Planning a Carnival cruise often brings up a crucial question for many travelers: Is the Carnival Cheers Package a worthwhile investment? We’ve asked ourselves the same question numerous times. On a recent Carnival Miracle cruise, we decided to put the Cheers package to the test, opting to purchase it and meticulously track our spending to determine if it truly offers value and potential savings.
Quick Glance: Key Takeaways from Our Cheers Package Experience
Planning your Carnival adventure? Here’s a quick summary of our findings on the Cheers Package:
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Understanding the Carnival Cruise Cheers Drink Package
Having embarked on over 20 cruises throughout the years, it was only recently that we decided to experience the Carnival Cheers Package firsthand. Our journey aboard the Carnival Miracle to Alaska presented the perfect opportunity to dive deep into what this popular drink program offers and whether it truly enhances the cruise experience.
One of the immediate benefits we anticipated and thoroughly enjoyed was the complete transparency regarding our beverage expenses. Knowing precisely how much we’d be spending on cocktails, specialty coffees, bottled water, and other drinks before even stepping foot on the ship brought immense peace of mind. There was no need to constantly check our Sail & Sign card statement, eliminating any potential surprises or worries about accumulating costs throughout the voyage. This allowed us to fully immerse ourselves in the relaxation and enjoyment of our cruise without a lingering thought about our onboard bill.
Carnival Cheers Package Cost: Pre-Cruise vs. Onboard Pricing
The pricing for the Carnival Cheers drink package is a dynamic element, varying based on when and where you decide to purchase it. Savvy cruisers can secure a better deal by pre-purchasing the package before their cruise departure, typically saving around $5 per person, per day. This upfront planning can lead to significant savings over the course of a longer voyage. Additionally, the daily cost of the Cheers package is influenced by the total length of your cruise, with shorter cruises generally having a slightly higher daily rate.
Here’s a breakdown of the Carnival Cheers package pricing, which always includes an additional 18% gratuity on top of the daily rate:
If purchased before your cruise (online via My Carnival):
- For cruises 5 days and longer: $51.95 USD per person, per day, plus 18% gratuity.
- For 3-day and 4-day cruises: $54.95 USD per person, per day, plus 18% gratuity.
If purchased on the ship (at any bar onboard):
- For cruises 5 days and longer: $56.95 USD per person, per day, plus 18% gratuity.
- For 3-day and 4-day cruises: $59.95 USD per person, per day, plus 18% gratuity.
It’s always recommended to purchase CHEERS! in advance through your online ‘My Carnival’ account if you’re certain you’ll utilize it, as this locks in the lower rate. The package can be conveniently activated and used from the moment you board your ship.
Calculating Your Total Carnival Cheers Program Cost
Understanding the daily rate is one thing, but knowing the total cost for your entire cruise duration is essential for budgeting. The following table provides a clear overview of the Carnival Cheers program’s total cost, including the 18% gratuity, when purchased before the cruise. This helps you visualize the full financial commitment and assess its value against your anticipated individual drink consumption.
| Carnival Cheers Program: Total Cruise Cost (Pre-purchase with Gratuity) | ||
| Calculated assuming a daily cost of $61.30 USD (based on $51.95 + 18% for 5+ day cruises, or $54.95 + 18% for 3-4 day cruises. For simplicity, we use the 5+ day average here, but actual cost per day varies for shorter cruises as noted above). | ||
| Cruise Length | Approx. Cost per Day (incl. 18% gratuity) | Total Cost for Cruise |
| 3 Days | $64.84 ($54.95 + 18%) | $194.52 |
| 4 Days | $64.84 ($54.95 + 18%) | $259.36 |
| 5 Days | $61.30 ($51.95 + 18%) | $306.51 |
| 6 Days | $61.30 | $367.81 |
| 7 Days | $61.30 | $429.11 |
| 8 Days | $61.30 | $490.40 |
| 9 Days | $61.30 | $551.70 |
| 10 Days | $61.30 | $613.00 |
| 11 Days | $61.30 | $674.30 |
To break even on a 5-day cruise with a daily cost of $61.30, you would need to consume roughly 6-7 drinks per day if each drink averages $9-$10. This calculation is a critical step in determining if the Cheers package aligns with your vacation spending habits.
