Justifying the Cheers! program

[ATHENA3]

I'm confused how 7 days comes to $810 for two people.

 

Isn't it $50 x 7 = $350

 

X2 = $700

 

What am I missing? :confused:

 

 

 

 

You’re missing the 15% gratuity per day

[n6uqqq]

I also heard it is not valid on Little Stirrup Cay. Although it is valid on RCI..... which makes one think, why buy the Cheers prgm for the entire cruise, only to find out it is only good for the ship!

 

I think, most pax would come out better buying from Bon Voyage!:cool: At least then, you could take some off (in a flask, etc) with you at the private islands, and just order soda, or water... etc..:)

 

 

If I had cheers and was going to Half Moon Cay I would be " building " a couple of buckets of fosters and bringing them with me in my personal cooler and a back pack :D Never seen Carnival checking you getting off the ship for booze and if you have cheers you indeed got it legitimately. With the 5 minute rule one could build a bucket it 15 minutes.

[Dixie24]

We were on the Fascination in October and purchased on the second day. HMC was one of our ports so we saved our carryon wine for that day and drank it in our cabana. We definitely came out ahead by doing cheers. I would get patron margaritas and they were $9.95 so it was fairly easy to hit the break even mark.

 

Were you back charged to day 1 or only day 2 until the end of cruise?

[JustinAllen]

If I had cheers and was going to Half Moon Cay I would be " building " a couple of buckets of fosters and bringing them with me in my personal cooler and a back pack :D Never seen Carnival checking you getting off the ship for booze and if you have cheers you indeed got it legitimately. With the 5 minute rule one could build a bucket it 15 minutes.

 

That's exactly what my wife and I did when we got it. If we only drank 10 of our 15 drinks, we would get our last 5 drinks as beers and get them every 5mins until we went to bed. That was 5 beers each that we would have in the room and take off the ship on our port days to enjoy at the beach. Worked very well and kept us from having to buy beer in port!

[Sarahsmomi]

You’re missing the 15% gratuity per day

 

 

Oooh, thank you :)

 

So the tip is added directly onto the cost of Cheers? Then also onto each drink purchased on the program?

[IPlayWithString]

I just wish they'd do it where you didn't have to have BOTH people in the cabin (or however many there are ) participating. Because I wouldn't mind paying for myself, but my husband doesn't drink at all.

[Bill&Karen]

Oooh, thank you :)

 

So the tip is added directly onto the cost of Cheers? Then also onto each drink purchased on the program?

 

The 15% is added to the entire amount of Cheers when you purchase it.

 

From then on, each time you order a drink, you get a "receipt" for the purchase price, with a "promotional discount" of 100% applied for a net cost of $0.00 and the "15% gratuity" line is also at $0.00 for a total cost of $0.00.

 

They do leave the blank line so you add an extra tip if you want to.

 

If the receipt was for one of the "Classic Cocktails" you can take it to the casino cashier and get a $5 match play coupon to use at a table game.

[5Hawkeyes]

The exception to this is going out of texas... You can not purchase the program on day one do to texas law, so you can only purchase it on day 2 and they will retroactive it back to day 1 and removed any drink charges you had on day 1 and include in the cheers program. you cannot purchase the cheers program on any ship after day 2..

 

This post contains some truth and some not true. It is true you can only purchase Cheers on the 2nd day out of Galveston. But they will not retroactive it back to day 1 and remove any drink charges. The way it works out of Texas is you can only purchase on day two and you will be charged for the remainder of your cruise days.

 

So for instance a 5 day on the Triumph purchased the 2nd day will cost you $57.44 x 4= $229.76. If you take a 7 day from Galveston it will be $57.44 x 6= $$344.64.

 

Hope this helps!

[5Hawkeyes]

I just wish they'd do it where you didn't have to have BOTH people in the cabin (or however many there are ) participating. Because I wouldn't mind paying for myself, but my husband doesn't drink at all.

 

Many people are in the same situation as you, but they know too many people would cheat the system and would share the drinks. It's a bummer for those in your situation but I completely understand why Carnival does it this way.

[Sarahsmomi]

The 15% is added to the entire amount of Cheers when you purchase it.

 

From then on, each time you order a drink, you get a "receipt" for the purchase price, with a "promotional discount" of 100% applied for a net cost of $0.00 and the "15% gratuity" line is also at $0.00 for a total cost of $0.00.

 

They do leave the blank line so you add an extra tip if you want to.

 

If the receipt was for one of the "Classic Cocktails" you can take it to the casino cashier and get a $5 match play coupon to use at a table game.

