Question for legit drinkers: Is Cheers worth it?

[luckybecky]

Seems like the consensus is YES, Cheers is worth it, unless you are just a very light drinker. Nobody should be trying to force themselves to drink more than they want just to feel that they got their money's worth. And it wouldn't be worth it if one person in the cabin is a nondrinker or very light drinker. But for most others, I think it is worth it.

 

As others have pointed out, the cost of buying drinks can add up fast! A couple of coffees in the morning, a few sodas or couple of bottles of water throughout the day, milkshake after lunch, maybe a tropical drink by the pool or a pre dinner cocktail, couple of glasses of wine with dinner, nightcap in the casino -- all of this adds up fast!

 

I wouldn't drink all that in a typical day at home, but I'm not at home! I'm on a cruise ship! :D

 

There are lots of tips here on CC about how to get the most bang for your buck. For example, take advantage of the casino coupon. If you get a classic cocktail at most bars, you get a match play coupon for the casino valued at $5. (I haven't tried that one before, read about it here and looking forward to trying it.) Or, order your favorite frozen tropical concoction, wait 5 minutes, then order a shot of your favorite liquor to spike the cocktail (as the frozen drinks can be weak).

 

There are lots of other tips to get your money's worth out of the package.

 

Enjoy!

:wine-glass::cocktail::tropical-drink::beer-mug:

[Jerseygirl1416]

Seems like the consensus is YES, Cheers is worth it, unless you are just a very light drinker. Nobody should be trying to force themselves to drink more than they want just to feel that they got their money's worth. And it wouldn't be worth it if one person in the cabin is a nondrinker or very light drinker. But for most others, I think it is worth it.

 

As others have pointed out, the cost of buying drinks can add up fast! A couple of coffees in the morning, a few sodas or couple of bottles of water throughout the day, milkshake after lunch, maybe a tropical drink by the pool or a pre dinner cocktail, couple of glasses of wine with dinner, nightcap in the casino -- all of this adds up fast!

 

I wouldn't drink all that in a typical day at home, but I'm not at home! I'm on a cruise ship! :D

 

There are lots of tips here on CC about how to get the most bang for your buck. For example, take advantage of the casino coupon. If you get a classic cocktail at most bars, you get a match play coupon for the casino valued at $5. (I haven't tried that one before, read about it here and looking forward to trying it.) Or, order your favorite frozen tropical concoction, wait 5 minutes, then order a shot of your favorite liquor to spike the cocktail (as the frozen drinks can be weak).

 

There are lots of other tips to get your money's worth out of the package.

 

Enjoy!

:wine-glass::cocktail::tropical-drink::beer-mug:

 

Or you can just preorder water to your cabin for .40 a bottle and drink what you want when you want and not worry if you’re drinking $840 in a week. You can go hard the first couple days and then recoup for a couple days if you want. You can go off the ship at ports without worrying about bringing opened or unopened beers, stashed waters, Powerade or whatever with you in coolers and lugging all that around with you. You can relax in beautiful tropical beach clubs and pay for what you want to drink and stay as long as you want because you don’t have to worry about getting back on board to drink more so you can “break even.” You’re on vacation.....relax!

[SNJCruisers]

We bought it last cruise. Got our moneys worth. If you have a lot of port stops I probably would pass.

Why would port stops make you want to pass on it unless you're a 100% beer drinker? If you're back on board by 500 PM and crash at 1100PM, that gives you six hours to break even. Two at happy hour, one with dinner and two post dinner and you're ahead of the game with only five drinks as long as you're smart and drink the good stuff at the Alchemy Bar. A few bottles of water, large San Pellegrino with dinner, double espresso with dessert, maybe Baileys tossed in it as well. I understand if your talking 5.95 beers to reach your number, but you have to know how to get value, and yes, it can be done on port days even though many posters on here use it as an excuse not to get Cheers.

[Jerseygirl1416]

Why would port stops make you want to pass on it unless you're a 100% beer drinker? If you're back on board by 500 PM and crash at 1100PM, that gives you six hours to break even. Two at happy hour, one with dinner and two post dinner and you're ahead of the game with only five drinks as long as you're smart and drink the good stuff at the Alchemy Bar. A few bottles of water, large San Pellegrino with dinner, double espresso with dessert, maybe Baileys tossed in it as well. I understand if your talking 5.95 beers to reach your number, but you have to know how to get value, and yes, it can be done on port days even though many posters on here use it as an excuse not to get Cheers.

