To Cheer or not to Cheer - Menu price questions)

[Maplemoose]

Sorry if I am adding to the beating of a dead horse but I am reaching a point where I must make a decision regarding booze on our upcoming Horizon cruise. (our first on Carnival) If anyone can answer the following questions it would greatly help my decision.

 

1) Can someone confirm the self-pour draft tap on the Lido Deck is covered by the Cheers package? (By the way has anyone used their own cups there or do you have to use the glasses provided? I would feel better walking around the ship in a red solo cup than a glass, especially since our cabin is on the Lido deck and I can see me filling up at the tap before heading to other decks)

 

2) I have looked at many bar menus but I always wonder how up to date they are. To be more specific, looking at the Red Frog Rum Bar, the Sports bar and the Pig and Anchor,the price of a pint of draft is around the $5.50 mark at all 3. Can anyone who has cruised on the Horizon since the summer verify that they are still in this same ballpark?

 

3) Similarly can one still get a basic drink, rum and coke, vodka and OJ etc. for around $7-8 as I have seen on the menus?

 

I wish Carnival would get into the perk business! No stress in making the decision then!  Thank you in advance.

 

 

[Don Kehote]

1 - That is DEFINITELY NOT covered by cheers.

2 - Beer's pretty much a waste on cheers unless you are getting it to throw caution to the wind and not be concerned with an end of voyage bill.

3 - Those seem about right price wise.

 

Honestly, I wish doctors would put as much effort into curing disease as we do here into determining the value of Cheers 🙂

[PhillyFan33579]

Don, I like your comment about curing diseases.

 

Cheers is still a good value if you drink beer.  Most beers in a can are $6.50. If you only drink 7 of these beers in a day you will still benefit from Cheers, assuming you buy Cheers before the cruise and that you also drink non-alcoholic drinks during the day (I drink a lot of Perrier and sports drinks every day). 

 

 

[Maplemoose]

23 minutes ago, Don Kehote said:

1 - That is DEFINITELY NOT covered by cheers.

2 - Beer's pretty much a waste on cheers unless you are getting it to throw caution to the wind and not be concerned with an end of voyage bill.

3 - Those seem about right price wise.

 

Honestly, I wish doctors would put as much effort into curing disease as we do here into determining the value of Cheers 🙂

Don, can you explain what you mean by your 2nd point? On NCL I have combined a couple of beers a day with more potent drinks and got my money's worth (especially since it was a perk!). Are you saying that if you have Cheers, you should always go for more expensive drinks to justify it? I am missing your point. Thanks. 

[beerman2]

1 hour ago, Maplemoose said:

Don, can you explain what you mean by your 2nd point? On NCL I have combined a couple of beers a day with more potent drinks and got my money's worth (especially since it was a perk!). Are you saying that if you have Cheers, you should always go for more expensive drinks to justify it? I am missing your point. Thanks. 

It will help you to drink the more expensive drinks to get your the break even point.

Beers 6.50 approx , Mixed drinks 7.50 and up.

Don't forget about the non-alcoholic drinks that are included, but don't count to the 15 limit.

[grandmarnnurse]

We never purchase the drink package, as we would never get our moneys worth. I may only have a total of three drinks per day, and my hubby would only have 3-4 beers a day. I “purchase” bar credits before cruise using reward points on my Carnival Mastercard. So far, for my March Breeze Cruise, I have $250 Bar credits plus $50 OBC. This is a much better way for us light drinkers when cruising. BTW—-my last two cruises were on NCL Getaway, and we had the drink package as a free perk. I know many people argue that it really isn’t free, as they jack the cruise price up to cover it. I found that to be not true, as I paid only $549 for a 7 day cruise in an inside cabin for 2017, and $679 for the same thing in 2018. Definitely comparable price to Carnival, and I had free drinks all week. Granted, their package only covers alcohol and fountain soda, and Carnival includes so much more—bottled water, juices, specialty coffee, soda, alcohol, and milk shakes. But still too high priced for me.

