Anyone regret purchasing the Cheers program

[xostacylee]

38 minutes ago, thehappierhomemaker said:

Well, like I mentioned I like high-end wines and he always says it's okay to have nice things if you have the money for them, so I'm not sure what the point of that was. I find that I break even when on Cheers because I'm ordering pretty expensive drinks. Using Cheers allows me to budget for that and have it paid for ahead of time rather than having to waste time on vacation keeping track of my spending, which is what is important to me on a vacation.

 

I'm doing DR's plan too, and it's important to live life. Cash flowing the trip is the best way to go. We're planning on doing Cheers for the same peace of mind. AND we're cash flowing it ahead of time. So keep doing you girl! Don't let a downer who doesn't know anything about your life tell you what to plan :) 

[mapman_2004]

10 minutes ago, xostacylee said:

 

I'm doing DR's plan too, and it's important to live life. Cash flowing the trip is the best way to go. We're planning on doing Cheers for the same peace of mind. AND we're cash flowing it ahead of time. So keep doing you girl! Don't let a downer who doesn't know anything about your life tell you what to plan 🙂

 

You don't have to cash flow $940 and put it towards Cheers to have a good time still.  You could still cash flow $900, not go crazy trying to make Cheers worth it, and have money left over after.

[xostacylee]

10 minutes ago, mapman_2004 said:

 

You don't have to cash flow $940 and put it towards Cheers to have a good time still.  You could still cash flow $900, not go crazy trying to make Cheers worth it, and have money left over after.

 

To each their own - $900 is $900 for someone to do what they will.

 

My reply was more towards the person who was saying cash flowing/planning for Cheers was against Dave Ramsay's plan. 

[crewsweeper]

22 hours ago, xostacylee said:

 

I've attached an Excel grid that someone posted on this forum. Prices may not be 100% accurate but it also helps you judge if Cheers is worth it. Just adjust accordingly.

 

1505515654_CarnivalBeveragePackageEvaluator.xls

 

 

If you budget for Cheers before the trip (and pay for it), you don't have to worry about budgeting on the trip. That's the biggest reason we're thinking of getting it to be honest.

 

Thanks for the repost xostacylee.  Mods should make this a sticky. Something like:

 

"Want to know if Cheers is right for you, click here."

 

As long as price and drink updates by CC members are permitted when changed by Carnival, should keep these threads on Cheers down.

 

 

[xostacylee]

1 minute ago, crewsweeper said:

Thanks for the repost xostacylee.  Mods should make this a sticky. Something like:

 

"Want to know if Cheers is right for you, click here."

 

As long as price and drink updates by CC members are permitted when changed by Carnival, should keep these threads on Cheers down.

 

 

They really should - the Excel grid was a life saver!! 

[xostacylee]

33 minutes ago, xostacylee said:

 

To each their own - $900 is $900 for someone to do what they will.

 

My reply was more towards the person who was saying cash flowing/planning for Cheers was against Dave Ramsey's plan. 

 

[Can'tWait2SetSail]

20 hours ago, Joebucks said:

I've never regretted not getting it. This is coming from someone who can easily have 10+ drinks on a weekend night. It's beyond a silly investment for us. Most people would never spend $860 in a week on consumables like liquid. But to many, alcohol and an "all-inclusive feel" are worth top-dollar. It's just a different mindset. Apparently, the only time in life you can try a drink is with this offer. Also, the only way you can not "worry" about a bill is by ensuring it is massive. Yea, none of that makes sense for us either.

 You vacation your way, and we will vacation ours. We have cruised before they had the package and it was a sticker shock when we got the bill. Now we get Cheers, pay ahead of time and don't have to worry about it. We like to drink on vacation. We like to drink throughout the day and night. We like to drink a lot. We are on vacation. It works for us. We do not get falling down drunk, but a continual buzz is lovely. It obviously does not work for everyone, but you don't have to be so judgy about it. If it doesn't make sense for you, DON'T GET IT.

 

[DramaQueen22]

On 3/5/2019 at 2:18 PM, mapman_2004 said:

I'm not judging others, but man, I can't imagine the calorie and alcohol intake it takes to make Cheers worth your money.  I like to splurge a bit now and then, but no way can I drink 5-6 alcohol drinks a day for 6 days in a row.  I'm still feeling the effects of having 6 beers over 5 hours Saturday night.  Yeah, we could take advantage of the coffee drinks and water bottles, but I think we can still drink a lot over the cruise and still come nowhere near having Cheers make it worth it.  Yeah, I won't be buying water bottles 3 times a day, but I'll drink a ton of water from the fountains, and will refill bottles.  We'll bring on our bottles of wine and enjoy those too.

