Boujee Budget Travel

Last year, my friends and I decided to plan a trip for Thanksgiving since we, frankly, do not care for the holiday and have several days off from work anyway. The plan: Tropical cruise. And since we’re leaving from Orlando anyway, why not add Universal Studios (specifically going for the Hagrid Ride) to the mix! Here’s how it went….

Flights and Hotels

Since our cruise left on Saturday morning, we opted to fly in Friday. We used Expedia to book the roundup flights and the hotel for the 2 night stay in Orlando following the cruise. The flights were pricey because of the time of year, no getting around that, but the hotel was very inexpensive, so it balanced out a bit. We flew Delta and enjoyed some free cocktails onboard thanks to generous strangers sharing their drink vouchers. On the Friday we arrived, we Ubered to Port Canaveral and stayed at the Country Inn and Suites, sharing a room with our friends. It was spacious enough, with tall ceilings and breakfast included. It was a quick stay since we got in late and left by 10 the next morning, but it suited our needs for the night. The hotel also offered a cruise port shuttle for $8/person, but we ended up taking a Lyft since it was much less total after the Chase Reserve discount. 

Upon return from the cruise, we Ubered back to Orlando. We didn’t have the nicest hotel there, but it was near Universal and it was safe/clean. They offered a shuttle to the park (didn’t work for our schedule so we didn’t end up using it) and breakfast in the morning. The room also had a mini fridge and microwave so we were able to order some food/drinks and save on eating out at night.  It was definitely a budget hotel but for 2 short nights, it did the trick. We took a few lyfts to get around otherwise, which were very reasonable.

Total for all hotels and transportation:

$1,825.48/ two people

Cruise

We took a 5 day cruise with 3 destinations- Nassau, Princess Cays, and Grand Turk. To save, we opted for an interior room. While it wasn’t very spacious, it was perfect for getting sleep since no daylight was coming in. Of course, most food was included, but I did treat myself to a potato spiral from the seafood shack. It was delicious! Decided not to do the drink package since prices have gone up big time on Carnival, so we mostly stuck to the 2 bottles of wine/champagne we were allowed to carry on. We also carried on or allowed cans of soda, juice, and energy drinks. This saved us a LOT on drinks. I did end up buying a pitcher of margaritas at the end of the cruise, but mostly only because we had on board credit to use, which was included with the price of the cruise. 

Now the ports….

Nassau: I’d been there before and got a little bit hate crimed by the locals so I wasn’t looking forward to this port. I would’ve just stayed on the boat but everyone else wanted to disembark so I offered to show them the areas I remembered. Nothing remarkable to see there, although the ocean view is pretty. Bought one round of cocktails for the crew but didn’t do much else besides walk around. 

Princess Cays: I was excited to check out Carnival’s private island. We tendered onto the island and easily found loungers on the beach. We brought our own pop up shade so we wouldn’t have to rent one, but we didn’t end up needing it. It was slightly overcast and windy, but warm enough to get into the ocean for a while. Carnival provided a bbq buffet and drinks for purchase, but we just brought our own mimosas from our ship stash, so didn’t spend any addition $ that day. 

Grand Turk: I was really excited about this stop too. Turns out the cruise takes you to another island (or part of the island) specific to cruises, so we didn’t get a true feel of the local culture or people. We explored the beach and enjoyed the water, did some souvenir shopping, and bought lunch at the jerk chicken shack near the beach. It was a lovely day and I’m always happy to get beach time, even if it was somewhat underwhelming. 

The rest of the cruise was spent sailing the ocean. It was a fairly smooth sail but I took plenty of sea sickness measures just in case. Had some fun in the casino and checked out several of the shows, which were particularly good. Very fun experience and was grateful to spend the time with loved ones. 

Cruise total, including additional costs/spending at port and onboard:

$1,729.82/ two people for 5 days

Universal Studios

After an already eventful trip, we then had 2 additional days in Orlando. I LOVE roller coasters and for years have been trying to get my bff to go with me on the Hagrid motorbike ride (she loves Harry Potter, but hates rides!). It only made sense to add universal to the vacation. We got off of the cruise Thursday, shuttled back to Orlando, checked our luggage, then immediately went to the theme park for a full day of fun. We rode rides, bought all the butter beer, walked a TON, then finally returned to the hotel. We ordered dinner in, slept, and did it all again on Friday! I got my bestie into the ride- she did not enjoy it- and I even bought the souvenir photo of us. We all enjoyed a cocktail together to decompress, then went our separate ways for the evening. PS we got slightly discounted Universal 2-day park hopper tickets through AAA. Always check around for deals! 

Universal total (tickets, food/drinks, souvenirs, etc.): $1,028.05/2 people over 2 nights, 3 days

On the return travels home, we had time to enjoy the Priority Pass amenities (airport lounges) at both the Orlando and Atlanta airports, courtesy of my Chase Reserve card. We were able to eat and enjoy some cocktails for only tip ($10 total between the 2 lounges). Very inexpensive for a travel day! 

This wasn’t the cheapest trip, but we spread out the expense over 11 months (from the time we planned/booked the cruise to the time we completed the trip). More importantly, we had 8 amazing, fun, exhausting, eventful days on vacation with our people. A valuable and memorable experience

Total trip: $4,583.35 ($2,291.68/pp) for 8 days in 3 countries!