When On a cruise..

[JoeyandDavid]

While you are on a cruise... how often do you keep tabs of your On Board Charges?? Daily? Do you wait until the end of the cruise and go "surprise"? Do you set a budget for yourself ? Have you gone over your budget ?

[JoeyandDavid]

Being the control freak as i am... I tend to check daily if they have the statements on the stateroom TV.. if not i usually ask the pursers desk to pull the portfolio twice a week to check for errors..

We really don't have a budget.. we spend what we want .. however we do go into the cruise with a good guesstimate of what we plan to spend.. and Yes we have gone over budget... especially if David sees a piece of Linda LeKinff art he wants..

[zebra]

Now that we are "retired", we keep to a budget. I keep a tally in my head of what we're spending and then on the 2nd last day I pull a statement to check that there are no errors.

We used to just s-p-e-n-d! but we got to a stage where we had bought so much artwork that we didn't have blank wall in the entire house, so we quit that. We also quit using the expensive ships tours UNLESS they have a tour that we absolutely have to do!!

[sailingrose]

Howie loves the interactive TV! He checks daily........

I usually check about 3 days in especially if I have an onboard credit, just to be sure it's there.

[cruisingcats]

Only been on one cruise but I checked it midweek and boy am I glad I did. It was missing my $50 obc. Had my paperwork showing the obc and it was fixed on the spot. Checked it again on the day before we come into port and it was good. No surprises.

I had a budget but we did go over a little. We figured it was our first cruise and we wanted memories from it.

[cruisetarp]

If we have interactive TV I check daily. I bring along an envelope which I keep in the top vanity drawer for all the receipts. If we can't check on TV I generally get a printout every 2 - 3 days.

[JoeyandDavid]

I bring along an envelope which I keep in the top vanity drawer for all the receipts.

me too!

[Joanandjoe]

If I have an onboard credit, I check soon after embarkation, then keep checking until the credit is there. Then I go back to my normal procedure: checking every three days or so.

[DebbieandJerry]

I too keep the receipts. I also check them against the written statement which I ask for at least mid cruise and then the night before we leave so that I can pay it off.

I also check the interactive t.v. a couple times during the cruise, especially if there is alot of buying, returning, stateroom credits, etc., etc.

We have a gambling budget in our mind when we leave Tucson. We have a "trip" budget that is separate. We try to stay under on both counts. We also hope that there will be some casino winnings to help offset the expenses. Doesn't always work that way.

Not real big on jewelry or "stones" so we don't have to worry about major purchases. Most probably the biggest purchase is duty free cologne (and that's only if I know it's a really good bargain.)

[hazelson]

We don't have a budget.

We do check every couple of days so any "surprises" can be dealth with straight off.

We always take a photo of the tv screen showing our charges ont he last evening of the cruise.

And Hugh always keeps receipts - in a ziploc bag,