My experience with Cheers

[thanna]

Instead of another "is it worth it thread", I though I would recount our experience using the Cheers program for the first time. My wife and I are platinum cruisers on Carnival but had never done the Cheers package before. Because I am one of those people that that analyze our bill after every cruise, I know that on average we spend $30 to $35 per person per day on drinks.

 

The cruise we decided to try in on was an 8 day southern Caribbean on the Valor. This was the perfect storm opportunity because it was just us on this cruise and it had 4 sea days along with a port (Grand Turk) that we did not care about getting off at. So basically, 5 of the 8 days would be sea days.

 

For the purposes of making the math easy I am going to talk in rounded numbers without the 15% tip. The Cheers package for 8 days for 2 people was then $800. We ended up drinking 143 drinks at an average of $7, which would have been $1001. So we saved about $200.

 

Here are the bullet points:

- Started drinking about 10:00am each day (I know why so late?)

- Never made it to 15 drink limit, highest was 12 or was it 13

- Most of the drinks we like were $6.95, some more & beer less

- My wife got a "drinks on us" card in the casino on day 6

 

Final notes: If you want to make the most of it find a waiter that you like on the Lido deck and give him a cash tip. You will never want for a drink after that. There did seem to be a negative reaction by some of the bar staff when they realize you are on the Cheers package. This was most evident in the casino. For this cruise it worked out for us, but I don't plan to do it again unless we get a similar cruise with a lot of sea days.

[TreeLuvr87]

Just sending out a high five to you guys for putting down 143 drinks on a cruise. **highfive**

 

And thanks for the analysis :)

[kelkel2]

This is exactly what I needed to read! Thank you so much! Kudos to you for knocking back 143 drinks on a cruise, but theres no way my husband and I would do that LOL! I definitely don't think we would get our moneys worth!

[Cruisegirl6]

We just got off the May 8th, 8 night southern Caribbean cruise on the Valor. We always purchase the Cheers package, and each night we hit the 12/13 drink mark never the 15th and we had the drinks on us card from the first day of the cruise.

 

 

I always said if you drink 6 drinks a day plus, its all worth purchasing the Cheers package, but if your a beer drinker it isn't (my experience with people who drink beers is they can consume over 15 per day easily so you would be cut off with the Cheers package).

[jimbo5544]

Interesting, thanks for posting. It is a different perspective.

[IGGY63]

Not sure I could drink that much and count that high :eek:

[winddawn]

Instead of another "is it worth it thread", I though I would recount our experience using the Cheers program for the first time. My wife and I are platinum cruisers on Carnival but had never done the Cheers package before. Because I am one of those people that that analyze our bill after every cruise, I know that on average we spend $30 to $35 per person per day on drinks.

 

The cruise we decided to try in on was an 8 day southern Caribbean on the Valor. This was the perfect storm opportunity because it was just us on this cruise and it had 4 sea days along with a port (Grand Turk) that we did not care about getting off at. So basically, 5 of the 8 days would be sea days.

 

For the purposes of making the math easy I am going to talk in rounded numbers without the 15% tip. The Cheers package for 8 days for 2 people was then $800. We ended up drinking 143 drinks at an average of $7, which would have been $1001. So we saved about $200.

 

Here are the bullet points:

- Started drinking about 10:00am each day (I know why so late?)

- Never made it to 15 drink limit, highest was 12 or was it 13

- Most of the drinks we like were $6.95, some more & beer less

- My wife got a "drinks on us" card in the casino on day 6

 

Final notes: If you want to make the most of it find a waiter that you like on the Lido deck and give him a cash tip. You will never want for a drink after that. There did seem to be a negative reaction by some of the bar staff when they realize you are on the Cheers package. This was most evident in the casino. For this cruise it worked out for us, but I don't plan to do it again unless we get a similar cruise with a lot of sea days.

Thanks for the practical analysis. Sounds like you had a good time.

 

I agree about the value added to the Cheers experience by tipping cash. My experience with Cheers is similar to yours in that there are certain servers who don't seem to want to wait on you after they learn you have Cheers.

[Cruisegirl6]

Actually, I had quite the opposite experience, I had them all wanting us lol...we do tip an extra $1 per drink, they deserve it!

[jnwinos]

Good report, we always get Cheers and we tip $1.00 for every drink in cash. Never had an attitude from anyone.

On our next cruise 11 days we will get it before we even put our stuff in our cabin, never too soon to get our money's worth! [emoji12]

[pmoniz]

Thank you!! We'll be doing an 8 day southern cruise in March and with all those sea days it'll be well worth it!!

