Drink tab on 7 day cruise..Cheers package

[hoopersville]

For those that have cruised before and NOT done the CHEERS package..... what did you run your tab up to by the end of your cruise??? Just trying to decide if CHEERS package is best for me. I am rooming with my 21 year old daughter who DOES NOT drink but i would still have to pay for her to have the CHEERS package. And that ends up being a bit pricey.  FYI- I do like to drink when i am on vacation. 

Edited January 7, 2020 by hoopersville

[amyotravel]

There are ways to save money. Happy hours, buying bottles of wine on board, etc. I don't do Cheers and my bar tab is never over $300 for 7 days and usually not much over $200. I drink every day on board, but port days are much lower than sea days. Therefore, the math does not work out for me to do Cheers. Your mileage may vary.

[TNcruising02]

It's usually $200 to $250 for both my husband and me.  We may have a drink or two a day.  It really depends on how much you can drink every single day of the cruise.  If you are paying for two packages, I don't see how that could ever be worth it when one person doesn't drink.

[Saint Greg]

It probably wouldn't be worth it for you to pay for two packages. You have to drink over $100/day for it to be worth that. That's a lot of drinking. That's easy on a sea day. A little more challenging on port days but it can be done. I think you would come out better without the package.

[Tyhunt]

5 alcohol drinks and you are even on one  10 and your even on two.   throw ibn other drinks and you win.

 

Do a google search for " cruise line drink package calculator"  you will like what you find

[Sean_B]

If your daughter doesn't drink, then you'll need 10 alcoholic drinks to break even on the price (or a combination of alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks such as coffee, milk shakes, Pepsi, etc). It will very likely be cheaper in your case to just pay for drinks ad-hoc and keep an eye on your bill every day.

[amyotravel]

5 minutes ago, Sean_B said:

If your daughter doesn't drink, then you'll need 10 alcoholic drinks to break even on the price (or a combination of alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks such as coffee, milk shakes, Pepsi, etc). It will very likely be cheaper in your case to just pay for drinks ad-hoc and keep an eye on your bill every day.

For me, since I don't drink shakes or sodas on or off a ship, I personally can't make it add up that way either. I don't like to pay for expensive coffees, so though the regular coffee on board is pretty bad, I can make do with one at breakfast. Cheers works great if you have expensive taste in drinks, don't want to worry about a bar tab, don't do happy hours, etc. On port days, I probably only have 2-3 drinks on the ship at night. I like taking in local food and drinks in port. But I never worry about my bill and I am generally surprised at how low the cost ends up being because I like deals and have fun seeking them out.

 

Don't forget you can bring a bottle of wine per person also and you can have your daughter bring one on for you and drink hers since she doesn't!

Edited January 7, 2020 by amyotravel

[Sean_B]

6 minutes ago, amyotravel said:

For me, since I don't drink shakes or sodas on or off a ship, I personally can't make it add up that way either. I don't like to pay for expensive coffees, so though the regular coffee on board is pretty bad, I can make do with one at breakfast. Cheers works great if you have expensive taste in drinks, don't want to worry about a bar tab, don't do happy hours, etc. On port days, I probably only have 2-3 drinks on the ship at night. I like taking in local food and drinks in port. But I never worry about my bill and I am generally surprised at how low the cost ends up being because I like deals and have fun seeking them out.

I think we're very much the same. We haven't cruised yet but my wife and I are pretty health conscious so we limit the amount of soda and milkshakes we consume, lol. A good coffee is something I need in the morning so I don't mind paying a few bucks for one and really enjoying it (it's a thing for me, lol) with a newspaper or magazine.

 

We're estimating that we'll have 4-6 drinks combined between the two of us on our 8 day trip, which will be much less expensive than buying Cheers. This is especially true because we're Canadian and Cheers works out to almost $650 CAD each, which is crazy. That's a lot of coffee and milkshakes, lol.

Edited January 7, 2020 by Sean_B

[tallnthensome]

My wife and I like it all and our tab would easily be $1500 without it. Mixed drinks, frozen drinks, martinis, beer, bottle water, vitamin waters, specialty coffees ....... If you drank a lot and your daughter drank specialty coffees , vitamin waters, shakes, sodas, bottled water it still may be worth it. I always say pay for it, go crazy, and dont worry about any of that cost while on your vacation. 

[Bases5]

I look at it a bit different,   Not 5.5 alcoholic  drinks a day but 38.5 alcoholic dinks per week.

When I think 5.5 a day I say no problem but 38 for the week no way.   

For you that would be 77 alcoholic drinks for the week.

Only you know how much you drink. 

We bring 24 sodas and 2 bottles of wine when we board so that covers some of the extras.

  Since you ask our drink bill for 2 is around $400 to $500 

It's a great deal for some and not so much for others.

only you can make this decision

 

[PhillyFan33579]

35 minutes ago, tallnthensome said:

My wife and I like it all and our tab would easily be $1500 without it. Mixed drinks, frozen drinks, martinis, beer, bottle water, vitamin waters, specialty coffees ....... If you drank a lot and your daughter drank specialty coffees , vitamin waters, shakes, sodas, bottled water it still may be worth it. I always say pay for it, go crazy, and dont worry about any of that cost while on your vacation. 

Several years ago we met a couple on day one of a 7 day cruise who thought $49.95 a day was too expensive, which was the price of Cheers at the time.  We hung out with them a lot during the week and they were always drinking as much if not more than us (we always buy Cheers). A few days after the cruise we got a text from them and they said their bar bill was over $1600. Since that time they have always gotten Cheers on subsequent cruises. 

