Cheers! Beverage Package medical exemption?

[angelhelly]

Good afternoon all!

We finally have booked our first Carnival cruise and I have a question.

I have a medical condition (not diabetes) that keeps me from having any alcohol. Do you know if they allow medical exemption so only one person can buy the package?

[Caps_Shield]

I have never heard of this happening.  Gets asked a lot but never heard it happen with Carnival.  

[Joe817]

5 minutes ago, angelhelly said:

Good afternoon all!

We finally have booked our first Carnival cruise and I have a question.

I have a medical condition (not diabetes) that keeps me from having any alcohol. Do you know if they allow medical exemption so only one person can buy the package?

This is a fairly often asked question. The short answer is "no". And Carnival stands firmly on that decision. Sorry.

Edited September 9, 2022 by Joe817

[lazydayz]

Sorry, but no.  There are ways around it if you have more than one room (i.e., you are the only adult in a cabin), but if there are two adults in one cabin, it is either two Cheers packages or none.   

[ray98]

No.  If they did a good percentage of cabins would have one who had some sort of medical reason or are pregnant and then you would end up with two people sharing the same package.

Edited September 9, 2022 by ray98

[CruiserLucas]

On the plus side, you can still get lots of other drinks with Cheers that don't contain alcohol anyways if you end up buying it.

[DallasGuy75219]

I second the "no" answer.  Lots of posts on here over time and the answer was always no, not under any circumstances.

[Colorado Cruzer]

The person that does want the booze can order from room service and mix drinks in the room to save a little off the one off bar prices.  It's a bit of a pain but a lot cheaper than buying one by one.

[cruisingguy007]

I was going to look into this too since I have a similar situation on an upcoming cruise. What I may do instead is just switch out people between cabins to put those who want the drink package together (if we end up getting it) and add one of my kids in with the person who can't drink in the other cabin and then just switch back once onboard. This may be an easier way to accomplish the end goal, not sure if this would work for you but it's an option. 

[lilchuckie]

I think it’s Carnival’s right to say both must buy it. What bothers me is Carnival can then not allow a person to use it.

 

My friends and I took a 7 day cruise for friend’s wedding. The father of the groom was working on 3 hours sleep in the previous 3 days and fell asleep in red frog pub the first night. They said he couldn’t drink the rest of the cruise and didn’t give him a refund. I mean the guy was pushing 70, he wasn’t causing a scene or being rude or fighting. I don’t even think he spilled his drink. 
 

My aunt was pregnant and was drinking a little on her doctor’s orders due to being a heavy drinker to avoid risk of complications from going into detox. They took her alcohol consumption privileges from her the second day and she had to sneak booze on in port in order to stay normal. 
 

These stories just leave a bad taste in my mouth about Carnival’s use of discretion. Especially when i’ve seen people cause scenes 7/7 nights on a cruise and nothing happens to them. 

[oakridger]

 

 

 

28 minutes ago, lilchuckie said:

My aunt was pregnant and was drinking a little on her doctor’s orders due to being a heavy drinker to avoid risk of complications from going into detox. They took her alcohol consumption privileges from her the second day.....

I'm guessing, but it may have something to do with Carnival's liability if they serve a pregnant person.

 

[Drazil65]

I'm guessing, but it may have something to do with Carnival's liability if they serve a pregnant person.

 

The person in question must have been far enough along in her pregnancy to be showing so that it would be noticed by staff.  Under those circumstances no matter what the reason was (and let face it, the reason given is not common), the ship could have a liability issue should something happen to her aboard while drinking.  They reserve the right to cut anyone off at any time and its a chance the passengers take I guess.  

 

People that want to purchase cheers but are in a cabin with someone that shouldn't or cant drink should just buy their drinks outright.  Unless the one person wants to be the drinker of both packages, yikes!!!  

 

[Elaine5715]

7 hours ago, lilchuckie said:

I think it’s Carnival’s right to say both must buy it. What bothers me is Carnival can then not allow a person to use it.

 

My friends and I took a 7 day cruise for friend’s wedding. The father of the groom was working on 3 hours sleep in the previous 3 days and fell asleep in red frog pub the first night. They said he couldn’t drink the rest of the cruise and didn’t give him a refund. I mean the guy was pushing 70, he wasn’t causing a scene or being rude or fighting. I don’t even think he spilled his drink. 
 

My aunt was pregnant and was drinking a little on her doctor’s orders due to being a heavy drinker to avoid risk of complications from going into detox. They took her alcohol consumption privileges from her the second day and she had to sneak booze on in port in order to stay normal. 
 

These stories just leave a bad taste in my mouth about Carnival’s use of discretion. Especially when i’ve seen people cause scenes 7/7 nights on a cruise and nothing happens to them. 

Both these examples leave a good taste in my mouth for being proactive.  

[Wakepatrol]

This sounds like a Jerry Springer episode

[ober134]

I'm not a doctor nor do I play one on TV....  But would a Doctor really encourage an alcoholic pregnant person to drink more? Like enough to warrant Cheers smh

[CeleBrat]

• I just don't understand given all the technology available, why Cheers can't be purchased by one person?  Seriously?  They are able to prevent children from ordering drinks because of how their card is coded.  So why can't they truly have it assigned to just one person S&S account?

