Cruise Bar Cash Vs Cheers?!! Any advice

[MermaidMommy03]

Hello all,

   My husband and I will be sailing with our children in June. We have two separate cabins and we are debating 2 cheers packages or not. 

He is a drinker and I can drink enough to make cheers worth it but I have be going cleaning and not drinking much. I haven’t really even been drinking juices only water. But that’s being said I can def drink more than 5 specialty drinks (mimosas, few frozen drinks, a glass or two of wine with dinner, a drink with a late night show)! 

 

So we we were thinking about him getting cheers and me having a “cash account” to share with the kids. My kids aren’t soda drinkers but do enjoy virgin drinks and my oldest loves specialty coffees. 

 

So my question is how exactly does it work? I am assuming I can share because it’s cash and not a “cheers package”. Can I purchase it with AARP gift cards?? Has anyone used this instead of just having money on your regular account?? Looking for pros and/or cons of the bar cash vs cheers!? 

 

Any advice would be great! 

[Schoifmom]

IMO, if you are purchasing 5-6 mixed drinks a day, you would at least break even with Cheers.

 

To answer questions about Cruise Cash - Bar, it is simply a credit to your S&S account with restricted use to bars.  So, yes, you can use it to purchase anything at a bar for any person.  It is limited to $500 total per cabin and is use-it-or-lose-it without the ability to cash out using the casino trick (since the use is restricted to bar purchases).

[mdsgu]

If you are going to buy $500 worth of Cruise Cash-Bar, you might be better off just putting that much cash on your account at guest services.  You would still be able to spend it in bars, but, if you find that you don't spend all of it, you'll be able to get it back.

 

On the other hand, if you are going to put that much down (and you can realistically consume 5 to 6 drinks daily), you might be better off getting Cheers.

[TNcruising02]

I think him having the Cheers and you having the cash account is a good idea.  You really need to drink a lot for the Cheers package to be worth it, especially for someone who is not normally a big drinker. Sure the number of drinks listed sound good.  However, doing that every day of the cruise is a lot of drinking.  I purchased the package on one of my Royal cruises and cancelled it after two days. Our entire cruise bar tab has never been over $200.  I realized that I could never drink that much. 

Anyway, I think your plan is a good one.  People should also keep in mind that some days will be spent off of the ship at the ports.

[ray98]

If I was planning on 5 drinks a day I would do Cheers.

[Joebucks]

It's $840 for two people for a week. That's 84 $10 drinks. If your total tab is going to be near or exceed that, then Cheers is the way to go. You say you can drink more than 5 specialty drinks a day, but can you EVERY day? It sounds like 40% of your daily drinks are wine. That you could bring.

 

Personally, I find the cruise cash option to be pointless. In most scenarios, you're either 1.) Limiting yourself 2.) Spending more than you would have otherwise 3.) Watching your budget closely. In the end, what is the point? It's not refundable, but you can get around that. If you're going to pay as you go, just pay it. AARP gift cards can still be used without cruise cash.

[Jenjer]

We are in kind of a similar situation. Except I have cheers and DH who is registered in a cabin with his dad does not. We give the kids 17 &15 a limit on how many per day they can drink 3 is a reasonable number for us.   I also had water delivered to both cabins so we have plenty of water.  We are not soda drinkers so the soda package would not be helpful. 

 

There is a calculator on here somewhere that someone did that shows if Cheers is worth it for you or not. You might want to search for it

 

 

[MermaidMommy03]

19 minutes ago, Joebucks said:

It's $840 for two people for a week. That's 84 $10 drinks. If your total tab is going to be near or exceed that, then Cheers is the way to go. You say you can drink more than 5 specialty drinks a day, but can you EVERY day? It sounds like 40% of your daily drinks are wine. That you could bring.

 

Personally, I find the cruise cash option to be pointless. In most scenarios, you're either 1.) Limiting yourself 2.) Spending more than you would have otherwise 3.) Watching your budget closely. In the end, what is the point? It's not refundable, but you can get around that. If you're going to pay as you go, just pay it. AARP gift cards can still be used without cruise cash.

Thank you! I wasn’t sure if there was an advantage to the “bar cash” or not. I used to be able to drink more than 5 drinks a day but now I really don’t think I will. I would probably force myself if I got cheers though. 

