How much is all this going to cost?

Well, that's where it gets a little complicated. Many variables will affect the price of your vacation. Airfare costs and fees, transportation to and from airports, hotel room(s), fuel surcharges (depending on the cost of oil), shore excursions, how many people are travelling with you, and the value of the Canadian dollar all will affect the cost of your vacation.

On the flip side, another thing to consider is the amount you pay for your vacation will not be all at once. However, you really need to decide and commit to your vacation as the first expense you will incur is a $250 per person deposit to Carnival which is very likely to be non-refundable. This is essentially Carnival's “Early Saver” rate which you see on Carnival's website and offers the best possible price. Typically this price is protected against lower fares, but we are not sure right now if the price protecton exists for "Group" rates as "Group" rates include the "Perks" we mentioned earlier. Essentially, there is a chance if you pay "X" dollars for your cruise and Carnival lowers the price within a certain interval of time, you will be refunded the difference as additional ship board credit to your room.

While we can not give you exact costs, we will attempt to “ballpark” price the cost of your vacation using currently available pricing, and establish a timeline of when you could potentially incur those costs. The following is APPROXIMATE pricing that errors slightly on the more expensive side to potentially create a WORSE CASE SCENERIO for pricing. These prices are per person, based on double occupancy. If there are 2 of you for example, double these prices. This pricing INCLUDES TAXES AND FEES, insurance (if desiered) is extra.

Flights: (Using the Westjet website. This is RETURN pricing, not one-way)

St. John's, Newfoundland to Orlando, Florida - $1,000
Winnipeg, Manitoba to Orlando, Florida - $850
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan to Orlando, Florida - $970

Now, there is potential for you to virtually eliminate the cost of your flight if you wish! How many Air Miles or Aeroplan miles have you been tucking away for the past several years? If you have any type of reward miles that you can redeem for flights, even if you don't have enough for a free flight, often, you can redeem what you have and lower the cost of your flight. We recommend this option, and do it ourselves almost everytime we cruise. There is also another reason to redeem these points. Because you SHOULD book your flight as early as possible to guarantee it. Typically flights go on sale about a year before the fly date. BUT, there is a CHANCE this is when they are the most expensive as well. It could also go the other way. The earlier you book the flight, the better deal you MIGHT get. The cruise itself works this way, and is one of the reasons why we plan to book it in the late summer or early fall of 2012. Flights should really be booked as early as possible after your cruise is booked, as you risk not getting a flight at all, then you have no way to get to your cruise!

Cruise:

Interior Room: Starting at $585
(Outside rooms on lower levels with a porthole may be available for a small price increase).

Ocean View Room: Starting at $714
(Outside room with a picture window).

Cove Balcony Room: Starting at $794
(Outside room with a picture window and a glass door leading to a private balcony. This room type is exclusive to Carnival "Dream" class ships and is located on the lower decks of the ship providing a balcony view, about 20 to 25 feet above the water line of the ship. In the event of stormy conditions, Carnival staff closes a secondary door from your balcony, restricting access to your balcony until weather conditions improve. This is a safety precaution).

Balcony Room: Starting at $794
(Outside room with a picture window and a glass door leading to a private balcony. Usually located on the upper decks of the ship).

Suite: Starting at $1,244
(Oversized outside room with a whirlpool bath and a larger balcony).

As mentioned, this pricing is per person. When is comes to the cruise portion of your pricing, what if you have more than two people in your family? Well, there are additional charges per person, however they are LESS than the per person room pricing listed above. Carnival has rooms available that will sleep up to 5 people. However, may not have the flexibility of room type selection for up to 5 people. As an example, the Ocean View room above, that sleeps 2 people has a price of $714 per person. If this was a room that sleeps 5 people, the per person rate would FALL to about $515. Essentially, you are likely NOT to pay more per person, for any room listed above, if there are 3 to 5 people in your family. Unfortunately, there is a flip side to this. What if you are single? Well, the only options are to pay double the rate listed above for the room you would like, or, find a buddy to share the room with you.

