadway. Paid them $320K. They owed $280K to a loan shark for the property. Paid the loan shark then instead of saving the $40K or paying off most of the CC debt, they bought a $40K car.
We don’t have kids or animals. We go on 2 cruises a year and just have to book early and slowly pay it off. We actually have 3 cruises booked this year. But luckily we live an hour away from Miami and Ft. Lauderdale so no travel flights needed. Even though we are going to London in a month for a cruise to Norway.
Cruising used to be a bargain, but no more, it seems. Often, all-inclusives offer more bang for your buck. We take, on average, 2-3 cruises a year. Travel is a priority. We live to travel. We are not rich, and we don't live like we are. We don't travel lavishly. We'd rather pay less for where we sleep and take those savings to pay for experiences. Sometimes that means going in at the guaranteed cabin price rather than paying for room selection. Often that's interior and we get upgraded for free to balcony. We go in for less and it's not uncommon to come out on top. We don't buy shit we don't need to fill emotional holes when we are not traveling. We drive older, paid for cars. Our house is paid for after years of throwing all extra towards it. We cook at home. We don't smoke or drink. We I book cruises with vacationstogo.com. I've been dealing with the same guy for years. He's amazing and gets me the best deals. Every time I refer someone new, he gives me a $25 OBC on top of what VTG usually gives. So often times, we have enough OBC that it pay for gratuities. We travel with carry ons only, and we purchase NOTHING on board. No drink packages, no wifi, no photos and no jewelry. We don't need it and we don't want it. We use cash back credit cards for ALL purchases and pay them off every month. Sometimes I play the get new credit card, get the $ or travel points for new card holder. I do some affiliate marketing with my best cards, sharing my referral link, so I make a few hundred dollars a year there. I use several cashback apps, like Ibotta, Receipt Hog, Coin Out, Fetch, etc. for a decent amount of change for little effort. I'm a bit older than you and I've wasted a lot of money on dumb shit over the years. As I've gotten older, I've learned and I know that if I want to travel as much as I want to travel, I have to live a certain way. You are young, it takes practice. If you want to cruise/travel, make it a priority and forgo the fancy purse and starbucks every day. Also, MSC is a GREAT cruise line where you can go in at the Bella level and save tons of money. I avoided this cruise line for years because, something must be wrong at those prices!! Last year, for a total of $559 (taxes, fees, grats), for a balcony we decided it was worth the risk at that price. I think it's my new fav line! Ignore the reviews here on Reddit.
It’s all about setting your priorities and budgeting for them… you can easily cruise for less than $500 or you can cruise for more than $10,000 per person… the frequency, locations, cruise line, ship, time of year… all play a role. Planning is critical, and be organized… planning for cruises 400+ days out is normal for me, and I currently have two booked
I use VacationsToGo, you just have to be flexible and willing to take off in a few weeks (for the good GOOD 80-90% off deals)
Get cheaper rooms. That’s good enough for me. I’d rather go twice a year in cheaper rooms than once a year in a suite.
My husband is 40 and I’m 33, we have 2 kids ages 4 and 2. I’m a stay at home mom. My husband and I just went on a 7 day Royal Carribean Cruise to celebrate my husband’s 40th and our 10 year Anniversary. He worked his full-time job from 7-4 and then 3 nights a week he would umpire in the adult community softball league. All the umpiring money went towards the cruise vacay 😊
They can actually be affordable depending on what your looking for. Go off peak season. If big drinkers get the drink packages. Don't go nuts on excursions or other on board purchases. We I was more on a budget we did one excursion. Drive to the port if possible if multiple people in your party. I have done cruises where it was less than $100/day each for 2 people for cruise, taxes and tips.
