Is Cheer's worth it?

[LuckyStar]

16 hours ago, Allura_317 said:

I am sailing on the Horizon and am considering the Cheer's program.  I do not drink alcohol frequently: I may have a glass of wine with dinner and a fruity cocktail poolside.  But on cruises, I only have between 0-2 adult drinks a day.  On land, maybe 1 glass of wine per month.  On the other hand, I DO drink lots of bottled waters (for port days), smoothies, milkshakes, coffees, teas, and juices.  Therefore, I was wondering if Cheer's would be worth it for me.  I know that most of the non-adult drinks I mentioned are included in Cheers, but not Bottomless Bubbles.  To give you an idea, here is a list of the drinks I would consume in 1 day of a cruise:

1-2 specialty coffees or teas (you know..so I'm not a monster in the morning)

1-2 non-included juices (with breakfast)

1-2 smoothie(s) 

1 Milkshake 

1 Cocktail

1 Glass of wine

2 bottled waters (get for port days)

 

Thanks in advance!

 

Do a search.  Several people have actually put together a spreadsheet that calculates whether Cheers is worth your money.  I have one saved but since I did not create it, I don't feel like I should share it.  Good luck!

[Good Buck]

How do you get a $100 gift card for $90?

[Bengalbug]

10 hours ago, ricew001 said:

Here's that spreadsheet that was mentioned. It's math. Plug it in and see.

 

Here's what I always say:

I pay $90 for a $100 Carnival Gift Card.

Then I use it to buy Cheers at the discounted price before I get on the ship.

So now I've gotten it at a discount and I don't have to worry about a bill at the end of the trip becuase it's now prepaid!

 

Once on board I began drinking like this: Hey I'd love to order something new to try. Heck if I don't like it I have Cheers, so so what? Get it and see if you love it. IF not order something you do!

 

My frozen drink melted. Oh no. I have Cheers! I'll get  a  fresh one. Oh I wish that drink was stronger.

 

Oh I have Cheers let me order a shot to add to it!

 

As one poster so eloquently put it: it enhances your experience,

The last trip we broke even some days, other days we were close. But it was paid for and I did it as prepaid on a discount so I was happy!

 

Carnival Vista Cheers Evaluator 2018-08-02.xls

 

Plus any rewards from the credit card used to buy gift cards.  

 

56.95 + 18% is $67.20

 

51.95 pre cruise price + 18% is $61.30

$61.30 - 10% from gift card is $55.17

$55.17 - 1.5% from Credit card makes it 54.34 if my math is correct. 

 

$12.86 savings per day... about 15%.  That covers gratuities every day.  

 

Its a no brainer if you enjoy drinking at least a handful of alcoholic beverages daily in a cruise. We have mimosas daily, but wouldn’t at home.  It just makes it seem more like vacation?  I also enjoy after dinner coffee drinks on a cruise that I NEVER get at home.    

 

Plus beers, patron, old fashions...  

 

she usually has 6-7 drinks a day, but it allows her confidence to try something and be able to not like it and not feel bad about it.  Without cheers I would have had a much harder time to get her to try the alchemy bar, because she sticks to what she knows. 

 

To each their own.  It’s just part of the cruise fair for us 

 

 

[gotscrapz]

I guess I’ll be the lone dissenter and say I do think it’s worth it in your case as you see to be on the line of breaking even... if you’re going to spend that much a la carte then I’d get cheers and not have to worry about a bill later... same cost but more benefit...

also if you’re drinking martinis at alchemy or mimosas etc, then those are higher cost and definitely worth cheers to me.

I also am lucky if I can cruise once a year in a limited budget and I do get cheers using AARP gift cards and knowing it’s all paid for before I board is a huge relief to me personally... might be different for you.

that spreadsheet helps greatly in determining the value for each person.

Edited February 22, 2019 by gotscrapz

[jdemps]

If you are asking, then you don't drink enough to make it worth it.  Those of us that party on the fun ship know when we see the price per day it is worth it, no questions asked.  

