Beverage consumers - package or no?

[Suna]

I am new to Carnival and really trying to decide if the drink package is the way to go or if we should pay out of pocket. We do like our frozen beverages and rum, vodka, tequila and beer. ... pretty much everything but wine. Having always been on the ‘free’ package with NCL, I don’t remember how much I drank in a day. We like to drink, and always seemed to have one in our hand, but we don’t drink to get drunk. 
I think I would like the easy ness of buying the package but ... will we save money paying out of pocket?

 

so drinkers .... what do you do?

[Joe817]

We pay out of pocket. There is no way it makes economic sense to buy the drink package(called Cheers on Carnival). You can run the numbers yourself, and estimate what your daily consumption is. My drinks run right around $11.00 ea. Compare that to the cost of the Cheers package, and you can get a good idea if it's worth it for you all. 

[TNcruising02]

I am not a big drinker, so the package isn't a benefit to me.  Your description of the drinks you like and having one in your hand a lot of times makes me think that the drink package would be perfect for you.  The only way to really know if you will save money is to calculate the drinks per day and price it out.  It really sounds like you would be better off just buying the package and enjoying the drinks whenever you want them.

[coevan]

1 hour ago, Joe817 said:

We pay out of pocket. There is no way it makes economic sense to buy the drink package(called Cheers on Carnival). You can run the numbers yourself, and estimate what your daily consumption is. My drinks run right around $11.00 ea. Compare that to the cost of the Cheers package, and you can get a good idea if it's worth it for you all. 

 

 

You don't need a spread sheet, it's not rocket science. At the $11 Joe mentioned, 5 drinks would be break even. Pretty simple, if you drink moderately at home buy it. Remember it includes bottled water, Gatorade, and specialty coffees. Every time we pass a bar we get a couple of bottles of water and store them in our cabin fridge. The coffee is excellent and blows away the Lido deck coffee. To us, it is a no brainer.

[Suna]

16 minutes ago, coevan said:

 

 

You don't need a spread sheet, it's not rocket science. At the $11 Joe mentioned, 5 drinks would be break even. Pretty simple, if you drink moderately at home buy it. Remember it includes bottled water, Gatorade, and specialty coffees. Every time we pass a bar we get a couple of bottles of water and store them in our cabin fridge. The coffee is excellent and blows away the Lido deck coffee. To us, it is a no brainer.

 

[Suna]

I do like coffee ... and water would be a bonus. Do you know if you can take a couple of bottles of water off with you in port?

[stellarose]

it also depends on how many ports. our last ship, breeze December 19', we had four ports that your beverage package does not work on.  so it was not worth it for spending 50 dollars a day per person for booze. just do ala carte.  also, bring a swell bottle for water .  I would say sneak on booze, but that is not a topic popular here. (you tube videos). I know some who do sneak on- risky. 

 

hope that helps. 

[tejascruisers]

You sound like my wife and I. Don't drink to get drunk, but love to have a drink in hand the majority of the time. It is a vacation, after all! We get a couple of large water the package every time and carry a couple of large waters (1.5 Liter) off the boat at each port. Throw in specialty coffees, vitamin waters and sodas, and it is well worth it!

[stellarose]

it would cost us over 500 dollars for hubby and I for the beverage package for the week. there is no way to drink that much coffee/ water / soda/ booze with 4 ports. again, have had the Bev package on celerity bc I got a good deal on it. 

 

only you can decide if the package is right.  I think in December we spent about 250- 300 on drinks/sodas/water/ etc.  (that is hubby and I combined). 

[firefly333]

To me depends on how many ports you have. You dont get your money's worth on port days. No way could I drink enough on sea days. I also get invited to a couple of parties, like past guest. Last time on vista they let us order anything we wanted. I'm not a drink every day person, so only you know your intake. 

[captcave]

If you drink 4 to 5 drinks at day, plus a water or soda, you're better than breakeven, even on port days.

 

On land, I'm not a drinker, less than one drink a month.  On the ship, I like to have one in hand, it's vacation.  Do you like to try a new drink without feeling bad if you hate it and throw it away, no problem.  Get another.  Stop by Alchemy and try a new drink every time you go by,  I've never had a bad one. 

 

For some people it's math.  For some it's not worrying about the bill at the end.  For us it's a bit of both, even on port day with dinner, a show or two, and then the casino or piano bar, we're gonna get more than 4 drinks anyway, plus waters and coffee, so it's a no brainer.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Saint Greg]

1 hour ago, Suna said:

I do like coffee ... and water would be a bonus. Do you know if you can take a couple of bottles of water off with you in port?

Absolutely. I’ve taken water, sports drinks, coffee, Bloody Mary in a coffee cup.

I get a couple cold waters on my way out on port days. Anytime you’re leaving a bar and heading back to the room order a water and stock your fridge a little. Sodas and milkshakes are included as well.

 

I always get the package and it’s well worth it to me. On a sea day I’ll be halfway even by lunch time with specialty coffee and Bloody Mary. On port days at worst I break even. Usually a little better. 

Edited June 28, 2020 by Saint Greg

[Organized Chaos]

5 hours ago, Suna said:

I think I would like the easy ness of buying the package but ... will we save money paying out of pocket?

 

so drinkers .... what do you do?

 

In addition to the financial aspects of breaking even or not, a lot of people consider the convenience. There are plenty of people who admit they know they don't break even monetarily, but buy Cheers anyway because they like the convenience and also not having to worry about what their bar bill will be at the end of the cruise. So if you're on the fence as to whether or not it'll be worth it to you monetarily, maybe that convenience factor would help you decide.