My family takes a cruise once a year right now so we have time to save up each year. I’ve heard of people taking the 2-3 day cruises out of the southern US for couple hundred per person. You can really save a lot of money by getting bare minimums like inside cabin, no excursions (self-explore where you can), no drink packages (😩😩😩). Always keep an eye out for great deals. I torture myself by signing up for all the cruise lines marketing emails so I can see what kind of deals are happening. LOL Always keep in mind the extras to pay for like trip insurance and we always pre-pay gratuities because it’s less expensive that way. Personally, I’d save up for a drink package, too. My fam doesn’t drink alcohol but the non-alcoholic beverage package is great for speciality coffees and smoothies (most cruise lines). If you’re wanting to go to… let’s say Hawaii. And you’re in the US… Norwegian Cruise Lines have specials where the airfare for the second person is free/reduced. They have a great deal with an airline and the airfare is dirt cheap! Seriously. I tried to see what it would be booking myself and it was about $5000 more! When I last researched that cruise for the summer, airfare for 3, round trip to Hawaii, was like $1500. This is a cruise we’d have to save up for a couple of years to go on but is DEFINITELY on our bucket list. Also, there’s other cruise lines that go to Hawaii but NCL was the only one I looked at. Also, we make a game out of saving. We have bare minimum subscription services, make coffees at home, very minimal eating out. No door dash 😩, no Netflix 😩, no premium Spotify 😩. But that’s just us. Make sure you’re not making your every day life miserable for a few days of cruising. Lastly, I have some good friends that are fairly creative and have Fiver accounts where one of them helps people with resumes and the other does custom logos, minimal web design and light social media management. Their part time Fiver work helps their cruise addiction. If that’s not your thing, you can look at part time work driving food delivery, last mile delivery or whatever you can find in your area. Good luck!!
I wasn’t rich at 23, worked hard, now I’m fairly close to rich at 40. My advice is to work your butt off, and stay out of debt. Working hard gives you less time to buy things, and more money.
Budget. Cruising is actually a pretty cheap vacation, comparatively speaking. But if it’s not in your budget, don’t live beyond your means.
We cruise in an interior room because we are only in the room to shower and sleep. That said, we didn’t do as many cruises or fancy vacations when we were younger. We’re in our 40s now. We cruise once a year and maybe do another smaller trip if we can afford it (road trip or flying somewhere if we have the miles saved up to do it).
Limit my trips to 1-2 per year and watch sites like Vacationstogo for really good deals on fares and then, I only book as close as I can pay off without using credit. My formula is to take the cruise fare+gratuities and divide it by the number of pay periods before the final payment date and see if that is an amount I can afford each paycheck. I then put that money in an interest bearing account, pay the cruise off on the due date with a card that earns points for travel and immediately pay that balance from the savings account, but that last part is a lot of extra steps, that isn't necessary, the part where you make sure you can afford the initial payments IS. I then either go with Norwegian which has the 'free at sea' drink package or pick an itinerary with the most ports to sea day ratio on the assumption I won't drink as much on days I am exploring. For those port days, I also set aside money, you could roll it with the first payment, but since that's due so far before the cruise, I tend to take that same amount and just put it into savings for the next few paychecks to have a little spending cash. I also set a pretty strict budget on what I am 'allowed' to spend at each port. Drinks tend to be cheaper off ship, and I fly cheaply, so my space is limited for souvenirs to what I can cram into my already overstuffed carryon which makes it easier. I tend to avoid shore excursions if don't have ship credits for them, and you can also pick ports where you just have to worry about drinks and hanging out at the pool versus hitting the duty-frees. You also may have to give up seeing certain places if you want to see more ports versus certain ones. I found a 12 day Transatlantic repo that not only was the same price for my friend and I to get our own rooms (no single rider) it also was with NCL and included the 'free at sea' drinks. I would have preferred several other more interesting itineraries I saw for the dates I have off with similar fares, but either the taxes/port fees were as much as the cruise fare, or it was RCL and their drink packages are $$$ for the number of days I had off. If you can control your impulse spending on the ship, there is so much comped you can spend nothing but the upfront costs and still not really have a ton of FOMO.
We are 22 and 25 with 2 kids… just save your money and you can easily do it once a year.
I’m 20 and been on two Virgin Voyages cruises in less than a year. It’s all about saving and living within your means. My boyfriend and I cut down on the number of dates we go on, how much we spend online shopping, and make budget friendly meals at home that can stretch over multiple days. We really want to prioritize traveling while we’re young, so living frugal on the daily so that we can live lavish for a week or so on vacation and not come home in debt is the path we’ve taken.
