Drinks on Carnival
 

Getting ready to go on my first cruise - will be sharing a room with someone. I could tolerate the cheer$ package for myself, but they say they require everyone in the room to purchase it. If the other person doesn't want to, are there any other options besides paying per drink?

Where there's a will...

http://www.instructables.com/id/Powdered-Alcohol/

Well I guess I asked for options and got one.. very interesting.

not worth it IMO unless you are a really heavy drinker. Figure a mixed drink is going to run you $10 a pop so you will need to drink 5 per day just to break even. That gets really hard to do esp. on shore days. You might only be on the boat in morning and getting back on in the evening.

5 per day isn't an issue for me on vacation. But, it looks like my options are to either pay, or get creative.

If you are a heavy drinker, they limit you to 15, then they cut you off. Paying per drink, there is no limit. All day at sea this can be accomplished

You could always sneak on your alcohol, I did that for my first cruise and had 3 rum runners strategically placed in my bags,

I've seen those - curious about how well they worked (and more importantly, how reliable they are in keeping my clothes dry)

They worked very well. I followed some ideas from the youtube videos i saw and what works best is it you hide them in your pant legs and roll up the pants and if you have a big enough toiletry bag, you can put it in there.

That's what I did and my clothes were dry.

The one Carnival Cruise to the Caribbean I took out of Miami about 5 years ago allowed a bottle of booze and a bottle of wine per person at embarkation. I don't recall if we had to present the bottles or not. That alone defrays the cost of what you spend on board & we drank a lot.

Cruising again on NCL in Janauary and the booze is included in the fare. May be unique to Bahamian itinerary though -

The days of being able to bring booze on Carnival, and most other non all-inclusive cruise lines for that matter, are gone. You can still bring one bottle of wine per adult passenger on board for cabin consumption for free and only at the initial embarkation port. Any additional bottles of wine require a corkage fee of $15 - $20 depending on the line. The NCL Bahamian itinerary is unique and is not standard across all their cruises. In fact, NCL is one of the more restrictive lines and has recently announced a passenger cannot bring any liquid consumable on board including water, soda, etc. All supposedly done in the name of security but leaves at least me to wonder about profit.

Royal Caribbean is also super restrictive.

I do see that RCL doesn't have the option to pay a corkage fee and confiscates all wine beyond the two bottles allowed at initial boarding per stateroom. That certainly is more restrictive than Holland America as far as wine goes. RCL doesn't appear to have gone to NCL's total liquid ban. Considering the popularity of wine and given the general tendency for cruise lines to mark up fairly pedestrian wines 300%-400% it can potentially add up.

I found the Cheers package very much worth it.
Break-over is like 5 drinks true. Never seemed to be much of a problem. Mimossa in morning. Cocktails all day. Wine by the glass at dinner.

However- tips are figured in - so you never have figure any tips. All drinks on the cruise are included - coffee - espresso - etc. etc. Water bottles even the big 500ml. Just seemed like a hassle free way to drink.

Also it was kind of nice to demand top-shelf liquor in all my drinks lol. Anyway I will purchase again.

Cheers

Kevin

NCL runs free booze promos often and it sometimes includes some unique itineraries.
Carnival recently revised their policy to include NO WATER being allowed to be brought onboard during embarkation.

One can hardy blame the cruise lines for their recent jihads against smuggled liquids. One of the most popular cruise thread in any travel forum is the one that deals with creative ways to sneak liquor on board.

Buy the cheers or its equivalent.. render unto caesar.. drink away your sorrows.

I disagree. There's alot about Cheers that does not make any sense and pushes people to get creative.

• Does not work in port in Galveston because Carnival can't seem to figure out TX liquor laws
• Limits you to 15 drinks per day, even if you want to pay after that - while those not on it can buy as many drinks as they want
• Forcing all in the cabin to buy it - what if someone with you doesn't drink?

Add in the downright scam prices they charge for a bottle on board ($90 for a bottle that's $25 on shore anywhere) and it's no surprise people want to smuggle. I bet if they just doubled the bottle prices, most people would buy from them just to not have to mess with it. I know I would. On top of that, I tried to order a bottle from room service while onboard and was told they didn't have it (despite it being available to order online pre-trip, and available in the bars) - online orders from the ship would only be delivered the next day.

wow, when did this happen?