[tonyhb12]

17 hours ago, ricew001 said:

Here's that spreadsheet that was mentioned. It's math. Plug it in and see.

 

Here's what I always say:

I pay $90 for a $100 Carnival Gift Card.

Then I use it to buy Cheers at the discounted price before I get on the ship.

So now I've gotten it at a discount and I don't have to worry about a bill at the end of the trip becuase it's now prepaid!

 

Once on board I began drinking like this: Hey I'd love to order something new to try. Heck if I don't like it I have Cheers, so so what? Get it and see if you love it. IF not order something you do!

 

My frozen drink melted. Oh no. I have Cheers! I'll get  a  fresh one. Oh I wish that drink was stronger.

 

Oh I have Cheers let me order a shot to add to it!

 

As one poster so eloquently put it: it enhances your experience,

The last trip we broke even some days, other days we were close. But it was paid for and I did it as prepaid on a discount so I was happy!

 

Carnival Vista Cheers Evaluator 2018-08-02.xls

 

This calculator is great.  I have used it before when you or somebody else posted it.  

 

I updated it for the 18% gratuity now.  

 

But I did have a question.  If you buy drinks a la carte, don't you get charged the 18% gratuity?  If that's the case, I don't believe the spreadsheet takes that into account.  It counts the gratuity in the cheers cost, but not in the a la carte drink costs.  Is my logic here correct?

 

I was lucky enough to purchase for my upcoming cruise prior to the price increase.  Therefore, I'm seeing an addition 3% savings based on if I would have gone a la carte (15% vs 18%).  Unfortunately, that ship has sailed.    

[ricew001]

3 hours ago, tonyhb12 said:

But I did have a question.  If you buy drinks a la carte, don't you get charged the 18% gratuity?  If that's the case, I don't believe the spreadsheet takes that into account.  It counts the gratuity in the cheers cost, but not in the a la carte drink costs.  Is my logic here correct?

 

I was lucky enough to purchase for my upcoming cruise prior to the price increase.  Therefore, I'm seeing an addition 3% savings based on if I would have gone a la carte (15% vs 18%).  Unfortunately, that ship has sailed.    

 

I'm not sure if it has that. There are several spreadsheets floating around and even at least one web page to help you calculate. I grabbed this one and saved it on my desktop so I could share with others.

To me it's pretty much math. And I also was tired of people looking at it as ONLY ALCOHOL!! 😡 There are milkshakes, coffees soft drinks, fancy waters to be considered too.

 

I'd love to see someone post the perfect spreadsheet and I'd save that and share it too. Saving is faster than recreating this thing. I'll leave that to someone with more time on their hands than me 🙂

 

[sweety51901]

On 2/20/2019 at 10:19 PM, Allura_317 said:

I'm on vacation and have a sweet tooth!  On land, it is 1 of those a year, lol.

Allura-you are nicer than I am. Does it really matter how many milkshakes, smoothies, whatever you want to have in a day or on a cruise? This is YOUR vacation.  Enjoy yourself!

[sweety51901]

On 2/20/2019 at 10:19 PM, theboatahoy said:

It's not too hard for you, or anyonez to figure it if Cheers is worth it for them. Some quick math will give you your answer. No need to make ANOTHER thread asking the same question as dozens of other people. 

Why be so rude? If you don't need help in this area, why come in the thread just to belittle someone?

[Palmetto Pilot]

It's always worth it to us. We always get it before we sail and never have to worry about going over or spending too much. We like it because it makes the trip feel all inclusive. 

[Good Buck]

How do you get $100 gift card for $90?

[1019throw]

19 hours ago, gotscrapz said:

I guess I’ll be the lone dissenter and say I do think it’s worth it in your case as you see to be on the line of breaking even... if you’re going to spend that much a la carte then I’d get cheers and not have to worry about a bill later... same cost but more benefit...

also if you’re drinking martinis at alchemy or mimosas etc, then those are higher cost and definitely worth cheers to me.

