Drink package question - Carnival

[ONHFamily]

Hi All! If my husband and I purchase the Cheers drink package on Carnival, can we use it to get our children juices at breakfast and (virgin) coladas throughout the day, as well? Or is it only for us to use for OUR drinks? I am not sure the $50+ per day is worth it for me (that seems like a lot of drinks), however my husband (with a few beers and a few cocktails throughout the day!) it may be worth it. Since we both have to purchase it, I'm considering if it is a value. Thanks for your thoughts! 

[1025cruise]

Technically the package is not allowed to be shared (hence the reason all adults in the cabin have to purchase it). Juices are always available at breakfast without a package.

[ONHFamily]

1 hour ago, 1025cruise said:

Technically the package is not allowed to be shared (hence the reason all adults in the cabin have to purchase it). Juices are always available at breakfast without a package.

 

Thank you! Newbie cruiser here 😉 (Well, the last cruise I went on I was 16 with a friend, now I'm mid 30s with a family so basically a newbie). I've been looking at it more and think we might just do Cruise Cash bar credits to our S&S account to pre-pay for drinks, that way we are not breaking any rules. The kids don't drink sodas, but love sparkling water and will have a frozen drink (or two) a day, so I'm not convinced the bottomless bubbles would be worth if for them, either.

[mom2oneXY]

You will not have a problem ordering things for your child.  We ordered milkshakes, virgin drinks, etc. and just brought them to our son.  In the MDR, the wait staff even offered to get them something using our Cheers.  He had no more than 1 special drink a day using our Cheers package since water, lemonade, milk, chocolate milk, OJ, and apple juice are readily available for free.

 

DH and I had a hard time getting our money's worth from Cheers when sailing with the kiddo.  We find that we just don't sit by the pool for hours drinking and other than the shows at night didn't drink all that much in the evenings since we would pick the kiddo up by 10:00 and head back to the room.  We packed two bottles of wine that we enjoyed on the balcony or before dinner each night.  So our rule of thumb is use the money for excursions when sailing with kiddo, use the money on Cheers when it's a just us sailing.

[ONHFamily]

Thank you for your response!  Yes, I am not sure I would get my money's worth. It is our first cruise as a family, so we are figuring all these things out. We also only have 2 at sea days. I can potentially see getting $s worth on those days, but yeah, not much time to sit around a drink with kiddos running around 😉  Good call on using the $ for excursions, too! That's what I am currently looking into. 

[Just_Beachy22]

We cruise with family usually and have found that a few drinks in the evening at the alchemy satisfies the $51 per day easily. We have never felt more than tipsy or even neared the 15 allowed alcohol drinks per day. I think once my husband got to 12 by actually trying.  With that being said, we enjoy beverages in general and typically come out significantly ahead of what we pay for the package when we cruise for 6/7 days.  We pick up a bottle of water and a Gatorade nearly every time we pass the milkshake place. We rarely drink alcohol offshore since we have paid for drinks on board.  When we go into port we bring along the water bottles and Gatorade we have gradually collected.  We take advantage of the specialty coffee (occasionally with baileys added), energy drinks, sodas, milkshakes, and (my personal favorite) when you feel at your limit with drinking just switch to virgin cocktails, sometimes they taste better without it! LOL  So even those that are not heavy drinkers but enjoy drinking anything the ship serves the Cheers program can be a win.  I also like not having to haul on my own wine or soda as a carry-on plus not needing to return to the room for refills as there are plenty of places all over the ship to get something to drink.  We also take the opportunity to try new things that in a real bar setting we would have to pay for and finish. Finally, I love love love prepaying the gratuity - that saves me $1-2 per drink which is our usual tip when we go out at home. Here are some sample days for us (2 adults, 13 and a 7 year old):

 

Port Day:

8 Gatorades - 23.60 

8 Bottled Water - 15.60

2 Red Bull/Rockstar Energy Drinks - 9.50 

2 Specialty Coffees - 11.50 

 

Lunch/Afternoon Back on Board

2 adult frozen beverages - 14.50

4 sodas - 7.80

 

Before Dinner

2 custom cocktails from Alchemy - 40

2 sodas - 3.90

 

During Dinner

4 glasses of Wine - 43.00

4 sodas - 7.80

 

After Dinner at Show, Comedy or Piano Bar

2 (to 6 depending on our night) Adult Beverages - 17.50 (for just 2)

2 Milkshakes or Virgin Drinks - 9.50

 

