Not big drinkers but liked it when we could take drinks to "go"

[Kelownabccan]

Just off of a HAL cruise for 21 days.....had their drink package and probably never really used it to the max......loved to have a cappuccino after dinner and then later at a bar with baileys on the rocks.....etc......a couple of drinks with dinner and maybe one with lunch.....then bottles of water to take off ship....probably never more than 7 a day......here is the part I liked and the question for Carnival drink package users ......on the Hal ship I could stop by a bar and get two beers to go and they would not open them and I could take to the room and put in the fridge for later use......or a beer and wine to go for my wife.....and put in the fridge......there was never any questions asked or hassle...did more than once a day a few times.....still no problem.....Would I be able to do this on the Carnival ship we have booked for April......nice to have a few drinks in the cabin and sit on the balcony when you want and have a drink out of the fridge in the cabin.......?????....or are they way to sticky about this ....thoughts.......have not bought the cheers package yet as not sure we would use the $60 bucks each per day.....

[sparks1093]

You can only get one at a time but I believe they will leave it unopened if you ask (or at least some will).

[hapytobehr]

 It depends on the bartender.  Some will give it to you without opening it, others will say they must open it.

 

Enjoy your cruise!

[Drew B 58]

You can ABSOLUTELY grab any drink you buy and walk away with it wherever you like.  The only question is whether they will leave your beer unopened.  I don’t drink beer, but from what I’ve read, that varies depending on the bartender/bar.  It sounds like most will if you ask.

[ledges1]

You can buy a bucket on lido, open 1 and others are not open. I take them to the room. As Platinum I get a free drink at the sea day brunch. I ask for an unopened beer and they give it to me. Once they opened it and I told them to take it back and bring an unopened as requested. They did.

[Kelownabccan]

Thanks.....forgot to say that if wife not with me I had her card with me....they would give me two without any problem......they would also give two to go on one card.....as they seemed to know we both had a card and next time put two drinks on hers to even them up.....lol....the bars were very easy and accommodating....Ken.

[staceyglow]

30 minutes ago, ledges1 said:

You can buy a bucket on lido, open 1 and others are not open. I take them to the room. As Platinum I get a free drink at the sea day brunch. I ask for an unopened beer and they give it to me. Once they opened it and I told them to take it back and bring an unopened as requested. They did.

You can't buy buckets of beer with the drink package. 

[mz-s]

1 hour ago, Kelownabccan said:

Just off of a HAL cruise for 21 days.....had their drink package and probably never really used it to the max......loved to have a cappuccino after dinner and then later at a bar with baileys on the rocks.....etc......a couple of drinks with dinner and maybe one with lunch.....then bottles of water to take off ship....probably never more than 7 a day......here is the part I liked and the question for Carnival drink package users ......on the Hal ship I could stop by a bar and get two beers to go and they would not open them and I could take to the room and put in the fridge for later use......or a beer and wine to go for my wife.....and put in the fridge......there was never any questions asked or hassle...did more than once a day a few times.....still no problem.....Would I be able to do this on the Carnival ship we have booked for April......nice to have a few drinks in the cabin and sit on the balcony when you want and have a drink out of the fridge in the cabin.......?????....or are they way to sticky about this ....thoughts.......have not bought the cheers package yet as not sure we would use the $60 bucks each per day.....

 

So by the book, no, they are supposed to open all drinks served under beverage programs like Cheers. This is to discourage hoarding.

 

But in practice many times waiters are happy to give you an unopened beer or can of soda. Just don't be surprised if some tell you no, they're just following the rule.

[Kelownabccan]

3 hours ago, mz-s said:

 

So by the book, no, they are supposed to open all drinks served under beverage programs like Cheers. This is to discourage hoarding.

 

But in practice many times waiters are happy to give you an unopened beer or can of soda. Just don't be surprised if some tell you no, they're just following the rule.

Thanks.....still mulling over the price for the package....have lots of time to think....lol

[Bulldogsoc]

If I got to the bar with my cheers and get a beer on the package but buy a bucket round for a group, I know I am charged for bucket and one round off my cheers, but do those four subtract from my 15 limit for the day as well?  Just curious if I can drink my 15 or so if I want and buy rounds for others during the day. I know if I am on my 12th in the evening they are unlikely to let me buy that many extras but I frankly don’t really know.  THX Mark

[simplelife]

11 hours ago, Kelownabccan said:

Thanks.....still mulling over the price for the package....have lots of time to think....lol

Last cruise we decided to do a test on whether the drink package is worth it or not (For Dh it is definitely worth it, but I don't drink as much as he does).  We did pay-as-you-go and had drinks whenever we wished. There were days when our bar charges were more than the daily Cheers fee would have been (first day and first seaday), some less (port days), and others about the same. When we totaled up all the bar charges for the cruise, we still saved a couple of hundred dollars compared to what Cheers would have cost us.

[Kelownabccan]

3 hours ago, simplelife said:

Last cruise we decided to do a test on whether the drink package is worth it or not (For Dh it is definitely worth it, but I don't drink as much as he does).  We did pay-as-you-go and had drinks whenever we wished. There were days when our bar charges were more than the daily Cheers fee would have been (first day and first seaday), some less (port days), and others about the same. When we totaled up all the bar charges for the cruise, we still saved a couple of hundred dollars compared to what Cheers would have cost us.