Eligibility for the Cheers Program
There are specific criteria for purchasing and using the Carnival Cheers Program to ensure responsible consumption and fair pricing:
- Age Requirement: Guests must be 21 years of age or older to purchase CHEERS! This aligns with the legal drinking age in the United States and on most cruise lines.
- Stateroom Rule: A crucial policy to note is that if one adult in a stateroom purchases the Cheers package, all other adults (21+) assigned to the same stateroom must also purchase the program. This rule is designed to prevent sharing of the package benefits, ensuring that Carnival’s revenue model for the program remains intact.
What’s Included in the Carnival Cheers Package?
The Carnival Cheers package is comprehensive, covering a wide array of beverages to ensure you have plenty of choices throughout your cruise:
- Alcoholic Beverages: Enjoy all spirits, cocktails, beer, and wine by the glass, provided their menu price is $20.00 or lower. This covers a vast majority of the standard drink menus across the ship, from the main bars to specialty lounges like the Alchemy Bar.
- Non-Alcoholic Options: The package isn’t just for alcohol. It also includes sodas, refreshing zero-proof frozen cocktails, energy drinks, specialty coffees (like lattes, cappuccinos, and espressos), hot tea, 500ml bottled water, and a selection of other non-alcoholic bottled beverages.
- Packaged Water: Conveniently, packaged water is included in the Dining Room and Specialty Restaurants, ensuring hydration during meals.
- Discounts on Premium Beverages: If you desire a drink above the $20.00 price point, you’ll receive a 25% discount off the menu price for any spirit or wine by the glass. Similarly, for wine and champagne by the bottle, a 25% discount is applied.
- Discounts on Classes: Sharpen your mixology skills or learn about wine with a 25% discount off beverage seminars and classes offered onboard.
What Items Are Excluded from the Carnival Cheers Package?
While the Cheers package is extensive, it’s important to be aware of certain exclusions:
- Souvenir Glasses: Beverages served in promotional or souvenir glasses are typically excluded. These often come with an inflated price due to the collectible glass.
- Bottles of Liquor: The package covers drinks by the glass, not entire bottles of liquor.
- Gangway Beverages: Drinks offered or sold directly at the gangway (on and off the ship) are generally not included.
- In-Cabin Services: Room service beverages, minibar items, and other in-stateroom beverage programs are not covered by Cheers.
- Sharing Formats: Large-format drinks like sharing cocktails, floaters, pitchers, tubes, and buckets are excluded to prevent sharing among multiple guests and maximize individual consumption.
- Enomatic Wine Machines: These self-serve wine dispensers are typically excluded from the package.
- Other Merchandise: The package strictly applies to beverages; merchandise, cigars, and cigarettes are not included.
- Food Items: Cheers is a beverage package, so food items (beyond incidental garnishes) are not included.
Typical Drink Costs on a Carnival Cruise
To help you weigh the value of the Cheers package, here’s a general idea of what individual drinks typically cost on Carnival Cruise Line:
- Beer: $6.00 – $7.95 (often for 16 oz. pours)
- Wine by the Glass: $8.00 – $14.00
- Mixed Drinks (standard): $6.95 – $20.00 (depending on ingredients and alcohol type)
- Specialty Cocktails: $8.95 – $12.95 (excluding souvenir glassware and premium selections)
- Alchemy Bar Cocktails: Around $10.95
- Soft Drinks: $2.50
- Specialty Non-Alcoholic Drinks (e.g., mocktails): $2.00 – $4.95
- Energy Drinks: $4.95 and up
- Bottled Water & Premium Non-Alcoholics: (San Pellegrino, Perrier, Vitamin Water, Coconut Water): $1.25 – $5.00
By comparing these individual prices against the daily cost of the Cheers package, you can better estimate your potential break-even point and determine if the package makes financial sense for your drinking habits.
