My hubby and I have been long overdue for a vacation, but vacations can be quite expensive especially when juggling 5 children, household finances, etc. With that being said we were still able to go on a nice vacation! In this article, I will show you how to plan a fun, and fulfilling vacation on a budget.
Typically vacation expenses would be as follows: flight tickets ($1200 round trip for 2), lodging ($150+ per night), meals ($150+ per day), and entertainment ($200+ per day). Not to mention the cost to commute to various places via taxi (or Uber), gratuities, shopping, etc. This is very expensive, but allow me to show you how to plan a vacation on a budget by choosing a different method of travel. The method I’m referring to you ask? It’s called Cruising!
Cruising is super affordable (Can be as low as $200 per person for 3-4 nights!). Almost all cruises include meal options and entertainment within your package. Only specialty restaurants are extra as well as certain beverages such as soda and alcohol. There are also tons of activities that will keep you occupied, all included in your package. Do you live near a cruise port? If so your flight tickets expenses are eliminated (lucky you). Still not convinced? Check out this detailed article by Cruzely where they compare a cruise to a typical vacation.
I like using an online Travel Agent such as Expedia.com to find my cruises and flights so I can book everything all in one place. It just makes everything simpler. I normally book my cruise first and then I will select my flight based on my cruise scheduled departure date. We were able to book a 3-night cruise with round-trip flight tickets from Ohio to Miami for only $2059.71 and that’s all with trip insurance. Had we lived closer to the cruise port we’d only spend $988 on the cruise (note to self… move to Florida).
Well, that pretty much sums up how we planned our vacation on a budget. If you found this helpful please check out my blog post on Traveling with only carry-on luggage. Also, if you have any additional tips that would add value to this post please leave them in the comments. I’d love to hear from you!
