What is Your Bar Bill? or would it be?

[Kealy]

On 11/24/2021 at 7:40 AM, grillinchillin said:

Handy Dandy Drink-o-matic calculator! 

 

https://cruisespotlight.com/drink-package-calculator

 

 

 

That is so cool.  Will definitely get the package!

[n6uqqq]

On 11/29/2021 at 2:41 PM, CMOTO said:

We have have done both ways, with and without!!

To me it's pretty easy to decide...... if you drink then it will be a good purchase if you don't drink then its not.  I don't know why people want to bash the Cheer's,(not saying OP is bashing)for the ones who only drink 1-2 alcoholic drinks and no soda then this is not worth it to them but if your someone who likes to drink and try new things and you also enjoy soda's then this could save you money. 

For us, Carnival is definitely losing money on us.  And no we don't get stumbling down drunk.  We have a bloody mary in the morning then a couple drinks pool side, then a couple drinks before dinner maybe a glass of wine with dinner and then depending on if we do a show or comedy show maybe a night cap.  Along with a lot of waters and a few sodas throughout the day we more than get "our monies worth".... its not for everyone but for some it is!!

I promise you Carnival is not losing money on you even if you max out at 15 drinks every day. Think of the prices you pay at Costco for a 1.75 Liter and then take the purchasing power Carnival has with their massive volume. Cheers would have been a great deal for me at 35 but unfortunately I am now 55 so I pay as I go 😉 

[Joebucks]

On 11/29/2021 at 5:41 PM, CMOTO said:

For us, Carnival is definitely losing money on us.  And no we don't get stumbling down drunk.  We have a bloody mary in the morning then a couple drinks pool side, then a couple drinks before dinner maybe a glass of wine with dinner and then depending on if we do a show or comedy show maybe a night cap.  Along with a lot of waters and a few sodas throughout the day we more than get "our monies worth".... its not for everyone but for some it is!!

 

Not even close. While you may come out ahead vs the retail price, it is nearly impossible for them to lose on Cheers. Know the retail price of the bottles they have. Now cut some money off of that because they likely save on taxes or bulk purchases. Your cost of goods would probably not break $200 in a week.

 

My bar tab rarely exceeds $250 and I don't believe I've ever broken $300 when we didn't buy Cheers. The other half doesn't drink either.

- Carry on 2 bottles of wine

- Buy a bourbon bottle onboard for consumption

- Handful of mixed drinks/cocktails on board (Definitely a margarita or two and some alchemy)

- Couple of coffees for the other half

- Couple of drinks at the port

 

All of that is had for roughly $250. Honestly, I don't find myself in a scenario where I feel like I needed more, wanted to pay $500 more for a sip and dump "try it all" package, or ran up $1000 tabs. I actually like pouring myself a wine right when I get ready for dinner. I like filling my tumbler with a heavy bourbon pour and not having to rely on waiters or bars while at the pool.

[CMOTO]

3 hours ago, Joebucks said:

 

Not even close. While you may come out ahead vs the retail price, it is nearly impossible for them to lose on Cheers. Know the retail price of the bottles they have. Now cut some money off of that because they likely save on taxes or bulk purchases. Your cost of goods would probably not break $200 in a week.

 

My bar tab rarely exceeds $250 and I don't believe I've ever broken $300 when we didn't buy Cheers. The other half doesn't drink either.

- Carry on 2 bottles of wine

- Buy a bourbon bottle onboard for consumption

- Handful of mixed drinks/cocktails on board (Definitely a margarita or two and some alchemy)

- Couple of coffees for the other half

- Couple of drinks at the port

 

All of that is had for roughly $250. Honestly, I don't find myself in a scenario where I feel like I needed more, wanted to pay $500 more for a sip and dump "try it all" package, or ran up $1000 tabs. I actually like pouring myself a wine right when I get ready for dinner. I like filling my tumbler with a heavy bourbon pour and not having to rely on waiters or bars while at the pool.

