Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Family of five

Average: 10k including flights

Typically at least 8k and sometimes we'll splurge on a bigger trip (15k) - our recent Disney parks/cruise vacation was this much or more, unbelievably

Wow. Doesn't this make you cringe?

We did close to $15k last year at Disney - mostly because we planned it late and wanted to stay somewhere nice. The kids had fun but I do cringe about how much it was. It's crazy expensive during spring break.

15K for Disney is nuts. That's not even a vacation.

When we go to Caribbean in December (before Christmas)

1,200 flights
8,000 hotel and meals
500 excursions

$5000 for condo in OC and probably another $1500 for food and rentals.

(not including food)
Average beach week vacation $6k including flights
Average European vacation $4-9k (flights using miles)
Average Disney trip $4k (using timeshare)

This thread highlights why these comparisons are so meaningless. If you have a job that allows you to accumulate a lot of points in travel, you can save a lot on personal travel. If you can travel at times other than spring break, Christmas break, etc. you'll also save a ton.

So the same trip that you can take for $2k in early May with points from work travel will cost you $10K over spring break with no points.

We think that around 5k is reasonable. We have a family of 4- kids are 12 and 10.

We just spent $1800 on a 7 days cruise (we got military discount), we flew to Florida for free (using CC points), and spent around $500 for shore excursions, snorkeling and diving, so it is $2400, plus I think there was around $50 charge for the flight and $300 for tips on the cruise. 7 days for two adults and two children under $3000.

We did a lot of travel around Europe and Asia and it was always under $5K. There are tons of cheap hotels or AirB&B that you can find for around 40-50 euros/night. When we go to Europe, we usually have one or two nice dinner in the landmark restaurants, and the rest of the meals are either local holes in the wall, street food, fresh fruits, etc. We use trains in Europe extensively and drive small rental cars there.

We do a big vacation every summer (for 4) and it usually hovers around $10k. I've applied points for hotels, but generally pay cash for air because we want a non-stop flight. This is our big treat for the year, so we go all out with tours, a handful of nice dinners out, etc.

I also do a 4 or 5 day getaway with DH and we also spend $1k per day if we're flying somewhere. The year I paid for airfare with points, I booked a 5* hotel so the budget was about the same.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Family of five

Average: 10k including flights

Typically at least 8k and sometimes we'll splurge on a bigger trip (15k) - our recent Disney parks/cruise vacation was this much or more, unbelievably

Wow. Doesn't this make you cringe?

We did close to $15k last year at Disney - mostly because we planned it late and wanted to stay somewhere nice. The kids had fun but I do cringe about how much it was. It's crazy expensive during spring break.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Family of five

Average: 10k including flights

Typically at least 8k and sometimes we'll splurge on a bigger trip (15k) - our recent Disney parks/cruise vacation was this much or more, unbelievably

Wow. Doesn't this make you cringe?

NP. Eh, this sounds right for a combo parks/cruise vacation. The cruises are expensive, especially if you go at peak season (like April break) or opt for concierge level service. They're worth it imo though. The food is decent or even good (impressive considering the # of people on board), Castaway Cay is really clean and nice, the service is impeccable, they handle all the INS details for you, and the kids club is the best I've ever seen. Kids actually WANT to go there and leave their poor parents in peace.

PP here, and I just posted something similar. This is accurate. We are a family of 5 and even with a credit for air, we still ended up spending around $11k for our disney/cruise during spring break week. It was a four day cruise, and was about $6500 for our family. Plus air for 5. Plus incidentals. Plus two nights at a theme park and tickets and incidentals. We also used AAA discounts when possible.

The disney cruises are much more affordable when you go off vacation week. We went a few years ago on the same cruise for about $3200 because they had a kids cruise free deal off week in March.

Family of 5 here, kids ages 3, 6, 9. We have found it hard to travel anywhere that involves flying for under $8k. Also depends greatly on the week. We just returned from a 6-day spring break trip to FL, which included two theme park days and a Disney cruise, and it cost us about $11k at the end of the week, after incidentals and food. I think traveling with 5 is significantly more expensive.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Would someone please elaborate on the points being mentioned here? Are they credit card points? Any recommendations for cards, especially if you don't travel often?

do a search for best travel rewards cards.

but PPs are ignoring the point that you can just get cash back from certain credit cards instead of travel points and use it for whatever you want (whether it be a trip or a 529).

I don't ignore it. But because I travel a lot for work I have a United card that gives me a lot of points for regular purchases, and more for United purchases. One business class ticket to Europe and I have a free trip to Europe between the purchase points and the flight points. Because we travel a lot as a family I can use the miles for pretty high priced tickets, which is more valuable to me than the cash back cards. Others may not have the same cost/benefit.

You get to use the points you accumulate flying for work for your own personal travel? That's a nice perk!

Govt employee here and you can also apply miles earned for work travel for personal use.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Family of five

Average: 10k including flights

Typically at least 8k and sometimes we'll splurge on a bigger trip (15k) - our recent Disney parks/cruise vacation was this much or more, unbelievably

Wow. Doesn't this make you cringe?

NP. Eh, this sounds right for a combo parks/cruise vacation. The cruises are expensive, especially if you go at peak season (like April break) or opt for concierge level service. They're worth it imo though. The food is decent or even good (impressive considering the # of people on board), Castaway Cay is really clean and nice, the service is impeccable, they handle all the INS details for you, and the kids club is the best I've ever seen. Kids actually WANT to go there and leave their poor parents in peace.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Family of five

Average: 10k including flights

Typically at least 8k and sometimes we'll splurge on a bigger trip (15k) - our recent Disney parks/cruise vacation was this much or more, unbelievably

Wow. Doesn't this make you cringe?

Why, because it's Disney? We have young kids and we all had fun. They are still young enough to see it as magical rather than artificial and commercial. And to give them credit, we had some really good meals and the service was excellent. Fwiw, we do other types of vacations too. We're going to Quebec this summer and Tulum in the fall. Plus beach trips to the OBX and Cape May.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Would someone please elaborate on the points being mentioned here? Are they credit card points? Any recommendations for cards, especially if you don't travel often?

do a search for best travel rewards cards.

but PPs are ignoring the point that you can just get cash back from certain credit cards instead of travel points and use it for whatever you want (whether it be a trip or a 529).

I don't ignore it. But because I travel a lot for work I have a United card that gives me a lot of points for regular purchases, and more for United purchases. One business class ticket to Europe and I have a free trip to Europe between the purchase points and the flight points. Because we travel a lot as a family I can use the miles for pretty high priced tickets, which is more valuable to me than the cash back cards. Others may not have the same cost/benefit.

You get to use the points you accumulate flying for work for your own personal travel? That's a nice perk!

Yes, because I am self employed. But when I was in the private sector we definitely all kept our miles. It was a perk that slightly offset the drudgery of travel.