[peekinglemer]

A member of my last cruise party that shall not be named (ok...it was my mom....GO MOM) bought CHEERS. On one of our sea days she also earned the "Drinks on Us" at the Casino.

 

After playing in the casino for a few hours she met us at the bar for an "end of the night" nightcap. When she went to use her Cheers card they told her she had hit her 15 drink limit. She had been drinking Corona's with her "Drinks on Us" card in the casino.

 

So, just an FYI. Even if you are using your Casino "Drinks on Us" card for your drinks in the casino, the number of drinks counts AGAINST your Cheers card for the 15 total. So really, someone with CHEERS done not benefit AT ALL from a "Drinks on Us" card.

 

And yet....my mom was a little embarrassed to have hit the 15 drink limit. Hee hee. My husband thought it was AWESOME!

[mrak]

I figured I would add my two cents as well. I just returned from an 8 day on the Conquest and elected to get the Cheers program. I was solo in my room so it was only $400 so I figured why not? The Conquest has the Alchemy Bar which I took quite a liking to. It just so happens that drinks there are 9.95, so a few of those plus whatever else I drank during the day definitely made it worthwhile.

 

One big conversation/controversy with the Cheers program is the hard cap of 15 drinks. If you are a beer drinker, I agree that this is a bit frustrating because many of my friends will hit 15 on a sea day quite easily. But if you are drinking anything else, 15 should be plenty. In fact, I think Carnival sort of outsmarted themselves by putting a limit. Some other Cheers purchasers and I were joking that rather than a limit, Carnival gave us a "Target." I feel like I was drinking more than I normally would just to try and "get my money's worth." Some friends and I did the drink package on a RCCL cruise and we just drank what we wanted, as it is not limited. In hindsight, I will probably do the Cheers program again, but I will have a different mindset and just drink what I want and not focus on the 15, as I know I will at least break even.

[springs741]

To OP thank you for your prospective. I think it will be helpful to many.

 

Just my two cents, look at the break even point not the target. With those drinks at Alchemy at 9.95 you meet the break even upon your 6th drink.

[mrak]

Just my two cents, look at the break even point not the target. With those drinks at Alchemy at 9.95 you meet the break even upon your 6th drink.

 

That will definitely be my approach on the next one :)

[SadieN]

Not sure I could drink that much and count that high :eek:

 

 

That's why you swipe your card. They'll be on your statement. :)

[figdu]

Actually, I had quite the opposite experience, I had them all wanting us lol...we do tip an extra $1 per drink, they deserve it!

 

We also tip $1 each drink and never had a problem getting served.

[cruizinisthebest]

Great post OP. Very insightful and helpful. Thanks for taking the time!

[Cruisegirl6]

The drinks on us card did not apply to our cheers program, we were on a premier cruise and had lanyards with the drinks on us card, never once was our shipboard account card asked to be seen, nobody knew who we were, they saw the card and just gave us the drink, didn't count towards the Cheers.

 

I also asked the bartenders whether they get the extra tip because we didn't give cash, they said there is a code of the server and they do get the tip and nobody else.

 

We always get the Cheers program, it saves us money!

[EMARacing]

Just sending out a high five to you guys for putting down 143 drinks on a cruise. **highfive**

 

And thanks for the analysis :)

 

Not sure what the actual count was on our 7 day, but it was this many!

[happy cruzin]

Instead of another "is it worth it thread", I though I would recount our experience using the Cheers program for the first time. My wife and I are platinum cruisers on Carnival but had never done the Cheers package before. Because I am one of those people that that analyze our bill after every cruise, I know that on average we spend $30 to $35 per person per day on drinks.

 

The cruise we decided to try in on was an 8 day southern Caribbean on the Valor. This was the perfect storm opportunity because it was just us on this cruise and it had 4 sea days along with a port (Grand Turk) that we did not care about getting off at. So basically, 5 of the 8 days would be sea days.

 

For the purposes of making the math easy I am going to talk in rounded numbers without the 15% tip. The Cheers package for 8 days for 2 people was then $800. We ended up drinking 143 drinks at an average of $7, which would have been $1001. So we saved about $200.

 

Here are the bullet points:

- Started drinking about 10:00am each day (I know why so late?)

