Cheers Package conclusions

[daisymay1960]

12 minutes ago, tandemcruzr said:

It's before tax. You will only pay tax in the home port and maybe a few others. The price listed does not include the 18% gratuity either.

I think I meant gratuity  instead of tax ....do the staff get this ? It would ge a lot easier  of they quoted the ' real ' price !

 

Thanks

[Stick93]

If you are on the fence about the package - chances are it’s not for you. There was a article on CC giving you 10/11reasons why not to purchase the package. They actually listed rum running which surprised me (with a disclaimer and reasons not to do it). There are people who always have drinks in hand for most of the day or some that know they will drink more than the price of the day. They are perfect for the package. 

3 hours ago, patrice1 said:

Dh and I have always used Cheers, but he has recently been diagnosed with pancreatic and liver cancer, so there's no more drinking for him. We are sailing for the first time on MSC because CCL offered no European cruises this year and we live in Lisbon, Portugal. 

Sorry to read this. I am happy you are getting to cruise with your husband. He should recover and you should be able to cruise many times in the future. 

[Joebucks]

Don't fall into the overrated marketing trick of "getting to try all these new drinks". If you drink alcohol, there are plenty of other times in life to try new drinks at a bill far smaller than $860. Who's really even trying that many drinks either?

 

The only time I did Cheers was with a cruise with the guys. My girlfriend definitely wouldn't get enough use of it. I barely did. I got a lot of alchemy drinks to "break even." The end result was feeling like crap and spending more than I would have otherwise spent.

 

For me the best value is:

- Bring two bottles of wine (<$20)

- Buy a 1 liter bottle of Woodford Reserve $125

- Buy a few cocktails and beers here and there <$150

 

For 2 people, we have yet to break $300 on drinks (at least on the boat, ports are a different story). And that right there is PLENTY of alcohol. It amazes me how often I hear Cheers is a great value, yet the bottle is overpriced.

[boomonster]

We have purchased packages on other lines but never on Carnival. Our next cruise is in December with my older (not  21 ) kids. I booked my hubby in a room with one of the younger ones so we only had to purchase one package. He will definatly get the use out of it but if we had to buy 2 packages not a great deal for us.

[crzndeb]

When I was in my 20’s, Cheers would have been great. Drink all day, never have a hangover, be ready to drink again the next day. As I have gotten older, I care more about my health and fitness more than I do alcohol. I’m not really a day drinker anymore, except for maybe a beer here and there if it’s hot. But I do enjoy a couple of martini’s (gin and filthy)in the evening. I am about to sail on a B2B (31 days), and I doubt I will be drinking every night. I don’t do that at home, and 31 days is almost like being at home. I will be then hopping on a B2B on Royal, and I get complimentary drinks there in the evening. I do wish they sold drink cards, that you could spread out whenever. And I don’t really drink all the other stuff they offer with Cheers. I will carry on my sparkling water and replenish when needed. 

 

 

[Nic6318]

8 hours ago, puppycanducruise said:

Thanks for posting your comments.

Sometimes, it's not about "breaking even" but being able to try new drinks without being concerned about the cost.  (as you mentioned)

 

Hi

 

Somehow, it always gets back to the cost. That's why the typical questions on this forum is "Is Cheers worth it?". How many times have your read that?

 

In this situation, even responsible people say "it started to feel like an obligation to try and get our money's worth". Even though they knew enough to slow down, they more than likely drank more than they normally would have. 

 

Alcohol is a poison, the more you drink, the more it hurts the body and yet these cruise lines promote these drink packages because it's makes more money for them. They sell these bundled products to increase their revenue, even when the product they are selling can hurt their customers.   

[Retired_to_Cruise]

9 hours ago, alleghator said:

Well, we’re just waiting to disembark the Pride and I just went through our S&S account. Looks like even with our AARP 10% discounted gift cards paying for it, we didn’t quite break even on Cheers. Needed another 6-8 drinks over the week. 

 

We started out drinking pretty heavily (for us), but started feeling kind of ragged after two sea days of that. My husband, particularly, cut back his day drinking quite a bit by about Thursday. 

 

In the future we won’t be getting the package again. We liked the flexibility of trying new things we might not have otherwise and the convenience of prepaying. But — for these moderate drinkers — it started to feel like an obligation to try to get our money’s worth. No regrets at all! But it would make more sense for us to just prepay shipboard credit and save some money from the full Cheers package. 

 

Your mileage may vary. 

