Cheers on Half Moon Cay?

[kittymommax4]

I have to assume this question has been asked/answered but no matter what search terms I use I can’t find it!  If you have the Cheers package does it include your drinks on Half Moon Cay, or only on the ship?

[shof515]

only on the ship

[Theosprey247]

Yeah it sucks that it only works on the ship.  

[kittymommax4]

Thanks for your replies!

[sparks1093]

If you drink beer you can swing by a bar during the day and ask for an unopened beer. Do that several times and you'll have several to take ashore with you. When you get ashore ask a bartender for a bucket of ice. (I have not tried this but it was suggested to me when I mentioned we had to buy our drinks.)

Edited November 4, 2022 by sparks1093

[d-train]

Sadly, no.

We used to pre-purchase a bottle of Makers (back when they had Makers on board...),

and bring that to HMC, as well as any of the ports we could get our ressie in

for a cabana - get some ice, keep it in the mini-fridge, good to go!

 

I miss Makers on board, but certainly not a deal breaker.

Back in the day, on Miracle and Pride at Alchemy,

they had Makers on tap! Best Caribbean Manhattans ever!

They will still make them for me, but no Makers.

Ask for 2 extra of the dirty cherries.

And in a to go glass - why would you put a Manhattan in a martini glass...on a ship...LOL!

 

 

[1kaper]

This is my biggest pet peeve about Carnival.  Some people are angry about bacon, I am angry about this.  I burns me that I'm paying for Cheers and I have to pay for drinks on the island with the same card I use to get my drinks with Cheers. 

[Island Dog]

11 minutes ago, 1kaper said:

This is my biggest pet peeve about Carnival.  Some people are angry about bacon, I am angry about this.  I burns me that I'm paying for Cheers and I have to pay for drinks on the island with the same card I use to get my drinks with Cheers. 

What's even more frustrating is that Holland America passengers can pay around $25 for a HMC drink package only good on the island whether you have a package on the ship or not. Princess drink package is good on Princess Cays. MSC and NCL drink packages are good on their Bahamian "Private Islands" as well. Not sure about RCCL because I'm not paying for their outrageous $85 a day drink package. 

[1kaper]

10 minutes ago, Island Dog said:

What's even more frustrating is that Holland America passengers can pay around $25 for a HMC drink package only good on the island whether you have a package on the ship or not. Princess drink package is good on Princess Cays. MSC and NCL drink packages are good on their Bahamian "Private Islands" as well. Not sure about RCCL because I'm not paying for their outrageous $85 a day drink package. 

last May my friend and I were looking for a last minute cruise. I had a Carnival offer and she found a drinks and wifi offer with MSC. Almost identical itineraries  with a private island stop on each.  Price was virtually the same when Cheers was added in. 
The deciding factor was paying for drinks at HMC vs included at Ocean Cay. We sailed MSC. 

[n6uqqq]

3 hours ago, 1kaper said:

This is my biggest pet peeve about Carnival.  Some people are angry about bacon, I am angry about this.  I burns me that I'm paying for Cheers and I have to pay for drinks on the island with the same card I use to get my drinks with Cheers. 

The truth is there is ZERO excuse for not allowing cheers on HMC. Claim is they can't keep track. Yeah right. They do fine job keeping track for all the per diem purchases. IF you somehow managed to go over the 15 limit they could just bill you at the regular purchase price for the additional drinks.

[Island Dog]

18 minutes ago, n6uqqq said:

The truth is there is ZERO excuse for not allowing cheers on HMC. Claim is they can't keep track. Yeah right. They do fine job keeping track for all the per diem purchases. IF you somehow managed to go over the 15 limit they could just bill you at the regular purchase price for the additional drinks.

There's a very valid excuse for this. Lost revenue. They've never honored Cheers! at HMC,  and definitely won't be doing this with their current financial condition. 

 

I'd be happy if they'd just do what HAL does on the SAME ISLAND and offer a HMC only drink package. I think that would generate more revenue instead of people with Cheers! rushing back to the ship to go drink after getting the sticker shock from the cost of a round at the Captain Morgan Pirate Ship bar.

[mz-s]

The island and ship aren't connected. They could be with a satellite or point-to-point wireless connection or something. It is possible for sure. But that's expensive and when the alternative is more revenue with guests paying per drink, where is Carnival's incentive?

[mz-s]

9 hours ago, sparks1093 said:

If you drink beer you can swing by a bar during the day and ask for an unopened beer. Do that several times and you'll have several to take ashore with you. When you get ashore ask a bartender for a bucket of ice. (I have not tried this but it was suggested to me when I mentioned we had to buy our drinks.)

 

Very much a YMMV thing as the bartenders are specifically instructed to open all drinks served under the Cheers program to discourage hoarding.

[Island Dog]

38 minutes ago, mz-s said:

 

Very much a YMMV thing as the bartenders are specifically instructed to open all drinks served under the Cheers program to discourage hoarding.

A few Washingtons might improve your mileage....

[1kaper]

1 hour ago, mz-s said:

 

Very much a YMMV thing as the bartenders are specifically instructed to open all drinks served under the Cheers program to discourage hoarding.

We got a bunch on sea day unopened. Not even asked. The server came around and asked if I wanted another drink and I wasn’t ready. He suggested getting one anyway so I did. Still wasn’t ready he came back and he gave it to me closed.  I can’t quite remember but I think he even gave us a bucket of ice. All I know is I know we had some unopened and even brought two back to our room. 
I did try the morning of HMC to grab a couple of beer before we left but they made sure to open them.  They were even hesitant to give me a pop unopened but did give me that. 
 

so. Stock up ahead of time? 

