Cruise Cash or Cheers! Package?

[Bazzybuggs]

I'm brand new to this and there's so much to take in.

My question(s) involves buying 'Cruise Cash' rather than the 'Cheers!' Package:

Can having Cruise Cash (general, not alcohol or photo packages) be used in the bars to buy alcoholic drinks?

Is it added to the sail and sign card?

Can it be used to buy alcoholic drinks in the restaurants?

I'm aware that there's no refund if it remains in credit, but to be honest I think we'll get better value for money this way.

Advice please!

[BoDidly]

Just use a cash account if you need more just add more cash. Close it out the last night.

No stress procedure .

[singlerail]

yes, you can buy cruise cash, and all purchases will come off the balance

[n6uqqq]

There is no better value in using cruise cash. You lend Carnival a dollar, when you cruise you get your dollar back. No more, no less.

[landmsmith27]

Good Evening

I really prefer the CHEERS card over use the cruise cash because it gives you the ability to try all kinds of different types of drinks. You will not have to worry about the price if you have the card, because it is already prepaid.

[Charlami]

I seem to pick cruising with significant others that don't drink. I have never had the opportunity to try the Cheers! Package. I also suck at saving money and find that if I get cruise cash I can use it for drinks, photos or gift shop buys. I rarely have leftover cash there.

 

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[RHilla619]

There is no benefit financially, on your end, to buying cruise cash upfront. It's not like a pay $20 and get $25 worth on board sort of deal, as another poster said you are just giving Carnival money upfront. What you didn't to tell us which would help us help you is your drinking habits/style. Cheers is expensive and a little overwhelming with it's upfront cost (about $57 per day includes gratuity), but can really be a great value if you like to indulge/unwind a little bit while on vacation. The package gets you 15 alcoholic drinks per day, plus unlimited waters, sodas, good coffees, powerades, milkshakes, etc. Drinking onboard a la carte is expensive and the included coffee is pretty crappy, if you will have about 6/7 alcoholic drinks a day plus a soda/coffee here and then you come out ahead.

[tennboy1981]

Also, cruise cash is non refundable. Which means you use it or lose it. If you must purchase ahead of time. Purchase gift cards

 

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[ItsAllAboutTheSass]

You are limited to $500 cruise cash per cabin

[sanger727]

The non-refundable aspect is ridiculous. Any other lines refunds OBC you purchased. It sounds like you feel like your overall ship bill will be less than the cost of cheers. Why not take the cash you would have spent on cheers and keep it in a separate envelope. Prior to the last night use that cash to pay off your onboard bill. If anything is leftover you can buy an extra souvenir or take it home.

 

 

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[Drazil65]

We have used cruise and bar cash from time to time just to build up a little towards the bar before the cruise. The last night of cruise go to GS or the casino and they will refund everything left on your account, we have never had an issue with this. We also get a wine package as well to go with the bar cash (maybe $100 in bar cash to supplement and get us started), this combo works well for us as we are not big drinkers but enjoy a glass of something a few times a day. The cheers package would not make financial sense for the 2 of us.

[hotsauce126]

I think the intention of cruise cash is to buy for someone like a gift card. Buying it for yourself is like buying a $10 Target gift card for $10 and using it yourself.

[firemanbobswife]

The only reason/way I would by cruise cash for myself is if I bought it with discounted Carnival gift cards. It would be simply for the fact that it would already be on my account and one less step I would have to do.

[Bazzybuggs]

Thanks for your replies. I'm not convinced we'd get any real value or savings from Cheers! to be honest. With cruise cash we wouldn't save either but can buy other things as well as alcohol for similar money.

[seashell4274]

Bazz Cruise cash is great idea. You put a little on it weekly and it's already there for you. Gift cards must be at least 100 which can be hard to part with weekly or biweekly.I like the idea of Cheers but it's pretty expensive in my opinion. I can almost cruise again for the same amount.

[Bazzybuggs]

We're coming from Scotland so it's already costing us plenty for our flights etc too.