There are some variations of each of these rooms that would cause these prices to go up or down slightly. Within these room options there are "Categories". You may encounter the ability to "Upgrade" from a Cat 6A to a Cat 6D for example. Even we are not exactly sure whats in these upgrades. It may be just a slightly different location that's a little closer, or further away from something. Feel free to ask the Carnival agent about it when you book if you like. We have gotten these upgrades a couple times for free, but after 4 cruises, we are not sure what we got for free as all our rooms have essentially been identical.

One other quick point here. If you are interested in a balcony or a window room, depending on what floor your room is on, there is a chance that your room may have an "Obstructed View". On all of our previous cruises we have been on deck 8 or higher as we prefer the ability to go up one single flight of stairs for a morning coffee, breakfast, and pool / bar access. Higher decks almost guarantee our views are unobstructed. Around decks 5 to 7 maybe, somewhere in there, all the life boats surround the ship and there's a chance that your window or balcony room view will be obstructed. In the past, on occasion, we have encountered potentially booking a room like this but opted for a higher deck to enjoy our view. The advantage of obstructed view rooms however is that they are often cheaper. So, depending on what's important to you, you can choose accordingly. You really don't have to worry about being stuck in an obstructed view room. Carnival will likely tell you if it's an obstructed view, if they offer it to you. Worse case scenerio, you can always ask about this when you book and choose which way to go.

Gratuities:

$10 per person, per day ($140 for the week based on double occupancy), covers all ship staff members that provide you service during your stay on the ship. Never worry about leaving a couple bucks for your room steward or your waiters in the dining room for example. Well worth it as in my experience as the service has always been outstanding. It also saves you the trouble of carrying around a pocket full of $1 US bills. This is a little different than here in Canada, but we just view it as another component of the total expense.

Hotel(s):

At least one hotel room is recommended for the night prior to the cruise. After the cruise, depending on flight times, if you can only get an early morning flight out of Orlando, there may not be adequate time to disembark the ship and make your flight home. If this is the case, a second hotel room is recommended. Allow $100 per night for an average hotel (Per night, based on double occupancy).

Transportation:

There will also be a per person cost from the Orlando Airport to your hotel in Port Canaveral on the day you arrive, and again from the cruise ship, back to Orlando Airport on the day you get off the ship. As time gets closer, and we know the number of guests we have confirmed, we may consider organizing this ourselves. It may be possible for some of us to group together and reserve a shuttle to take us to our hotels. If by chance we all end up staying at the same hotel, this becomes easier. There is a possibility that some hotels in Port Canaveral have FREE airport shuttles, but based on the distance (approximately 1 hour travel), the chances of this may be slim. There may be a chance for us to all travel together to our hotels depending on flight arrival times. There is a chance that we all could end up flying though Toronto, and then Florida, arriving at similar times, maybe even the same flights, thus simplifying the travel to a hotel, and reducing the costs. Then, we have return travel, which might be much simpler. Carnival offers "Transfers" via a bus to the Orlando Airport at $35 per person. For a couple, this isn't TOO bad at $70, AND is headache free. Step off the cruise, onto a bus, step off a bus, into an airport. Easy Cheesy. Again, we all might be getting off the ship at similar times, so, we might be able to arrange a private shuttle to take us to the airport for less. Again, this will ALL get figured out, once the group size is confirmed. If you don't like these travel options, feel free to organize your own.

So, for two people, based on hopefully the WORSE case scenario, a couple could get to Florida and cruise with us for the week, starting at a cost of around $1,650 per person, which is essentially an all inclusive price.