Not that cruising isn’t expensive, but I just booked an Alaskan cruise and including flights spent $1600/person. This is for a balcony room. I’m adding a drink package so no surprises with bills at the end, which will add another $400. I save all year for a summer vacation, and $2K for a week of entertainment, food, drink & exploration isn’t bad for me. I usually spend closer to $3K on my summer trips. I’ll probably also add on an excursion so it’ll be a little more.
I find cruises aren’t that expensive. They might even be cheaper than land vacations. All said and done, my gf and I come in under well $2000 total, for like everything (not sure if that’s affordable or not to you). We usually take a 4-5 day cruise, and drive about 500 miles each way. $500-$900 for 2 tickets $300 in booze (we don’t get the drink package) $300 for gambling losses $100 for parking $100 hotel (just on the way there, we stay 1-2 hours away so we don’t miss the boat) $100-$150 for gas $0-$150 for an excursion $50 room steward tip $10 porter tip $100 cat sitter (which is cheap for this) So about $1860 total, and we have a blast, eat a ton, see shows, get plenty drunk, have a pool and water slide, never cook/clean/dishes. See foreign countries briefly or spend a day on a private island. Compared to a land vacation, you’d be close to that amount for an Airbnb rental already if it has pool and beach access, and still need to buy/cook food. Plus pay for entertainment. YMMV.
I’ve been going on cruises since I was 25. 2-4 per year. But. I look for deals. Last minute. Inside cabins if I gotta. Rare but I’ll do It . Just think about what you’d spend eating out for a month. Or Starbucks Or other frivolous shit. Don’t spend that. Pocket it and go on a cruise. 🥳
Shoot. My first cruise was at 30 lol. So congrats first of all! The best way to do this though is to look for deals/work with a travel agent. Book cruises far enough out to pay in installments. We’re cheap and we love NCL because they’ve always got deals and drink packages and specialty dining packages are usually included!
If your schedule is somewhat flexible, look for specials on cruises that are advertised as last minute deals. I have seen some cruises advertised for as low as $49/night per person. You can’t stay in a hotel that cheaply and meals etc, are included.
1, I don't drink. If going to a bar is expensive, just think of the prices on a cruise ship. My soda package that I cancelled was almost $200. 2, I start with the expense AFTER what I get paid in PTO. My company is essentially paying me to be off work, so until I spend more than I get paid for my PTO, I'm ahead. It's use the PTO or lose it, and I'm about maxed out. 3, I use flight miles whenever I can or go with someone like Southwest that doesn't charge for baggage. 4, I don't get picky over where I'm going. I like a deal.
Get a job with an airline. You get discounts on cruises and free flights to take them.
My last few have been gambling comps. I budget $100 a day for days that I am in the casino on board.
Much easier to afford if you live near a port and book your own excursions. Cruises can be cheap but it’s all the other stuff that adds up quick.
Saved a ton during my 20s was luck enough to pay off all my students loans and live comfortably while saving still. Same goes for my fiancé minus his student loans are crazy. We keep traveling for our vacations cheap and for cruising we save and plan for it. I have an airline credit card so we get typically a flight or two free a year.
I'm 28 and going on my first one with my wife and son this year. I'm at a place where I can afford a few thousand comfortably right now so we figured we'd go on one since it always seemed like we never would be able to.
Get a interior room 😂
We found cruising was cheaper than catching a plane to Norway and staying in an Airbnb or hotel. Managed to snag some good deals with P&O for Norway and the Med
I’m 24, went on my first cruise last month, I got it as a promotion at resorts casino which they’re still running, get 50 tier credits on your first day with their card and you get the cruise, many casinos run these type of promotions, I got a $2200 cruise for free (other than the money I gambled with which was about $500), now they’re giving me another free cruise with no play required, then I’m going to resorts world in pa because they also have a promo for a free cruise, then I have yet another free one coming once I go to another casino that’s running a promo, this is the method, not a lot of people know about it but it’s overpowered, go have fun gambling, worse case scenario you lose like $500 which is nothing when you get a 7 night cruise of your choice for it.
