cruiserbrianj

I'll take the up charge at Cucina if it means they bring the full menu back. No calamari. No garlic rolls were notable items missing last week. Kinda disappointing really. 

I'll add on to this as well....although there are bars open while in port, it may or may not be all of them and I honestly think it just depends on the ship.  I've been on one and while in port the Serenity bar was NOT open and then another cruise it was.  Also, on the Mardi Gras last week the lower level of the Red Frog Tiki was open but the top wasn't until 2pm.  Go figure.  Maybe just a staffing thing, who knows?

Bailey's is available. You won't have any issues. 

There was a time or two on the Sunshine in March where they didn't give us a ticket.

There was also a few times on the Mardi Gras last week where they didn't as well.

In both instances we were either grabbing a bottle of water or soda.

We just got off the Mardi Gras and I don't know what happened as we could never get an answer but the fries at Guys were totally different.  Looked way different...very pale, not much seasoning and extremely disappointing. Anyone else on other ships (or the Mardi Gras) experienced this?  If there was a positive to this situation, I didn't eat any fries so there's that lol. Nonetheless, I hope this was a one off type of thing.

4 hours ago, jerseyjjs said:

 

            Not the biggest fan of a limited alcohol drink package.  Plus, if one of the stops is Half Moon Cay, Carnival, for some reason, doesn't honor the Cheers package.  So, that means one has to spend more than the Cheers package purchase if they want drinks.  Plus, there's something liberating about buying a bucket of beer.  

Quick and easy HMC hack...last cruise we would stockpile some beer (they gave it to us unopened) in our fridge and then when HMC day came we asked our room steward for some ice and he filled our carnival branded soft sided cooler. Idk how I didn't think of it earlier tbh. 

20 minutes ago, cruisin*tigger said:

Agree.  I only buy Cheers if its a cruise where I've already been to the ports and plan on staying on the ship.  Otherwise it is cheaper for me to just buy as I go because there will be full days where I will be out in the ports and won't even come close to getting my money's worth in drinks.  And if its a European cruise, don't buy it at all since you can purchase alcohol in the ports to enjoy onboard instead of having to hold until the end of the cruise.  Love being able to pick up good local wines.

I agree on if it's a port intensive, European cruise but for the Caribbean cruises the port days doesn't impact us buying it whatsoever.  There are exceptions, but a good bit of the time you're back on board by 3 or 4pm so still plenty of time to enjoy some cocktails.  Even if you only had 3 or 4 and technically fall below the "daily limit" I'm sure there's plenty of people like me that make it up on other days.  For us, we don't look it at on a per day basis, it's does this benefit us over the course of the entire cruise and thus far, it has.

I have not and we have a test scheduled for Wednesday...

Just discussed Disney with my teenage son today and said "I truly don't know how people go there and not go in debt."  That said, if you won't, think the kids will truly enjoy it then go for it....even if I could afford it, personally, I would not. The cruise is more than enough imo. 

4 minutes ago, Joebucks said:

 

Obviously, if you're going to drink a ton of drinks by the alchemy and pool, then it makes sense. The real question is, are you going to?

 

What many of you don't hear is the people who fueled their decision on this same logic. Then end up getting as many drinks as roughly half the cost of cheers. They'll still defend the purchase to the death. It's peace of mind to overspend on alcohol, because alcohol is the center of the universe.

 

You'll often hear the argument of "you can easily do 5 alchemy drinks in a day!" but will rarely hear "the both of you can easily do 70 alchemy drinks in a week." Why is that?

 

 

I guess you sorta lost me there.  I mean, when we cruise we like to let loose a little and enjoy our cocktails and some people are like us and some aren't. I don't come across a lot of discussions where people are defending their Cheers purchase to the death either but that's fine.  Cheers works for us and I don't find us drinking more to "make it worth it".  We can just move along tho, no need to beat this horse any more 🙂 

You could find someone to go in her place.  I had to do that once when my son couldn't go and my subbed in for him.  I'm pretty sure it was before final payment was due when we swapped them. Or, your daughter "just doesn't make it"....you don't all have to check in at the same time so it's not like it's a big deal if she's a no show.

Also, I always book with a PVP that way I don't have to worry....I figure they're the ones that should know.  Also, I hear horror stories of long wait times, etc when calling Carnival but I've never experienced that as we have her direct line and if she doesn't answer, she calls us right back.  Good luck with everything!

1 hour ago, Joebucks said:

 

This is the kind of over-simplification that marketing wants you to think of. Well who wouldn't want 5 drinks in a day on vacation? (The number to balance the cost would actually be closer to 6). Day 1 is not equal to all other days.

 

Now do that for 4-7 days. For 2 people. Factoring in ports. How many couples would honestly have 80 alcoholic drinks on the ship alone? For me, it is completely absurd to think Cheers offers some huge value over bringing a bottle of wine and buying a bottle of whiskey. 

 

If you would otherwise have a $800 bar tab, then perhaps it's a good deal. I've sailed with more than enough people to know that Cheers is excessive for most who feel like they are financial advisors because they purchased this savings. The fear of individual charges and obsession with "unlimited" overrides most other logic.

I actually do think it's that simple and it's not so much you "have to" drink x amount of drinks per day, it's the cost of those drinks.  Drinks in the Alchemy run $13....a frozen drink by the pool, $10...it adds up quickly imo.  Yes, the cost is ridiculous, especially when you pre pay and say to yourself "that's a lot of money on booze" but for us and my family, it's vacation and that's just what it is...and for us, Cheers has always been "worth it" over the course of the cruise.  