Cheers will cost us just under $500 and I just don't think we'll break even never mind save. However, a credit of the same amount will be easily spent between alcohol and other on board things. I'm all for saving money but I doubt we'd be able to drink that amount

[mean.green10]

I used to always get Cheers, but found that I began to drink less & less on board & use the gym more & more. Now I get Cruise Cash in the same amount I would pay for Cheers & always leave the ship with cash in my wallet. Carnival's admonition: "Cruise Cash is non-refundable and any unused credits will be forfeited" sounds ominous, but as Drazil65 stated you can go to the casino on the last night of your cruise, download the balance of your unused cruise cash into your casino account, then cash out at the cashier cage. You should prepay your gratuities though & take into account any drinks you've purchased on your last night.

[bar1068]

I'm brand new to this and there's so much to take in.

 

My question(s) involves buying 'Cruise Cash' rather than the 'Cheers!' Package:

 

Can having Cruise Cash (general, not alcohol or photo packages) be used in the bars to buy alcoholic drinks?

 

Is it added to the sail and sign card?

 

Can it be used to buy alcoholic drinks in the restaurants?

 

I'm aware that there's no refund if it remains in credit, but to be honest I think we'll get better value for money this way.

 

Advice please!

 

 

 

Wife and I went back and forth on getting Cheers for a recent 8 day cruise....we rightfully did not think we’d get the value from Cheers, and the prospect of handing them another $955 before boarding the ship just for drinking any and all beverages and hoping we’d break even did not sit well, regardless of the perceived “benefits” of Cheers. What we decided was to fund our S&S account with discounted gift cards. We’ve cruised enough to know what our typical onboard spending is, so we bought enough discounted gift cards to match that. Worked out very well. Even with “drinking as if we had Cheers”, we came up about $250 shy of what Cheers would have cost. We had a $$$ balance at cruise end, and cashed that out in the casino. Was a win win for us!!

 

 

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[Trishlo73]

I seem to pick cruising with significant others that don't drink. I have never had the opportunity to try the Cheers! Package.

 

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This is me too! My husband doesn't drink and I generally don't, but when I'm on vacation, I want to live a little, lol!

 

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[pacruise804]

Wife and I went back and forth on getting Cheers for a recent 8 day cruise....we rightfully did not think we’d get the value from Cheers, and the prospect of handing them another $955 before boarding the ship just for drinking any and all beverages and hoping we’d break even did not sit well, regardless of the perceived “benefits” of Cheers. What we decided was to fund our S&S account with discounted gift cards. We’ve cruised enough to know what our typical onboard spending is, so we bought enough discounted gift cards to match that. Worked out very well. Even with “drinking as if we had Cheers”, we came up about $250 shy of what Cheers would have cost. We had a $$$ balance at cruise end, and cashed that out in the casino. Was a win win for us!!

 

 

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We did this too (gift card vs. cheers) on our last cruise, and it was nice to drink whatever we wanted but also not feel like we "had" to drink if we just didn't feel like it at the time just because we had the package.

 

This is me too! My husband doesn't drink and I generally don't, but when I'm on vacation, I want to live a little, lol!

 

 

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If it doesn't make sense for both of you to get Cheers, but you are worried you won't be free with your drinking if you have to pay as you go here is a suggestion:

• purchase Cruise Bar Cash in the amount Cheers would be for one person (use Bar Cash and regular Cash if $500 isn't enough)
  
• Bar Cash is truly non-refundable, so you can order any and all drinks you want up to that amount guilt free since it in essence is a cheaper version of Cheers
  
• there should be no limitations on types of drinks (so buckets, fish bowls, etc allowed) and no prohibition on sharing drinks or waiting 5 minutes between drinks
  

[sc4125]

We did this too (gift card vs. cheers) on our last cruise, and it was nice to drink whatever we wanted but also not feel like we "had" to drink if we just didn't feel like it at the time just because we had the package.

 

 

 

If it doesn't make sense for both of you to get Cheers, but you are worried you won't be free with your drinking if you have to pay as you go here is a suggestion:

• purchase Cruise Bar Cash in the amount Cheers would be for one person (use Bar Cash and regular Cash if $500 isn't enough)
  
• Bar Cash is truly non-refundable, so you can order any and all drinks you want up to that amount guilt free since it in essence is a cheaper version of Cheers
  
• there should be no limitations on types of drinks (so buckets, fish bowls, etc allowed) and no prohibition on sharing drinks or waiting 5 minutes between drinks
  

 

Thank you for this - not because I'm the OP and needed advise, but because I love it when a poster actually just answers the question without sounding judgmental.

