Trying to justify Cheers Program. Can someone post current prices of drinks w/tips

[hrmkr]

I understand that there is a 5 minute wait between drinks. Can you ask the bartender to make you 2 of the same drink and then they can ring them up 5 minutes apart. That way, the bartender can just save time?

[hrmkr]

No, you can't get pitchers and yards or tubes of beer. Not even a floater, which makes zero sense to me. You just need to wait 5 minutes and add an extra full shot of rum to your frozen drink.

The best bang for your buck though is the Alchemy Bar, where the mixologists put together some great concoctions for you to consume using fresh ingredients, not the syrupy sugar crap that most of the bars use.

 

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Thanks, I just found the info on the Carnival Cheers Program page. I should have gone there first before posting here. Too lazy I guess.:)

 

I hope on the Elation after it goes through the upgrade it gets the Alchemy bar. The bad part is that it is not always open and is not right at the pool on sea days.

[coevan]

I understand that there is a 5 minute wait between drinks. Can you ask the bartender to make you 2 of the same drink and then they can ring them up 5 minutes apart. That way, the bartender can just save time?

 

 

No, and this makes no sense at all, save time? That's all they do is pour drinks.

[Ottawa_Cruiser]

Do you pay for the Cheers program on embarkation day/debarkation day? On the Carnival site, it indicates it's purchased for each day of your cruise, but on debarkation day, you're usually off the ship before 9am. To me, that day would be a waste. If we do purchase it, we will buy it in advance, but I'm curious on an 8 night cruise how many days you'd pay. Thanks!

[hrmkr]

Wouldn't it be faster to make 2 of the same drink at the same time instead of 1 at a time? You have the bottles in your hand pouring to side by side glasses. Have you seen the TV show Bar Rescue? They always say to make multiples of the same drink to save time. They just line up the glasses and pour the same liquor from glass to glass down the row.

 

just thought it would make the bartenders life a little easier. Oh well, it was a thought.

[SouthCaribbean2017]

If you have 5 alcoholic beverages a day it pays for itself. Easy!

[SouthCaribbean2017]

Do you pay for the Cheers program on embarkation day/debarkation day? On the Carnival site, it indicates it's purchased for each day of your cruise, but on debarkation day, you're usually off the ship before 9am. To me, that day would be a waste. If we do purchase it, we will buy it in advance, but I'm curious on an 8 night cruise how many days you'd pay. Thanks!

 

If I recall correctly, a cruise "day" for the program is 15 drinks from 6am -> 6am.

 

You can either pay for it in advance for $49.99/day, or pay for it on the cruise for $55/day. You can buy it on day 1, or on day 2.

[Saint Greg]

Just off the Inspiration last week and wore this bar out

 

 

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Red's Rum Treasure is pretty tasty. I've also been known to enjoy a frog's pint with my guys burger.

[SNJCruisers]

Thanks, I just found the info on the Carnival Cheers Program page. I should have gone there first before posting here. Too lazy I guess.:)

 

I hope on the Elation after it goes through the upgrade it gets the Alchemy bar. The bad part is that it is not always open and is not right at the pool on sea days.

 

The Alchemy Bar is usually open from like 500-1200.

 

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[Morning glory]

Cruising on the Fascination this summer with 6 ports and 1 sea day. I'm trying, but finding it hard, to justify the Cheers program with this itinerary. Plus, no Alchemy bar!

Instead, I think we might Cruise the Vineyards.

 

 

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[Purvis1231]

Personally I would never buy Cheers since we may have a few drinks on the entire cruise but if you are person who plans to drink a good bit everyday and can justify (or afford) paying $115.00 a day for two people then by all means purchase Cheers. It will give you the freedom to have a drink without worrying about the tab and it will give you the ability to try new drinks.

[SNJCruisers]

Cruising on the Fascination this summer with 6 ports and 1 sea day. I'm trying, but finding it hard, to justify the Cheers program with this itinerary. Plus, no Alchemy bar!

Instead, I think we might Cruise the Vineyards.

