The cost of blue water eating.

[john_morris_uk]

Once upon a time, cruising in the Caribbean meant lots of cheap food and drink. This is definitely no longer a case. Food is often much more expensive than the UK although booze is considerably cheaper. (It’s often cheaper to drink rum & a mixer than a soft drink.). I’ve posted about the prices before so no more of that.

However, we’re now in Dominican Republic Ann and in Maritimo Atlantic on the north coast. It’s a bit of a upmarket place and some people still complain about the prices. I’m not sure what the problem is. We just had two cocktails, a pizza (we couldn’t finish) two magnum ice creams (which we did finish!) and a bottle of white wine (which we also didn’t finish!) £34

 

[Bouba]

France used to be cheap....especially groceries....now supermarkets shopping is eye watering. To be honest it all started with the commodity boom just before the crash of 2008. Restaurants are no longer cheap....but as a compensation they are nearly always good. The days of traveling through France with cheap hotels and restaurants are long gone. In 2006 we started to import groceries from Tesco down to the South of France. The pound meant that it was cheaper to have our Cornflakes delivered by van to the South of France than for me to walk to our local supermarket. When that stopped being viable we started shopping in one of those budget supermarkets that don’t have brands that you recognize....amazing how many of your friends you meet in there. Eventually you go back to old buying habits and don’t think about it.
You really just have to realign the goalposts in your mind and get on with life or everything would be miserable.

 

[Sailing steve]

The price of food and especially eating out has increased significantly everywhere and for sure not everybody's income has kept up.

Everybody needs to eat but nobody has to eat in expensive restaurants so if meals out are too much then cook for yourself instead. Do that on holiday for just a few days and you'll easily save enough on expensive restaurant bills and overpriced drinks to significantly offset the cost of your next holiday.

We invariably self cater when abroad and so do dozens of shopping trips every year in France and Spain The quality, presentation and freshness of food available in French and Spanish supermarkets remains at a good standard which makes preparing and cooking your own meals an absolute pleasure compared to the UK where food quality has been steadily declining for quite some time.

Binned any in date but half rotted English supermarket fruit or veg or cooked any English supermarket chicken or bacon recently?

Eeeew...

 

[Chiara’s slave]

The price of food and especially eating out has increased significantly everywhere and for sure not everybody's income has kept up.

Everybody needs to eat but nobody has to eat in expensive restaurants so if meals out are too much then cook for yourself instead. Do that on holiday for just a few days and you'll easily save enough on expensive restaurant bills and overpriced drinks to significantly offset the cost of your next holiday.

We invariably self cater when abroad and so do dozens of shopping trips every year in France and Spain The quality, presentation and freshness of food available in French and Spanish supermarkets remains at a good standard which makes preparing and cooking your own meals an absolute pleasure compared to the UK where food quality has been steadily declining for quite some time.

Binned any in date but half rotted English supermarket fruit or veg or cooked any English supermarket chicken or bacon recently?

Eeeew...

The price of supermarket food has increased a lot too. My feeling now though is that Britain is actually among the cheapest developed country to shop for food in, maybe not eat in restaurants. My brother in law is over from Canada, he found Tesco cheap. Certainly the USA is now viciously expensive, it’s cheaper to eat out in many cases. Especially if you eat junk. Spain and France are way more expensive than they used to be for sure, as well.

 

[Scomber]

The price of food and especially eating out has increased significantly everywhere and for sure not everybody's income has kept up.

Everybody needs to eat but nobody has to eat in expensive restaurants so if meals out are too much then cook for yourself instead. Do that on holiday for just a few days and you'll easily save enough on expensive restaurant bills and overpriced drinks to significantly offset the cost of your next holiday.

We invariably self cater when abroad and so do dozens of shopping trips every year in France and Spain The quality, presentation and freshness of food available in French and Spanish supermarkets remains at a good standard which makes preparing and cooking your own meals an absolute pleasure compared to the UK where food quality has been steadily declining for quite some time.

Binned any in date but half rotted English supermarket fruit or veg or cooked any English supermarket chicken or bacon recently?

Eeeew...

I'd agree with all that ,,,, except for the last sentence. Had great fruit , veggies , steaks, bacon ,eggs, chicken , wine etc all from supermarkets ,,,, all cooked aboard.All reasonable cost and fabulous,,, mainly down to partner! I'm good at washing up though.. happy days.

 

[RunAgroundHard]

Less exotic but similar price escalation is buying food and eating out on the WCoS. Food bills have always been steeper in the islands but it appears a lot more these days. Eating out has also increased a lot more. I have been reading about the increase in overnight mooring fees in marinas this year as being unpalatable. Fortunately we have an abundance of anchorages.

Recently in Napoli and eating out was exceptionally good value and quality away from the main drag.

 

[Stemar]

Prices are up everywhere, as far as I can see. Cheap food tends to be hyper-processed high calorie, low nutrition stuff, while proper nutrition costs significantly more. No wonder the poor are expanding, and not just in numbers.

