$3,000 / Month Cruising Budget Planned

[chuckr]

I was not going to comment on this thread again as way too many folks who have yet to cut the dock lines have a lot more knowledge than i do on what it costs out here.

But one issue is the cost of health insurance. We do not carry any and tried a couple of years ago to get some but were too old as i an 69 and the admiral is 67.

Today i got some really bad news that i ruputured the tendons in my left shoulder. I already have a couple of screws holding my right shoulder together. So the MRI in Tunisia cost about bit over $200usd and the first estimate of surgery is about $2k USD but could vary a bit once they get a better look inside the shoulder.

When we were in the eastern caribbean I twisted a knee so badly that i could not walk. Fortunately it was one that i had surgery on and I thought my brace and time would work and they did. But think about a fall and breaking an arm or twisting a knee and tearing your ligaments; what will you do and how are you going to pay for it?

Just something to think about.

[weavis]

Originally Posted by chuckr

I was not going to comment on this thread again as way too many folks who have yet to cut the dock lines have a lot more knowledge than i do on what it costs out here.

But one issue is the cost of health insurance. We do not carry any and tried a couple of years ago to get some but were too old as i an 69 and the admiral is 67.

Today i got some really bad news that i ruputured the tendons in my left shoulder. I already have a couple of screws holding my right shoulder together. So the MRI in Tunisia cost about bit over $200usd and the first estimate of surgery is about $2k USD but could vary a bit once they get a better look inside the shoulder.

When we were in the eastern caribbean I twisted a knee so badly that i could not walk. Fortunately it was one that i had surgery on and I thought my brace and time would work and they did. But think about a fall and breaking an arm or twisting a knee and tearing your ligaments; what will you do and how are you going to pay for it?

Just something to think about.

If you can get the shoulder repaired for 2K......... go for it and pay it gladly. Think of all the money in saved in not paying insurance fees.

[Group9]

Our health insurance, Blue Cross standard plan, as part of my pension, is heavily subsidized by my former employer and it only costs us $445 a month (for four people) and my wife and I have it for life that way. It is deducted out of my pension check and I don't even think about it any more.

That said, when cruising the Bahamas and going to local and clinics a few times, we found the fee to be just a little more than the co-pay (30 vs. 20 for the co-pay) and that our US health insurance wasn't accepted there anyway.

We figured our plan for any major medical problems would be flying back to the US. One insurance coverage I will have on my next cruise is some kind of air ambulance coverage. Twice in the Bahamas, once while working there, and once during our cruise, I saw people have to be airlifted to the US (appendicitis, both times) on an emergency basis.

I don't want major surgery anywhere but in the US, anyway. I'm not saying there aren't other places that are just as good, I just know where I am comfortable going for it.

A lot of things I paid for up front and didn't think about it as a monthly expense. Bottom painting is one of those, and my satellite phone was another (we bought the phone used for $900 and $500 worth of air time that carried over every month and that we had only used about two thirds of when we returned, and we still have it). And, the bottom paint wears out and has to be redone whether its in the slip or cruising. I guess we are considered itinerant cruisers as we plan to keep our house and plan to keep on returning to our land life at some point during our cruises as we did before.

On our next cruise, we have a cruising budget of $1500 a month planned, based on what was spent the last cruise, minus the flights home and extensive use of marinas (which we don't plan on duplicating). But, we have a fairly large amount of savings set aside for emergencies. I wouldn't want to try and cruise on $1500 (or $3000, either) a month without the means to pay for any catastrophic boat breakage or other emergency.

I guess the amount of money that constitutes a reasonable emergency fund could be it's own thread topic.

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by Group9

On our next cruise, we have a cruising budget of $1500 a month planned, based on what was spent the last cruise, minus the flights home and extensive use of marinas (which we don't plan on duplicating). .

Do you have a planned breakdown of that $1500/mo for how you determined it?

[wmcruiser]

We currently away cruising on £250/week plus fuel in seperate budget as we are a motorboat round europe.so far we are well inside but feel as season begins costs will rise but should even out.

Sent from my HTC One S using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

[svfraidknot]

i lived on board my boat for about 1700 easily i was on a mooring in the bay of panama which was 200 a month and i had a running outboard and a good dingy , went to toboga most weekends taking small groups picking up 150 to 250 a trip paid for fuel water and ice .. was great until my injector pump quit that has become a major expense .. my solaris 42 is now up for sale listed here in the classifieds ,,

[sailorboy1]

So can one cruise without Ramen noodles?

[Kenomac]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

So can one cruise without Ramen noodles?

Still not sure why you are concerned about running out of money on a planned $3000 cruising budget. We live very comfortably on our Oyster in the Med for five months per year, staying in some of the nicest anchorages in the world for less than $1500 per month. I know many others who do the same, some for even less, it can't possibly be that much more expensive to cruise on your boat.

Maybe it's time to quit obsessing and over-planning and get out and do it. We've been out cruising 3-6 months per year, for six years now.... have never needed to resort to "Ramen noodles," although we do eat Italian pasta along with 2 euro wine several times per week (wine and beer are less than 1/4 the price and better over there).


Just got back from two weeks cruising in the Caribbean..... boring compared to the Med.

[sailorboy1]

Someone doesn't get it. Maybe they will come across the ramen noodle fork thread later

[Randyonr3]

Originally Posted by chuckr

But one issue is the cost of health insurance.

