Background:

My friends and I do a guys cruise each year, and for the last five years it has been on Carnival. This year the group decided to do the Carnival Paradise out of Tampa. We’re part of a larger group that had a contract for the old corporate open-bar package. It is different from the Cheers program in that it isn’t capped at 15 drinks per day, which would not be enough for our group of professional partiers.

Unfortunately Carnival, in their infinite wisdom, has chosen to rescind our package in an attempt to get us all into Cheers. So this may well be my last Carnival review for a while, as our group will be heading to Royal Caribbean next year. It’s disappointing, since Carnival’s party scene is better. But we’d end up having to smuggle booze onboard an “open bar” cruise which is ridiculous. Royal’s drink packages are unlimited, so it’s really a no-brainer. Read more