I also am lucky if I can cruise once a year in a limited budget and I do get cheers using AARP gift cards and knowing it’s all paid for before I board is a huge relief to me personally... might be different for you.

that spreadsheet helps greatly in determining the value for each person.

In my opinion, this is exactly the right way to look at it.  I think you need to do some math to make sure you get close to breaking even, but there is some value in not having to worry about a bill at the end of the cruise or being able to dump a drink you didn't like and order another. 

[coevan]

6 hours ago, Good Buck said:

How do you get $100 gift card for $90?

 

 

AARP rewards for one, many other options as well. we bought $1600 in gift cards for $1440 for a B2B Cheers. To the OP, the best answer is, is it worth it to you. We never count or add up drink costs and values. I was not feeling well one day, probably self inflicted and I did not drink any alcohol until after dinner. I was not going to force liquor down just to "come out even" 

[PhillyFan33579]

On 2/21/2019 at 10:40 AM, elcuchio24 said:

not for you. Cheers is great for the 12 cocktails a day'ers. Like myself. 

 

You don’t need to drink 12 cocktails to benefit from Cheers. If you drink 3 Mimosas in the morning along with 2 drinks at the Alchemy Bar in the evening, each costing $10.95, you have already benefited from Cheers if you bought the package online. This is just one of countless examples where you can benefit from Cheers without coming close to the 15 drink limit. 

[v3cruiser]

We found the best drink package to be the one ncl has when you get to choose their "free" offers. It's pretty hassle free and no receipt signing unless you go over 15 dollar max and you can order 2 drinks at a time with no daily limit. My wife doesn't drink as much as I can so the math on cheers just doesn't work out since she would have to purchase it as well.

 

Have fun! Bottoms up!

[evelyn.fuentes]

I totally agree. NCL only charges $99 per person. They also serve top shelf and I love being double fisted because I can always give one of my drinks away.

[rnr4thatsme]

As long as you get a good deal on the NCL cruise...  I find they often cost more up front.  Though, in the end, if you both purchase Cheers, it probably works out to be about the same.  I compared two cruises relatively similar and found Carnival had the best price by a few hundred dollars if neither person was going to drink.  Of course, if you purchase Cheers, both cruises ended up costing about the same.

[HarryKane]

Quick question guys,

 

We cruise outta galveston soon on a 8-day cruise. Now I know you cant use cheers on day 1 so that leaves us to use cheers on monday through to saturday (X6 DAYS). We finish the cruise sunday morning early AM.

 

Do they charge you for that sunday too (X7 DAYS)? Even though we wont use cheers on the sunday?

[blackberry805]

On 2/20/2019 at 9:19 PM, theboatahoy said:

It's not too hard for you, or anyonez to figure it if Cheers is worth it for them. Some quick math will give you your answer. No need to make ANOTHER thread asking the same question as dozens of other people. 

Don't be a mean human. You could have easily skipped over this thread based on the title. Seriously, just try to be a nice human, we need more of them in this world. 

[Crazy4Camping]

On 2/20/2019 at 10:39 PM, Allura_317 said:

I am sailing on the Horizon and am considering the Cheer's program.  I do not drink alcohol frequently: I may have a glass of wine with dinner and a fruity cocktail poolside.  But on cruises, I only have between 0-2 adult drinks a day.  On land, maybe 1 glass of wine per month.  On the other hand, I DO drink lots of bottled waters (for port days), smoothies, milkshakes, coffees, teas, and juices.  Therefore, I was wondering if Cheer's would be worth it for me.  I know that most of the non-adult drinks I mentioned are included in Cheers, but not Bottomless Bubbles.  To give you an idea, here is a list of the drinks I would consume in 1 day of a cruise:

1-2 specialty coffees or teas (you know..so I'm not a monster in the morning)

1-2 non-included juices (with breakfast)

1-2 smoothie(s) 

1 Milkshake 

1 Cocktail

1 Glass of wine

2 bottled waters (get for port days)

 

Thanks in advance!