[hftmrock]

5 minutes ago, grandmarnnurse said:

We never purchase the drink package, as we would never get our moneys worth. I may only have a total of three drinks per day, and my hubby would only have 3-4 beers a day. I “purchase” bar credits before cruise using reward points on my Carnival Mastercard. So far, for my March Breeze Cruise, I have $250 Bar credits plus $50 OBC. This is a much better way for us light drinkers when cruising. BTW—-my last two cruises were on NCL Getaway, and we had the drink package as a free perk. I know many people argue that it really isn’t free, as they jack the cruise price up to cover it. I found that to be not true, as I paid only $549 for a 7 day cruise in an inside cabin for 2017, and $679 for the same thing in 2018. Definitely comparable price to Carnival, and I had free drinks all week. Granted, their package only covers alcohol and fountain soda, and Carnival includes so much more—bottled water, juices, specialty coffee, soda, alcohol, and milk shakes. But still too high priced for me.

For NCL, did you have to pay for gratuities? if so , how much was that? if you had to pay for the gratuities, I believe that would be around $250 for a 7 night cruise (for 2) for that free perk. Might still be cheaper but not really free

[grandmarnnurse]

1 minute ago, hftmrock said:

For NCL, did you have to pay for gratuities? if so , how much was that? if you had to pay for the gratuities, I believe that would be around $250 for a 7 night cruise (for 2) for that free perk. Might still be cheaper but not really free

I do believe at the time I booked for those two cruises, well over a year ahead of the cruise, the gratuities rate was lower, as I never paid even $200 for the gratuities. Still way cheaper than purchasing the cheers package. And that was for TWO PEOPLE. Certainly our 3 drink limit per day was met at that price.

[Maplemoose]

2 hours ago, Don Kehote said:

1 - That is DEFINITELY NOT covered by cheers.

2 - Beer's pretty much a waste on cheers unless you are getting it to throw caution to the wind and not be concerned with an end of voyage bill.

3 - Those seem about right price wise.

 

Honestly, I wish doctors would put as much effort into curing disease as we do here into determining the value of Cheers 🙂

Don, can you explain what you mean by your 2nd point? On NCL I have combined a couple of beers a day with more potent drinks and got my money's worth (especially since it was a perk!). Are you saying that if you have Cheers, you should always go for more expensive drinks to justify it? I am missing your point. Thanks. 

[Maplemoose]

Sorry for the double post. The quote system did me in!  Regarding NCL gratuities we paid $200 total for 2 on a 7 day cruise,  Not free but a no-brainer nonetheless. Beerman, I don't think of a breakeven point, I just like to be able to drink what I want, when I want, where I want and love being able to try out new drinks because I can pour them out if I don't like! 😈

[coevan]

We have a friend who mostly drinks beer and he has at least 10-15 a day. He might have a glass or 2 of wine. He, like us, grabs a water every time we pass a bar. A couple of sports drinks, a shake and he's definitely ahead of the game

[Joebucks]

17 hours ago, Maplemoose said:

3) Similarly can one still get a basic drink, rum and coke, vodka and OJ etc. for around $7-8 as I have seen on the menus?

 

 

 

These basic drinks are quite cheap. I want to say they were $6.50. 

 

Cheers is up to you. The magic number for two people is $860. Would you spend it otherwise? Would you get value in all of the options?

 

Personally, the self-pour and bottles are my favorite option, especially when the other half doesn't drink a lot.

[Don Kehote]

14 hours ago, Maplemoose said:

Don, can you explain what you mean by your 2nd point? On NCL I have combined a couple of beers a day with more potent drinks and got my money's worth (especially since it was a perk!). Are you saying that if you have Cheers, you should always go for more expensive drinks to justify it? I am missing your point. Thanks. 

Sure thing :  If I'm going to drink beers, I'm going to drink a LOT OF BEERS.  The cost savings of using Cheers for Beers doesn't work out if I want 20, but forget to "Buy for friends" on my Sail and Sign card because I've already had 12 beers, and end up cut off completely at 15.

 

That said, I'm getting Cheers on our next cruise, and I fully intend to outright purchase a couple of beer towers to share with my family because I like the beer.  But I'm saving Cheers for the Alchemy bar 😉

[richbum]

I haven't been on Carnival for a while....Can someone explain the cheers package...price etc?