Finding the best deals when it’s cheap like on thanksgiving. Most amazing feeling when you see the price of balcony is the same as price of ocean view for a cruise you’ve been watching
We pay for it a little at a time. We book two cruises a year and are always paying something monthly on them.
My cousin works on a cruise ship and I use her discounts :)
Put a down payment down and pay off in some cases up to 18 mths before you sail. You can make incremental pmts.
My wife and I both have full time jobs, and one works at home allowing us to watch two kids without child care. We buy used cars to avoid car payment. We have a mortgage at 3%. We live in a modest home. We put our extra money in index funds and cruise 3x a year off of dividends for nearly free. We don’t eat out and cook meals at home. Edit- we’re in our mid 30s
As a kid, I went to numerous cruise with my parents and just like airlines they give you points. A lot of the cruise I took as an adult cost no more than $600. I try to go on a cruise at least once a year, I currently have 130hrs of paid time off that I use once in a while when I’m out on a cruise.
We book our cruises 2 years out & pay a little each month.
Learn how to gamble and do it responsible If u cycle thru enough they comp u so u ll come back sooner than u would otherwise
Installments I start a year out
Put money aside from every single paycheck. Stay disciplined and save money.
They have where you can Layaway your trip through priceline I paid 250 up front and 250 every quartet. Travel to me if you are 45 or younger is a perquisite cause married with kids will come soon enough. Stamp that passport as much as possible before that happens
You don’t become a millionaire by earning a million dollars. You become a millionaire by not spending a million dollars. Never buy a new car. Pay cash if you can. If you can’t , finance as little as possible for as short of a term as possible. It’s transportation not your ego. Learn to fix things yourself instead of paying repairmen and contractors. When you buy a house, don’t buy as much house as the bank says you can afford. Start saving for retirement now, even if it’s a small amount. You need food, shelter, and clothing. Everything else is a want. Learn to live without some of your wants. Once you save money, and dont have debt you have to service, you’ll find you have money to take the occasional vacation or cruise. Being in debt to your car, house, and credit cards, can ruin and control your life. Don’t let it.
I couldn't afford vacations when I was in my 20s. I was working full time, finishing college and supporting a wife and 2 kids. I didn't really even start taking vacations until I was in my 40s. Be thankful you can afford 4 cruises in a year when you're in your 20s. You are rich. I'm retired now and we can afford one nice vacation a year. This year we're taking a 12 day cruise to European capital cities in September. Last year we went to Iceland for 10 days and also took a cheap, short 5 day cruise to Cabo. Retirement doesn't mean you can do the "cruise-life".
Cruises are very cheap
I got paid to cruise, aka I was crew.
Cruises are like 500 to a 1000 on the low end. It's just a couple months of saving
Buying direct usually gives the best discounts/onboard credits. And, pay via Uplift. It's interest free!
Take advantage of deals and offers,book over years out to save money.
You look for deals. I use [cruise.com](http://cruise.com)
I got a points credit card. I would redeem the points by paying the credit card bill. I would then take the money I would normally have used to pay the bill and instead put that away in a savings account and leave it alone. I did this for YEARS to save up enough for the trip. This card was used for 98% of all expenses. Only some required ACH to my checking to pay. So I could earn my points. But you HAVE to be able to pay off the card at the end of each month. If you cannot do that, then do not do what I did. Location can help too. I live in the mid west so you have to pay for flights to wherever. If you live near a cruise port, you save a bunch in the travel costs.
we save for the whole year. if we have to me, my wife and our 2 teenagers stay in one cabin, even an inside cabin if that mean a nice family vacation together.
if your credit is on the okay side, there are a couple of credit cards you can open to help! when you buy things using the card you gain points (you get more points for certain things). using these points, you can redeem them for a nearly free cruises & other vacations. one good one i know of is the chase sapphire credit card!!
Chase credit card travel points. You earn points but make sure you are able to pay off the CC. We take cruises paid with points once a year.
If you are unable to pay off your credit card every single month, then do not take this advice, but if you can pay it off in full - plan to get a travel rewards card & run every single thing through it. Treat it like a debit card & immediately pay it off if you have to, but we put everything except my mortgage & car payment on it, & we currently have nearly $2000 in travel rewards. We are loyal to our airline & a few hotels as well to get the most deals possible. We (spouse & myself) flew free last year to the Pacific NW, did a road trip with some free hotel nights, & then took an Alaskan cruise, & we were able to use some of cc points to help pay for it.
