Any way around buying Cheers for EVERYONE?

[Rogueperson]

Its a money grab.

 

For those of you who said they will not get the package, did you drink? If so, then they made money off of you. If you drink less than the package was worth, they made money off of you. If you drank more than the value of the package, but not more than your partner who didn't drink, who would have been forced to get the package? Then they specifically targeted you to make money off of.

 

Its a mathematical equation that someone in corporate has done that the odds are likely that 2 people in a room (average) will either get the package and not drink its worth, or they will not get the package and pay "retail". The odds are in their favor that two people will NOT get the a true value out of the drink package. So they tailor it this way because for a lot of people, alcohol is a must for vacation.

 

They can get away with it because of all the griping they see here about it. People want to get a better value for alcohol. Carnival's demographics seem to revolve more around alcohol than other cruise line's i've seen. Or maybe its just there are more complaints about this package that make it seem so.

 

Now, think about it this way. Carnival's prices are lower than other cruise lines. That's one of their niches. However, if you combine drink packages and drinks together, is it truly lower? I haven't played with the numbers, but I suspect the price will come out to be fairly similar.

[sparks1093]

IThey'd be more worried about losing the money from those who were made to buy it and don't drink but a few a day.

 

That's probably exactly what they are worried about.

[sparks1093]

Its a money grab.

 

For those of you who said they will not get the package, did you drink? If so, then they made money off of you. If you drink less than the package was worth, they made money off of you. If you drank more than the value of the package, but not more than your partner who didn't drink, who would have been forced to get the package? Then they specifically targeted you to make money off of.

 

Its a mathematical equation that someone in corporate has done that the odds are likely that 2 people in a room (average) will either get the package and not drink its worth, or they will not get the package and pay "retail". The odds are in their favor that two people will NOT get the a true value out of the drink package. So they tailor it this way because for a lot of people, alcohol is a must for vacation.

 

They can get away with it because of all the griping they see here about it. People want to get a better value for alcohol. Carnival's demographics seem to revolve more around alcohol than other cruise line's i've seen. Or maybe its just there are more complaints about this package that make it seem so.

 

Now, think about it this way. Carnival's prices are lower than other cruise lines. That's one of their niches. However, if you combine drink packages and drinks together, is it truly lower? I haven't played with the numbers, but I suspect the price will come out to be fairly similar.

 

When I priced our cruise on Fascination I also priced the NCL Gem. Fascination was $800 less. We didn't get Cheers and we drank $500. I figure I saved $300.

[Jeffy294]

If Carnival DOES move away from the rule that everyone in the same cabin must purchase it, you can bet the price per day will rise significantly.

 

Possibly not. The price is gonna have to be in the same ballpark or it won't sell. People would just go back to pay as you go if they're gonna have to pay $600-$800 per person in drinks. At that rate the whole program starts to not even make sense.

[Havingfun2010]

Hello all,

 

Apologies if this has been covered, I did a search and could not find the answer.

I know policy is that everyone in the stateroom of legal drinking age MUST purchase the Cheers drink package. Is there ANY way around that without booking my own room? The other two folks I'm traveling with do not drink whatsoever therefore they have no interest in a drink package. I can definitely drink my $$ worth with the drink package and would hate to have to buy drinks one at a time because of this policy forcing everyone in the room to have to purchase the package. Thanks for any advice and help!

 

If you book another cruise line, you can plus, in many cases, you can find one about the same price with better services.

[originalgeek]

Its a money grab.

 

For those of you who said they will not get the package, did you drink? If so, then they made money off of you. If you drink less than the package was worth, they made money off of you. If you drank more than the value of the package, but not more than your partner who didn't drink, who would have been forced to get the package? Then they specifically targeted you to make money off of...

 

I don't care if they make money off me. I expect them to and, frankly, I'm glad they do make money off me and the people who buy Cheers. I imagine the money they make goes into offering more cruises and more refurbishments and new ships and I want them to keep offering all that stuff so I can keep cruising.

 

I don't even expect them to change their Cheers policy. I just wish I could participate. I mean, I can participate, but I'm not gonna at those prices. It would be fun to try some stuff I might not ordinarily try because I don't know if I like it but, in the end, I get what I do like as much as I want and I spend way less than Cheers would have cost me.

[Jeffy294]

There are others on this forum who don't think that 15 drinks are enough so Carnival is damned either way. Poor Fun Ship Freddy! He probably would drink himself to death if there wasn't that friggin' 15 max.

 

15 is probably double what I would need. And honestly, I don't know that the program works for me. I drink normally 4 per day, so logically I shouldn't even buy it. Again, that is a loss to them because if I buy the package I am committed to paying those drinks per day. The amount of profit Carnival makes on mixed drinks is astronomical. But this is how Carnival covers the overhead. And the cruise lines keep that data very secretive. I don't blame Carnival for doing this, I just wonder if its some lost cash there.

