Key Aspects:
- Carnival Cruise Line has doubled the time required between drink purchases for the Cheers! alcoholic package.
- Guests must now wait 10 minutes instead of just 5 between drink orders, including for soft drinks.
- No official statement has been made about the reason for the change, but it could help reduce both overindulgence and illicit sharing.
Raising a toast, imbibing in a refreshment, or sharing a drink with newfound friends are all iconic activities on a cruise vacation, but Carnival Cruise Line is putting the brakes on some drinking indulgences.
Guests with the Cheers! all-inclusive drink package have noticed a change in recent days, confirmed by the published restrictions on how drinks may be ordered.
While Cheers! still includes all the same drinks and still has the 15-per-day limit, a key difference is now that there must be a 10-minute wait between orders from the same guest. Previously, the time delay was just five minutes.
The program restrictions, listed in Carnival’s FAQ about the drink package, now clearly state:
“Only one drink at a time may be ordered, there is a 10-minute wait time between orders and sharing is not permitted. No double shots as that will be considered ordering two drinks at once.”
Comparison to archived versions of the same FAQ confirms the change from a 5-minute wait time as recently as early October 2025. Guests onboard Carnival ships, however, have only noticed the change in the past few days.
Does the Time Delay Really Impact the Vacation Vibes?
Given that no other terms of the Cheers! package have changed, some guests are wondering what it matters if it’s a 5-minute or 10-minute wait between orders.
Exactly how one indulges in beverages, however, is a matter of personal preference.
“I like to get a shot and a beer. It sucks having to order one and then sit around for 10 mins before I can order the other. The waiting period really puts a damper on my vacation mood,” said one poster on Reddit.
Several guests also note that ordering double shots, particularly in tropical cocktails with plenty of fruit juices, is common, but the restriction eliminates that option.
Furthermore, the restriction also applies to non-alcoholic drinks, such as if a guest wants to order a beer and a soda at the same time. In that case, the same prohibition would apply.
“I was on the Horizon two months ago and you could order a whiskey & coke for a drink, but if you tried to get a can of coke and a shot of whiskey, they made us wait 5 mins between orders. And now it’ll be 10 mins,” another poster noted.
The policy does seem to be inconsistently applied, however, as some recent guests note that they didn’t have any trouble ordering a cocktail and a soda simultaneously.
Why Restrict Times Between Drinks at All?
Speculation is high about why Carnival has increased the wait time between drinks, but there has been no official statement about the policy change.
Some guests believe the change may be an effort to curb excessive drinking and hopefully mitigate the risk of alcohol-fueled altercations. Others, however, note that even a 10-minute delay isn’t likely to impact major drinkers determined to hit their 15-drink maximum on the Cheers! package.
Another possibility – and far more likely – is an attempt to further curtail and sharing on the packages, with one person ordering drinks for multiple people.
Carnival Cruise Line does require all guests over the age of 21 to purchase the Cheers! package if they share a stateroom. That wouldn’t necessarily stop someone from sharing one of their package allotment with a family member or new friend in another stateroom, however.
Sharing drinks from the package has always been expressly forbidden, but to be fair, there is no patrol on the promenade asking who bought what drink for whom and where or when.
By extending the time between when drinks from Cheers! may be purchased, such sharing is far less likely and more guests will be firmly abiding by the terms of the package.