 

Yes thanks for the recommendation I think closely budgeting is the way to go. Maybe buying a few gift cards from AARP and putting them on the account will be better

[indygirl76]

1 hour ago, MermaidMommy03 said:

Thank you! I wasn’t sure if there was an advantage to the “bar cash” or not. I used to be able to drink more than 5 drinks a day but now I really don’t think I will. I would probably force myself if I got cheers though. 

 

Yes thanks for the recommendation I think closely budgeting is the way to go. Maybe buying a few gift cards from AARP and putting them on the account will be better

Re the bold, there isn't an advantage but there really should be, given the restrictions! So yes, if you're going to do "cash" vs Cheers, I would just go the AARP route.

[SNJCruisers]

2 hours ago, TNcruising02 said:

  People should also keep in mind that some days will be spent off of the ship at the ports.

Unless your shore excursion is going to an all inclusive for the day and drinking heavily, the fact that some days will be spent in ports is 100% moot.  People bring this up all of the time when they are trying to legitimize reasons not to get Cheers.  The hard facts are that you are off of the ship for maybe 9 hours at the most (8-5).  Once back on the ship, you could have a drink every 90 minutes between 5 and 11 and consume the 5 drinks to make Cheers pay for itself.  And you're not getting drunk consuming a drink every hour and a half.  And of course all of the peripheral non alcoholic inclusions would be gravy such as the espresso based coffees and a bottle of San Pellegrino with dinner.

[JQTravels]

Hi we did a review on the Cheers! Package.  We ended up leaving about $350 on the table, because we were not on the boat as much  due to shore excursions and didn't think about that before we bought the Cheers! Package.  One thing you can do if you have multiple rooms is book your husband in one room with the kids if they are under 21.  That way you only have to pay for the Cheers! Package for one person.  If two adults are in the same cabin, you both have to get the Cheers! Package. If you are not a heavy drinker I would get bar cash, if you would like to watch our review please look below. 

 

[crewsweeper]

Both of you  have to get Cheers.  There's no 1 Cheers one something else option.

 

Cruise cash (bar and otherwise) work for us because DW does not drink more than 1 alcohol drink a day, if that, less when we bring wine.  We buy waters. 

So even 2 hot and one cold specialty coffee daily couldn't fill in any gaps.

Our total drink (alcohol and non-alcohol) bill on the last 8 day cruise was less than $400, including the whisky masters class.  And I drank 1-2 craft beers plus an Alchemy night cap each day and maybe a good  whiskey on occasion, plus the morning coffee. 

[SNJCruisers]

2 minutes ago, crewsweeper said:

Both of you  have to get Cheers.  There's no 1 Cheers one something else option.

The OP stated that they are traveling with their children and have two cabins booked, so if 1 adult and 1 child was booked into each cabin, then only the husband would need to get Cheers since he is the only adult in his cabin.

[crewsweeper]

8 minutes ago, SNJCruisers said:

The OP stated that they are traveling with their children and have two cabins booked, so if 1 adult and 1 child was booked into each cabin, then only the husband would need to get Cheers since he is the only adult in his cabin.

Missed that or glossed over in the scroll down.

 

In that case MermaidMommy03, tell DH to go for Cheers and drink all the top shelf stuff!

[purplephenom]

If you choose to go the cruise cash way, what I did on my last cruise was buy discounted gift cards and buy cruise cash in small increments.  Worked out to a 20% savings.  Between that and our OBC from a couple different sources, we had about $300 in our onboard account, and I added a credit card to cover any overage.  We're really not big drinkers- I like the tropical drinks but then the sugar leaves me wired for hours. And I knew whatever we didn't use on drinks, we'd end up spending on a photo or 2, so it worked out nicely for us- I think at the end of the cruise a whopping 10 cents went on my credit card.  Using this method, you could share drinks, no problem.   With cruise cash, you want to pick the general cruise cash.  There's a bar version and a photo version, that can only be used at bars and on photos.  So if you pick the general version, you can divide it up as you see fit, if you're interested in a family picture or anything like that. 

