Best Alternative to Cheers Program?

[eweiss1979]

Sorry lots of questions here. Please answer as many as you can.

 

We will be on Triumph

 

I really don't believe my wife and I can drink $100 worth of Cheers drinks in one day. But this is our first cruise so who knows. I would kind of like just having it for the privilege though. Sorta a like when you get the complimentary drinks at the Vegas Casinos.

 

So we are leaving from Galveston. Therefore I believe we are forced to pay for the drinks separately on the first day until 6am. Correct me if I'm wrong on this. Is the first day drink prices the same as the last days? So my plan is to just see how much we consume that first day and if it doesn't even approach $100 then we aren't going to buy the Cheers.

 

So my question is what are the alternative strategies to Cheers. Are there more economical options like buckets of beers, pitchers, etc? We will be traveling with a group and I'm not expecting the others to buy into the Cheers program.

 

It seems like if you don't buy Cheers then you have more drink options available to you. Is that true? Can someone lay out some specific examples. Also I'm assuming that if you order a bucket of beers you are free to share them among whom ever you want unlike the Cheers program. The whole buy a round for the party thing would be possible.

 

Also can someone lay out how the bill gets itemized at the end of the cruise? I assumed the 1st days drinks would get itemized. And then Cheers drinks would get itemized in their own section. Do they still list out each individual drink that went toward the Cheers plan and the cost it would of been had it been purchased separately? Where do you go to check the items that have been added to the ship account, can they be printed out for you?

 

Also what are the free beverages offered on board. I assume milk and regular coffee would be included? Maybe fruit juices? Are there any sodas that are included?

[falkcor]

in TX yes, you cannot buy cheers the first day. drink prices are the same the first day as any other. that sounds like a good plan.

 

you get 2.00 off per bucket (4 beers). yes purchasing a la carte you can share with whoever you want. within the cheers rules though, you are able to buy a round - with your one drink charged to cheers and the others billed a la carte. another option for beer is the fosters oil cans - they're much larger than the 12 oz or 16 oz bottles and therefore a better value. you should also be able to get carnival's thirsty frog red draft beer which is a decent value.

 

cheers purchases will still show up with the bar name and 0.00 charge. you can get a print out at the kiosk or guest services.

 

milk, regular coffee, juices in the morning at buffet/dining room, lemonade, iced tea... you can always get juice from room service for free. sea day afternoon tea. water everywhere of course (not bottled). sodas are never included, unless with the bottomless bubbles or cheers program. note that with cheers, you get unlimited soda or virgin frozen drinks and they do not count against the 15/day limit.

[kona_wahine]

You can buy bottles from Bon voyage to have in your room. For instance, I love kahalua and can get milk at breakfast and keep in the fridge to make drinks. Or Irish cream on the rocks.

[In2why]

The Cheers program would not benefit us, and I wonder how many people drink even more than they normally would to make sure they get their money's worth.

 

We had all the drinks we wanted and didn't break the bank on a 7 day cruise.

 

We ordered a bottle of Rum from Bon Voyage because for us it is the most versatile. We were able to bring a 12 pack of beer with us, that is always a crap shoot of course. That beer was for DH to drink in the cabin. When on deck hanging out we ordered a bucket of beer a couple of times. We had 4 ports so cheers are wasted on those days in my opinion. We bought 2 bottles of liquor in port to take home and fully expected it to be confiscated when we boarded. It wasn't. Surprisingly we had more than we could drink and still remain comfortable. But neither of us like being stupid drunk.

 

We also bought a soda package for me. Not going to lie.....I shared it with the kids sometimes, and got a coke once in awhile for the rum. But none of us are big soda drinkers so even then Carnival made money from it.

The water on board is great and I am a well water snob who hates most strange water in city's. Being in the sun we drank plenty of water and juices.

[Surffish2285]

Value kinda depends on your plans. We are going on a 3 Day Mexico cruise aboard the Carnival Inspiration this upcoming weekend. The Iteneray includes Ensenada Mexico and a Sea Day. I have been to Ensenada and my wife is afraid to get off the boat. So both the sea day and Mexico day will be spent on the boat. The way we see it, a few Mimosa's at breakfast and beers by the pool can add up quickly. I can drink a beer an hour for 8-9 hours on the boat without even getting a buzz. Especially with the sun and food! A glass of wine or 2 with dinner and a scotch at the night time show, and you have more than covered your cost of the package.

[mickide]

Value kinda depends on your plans. We are going on a 3 Day Mexico cruise aboard the Carnival Inspiration this upcoming weekend. The Iteneray includes Ensenada Mexico and a Sea Day. I have been to Ensenada and my wife is afraid to get off the boat. So both the sea day and Mexico day will be spent on the boat. The way we see it, a few Mimosa's at breakfast and beers by the pool can add up quickly. I can drink a beer an hour for 8-9 hours on the boat without even getting a buzz. Especially with the sun and food! A glass of wine or 2 with dinner and a scotch at the night time show, and you have more than covered your cost of the package.