The new policy went into effect on July 9th, 2015.
I boarded one of their ships last month and I swear, they could have opened a water store with all the CASES of water that were stacked up in the security area. The couple behind me had their case of water confiscated. They were complaining until I told them the real reason for the change. One thing Carnival did was lower the price of bottled water on the ship at the same time they made the change. Unless something has changed, you can buy 12 pack half liter bottles online for $2.99 pre cruise and $4.99 after you board the ship.

we have recently been on two royal crabbean 11 day out of balt. on both, the std TSA scanners were used upon entry..

took mother in law. seemed to me, they did not tie liquor to cabins, so if me, my wife, and my mother in law each have boarded half an hour apart, we could have carried 6 bottles of wine.

wine on



rc is about 3x to 4x wholesale, and similar to the price of a decent dc restaurant. rc price, $50 buys a nice bottle of wine for dinner.

if one is spending 3-4 grand on a boat ride, just pay the man.

i did not pay a corkage fee, but i had opened very expensive wines at dinner.

We've taken a 1/2 dozen cruises and I can concur with this, especially if you are taking a very long cruise. They have juices available for free for mixing. Plus you can each carry on a bottle of wine. It says one per stateroom, but they don't verify this. Bring a bottle opener though or they may charge for that service.

If you don't hide it well, you'll just have to join the line of other "naughty" passengers to pick up your luggage. It's not a big deal. Also, we met people who put vodka into their water bottle while in port and brought it back without an issue. They were only strict with the staff who were coming back on board.

Having done a number of cruises and recently sailed on NCL Sky with booze included, it was a nice perk not to have to swipe/sign every time I wanted a drink.

I'm planning my first cruise for September and was wondering the value of this drink package. We are also taking Carnival, and for a 5 day cruise it would cost us about $250 each (49.95/day plus taxes). So you didn't have to tip at the bar? I know it says gratuity included on the website, but how do the bartenders react? This is a grey area for a lot of travelers (who to tip and how much). Just want to be prepared for our trip.

Thanks!

https://help.carnival.com/app/answer...verage-program

Carnival will tacks on 15% gratuity to your 49.95 per day, so you are looking @ $57 a day. There aren't any taxes except for some Euro trips.

On some Carnival products, taxes are charged if ordered before the cruise, but not while on the boat. Doublecheck before ordering.

Gift cards for 10% off are available from Allstate and AARP at times, and can be used to pay for the cruise and most other charges.

If it turns out you frequent the same bar a lot during the cruise and a bartender or waiter give what you think is that "extra" level of service you may want to tip them at the end of the cruise.

Most people tend to tip at the beginning to get better service for the entire trip. Individual drinks are charged tips, as well as the 15 drink per day beverage program.

I honestly don't think "most people" tip up front unless they have special requirements or needs. The majority of cruisers I know consider tipping ahead of service a type or form of bribery. Whatever your thoughts I personally don't support it.

I'm just going by threads I've read CC. I rarely drink alcohol, so it's certainly not something I do.

Unless someone did something special, I wouldn't tip anything extra, at all.

I agree from my experience on a goodly number of cruises. I think its is a small minority who try to curry favor with the barman by tipping up front.

Tipping is one of those hot topics on Cruise Critic right up there with dress codes and smoking. I visit mostly the Holland America and Silversea sections of CC and while pre-tipping to garner preferred service is discussed it doesn't get much support. Could be that in other cruise line sections of CC pre-tipping is more acceptable. In 23 years of cruising the thought of pre-tipping has never been a serious consideration. We do tip at the end of a cruise in addition to the auto Hotel Service Charge Holland America charges and on Silversea we donate to the crew fund.

I've taken 7 - 8 cruises and never found pre-tipping to be all that helpful. More attentive service, yes, but still weak drinks. Rum runners work although I recently read that they're paying attention more. You'll just get sent to the "naughty" room with a group of others who were caught and the alcohol will be tossed. Maybe just plan a trip that has lots of days in port where drinks can be very cheap and drink less on cruise days? If you play in the Casino, they're pretty good about comping a couple of drinks.