 

We purchased Cheers for our first cruise a couple weeks ago.  We purchased for peace of mind.  Not once did I hesitate to have a Perrier or an Iced Cappucino as I normally would to save money for alcoholic drinks.  Did we break even?  Hard to say since the bill doesn't give prices so you would have to keep track yourself.  Was it worth it to me?  Yup.  Made it more enjoyable to know that everything that touched my lips was already paid for and at a discount(used gift cards through AARP).  Remember that every price folks on here quote is plus 18% gratuity.  The package includes that.

[sparks1093]

23 hours ago, rnr4thatsme said:

As long as you get a good deal on the NCL cruise...  I find they often cost more up front.  Though, in the end, if you both purchase Cheers, it probably works out to be about the same.  I compared two cruises relatively similar and found Carnival had the best price by a few hundred dollars if neither person was going to drink.  Of course, if you purchase Cheers, both cruises ended up costing about the same.

There are a lot of factors in play but every time I've priced NCL they were more expensive. When we booked our upcoming cruise I looked at sailings out of the northeast in a balcony on NCL, CCL and Royal. NCL came in at $3600 (choosing the beverage package as a perk), CCL came in at $2200 and Royal came in at $1880. So even if we sailed CCL and bought the beverage package NCL was around $600 more. Of course we chose Royal since it was the least expensive and a cruise line we hadn't tried before.

[schazzy]

54 minutes ago, HarryKane said:

Quick question guys,

 

We cruise outta galveston soon on a 8-day cruise. Now I know you cant use cheers on day 1 so that leaves us to use cheers on monday through to saturday (X6 DAYS). We finish the cruise sunday morning early AM.

 

Do they charge you for that sunday too (X7 DAYS)? Even though we wont use cheers on the sunday?

 

Well, they base it on the number of nights, so yes, you are on board for 8 nights, and you will pay for 7 nights of cheers.

[Joebucks]

57 minutes ago, Crazy4Camping said:

We purchased Cheers for our first cruise a couple weeks ago.  We purchased for peace of mind.  Not once did I hesitate to have a Perrier or an Iced Cappucino as I normally would to save money for alcoholic drinks.  Did we break even?  Hard to say since the bill doesn't give prices so you would have to keep track yourself.  Was it worth it to me?  Yup.  Made it more enjoyable to know that everything that touched my lips was already paid for and at a discount(used gift cards through AARP).  Remember that every price folks on here quote is plus 18% gratuity.  The package includes that.

 

I'm glad you enjoyed it. It sounds more of a perceived value than an actual value though. You're still paying a gratuity. AARP discount isn't exclusive to Cheers. To each their own what makes it "worth it".

Edited February 26, 2019 by Joebucks

[lancerTXST]

1 hour ago, HarryKane said:

Quick question guys,

 

We cruise outta galveston soon on a 8-day cruise. Now I know you cant use cheers on day 1 so that leaves us to use cheers on monday through to saturday (X6 DAYS). We finish the cruise sunday morning early AM.

 

Do they charge you for that sunday too (X7 DAYS)? Even though we wont use cheers on the sunday?

 

Your amount due for Cheers will be $367.81 per person for a Sunday to Sunday (7 night) cruise out of Galveston. That equates to 6 days' worth. I have read mixed results on if you can order anything without paying extra on the disembark day.

[Crazy4Camping]

1 hour ago, Joebucks said:

 

I'm glad you enjoyed it. It sounds more of a perceived value than an actual value though. You're still paying a gratuity. AARP discount isn't exclusive to Cheers. To each their own what makes it "worth it".

Oh it's def what you want out of it, just like every aspect of the cruise.  I just wanted to make sure that OP knew that if someone said a drink was $8 that was plus the 18% which you already pay ahead of time when purchasing the package.  AARP is def not exclusive to Cheers.  I used those cards for everything, even flights since we booked through Carnival.  I still think it's a pretty expensive week but since we don't "vacation" I don't have much to compare it to.