CruizinSusan70

Yes, the 20% is paid upfront for the grats with the drinks package as well as 20% on the specialty dining. Once onboard, no other taxes or grats are due with each individual drink ordered, unless there are certain European ports that have a VAT tax.

East New York and Fire Country are aimed at CBS's hardcore demographic, those that are 40+. With the exception of Love Island, there aren't really any shows in the CBS lineup that goes after the 20-40 crowd. CBS tried with the New Love Boat and failed, plain and simple.

Davekathy.....I think you're in the minority since there were 250 episodes over 10 seasons and has been in reruns ever since. Not many shows have 250 episodes. Obviously millions of people enjoyed the show even though over 95% were shot on a Hollywood soundstage and the cast usually only took one actual cruise each year.

Everybody that lambasts the show are older seasoned cruisers that are not the demographic that the show was going after. Seasoned cruisers either move up the food chain, diversify their cruise line horizontally or stick with Princess only as a certain percentage will do. New younger cruisers need to be obtained and this was the target market that Princess was going for. The 25-35 crowd that likes to vacation a bit upscale and has the discretionary income to do it.

If that waiters boss heard him, his butt would be in a sling.

The numbers have to be miniscule. Of course there are blue cards that think the trays of fun ship specials that are offered on Lido on embarkation day are included.

If you're going to do a price comparison, it makes logical sense to use the correct pricing, which is 5.00 a day plus 18% less than what you quoted. Since nobody pays on board pricing and those that are savvy save another 10% by using gift cards, bringing the daily price down to 54 a day plus 18%.

Who ever buys Cheers on board @64.95?

Not knowing what your thoughts are regarding balconies, but the Yacht Club does have inside cabins as well that are a cost savings. The category is YIN.

You can't make that assumption about someone else still having a great cruise. You don't deal with the packages since it's clear you don't imbibe while on vacation. For those that do, their cruise will only be great if they get what they paid for when they made their reservation. My DH and I rarely drink except when we are on vacation and if we can get a package rolled in on a cruise on Princess, Celebrity, NCL or MSC we will. I will fully expect to have our plus package on our 14 days in Alaska next year to cover the newly upgraded 15.00 limit without the new inclusions.

Since you're a Celebrity virgin accordingly to your signature, I can inexplicably say that the Edge Class ships are great. Have a B2B totalling 18 days on the Beyond next year.

Yes, we were on the Discovery last April and put down a 200 FCD for a future cruise that I just applied on my booking I made yesterday on the Sun for 2024. Depending upon the type of cabin and the length of your cruise, the amounts of OBC for that cruise would vary. An inside or OV cabin would gain you anywhere from 15.00 to 125.00 per person. A balcony or suite would gain you anywhere from 25.00 to 150.00 per person.

The inclusion obviously is only on specific sailings either by length of cruise or date of cruise or ship. Just booked the TA on the Sun and the Plus was an extra 60 pppd and the Premier an extra 80 pppd.

Little confused here. You mention that you have cheap liquors, weak pours, and high sugar fillers, yet your drink of choice is bourbon on the rocks, which is the antithesis of what you mentioned unless you have a bad bartender at pig n anchor since that is where you get the best bourbon selection on board. It's obvious that getting a bottle for your cabin and supplementing it with cheap beers ashore and your wine bottle carry on is your game plan. For us, it's primarily drinking at Alchemy on a daily basis, where they don't have weak pours or cheap liquors and supplementing it with a spicy bloody at P&A and the occasional daytime drinks at The Watering Hole.

Then do a B2B consisting of two 7 days.

That's a good question. I have to assume that you paid 50 per day for the current plus package you have. The new package is now 60 per day, with the higher limit and the desserts and classes added. We paid 40 per day on our last April Discovery cruise as well as our 14 day to Alaska in 2023 for the plus package with the 12.00 limit. I would have to assume that you have the plus package so you should be good, but you just won't get the desserts and classes, but I could be wrong. The only person that could answer this is someone that will have an upcoming cruise that paid the 50 per day and then they would be able to see if the drinks are up to 12 or up to 15.

The price difference of an extra 20 pppd to go from plus to premier is correct since it's 60 to 80. But the jump from standard to plus is 60 a day times 16 so it should be 960. A glitch.

The prices are what the prices are going forward. The Plus package has jumped from 40 to 50 to 60 per day in less than a year and the only new inclusions are premium desserts, exercise classes and a juice bar for that extra 20 bucks per couple per day. Between cut backs and price increases it's the standard these days as the various cruise lines try to recoup some of the billions that they bled away during the shutdown. I'm not loyal to one cruise line. Currently have reservations on Princess, Celebrity, RCI, NCL, MSC and Carnival. You need to be flexible to hopefully find a deal with a sweet spot price wise.

There have been two increases with the plus package. It was 40, then went to 50 less than a year ago and now is 60 with the addition of the desserts and classes. It sucks, but what can you do? If you like to drink, you get it. If you don't, you save the 120 a day and pay for tips and drinks a la carte

No, the standard is your basic no frills cruise only fare. The plus is an additional 60 pppd and includes gratuities, drink package, wifi, premium desserts and exercise classes. The premium is 80 pppd and includes even more.

The Plus price has gone up twice recently. It used to be 40 pppd, then went to 50 pppd and now is 60 pppd with the only difference being the additives of exercise classes, premium desserts and unlimited juice bar. Even at 60, once you factor out the grats, you get the drinks package, wifi and desserts for 45.50 per day. Well worth it for those that like to imbibe.

To the OP, you certainly have put a new spin on the age old question that has been debated ad nauseam multiple times over the years on the Carnival boards. Cheers is only worth it for the above average drinker or for the average drinker that also utilizes the non alcoholic options of the package. A moderate drinker doesn't make out with Cheers, let alone the teetotalers that love to throw their two cents into the mix. The tipping point that it becomes economical only kicks in when you save a good amount of money versus buying a la carte. Only you can determine where that point is.

It varies from sailing to sailing and because of possible complications you can never be 100% guaranteed as to when carry offs would start, but 730 would be a guesstimate.

The Prima only holds 3100. 😉

Indulge is busier at lunch versus dinner. The quality of the food and the options are better at dinnertime though. Sea days and embarkation day are good days for Hudson's and you avoid the crowds at Indulge. Syd's is the only venue you need to show up early for since there are no reservations.