 

Would you do me a favor? When you buy Cheers on board, will you ask if you could have waited until the second day on the 3 day cruise? I'm planning to do the 3-day Imagination in April and will drink my wine the first day and hoped to buy Cheers for the remainder. I'm just wondering if it's an option to purchase on day 2. Thank you in advance.

If anyone else has actually bought Cheers on the second day of a 3-day cruise on the Imagination, I'd love to know if you did it after it went to the flat rate across the board regardless of cruise length.

We've had Cheers on three prior 7-day cruises but always bought on the first day so just wondering if this is an option :).

Thanks everyone!

[Martini Mom]

We will be cruising out of Galveston soon and are considering our options as well. Between the 2 bottles of wine that we'll bring aboard and the drinks we'll order, I'm not sure that Cheers will be the best deal for us. Still thinking about it though. Hubby loves buckets of beer and those aren't really compatible with Cheers. He also LOVES Mike's Hard Lemonade and we saw that you can order pitchers of spiked lemonade. That also won't work well with Cheers.

[Jenna1983]

I honestly didn't think I could make use of it but I definitely did. And I honestly woke up only one day feeling ill (and honestly I'm a one drink person when I go out every few weeks). The day I woke up sick was a day there were bad storms all around and sea was rough. Took a dramimine and was okay. One of my friends finished with 119 drinks (one shy of the limit for 8 days). Some of the bartenders would give the beers/ciders unopened, which was nice.

[jetta8300]

You could always just buy gift card (s) to sort of "pre-pay" for your drinks on board. That way if you use them great, if not you're not forced to buy drinks you don't need, and you could buy something else with it? That's what we have done in the past and it works well for us.

[Rena921]

We Re getting Cheers for the first time this March. We will probably break even with 6 drinks per day compared to our other cruises. It will be nice to to have to worry about the HUGE bill at the end of the cruise.

[BigB0882]

You could always just buy gift card (s) to sort of "pre-pay" for your drinks on board. That way if you use them great, if not you're not forced to buy drinks you don't need, and you could buy something else with it? That's what we have done in the past and it works well for us.

 

This is a great idea, had not thought of that! Are the gift cards good for only that one cruise or could you keep any balance and use it on your next cruise? I have one in April and then another in June. If I did this in April and had money left over, I could use it in June...assuming they allow that. Wonderful idea.

[BK512]

I have a question about the buckets of beer....

 

Do the bartenders open all 4 in the bucket, or can you have them leave 3 unopened for later?

[BigB0882]

I have a question about the buckets of beer....

 

Do the bartenders open all 4 in the bucket, or can you have them leave 3 unopened for later?

 

If I am remembering correctly, when we sailed on Elation we got a bucket of beer and the beer was in aluminum bottles that had screw tops on them so you can open them yourself, you don't need someone to have a bottle opener. Maybe that had to do with the type of beer we chose, though.

Edited February 11, 2015 by BigB0882

[n6uqqq]

They will leave beers unopened for you. I get the fosters bucket( well two buckets because they are too big for one) and they leave them unopened. Also the chart is off for domestic beers as it takes 9 to break even.

[wallybone]

Mixed drinks 5/6 a day to break even beer is 7/8. One thing we like about the cheers program is that it will allow to try different types of drinks and if you don't like them you don't feel bad about throwing them away. Also don't have to worry about the bill at the end. For some people it not worth the money. If you are a casino player after you earn so many points you will get a drink on me card. Free drink only in the casino.

[winddawn]

Coors light is in a screw top aluminum can. Bud, Bud Light, and Mich Ultra are in aluminum cans that need a bottle opener. So you might want to take a bottle opener with you depending on what you drink if you don't want them all opened at once. And I didn't see this mentioned, so I will mention it. These domestic beers are 16 oz. cans, and not the standard 12 oz.

 

https://www.goccl.com/~/media/Files/Irman/bookccl/shipboard_knowledge/My_Awesome_Bar_Program.pdf

Edited February 11, 2015 by winddawn

[RWolver672]

Corona Beer comes in glass bottles. If you buy the bucket of them on the Lido deck, they pour it into cups. They don't allow glass by the pools. Brother said it was flat by the time he got to the fourth one.

[jetta8300]

This is a great idea, had not thought of that! Are the gift cards good for only that one cruise or could you keep any balance and use it on your next cruise? I have one in April and then another in June. If I did this in April and had money left over, I could use it in June...assuming they allow that. Wonderful idea.

 

The gift cards have no expiration date. When we checked in we applied the entire $500 balance to our sign and sail account, because we knew if we didn't use it for the drinks, we would use it at the casino! haha! So you could apply some I'm sure, and then see if you spend it, then apply more. I've also heard some people wait until the end of the cruise and then apply however much of the gift card they want to pay their bill.

 

There is another thread going like this one where I kind of said the same thing. But it works out wonderfully for us because we still do not have to worry about a bill at the end of the cruise, but we are also not FORCED to drink when we don't want to.

