Luke and I absolutely LOVE to travel together! We love trying new things and seeing new places… and for us our three year wedding anniversary and paying off the remainder of our student loan debt were events worth celebrating. So we chose to celebrate together with a fun trip.
We had a few guidelines for this trip: we wanted to go somewhere warm, we wanted to travel somewhere new, we wanted to go somewhere all inclusive and we didn’t want to spend more than $2600 for the both of us.
It was time to work some budgeting magic. 🙂 Let’s face it, often times we find ourselves losing track of how much we’ve spent on a trip without a budget. Not this time. This time we did research into cost effective trips and expenses associated with the things we wanted to do.
We found that some of the best all inclusive deals were found on cruises so we booked a 7 night Royal Caribbean cruise to the Bahamas, St. Thomas and St. Marteen leaving from Florida. Before leaving, I had all costs associated with the trip broken down in our Everydollar app. Each stop was given an amount of money that we would not exceed. We just had to plan ahead and then stick to the budget.
Here are a few tips that kept our trip under budget:
1. Book off season
Because we wanted to wait a few months after we finished paying off debt before we left for our trip (so we could build up our emergency fund), we started looking for cruises that left in October 2018. We also ended up finding better prices on cruises that left around this time because October is right in the middle of hurricane season in the Caribbean.
We read up about cruise lines and hurricanes before booking our trip and found that it is unlikely to be caught in a hurricane while on the ship. Royal Caribbean cruises do not get cancelled often but there is a chance for delayed trips or a change in itinerary due to hurricanes. We ended up booking our trip during the second week in October and as a result saved a couple hundred dollars on our boarding passes.
2. Skip out on cruise shore excursions
While the shore excursions advertised by the cruise line are incredibly fun, they tend to be a little over priced. We did some research before we left and found key places that we wanted to explore in each of the three places we were visiting. We had originally planned and budgeted to rent a scooter on each of the islands so we could see all of the neat sites we had researched. The funny thing is, we didn’t end up renting a scooter at all during the trip.
Once actually on our trip we decided to make it a little more low key. We liked the idea of taking this time to step back for a moment and enjoy time together without feeling so busy. Sometimes our lives and schedules are so packed that it gets hard to focus on the most important things in life. So we relaxed together, laughed together and just enjoyed our time together. Here are some of the things we did during our trip by location:
Nassau, Bahamas- This was our very first stop on our island hopping tour and ended up being our shortest day for exploring as we got a later start than expected. We did, however, eat a really nice breakfast and spent some of the morning relaxing at the front of the ship with a cup of tea.
As a result of our late start, we decided to walk to a beach that was 0.5 miles from the cruise terminal instead of renting a scooter to tour several beaches on the island. The beauty about not booking a cruise excursion was that we were not pressured to be anywhere at a certain time. And we did not pay anything to spend a few hours sunbathing, snorkeling and swimming in the beautiful blue water of Junkanoo beach.
Saving money by passing up the scooter rental allowed us to indulge in one of our favorite pastimes: eating yummy FOOD. While walking along the white sand of Junkanoo beach, we were hit with a wonderful smoked meat aroma. Along the beach, were several colorful food stands and we knew that we had to find where the smell was coming from.
Eventually we found the smell coming from a green and yellow painted stand that was badly faded, matching its extremely worn tables and chairs. The owner of the stand specialized in one thing so we ordered what he made best: Caribbean jerk chicken, bahamian mac n cheese and beans and rice. It was INCREDIBLE!
Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas- After a little bit of research we found that the mountain top views from St. Thomas were spectacular. Instead of booking an island tour through Royal Caribbean, Luke and I found a taxi that was taking tourists around to the same places for about half the cost. The only drawback here was that we had to wait for the taxi driver to fill up the 20 person open air bus before leaving. This added an unexpected 45 minute wait to the tour but we had plenty of time to get back to the ship after the tour ended.
The highlight of the tour was getting to visit Mountain Top which is the highest point on St Thomas rising 1500 feet above sea level.
Phillipsburg, St. Marteen- This is definitely our favorite of the US virgin islands so far, not that we have much experience with the others… But the way that the mountains met the crystal blue water was stunning. We decided to spend our time at St. Marteen on the Phillipsburg beach to take in the beautiful scenery. From the cruise terminal, we took a short water taxi to Phillipsburg and from there we bartered to secure two umbrella covered lounge chairs along the water.
3. Remember to bring a personal water bottle
This one was really easy for us as we literally take our 32oz Nalgene water bottles with us everywhere. They serve as a really good reminder to keep ourselves hydrated throughout the day no matter where we are at. On our trip, the temperature each day ranged between 80F and 90F and boy were we glad we brought them.
The ship had several soda machines throughout that could be only used with a special cup that is purchased as a part of the cruise line’s beverage package. The machines did, however, also dispense water free of charge into any container. We literally would fill our water bottles up after breakfast and right before we left the ship to explore the islands and as soon as we returned for the day.
Out of curiosity, we asked one of the bartenders how much a normal 16oz bottle of water costed to which he replied: $2.00. We would have spent a small fortune just on water during those hot days had we bought water before leaving the ship on the island days.
Back to Pennsylvania
We had such a fun time on this trip but it was definitely nice to come back home. Overall, we enjoyed being able to experience the beauty of new places, spending an entire week together, the relaxation that came with not having internet access, trying new foods, and meeting and hanging out with old and new friends!
We came back feeling refreshed and relaxed. And it was even better to come home and not worry about paying for our past because we had saved for our future. There hadn’t been any credit cards used on this trip because we planned ahead, budgeted and stuck to that budget.
Give budgeting on a trip a try, it is totally worth it. Feel free to share your tips for saving money on vacations. We love learning new tips and tricks!
