Planning Your First Cruise - Ten Questions to Answer

I'll discuss minimums here. There are NO maximums. There used to be a "rule of thumb" that you needed to budget about $100/day/person (exclusive of airfare). That rule still seems fairly reasonable, although many cruise ships now charge extra for items that used to be included in the fare. You can decrease your budgeted cost some by shopping around or by

• having more than two persons per cabin,

• being conservative and booking early (more than nine months in advance),

• being a risk-taker and booking late (less than 2 months in advance).

The minimum price on a "mainstream" cruise line for a Caribbean cruise seems to average about $500 per week.