Looking at the same two cruises. Leaning towards the Magic because we're headed on the Mardi Gras in 10 days and Aruba/Bonaire are places we haven't been before. Plus, we really enjoyed the Magic this past November. 

3 hours ago, Abr155 said:

Haha, right?! We snagged such a good deal!  I should also add, another consideration is how port heavy is your cruise?  Ours has 3 full sea days not including embarkation day, so, that's a lot of time on the ship to indulge...

This is just my opinion but the whole port day thing is overrated in regards to Cheers.  I"m speaking for only Caribbean-ish cruises I've been on but the vast majority of the time we are back on the ship by 3pm (sometimes earlier due to the short time they keep you in port).  If we're back on by 3ish....have a couple of drinks before dinner and a few during/after dinner....if you're just going by the per day thing it's still worth it imo...and that's just the alcohol, not including the bottles of water or coffees we get here and there after we get back on.

30 minutes ago, mondello said:

Maybe Carnival decided to look the other way and accept these bookings and the revenue they generate from drinking? I just think nobody would want to deal with unruly mobs misbehaving like what you see on Florida beaches.

I don't believe there was any "looking the other way" by Carnival....I really don't think they can do that.  If you're over 21 you can book, period....and a lot of college "kids" are over 21....I have one.  And actually, he turned 21 the day after the Sunshine was set to leave and he wanted to go but they couldn't book because his GF is 21 but at the time of debark he would have been only be 20.  

14 minutes ago, mondello said:

College age Spring Breakers would most likely meet neither exception, married nor military.

But they would be 21. We just got off the Sunshine this week (Monday) and the pics that my SO showed me from FB for the current cruise is packed...I mean PACKED with college kids.
I really think it depends on the length of the cruise too...college kids are going to do the 5 night or less cruise not the 7+ nighters. 

When in doubt, always get the drink package 🙂

44 minutes ago, momin05 said:

Good to know!  Thanks!

Glad to help!

1 hour ago, momin05 said:

Thanks for the info!  That is super fast for getting on the ship in Charleston!  I have sailed from Charleston several times but not since the restart and the change in parking and use of the warehouse for checkin. I am curious, what time was your check in time and do they still check your boarding paperwork, including your check in time, before they let you park?  

Our check in time was 11:30 and no, when we parked we simply paid and parked, nobody asked for our boarding passes or anything.

I think it's great that they will be using Verifly.  I don't know exactly how much faster it will make the process but it'll be nice not having to bumble and fumble through all the papers for me and my family.  I still plan to bring them just in case but at least for me it's a lot easier to just hand them my phone vs dealing with the paper copies of everything.

We just got off the Sunshine on Monday and the port isn't confusing and super easy in my opinion.  I'll try and walk you through it....

Embarkation....you'll pull into the lot and pay for parking....drive up to the porters and they will take whatever bags you want delivered to the cabin (if you don't want anything delivered, you don't give them nothing and haul it with you).  Then, they will direct you where to park.  After that, you will walk (maybe less than 5 min) or take a tram (think amusement park tram) to a building where they check that you've done all you need to do with your health/covid items.  At that point you'll board a shuttle bus which will take you to yet another building where they'll actually check you in and where you will board the ship.  We arrived at the lot around 10:45am and had a drink in hand at 11:30am.  It was super easy and it was actually nice because EVERYONE wasn't all in one spot...they were spread out.

Debarkation...if you're doing self assist (which we did) you'll just take your bags off and board a shuttle bus which will take you to a drop off spot at which point you'll walk to your car.  I chose to not get on the shuttle bus and simply walk to my car with my bag and it may have taken me 10 min.  I'm active and the walking didn't bother me as I'd rather walk than wait in line.

I hope all this helps and happy cruising!

The baked onion soup is delicious....my only complaint is that it probably takes 3 days to cool down enough to eat!! It really does come out piping hot.  I've enjoyed the filet but I was seriously disappointed in the bone in ribeye....paper thin, nothing but fat and not very good at all.  Maybe I got a bad one, idk, but I'll go back to the filet next time.

On 2/24/2022 at 6:23 PM, SNJCruisers said:

The UGLY.....

Sounds like the "ugly" wasn't ship specific and more or less the ugly that can appear on any ship.  Thanks for the review and tips....we're trying to learn as much as we can about the ship before we sail on her in April.

2 hours ago, Virga said:

Regardless, would be easy enough to ask someone on a short cruise to tell us what they see after midnight on the first night in the app.

Even easier is to just pre-purchase or get it straightaway once onboard and simply start the party lol.

I recently saw a "hack" on youtube where the couple purchased Cheers just after midnight on embark day....they could then drink a few drinks on "day 1" (anything before 6am) but since they purchased it after midnight and the next day, they technically saved a day. 

Now, they suggested bringing some wine or champagne on board to supplement for embark day and/or maybe just buy a couple of drinks.  Now, to me, that seems like too much work and not enough savings....they were also saying something about not having to pay taxes on it.  I'm not sure about all of that. 

For us though, we just want to get on and start having fun so we either prepurchase or for our next one we're just gonna use up a good bit of our OBC...that makes more sense to us (even though we aren't getting the 10% off) than coming out of pocket with it ahead of time.