Cheers Program on the Valor

[makentake]

Since Valor is such a port intensive ship, is it worth it? What about the first night since you leave port so late, can you just buy it without that day? We like wine with dinner, is it hard to get a second glass (or third) during the dining service? We will have a table for 8 with at least 5 of us wine drinkers at dinner and have usually bought wine packages. I am just learning about the cheers program and confused!

[Stinger-pr]

Since Valor is such a port intensive ship, is it worth it? What about the first night since you leave port so late, can you just buy it without that day? We like wine with dinner, is it hard to get a second glass (or third) during the dining service? We will have a table for 8 with at least 5 of us wine drinkers at dinner and have usually bought wine packages. I am just learning about the cheers program and confused!

 

Well since there are 8 of you and about 5 wine drinkers, you can each take a 750mL bottle of your favorite wine with you on embarkation day and have them opened at dinner for a $25 corkage fee. If this will be your main wine/alcohol consumption I guess this would be a better option and you would have YOUR choice of wine.

[cruisinJenF]

Since Valor is such a port intensive ship, is it worth it? What about the first night since you leave port so late, can you just buy it without that day? We like wine with dinner, is it hard to get a second glass (or third) during the dining service? We will have a table for 8 with at least 5 of us wine drinkers at dinner and have usually bought wine packages. I am just learning about the cheers program and confused!

 

 

I Personally don't think it's worth it to get Cheers on this cruise. You are gone all day there are so many ports. If your just drinking wine with dinner have everyone bring on their bottles and then just do the "Cruising the vineyards" wine package. A LOT cheaper than Cheers.

[okgirl]

Even on port days it's not unusual for me to get back on the ship and have a Margarita or two, then a couple of glasses of wine with dinner, then I'm up late in the Casino and shows and have 2 or 3 more drinks.

 

So that alone makes Cheers worth it for me.

[Firewife1031]

I just want to confirm that on the Valor, while in Puerto Rico, since the ship doesn't leave PR until late, will the Cheers program be in effect during this time? Or will we lose a day because the ship doesn't leave until late? We are embarking from PR for a 7 day caribbean cruise. Thanks!!

[etwright]

It was worth it for us last August. But then again, we always came back to the ship early in each port to relax and enjoy a few drinks without the crowds. You can buy it the first or second day. We opted to not buy until the second day because we ate in the steakhouse the first night and got our free bottle of wine.

[LadyDAC]

We got it in July on the first day. We were on board by noon so it was totally worth getting it the first day. However, overall, it wasn't worth it for us. We would have a couple of drinks when we came back on board at each port, a couple with dinner, and a couple after dinner but we still only broke even a couple of days. We found we were forcing ourselves to drink. Also, I like the frozen fruity drinks so I would get full and not want any more. If you drink well drinks or beer it might be easier.

[sbnuggie]

Wife and I don't drink enough to make the Cheers a good deal on any cruise for us so I can't really comment on Cheers as a whole. This is a very port intensive cruise and we weren't really on the ship that much so I would hazard a guess this would not be a good deal but everyone is a little different.

 

But I did want to comment on the wine issue. We are wine drinkers and we did this little trick for this cruise and it worked perfectly as others have reported.

 

We were in PR a couple of days before the cruise staying in the Condado area. Our hotel was across the street from a Walgreens where we bought 2 bottles of wine. On Sunday we arrived at the cruise terminal at about Noon and embarked in about 30 - 45 minutes, quick and easy, with our two bottles of wine. Went to our room, dropped off our carryons then ate some lunch and explored old san juan. There is another Walgreens on the embarcadero about 150 200yards or so from the cruise terminal. After we were done in the evening we went to the walgreens (directly across from the ferry terminal), bought two bottles of wine and carried them on the ship. No issues. We ate at the steakhouse the first evening as well. We also had a fruit basket with wine given to us as a gift so that total 6 bottles of wine for our cruise including the freebie at steakhouse. I've even heard of people making multiple trips off the ship to get more wine, we didn't want to waste our time with that.

 

Regarding corkage fee's in the MDR, we were never charged a fee, our waiter mentioned it to us once saying he was supposed to but he didn't agree with the charge (I think he wanted the tip at the end from the corkage fee's ;-) ) We also had a couple of bottles opened at any of the bars while we were walking to dinner, just stop at a bar, ask them to open it and two glasses, enjoy a glass before dinner. Hope this helps

[Firewife1031]

Thanks everyone. We've purchased the program before and it is VERY beneficial for us. Carnival actually loses money lol. I just wasn't sure if they made you wait to purchase the program until after the ship left port. We sailed on the Breeze out of Miami last year and had to wait until the ship was in international waters before we could purchase the program.

[tl12356]

My wife enjoys premium margaritas...(Patron)

Is this package cover these drinks?:p

[Bases5]

I just want to confirm that on the Valor, while in Puerto Rico, since the ship doesn't leave PR until late, will the Cheers program be in effect during this time? Or will we lose a day because the ship doesn't leave until late? We are embarking from PR for a 7 day caribbean cruise. Thanks!!

 

Yes you can buy it on day 2 and only pay for 6 days instead of 7

We did it.

[jnwinos]

My husband and I bought the "Cheers" program on the Dream. It was worth it, I had 83 and he 94 and brought wine on board, a lot. The corkage is $15.00 in MDR. On my next cruise we will not bother to bring so much if we buy Cheers. The wine is not hard to get 2-3 during dinner service, we do tip extra, maybe that had something to do with it.

 

 

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[Cruisegirl6]

We wouldn't ever not purchase it always do always get our monies worth and no bill at the end because we prepay it! :D

[Bases5]

We wouldn't ever not purchase it always do always get our monies worth and no bill at the end because we prepay it! :D

 

Where can you pre pay for cheers at? or Do you mean buy enough cruise cash to cover the cost.

[Cruisegirl6]

Im so sorry I was mixing up RC with Carnival...you have to purchase it on the ship.

[belizabeth28]

Where can you pre pay for cheers at? or Do you mean buy enough cruise cash to cover the cost.

 

You pay for the package right when you get on the ship there is a little stand right in the lobby/atrium where you can sign up for the Cheers package with your Sign and Sale that's linked to your card. When my boyfriend and I went last year it was $800 for the 2 of us after the tips and what not (we had 200 cruise cash so we only ended up paying 600) so at the end of the cruise when we got our bill for the week there was no surprise when it came to the amount of drinks we had cause we paid for it all up front