- Never made it to 15 drink limit, highest was 12 or was it 13

- Most of the drinks we like were $6.95, some more & beer less

- My wife got a "drinks on us" card in the casino on day 6

 

Final notes: If you want to make the most of it find a waiter that you like on the Lido deck and give him a cash tip. You will never want for a drink after that. There did seem to be a negative reaction by some of the bar staff when they realize you are on the Cheers package. This was most evident in the casino. For this cruise it worked out for us, but I don't plan to do it again unless we get a similar cruise with a lot of sea days.

 

We had a similar experience on our recent 4-day Victory cruise. Except that we never experienced any negativity for having the CHEERS program from any staff member. They were always quite happy to serve us. DH - I found out later - did tip a couple of the casino bar tenders. I think it did help when the casino bar was busy. They saw him and came right over! ;)

 

We started with mimosa's and blood mary's at breakfast and enjoyed trying some new things during the day. We REALLY loved the new Alchemy Bar on the Victory - it is truly a special experience, if you enjoy martini's.

 

One in our group of 6 hit the 15 limit - just one day. I think the average for us was probably 10 - 12.

 

Well worth in - IMO. Nice not to have a "surprise" bar bill and it was fun to try some new and different things knowing that you could dump it and get something else if you really didn't like it and not feel like you were throwing money away! ;)

 

Will probably do it again! :D

[happy cruzin]

Not sure what the actual count was on our 7 day, but it was this many!

Just curious.....

 

Did you have to ask for duplicate receipts??? Rarely were we given a receipt to keep for our records. We signed the one showing that CHEERS "zeroed out" the cost - but usually that was the only one in the folder.

 

So - for us - there was no way to compare the cost of our drinks versus the cost of the program, because even on the room account it just showed $0.00 posted to the account :cool:

[crewsweeper]

I figured I would add my two cents as well. I just returned from an 8 day on the Conquest and elected to get the Cheers program. I was solo in my room so it was only $400 so I figured why not? The Conquest has the Alchemy Bar which I took quite a liking to. It just so happens that drinks there are 9.95, so a few of those plus whatever else I drank during the day definitely made it worthwhile.

 

Lots of Sea Days and an Alchemy Bar would certainly make Cheers worth it. Since DW doesn't drink much (cheap date, as they used to say, LOL:D), no way I could cover the tab for 2, but it would be nice to be able to try out a few more Alchemy concoctions without breaking the bank.

 

Nice post OP. 9 drinks a day average for each of you seemed to work in your favor.

 

And nice info on how "Drinks on Us" gets tied into the Cheers #s from peekinglemer.

[RjayB]

This is good information! The Cheers program would never work for me personally, but I don't mind that it is there for others.

The one thing that surprises me is how many people give $1 in cash per drink above and beyond the normal tip. I consider myself a good tipper (always give steward and wait staff extra in cash above autotips) but am happy with the $1 - $1.50 that is auto-added for drinks. I guess not being much of a drinker has an affect on my perception?

[Laurie S.]

We used it on our last two cruises (7 day and 22 day). Fortunately, Carnival reduced the daily price on the longer cruise, which definitely made it worthwhile. My husband usually reached 15 drinks every day, and I usually got to 10 or 12. A couple of the bartenders swiped my card for a drink for him when he reached 15 and I still had a couple left, but only one drink.

 

I want to do it again next January on our 13-day cruise, but I'm debating. We'll be diving in every port except for Mazatlan and that takes a physical toll on the body. Enjoying the Cheers program may be too much fun, but you never know. ;)

[peekinglemer]

Hi Lyndamr -

 

My mom didn't have to show her sail and sign card either when she was in the Casino using her "Drinks on Us" card. They just looked at her "Drinks on Us" card. My guess is that the "Drinks on Us" card is LINKED to the sail and sign card.

 

Maybe things are done differently on a Premier Cruise, and that is why you didn't have any issues. Or maybe you guys never hit the 15 drink limit so it never came up.

 

My mom even went down to guest services to clarify the drink limit. If you have the Cheers program you are limited to 15 drinks PERIOD. When you hit that limit you can't get another alcoholic beverage AT ALL. Not with the "drinks on us" card and not if you are willing to buy it with your sail and sign card.

 

They said it was for the safety of their guests. Funny they don't have a limit on what you can purchase each day without Cheers. The only way she could have had another alcoholic drink would have been for someone to buy her one and sneak it to her.

 

Since it wasn't that important to us....we just went up for free pizza instead.

 

On a side note; we all attended the past guest party where they free drinks were flowing and no one kept track. I guess she could have had over 15 limit on that day since there was no record of the 2 drinks she had there.