We say STARTING around $1,650 per person, of course you can spend a lot more than that if you want, depending on your spending habits. You also need a few bucks for a couple meals the night you are in Orlando before the cruise, and a few $1 bills to tip taxi or shuttle drivers and porters the cruise port and at hotels (not all hotels). But we won't nickel and dime your vacation to this extreme. We've done our best at "Ballparking" the majority of the larger costs. But remember, this is now virtually an ALL INCLUSIVE cost AND assumes you are paying FULL PRICE for your flights. Remember to check and see how many Air Miles or Aeroplan miles you have that may reduce your flight costs. Even if you don't have many of them, now might be the time it makes the most sense to cash them in, and discount your flights, even if only slightly.

There is another little "Trick" here to get a free $100 for your cruise! This might not appeal to many people, BUT, if you have an investment account and own 100 shares of Carnival stock, this will entitle you to an ADDITIONAL $100 of shipboard credit (7-day cruise) to spend any way you want on the ship. Once you own the stock, there is a simple form you fill out about a month before you cruise, and fax it to Carnival to receive your credit. We bought this after our second cruise and so far have received $150 of shipboard credit on our past two cruises ($100 for our 8-day cruise, $50 for our 6-day cruise). Carnival stock also currently pays a $0.25 dividend, so for our 100 shares we get paid $25 quarterly. For us, it's starting to add up, and we plan to cruise a lot more in the future. Now this is not a cheap option. As of today (July 26, 2011) Carnival Cruise Lines stock is around $36.00 USD per share, so, it will cost you $3,600 USD for 100 shares. Also keep in mind this is a stock so you could make money over time by owning it, you could also loose money as well. Speak to your banker about buying 100 shares of Carnival Cruise Lines (CCL) if this investment interests you.

Another thing that should be considered at least, but are an addional cost, are "Shore Excursions". Shore excursions are organised events and tours in each port of call and can be booked and paid for through Carnival, anytime before you go, or, you can book them while onboard. If you are determined that you are going to do some shore excursions, we recomend choosing and booking them before you go. This way you will not have to waste time choosing them while onboard and taking time away from other activities and events onboard. On the other hand, some may prefer to browse, and book their shore excursurions via their room tv while laying in bed at night. It's whatever you prefer. We always book our excursions before we go, just so its one less thing to worry about. In addition, the longer you wait, the fewer your options may be as "Seats" on any "Shore Excursion" could fill up fast and the very excursion you want to do may be full if you wait to book it while onboard the ship. Something to consider anyway. Shore excusrions can range from $25 per person to over $200 per person or more. The question is, do you just want to go to a beach? Sightseeing? Swimming with dolphins? Play golf? Cruise around an island on a Harley Davidson? There are MANY options! What's available to do on a shore excursion may also be specefic to what ports of call we visit. As an example, in Nassau, Bahamas, you can take a tour of the Atlantis Resort (We have done, and enjoyed that one). But you can only do this tour in Nassau, as that resort is only in that port. Some ports offer similar shore excursions. As an example, Nassau and St. Thomas may both offer dolphin swims. But you really want to see the Atlatis Resort. Well, See the Atlantis resort while in Nasssau and pick up your dolphin swim in St. Thomas. Once our specific cruise has been selected, we will post a link on the "Resources" page of our website so you can view what they are, and then make your own decisions.

In addition to this vacation cost, there are a couple more expenses that some people MAY have to consider.

1.) Vaccines:

When travelling to the Caribbean, certain vaccines like Hepatitis A and or B is recommended. You may or may not already have some of the recommended vaccines. It is best to make an appointment with your doctor to discuss this. If you fall into this category, DO NOT leave this for the last minute. Some of these vaccines may require a follow-up shots, 6 months or more before they are effective. We suggest making your doctor's appointment as soon as you have committed to your vacation. These vaccines MAY be covered by your health plan as well. Either way, get the headaches related to it, and the cost (if applicable) out of the way early, then forget about it.

2.) Passports:

Because you are travelling out of the country, a passport is REQUIRED. You MUST have one. Again, there may be delays in obtaining one, if you don't already have one. This is something else we suggest you get out of the way as soon as possible. A passport, once you have one, is valid for 5 years.