Drinks on us in the Casino

[amcankid]

I guess the sucky thing about drinks on us in the casino is it makes it harder to justify purchasing Cheers. I wish Carnival would make it all or nothing cause yes, it’s nice to drink for free, but then you’re faced with deciding what is the actual break even point with or without Cheers for the overall cruise.

Any thoughts? 

[icft]

I would go with cheers. Being dependent on the drinks waiters coming around really sucks. At times there are hardly any waiters on the floor. Then they often take forever to bring your drink. When there are few waiters and a full casino they take a ton of orders before going to the bar to be filled and spend a lot of time delivering drinks, often having to track down folks who have moved, with the result that often all the ice in your drink has melted.

 

Over the last six months all our casino offers have included free drinks everywhere (cheers) for the both of us and we just go to the bar for our drinks. You get to know the bartenders and get better drinks faster than waiting for the waiter.

 

Having experienced the difference we decided that if we are on a cruise with just drinks while playing we would buy cheers.

[Elaine5715]

https://cruisespotlight.com/drink-package-calculator/

[jiggs]

could depend on how much time you're in the casino and how much you drink when you are not.  If you can hit/exceed the 6 drinks per day to cover Cheers outside of the casino, go for it.  If you will spend a lot of time in the casino, let them buy your drinks while you're there and get your own at other times.

 

As for service in the casino, I find service at table games to be great.  After night one they know my name and my drink even after only a round or three.  Land based casinos seem to have designated areas of the casino they're covering, on the ship it seems like they're just looking to move drinks.  Depending on the ship, slots are certainly spread out more and service can be spotty at best. 

[dbrown84]

If you have the drinks on us while playing, you can't actually go to the casino bar yourself?  You have to order from a server?  Also, does the 15 drink daily limit apply?

[mz-s]

4 minutes ago, dbrown84 said:

If you have the drinks on us while playing, you can't actually go to the casino bar yourself?  You have to order from a server?  Also, does the 15 drink daily limit apply?

yes to all questions

[DallasGuy75219]

1 hour ago, dbrown84 said:

If you have the drinks on us while playing, you can't actually go to the casino bar yourself?  You have to order from a server?  Also, does the 15 drink daily limit apply?

 

1 hour ago, mz-s said:

yes to all questions

And the drink limit is still 15 total per day whether they're bought with Cheers or DOU.  Not 15 + 15 = 30.

Edited October 15, 2023 by DallasGuy75219

[StephPS79]

On 10/14/2023 at 11:22 PM, amcankid said:

I guess the sucky thing about drinks on us in the casino is it makes it harder to justify purchasing Cheers. I wish Carnival would make it all or nothing cause yes, it’s nice to drink for free, but then you’re faced with deciding what is the actual break even point with or without Cheers for the overall cruise.

Any thoughts? 

 

I kind of agree with you here, I do think it makes it harder to justify purchasing Cheers.  I spend a decent amount of time in the casino, but I also like some drinks by the pool.  Trying to decide for our next cruise if those "drinks by the pool" will add up to enough to make Cheers worth it.  And I like to stop by the coffee place.  And have a Bloody Mary at brunch.  I do like the added benefit of not having to think about it with Cheers. 

 

They do have "all or nothing" though with DOU Everywhere.  I wouldn't want them to do away with DOU Casino though, it's a benefit.  I've never had any trouble with service in the casino, tip a few dollars per drink and they will find you.

[lesters]

On our last Caribbean cruise we had Cheers & DOU in the Casino.

 

On our last sea day we spent time on the deck doing the math and running the numbers to see if we should have just paid for drinks vs Cheers.  

 

Even with DOU in the Casino we still came out ahead with Cheers.  Having the included bottled waters, energy drinks, coffees etc. really helped get the full value out of the program.