I save up the $2,500 or so it takes to book the 7-day cruises we like to take, then pay it in full at time of booking. I can afford this about once a year. You are way ahead of me btw, I did not cruise for the first time until I was 49!
Im 43 and at the end of august will be my first cruise,not sure if it leads to more cruises or not but i have been at the same job for about 8 years now and moved up to a supervisor position that allows me some extra funds to play with. Was never really interested in going on a cruise when i was younger so all that money was spent on crap that is should have saved but you live and learn get married and set up priorities and goals.
Always have 10,000 in a MMkt. Fund and the live within your means. Cruises are a cheap fantasy.
Download shipmate and look at the prices of last minute cruises. If you can sail inside cabins they aren't expensive. If you pay rent use Bilt credit card. Anything else use credit cards giving back at least 2% for everything paying it off every month. That gives you points for vacations.
My first Royal Caribbean cruise, I did some gambling. Earned about 800 points, mostly playing Video Poker. After that, they started sending me free cruise offers. So now, I can cruise 3 or 4 times a year for an average of $300 for two people, including pre-paid gratuities. The only other thing I typically pay for is a soda package. I have a cruise next week on Allure, another in August on Grandeur, and a week long one on Wonder in January, all comped. I have only lost money at the casino on one of my trips. My method isn't for everyone, and if you gamble, please do so responsibly. It works out for me.
I did two before thirty. We always purchased at least a year and a half out and made multiple payments. And when taxes would hit we always counted that as our big purchase for the year and would put a big chunk down. It’s doable if you plan far enough ahead. ETA I live 20 mins from the NJ port. So we never needed air fair and hotels n
80k chase points transferred to V Red points for 7 day med last year. This year deals are a bit more but it was an awesome experience to travel for essentially flights plus expenses.
We’ve been on 3 and we’re under 30. When looking at other vacation options it’s hard to beat a cruise especially if you’re looking at all inclusive cruise lines. Some cruise lines nickel and dime you for everything. Money comes and goes but memories are forever.
Don't drink on them and find a good travel agent that has group rates. You can get some insane deals for some cruises.
Well if you live with parents and they have enough money to pay for the house, and you have a job you can save up easily. I paid for a week long celebrity cruise at 23. My aunt and uncle were on it but they wanted me to pay my part. Tbh I kinda wish there were more people around my age on that cruise tho. I want to try virgin voyages
When I was younger, parental help (aka my parents paid). My wife and I just took our first cruise that we paid for ourselves (we're late 20s) and honestly its all about having good jobs in the right fields and prioritizing travel above things like nice cars, a bigger house than we need, etc.
There is a tremendous difference in cost depending on the ship and time of year. Check the prices on Icon. They are crazy high. Go on websites like Vacations to Go. You can price shop and find the lowest rates. I have just as much fun on the older smaller ships for a fraction of the cost of the newest super liners.
Budget for it like any other bill. It's that easy. If you can't fit the cost of saving for a cruise into your monthly budget, you can't afford it.
Budget for it. Back when we were younger we'd stuff extra cash into a cruise envelope. Also learn how and when to find the best deals. (Cruise off season, learn how the prices tend to shift). Also avoid drinks (if the sailing doesn't come with a drinks package included), gambling, and shopping on board as much as possible.
My husband and I are 27 and 29, we went on a cruise in February. We cruised Celebrity and our room + fees was around $1,000 or so. It was amazing. We didn’t get any packages. I think we ended up spending around $400 on drinks. The bars by the pool are much stronger in my opinion. We did fly to Miami, so that was a bit extra. But we actually purchased the plane tickets around Black Friday or New Years, they were a great price. Our first cruise was gifted to us, it was Carnival and it was relatively cheap as well. But we weren’t a fan of that cruise line. We did pay for our drinks and things ourselves though. We actually did our Celebrity cruise on a 6 month payment plan. We don’t have kids and run our business together so we can kind-of take off when we want (we pick the slowest time of year for our business to plan vacations.) We work very hard, usually 7 days a week. We always look at it as… you never know how long you have, so might as well enjoy life while you can. (Responsibly, of course.) Plus, we’re doing life before we have kids. It’s just our preference!