 

Usually sea days we drink 5-6 drinks, but on port days we may only have 3. And then usually by day 5, we're not drinking as much either, slowing down a bit after 5 days of tons of food and vodka. It's hard to drink lots of hard liquer for 7 days straight. (We are NOT beer drinkers, we like martinis mostly). But if you're a beer drinker, it's easy for some people to stomach 10 plus beers a day. It's a nice theory to say "oh yes I will drink 6 martinis a day" but that's not always the case, we have been sea sick on days before where we consumed ZERO alcohol.

 

there was one evening where we got this chocolatey rum drink before dinner, and it was a port day. we were both so drunk after that one drink we could barely sit straight in our seats during dinner. It was basically a large glass of rum with some cream and chocolate syrup. No way we would drink another 5 that night. From our experience, Carnival makes their martinis and other specialty drinks STRONG. So 6 a night on a port day is very difficult.

 

So you can buy the gift cards on carnival's website and then have money to do what you please with it. We like this way.

Edited February 11, 2015 by jetta8300

[ray98]

Value depends on lots of things including your budget and how much time you plan to spend sipping drinks. I avoided it for a couple of cruises but found our bar tab was the same or even more that it would have been if we bought Cheers and I didn't consider it 'heavy drinking'. Now to be able to order what I want, when I want, to be able to try new things, and not worry about the cumulative price is worth its weight in gold to me. Just adds to my overall relaxation knowing everything is covered.

[bptex]

You do pay a local sales tax on beverages purchased on day one when leaving from Texas, otherwise they are the same price.

 

There are also several different teas available. You don't have to go with the pre made stuff. I usually mix some of the lemonade with the tea or drink water. As noted there are different juices available as well and it varies by the time of day.

 

Technically I guess you could buy a bucket but there is the 15 minute wait between drinks. It'd take a while to fill it up! You aren't supposed to share.

[BigB0882]

The gift cards have no expiration date. When we checked in we applied the entire $500 balance to our sign and sail account, because we knew if we didn't use it for the drinks, we would use it at the casino! haha! So you could apply some I'm sure, and then see if you spend it, then apply more. I've also heard some people wait until the end of the cruise and then apply however much of the gift card they want to pay their bill.

 

There is another thread going like this one where I kind of said the same thing. But it works out wonderfully for us because we still do not have to worry about a bill at the end of the cruise, but we are also not FORCED to drink when we don't want to.

 

Usually sea days we drink 5-6 drinks, but on port days we may only have 3. And then usually by day 5, we're not drinking as much either, slowing down a bit after 5 days of tons of food and vodka. It's hard to drink lots of hard liquer for 7 days straight. (We are NOT beer drinkers, we like martinis mostly). But if you're a beer drinker, it's easy for some people to stomach 10 plus beers a day. It's a nice theory to say "oh yes I will drink 6 martinis a day" but that's not always the case, we have been sea sick on days before where we consumed ZERO alcohol.

 

there was one evening where we got this chocolatey rum drink before dinner, and it was a port day. we were both so drunk after that one drink we could barely sit straight in our seats during dinner. It was basically a large glass of rum with some cream and chocolate syrup. No way we would drink another 5 that night. From our experience, Carnival makes their martinis and other specialty drinks STRONG. So 6 a night on a port day is very difficult.

 

So you can buy the gift cards on carnival's website and then have money to do what you please with it. We like this way.

 

Thanks. I am going to buy a gift card if I can find one of those deals where you get 10% bonus or something. Otherwise, I will just pay the bill at the end of the cruise and not have to worry about losing the gift card or something horrible. If I find one of those offers, though, then we will buy a big one for the free money.

[ryanpatricksmom]

I wrote a thread a while back about my experience, but I'll give you a quick recap. I think Cheers would be great IF you are going to spend a lot of time in specialty bars, are happy with the cocktails offered under $10, or are a beer drinker. It was a big PITA for me because I like floater shots in my frozen drinks and single pours in a doubles glass....neither of which were allowed.

 

This cruise we decided to order the liquor and soda package for each of us thru Bon Voyage so we'll start with 2 bottles and 12 sodas for an 8 day cruise. We also have free drinks in the casino, and we spend a lot of time there, so that also factors into why it's not really profitable for us to use Cheers.

 

We'll be on the Sunshine so we will likely drop some $$$ in the Alchemy Bar since we haven't tried that yet, but all in I think that we'll spend less than we would have using Cheers....especially for an 8 day.

 

They are now requiring that you agree not to take your Bon Voyage liquor into the common areas when you purchase it, which is a recent caveat. Unless you're actually carrying the bottle around or drop dead drunk, I can't imagine it being an issue, but it is something to think about. We always put our purchased and Casino drinks in a Tervis cup anyway, so it would be nearly impossible to distinguish where the hootch came from.

 

Every now and again I'll put a little something (that I don't need a full bottle of) in my suitcase to some variety to my cabin drink (flavored rum for example), but we've pretty much strictly done Bon Voyage for years now.