Another Cheers Program / Bucket of Beer Question

[srenter]

We are sailing on the Conquest in January and have been doing a lot of reading to decide if Carnival's Cheers Package is worth it. We have sailed the last few cruises on RCCL where there is no limit on the amount of drinks.

 

The days in ports, we are thinking the Cheers program is worth the investment. The days that we aren't sure about are the sea days and embark day. Our typical sea day is a couple mimosas to start the day, poolside by 10:00 first drink or bucket shortly there after, then dinner and a couple drinks with the shows. We seemed to always meet great people that we end up having a bunch of drinks with throughout the cruise.

 

Can we purchase buckets of beer on the S&S cards without them counting towards our 15 a piece? This allowing us to purchase rounds for whom ever we are partying with, without them counting towards our 15. Carnivals limit won't last long if they count each drink/beer when buying rounds.

 

Thanks for your quick response

[ATL_Miami_Cruiser]

Buckets of beer are not allowed with the Cheers program and every drink counts towards the 15 limit :( It's not a good buy if you like a cold beer on a hot sunny deck. Some good tipping can get you around the problem, but it shouldn't have to be that way.

Edited November 11, 2015 by ATL_Miami_Cruiser

[Rod in Az]

This allowing us to purchase rounds for whom ever we are partying with, without them counting towards our 15. Carnivals limit won't last long if they count each drink/beer when buying rounds.

 

Thanks for your quick response

 

Can't help you with the "Bucket" question, have never tried, but you can buy drinks for others with your S&S card without them counting toward your limit.

 

Here is the language from the Cheers Program rules on the subject:

 

 

Only one drink at a time may be ordered using CHEERS! - sharing is not permitted.

 

Guests may purchase a round of drinks for themselves and friends. One drink will count towards the CHEERS! program and the remaining drinks will be charged to the guest’s Sail and Sign account.

[Cruisin May 2012]

On our last cruise, we were able to order buckets and charge to our S&S card the entire cruise. Not one of these counted toward our 15 limit. However, I heard later that they are supposed to count 1 toward your 15 limit, but this never happened to us.

[jma624]

On port days, order an un-opened beer here and there throughout the day. Keep them on ice in your cabin for sea days.

[jmvideopro]

I know that when you have the "cheers" if you purchase more than one drink it would assign 1 of the drinks to the cheers and you would pay full price for the others. But the buck is kinda a specialty item, I would think that you would pay the normal price and it not effect your cheers count. I order drink one time and made it a double. I had to pay for it and it did not count.

[singbluesilver1]

On the pride our bartender wouldn't let us have unopened beer bottles, we tried

[ATL_Miami_Cruiser]

On the pride our bartender wouldn't let us have unopened beer bottles, we tried

 

The Lido deck is your best bet to get unopened cans. On the Victory I was so pissed that I couldn't get a bucket to keep my beer cold that I sat on Lido for hours accumulating cans of beer under my chair and every 5th beer I would take them to my cabin and repeat. I had so many cans in my cabin and at the end I just packed the remaining into my trunk and drove to another port to board the Sensation. Couldn't take the beer on but I saved it for home.

 

I wouldn't have had to do this IF Carnival would have been reasonable with their Cheers policy and at least allowed us to get a plastic bucket with ice.

[pmoniz]

The Lido deck is your best bet to get unopened cans. On the Victory I was so pissed that I couldn't get a bucket to keep my beer cold that I sat on Lido for hours accumulating cans of beer under my chair and every 5th beer I would take them to my cabin and repeat. I had so many cans in my cabin and at the end I just packed the remaining into my trunk and drove to another port to board the Sensation. Couldn't take the beer on but I saved it for home.

 

I wouldn't have had to do this IF Carnival would have been reasonable with their Cheers policy and at least allowed us to get a plastic bucket with ice.

 

We had the Cheers program on the Dream and our waiter gave us a plastic bucket with ice for unopened beers!! Guess it just depends! We told him what we wanted to do (order a beer on our Cheers and fill our bucket). Every few minutes he came by with the beer! Not a problem at all!

