Cheers Package - Prebuying 10% off gone?

[ngrund]

The offer would be similar to this one that is on the website today:

 

Plan Now, Sail Later Offer

Book by August 30, 2023

• Up to $1,090 off with FUNtastic Rates
• Up to $200 to spend onboard
• Available on a variety of sailings
• Rate Code OV8 will automatically be applied at checkout

[CruizinSusan70]

29 minutes ago, ngrund said:

Every once in a while there will be $500 OBC given when you book, the ones I've seen are  when you book very early. I have a Celebration cruise for this Nov, when I booked it last June they gave us $500 OBC

That was target marketing.  We booked a 5 day Celebration cruise for this past January during the second week that bookings opened up and we never got anything special.  The best we ever got was an OV8 rate that got us 200 in OBC.

[ngrund]

15 minutes ago, CruizinSusan70 said:

That was target marketing.  We booked a 5 day Celebration cruise for this past January during the second week that bookings opened up and we never got anything special.  The best we ever got was an OV8 rate that got us 200 in OBC.

yep. but if you see the $500 OBC offer, you can take them up on it-I was pleasantly surprised.

 

I believe $500 OBC would not be given on a 5 day cruise (mine is 7 days) ; and it is "up to". Cabin category (I booked Ocean Suite due to the low price) would also make a difference.

Edited July 28, 2023 by ngrund

[ngrund]

On 7/25/2023 at 1:01 AM, Vagabond Knight said:

My assumption is that it's probably 10% off the package price, but that the gratuities are charged on the full price rather than the discounted price. Would that explain the difference?

 

This would be similar to walking into a restaurant with some kind of coupon... others may do things differently, but my husband and I would tip on the price that our meals would be without the discount.

 The grat is based on the pre boarding purchase price-

 

It really doesn't matter.

 

Price on board is $X

Price before boarding is $Y

Y is less than X.

Pay Y.

 

Thankfully, they now have it set up that you can use the OBC that you have for most if not all pre- boarding spend.

 

[VentureMan_2000]

1 hour ago, ngrund said:

 The grat is based on the pre boarding purchase price-

 

It really doesn't matter.

 

Price on board is $X

Price before boarding is $Y

Y is less than X.

Pay Y.

 

Thankfully, they now have it set up that you can use the OBC that you have for most if not all pre- boarding spend.

 

Please explain.  Are you saying that I can use my OBC to purchase CHEERS in advance of boarding the ship ?

[ngrund]

11 minutes ago, VentureMan_2000 said:

Please explain.  Are you saying that I can use my OBC to purchase CHEERS in advance of boarding the ship ?

Yes, when it comes time to pay, you should be offered the option to use any OBC you have on the booking.

[ngrund]

1 minute ago, ngrund said:

Yes, when it comes time to pay, you should be offered the option to use any OBC you have on the booking.

Choose Payment Methods

ONBOARD CREDIT

You have $180.67 of combined Onboard Credit available for this transaction. Confirm with all OBC holders in your stateroom(s) before using credits pre-cruise to avoid cancellations on board.

[StephPS79]

Doesn't just have to be Cheers, you can use OBC for any pre-purchases.

[VentureMan_2000]

Sweet !  Good to know.  Thanks.

[ngrund]

I should mention that this is OBC from Carnival as part of the booking offer,  it may be different for TA provided OBC and/or shareholder OBC..

 

I don't use a TA and on my last few cruises I had already made my on land purchases before requesting the s/h OBC

[CruizinSusan70]

5 hours ago, ngrund said:

yep. but if you see the $500 OBC offer, you can take them up on it-I was pleasantly surprised.

 

I believe $500 OBC would not be given on a 5 day cruise (mine is 7 days) ; and it is "up to". Cabin category (I booked Ocean Suite due to the low price) would also make a difference.

I also have 4 different other 7 day reservations on the Celebration.  Two in September and another two in January.  Have never even gotten a sniff of a 500 OBC offer.  But then again, 90% of the time we stay in inside cabins, but that 5 day we did stay in an aft balcony cabin for the first and last time.

[Elaine5715]

19 hours ago, Colorado Beach Bum said:

I’m in the camp that it’s not a 10% savings.  You can’t take the $5.90 savings and divide by the $59 cost.  You’d have to use the $64. 
 

But if you use AARP gift cards then you can save more than 10%, approximately 18%. 

The unadvertised sale is on gratuities.  If you add what the 18% gratuities is on individual drinks, 6 cocktails $11.50 each plus $2.07 tip means you will pay $12.42 in gratuities.  If you have CHEERS, your entire daily grats cost is 10.62 (unless you add more)

[Colorado Beach Bum]

32 minutes ago, Elaine5715 said:

The unadvertised sale is on gratuities.  If you add what the 18% gratuities is on individual drinks, 6 cocktails $11.50 each plus $2.07 tip means you will pay $12.42 in gratuities.  If you have CHEERS, your entire daily grats cost is 10.62 (unless you add more)

Ok but why 6 drinks?  Cheers is 15. 

