Ordering Drinks?

[BigAfts]

I always tip an extra $1 on the receipt per drink when on Cheers.

 

Keep in mind, you are paying an 18% gratuity of $9.35 per day based on the off-board purchase price of $51.95 per day. So if you are the bartender, serving 4-5 drinks day to someone with Cheers would be about the same as serving a pay-and-go customer. But if you are the bartender serving 15 Cheers drinks a day, your tip per drink goes way down. Just for comparison purposes, I'm assuming $10.00 cost per drink for the Pay & Go customer. Yes, your drink costs may vary based on what you drink.

 

Pay & Go: 5 Drinks @ $10.00 = $50.00 @ 18% tip = $9.00

Cheers: 5 Drinks @ $51.95 @ 18% tip = $9.35

 

Pay & Go: 15 Drinks @ $10.00 = $150.00 @ 18% tip = $27.00

Cheers: 15 Drinks @ $51.95 @ 18% tip = $9.35

 

I would like to see Carnival go from charging the 18% gratuity on the package price at the time of pre-board purchase, to just charging the $51.95 per day pre-boarding, and then $0 + 18% of the menu price of the drink when the drink is ordered. Bartenders get screwed less. Could probably even make a case for reducing the beverage gratuity back down to 12-15% using this method.

[normandes]

On 2/11/2022 at 11:53 AM, sparks1093 said:

What about an alcohol drink and a soda? 

Yes you can get an alcohol drink and a soda.  Every Morning I go to coffee bar and order a coffee and propel and a coffee for my husband. I take both cards and have never had a problem. The only time I was told no is when I tried to order two alcohol drinks with one cheers card. By the way, just found out three weeks ago cheers package people can not  buy alcohol after their 10th drink while non cheers people can buy as much as they want

[sparks1093]

9 minutes ago, normandes said:

Yes you can get an alcohol drink and a soda.  Every Morning I go to coffee bar and order a coffee and propel and a coffee for my husband. I take both cards and have never had a problem. The only time I was told no is when I tried to order two alcohol drinks with one cheers card. By the way, just found out three weeks ago cheers package people can not  buy alcohol after their 10th drink while non cheers people can buy as much as they want

Thank you. It was my understanding that Cheers or non-Cheers were limited to 15 alcohol drinks per day (although we won't come close to that since we'll have a 6 year old with us).

[TerReuv]

2 hours ago, normandes said:

Yes you can get an alcohol drink and a soda.  Every Morning I go to coffee bar and order a coffee and propel and a coffee for my husband. I take both cards and have never had a problem. The only time I was told no is when I tried to order two alcohol drinks with one cheers card. By the way, just found out three weeks ago cheers package people can not  buy alcohol after their 10th drink while non cheers people can buy as much as they want

 

Everything I have read still says 15, so not sure where the 10 came from.  Below is directly from their website.  Not that I would ever hit 15, but they have to go with what is on their site.

 

[simplelife]

On 10/27/2021 at 10:08 AM, NanoGirl21 said:

I’ll be on the Carnival Freedom soon for my first cruise. I’ve been reviewing some of the menus and there are so many drinks that I want to try. I will have the cheers package, so I want to take full advantage of that! I have a few questions that I am hoping someone would be able to answer for me.

 

1.        I’m a super early riser and would swing down and pick up some specialty coffees (and fun times while I’m out). Would I be able to grab a drink for my cruise-companion? If so, how would this work? Do I need to take their sign and sail card to “purchase” their drink? It would be non-alcoholic.

 

2.       I plan to dine in the MDR and at the Steakhouse. Am I able to order frozen alcoholic drinks from my table or do I need to swing by a bar before going to eat? I’ve only seen wine options, a few cocktails that are not exciting to me, and some liquid desserts.

 

3.       Bouncing off #2. What about ordering beverages like Starbucks Double Shot Espresso, Gatorade, and Pure Leaf Tea? Those are the 3 “other” drinks that I’m mainly interested in. Can they be ordered from my table, or do I have to go to a special location for them?

With Cheers, you can buy unlimited non-alcoholic drinks. They bring sodas to the table so that should be true of Pure Leaf, etc.

 

Edited February 14, 2022 by simplelife

[jiggs]

On 2/11/2022 at 2:47 PM, NanoGirl21 said:

 

I am also booked on a casino rate and have drinks on us while playing. How does this work? Is there a special card? I will also have cheers. Will the drinks on us count towards mt 15 drinks from cheers?

will they serve doubles in the casino with DOU?  If so, do they count 'double' against the 15?  I doubt I would get that high in the casino, but I would like a boozy drink when compared to the standard pour

Edited February 15, 2022 by jiggs
punny spelling of poor

[linbobky]

11 hours ago, jiggs said:

will they serve doubles in the casino with DOU?  If so, do they count 'double' against the 15?  I doubt I would get that high in the casino, but I would like a boozy drink when compared to the standard pour

when we were on the elation back in nov. they would not give you a double. we were on ncl 2 weeks ago and they would give doubles or triples if you wanted. no drink limits either. drink all day!