[Rosesgt]

As stated, you can't get a bucket of beer with the Cheers program. On past cruises, we got unopened beers and brought them to the cabin. On our New Years Eve cruise, we saved up a good bit of assorted beers and when we visited Half Moon Cay, we put the beers in an insulated bag we brought, filled it with ice and brought it with us. Saved us from having to pay for drinks on the island.

You can order a drink every 5 minutes with the Cheers program.

I saw a couple of cruisers ask for a bucket full of ice at the Blue Iguana Tequila bar last week on the Conquest. What you can do is save up some beers over the course of a day or so, get a bucket of ice and enjoy.

We just got off the Conquest this past Sunday, we didn't reach our break even drink a couple of days, but the Cheers program allowed us to try different drinks we never would have. We found some new favorites that way. We did bring home some Cigar City beers to try that we got with the Cheers program when we got off the Conquest.

Enjoy!

[mds556]

What if you don't have the Cheers package and you order a bucket of beer, do they leave them unopened?

 

If someone has answered this already, I am sorry, but do they all have to be the same brand of beers? Or just all the same price?

[jmvideopro]

What if you don't have the Cheers package and you order a bucket of beer, do they leave them unopened?

 

If someone has answered this already, I am sorry, but do they all have to be the same brand of beers? Or just all the same price?

 

Normal the will ask you how may do you want to open. That has alway been the case for me.

[cruzelover55]

There is a 3 page thread "to Buy Cheers Or Not" just down a little further. It answers a lot of these questions. Without Cheers, our buckets of beer were always buy 3 get 1 free. Still over $25. if I remember correctly. We always now get Cheers and just accumulate beers and have never had a problem getting a bucket plus we have a collapsible cooler filled with ice in our room. I go to the bars on Lido deck and if they say they are supposed to open them, I just say, I am taking back to the room to drink and don't want to spill. Every other drink I tip extra and soon have no problem. As soon as I see the guy he asks if I am doing a drink or beer this time. I always fold the tip and palm it to him as they have a tip pool. This way it is up to him if he wants to "share":rolleyes:

[bigdog1958]

There is a 3 page thread "to Buy Cheers Or Not" just down a little further. It answers a lot of these questions. Without Cheers, our buckets of beer were always buy 3 get 1 free. Still over $25. if I remember correctly. We always now get Cheers and just accumulate beers and have never had a problem getting a bucket plus we have a collapsible cooler filled with ice in our room. I go to the bars on Lido deck and if they say they are supposed to open them, I just say, I am taking back to the room to drink and don't want to spill. Every other drink I tip extra and soon have no problem. As soon as I see the guy he asks if I am doing a drink or beer this time. I always fold the tip and palm it to him as they have a tip pool. This way it is up to him if he wants to "share":rolleyes:

 

Buckets of beer on carnival are not buy 3 get one free... You get a bucket of 4 beers any variety and you get 50cents off per beer for a savings of 2.00 per bucket...

[cruzelover55]

Buckets of beer on carnival are not buy 3 get one free... You get a bucket of 4 beers any variety and you get 50cents off per beer for a savings of 2.00 per bucket...

 

I said, if I remember correctly. I knew it was some sort of discount. It has been a long time as we have bought Cheers from the 1st time it was offered.

[sg4crzn]

If you buy the Cheers program do you get billed the gratuity every time you get a soda, drink or beer?

[cruzelover55]

If you buy the Cheers program do you get billed the gratuity every time you get a soda, drink or beer?

 

Unless it has changed from our 2014 cruise the 15% is added to the purchase price of the Cheers program price. Good news for us, bad for servers. If they made you tip per drink it would be much more. Say you got 10, $9.00 drinks, 15% would be $13.50. Which is more the 15% of one day of Cheers. Hope this makes sense. We do tip extra every other drink if we are in a situation that we have the same bartender for a long time and they are treating us well.