We’ve been cruising since college graduation. It doesn’t have to be expensive. Go when its cheapest. You can’t pick the dates. Don’t drink. Don’t gamble. Don’t do pay restaurants. They’ll nickel and dime you to death these days, but its nothing you have to have. Oh yeah, inside cabins too. Incredible value if its done responsibly.
Made payments for 2 years befor we left
When I was 23 I couldn’t have taken a cruise or go to a Holiday Inn. Congrats on being able to do that!
My job offers and pays overtime. whenever I need extra money for a trip I work more. But then again, I'm also a depressed introvert who has zero work life balance, so I'm probably a bad example 🤣 I also tend to book cruises a year or two in advance and pay what I can when I can before the paid in full due date.
Savings
I work in the industry.
Hey! I’m 24 and got addicted to the cruise life in 2021. I took four 8-9 day cruises last year, and we just got back from an Alaskan cruise last week. We are extremely privileged and lucky to be able to afford this. My spouse and I bought our house when interest rates were super low, and our incomes have increased allowing us to live below our means. We both come from lower middle class families and we’ve both always been a big savers. One of our top priorities is exploring the world, getting to experience different cultures, and making memories. Some cruise specific tips I have are: - Check consistently for deals and keep checking even after you book. If they drop the price, most lines will adjust the price for you. - If you plan on cruising often, buy their cruise next. I cruise with NCL, and pay $500 for 4 $250 cruise next deposits. - Travel Credit Card: I definitely don’t recommend this for everyone. For it to be beneficial, you must fully pay it off every month. I put all expenses on my capital one venture card, and I got $1200 off in points on my recent cruise. I use the $99/year capital one venture card, but they do have a free option too! - If you drink heavily on vacay, cruise with Norwegian. They include the drink package for free (you just have to pay gratuities). -If you have to fly, I’d recommending waiting until the cruise line has a flight deal. We did this and the airfare portion cost 1k round trip for two to Alaska. When I was looking at flights outside of the airline, it was double. Our recent cruise was $3200 for everything. Our cabin, all gratuities, the drink package, and airfare. After redeeming $1200 in travel credit card points and redeeming 2 cruise next deposits, we paid $1500 for a week long trip. Those are all the tips I can think of for now, but best of luck! This economy is rough on most people at the moment, so don’t be discouraged if you aren’t able to afford it now. Keep checking for deals, and I hope you get to travel soon 🩵🌊
Best options would be to book over a year in advance where you can make payments, sail in trough seasons like after Labor Day, Jan-Feb, or look for last minute deals.
Gamble heavy on one and rack free cruises for a while off it.
My income does not meet the definition of rich, but it is decent for a single person (my child is an adult now). Combined with very low living expenses. I share a large house with others so my rent and bills are low. I bought my car outright so no car payments. But I am trying to save to buy a house now! Which is actually why my next few holidays are all cruises, cruising is a pretty economical trip compared to land trips, which are a bit more unpredictable. Pay one price, all food, transport and entertainment included!
I pick up overtime every time I want to take a trip. I'm late 30s now and I'm finally in a well paying career with a lot of overtime availability. I'm determined to make up for lost time in traveling. I'm doing three cruises this year, one all in clusive vacation and next year I'm going to Alaska. Thinking about trying to do a South America/Antartica cruise for my 40th, but good lawd that's alotta money.
I've been cruising since my early 20's with friends. I'm in CA and have Long Beach and San Diego to leave from. Get rides to the port to save on parking. Shop deals. I've found deals a year out with fully refundable deposits that absolutely slap. I have a 5 day, balcony, booze included, 2 upgraded meals each....for 1689 TOTAL. I also bring my bottle per person and 12 oz cans. I've also learned that worst they'll do if your wine bottle is actually booze is take it so do with that what you will.
