17andacruiseaddict

Big Red Boat alumna!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Heeeeeey!!!! Welcome to the club lol

I read somewhere that "all the drinks are doubles," but I'm skeptical of that. I think they were referring to cocktails. Can anyone confirm/debunk that?

 

Can I get away with buying drinks for others with Cheers? I'm aware of the rule: no sharing; but I'm daring like that ;-) I've been thinking of getting it to buy drinks for girls on my upcoming spring-break-time cruise, and I assume most of the spring-breakers won't have paid for unlimited drinks.

Per Carnival rules, and CC message board police, no, you cannot technical "buy" others drinks. But make sure you wait your 5 mins between drink orders, and if you decided you no longer want the drink you just ordered and handed it off to someone discretely........

It's funny because I still learn something new when I peak in on these cheers threads

I agree. Even though my original question was answered, and some were irritated that I asked it to begin with, it helps others who might have also wanted to see that answer. I also like the fact that one question leads to another and everybody is getting information based off the one original question.

This shows why these boards are here. Cruise critic is a very helpful site.

The last drink is always so sad ...

 

Congrats on your engagement!!!

Thank you!!!

Is Cheers still "active" on debarkation day? Can I use it for a fou fou coffee or a "need to go back to reality cocktail" before I get off the ship?

That was a good question. I wish it were though. Going to have to go to Starbucks or a bar in the airport. Come to think of it, this is really sad. That's a definite way to slap us back to reality. No more using our sail and sign card :(

Going on this ship of my honeymoon!

It does depend on your port day. We like to get off the ship early before it gets nuts, hit the beach/snorkel wherever, maybe see a few shops and head back onto the ship for a late lunch early afternoon so it doesn't make much of a difference for us.

 

I hate being "captive" on some of these tours. But to each their own. Side story: I remember in Tortola last year I made the mistake, along with the two other families in our big passenger van, to agree to pay the van driver for round trip travel in advance. We wanted to go back two hours before the time everyone else had agreed upon and I had to argue with this guy to take us back at that time, despite telling him I would pay him twice for the second half of the trip to make it worth his time (vs just sitting around on the beach).

Yeah, I never really cared for big excursions. Not my thing personally. But I would randomly do a beach one.

For your Side story- That guy (driver) knew what he agreed to at the beginning. You shouldn't have had to go through all that with him. But hey, you live and you learn right?

I knew by this response, you were a person I would enjoy being friends with :')

LOL hey I'm glad to hear it! And friends that like my jokes are the best of friends. Nice to meet you need buddy! :D

It would be better for sea days, and for couples who both drink. In our case, only I am a drinker, and my better half could not possibly consume enough non alcoholic drinks over the course of a day to break even.

 

With a port-intensive itinerary, you really only have the time after you return from the excursion until bedtime to drink alcohol, and for us, that's like 4 hours or so ;)

I honestly felt that way about the whole "port intensive itinerary" thing. If I'm going to be getting off the ship a lot, how will I take advantage of Cheers? But when my fiancé (ooo saying that is still new to me lol), voiced that he didn't care much about getting off the ship on port days and actually liked "having the ship to ourselves", that made the decision easy for me. Especially when I originally thought the Cheers package was only for alcoholic drinks and only 15 of them a day. So I definitely see your point. If it's not for you, more money in your pockets. But now I feel the need to barely eat anything and drink my money's worth in beverages lol

I sure wish they had a package without the alcohol like Royal does. Maybe sometime they will, as I only have maybe 1 or 2 alcoholic beverages a cruise. I do appreciate the cheap bcases of water in advance though.

That would be smart. I'm sure something like that could already be in the works if other cruise lines are doing it. Other cruise lines started adding the alcohol packages and Carnival followed along. Only a matter of time hopefully. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you

Don't forget to grab water, vitamin water, powerade...whatever you want to take on excursions. As previously said you have to wait 5mins between drinks so just whenever you're heading back to the room stop by a bar, grab a drink and put it in the fridge in your room.

Great idea. I planned on stocking up on waters and powerades for hangover purposes, but the idea of getting them for excursions works too lol

Hi hon . . .