Carnival Cheers Package Rules and Important Restrictions
To ensure a smooth experience with the Cheers package, it’s essential to understand its operational rules:
- Full Cruise Purchase: The program must be purchased for the entire duration of your cruise. It cannot be bought on a per-day basis or for select days.
- One Drink at a Time & Wait Period: Guests are permitted to order only one drink at a time. There’s also a mandatory 5-minute waiting period between orders. This rule is in place to promote responsible drinking and prevent guests from ordering multiple drinks for others, thus circumventing the “no sharing” policy.
- No Double Shots: Ordering a “double shot” is considered ordering two drinks at once, and is generally not permitted under the Cheers package rules.
- Alcoholic Drink Limit: The program allows for up to 15 alcoholic drinks within a 24-hour period (from 6:00 am to 6:00 am). Once this limit is reached, guests will not be served any additional alcoholic beverages for the remainder of that 24-hour cycle. However, non-alcoholic drinks continue to be unlimited.
- Onboard Purchases Only: The Cheers package is valid exclusively for beverage purchases made onboard the ship. It does not extend to purchases made in port, at private destinations like Half Moon Cay, or during shore excursions.
- State Law Exceptions (NY & TX): Due to specific state laws, the Cheers program cannot be sold until the second day of cruises departing from New York and Texas ports. Any drinks purchased on embarkation day from these ports will be charged to the guest’s Sail & Sign card at regular menu price.
- Itinerary Exclusions: CHEERS! is not available on certain itineraries, including Europe cruises, 2-day cruises (due to short duration), charter cruises, ships sailing from Australia, and beverage purchases made at Half Moon Cay and Princess Cays in The Bahamas. Always check specific itinerary details.
Carnival’s Non-Alcoholic Drink Package: Bottomless Bubbles
For those who don’t consume alcohol, or travelers simply looking for an unlimited soda and juice option, Carnival offers the Bottomless Bubbles program. This package is an excellent choice for kids and adults alike, providing access to a wide range of non-alcoholic beverages throughout your cruise.
The Bottomless Bubbles beverage package specifically covers fountain sodas and a selection of juices while onboard the ship.
What Drinks Are Included for Free on a Carnival Cruise?
It’s important to remember that you don’t necessarily need a drink package to enjoy certain beverages on a Carnival cruise. Many staple drinks are available free of charge:
- Morning Juices: Orange juice is consistently available free of charge during breakfast service in the main dining rooms and buffet. If your main concern is just a glass or two of juice in the morning, purchasing the Bottomless Bubbles program solely for juice might not be necessary.
- Buffet & Lido Deck: Throughout the day, at the buffet and Lido Deck drink stations, you can find complimentary lemonade, iced tea, hot chocolate, and standard non-specialty coffee and tea.
- Room Service: Carnival’s room service offers a selection of complimentary beverages including juices (orange, tomato, apple, or grapefruit), regular or decaffeinated coffee, hot tea, iced tea, hot chocolate, chocolate milk, and regular and skim milk.
Can I Bring Soda on a Carnival Cruise?
Carnival Cruise Line has specific policies regarding bringing beverages onboard:
- Prohibited Items: Guests are generally prohibited from bringing water, sodas, and other non-alcoholic beverages that are packaged in glass or plastic bottles.
- Embarkation Day Exception: On embarkation day only, a small quantity of non-alcoholic beverages (such as sparkling water, sodas, energy drinks, juice, and milk) packaged in cans or cartons, may be brought onboard. These items must be in the guest’s carry-on luggage. A “small quantity” is defined as a maximum of 12 sealed, unopened cans or cartons of 12 ounces each or less, per person.
Can I Bring Bottled Water on a Carnival Cruise?
Similar to other non-alcoholic beverages, Carnival’s Liquor and Beverage Policy states that guests are prohibited from bringing water packaged in bottles onboard.
- Purchasing Onboard: Carnival carries distilled water, which can be purchased either pre-cruise through the Fun Shops or directly once onboard.
- Medical Needs: Should you require distilled water for medical equipment, such as a CPAP machine, you are permitted to bring your own, but it must be hand-carried along with your medical device.
