Is The Cheers Package Really Worth It?

Several drinks are included in your cruise package with Carnival. Certain juices, tea, lemonade, water (not bottled), coffee, and hot chocolate are free and plentiful. But sometimes they can get real boring, real quick. You could buy sodas, drinks, frozen concoctions, and specialty coffees as you go but sometimes that can eat your cruise budget very quickly. Carnival has a solution to this. You can buy the “Cheers Package” and includes alcohol, sodas, specialty coffees, and virgin drinks. Plus you can get energy drinks, juice, and bottled water.

The package costs $49.95 per person, per day. You can drink as much as you like and drinks up to $50 are included. However, you can only get 15 alcoholic drinks a day. Once you hit your 15 you will have purchase them as you go.

 

CHEERS! INCLUDES:

• All spirits (including cocktails), as well as beer and wine by the glass with a $50.00 or lower menu price
• Sodas, Zero-Proof frozen cocktails, energy drinks, specialty coffee, hot tea, 500ml bottled water and other non-alcoholic bottled beverages
• Large format water bottles in the Dining Room and Specialty Restaurants
• 25% discount off the menu price for any spirit or wine by the glass above $50.00
• 25% discount off the menu price for wine and champagne by the bottle
• 25% discount off beverage seminars and classes

CHEERS! EXCLUDES:

• Beverages promoted and sold in souvenir glasses
• Bottles of liquor
• Beverages offered at gangway
• Beverages offered through room service, mini bars and/or in-stateroom beverage programs
• Sharing cocktails, floaters, pitchers, tubes and buckets
• Beverages offered through enomatic wine machines and self-serve beer stations
• All other beverage-related programs including merchandise, cigars and cigarettes
• Food items

So is it worth it?

To be honest, it is a personal preference. I will admit we have down our cruises both ways. One time we had the Cheers and the next time we didn’t. It was really nice having Cheers because I didn’t have to worry about paying for drinks. I did save a little money the next time but I also didn’t drink as much as I would have liked. I am a huge coffee fan and when I had Cheers I would drink a lot of the specialty coffee but when I didn’t have it, I only had two a day.

 

Another thing you have to look at is, how much are you going to drink? Alcoholic drinks can range anywhere from $8.95 to $15.95 for the more special drinks. Also, the top shelf liquor can run you quite a bit. If you like to imbibe quite a bit on vacation you may end up eating a lot of your cruise budget at the bar. Another good thing is the water bottles. We would grab a couple as we were getting off at port and it saved us some money by not having to pay $5.00 for a bottled water. It was really nice paying one flat rate and then not having to worry the rest of the cruise. If you don’t drink, it still may be worth it just for the energy drinks, sodas, virgin frozen drinks, and speciality coffees.

 

One con that really got me was the fact that if you buy it for one person in your cabin, you have to buy it for everyone over the age of 21. This can run quite a bit of money if you have more than 2 adults in your room. I know it is to keep people from sharing (but really, people do it anyway) but if you have someone that doesn’t drink a lot it could be a real waste of money.

 

My suggestion is to look at your budget, really think about how many beverages you are going to partake of, and decide from there. Also, keep in mind that just because you only drink one or two drinks a week at home it will be the same way on the cruise. When the drinks start flowing and the party is hopping you may want to drink more. It is the same for non-spirit beverages. I know when it was really hot we went through a lot of bottled waters, juices, and sodas.

 

If you are looking for a cheaper alternative you could get the Bottomless Bubbles package. It is $7.95 a day for adults and $4.95 a day for children. It includes all the soda you can drink every day and some juices such as, Orange Juice, Cranberry Juice, Tomato Juice, Pineapple Juice, and Grapefruit Juice. The virgin drinks, energy drinks, bottled water, specialty coffees, etc. is not included.