 

Most people drink out on port stops and after drinking and being in the sun and water for 7 something hours don’t want or need to continue to keep drinking once they’re back on board. It seems like some with Cheers don’t drink off ship so they make sure they’re getting they’re monies worth on ship. That’s not my idea of how to vacation. YMMV.

[SNJCruisers]

Most people drink out on port stops and after drinking and being in the sun and water for 7 something hours don’t want or need to continue to keep drinking once they’re back on board. It seems like some with Cheers don’t drink off ship so they make sure they’re getting they’re monies worth on ship. That’s not my idea of how to vacation. YMMV.

You're correct in that my mileage may vary since I primarily cruise for the ship these days since I have cruised the Caribbean 27 times and have been to a high percentage of the port options and have done my share of the sun and water for over 30 years. It's obvious that Cheers does not work for you, while many others have the opposite feeling. The only time I primarily drink is when I am on vacation, so I'll cruise with a line that has an included package such as Celebrity or Norwegian and when cruising on Carnival, it'll be enjoying Cheers primarily at the Alchemy Bar. :cocktail::whiskey-glass:

[mdsgu]

Most people drink out on port stops and after drinking and being in the sun and water for 7 something hours don’t want or need to continue to keep drinking once they’re back on board. It seems like some with Cheers don’t drink off ship so they make sure they’re getting they’re monies worth on ship. That’s not my idea of how to vacation. YMMV.

 

If you have been drinking and out in the sun in port, Cheers will still come in handy -- it covers water and Powerade to help you rehydrate (and recover) once you are back on board. Assuming you didn't go completely overboard -- pun intended -- you might be ready for a few cocktails at the late-night comedy show!

[nealstuber]

Most people drink out on port stops and after drinking and being in the sun and water for 7 something hours don’t want or need to continue to keep drinking once they’re back on board. It seems like some with Cheers don’t drink off ship so they make sure they’re getting they’re monies worth on ship. That’s not my idea of how to vacation. YMMV.

 

 

 

We usually do an all inclusive in the ports in addition to getting a package on board. We usually get back to the pier an hour or so early (safety margin) and sometimes it looks like it might be fun to enjoy a beer or two while looking at the ship from the pier.

 

We usually don’t because it seems silly to pay even a few bucks for a beer when it’s available to us at no extra cost at two other places. But sometimes we say “big deal” and do it anyway (in costa maya at the swim up bar especially).

 

 

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[Joebucks]

Or you can just preorder water to your cabin for .40 a bottle and drink what you want when you want and not worry if you’re drinking $840 in a week. You can go hard the first couple days and then recoup for a couple days if you want. You can go off the ship at ports without worrying about bringing opened or unopened beers, stashed waters, Powerade or whatever with you in coolers and lugging all that around with you. You can relax in beautiful tropical beach clubs and pay for what you want to drink and stay as long as you want because you don’t have to worry about getting back on board to drink more so you can “break even.” You’re on vacation.....relax!

 

Pretty much. If people want to make a case for cheers, please for the love of god stop bringing up bottled water and powerade.

[luckybecky]

Pretty much. If people want to make a case for cheers, please for the love of god stop bringing up bottled water and powerade.

 

Why? Those are included in the package, plus soda and coffee. If you are trying to figure out if Cheers will be worth it for you -- which is explicitly the question of this thread -- then you should take all these into consideration.

[travel_wendi]

Well, we are I guess.... legit drinkers:) I am wondering if we can still order champagne and/or buckets of beer either to our room, poolside or in the dining room. Is this allowed with being on the cheers program? Does it count toward out 15 drinks? I have literally called Carnival 3 times tonight and have gotten 3 different answers....lol. Carnival Imagination 3 day Ensenada cruise.Thank you!!

[SNJCruisers]

Well, we are I guess.... legit drinkers:) I am wondering if we can still order champagne and/or buckets of beer either to our room, poolside or in the dining room. Is this allowed with being on the cheers program? Does it count toward out 15 drinks? I have literally called Carnival 3 times tonight and have gotten 3 different answers....lol. Carnival Imagination 3 day Ensenada cruise.Thank you!!