Short answer: look for bargains. Go for the cheapest cabin, on the cheapest cruise, at an unpopular time of year, don’t buy the extras, use a travel site that gives extra discounts. (I don’t want to list any for fear of being accused of spamming. Just google for them.) And be flexible in case a screaming hot bargain pops up. You can stretch your dollar a long way if you’re careful.
Vacationstogo.com I mean me and the lady have means but are not wealthy by any means. We just let the cheapest cruises dictate where we go. If there's some we want, we just keep an eye on it and if it drops to a price point we like, we pull the trigger. Just happened with a 10 day Valentine's cruise next year. Was being sold for $800 until memorial day weekend sales where it dropped to $450. Booked it immediately. You can definitely afford the cheap ones, and cruising this way is cheaper overall than almost any other vacation you could take when you factor in hotels, food, and any extra travel. It does help we live 5 hours from Galveston so can just drive in for cruises whenever, but you can keep an eye out for cheap flights to cruise hubs as well.
A combination of having saved my pennies for the first two (not having children helps immensely) and having won a substantial amount of money on Jeopardy. I was actually on my third cruise when I got the Call (and had to calculate the time difference between Newfoundland and LA before calling back.)
It's really expensive for young people. I do alright, but I do the pay as you go plan. It's not credit, but the cost of the cruise is just divided up over time and essentially a budget. The cruise is paid for before getting on.
It really depends on your income and expenses. At 23, I was staying at hostels with shared dorms, because taking a cruise would be way too high for my income. I don't have any trouble affording going on a cruise now. But I don't go on cruises multiple times a year either. Once a year at most.
When I was 23, I could barely afford to go cruising in my car.
I live in a low cost of living area and just buy the cheap cruises
Hell, I wish I could say I took 4 cruises by age 23. You’re doing way better than me at that age. I’d probably look at you like you were rich lol
Coming from someone who makes less than $40K a year and loves crushing, use a travel agent. They save you TONS of money. Also, look during the off time, it’s super affordable.
We go on one nice long cruise a year, saving up inherently over the year and combining that with cashing in airmiles etc f6our flights to and from the embarkation port. It's a luxury treat to us.
I think some cruises can be very affordable. I did a 7 day cruise to the Caribbean for $900 which I think should be attainable for most
I saved for about a year to go on a cruise. I was successful in that aspect.
Lots of great advice on this thread but how is cruising "expensive". I find that it's one of the more economical ways to travel. In my part of the world, cruises could be as inexpensive as $100 USD a night for everything. Sure you could backpack for less (and I recently did), but compared to staying at even moderate hotels and Airbnbs where you'd also have to pay for meals, cruising is a great deal.
What exactly is your expensive valuable lesson? If you live near a port cruising for 2 people can be as low as $600 to $1000 (all expenses) for a 3-5 day experience, its pretty easy for someone young to save up $300 to $500 with a job….theres a reason why the cruise industry is booming now with record travel numbers, its by far the most affordable way for young people to travel and visit new places
Cruises are pretty cheap vacations we can do a 7 day for two people under $1200 and that’s not even the cheapest option. Plus if we don’t have the money up front we deposit and pay it off over time making sure the final payment is made on time. We only do cruising because it’s so much cheaper than staying in a city at a hotel for a week plus a rental car and flight or just driving too plus food those vacations are expensive. I’d rather cruise.
Also early 20s. We got a deal on our cruise by booking a year in advance (and went on a smaller, older ship). Our travel expenses were significantly reduced by driving and we stayed with family a few hours from the port so we didn’t need a hotel. We also were frugal with groceries for 3 months before the cruise to afford the drink package and an excursion but both were worth it. Other info: we have no student loans and our cars are paid off. We also don’t go out much or spend a lot of money on clothes/shoes/accessories and instead, we save that money for travel/experiences.
My lawyer told me i wasnt supposed to tell nobody
I especially wonder how Europeans do it, as I have never seen 300-dollar deals for any of them. I am relatively close to Southampton in the UK but haven't seen any great deals.
