Anyone regret purchasing the Cheers program

[ray98]

22 hours ago, mapman_2004 said:

 

You don't have to cash flow $940 and put it towards Cheers to have a good time still.  You could still cash flow $900, not go crazy trying to make Cheers worth it, and have money left over after.

 

 

How do you know what someone else needs for a 'good time'?

 

This sort of falls into the 'you do you' thought process and don't try to live others lives.

[ray98]

12 minutes ago, Joebucks said:

 

I'll log into my sign and sail account a few times to see where I'm at. I don't really need my receipts to see this. I usually don't buy more than 2 drinks a day, so it's not really any shock. 

 

 

So....you are offering advice to someone who probably won't be in your scenario.  That clears it up.

[chipperberg]

On 3/5/2019 at 11:14 AM, ray98 said:

Nope....I always have plenty of time to enjoy myself.  The all inclusive feel of Cheers adds value to my vacation above the dollars and cents of the drinks.

This exactly!  I love the "feeling" of all inclusive and I love even more purchasing well ahead of time and long forgetting about the payment and not having a bar bill at the end of the trip, even if I spent a few extra dollars.  I really don't know because I don't keep track.  I do know that without Cheers, I would most likely mainly stick to beers as opposed to Patron Margaritas and a bunch of ting mojitos.  (Ok, Ok, I would still get those Ting Mojitos, they are amazing!)

[mapman_2004]

1 hour ago, ray98 said:

 

 

So....you are offering advice to someone who probably won't be in your scenario.  That clears it up.

 

Two snarky posts in a row!  You win the grump award for the day

[ray98]

3 minutes ago, mapman_2004 said:

 

Two snarky posts in a row!  You win the grump award for the day

 

Snarky?  Just pointing out the obvious.  Why would a person who has 2 drinks a day even be in the conversation with people who obviously plan to have many more than that since they are considering Cheers.  It isn't being snarky, it is common sense.

[coevan]

I agree Ray, people are way to sensitive. I get this all the time for pointing out the obvious. 

[schazzy]

18 minutes ago, coevan said:

I agree Ray, people are way to sensitive. I get this all the time for pointing out the obvious. 

 

You sir have offended my delicate sensibilities, obviously.

 

 

[Lizc7gb]

I purchased it for my 50th birthday cruise in January of 2018 and loved it.  I definitely got my money's worth.  In December I went on a cruise with my hubby and 18 year old daughter and we didn't get the package since we were not going to drink much with our daughter being with us.  Going on my friends 60th birthday bash in May and my husband and I have already purchased it.  For us it just depends on the people we are cruising with and how much we think we will be drinking with our cruise mates.

[happygeauxlucky]

Does Carnival ever have a sale on the Cheers package? 

[carakris]

I got it for my up coming cruise, My husband is a heavy drinker but sticks to beer, I am not so much but again it is something we were able to budget for a prepay ahead of time which make one less worry for us when we go on the trip.this is my first time getting it will see how it goes, Then I will decided if I want to do it again or just get cruise cash instead

[ProgRockCruiser]

50 minutes ago, happygeauxlucky said:

Does Carnival ever have a sale on the Cheers package? 

 

Nope.  They have no incentive to!

[Stacie.]

We are not heavy drinkers but do enjoy a few drinks a week at home. When we were planning for our first cruise DH mentioned getting the Cheers package. We talked about it and decided not to do it for our first cruise as we weren't sure if any of us would get seasick and not be able to use the drink package. We just decided to put cash on our account and see how much of it we would use and not worry about how many drinks we had. The first day at sea we both ordered a drink of the day (don't remember what it was, something fruity). I love me some fruity drinks and thought, well...maybe I should've gotten the Cheers package. DH took a few drinks and decided he didn't like his so he gave it to me to finish off. Turns out I have to spread out my alcoholic beverages because I drank that second one fairly quickly (I don't know why he didn't like it, I thought it was fabulous!) and with the motion of the boat and the sun and getting a slight buzz as I'm not a huge drinker...he had to bring me to our room and I had to stay there for a few hours as I felt so seasick. I was glad then that we did not purchase the Cheers package. 

 

The rest of the cruise I would have one fruity drink in the afternoon and one glass of wine in our room (from the two bottles we brought along) in the evening while getting ready for evening dining. That was about the perfect amount of alcohol for me. DH would have a beer in the afternoon and another one at dinner. We had quite a bit of money left on our account since we didn't drink as much as we thought we would. DH ended up buying a watch and I bought some jewelry for our DDs for Christmas and we still got a check mailed to us. 