But think about a fall and breaking an arm or twisting a knee and tearing your ligaments; what will you do and how are you going to pay for it?

Just something to think about.

Insurance is a big issue, and we struggled with that for some time.
But we took life as a "Crap Shoot" and have had to make some drastic decisions when we decided to go.
We had a choice, do we set with a relatively modest lifestyle, paying all our bills on time, visiting with the grandkids on weekends and attending family functions now and then...... We'll, WE SAID ********...
Lets play the odds, as we're both pretty healthy, no major medical concerns, and the grandkids would rather be with their friends anyway..
Sure we're taking a chance, but what we'll recieve we feel is far grater than if we made the other choice..
So here we are again, boats been gone throu, and we'll sail off with a monthly desposable income far less than most would expect.. living life on the edge maybe,
But we think there is much more to see and do here on the edge......

And a "PS HERE" -- If you're not living life on the edge, you're taking up to much room.

[SV THIRD DAY]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

Still not sure why you are concerned about running out of money on a planned $3000 cruising budget. We live very comfortably on our Oyster in the Med for five months per year, staying in some of the nicest anchorages in the world for less than $1500 per month. I know many others who do the same, some for even less, it can't possibly be that much more expensive to cruise on your boat.

Maybe it's time to quit obsessing and over-planning and get out and do it. We've been out cruising 3-6 months per year, for six years now.... have never needed to resort to "Ramen noodles," although we do eat Italian pasta along with 2 euro wine several times per week (wine and beer are less than 1/4 the price and better over there).


Just got back from two weeks cruising in the Caribbean..... boring compared to the Med.

Thinking back to our pre-cruise mindset and thinking, we paniced all the time about the money side of things and a lot of that is because during that phase of "the dream" all you are doing really is spending money! Boat, equipment, upgrades, on and on. So in the pre-cruise phase, it's all about money because it's money (or spending it) that actually is keeping the dream alive. To this, add a lifetime of working, saving and planning for the dream in a society that worships money almost above all else, and I can understand why the subject seems so important and Critical to a successful cruise.

But then....

Once out cruising our entire view of the world changed and cruising became much less about how much money we had to spend. It was actually almost hard for us to spend money! In fact, we were actually sitting in the anchorage (notice not a Marina Slip, but at anchor where we spent 99% of our time) about to head back North to California after 3yrs of cruising and asked ourselves if we could AFFORD to go back! It wasn't the costs of cruising and continuing to cruise that worried us...heck we could have done that comfortably almost indefinitely! What worried us now was having enough money to exist and live comfortably in the USA again. So we decided to stay in Mexico another year cruising on about $1400/mo for a family of 4 and living like Royalty. But Rich, but Rich...you were not doing boat maintenance to live like that...BS. We did two haul/bottom paint jobs in our 4yrs in Mexico along with lots of gear upgrades.

But here is the thing.
Before we actually made it out cruising, I don't think we would have believed anyone who told us to stop worrying about money? I wouldn't have believed anyone who told me I could cruise like a King on $1400/mo. We spent more than that just on monthly fluff we "had to have" each month back in "civilization" so spending that little and still being happy was impossible...that's not what all the commercials and advertizements were preaching. More money = more happiness right?

Here is also something True.
Most cruisers don't have $3000/mo...BUT they would never tell you or admit to that or share that on a Blog or Chat room. Why...because most people still set and measure their self worth by money and even if they don't all theie friends and family back at home still do! So getting people to talk honestly about how they are just scraping by on their cruising budget is almost impossible. Those with the higher budgets are more apt to share their numbers because it is more "socially acceptable" to have more than less. It's not "hip, cool and considered successful, to brag and talk about how little it costs you to live on....either at home or on a boat out cruising...people judge that negative. (heck we can see that type of thinking right here in this thread!) So right away the numbers get skewed upward.

[ullar]

+1 Rich
We are currently going through those last few months before leaving for a longer cruise and it's all about money right now: last works on the boat, spares, charts, pilots and so on. We have definitely spent more money on preparations then we spent on buying the boat, and I'm doing most of the jobs myself. Hope to get out of that madhouse soon enough. 1000 or 3000 per month then, we'll see.

[sailorboy1]

of course the $3k budget was greatly influenced by reading many many many blogs with years of expense data

as opposed to reading here over and over from 1 person who cruised 1 general location in one country

[SwissMocha]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

Someone doesn't get it. Maybe they will come across the ramen noodle fork thread later

As long as you can afford a fork, you are on the safe side

[SV THIRD DAY]

Originally Posted by SwissMocha

As long as you can afford a fork, you are on the safe side

Heck my kids would eat top Romen noodles without a fork so they would have less dishes to do!

Another poster's comment also reminded me of a saying:

"In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king"

What some posters may not understand is that not every post is addressed to them, about them or their particular circumstances. For every one reader of a post or thread that posts a comment there are at least 5-7 that just read but don't want to take the slings and arrows by posting. So many of my comments are not at all directed at people participating in the thread by posting (because even those that sometimes ask a question already know the answer and are not really looking for input anyway), but for those looking for info. It would be a shame for potential cruisers in planning to have a false sense of thinking that you really need $3000/Mo to cruise like a King, or a water maker, or this or that or a real blue water boat, on and on and on. These Cruiser chat rooms are DANGEROUS and can do more harm than good if only left to the "one right way experts".

Of Course, what do I know, I'm just a Bozo.