 

Just an fyi, if want to order Powerades, Vitamin waters, Honesty Teas and Pellagrino (sp?) with your specialty coffee, they will actually make you wait five minutes to receive it. No wait for the bottled water when ordered with coffee.

 

Justin had me drinking Grey Goose XOXO at $18.95 a shot (loved it with lime) and there is a cognac in the Steakhouse that is about $25.00-$30.00 a glass (1/2 glass). I hear it was very smooth and I believe it was a Hennesey James, but I could be wrong. Make sure you try the Alchemy Bar! I couldn't tell you the name of the drinks they "invented" for me, but they were very good. One drink had blueberries . . .

 

Should you order a shot in the dining room with the Carnival Shot glass, they will charge you for the glass ($5.00), not the shot.

 

Hope these tips help!

 

I very excited for you. You're going to love the Vista! :cool:

That sounds like the Justin I remember lol. And Alchemy is my favorite! I can't wait to introduce Christian to it. Thank you!! 5 months to go!

I'm sure he takes his job very seriously lol

 

So we trundle along, help the newbies as best we can. Sometimes it comes off a bit gruff a la StolidCruiser's post, which provided some useful info in a mildly sarcastic and dry manner that obviously the OP didn't appreciate. (Really just pointing out that if you have what sees like an obvious previously-asked question, why not do a quick search.)

.

What do you mean I didn't appreciate StolidCruiser's post? I said thanks...lol

If Carnival did away with Cheers this forum would die because that's all anybody ever posts on here it seems like. Endless posts about Cheers just asking questions that are answered on Carnival's own pages, and in threads here several times a day, every day of the year.

 

Mods should clean them up - they add nothing to the forum. If someone posts a Cheers question, send them a link to Carnival's cheers page and close the thread. It's tiring and makes me not come to this forum very often.

 

Just my opinion on the issue.

Interesting opinion and idea for a solution you have there. You should propose is to them. Worth a shot.

The Cheers questions always have that word in the title .... just skip opening those threads .... problem solved :D

If it bothered me as much as it does others, this is exactly what I would do lol. But be as hard as they think searching the forums is to others lol

I think the problem that a lot of people have (the ones who are bothered by repeat questions), is that they are just truly upset and irritated by the fact that others, like myself, don't live on these message boards like they do. Also, they really love to try to "teach lessons" to others and try to belittle them for their own personal satisfaction. I'm wondering if it gives them a nice little buzz. Like the satisfaction you feel after woking out, do they just feel like a better person for it? I work with children, and it honestly seems like the same bullying mentality I see in some of them.

Working with children, I teach them to think critically and problem solve. My solution to the people who grind their teeth and shake their fist at the thought of answering repeat questions would be to just, skip them. Don't want to answer, move on. I feel like it would work well for your blood pressure since replying to these seems to raise it.

In the words of a 90s kid, "take a chill pill". lol

UGH the everyone in the room must order Cheers is killing me!! I want to order it soooo bad, but one of my roommates can't afford the cost so no Cheers for me. I loved having it last time. It was one less thing to worry about. Oh well maybe next year on the Harmony.

That really sucks. Is your roommate not a drinker? Or does he/she not want to try other beverages? They might end up spending more on drinks (alcoholic and non) than the cost of the Cheers. Hopefully letting them know that might push them more in the direction on purchasing it.

Congrats and have fun.

Thanks, I can't wait!

Here are five threads asking the very same question in the past couple of weeks alone.... so yes, the question has been asked before.

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2602190&highlight=cheers

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2599222&highlight=cheers

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2598380&highlight=cheers

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2597031&highlight=cheers

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2595824&highlight=cheers

Now you know and yes, you are forgiven.

Ooooh, I see, you were the "some people" I was referring to. Thanks for doing that digging. But, unfortunately, by the time you responded, I already had plenty of helpful information, from some pretty nice people. Thanks anyway! :)

You are welcome and CHEERS!!!!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Cheers!