 

As for Cheers, you may not even need to drink 5 alcoholic drinks to break even.  Because non-alcoholic drinks are included too.  You said your kids aren't soda drinkers but are you a soda drinker?  Would you like bottled waters to take back to your cabin at night or to take on an excursion (I think that's allowed but not 100% sure).  If you're used to drinking a lot of water, you may want to add that part in to your cheers calculations.  If you're not the tropical fruity drink person, and you choose to go to the alchemy bar at night, those drinks are a little more expensive, so that could bring down your number of drinks to break even as well.  

 

It sounds to me like Cheers may be good value for you since you drink a lot of water and could have several drinks a day.  You could also do the discounted cruise cash thing to give your kids some money to spend on their drinks, and photos if that's your thing.  

[TNcruising02]

Another option for water drinkers, if they like bottled water, is to purchase Carnival's amazingly inexpensive bottled water that can be delivered to the room:

Purified Water - 12 Pack

$4.50

12-pk of Purified Bottled Water (16.9 fluid oz. bottle)

[SNJCruisers]

Having 5 drinks from 500 on at 90 minute intervals is not "slamming" drinks.

Another option is to use the monies spent on an excursion, stay on board and use these monies towards Cheers.  A solid option for those of us who have 25+ Caribbean cruises.

Edited April 25, 2019 by SNJCruisers

[purplephenom]

6 hours ago, TNcruising02 said:

Another option for water drinkers, if they like bottled water, is to purchase Carnival's amazingly inexpensive bottled water that can be delivered to the room:

Purified Water - 12 Pack

$4.50

12-pk of Purified Bottled Water (16.9 fluid oz. bottle)

 

Thanks for pointing this out. I may try this on my next cruise since I’ll have a fridge this time. 

[CoolOne56]

17 hours ago, mdsgu said:

If you are going to buy $500 worth of Cruise Cash-Bar, you might be better off just putting that much cash on your account at guest services.  You would still be able to spend it in bars, but, if you find that you don't spend all of it, you'll be able to get it back.

 

On the other hand, if you are going to put that much down (and you can realistically consume 5 to 6 drinks daily), you might be better off getting Cheers.

mdsgu, yes she can put $500 on her account at GS at one time or purchase Cash-Bar over time - like $100 per month?

 

OP, maybe bring sodas with you for kids.

[mdsgu]

Remember with Cheers, it doesn't just cover alcoholic drinks -- it also covers water (a large bottle of San Pellegrino at dinner can be had with Cheers) and soft drinks.  And soft drinks aren't cheap.  Your kids might like a Shirley Temple or Roy Rodgers, which would be covered, although no one would ever share their Cheers package with their kids.

[RandomUser123]

Maybe I am missing something and do not understand but what is the point of buying cruise cash bar if whatever I buy without having cruise cash bar will just get charged to my room anyways. If I get cruise cash bar does that give me a discount on drinks?

[purplephenom]

Just now, RandomUser123 said:

Maybe I am missing something and do not understand but what is the point of buying cruise cash bar if whatever I buy without having cruise cash bar will just get charged to my room anyways. If I get cruise cash bar does that give me a discount on drinks?

 

I was one of the people who bought cruise cash (not the bar the general one but it doesn't matter).  I used Carnival gift cards to buy them that I bought at a discount (roughly 20% some a little more).  So the discount was on funding the cruise cash, not the individual drinks.  

 

Of course I told my parents about my "trick" before they went on a different cruise, and they looked at me like I was nuts, so it is clearly not for everyone.  

[ray98]

3 hours ago, RandomUser123 said:

Maybe I am missing something and do not understand but what is the point of buying cruise cash bar if whatever I buy without having cruise cash bar will just get charged to my room anyways. If I get cruise cash bar does that give me a discount on drinks?

 

It does nothing....you can accomplish the same thing by putting cash in your sock drawer to take with to put on your account and not be subject to all of the restrictions.

[ray98]

3 hours ago, purplephenom said:

I used Carnival gift cards to buy them that I bought at a discount (roughly 20% some a little more). 

 

 

Where did you find gift cards at a 20+% discount?

[SNJCruisers]

On 4/25/2019 at 10:12 AM, Joebucks said:

It sounds like 40% of your daily drinks are wine. That you could bring.

You're allowed one bottle per person, so that is 8 total glasses between the two bottles.  8 glasses doesn't go too far between 2 people for a week's cruise.