Looks great, right? Vacations are important to the psychological well-being of humans in my personal opinion. I’m pretty sure I’ve read research that agrees with me, but for now we’ll just say it’s my opinion. However, in tough financial times, it can be hard to get out and go, even though often these times are when the break from “real life” can be the most appreciated and the most necessary. As someone with a wealth of student debt and who is not employed in their field after college, I understand it can be hard to justify spending money on a vacation. I also understand the break from reality is incredibly welcome when life is full of that much stress. Seth and I have a few different strategies for taking a break on a budget, but because we’ve got a new cruise planned for the near future, I figured I’d share our first trick including some pictures from our first attempt.
Vacationing on a budget option #1: Taking a cruise with friends
This one is the most difficult trick to orchestrate of the ones we typically use, but is also the most fun. A cruise is a great vacation option because of the all-inclusive nature. Your ticket includes your room & board, a lot of your entertainment, and all of your food. You really can’t beat a deal like that, except possibly at an all-inclusive resort. However, booking a cruise for two is not all that cheap. The real savings kick in when you invite your friends. A typical room on a cruise line will house either 4 or 5 people. You won’t do much other than sleep in your room, so if you don’t mind sharing with your friends, you can save serious cash. Here’s our first real life example:
In 2011, Seth and I, along with 12 of our friends, booked a 5-day cruise to the Bahamas out of Charleston, SC. We packed as many people in a room as possible and paid $330 each. If Seth and I had gone alone, we would have paid about $550 each. The way a cruise works is that the bulk of the room cost is paid for by the first two people. Once that price is paid, the price of additional people is drastically reduced (usually about $150-180 per additional person). So if you can gather a few friends to go with you, you can substantially lower the cost each of you has to pay. Then all you have to do is make sure you can get to the departure port (we road tripped down together to save even more money) and pay for any alcohol or extras like excursions you want to take part in. We only paid for one excursion and still were happily entertained the entire trip. In all, I paid less than $500 for that entire trip, including my excursion and souvenirs. Not bad for five days of bliss! I’ll leave you with a few photos of how much fun we had on that cruise. Happy Vacationing!
Photo credits: Left, Jessica Philips. Right, Kelly Karnesky.