Carnival Cheers Program: Our Honest Review and Personal Experience
Embarking on our first cruise with the Carnival Cheers Package, I admit I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect or how we would ultimately feel about it. However, after a week of utilizing the program, I can confidently say that it dramatically simplifies and enhances the enjoyment of cocktails and other beverages throughout your cruise vacation.
One of the most significant advantages for us was the complete elimination of bill anxiety. Not having to constantly tally our expenses or worry about the final cost at the end of the week was incredibly liberating. While we were still prompted to add tips to each drink (which we were happy to do for excellent service), this predictable cost was something we were prepared for, meaning no unpleasant surprises on our last sea morning.
The ease of ordering was another standout feature. Whether it was a glass of wine with dinner in the main dining room, an exotic concoction at the Alchemy Bar, or a morning specialty coffee from the onboard cafe, the seamless experience of simply presenting our Sail & Sign card without a second thought about the cost allowed us to fully relax and indulge in the moment. It truly removed a layer of potential stress from our vacation.
That being said, it’s also important to share a common observation from other cruisers. We frequently heard discussions among guests who felt compelled to “max out” their daily 15-drink limit, sometimes pushing themselves beyond comfortable enjoyment. The cruise staff, to their credit, does an excellent job of discreetly informing you of your drink count. For instance, one evening, after consuming 8 drinks, a bar attendant gently let us know we were at that number, with a total limit of 15. Personally, I don’t believe I could approach 15 alcoholic drinks in a 24-hour period and still fully enjoy the diverse experiences a cruise offers, but everyone’s limits and preferences are different.
Reflecting on our experience, we’ve had several discussions about whether we would purchase the Cheers program again. My conclusion is that it largely depends on the specific cruise itinerary we’re booking. If it’s a port-intensive cruise with many days spent exploring ashore, we would likely opt to pay for drinks à la carte. On such itineraries, we wouldn’t be on the ship for extended periods, and there would be no pressure to consume multiple drinks each night just to feel like we’ve justified the package’s cost.
However, for cruises featuring multiple sea days, or those with fewer port stops, I would most definitely consider pricing out the Cheers package. On these voyages, where more time is spent onboard, the value proposition significantly increases. During our Carnival Miracle cruise, we averaged between 4 to 6 cocktails each day we were on the ship. This average was partially driven by a fun goal we set for ourselves: to try every unique cocktail at the Alchemy Bar – a delightful challenge!
Looking ahead, I am already planning to book the Cheers Package for our upcoming sailing on the Mardi Gras. With its exciting array of new lounges and bars, such as the Fortune Teller Bar, I’m eager to explore the extensive drink menus without concern for individual prices. I’m particularly obsessed with the concept of the Fortune Teller Bar and can’t wait to sample all the epic, creatively crafted cocktails they have to offer.
In conclusion, the decision of whether the Carnival Cheers Package makes sense for your cruise vacation is a highly personal one. If you typically enjoy multiple alcoholic and specialty non-alcoholic beverages each day, the package can certainly pay off, both financially and in terms of peace of mind. We spoke with numerous cruisers who consistently averaged 10-15 drinks a day, and they unequivocally stated that the package saved them a significant amount of money and eliminated any financial worry during their cruise. Consider your drinking habits, your cruise itinerary, and your desire for a truly carefree beverage experience to make the best choice for you.
Additional Carnival Cruise Planning Resources
To further enhance your Carnival cruise planning and onboard experience, explore these helpful guides and articles:
- Carnival Drink Recipes: Recreate your favorite Carnival Cruise drinks from the comfort of your home with these delicious recipes.
- Carnival Hub App Guide: Learn everything you need to know about maximizing your cruise experience using the essential Carnival Hub App.
- What to Pack for Your Cruise: Discover 11 crucial items you absolutely don’t want to forget for your upcoming cruise vacation.
- Frequently Asked Cruise Questions: Get answers to the most common cruise queries from first-time cruisers to seasoned travelers.
- What Not to Pack on Your Cruise Vacation: Avoid common packing mistakes and ensure a smooth embarkation process by knowing what items are prohibited.
For even more cruise-related insights and tips, be sure to check out all of our dedicated cruise articles!
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