[bury me at sea]

Cheers is a money maker for Carnival.  I think the odds of someone breaking even, while paying double the price, are extremely slim.

[amyotravel]

3 minutes ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

Several years ago we met a couple on day one of a 7 day cruise who thought $49.95 a day was too expensive, which was the price of Cheers at the time.  We hung out with them a lot during the week and they were always drinking as much if not more than us (we always buy Cheers). A few days after the cruise we got a text from them and they said their bar bill was over $1600. Since that time they have always gotten Cheers on subsequent cruises. 

If I was drinking that much, I wouldn't be waiting until the end to look at my bar tab. You can view it at any time 😉

[steelweaver120]

For me it depends.  For my wife and I we usually spend about 150 to 200 dollars on drinks aboard Carnival.  Royal Carribean had those coconuts with malibu that were pretty good.  I must admit I looked for a long time for those green coconuts at home to emulate but they don't have them.  We also bring liquor aboard *cough cough*, but that is for me because I have dietary allergies and most of the drinks they have would likely injure me and I can't partake of most of their mixed drinks.  The ones I can I find offensive and/or too girly.  Beer is out of the question. (Wheat and barley) They are wonderful with accommodation as far as food allergies go, but until they fix problems with their drink menu, I'll keep bringing my own cabinet aboard.  Your mileage may vary.  Ot all depends on how much you spend.  We have thought about getting the cheers package, my wife would have a blast but I would use the package mainly for mixers for my own hooch.

[Joebucks]

Many of you have missed the question. It was what was your tab.

 

My girlfriend and I have yet to go over $250 (on the ship). She doesn't drink much. I'm good with a bottle of whiskey and a few a la carte drinks. Plus, we find cheap drinks at port. Often can get beers for $2 a bottle and drink them there.

[heckledtrio]

We sailed on the 7-day Panorama cruise over Christmas, and the bar tab for hubby and I totaled about $300-350. If I drank the 5-6 drinks per day that would be needed to break even on Cheers, I'd be too full to eat anything! And when I cruise, I love to eat! 😉 

[ray98]

Wife and I topped $800 quite a few times and that was when drinks were less expensive.  

[G&TQ]

Hubby and I have done both with and without cheers. We prefer cheers even though it is more than if we went without.  Without Cheers I am very concious of how much I drink and concerned for the bill at the end of the cruise.  The first time with cheers we had such a good time and enjoyed it and the drinks flowed easy.  Now before cheers we would get bubbles and once ordered a bottle for the room and back in our younger days we snuck some on board.  A bottle in the room is more of a pain cause you have to go back and forth.   So now we budget it when we budget for our cruise.   If my hubs did not drink at all.  I think I woul budget it as if we had Cheers and be happy with the money in my pocket.   FYI we more the broke even. 

 

[coevan]

1 hour ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

Several years ago we met a couple on day one of a 7 day cruise who thought $49.95 a day was too expensive, which was the price of Cheers at the time.  We hung out with them a lot during the week and they were always drinking as much if not more than us (we always buy Cheers). A few days after the cruise we got a text from them and they said their bar bill was over $1600. Since that time they have always gotten Cheers on subsequent cruises. 

 

 

I have a similar story. We met a couple at YTD next to us on the close 2 tops. We started hanging out. They did not buy Cheers because they would never drink $800. Maybe we were bad influences, but their tab was $1100. We were on a B2B and they bought it for the second leg. 

[bahacca]

If you drink wine, take advantage of there being 2 over 21 and bring 2 bottles. My husband and I usually drink those, then have cocktails before dinner or at a show. Maybe a mimosa for brunch or a line colada by the pool. We usually go around $300-400. Alaska was an exception. No drinks by the pool and long port days knocked it down a lot! I think it was around $100. We drank our wine with dinner and some hot cocoa drinks.

[lensonlife]

Our 8 day was around $450 (4 ports). 

[Doctorsbaby]

$700 to $800 on a 7 day and no, we don’t buy Cheers for that length cruise. DH either drinks at Alchemy (covered) or wants double rum with a splash of pineapple juice (not covered). I drink less then him but found myself drinking way more then I normally would when we had Cheers, trying to make it “worth” it. Also, we really enjoy wine and the selection by the glass isn’t awesome. 

[PrincessArlena'sDad]

For many, it is not really a question about whether cheers would save money. The choices are:

 

1. Get cheers and enjoy it. Try drinks you wouldn't order otherwise, just to see if you like it.  Never have a chocolatini before?  Now's your chance.  Get the specialty coffee when you'd otherwise get a coffee from lido.  

 

2. Don't get cheers and only get what you're willing to pay for.  Feel like coffee? Just get the stuff on lido instead of paying for the cappuccino.  Not going to pay $10 just to try something new. 

 

So for us, we don't think of it as whether or not it would save money. It won't for us. But, getting cheers would be in upgraded experience for us. If we get it, we'll use it, and get our money's worth. If we don't get it, we'll spend a lot less money, but do without.

[bahacca]

Why do people use the excuse about trying something new on Cheers, but not without? I will never hit anywhere near the cost of Cheers, and if I see something I want to try, I buy it and try it. I have NEVER thought, "If I had Cheers I'd get that drink on the menu, but because it is going on my sign and sail, I'm not going to."

[hoopersville]

15 hours ago, TNcruising02 said:

It's usually $200 to $250 for both my husband and me.  We may have a drink or two a day.  It really depends on how much you can drink every single day of the cruise.  If you are paying for two packages, I don't see how that could ever be worth it when one person doesn't drink.

Thats what i was thinking also. That would be a lot of drinks