[NCsonny]

40 minutes ago, Colorado Beach Bum said:

Ok but why 6 drinks?  Cheers is 15. 

Six mixed drinks is like the break even mark

[Elaine5715]

43 minutes ago, Colorado Beach Bum said:

Ok but why 6 drinks?  Cheers is 15. 

  at 15 drinks paid individually would be $31.05 in grats. vs @$10.62 CHEERS grats...

[Colorado Beach Bum]

2 minutes ago, NCsonny said:

Six mixed drinks is like the break even mark

Ok but what does that have to do with pre purchase being 10% savings vs buying on board?  I was just responding that I’m in the camp it’s not 10%.  

[Colorado Beach Bum]

1 minute ago, Elaine5715 said:

  at 15 drinks paid individually would be $31.05 in grats. vs @$10.62 CHEERS grats...

So that’s your justification for the 10% savings being accurate?   The 10% savings is cheers pre-purchase vs cheers on board purchase.  It has nothing to do with cheers vs non-cheers.  That is a different conversation and of course could be sizable depending on type of drink, number of alcohol drinks, number of non-alcohol drinks and as you pointed out grats. 

[Elaine5715]

8 minutes ago, Colorado Beach Bum said:

So that’s your justification for the 10% savings being accurate?   The 10% savings is cheers pre-purchase vs cheers on board purchase.  It has nothing to do with cheers vs non-cheers.  That is a different conversation and of course could be sizable depending on type of drink, number of alcohol drinks, number of non-alcohol drinks and as you pointed out grats. 

I said the unadvertised sale.   

[VentureMan_2000]

3 hours ago, Colorado Beach Bum said:

  I was just responding that I’m in the camp it’s not 10%.  

Let's see your math...  Prove your point. 

[Colorado Beach Bum]

2 minutes ago, VentureMan_2000 said:

Let's see your math...  Prove your point. 

with no gratuity
$59.95/$64.95 = 92.7% so < 8% savings

with gratuity 

$70.74/$76.64 = 92.7% so < 8% savings

So same discount with or without gratuity and in both cases less than 8%. 
 

If you buy something for $100 with 10% savings you’d pay $90 right?  $90/$100 = 90%.  With say a 10% tax you’d pay $99 vs $110.  You wouldn’t take the $11 savings and divide by $90 to say you got an 12.2% discount right? You’d say it was 99/110 which is 90% or 10% discount.  So in this case you can’t take the savings including gratuities and divide by the $59 pre-cruise price to say it’s a 10% savings. 

[CynCyn]

On 7/27/2023 at 9:27 PM, edspec said:

The Carnival Cheers package is a good deal. Specialty coffees, energy drinks, and decent wine. Buy or don’t buy, it’s the best deal you’re going to get on any of the cruise lines.

I’d disagree here.  On Princess you get tips, internet, and drinks for $60 per day- no gratuity.

[VentureMan_2000]

Carnival must have heard the bickering...   🤣

[Earthworm Jim]

On 7/19/2023 at 5:57 PM, VentureMan_2000 said:

Thanks.

OK, Lets do the math... I like doing the math...  

 

$64.95
$11.69   (18% Gratuity)
=====
$76.64  --  Total Cheers price when purchased on-board.

$59.95
$10.79   (18% Gratuity)
=====
$70.74  --  Total Cheers price when purchased in advance.

  $76.64
- $70.74
======
   $ 5.90  Difference between prices, which is 10% of the advance purchase price minus 9.5 cents.

 

 

The fault in your math is comparing the difference between prices to the discounted price rather than the full price. By that approach an item that is normally $10 on sale for $5 would be saving you 100% rather than the correct 50%.

[Earthworm Jim]

On 7/29/2023 at 12:01 PM, CynCyn said:

I’d disagree here.  On Princess you get tips, internet, and drinks for $60 per day- no gratuity.

 

Tips being $16 a day, you're effectively getting your 15 drinks a day for $44 with wifi thrown in for free. Though to be fair the Princess cruise will probably cost you more than Carnival to start with.

[VentureMan_2000]

2 minutes ago, Earthworm Jim said:

 

The fault in your math is comparing the difference between prices to the discounted price rather than the full price. By that approach an item that is normally $10 on sale for $5 would be saving you 100% rather than the correct 50%.

You're falling into the same trap too... wanting to take "take off" a certain percentage from the on-board pricing.  Nowhere does Carnival say 10% off.  "save 10%" implies there is a 10% difference... not 10% off.