Just_Beachy22

We actually purposely booked our upcoming cruise in Feb because it is a repeat itinerary. We wanted to take an actual relaxing vacation where we did not feel the pressure to get off and explore.  This will be an 8 day out of Galveston to Key West (we will def get off for a frozen white choc strawberry keylime pie on a stick!!!), HMC, and both Bahamas. So we will be treating it as 7 beautiful sea days with about 2 hours in Key West! I am so excited! I use to think people who didn't get off the ship were crazy, but now I am realizing they are much smarter than I thought! 

I guess if I find out when we board it is on our formal night I can always cancel. We want to eat with our kiddos on Formal nights.

We have sent in a request for our Feb 15th cruise but do not want to do our chefs table on a formal night - when do you find out which night you are scheduled?

hopefully this helps if you can see the replies!

 

We stopped bringing car seats after multiple foreign taxis not having a seat belt which resulted in the car seat being stashed in the trunk the entire time we were in port. So while we had every intention of keeping our kids at a US level of safety while in port we found it is not always possible. We stuck to buses and walking for the most part...

 

FYI - If you decide not to do Cheers, you can pre-purchase 12pk cases of water for $4.50 - this is a win as they are charging $1.95 per bottle at the bar and up to $3 a bottle in port depending where you are! Carnival no longer allows cases of water as carry-on.

Jlk88, I just read your comment after mine posted - please know mine was not directed towards you! 

As a side note, this is our one vacation splurge and a present to myself for my own sanity so I can enjoy myself and not stress or constantly calculate the tab or cringe if someone orders a drink that is 8.75 instead of 7.75 etc. Could we probably go without, definitely. But for our 1 vacation a year that I can prebudget the expense we will continue doing Cheers. We tend to not do excursions yet so that also helps in keeping the overall trip cost down.

We have never had an issue, but we also are not abusive or obvious about it.  Most times we are ordering something and going back to where we are hanging out. So as long as you are discreet and not being obnoxious you shouldn't have a problem. 

We cruise with family usually and have found that a few drinks in the evening at the alchemy satisfies the $51 per day easily. We have never felt more than tipsy or even neared the 15 allowed alcohol drinks per day. I think once my husband got to 12 by actually trying.  With that being said, we enjoy beverages in general and typically come out significantly ahead of what we pay for the package when we cruise for 6/7 days.  We pick up a bottle of water and a Gatorade nearly every time we pass the milkshake place. We rarely drink alcohol offshore since we have paid for drinks on board.  When we go into port we bring along the water bottles and Gatorade we have gradually collected.  We take advantage of the specialty coffee (occasionally with baileys added), energy drinks, sodas, milkshakes, and (my personal favorite) when you feel at your limit with drinking just switch to virgin cocktails, sometimes they taste better without it! LOL  So even those that are not heavy drinkers but enjoy drinking anything the ship serves the Cheers program can be a win.  I also like not having to haul on my own wine or soda as a carry-on plus not needing to return to the room for refills as there are plenty of places all over the ship to get something to drink.  We also take the opportunity to try new things that in a real bar setting we would have to pay for and finish. Finally, I love love love prepaying the gratuity - that saves me $1-2 per drink which is our usual tip when we go out at home. Here are some sample days for us (2 adults, 13 and a 7 year old):

 

Port Day:

8 Gatorades - 23.60 

8 Bottled Water - 15.60

2 Red Bull/Rockstar Energy Drinks - 9.50 

2 Specialty Coffees - 11.50 

 

Lunch/Afternoon Back on Board

2 adult frozen beverages - 14.50

4 sodas - 7.80

 

Before Dinner

2 custom cocktails from Alchemy - 40

2 sodas - 3.90

 

During Dinner

4 glasses of Wine - 43.00

4 sodas - 7.80

 

After Dinner at Show, Comedy or Piano Bar

2 (to 6 depending on our night) Adult Beverages - 17.50 (for just 2)