 

[coevan]

if you go to the Carnival site, all the rules and prices are there

[beerman2]

51 minutes ago, richbum said:

I haven't been on Carnival for a while....Can someone explain the cheers package...price etc?

 

Pre-cruise about $56.00 a day x 7 days= $392.00 per person

All passengers in cabin over 21 need to purchase

15 Alcoholic Drinks per day limit

$20.00 Max Drink Price

Non-Alcoholic drinks are included bot don't count towards 15

NA include Soda's , Bottled Water, Tea's , Energy Drinks, Milkshakes, and Specialty Coffee's.

Gratuity is include in price of Cheers package!

[WorkerBee74]

19 hours ago, beerman2 said:

Pre-cruise about $56.00 a day x 7 days= $392.00 per person

All passengers in cabin over 21 need to purchase

15 Alcoholic Drinks per day limit

$20.00 Max Drink Price

Non-Alcoholic drinks are included bot don't count towards 15

NA include Soda's , Bottled Water, Tea's , Energy Drinks, Milkshakes, and Specialty Coffee's.

Gratuity is include in price of Cheers package!

 

It's (51.95x7) = 363.65 + (now) 18% tip = $429.11, the $51.95/day does not include the tip but they charge you the tip when you buy it.

 

Edited December 11, 2018 by WorkerBee74
Ooops- double checked prices

[beerman2]

2 hours ago, WorkerBee74 said:

 

It's (51.95x7) = 363.65 + (now) 18% tip = $429.11, the $51.95/day does not include the tip but they charge you the tip when you buy it.

 

Thanks for the math, when I said about, it was off the top of my head. 😂😂😂

At the prices we pay for Cheers/cruise the $37.11 isn't going to things.😂😂

[Khunter3]

I order top shelf cocktails and good wine for my wife and have always come out ahead. Add the speciality coffee and water it is a no brained. But whenI cruise I like to indulge more than when at home.

[kas0917]

I just got off an 8 day cruise with the cheers package, and definitely would not buy it again. My friend insisted so I had to get it too, but I definitely lost a few hundred dollars. It depends on how much you drink, of course, but also how you spend your port days.

 

We spent 4 full days off the boat, so at most we had 2-3 drinks on those days. By the time we would get back we were tired - so we would shower, have a drink at dinner and then maybe a few drinks in the evening, but that was it. I think only one day did I get to 6 drinks? The bottled water and soda were nice not to worry about but it wasn’t worth it in the long run for me. I felt like she was drinking to get her money’s worth by the end, but I didn’t want the extra calories. Haha 

 

 

[glittergal1]

The cost of the cheers seems very high Im thinking I will buy the wine package , my husband wants the bottomless bubbles, would we both need to buy this? or can just my husband buy that? 

[sayvan]

Some great and helpful info on this thread. We are boarding Horizon in January and fully intend to buy the cheers plan! We have sailed numerous times on many different cruise lines. We have platinum status with Carnival. Having said this, I still do not understand the reasons for the limit of 15 a day??  On Royal, Celebrity, NCL and Princess, the drink packages have no limits on the number of drinks per day... I’m not suggesting I’m going to have 15 a day either but I can’t seem to understand the logic on this part of the program. As a side note, the packages on the other lines are a few bucks more but not much more really. 

[Sawdec]

I will not sail without cheers. It is definitely worth it for me. I save most of my drinks for the alchemy bar at night. I saved so much by buying it

[Bevv]

On 12/13/2018 at 12:26 PM, glittergal1 said:

The cost of the cheers seems very high Im thinking I will buy the wine package , my husband wants the bottomless bubbles, would we both need to buy this? or can just my husband buy that? 

Bottomless bubbles can be bought by one person in the cabin, both do not have to purchase.

 

[hockeyguru32]

On 12/9/2018 at 3:42 PM, Maplemoose said:

Sorry if I am adding to the beating of a dead horse but I am reaching a point where I must make a decision regarding booze on our upcoming Horizon cruise. (our first on Carnival) If anyone can answer the following questions it would greatly help my decision.

 

Don't forget to add the 38% exchange rate