Well you are on a ship, so you are not paying retail prices, you can not compare the outside world prices while you are on the ship.  Its their pricing, so if I buy the package at 51.99 plus the 18% that is ruffly 430 bucks for a 7 day cruise..... with sodas, energy drinks, water, alcohol, milkshakes I will easily spend the 61 dollars a day.   So I dont care if you look at it like Carnival is not losing money but I know that I am not spending any more than 61 a day for all the things I will be drinking and enjoying and if I didn't have the package I would for sure spend more than 61 a day.  It's nice to just get what you want at the place you are instead of running back to the room and mixing a drink.  And again, if you are the type that only drinks 1-2 a day then this is not the package for you.   There is no right or wrong answer for this package, its up to each individual and how they want to use it.

 

[bigrednole]

Carnival will never lose money on a Cheers package. They make even more from the buy-as-you-go group. Regardless, everyone is capped at 15 alcoholic drinks per day. I friend worked in the cruise industry. You would be shocked at how cheap liquor bottle purchases are for them. As for me, we made out on the daily rate and posted prices of the drinks. If we did pay as you go, we would have nearly doubled the Cheers package price.

[Joebucks]

21 hours ago, CMOTO said:

Well you are on a ship, so you are not paying retail prices, you can not compare the outside world prices while you are on the ship.  Its their pricing, so if I buy the package at 51.99 plus the 18% that is ruffly 430 bucks for a 7 day cruise..... with sodas, energy drinks, water, alcohol, milkshakes I will easily spend the 61 dollars a day.   So I dont care if you look at it like Carnival is not losing money but I know that I am not spending any more than 61 a day for all the things I will be drinking and enjoying and if I didn't have the package I would for sure spend more than 61 a day.  It's nice to just get what you want at the place you are instead of running back to the room and mixing a drink.  And again, if you are the type that only drinks 1-2 a day then this is not the package for you.   There is no right or wrong answer for this package, its up to each individual and how they want to use it.

 

 

Your original post of the cruise lines "definitely losing money on us" is completely different from your more recent one. So I'm not sure where the 180 came that you "don't care about how I look at it." My comment around the retail pricing was just to give a generalized idea of what alcohol truly costs (even though they pay far less than that). I think what you meant to say was your habits would have exceeded the regular, a la carte, prices and this is huge value for you. Nothing wrong with that.

 

Cruise lines want you to think you are pulling a fast one of them with the drink packages. Rest assured, you are not. Period. Beverages are some of the highest markup in the food and beverage industry. People forget that restaurants push the heck out of cocktails because of the high margin. Once they step foot on vacation, they associate that pricing with being handed liquid gold. When in reality, many of them are fillers with <$2 of alcohol.

 

Again, doesn't mean you can't enjoy yourself. 

[MistyRo76]

I absolutely think the Cheers package is worth the cost for me! While I'm not a big drinker at home, I can easily have 10+ drinks a day on a cruise ships and on some days not even get really that tipsy! For example on a sea day: 

 

2 - Mimosa/Bellini with breakfast

2-3 Frozen or mixed fruity cocktails while enjoying pool time

2 Pre-dinner drinks

1 Glass of wine or martini at dinner

2-3 Cocktails in the evenings during shows or gambling in the casino

 

Plus I enjoy the added bonus of being able to try drinks that I wouldn't normally "pay" to try. If I hate it, I don't feel like I have to drink it or would be wasting my money. And the fact that I already know what I'm spending for drinks and have usually pre-paid it in advance! 

 

That being said, I'll still usually bring on my allotted wine or even smuggle a small bottle (sorry, not sorry!) on with some mixers just cause I like the convenience of also being able to enjoy a beverage on our balcony or while I'm getting ready for dinner. 

 

My upcoming girls cruise I have booked I'm rooming with a friend who's not a big drinker and didn't want to pay to get Cheers. I was even considering paying for her Cheers just so I could have that freedom! But lucky for me, she got an awesome offer to add it on to our 5 day cruise for just $118 per person - which makes it an no-brainer for even her and a HUGE savings for me! WIN-WIN! 