[Jeffy294]

And here is another thought. I wonder how many people that purchase the Cheers package would have actually drank 15 or more per day if they hadn't purchased the package. If not, Carnival is encouraging people to drink more to get their moneys worth. So over consumption of alcohol really isn't a factor. Unless they seen that limiting to 15 in itself is a deterrent to keep people from getting smashed. Even if a person drinks 15 drinks for the day, Carnival still comes out wayyyyy ahead. How much, we will never know.

[dvond]

I always hear that sharing is the reason but somehow the other lines still make money on their all you can drink packages where only 1 person can buy in a room.

 

I buy it on other lines but never on Carnival until that changes as wife does not drink

[42rob22]

Ok, I realized something after reading this thread. I have a family cruise coming up in July. Three kids and two adults. Rather than being cramped in one cabin, we booked adjoining cabins. Since we were told we MUST have one adult per cabin, I am in one cabin with my son and my wife and two daughters in the other. Two cabins, two booking numbers, one adult in each cabin. What is stopping me from getting the cheers program just for me and not my wife? Did I just crack the code?

[originalgeek]

Ok, I realized something after reading this thread. I have a family cruise coming up in July. Three kids and two adults. Rather than being cramped in one cabin, we booked adjoining cabins. Since we were told we MUST have one adult per cabin, I am in one cabin with my son and my wife and two daughters in the other. Two cabins, two booking numbers, one adult in each cabin. What is stopping me from getting the cheers program just for me and not my wife? Did I just crack the code?

 

Many people do that when they have two cabins booked. Sometimes even two couples - they'll book the non-drinkers in one room, the drinkers in the other get two cheers packages and then sleep wherever the current takes them. (Generally, back to their partner's beds).

[firemanbobswife]

Ok, I realized something after reading this thread. I have a family cruise coming up in July. Three kids and two adults. Rather than being cramped in one cabin, we booked adjoining cabins. Since we were told we MUST have one adult per cabin, I am in one cabin with my son and my wife and two daughters in the other. Two cabins, two booking numbers, one adult in each cabin. What is stopping me from getting the cheers program just for me and not my wife? Did I just crack the code?

 

 

There is nothing stopping from you. It's perfectly legal and has been discussed many, many times on here. People do it everyday.

[tallnthensome]

Don't kid yourselves, if only on person had to buy a drink package in a cabin there would be plenty of people trying to sneak one drink after another to their spouses and whoever else was in their cabin/group. Good part of why there's a 15 drink max I would guess as well.

[ryano]

Don't kid yourselves, if only on person had to buy a drink package in a cabin there would be plenty of people trying to sneak one drink after another to their spouses and whoever else was in their cabin/group. Good part of why there's a 15 drink max I would guess as well.

 

Which begs the question, since there IS a 15 drink limit, why does Carnival care who consumes those 15 drinks? :confused: Other cruiselines have figured out that they dont have to make every adult in the cabin buy a package nor do they need a limit on drinks served per day and they can still make a ton of money from the packages. Carnival hasnt figured this out simply because they dont want to. :)

Edited January 30, 2017 by ryano

[Tyme2Cruise]

Agreed. I think they ALL offer drink packages for the sole purpose of making money and while I have a limited Carnival experience, I really dont think Carnivals demographic differs all that much than the other cruiseline I have frequented in the past :)

 

We have cruised Princess and Holland America the past two years. The demographic definitely is different. Both offer single drink programs as well. I agree that Carnival will more than likely never change the Cheers program; too many cheaters.

[RTRMom]

Yes..it is about sharing, but it is more about money. They bank on the people that buy the package and only drink 4-5 a day. Carnival makes money off that person. I am sure they have plenty of people that don't drink enough on the program. This is why they still have it.

[Nic6318]

Which begs the question, since there IS a 15 drink limit, why does Carnival care who consumes those 15 drinks? :confused: Other cruiselines have figured out that they dont have to make every adult in the cabin buy a package nor do they need a limit on drinks served per day and they can still make a ton of money from the packages. Carnival hasnt figured this out simply because they dont want to. :)

 

Hi Ryano

 

As you say there is a 15 drink daily limit, but what you seem to be ignoring is that they are not selling you a package of 15 drinks a day. You (one person) is allowed to order 15 drinks, they are anticipating some people won't do that every day. So it would be apparent that you as well as many others would feel justified to share if they allowed only one person in a cabin to make the purchase even though that is not their intent. That is why they will not change.

