Cheers

[dtripli]

Hi All.......Please forgive if this is asked over and over.....we have been on a few carnival cruises, but never purchased the Cheers program. Is the gratuity included in the price?  Also I see there is a 15 drink a day max...saw certain things weren't included...bottles of wine etc...but are premium drinks included? ie....If I want a grey goose tier Long Island Ice Tea...is this ok?

[mz-s]

"top shelf" drinks typically are not included

 

18% gratuity is added to the cheers price when you buy it, but it is not included in the displayed price of the package. you will not need to tip per-drink unless you wish. each drink under cheers will be $0.00 unless you are in US waters and are paying sales tax on the purchase (50 cents or so per drink until you get out to sea on first day).

[cruisinpips]

Gratuities are included. Top shelf liquors are included unless they are over $20 each, havent discovered any of those recently, just ask for grey goose, patron, or the liquor of your choice when ordering. 15 alcoholic driks per 24 hour period. When on Horizon recently, all top shelf bourbon was included in Guy’s Pig and Anchor bar, like Blantons, Eagle Rare, etc… 

Edited May 11, 2022 by cruisinpips

[Elaine5715]

1 hour ago, dtripli said:

Hi All.......Please forgive if this is asked over and over.....we have been on a few carnival cruises, but never purchased the Cheers program. Is the gratuity included in the price?  Also I see there is a 15 drink a day max...saw certain things weren't included...bottles of wine etc...but are premium drinks included? ie....If I want a grey goose tier Long Island Ice Tea...is this ok?

 

53 minutes ago, cruisinpips said:

Gratuities are included. Top shelf liquors are included unless they are over $20 each, havent discovered any of those recently, just ask for grey goose, patron, or the liquor of your choice when ordering. 15 alcoholic driks per 24 hour period. When on Horizon recently, all top shelf bourbon was included in Guy’s Pig and Anchor bar, like Blantons, Eagle Rare, etc… 

A very small gratuity is included.  You can do the math.  Take the grats that were added to your CHEERS purchase and divide by the numbers of drinks ordered.  The per drink tip can be as little as 25 cents

[ladysail2]

10 minutes ago, Elaine5715 said:

 

A very small gratuity is included.  You can do the math.  Take the grats that were added to your CHEERS purchase and divide by the numbers of drinks ordered.  The per drink tip can be as little as 25 cents

An 18% gratuity added to the overall cost of the Cheers package.  Not just alcohol is purchased through Cheers….water, coffee, fresh juice can also be included.  

[Elaine5715]

9 hours ago, ladysail2 said:

An 18% gratuity added to the overall cost of the Cheers package.  Not just alcohol is purchased through Cheers….water, coffee, fresh juice can also be included.  

Yes, but it isn't 18% per cost of each drink like it is when you charge to your S&S.  The $10.79 daily (18% of $59.95) CHEERS grat is divided between each server that provides a beverage to you, be it a latte, water, martini at Alchemy.  If you order 15 drinks in a day, mix of alcoholic and non-alcoholic (or all alcoholic, I don't judge), $10.79 divided by 15 is 72 cents tipped per drink.  

Edited May 11, 2022 by Elaine5715

[Dadofsix]

33 minutes ago, Elaine5715 said:

Yes, but it isn't 18% per cost of each drink like it is when you charge to your S&S.  The $10.79 daily (18% of $59.95) CHEERS grat is divided between each server that provides a beverage to you, be it a latte, water, martini at Alchemy.  If you order 15 drinks in a day, mix of alcoholic and non-alcoholic (or all alcoholic, I don't judge), $10.79 divided by 15 is 72 cents tipped per drink.  

On the receipt for every drink that you get  it will show the cost of the drink and the 18% gratuity per drink and NOT a diluted gratuity based on the number of drinks a passenger has consumed that day. If tips were calculated in the fashion you were describing waitstaff would have little to no incentive to cater to cruisers beyond 5 drinks and instead shift their focus towards those that were not on Cheers or under 5 drinks. The automatic gratuities to my knowledge are placed in tipshare while additional gratuities and cash divided differently. 

[sparks1093]

13 minutes ago, Dadofsix said:

On the receipt for every drink that you get  it will show the cost of the drink and the 18% gratuity per drink and NOT a diluted gratuity based on the number of drinks a passenger has consumed that day. If tips were calculated in the fashion you were describing waitstaff would have little to no incentive to cater to cruisers beyond 5 drinks and instead shift their focus towards those that were not on Cheers or under 5 drinks. The automatic gratuities to my knowledge are placed in tipshare while additional gratuities and cash divided differently. 

We had Cheers in February and it showed the cost of the drink minus the cost of the drink and 0 as the total (except when sales tax was charged), it never showed anything for gratuity. I do agree that all of the gratuities that are automatically added are put into a tip pool and divided among the bar staff. Our S&S cards didn't have a Cheers sticker and our service was always topnotch, even after the server or bartender knew we had Cheers.

[Elaine5715]

30 minutes ago, Dadofsix said:

On the receipt for every drink that you get  it will show the cost of the drink and the 18% gratuity per drink and NOT a diluted gratuity based on the number of drinks a passenger has consumed that day. If tips were calculated in the fashion you were describing waitstaff would have little to no incentive to cater to cruisers beyond 5 drinks and instead shift their focus towards those that were not on Cheers or under 5 drinks. The automatic gratuities to my knowledge are placed in tipshare while additional gratuities and cash divided differently. 

No, the tip line on a CHEERS receipt is ZERO.  The 18% of an Alchemy $12.95 drink on a Sail and Sign is $2.33 on your receipt.  If we only pay $10.79 for the daily tips on CHEERS, where is all that extra coming from?  It isn't.  If you haven't noticed, servers aren't rushing to those who just have CHEERS and don't add in something extra.  Share or not, the math is the same.  

Edited May 11, 2022 by Elaine5715

[Thenagers]

Personally, I always tip at least an extra $1 if they have to bring it to me.  At the bar, sometimes I tip extra?  My friend with the bubbles package says it is annoying to have to go to the bars for soda and feel guilty for not adding more on the slip.  RCL does not give slips and they have Freestyle machines with a chip.  

[mz-s]

13 hours ago, cruisinpips said:

Gratuities are included. Top shelf liquors are included unless they are over $20 each, havent discovered any of those recently, just ask for grey goose, patron, or the liquor of your choice when ordering. 15 alcoholic driks per 24 hour period. When on Horizon recently, all top shelf bourbon was included in Guy’s Pig and Anchor bar, like Blantons, Eagle Rare, etc… 

 

You can ask for a Patron margarita or a grey goose martini and they'll happily file it under Cheers although you'll only get 1 shot of liquor. But if you ask for a "top shelf" LIT they'll tell you no in my experience.