Is the Carnival CHEERS! Drink Package Worth It? What I Love About It

I’m Gonna Say It: Carnival Has My Favorite Cruise Drink Package 🍹

There are some statements you make on the internet knowing full well somebody is going to disagree with you.

Here comes one of mine.

Carnival has my favorite cruise drink package.

Yep. I said what I said. 😂

And before somebody comes for me with, “BUT ELLEN...CHEERS! limits you to 15 alcoholic drinks a day!”

I know.

I don't care.

If I make it to drink number 15, somebody needs to give me a bottle of water, point me toward my handsome hubby David and tell him it's his problem now. 😂

Because I'm not trying to drink 16 cocktails.

I want to drink the cocktail I actually want.

And THAT is where Carnival gets me.

I don't judge a drink package by how much I can drink. I judge it by how much fun I can have with it.

And Carnival makes its drink package fun.

I want my bars to have personalities.

One of the things I love about cruising is that your evening can change without you ever leaving the ship.

If I'm sitting by the pool in the afternoon, I want something cold and tropical that tastes like vacation.

Before dinner, maybe I want a good glass of wine.

Later, if we're listening to music or wandering around the ship, I might want something completely different.

I don't necessarily want to wander from bar to bar seeing essentially the same handful of cocktails everywhere I go.

I like that Carnival's bars have personalities.

Different venues have different menus and different drinks worth trying. It makes wandering around the ship part of the fun.

And if it's evening?

There's a pretty good chance you'll find me at Alchemy Bar.

Because Alchemy isn't just somewhere you stop to get a drink.

Alchemy is part of the evening.

And sometimes the best drink isn't even on the menu.

Alchemy is designed like an old-fashioned cocktail pharmacy, and the bartenders are called Alchemists.

You can absolutely sit down and order one of the cocktails from the menu.

But honestly?

Sometimes I don't.

You tell your Alchemist what you're in the mood for.

"I want something sweet that tastes like sunshine."

Or...

"I want something with coffee, but not too sweet and not too strong."

And they'll start mixing.

What are they making?

A Something Something.

No, seriously. 😂

That's what they call it.

You give your Alchemist an idea of what you like, they work their magic, and what lands in front of you is your Something Something.

It's crazy.

But it works. And I LOVE it.

And here's another little Alchemy secret you probably won't learn from studying the drink menu.

Listen to the table talk.

Sit at Alchemy for an evening and you'll start hearing people talk about drinks you've never seen on the menu.

"What's THAT?"

"Wait...what did she just make you?"

"Ooooooh. I want one of those."

That's how you start learning about all those off-menu drinks and creations.

Before long, the people sitting around the bar are comparing drinks, asking the Alchemists questions and ordering something because the person three stools down just got something that looks REALLY good.

And that is why Alchemy isn't just a bar to me.

It's one of my favorite places to spend an evening on a Carnival ship.

The drinks are great.

But the Alchemists, the Something Somethings, the table talk, the people you meet sitting around the bar?

That's the experience.

And if alcohol isn't your thing, you're not left out. The Alchemists can create zero-proof cocktails, too.

And then there's the Pig & Anchor Bloody Mary.

Ohhhhh, we're going to have to talk about this one. 😂

Because this is not merely a Bloody Mary.

This is a meal and a drink all in one.

Savory. Spicy. Loaded up with all the goodies.

Look at that thing.

YUM.

And this is exactly what I mean when I say Carnival makes the drink package fun for me.

I'm not buying CHEERS! because I'm trying to calculate exactly how many drinks I need to consume to beat Carnival at math.

I'm buying it because I like walking around the ship and thinking:

Ooooooh. I want to try THAT.

Okay, Ellen. But what about the 15-drink limit?

Yes. It's real.

Carnival's CHEERS! package currently has a limit of 15 alcoholic drinks per day. The package also includes eligible nonalcoholic beverages, which don't count toward that 15-drink alcoholic maximum.

Does the limit matter to some people?

Absolutely.

Does it matter to me?

Nope.

Because again...

I'm not looking for the greatest number of drinks. I'm looking for choices.

I want to sit down at Alchemy and tell an Alchemist what sounds good.

I want to see somebody else's cocktail and ask what they're drinking.

I want the ridiculous Bloody Mary.

I want something tropical by the pool.

I want a glass of wine with dinner.

And I don't want to spend my vacation thinking about whether I picked the right bar or whether the drink I actually want is on the right menu.

I just want to order the drink I want and go on my merry way. 😂

And for the way I like to cruise, Carnival makes that really easy.

Does that mean CHEERS! is the best cruise drink package for everyone?

Nope.

And this is where I'm going to contradict the title of my own blog a little bit. 😂

There isn't one cruise line that's best at everything for everybody.

That's something I wish more people understood when they're choosing a cruise.

One cruise line might have my favorite drinks.

Another might have my favorite entertainment.

Another might be where I'd go when I want beautiful spaces, great food and a quieter week with David.

Another might be the one I'd choose when the itinerary matters more to me than the ship.

That's why “What's your favorite cruise line?” is such a hard question for me to answer.

My favorite cruise line for what?

Different cruise lines do different things really well.

And that's actually given me an idea.

Welcome to “What I Love About...” ❤️

I'm starting a new little series.

Instead of trying to tell you which cruise line is the best, I'm going to tell you about the things I've experienced firsthand that I think different cruise lines do especially well.

Not rankings.

Not reviews based on somebody else's vacation.

And definitely not me declaring that everybody should cruise exactly the way I do.

Just my firsthand experience after sailing these ships, eating the food, watching the shows, sleeping in the cabins, wandering around the ports and, apparently, conducting very serious cocktail research. 😂

Because I don't need every cruise line to be Carnival.

I just need Carnival to be really good at being Carnival.

And one of the things I think Carnival absolutely nails?

The drinks. 🍹

So if you need me, there's a pretty good chance I'm somewhere doing very important travel-advisor research.

Possibly at Alchemy.

Possibly with a Something Something.

And probably with my handsome hubby David sitting next to me wondering how I managed to classify happy hour as a business expense. 😂

Stay Salty,

Ellen

Stay Salty Travel Company

P.S. If you've sailed Carnival, I need to know: What's YOUR Carnival drink? Tell me in the comments or come tell me over in the Travel with Ellen Facebook group. And if it's an off-menu Alchemy drink, you definitely need to share. Apparently I have more research to do. 😂🍹