I am definitely what the Big Book calls a "real alcoholic," yet in recovery I have never once experienced cravings. I have only had fleeting thoughts at three points of something even like he inkling of a "what if." I don't think cravings mean anything once you get sober- they were certainly mental and emotional for me well before I became a full blown alcoholic, so I do believe in a spectrum and he progressive nature of our disease..but by the time they were physical it wasn't cravings any more, it was dependency.