 

Just can't imagine we are going to rack up a $940.81 bar and coffee tab between the two of us.

Exactly why we don't do Cheers either.  DH and I maybe have 1-2 a day, and don't care much about the coffees etc.   Before our last cruise, I went online, found what the most expensive typical drink was in the various bars, then we budgeted according to that figure.  By the end of a 7 day trip, we'd spent about $250 on drinks.  We had what we wanted, and were good with that.

[DramaQueen22]

39 minutes ago, Can'tWait2SetSail said:

 You vacation your way, and we will vacation ours. We have cruised before they had the package and it was a sticker shock when we got the bill. Now we get Cheers, pay ahead of time and don't have to worry about it. We like to drink on vacation. We like to drink throughout the day and night. We like to drink a lot. We are on vacation. It works for us. We do not get falling down drunk, but a continual buzz is lovely. It obviously does not work for everyone, but you don't have to be so judgy about it. If it doesn't make sense for you, DON'T GET IT.

 

How is it "sticker shock" when you get the bill?  Every drink comes with a receipt, so anyone would at least have a general idea of how much they were spending.  Plus, you can easily check the balance on your s and s and know what and where $ was being spent.  I just don't understand how anyone can drink that much and NOT know how much they are spending overall.

[pacruise804]

On 3/5/2019 at 10:18 AM, l8cruiser said:

I am curious if anyone thought they made a mistake purchasing the Cheers program. I was thinking on port days , if we would be away too long to get our moneys worth. It would be nice to have mimosas in the morning along with special coffees. I would kick myself though if we didn’t drink enough to make it worthwhile. 

 

We've never gotten Cheers, but did take advantage of the perk on NCL and did the non-alcoholic package on Princess.  After doing those I found there is generally some type of "gotcha" where the cruise line (almost) always wins.  We are moderate drinkers (4-5 per day) and our beverage charges have been under $400 for 2 of us on our last 3 cruises (I think under $300, but don't have them in front of me to be positive) and that is drinking what we wanted when we wanted.  I don't drink coffee and DH is fine with the complimentary brew, we both are fine with ship's water vs. bottled, and don't do many milk shakes, etc.  Cheers clearly doesn't make sense for us.

 

If you are worried about breaking even, I suggest estimating how much you think you would drink and putting that amount (or even the full Cheers amount) on your account as cash (or gift card).  You should still be able to drink as much as you want, but get money back at the end.  I do get the appeal of no bill/all-inclusive but I would rather budget the $800+ for Cheers, apply it as cash, and get $400-500 back at the end of the cruise rather than buying Cheers and getting nothing back.

 

On 3/5/2019 at 10:31 AM, maryhou said:

Us too........... however we cruise in a few days and still can't decide to buy or not to buy . LOL . I love being able to drink whatever whenever we want......... decisions decisions

 

You can drink whatever, whenever with cash on your account the same as with Cheers - and you don't have the 5 minute limit or limits on types of drinks (buckets, fishbowls, private islands, etc).  I also don't feel bad splurging on local drinks at ports, while I've read some do limit in-port drinking since they want to save it for what they already paid for on the ship.

 

23 hours ago, dmet0225 said:

My only "regret" is that I'm the only one in our room who drinks alcohol, so I can't buy the Cheers package.  It's not so that I can get hammered every day, it's the ability to try multiple drinks that I otherwise wouldn't purchase.

If you think the two of you combined would spend more than the cost of Cheers, it still makes sense for both to get it (just because I don't drink milkshakes, bottled water, and specialty drinks doesn't mean your travel partner can't 😉).  If your partner doesn't drink any for cost items, just set aside the cost of Cheers for you as described above and enjoy trying the multiple drinks that you've already "paid" for and hopefully get some of your money back at the end.

 

22 hours ago, bdever said:

No regrets. I Brake even on non-alcoholic beverages alone, alcoholic drinks 🍹 are simply the icing on the cake. My son is my cruise partner and he buys the package to order drinks 🍹 for women he meets onboard while he sticks to mainly bottled water. 🙄

I'm curious - what are you drinking that you spend nearly $60 per day on n/a beverages?  Also, your son is risking getting his Cheers revoked (and possibly yours if both parties need to have it) by giving away his drinks.