Edited December 2, 2021 by MistyRo76

[sgttami]

The first time I sailed Carnival I didn't get Cheers.  Four weeks later,  I went again and bought it since I would have saved $125 if I had it the first time.  This was back when I used to save my sign and sail bill and tallied up what I drank...LOL

 

I was pretty consistent on consumption between the 2 trips. Both cruises were 8 days:  77 Coor's Lights on each and 1 or 2 "other drinks."    No water, coffee, soda, shakes etc.

 

I've gotten Cheers on every cruise since except for the casino offers where I get DOU everywhere onboard.

 

I'm only paying for one since I always get my own cabin no matter who I travel with.

 

 

[Badfinger]

$0 and $0.

[Ilovesailaway]

On 11/30/2021 at 12:54 PM, famof4togo said:

Will they still give you a bottle of water when you order a drink and not count that as two drinks?

Yes the 15 drink limit is on alcoholic drinks.

[CruiseBro16]

More than it would be without cheers.

[ProgRockCruiser]

We get Cheers! because we certainly get our value out of it.

 

In general, we have a minimum of 9 drinks on even the busiest port day, and usually hit 13 to 15.  We aren't stumbling around either, we just start early and keep it rolling steady.  And those aren't Coors Lights either - usually 3 to 5 Alchemy bar martini-like drinks, 3 to 5 wines, and a nice whisk(e)y at the end of the evening, plus whatever else fills that in via frozen drinks on Lido etc.  So say an average of 11 drinks (probably low balling it).

 

So, for us at an average drink price of $10 (which is mildly lowballing it), and adding in 18% grats, we'd pay $11.80 * 11 = $129.80 per day per person.

 

Add in a specialty coffee or two (even without the alcohol), and bottle waters, and we certainly would never want to pay a la carte.

 

Even on a 7 or 8 day cruise we don't lose much momentum, though I will admit by day 6 or 7 we're typically holding steady at 10 drinks a day.

[klfhngr]

On 11/23/2021 at 7:36 PM, eltigre said:

We never get a deal on the Cheers package  and being Canadian figure a 22% exchange rate.

So on a 7 day at $63.50 per day times 2 people times 7 days say $890 to round off. Average drink price $10 now, I'm thinking, that's 89 drinks in 7 days or 6 drinks a day per person.  Three to four port days for 8 hours each are removed from the equation.

 

So if my math is right, is it still a good plan to get a Cheers Pkg?

What is your or bar bill? Or what would it be if you didn't have the package?

I'd say no. Drink package was the same price for us in Oct. We opted out. Bar bills came out to about 300/400 total. My friend and his wife got drink package, his bill came out to about 1000. BUT, they got drinks for others (bartenders did that, not them), got waters, coffees, etc. So in my opinion, it's not worth it. Also, my bill INCLUDED waters, coffees, etc.

[MisterOJ2]

Our bar bill has always been under $100 on our previous cruises. We would usually do at least one (sometimes two) all-inclusive beach days and do most of our "drinking" then. But on our upcoming two cruises, we have Cheers since it was so cheap with the Cheers To You rate. 

 

I'm really curious to see how it goes for us. We do like to drink, but we've never felt like Cheers would be worth it - until these new rates made it so much cheaper.

[SNJCruisers]

1 hour ago, MisterOJ2 said:

 

I'm really curious to see how it goes for us. We do like to drink, but we've never felt like Cheers would be worth it - until these new rates made it so much cheaper.

Feel lucky that the algorithm bestowed the codes to you so you could use them twice.  All I ever got was the stupid RU9, which was a slap in the face.  But, our 4 cruises in 2022 have the OV8 rate, so it's 200 in OBC per week that'll cover gratuities.

Edited December 7, 2021 by SNJCruisers

[MisterOJ2]

7 minutes ago, SNJCruisers said:

Feel lucky that the algorithm bestowed the codes to you so you could use them twice.  All I ever got was the stupid RU9, which was a slap in the face.  But, our 4 cruises in 2022 have the OV8 rate, so it's 200 in OBC per week that'll cover gratuities.