Pizza Late Night Snack

2 Sodas - 3.90

 

208.10

 

Sea Day:

Breakfast

4 Mimosas - 15

4 Gatorade - 11.80

4 Water - 7.80

 

Morning Activities

2 Specialty Coffees - 11.50

2 Milkshakes - 9.50

 

Lunch

2 adult frozen beverages - 14.50

4 sodas - 7.80

 

Afternoon Activities

2 Cocktails - 17.50

4 sodas - 7.80 

 

Before Dinner

2 custom cocktails from Alchemy - 40

2 sodas - 3.90

 

During Dinner

4 glasses of Wine - 43.00

4 sodas - 7.80

 

After Dinner at Show, Comedy or Piano Bar

2 (to 6 depending on our night) Adult Beverages - 17.50 (for just 2)

2 Milkshakes or Virgin Drinks - 9.50

 

Pizza Late Night Snack

2 Sodas - 3.90

 

228.80

 

Embark:

(not applicable from TX, but you also aren't charged the 1st day)

 

4 Adult Frozen - 35

2 Virgin - 9.50

4 Soda -7.80

 

Before Dinner

2 Cocktails - 21.50

 

During Dinner

4 Glasses of Wine - 43

4 Soda - 7.80

 

After Dinner

4 Alchemy Martinis - 80

2 Milkshakes - 7.90

 

Pizza Late Night Snack

2 Sodas - 3.90

 

216.40

 

Disembark:

4 Mimosas - 30

2 Specialty Coffees - 11.50

4 Sodas - 7.80

8 Gatorade - 23.60

8 Bottled Water - 15.60

 

88.50

 

 

 

Our Upcoming 6 day Cruise

Prepay Cheers: $717

 

Embark: 216.40

Port: 208.10

Port: 208.10

Port: 208.10

Port: 208.10

Sea: 228.80

Disembark: 88.50

$2 tip per alcohol or virgin bar drinks: $172

Total Bar Bill: 1538.61

 

Not figured: 

There is an option to upgrade to a higher brand liquor ($2 per drink). Recommended!!

 

Drink prices based on highest menu price, it is unusual for us to order beer on the package because it does not give us the most bang for our buck. These sample days only hit 8 drinks, so if desired that's the potential of still being able to essentially order a 6 pk over the course of the day 🙆‍♂️

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ONHFamily]

Thank you so much for the detailed reply! From this, I can see how it is easy to reach the price per day of the package. I also did not take into account the bottled water, which is very important. I am not a beer drinker either, and prefer certain liquors, so it looks like with a few (alcoholic) drinks per day I *could* even reach it. So, you are also saying that you are able to order the drinks for your kids using your CHEERS package, and generally that is OK? 

 

5 minutes ago, Just_Beachy22 said:

We cruise with family usually and have found that a few drinks in the evening at the alchemy satisfies the $51 per day easily. We have never felt more than tipsy or even neared the 15 allowed alcohol drinks per day. I think once my husband got to 12 by actually trying.  With that being said, we enjoy beverages in general and typically come out significantly ahead of what we pay for the package when we cruise for 6/7 days.  We pick up a bottle of water and a Gatorade nearly every time we pass the milkshake place. We rarely drink alcohol offshore since we have paid for drinks on board.  When we go into port we bring along the water bottles and Gatorade we have gradually collected.  We take advantage of the specialty coffee (occasionally with baileys added), energy drinks, sodas, milkshakes, and (my personal favorite) when you feel at your limit with drinking just switch to virgin cocktails, sometimes they taste better without it! LOL  So even those that are not heavy drinkers but enjoy drinking anything the ship serves the Cheers program can be a win.  I also like not having to haul on my own wine or soda as a carry-on plus not needing to return to the room for refills as there are plenty of places all over the ship to get something to drink.  We also take the opportunity to try new things that in a real bar setting we would have to pay for and finish. Finally, I love love love prepaying the gratuity - that saves me $1-2 per drink which is our usual tip when we go out at home. Here are some sample days for us (2 adults, 13 and a 7 year old):

 

Port Day:

8 Gatorades - 23.60 

8 Bottled Water - 15.60

2 Red Bull/Rockstar Energy Drinks - 9.50 

2 Specialty Coffees - 11.50 

 

Lunch/Afternoon Back on Board

2 adult frozen beverages - 14.50

4 sodas - 7.80

 

Before Dinner

2 custom cocktails from Alchemy - 40

2 sodas - 3.90

 