 

20 hours ago, Joebucks said:

I've never regretted not getting it. This is coming from someone who can easily have 10+ drinks on a weekend night. It's beyond a silly investment for us. Most people would never spend $860 in a week on consumables like liquid. But to many, alcohol and an "all-inclusive feel" are worth top-dollar. It's just a different mindset. Apparently, the only time in life you can try a drink is with this offer. Also, the only way you can not "worry" about a bill is by ensuring it is massive. Yea, none of that makes sense for us either.

 

I don't think many consider a cruise vacation to be an investment, and hopefully not a drink package.  Probably not most, but I do think there are many who spend that much on liquid consumables for whom Cheers is a good value for them.  Even spending a little more (everyone will have a different number for "little") for the convenience of not signing a bill or thinking about the drinks has a value for some as peace of mind.  While I wouldn't spend that much on drinks, it doesn't matter to me how others spend their money.  If asked though, I will give my opinion and advice.  I am with you about not understanding why you can only try different drinks with the package, but people who aren't me don't usually think like me 😉 

 

16 hours ago, BENHANDEL said:

Not regret, per se. We can justify that we got our moneys with. We can justify that it was nice to try new things without having to worry about it. BUT we would have been just as happy with a couple bottles of wine brought on board and drinking beer. And we were so focused on "getting our moneys worth" that we stood in lines and made trips back to our room that we otherwise would not have. I think we had many hours wasted on the extra lines and trips back to our room. When we left, we had 6 untouched bottles of beer to share with the steward.

 

First 2 days were great. But light-home drinkers and moderate-vacay drinkers could not keep up the pace. Next family trip is a 7 day and we do not plan on getting cheers. 

 

This is something I haven't seen addressed before - the extra time spent to "maximize" the plan.  I think if we ever took a really short cruise (maybe 3/4 B2B) we might try Cheers for the first leg, but I agree not for a full cruise.

[Can'tWait2SetSail]

5 minutes ago, DramaQueen22 said:

How is it "sticker shock" when you get the bill?  Every drink comes with a receipt, so anyone would at least have a general idea of how much they were spending.  Plus, you can easily check the balance on your s and s and know what and where $ was being spent.  I just don't understand how anyone can drink that much and NOT know how much they are spending overall.

Seriously? When I am cruising, I do not go back to my cabin everynight and add up everything I have spent, at least I don't want to have to do that. We don't shop in the stores on ship, we don't buy pictures. We do gamble, and I bring a set amount of money each day for that. Having Cheers means I have already spent the money on my drinks and I don't have to worry about it tallying it up. Plus we do drink enough drinks, plus soda, water and coffee drinks that we make out with cheers. So for us it is worth it and we have never regretted getting it. 

[Can'tWait2SetSail]

The original post on this thread was asking if anyone regretted getting cheers, yet everyone seems to need to put their two cents in on how Cheers is not for them. Fine, great, don't get it. If you never got it, you can't really answer the original question now can you?

[DramaQueen22]

6 minutes ago, Can'tWait2SetSail said:

Seriously? When I am cruising, I do not go back to my cabin everynight and add up everything I have spent, at least I don't want to have to do that. We don't shop in the stores on ship, we don't buy pictures. We do gamble, and I bring a set amount of money each day for that. Having Cheers means I have already spent the money on my drinks and I don't have to worry about it tallying it up. Plus we do drink enough drinks, plus soda, water and coffee drinks that we make out with cheers. So for us it is worth it and we have never regretted getting it. 

No need to jump on me.  I simply was asking specifically about your earlier "sticker shock" comment and that's it.  I am someone who does keep track of what we spend each day so that we can stay within our budget, but if that's not what you do, no issues.  

[Can'tWait2SetSail]

2 minutes ago, DramaQueen22 said:

No need to jump on me.  I simply was asking specifically about your earlier "sticker shock" comment and that's it.  I am someone who does keep track of what we spend each day so that we can stay within our budget, but if that's not what you do, no issues.  

Sorry if you feel I was "jumping" on you. I was just reacting to feeling like you were "jumping" on me.

[DramaQueen22]

5 minutes ago, Can'tWait2SetSail said:

Sorry if you feel I was "jumping" on you. I was just reacting to feeling like you were "jumping" on me.

It's all good!