 

Our next cruise was with my family and we really didn't drink at all except me, one of my sisters, and my mom when we did the behind the scenes galley tour (on RCCL) and they had unlimited mimosas. My other sister is a teetotaler and my SIL was pregnant so they stuck with OJ. I had maybe three mimosas and my younger sister must've had at least six or seven, LOL. 

 

Instead of putting a lot of cash on our account for our most recent cruise, we decided to use that money to bring a friend with for DS15. This kid has had a rough life (bad home life, cancer survivor) so it was soooo worth the money to see him having so much fun and with him being a 6'2" teen boy the cruise line probably lost money with as much as he ate (we tipped our server well!). I still had my one fruity drink a day and unfortunately due to plane delays we didn't get into Miami the day before like we had planned so I didn't have time to pick up a few bottles of wine (we fly carry on only). I still had a great time!

 

So back on topic...if you have cruised before and know that you can handle your alcohol on the ship (unlike me) by all means, go for it! I'm glad I didn't the first time because it would've been a complete waste of money (I don't drink many sodas, gatorades, milkshakes, etc and I do plain black coffee). If you haven't cruised before, why not just set aside the amount you would spend on Cheers and use up to that amount. I'm guessing you'll still have a good time. 😉 

[SandiLynn]

We always get cheers and come out ahead, but I read a tread this morning showing where some ships are giving half off drinks during a timed Happy Hour! If you did decide to set aside the cost of Cheers to spend, there are ways to save money on your drinks if you do not drink the other speciality drinks. Happy Cruising!

[Crazy4Camping]

7 minutes ago, SandiLynn said:

We always get cheers and come out ahead, but I read a tread this morning showing where some ships are giving half off drinks during a timed Happy Hour! If you did decide to set aside the cost of Cheers to spend, there are ways to save money on your drinks if you do not drink the other speciality drinks. Happy Cruising!

We decided that would be the way we go next time.  Everyday there was a drink that was $1.00 off and there were beer buckets plus being able to bring wine on board, we figure there's no way we would purchase next time.

[mdsgu]

We have purchased it every time we've been on Carnival (and Royal; NCL throws it in for "free") since they introduced it.  It's wonderful to not have to worry about the bill at the end.  Carnival does have that limit of 15 drinks per 24 hours, but I've only hit that once or twice.  As long as you drink about 5 a day, you're getting your money's worth.  Mimosa in the morning, pre-dinner drink, drink with dinner, a couple of after-dinner drinks and you're there!

[asalligo]

I have regretted the package and would not purchase it again. I know that many people love the idea that they have already paid for it and it removes a worry for them, but for me I have a number in my head and if I am not reaching that break even number I feel like I wasted money. Then I found that there was no way I could really meet that number without ordering when I often did not feel like it, especially on port days. By the end of the week I was regretting the calories in the package more than anything else. I ended up just not worrying about it and ordering only when I felt like it and Carnival made out big on the deal. 

[61Lablover]

Do the 15 drinks a day include the coffees and shakes?

[ShakyBeef]

4 minutes ago, 61Lablover said:

Do the 15 drinks a day include the coffees and shakes?

 

No.  Just alcoholic beverages.

 

Edited to say: the coffees and shakes will count towards your 15 if they are "spiked".

Edited March 8, 2019 by ShakyBeef

[BrezQ]

We are mainly beer drinkers, so we'd probably not get our money worth, BUT, we DO get cheers and make the most out of it! We get specialty coffee, waters, milkshakes etc.... We try other drinks during the week, that if, we didn't have cheers, we probably wouldn't do! I like having it paid off before we get on the ship! It's just nice to have a small bill at the end (last cruise it was $32!!!)

 

If you get it, make the most of it (there's a ton of threads on here to research that topic)   We get 2 iced mocha lattes every late morning and then get one mudslide at the bar, we use our tumbles and throw half the mudslide in each with the (unsweetened)  coffees and enjoy our first drink of the day!! Usually by day 2 or 3 the bartender mixes them in our tumblers for us!!

 

Have a great time!!

[61Lablover]

So we have 5 kids and splitting cabins so only 1 of us has to buy the cheers because we are in separate cabins?

[SandiLynn]

I don't know if this is true ,but our friends did the same thing. One parent in each room with their kids divided. According to them, both adults were charged for Cheers and the kids were all charged Bubbles because both  cabins were on the same credit card under same name. They waited to purchase on board first day. They choose not to go ahead with it at checkout.