 

 

Perfect, thanks so much :)

[IPlayWithString]

Many people are in the same situation as you, but they know too many people would cheat the system and would share the drinks. It's a bummer for those in your situation but I completely understand why Carnival does it this way.

 

Oh I get why they do it that way..it doesn't make it suck any less.

[peck]

Can I use my OBC to purchase cheers

 

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[n6uqqq]

Can I use my OBC to purchase cheers

 

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That is a big YES :)

[peck]

Lets setup that bar tab :-)

 

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[LAdad]

That's exactly what my wife and I did when we got it. If we only drank 10 of our 15 drinks, we would get our last 5 drinks as beers and get them every 5mins until we went to bed. That was 5 beers each that we would have in the room and take off the ship on our port days to enjoy at the beach. Worked very well and kept us from having to buy beer in port!

 

Thank you for the info. Did you have to stow the beers in a bag or could you walk out of the bar with an armful of closed beers? Or did you have to take a stroll and visit various bars.

We'll be at HMC next summer. And sounds like an interesting idea. We'll have access to a fridge at HMC.

Thanks again.

[tanyaewa]

Do the rules allow for a bucket of beers to be purchased? And do all beer bought have to be opened?

[JustinAllen]

Thank you for the info. Did you have to stow the beers in a bag or could you walk out of the bar with an armful of closed beers? Or did you have to take a stroll and visit various bars.

We'll be at HMC next summer. And sounds like an interesting idea. We'll have access to a fridge at HMC.

Thanks again.

 

Actually, the bar waiters would give us the box the beers came in so it was easy to carry them back to the room :-). We got them all from the same bar and the waiters knew exactly what we were doing lol. We brought a collapsible cooler with is so we would put them in there once we got back to the cabin.

 

 

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[JustinAllen]

Do the rules allow for a bucket of beers to be purchased? And do all beer bought have to be opened?

 

Unfortunately, the Cheers program doesn't allow for a bucket to be purchased..but if you sit at a bar for 30mins, you could build one up. If you buy the beers inside, you can get them unopened. Typically if you get them on lido, they will open them for you.

 

 

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[brentconn]

I want to thank everyone for their opinions. After careful consideration, we have decided to not purchase the Cheers! program and buy our drinks ala cart plus purchase through the Fun shop. :)

[artmanr]

My wife and I are very interested in the Cheers! Program. I am trying to wrap my head around this thing. The cost for both of us is $810. This is what I'm trying to figure out. Am I really going to drink 15 beers or cocktails per day? Am I going to drink $405 worth beers or drinks during the cruise? This is a 7 day cruise and we do like to drink but I don't think I have ever consumed 15 drinks in a day. Maybe 10. Are the drinks watered down? I keep reading where some of you reach your limit every night. Will everybody on the cruise be drinking me under the table? :p

 

I just read your post. I didn't read responses though. Shame on me.

 

Whatever you do, please do it with some consideration for your fellow cruisers and their families. Show some restraint and try not to get "hammered" when it's still family time in the public areas. Have a good time, but don't be "that guy" whose making an @ss of himself in the hot tub or dropping the F-bomb every 30 seconds.

 

If you are drinking 15 drinks a day, it's likely you may have a drinking problem...or more accurately, a stopping problem.

 

If your plan for vacation is to be hammered, why go on a cruise? Rough seas and you'll be seeing your "investment" again, coming out the way it came in.

 

Also, if your plan is to be hammered why spend the extra cash for being on a cruise in the first place? Just get a nice hotel on the beach in Mexico and imbibe till you can't see straight? It's not like your going to remember anything anyway.

 

Stay thirsty amigo....

[Swayde]

I just read your post. I didn't read responses though. Shame on me.

 

Whatever you do, please do it with some consideration for your fellow cruisers and their families. Show some restraint and try not to get "hammered" when it's still family time in the public areas. Have a good time, but don't be "that guy" whose making an @ss of himself in the hot tub or dropping the F-bomb every 30 seconds.

 

If you are drinking 15 drinks a day, it's likely you may have a drinking problem...or more accurately, a stopping problem.

 

If your plan for vacation is to be hammered, why go on a cruise? Rough seas and you'll be seeing your "investment" again, coming out the way it came in.

 

Also, if your plan is to be hammered why spend the extra cash for being on a cruise in the first place? Just get a nice hotel on the beach in Mexico and imbibe till you can't see straight? It's not like your going to remember anything anyway.

 

Stay thirsty amigo....