[pacruise804]

34 minutes ago, Can'tWait2SetSail said:

The original post on this thread was asking if anyone regretted getting cheers, yet everyone seems to need to put their two cents in on how Cheers is not for them. Fine, great, don't get it. If you never got it, you can't really answer the original question now can you?

 

The original poster also stated in post 1 they were concerned if it would be worth it.  While I haven't gotten Cheers I have gotten other packages and felt they weren't worth it for me. 

 

Sometimes there is a question behind the original question, and that is what I was addressing.  I can't answer if I regretted getting Cheers since we didn't purchase it, but I can offer input of other options for those who are unsure.

 

To answer if I regret taking the NCL perk or purchasing the soda & more Princess package - I don't.  NCL was an inexpensive way to learn that alcohol packages aren't for us at the level we drink.  The Princess package was an inexpensive way to learn that even looking at all the details, there are things you won't know until you are on the ship and what seems like a no-brainer deal isn't always.

 

Many cruisers can find value in Cheers while many can save money using a different approach.  Sometimes they even overlap 😉 Either way, I like to have as much information as possible and try to provide insight for others when I think it might help.

[dmet0225]

Amazing how some people tell others how they should spend their money, or at least pass judgment on how they spend their money, be it spending more for a balcony, paying for FTTF or buying the Cheers package.   🙄

[coevan]

1 hour ago, Can'tWait2SetSail said:

I just don't understand how anyone can drink that much and NOT know how much they are spending overall.

 

 

maybe because they drank so much, they don't know how much they are spending

[Can'tWait2SetSail]

2 hours ago, DramaQueen22 said:

It's all good!

Yes! Peace!

[Emmabelle]

I just booked a 4 nighter for July and the first question my husband asked even before what are the ports, was “we’re getting the drink package right?”

 

It’s the one thing that he did not enjoy about DCL.  He likes the freedom and the fact that I don’t hassle him about every drink.  He also loves the Alchemy Bar and experimenting. Lol

[pc_load_letter]

We've been buying Cheers and other lines drink package since they were all in trial\testing. We enjoy it, the freedom and the knowledge that I can have any drink I want and not have to worry.

[Joebucks]

21 hours ago, xostacylee said:

 

Hey now, this shouldn't be a place of judgement.

 

Budgeting and cashflowing elements are part of Dave's system. As someone also following Dave's plan - this is exactly what you do. You don't know this person, you don't know where they're at in his plan. This person could have all baby steps complete, house paid off, etc. This vacation could really be important to them. So unless you're best friends with thehappierhomemaker, why don't you keep your opinions about her personal life to yourself.

 

It wasn't a personal attack on anyone. It's just that buying Cheers is not any kind of Dave Ramsey financial advice. Not that everyone has to live their life that way either.

Edited March 7, 2019 by Joebucks

[PhillyFan33579]

18 hours ago, DramaQueen22 said:

How is it "sticker shock" when you get the bill?  Every drink comes with a receipt, so anyone would at least have a general idea of how much they were spending.  Plus, you can easily check the balance on your s and s and know what and where $ was being spent.  I just don't understand how anyone can drink that much and NOT know how much they are spending overall.

 

I can think of two reasons off the top of my head.  First, people tend to lose count of how many drinks they have when they have had multiple drinks. Two, not that I pay close attention to this, but I don’t recall ever seeing someone keep their receipt at a bar on the ship, although I am sure it happens. 

 

Of course they can always check their account balance like you mentioned. 

[Laurab23]

47 minutes ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

 

I can think of two reasons off the top of my head.  First, people tend to lose count of how many drinks they have when they have had multiple drinks. Two, not that I pay close attention to this, but I don’t recall ever seeing someone keep their receipt at a bar on the ship, although I am sure it happens. 

 

Of course they can always check their account balance like you mentioned. 

 On my last cruise I actually saw someone checking off all their receipts against their sign and sail printout. So I guess some do. 

 

Laura

[Joebucks]

1 hour ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

 

I can think of two reasons off the top of my head.  First, people tend to lose count of how many drinks they have when they have had multiple drinks. Two, not that I pay close attention to this, but I don’t recall ever seeing someone keep their receipt at a bar on the ship, although I am sure it happens. 

 

Of course they can always check their account balance like you mentioned. 

 

I'll log into my sign and sail account a few times to see where I'm at. I don't really need my receipts to see this. I usually don't buy more than 2 drinks a day, so it's not really any shock.