[MauiWowie57]

Answer hasn't changed...Carnival Cheers doesn't work on HFC, sadly.

I'm intrigued to see what Princess's package does work on Princess Cays? I'd never been to P.C. prior to my Elation cruise out of Jacksonville a few months ago, it's about as close to being a clone of HMC as you can get, without the Capt Morgan pirate ship bar. 

[jerseyjjs]

2 hours ago, Island Dog said:

There's a very valid excuse for this. Lost revenue. They've never honored Cheers! at HMC,  and definitely won't be doing this with their current financial condition. 

 

I'd be happy if they'd just do what HAL does on the SAME ISLAND and offer a HMC only drink package. I think that would generate more revenue instead of people with Cheers! rushing back to the ship to go drink after getting the sticker shock from the cost of a round at the Captain Morgan Pirate Ship bar.

 

 

 

RCCL doesn't have a revenue problem when allowing their drink packages to be used on their multiple private islands.

[shof515]

2 hours ago, mz-s said:

The island and ship aren't connected. They could be with a satellite or point-to-point wireless connection or something. It is possible for sure. But that's expensive and when the alternative is more revenue with guests paying per drink, where is Carnival's incentive?

when i was at HMC back in june i noticed something very strange: The gift shop area had machines were they swipe the cards to make purchase so the technology is there on the island. Yet the bar staff for drinks still do it the old fashion way of writing your folio on paper

[mz-s]

9 minutes ago, shof515 said:

when i was at HMC back in june i noticed something very strange: The gift shop area had machines were they swipe the cards to make purchase so the technology is there on the island. Yet the bar staff for drinks still do it the old fashion way of writing your folio on paper

 

They will often write your folio on paper in the MDR on the ship too, especially if you buy the shots in the souvenir shot glass (or the drink of the day on Lido). It's just faster for them at that instant.

 

When you purchase in the gift shops or at the bars on the island, all the orders are uploaded at the end of the day before the ship debarks. It isn't realtime communication with the shipboard S&S systems. So it is possible, horror of horrors, if they did do Cheers on the island they could serve you more than 15 drinks!

[sparks1093]

13 hours ago, mz-s said:

 

They will often write your folio on paper in the MDR on the ship too, especially if you buy the shots in the souvenir shot glass (or the drink of the day on Lido). It's just faster for them at that instant.

 

When you purchase in the gift shops or at the bars on the island, all the orders are uploaded at the end of the day before the ship debarks. It isn't realtime communication with the shipboard S&S systems. So it is possible, horror of horrors, if they did do Cheers on the island they could serve you more than 15 drinks!

This is how I understand the process to work as well, everything is uploaded to the ship later. Here's where the 15 a day thing breaks down, though- everyone is limited to 15 alcoholic drinks per day according to their policy. This just reinforces my feeling that the 15 a day limit for Cheers is where their profit point is on the package and that the 15 a day limit for everyone allows their bartenders to cut someone off by using the 15 a day rule, which limits arguments from overserved people. (Someone who is overserved might argue vehemently when told they are too drunk to have more, it's harder for them to argue against a hard limit established by the cruise line. I have seen bartenders override the 15 a day limit in the point of sale system, which also reinforces this feeling.)

[sparks1093]

15 hours ago, mz-s said:

 

Very much a YMMV thing as the bartenders are specifically instructed to open all drinks served under the Cheers program to discourage hoarding.

Yes, I've heard that as well. Now that they no longer sell liquor for the cabin we will be trying to grab some beer during the day to take back to the cabin with us. We'll see how it goes.

[elklemi]

You can always get a bucket of beer on ship and they will leave them unopened if I ask.

[Joebucks]

The technology explanation is a farce. If Carnival wanted to do it, they could. The truth is, they have all of these drink packages down to a science. While people try to justify it as "wow I can definitely justify $60-$70 in one day" they fail to realize the full scope. Port days have to be big savings for the cruise lines. Just because it is their private island, why should they spend more on alcohol costs? If people expect it at half moon, why not at other "private" Carnival ports?

 

Sure some lines may have written it into their cost structure. It doesn't mean all lines have to follow. You are free to go sail there if it is that important.

[1kaper]

1 hour ago, Joebucks said:

The technology explanation is a farce. If Carnival wanted to do it, they could. The truth is, they have all of these drink packages down to a science. While people try to justify it as "wow I can definitely justify $60-$70 in one day" they fail to realize the full scope. Port days have to be big savings for the cruise lines. Just because it is their private island, why should they spend more on alcohol costs? If people expect it at half moon, why not at other "private" Carnival ports?

 

Sure some lines may have written it into their cost structure. It doesn't mean all lines have to follow. You are free to go sail there if it is that important.

 

I didn’t fail to consider anything.
 

I would expect it anywhere where I have no other choice but to buy Carnival supplied alcohol at an inflated price and have to use  my Carnival card to pay for it. 

As for your last point, if you read my earlier comment I did just that. I chose MSC over Carnival. I did it again next March with a group of about 18 of us. And again next May. 

Edited November 5, 2022 by 1kaper

[Island Dog]

"However, when Holland America ships visit Half Moon Cay, they usually offer the opportunity to buy a 15-drink beverage package for $24.95 (not including gratuities) that is good only on Half Moon Cay"-Cruise Radio

 

I wish Carnival would do this, but I guess they figure there are a lot more drunks on Carnival than HAL....