[momof3cruisers]

On 2/11/2022 at 9:27 AM, Elaine5715 said:

Yes, you should tip extra since under CHEERS, the server does NOT get 18% of the drink cost like if charging to your S&S.  They get a small amount (about 75 cents) of the that $9 ish daily amount added to CHEERS.  That is why crew aren't always jumping when they see a CHEERS sticker.  

There is no “should” about it. You can tip if you feel it’s deserved. 

On 2/11/2022 at 10:10 AM, ULCajunCruiser said:

Not to turn this into another tipping thread, but I've never seen crew act any differently because I have cheers.  It's demeaning to them, and ridiculous to think that I would be treated as a second class customer because I bought cheers.  Whether or not I chose to add $1 to my receipt is my choice, and the server would stand a better chance of being terminated if they were reported to treating non per drink tippers badly!!

Agreed! 

On 2/11/2022 at 10:44 AM, Elaine5715 said:

Then you aren't paying attention.  There is a difference in crew doing their job professionally and those who enthusiastically call your name and start your order on sight.  Drink crew who seek you out and check on you from across the deck vs taking your order because you are there.

Attitude has so much more to do with service on Cheers. In October on Freedom, all three Alchemy bar tenders knew my name and knew what 

I liked to drink. On my way to the comedy club one night, someone stopped me to ask a few questions. One of them caught my eye, made a gesture like “are you getting a drink here?   I nodded and she started making it then. The two bartenders at the Lobby Bar also knew me but since they were almost always very busy, I would have been very uncomfortable if they served me first. They try really hard to go in order. As they should.  Many times we have had Lido bar staff seek us out. We often give an extra tip at the end to bar servers we have connected with, but mid cruise we chat with them when they have a minute, we are friendly and polite. 

On 2/11/2022 at 11:53 AM, sparks1093 said:

What about an alcohol drink and a soda? 

Yes. I’ve done this many times.

 

OP, I am not sure you can get the bottled drinks in the dining room. I’ve been told that the only place for the Pure Leaf tea is at the coffee bar on the Promenade. They didn’t have it at the smaller Lido coffee bar either. As for 2 coffees, introduce yourself to the barista and tell them your plan. I have health issues that come and go. One cruise, my husband frequently brought my drinks. Coffee they didn’t care, alcohol they needed to see me. Same for another cruise where I was feeling well but my sister was not walking well. I didn’t have Cheers. We were in different cabins. I would buy my drink and then use her card for hers. I just told them what we wanted to do while we were together and from then on it wasn’t a problem. Again, coffee was fine, for alcohol drinks they had to be able to see her.

[1kaper]

x

Edited February 15, 2022 by 1kaper

[ULCajunCruiser]

9 hours ago, momof3cruisers said:

Attitude has so much more to do with service on Cheers. In October on Freedom, all three Alchemy bar tenders knew my name and knew what 

I liked to drink. On my way to the comedy club one night, someone stopped me to ask a few questions. One of them caught my eye, made a gesture like “are you getting a drink here?   I nodded and she started making it then. The two bartenders at the Lobby Bar also knew me but since they were almost always very busy, I would have been very uncomfortable if they served me first. They try really hard to go in order. As they should.  Many times we have had Lido bar staff seek us out. We often give an extra tip at the end to bar servers we have connected with, but mid cruise we chat with them when they have a minute, we are friendly and polite. 

Exactly!!

[momof3cruisers]

On 2/15/2022 at 8:28 PM, ULCajunCruiser said:

Exactly!!

Being nice goes a very long way in every circumstance. 

[LakeWobegon]

Agree wholeheartedly. I mean, I know gratuities are important to service workers' incomes, but at the same time, so is how you treat them. AND, there is huge motivation for a good review on a guest comment card. Those lead to promotions. Those lead to better jobs on the ship with more potential career-wise.

 

It reminds me of the argument "if you make tips automatic, service workers won't work as hard as they do now." That logic doesn't hold. They know not doing a good job doesn't bode well for their careers. And, they know those all those people standing in line the last day to remove their tips aren't doing it because of their job performance. Point being, in the end, overall tips are going to come out about the same.

[sparks1093]

Just off Legend and first time with Cheers. Had absolutely no issue with using my card and DW's card to get a drink for each of us. One time I presented her card and the bartender questioned it and I pointed to her sitting at a nearby table. Had no issues with getting an alcohol drink and soft drink at the same time (and saw many doing this as well). Our service throughout the week was just as good as when we didn't have Cheers and we never did get a sticker for our sail and sign card.