That being said, when taking our son with us and pre purchasing Cheers for my DH and myself, I assumed that they would automatically add Bubbles for my son. That is what it states on Cheers rules, but they did not add it and I had to go add it myself, once on board,  so he could have unlimited PowerAids and water.

[Crazy4Camping]

3 hours ago, SandiLynn said:

I don't know if this is true ,but our friends did the same thing. One parent in each room with their kids divided. According to them, both adults were charged for Cheers and the kids were all charged Bubbles because both  cabins were on the same credit card under same name. They waited to purchase on board first day. They choose not to go ahead with it at checkout.

That being said, when taking our son with us and pre purchasing Cheers for my DH and myself, I assumed that they would automatically add Bubbles for my son. That is what it states on Cheers rules, but they did not add it and I had to go add it myself, once on board,  so he could have unlimited PowerAids and water.

Okay so the bottomless bubbles is not just pop?  Is it like unlimited anything non-alcoholic??  Also, It's interesting too how the rules can change from ship to ship and cruise line to cruise line.  They aren't supposed to have one person get drinks for both(like my husband getting drinks for both of us so I didn't have to go to the bar)but they let him a couple of times-maybe because they already knew us and we weren't heavy drinkers, I don't know.  My nephew had the bottomless bubbles on another cruiseline and very easily got pop, fruit punch, etc. for his grandma(my mom)when they sailed together.

[cautery]

On cruise #1, (our honeymoon), my wife and I easily broke $1.5k bar tab...  don't remember the exact number.  Not counting bar tabs off-ship.
On cruise #2, (3rd Anniversary), we were being less "party minded", but still easily exceeded the cheers cost by a comfortable margin... even though we had "supplemental supplies".

Cruise #3 in 597 days, (10th Anniversary), and I can ASSURE you that even with the price increases and the 15 drink limit, we will still save a ton of money buying the Cheers sticker.

We karaoke every night, piano bar, catch every show, hang out in the hot tub on the Lido...
Easily 10-12 drinks a day (max on a couple of days) PLUS an equal amount of water.

[KristiK]

I have done 2 cruises.

 

On my first cruise, I did not buy it. I thought that I was going on vacation to enjoy the ship and the sun and the excursions, and wasn't paying all that cruise money just to go away and get drunk every day. So every day I would plan and think "ok, I'll have a beer watching the comedian or watching the show, and maybe one on deck later, but I don't need to buy one in the afternoon". And then I found the self pour beer station and thought "I'll just keep refilling my mug and enjoy some drinks that way". And some days I drank more, and some less, but I felt like I was always thinking in my head "should I or shouldn't I". Thing is, money wasn't an issue. I wasn't worried about a budget, and could have easily afforded much more to drink, and could have drank a lot more without feeling drunk. In the end, I felt that it affected my fun as I kept debating "should I?" instead of just ordering the drink like I wanted. 

 

On my second cruise I pre-ordered the Cheers package. Was I drunk any night? Nope. Did I try drinks I wouldn't have normally drank? Definitely. Didn't really like some of the Alchemy drinks I tried, but that's ok, I didn't need to finish them. Did I have at least one Hurricane Wave every day? Yep, and loved each and every one. I had 5 drinks some days, 10 drinks on some days, and 15 one day, and never worried about "should I or shouldn't I". I drank more than I do at home, but I was on vacation, so who cares?

 

So for me, I never regretted getting it. I'm getting it on my next cruise.

Did I regret not getting it? Yes. And not because of money costs or savings, but because debating whether or not to order a drink was a waste of mental energy that I could have spent on simply enjoying my cruise more.

 

To Cheers or not To Cheers is a personal decision, and the factors going into it include more than simply the financial aspect. For some, the guarantee of at least breaking even is the sole factor. For some, it is the ability to pre-pay in advance that is paramount. For some, paying as you go is important to limit consumption to prevent drinking to excess. For some, the ability to try new things is most important. 

 

There are many factors to consider, and there is no right or wrong answer.

[SandiLynn]

Crazy4camping: yes it's almost everything non alcoholic. It's has been our experience that as we try to find a few bartenders we continuously use, once they recognize one of us, they will let one of us get both drinks as long as we have both cards. We do know them by name and we tip extra in cash, so they do not have to share their tip with everyone on duty at the same time.