[mslhb]

We are moderate drinkers at home and always get a drink package. I tend to drink slowly but continually throughout the day on vacation and am never drunk. My husband drinks more then me and between the 2 of us we always do better than breaking even. I like being able to try something without thinking about the price and then getting another drink if I don’t like it. I am not usually a cocktail drinker except on vacation. Between alcohol, coffee and bottle water I definitely feel we get our money’s worth.

[dawnprincess]

For those who like water in your cabin, Carnival has the cheapest water package on any cruise line we’ve sailed. Twelve 16 oz bottles of water for $4.95 delivered to your cabin. Order on your cruise personalizer. Other lines cost almost 3 times that. So worth the convenience of not having to pack in your carryon luggage. 

[MississippiMom]

12 hours ago, captcave said:

If you drink 4 to 5 drinks at day, plus a water or soda, you're better than breakeven, even on port days.

 

On land, I'm not a drinker, less than one drink a month.  On the ship, I like to have one in hand, it's vacation.  Do you like to try a new drink without feeling bad if you hate it and throw it away, no problem.  Get another.  Stop by Alchemy and try a new drink every time you go by,  I've never had a bad one. 

 

For some people it's math.  For some it's not worrying about the bill at the end.  For us it's a bit of both, even on port day with dinner, a show or two, and then the casino or piano bar, we're gonna get more than 4 drinks anyway, plus waters and coffee, so it's a no brainer.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the response I would give (minus the casino).  I like not worrying about a bar tab at the end of the cruise.  Having the drink package definitely makes it easy to try all sorts of alcoholic drinks, but, for me, it also meant lots of items from the coffee bar, including milk shakes and bottled teas & flavored waters.  Our favorite beverage when returning from a port day was a cold Frappuccino of some kind.  It’s not about getting drunk for me.

Edited June 28, 2020 by MississippiMom

[SDPadreFan]

12 hours ago, Saint Greg said:

Absolutely. I’ve taken water, sports drinks, coffee, Bloody Mary in a coffee cup.

I get a couple cold waters on my way out on port days. Anytime you’re leaving a bar and heading back to the room order a water and stock your fridge a little. Sodas and milkshakes are included as well.

 

I always get the package and it’s well worth it to me. On a sea day I’ll be halfway even by lunch time with specialty coffee and Bloody Mary. On port days at worst I break even. Usually a little better. 

 

Anyone who has read Saint Greg's fantastic cruise reports knows he always gets his money's worth from the Cheer's package.

[PhillyFan33579]

I think the short answer is if you are more than a casual drinker the Cheers package is worth it. My wife and I have cruised on Carnival frequently and we have gotten Cheers every time with one exception. The one time we didn’t get Cheers was on a 4 day cruise on Paradise several years ago, with the lack of an Alchemy Bar being a big reason why we decided to not buy Cheers. We paid attention to what we drank (mainly drank beer and wine the entire cruise with a few exceptions) and didn’t order speciality waters in the MDR and my wife didn’t drink speciality coffees like she normally does. I kept every receipt for every drink we ordered during the cruise. I entered everything in a spreadsheet I created when I got home and we literally saved less than $5.00 total for the cruise. That was enough to convince me to never cruise again on Carnival without buying Cheers. For what its worth, we also always buy the drink package on any cruise line we sail on and always feel it is worth buying. 

[coevan]

17 hours ago, stellarose said:

we had four ports that your beverage package does not work on.  

 

 

it does not work at any port, even on a port day we always get our monies worth

[pc_load_letter]

The wife and I have been purchasing the beverage packages since they were first in trial phases.

 

We love it. Don't have to worry about nickel and diming on drinks. We like coffee and bottled water as well.

 

We generally start drinking with something at breakfast. We rarely hit the cap but have come close. I can do 15 drinks a day if I put my mind to it but it's not a goal.

[Butterbean1000]

Every cruise. We discuss getting the Cheers package.  We have determined that if you are on a 7 day with 4 port days, the package is not worth it to us. 

[RumpunchGirl]

We tried Cheers for the 1st time last Oct. on a 3 day cruise.  I really liked getting the specialty coffee and milk shakes beside the drinks. Not sure if we broke even or not but really like the convenience. We bought it again for our Next 7 day cruise in Jan. 2021. We were able to purchase it during a very rare Sale back in the spring. 20% off Cheers and Cruise Cash. 

[stellarose]

As someone mentioned heavy port stops may be a factor . On HMC you can’t use your drink package ( or did it change).

[PhillyFan33579]

28 minutes ago, stellarose said:

As someone mentioned heavy port stops may be a factor . On HMC you can’t use your drink package ( or did it change).

It has not changed. This is one area Carnival is way behind RCI. 

[some_body]

To us, it's always worth it.  And they add up fast.  I'm not taking into consideration specialty coffees, bottled water, etc.  Just think about how your day goes. As others have already said, this is a vacation and having a drink in hand is part of it.

 

Sea day, total of 8 - 10

• Breakfast - a mimosa or two
• Mid morning - something fun
• Lunch - beer
• Afternoon by the pool - a couple somethings cold
• Dinner - glass of wine
• Evening until turning in - one a hour until we stop (2-4)

Port Day, total of 5 - 8

• Breakfast - a mimosa 
• Back on the ship - something cold
• Dinner - glass of wine, probably 2
• Evening until turning in - one a hour until we stop (2-4)