 

The whole "both parties have to buy it" just always seemed like a $ grab to me.  What about those who are pregnant?  Or traveling with a recovering alcoholic?  Or diabetic?

 

 

[mz-s]

3 minutes ago, CeleBrat said:

• I just don't understand given all the technology available, why Cheers can't be purchased by one person?  Seriously?  They are able to prevent children from ordering drinks because of how their card is coded.  So why can't they truly have it assigned to just one person S&S account?

 

The whole "both parties have to buy it" just always seemed like a $ grab to me.  What about those who are pregnant?  Or traveling with a recovering alcoholic?  Or diabetic?

 

 

 

Of course it's a money grab. That is not a secret.

 

The fact of the matter is for every one person who legitimately can't drink (but they are traveling with someone who can drink and drink to excess to the point a drink package makes sense for them), there will be 10 who say they can't drink but then they share the package with their roommate.

[ShakyBeef]

2 minutes ago, CeleBrat said:

• I just don't understand given all the technology available, why Cheers can't be purchased by one person?  Seriously?  They are able to prevent children from ordering drinks because of how their card is coded.  So why can't they truly have it assigned to just one person S&S account?

 

The whole "both parties have to buy it" just always seemed like a $ grab to me.  What about those who are pregnant?  Or traveling with a recovering alcoholic?  Or diabetic?

 

 

 

Many, many people would cheat and share drinks with their cabinmate if this were allowed.  Fifteen alcoholic drinks daily (not to mention all the extra pay-for coffees, smoothies, sodas, etc.) split between two people would go pretty far.  Consider all the admissions of / bragging about cheating and breaking the rules (alcohol smuggling, cabin-switching, etc.) just here on CC - a very small segment of the cruising population.  Carnival knows its clientele.  They know what they're doing here: mitigating revenue loss by removing one form of cheating.  It makes perfect sense.  

[ShakyBeef]

12 minutes ago, CeleBrat said:

 

The whole "both parties have to buy it" just always seemed like a $ grab to me.  What about those who are pregnant?  Or traveling with a recovering alcoholic?  Or diabetic?

 

 

 

Quoted you again because I forgot to address this part of your post:

 

For those people, it's also quite simple: don't buy Cheers!.  Just buy your drinks as you go, one by one, the way so many of us do.

[momoftwinboys09]

The ONLY situation that would allow only 1 person to buy the Cheers package is if a guest has 'Drinks on us ALL OVER THE SHIP' --- mainly a casino promotion.  Drinks on us just in the casino does not apply it must be 'Drinks on us ALL OVER THE SHIP.'  Just sharing.  🙂

[lilchuckie]

3 hours ago, ober134 said:

I'm not a doctor nor do I play one on TV....  But would a Doctor really encourage an alcoholic pregnant person to drink more? Like enough to warrant Cheers smh

i’m not a doctor either but I think if not drinking is going to send you into detox it’s safer just to drink at some stages of the pregnancy. I know it‘S that way for a lot of drug users too, obviously it’s best to live without that stuff but it’s not a perfect world and harm reduction is best when given the option. 

[lilchuckie]

Nvm on this post, not feeding the resident troll

Edited September 10, 2022 by lilchuckie

[ober134]

1 hour ago, CeleBrat said:

• I just don't understand given all the technology available, why Cheers can't be purchased by one person?  Seriously?  They are able to prevent children from ordering drinks because of how their card is coded.  So why can't they truly have it assigned to just one person S&S account?

 

The whole "both parties have to buy it" just always seemed like a $ grab to me.  What about those who are pregnant?  Or traveling with a recovering alcoholic?  Or diabetic?

 

 

So who would be responsible for verifing claims for medical exemption? More costly paperwork and more overhead expenses the rest of us would have to bear? Maybe if Carnival charged a $200 processing fee, then maybe I would change my thinking on this topic.

[cruisingguy007]

1 hour ago, mz-s said:

 

Of course it's a money grab. That is not a secret.

 

The fact of the matter is for every one person who legitimately can't drink (but they are traveling with someone who can drink and drink to excess to the point a drink package makes sense for them), there will be 10 who say they can't drink but then they share the package with their roommate.

 

I think this ^ is it, too many cheapskates and cheaters have ruined it for the rest of us. Everyone is now suspect and treated the same.   

Edited September 10, 2022 by cruisingguy007

[Purvis1231]

On 9/9/2022 at 12:28 PM, angelhelly said:

Good afternoon all!

We finally have booked our first Carnival cruise and I have a question.

I have a medical condition (not diabetes) that keeps me from having any alcohol. Do you know if they allow medical exemption so only one person can buy the package?

Half the adults in the world probably have some kind of medical condition that should require the limitation of alcohol and could get a medical professional to write a statement. This would disrupt the Carnival marketing plan so I doubt they will allow it but good luck.