All the same, I don't recognise SailingSteve's last sentence. With rare exceptions, we find perishable stuff in UK supermarkets to be OK, if not as nice as I've seen in markets in France - but it isn't the same price, either. If I want top quality and top prices, there are any number of farmer's markets around.

 

[Blueboatman]

Well the last time I was in the DR it was plantain and pollo (chicken) at every roadside halt or bar or cafe .. cheap but how much plantain can a chap eat every day? Lovely lovely place but very poor and agrarian economy outside of the fly-in resorts but we are talking years and years ago.
Don’t recall beer and rum prices so they must have been ‘surprisingly affordable’
Fill your boots John, a posh pint in London can be anyways north of £7 now, daft!

 

[capnsensible]

The Canary Islands remain relatively cheap.

 

[Davy_S]

The Canary Islands remain relatively cheap.

Quite agree with that, we go every winter, we do not go with the intention of cooking our own food, we eat out for breakfast every day and go out for an evening meal with wine every day, it is far cheaper than doing the same in the uk, we could perhaps find similar priced breakfast in the uk, but not evening meal with wine. plus midday snacks with a drink are cheaper in the Canaries, although the price of a holiday apartment has risen quite a lot lately, just goes to show that despite the so called cost of living crises they keep telling us about, people are still willing to pay it

 

[john_morris_uk]

The price of food and especially eating out has increased significantly everywhere and for sure not everybody's income has kept up.

Everybody needs to eat but nobody has to eat in expensive restaurants so if meals out are too much then cook for yourself instead. Do that on holiday for just a few days and you'll easily save enough on expensive restaurant bills and overpriced drinks to significantly offset the cost of your next holiday.

We invariably self cater when abroad and so do dozens of shopping trips every year in France and Spain The quality, presentation and freshness of food available in French and Spanish supermarkets remains at a good standard which makes preparing and cooking your own meals an absolute pleasure compared to the UK where food quality has been steadily declining for quite some time.

Binned any in date but half rotted English supermarket fruit or veg or cooked any English supermarket chicken or bacon recently?

Eeeew...

We cook and eat onboard 99% of the time. We usually make our own bread.

 

[john_morris_uk]

The price of food and especially eating out has increased significantly everywhere and for sure not everybody's income has kept up.

Everybody needs to eat but nobody has to eat in expensive restaurants so if meals out are too much then cook for yourself instead. Do that on holiday for just a few days and you'll easily save enough on expensive restaurant bills and overpriced drinks to significantly offset the cost of your next holiday.

We invariably self cater when abroad and so do dozens of shopping trips every year in France and Spain The quality, presentation and freshness of food available in French and Spanish supermarkets remains at a good standard which makes preparing and cooking your own meals an absolute pleasure compared to the UK where food quality has been steadily declining for quite some time.

Binned any in date but half rotted English supermarket fruit or veg or cooked any English supermarket chicken or bacon recently?

Eeeew...

We cook and eat onboard 99% of the time. We usually make our own bread

 

[st599]

The price of supermarket food has increased a lot too. My feeling now though is that Britain is actually among the cheapest developed country to shop for food in, maybe not eat in restaurants. My brother in law is over from Canada, he found Tesco cheap. Certainly the USA is now viciously expensive, it’s cheaper to eat out in many cases. Especially if you eat junk. Spain and France are way more expensive than they used to be for sure, as well.

The figures show the UK cost of living comparators being slightly more expensive on average than say France and Germany but much more expensive in terms of accommodation. However the average UK wage is also below that of France and Germany

 

[westernman]

Mainland Greece is very cheap for eating out in the places off the beaten track.
We have even had very cheap and excellent food in Athens (but away from the tourist areas).

 

[Chiara’s slave]

The figures show the UK cost of living comparators being slightly more expensive on average than say France and Germany but much more expensive in terms of accommodation. However the average UK wage is also below that of France and Germany

Subjectively it doesn’t seem so. Have you shopped in France recently?

 

[Sybarite]

Bought diesel last week at £1.22 /litre at Leclerc.

 

[capnsensible]

Bought diesel last week at £1.22 /litre at Leclerc.

You got a black cat I got a panther.

Around 1.10 euros here.

 

[capnsensible]

We completed a couple of Carib cruises. As sports fans, our walks ashore sometimes looking for places showing games. The ones off the beaten track could be quite cheap and a great way of getting to know local people....football is a great leveller.

At the other end of the scale, we discovered casinos on a lot of the islands. There is no requirement to gamble, dress very informal and sport lounges tend to have air conditioning plus very often two for one on drinks and meals.

Of course you don't have to be interested in sports at all to enjoy the cheaper way.

 

[st599]

Subjectively it doesn’t seem so. Have you shopped in France recently?

Yep, and in Germany Switzerland and USA.

Cost of Living Index by Country 2025

USA and Switzerland both eye watering, France and Germany very similar to UK.

The underlying problem for the UK though is that since 2010 when we were on a par, US, French, German wages have all rocketed compared to UK which is now on a par with Mississippi, lowest state in the USA. Average German wage is now £1k per month more.

 

[Davy_S]

We cook and eat onboard 99% of the time. We usually make our own bread.

We heard you the first time John,