 

 

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If you're worried about your port days remember that you will be back on board by 400, so even if you're tired and go to bed at midnight, that gives you 8 hours of drinking. If you only have 4 ten dollar drinks over that time period, plus the non alcoholic stuff, you're even for the day. You get unlimited espresso based coffee drinks, either hot or cold. Plus energy drinks, bottled water, soda, juice, milkshakes and honest tea iced tea. Four drinks over 8 hours is easy. If you're really tired, it could be 2 during happy hour, 1 with dinner and 1 after dinner.

 

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[Kristi Williamson]

We've never considered cheers but you guys are convincing me.

 

Let me see if I'm understanding, though, because I thought it ONLY covered the 15 drinks:

 

It's basically 15 alcoholic drinks PLUS as many cokes, specialty coffees, bottled water, etc... as I want? Or no?

[Freckle53]

We've never considered cheers but you guys are convincing me.

 

Let me see if I'm understanding, though, because I thought it ONLY covered the 15 drinks:

 

It's basically 15 alcoholic drinks PLUS as many cokes, specialty coffees, bottled water, etc... as I want? Or no?

 

 

Correct, the only thing that counts towards the 15 limit are the alcoholic drinks. Unlimited everything else that is included.

[Kristi Williamson]

Correct, the only thing that counts towards the 15 limit are the alcoholic drinks. Unlimited everything else that is included.

 

 

Thank you!! That changes things a bit.

[Liljo22]

We've never considered cheers but you guys are convincing me.

 

Let me see if I'm understanding, though, because I thought it ONLY covered the 15 drinks:

 

It's basically 15 alcoholic drinks PLUS as many cokes, specialty coffees, bottled water, etc... as I want? Or no?

 

Yes that is correct. Someone in another thread mentioned that every time they ordered a drink they also ordered a bottled water. Good way to take full advantage of the program and stay hydrated!

[Freckle53]

Thank you!! That changes things a bit.

 

It certainly makes it easier to justify if you're on the fence! The addition of the bottled water, sports drinks, milkshakes!!, and specialty coffees adds a lot of ways to get your money worth aside from feeling like you need to slam down enough alcoholic drinks each day to even the cost out.

[SouthCaribbean2017]

Cruising on the Fascination this summer with 6 ports and 1 sea day. I'm trying, but finding it hard, to justify the Cheers program with this itinerary. Plus, no Alchemy bar!

Instead, I think we might Cruise the Vineyards.

 

 

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I'm doing the same ship/itinerary this summer too. Went with cheers...I know after the ports I can have enough drinks for the program to pay for itself, even if I don't come close to the limit.

[maryred]

Do you pay for the Cheers program on embarkation day/debarkation day? On the Carnival site, it indicates it's purchased for each day of your cruise, but on debarkation day, you're usually off the ship before 9am. To me, that day would be a waste. If we do purchase it, we will buy it in advance, but I'm curious on an 8 night cruise how many days you'd pay. Thanks!

 

You pay for the number of days the cruise is described for. Example 7 days Bahamas from Baltimore (Pride) actual has you on the ship for 8 days, 6 full days and 2 partials (embarkation & debarkation day).

Sun day 1 - embarkation starts at 1 pm depart at 5 pm

Mon day 2 - seaday

Tues day 3 - seaday

Wed day 4 - Cape Canaveral 7 am to 6 pm all aboard at 5:30 pm

Thus day 5 - Nassau 11 am to 8 pm all aboard at 7:30 pm

Fri day 6 - Freeport 7 am to 1:30 pm all aboard 1 pm

Sat day 7 - seaday

Sun day 8 - dock at 10 am debark before noon

[SNJCruisers]

Two other things to mention, one you no longer can wait until day two to purchase the program like it was in the past. You have to purchase it for the entire cruise. The only exceptions are those cruises that emanate from NY or Texas. These cruises do not allow you to purchase it on day one. If you do prepay to save the five dollars per day, you will only be charged for 6 days, assuming your cruise is a 7 day one.