So, exactly what were your numbers that make you think you didn't get your money's worth. all you need is 5 to 6 drinks a day to break even. But you can use and of the other things that are included to calculate your numbers  

[lachelli]

I will be takingy my first carnival cruise on the breeze in a couple of months time. Can someone advise on how else, along with alcholic drinks to best utilise the drinks package

 

Can I get bottles of water / vitamin water to take back to my room and ashore with me and can these be picked up from any bar? 

 

Where can you get shakes on the Breeze? 

 

I enjoy cappuccino and lattes, are these available and What about premium juices? 

 

Hoping someone has a list of how to max out with out going all alcohol 

 

Thanks 

[Silent Penguin]

9 hours ago, ah4sail said:

Thanks for posting this.  My husband and I have debated doing Cheers for our 8 day cruise in September.  We typically have a drink before dinner and wine with dinner.  We are not milkshake, specialty coffee drinkers.  At almost 1k for the two of us for Cheers, we’ve decided to pass.  We will bring wine and get the wine package and pay for incidental drinks.

I hadn't actually done the math.  Nope, dh and I definitely aren't going to drink almost a 1000 dollars worth of anything.  

[coevan]

4 hours ago, daisymay1960 said:

Could you tell me if the price shown on the drinks menus is before or after tax

Thank you

 

There is no sales tax on the ship, except the first day in port

[DramaQueen22]

I will likely never do Cheers.  We are 2-3 drinks a day people.  Not big on the specialty coffees, but if I want one, I buy one.  I preorder water to the cabin...along with sodas if I am not driving to the port.  Even when we have had anything we wanted, our total bar bill has never been over $300 for both of us.  

 

I find it easier to budget that, and I still don't worry about my bar bill at the end of the cruise.

[coevan]

2 hours ago, Nic6318 said:

Somehow, it always gets back to the cost.

 

 

 not to everyone

[alleghator]

Even after factoring in the 10% discount from using AARP cards, we were about $50-60 short. We’d be better off just putting the same amount of money into shipboard credit and then we’d get the unspent amount back. Our last cruise was before Cheers was an option, so we thought we’d try it. Now we know. No regrets. We had a great vacation!

 

I know it’s an individual choice for each cruiser. Just sharing what we found. 

[PhillyFan33579]

3 hours ago, coevan said:

 

There is no sales tax on the ship, except the first day in port

 

Or when visiting certain US ports like Key West or San Juan. 

[RumpunchGirl]

DH and I have decided to give the Cheers package a try for our next cruise. It's only a 3 day and has only 1 port of call. I also purchased the packages with our 10% discounted AARP Carnival gift cards. It is very expensive but being such a short cruise, I figured it was the best time to try it.  I think we'll probably spent most of the port day on the ship.  I'm looking forward to trying the specialty coffees and milk shakes besides all the fancy drinks.  Time will tell if I like Cheers enough to try it again!

 

[PhillyFan33579]

10 hours ago, alleghator said:

Even after factoring in the 10% discount from using AARP cards, we were about $50-60 short. We’d be better off just putting the same amount of money into shipboard credit and then we’d get the unspent amount back. Our last cruise was before Cheers was an option, so we thought we’d try it. Now we know. No regrets. We had a great vacation!

 

I know it’s an individual choice for each cruiser. Just sharing what we found. 

 

I think your last line says it best, it depends on the individual. For me personally, Cheers works because I drink a lot of water when I cruise. I usually drink between $20 - $30 of Perrier and Pellagrino every day. Combine that with going to the Alchemy Bar every day where drinks are $10.95, I can drink less than a handful of drinks a day and still save money using Cheers. 

[RandomUser123]

Everyone is different in the classic Cheers debate. Works for some, does not work for others. You just have to evaluate the totality of the group to determine if it is worth it. 

[sw33twif3]

My wife doesn't drink alcohol, but does like virgin coladas. I drink about 2-4 drinks a day on a cruise. We don't get Cheers because it doesn't pay for us. We drink water most of the time, and ship water does not bother us. We drink New Orleans water out of the tap--hasn't killed us yet! I do like the specialty coffees--I love a cappuccino or latte in the afternoon. And the Alchemy Bar is my favorite bar! But even after totaling up our usual expenses on a 7 day trip, we don't spend $60 a day together, much less the approximately $120/day it would cost us.

[Jenn1974]

On my upcoming 3 and 5 night cruises I have 100 obc  for each cruise so we are not purchasing cheers.  I have bought 2 cases of water for the 5 night and 1 case for the 3 night and a bottle of vodka and some mixers to be delivered to our room for the trip.   My mom who I am traveling with isn't a big drinker and we have dou in the casino so it doesn't make sense to get cheers.   I will keep track even with the drinks in the casino to see if I would have broke even or not. 