2 Milkshakes or Virgin Drinks - 9.50

 

Pizza Late Night Snack

2 Sodas - 3.90

 

208.10

 

Sea Day:

Breakfast

4 Mimosas - 15

4 Gatorade - 11.80

4 Water - 7.80

 

Morning Activities

2 Specialty Coffees - 11.50

2 Milkshakes - 9.50

 

Lunch

2 adult frozen beverages - 14.50

4 sodas - 7.80

 

Afternoon Activities

2 Cocktails - 17.50

4 sodas - 7.80 

 

Before Dinner

2 custom cocktails from Alchemy - 40

2 sodas - 3.90

 

During Dinner

4 glasses of Wine - 43.00

4 sodas - 7.80

 

After Dinner at Show, Comedy or Piano Bar

2 (to 6 depending on our night) Adult Beverages - 17.50 (for just 2)

2 Milkshakes or Virgin Drinks - 9.50

 

Pizza Late Night Snack

2 Sodas - 3.90

 

228.80

 

Embark:

(not applicable from TX, but you also aren't charged the 1st day)

 

4 Adult Frozen - 35

2 Virgin - 9.50

4 Soda -7.80

 

Before Dinner

2 Cocktails - 21.50

 

During Dinner

4 Glasses of Wine - 43

4 Soda - 7.80

 

After Dinner

4 Alchemy Martinis - 80

2 Milkshakes - 7.90

 

Pizza Late Night Snack

2 Sodas - 3.90

 

216.40

 

Disembark:

4 Mimosas - 30

2 Specialty Coffees - 11.50

4 Sodas - 7.80

8 Gatorade - 23.60

8 Bottled Water - 15.60

 

88.50

 

 

Our Upcoming 6 day Cruise

Prepay Cheers: $717

 

Embark: 216.40

Port: 208.10

Port: 208.10

Port: 208.10

Port: 208.10

Sea: 228.80

Disembark: 88.50

$2 tip per alcohol or virgin bar drinks: $172

Total Bar Bill: 1538.61

 

Not figured: 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's a quick breakdown on Cheers.

For beer drinkers if they normally order by the bucket they need to drink between 8 and 11 bottles of beer daily.

For those that enjoy house wines and call liquor you will need between 7 and 10 glasses or shots of that a day.

Where cheers really pays off is for cocktail drinkers as the frozen ones are the least expensive at $7.75 while martinis can range up to $12.95, meaning that people that drink those only need between 4 and 7 adult drinks to reach the break-even point.

For those that enjoy the premium labels in liquor and wines it maybe even less to reach the break-even point. There is at least one reserved wine that can only be ordered in the steakhouse bar that runs $18.95 per glass and certain premium Liquors that are in excess of $20 per shot.

Of course when you add in the non-alcoholic beverages in its unlimited quantities the need to consume alcohol to break even reduces.

For those that rarely drink alcoholic beverages perhaps the bottomless bubbles package at $7.50 per adult per day maybe a better choice and paying as you go for your alcohol. Bottomless bubbles for children under the age of 18 is even less expensive. Bottomless bubbles covers all sodas and juices on board from any server or bar. It also covers any mocktail that can be concocted of soda juices and certain mixers. Popular examples are Shirley Temples, a vanilla or Cherry Coke, virgin Pirates punch, and cranberry spritzers. Unfortunately non-alcoholic daiquiris & frozen favorites are not covered under bottomless bubbles.

 

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Another tip if your ship has Alchemy - we asked the bartender to make us her signature drink and since it was off menu when we signed for it we saw without Cheers the cost was $22 per martini. It was a delicious strawberry flavored one she had created and I had quite a few of those the rest of our cruise. 2 Martini's put me within $5 of the break even point. Just a suggestion - she made it based on our tastes of the other drinks on the menu that we preferred. We never found the elusive $50 or more drink maybe it is in the steakhouse...