Also, if you're cruising on the Sunshine, Vista or under construction Horizon, they all have The Shake Spot, which has alcohol infused shakes that are included in the program, but of course they do count as one of your fifteen.

https://www.carnival.com/~/media/Images/explore/dining/menus/shake-spot-menu.pdf

[hassellcastle]

Well I think mine and my wife's mind is made up. We're gonna do Cheers. We're only taking a 5 day cruise out of Galveston, TX. So we'll only be paying for Cheers for 4 days.

The convincing facts for me are. It's not a matter of drinking 15 drinks per day but knowing after 5 or so for the day..it's a cost savings. In addition to that, it's the piece of mind not wondering/worrying "my gawd what is our S&S balance up to from all of our drinkin'".

[Minkster1973]

Two other things to mention, one you no longer can wait until day two to purchase the program like it was in the past. You have to purchase it for the entire cruise. The only exceptions are those cruises that emanate from NY or Texas. These cruises do not allow you to purchase it on day one. If you do prepay to save the five dollars per day, you will only be charged for 6 days, assuming your cruise is a 7 day one.

Also, if you're cruising on the Sunshine, Vista or under construction Horizon, they all have The Shake Spot, which has alcohol infused shakes that are included in the program, but of course they do count as one of your fifteen.

https://www.carnival.com/~/media/Images/explore/dining/menus/shake-spot-menu.pdf

 

That is the major difference between my two Carnival cruises. My first cruise I did not get The Cheers Program and I obsessed about every single dime I spent. My second cruise I bought The Cheers Program and had a very relaxing week. I drank what I wanted and enjoyed my trip so much more for it.

 

I didn't know you could purchase it before the cruise last time, so I purchased Carnival Cash to cover the expense of The Cheers Program. It was nice knowing it was already paid for and my bill at the end of the cruise was just the little purchases I made throughout the week and what little I spent in the casino.

[jdemps]

I'm doing the same ship/itinerary this summer too. Went with cheers...I know after the ports I can have enough drinks for the program to pay for itself, even if I don't come close to the limit.

 

for us, the cheers pricing over the whole trip is a lot cheaper than ala carte drinks. We many not drink more than one or even none on one day but 10 the next. I wouldn't look at it as a per day number to hit but a number over the week.

 

Also, if you get the gift cards at a 10% discount and buy online before you go, the package is only $725 for two for 7 nights or $45 per day each. So, if we have 31 drinks each over 7 days, its all good and we can try all those yummy drinks without worrying about a final tab.

 

Whatever you decide, have a great trip!

[tropicaledrink]

That chart keeps getting posted and it's at least a couple of years out of date at this point.

 

Alchemy is now $10.95 + 15%, which I think comes to $12.44?

 

Alchemy was also open at 2pm on Sea Days on the Magic.

 

For us, we look at how many sea days there are, and how much we plan to be ashore. We didn't do the package in December because we only had two sea days, and had longs days planned in port for 3 out of 4 port days. We did do it in May because we had 3 sea days, and a port day we planned to stay on the ship. So the port day we were ashore a long time and only had two drinks on the ship didn't really really make a difference in the long run because we came out so far ahead on the other days. Although, I will say I do like the peace of mind and the convenience of having cheers. It's paid for and all I do is swipe my card and maybe add a tip :)

[Ottawa_Cruiser]

You pay for the number of days the cruise is described for. Example 7 days Bahamas from Baltimore (Pride) actual has you on the ship for 8 days, 6 full days and 2 partials (embarkation & debarkation day).

Sun day 1 - embarkation starts at 1 pm depart at 5 pm

Mon day 2 - seaday

Tues day 3 - seaday

Wed day 4 - Cape Canaveral 7 am to 6 pm all aboard at 5:30 pm

Thus day 5 - Nassau 11 am to 8 pm all aboard at 7:30 pm

Fri day 6 - Freeport 7 am to 1:30 pm all aboard 1 pm

Sat day 7 - seaday

Sun day 8 - dock at 10 am debark before noon

 

Thanks so much, this is helpful. I was once a firm no for Cheers and now I think I'm going to purchase it.