[purplephenom]

Cheers doesn't make sense for me.  But, if I were to ever try it, it would have to be on a short cruise- I could probably keep up the drinking pace then.  

 

Sometimes it seems like everyone on this board buys cheers, or no one buys it, depending what thread you are reading.  But every cruise group is different- my suggestion is generally add up what you think you'll drink and add about 20% to account for trying new drinks, and being in vacation mode and deciding to order another.  Then see if it's worth it to you.  

[ray98]

Everyone is different.  For us Cheers absolutely makes sense.  I never have a day where I don't drink at least 6 drinks.  A couple of beers mid-day by the pool, two with dinner and at least two watching the live bands in the evening.  Then there are the sea days where that total may double.  When we factor in the coffee we start off with daily and the bottles of water we order every few hours it all adds up.

 

.....but I am not one to analyze things down to the penny.  I am willing to pay for the experience I want, that is why we cruise or do all inclusive type vacations.  If squeezing every dime consumed my thoughts I would just do a motel 6 at the beach.

[Bevv]

16 hours ago, lachelli said:

Can someone advise on how else, along with alcholic drinks to best utilise the drinks package

Thanks 

CHEERS! INCLUDES:

 

• All spirits (including cocktails), as well as beer and wine by the glass with a $20.00 or lower menu price 
• Sodas, Zero-Proof frozen cocktails, energy drinks, specialty coffee, hot tea, 500ml bottled water and other non-alcoholic bottled beverages
• Large format water bottles in the Dining Room and Specialty Restaurants
• 25% discount off the menu price for any spirit or wine by the glass above $20.00
• 25% discount off the menu price for wine and champagne by the bottle
• 25% discount off beverage seminars and classes

CHEERS! EXCLUDES:

• Beverages promoted and sold in souvenir glasses
• Bottles of liquor
• Beverages offered at gangway
• Beverages offered through room service, mini bars and/or in-stateroom beverage programs
• Sharing cocktails, floaters, pitchers, tubes and buckets
• Beverages offered through enomatic wine machines
• All other beverage-related programs including merchandise, cigars and cigarettes
• Food items 

[JaniceB]

14 hours ago, alleghator said:

Even after factoring in the 10% discount from using AARP cards, we were about $50-60 short. We’d be better off just putting the same amount of money into shipboard credit and then we’d get the unspent amount back. Our last cruise was before Cheers was an option, so we thought we’d try it. Now we know. No regrets. We had a great vacation!

 

I know it’s an individual choice for each cruiser. Just sharing what we found. 

Did you count any bottles of water, soda or coffee?  I am drink a lot of bottled water on a cruise and enjoy a good cup of coffee in the moring.

[naxer]

Sure I'll weigh in on a Cheers! debate.  I love it when I get it, but I don't always get it.  Does the ship have an Alchemy Bar? leans me towards it.  Am I solo? leans me towards it.  Is it a B2B? leans me away.  Is it a Journey? don't get it.  How much OBC will I be getting and will I spend it on other things? it's a consideration. Best of all, because I'm always thinking about my next cruise, I like thinking about whether or not to get it.

 

Having gotten it and not gotten it, I must admit I do enjoy the attention I get out on the deck after they see the sticker and see I tip on top. I've never found the service bad, but the smile's bigger with the sticker. 

[CruisingViper]

19 hours ago, lachelli said:

I will be takingy my first carnival cruise on the breeze in a couple of months time. Can someone advise on how else, along with alcholic drinks to best utilise the drinks package

 

Can I get bottles of water / vitamin water to take back to my room and ashore with me and can these be picked up from any bar? 

 

Where can you get shakes on the Breeze? 

 

I enjoy cappuccino and lattes, are these available and What about premium juices? 

 

Hoping someone has a list of how to max out with out going all alcohol 

 

Thanks 

yes bottles of water and vitamin water, coconut water, energy drinks, and sodas are included. At dinner in the MDR, ask for some water bottles to take with you and they'll give you the huge bottles which are great to keep in your room.

 

I remember getting shakes at the bar in 3 forward. I think there's other places to get them too, maybe the Plaza Cafe on the promenade deck.

 

cappuccinos and lattes are available in the Plaza Cafe and at the MDR at dinner. Juices are included, but the $5 fresh squeezed juices at the new Brunch are not.

 

None of these non-alcoholic drinks count toward your limit.