 

Some people aren't concerned about whether their choice is financially sound, they just want the facts about the program they're asking about.

 

I have purchased both cruise cash and cruise bar cash. Even though I didn't use quite as much bar cash, it was still better for me at the time than CHEERS - I really never get my money's worth there either although I still purchase it the majority of the time - only because I'm travelling with someone who wants it & you know the everyone in the cabin has to purchase it, blah, blah, blah.

 

Also, something I did not know until I asked - if you have bar cash left over, you can be extremely generous with your tips. I ended up not spending as much as I thought I would simply because I had free drinks in the casino. Last day, I checked in with Guest Services & one of the Bar Managers and asked if I added a tip to my bar bills, would that come from Bar Cash - the answer was yes! So, on the last night the casino bar waitress who had been so wonderful, got a $50 tip from my sister and I think a $25 tip from me. We had been tipping in cash all cruise not knowing we could add it to the bar bill from Bar Cash. Before turning in the last night, we both checked again, saw we both had about $15 each left, so we went by the Coffee Bar & that guy got two decent tips.

[Joebucks]

This is me too! My husband doesn't drink and I generally don't, but when I'm on vacation, I want to live a little, lol!

 

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I'd say buy the drinks ala carte and don't look back. With two in general light drinkers, I sincerely doubt you could spend THAT much.

[pacruise804]

Thank you for this - not because I'm the OP and needed advise, but because I love it when a poster actually just answers the question without sounding judgmental.

 

Some people aren't concerned about whether their choice is financially sound, they just want the facts about the program they're asking about.

 

I have purchased both cruise cash and cruise bar cash. Even though I didn't use quite as much bar cash, it was still better for me at the time than CHEERS - I really never get my money's worth there either although I still purchase it the majority of the time - only because I'm travelling with someone who wants it & you know the everyone in the cabin has to purchase it, blah, blah, blah.

 

Also, something I did not know until I asked - if you have bar cash left over, you can be extremely generous with your tips. I ended up not spending as much as I thought I would simply because I had free drinks in the casino. Last day, I checked in with Guest Services & one of the Bar Managers and asked if I added a tip to my bar bills, would that come from Bar Cash - the answer was yes! So, on the last night the casino bar waitress who had been so wonderful, got a $50 tip from my sister and I think a $25 tip from me. We had been tipping in cash all cruise not knowing we could add it to the bar bill from Bar Cash. Before turning in the last night, we both checked again, saw we both had about $15 each left, so we went by the Coffee Bar & that guy got two decent tips.

 

Thanks for the reminder about tipping with bar cash! I'd seen that once before but forgot about it. I know that drinks automatically get a gratuity added, but sometimes people want to give extra.

 

I'm glad my post came across as informative and not judgmental. It's my intent to be helpful, or maybe seek understanding if it's something I'm unfamiliar with.

 

I've read before that personal finance is 80% behavior and only 20% math. I'm sure there are lots of things I do with my money that don't make financial sense to others, but the cost is worth it to me. Cheers isn't worth it for me but I know it is for many others, even if it is just to pay a premium to know the bar bill in advance. I just like paying a smaller premium since we are lighter drinkers;):tropical-drink:

[simplelife]

Thanks for your replies. I'm not convinced we'd get any real value or savings from Cheers! to be honest. With cruise cash we wouldn't save either but can buy other things as well as alcohol for similar money.

Exactly. Cruise cash can be sued for anything on board. I like the budgeting aspect of not having a big credit card balance to have to pay off.

On the last night, you can check your balance and download extra OBC to your casino account and cash it out.

[ricew001]

We're coming from Scotland so it's already costing us plenty for our flights etc too.

Cheers will cost us just under $500 and I just don't think we'll break even never mind save. However, a credit of the same amount will be easily spent between alcohol and other on board things. I'm all for saving money but I doubt we'd be able to drink that amount

 

Here's a spreadsheet that can help you calculate if Cheers is worth it or not.

Carnival Beverage Package Evaluator (2).xls