Our Cheers Experience:

After our first cruise we said we would probably not do Cheers again as we were very close to breaking even. However, I did like not having to mentally keep track of my spending and that tips are covered. When they changed the program to include coffees, bottled water, energy drinks, milk shakes, gaterade it quickly became worth it to us. At the end of our last cruise since we were trying to determine if we should continue using cheers we had received over $600 of beverages over the cost of our package. Well worth it for us to continue on future cruises. We did not hit the 15 alcoholic drink minimum during the entire cruise on either passenger - we drink mixed drinks while cruising rather than beer for a higher savings. I think our highest day was 10 or 11 alcoholic drinks. I think they have made it a very fair program for a cabin with only one drinker or two moderate drinkers with the additional beverages. (It also includes juice soda and virgin beverages but I did not mention those because they are not additions to the new version it was already available during the first cruise). When the seas were too rough or I didn't feel like drinking alcohol I did order a few mocktails to continue using Cheers which probably helped me not hit the 15. On port days you can still more than break even we did in bottled water and gaterade alone. You don't have to be drunk your entire vacation (or at all) to get your money worth. The 15 limit is only if it contains alcohol everything else is unlimited.

 

Sample:

Mimosa or Bloody Mary with Breakfast (1)

Coffee Bar Specialty Coffee or Energy Drink

Water and Gaterade to stay hydrated during the day or at port

Umbrella Drink or 2 during lunch or poolside (2+3)

Milkshake afternoon snack

cocktail before dinner (4)

glass of wine during dinner or spiked coffee during dessert (5)

Drink at a bar or during show (6)

book their cruise pkg thru their websitr

 

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just following up we plan to always use this hotel when we leave out of galveston- no complaints, very accommodating to January fog, clean, and reliable shuttle. Also felt very at ease leaving our vehicles.

 

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they are missing out on a huge piece of the pie I would purchase a ton more if I could budget that AFTER vacation!

 

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My kids - at the time age 4 and 10 really enjoyed Discover Mexico Exhibit when they were in Cozumel with their grandparents - they just paid the entry when they arrived - there are guided tour times you can coordinate your visit with. My parents don't like eating off ship so they did not do the tour through the ship that included lunch and transportation. There are a few add ons you can do involving chocolate and/or tequila if you want to enhance the tour.

Does this mean that you could see them after the cruise and purchase them? I have always wished for that feature as it always seemed like a waste to print the photos just to toss them I figured that is part of the reason they are so expensive! I have had regrets not getting a few shots and it would be so nice to log in within 60 days of the vacation and still be able to purchase. If not maybe one day...

I think we finally have narrowed our activity in belize to be the manatees as well. We dont go until Jan 2016 so please post a review if you decide to do it!

Thanks! Great suggestions!!

What is your favorite souvenir from Roatan?

 

 

Is there a shop that has a good selection of magnets? Handmade or commercial?

What is your favorite souvenir from Cozumel?

 

 

Is there a shop that has a good selection of magnets? Handmade or commercial?

What is your favorite souvenir from Belize?

 

Is there a shop that has a good selection of magnets? Handmade or commercial?

Thanks for purposes of needing a place to sleep just so we are already in Galveston on Sunday and avoiding the cost of parking both cars I think we made the right choice.

Thank you all for your suggestions! I chose the items based on what other people in various posts had ate. Good to know that they arent necessarily a must do. Glad I checked!

We would like to enjoy the following items while touring Roatan on our Victor tour in January 2016:

 

Grilled Lobster Tail (on the beach? should we stick to the Magic here?)

Coconut Shrimp

Conch - soup..fritter..etc Mainly to say we've tried it!

 

The areas we will be visiting are the victor monkeys, iguanas, cameo factory and Mahogony Bay beach complex.

 

We will also be visiting Belize City and Cozumel if there is a better place to get these there.

 

Also, if there are other "local favorites" that these three ports are known for, please share your recommendations to add to our list. We have a little more freedom to explore in Roatan than the other ports.