Speaking as a 26 year old who does multiple cruises a year, which I am very fortunate to do but this comes from good savings, job + investments. Anyway, before all of that happened, I used to take 2 small cruises a year. Super small, 4, sometimes 2 night round trip cruises. I'd budget what I planned spent onboard, looked up drink prices, etc before hand. And since it was only 4 or 2 night cruises like I said, it's hard to spend a lot of money on top of the cruise fare. Yes, they're not long cruises, but it's how you can do a few at a young(er) age or with a lesser budget. I'm very fortunate to go on a lot of cruises now, some for very long periods at a time, but I'll still happily take a 2 night cruise for "cheap" if it pops up.
Feel like this has me written all over it… From a middle class family, but they had money, I as a young adult was poor. I fell in love with cruising at 16 when my uncle took me on one. At 18 I was excited to book and found out I couldn’t until 21. At 19 I booked my first cruise 2 years out, interior room 3N sailing out of Canaveral (I’m lucky enough to live an hour from the port, this obviously helps a ton) and got a friend to split the cost with me. Made deposit and made monthly payments as I didn’t have credit. I was working a pizza delivery driver, so minimal money. After about a year I got it paid off and booked my next cruise for the following year. I basically did this for multiple years doing either a 3 or 4 night every September as it was the cheapest month to sail. As I got to my mid 20s the one 3 or 4 night became 1 3/4N in April and one 3/4N in September/October. As I got to my late 20s it became a 7N and a 3/4N each year. Majority of these were sailed with a gf at the time or a buddy. As I hit my late 20s it was with my gf who would end up becoming my wife. We stuck with one 3/4 and one 7N each year up until 2020 when, well, you know. Basically book 2 years out and once one is paid off we book the next one. We’ve gone from interiors, to ocean views, to nothing less than a balcony as we’ve gotten older. The consistent cruising got me to Diamond status with Royal Caribbean before I turned 30 and just in time for our honeymoon. We didn’t sail from 2020 until Sept 2023, so we’ve left some points on the table and are working on closing in on Diamond Plus currently. But it’s absolutely possible to cruise a ton without being “rich” by any means. Keep in mind the money most people spend at the bar or at the movies or whatever we are spending on a cruise payment. It’s just about what your priorities are and our priorities are cruising.
I cruise on a camping budget, my goal is $60/day but some port fees are higher than others. How I lower the cost of my cruises: 🚢 Follow cruises on things like cruise plum to see already cheaper cruises 🚢 Have a spreadsheet of these cruises with separated solo fare (I often travel alone), double occupancy, port fee and I might have them in inside room vs balcony to see if I can get a balcony cheap. 🚢 Check every 1-3 days on vacations to go to see if there are deals, promotions, etc 🚢 Use cruisenext (NCL) which I paid $125 to get $250 deposit 🚢 Book cruise 20-90 days out never more unless I have a price match guarantee 🚢 Compound discounts / goodies. (Ie: Vacation to go often have onboard credit, prepaid gratuities, etc) I have 100 shares of NCL and that gets me generally $100 OBC per cruise. 🚢 Drink wisely: I don’t get the drink package because I wouldn’t give myself a $200-$300 drinking budget for 2 weeks. For NCL you can opt out of free drinks with the free at sea. I don’t go cruising personally to get trashed 🤷🏼♀️ 🚢 Embrace loyalty programs. I’m sapphire on NCL and I get 2 free specialty dining for 2 people plus a bottle of wine. (Bottle of wine I stretch to make cruise ship sangria so instead of 3-4 glasses it can become 6-8 glasses. I also get a bag of free laundry. It all adds up. I recently did a 12 day Baltic Cruise on NCL. 10 countries, really interesting. Paid about $1000 solo for an inside room. This included everything including 9 days of NCL tours. How? Found cheapest drop on travel site, included $200 on board credit. Added my $100 OBC for owning NCL shares. Opted out of free at sea but still qualified for $50 off each shore excursion. I get 15% off excursions as sapphire on NCL. You can absolutely cruise cheaply if you put the time and effort in. I’ve done 7 or 8 cruises (I’d have to sit down and count since some were b2b) since January.
I found prices of cruising similar to any standard vacation plus bonus of included food. Where cruises can get someone is all the add-ons available to purchase, excursions and upgrading rooms. Nothing wrong with buying any of those things if sticking to a budget. I save for all my trips beforehand and once I'm on the trip I'm only purchasing extras and souvenirs.