How Does Cheers Program Handle Soda Purchases Now?

[Rowan555]

On our last cruise in January, any time I ordered a Diet Coke with my Cheers card, the bartender had to ring it up as one of my 15 drinks, then tell me if I hit 15, to just let them know some of them were soda purchases, and the manager would override it and let me order another cocktail. Well, the one night I actually hit 15 drinks (I'd had several sodas throughout the day) we were at the midnight comedy show, and the bartender just said no, I was done with my drinks - it was noisy and difficult to communicate the situation to him (and on the Sunshine, the comedy club is pretty far away from the main bars) so I just didn't bother with it.

 

Anyway, I'm wondering if this has changed - how are sodas being handled with Cheers now?

[bigdog1958]

On our last cruise in January, any time I ordered a Diet Coke with my Cheers card, the bartender had to ring it up as one of my 15 drinks, then tell me if I hit 15, to just let them know some of them were soda purchases, and the manager would override it and let me order another cocktail. Well, the one night I actually hit 15 drinks (I'd had several sodas throughout the day) we were at the midnight comedy show, and the bartender just said no, I was done with my drinks - it was noisy and difficult to communicate the situation to him (and on the Sunshine, the comedy club is pretty far away from the main bars) so I just didn't bother with it.

 

Anyway, I'm wondering if this has changed - how are sodas being handled with Cheers now?

 

I have done the cheers program 3 times over the last two years and never heard of this. Sodas do not count toward your 15. Only drinks with alcohol in them should count. The only stipulation regarding non-alcohol drinks is that the 5 min rule applies to both kinds of drinks. Not sure why you had the issue you had, but I have never seen that one before on any thread

[Rowan555]

I have done the cheers program 3 times over the last two years and never heard of this. Sodas do not count toward your 15. Only drinks with alcohol in them should count. The only stipulation regarding non-alcohol drinks is that the 5 min rule applies to both kinds of drinks. Not sure why you had the issue you had, but I have never seen that one before on any thread

 

Thanks - I thought it was really weird, and after the day I had issues, I was afraid to order sodas for fear of "wasting" my cocktail count. I'm glad to know maybe this was an isolated thing that has been corrected.

[evanAction]

I have done the cheers program 3 times over the last two years and never heard of this. Sodas do not count toward your 15. Only drinks with alcohol in them should count. The only stipulation regarding non-alcohol drinks is that the 5 min rule applies to both kinds of drinks. Not sure why you had the issue you had, but I have never seen that one before on any thread

 

Agreed. 5 minute rule still applies, you can also request an unopened can if you'd like to throw it in your fridge / take back to your room.

 

The only thing that applies to the 15 limit is alcoholic beverages that are *included* in cheers. If your order a bucket of beer (which you will still have to pay a discounted price for) they do not take away from your 15 drinks FYI.

[Rowan555]

Thanks! I think for some reason the Sunshine just didn't know the proper protocol for handling Cheers. Another weird thing was that for the first 4 days of the cruise, we were able to use our Cheers receipts for Classic Cocktails to get the $5 matchplay cards in the casino. We'd have never even tried, but a lady we were talking to mentioned she had done it, so we tried it and it worked for several days - we racked up quite a few matchplays, lol. After day 4, they stopped allowing it.

[evanAction]

Thanks! I think for some reason the Sunshine just didn't know the proper protocol for handling Cheers. Another weird thing was that for the first 4 days of the cruise, we were able to use our Cheers receipts for Classic Cocktails to get the $5 matchplay cards in the casino. We'd have never even tried, but a lady we were talking to mentioned she had done it, so we tried it and it worked for several days - we racked up quite a few matchplays, lol. After day 4, they stopped allowing it.

 

This is still the case --- if you get classic cocktails and keep the receipt, they still give you the $5 match play. Sounds like the sunshine was all messed up.

 

Even tho the receipt shows zero dollars for the drink, you still *technically* purchased the drink if that makes sense?

[utkikr21]

Just got off the Dream and purchased the Cheers program. Sodas are rung up as purchases but do not count towards the 15 drink limit. I made sure to confirm this prior to buying the Cheers program.

[kbh2]

Just got off the Dream and purchased the Cheers program. Sodas are rung up as purchases but do not count towards the 15 drink limit. I made sure to confirm this prior to buying the Cheers program.

 

How much did the Cheers end up being for you on the Dream?

[utkikr21]

How much did the Cheers end up being for you on the Dream?

 

For me and DW total it was $602 for 7 days. We calculated it out when we got of the ship and we saved quite a bit of money purchasing it and that was only reaching our limit 3 times (2 days for me and 1 for her).

[BettyCruiser]

We had the Cheers package on the Breeze last November. We were told a fountain soda did not count toward our 15, but a can of soda did, so we made sure to request fountain soda when we wanted it. I think some ships don't have fountain soda, so not sure how it would work. But it seems to be operating a little different ship to ship.

[Rowan555]

Thanks, guys! If we can do the match play with Cheers we will be thrilled! There were a lot of issues on the Sunshine cruise, so hopefully we'll have a different experience on Dream.