Buckets of beer are not included in Cheers, you need to get your beers individually. But you could order a beer, wait five minutes

and order another and with the second one get a bucket with ice to keep it next to you poolside to avoid walking back to the bar or make it 3 stops to take it back to your cabin. Bottles of wine or champagne can be ordered and paid for and will not count towards your 15, but you could order champagne individually, such as the 20.00 glass at the Steakhouse and those would count towards your 15.

[blizzrd]

Thanks

[luckybecky]

Well, we are I guess.... legit drinkers:) I am wondering if we can still order champagne and/or buckets of beer either to our room, poolside or in the dining room. Is this allowed with being on the cheers program? Does it count toward out 15 drinks? I have literally called Carnival 3 times tonight and have gotten 3 different answers....lol. Carnival Imagination 3 day Ensenada cruise.Thank you!!

 

 

From the Carnival website:

 

Beverages excluded from the program are:

• Beverages promoted and sold in souvenir glasses
  
• Bottles of liquor
  
• Beverages offered at the gangway
  
• Beverages offered through room service, mini bars and/or other in-stateroom beverage programs
  
• Sharing cocktails, floaters, pitchers, tubes and buckets
  
• Beverages offered through enomatic wine machines and self-serve beer stations
  
• Freshly squeezed orange juice served in the Havana Bar
  
• All other beverage-related programs including merchandise, cigars and cigarettes
  
• Food items
  

 

Not sure why Carnival is giving you different answers on this. Pitchers and buckets are not included in the Cheers program. I suppose you can order them, but you will be charged full price. Likewise, anything ordered for your room is not included. Cheers includes only single serve beverages, so bottles of wine or champagne are not included, but you do get a 25% discount when ordering them if you have Cheers.

[cherbear4000]

My husband and I recently tried Cheers for the first time. We have never, ever come close to having a bar bill the amount of the Cheers package, but we were always cost conscious. This time, we decided to splurge on the package. We loved it. We came nowhere near the 15 drinks per day limit. We may have had 5 or 6 drinks each in a day tops, but we loved being able to try new drinks and not worrying about wasting our money if we didn't like them. We really got our money's worth with the non-alcoholic drinks included. We were at the coffee shop constantly getting specialty coffees and milkshakes. We also got a lot of bottled water and energy drinks.

[Gamecock_Cruiser]

Possibly. We got it the last two cruises. The first cruise, I certainly came out ahead. This last cruise, I may have broke even. Yes, I do feel that I may have made myself drink more just to get my monies worth.

[pacruise804]

My husband and I are "legit drinkers" (haha love that) plus we like a mocha every morning of a vacation, so we go back and forth with this decision every cruise. It usually comes down to the particular itinerary and how much time we plan to spend off the ship in port. Most often, we choose to mentally "set aside" the amount that Cheers WOULD have cost and just pay as we go on as much or as little as we're in the mood to drink. Once in a while we go over, but the vast majority of the time we come in under what we would have spent on Cheers.

 

I'm probably in the minority, but I actually feel a greater sense of freedom paying a la carte as opposed to paying in advance for the package. From all the threads I've read on this topic, the value of Cheers seems to come down to one's personality just as much as it does beverage intake.

 

I agree with you, but we are probably in the minority too. We are moderate drinkers and can go heavy a day or two, but often want things that aren't on the list (I want a sampler all at once, not over 15-20 minutes and have 4 full sized drinks to be able to compare them). We also have days that we just don't feel like drinking much. The nice thing with just setting the money aside is that anything left over is ours to keep:D

 

Part of the freedom for me is to drink or not drink solely based on my mood and not worrying about if I'm drinking enough. If we bought Cheers I suspect I would drink more and my body wouldn't agree with the sugar as much as the alcohol. We also wouldn't be as likely to try local drinks in port if we already had so much invested on the ship.

 

We bought Cheers on our last cruise because we were sailing with a group of friends who were all buying the package. I did not want to worry about our bar tab and it was just simpler to buy it ahead of time. We are drinkers, less than some, more than others. :D

 

I made a conscious effort to not try and drink to recoup value. Even so, I was definitely drinking somewhat more than normal for me on a cruise- probably because we were drinking with our friends. We had four port days on a seven day cruise. In port I drank less than normal because I was going to use the package. I never had a major hangover, but I should have.