 

I honestly wonder if our past cruises and small bar bills played into that? Like, if we'd been spending $500-$600 in booze on previous cruises, maybe we wouldn't have been given the RU1 rate?

[ProgRockCruiser]

6 minutes ago, MisterOJ2 said:

 

I honestly wonder if our past cruises and small bar bills played into that? Like, if we'd been spending $500-$600 in booze on previous cruises, maybe we wouldn't have been given the RU1 rate?

That is exactly the point of such promos.  They are targeted to those folks who normally "underspend" on alcohol, to let them be exposed to the idea of "included drinks" so that next time you might say to yourself "hey, let's get the drink package again, it was so stress-free not worrying about the bill afterwards."

 

There is no point offering it to me, I'm going to get Cheers regardless.  And they know it.

[nottypixz]

On multiple trips, we have gotten Cheers and has cost us less than prior to the offering, especially with our 20-something kids who accompany us and like to buy "rounds" at the bar! 🤣

 

One thing that hasn't been mentioned is that you can purchase CHEERS at any time before embarkation (with a discount) and then an opportunity (for more $$) on the ship.  For  those who plan, this is a plus because you can purchase and pay off several months in advance and then get on a ship without the worry/hassle.

 

For one, it was a pain bringing on our own wine (and flasks and "shambooze" bottles) and managing corking fees etc.  I'll take the Cheers program any day and we always get our $$ worth.

 

I think it depends on your drinking (all drinks -- alcohol, coffee, specialty, soda, energy, etc) habits  and your budget and how you approach a cruise vacation that will drive the decision and why you see such a diversity of responses.  It is a personal decision based on all of these criteria. 

[ray98]

These threads really aren't productive because everyone drinks a different amount on vacation.  For me I have real world examples of bar tabs on cruises without drink packages. I absolutely know Cheers saves us money along with giving us more freedom than we had in the past.  People that drink less than me need to do the math, people that drink more than me are getting an even better deal.  If you don't know how much someone drinks you cannot give them advice on if the plan is a good buy for them or not.

 

Then people try to argue the cost by using terms such as 'retail' price of the liquor further confusing things.  There is much more to the price of a served drink in addition to the actual cost of the liquor.  I was in the restaurant world for many years and that is only one factor in overall profitability.  The majority of the menu price of an item goes to cover overhead and a cruise ship has plenty.  It is not only drinks but food as well, the majority of your bill at a restaurant goes to paying employees and generally 'keeping the lights on'.  Normally you come up with the actual cost of the product you are serving and add at minimum 2/3rds to come up with a menu price.  If I couldn't sell it for that then we needed to weigh our options.  In locations where the overhead is higher that number only gets bigger.

 

[ProgRockCruiser]

11 hours ago, ray98 said:

These threads really aren't productive

Well, that's true for over half of the threads started here...

 

😏

 

What this does is give the OP (and others) a chance to think things through by seeing what other cruisers have experienced.  If the OP is a day-drinker when on vacay, and keeps going steady through the evening, then that increases the opportunity to leverage Cheers.  If the OP typically calls a four-drink night a drunky-bear blowout and can't stand the thought of a single drink the following day, then perhaps Cheers is not for them.

[PelicanBill]

I drink 5-6 times a day on a package and buy fancier drinks than I would without the package. 

Without a package I would drink 3 or 4 a day and a couple would be beer at a lower price.

[SNJCruisers]

On 12/7/2021 at 3:26 PM, MisterOJ2 said:

 

I honestly wonder if our past cruises and small bar bills played into that? Like, if we'd been spending $500-$600 in booze on previous cruises, maybe we wouldn't have been given the RU1 rate?

I got the stupid RU9.  If I hadn't gotten Cheers on my 4 Carnival cruises since Cheers came out, maybe I would have gotten the RU1, RU2 or RU3.