During Dinner

4 glasses of Wine - 43.00

4 sodas - 7.80

 

After Dinner at Show, Comedy or Piano Bar

2 (to 6 depending on our night) Adult Beverages - 17.50 (for just 2)

2 Milkshakes or Virgin Drinks - 9.50

 

Pizza Late Night Snack

2 Sodas - 3.90

 

208.10

 

Sea Day:

Breakfast

4 Mimosas - 15

4 Gatorade - 11.80

4 Water - 7.80

 

Morning Activities

2 Specialty Coffees - 11.50

2 Milkshakes - 9.50

 

Lunch

2 adult frozen beverages - 14.50

4 sodas - 7.80

 

Afternoon Activities

2 Cocktails - 17.50

4 sodas - 7.80 

 

Before Dinner

2 custom cocktails from Alchemy - 40

2 sodas - 3.90

 

During Dinner

4 glasses of Wine - 43.00

4 sodas - 7.80

 

After Dinner at Show, Comedy or Piano Bar

2 (to 6 depending on our night) Adult Beverages - 17.50 (for just 2)

2 Milkshakes or Virgin Drinks - 9.50

 

Pizza Late Night Snack

2 Sodas - 3.90

 

228.80

 

Embark:

(not applicable from TX, but you also aren't charged the 1st day)

 

4 Adult Frozen - 35

2 Virgin - 9.50

4 Soda -7.80

 

Before Dinner

2 Cocktails - 21.50

 

During Dinner

4 Glasses of Wine - 43

4 Soda - 7.80

 

After Dinner

4 Alchemy Martinis - 80

2 Milkshakes - 7.90

 

Pizza Late Night Snack

2 Sodas - 3.90

 

216.40

 

Disembark:

4 Mimosas - 30

2 Specialty Coffees - 11.50

4 Sodas - 7.80

8 Gatorade - 23.60

8 Bottled Water - 15.60

 

88.50

 

 

 

Our Upcoming 6 day Cruise

Prepay Cheers: $717

 

Embark: 216.40

Port: 208.10

Port: 208.10

Port: 208.10

Port: 208.10

Sea: 228.80

Disembark: 88.50

$2 tip per alcohol or virgin bar drinks: $172

Total Bar Bill: 1538.61

 

Not figured: 

There is an option to upgrade to a higher brand liquor ($2 per drink). Recommended!!

 

Drink prices based on highest menu price, it is unusual for us to order beer on the package because it does not give us the most bang for our buck. These sample days only hit 8 drinks, so if desired that's the potential of still being able to essentially order a 6 pk over the course of the day 🙆‍♂️

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Just_Beachy22]

We have never had an issue, but we also are not abusive or obvious about it.  Most times we are ordering something and going back to where we are hanging out. So as long as you are discreet and not being obnoxious you shouldn't have a problem. 

[Jlk88]

You are not supposed to share, but I don't buy a drink package (I absolutely cannot fathom spending $700 in one week on beverages. I would MUCH rather put that money towards excursions!) 

I do know that there is a 5 minute wait time between ordering drinks, so if you do try to sneak it, you will have to do one at a time and have yours kids take turns.

 

DH and I are fine with the provided beverages (water, regular coffee, juice at breakfast, iced tea and lemonade), with 1 cocktail or beer per day each and maybe a specialty coffee with dessert. If more drink variety is your jam, then it may be worth it for you to try.

[Just_Beachy22]

As a side note, this is our one vacation splurge and a present to myself for my own sanity so I can enjoy myself and not stress or constantly calculate the tab or cringe if someone orders a drink that is 8.75 instead of 7.75 etc. Could we probably go without, definitely. But for our 1 vacation a year that I can prebudget the expense we will continue doing Cheers. We tend to not do excursions yet so that also helps in keeping the overall trip cost down.

[Just_Beachy22]

Jlk88, I just read your comment after mine posted - please know mine was not directed towards you! 

[Just_Beachy22]

FYI - If you decide not to do Cheers, you can pre-purchase 12pk cases of water for $4.50 - this is a win as they are charging $1.95 per bottle at the bar and up to $3 a bottle in port depending where you are! Carnival no longer allows cases of water as carry-on.

[Jlk88]

15 minutes ago, Just_Beachy22 said:

Jlk88, I just read your comment after mine posted - please know mine was not directed towards you! 

No worries! Different people have different ideas of what they want their vacation to look like and that's a-ok!

[ONHFamily]

Thank you all for the thoughtful responses! This is very helpful.