 

We were never "hammered" on the Cheers program on an 8-day cruise. Even the 2 days we managed to hit the 15 drink limit (mind you, we stayed on the ship in ports), we weren't drunk. Just had a really nice happy buzz. We would get up around 9-10am and start drinking about 11am with frozen drinks by the pool, which have really low alcohol content. We would occasionally throw in a cocktail. We drank a lot of wine, which is also very low alcohol content, but pricey. We took a nap in the afternoon and were up until 1-2am or later. We most definitely got our money's worth, but typically averaged 9-10 drinks a day, plus a few glasses of ginger ale.

 

We never got sick. We never had a hang over. We never "forgot" our cruise. We just had a really fun, very relaxing vacation. And we are NOT big drinkers so I would imagine anyone who drinks more than 1-2 glasses of wine per month would probably be able to easily consume 15 drinks a day without it phasing them if we could do it.

 

I still wouldn't do the Cheers program again unless it was a MUCH shorter cruise. I was really tired of drinking and wanted to be able to eat more lol. I was so full from the drinks that I didn't eat much at all for most meals. On the plus side, only gained 5 lbs on an 8-day cruise and have already lost 3 of them in 6 days.

[LWiening]

A group of us went last year on Conquest when it was introduced. We are going in February again.This is what those who did it stated.

 

For one my husband does ot drink that much and same thing with my girlfriends. She bought it and between the two they never drank as much. Especially shore days. They stated it was a waste.

 

We did have two couples drink their share for the day but I do not think they were enjoying the cruise to much in the morning.

 

If you are a drinker go for it. But 15 is allot of drinks if you are a moderate drinker buy them.

 

Like I stated we are going all of us on another cruise in February and we are all passing on it..It would be great if it was per person not per cabin for each person. For t totalers its not worth it,

[brentconn]

I just read your post. I didn't read responses though. Shame on me.

 

Whatever you do, please do it with some consideration for your fellow cruisers and their families. Show some restraint and try not to get "hammered" when it's still family time in the public areas. Have a good time, but don't be "that guy" whose making an @ss of himself in the hot tub or dropping the F-bomb every 30 seconds.

 

If you are drinking 15 drinks a day, it's likely you may have a drinking problem...or more accurately, a stopping problem.

 

If your plan for vacation is to be hammered, why go on a cruise? Rough seas and you'll be seeing your "investment" again, coming out the way it came in.

 

Also, if your plan is to be hammered why spend the extra cash for being on a cruise in the first place? Just get a nice hotel on the beach in Mexico and imbibe till you can't see straight? It's not like your going to remember anything anyway.

 

Stay thirsty amigo....

 

I don't know what you read in my post that deserved the reply you posted. I am a very responsible person and a father of two. No where did I give the impression that I was going to get hammered(if that is your term). If anything it was just the oppositr. I think you seriously need to think before you post and perhaps learn people skills?

[indygirl76]

I don't know what you read in my post that deserved the reply you posted. I am a very responsible person and a father of two. No where did I give the impression that I was going to get hammered(if that is your term). If anything it was just the oppositr. I think you seriously need to think before you post and perhaps learn people skills?

You didn't cause that reply. There seem to be some internal issues being worked out there. ;)

[Mr B]

I just read your post. I didn't read responses though. Shame on me.

 

Whatever you do, please do it with some consideration for your fellow cruisers and their families. Show some restraint and try not to get "hammered" when it's still family time in the public areas. Have a good time, but don't be "that guy" whose making an @ss of himself in the hot tub or dropping the F-bomb every 30 seconds.

 

If you are drinking 15 drinks a day, it's likely you may have a drinking problem...or more accurately, a stopping problem.

 

If your plan for vacation is to be hammered, why go on a cruise? Rough seas and you'll be seeing your "investment" again, coming out the way it came in.

 

Also, if your plan is to be hammered why spend the extra cash for being on a cruise in the first place? Just get a nice hotel on the beach in Mexico and imbibe till you can't see straight? It's not like your going to remember anything anyway.

 

Stay thirsty amigo....

 

I'm not sure it's people's intentions just to get hammered when they buy cheers.

 

We are cruising next week and plan on buying it - as we see it the 'break even' point would be around 6-7 drinks a day (it's not compulsory to drink 15) and it gives us the freedom to try different drinks, particularly at dinner when we could have a prosecco as an aperitif, try different wines with each course and perhaps a dessert wine or liqueur with dessert. I think it will make the holiday much more relaxing.

Edited November 9, 2013 by Mr B