Cheers: Here are the answers you want...

[mickide]

When we did Cheers on our Conquest cruise last year, they rang up sodas as a drink, and then if you hit 15 drinks you had to have a manager go back, check to see if any of the 15 were sodas, and then override it and let you have a cocktail. I found this very frustrating. Are they no longer doing this? I'm hoping they just don't ring the sodas up at all, I don't like the hoops we had to jump through last time.

 

On the Miracle last month they counted cans of sodas but not if it was put in a glass., the bartender said "a beverage is a beverage". I spoke to the bar manager and he told me that three bartender was correct, I was slightly pissed but I never reached my 15 or I would have had more discussions :). This wasn't the case on the Freedom earlier this year.

 

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[nitro2448]

On the Miracle last month they counted cans of sodas but not if it was put in a glass., the bartender said "a beverage is a beverage". I spoke to the bar manager and he told me that three bartender was correct, I was slightly pissed but I never reached my 15 or I would have had more discussions :). This wasn't the case on the Freedom earlier this year.

 

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I've never been told that sodas count towards your 15, if they told you that they were wrong. It clearly states sodas are unlimited.

 

 

GO MIZZOU!!!!!!!

[Rowan555]

I've never been told that sodas count towards your 15, if they told you that they were wrong. It clearly states sodas are unlimited.

 

 

GO MIZZOU!!!!!!!

 

Well, obviously it's happening on more than one ship, and that's a shame. It makes me stressed out about getting Cheers on our cruise next week, because I don't want to go through that again.

[nitro2448]

Well, obviously it's happening on more than one ship, and that's a shame. It makes me stressed out about getting Cheers on our cruise next week, because I don't want to go through that again.

 

If your really worried about then you should print a copy of the cheers policy. Then just hope you don't need it, but I'd rather have it and not need it than not have it and need it.

 

 

GO MIZZOU!!!!!!!

[Rowan555]

If your really worried about then you should print a copy of the cheers policy. Then just hope you don't need it, but I'd rather have it and not need it than not have it and need it.

 

 

GO MIZZOU!!!!!!!

 

I brought it last time anyway because I'd heard about problems, AND happened to have a friend on the ship John Heald was on, and he talked to John and his people called the ship. They were originally saying soda counted towards the 15 drinks, then after his office called, they changed the story and said that sodas would be rung up, and that if you got to 15, a manager would have to look through your purchase history and then make an exception if some of them were sodas. I spoke to the bar manager, and he said that was the way it had to be. It made no sense to me, particularly because if you're ordering drinks at, say 1 AM, you're likely in the nightclub, where it's noisy, ordering from a cocktail server, and trying to explain to them to ask a manager to look up the history is just ridiculous. I had 4 sodas or so a day, so that meant I was tapped out at 11. This was on the Conquest a year ago. I'm hoping it's different on the Sunshine.

[nitro2448]

I brought it last time anyway because I'd heard about problems, AND happened to have a friend on the ship John Heald was on, and he talked to John and his people called the ship. They were originally saying soda counted towards the 15 drinks, then after his office called, they changed the story and said that sodas would be rung up, and that if you got to 15, a manager would have to look through your purchase history and then make an exception if some of them were sodas. I spoke to the bar manager, and he said that was the way it had to be. It made no sense to me, particularly because if you're ordering drinks at, say 1 AM, you're likely in the nightclub, where it's noisy, ordering from a cocktail server, and trying to explain to them to ask a manager to look up the history is just ridiculous. I had 4 sodas or so a day, so that meant I was tapped out at 11. This was on the Conquest a year ago. I'm hoping it's different on the Sunshine.

 

If you purchased the cheers close to its inception, then yes there were likely problems. I think it has gotten better, I was on the Conquest in April and had no problems, 4 of us. I was on the Paradise for B2B this month, no problems again.

 

 

GO MIZZOU!!!!!!!

[Rowan555]

Good to know. It was a few months after Cheers began, so yes, I hadn't thought about the fact that the kinks were still being ironed out at that point.

[saphir]

Carnival is the only company that puts a limit (15). Why? I did Celebrity and Norwegian and no limit was imposed. Celebrity has the best Package, all liquids are included. Carnival should change its programme.

[Rowan555]

Carnival is the only company that puts a limit (15). Why? I did Celebrity and Norwegian and no limit was imposed. Celebrity has the best Package, all liquids are included. Carnival should change its programme.

 

When it premiered, there was no limit. Shortly thereafter, the 15 drink limit appeared. I have a feeling it will remain in place.

[Rok4u2]

I got the Cheers program on the Sunshine TA. It cost $790.28 for the 16 day cruise from Barcelona to New Orleans. I got to drink #13 on 3 days. Every time I got a drink I asked for a receipt. Every night I added the costs. By the 12th day I had passed the $790.28 costs of my drinks. Therefore the remaining 4 days Carnival PAID for my drinks. I will do it again and again. If you drink more that 8 drinks a day you will get your moneys worth.:)

[nitro2448]

I got the Cheers program on the Sunshine TA. It cost $790.28 for the 16 day cruise from Barcelona to New Orleans. I got to drink #13 on 3 days. Every time I got a drink I asked for a receipt. Every night I added the costs. By the 12th day I had passed the $790.28 costs of my drinks. Therefore the remaining 4 days Carnival PAID for my drinks. I will do it again and again. If you drink more that 8 drinks a day you will get your moneys worth.:)

 

You shouldn't have to ask for a receipt, even with cheers it's automatic. It depends on what you drink as to how many you need to make it worth it. About 7 martinis will do it, but it takes about 10 beers. The price has gone up as well.