 

When you suggest that they could/should because other cruise line do is ignoring that other cruise line have their own pricing models. Many of those other cruise lines offer different drink packages as perks...Carnival doesn't. Do you think they should do that too? We are given many options in choosing our cruises. If an alcohol package is important to you, it's easy to price it in and see if another cruise line better suits your needs. As a consumer it is your job to find the best product for your requirements and if it isn't with Carnival, don't give them your money anymore.

 

hope this help

[originalgeek]

Hi Ryano

 

As you say there is a 15 drink daily limit, but what you seem to be ignoring is that they are not selling you a package of 15 drinks a day. You (one person) is allowed to order 15 drinks, they are anticipating some people won't do that every day. So it would be apparent that you as well as many others would feel justified to share if they allowed only one person in a cabin to make the purchase even though that is not their intent. That is why they will not change.

 

 

 

They absolutely are trying to sell me 15 drinks a day. Whether I drink them all or not is irrelevant. They would not sell me a 15 drink limit if they were losing money on me using it all up. Of course, they make MORE money if I don't use them all but there just isn't much sense in selling a package and _hoping_ the buyer doesn't use it all in order for it to be profitable.

 

Remember, they aren't paying retail for the drinks but we are.

[john91498]

Only way I got it to work was to have myself and my son in 1 room and my wife and daughter in another room. After the cruise started, we swapped rooms.

[FloridaGram]

Well, the cruise lines that do not require this are obviously making money because most if not all went that direction. It is also likely Carnival is losing money. They have already lost at least $800 from two people on this thread buy not allowing it. Now, the remaining question is how many people would only buy one package and attempt to share, in such case they would lose some money. Personally, I think limiting the amount of drinks under this package would assist in this. I'm not holding my breath waiting on this to happen with Carnival, they're always the very last to even consider such changes.[/quote

 

You know the thing that amazes me about this? If there is a 15 limit to the drinks it is all the more reason to just let one person in the cabin get it. Once the 15 is gone it is over so why do they care who drinks it? Other lines with no limit don't require all to get it. It seems they SHOULD make all get it to avoid unlimited sharing!

 

Does Carnival make you prepay the gratuities on the 15 drinks or do you pay for the tip as you go? I know NCL makes you prepay on the value of the package,

[sparks1093]

 

You know the thing that amazes me about this? If there is a 15 limit to the drinks it is all the more reason to just let one person in the cabin get it. Once the 15 is gone it is over so why do they care who drinks it? Other lines with no limit don't require all to get it. It seems they SHOULD make all get it to avoid unlimited sharing!

 

Does Carnival make you prepay the gratuities on the 15 drinks or do you pay for the tip as you go? I know NCL makes you prepay on the value of the package,

 

Let's put it this way- DW and I each drink 7 drinks a day. We each have to buy the Cheers package and as a result pay $49.95 per day each plus tip. CCL changes the rules and allows only one of us to buy the package, so we do and each of us drinks our 7 drinks a day, paying $49.95 plus tip for one person. In neither case do we consume 15 drinks a day but obviously CCL makes more in the first example

[Jeffy294]

Let's put it this way- DW and I each drink 7 drinks a day. We each have to buy the Cheers package and as a result pay $49.95 per day each plus tip. CCL changes the rules and allows only one of us to buy the package, so we do and each of us drinks our 7 drinks a day, paying $49.95 plus tip for one person. In neither case do we consume 15 drinks a day but obviously CCL makes more in the first example

 

I don't think anyone is denying this? We get it. But somehow, other cruise lines are still making a great profit without this ristriction. It's possible that the statistics are are different than what we think. I don't think NCL would be selling this package to individuals if they weren't making profit and not having a problem with sharing.

[winddawn]

Carnival doesn't even let really pregnant women off the hook. Everyone 21+ in the cabin must purchase Cheers if one purchases Cheers.

[AdGuyMG]

We have cruised Princess and Holland America the past two years. The demographic definitely is different. Both offer single drink programs as well. I agree that Carnival will more than likely never change the Cheers program; too many cheaters.

 

Per Cruise Critic:

http://www.cruisecritic.com/articles.cfm?ID=1470

 

Princess Cruise's package costs $56.35 per day, per day plus a 15-percent gratuity, and includes all drinks up to $10.

Kind of stinks for those who like top shelf brands.

 

Holland America's Signature Beverage package allows 15 beverages a day -- Each drink must cost less than $8. If one passenger in a cabin opts for the package, anyone who is 21-plus years old in the same cabin is required to purchase it as well... Different demographic.. Too many cheaters.

 

Other "cheater beater" cruise lines: MSC and Costa. All in the cabin have to purchase. Same demographic as Carnival?

[Shaded Lady]

Look, until they figure out a way to prevent "sharing" with say your spouse or other people in your cabin (or a person of age person sharing with an underage person), they will not change the cheers program.

 

How do other cruiselines prevent sharing? Just wondering...