Sort of what my thinking is......on HAL with the drink package never made it to the 15 per day.....more like what I would do at home......or on a holiday.....probably a couple of beers at dinner, wife two glasses of wine......and maybe one drink each through the day......not anyone near $60 each.....plus never thought of it....but in each port we were in I would buy a couple of cans of local beer to try and had no trouble bringing them back on ship or wife brought on a can of coke to drink on the balcony.....Ken

[sparks1093]

22 hours ago, simplelife said:

Last cruise we decided to do a test on whether the drink package is worth it or not (For Dh it is definitely worth it, but I don't drink as much as he does).  We did pay-as-you-go and had drinks whenever we wished. There were days when our bar charges were more than the daily Cheers fee would have been (first day and first seaday), some less (port days), and others about the same. When we totaled up all the bar charges for the cruise, we still saved a couple of hundred dollars compared to what Cheers would have cost us.

We did the same thing and came out spending a couple hundred more than what Cheers cost. Wish I had know about this drink calculator first: https://cruisespotlight.com/drink-package-calculator/ . Of course you need to put in what you think you will average and take into account the port days, etc. in your estimate. 

[sparks1093]

18 hours ago, Kelownabccan said:

Sort of what my thinking is......on HAL with the drink package never made it to the 15 per day.....more like what I would do at home......or on a holiday.....probably a couple of beers at dinner, wife two glasses of wine......and maybe one drink each through the day......not anyone near $60 each.....plus never thought of it....but in each port we were in I would buy a couple of cans of local beer to try and had no trouble bringing them back on ship or wife brought on a can of coke to drink on the balcony.....Ken

That's the thing, you don't need to get anywhere near 15 a day to make the package worthwhile, around 6 alcohol drinks per day will do it (the drink package I just posted will demonstrate this).

[sparks1093]

22 hours ago, Bulldogsoc said:

If I got to the bar with my cheers and get a beer on the package but buy a bucket round for a group, I know I am charged for bucket and one round off my cheers, but do those four subtract from my 15 limit for the day as well?  Just curious if I can drink my 15 or so if I want and buy rounds for others during the day. I know if I am on my 12th in the evening they are unlikely to let me buy that many extras but I frankly don’t really know.  THX Mark

As I understand it the buckets don't count toward your daily count. 

[rj59]

My advice is to order the Carnival brand beers, which come in cans. Then just say your wife is saving your spot by the pool and you want a second beer for her. I would think an inside bar might object to taking a cocktail in a glass, because usually only plastic glasses are allowed by pools. If they try to open a can, just say you don't want them touching the top, which would be basic sanitation anyway. 

[Joebucks]

Cheers is more than $60 per day. It sounds to me like you'd rather have the convenience of drinks where you want them vs when you want them. What is the point of the package?

[1kaper]

On 10/13/2023 at 6:00 PM, mz-s said:

 

So by the book, no, they are supposed to open all drinks served under beverage programs like Cheers. This is to discourage hoarding.

 

But in practice many times waiters are happy to give you an unopened beer or can of soda. Just don't be surprised if some tell you no, they're just following the rule.

This has been our experience. 
They also get really strict with it the night before and day of docking at Half Moon Cay.  They want to discourage people taking drinks onto the island. 

[ProgRockCruiser]

On 10/14/2023 at 7:08 AM, Bulldogsoc said:

If I got to the bar with my cheers and get a beer on the package but buy a bucket round for a group, I know I am charged for bucket and one round off my cheers, but do those four subtract from my 15 limit for the day as well?  

That is a good question: the qty 15 limit used to just apply to Cheers, and you could purchase (essentially) unlimited amounts off-Cheers, like those buckets.

 

I'm curious for curiosity's sake as to the answer (because I would probably never do that).

[Bulldogsoc]

Years ago I was at the bar around 10pm or so and the bar tender told me I was at 13 of my 15 and suggested that if I did not want to get cut off to just pay cash for the next round or two if I planned to be up for a while which leads me to suggest the answer is they don’t count but I thought I read somewhere the 15 limit was to keep folks from getting carried away.  Well, I will find out in a few months. 
 

[UtahCruiser1230]

My son has had Cheers this week on the Horizon, every beer he’s ordered has been handed to him unopened.

[sparks1093]

6 hours ago, Bulldogsoc said:

Years ago I was at the bar around 10pm or so and the bar tender told me I was at 13 of my 15 and suggested that if I did not want to get cut off to just pay cash for the next round or two if I planned to be up for a while which leads me to suggest the answer is they don’t count but I thought I read somewhere the 15 limit was to keep folks from getting carried away.  Well, I will find out in a few months. 
 

The 15 a day limit applies whether or not someone has Cheers so I'm not sure why he would say that, unless he was trying to get on your good side. 

[1kaper]

1 hour ago, sparks1093 said:

The 15 a day limit applies whether or not someone has Cheers so I'm not sure why he would say that, unless he was trying to get on your good side. 

I believe the 15 limit on everything is relatively new.  Years ago thag used to be the get around. Start paying for drinks before you hit the limit. I’m not sure how strictly it’s enforced now. 
Buying buckets or bottles of wine doesn’t count against you though. 

[sparks1093]

51 minutes ago, 1kaper said:

I believe the 15 limit on everything is relatively new.  Years ago thag used to be the get around. Start paying for drinks before you hit the limit. I’m not sure how strictly it’s enforced now. 
Buying buckets or bottles of wine doesn’t count against you though. 

I see that my caffeine deprived eyes missed the "years ago" comment. I am also unsure when it changed to apply to all drinks.

[carohs]

Carnival does allow you to bring a limited amount of beer and wine onboard, too, to consume in your room/balcony. Factor that into whether to get cheers or not.