I'm a "Big Red Boat" alumni too...lol. Cruised with my little ones on her in 1994

Very cool to see a fellow alumni lol.

I just found another fantastic thread on Cheers.

 

 

And it said:

Just got back from the Carnival Splendor for the 8 day Southern Caribbean itinerary. Loved the ship and the crew, nothing but nice things to say about the experience.

Thought I would share a few notes on how my wife and I felt we got the most out of Cheers while on board.

A) The Steakhouse has a nice rose champagne by Heidsieck that is $20 per glass and very nice. We each had 3 glasses with dinner on embarkation day and this alone made that day a big value.

B) Roca Patron Silver: $15 per shot at the pool bar. Incredibly smooth, goes down like water.(Also goes great stirred into a Margarita after 5 minutes ) Don't forget to pace yourself !

C) Order your favorite frozen beverage, wait 5, and ask for an additional shot of your favorite ultra premium liquor on the side to stir in since they frozen drinks can taste pretty weak.

D) Asking for Pellegrino at the beginning of our MDR meals and request the large bottle of still water with dessert to bring back to the room or off with you in port.

E) Hitting the coffee bar before breakfast as well as after dessert/before night activities to get some pep.

F) We noticed that once we started tipping $1 per drink (in addition to the auto gratuity ofc) we started (1) receiving increasingly generous pours by the bartenders as the trip progressed and (2) being given priority when bars were busy with MDR waits /busy comedy club nights, etc.

my tip for the cheers package and drinking wine is this. my wife discovered on our last cruise on the pride that david's steak house has a full service bar. we have eaten many times at the steak house and knew there was a bar but never thought of going there to order a drink. we were watching a movie on the lido deck and she wanted wine but did not feel like going to the bars on the 2nd and 3rd deck to get some. i suggested going to the bar at the steak house and see if you can order wine there since they have a better selection anyway. she did and the bartender was more than happy to serve her. and said he is usually very bored because no one goes to the bar he only makes drinks for the waitresses to deliver to the tables. he said that he was open an hour after the steak house hours say they close. she went back probably 4 more times that night and ordered wine then left with it. i would imagine all the steak houses have a bar that you can order from even if you are not eating at the restaurant.

Also I am attaching the "evaluator" i got from someone on here. Enjoy!

 

We had Cheers in August and LOVED IT!

OMG, this is a great way to get the most bang for your buck. I plan on trying every specialty coffee, smoothie, and milkshake. I love that idea of going to the steakhouse bar as their wine selections are far greater. Extra shots for your drinks, love! And the idea of ordering a bottle of water when you order dessert at dinner, genius! It cuts down on wait time elsewhere too.

I am now 10x more excited to cruise now (as if being another cruise or it being my honeymoon wasn't exciting enough lol).

Thank you all!

This is why we love the Cheers program!!

 

The following beverages are available within the CHEERS! program:

• All spirits, including cocktails, cognacs, whiskies and other spirits, as well as beer and wine (and Champagne) by the glass, with a $50 USD or lower menu price per serving
  
• Zero-Proof frozen cocktails (including smoothies), sodas (including specialty sodas) and juices
  
• Specialty coffees and hot tea served in the main dining rooms, specialty restaurants and coffee bars
  
• Milkshakes, where applicable
  
• RockStar energy drinks, Powerade, Vitamin Water, Coconut Water and Honest Tea
  
• 500ml bottled water and other non-alcoholic bottled beverages served in bars and lounges
  
• Large format (1 liter and 1.5-liter) bottles of water in the main dining rooms and specialty restaurants
  
• 25 percent discount off the menu price for any spirit, cocktail or wine by the glass, costing above $50 USD per serving
  
• 25 percent discount off the menu price for wine and champagne by the bottle and larger format water bottles purchased outside the main dining rooms or specialty restaurants
  
• 25 percent discount off beverage seminars and classes
  

Love this. Going to screenshot and send to the couple who is sailing with us. Thank you!

correct only alcohol counts

I just saw in your signature that you went on the Big Red Boat. I did too. It was my first cruise when I was 6. Just found that interesting because I've ran into plenty of people who have never heard of it.