 

What I learned is that although I CAN break even or better on any given day, I cannot keep that pace up for 7 days in a row without feeling miserable and bloated. :cool: One day I drank next to nothing, and I still felt like I was sweating booze out of my system on my first day back at work.

 

We enjoyed it and are glad we had it the last trip, but will not purchase it on our next trip.

 

This sounds like us from our NCL trip where it was "included." We've also had cruises with rough seas where ginger ale was more appealing than booze.

[trpschick]

Almost positive HMC is not included with cheers. On Carnival the beverages that are included are non-bottled water, coffee,tea,punch and milk. I purchase cheers For a few reasons. First I'm on a cruise and I'm indulging. I also like my specialty coffees, bottled water and soda which are not included in the price of the cruise. Things add up. When purchase cheers on a 7 day cruise it cost $418 (with 15% gratuity added) about $60 a day. For me it's a bargain for others it not. And I don't get the bill at the end of the cruise. I like the cheers program and will continue to purchase it. And there's also the soda program for non drinkers.

 

We always get it, when they included the specialty coffee's, bottled water, soda, energy drinks and just about any high-end liquor up to $50 per drink, that's a bargain! I am a big coffee drinker and do at least 3-4 coffees a day. We also liked trying some of those really cool drinks at the Alchemy bar and the fact that you don't have to keep checking your sail and sign card is so worth it. Drinks add up and I like the convenience of not having to pay attention to how much I am spending on them! The last cruise we did, we had an onboard credit of $100 and did the Italian Rest and Steakhouse and maybe spent an additional $150 - $200 above that after it was all said and done. We got some photos etc and had a GREAT time on our 8 day cruise!

[trpschick]

This calculator makes me feel in need of an intervention...:o:o

 

:'):')

From your lips to my ears!

[Naomi John]

I have a reason for getting Cheers, but if I post it, someone at Carnival might see it. I will say I do not have to purchase any other drink package.

[watermelonqueen99]

Why? Those are included in the package, plus soda and coffee. If you are trying to figure out if Cheers will be worth it for you -- which is explicitly the question of this thread -- then you should take all these into consideration.

 

Exactly!

[MommyAJ6]

I have a reason for getting Cheers, but if I post it, someone at Carnival might see it. I will say I do not have to purchase any other drink package.

I wish we could private message on here, I'm very curious what that means. Cheers is all inclusive so what other drink package would you need?

[pacruise804]

I wish we could private message on here, I'm very curious what that means. Cheers is all inclusive so what other drink package would you need?

 

Not saying it is the case this time, but my guess based on other posts I've seen is an adult gets it and shares with their children. The adult gets any drinks they want and also order drinks for any child(ren) traveling with them. This is not actually allowed since Carnival prohibits sharing, but could be why no other package is 'needed.'

 

I do wish Carnival offered a soda & more type package like Princess. The Bubbles package is very limiting and I could see many passengers wanting non-alcoholic drinks that aren't soda or juice. I could see some package sharing being eliminated if they offered this (based on what I've read on these boards).

[BlazinSunsets]

Yes for a legit drinker it is worth it. I came very close to the 15 limit everyday last time I got it and also had my wife order me stuff on some days since she would only get like 5-6 drinks in a day. Side note on that tho is I have never had a hangover in my life, I'm up and ready to go with 6-7 hours of sleep even if I get pretty drunk. But anyways I think it is always worth it to me. If I didn't have Cheers than I wouldn't be able to enjoy drinking as I always add it up and would stick to the cheaper beers. With cheers I can experiment with different stuff or get the cocktails, which are really good, and not worry about the bill because I've already paid for it.

[MommyAJ6]

Not saying it is the case this time, but my guess based on other posts I've seen is an adult gets it and shares with their children. The adult gets any drinks they want and also order drinks for any child(ren) traveling with them. This is not actually allowed since Carnival prohibits sharing, but could be why no other package is 'needed.'

 

I do wish Carnival offered a soda & more type package like Princess. The Bubbles package is very limiting and I could see many passengers wanting non-alcoholic drinks that aren't soda or juice. I could see some package sharing being eliminated if they offered this (based on what I've read on these boards).

Ohhhhhh ok, I was going to get the kids Bottomless Bubbles until I realized two things, one that it didn't include bottled water and the second that it's not fountain drinks like advertised, it's warm cans.