 

 

GO MIZZOU!!!!!!!

Edited November 29, 2013 by nitro2448

[michmmosh]

Sounds like an awesome time!! :)

[miataman19]

Carnival is the only company that puts a limit (15). Why? I did Celebrity and Norwegian and no limit was imposed. Celebrity has the best Package, all liquids are included. Carnival should change its programme.

 

Had the premium package on Celebrity Reflection in March. Great program, included all drinks ($12 limit you pay the difference over $12), coffee drinks too. Carnival could tweak its program a little. Keep the 15 alcohol drink limit but allow coffee and non-alcoholic drinks at an unlimited part of the program. Charge a little more, Carnival makes money and I get my package with COFFEE DRINKS INCLUDED..lol

[Laurie S.]

No, leave it alone. I hate coffee and don't want to have to pay more for cheers if it's included. They should have different levels of drink packages. We only want alcohol and soda, not coffee, water, or other juices.

[carnaz]

We have a 200 dollar onboard spend, could this be used towards the cost of the cheers package.

thanks in advance.

[rocketship]

I brought it last time anyway because I'd heard about problems, AND happened to have a friend on the ship John Heald was on, and he talked to John and his people called the ship. They were originally saying soda counted towards the 15 drinks, then after his office called, they changed the story and said that sodas would be rung up, and that if you got to 15, a manager would have to look through your purchase history and then make an exception if some of them were sodas. I spoke to the bar manager, and he said that was the way it had to be. It made no sense to me, particularly because if you're ordering drinks at, say 1 AM, you're likely in the nightclub, where it's noisy, ordering from a cocktail server, and trying to explain to them to ask a manager to look up the history is just ridiculous. I had 4 sodas or so a day, so that meant I was tapped out at 11. This was on the Conquest a year ago. I'm hoping it's different on the Sunshine.

 

Very different than what we experienced on the Ecstasy. Sodas DID NOT county towards the 15 drink limit. I ordered both at the bar and in the dining room. It never went against the total.

 

Ps: Will always do cheers in the future. It was awesome!

[nitro2448]

We have a 200 dollar onboard spend, could this be used towards the cost of the cheers package.

thanks in advance.

 

Yes it can be

 

 

GO MIZZOU!!!!!!!

[dalym72]

I just got off the Dream last week with a hundred friends. Literally. We were a group of 100 guys (no women; don't ask) and we can drink with the best of them. We vary in age between 25 and 50. Here are my observations and the FACTS about Cheers:

 

1. We had an even 100 people. Out of that, approximately 70 people in our group bought Cheers.

 

2. Of the 70 who bought Cheers, about half of us hit the 15 drink limit most nights. All in all when talking with each other on Facebook, we thought the package was well worth it.

 

3. Two people that I know of in our group who didn't buy Cheers actually regretted it at the end of the cruise because their bar tab was much higher than they expected.

 

4. The per person price for Cheers, for a seven day cruise, purchase on the first day, was $402 per person, including gratuity.

 

5. There are only two SYSTEM LIMITATIONS, the rest is purely policy based.

 

5a. They simply can't charge a drink until 5 minutes have elapsed since the last drink was bought. However over the course of the cruise, we found a couple of bartenders who would serve us a double drink, or a regular drink and a shot, or two beers at the same time -- they would swipe for one, and just wait five minutes, take our card again, and swipe for the second drink. A couple of times they forgot to swipe for the second drink.

 

5b. The 15 drink limit is a hard limit. They can't swipe for more after 15. However, the bartenders at the Caliente Disco were awesome about this. They proactively offered up the drink # you were on before swiping and about 80% of the time they asked if you wanted to make that drink count -- or did you want to pay. When you were ready to leave for the night, we just said "I'm done..." and they swiped the last drink for the program (#15).

 

6. None of the bartenders had a problem taking 2, 3, or even 4 cards for 2, 3, or 4 drinks. I regularly walked up to the bar with four sign and sail cards, ordered four separate drinks, and brought them back to my friends. They didn't care about the names or the drinks -- only that there was a drink allowed on each card (e.g., I couldn't use Cheers for four drinks at once, but I could easily hand the bartender four sign and sail cards, without my friends being present, without any problem at all).

 

We take a group cruise each year. There is usually 50, 75, or 100 of us depending on the year. We alternate between Carnival, Royal, and Princess. This was the first cruise ever where a "bar package" (Cheers) was available.

 

I read on here for months and was worried. But after talking with my group and the experience the 100 of us had, it was much more relaxed than I had read about here. No issues at all.

 

P.S. Except one. One of our friends was charged for TWO Cheers packages along with his cabin mate. There were two people in the cabin. Person #1 had a $402 charge for Cheers. Person #2 had TWO separate $402 charges ($804 total). A quick e-mail to Carnival this past week resulted in an easy and quick refund to his credit card -- but word to the wise: Watch your statement.

 

Any questions? I'd be happy to answer.

Thanks for the info. Gonna buy it when we go in march. Was a little worried about the 15 drink limit.

[sarafinadh]

Well bummer.

 

I don't drink and it would be foolish to pay for me to have the program so Himself could have it.

 

And as it turns out the Cheers package is not available on Carnival Imagination, Carnival Inspiration, Carnival Sensation and Carnival Spirit. So that means we couldn't sign up even if we wanted to.

 

To bad for Carnival. Himself will drink far less if he is paying by the glass. They would have made more on him by selling the package ; -)